A bite of Oji's delicious omelette. Writing. Skimming through the pages. Another bite. More writing. And even more skimming.
If your hands and mind aren't so occupied with finishing homework, the warmth from the sun permeating into Raccord would've definitely made you drop dead asleep by now.
Plus, having a pair of purple eyes focused on you the whole time, hardly blinking, is a good enough reason to want to stay awake. The last thing you want to deal with is his lectures about drifting off while doing work.
The male sets down his fork and clears his throat. "I gotta go meet up with a client right now. You won't sleep while I'm gone, right?"
You stop writing and flicker your gaze to him with a playful eye roll and a small smile. "My eyes are wide open, Gaku."
"Mhm."
And with that, he gets up and leaves out the door. You shift your attention to the window, taking note of the dusky sky—its coral pink and purple colors faintly painting the neutral streets where Gaku is walking on. Only when he disappears into the distance is when you look away.
Back to the mess of words...
Focusing on the subject at hand again, you continue the repetitive process that you've been managing for the past four hours. At least you have Oji's omelettes to keep you motivated.
♡
"Still not done yet?" a familiar voice from behind you whispers in surprise.
You don't need to turn around to know who it is. He is the same person who was sitting across from you earlier, making sure you didn't fall asleep. And now he's finally back about an hour later.
You flip a page and heave a jaded sigh, struggling to even raise your head to look at your friend. Heck, you can barely keep your weary eyes open. Five hours of nonstop work is making you immensely lethargic, so much so that you can easily drop everything and pass out on the cold floor of Raccord.
"Hey, just stop for today. It's obvious you need sleep," Gaku comments after some time of silence.
Seeing that you're still flipping the pages and writing (more like scrawling), not following his suggestion, he sighs and gently holds onto your wrist. The pencil from your fingers is put aside as the textbook is carefully closed.
You shake your head. As true as his words are, you must keep it up; you are so close to being done with this assignment. Once you complete this, you have to work on the next set. The sooner you get all of this done, the better you will feel.
"You already know that getting enough sleep is necessary for you to do a good job on your studies. Why are you being so stubborn?" he scolds.
You stare up at him with glassy eyes, the tears close to overflowing. The stress and overwhelming feelings are finally getting to you, making it all the more difficult to hold back any tears threatening to fall.
Gaku frowns. "Crying won't do anything. Will it help you finish your work? I didn't think so."
You're able to manage an "I know" before lowering your head and sobbing your heart out. The more you try to convince yourself that there's nothing to cry about, the more tears form. Even quickly wiping the drops away is resulting in more to spill out.
"Listen, I didn't mean to sound rude. I was just trying to—"
Seeing your hands constantly wiping away the falling tears and your chest heaving in and out makes him stop. The male sighs and slowly takes a seat beside you. Then, you feel some pats and rubs on your back.
Is he... trying to say he's sorry while also comforting you through another alternative method?
You wipe away the tears once more and sniff, glancing over at Gaku. He clears his throat and flickers his gaze elsewhere, continuing to rub your back (with some added pats every once in a while) in a gentle and soothing manner.
"Thank you..." you murmur, relaxing against his calming touches as your heart gradually reduces to its initial state.
The stressors seem to be fading away already. Indulging in the cozy atmosphere of Raccord, the dim lights set just right, while your friend is surely (and awkwardly) doing his best to comfort you, is the best new-found method of calming your emotions down.
"Mhm" is all Gaku says back to your words of gratitude.
-♡-
Gaku's bluntness mixed with his awkwardness makes him so cute, haha.
On a more disheartening note: although Ayakashi is no longer updating with new content (sobbing because I was looking forward to Aizen's route and his boyfriend card stories), this book will still be present for any of you lovelies who still adore the boys like myself and want to read cute stuff about them.