[center][h1][color=black]T[/color]OTSUKA [color=black]R[/color]YUSEI
[color=black]戸[/color]塚 [color=black]竜[/color]星[/h1][/center]
[hr][right][color=gray]we're not alone. there's nothing and everything out there all at once.
i can hear them scratching. it's getting closer. i'm scared.[/color][/right][hr]

[indent]With little to do but watch the endless grey expanse above and listen, that was exactly what Ryusei did. What she said about the town certainly rang true—his folks had already sent him his first week's allowance, and even discounting the extra twenty five thousand in guilt money his mother had slipped in, he was punching a lot higher here than back in Kobe. Not that he had much to spend it on in the first place, discount rib tips and chips aside. He idly wondered if his pride would even allow him to spend it on something nice if he even found something; it wasn't the first time his family attempted to buy his love, and considering they had just condemned him to a year in proverbial hell, the envelopes that showed up every Monday sure felt like bribe money. Thankfully, Shiori gave him an out from the tempest of negativity whirling about in his mind. 
  
[color=c0c0c0]"Yeah, can't imagine how a grass fire could have started around here. Maybe somebody dropped a cigarette or something."[/color]

Implications of accidental arson aside, he continued to listen as his... acquaintance? Continued her sad tale. It felt wrong to call her a friend, considering the briefness of their time together and the standoffish vibe that permeated pretty much every moment of it. Not that he had any right to complain about it, considering his own behavior. But it took two to tango, and he was sure Shiori would balk at the idea if he had so much as implied it. Maybe that was why she had no friends. At least his absentminded probing into her personal life blew open the doors of conversation, and she posed the same question back at him. He grimaced for a short moment, but eventually acquiesced, deciding it wasn't worth getting huffy over. It wasn't like his friends had ditched him—it was he who had to ditch them.

[color=c0c0c0]"Yeah, I had a few. Bunch of scumbags I'd hang out with after school. Or, more often than not, when we skipped. Used to get into a lot of bullshit with them, but they always had my back, so they were good enough guys,"[/color] There was almost a hint of a smile on his lips as he thought back to all the trouble he'd gotten up to with his little gang of miscreants. One which only turned self-deprecating as thought about his love life. 

[color=c0c0c0]"Shockingly enough, for as much as girls throw their legs open at the sight of me, I don't. Probably for the best. Poor girl would've been broken by the loss if I had—how can you go back to flank when you've had prime rib?"[/color] He joked, although he couldn't exactly let her get away with reminding him of his lack of fairer companionship, [color=c0c0c0]"Why're you askin'? Lookin' to try your luck?"[/color][/indent]