He is too quick with his quips ⸻ & she is halted instantaneously. He should KNOW better, but maybe that’s what she gets for running her mouth … guilty even when sarcasm drips in every syllable of her enunciated name. ( it’s been so long, hearing her name in that voice - she could never hate it , could she ? )
❝ Maybe. ❞ she half-relents, looks away, swallowing silly sentiments that is beginning to spill out of her. ❝ No. I mean, listen. ❞ Riruka brings herself to him, slow steady steps ― hesitant ― worried and when she is at arm’s reach, she wonders if he’d disappear again ; that she is dreaming again.
❝ Don’t say anything, none of that. ❞ The warning is lukewarm at best, the hand that pulled along the hem of his shirt is just as subdued. Tugging ⸻ clinging because a hug is too difficult and ’ i miss you ’ is just as hard. ❝ Have you eaten already, Tsuki, er - shima ? ❞ stay awhile she means to say.
❝ ― these lightly argumentative shifts of her personality brought forth memories of the living days so fruitlessly spent, a beacon burning in a foggy haze. Glaring in resplendent warmth, even from eons apart. Even in death, somehow he could have felt her shine, even her annoyance at every slight inconvenience was a behavior sorely missed. Needing that chaotic woman back into his life, thankful that she'd spoken to him after all that'd happened. What's more, she was completely unafraid of him. As if he'd never cut her at all ― SHE. Remembering. Thinking of him without even the use of his mark.
A touch, and he feels his resolve to tease her crumbling. With shoulders finally loosened in their tenseness, he hung his head and kept his eyes trained to the hem of his button-down. There was another feeling when watching her nervousness, and the way she'd spoken his name. A microcosm of twinkling sparks at the midst of his heart, wishing he could have strived to hug her instead of standing across from her like a stranger.
" I haven't. Where do you want to go? " an instant answer, stepping forward, but not reaching out to touch her just yet. For now he remains protected in his weakening bubble. " I wouldn't mind trying to cook again, but, I can't survive if it's just desert. You remember that about me, didn't you? "