Chapter Text
Kyouka breathes deeply as she follows behind Dazai into an alleyway. She mimics his movements, avoiding a puddle of water as they push forward. Stepping slightly out from Dazai’s shadow, she squints ahead, attempting to spot whatever Dazai has set his sights on.
It’s one of the rare times when she and the brunet are paired up, a routine excursion to patrol the streets and to allow for further connections between Agency members. Last week she’d been paired up with Ranpo, an adventure that ended in a candy shop on the complete opposite side of town they were supposed to be in and a scolding from Kunikida.
She doesn’t see anything unusual ahead of them, instead blinking away the dryness it caused her eyes. Her eyes have been heavy all day, and she almost misses a pile of trash waiting for pickup, just barely dodging out of the way before it could trip her.
Dazai doesn’t seem to notice, continuing towards his destination without so much as a lookback. They don’t talk much whenever they’re paired up together. Kyouka doesn’t mind it too much. No offense to Atsushi, but it’s nice to enjoy the silence every so often. The weretiger tends to try to fill them after deeming them ‘awkward.’
Kyouka doesn’t know what his criteria for them are. She’s never found them to be awkward.
She catches up with Dazai just in time for the man to slow down in front of a corner cafe. Furrowing her eyebrows, she sends a look at Dazai for explanation.
“Care for a drink?” He winks, already pulling out what she assumes to be Kunikida’s wallet. Just as she opens her mouth to remind him about their job, he opens the door and gestures for her to go inside.
Kyouka hesitates only a moment before entering.
It’s a quaint, little cafe. Only a few tables sit inside, a staircase in the corner leading to the second floor where there’s likely more seating. Dazai’s already setting his coat on a chair of an unoccupied table beside one of the open windows, claiming it for them. He lazily makes his way back to her side, the easy-going grin on his face that he usually reserves for the barista in Cafe Uzumaki plastered on.
She glances up at the menu, nothing really catching her eye. There’s apple juice – a longtime favorite of hers – but she’s not particularly thirsty at the moment. Dazai steps up to the counter first, ordering an abomination of a sweet drink that she only half listens to and has no desire to attempt to repeat. Instead, she blinks at the barista taking his order to give her condolences.
Once the barista has his order marked in the system, they turn their attention to Kyouka. It’s here that Kyouka’s mouth goes dry. She doesn’t particularly like the pressured expectation to get something, especially when she doesn’t want anything. With a shake of her head, she attempts to step backwards.
“And an apple juice, please,” Dazai says, Kunikida’s card out and ready to tap. Behind him, Kyouka raises an eyebrow at the back of his head. After paying, Dazai turns back around to make his way to their table, raising his own eyebrow at her in retaliation. He pulls out a chair for her.
All she gives him are pursed lips before murmuring a ‘thank you’ as she sits down at the table.
“Anytime,” Dazai responds, taking his own seat. “Can’t have my mentee’s mentee growing parched while we’re out and about, can I?”
Mentee’s mentee? “I’m not thirsty, though.”
He waves a hand. “Even so, better safe than sorry.”
Their drinks are called up shortly after – the perks of cold, or coldish in Dazai’s case, drinks, she supposes. Kyouka tries to get up to retrieve them but Dazai presses on her shoulder to keep her seated, going himself. When he returns, he speaks up again in a hushed voice.
“This cafe is good for gathering information, you know? This corner intersects two of the major trade routes for the underground. Every so often, you’ll overhear something interesting.”
Ah, so that’s why they’ve pit-stopped here.
Dazai continues on after taking a sip of his sugar bomb of a drink, “Normally, I would bring Atsushi-kun here, but I fear he’s a bit too much of a… loudmouth, for a place like this. But since you’re with me, I don’t have to worry about that.”
It’s true. Kyouka has been told she’s unnervingly quiet. She doesn’t often feel the need to speak up unless something is directed at her. She doesn’t mind it, either. Atsushi on the other hand…
She can see why Dazai chose not to bring him here. The white-haired boy really cannot keep quiet, even when he’s trying to be.
“Ah, but don’t tell him I said that! I can’t have his image of me being ruined now~” Dazai sighs, a teasing grin on his face.
Kyouka merely lets out a breath through her nose, raising her eyebrows at the man as she takes a sip of her apple juice to say “as if it’s not already ruined.”
