the lady &the -- wait, what?
Yukine had grown used to the idea that most of the residents in the amusement park were, strangely enough, older than him. They towered over him and their eyes rarely noticed him. It wasn't something he hated, necessarily. Still, it was impossible not to gawk a little when he ran into someone shorter than himself.
Of course, the issue was, perhaps, not that she was short but rather that in a moment of absentmindedness he physically plowed into the adolescent.
His surprise was evident in the way he blinked down at the girl. His lips formed a soft "o" and his eyebrows reached towards his hairline. He could have been a statue for as much as he moved.
And then the moment passed.
The teenager held out a hand. An apologetic smile twitched at the corner of his lips. It was a rare sight to behold and the fleeting expression disappeared as quickly as it came. He pulled the headphones from his ears so they hung around his slim neck with his free hand, "Sorry. I didn't see you."
The sky still glowed with the pale yellow of the morning sun and it cast a cheerful glow on the polished, metal rides around them. Tomorrow Land was quiet to the point of being serene. He knew, of course, that it would only be a matter of time before the moving streets were filled with people doing whatever it was they did in an amusement park.
"Are you trying to be first on the rides or something? I don't usually see people around this early." Yukine's assumption that a child would only want to play reminded him that he himself wasn't quite the teenager he looked to be. The responsibility to take care of someone else weighed heavily on his shoulders and he lacked the carefree thoughts of most youth.
He wondered if she was anything the same -- and if she was, if he'd offended her with his casual observation. The flaxen haired youth shrugged internally, "I'm Yukine."