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  ?***let's assume you're holding a candle.

  ?"...... it's you again. what is this about, again?"

  ?the candle is lit, let's say.

  ?"ignoring me."

  ?you could make out multiple reasons to light the candle in the first place, but that doesn't really matter. for now. what if... a blow of air, just happened to come by?

  ?"...."

  ?would you protect the candle from the kiss of the wind, or would you embrace it?

  ?"I— ...."

  ?will it extinguish, or will it burn?

  ?"what If... I desire none of them?"

  ?hmh? you're quite the peculiar man. none, you said? you don't want any disturbance, neither do you want to have anything to be disturbed.

  ?"am I wrong for wanting that?"

  ?no. not at all. you're correct. correct to a fault.

  ?"......"***

  ?

  ?1

  ?

  ?it's January 28th. as routinely as ever, everything was the same. study (optional), sleep, wake up, go to school. but— but, I felt a little bit like 'outlawing' it today. what I mean by that is, going off course.

  ?of course, without a doubt, nobody would give a rats ass if I changed a thing or more about what I do in my day, so it ultimately didn't matter what course I took. I would dare and call myself a *well raised boy* and say that, yes, if somebody else would give any care towards my attention change, I'd probably consider their words for a second or two. yet— even then, I don't think anybody would be able to give any form of any opinion on this. especially considering I'm doing it in secret. the secret that I'm doing is as simple as simplicity can get.

  ?skipping school in secret.

  ?*"It's not as extravagant as it sounds,"* I said to myself as I was met with the pretty early, swift and cold breeze of air. I looked around on the neighborhood street, not a great number of people were up at this hour.

  ?uniform, on.

  ?backpack, on.

  ?school, off.

  ?i had checked my miniature notebook earlier for my plans for school. I was taken aback to realize I had a good amount of nothing on my plate. so, of course, as the ever reasonable and very understandable and *well raised boy* that I am, I decided to go to school.

  ?"nah." and I took the opposite direction.

  ?as I uncharacteristically took day off, my thoughts went back to Yui-san, Yuki-san, and Shirou. Shirou seriously can't care less about me. Yuki-san is... and Yui-san wasn't the type to check on me by contacting my teachers, which was a good thing. both for secretive things like what I'm doing right now, and also that proves she has a decent amount of trust in me (?). which, I'd be glad if I could feel any form of joy from this. yet— all I feel is nothing. not that I'm begging to feel anything to start with. not the type-of-a guy to beg for opinions of others, especially not praise. even if I did, I hardly believe I'd feel anything from that. especially considering that I don't feel anything *right now* about this unexpected trust she has in me. as they say, the gift feels better as a surprise.

  ?well, whatever. this goes without saying, I had nowhere to go other than the pharmacy. thinking about it, it really wasn't that big of a deal, huh? skipping school.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

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  ?2

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  ?*I wasn't a child to ask Yui-san to let me skip school, and even if I did, even if I stepped over my shallow pride and asked her to forgive me a day off, which she'd definitely let me take it, I'd still have a big deal of nothing to do at home. so, I went outside. and outside, I had a single area I could settle in, for now.*

  ?knowing it's early in the morning, I wasn't bothered by any crowd getting in my way. Unlike the night, the morning has a much less crowd rate. that was somewhat of a reliever. getting to my destination took me a fleeing 7 minutes, or so. wasn't a counting guy anyways. well. ".... here we go..." I breathed out before entering. for some odd reason, there wasn't any door bells to signal a customers entry, but, whatever. and Seshoumaro-san was dead!!!

  ?..... is what'd happen if my story was a murder mystery story, but it was not. well, is it okay to call my life a story at all? ........ I rather not delve into that. at least, I have bigger concerns, right now. I took soundless steps forward.

  ?"...."

  ?"....."

  ?"........"

  ?".........."

  ?".............."

  ?"......kghk! *snooooore*......"

  ?old man was sleeping. this man is so un-serious... how could you possibly sleep in peace with an open shop? do you not fear intruders? stealers? .... or killers.

  ?"sesh's sleepin'."

  ?what.

