Realistic or Modern 𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 [ic]

[triples]

...

ellipsis

triples x uxie

 

[triples]

11.04.2021

I.

My world is full of color.

Every turn down a new road is like looking into another kaleidoscope; dizzying shades colliding, converging, weaving an abstract and abstruse pattern. I see the saturated fog before I hear them laugh, or cry, or scream. I stand in a crowd, and it is like I am standing under the stained glass roof of a desolate church, taking in their shimmering hues, alone.

I am always alone.

I am always the single audience to this chaotic stage, watching, knowing. And then, moving on.

My world is full of color, but not the beautiful kind.

。。。

镜宇

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

school garden

Dust that glimmered under the warm stream of sunlight and a cacophony of petals, playing a stark melody against the quiet background of viridescent blurs — or so went the ideal composition of the image in his head. And it would have come true, if not for the random intrusion of a dark head of hair, presumably attached to somebody lying in the grass, disrupting his perfect picture in nonchalant ignorance.

Jingyu looked up from the camera screen that his gaze had been attached to for the better part of the past half hour, squinting under the instant attack of the afternoon sun. As his vision adjusted, he could barely make out the features of the figure and, as they shifted slightly, the name tag on the school uniform. He shouldn't have needed to focus so hard to see those things, as close as he was, but he'd been needing glasses for a while. He had decided to forgo them all this time, because, well, why would he want to see even clearer than he already did? Or so he convinced himself. Moments like this made him reconsider.

Still, he could recognize the girl. Surprisingly, since Jingyu couldn't name half his classmates on a good day, though his success this time was more to be attributed to her popularity. Han Daiya was, in his limited memory of her, flawlessly social and constantly smiling. And perpetually fake. All blank eyes and artificial laughter; a colorless girl.

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he glanced down at his camera, still half-heartedly pointed in her direction. He could always see the colors better through the lenses, even the faded, or lingering ones. Or, he frowned, hidden ones. But he hadn't seen that since that day-

A pause. He flinched. Blinked. Stared at the screen a little harder, a little too long. Watched, as she sat up and turned around, as she stared back, in confusion and disbelief. Watched as she stood up and stomped towards him, flickering with finally come bit of color at last, taking a step back for every step that she took towards him, before finally turning tail to escape. He didn't think he could handle a casual conversation with her after what he saw.

He'd never seen a heart so black before.

"hello"

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

the photography room

"What do you think, Dai-dai?" Were they passing 2B? They must be, considering the expectant glances in her direction, though they surely looked through her at the boys that gave the trio curious stares as they passed by the classroom— Waiting eagerly for her response, so they could give their little laughs and tight squeezes on her arm like they were the closest of friends.

She would humour them, as she always did.

"Ah, I don't know."

she said, plastering on the vacant little smile she had become so accustomed to wearing. It was a satisfactory answer for whatever conversation they were having, and the girls matched their script beautifully, a routine that Daiya had come to both expect and resent for its consistency.

Her gaze drifted, flitting up to the signs that hung just above the door of each classroom. Had the photography room always been on this floor?

The boy. From this morning. And the elusive pictures he had stolen of her on his damned camera.

Daiya glanced into the room as they passed, her mind musing at the low odds that he might actually be in there off such a loose connection, though a figure within made her pause.

"I need to use the bathroom,"

The girls, too, stopped in their tracks, exchanging a hesitant glance at each other, then to her. Unspoken words of reluctance in their eyes that she knew were on the tips of their tongues. She would save them the trouble.

"You guys go ahead."

There was no protest (not that she had expected any), and Daiya watched with indifference as their backs disappeared down the stairs, the sound of their shallow chatters blended into the rest of the school's ambience. A hasty look-around, perhaps one befitting of a criminal, before she slipped quietly into the dim room.

His back was to her, but she estimated they were around the same height. Even the way he slouched was reminiscent of the mousy, dodgy way he'd fled the scene. It should be him. Was it?

"Hey, were you..."

she called out, her voice light and careful to not bear animosity regardless of the irritation begging to be let free,

"...By any chance, the boy in the garden this morning? With— with the camera?"

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

club room

The club room was empty, as it often was. Quiet, peaceful. Jingyu was always glad for it. He was always glad to have some respite from people, and he was sure they were glad to have respite from him, too. Nobody liked to be around as colourless an existence as he was — as he preferred himself to be.

Today, though, the tranquility of the room failed to comfort him the way he hoped it would, and neither did the photographs flitting across the screen. He was looking through them, but he wasn't really looking. He was thinking of a girl, a dark cloud, and the meaning of it all. Jingyu had thought he'd learnt to stop caring about new colours and their significance since quite the while ago, but now it seemed he'd really just not seen one new enough.