Dazai gasps, clutching his chest where his heart is supposed to be. “Aw, how can this be? Ruined so soon after saving him?”
“It’s been almost a year.”
The brunet’s face goes slack, blinking as he processes her words. Then, he turns to her, eyebrows pinched like he can’t quite believe it. “It is near that time, is it not? Time really does fly by when you’re having fun. Or, fighting for your life, but I’d argue that’s pretty similar – adrenaline and all.”
Kyouka nods, easily agreeing. She, herself, can’t believe it’s only a couple months shy of her one year anniversary of being taken in by the Agency. Perhaps they should throw a party for Atsushi’s upcoming anniversary. She opens her mouth to mention it, only to find that Dazai has continued blabbing beside her without her realizing. She doesn’t hesitate with her next words.
“Dazai-san, you talk a lot of nonsense.”
The man’s eyes twinkle. “How would you know it was nonsense if you weren’t listening?”
She shrugs, face impassive, as she avoids letting out a yawn. “Your tone changes.”
He doesn’t necessarily startle, but Kyouka notices the way his eyes widen a little and he minutely moves back. He’s quick to recover though, a calm smile and kind eyes replacing his moment of shock. “Attagirl. He trained you well. Though, I’d argue it’s mostly natural.”
She doesn’t miss the slight bitterness in his tone. Kyouka doesn’t know the past of Dazai and Verlaine, but whenever Chuuya would join a training session, there was a high probability of the brunet being mentioned and Verlaine always had a less than positive comment of some sort for those little moments.
Kyouka dips her head in acknowledgement. She can feel her eyes wanting to droop, but she throws her head back up with a couple of blinks. They’re on a job, there’s no time to be tired.
Outside, a few foreigners walk past their window – an English-speaking country, it sounds like – unbeknownst to the true intents of these backstreets. Sometimes, Kyouka wishes she could be innocent like that, or be able to enjoy a foreign place with no worries. But then she thinks about it a little too much , and she’d much rather be in the know as an ability user than not. The world can be a dangerous place regardless, but having Demon Snow is always a comfort.
The mind-reader next to her perks up, also watching as the small group passes by. “Ooh, Australian. Have you ever thought about visiting there?”
“No.”
Dazai tilts his head at her. “They have a lot of rabbits, you know.” She perks up. “All just waiting to be snatched up by a kind-hearted lady like yourself.”
Suspicious. She squints her eyes at him.
“You got me~!” He raises his hands up in the universal symbol of surrender. “They’re considered a pest there, too big of a population. Got a whole drunk speech from a local about them once.”
“You’ve been there, Dazai-san?”
“Once upon a time. Deal negotiations with the Honoured Society. It was our first overseas mission as executives.”
Our?
Then his eyes light up, and Kyouka is immediately wary of whatever is about to spill out of his mouth. She stifles a yawn behind her hand as he begins talking.
“Chuuya made an utter fool of himself in one of the bars! He became the human form of a koala, fitting for where we were at, but he wouldn’t let me go.” Here, Dazai slumps forward onto the table, voice pitching into a whine even more. His arm just barely avoids knocking his own drink over in his dramatics. “It was awful, Kyouka-chan! I had slug germs for days.”
So, he got sick. At least, that’s what Kyouka’s taking that to mean. Though she’s witnessed various stages of Chuuya-san’s drunkenness, she’s never seen him be clingy. He must have blacked out the night Dazai is talking about.
“Don’t tell him, but I had to carry him back to the hotel room. I never wanted to kill myself so badly,” Dazai mourns, but the glimmer in his eye tells Kyouka he enjoyed it. She can’t even imagine the teasing Chuuya-san went through because of it.
Without thinking, she asks, “If you hate him so much, why did you do that for him?” Double Black’s dynamic has always been a mystery for her just as much as everyone else. If she’s able, she’d like to solve at least part of it.
Dazai stills, blinking once. Then answers with a lazy flip of his hand, “Partners.”
Kyouka scrunches her nose, opening her mouth to ask another question when a bang – a gunshot, it sounds like – is heard from outside. Immediately, the two of them are up from their seats. Kyouka moves t take a step towards the door but a rush of lightheadedness hits her, spots appearing in her vision. It’s intense enough that she pauses, but the spots disappear quickly enough after that she only ends up a few steps behind Dazai.
Out the door and down the alley to their left, two men are in attack stances. One of them was dumb enough to bring a knife to a gunfight, and from here, Kyouka can see that he’s bleeding from one of his shoulders.
