muses | kozume kenma

absences.

Anything green, sketch it.

"All of his answers were a bit too perfect, I don't like that guy." Kuroo ranted next to Kenma on the train, the latter not looking up from his phone once.

Kuroo glanced downward to look for Kenma's response, but he was met with nothing. Sighing dramatically, he rested his head back against the wall of the train before continuing.

"You've been extra quiet since Saturday. You didn't even talk back to Lev at practice yesterday."

"So?" Kenma finally snapped, locking his phone and looking up to glare at Kuroo.

"You can share your feelings with me, buddy." Kuroo grinned, leaning his elbow on Kenma's shoulder and pressing his weight on him.

"Stop."

"Aren't you studying with her after school today? There's your chance!" Kuroo continued, and Kenma groaned to himself quietly as he returned his attention to his phone.

"Whatever."

"Alright, I'm giving up." Kuroo chuckled, lifting himself off Kenma's shoulder and leaning back again.

The rest of the train ride went silently, and Kuroo eventually waved bye to Kenma to make his way to the third years' hall, leaving the boy to drag his feet toward class 2-3 by himself.

When he entered, he was met with excited waving from Haruka, and he looked to Azumi's desk to find it empty.

Oh, where is she today, he thought to himself, walking slowly to his seat and sitting down quietly. He kept his phone in his lap and bent his head downward to tap on it, opening the mobile game he played every so often.

Is she not coming today? We were going to study after school...

Kenma found himself subtly looking to the door of the classroom, expecting to see her sprinting in late, catching her breath and holding her sketchbook in one hand. Whenever he looked up, he was only met with his various classmates, and he had begun to frown without realizing.

"Kenma, what's up?" Haruka suddenly asked from beside Kenma, making him glance at her from the side of his eye. "You look more dead than usual."

"Thanks."

She laughed quickly before stopping and looking to him seriously, asking "did Azumi mention she'd be absent to you? Finals start tomorrow so I'm worried."

"No."

"Hmm, alright. Maybe I'll ask Kyo. I hope she's not sick." Haruka shrugged before smiling to Kenma and walking back to her seat in time for morning homeroom.

• • •

When classes were finally dismissed for lunch, Kenma slowly unhooked his bag from his desk and shuffled his feet out of the classroom to find Kuroo. Kuroo usually found him and led him to where he would go for lunch, which had been the cherry blossom tree for most of the semester. Lately, Kenma had begun walking with Haruka and Azumi, but because Azumi hadn't made an appearance all day he was left confused.

"There you are, Pudding Head." Kuroo spoke loudly as he ran to catch up to the boy and slung his arm on his head to rest his elbow.