Cosplay Shenanigans

15 - of rabbit hole and pandemonium

Thursday, 07:29 AM.

Mairi: Thanks for last night. It's really fun.

When her message was delivered, the time showed 02:36.

Those were the hours where his bed and blanket had consoled him into a deep slumber. To be fair, he occasionally prioritized designing his cosplay costumes or catching up with his manga collections. Well... since they somewhat have the same routine, perhaps she was doing the same too... designing her complex Levi uniform.

"You're welcome." Abel spelled out his response and pressed the send button. A lengthy sigh left his lips before he locked his phone and raised the volume of his music. Fixing his backpack, he leaned against the bus pole and rubbed his neck.

But fun... huh? He pressed his lips and clamped his hand over them.

After all of that fiasco with a random drunkard, all of their conversations ceased in a heartbeat. Mairi had sealed her mouth shut, spurning further discussions. Even as he found himself scanning - unintentionally - upon her face, she still hung her head low. She would have noticed me easily and made some half-baked remarks... but she didn't.

At least she did murmur a faint - nearly inaudible - goodbye as they parted ways at the station, but nevertheless, it seemed like she entirely shut down from head to toe. And the way she had forcefully dragged him as they bolted from that particular area... it was a demeanor Abel never anticipated.

She was just... way too far from the type of person to lose their composure.

Well, she did mention how they brought her awful memories. His foot made circles. Guess drunkards bothered her that much, but... in what way?

Wait a minute, why was he pondering too much about that friend of his? He vigorously shook his head and slapped all those thoughts back into its proper place, before he mentally whacked himself... repeatedly.

Since when did he become this inquisitive? It was not his job to know details of her private life like a busybody. Either way, she didn't even want him to know, so another point was lost. I don't have to squander time trying to understand her. She's gonna confuse me more, and I ain't going down that rabbit hole.

Scrolling through his playlist, Abel adjusted his dangling earphones, where upon hitting the beats of the chorus, a string of rapid thumps rumbled in the background, looming from right behind him. Moving in an escalating intensity, an extremely foreign scream overpowered the energetic song.

"Incoming special attack!!"

Ah yes, here we go.

Unfortunately for this particular individual, Abel was fully alerted and that forewarning had his reflex driving him to step aside. He simply watched as his orange-haired friend popped into view, letting out a brief gasp as she fumbled on her strides but quickly recouped her lost momentum. Thanks for notifying me of your daily ambushes, Lotte.

"Aw man, I missed again!" Charlotte groaned, casually walking towards him and ignoring the little catastrophe she had caused. "Thought you wouldn't hear me since you had your earphones on."

"You chanting your special attack has always saved me. Even with music, I can still hear you," Abel snorted as he paused his music and pulled his earbuds out. "If you used your Silent Breathing or whatever that is, perhaps you'll be more successful."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." She flashed a smirk. "But in all honesty, you looked really distracted though. It's like you're... deep in thought."