the beauty of books ❇ houtarou and petra
He likes being in the background— living a nice, serene gray life. No nuisances, nothing exciting or wild, just… quiet. Like him. He was quiet. Houtarou was sort of interested by this girl; most of the time, he’d just get comments about how boring he was, but not from her. She actually, sort of, a little bit… played along?
The boy with the vibrant eyes and the dull personality, the clashing opposites. It was poetic. She, on the other hand, screamed “vigor!” through and through. She was one of those colorful people, those people that enjoyed life to the fullest. He thought that was admirable in its own right, but it wasn’t exactly his kind of lifestyle.
Houtarou smiled a little at her counter — was it, really? Was it not simply due to a test, or a large study group? That could be an answer, yes, but it was a rather dreary one if you were to ask him. Which you probably weren’t. He went over her theories in his head: the first seemed plausible enough, as he’d come up with it as well, but the second? It was a given that a handful of students would procrastinate no matter what, but the entire student body… now that was something impossible.
Unless, of course, he was looking at it all wrong and the teacher had given them an insanely short time frame to get an assignment done. Which was plausible, looking at the eclectic staff of the campus. But he didn’t believe that for one second.
"What if it were something more? What if they were all here for a reason, a reason we weren’t keen on?" he muttered, that still small smirk remaining, for the time being. "It’s good to look at things from all possible angles, sometimes. But it’s also good to be content and know when not to poke your nose into things." His voice was even and collected, and quiet to boot. It was one of those small things that soothed a person; he could soothe anyone, if he didn’t add that sarcastic edge into bits and pieces of his sentences.
Oh, but he’s talked a lot for someone who would rather sleep. Houtarou stifles a yawn as if to answer his own thought, and he’s about to plunge himself into Hyouka for the billionth time when she asks him about it. “Oh, this?” The brunette raises the novel in question with a hand, and passes it to her, blinking slowly. “It’s an anthology done by the club I was a part of at my old school. It’s not amazing, but it’s good.”
He pauses, and takes this time to do something important: set his chin on his hand, and breathe a few times. You know, to rest. Because life was hard, and all that teenage angsty stuff. Yeah. That was definitely the reason. It wasn’t because he was lazy, or anything. Not at all. Nope.
"It’s called Hyouka. It’s mostly about how we solved a few mysteries around the school. Nothing impressive…” Petra was a nice name. “Petra is a nice name.” Oh. He just said that out loud. Okay. That worked. He didn’t mean to, but it worked. He hadn’t heard it before — was it foreign? Was it just something unique, something different? Did her parents impart it to her to let her know that to them, she was special? Well, everyone was special to someone. It just had to be the right kind of someone.
"I’m Houtarou, it’s nice to meet you, Petra." Now, for the more important bit: "Would you like to play a game?"
Petra's eyes widen a bit when he begins to delve more into the possible mystery of the crowded library. The sudden enthusiasm glinting on his aloof expression was another strange mix. She smiles widely, finding it terribly amusing, and considers his words. He could be right, after all. There could be some exciting, underlying reason for the crowd that wouldn't be as obvious as a test or project.
Her mind is momentarily taken from the hypothetical mystery when the brunet begins to tell her about the book in his hand -- revealed to be called Hyouka. Petra flips through it, reading the words, the short stories, and can't help but become overwhelmed with a sort of warmth and happiness. Her smile widens as she reads on.
"No, no! Don't sell yourself short! These are very good! It seems like solving these mysteries must have been a lot of fun,"
She places the book down on the table they're sharing and points to a certain story.
"To have memories with classmates like this be immortalized, well, that's very heartwarming!"
She lets out a hearty giggle at the compliment on her name -- something she's never heard before. In fact, his own name is rare sounding to her!
"Thank you, Houtarou! Yours is nice, too! I've never heard anything like it! But, somehow, it suits you!" Petra cocks her head at his question, finding him more and more interesting by the minute. "Oh! Sure! What kind of game did you have in mind?"
