Angelina Jackson & Shiro Kawabata
Lina called out cheerfully to her boss, as she transfered the empty glasses and dishes from the platter to the sink, before running towards the backroom. Changing out from her waitress outfit to her more casual dress like outfit, dark blue in color, she left the cafe. Although, not before she swiped a strawberry-banana smoothie from the counter.
Between being busy with sudden workloads, and catching up with missed homework, she hadn't had as much free time as she would like to go about as she pleased. However, all that changed now, as she had finally finished up everything.
"Ehehe~ it's about time I played around~!" Laughing, she wandered around the hallways of the school, smiling as she past by people, who looked at her in curiosity. After all, it's not often you see a foreign girl walking around with a smoothie on hand. However, her musings were distracted by the sound of something impacting a hard object, most likely a door being slammed. Turnng her head this way and that, she started moving towards the source of the noise.
Turning the corner, she beheld an unusual sight, of a person curled up in a ball, with the bystanders passing by glancing at that ball of despair with an odd look. Shifting closer, she blinked in surprise, recognizing the form of Shiro.
"Ara?". Voicing out her awe, she moved over, and only stopped when she was standing beside Shiro.
"It's unusual to see you like this."Wow, the student was in such denial that he started hearing the distant voice of his boss, friend, and partner in crime. Except... it didn't sound that distant.
"Oh no, don't tell me I'm so down in the dumps that I'm actually imagining her voice now." But then the voice that carried the familiar tone spoke again, this time even closer, as if the owner was right by his side. With his mind still atoning for his errors, Shiro lethargically peaked out from the haven made out of his crossed arms.
A lone eye of empty slate suddenly regained its luster and widened as the girl next to him came into focus.
"Lina...?" He questioned in a detached bearing, staring at the girl in disbelief. By subconsciously scrutinizing her, he noted the fact that she wasn't in her school uniform.
"Well... Things have kinda gone down hill. I'm kinda in a headlock right now. Definitely not firing at full cylinders right now." His words trailed off as he rested his chin on his arms, still disheartened.
"I'm trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong, but more so, I don't know which category I fall into." Obviously the boy was conflicted, unsure if even his own morals could be deemed valid.
Lina's expression became one of concern, as she heard her friends words. What sounded like a simple problem, became one of almost pilosophical in nature. There weren't alot of ways a person could cheer them up, as solving these kidns of problems almost always entirely relied on the depressed person in question.
"Reality is horrible game..." Muttering softly to herself, Lina sat down beside Shiro, her legs straight.
A faint wry grin took form on Shiro's complexion,
"Eh? Never expected those words to come out of your mouth." He commented as he laid his head back against the wall, then continued as he glanced over to his friend,
"Though I never expected these to come out of mine either. Yeesh, today's been worse than walking on glass." Although, Eris probably wasn't feeling too hot either right now as well. Hell, Aaron didn't even shoot him a passing gaze before he ran off. At least he had the strength to walk on his own two feet, unlike somebody.
"..." For once, even Lina didn't have something witty to retort back. She couldn't find the right words to voice, to help the situation. Or actually, rather, she didn't have to. Struck with a sudden thought, she smiled, before sighing.
"Just this once, you get a reward without needing to work." Without even waiting for a response, she set down the smoothie beside her, before grabbing Shiro by the shoulders, and pulled him down towards her, setting his head gently on her lap.
What was this feeling of pacification? There's no way a deity could be responsible for devising the building blocks for this sensation. Shiro blankly blinked, registering how quickly his perspective had changed. At times like these, the boy would break his easygoing character and act all flustered, and every time Lina would make the same exact playful giggle that would only add insult to injury. But instead of flying out of her lap and sticking to the ceiling, he quietly laid there.
"I've missed you." He briefly murmured before a sigh escaped his lips.
This time choosing to refrain from teasing the boy to much, Lina only silently stroked her hand through his hair, whispering
"Good work, you deserved a break." before holding the smoothie in front of Shiro's eye.
