His tall statue wade through the bustling morning market of Kyoto with one hand occupied with grocery bag and another held the list of things to buy on his phone. That windy morning made him grateful that he chose to cut his hair and the ties with the Kamo clan. Who once was the next Kamo āstick-up-in-his-assā heir, is now just a 21 year old guy who had rekindled with his mom and was doing the usual weekend grocery run for her. Usually, his little half-brother would tag along but not today. Today, Noritoshi decided to leave early before the kid wakes up or else heād had to chip in a bit of his money for the kidās sweets demand.
āDone, done, doneā¦ and done,ā he muttered under his breath, cold wispy air blew between his lips as his eyes scanned the list he made. āEverything settled under an hour. Not bad,ā he thought to himself, since he had a bit of time to spend to himself on this fine, breezy morning. Passing the sweets shop, his guilt came back to him. Being an older sibling, it's natural for him to feel like he has a responsibility to give his little brother a childhood filled with happy memories. Even the simplest act of buying some sweets for him would mean a lot.
The bell hung over the front door chimed as the wooden door was pushed open, inviting the tall black haired guy into the contents of the store. His eyes darted around the various display of sweets; ranging from pastries to little sweets in colorful wrappers in a big jar. Noritoshi and his brother have warmed up with each other, even so, he wants to make sure that the little boy would accept him into the family. To Noritoshi, every kind act is important.
He stepped near one of the glass display contained some of his brother's favourite desserts; chocolate puff. His lips tweaked upwards as he recalled back when the boy was eating the bread and the chocolate painted around his lips brown. It was a cute sigh, he thought. He lifted a hand to grab the tray nearby and transferred it to his other hand before the free hand reached for the tong all the while his eyes were aiming at the dessert he'll buy. Instead of touching a metal surface, his hand held on something warm and soft; a person's hand. He didn't think much of it, berating himself in his head for his recklessness. But only when he lifted his eyes from the display, his eyelids stretched upwards and his eyebrows shot right up. Infront of him, there is no mistaking it that this shorter figure with striking blue hair is no other than Miwa Kasumi herself, his junior in Kyoto Jujutsu High.
Earlier that morning, Miwa had woke up early to do some jogging around the neighborhood. After finishing her laps, she thought of buying something on her way home to eat later. One of her favourite stores is the same dessert shop that she crossed path with the senior she had trying to avoid all her years in Kyoto Jujutsu High. Looking back, younger miwa had used Kokichi to get to Noritoshi. The guy right infront of her now look slightly different from how she remembered him. His long side hair that frame the sides of his face are no longer there, now what laid on his head is a crew cutāthe haircut Miwa never thought this traditional, strict guy would go for.
"..o-oh," Miwa and Noritoshi mutters under their breath after the realization hit that this is one of the few times they are talking one to oneāonly this time, the setting is casual and there were no topics at hand to discuss, just two old schoolmates accidentally meeting. "Miwa," Noritoshi tried to relax his stance to not appear too surprised and morphed back into the faƧade Miwa had been familiar with although his knee length shorts and vertically green striped shirt didn't help. Miwa always thought seeing him out of his uniform or traditional clothing a bit comical; that is how one dimensional his character was to Miwa.
"Kamo-senpai, morning. Funny seeing you here.. haha.." she snapped out of her trance and croaked out her greeting sheepishly. "uh, yeah, Miwa," he repeated her name for the second time. Now that he thought about it, he never got to know Miwa more than the fact that she is his junior. Her birthday? that is out of the question. Hell, not just Miwa, all his teammates he only knows them by name, a little bit of their background and who they're close with from his observation. He never got close to them as friends given how cooped up he was in his duty as the future heir. "I mean, yes. Morning, Miwa. You live around here?"
"Yes. just like five minutes from here," she mustered up a smile. She noticed four seconds gap between hers and his reply earlier. 'why was he staring?! do i have something on my face?!' she discreetly scratch her cheek just to make sure. "You?"
"Around 12 minutes. Just here for the groceries. and uh, sweets for my little brother,"
"little brother?" she tilted her head slightly, her hand falling back to her side.
"yes, half little brother,"
silence engulfed the space between them. For a moment there, Noritoshi looked down at the display, mulling over what to say. He was never big on maintaining a casual conversation especially now that the longer he stared at Miwa a little closer, he realized that she is pretty as people claimed her to be back then. Her blue hair sticks out like a sore thumb, her big eyes, the way she had to tipped her head slightly up to look at him. It's making him feel uneasy. Is this...
