[FREE] Tree Rex (ATTN: Yakumo Ootani)

[Nagareboshi Koi]

There was such a thing as too much solitude, it seemed.

Her fingertips traveled over the spines of book after book, wandering gingerly over the embossed titles and authors alongside her eyes, occasionally plucking a book or two from the wooden shelves and adding it to the stack piled up over her right arm. There was no real rhyme or order to the books she selected: a solid mix of fiction and non, sci-fi and biology, fantasy and history. It seemed random, if anything, just spontaneous and unbalanced above all else.

Koi had been spending quite a large sum of time stowed away in her room, in truth; curled up in her bed and resorting to doing more research and analysis in order to pass the time, to exile the anxiety from her mind. But even though she wasn’t much of a social creature, she found herself itching to venture outside of her room’s comfort, to interact with the classmates she’d placed at such a staggering distance. 

She’d lost out on four chances out of fifteen, after all, and she didn’t think she could forgive herself for that as is.

She tried not to let that bother her, though— even though her lime-green eyes grew dim with the memories of bloodstains and agonized expressions. Even though Mukizu’s kind tone still resonated in her thoughts sometimes, and Hirase’s chipper attitude glowed like a beacon in her memories.

Even though her heart stung when she tried to repress it all.

Koi shook her head, though, shaking away the unpleasantness and setting all of her books down on one of the study tables clustered around the tall rows of bookshelves. She slipped into one of the wooden chairs and flipped open to the first page of Game of Chairs, but she couldn’t focus on the story unfolding before her, the layers of adjectives and dialogue slipping far beyond her grasp.

After a few seconds of trying to actually register everything before her, Nagareboshi finally relented and buried her face in the crisp pages, emerald tresses flopping over the table and cover. She looked rather odd, there, her features concealed by her hair and her book.

And even so, she didn’t move, even as the door to the library swung open...

[Ootani Yakumo]

He expected that someone would be in the library. It seemed to be a popular place -- if only due to the quietness and the peace that it offered to the students. 

After the first trial, Ootani took to hanging around his lab-- it was more comfortable and peaceful in there in his opinion. Plus, aside from Marugou, Osatsu, and Isayama, he didn't have to deal with social interaction when his head was in the clouds. He could just relax and sketch to his hearts content.

However, sometimes even he needed more than one escape. And while it didn't exactly work the last time he tried-- he figured he might as well visit the library and read a book or two. 

Upon seeing Nagareboshi with her head laying on her book, he tilted his head before walking over to her. Maybe she was just asleep? Maybe she was tired of reading? He couldn't tell-- so it was decided it was better to check on her than be sorry.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gently shook it.

"Uh..."

He smiles nervously.

"Nagareboshi-san...? Are you alright...?"

[Nagareboshi Koi]

Wallowing in her own angst was always really nice.

Fleeting little moments where she didn’t have to do anything except lay there and deal with nothing more than making her mind go blank and just sleeping without having to really close her eyes. She could just relish in oblivion and not have to worry about anything. 

Of course, it was all a lot more difficult when all you could think about was death and motives and that whole mess of tragedy, so her time wallowing in oblivion-wrapped waking sleep was a whole lot more like just looming in a sea of depression and anxiety, a reel of the tragedies she’d witnessed over time just rewinding in her brain.

Nagareboshi was just about to stop burying her face in her book and get back to rereading, but that’s when a voice filled the silence around her.

Her eyes flickered upward and landed on a... very tall figure with a soft smile and gentle eyes, his hair and eyes a similar shade of green to her own. He was sharply dressed and looked the part of a gentle giant, but less of a giant and more of a tree. Feeling suddenly embarrassed by her rather inelegant lounging, Nagareboshi shot up and straightened out her spine, offering a weak smile.

“O-oh! Hello there...it’s Ootani-san, correct?”

She blinked, adjusting her glasses as she spoke, as if trying to erase the awkwardness of her sticking her face in her book and just laying there.

“I’m fine, don’t worry! Just... was rereading this book, and it’s always strange to reread segments when you know what happens. It’s particularly sad when a character you loved is going to die and you catch the foreshadowing.”