[private] Oh I had no idea you were so....

[hidekifan]

"Wait, onii-chan!!" Sayu called out ten seconds too late. Light was gone and sometimes, just sometimes, Sayu privately wondered if this talent at worming his way out of things was a special ability of her older brother's. Sometimes he was so ghost like, studying all the time. Of course, it wasn't really like that, Light was always available to her, a mere door down the second floor hallway.

She blinked, not quite believing what her brother had just instructed her to do. Still. The rest of her comment about being too busy watching Hideki Ryuuga suddenly seemed so rude when Light's friend was right there...

She recovered quickly, getting to her feet and yanked the door open to shout "You owe me five pages of algebra homework!" She wasn't really teasing either. Brothers. She shook her head knowingly, as though she possessed all the little secrets in the world.

After shutting the door again, she eyed Light's friend a little uneasily.

"...ano..."

Comments

[humanitysacrifice]

And there he was. A very simple, intuitive and raw part of Mikami felt trapped. It wasn't so much a rational thought as an instinctive feeling.
It had been ages since Teru had even been at another persons house. Even in primary school his count of friends had ended up shockingly low, so he did never visit other people often. Reaching middle school visists of all kind had stopped and so had Teru's social interactions with people of the same age.
It was why he had been so shocked to get into contact with Light Yagami of all people. But it had worked out somehow and now he was here... over at the Yagami house, for a school project.
Teru had never expected that Light would have to leave for a bit, leaving him here.

Teru looked up at the girl. She had been introduced to him as Sayu. Light's younger sister. And apparently he was supposed to talk to her now.
Teru wasn't opposed to talking to her. He simply did not know how to. For the first time in a while he felt awkwardness. A feeling that had been stripped away from him with the constant humiliation.
His wounds weren't so bad right now. They weren't obvious at least. So he could maybe have a neutral start here. Another thing he had not had in a while.
Not that he cared a lot for it.

Sayu seemed even more awkward than him. If Teru had known how to break the ice then he would have, but he didn't know. And she seemed obviously upset about having to deal with him, too.
"You do not have to keep me entertained. If you have other things to do, I am fine just thinking about the project some more."
It wasn't like he would desire to be entertained either. His voice was silent and serious as he spoke. It was his usual intonation, ever since the bullying had started.

[hidekifan]

"Ah!" Had she suggested that? Sayu held her hands out in front of her, fingers spread wide wearing an apologetic smile. "It's not like that! A friend of my brother's is my friend too."

She gave a confident nod after her declaration. Light never brought his friends home, and her own curiosity was rapidly overruling her shyness around boys. Even if this one in particular seemed rather like a stick. What was with Light's choices in friends anyway? She would remember to pester him about this later. But she realized she had been staring. Her mother would probably have chastised her for it.

She looked away hastily, a little too obviously to cover her tracks entirely, but thinking about her mother was not without its benefits. Sayu now had a brilliant conversation changer!

"Ne, do you want to eat a snack?"

[humanitysacrifice]

Friends. Teru was not sure if he could be called a 'friend' of Light's. They had agreed to got along and talked quite a bit since then, but this word seemed to be a term too high for their acquaintance. He would not her here though. There was simply not point in it.
Teru would not decline being Light's friend either, if the option ever came up. Until now Light had not proven unrighteous and his company was pleasant. Teru did not feel a deep desire for friends, but having one was a nice thought.
But what Sayu had said -even calling herself a friend at the same time- had just been a figure of speech. There was no need to think deeply about it.

Teru noticed how she was looking at him, but it did not startle him. Being stared at was usual for him. Stared at, looked down on, observed, made fun of. Looks meant nothing to him anymore, or so he told himself.

At her offer he seemed almost startled. It would be impolite to decline though and since Teru was not on close term with the girl he nodded politely.
"That would be nice, yes."
Not that he cared for snacks or what he ate either. Teru did not care for many things. Those he cared for simply took up too much of his passion.

[hidekifan]

Sayu didn't quite know what to make of Teru's reaction. She was observant in her own right, but not as ready to draw unfavorable conclusions about people, nor as jaded as Light. She imagined Mikami was simply the kind of strange person who liked to keep to themselves. Maybe he was home schooled for a while. In a way, maybe that was something to be pitied.

"You're kind of... odd, aren't you?" She giggled. "What kind of snacks do you like to eat?" She tilted her head in thought then added in a quick "I think we only have potato chips right now though...."

[humanitysacrifice]

Odd? It was a negative term, although a very mild one. Teru was used to a ton of hard insults hitting him wherever he went, but this was not like that. Just 'odd'. It hit harder than the other ones.

"Potato chips are fine", he tried to smile as carelessly as other children did, but he soon enough knew it was a pointless attempt, so he stuck to a vague raising of mouth-corners. That was more like him.
There was no reason for him to change. He was righteous. But being that, being him had made him strange even to nice girls like this one.
It shouldn't be like this. They were the scum, the inhuman ones and yet the only one who could no longer take part in society was Teru himself.