Procrastination {Private}

[Nicolette]

Haruka was slightly surprised when Rai didn't ask about her father, but she found that she was also quite relieved. She didn't let either of these emotions display themselves as she brought her hand to the fork of her near-gone salad. She took a few more bites before setting the plastic item down and taking one final drink of her soda, making sure to wash everything down as she drank.

What was she doing, anyways, spilling her life story to a stranger? She began to feel quite upset with herself. She barely knew the boy across from her and she'd spilled her guts about her mother to him. She brought her arms to unconsciously wrap around herself, her left hand gripping at the material of her shirt at the right side of her waist while the other hand gripped at the material of her shirt at the left side of her hips. She shook her head for a moment, feeling the sick feeling bubble in her stomach.

She shouldn't have eaten.

She hadn't realized she had closed her eyes until she found herself opening them. Her food, for the most part, was gone, so she gathered it in the center of the empty tray between them and waited for him to collect his trash as well. She needed to get her shopping done... Hopefully the time spent shopping would calm her down. She didn't let her emotions show on her sleeve, though if someone looked close enough, one could see the dark blanket that fell over Haruka Amagi.

She looked up at the boy across from her. "Ready to go?" She questioned, her small, half smile crossing her pink lips.

[Faye]

Their silence was filled with awkwardness and finishing up of their meals. Rai's burger and drink were gone within a flash and yet he still felt a little hungry but he would ignore that and let his stomach settle. He was sure he would probably feel full after a few minutes of walking to the grocery store.

He cautiously watched Haruka as she clutched her stomach, she looked paler than normal and it seemed she was feeling sick. Rai mentally sighed and nodded when she asked if he was ready to go. He packed up all the rubbish into the middle of his tray and placed it in the nearby rubbish bin before placing the tray with the others.

"Does your roommate ever go grocery shopping with you?" He asked, some of the colour missing from his voice.

[Nicolette]

Haruka picked up her briefcase and waited for Rai before walking out into the cool night with him. She hugged her jacket closer around her thin form as she focused her eyes on the path in front of them. She acknowledged his question and took note of the fact that his tone was...different. She didn't say anything on that matter, though, and shook her head in response to his question.

"She and I are two completely different beings... We hardly talk unless it's to tell the other that we'll be back later or to tell the other goodnight... Sometimes we'll share a few words on the condition of the dormitory room, like if something needs to be shut off before bed or something... But other than that, she and I don't really click."

She spoke to keep her mind focused on something other than what she felt. Talking about her airhead of a roommate calmed her mind down a little to the point that she believed she had surpressed the oncoming headache.

They turned the corner and came upon the shop Haruka had in mind. She motioned for him to enter with her and she picked up a basket for her items.

[Faye]

The tone change was from their awkward conversation about her eating habits, he felt protective and worried about her inside but tried not to let it show too much. He didn't know how to show he cared in case she got defensive and everything, he really did not want that on his shoulders right now.

He nodded as she spoke of how different her and her roommate were, it was sad, really. "Then why are you her roommate?" He asked, wondering if people had some kind of choice whether to have a roommate or not, there can't be that many students in the school.

They left the cool night air and entered what felt even colder, due to it being like a giant refridgerator. The first section was fruit and vegetables, an interesting place for them. "What are we getting first?" Some of the colour returned as he found it hard to not speak how he normally did.

[Nicolette]

"Just a few apples and a bag of salad." Haruka replied to his second question first as she moved toward the said items. She took a bag from above the apples and began to take a few of the apples, looking them over before she set them in the bag and then set the bag in her basket. As she moved over to look over the various bags of salads, she decided to entertain his first question.

"The school chooses our room placements. Some people are lucky and get their own rooms, others end up with roommates. It doesn't entirely bother me, though... I've always been one for mainly staying in my respective bedroom. I really only come out to bathe and go to the front door. I have a mini-refridgerator in my bedroom, so I only use the kitchen when she knocks on my door and asks if I'll 'pretty please make dinner tonight'."

Haruka remembered the few times in the past three weeks she had been asked by her roommate to make dinner. It wasn't like Haruka could really make much, but she could tell when Faye was having a rougher than usual day when the girl would ask Haruka to make dinner. Haruka would do it without complaint and even eat out in the living room area before wishing the girl a goodnight and departing to her bedroom.

