Inks
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Word Count - [ 1,384 ]
Outside, the sky was the same hazy, washed-out blue it had been for the last few days. The sun was still lagging about somewhere near the horizon, its presence only evidenced by the skyline’s purple-red-orange tinge in the east. There was a cold bite to the early-morning air, and heavy fog that hung low in the neighborhood’s many dips and valleys. It cast a muggy pallor over an already-muggy morning, and, in the quiet of the day’s early hours, an eerie sense of isolation, too.
Mikael tucked his house key in a back pocket, folded his sleeves up to his elbows, and set off towards Tokyo Nishi Koutougakkou – on a day like this, the walk would only take fifteen minutes or so. He’d put in a little over three minutes, his pace swift and steady, but he hadn’t yet kidded himself into thinking he’d be able to make it to school without any issues; so when a piercing, familiar voice stabbed him in the back, it was more frustrating than surprising.
“Mikael!”
...Damn. The brunet’s shoulders stiffened...then relaxed again just as quickly. His fingers tightened, however briefly, on the strap of his shoulder bag.
“Mikael, wait up!” Footsteps rang out on the sidewalk behind him, as the speaker broke out in a run to close the distance between them.
...Mikael had been hoping to avoid this.
“It’s rude to run around shouting so early in the morning.” The boy turned, a weary smile already in place. “People might be trying to sleep, you know. Ohayo, Konoka-chan. Your hair looks nice today – I like the ponytail.”
“Don’t you ‘your hair looks nice today I like the ponytail’ me, Mikael!” Dark-haired, dark-eyed, and wearing a dark expression to match, Konoka Miu stormed towards Mikael with an angry blush high on her cheeks, one hand strangling the life out of her backpack strap and the other clenched into a fist at her side. Her shoes thumped loudly the whole way. For a second it seemed like she was just going to ram into him, and, honestly, it wouldn’t have been that out of character. Thankfully, she ground to a halt a few inches shy of head-butting him in the nose. Less thankfully, she nearly poked his eye out the next second, jabbing her finger at his face. “Where. Have. You. Been?”
Mikael took a quick step backward; his smile turned apologetic. “I—”
“Liar!” Miu shouted, stepping forward again.
...He’d really been hoping to avoid this.
“Konoka... Miu-chan, look--” Mikael said. He took a step back. Miu followed. “I’m sorry. I was just—”
“Gone? For a week? Yeah, we noticed! People don’t just vanish for a week, Mika-kun! That isn’t a normal thing! That’s not a thing normal people normally do!”
“I-”
“And especially not without telling their friends!”
“Miu, I-”
“Leave a note on your door, or send an e-mail, leave a voicemail with your phone, post a tweet,”
“--a what?--”
“write a frickin’ letter, send a postcard – something!”
“I-”
“I know you contacted the school, Mika! But why didn’t you contact me?”
Mikael paused, standing half in the street with his quicksilver-gray eyes wide, as Miu backpedaled – both literally and figuratively. She took a few steps away from him and said, “I mean, us. You know, me and...and Sato-kun. Your friends! You should have contacted us!”
The girl fell quiet, taking slow, careful breaths. Mikael could practically see her wrestling her emotions back under control.
“...Miu,” he said cautiously, edging back onto the sidewalk. When no interruption seemed forthcoming, he continued. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know what was going on...but I thought you’d be able to figure out what was up. I told you before—”
“Arrgh!”
Her temperament considered, Miu had held out pretty long.
“How dare you?!” the girl snapped. “You think that just because you told us about your super-special magical powers–”
Mikael cringed. “Miu, could you maybe not–”
“–just because,” Miu continued, louder, “you were, were kind enough to let your simple, stupid, normal friends into the loop, you think it’s fine to run off to play superhero whenever you want?”
“...I don’t ‘play superhero.’”
“No, you just run around reading minds and, and,” the girl gestured wildly, “teleporting and whatever, fighting actual, literal criminals who have knives and guns and, you know, murderous intent and – what, you somehow didn’t think your friends might worry about you when you go missing for a weeks at a time without so much as a note?”
This is the exact reason I never told you before, Mikael thought.
“Miu,” he said, letting Light’s tone creep into his voice. The only other time he’d used that tone with his friends had been three years ago, during the hostage situation, and Miu looked taken aback by it. Mikael pushed the advantage. “I trusted you and Sato enough to tell you about myself because we’re friends...and you needed to know. But what I do,” he lowered his voice, fighting the urge to check for eavesdroppers, “as Light has nothing to do with Mikael Layfield. Or you two.”
Miu bristled again. “You have to be joking.”
“No I don’t. And I especially don’t need you shouting about my powers to the whole neighborhood at seven in the morning, all right?”
Maybe more of Light was bleeding into him than he’d intended – something in his eyes or body posture – because instead of launching into a whole new rant, Miu slumped as though she’d had the wind knocked out of her. She took a step back and dragged her hands through her hair.
“You know what?” she started. “You’ve really been... Never mind. Yeah, fine, all right. Sorry, I kinda lost my temper.”
Mikael watched his friend, torn between feeling relieved she’d dropped the subject and feeling guilty for forcing her to. He’d tell her he kept his vigilante affairs a secret for his friends’ safety, but he doubted Miu wanted to hear it. The brunet took a slow breath and, instead, said, “It’s fine. I’m sorry I made you worry, Miu-chan. It’s just...when I’m at school, or with you guys, I want to be Mikael the high school student. Light is...something else entirely.”
Miu pursed her lips against what was obviously an argument or objection of some kind. She shook her head, ponytail bouncing with the movement, and finally said, “You’re so used to reading people like books, you don’t get them at all when you can’t take the first-person tour, do you?”
He laughed weakly, although he didn’t really think she was making a joke. “I guess not. If I read your mind, maybe I could tell you how far off I am?”
His friend’s cheeks went pink. “Absolutely not!” she snapped, and stomped past him, quickly crossing the intersection. She stopped on the opposite curb and glared back at him. “What are you staring at? Come on!”
Hesitating for only a moment, Mikael followed her across and fell into step beside her as she set off again. They walked in awkward silence for several minutes. Miu watched Mikael out of the corner of her eyes, and Mikael pretended not to notice. As crested a hill, Tokyo Nishi Koutougakkou was just-about visible on the horizon, the sprawling grounds blotted out here and there by the thick morning fog and silhouetted by the rising sun.
“I know you wouldn’t,” Miu blurted as they started down the hill. Her blush renewed itself, and her hand brushed ineffectually at her ear, as though she were trying to tuck her hair back. “Read my mind, that is. I mean, you already promised, back...then...but, you know. I want you to know that I trust you too, Mika. ”
At that, Mikael shot her a look. “Oh. Uh, thanks,” he said again, wondering where that had come from. His hand strayed to his chest, touching at the outline of the pendent beneath his uniform for reassurance.
Miu wasn’t...Was she? He hoped not. Things were already awkward enough between them these days.
...Maybe he’d talk to Sato later today, though. If anyone would know what was going on with Miu, it’d be him. The two were never far from each other – hell, it was actually surprising that they hadn’t ambushed him as a team.
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