One Step Forward ≠ Servamp FF

Track 10

"Sooo, yeah. Can't exactly sing anymore."

After having explained the entire situation as briefly as he could through mouthfuls of food, Kuro leaned back on his seat and slumped, shoving another french fry into his mouth.

"Damn, haven't eaten these stuff in an actual restaurant in a while..."
"Wait... a jaw injury? You've had it before Sloth was up and going?" Mahiru asked, obviously bewildered by the truth.

Moments ago, it had been explained to him that the former vocalist who'd opened his eyes to a new world is now incapable of singing all-out due to a jaw injury gradually getting triggered again. A doctor had told him — although regretfully — to lay off on intense performances. He also had to worry about a now-patched-up fracture in his leg. Chances of it affecting his daily life were low, but it was better to keep an eye on it than anything else. Excess use of the said leg may bring about pain or discomfort, though, so there was also that to consider, knowing concerts required tremendous amounts of energy.

"Besides, smoking sorta ruined my voice as well, so I might as well stop." Kuro added casually, nodding to Mahiru's query. The noise of the restaurant passed between them for a while, the brunette taking time to process what he'd heard and the other getting ready to turn down any personal questions.

"Wow, I — Why didn't you tell me?"
"Excuse me?"
"You didn't tell me all this before. You were actually handling a lot of things but you acted like nothing was wrong. And you knew you guys were going to disband at some point."
"You were an outsider."
"I'm your friend."
"Dream on. We're not getting along at all."

Mahiru frowned.

"But we were — "
"Were. Emphasis on that." Kuro straightened up, then leaned over the table, his palm supporting his head on one side. The other individual put his cola down and crossed his arms, staring at Kuro with a look that seemed to say, 'what am I ever gonna do with you'.

"Come on, why do you have to be pushing me away like this?" He asked.
"Why do you pursue me?" Sarcasm laced the pale individual's tone as he eyed Mahiru with something akin to caution. Mahiru, having sensed his reluctance, relaxed and softened his tone.

"Look, sorry if I'm being too, well, familiar? Or if I seem like I'm butting into your affairs, but I just can't help it. We had been regularly speaking like old friends way back and — "
"I get it. I've abandoned hopes of going to uni and I'm currently jobless, though, so you're paying."
"... What?!" this time, it was Mahiru's turn to catch the attention of everyone in the restaurant.

Kuro blinked at him, surprised.

"You mean you couldn't tell?" He raised a brow at the gaping teen infront of him. "I'm barely alive, sir, and it'd be shocking for an actual student to not be up and about at five cooking a meal in a clean apartment."

"True, you don't match any part of that criteria at all."
"It hurts when someone else says it, but that's, yes, that's the point."
"Wait... then," Mahiru felt a sweat slide down the side of his face. Then he asked, already knowing the dreaded answer; "How do you pay rent?"

With no hesitation, Kuro answered him in all honestly.

"I haven't paid my rent for three months now. Landlord's turning into a headhunter bit by bit."
"I knew it!"
"That's mean."

Uncaring about the child pointing fingers towards their general direction, the brunette shook his companion by the shoulders as he exclaimed, "How do you plan on getting out of this situation? Atleast try to find a job!"
"Too lazy." Kuro stated as-a-matter-of-factly, holding up a finger then lowering it as if it had taken a lot of effort to execute such movement.

Mahiru stared at him dead in the face for a few seconds, then leaned in closer, a menacing Mother aura enveloping his body — that's what Kuro was currently seeing, atleast.

"How were you able to pay three months ago?"
"... Alright, I'll answer, give me some space, please." Kuro blurted out after remembering silence never worked on parents, according to other people's accounts both in real life and on the internet. When the brunette was down on his chair once more, Kuro sighed and cast his gaze downward as he spoke.

"I was a drummer for a small underground band for a while. Those old men," by old men, he had actually meant adults in their twenties, "Questioned my loyalty after they got full of my absences on practice scheds and kicked me out."

Kuro questioned his own loyalty to his silence, and although he was used to keeping his mouth shut around other people when they'd ask about these matters, he couldn't seem to put a filter over his words at the moment, as if Mahiru's magical shonen protagonist powers had coaxed his vocal cords to cooperate with his tongue against his brain's will. If he even had a brain remaining after all that bulshit he'd dealt with.

Another bout of silence pattered around their table with invisible feet, the two of them stilling like statues and not quite knowing what to say. The former vocalist's eyes were downcast, the patterns of the plastic table seeming to want to drill themselves into his head.

"I see..." a voice from the other side of the table murmured softly. Then louder this time, "Well, I guess I'm not exactly going to get what I wanted when I came here."

Kuro looked up.

"Ah, don't get me wrong, it's all okay! It's just a shame I can't exactly hear you singing live again. Well, like you said back then, there's recordings and stuff so — "
"Just shut up, yes, I've greatly failed your hopes and dreams. Make this meal the first and last we'll ever share. You're paying, by the way. Just reminding."

Mahiru was close to nodding absentmindedly, when suddenly, his eyes widened, as if an idea had come to his head. Kuro could almost see the light bulb.

"Wait... that explains the broken drumsticks under the bed!" he beamed, and the other nearly recoiled at how bright his optimism was. "Kuro!"

"Um... what?"

"Let's form a new band!"

Mahiru gulped down the last of his cola and enthusiastically walked over to the counter to pay for their order. As Kuro watched his back from his seat, he couldn't help but think how absolutely draining it was to be around this kid he'd met a few months ago. It was surprising how he still was able to honestly verbalize his thoughts despite the fact that the very person he was talking to had quite literally ditched him without an explanation. Perhaps he was one of those people who thought distance strengthened the bond between two people, but...

"Man, I can't figure him out at all."

The pale individual ran a hand through his hair and looked out the window, not even thinking of the predicament he was currently in. Getting someone else involved in his life was one of the ideas he'd long since abandoned, and getting involved in someone else's was way out of the question. He didn't know what spurred him on, though, in this situation to just let the tide carry him where it would. He was currently being sucked in by the urge to run away, to not allow the universe's eye to catch sight of him then try to make his mundane days tragically interesting. He, though, somehow couldn't find the heart to walk away a second time. Cutting people off was as easy to do as was saying it, but he'd done that once with Mahiru and yet he was still here —

"Wait... is that...?"

"Kuro, let's go back to your apartment before the sun is high!" Mahiru's voice barely registered in his mind and as his feet dragged him away from the window, Kuro could've sworn he saw a familiar face in the crowd outside. He didn't know whether or not he wanted to run into him later on, but he sincerely hoped he hadn't been seen.

"Seriously... this is all too troublesome."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, it's not nothing. You're acting like a highschool girl."
"My pure maiden heart is wounded."
"... Kuro, are you actually —"
"No." he breathed, pocketing his hands and walking by the tail of Mahiru's radiant shadow.