𝑅𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑘𝑎✧𝐾𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑚𝑖 𝑋 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑂𝑛𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑠

✧𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢✧ 𝐾𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖

1952 words (this one is a bit crappy imo but hope you like it<3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirari would never consider why she paid so much attention to you, or why she committed so many details about you to memory (she knew, on some level of course she knew), but she could say that she had admired your smile before. In the time you'd been working together in the student council, she had appreciated the way your eyes lit up when you teased or played around, the way your lips turned up and the sound of your laugh (it was an unspoken fact within her mind that the feeling of warmth the memories brought was irrelevant).

There was more, too. Kirari had seen your expression grim with a dark and serious look whenever you gambled, sharp whenever gambling or thinking hard about something. She'd seen you soft, worried, upset, and caring. Although Kirari couldn't (didn't dare) recall the exact reason for her specific attention, in the short amount of time that she had known you, she'd seen and could remember you in so many different ways; Your eyebrows knit in concern, your lips pursed in concentration, your eyes glowing scarlet whenever excitement was in the air, your nose scrunched ever so sweetly in embarrassment.

But, Kirari had never seen your cheeks lose their rosy color or your bottom lip tremble. She had never seen your eyes wide and glassy in panic, or shiny as tears began to form, even when the stakes were deathly high, your posture remained confident and firm.

It wasn't that you were weak, or that you weren't fit for this gambling madness oh no (although Kirari realized as the both of you came to a safe spot on top of one of the buildings rooftop that she truly believed you deserved better). The problem was that the Academy was gorgeously cruel, and you weren't like her, nor like any other pupil.

Of course Kirari wanted better for herself, and had learned to be better. Sayaka and some of the members of the student council had taught her how much more there was in the world, to strive for something other than the gambling madness and family torture. But, at the end of the day, she still knew the reality of people like who she once was, people like her family.

Maybe you knew that, too, at least in theory. After all, you held out better against the cheaters you'd both taken down than the other members of the student council had. You had been able to stifle your reaction to the lies and cheating as you saw the gamble to completion. Now that it was over, though, Kirari saw the toll it had taken upon you.

For some reason, it upset her more than it should have.

For some reason, Kirari didn't want to see you in a position of pain and suffering.

For some reason, she very badly wanted to protect you from it all.

All the madness and chaos this academy has brought upon you.

You'd forced a teeny break once the two of you were in the safety of the empty hallway, heading back to the student council meeting room where the rest of the student council was surely waiting for you both.

All night and day you had done what needed to be done, but Kirari could easily see that your strength was cracking. Your composure was finally lost.

Her mouth opened in a sense of disbelief, willing words into existence that could help soothe your pain (did any such words exist?), but before she could, you threw yourself against her. Years of Runa's surprise hugs ensured that Kirari's first instinct wasn't to push you away for what she might have otherwise seen as an attack, but the action still stunned her beyond belief, making him stiff with shock as his mind processed the embrace. Never would she have thought to see you be so affected by all the stress. How this gambling madness has created such a toll on you.

Then it clicked, and for a fleeting second, Kirari felt the vague and protective impulse to tease you for so boldly throwing yourself against her, or at least make a light hearted, snarky remark. She didn't, though. Those words faded away as easily as the lip service of comfort she had intended to provide.