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it was lunchtime- thank god it was. mikoto hadn’t made it to dinner the previous night, as she'd been too drowsy. perhaps at some point she’d fallen asleep, and she supposed that was the most logical answer, yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on when it would've happened. as it typically was, it was sort of a blur. no big deal, though. she was awake, now, and she was going to eat.
due to her hunger, she’d arrived at the cafeteria earlier than her typical eating time, hoping to purge the rumbling in her stomach as fast as she possibly could. she didn’t expect anyone to be there, however, as she entered the room there was one other eating in quiet solitude.
“koto-chan?”
mikoto walked up to the peacefully sat figure who sported a familiar cap, black hair peeking out from the sides of it. she angled it up as mikoto approached, scoping her with the intent gaze she always seemed to carry.
mikoto stopped as she reached the table, leaning onto it with one hand… she was too tired to hold her full self up, despite her seemingly early rest. kotoko kept her gaze on on the other for a few seconds before tilting her cap back down, casually looking back to her food as mikoto wasn’t even there to begin with. she did have one acknowledgment, though.
“you’re quite early today, kayano-san.”
maybe that was a good sign?
“i decided to switch it up today.” mikoto lied smoothly for no apparent reason, tilting her head slightly as she observed kotoko’s plate. just a salad, as the other prisoner always seemed to get. did she not have a tongue for anything else? granted, mikoto's thoughts were dowsed in hypocrisy, considering her pre-prison diet consisted of mostly the same instant foods she could manage to stomach on a daily basis... and that she could prepare quickly as to not interfere with work.
“i see.” kotoko responded, though it was extremely flat- she didn’t appear to have any interest in engaging forward, driven further by the fact she began to continue eating like nobody was interrupting her in the first place. it was a little dissapointing, but mikoto didn’t take it to heart whatsoever. in fact, she didn’t really take it at all, still motivated to continue talking.
“i could never eat vegetables all the time, how do you do it?” she asked overly~casually, attempting her hardest to make small talk when she was in the room with anyone else, she simply felt obligated to. it was the polite thing to do, right?
kotoko didn’t seem to think so, as she simply glared back at her.
“listen.” kotoko pushed a strand of hair behind her ear before taking another bite of the salad, seemingly unbothered and uninterested in his presence. mikoto could see her fang clearly from this angle; however, it didn’t intimidate her anymore… she was so consistently stressed nowadays that any sort of fear a threat would strike in her just felt like her default. “though i am treating you civilly, it does not mean we are buddy-buddy. this is simply the only option i have as the trial already commenced. as long as warden-san is here, i do not need to fulfill their duties, nor am i physically able to due to restraints. i would be keeping you under check otherwise.”
so it was like that, huh? it was a big shame to mikoto. kotoko was a pretty girl.
“ehe, when you word it like that, it makes it sound like little es-kun would’ve been the one to knock some sense into us if they could.” mikoto responded with a bit of an awkward tone, blatantly ignoring kotoko’s rejecting statement. kotoko didn’t seem to be phased, but, neither did she seem necessarily pleased by the continued interaction.
“what the warden does is not up to me, i will simply follow their duty when needed. we are a team, after all.” she gave a cold reply before another bite. mikoto sighed softly, narrowing her eyes to form an expression between amusement and irritation.
“i wasn’t being that literal. es-kun wouldn’t do such a thing.”
kotoko’s eyes snapped up to her like a wolf honing in on its prey. “who are you to make such an assumption?”
mikoto was caught off-guard by the sudden challenge, taking a step back while slightly squaring her shoulders as some sort of pathetic defense mechanism. the smile on her face grew wider in a somewhat unsettling matter… it would be clear to any onlooker she was just trying to get out of some sort of trouble by being awkwardly polite. “ahaha.. no, no, i wouldn’t know... i mean- they chained me up anyways, right?”
“that was only reasonable, considering your reactions during the first interrogation. though if it were not the case, i would’ve gladly protected warden-san once more.”
mikoto froze. it was all of this odd talk about her first trial again, but it didn’t add up. why was kotoko still clinging to it? this big deal to others that just happened to be a blur to her, like some sort of sick mockery… whatever happened, it couldn’t have been that serious. mikoto was sure of it. “you’re bluffing.”
“do i look like one to joke, kayano mikoto?”
that response made mikoto freeze once again- it was enough to actually strike anxiety in her, and yet she still didn’t want to leave, as if kotoko just somehow hypnotized her to stay; even though kotoko, very clearly, wanted the opposite. mikoto took another step back, but then two forward, looking at kotoko apologetically. it was an apology for staying in her presence, rather than for doubting her original statement, but kotoko appeared to take it as the latter. the small smirk on her face proved just that. she always seemed like she could be a little playful at times, but this smile seemed to be one out of pure self-satisfaction rather than mutual amusement, as if mikoto’s reaction just reinforced her mentality.
she must've expected mikoto to give up and walk away after that, but she didn't. kotoko’s smile fell as she just stayed put.
“can’t we just get along for a bit? you know, from koto to koto?” mikoto whined, her smile finally falling to a small, and genuine, frown.
“you should spend your time on more productive things than attempting to pursue me,” kotoko’s eyes trailed down to mikoto’s eyebags, “like sleep.”
“that’s no fair.”
kotoko let out a sigh. “kayano mikoto, i have no interest in making friends with you.”
it was the expected answer. mikoto was confused as to why she couldn’t just her little interaction there, it was very clearly futile. was her mentality so fragile to the point she needed validation from the one girl who supposedly fought her and almost offed another? why would kotoko's opinion affect the reputation of someone whose already practically destroyed, anyway? mikoto had no proper reason to keep pushing.
but koto-chan was so intriguing!
“koto-chan, it’s not like we’re going anywhere, so why not? plus, it’s not like… it’s not like warden-san is guaranteed to find me guilty again.” she murmured unconfidently, as she was very obviously paranoid over the possibility. kotoko took the final bite of her salad, gently pushing the empty plate away. with a swift movement of her leg, she pushed back her chair, hopping up.
“goodbye, kayano-san.”
footsteps ensued, then faded, kotoko sliding out of sight as she exited the cafeteria. mikoto remained standing, looking akin a lost puppy, absolutely dumbfounded.
having someone outright reject her multiple times was an extremely new scenario to mikoto. she was so well-liked by her coworkers due to her kind, perhaps pushover personality… so, she should be avoiding this negative treatment at all costs. why didn't it stress her out? was she that exhausted? and,
why did she just want to talk to kotoko more???