So that was the bang they’d heard just now.
She’s glad Dazai had similar training to herself, steps easily light as he moves. The other individuals don’t even notice them, too focused on their own fight. With ease, Dazai appears in front of the man with the gun, disarming him before the man has a chance to move. The gun ends up on the ground by Dazai’s foot, safe from its owner.
Kyouka summons Demon Snow in front of the knife-wielder, scaring him backwards into a wall. Though he doesn’t drop his knife, he barely poses a threat with the way he sinks down it and clutches at his wounded shoulder.
As she approaches closer, her vision grows spotty again for a second. She shakes her head, zoning back in on where Demon Snow is keeping the man trapped. To her right, Dazai’s handcuffed the other man, cell phone to his ear in what she assumes is a call to the police.
She doesn’t get much closer to the scene, another wave of lightheadedness hitting her and bringing a bout of dizziness. Leaning against the wall, she closes her eyes, waiting for it to pass. When she opens her eyes again, it takes longer than she’d like for her vision to return from being black.
That’s when the world starts to rapidly tilt, forcing her to sit on the ground. She tries to catalogue where this is coming from. She wasn’t hit by an ability, plus the last person to touch her was Dazai, so even if it was, it should have been nullified.
No one at the Agency has been sick recently, and she was fine this morning. She’s lost a little sleep, but nothing that should impair her to this extent. It doesn’t make sense.
Opening her eyes to try to blink the vertigo away, she realizes her grave mistake.
Sitting in front of her, concern etched into its ghostly face, is Demon Snow. Not to her left where the injured man is now staggering up, knife raised to where Dazai is turned away.
The corners of her vision are fading out, but in a panic, she attempts to stand up, blade in her hand out of pure habit.
She doesn’t make it far.
The last thing she sees is Dazai swiftly bending down, one hand wrapped around the man’s cuffed hands, and picking up the gun – a bang ringing out as he aims with lethal precision at the knife-wielder.
Then it’s just darkness, a worried cry of her name the final thing she hears.
When she comes to, it’s to the familiar bright lights of Yosano’s infirmary. An immediate throbbing in her head makes itself known right after, forcing her eyes back closed.
“Kyouka-chan!” Familiar voice – Atsushi’s. “Yosano-sensei, she’s awake!”
Kyouka doesn’t like being awake. Her head hurts, her eyes feel swollen – it’s not nice being awake at all.
“Oh? The little miss finally decided to rejoin us?” Yosano teases. Kyouka can hear her heels clicking on the tiles as she approaches, the doctor’s coat on her swishing with the movement. “Ready to wake up and be alive again?”
Kyouka shakes her head, eyes still closed, eliciting a snort from Yosano as she walks away; back to her desk, Kyouka presumes.
“You’ve been hanging out too much with Dazai-san…” Atsushi says. Kyouka can imagine the grimace on his face.
“Too much with who now~?”
Atsushi jumps beside her, banging his knees against the edge of the medical bed she’s on. She can’t blame him – she hadn’t detected the bandaged man’s presence until he took a breath before he spoke – but she does wonder if his tiger ears are failing him, or if Dazai is just that good at going unnoticed.
“N-Nobody, Dazai-san! You’re always pleasant to be with!” Atsushi stammers out, caught red-handed. ‘In 4K,’ the voice of Ranpo says in her head.
“Fufu~, look at my protege lying to my face~ can you believe it, sensei?” Dazai says. There’s a swish of a curtain, and she assumes he’s moved it to pop into view of the bed. She can practically see the teasing grin on his face even with her eyes closed.
Kyouka peeks an eye open to watch Atsushi go bright red, arms moving in a weird dance as he tries to recover and fumbles. When all that comes out is a squeak, Dazai takes mercy on him.
“I’m kidding, Atsushi. You’re good.” Dazai smiles at him. Yosano pipes up from her desk,
“Quit messing with him! You know the kid adores you.”
Kyouka wonders how long the blush will last on Atsushi’s face now.
In the background, Dazai walks over to her and whines, “But sensei, where’s the fun in that?”
With Dazai pestering Yosano for the time being, Atsushi turns to her, cheeks still very red. His voice is less alarmed than when she first woke up as he asks,
“Are you okay? Hurt anywhere? What happened?”
Always such a worrywart.
“I’m okay,” she responds. “I passed out.”
