and so today (c)

[KAMIYA, RUI]

at this place tonight we become strangers,

we awkwardly sit across each other, making small talk and asking what's new the
moments when the conversation stop for a moment, the cold silence freezes us

"you're in the way."

four simple words, strewn together in a way that it would leave an impressionable mark on the boys who stood before her. they towered over her, shadows casting on her shorter self, but even if they were physically stronger than her... well, rui was more than certain that her words would cut them down.

the two boys did nothing but snort, making offhand comments to each other and how utterly funny it was that she told them off. she gazed at them, eyes narrowed. what was it going to take to get these two out of her way? she just wanted to get to the starducks, grab some coffee and head out to the park to do some studying.

"please move," she tried again, more directly than the line before. one laughed, the other smirked and leaned in closer to her. and that was it, that was the last straw with these two. they wouldn't move for her? fine, she would move them for herself.

rui raised her hand, and with a swift movement she smacked the boy closest to her across the cheek. by the way he had been leaning in towards face, she deduced that he was looking for a greeting that was beyond a simple hello. she frowned, her eyes glancing towards the other boy for a moment before she pushed past between them and entered the starducks. under her breath, she muttered to him, "later, peasant."

a heavy sigh left her, hand pressing into her forehead as she stood in line. what she needed right now was a good book, some coffee, and maybe her own designated wall to punch. people like those two boys from a few moments earlier were the kind she loathed to befriend. to be honest, they probably were the type of people in school who didn't bother trying and slacked. the ones who took their education for granted.

when it was her turn to receive her drink, she sat found a seat in the crowded cafe and leaned back in her chair. the straw touched her lips. the coffee slid up the straw and she took a taste of her beverage.

"tch... it's too bitter."

[KASE, SUMIKA]

compared to you i would make a better liar,

and never face the music when it's dire and i breathe disaster, ever after. don't
pull away from me now; don't you move, can't you stay where you are, just for now?

Her eyes remained trained on her own cup of coffee, even as the sound of a hand meeting a cheek resounded in in the cafe. After all, whatever happened had nothing to do with her, right? Though, Sumika was, at the very least, curious enough to wonder hey, who started it as she poured bag after bag of sugar into her coffee. A pile was starting to form near the edge of the table, not that then young woman even noticed. In the hustle and bustle of the cafe, one had to to have thought to themselves on more than one occassion: what the fuck was she doing?

It was a metaphor, not necessarily one of any importance or purpose—but one that was capable of amusing so much that Sumika was actually sitting there and smiling as the sugar dissolved in the coffee. The more sugar you put into the beverage, the more you can taste it afterwards; the more you do in life, the more people give a crap about your existence once you've been flushed down the toilet like a goldfish—or, you know, died. Admittedly, there wasn't much point to this. Yeah, sure, go ahead and make some meaningless metaphor on the futility of life. It wasn't as if anyone hadn't done the exact same thing before or wanted to make life-changing, divine epiphany-inducing points with their inconsequential metaphors involving too much sugar in a single cup of coffee alone.

To which, Sumika would breathe in thin hair and level a lopsided smile on this nonexistent battleground, whilst saying, "I wasn't trying to make a point."

Deep in her own thoughts, it was when she reached for another pack of sugar did Sumika realize something. "...gone already?" Something of a dry chuckle, came out of her mouth. Oh, well. She could ask for more, yes, but, somehow, it felt a bit like the end of the line. Gathering the sugar packets into her hands, she got up and nearly bumped shoulders with someone who had awfully familiar pink hair. For a moment, Sumika contemplated looking back, but decided against it.

Once the packets had been gotten rid of, Sumika ambled back to her table, just as the words "too bitter" were said. Without much though, she lifted her cup up and turned to person occupying the table to her left. "Hey, I didn't mean to overhear you or anything, but your coffee is too bitter? Why don't you have a gander at mine?" A beat. This wasn't exactly how she had wanted to word it, but hey. Rolling with the kicks, aye? Saying something was much better than awkwardly standing in front of the other girl, while silently holding out the styrofoam cup to her. "I'm not really trying to brag about how much better my coffee tastes, but I just poured twenty-four packs of sugar into this sucker. So I thought you might want to have a taste."

No, this wasn't all that better than the whole silently offer her your sugar-filled coffee, while seeming as awkward as possible idea. Despite herself, Sumika managed what she hoped was a friendly enough smile. The real reason she had put herself into this predicament was, because, there was something oddly nostalgic about the other girl. As if for a moment in time, they had known each other. She didn't plan on catching up, really.

Sumika just wanted to bask in this feeling for awhile longer.

[KAMIYA, RUI]

at this place tonight we become strangers,

we awkwardly sit across each other, making small talk and asking what's new the
moments when the conversation stop for a moment, the cold silence freezes us

the coffee was bitter but rui could not be arsed to even move from her seat. considering the cafe was indeed getting increasingly crowded and there was less and less breathing room, she couldn't afford to lose the table she managed to snatch to herself. suckers could wait for a table to free up or just take their drink and go.

she took another sip, grimaced, but swallowed it anyway. she paid money for this drink, and she was going to drink it all. at least the bitterness would keep her awake anyway.

"hey, i didn't mean to overhear you or anything, but your cofee is too bitter? why don't you have a gander at mine?"

to her right, someone with bright green hair had offered their cup. how odd, for someone to just up and say to try theirs out of the blue like that. rui's brow furrowed, giving the other a good look in the eye before glancing down to from the green haired's cup to her own.

... twenty four packs of sugar compared to no sugar.

rui pondered for a moment.

"... sure," she murmured in response, not even sure why she had agreed to this in the first place. placing down her bitter brew of whatever-the-loving-fuck-that-was, she reached out to take hold of the other's and hesitantly, brought it to her lips.

it smelled of sugar; so much, in fact, that rui couldn't even bother actually taking a slug at it. with that, she placed the cup back down on the table to her right and picked up her original. "it's too sweet. i can't even take a sip of it without wanting to puke up glucose."

the bitter truth - hah, get it? rui liked to thing she could be funny sometimes.

but really, the truth was... the other girl was familiar but she couldn't place her finger on it. the style, the sort of vibe she got from her... why did it seem like they had met before?

"do i know you?" she asked blatantly, taking a sip of her coffee as soon as her words left her lips. rui did her best to not let the bitterness show on her face as she sideglanced at this other girl. it was something she couldn't get off of her mind. the familiarity was just that, too much, and for the living daylights of her rui couldn't seem to place any sort of identity on this girl right now.