All the better; all the worse . . .

[Nayt]

Well . . . Akizets didn't know if she really wished harm on the guy; it sucked that things turned out like they did, but she was scarce to wish harm on anyone, regardless of who.

"He was kinda mean to me," Akizetsumei admitted, "But, um, he stopped being so mean eventually. Like now-- now if I see him, he sorta just waves in this weird kinda way. He talks to me sometimes, too. But I dunno. He's a really weird guy. He's smart, I think. Just weird."

Akizetsumei delved into thought for a moment to recall some of the things Noah had said to her in the last year. It was awfully strange to her, as she never heard him talk with his guy friends like that. Either he didn't care that much for her or he was patronizing her. Akizets didn't know, but she rarely gave it much thought. Noah was just a former bully of hers and she still sort of tried to avoid him.

"I didn't know you knew him, too?" Akizets remarked as an afterthought. She knew Toushikyo knew him; she'd heard stories from him before, in fact, but those stories rarely, if ever, mentioned Eld.

[Zach Kaiser]

"You could say that," Eld replied dryly. From early on, Noah seemed to have it out for him. There was a phase where he was just a bully to everyone younger and weaker, but he always seemed to have it out for him. Even after he stopped trying to beat him up (trying because Eld was usually smart enough to run away before he could succeed), he antagonized him whenever he saw him. Which still sort of held true, and while Eld liked to think that Noah matured a little the truth was probably closer to something along the lines of they just saw each other less, a trend that would continue now that Noah was at college.

"I'd rather not talk about him, though." He rubbed his nose unconsciously, recalling the times he'd been punched there.

[Nayt]

"O-oh, um . . ." Akizetsumei trailed off, "S-sorry."

She felt a bit ashamed to have brought it up, then. Akizets didn't know the blood between Eld and Noah was that bad. Had she known, she'd have never mentioned Noah to begin with! This only meant one thing, though: Akizetsumei had to make it up to Eld somehow. She had to change the topic of conversation as quickly as possible and talk instead about something that Eld might have preferred, something far from bullies or stupid political or religion stuff (the latter two she often heard her parents talk about, and was never at all that interested). This actually left several venues of conversation topics, something that would've been unheard of yesterday.

So Akizetsumei brought up the topic of something much more valuable to Eldridge Tsukimono than someone like Noah Herst. She asked about Eld's friends.

It goes without saying that their conversation lasted a fair while; it seemed one topic habitually led to another and another, and within thirty minutes' time, the original topic was all but lost on the wind. Akizetsumei seemed more capable of relaxed around Eld; she was slowly becoming able and willing to talk freely, and sometimes even forgot why it was she was so nervous around him to begin with-- not that she liked Eld and wanted to be his friend (or something similar) pretty badly, but that she was always worried about saying the wrong thing or making herself look silly or not worth his time.

And conversation seemed to last up into the point that Akizetsumei paused, set her unbroken hand over her lips, and let out a meek, almost squeaky sort of yawn.

[Zach Kaiser]

It was very easy to talk to Akizetsumei; she was bright and friendly, and he didn't have to worry much about conversational pitfalls when talking to her. She had an innocent charm that the other girls he knew lacked. The conversation was only interrupted once, when Eld went to check on the other patients quick and make sure everyone was sound asleep.

He probably could have talked much longer, but when she yawned he knew it was time to wrap things up for the night. "Ah, it's late. You need some rest, and I should get to bed myself soon."

"Is there anything I can do for you before I go?" he asked as he gathered up his books, which he'd set aside when it became clear he wasn't going to do much studying.

[Nayt]

Akizets turned on her side. Truth be told, she was actually kind of disappointed that their conversation had to come to an end. It was pretty abrupt! But then again, she was rather tired. She'd been getting tired slowly but surely, until this point, in which she was nearly ready to pass out.

"Mn," she hummed as she shook her head.

She didn't really need much right now. Chances were, she was going to fall asleep soon after Eld left. But before Eld could leave, she had something she wanted to say:

"H-hey, um," she'd start meekly, "E-Eldridge? Thank you . . ."

---

Akizetsumei's recovery took some time and was not without its speed bumps. She had a hard time getting used to crutches and Eld was dispatched by his parents to physically assist her in learning to walk with crutches. This required physically holding her up from behind, to actually wrap his arms around her belly and hold her up so she didn't risk falling over and ruining what healing she'd already done or breaking something else. Understandably so, this was an extremely flustering event for the girl. It left her with mixed feelings. It felt ungodly awkward to have a boy wrap his arms around her like that, even if it was purely a medical thing, yet it also felt pretty good.

Needless to say, that was not the last Eld saw of the girl. The late night conversation he had with Akizetsumei of Terra, followed soon by the breaching of personal space and the establishment of physical contact, wholly prepared the girl to pursue his friendship with much more confidence than before. She spent time with him voluntarily. She felt entirely confident that she could start conversation with him on a whim and that if she were to wind up being too close to him by accident, absolutely nothing bad would happen to her. In fact, he'd likely catch her if she were to fall.

Which naturally led to one reasonable conclusion for her . . .

