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❆ two.
"reina, have you finished those questions that your tutor had left you for maths?" the aforementioned girl choked on her water, reminded of the homework she had been left last week from her private tutor that she was yet to complete.
"yeah, i finished them earlier this week." she lied, carefully placing her glass down as she avoided her mother's piercing gaze. the older woman nodded her head as she placed a cup of tea before her husband who was also busily reading the paper and avoiding her glare.
"let's go over them tonight after your cram school." she suggested, although her requests had no room for declining as reina knew that she would be destroyed if she didn't do as told.
"sure..." the girl visibly gulped, feeling the atmosphere dip into a tension that she was becoming uncomfortable with. "i should go, i'm going to be late." she declared, standing up from the table as she grabbed her bag.
"the driver isn't here yet―"
"it's okay, i'll walk!" reina called out, running out of the kitchen and heading towards the front door, breathing a breath of relief as she managed to get away in time. she didn't slow down as she quickly slipped on her loafers, hopping on her left foot as she picked the right one into the air and fixed it on correctly as she drew closer to the front door.
"reina."
"y-yes!" she froze, peering over her shoulder as she felt her stomach drop from her mother's tone.
"you forgot your lunch." she stared at the woman who held the neatly wrapped bento box, a wash of guilt painting her features as she felt bad for thinking of the worst all the time.
"thank you." she quietly mumbled, accepting the box before carefully slipping it into her bag. her mother sighed, catching her attention as her head whipped up to face the woman, afraid of what was to follow after such a tired breath.
"i know i've been tough on you, but it's just for your future. you know i worry about you." she reached up, placing a gentle hand against the girl's cheek, taking her aback as her eyes widened in surprise. "you're graduating soon and it won't be long until you're off to university, your grades now are more important than ever." oh. reina's eyes saddened as she pulled away from her mother's touch, turning around to open the door.
"i'm going to be late, i should get going." without sparing a glance, she left the house and shut the door behind her. although she wanted to believe her mother only had her best interest, she couldn't help but think that it was all for show. her father was the head surgeon of his own private practice, whilst her mother is a retired lawyer of one of japan's biggest law firm ― it was easy to read her actions were to accommodate to their image both within their friendship circle as well as the general public who followed their every move.
it was suffocating.
"what the hell is this place?"
"ow."
the two figures bumped into each other, the girl losing her footing and falling to the ground as she had been paying no attention to the path before her. "ah, seriously." as if her morning couldn't already get any worse, now she had scraped both her hands which were bleeding slightly and the dirt from the gravel stained her skin.
"shouldn't you be watching where you're going?" a gruff voice scolded her, catching her attention as her narrowed eyes lifted to the perpetrator who had bumped into her.
"shouldn't you be apologising?" she fired back, glaring at the boy. however, upon her eyes landing on him, they suddenly widened in surprise before confusion washed over her expression. "what on earth are you wearing!?" she questioned, pushing herself back to her feet and ignoring the stinging sensation in her hands as she instead rushed over to the boy.
"what are you talking about? this is what i always wear." he fired back, looking up as he was suddenly taken aback by her sudden proximity. the girl was suddenly crouched down before him, staring at him curiously as her head tilted.
"you look exactly like gray..." she quietly mumbled, clearly unaware of what she was doing as she scanned him from head to toe.
"how..." he trailed off, processing her words as she finally paid attention to him, noticing how his eyes were wide in horror, as if she had just said the craziest thing in the world. "how do you know me?" her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she stared at him as if he had grown another head, wondering if the fall had hurt more than just his body.
"what are you talking about?" she fired back, concern clear in her tone as she wondered if she had bumped into one of those crazy cosplayers who genuinely believed that they were the character they were portraying. "well, i guess this is some pretty good cosplay, even i almost fell for it." she admitted.
"cosplay?" he repeated. "what is that? what did you fall for?" he questioned, trying to process her words but he was falling short of any explanation to his appearance.
"huh? what are you talking about? aren't you cosplaying gray fullbuster from fairy tail?" she questioned, trying to get a grip of the situation as she argued with this stranger she had bumped into.
"that's right that i'm him, but... cosplay? how do you even know all this information? we've never met before!" he exclaimed, processing her words. "then again, fairy tail is a big guild, maybe you've heard of me from word of mouth." he mumbled to himself, trying to rationalise the situation.
"seriously," she sighed, wondering just how far this guy was going to take it. "i've heard cosplayers get passionate about their favourite characters, but do i really need this first thing in the morning." she grumbled in irritation, her words seeming to catch his attention as he glanced back over at her.
"i'm telling you, i'm not a cosplayer!" he argued.
"then what the hell is this!?" she reached up and grabbed a fistful of his hair before tugging harshly.
"ow! that's my hair, you idiot!" he screamed as she realised what she had thought was a wig wasn't coming off because it was, in fact, his real hair.