“Why?!” His voice is now more panicked. It’s not like she chose to pass out, so she shrugs.
Apparently hearing the weretiger’s concern, Dazai sweeps back in. “Ah, Atsushi-kun, Kunikida-kun wanted me to fetch you! Something about a missing assignment?”
Kyouka watches the internal battle on the white-haired boy’s face, his eyes flickering between the door, Dazai, and herself. Then, after receiving a nod from Yosano which Kyouka interprets to mean that she’s fine, he stands up, albeit reluctantly.
Halfway to the door, he seems to rethink something, half turning back to squint at Dazai. Suspicion clear in his voice, he questions, “This better not be you tricking me into doing your paperwork again.”
“I assure you on my life and well-being that this is not me tricking you into doing my paperwork,” Dazai swears, a hand against his chest in an oath only one gullible person in this room would believe.
With a slow nod, said gullible person turns back and heads out, closing the door behind him.
In the corner of the room, Yosano lets out a tired sigh, not even bothering to say something about Dazai’s shenanigans.
Dazai plops down in the seat where Atsushi had just been sitting, taking a moment to study her. She’s never found Dazai to be unnerving in any way, save for old videos she’d seen of him in the Port Mafia, but right now, she doesn’t like being under his gaze. If she had to guess, she’d even say there’s concern hidden beneath the layers of judging and calculating.
“Care to tell me why you haven’t been sleeping?” Ah. She should’ve known he would catch on fast, even with her trying to hide it while on their mission.
“How did you know?” She asks instead. There’s no point in trying to hide something from him.
Dazai’s upfront when he tells her, “Yosano-sensei noticed it earlier this week.” He points a thumb back at the woman. A sense of deja vu passes over Kyouka, but she can’t place it fast enough before Dazai continues on. “She asked me to monitor you in the office and during our mission. So that begs the question: is everything alright?”
She should have known there was no chance of getting away with it for long in the Agency. Not when it’s full of detectives and people who are medical experts, certified or not.
Kyouka bites the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit she’s mostly ridden herself of, except when she’s been caught – like a child spotted reaching into a cookie jar.
“...Nightmares” is all she gives.
Something in Dazai’s eyes softens, the light in them growing with it. “I figured,” he says. Then, “Are you choosing not to sleep because of them?”
She nods. A counterpoint occurs to her. “You don’t sleep much, either.”
Yosano pipes up with a laugh, “She got you there.”
Dazai sends a look over his shoulder before turning back to Kyouka. “My problem is unwilling insomnia, not chosen like you. It has its tolls; that’s why I always try to sleep on the couch in the middle of the day. You don’t always want to feel tired, Kyouka-chan, believe me.”
She raises an eyebrow at him, cocking her head to the side a little. “You don’t sleep when you do.”
“Most times, but every so often I manage to get some shut eye in.” He winks. “So, how can I help convince you to actually get some rest?”
She shrugs. She doesn’t understand why he wants her to rest so much.
“Well, what have you tried to stop the dreams?”
She shrugs again. “TV, phone, cooking.”
“That sounds like avoiding sleep to me.” He smiles knowingly. He leans forward to place his elbows on the edge of the bed, leaning against his folded hands in a way that reminds her of Mori. She leans back slightly.
“That stops the dreams,” She responds, trying and failing to suppress a yawn.
“Touché. Have you tried sleeping with someone else nearby?”
She shakes her head. Being a bother isn’t on her list of to-dos.
“Would you like to try? With us or Atsushi or someone else?”
“I can try here.” Kyouka doesn’t think it’ll work, so may as well get the option out of the way.
“If you show any signs of going into a nightmare, we’ll wake you up right away,” he says reassuringly.
“What will you do while I sleep?”
“Read my book!” He proclaims, hand in his pocket to take out what she expects to be his suicide manual. Before he can take it out all the way, Yosano slaps the top of his head with a stack of papers.
“You’ll write your reports,” she says, sweet but stern, a sadistic gleam in her eye.
Dazai, for his part, looks wounded before adopting a pout onto his face, whining out a pathetic, “I’ll write my reports…” as he takes the stack.
After that, it goes quiet – Yosano walks out of the room, likely to the office, Dazai pulls out a half-empty pen that Kyouka thinks has seen better days and he begins to scritch-scratch on the top paper. From here, Kyouka can tell he’s doodling, delaying his duties.