Absorbed in his own musings, he hardly registered the soft creak of the opening door behind him. Even if he had noticed, he surely would've thought nothing of it, because the only people who came to this room were the sparse fellow members of the photography club. As those who had arguably had the most interaction with him since high school begun, they had long since moved past any attempts to make small talk, through the whispers & sideway glances that weren't subtle enough, and into a mute acceptance of his equally mute presence.

"Hey, were you..."

A high voice gets his attention the way the door couldn't. His hand freezes on the buttons. She sounded familiar in a distant way and the words she says next tells him why:

"...By any chance, the boy in the garden this morning? With— with the camera?"

Like frames on a glitching video, Jingyu took way too many milliseconds to straighten up and even more to turn around to face her piercing stare. Like karma around the bend or death with a list, she caught up to him, in the end. Her demure, pretty features and quiet tone were useless; he could see the shades of irritation buzzing around her like a warning sign.

"I..."

he debates the merits of lying briefly, but decides against it,

"I am, yeah. Why?"

His hands wrapped a little tighter around his camera, despite the strap around his neck that ensured nothing could separate him and it. He paused to wonder why she would even bother looking for him, actually, when nothing much had transpired between them in the garden other than his awkward escape.

"Oh. Oh, I didn't- I didn't take a picture of you, if that's what you're after,"

he continued, growing warier still when he saw spots of determination flicker around her, though his tone remained rather apathetic. Let's just get out of here, the voice in his head urged, and he weighed his options: slipping past her somehow through that narrow door, or trying to persuade her to leave him alone.

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

the photography room

As she thought.

She offered him a gentle smile, a fruitless attempt to ease his nerves, though it grew wider as he stammered on as if mirroring her irritation.

"Oh. Oh, I didn't- I didn't take a picture of you, if that's what you're after."

Daiya noted the way his fingers' muscles flared against the surface of the camera. Tense, wasn't he? Not a people-person, maybe, or someone trying to dubiously lie his way through.

"I see,"

she said, nodding understandingly as her eyes widened in innocent curiosity,

"Could I still... see the photos you took, though?"

Her gaze flicked down from his face to the camera in his hands, then back.

A drop of silence hung in the air, the quiet shuffle of his foot against the tile floor. And the laughter, behind her, somewhere off in the hallway but growing closer by the second.

What was she doing here?

Daiya stared him down a breath longer, before the smile fell and her hands reached out, deftly grabbing the camera. He let out a noise as the strap around his neck tightened, the groan falling onto uncaring ears as she fiddled ineptly with the camera.

"People like you..."

she murmured in a hushed tone, finally finding her way to the gallery and flicking through the photos with a keen eye. Searching for any semblance of her figure amidst the numerous shots of flora, but there were none— not even a lock of hair visible.

Her gaze lifted from the camera, shooting him a glare. There was no way he'd been telling the truth, surely?

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

club room

A flicker of disbelief cut into her agitated hues; not a sign of somebody you want to be confronted by.

"Could I still... see the photos you took, though?"

She requested, and if he wasn't concerned that she would simply snatch it away from him, he might've hesitated less to agree, just to prove himself as truthful — the way her eyes fixed on his camera, however, instilled in him some trepidation.

And he was right to be scared. Hardly a moment past between the sound of her words and the sight of her outstretched hands closing in on his neck, along with the disorienting feeling of being yanked downwards, leaving Jingyu dazed by the sudden switch in the Daiya's persona. He stared blankly as she scrolled through the pictures, rapidly at first but slowing down as, surely, she realized she wasn't featured in any of the shots, after all.

He chewed on his bottom lip — he'd done it too often today, it was on the edge of bleeding — trying to find the right time to retrieve his camera from her hold. It failed to come, until her fingers paused on the buttons and her glare finally moved from the camera onto him. In the background, he heard the bell go off, and the buzz of the hallway lift and reside like a wave.

"Anyway,"

he muttered, grabbing the camera and tugging, thankfully removing it from her now-loose grip without much trouble,

"thanks."

What was he thanking her for? He didn't know and it didn't matter. Her expression of mistrust shifted slightly into... well, a different kind of mistrust. Jingyu wasn't sure he wanted to know what she was thinking; he slung the camera back around his neck, and this time resolutely stepped towards the door. Her glare followed him, and she had the look of someone with choice words just waiting to leave her tongue. The speed of sound was approximately 350m/s, which was a hundred times faster than he could move — but he was going to try his best.

