𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃

[rescuebullet]

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫

— indie nozomi kirifuji of the hundred line: last defense academy. follows from azureblitzed

rules | verses | tags | credits.

[restcrts]

restcrts: a private multi-muse featuring characters from various media.

rules. muses. credits. blogroll.

[unempathize]

[azureaped]

He's thankful that she's trying to keep her sobs to herself, but any little noise is another spike of pain and annoyance in his ears; Eito has to remind himself that he can use this information to his advantage if he's strategic enough. The fact that Nozomi has confirmed this is related to Takumi is enough for him to double down on this attempt — if he can make this whole thing worse under the guise of 'helping', then he can isolate the both of them even further ( he hates how his skin crawls when he watches those two interact as if there's some special connection between them ).

'That girl in the complex. . . that's right, Takumi has said that these two are identical.'

"Well, Takumi-kun is often bad at explaining himself or his thoughts correctly. What exactly did he say? If you want, I can go give him a stern talking to!" Chances are, Takumi wasn't even aware that Nozomi was crying, especially since he has been shown to be quite reactive to her tears.

[rescuebullet]

Oh... She knows that it probably isn't a good idea to talk to him of all people about this. But the others from the second academy would react too badly. So she really has no choice but to try to speak with someone kinder to Takumi. Just to get it off of her chest.

"He said... That he would erase me entirely if it meant he could have Karua."

Even just saying it made her want to cry again. And she had just forced herself to calm down just a little. In truth, she doesn't know WHY she is so upset for a stupid hypothetical situation like this.

[azureaped]

@rescuebullet / from here.

"That's not really believable, Nozomi-san." Normally he wouldn't bother trying to talk to her on his own, but after Takumi brushed him off just a moment ago while running up the stairs towards the roof? His curiosity is piqued given how his rival this ugly girl is close to bawling.

"I understand if you would rather not talk about it, but if there's anything I can do to help. . . well, I'm at least a good listener?" Time to squash down the internal screaming at this whole situation!

[rescuebullet]

She tried to collect herself. Nozomi had always been an easy crier. Which just made things harder for her mother time and time again. Takumi's response had been natural. After all, as much as she felt herself trusting him since they had opened up to each other, she knew that this girl in the complex was a special person to him.

Why did it hurt so much? It felt like a part of her was bleeding and bleeding. She had really foolishly believed that Takumi could value her at all. HER. A failed experiment. Despite her not sharing the past with him that other girl did, it still felt like she had known him for a long time. Like some past life or something. She hadn't really noticed that until this had broken her heart.

Eito was Takumi's best friend here. She really shouldn't confide in him about this. But he seemed worried. So...

"Sumino-kun... Said something and I overreacted..." She choked it out between supressed sobs. "It was about... Me and that girl in the complex."

[rescuebullet]

"Nozomi-san? Did something happen?" Ugh, he hates it when others cry because their already-horrible voices become even more ear-shattering.

Oh no! She's crying and now Eito saw! "Oh... Aotsuki-kun. S-sorry. No. Nothing happened. I'm just being silly."

[fractalwaves]

The feeling of his head nestled on her chest made Takumi's nerves spike. On top of the squirming unease in his stomach, his face grew hot, and his fingers clenched. Trembling, he brings his other hand up and lets his nose breathe through his fingers, holding his palm tight over his mouth. It was barely a steady breath- even matching with Nozomi, it was starting to make him dizzy and his head to ache.

"Egh-" He hiccuped. Oh no. Eyes closed, scrunched tight. Don't think about it. Don't. His eyes burned with tears.

He didn't even want to think about the last time he had poisoning. For all this time, he'd managed to avoid making himself or Karua sick, but he couldn't say the same now. What worried him more was that he didn't even know what his body wanted to do- besides the flush in his cheeks, he had grown slightly cold, and it was hard to tell if he was shaking or shivering. How... was he supposed to respond to this? Was he just freaking out for no reason? But why won't it just stop?

