Kuro Kurogane’s phone by was vibrating at 12:43 AM.
Usually that ant Akari sending cursed stickers , school group spam or Mina causing problems online.
Half asleep Kuro took the phone to his hand beside the pillow.
And just blinked.
Mina:u awake
Such a short ssage.
So simple.
Yet, after visiting her house seeing her na this late at night felt a bit different.
Kuro looked at the screen for several seconds before he answered honestly.
Kuro: unfortunately
Very quickly.
Mina:wow emotionally dead even at midnight
Kuro: sleep
Mina: no
Kuro: understandable
The silence was broken by another ssage.
Mina: this is the first normal conversation we’ve had
Kuro showed a small surprised reaction.
Because in a strange way,
she was right.
At school Mina was always loud talking. Teasing nonstop. Making every mont a challenge.
But texting was a different thing. Quiet. Sohow more truthful.
Turning over to his side Kuro kept his eyes on the glowing phone in the dark room.
The house was quietly sleeping.
Nearby Akari and Aoi’s rooms also were still.
On the other hand rain was still gently drumming outside from earlier.
Then one more notification turned up.
Mina: thanks again for earlier
Kuro stopped.
Kuro:for surviving dinner?
Mina: exactly you saw rich people emotional horror
Kuro: your brother is strange
Mina: he gets worse
Kuro inadvertently raised the corners of his mouth in a smile.
Then almost at once changed his expression.
Because sohow ,in fact conversation with Mina like this was not difficult.
Far from it.
Mina:what are you doing rn
Kuro: trying to sleep
Mina: liar
Kuro:reading manga
Mina: THERE IT IS
Kuro breathed out through his nose softly.
Kuro:why are you awake
The typing bubble ca up right away.
Then disappeared.
Ca up again.
Disappeared again.
At the very first ti,Mina was undecided.
But at last.
Mina: too quiet in this house to sleep
Kuro looked at the ssage without a sound.
And the thing was he rembered that empty apartnt ,the silent dinner table.
Mina being the one who was smiling louder than anyone else
Then quietly,
Kuro:thunder?
Several seconds passed.
Mina:maybe
Truthful answer again.
Bit.
Yet genuine.
The talk went on as if nothing happened.
Even, unexpectedly.
The conversation went on:bad teachers,favorite comics ,embarrassing tis at childhood ,strange snack mixes.
And, for the first ti, Kuro understood the point to the situation.
Mina was truly witty.
Not artificially witty.
Not loudly witty.
Really witty.
One ti Kuro was jokingly laughing muffled into his pillow after reading.
Mina:if aliens invad... first thing selling akari
Kuro:they would return her imdiately
Mina:true even aliens have limits
Kuro tried not to laugh out loud, shaking at 1 in the morning.And another ssage ca.
Mina: WAIT DID YOU...
Kuro: no
Mina: LIAR
Kuro: evidence?
Mina: spiritually I sensed it
Quite a reasonable argunt, actually.
Minutes gradually beca hours.
There was a gradual change in the mood.
Jokes were reduced. Honesty was increased.
Then there was an unexpected,
Mina: do you ever feel lonely even around people
Kuro was a bit shocked.
The question was a bit heavier than the previous ones.
He was innocently staring at the illuminated screen.
He then decided to be honest.
Kuro: yeah
Mina:sa
Short text.
However,it was more touching than whole dialogues at school.
Kuro thought of Mina, who was sitting near the window that was covered with rain drops, at that ti.
Not loudly smiling. Not acting.
Only tired.
Then she typed again.
Mina:school mina easier to understand people like fun mina better
Kuro slightly frowned.
Kuro: I think both versions are real
After a long ti silence.
Then Mina finally sent: thats unfairly nice
Kuro:
just honest
Mina:dangerous man
At the very mont when Kuro was reading the last ssage,his heart started going nutty.
2:07 AM.
Really, Kuro should have been sleeping a long ti ago.
But instead,he still was exploring the ssages and at the sa ti his smile appeared without him being aware of it.
And, all of a sudden,his room door was slightly opened.
Kuro’s heart jumped to his throat.
Aoi was standing there looking sleepy in her huge pajamas.
"...You’re awake?"
Kuro quickly stashed the phone screen as if caught doing sothing wrong.
"...I just couldn’t sleep, "
Aoi blinked, her gaze softening as she noticed Kuro’s faint smile.
Then silence.
Dangerous silence.
"...You seem like you are happy, " Aoi softly whispered.
Kuro was a total ss through and through, he didn’t know what to say.
Aoi kept looking at him for so ti, after which, she softly said,"...Goodnight, Kuro."
Closing the door, she left Kuro emotionally wounded on the bed.
Because sohow he felt bad.
Not because he was doing sothing wrong.
But because having Aoi see his face made him realize sothing very important.
Mina, in turn, was starting to get to him too.
anwhile, across the buildings , Mina was laying on her bed upside down in Kuro’s hoodie from earlier, staring at her phone screen.
The only light in her room was the soft glow of city lights outside the windows.
And despite the fact that the huge, empty apartnt was around her, for the first ti in a while, the silence wasn’t unpleasant tonight.
Suddenly, very quietly, even quieter than that
Mina smiled, hiding her face in the hoodie sleeves.
Warm. Soft. Real
.
And she whispered,
"... I really like talking to him."
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