The girl really wasn't all that bad.

[Faye]

Rai laughed a bit at the things that she was buying. She must be just picking up a few little things for now.. Well he hoped so. She must live off other fruit than that. "What kind of apples do you like?" He asked, gesturing at the green types, and then the many different types of red. He smiled warmly to her.

He smiled more at her explanation about the roommate issue. It was pleasing to know that it wasn't all that bad and they didn't have a bad relationship. "Why does she ask you to do that?" He found the dinner thing a little strange. He picked up one of the apples sitting in the cluster of other apples and began throwing it up and the air and catching it like a tennis ball or something. Just as well the store clerks weren't around. They wouldn't be too impressed.

[Nicolette]

"Any apple is fine." The dark haired girl commented absently and then smiled to herself as she found the salad she had been looking for. She added the bag to her basket and turned to collect a few apples that Rai had picked out for her before she motioned for him to follow her into another aisle. She was out of bread and peanutbutter.

"I can tell when Faye is having a bad day when she asks for me to make dinner. The first two times, I believed it was out of sheer laziness... But I would notice the look in her eyes when she would ask me, and I'd notice that something would be up. Occasionally, she'd strike up conversation about her day... And then I could tell that when she had a bad day, she needed someone to talk to... So I do suppose I lied a little when I said we don't talk much. It's true that I don't say much, but if she's had a bad day, I'll eat dinner with her and listen to her ramble and rant until she feels better...

"I don't like seeing people sad..."

[Faye]

Nodding to her answer, Rai peered down at the prices of the apples. They were all the same since for some reason they were on on special. So he grabbed a plastic bag and placed a few into it, all different types. There was one of each in there before he turned his attention back to Haruka, "How many?" He asked, not wanting to get too many or too little.

Rai smiled some more, that was really kind of her to do that for her roommate, most people who had a relationship like that would do such things for each other. "Aww, that's really nice of you," He said with a warm and colourful tone. He never liked seeing people sad either. "So um, you never said anything about your father before?" He had just remembered that from their previous conversation. Although he wasn't sure if he should of asked that... she might have said nothing for a reason.

Oh dear.

[Nicolette]

Haruka paused in walking for just a moment as he asked the fateful question. She felt her heart clench as she took another step and forced herself to keep her cool as she looked for the right bread. She took the wheat bread from the shelf and placed it in her basket before moving further down and grabbing the brand of peanutbutter she liked.

She knew he was waiting for a response from her, but she knew she couldn't just give him a simple response to that sort of question. She didn't even want to talk about it... It still hurt to think of events that had happened only ten years prior. She swallowed hard and turned to look at him with a smile. It pained her to force the smile, but she felt it was necessary for the words she was about to speak.

"Now, now, Aikaryu-kun. I can't spill my heart out to you within such a short period of us knowing each other, especially with how little I know about you."

She moved out of the aisle and looked down the way. There really wasn't much more she ate. She turned to look back at the other SFF member. "I believe I'm finished." She commented before turning to walk toward the front to purchase her items. She waited for him to catch up before she continued on to place her items before the cashier.

[Faye]

Rai's heart sank a little at her deafening silence, feeling rather guilty and regretful about asking such a question. Perhaps it was more touchy and frail than he anticipated. He swallowed and just gazed over the many items places on the shelf as she decided what bread she wanted. At least she ate bread. Bread was good. Ah, he would make toast when he got home. Mmmm... Peanut butter~

A slight laugh came from his lips at her response, it sounded forced but it wasn't unpexected, he knew the subject was a dark region and knew she would try to cover it up with something. He wasn't that oblivious to things, just mostly relationship wise... and sometimes people's sarcasm.

"Well~ that's your fault isn't it Haru-chan," He said with an amused grin spread across his face as he gently poked her in the side with his index finger. "You're the one who hasn't asked any questions~"

[Nicolette]

Haruka let out a squeak as her side was poked. She was very sensitive in her sides, meaning that she was very ticklish. She wrinkled her nose at the boy next to her before offering him a small smile. She turned back to the cashier and took her wallet from her pants' pocket. She took out a card and handed it to the man, letting him scan the card before she put it away.

