Insert one freshly revived asshole

[birdinhand]

First thing in the morning:
Well, that was terrible. Embarrassing, horrible, and stupid. But, he was glad to not have the pain anymore. And he had his face back the way it belonged. Sure he was vain, but even most people might have trouble with what gallons of acid would do to a person.

He knew he had Hina and Eiji to face out there, as well as the woman that caused the problem in the first place. But first, he was going to get everything back to normal. That meant it was time to get his hair back to something resembling presentable. The tournament and being in bed for days hadn't done it any favors. And if he was taking his sweet time, then that was probably on purpose.

He wanted to see Hina, he really did. He had somehow missed her during his self-imposed isolation. That was something he hadn't expected. But, he wasn't sure if he was ready to see her. Not after what had happened yesterday. If she had seen that, then...

Eventually, he ran out of excuses to not leave his room. He stood the collar up of his shirt and headed for the door.

Later, in the library:
That bitch was gonna pay. And so, he was going to lay bait the best way he knew how. He stretched out on top of the bookshelf, as he usually did, to wait for her to decide she had something to say about it. He was pretty sure Hina and Eiji wouldn't let him anywhere near her if he'd said anything, or worse warn her. She deserved to feel every inch of the pain she'd put him in.

Evening, courtyard
Back in his favorite tree, with a popsicle. He's more or less dressed for the weather for once. He needed a plan for the future. If he was going to return to who he used to be, then he had to put certain safeguards in place first. Because he wouldn't be able to protect Hina the same way as before.

Comments

[dreiwuensche]

She was glad for that. It was the small things that counted, sometimes.

"Then let's fix that."

[birdinhand]

He still felt miserable about leaving her alone and then dying in that kind of spectacle. But he'd already said what he had to say about that. He was sure she had done everything she could to avoid seeing it, but he didn't have the guts to ask. He just had to move on.

His continued silence was as good as assent to her suggestion, anyway. His grip on her hand tightened a bit before he finally let go as they emerged into the prison proper. He held a finger up for her to wait so he could check the hall to make sure no one saw her coming out. When the coast was clear, he waved her on.

[dreiwuensche]

Hina followed Ankh out into the upper halls of the prison, and then led the way to the cafeteria. There must be some nice delicious cold breakfast food for him to eat.

"So..." she started, but she didn't actually have anything to say. This was a little awkward.

[birdinhand]

He inspected some of the cereal choices. He eventually settles on something bright, colorful and quite Grown Up. And iced coffee. Maybe he does have options aside from subsisting on popsicles.

"Have you been able to work on any clothing lately?" Taking his mind off his worries was probably a better idea for now. Maybe not in the long run, but he wanted to enjoy his time with Hina right now.

[dreiwuensche]

She couldn't judge him for that, she also chose something bright, colorful, and extremely grown up.

"No..." she said wistfully, shaking her head. "I've just been trying to save up enough money to get candy." Since Eiji had helped her out recently, though, maybe...

[birdinhand]

He frowned. That wasn't right. Would it be weird for him to give her some drawing supplies? He racked his memory a bit to try to remember the things she preferred to use. He smiled slightly at some of the memories that started to come back. Those that he had tried to push away while he was gone. They were kind of nice, now. Strangers would be the wrong way to put it, but things were definitely different between them than it had them. And he wanted to change that. But the changes he'd made were going to do all they could to get in the way of that.

"That's a shame. I might have to help fix that." Let's see what she says about that. Even if he thought he knew what her response might be, he was still worried that it wouldn't be something she'd accept from the person he'd become.

[dreiwuensche]

She blinked up at him in surprise, spoon pausing on its way to her bowl. "Help how?" she asked cautiously. Shingo had always been supportive of her goals, but she couldn't deny that things were different now.

[birdinhand]

He smirked a bit. "Ah, that would ruin the surprise." And he pointed his spoon toward her.

[dreiwuensche]

She laughed, a little surprised by his demeanor. "All right, all right. But it better be something good," she mock-insisted.