Glow | Tokyo Ghoul

# 0 2 0 ⦋ Avoir Des Atomes Crochus ⦌

— 2018

word count — 3121

♪

Our knees touched from time to time, leaving me somewhat distracted.

    "How come you're single?"

   A long pause followed after the question I had asked; she glanced at me, furrowing her eyebrows. "I don't know, it's been a while since I've dated...I don't think I'm ready for something too serious." She laughed sheepishly.

   I bit the inside of my cheek. "Why's that?"

   She shrugged. "No time, I guess. Et I don't want to be in a relationship like the one Hana-chan and Domoto are in."

    "What do you mean?" even though Maki and Hana appeared close, the words that Miri had mumbled only proved that my speculations on the couple were right.

    "Look...I'm sure there are some things that you've noticed at first glance," she eyed me. "You can tell just by looking at them that it's not...perfect. That it's not normal. That it's mostly dead. There's very little connection between them."

    "Then I don't think I paid as much attention to them as I thought I did," I muttered, studying the shift of emotion on her features.

    "It's just...when it's good, it's all right. But when it's bad...you don't even want to know. Comme, a lot of the time, he stares at other girls more than he looks at her, and pretends to look somewhere else. Hana would complain about how they've lost interest in the same things and how they have nothing to talk about anymore. They've been together for only a year and..." she shook her head. "I don't like it when that happens. I don't want to be in something similar to that...it's a bit scary."

    "Honestly, I'm not sure how relationships are supposed to be, but that sounds...bad. Kaneki and I would only fantasize, but he was more of a dreamer than I am." I shrugged. "What would you rather be in, then? What's your ideal relationship?"

    "Je crois, quant à moi, it'll definitely have to be all about...having a good understanding of one another, despite arguments or such. And I know that the 'honeymoon phase' is something that fades over time, but...je ne sais pas, I wish it didn't. I don't want mine to, at least not after just a year."

    "It makes sense," I nodded. "What kind of stuff do you do that keeps you from getting into a relationship, then?"

   That's not obvious at all. Really.

    "Hm...for starters, I'm not sure I'm ready to be in one, just yet. Then there's work and university." She reached for the back of her neck. "And then...there are the hobbies that I wouldn't like to give up on and other stuff."

    "That's...understandable," I hid some things from her, just as it appeared that she hid things from me. "Having a relationship might distract you. And it might make your partner unhappy if you spend most of your time away from them."

    "Exactement. I am already afraid of being in an unhappy, uninteresting relationship, so I would rather be single."

    "You'd rather do other things..." something within me hammered.

    "No..." she hesitated. "Je veux dire...I had a lot of time on my hands growing up, so I did a lot of things to keep myself occupied that didn't really have to do with other people. I didn't have many friends after we moved from the 1st ward to the next, and ended up here...and I barely had any in France."