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Nickel’s finger tapped at the tea cup before him. As gently as he could, lest the hard metals of his skin scratched or, heaven forbid, broke the fragile porcelain. He knew Sayo was watching him. She always knew when something was going on with him. She was always very good at that.
He finally allowed himself to look up at her. Any courage he had to meet her eyes immediately faltered when he saw her soft, concerned gaze.
“Nickel-San,” she finally spoke up, walking towards him. She gave a polite bow as she said, “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting you but,” she stood back up and looked eyes with him once more, “Is something wrong? You’ve seemed,” she paused looking for the right word, “Upset.”
Nickel gave a nervous smile and grabbed at the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah. I guess I was just thinking about stuff.”
Sayo gave a small frown. “Is this about your brothers again? You three didn’t have a fight, did you, Nickel-San?”
He waved his hands defensively at that. “No! Not at all! Or, at least not this time.”
“Then what has you so thoughtful?” Sayo sat across from him.
“It’s,” he paused, his tapping becoming rougher by the second as he attempted to shift through his thoughts. “It’s more just,” he tried again, however the words were still caught in his throat. His attempted thoughts were shattered by the sound of cracked porcelain and feeling of hot liquid spilling over his lap.
Nickel shot up to his feet with a call of surprise and a curse.
Sayo made quick work of attempting to help clean it up.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“
“It’s alright, Nickel-San,” she smiled at him. She picked up the pieces of the cup and safely wrapped them in the fabric of her apron. She looked back up at Nickel. “Whatever it was must have you really riled up.”
Nickel could only sigh. His shoulders falling along with his gaze. “It’s about St-“ he stopped himself before he said something wrong. He still wasn’t sure how into her father’s organization Sanyo was. He wanted nothing more than to trust her fully with everything he had. But it was better to wait. They’d all agreed such was the case. “Ah, I mean, our mentor.”
“Mentor?”
Nickel gave a nod. “Our predecessor. It feels like he lived on a pedestal too high to climb. But I have to.”
Sayo gave a small frown at that. She stepped closer to him, trying to meet his gaze. “But you have your brothers, don’t you?”
Nickel looked back up at her.
“You’re not climbing alone, Nickel-San. You have Aluminum-San and Tin-San.” She then gave him a bright smile that shone brighter than any metal Nickel had ever seen. “And you have me too.”
A warmth washed over Nickel. Blossoming from his chest to his face and ears. “Ah,” he mumbled. He let out a sigh and matched her smile. “Thank you, Sayo-San. That means a lot.”