"You better not try to tell-"

she began to speak again, as expected. Jingyu slipped past her to get through the door, his right shoulder touching the door yet his left managing still to bump into her. Sorry, he said in his mind, but failed to vocalize it in his hurry. Instead, what he said was a

"yeah, sure"

, that held very little traces of sincerity for how absolutely he meant it.

Stepping into the hallway, he turned around to give a half-hearted nod in goodbye at her and left, marking the encounter already in his heart as something to never happen again.

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

stairway

Sometimes, an absent mind can capture the small details passed over by those too focused on one thing, Jingyu found. Or maybe that was just the indulgent, faux-deep imagination of an idle teenager — just another layer of excuses, he recognized in fleeting moments of introspection, for not paying enough attention to the world around him.

Regardless, the point was that he was absentminded when he walked amidst the stream of uniformed figures, heading towards the school gates and then nowhere in particular. He wasn't going home. Not yet, anyway. His presence would hardly be missed, he was sure. Music floated from the headphones, through one ear and out the other, a muted background noise only slightly more prominent than the bustle of the students.

And that was when, even despite — or thanks to — his acute inattention, he saw it.

That color. That dull gray, that begged not be seen, yet was the only one he truly saw as it passed him by. A dreadful, dreaded color. A color, so devoid of life, of hope, of anything good, it sent a chill down his spine. A color he associated with a lonely, fading back. With bitter guilt and a drastic goodbye. With a person who had given up.

His steps came to an abrupt halt. The confused, annoyed looks sent his way barely registered as his eyes searched in desperation and, ultimately, vain for that spot of gray. His breaths grew almost panicked against his will, as he pushed against the flow of the crowd. He saw it. He wanted to be wrong, but he wasn't. He was sure he saw it. But where was it, now? Where had they gone, whoever they were? What were they going to do?

The creak of the door to the staircase caught his notice, then, just a classroom away from him; the one that should have been locked. His legs moved before his brain even did, as if it already knew. He pulled the heavy metal door, letting it swing behind him as he slipped through, just in time to see a figure heading up the final few steps to the rooftop. Or, rather, he saw a pair of pale bare feet and a slender hand weakly, a pair of white shoes dangling in its grip.

She opens the doors, and light gushes through the opening, illuminating the dark stairway and engulfing her slight figure.

"Wait,"

he tries to call out, but his breath catches in his throat. He realizes, suddenly, that he has been frozen by the entrance since the moment he saw her. And the doors shut behind her.

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

the rooftop

tw: implications of suicidal ideation

The doors to the rooftop were never locked.

It was no different today, but it is a secret she is unwilling to share. The concrete of the rooftop is warm against her bare feet, and the chatter of students is audible even here, albeit just an incessant buzz in her ear carried in bits and pieces through the wind. Distant, far off, and utterly drowned out by the feeling of sunlight on her skin.

Her legs move without instruction, taking her towards the edge of the rooftop, towards the short, too-short fence corralling off the area. A hand on the railing, and her attention is cast towards the ground below, taking in the verdant grass, leaking into the concrete of the school quadrangle, that seems so much greener she yearns to feel it with her fingers.

She could, but a possibility is simply that.

Why had she come up here?

"For peace of mind,"

she reasons aloud, though the dull thud of her sneakers hitting the roof floor objects, its scattered forms desolate against the grey tile. She nudges them upright with her foot, their neatened arrangement bringing an odd sense of satisfaction that settles her heart, even amidst the uneasy chaos of her thoughts. One more fleeting glance at the shadowed ground beneath the building, and her fingers tighten around the railing.

The door swings open behind her, and Daiya whirls around, startled by the sudden noise. It's the boy from this morning, and then this afternoon, as if he was determined for her to remember him. Her eyebrows furrow, but her lips don't move as she wants them to— whether it is a scowl or a smile that she hopes for them to curl into.

Why is he here? He stands at the entrance, tiresome camera still slung around his neck, his face contorted into an expression that reads strangely sentimental. In an ambivalent way, one that makes Daiya wonder what exactly he's followed her up here for. Followed? The idea strikes a nerve, but no anger surfaces, as much as she tries.

"You again."

Her words come out less scornful than she would like, an apathetic observation even as her lip quivers slightly. She turns away, breaking eye contact in favour of taking in the prettier view. He has yet to utter a word, but she can still feel his gaze on her back. When will he speak? He must have come up for a reason, and the first conclusion she jumps to is implausible; A laugh rises in her throat, interrupted by a cursory thought of, maybe, not looking like a psycho.

But Daiya laughs, still, because he probably already thinks so, doesn't he? He's seen so much of her, his impression of her likely lays in tatters at their feet.

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

stairway

The sight he saw when he opened the door was... still. The girl stood with her back to him, staring down in silence — at what, really, he couldn't begin to guess. The only sound on the rooftop was the barely audible hum of the wind, and the only movement her hair dancing to its tune.