She took her items (which had been properly set up in two different bags as to not crush the bread) and led Rai out of the shopping center. The night was cold and a shiver ran down her spine. She didn't quite want to go back to the dormitory, especially now that she had a few questions of her own to ask her companion.

"You treaded some dangerous waters a few minutes ago, Aikaryu-kun." She said with a small smirk. She continued to walk for a little bit through the dark streets and when they stopped at the corner and Haruka looked for any oncoming traffic (which, of course, there was none), she spoke again.

"What brings you to The T'zenshin Institute?"

Yes, it was a dangerous question to ask. Many didn't speak of their reasons for being at the institute. It is true that everyone knows that everyone around them is special, but no one ever really knows why others are special. She was sure he had a simple home life, so it wasn't something she needed to get into, especially because the thought of someone having a happy family would only cause her heart to ache for that same companionship.

So she asked a dangerous question. She made no movement to continue walking as her dark eyes fell to rest on the boy next to her. Was she being cruel? Maybe a little...

[Faye]

As they exited the store after purchasing Haruka's items, he immediately took the bags from her hands and gave her a cheeky grin, he was going to be a gentleman and carry them for her, there was no way she was going to be carrying those while he walked with her. He also noticed her start to shiver from the night's icy breeze. He stopped for a moment and set the bags down on the pavement and handed her his jacket, "It'll keep you warm," He would protest if she declined.

The small smirk she made however made him shiver, not from the cold but out of... fear? That could mean anything, he felt slightly afraid of what he questions were going to be. He was right, too, she asked a very personal question. The students that attended T'zenshin Institute were all very special but they weren't really revealed to strangers easily.

He swallowed as he carried the bags a little way only to stop when Haruka did. "To help.. settle things down... with me," He started, not quite knowing how to word his next sentence. "Basically... I'm a um.. clairaudient.. Which means I can hear things that no human can.. Like ghosts, spirits and other weird things on the other planes, plus my hearing extends to nearly the entire area..." He left out the explanation of why things needed to settle down. They had, since he had grown up a little and was away from his home town.

[Nicolette]

Haruka clutched the older boy's jacket closer around herself with one hand, the other clutching the briefcase that was her laptop. She kept her eyes on the male as she listened to his explanation and she nodded simply at the end of it. She wasn't going to ask any more questions. She didn't need to. The question he had been given was about as equvilent to the amount of questions she had answered earlier.

"I believe we are even now." She said with a content smirk.

She turned and she began to walk down the empty street, waiting for him to follow before she continued on. The hour had gotten late, she noticed, as when she approached the dormitory area, she saw a lot of lights were off in bedrooms, which was odd for a Friday night. She took a look at the watch on her wrist and was surprised to find how the evening had slipped away. It was eleven o'clock.

She turned to face Rai, but she didn't look like she had planned to go to her dormitory room soon. Or, at least if she did, she would only go up to put her food away.

[Faye]

Rai was surprised. There was no more questions that followed her first one. That was strange... surely she would want to know some more about him, or maybe that was just the right amount that she wanted to know? He hoped she still wanted to be friends with him, he had heard of people losing friends once they knew of their reason for being at the school.

He noticed that she had checked the time, he stole a quick glimpse and grimaced at the time, eleven o'clock? Time sure had passed them by pretty quickly. At least it was Friday and they wouldn't be pushed inside their dormitories early and made to go to bed. He glanced up at the buildings, all the lights were off, which either meant people were watching television or playing video games in the dark or they were asleep.

It was strange.

"Do you want to go back?" He asked, curiously. He personally didn't want to go just yet, he was enjoying his time with Haruka.

[Nicolette]

"Not entirely." The hacker replied simply. "Do you have something to suggest we do?" She tilted her head to the side, her eyes curious.

Though they did have some tense moments, the pair worked very well. His happiness balanced for her lack of hyperactive activity. Her intelligence balanced for his lack thereof. Though they had only met outside of class twice and had known each other for a total of about two weeks, they seemed to be the perfect duo for the Student Freedom Force.