Block A 「Nishimura Riki」

9

He scoffed and glared at her as if never in his life he would've expected something like what she had said or thought. To say the least, Sunghoon was swooped into offense. "Well then no. You'd be far, far, away from the right track." He grimaced and his face warped into disgust.

Eiko just laughed. "Okay, let me guess again." She pointed a finger at Sunghoon's face and circled his features. "You would be..." she stopped her finger in between his eyes, adding another. "A killer," she threw out, whispering out a 'bang' as she lifted both her fingers up.

Sunghoon didn't say anything.

She put her chin on her palm. "I don't see it though. You look too nice to be a killer. You have the sparkles in your eyes that killers don't." Eiko would've never thought the words could've been a compliment. But Sunghoon rolled out a thanks as if he acknowledged the words as such.

"But, was I on the right track?" Eiko asked. "Am I getting warmer or colder, give me hints."

Sunghoon replicated her action. He put two fingers up and pointed them at the same place Eiko did to him, between the eyes. He let slip a playful chuckle, and his fingers shot in the air. "Bullseye."

The corner of her eyes crinkled. Eiko enjoyed the little game while it lasted until she was called up to the counter to get her drink.

Instead of sitting back down, she signaled Sunghoon to get up. "Come on. Let's go on a walk."

He scrunched his nose as he stood up and walked next to her. "I left the dog at home."

Eiko shrugged. "Come on. Come on."

She left out first with Sunghoon following behind.

"Let's hang out, genuinely. We can leave the serious talk for later." She sipped her drink casually before lighting up with anticipation. "Actually. There's this ice skating rink I want to go to. It's a bit far away but it's still walking distance."

Sunghoon glanced at the parking lot. "As long as we come back here," he mumbled. "I drove here."

"Deal."

===

"So," Eiko began. "How'd you meet them? Y'know, Jay and Jake."

Sunghoon had long trashed his cup, so he walked with his hands in his jacket's pockets. "Jay? Our first meeting is a little blurry to me actually. He transferred to my primary school almost towards the end of the year. The principal always told us not to talk to him or interact. He didn't really like Jay, it seemed."

That made Eiko's eyebrows raise. She took everything in word by word but just because she understood their meanings doesn't mean she understood why. In her eyes, Jay didn't come off as someone you could dislike.

How could the principal dislike him so much to say that, let alone a kid? Eiko's confusion turned to frustration. Weird...

"But I decided to talk to him. He was pretty much alone and so was I. I always had training and practice. Most of my education was given to me at home the seldom days that I came to school. So we talked, and we clicked. I found out why the principal disliked him, I made the principal dislike me too, and we became friends."

Eiko nodded along. "So why did the principal dislike him?"

Sunghoon answered her hintingly, "the same reason you lashed out on me." Though he accompanied his statement with a laugh, Eiko felt bad.

She apologized once more. "So what do you mean you made the principal dislike you too? What did you do?"

Sunghoon didn't answer verbally. Instead he retracted his hand from his pocket and rolled his sleeve back. On his wrist, there was a dot where a scar used to be. But he ended up explaining it. "I didn't get this until I was in highschool." He put his hand back into his pockets. "But I had told the principal that I was a vampire too. He was infuriated and gave me the same treatment he did Jay."