To a different person, thinking what he was as they chased after someone, this picture would hardly convince them the situation wasn't dire. But the light blue that shimmered around her spoke of a complicated variety of melancholy; a difficult emotion, but not the one he hated so much to see. His heart began to unclench just as the girl turned around, as surprised by his intrusion as he was by her identity.

He understood, suddenly, and in his understanding could almost see with his naked eyes the shroud of pitch black that clogged her heart.

"You again,"

she muttered, sounding oddly resigned, and her aura shook weakly, as if she couldn't muster up the strength to be angry.

"I... I thought..."

What did he think? He couldn't tell her why he had really followed her. Even if he did, it wouldn't make any sense to say Hey, but it's fine now, goodbye. As always, he only makes things harder for himself, and disturbs everyone else. He shouldn't have come at all. It was none of his business.

"Nevermind,"

he brought his words to an abrupt stop, looking away from her. He should leave. Should he just leave? It would be an awkward exit, but at this point it wouldn't be uncharacteristic of him. At least, not to her. Yet, his legs stay routed to the spot and what moves instead is his mouth, as he asks, despite himself:

"Are you okay?"

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

the rooftop

"Are you okay?"

His words take her by surprise and she turns sharply, eyeing him cautiously. Perhaps her conclusion wasn't so implausible after all— how funny. He's strange.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

she replies, her voice steady and accompanied by a flash of her manufactured smile. The one she gives the teachers; The one she uses in all of her photos; The one she uses when she's not listening to a word her classmates are saying.

A breeze picks up, pushing a stray hair across her face as if chiding her for her untruth. She tucks it aside without much thought nor a falter of her smile, adding,

"Do you ask that to everyone you find up here?"

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

rooftop

Fake smiles were a common phenomenon, especially to Jingyu who could recognize them at a glance. This one, however, was jarring. Did it speak more of her nature, how that artificial expression came so easily, or to his, that some part of him still expected something different?

"Do you ask that to everyone you find up here?"

Daiya mused, her hair fluttering in the breeze that was quickly brushed back into position. He considered which option would make him sound like less of a freak for a fleeting moment, before the conclusion arrived that it hardly mattered; she must already consider him one, anyway, at this point.

"No,"

he replied, hands finding their way onto his camera as naturally as a child to their comfort blanket,

"But I don't ever find people up here in the first place."

He held himself back from fidgeting — he was a bad liar — as he gave himself an excuse,

"I just asked 'cause I was surprised. That's all."

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

the rooftop

She watches his hands fall onto his camera as he delivers his hasty explanations, and her conclusion gets just that slightest bit more possible. Not nearly enough to tip any sort of scale, however, though she almost enjoys watching him flounder.

An eyebrow quirks up as he continues to speak, gaze still trained on his hands. He's always nervous. Is he scared she might take it from him again? He must believe her superhuman, to be able to cross such a distance without him scampering off first.

"Surprised."

Daiya repeats monotonously,

"So you must come up here often?"

It is a statement, not a question, though she allows him a half-beat to interject. When he doesn't, she continues, hands reaching down to pick up her shoes.

"It's funny how we've never run into each other. I come up here often, too."

Her strides across the rooftop are wide, and Daiya thinks she can almost see him flinch as she approaches— But she does not linger by him, passing him coolly as her free hand reaches for the door.

A stray thought enters her mind just as she swings it open.

"You know, same drill as last time. Don't tell anyone, or whatever."

The door is heavy, and she considers holding it open for him, though his unmoving figure advises otherwise.

Not like he has anyone to tell. His face, a blurry image that somehow seems clear enough to linger, remains on her mind as the thump of the door echoes throughout the staircase.

She wonders what his name is.

 

[Uxie]

16.04.2021

II.

Thunderstorms are the worst.

The heavens must be taking out its anger on the earth— What else could explain the hostility? I hate it all: from the ominous dark clouds to the mournful cries of the wind, but it is lightning and thunder that I despise the most.

The former is deceptively beautiful for what it heralds: a brilliant, jagged split through the darkness, a fracture of iridescence amidst the abyss. Then there is the latter, in all of its frightening loudness. They describe it as a rumble, sometimes, but it is only so when you listen from a distance. Up close, its peal shakes you to the core, leaving behind only fear for the next. Never one without the other, a pair of loathsome agents of ruin.

But maybe it is too much to blame lightning, too. Maybe lightning doesn't like its noisy counterpart any more than I do, but it chases relentlessly;

And thunder always catches up.

