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Kotoko Yuzuriha was a somewhat intimidating woman. While not quite antisocial, she certainly couldn’t be described as friendly. She never smiled, and kept everyone at a distance.
Essentially, she was Mikoto’s opposite. Which was sort of ironic, given they had similar names.
But this only made him more determined to get to know her. Surely, being such a lone wolf must get, well, lone-ly. Wolves and humans are both social creatures after all.
It was especially important for everyone to get along in such stressful situations. Therefore, Mikoto, ever the people-person, vowed to cut through Kotoko’s icy exterior and befriend her. It was their destiny as the Koto-Koto duo!
And so, he was pleased at the fact that Kotoko seemed to be humouring him a bit more than usual today. Even though she sounded a tad hoarse, Mikoto noted.
“I’m a designer at a big advertising company. What do you do, Koto? Do you have a job? What school do you go to?”
“... I studied law.”
“Oh, I can see that! Lawyer Koto~! You are a very serious and studious person.”
“But then I dropped it when I lost interest. I haven’t attended university since.”
“H-Huh?! You just dropped out for no reason?”
“No, I simply put my education on hold for something more important.”
“That being…?”
“... I’ll leave that up to your imagination.”
“Ah, always so mysterious…” He scratched his chin. “Hmm, maybe… you had to take care of a sickly family member? Yep! I bet that’s it. Deeeep down, you’re just a bleeding heart!”
“Never play poker with that intuition. Although, it’s not to say I don’t care about the weak.”
“Oh? So you are a bleeding heart then.”
“Still the wrong takeaway.” Kotoko sighed. “I don’t know why I’m even talking to you in the first place…”
She turned around to leave. Mikoto was about to apologize for teasing her too much and ask that she stay. But before could even open his mouth-
“’choo!”
“… Di-Did you just sneeze?” He giggled. “That’s your sneeze? It’s so cute~! Like a puppy with a snowflake on its nose!”
“Say that again and I’ll- a-CHOO!”
And you’ll ‘a-CHOO’? Man, I better watch out! Mikoto had enough sense to keep the obvious joke to himself. Especially as his concern was starting to outweigh his amusement.
“Koto, Are you feeling alright?”
“Of course. I suppose I’m a bit allergic to something today,” Kotoko lightly wiped her face with the back of her hand. “It’s annoying, but I’m f-a-CHOO-’CHOO-’CHOOooo!”
“... Maybe I should get Shidou…”
“No.” She kept on walking as though she didn’t just have a massive sneezing fit.
“Wait, Koto! Even if you’re not sick, wouldn’t it be for the best if you saw a doctor just to be sure?”
“I don’t need anyone else seeing me like this, I know how to handle myself.”
“Won’t you at least let me make you a soup or something? I have loads of experience taking care of my little sister when she would get sick and mom was busy. You can trust me!”
“So noisy…” He couldn’t tell if that was her usual expression of annoyance or if her head was feeling sensitive. “I can make my own damn soup. The best thing you can do right now is leave me be. And don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.” He lowered his tone just in case. “But, since I already know, why can’t I help? You’ll recover faster if you don’t push yourself too much.”
“I already told you,” She cleared her throat to cover a cough. “I’m not sick.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you so persistent, Mikoto Kayano?”
“I just want to help you. Why do you have to find everything so suspicious?”
“Hm…” Kotoko's hostile ruby gaze remained fixed on him for an agonizingly long period of time. Scrutinizing him up and down, before it eventually softened. “I could use a soup.”