Minako stared in shock at the reaction, though she really shouldn’t have been. Of course Shouko would be high strung. Of course Shouko wouldn’t be completely on the lookout for…for company. Not after what she’d been through.
So Minako brought on her A-Game charm, giving her best friend a tired but welcoming smile, offering out the can of lemonade while tucking her own energy drink under an arm.
‘Not really,’ Minako answered with a wink, sitting next to the other girl. `You know me better. ‘Course, I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that. So, Even-Stevens! Here, drink up. I tried to score some snacks, but the cafeteria won’t be open up for another hour or two.`
This, this, this, this was easier. Focusing on someone else, taking their burdens–things Minako could focus on, rather than turning that inward. Anything to shake the oncoming train-wreck-roar of Thanatos and Orpheus from the back of her skull.
‘How’s your head?’ Minako leaned forward, one arm slipping around Shouko’s shoulders to hug her from the side, brows furrowed. ‘Do you need anything else, Shouchi?’
The relief that cascaded over Shouko was almost instant when her gaze focused on her best friend’s face. It was like she had released the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding, like her body could talk itself just a little further off the edge she was teetering on. Gently, as if she were afraid she would drop it, Shouko took the cool can in her hands.
She tried not to focus on her hands too much. She’d washed them, scrubbed them as much as she could, but beneath her fingernails and in the dips between her fingers she knew there was still blood. Even worse, she knew who it belonged to, and her stomach lurched in protest.
Don’t think too much, Shouko. Don’t think.
The eighteen year old did her best to offer a soft smile, though it came off much more weak and worn than she had probably meant for it to. ‘Thank you, Miko,’ She signed, and cracked open the can -- though she didn’t make any motion to sip from it. Not yet. Instead, she felt the way it fizzed from the outside of the tin and tried to focus on it. Tried to focus on anything else. ‘That’s okay,’ She waved it off. ‘I’m not hungry. Have you eaten, though?’
Shouko’s body tensed momentarily from the touch, even though she had been expecting and open to it. But just as easily as she had done so, the girl relaxed into her best friend’s side, breathing in her scent and the calmness it provided. ‘It’s okay,’ She replied, because it was, at least for now. The ache was there but it was dull enough to ignore. Shaking her head, Shouko lifted her fingers to Minako’s line of sight. ‘Are you okay?’