She finds herself staring at the ceiling, sleep but a thought as her eyes stay open. She wants to sleep, really she does, but it’s the middle of the day and her body’s always been one of habit. Never in her life has she taken a nap at a time like this, leaving her without the ability to lull into unconsciousness.
After a few moments, Dazai pulls something else out of his pocket. An old iPod, she notes. “Would music help?” he asks.
Kyouka nods. She’s never fallen asleep to music before, not unless her mother’s humming counts. But it’s been years since then, and the closest she’s gotten to music are the sounds of people talking, whether from Ane-san’s brothels or an Agency member’s TV speakers ringing through the walls.
Dazai hums as he scrolls through it then, with a click of a button, the music starts and Dazai sets his phone on the bed beside her. “Let me know if you’d like something different.”
It’s something foreign, something that takes a moment for her to place. French, calming folk songs that are easy on the ears and mind, a good amount of background noise without being overwhelming.
Before she lets sleep come to her, she side-eyes the brunet, who actively ignores the eyes on him even though she knows he feels them.
Without looking up, Dazai murmurs, “He might have terrible taste in fashion, but the chihuahua makes up for it in music taste.”
Kyouka wonders if Dazai stole the playlist directly from Chuuya or if he made it himself.
…
He’s too lazy for that, he definitely stole it.
And with that, she closes her eyes, trying to force her body into relaxing.
The music really does help, quickly distracting her thoughts and leveling her mind into a peaceful state.
The sound of Dazai’s writing leaves soon after, and she’s left in her head, any thoughts becoming more and more molasses-like with each measure of the music.
She doesn’t think she even finishes the second song by the time everything goes blissfully dark.
When she comes to, it’s dark in the room now. The blinds have been pulled down, but even from here, she can tell it’s night time outside.
Beside her shines a faint screen light coming from Dazai’s phone, the brightness turned all the way down. The music’s still playing from it, albeit lowered now. The man himself is looking down at it, unaware – no, probably aware – that she’s awake now.
It looks like he’s playing a game of some sorts, taps and swipes silent but aggressive. Then a notification pops in at the top (or, bottom for her) of the screen, and Dazai quickly taps on it.
She’s never seen him stop a game for a message. He always waits until after his round is over to answer back, and his rounds usually go very long.
He types something fast, but from here she can’t make out all the kanji to know what he’s saying, especially with them being upside down. Just before Dazai locks his phone, she catches an emoji at the top for the contact. It kind of looks like a–
“Awake, are we? How’d you sleep?” She moves her eyes up to meet Dazai’s.
“Good.” She blinks some more to fully wake up.
“No nightmares?”
She shakes her head. Even with the phone’s light turned off, she can still make out a kind smile lifting his face.
“Wonderful~. You barely twitched in your sleep the whole time, I was worried I might miss a sign to wake you up.”
“Dazai-san’s too observant to miss something like that.”
He lets out a chuckle. “You flatter me~. Are you ready to go to the dorms? Everyone’s left for the night.”
Oh wow, she really did sleep for a long time. “How long was I asleep?”
“Mm, around 5 hours? Give or take,” Dazai says, standing up and popping his back. That was a long time to sit in that plastic chair, she thinks, squinting at the now empty chair. “It was nothing, I assure you.” He winks at her.
She must have spoken out loud on accident. With a breath, she pushes herself up, stretching her arms up. She actually feels well-rested for once, the sluggishness she’s felt the past few days mostly gone as she gets out of bed.
Dazai remains close to her side as she does, one hand up in case she needs it. She doesn’t, but she also doesn’t want to deny his kindness. Grabbing her belongings that were placed on the bedside table next to the bed, she waits for Dazai to make sure he has everything too.
Even if she were to go ahead, she knows Dazai wouldn’t let her. Something about being a gentleman to a fair maiden in the city’s night streets (even if she used to prowl them alone when she was in the Port Mafia).
It doesn’t take long, and soon they’re out of the building heading down the street towards the Agency dorms nearby. It’s quiet, a tame evening with barely a breeze. Not cold enough for her to need a coat over her kimono, even if Dazai does offer his, to which she denies.
“I’m sure Atsushi-kun will be happy to see you,” Dazai says playfully, strides minimized to match her. “He couldn’t stop worrying about you; kept coming in every hour to check on you whenever he was able to escape Kunikida’s eyesight.”