It was dark then, too. Through the crack of the doorway, I could see a brilliant, jagged piece of glass, a glint of iridescence smothered by the stain of her blood. There is a clap of thunder, and then several more, each one more deafening than the last. The bang still makes me tremble, even if my ear is no longer pressed against the door, and through it all, the faint sound of winds howling, wailing, on the wrong side of the window.

Does she bring storms? Did she make them? Maybe she is the storm, in all of her blinding beauty and booming fury.

It is not long after that the earth disappeared. I've wondered if he considered taking me, too, but perhaps the eye of the storm is not a place so easy to reach out to.

I would like to think he tried.

。。。

黛雅

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

hallways

"It's good of you to come to clarify any questions you have, Daiya. It's no wonder you always do well." She gave him a smile, her mind having long tuned out of the conversation. It was a little disingenuous, but Mr. Chen always favoured the "eager learners". She'd gotten quite adept at playing such a role, and it wasn't her fault she hadn't any real questions. Considering how empty the office was, Daiya was at least sure she wasn't taking up any other student's chance.

Meanwhile, her attention had been diverted to the office's window, watching each student who passed by with mild disinterest while her thoughts wandered. She hadn't seen him since last week— Well, she had, but he'd avoided her without fail each time, turning a corner quickly and skittering off in his mouse-like fashion.

A familiar form entered her little glass stage, a familiar mop of unkempt hair and the tops of his camera straps, probably fixed permanently to his neck. Speak of the devil. Her eyes followed him as he went by, disappearing behind the wall without even sparing a glance in her direction. "...bring these to the science lab for me?"

Silence lingered briefly as Daiya finally tore her gaze from the window, meeting Mr. Chen's expectant one. He— What had he asked?

"What?"

Her teacher looked flustered. She touched a finger to her face, realising her pleasant expression had slipped. "Is it too bothersome? It's fi—"

"No, no. I'd be happy to help."

Daiya hoisted up the boxes of supplies with some difficulty, bidding Mr. Chen farewell with a hurried bow.

She wasn't sure why she was rushing. Perhaps just to see how he'd react?

There was an odd sense of relief to find that he was still in view when she left the office, meandering down the hallway with a pace so leisurely Daiya reckoned she might catch up to him if she ran a little.

"Hey, you!"

Her voice echoed down the corridor, causing the few students within to turn towards her, a question in their eyes.

Their stares didn't quite bother her— She'd gotten too used to it, or something. All she was concerned with was for him to turn, and turn he did.

Daiya greeted him with a cheery smile, noting with mild amusement the same nervousness that was as ever-present as his camera.

"Camera boy!"

She paused, just briefly, as her mind racked for a good excuse for harassing him,

"Help me with this, won't you?"

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

hallway

The familiar voice called out to him, just before he reached the turn of the hallway. Despite the nameless nature of her summoning, Jingyu felt it right away in his gut that she'd been addressing him. He flinched to a halt, turning around by instinct before a slight sense of regret hit him. All this time he'd managed to avoid her, but it's over now.

"Camera boy!"

She exclaimed, making it clear now that it really was him she'd been talking to. In a hallway full of people, this interaction seemed... well, awkward[? Her utter confidence made him doubt his own sensibility.

He stared nervously as she approached, wondering what she could possibly want from him now — in fact, he'd had the sneaking feeling this whole week that she had been observing him, somehow. But he had to be imagining it, and her talking to him now surely had to be a coincidence. Right?

"Help me with this, won't you?"

She continued, before she even reached him or he had a chance to embarrass himself by bumbling, drawing Jingyu's attention at last to the heavy-looking boxes in her arms. Oh, he relaxed marginally as he understood, that makes sense. He was thinking too much, after all.

"I... well,"

he hesitated, glancing around before his eyes landed back on her. He didn't really have an excuse not to. And those boxes did look heavy. And it wasn't like she was a bad person, or a bully, or anything. As he began another round of overthinking, he began to almost feel guilty for even thinking of saying no.

"Okay,"

he finally mumbled out, as he lifted all but one box from her arms, gaze averted from hers,

"where to?"

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

outside science lab

He was hesitating. She braced herself for rejection, though there was no chance she was taking it for an answer.

"I... well,"

His eyes met hers, just briefly, and Daiya's smile widened innocently— earnestly.

How would he do it?

Sorry, I'm busy right now, or an I have somewhere to be? Maybe even a Stop following me!, though his demeanour despite their two previous less-than-gracious encounters docked plausibility points off that option.

"Okay,"

It'd been so quiet she nearly missed it, but now it was her turn to pause. On the first try? That was unexpected.

"Where to?"

His gaze skirted nervously around her even as he took the boxes from her, though it was kind of him to only leave her with one. Did he feel bad for her?

