“Morning, Kai!”
Kaito would have known that voice anywhere. Because he knew it, rather than answering the greeting, he sighed mournfully when the other boy sat down, “I see that the assassins have failed yet again.”
Peregrine leaned in and whispered in a reverent tone, “Oh, what’s this? Kaito Walker has made an attempt a joke?”
Kaito grinned in response. “And smiling too?” Peregrine raised his eyebrows, then nodded sagely, “Oh, I understand now. The assassins must have actually succeeded this time and I was sent off to an alternate universe where my best friend doesn’t actually live under a dark cloud all day.”
It was likely that he would have continued on the teasing except for the sudden sharp rap on the head that caused him to yelp in pain.
“I’m not even awake yet and the first voice I get to hear in the morning is your annoying one being rude to Kai again,” snapped a faintly irritated female voice.
“Ana?” Kaito reached out a hand tentatively and felt another warm one close around his for a moment.
“Hey there, bedhead. Been waiting long?” Ana laughed as Kaito abruptedly reached up to pat at his perpetually ruffled hair, “Kidding. Plus you know that won’t do anything anyways.”
Dropping his hand sheepishly, Kaito was about to answer that he’d gotten up early, but Peregrine cut in first, “Nope, I just got here- funny how the two of us just got beaten by a blind guy- OW!!! Violence isn’t the answer to everything, Ana!”
While Peregrine glared resentfully at Ana, the girl sat down without a further glance at him and tilted her head to the sun, “Violence is actually a very expedient solution to most problems, Peregrine, but I don’t need to tell you that, do I? I heard about you and Kaito’s little… run in with those guys last week.”
Both their faces paled at Ana’s quiet voice. That was her ‘I was completely worried and stressed over you guys and that was such a bad decision and now you two are-so-going to pay for my lost sleep again can you imagine how worried I was?’ voice. It was something to be feared.
Kaito returned to his usual silence, but his shoulders visibly tensed, then slumped. Peregrine took it upon himself to solve the situation. “We’re fine, Ana, as you can see~ neither of us got hurt or anything. We didn’t even get a crackdown from the school board,” he blustered on and on.
“You didn’t get expelled this time? I don’t even want to ask why because it makes no sense. You didn’t get hurt? Oh yes, good for you, but what about the other guy? He’s in the freaking hospital and it’s beyond me why you didn’t brush with the law this time,” Ana's eyes were still closed as she held her face to the sunlight filtering through the high glass skylight. Try as he could, but her voice had risen in pitch.
Not surprisingly, Peregrine had fallen silent to endure Ana’s tirade. While his face was normally cheerful, and even almost embarrassed at times when been scolded, it was now an impassive mask. This was a different situation, and all three sitting at the table knew it. Ana had never sounded this angry- and was that real resentment and confusion that they heard alongside the anxiety? And Peregrine, he too, got a sense that things were breaking apart and he only had the answer of the part of the reason why. His mouth tightened when his gaze went to Kaito. He hadn’t planned on speaking up about it, but the empty expression on his friend’s face prompted him. Kaito doesn’t seem to sense any of the tension. It wasn’t surprising that he was insensitive to others’ emotions, but surely the emptiness in the air that begged an explanation for events wasn’t lost, even on him.
As for Kaito, the tense quiet was most definitely lost on him. There was a different brand of silence in his own head that was the kind of silence that screamed in emptiness. The more you focus on the absence of sound, the louder it got. It was painful, headache inducing, even. His shoulders tensed again when Ana’s short speech halted. When he suddenly dropped his head and clench his hands into fists that pressed against his temples, Peregrine glanced sharply at him, “Kai? You alright?”
