kaori
mei.
Kaori hadn't noticed Naito's tomato-red face and blown away reaction next to her -- she had just thought he would take the gesture, perhaps coldly, and leave it at that. He didn't seem much like the kind for an abundance of physical interaction anyways, and she tended to assume the worst with basically everything. She couldn't bring herself to look at him again, for the time being. She was too worried about his response to do that. So, the girl simply allowed herself to remain in her position. Slowly and progressively, her eyelids drooped, feeling the pull of sleep coming on. Kaori had an awful habit of falling asleep in random places. Sometimes, she thought it was narcolepsy -- chronic drowsiness during the day -- but she had a strong feeling it was just her depression. She had grown used to it, and didn't fight it at this point.
Before the small girl could fall into a nap state, a shift in the view in front of her made her eyes snap back open, surprising her. Sat in front of her by a sharp, stiff hand were two of the most beautiful onigiri she'd ever laid eyes on. She blinked and rose her head in complete shock, glancing aside at the person who'd put them in front of her -- and, evidently, it was the very same boy she'd been fearing just a couple seconds ago, Naito. His expression was stern, and his eyes were on her, making her shoulders droop inward to her normal tense position, as if shrinking away. "Take it." Her head twitched to the side subtly, feeling a bit threatened by his tone of voice, like a dog who'd just done something wrong. The boy took a quick bite of his sandwich, adjusted his glasses, and continued speaking to her.
"Please. It's just extra food that I won't eat. So take it."
She blinked, still stuck in a state of surprise. Slowly, with her cheeks growing redder and redder, she looked at the rice balls, registering what his gesture was. And when she realized, she seemed to react with a tiny notion of horror at the sight of the food.
As if an automatic instinct, she began to protest, her voice rising a bit in anxiety, "I-I - " But, suddenly, she stopped herself from reaching for the onigiri to give them back. That was quite a rude thing to do, push away a kind gesture just because it conflicted with her habits. It wasn't at all obvious to the onlookers surrounding her, with her baggy clothing, but Kaori was an extremely skinny young woman -- too skinny. She practically never ate, to the point where she could be considered borderline anorexic. Why she didn't eat was a mix of excuses and reasons -- she just didn't feel hungry, she didn't like whatever food she was being given (which was all food), etcetera, etcetera. The real reason was that those little pessimistic voices in her head always told her that she didn't deserve it. And they were speaking up now, trying to get her to push the food away and continue going hungry.
But .. this time, like a rare few other times, she won. She couldn't push away a kindness, from this boy especially. It felt like it was difficult to do that, with the tenseness in his features and the red in his cheeks making it more obvious. She could be a normal human being for once.
" .. Thank you." Her voice was back to its soft tone, except now it held a notion of gratitude, to reaffirm her thanks. Her hands slowly reached out to unwrap the lovely onigiri, gently pulling the Saran wrap open, before they hesitantly took one of the fresh rice balls. She was handling it more like a small, frightened animal than anything, as this was a bit foreign to her. She did eat sometimes, enough to keep her alive and to give her et least a little meat on her bones, but not nearly enough. The girl rose the onigiri to her lips and took a very small bite off of the side, giving the onigiri a taste.
Her eyes had closed, but they opened wide with appreciation and wonder. When was the last time she'd eaten something so calm and good? When was even the last time she'd eaten at all? Maybe two days ago? She couldn't even recall, but the rice ball she ate now made her remember how nice it was to eat. She swallowed, and took another bigger bite, enjoying the texture and flavor of the rice ball as she chewed slowly. You could have sworn she was eating the most rare, expensive food in the world with the way she was handling it, sucked into the moment.
It was even evident to people other than Kaori that this was a special moment, indicated by the shocked gaze of Cho now on Kaori. Cho never saw Kaori eat at school -- maybe once or twice, but those occasions were very few and far between. Cho had always had a feeling that it wasn't necessarily healthy to not be eating basically all day, every day, and now, Cho's gaze moved to the boy who'd given it to her. It was Naito. Her gaze shifted, to become a grateful one, as her eyes rested on the boy. She herself had never been assertive enough with Kaori to get her to eat anything, and she was very thankful that Naito had managed to coax her into it somehow. Or maybe it was just Kaori accepting it to be nice .. but it was obvious with the uncharacteristically content look on Kaori's face that it was the right decision. She was really enjoying it.
As Kaori slowly ate the first morsel, Raiden, the tallest of the group, spoke up about Naito. "She just got here, and you already are hitting on her. And you say I have guts."
Kaori stopped, freezing in her spot. Her cheeks bloomed red and her eyes shot open. What? In her surprise, her eyes turned towards the boy who looked with a scolding expression towards Naito. Cho also heard Rai's comment, and her gaze went from doting on Naito to irritated on Rai. Sometimes, that boy really got on her nerves. She tried hard to be positive, but it felt like Rai sometimes just had to not talk. Of course, Cho knew it was once in a blue moon that Rai was quiet about things. Before Cho could speak up, she noticed that Kaori's hands were noticeably shaking with the rice ball in them. Her expression shifted immediately to concern. What was going on? She began to ask softly, " .. Mei? .. "
"You - " Kaori's voice shook. A surge of something she usually didn't express washed through her -- indignant anger. Why was Naito always singled out? Even just in the short time she'd known this group, they all seemed to gang up on the boy when he tried to do anything. She set the half-eaten rice ball down shakily, her hands clenching into fists for a second, feeling a force take over that usually was kept locked back into the depths of her heart. Her hands opened, pushed down against the table, and she shot up, standing now with a sharp gaze turned onto the boy who looked down at Naito that way. Her voice shook, but held a determined, straightforward tone as she rose her voice and spoke.
"You need to stop being so mean to him."