She just couldn't figure him out.

"Thank you very much. Science lab on the third floor."

The journey was carried out with silence, though Daiya made sure to check on her obedient little helper over her shoulder every few seconds. To make sure he wouldn't run off, of course, though every opportunity was also spent studying his features— a slim brush in her mind painting over those fuzzy details. He looked dull when he wasn't upset. A little blank, like he was always lost in thought. Was it even more pronounced when she was absent? Or did he look more lively, then?

By the time she reached for the handle of the lab's door, she figured she'd assembled a decent portrait, almost ready to be filed to a section of her mind she hoped she would remember. Almost.

In a swift motion, she moved into his view, back pressed against the door as she flashed him another smile.

"What's your name?"

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

outside science lab

"What's your name?"

An exceedingly normal, arbitrary question to ask someone — but was it mischief he saw in her otherwise plain hues, when she slipped in front of him suddenly, blocking the door to their destination? Things never completely matched up about Daiya, the way she spoke and acted, but he was somehow getting used to it.

"My name? It's..."

He began to answer quite promptly, pausing only when he met her gaze. Her eyes were pretty, actually, now that he really looked into them. They become prettier when she smiled. He suddenly recalled the other guys talking about her in the changing room; cute, they called her. Maybe he agreed.

"He Jingyu,"

He completed, and was the first to break eye contact once again to glance down at his shirt. Specifically, at the empty space which stood where his name tag should have been. He forgot to put it on again. Or maybe it dropped somewhere? It would be troublesome if he had to buy another one out of his limited pocket money.

He took a step to the side, so he could enter the lab without tripping over her feet or something equally embarrassing. He glanced around for a place to put down the boxes, as he absentmindedly continued,

"Jing as in mirror, and yu from universe."

He'd explained this more than a few times before; it wasn't a character combination people expected, after all. Ah, but she probably doesn't care. He didn't know why he said that. Talking too much wasn't usually a problem for him, to say the least.

His gaze finally came to rest to a table pushed to the side, where similar but emptier boxes sat on a rather dusty top, and he headed over there with more hurried steps than before. The thought comes to him as as he carefully placed down what he was carrying that he should perhaps ask her for her name, too, since she did. Was it rude if he didn't? He already knew it, though. Was it weird that he did? No, it didn't matter. She didn't seem the type to care.

"Anyway,"

he muttered as he turned around, with the air of someone who had finished his work for the day,

"I'll leave now."

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

science lab

"My name? It's..."

he paused, and his eyes came to meet hers. What was with the sudden— Could you call that confidence? Was he looking into her soul to check for malice? Or maybe he wanted her to look into his, and she complied, holding his gaze steadily. He was taller than she'd realised, though his stature was still dampened by his timidness.

It was a few beats of silence before Daiya moved, a slight tilt of her head as her eyebrows lifted expectantly. A reminder that her question had yet to find its answer.

"He Jingyu."

His name left his lips and his gaze left hers, and she wondered if it was dismay that had flicked through her mind. He stepped past her, and she followed, listening attentively as he continued.

"Jing as in mirror, and Yu from universe."

The strokes lined themselves in her mind's eye; It wasn't common, but it was pretty-sounding and pretty-looking, and as he placed down his boxes and turned to face her, she decided it suited him well. He Jingyu.

"Anyway, I'll leave now."

Her eyes widened.

"What? No, you can't."

She'd forgotten that he was the type that itched to slip away, much less a person who liked her enough to stay without an invitation.

"Mr. Chen said to..."

she said as she approached him, taking a brief moment to devise her next words as she set down her box on the table,

"Wait for him, so he could take stock of the lab supplies."

It was in a delicately honeyed tone that she continued,

"I suppose you could go if you have somewhere to be, but it's... always nice to have some company."

A gentle pat on the box before she turned to him, beaming eagerly.

"I'm Daiya, by the way."

she added as an after-thought,

"Dai as in dark, and Ya as in graceful."

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

outside science lab

Wait until he showed up? Did teachers often ask for help to this extent? Jingyu couldn't say; the advantage of his presence being barely tangible in most classes was that he never got in trouble or asked to stay after class. Perhaps this was a star-student exclusive experience. Was Daiya even a star student? She seemed like she would be one.

"I suppose you could go if you have somewhere to be, but it's..."

the girl trailed off as she placed down the last box, turning around to face him with a somewhat purposeful look that switched quickly to a beaming smile,

"always nice to have some company."

...Damn. He didn't have anywhere to be — in fact, he was free and aimless once the final bell went off pretty much every day. His feet that had already started on their way towards the door wandered off-course instead towards the windows, and he cleared his throat in a weak attempt to mask his indecisiveness as he glanced out the window, determined not to let her see how awkward he was feeling right then.