"He must've like chocolate pastries then? My brothers have asked me to buy him these," She sliced the awkward atmosphere apart and tipped her chin forward to the two pastries left in the display case. Her voice snapped him back into his senses. He's relieved that the rising redness on his ears halted.
"I've heard you have two younger brothers?" He inquired. "Two little brothers," she nodded in confirmation. "ah, then," He took the one of the food tong hanging next to the display and slid the little window open, grabbed the remaining chocolate puffs and filled Miwa's empty tray with them.
"is this fine? your brother..." her eyebrows knitted in uncertainty, somehow foreign to his altruism.
"it's fine. he didn't know i stopped by here. yours on the other hand..." he pointed out, his voice and expression gradually soften slightly.
"ah.. thank you, Kamo senpai," Miwa quickly nodded her head low.
His lips quirked up slightly, after all this years, she never changed, he thought. Only her that calls him Kamo-senpai. Mai went for a casual Noritoshi while Momo settled for his last name, Kamo.
"Noritoshi is fine, you know," he quipped although his serious face didn't suit the air of friendliness he was going for. Miwa lift her head up and studied his face, her lips twitching as if to release flow of words but she bit them back. Seriously? Isn't that too casual?, she asked herself.
"Yes, Noritoshi. That is more fitting," He repeated himself, trying to soothe her.
"Noritoshi," She repeated faster than she hold herself back.
He smiled. He smiled?! Miwa had to sneakily press the head of her left foot on the right one, is this real?. They stared at each other for a few seconds yet again. The awkwardness in the air was thickening until Noritoshi shook his head slightly, glancing at his phone screen, noting that it's already 10.15am. He had to go back.
Noritoshi's eyes lifted to Miwa's blue ones, "Sorry, I have to go back," He lifted the bags straining his left hand, "Don't want to keep my mom waiting," He spoke before setting the empty tray back on the stack, giving up on buying his little brother his favourite sweet. 'Another day, then,' he told himself.
He nodded to the girl and before he could turn around to the entrance, she blurted out, "uh, see you around?" she smiled. The earlier 10 seconds of her just staring was sufficient for Miwa to sort herself. This was the first time she met an old friend, no, more like an acquaintance. It had been so lonely for Miwa these past three years. Having lost Mechamaru or Kokichi, who was her first love then followed by Mai's death, Momo, the only friend she had, now drifted apart from her. Both of them were affected by their past. They would reached out on occasions but since Momo had move to the other side of the world with her parents, Miwa's life had been a boring loop of living with her parents, doing errands and mindlessly stroll around the town, often to find jobs suited for her qualifications but at times it is to clear her head, and then going back home at the end of the day. For once, she wanted to revisit a little window to her old life as a sorcerer and maybe Noritoshi would be the aperture.
"It's nice to meet an old friend again," she confessed. The straining atmosphere from earlier was no more, now replaced with something far more uninhibited. She felt like she can speak her mind now without feeling conscious. After all, Noritoshi had seen her crying her heart out back then, didn't he? wasn't he also the one that dropped an unsolicited advice on her when she was feeling useless years ago? Although harsh, it helped her somewhat. He had seen her at the lowest, what's there to be shy about now?
Noritoshi was stopped on his track by her voice. Friend. Never in a million years, he thought of someone from Kyoto High would view him as a friend. Every minute in his teenagehood was busied with his responsibility, always a duty to be completed, always pushing himself be to better. But never once did he had a chance to feel the warmth of a pleasant company, not once did he felt like he belonged anywhere. He pushed through like he had somewhere to be or rather someone to reach, his mother. Hearing that word coming from her had something in him shifted. Maybe a friend is what he always longed for.
"Yes," he cleared throat, for a moment there Miwa could sense a shift in his tone, an octave lower. "Yes, sure. We'll meet again. Take care," he nodded his head and quickly left the store, leaving behind him the echo of the bell chiming.
Miwa stared at the door he left through with a smile. Two peers met at an unexpected time. It was strange but Miwa can't help but feel relieved. A guy who she had changed direction whenever he was on the other end, was now the one she had wish to bumped into again.
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