sonder ➳ kozume kenma

two

TWO

"You look like hell."

Kenma's head instantly perks up as someone plops down on the chair sitting across him—eyes widening in shock when a familiar girl comes face to face with Kenma. He looks down instinctively, heart hammering inside his chest once he realizes the situation.

There sat (First Name)'s best friend with her trademark frown. Yukimura Setsuna.

"You went ahead this morning," She says simply, twirling locks of ebony black hair with her fingers as she glares at the people looking curiously at the two of them. "I had to spend the whole walk to school with a bird nest and a sad puppy in tow, you know?"

Kenma fidgets uncomfortably.

It isn't because he was scared of being scolded by her. No, Kenma was more scared of the fact that Setsuna had an uncanny ability of figuring him out. And it was especially true when it involved a certain someone.

"Did you confess?"

She shoots nonchalantly, and Kenma immediately sputters out an imaginary drink. His grip on his phone loosens, a very smug smirk finally pulling at the corner of Setsuna's lips as she had figured what happened—somehow, at least, since the one who confessed was (First Name) and not the other way around.

And most importantly, she confessed to having feelings for someone else. Someone not him.

Kenma's heart drops at the reminder.

"Huh," The girl mutters as she inspects her friend, an answer dawning on her once she sees his melancholic expression. Knitting her eyebrows, Setsuna presses a finger on her forehead to nurse an incoming headache. "I see what's going on."

"Do you now?" Kenma says while chuckling, the sound rumbling from his chest nothing more than a mirthless, self-depracating laugh.

"Oh, I can see it clearly Kenma." Setsuna glares at him, the look on her face doing a number on his already fraying nerves. "You like her. But with that personality of yours, you'll just let things be and won't fight for it."

Kenma's eyes flutters slightly close, long eyelashes shielding his honey-colored orbs from the dust. "What else should I do, if not that?"

Silence persists around them, the people from before already out of the classroom as they file out for their lunchtime. Setsuna taps her fingers on his desk, the sound their only company inside the empty classroom.

"You have a chance." She suddenly blurts out, causing Kenma to quickly shift his gaze to her—head ultimately swimming in agony as nausea attacks his senses for doing the action too quickly.

"You're a guy." Setsuna says, looking down at her lap and his eyes widens as he realizes what she meant.

"Setsuna, you—" The female shakes her head, holding her hand up to stop whatever he was about to say. She pulls herself off the seat, hand placed on the side of her hips as she points a finger at his direction. "You have to try Kenma. Because that bird's nest doesn't know a thing about romance."

"Besides, you've been watching over her for a long time now, have you?"

There it is. A hidden meaning.

You should know how to make her happy.

Setsuna crosses her way towards the sliding door of the classroom before stopping, she sighs and without missing a beat, rummages through the deep pockets of her sweater and chucks a sandwhich at his way—Kenma barely catching the food at the sudden gesture.

She clicks her tongue and he wonders if this is her way of antagonizing him.

"Eat. Last thing we need is you fainting at practice." Setsuna tells him, half of her body already stepping out of the treshold of the door. "And then, apologize to (First Name) for suddenly running away like that."

Before he knew it, he was suddenly alone.

Kenma stares down at the sandwhich he was given. The wrap is wrinkled here and there, keeping the contents of the food in a neat, compressed state but not to the point where it was smashed down in contempt. Setsuna seemed like she came here to deliver the food, but was probably curious of what had happened between him and (First Name).

Kenma didn't know what to do.

He could, of course, follow the suggestion his friend laid out to him. But some things are easier said than done—Kenma was afraid that she would feel complicated, which has a big possibility of happening considering the girl's personality, and might distance herself from them in order to stop the budding love triangle between them.

Ah, no. Not triangle. Square.

He grumbles at that thought.

Kenma knows that the one who probably has the same intense feeling as (First Name) is him, but to her it was towards a mutual friend of theirs and to Kenma, there was no one else to direct that special attention but her. He tears down the plastic wrap, taking a bite on the sandwhich as he tries to figure out what to do.

Firstly—how should he face (First Name)?

She might be oblivious to a fault, but she wasn't dense nor stupid. With the way he obviously freaked out and avoided her this morning, it won't be too long before she figures out what was happening. Not too long until she realizes what Kenma feels about her.

"So I have to do something before it escalates...." He mumbles, words trailing off his mouth as he munches his meal.

"Do what, exactly?"

Kenma, for the second time today, chokes in surprise as someone's voice suddenly pulls him out of his own thoughts. The person quickly taps his back as he tries to ease his airway, handing him a bottle of chocolate milk which he gladly takes before drinking.

He thought he was going to die.

What a pathetic way to die if that were to be true.

"T-Thank you," Kenma wipes his mouth with his sleeves as he peeks at the person responsible for saving (and almost killing) him.

(First Name) stands at his side, brows knit in worry as she stares at Kenma who was frozen on his seat.

"Kenma?" She calls out his name, and an ominous feeling makes shivers crawl on his skin as he anticipates the question that was about to come for him.

"Are you avoiding me?"