Cho, and basically the entire table, fell silent then. She absolutely was no match for this boy. His height alone scared her, as it was his first advantage in terms of a fight, but in that moment, the worry of all of that was gone. Naito was so much like her -- difficulty speaking up, singled out by everybody.
But as the anger passed, and the silence became more noticeable and evident, Kaori realized what a mistake she'd just made. Her expression began to cool, and shift to a look of half horror, half pure anxiety. Her tall stance shrunk back down as she looked around at the people of the table, feeling a sense of dread. They'd all hate her now, especially the tall boy. What if Cho hated her too? A flustered nervousness overtook Kaori, completely taken aback by her own behavior. "H-he was just being nice -- I -- " She stepped away from the table, still stood. "I-I'm sorry -- I'm sorry -- " Abruptly, Kaori spun herself around and walked fast away from the table, a petrified look on her face. God, she was so stupid, why did she let that happen?
"Mei!" Cho shot up then, watching Kaori stiffly walk away. She shot a sharp glance at Rai, but didn't bother with scolding him in that moment -- instead, Cho hastily said, "I need to go talk to her," and quickly left the table herself, practically running after Kaori in her worry. The others would understand, she hoped, at least. "Mei, wait!"
Kaori had made it halfway across the courtyard before Cho caught up to her. "Mei, what happened back there? Are you okay?" Cho took Kaori's shoulder, and Kaori stopped. Her eyes were glistening with tears. She turned to Cho and spoke shakily again, "I didn't mean to do that, I-I don't know what happened -- Naito was just trying to be nice and that other boy just made him feel bad for it, a-and it made me angry and I tried to hold it back but -- " She sniffled. "Oh my God, he must hate me, that boy must hate me. I was just trying to defend Naito, he was trying his best -- " She wiped her eyes. This was so unlike her. Usually, these feelings were compressed back into her heart like she was used to doing, but she seemed to have connected to the situation in a way that evoked emotion from her.
"Kaori." Cho had placed both of her hands on Kaori's shoulders, and Kaori looked up at Cho with a reddened face and a tear streaming down her cheek. The use of her first name took her by surprise. Cho's expression was serious, but soft. "Rai shouldn't have said that, he was in the wrong. He can say stupid things sometimes .. " Memories of other occasions like that came to her. "Th-they don't even know me though! They probably think I'm awful, they -- " Kaori's ranting was interrupted by Cho's grip on her shoulders tightening.
"Kaori, my friends aren't like that." Her voice, instead of being serious, was now calmer, but desperate, trying to help Kaori calm down. "I promise, they don't hate you. They don't just suddenly hate people that way, they aren't like the really mean popular kids you always hear about. I promise." Kaori's sniffling slowed and softened, blinking at Cho with a very conflicted, unsure expression on her face. "You need to trust me, okay?" Kaori blinked, sniffing again. Her heart, beating at a thousand miles per hour, began to calm down with the comforting words of Cho. Kaori had followed Cho into a couple of strange situations, but it was not a lie that Kaori trusted Cho more than most people. Wiping away the threatening tears, her face started to fade slowly away from the red it was becoming. " .. I .. " Kaori glanced hesitantly back to the group in the distance. " .. Are .. you sure? .. "
Cho, realizing her words had worked in cooling Kaori down, took a deep breath, smiling with relief at Kaori. "Yeah, of course I'm sure. I know them better than anybody." Cho pulled Kaori into a gentle hug, which Kaori slowly returned after a second. "You take some time to collect yourself, okay? I'll go back and explain to everybody what's happening." Kaori, feeling a bit silly now at such a dramatic reaction to everything, sniffed once more and nodded slowly. Cho was good with words, so Kaori wouldn't have to worry about that. Cho let herself release Kaori and started back towards the table with her friends. Their understanding natures wasn't a lie to make Kaori feel better -- all of her close friends were genuinely good people. They just needed to be briefed about certain things before they could start to work on them.
Cho sat back down in her spot, and began to speak to everybody, raising her voice so all at the table could hear, "She's fine. She just took the teasing the wrong way and got angry." She glanced to Raiden, saying, "And she apologizes for raising her voice to you -- she just didn't like how Naito has been teased." Her voice was meaningful as she said this to Rai, hoping, and fairly sure, that he understoof. She turned back to the rest of the group spoke to everybody again as she said, "Kaori is a very sensitive person to things like teasing, even if it's just playful, so we should probably tone it down on the jokes that might seem rude to strangers. She takes some patience and time to adjust to, but I swear she's a super caring girl when you get to know her more .. she's just met us, so lets include her and just be nice to each other, okay?" The way that Cho spoke concluded that nobody should ask questions as to why Kaori was that way -- they didn't need to hear that from Cho.
As Cho briefed the rest of the group, Kaori let her face grow back to its normal color and wiped away the remainder of her tears. She had to be brave again. Cho was taking the time to be so inclusive and sweet to Kaori, she couldn't just take something like that for granted. A minute or so passed of Kaori just getting herself back in order, trying to return to her placid, passive state again, fixing her hair and rubbing her eyes. The sniffling ceased finally, and she turned back around slowly, starting a very cautious walk back to the table she'd just had a scene at. Even if it was short, it was a scary walk, but she had to trust Cho with this.
Once she was approaching the table, she made her way back to her spot between Cho and Naito and sat down slowly, glancing at everybody with a caution. She blinked and looked down at the table's surface. " .. " A pause happened before she said quietly, " .. Sorry for .. that." Her tone was obviously asking for forgiveness, and Cho placed a gentle hand on her arm, glancing around at everybody and expecting their forgiveness to come pouring out of all of them. They were such nice people, she had a feeling they would take it kindly now that it was explained to them.