---

"H-hey, Eldridge! Ummmmm, I wanted to know if you'd like to, um, if you'd like to go on a hike with me?"

It'd been a week since she recovered and was out of her casts. She was walking perfectly fine and more than capable of running again. Akizetsumei, donning what seemed to be a sleeveless v-neck button down shirt and a loose skirt down to her knees, had simply shown up at the Tsukimono's doorstep one day, knocking on the door with great enthusiasm. Urikuse Tsukimono answered the door, retrieved his son for Akizetsumei, and there he was greeted with this personal request before absolutely anything else could be said or done. He was the only one she was asking, or at least it seemed that way-- she was, after all, alone.

It was fairly early in the day, though. Eld's father likely had to wake him up to rouse him to Akizetsumei's attention, and it was unlikely that he was all too awake by the time he reached the door, either.

[Zach Kaiser]

There weren't many possibilities for when Eld had to go meet someone at the door. The vast majority of his friends would simply barge into his room, and quite possibly inflict some kind of violence on him to wake him up. The only real exception was Maya, and it wasn't often that she came by herself anymore.

"Ah...umm..." His appearance was a mess, and his mental state didn't seem to be terribly together either. Eldridge Tsukimono was not a morning person to say the least. His hair was in complete disarray, which stood out all the more because of how straight he normally kept it. He was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt that he'd clearly slept in, and it was probably a small miracle that he'd had the foresight to throw on a pair of pants over his boxers.

"You mean, like, now?" he asked, holding one hand up to guard his eyes from the comparatively bright light of the outdoors.

[Nayt]

It was only after she popped this question to Eld that Akizetsumei became acutely aware of how tired the older boy looked. All thoughts of hiking were pushed from her mind.

"O-oh! Ummmm, sorry! Did I wake you?" Akizets asked hastily.

It actually took her a moment to realize the weight of that: she'd indirectly woken Eld up, but it was her fault enough for her to feel it as if she'd kicked him out of bed herself! She had no way of knowing how his father woke him up, after all. What if it was a mean spirited sort of way? Like actually kicking him in the ribs or something and throwing him out of bed? Akizets shuddered to think of such a horrible thing. She bent at her waist to bow apologetically, something prominent both in her culture and that of old Cizok's.

Provided Eld was observant enough even in this state, he'd find that Akizets bending forward whilst wearing a v-neck shirt had roughly the same effect as when Maya did it before in a sun dress--except Akizets was actually wearing a bra. She just didn't have that much to support is all. She was better off than Maya, but only by a bit. Noticeable, but not exceptionally notable.

"Oh man . . . I'm really sorry," she apologized again.

[Zach Kaiser]

"It's no big deal. You didn't kick me or anything," Eld mumbled nearly incoherently. It was around that time that his eyes adjusted enough to see that Akizetsumei was only slightly more conscious of her clothing as it related to her body than Maya was. This got him awake quite quickly.

He forced a laugh as he averted his gaze as well as he could without actually turning away from her. "R-Really, it's fine, I'm always told I sleep too late anyway. U-Umm, why don't you come inside and wait while I get changed?"

Using the excuse to turn around, he motioned her inside.

[Nayt]

"O-oh," Akizets stood up straight. She set her hand to her lips and looked away, contemplating it for a brief moment. She could think of no reason not to. "Well, if it isn't a problem . . ."

So long as Eld wasn't upset that she woke him up, then it was no big deal. He didn't look or seem upset. He seemed maybe a little weird, what with that laugh and all, but that was just fine. Eld of all boys was allowed to be as weird as he wanted to be whenever he wanted to be weird!

She'd follow Eld into the house quietly and take a comfortable seat wherever it was he led her. Truth be told, this would actually be the first time she'd been in the house section of the Tsukimono residence. She was going to take many a mental note during this brief excursion.

[Zach Kaiser]

While the Tsukimono residence certainly appeared to be one of the largest homes in the town center, the fact of it was that the clinic took up well over half the building. The main area of the house was sectioned off into three parts: the dining room right where they entered, the kitchen to their right, and the living room just past the dining area. While the room was quite large, so many functions packed into it made it seem rather cramped.

If Akizetsumei had an eye for such things, she'd notice that the place was kept as impeccably clean as the clinic itself, perhaps more so. Any doubt to why that might be would be erased as Eld stopped to clean some crumbs off the dining table as they passed.

"Feel free to have a seat, I'll just be a few minutes. If you need it, the bathroom's over there," he pointed at a door on the far side of the living room, before walking down a hallway in the other direction, entering a door at the far end of it.

The layout was pretty simple; Eld had entered his room at the end of the hall, and passing by the door that led to his parents room on the way. On the opposite side of the living room was the bathroom, and there was a small area jutting out that served as the entrance directly to the house.

In the living room was very little that would interest Akizetsumei. The most prominent feature was the several bookshelves, as there was no real study to speak of. (Though, if she were to see Eld's room, it could arguably double as one.) What might catch her attention was that on the mantle of the small-ish fireplace were several family photos. One depicted Eld at her age, just after he graduated from the local school.