  ?wait... I know this voice, I didn't know it well, but enough to recognize the situation at hand. I sighed, and turned my gaze to the corner of the place. My eyes could only view a countable amount of things, more like, I only allow it to. And with that, comes to view *a brown long skirt.* yeah. it was her. that was all I needed to see to know it's her, because that was all I've ever seen from her. man, not only is she calling him by that horrible nickname, but she's **also** skipping school the way I did. I didn't need to be an impeccable detective to figure that out.

  ?"I see," I responded coolly, well, I tried to be. "—...." I was going to indulge into a conversation by asking her how, why, where, and what to do, and whatsoever. yet, I couldn't bring myself to do it. ever so lightly, I made my way into the small curtain, behind the transparent glass of the pharmacy. side eyeing her once, I could tell from her posture that she was, as always, laid-back beyond belief. that both annoyed and relieved me. annoyed me for her incompetence at the job (did she even work here to begin with?) and relieved due to knowing that I'll work without intrusion. I, without any need or want for words, started doing my job.

  ?

  ?3

  ?

  ?while I was doing my trivial work, I couldn't help but find myself thinking back about *her*.

  ?I didn't have the greatest information on her, neither did I have the greatest memory to keep those information, but from what I remember— Nadeko. I forgot what was her family name, but she sure wasn't a Minato from what I knew. Nadeko is also a 3rd year highschool student as I am. yes. we attend the same high school. I wondered if we had the same classroom. hm? can't recall. from my unremarkable knowledge about her, I know she's relatively close to seshoumaro-san in a few ways. and also she's——...... uhh... can't remember anything. Or more like, I don't know anything. I think the only thing I know about her is that extremely odd white hair of hers. I remember catching glimpses of her whenever she was around. ..... white hair, ...? she may had some sort of trauma for her hair to become like that, or she's completely natural. which I find difficulty in believing. so, my final prediction for it is, probably spray. I guess.

  ?and .... ? wait. what? that's it?

  ?"huh..." I was thinking how off it felt to know so little about this girl, especially considering we've knew each other for so long. if I recall correctly, I've been working here for a few years. let's say— this is just throwing a guess— I've had a collective four to five years working over here. she. she was there since day one.

  ?from her tone alone, I could tell she's the careless, cheerful, and overly enthusiastic type. but. that's only a theory from her voice.

  ?it bothered me that, four years with a person, all I get is... hair color and voice. ... whatever. not like I was going to gain any value from getting to know her, neither did I ever want to. but it's no sin to get bothered about it and do nothing.... is it?

  ?

  ?4

  ?

  ?Nadeko. cheerful atmosphere, yet, she's dead silent right now. she'd—sometimes—be enthusiastic enough to open a conversation with me, or say something outrageous, or simply lay out comments that makes me want to scream 'it's none of your business!'. but, of course, I didn't. And I won't.

  ?".........." looking at her, I could tell she's sulking. thankfully, I'm not dense. so I am able to think of the conclusion of her situation. she's tired, probably. she can't put up her cheerful behavior. she doesn't want to go to school. she comes here. it's her safe haven.

  ?....... what a smart-ass am I, man.

  ?acting like I know everything and anything. whatever. nobody will judge me for being me, right?

  ?"....."

  ?of course, nobody gave any answer to my endless monologue.

  ?"....?" I noticed something as I was working. I didn't need to work. looking up at the clock, it's 1 PM. two hours left before I can go back home from *school*. no customers were coming. Seshoumaro-san was asleep beyond waking. Nadeko was having some form of a bad mood.

  ?so.... what the hell am I supposed to do now?

  ?*I didn't dislike boredom whatsoever. others would find a particular time 'boring' and quickly assume it to be of no use. I found boredom a great solution to stress. a great birth to ideas. a great provider of nothingness. but, finding value in something doesn't equal never getting tired of it.*

  ?*"getting bored of boredom..."*

  ?so... two hours, of what? I'd allow myself to be a loner forever(not necessarily), but I wouldn't allow myself to get lonely with me. I could use my extremely repetitive method of passing time by speaking to myself, but I rather delete the repetitive part.

  ?so...the question lays itself once again, what the hell should I do now?

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