Even painting couldn’t take his mind off of yesterday’s events. Not that he was painting much in the first place. Aki stared at the mess of a canvas, the idle brushstrokes that he was still slapping onto it. Gross. Perhaps he could pass it off as an abstract piece? He doubted it. Even splatter paintings had some sort of balance to them. This… this was just a mess. Speaking of messes…

Aki sent a glance out the window, spying a haggard looking Yamamoto by the gate. He looked terrible, a lot more than usual. 

His club room was destroyed. The year’s efforts, all blown to dust and debris. Numerous members injured and four missing. He must’ve been distraught. Aki found himself wondering if he would be as affected if the same thing happened to the art club. In all honesty, probably not. Definitely not. It was nothing personal. He meant that in the most literal way possible. If it didn’t directly affect or injure him, then it wasn’t his problem. The same applied for Yamamoto-kun.

Why else would he have called them here? His condition was indication enough it was about his missing club members. Aki scowled. It wasn’t like Yamamoto was going to gather them in a little circle to have a nice, uneventful chat about yesterday’s events over some of that rancid coffee. It was more probable that he wanted to investigate that strange place and save his friends. And once again, it wasn’t Aki’s problem.

He sighed and slapped down his brush. If it really was the latter situation, then worse come to worst, Aki would have to politely decline. After everything he lost, Yamamoto deserved a face-to-face explanation. It was the least he deserved. After giving the club president a heads up about his five-minute break, Aki headed down to the school gate.

Yikes, Yamamoto looked even worse up close. He was visibly shaking and sleep deprived. Aki had his fair share of the latter last night too. Cautiously, awkwardly even, Aki approached him.

[color=82ca9d]“Um, I got your text, Yamamoto-kun. Is everything alright?”[/color]

Aki hoped to God that Yamamoto wouldn’t request what he suspected he was going to ask.