"S-sorry..."

Tentatively, he let go of his mouth and tried to breathe more deeply. Slowly. But the unease wasn't going anywhere. Just being in a position where he could... in front of Nozomi? No- he couldn't. He had to calm down.

At least being close to her, is helping this much...

[rescuebullet]

Nozomi wouldn't think any less of him for getting sick. She lived practically stuck in the hospital due to her mother's work. She tried to pet his hair to calm him down.

"Try to breathe out of your nose. Breathing out of your mouth makes you more likely to be sick." She had been made sick by the experiments enough times to know. It gutted her to see Takumi go through this. She remembered venting to... Someone... No. She hadn't. She never told anyone.

"Shh... It's okay. You shouldn't have to do this alone." Her voice was soft, attempting to comfort. She hoped she wasn't making things worse for him.

"If you do feel like you are going to be sick... That's okay. I'll help clean it up."

[rescuebullet]

Well to put it mildly, that's an awkward thing to overhear!

"I guess I can't really blame him."

[rescuebullet]

Why does she feel this horrible pain in her heart?

[fractalwaves]

"I- it's not... it's fine, r-really..." Contrary to his words, he's starting to get aches even from thinking about this. His stomach ached. Even if it was only small, it twisted up his gut in a way that he didn't expect. The thought of losing it like that... His memory just seemed to fail him out of nowhere- how did he even manage this? Stupid. Idiot. He knows how to do this. He's done it before, at home. How did he even...!?

Eventually, he tried to take her cue and focus on calming down- but the breathing was staggered, strained. The warmth of her hand made him feel at least a little comforted.

"Th-thanks, Nozomi..." He turned his own hand further into her touch, though he couldn't hide how his fingers shook.

[rescuebullet]

Nozomi guided him to the nearest seat and tried to get him to sit down so she could sit beside him. She could tell that he was having some sort of anxiety attack. She could relate. Even if it was brought on by a vastly different type of situation. She didn't let go of his hand, but she tried to guide his head to rest a little on her chest so he could feel her breathe.

"Here, Sumino-kun... Try to match your breathing with mine." She took deep, calming breaths.

Poor Takumi was shaking. She wished she could be a better helper for him. She didn't want to impose or push him too far. She simply kept breathing in an attempt to guide him. She ran the fingers of her free hand through his hair. All things she wished someone would do for her in this sort of situation, honestly.

[fractalwaves]

"Y...eah. But it was already cooked once, right...? It should've been..."

Oh no. He's sweating.

[rescuebullet]

She forces a smile. It looks like Takumi might be dealing with significant anxiety about this. Unless he actually did get sick from it. She places a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Sumino-kun. Try to breathe." Her hand moves to his hand, the touch meant to ground him as much as possible. She had to cook her own meals a lot. She has had her fair share of mishaps. "Let's sit down, okay? I'll stay with you until you're alright so if you do get sick, you'll have someone to help."

[fractalwaves]

"It was just this chicken curry. It should've been done from how long I was cooking it... unless I... forgot to adjust the heat? I don't know."

[rescuebullet]

"Were you re-heating it? If the chicken wasn't cooked all the way..."

[fractalwaves]

"It's not like that, it was just... a little colder than I expected? Maybe I'm just being paranoid, it's not like I've thrown up or anything."

[rescuebullet]

"What were you eating...?"

[fractalwaves]

"I sure hope I cooked that long enough. I could have sworn I did, but I really... don't remember. I thought it would be easy..."

[rescuebullet]

"Please don't eat anything raw, Sumino-kun."

[gothredy]

[100lives-m]

"This nonsense is exhausting. I don't hate women, end of story. Happy Women's Day! I'm going back to bed."

[rescuebullet]

"Good night, Sumino-kun. I don't think you hate women, despite what I've been hearing."

[rescuebullet]

MUSE TEA