Lina was right. He deserved a break. As his eye followed the motion of the fluid supported by her hand, Shiro wanted nothing more than to lie there and just have a soothing conversation with the girl. But in spite of this, no matter how much a break was warranted, he couldn't have one. Not yet at least. He didn't deserve to bury all of the faults he had committed while enjoying the luxury of a delightful smoothie and a loyal friend. It was time to make amends.
And that time would come in five minutes. C'mon. Don't judge.
Setting aside a half-empty smoothie, Shiro sprung up onto his feet, invigorated by his friend's efforts. Having completely shifted gears, his expression shined with an almost blinding radiance
"Thanks, I really needed that, boss!" He kindly smiled as he held an outstretched hand to Lina.
"C'mon, we've got a friend to make!"Lina tilted her head in confusion.
"A friend to make?" Surprised by the unusual plans, rather than the sudden invigoration. Was this perhaps what was causing her friend such depression?
"While I enjoy such enthusiasm, can I get a bit more context, by chance?"Shiro nodded, taking in the query. Of course she'd have a few questions, any normal human being would. Taking the girl's hand, he helped her off the floor and began to turn towards the clubroom door,
"I'll explain on the way. Too many ears around here." He was referring to the students, specifically the uninvolved passerbys. The door energetically flew open, Ken and Akane's heads instantly swiveled in the direction of the noise. Before either of them could speak, Shiro delved into speech while pointing at Ken,
"Ken, I need you to log into DGO and organize a few teams to help other Strykers out with missions." He then fixated the finger on Akane,
"Moody tsundere- "I will fucking end you" can you check our stockpile and compile a list of armaments, ammunition, and resources we will need in the near future?" Of couse the latter was the one to pipe up in skepticism,
"And what will you be doing while we're slaving away? By the way, who's that girl behind you?"Shiro grinned at the question,
"We're playing diplomat! Oh, she's somebody very trustworthy. I'll introduce the two of you later. We gotta bounce." His two comrades looked at each other then back at him, extremely confused.
"She's a Sweeper too, isn't she?" The boy quickly glanced back out the hallway, confirming there was no traffic at that certain moment and replied with a quick nod. Akane sighed and soon found her face in her palm, then waved them off with her other.
"Jeez, alright! Just go. Leave it to us, we'll touch base with the other squad leaders."With Akane's blessing, the two were off. Shiro had unconsciously taken Lina by one hand and the smoothie by the other, then proceeded out of the school.
Shiro took as many shortcuts as reality allowed to reach the Shopping Arcade, not even allowing Lina nor himself a moment of respite, all the while filling her in on the past few days of mayhem, especially dwelling on their reason for venturing to the mall today. Time was of the essence, but in their hurried escapade, they soon arrived at their destination. Although they were not completely there mentally, almost completely out of breath.
"Alright... Where is it..." He asked aloud in between gasps. The boy's gaze began to meticulously scan the various shops of the locus. Finally his vision honed in on the object of his search, a certain book with a blank white cover. And sitting next to it were two girls. One with platinum blonde locks, and the other with those of velvet.
Shiro silently motioned for his friend to follow, and after pacing his way over to the cafe and opened up,
"You know, I don't think Nietzche ever imagined that his works would still have devoted friends all of these years later. I was thinking of picking up a few of his books for myself. "Human, All Too Human" definitely piqued my interest." He gave the two an affable smile, and deduced that the one closer to the book was Eris. He pulled out a chair for Lina then introduced himself,
"I'm Shiro Kawabata. I'm Paper Moon, minus an eye..." He began carefully, speaking as politely as possible.
His identity was something that was rarely disclosed, and even more in an open manner. But given enough time, most people could make the connection after seeing the two counterparts in short succession. Shiro knew either of them would realize it at some point, so he saved them some time. In an adroit motion the boy bowed before the two,
"...and I humbly ask for your forgiveness!" He would have followed etiquette and introduced Lina to the two, but right now, he wanted to make it clear that derision was out of the question.
Introducing oneself right after an apology might be a little odd, but now was a better time then never.
"I'm Lina~ the current escortee of Shiro here~" tightly holding onto Shiro with one hand, her other hand waved daintily alongside a wink.
@KoL@Mega Birb@Caits@Jedly
