APSURDUS

AKANE

“Akane?”

She froze at the sound of her name, and turned very, very slowly.

“Flynn,” she said, with what she thought was an admirable veneer of calm. “It's been a while.”

“Yeah, it sure feels like that, huh? You only went to what... one class since—”

“Yes, well,” she interrupted, before he could finish. “Very busy. Don't really have time for kendo.”

“Uh... yeah. I can imagine.” He fell silent.

She shifted on her feet, unable to look at him.

He had been helpful with the skins, both before the attack and after, of that there was no doubt. And that kiss... but she still wasn't sure how she felt about him.

She shouldn't be having this many problems. This was not supposed to be complicated. Derek— She needed to stop bringing Derek into this. He was irrelevant. He had absolutely nothing to do with her love life. Never had.

“If you want to...” Flynn trailed off.

She tried to finish for him. “...come to class more?”

He blinked. “What? No, I was going to ask if you wanted to go get coffee or something, but that's a stupid idea...”

She shifted more. “Yeah, I don't drink coffee...”

“Well, I know, that's why I said it's stupid.”

“Oh, I forgot I told you.”

“No, that's understandable. I mean—”

“I can't remember everything I say.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Right. Yeah.”

An awkward silence fell. It was debatable whether it was better or worse.

“Akane?”

Oh, thank Musashi himself. She turned to see Ling and Lizzy walking towards them, shopping bags under their shoulders.

Ling smiled. “I thought that was you. What's up?”

Akane waved her hand in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. “Oh... nothing. You?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I was at soccer practice, but Laura apparently ran out on Lizzy before they finished shopping, so I had to step in to get the job done.”

“We got some stuff for you too,” Lizzy said in her usual flawless Japanese. “Another sharpening kit—don't look at me like that, this one is specifically for knives. We also found some coupons you might be interested in. But mostly, we got you lingerie.”

Akane nearly choked. “Lingerie?”

Ling brightened. “I understood that! Yeah, we got you lots of lingerie.” To Akane's horror, she started rooting around in her bag. “Here's some black lace, a see-through set, white lace—”

Akane rushed forward to try and stop her. At the very least, she shouldn't be pulling these out in the middle of the sidewalk. It wasn't busy, but still.

Flynn tried to step in. “Uh... maybe we should do this somewhere else...”

Before Ling could react, Akane activated her speed, grabbed the bag, and ran towards the nearest alley. It was a stupid thing to do, with everyone around, but no one noticed. At least, no one started screaming in panic, so good enough.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ling hissed, glancing around as she followed her. “Are you crazy?”

“Me?” Akane demanded. “You two...” She shook her head, unable to find the words.

“Don't be mad, Ken-chan,” Lizzy said soothingly. “It's all right if you're not at that stage yet. Everyone's relationships advance differently.”

Akane sputtered. “What are you—no. No, no, no!”

Ling rolled her eyes, catching her tone well enough. “Here,” she declared, handing her another bag. “All yours.” She nodded at Flynn. “I'm sure you two will be very happy.” Then she grabbed Lizzy by the arm, turned on her heel, and walked away.

Flynn blinked at Akane. “Uh...”

She looked in the second bag with some trepidation.

Ah. Right. “Relationships.”