The taller’s request — or more, demand — for assistance was met by nothing other than a quiet squeak of pain. Unfortunately, the person that he had, to use the term loosely, “bumped” into was none other than the already harried Hinatea Kudo. The two-inch thick binder that she had been carrying, full of research summations, hand-drawn diagrams, and semi-translucent scans of bone with carefully contemplated footnotes, went soaring through the air, only to land in some unidentified destination.
Truthfully, Hinatea had been hurrying rather recklessly through the pack of students. Due to the weather of the day, the chiropterologist had drawn her curtains to block out the morning sun, and consequently, found herself oversleeping. The three hours she had reserved at the student lab were quickly dwindling. In a flash, the girl had hastily pulled on her clothes, gathered her supplies, and hurried from her dorm.
Now, she sat flat on concrete, trying to gather her bearings.
"… Nnn…"
When the pair of bright blue eyes flickered open to gaze upon her assailant, Hinatea visibly recoiled, as though he had struck out at her. She seemed to sink back into her own being while she stared at him. It was almost as though she hadn’t quite comprehended what he had spoken; however, within a moment, she nodded feverishly and began to clumsily scramble to her feet.
"Y-yes, ok-oka-okay, si-si-sir."
By just the range of his tone and the shock of the fall (and perhaps the addition of the scrambling panic she had been experiencing in the moments before), fear seemed to have struck deep into Hinatea’s heart. In truth, she didn’t even really know what she was looking for. It was… Soft, right? She remembered something soft essentially clotheslining her from the side. He didn’t look soft. Therefore, logically, whatever he wanted help in finding (he was looking for something, right?) must be soft. And relatively large, too.
Tripping over her own two feet, Hinatea departed her immediate surroundings, delving further into the crowd in search of what ever precious item had been made scarce.
Rubbing the back of his head, Michiro slowly picked himself up from the ground, grimacing as he tried to keep steady on his feet. Staring at.. well, what seemed to be a rather distressed looking girl, he began to quickly apologize, trying his best to avoid eye contact. Oh, boy. Just his luck. Save up all your money and then just lose it while simultaneously disrupting the people around him.
Nice.
Following the girl deeper into the crowd (and still a bit disoriented -- did... he hear the rustling of papers somewhere? Did she drop something too?), he tried to look around him, hoping to catch of glimpse of white fur on the ground. It couldn't have gone that far, could it? It fairly heavy, from what he knew. And it was, indeed, very noticeable. From what he knew, very big and noticeable things did not go far. So, it should be around. Right?
As he went around, Michiro began to lose more and more hope as time passed (with absolutely no sign of the toy). This was ridiculous. Of all things, how do you lose your sisters birthday gift? Especially like this? His face set in defeat, Michiro was just about to throw his hat on the ground before--
Crack.
Stopping in his tracks and lifting up his foot, Michiro stared at the binder he had stepped on, confused. This wasn't a big, stuffed rabbit he had just blew all his money on. This was a binder. That had papers. And findings. And, oh boy, were they complicated. Lifting the beaten-up binder (and attempting to stuff the fallen papers inside), he stared at the cover, hoping, praying, that it wasn't the the source of the rustling he had heard earlier.
He hoped "large, ugly shoe print on binder" was part of that girl's aesthetic.
"Um... ah.... is, is this yours? Hehe. Whaddya know. I found it on the ground."