His hair was slightly longer and a bit less neat than he normally wore it; a lock of it hung over one of his eyes. The graduation gown was a size too large for him, leaving his arms entirely unseen save for his hands, which clutched a small diploma as though he was afraid someone would imminently steal it from him. He was gazing excitedly at the camera, a wide, simple smile on his face.

[Nayt]

This was something Akizetsumei hadn't actually prepared herself for. She thought little of it at first, following Eld into his house and all. In actuality, though, she had to prepare herself quite immensely to gather up the courage to go knock on his door and ask him to go out and do something with her. She wasn't quite ready to outright come into his house for the first time--and when it finally dawned on her where she was, Akizetsumei instantly felt a nervousness that she hadn't experienced for a couple of weeks, at least.

"M-mm," she hummed awkwardly and nodded to Eld.

She didn't feel much like going to the bathroom, really. If anything, she kind of wanted to get a snack or something before going out. She felt a bit too nervous to think about all that, though. Instead, she looked around the living room rather anxiously. It hadn't been the first time she was in a boy's house-- this was just a different kind of boy. There was a whole different feeling this time. Akizetsumei practically memorized the whole layout of the living room, kitchen, and dining room. She devoted it all to some bank in her mind-- and then she saw something.

Unable to justify awkwardly standing in the middle of the living room anymore, Akizetsumei casually made her way to the mantle. The most noteworthy thing seemed to set there, and . . .

Akizetsumei actually had to contain her urge to let out a loud "awwwwwh!!" She sincerely wanted to. It almost pained her to hold it back.

If Eld were to come back soon enough, he'd actually find Akizetsumei still holding the picture frame.

[Zach Kaiser]

Normally Eld's morning (to use the term loosely) routine took significantly longer, but as much as he liked having his appearance in order keeping a guest waiting too long wouldn't be polite. Not to mention that if he was going for a hike he was probably just going to get dirty anyway. So he did as much as he could in a couple minutes, and returned to the living room.

Nevertheless, he looked significantly more functional than he did before; he was dressed in a long-sleeved, brown t-shirt and blue jeans. His hair was...well, still slightly messy, but at least not all over the place.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, but then noticed what Akizetsumei was looking at. "Ah! Jeez, I forgot that picture was even there..." He rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly.

[Nayt]

"Ah!" the girl cried when she heard Eld speak behind her.

Surprised, she set the picture on the mantle quickly and spun around to face Eld. Her cheeks flared red and she averted her eyes from him. The girl immediately looked as if she felt ashamed of herself for something. In reality, it was both a mixture of fear and shame.

"S-sorry, um," Akizets began, "I didn't mean to snoop . . ."

In hindsight, that was a terrible whim she had! Snooping was horribly rude, and she was afraid-- again --that Eld was going to think poorly of her for something-- snooping, namely. She just couldn't help it, though! She'd seen something interesting and she felt the urge to look at it. It wasn't like she went through his drawers or cupboards or anything-- but maybe this was just as bad in his family? Akizets didn't know, but her mind was more than willing to jump to conclusions at an unnecessary rapid pace.

"I-it was, um, it was just a nice picture is all," Akizets remarked meekly.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Err...no, it's fine." Akizetsumei seemed to think she'd done something wrong, which wasn't what he meant to imply. While he definitely wished she hadn't seen the picture, it wasn't her fault that he did. "It's just kind of an embarrassing picture is all."

If had been a picture of anyone else he would have agreed with her. But while he was quick to see the good in others, when he turned his gaze inward more often than not it was the flaws that caught his eye.

"A-Anyway, hiking, huh? I could use the exercise. I take it you must be feeling better...?" He walked over to the kitchen, and to a basket of mixed fruit that sat on the counter. It was probably another thing that had caught Akizetsumei's eye, but worried as she was about etiquette she likely wouldn't have grabbed anything even if she was hungry.

"Want something?" he asked, grabbing an orange for himself and sticking into his pocket for later.

[Nayt]

Akizets started for the kitchen behind Eld, still feeling a bit awkward about that last issue, but ultimately more confused about why he'd be so embarrassed. She wanted to tell him that she thought he looked extremely cute in that picture and that she'd have loved to have gone to school in his grade, but somehow that seemed way too personal and up front to just say out of the blue like that. Instead, she quietly watched Eld root through a fruit basket. A couple of apples in there actually looked pretty tasty.

"W-well, um, I do like apples . . ." Akizets trailed off.

It was only then that she realized something: she'd come here totally unprepared to actually go hiking. Sure she was dressed for it, but she didn't even have a satchel for supplies! She'd come running here the second she gathered the nerve to and . . . well, it seemed she'd missed a couple of steps in the process.

"Oh man!" the girl cried in surprise as she realized this, "I completely forgot! My pack's back at home!"

Without a second thought, she started for the door, but stopped herself before she wound up running out of Eld's house without warning and in a mess of anxious energy.

"Y-you can, ummmm, you can come with me if you want," she said meekly, a second after she halted herself, "I'll, umm, I'll pack us some sandwiches and stuff."