The Puppeteer

A Day Spent.

9th January 2007:

Getting up and getting dressed in her usual semi-formal clothing, Kiyohime left her house rather quickly that day. She was in a hurry to leave the house for reasons only known to her and me, at the moment.

Picking up her bag, she walked out of the house, locking the door behind her. She wouldn't be back until much later that day, and with no particular destination in mind, Kiyo found herself wandering the streets of Kanto. 

Flipping her handbag aimlessly over itself, again and again, Kiyo had mindlessly wandered to quite a luxurious hotel in the region that had the name 'Teito' carved out on one of the gates.

A smirk made its way onto her face as she realized where she was and walked in to take a seat in the restaurant within the hotel. She ordered a cup of hot chocolate and a simple sandwich and leaned back in her seat, as she waited for her order, eyes closing almost automatically.

By now, he should know she was here..

Amidst the crowd, the skeptical gaze of the black-haired man from a few tables away did not go unnoticed by her, his kind brown eyes seeming much darker with doubt. He pushed back his hair which hung over his ears and was now over his right eye as he stared her down. A pink hue covered his fair skin as the two locked eyes and he instantly looked away, making Kiyo smile to herself.

Matsuda was indeed just as cute as she thought him to be, too innocent and too kind to be tampered with, but too sweet to be ignored and not approached.

Kiyo got up from her seat and walked over to Matsuda's table with her belongings, "Is this seat taken? May I.. sit here..?" She asked him carefully.

"N-no! I mean, Y-yes! I mean no this seat is not taken and yes you can sit here," He said quickly, making her laugh.

Whispering a soft thank you, Kiyo took a seat from across Matsuda at the two-seater dining table. 

"So," She started, "I'm Kiyohime Ikari but you can call me Kiyo. What's your name?"

"I'm Tou-Taro Matsui, yeah. It's nice to meet you!" Matsuda fumbled.

"It's nice to meet you too, Matsui," Kiyo replied with a warm smile.

"So um.. how come you're here?"

"I saw you staring at me, Matsui," She said with an amused deadpan expression which made Matsuda blush even more, "And you seemed like a nice person, so I thought I'll come and have a conversation with you instead of sitting alone." 

"I-I'm sorry," He said sincerely, "I didn't mean to stare."

"But you did, and it's fine. You don't seem like a creep, so maybe you thought I looked like someone you knew?"

Matsuda was slightly taken aback by this. I mean, not that he doubted the fact that he wasn't a creep, but the way she had justified his 'staring' for him, almost as if she wanted to make him comfortable, almost as if she had intentionally liberated him off the pressure to explain himself out of this situation, almost as if she knew the actual reason behind his gaze.

"Yeah, you kinda look like an old friend," He quickly said, trying not to sound suspicious, "Um, so, where are you from? I mean, you're from Kanto obviously, but like.. you know.. what.. do you do?" Matsuda stumbled with his words as he fidgeted with his fingers, not quite sure about how to go about beginning the conversation.

But Kiyo simply laughed cutely and replied, "I'm a student, planning on going to To-Oh University, and so I'm preparing for my entrance which is on the 17th this month."