Kyouka blinks. That sounds about right. Atsushi must have been so anxious. She hopes he didn’t stress too much over her. All she needed was a nap or two. Looking up, she asks,
“Dazai-san?”
He hums back, glancing down at her before looking back up at where they’re going.
“Tomorrow, lunch. I’ll buy it for you.”
Dazai skips a step ahead and spins on his heel, stopping to tap her head placatingly. “No, you won’t~”
“But I need to thank you–” She tries.
“You really don’t, Kyouka-chan, I promise.” He says, with the same kind smile he always wears when he denies himself something. Kyouka doesn’t like it.
“But–”
“No buts!” He twists around with a finger pointing up, continuing their walk. “I mean it. You’ve thanked me enough by making Atsushi-kun happy.” His smile shifts enough for her to know it’s genuine this time.
She hums. It’s nice to hear that Dazai does care about Atsushi. She’s always known that but the brunet really is ruthless with his teasing, even if it is out of affection. Though, to be fair, Atsushi is very easy to tease. Dazai probably likes to see what different reactions he can get out of the weretiger. Kunikida only ever gets mad, but Atsushi actually says something back. Reminds her of Chuuya-san… She looks back up again, straightening her posture. “Coffee.”
“Hmm?” Dazai looks back at her with a tilt of his head. They’re about a block from the dorms now.
“Let me pay you back with a coffee.”
“Kyouka-chan–” He sounds exasperated, but she’s not giving up.
“This weekend, the cafe two blocks down from the Agency on the corner. 11:00.” She stares at him, keeping her face impassive. Dazai won’t admit it but she knows he gets unnerved when people do that. It’s the only way she’ll be able to get him to agr–
“Fine,” Dazai bites, crossing his arms and looking away with a faux pout. Got him. He lifts his face up, as if that will make her rethink her mind. “Only because a young maiden like you asked.”
All Kyouka does is blink at him, and after a minute, he turns back with a grin and a wink. They’re in front of the parking lot beside the dorms now. They cross it, and Dazai insists he walk her to her door.
She doesn’t bother to argue, already knowing that it won’t work. She’s gotten her one request from him agreed to, and it was the most important one, so she’s okay with it.
At the door, Dazai knocks, three even taps reminiscent of Kunikida’s form of knocking.
“Kunikida-san, have you heard from–” Atsushi’s already talking as he pulls open the door. Barely a moment had passed between the knocks and his actions, telling Kyouka that the boy was either preparing to come to the Agency himself to check on her or was busy panicking beside the door while waiting for any news.
Kyouka pushes her way past the two, coming to stand next to Atsushi in the doorway. She turns to look back at Dazai.
“Atsushi-kun! How goes it?” Dazai asks, too fast for the white-haired boy to answer before plowing on, “I bring you one Kyouka-chan in great condition! Thank you for entrusting her to me~” And with that, the brunet bows at them.
“U-uh, yeah, no problem,” Atsushi stammers out. “Thanks for returning her…?”
Dazai nods along, overly pleased at having made Atsushi flustered. Kyouka takes a moment to bow herself with a polite “Thank you, Dazai-san.”
Dazai’s smile widens a little at that, and then he’s turning around to head to his own dorm, calling out, “Take care of her, Atsushi-kun~! And sleep well, Kyouka-chan!”
Beside her, Atsushi just sighs, yelling out a “Good night, Dazai-san!” and closing the door. Once it’s shut, he lets out a sigh and leans against it. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand that man…”
She huffs through her nose, fondness taking over for the boy in front of her. “He means well. I think.”
“I know, I know,” he sighs again, voice tired. He perks up, righting himself and gazing at her now. “Anyway, how are you? Are you feeling better?”
“Much.” She nods at him. Turning, she continues into their living space, Atsushi quickly following. In the room, she finds a futon laid beside hers and stops.
“A-ah, I thought maybe you would um– would like some, uh, company for the night,” Atsushi stutters as he turns red, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck in that way he does when he gets embarrassed. Kyouka doesn’t know why he is, though.
She lets a small smile form on her face. “I’d like that.”
“Oh! Great! We don’t have to go to bed right away if you’re not tired yet,” he rambles. “We can watch a movie or play games or–”
She helps him out. “A movie sounds nice.”
With that decided, she starts her routine to get ready for bed. After a good movie and another night of rest, she’ll find that her major troubles will be gone come morning.