Snippet #2781143

Just hearing the voice on the other end of the line made Shiori want to groan. Over the years she had gone out of her way to avoid having even a remotely substantial amount of contact with this person, yet now she had gone completely out of her way to reach out to him. Potentially putting herself on his radar did make her anxious, especially after his reaction to Devone slapping their classmate. How exactly would things go if he ever found out who had given Devone the information that sparked that altercation? This responsibility given to the students from the school gave her very little choice though, she had her family’s reputation to think of. If she gave a less than satisfactory gift her parents would surely throw a fit, especially her mother, horrified that it would reflect poorly on the family as a whole. For the sake of not having the person, she fled from her home to escape showing up at her flat she would have to meet this person despite her personal feeling of dread, “The mall would be simplest.” Shiori replied promptly to his casual way of answering the phone despite her inner monologue. It seemed her mind raced through the thoughts much more quickly than she gave herself credit for. Looking at the time ticking away on the screen, she silently sighed. This was going to be an incredibly long day, she could feel it in her bones.

Taking a quiet breath in to gather her bearings she instructed the hellion of the school to meet her in the food court of the local mall. If she had to deal with him she would need caffeine. Besides, sitting was preferable to standing. There was no way for Shiori to predict if he would make one of his typical flamboyant, boisterous entrances, but at the very least if he ran late or turned out to be otherwise indisposed she wouldn’t have aching feet on top of a pounding headache.

“Until then.” Shiori ended the call, pouting at the home screen of her phone before paying with her phone and exiting the taxi. Flipping her long dark hair behind her over her shoulder, Shiori walked a beeline inside and headed straight for the food court with icy confidence. This was her act, the facade she put up to isolate herself from others, to protect the innocent and sweet girl trapped deep within the shell, but it was convincing enough after years of practice. No one approached the icy senior despite her rather cute outfit. Once she made it to the food court Shiori waited patiently in line, eyes closed as she tried to ignore those around her. She disliked loud, crowded places... but this was a necessary evil, he would easily be able to find something he wanted in a place like this and she could quickly be done with her obligation to her fellow senior without having to suffer in each other's company for too long.

Aware that she was hardly the type of girl that Miyamoto, Kazuki would normally surround himself with, Shiori assumed he would be just as eager to part ways. Looking at this as just a mutually unfavorable business transaction made it much easier to tackle, that she could handle. Her outfit, consisting of a lavender sundress and a deep violet jacket was a subconscious choice to cover as much skin as possible, her stockings that went just above knee-high making it clear that she was trying to cover up as much as possible without actually wearing something incredibly formal. Shiori was not used to wearing 'casual' clothing as the Kitogawa family practically lived in suits, pencil skirts, and fancy dresses. The sheer amount of parties she was forced to attend with her parents to maintain the hospital chain's powerful connections was exhausting, but she knew the patients needed any donation they could get from political figures and celebrities. Her father was a kind man sacrificing so much for the sake of others, but she could tell that her mother simply enjoyed the mingling, she did not care for their patients as her husband did, she was in love with their posh life and all of the luxuries that came with having money and knowing people of even higher status. Shiori's mother loved being a 'somebody', loved that the 'Kitogawa' name held weight. Shiori did not wish to ever be like her mother, regardless of how poorly she displayed it, Shiori cared about people and their wellbeing.

Moving up in line, lost in thought, Shiori almost didn't notice when it was her turn to order. Having ordered a black coffee, she was quickly able to pay and take a seat, sipping at it patiently. All there was to do now was wait. Being in public without her retainer, Kazuhiko was unnerving, but she did not wish for him to witness this. He would surely tease her for anything that might happen, she wished to erase this interaction from her memory after it was complete, not set it in stone for years to come. It was best to deal with only one troublesome male at a time, having both in the same place would exhaust her composure far too quickly. Besides... years at Airdalen alongside her hellish classmate assured her that bringing another guy would only make things more difficult than they had to be. He...had a reputation of picking fights with them, and she did not wish to be at fault for more of that nasty business than she already was. While Shiori would not call telling Devone that their classmate had been giving away her secrets a mistake, Shiori accepted that she could have handled that situation with more grace. Telling her when the other girl was in the room was her failure, she had never seen Devone strike another student, but she should not have written violence off as a possibility with anyone. Everyone had a limit, a side that they often hid from others... she should have known that better than anyone after the years of her mother's torment. Not noticing how tightly she gripped her coffee cup, Shiori hissed as the hot liquid burst out, burning her hand. Thankfully it did not stain her clothes, but she quickly retrieved napkins and began cleaning up her mess. She was quite an accident-prone person this year, thinking too much was certainly having negative effects on how she was handling the world around her. She had never been one to hurt themselves quite this much. I need to learn to relax... I won't make it to graduation at this rate if I keep hurting myself like this... Dabbing the reddened skin with napkins, Shiori winced, replacing the lid that had flown off of her cup. Well, now she had considerably less coffee. Lovely. Gently running her hand over the burn on the one that had been holding her cup, Shiori tried to soothe the stinging as she waited for the person she never once imagined herself meeting alone.