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“Your hands are freezing, Peko-chan!” Junko noted aloud, grazing her fingers along Peko’s palm. “Why are you so cold?”
“I'm fine,” Peko deadpanned. “It’s not cold here.”
Junko grinned teasingly. “You sure? Your sweater’s awfully thin. I could give you my coat.”
“Then you’d be cold.”
“What if I liked this kind of weather?”
Peko’s eyes narrowed. “...You don’t.”
Junko slipped her coat off her shoulders and set it in the space between her and Peko on the bench. “You must not know me at all.”
Peko watched through her peripheral vision, making no attempt to retrieve the coat.
“You’re shivering,” Junko said, nudging Peko.
“You are also shivering,” Peko retaliated.
“Don’t you think one of us should put it on, then?”
“It’s yours.”
Junko pouted. “But I’m asking you to!”
“I’m under no obligation to you.”
“Then why don't you leave?”
“I have nowhere else to be.”
“Really?” Junko probed. “Where’s Kuzuryu-senpai, then? Away on business in the middle of the school year?”
Peko’s face became dusted with pink. “My master is...on campus. It would be unwise of me to reveal his exact whereabouts while I am not in his company.”
“So why aren’t you with him?”
“...”
“Aww!” Junko erupted in giggles before Peko could produce an answer, clinging onto her arm. “You like me so much you’re ditching your boyfriend! Am I that special to you, Peko-chan?”
Peko’s eyes narrowed. In one motion, she picked up the coat and placed it in Junko’s lap. “I’ll return to my post in a moment,” Peko said. “Please put this on.”
“Please?” Junko chuckled. “I thought you were the servant. Am I taking orders from you now?”
“This is not an order,” Peko murmured. “I’m...advising you.”
“Have you considered that I’d be worse off putting this on than if I left it here?” Junko's reply came across as more of an accusation than a question.
“That’s absurd.”
Junko hummed, tone deceptively airy. “That’s what you think. But you really don’t have any idea what’s going on inside my head, do you? You’ve already decided what’s best for me. How convenient!”
Peko’s voice became edged with hostility. “You’re being unreasonable. My logic is sound: it’s near-freezing outside, and your underlayer appears to be extremely thin.”
“It sounds like you believe that you’re quite tolerant to the cold, Peko-chan. But what if you were weaker than you thought? What if I was stronger than you? What would you do?”
“...You’re constructing hypotheticals.”
Junko clicked her tongue. “You really don’t know me one bit, do you?”
Peko clenched her jaw. “I don't need to."
“Do you know Kuzuryu-senpai?”
“Of course I do.”
“Do you really? Or do you know the version of him that you made up in your head?”
“...I—”
“—‘Cause it seems to me like you have a real hard time understanding anyone’s feelings but your own.”
Peko put on the coat.