Luckily, she cut short the moment with her introduction, fashioned the same way he had just done it. He wondered briefly if that was on purpose, and the thought distracted him from his own reply:

"I kn-"

Jingyu began, before pausing just in time, cutting himself off with an:

"Oh."

His hands slipped into the pockets of his dark pants by habit, and pressed his shoulder against the cool white wall, too lightly to really say he was leaning on it.

"It's nice,"

he remarked, softly enough that if it hadn't been just them two in the room she wouldn't have heard. His gaze traveled from the empty soccer field outside to the ground as a breeze passed through between them, lifting his hair away from where they fell in his eyes, accompanied by a beat of silence. It reminded him, strangely, of their meeting on the rooftop.

"Do you..."

he found himself starting to ask, but as his eyes locked with her curious gaze once more, he reconsidered. She was in a rather good mood now, he could tell, for whatever reason. He shouldn't ruin it, especially not with his nosiness.

"Nevermind,"

he dismissed, and pulled his glance back out to where a group of boys were streaming onto the field.

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

science lab

Was he the type to feel sympathetic, or had he gotten caught on the spot? Daiya had covered both bases, but now she wondered if it may have been better to choose a single path, so that she may map him out better. The waters were not unchartered, but they weren't yet familiar— How much more would there be to explore? And how willing would he be to allow her that privilege?

"I kn- Oh."

His correction was unnecessary; She'd caught just enough of his sentence to figure out what he might've said. The sentiment both excited and dismayed her, because it seemed this river, too, flowed to the ocean..

Yet, his next words would elicit a small smile, regardless,

"It's nice."

Quietly, in a soft murmur that made her think he was sharing a secret, carried so gently by the soft breeze that danced around the room.

"Thanks. My mother gave it to me."

Her reply came as she hopped lightly onto the table, said so matter-of-factly you might go oblivious to the slight shift in her mood. A slip-up, but the silence did not last long enough for it to fester.

Thankfully.

"Do you..."

Her curious gaze lifted to meet his just as it pulled away, the remainder of the question dispersing on the tip of his tongue with a curt

"nevermind"

.

Was it his habit to backtrack? What had he wanted to say? Her mind filled in the blanks as her eyes remained fixed on him, searching his features for even the slightest hint yet finding his melancholy far too normal. A careless tilt of her head,

"Do I... what?

"Have a boyfriend?"

she quipped, albeit her apathetic expression,

"Or do I... go up there often?"

Said so matter-of-factly you might not notice the sombreness that seeped into her tone. Yet, she felt compelled to speak of it; The single linking thread that had wound so tightly around her wrist that had somehow tangled between his fingers.

A vacant smile spread across her lips.

"But maybe you should answer that, Jingyu."

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

science lab

"Do I... what?"

She questioned, shades of curiosity glinting like dust under a midday sun. Nothing, he would have insisted, with hopefully the right amount of nonchalance to convince, had she not answered her own question faster than he could make the decision to speak.

"Have a boyfriend?"

Daiya joked — or, at least, Jingyu assumed it was in jest, though he wasn't nearly confident about it to risk scoffing at the vain sentiment — but her tone turned down a colder path when she continued,

"Or do I..."

He could tell what she was going to say. Perhaps it was because they had shared so little time together in so few places, that the tides of their conversation would naturally turn to the most impressionable moment. Or, perhaps, unbeknownst to himself, he had began to know her.

"Go up there often?"

There was an understated, dark hint of amusement in the words, pushed to the surface by the hollow smile on her lips. It was a different smile than the one she'd just shown him, but similar to what he associated with her, way before even their awkward garden meeting.

"But maybe you should answer that, Jingyu,"

she says, reminding him of the unfortunate excuse he'd used back then, and he cringed slightly, shifting his weight from his left to right foot in what by now should be obvious was yet another nervous habit.

"I go sometimes,"

he lied. How could she say otherwise for sure, anyway? As long as she didn't know of his fear of heights, she couldn't.

"Not often,"

he couldn't help but add, as if that would make him somehow more credible.

"It's relaxing up there."

At least, he imagined it would be, with it being so void of people and noise. Just you and the wind, almost like a bootstrap version of the beach. If he thought of it that way, it seemed quite pleasant; if he saw it for being more than just the edge.

"Is that..."

he began to ask, and if he hadn't already gone back on one question he might have retracted this one as well,

"why you go, too?"

It was because there was nothing else he could have done then, aside from keep up the conversation. Or so he told himself as he laid not quite a bridge, but at least a pebble in the river that separated them.

