muses | kozume kenma

naps.

Sketch your recurring nightmare.

"Next is Kozume!" Haruka's cheery voice interrupted Azumi's twelfth daydream of the day. It was only ten o'clock in the morning, but Azumi kept her head turned to look outside of the window the entire day. The days had begun to get warmer, and Azumi could spot all the little flowers opening their petals on the ground.

Her ears tuned in slightly at the mention of Kenma's name from her friend to her right, causing her to turn her head away from the window and glance at the boy, but he seemed just as shocked to hear his name. He shook his head vigorously, which may have been the most movement Azumi had witnessed from him besides the one time she crashed the volleyball club's practice.

"You've been volunteered, Kozume. Go ahead and read until the end of the page and choose someone after you." Ms. Okinawa said with a monotone, barely bothering to look up from the book she was reading from. She had gotten lazy and devoted their second period Literature class to simply reading the passages aloud, but she could barely keep up with the slow pace of the class.

Kenma read his designated paragraphs quietly and quickly, hoping to get it over with as soon as possible, but his voice came out so quietly Azumi lost track of it and shifted her attention back to the cherry blossom tree outside the window. The leaves had begun to cover the branches, and in just a few days the bright pink flowers would probably bloom.

As Kenma's soft voice droned on in the background, Azumi found herself drifting into another of her daydreams, but she found it more and more difficult to keep her eyes open as she did. Normally, she would find anything to doodle or sketch in order to stay awake, but she hadn't bothered to take her sketchbook out and keep it on her desk today. She was just so tired..

"Tokiumi, we would appreciate it if you could stay with us." Ms. Okinawa's harsh tone suddenly drew her away from her sleep that she didn't remember falling into. Her head snapped up from the makeshift pillow her palm had become, and when she turned to face the class the cheek she had her palm smushed against was bright red.

"Y-yes!" Azumi said quietly but sternly, attempting to shake the sleepiness out of her so she didn't embarass herself any futher. Haruka looked on in pity from her own seat, and she began to regret the simple plan she began earlier, although it had turned out a success for the most part.

"Kozume volunteered you to read next, so if you could begin where he left off.." Ms. Okinawa trailed off expectantly, waiting for Azumi to begin reading so she could go back to absentmindedly focusing on the book.

"I'm sorry.. I'm not sure where he left off," Azumi said so softly that the teacher at the front could barely hear her, and Haruka quickly smacked her hand to her own forehead before she leaned over in her seat and smacked her pointer finger down to the top of page 394.

Kenma looked on pitifully as the flustered girl shook her head repeatedly before beginning to read softly, gripping onto the book in front of her. He would never have chosen her to read for the class in a usual situation. In fact, he would have chosen Haruka because he knew she enjoyed public speaking, but she had already read before him so he had no choice. Besides, he sat in front of the two girls and had no idea that Azumi was asleep while he read. He couldn't decide whether to be relieved she slept through what he thought was an awful reading on his part, or to be disappointed that she found him so boring she could sleep through it. He mentally shoved those thoughts away and focused on Azumi's reading of the beginning of the page instead.