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

science lab

"I go sometimes. Not often."

Her gaze went past him as he spoke, to the view trapped within the off-white frame.

"It's relaxing up there."

The blueness of the sky was dimmed by the dusty glass. It was so much bluer, and she knew so because there was never glass between her and the sky when she lay sprawled on the concrete rooftop, fingers outstretched above her like she might snatch a bit of colour from the azure fabric that hugged the earth.

"Is that..."

Her attention returned to him, fixing him with a curious look as he seemed to re-consider his words. He was very mindful with the little words he spoke, though she would admit he was more generous with them today then any of the other times they had met.

"why you go, too?"

Daiya paused. She wasn't hesitating— There was only one answer she could give, of course— but she thought it fun to debate the falsity of her reply. She supposed it was therapeutic to hide away from all the people and the words and the glares. That must be why her feet carried her there whenever her thoughts threatened to wander.

Yet, could she deny the tranquillity of swaying like a listless weed in the wind, her inevitable outcome so daringly close?

"Sure."

The reply that came was terse and accompanied by a careless half-smile. The silence she allowed to weigh on them after was clearly not an invitation to interject, though she wondered if he would mull over her answer when left to the quiet. It was more likely than not, or so Daiya would conclude from her mock-up of his psyche.

A sneaking suspicion that he knew more about her than he was letting on; More than she would like him to know.

Would she cut short the silence to save him from the worries that were surely consuming him? Perhaps.

"You don't have many friends, do you?"

she began, her tone blithe despite her harsh statement,

"You're always alone when I see you."

 

[triples]

鏡宇

jingyu

uniform

science lab

"Sure,"

Daiya nonchalantly responded, in a way that hardly invited further questions — not that he had any to ask. Or, rather, that he dared to ask. Jingyu's gaze ran across her impassive features and calm aura, a small frown tugging at his brows that he blinked away. There was no emotion called Lying, and he wasn't so sure he wanted one to exist. Even now... even despite the hushed air between them, he felt disquieted enough.

Their conversation didn't die for long, though, as Daiya's abrupt revival of it made his eyes snap back to her from the field they had once again wandered to. Was she the type that couldn't let silence stretch too long, he wondered fleetingly, or had she just found a need to cut it short in this particular moment?

"You don't have many friends, do you? You're always alone when I see you,"

she mused, and he had to take a moment to consider if that was meant to be an insult. She hadn't said it with much menace and, he supposed, even if she was trying to be critical, she wasn't wrong. He didn't have many friends. He didn't have any friends, to be precise, unless you counted the cat in their school's backyard garden or the one from the alley beside his apartment.

"I-"

he began, but realized he didn't actually know how to answer her. He would like to say that it was a personal choice and not an unfortunate circumstance but... it would clearly sound like such a sour sentiment when verbalized. But did it even matter? She already thought he was a loser, anyway.

"Yeah, I don't,"

he settled on the simplest response regardless, taking a moment to study her response before tagging on,

"but you have plenty, don't you?"

Or so he assumed. Everything he'd overheard or happened to see of her indicated that she was popular among students and teachers alike.

So, why?

He weighed the pros and cons of saying out what was on his mind right then. Normally, it wouldn't even be an option. And, yet. Just ask it, a tiny, impulsive voice in the corner of his mind pushed. Didn't you not care what others think? It even went so far as to mock, and Jingyu couldn't deny that it had a point.

"So, why did you ask me to accompany you?"

 

[Uxie]

黛雅

daiya

uniform

science lab

Her shoulders eased slightly at his stutter, though it was disconcerting when he continued on, so matter-of-factly despite his words.

"Yeah, I don't."

It wasn't something to be proud of, surely. But he wasn't proud. Apathy, maybe? Unbothered acceptance.

"But you have plenty, don't you?"

Despite herself, she scoffed. A scoff that was usually stifled and discarded, shared when the only audience present was her own reflection in the mirror. It'd slipped out before she realised, and she hurried to re-adjust her features, eyes darting away. She'd only found out his name five minutes ago, but the anxiety that usually plagued her mistakes was strangely silent this time.

Her shoulders relaxed, just marginally.

She eyed him, half-expecting a comment about it, but he'd instead gone quiet. Was he toying with another question in his mind? So cautious, yet with his past track record, she had little doubt it would be cuttingly straightforward. Should she brace herself?

"So why did you ask me to accompany you?"

Daiya's eyes widened, ever so slightly, and it was a moment after that she let out a soft, gentle laugh.

"I don't know. There wasn't anyone else around."

She shrugged lightly.

"What if I just don't have any friends?"

she said, her lips still curved into a smile of bemusement,

"Maybe I'm just like you."