Kat Allergies

[Noob]

Things had been busy as of late for Suzume. The lightweight had been building her confidence lately. Her past few matches had gone well and she had been managing to build up her formerly twig arms to more of a noodle arm. Everything finally started to come together during her last little rumble with her friend Katsumi Oshiro. Sure it wasn't exactly an the most intense match ever, but she had managed to hold her own against a fighter a weight class above her as well as keep herself unflustered for most of what ended up devolving into a more lewd endeavor.

Things might have gotten a little too heated between the two though as Suzume found herself struggling to figure out how to react to what had happened. Things were just...weird. Or at least she thought they would be between her and Kat. That was perhaps why there were a already a few text conversations between the two, each reading almost the same.

"Hey Suzu, lunch today? Promise I won't make you buy"

"Ahah sorry sorry! Totally have some stuff I gotta take care of. Another time!"

After a while Suzume couldn't help but feel that it was painfully obvious she was avoiding Kat. And she felt awful. That was no way to treat one of her only LAW buddies...if not her only one. She didn't want to think about it anymore though. She was certainly overthinking everything right now and a trip to the gym was just what she needed to clear her head. And so, clad in a pair of grey sweatpants and her green tracksuit, Suzume found herself with a bag full of spare clothes in one hand while the other reached for the front door to the locker room.

Spoiler

[CyanDimitrik]

Meanwhile, in the Oshiverse, Katsumi has been stewing. The first time Suzume told her she was busy, she believed it. No big!

The second time, she was a little bugged. Surely she could find some time for her. Suzume is her only friend! They're close! Aren't they?

The third time, Katsumi's heart began to sink.

The fourth, it started to just be painful to ask.

A couple innocuous attempts past it, and Katsumi gave up, broken-hearted. She knows why this has happened. It's always the same thing. The same scenario. She can be friends with someone for a minute, and then she says or does something really stupid and ruins it. This is why she's always by herself. Even with her makeover, it always goes the same. You can put a zebra in a banana costume, but there remains nothing but stripes under that peel.

She's pretty sure things going a bit extra-curricular is what caused it. And though she doesnt really remember who started it, or who made the challenge in the first place, she's sure it's her fault. And even though Suzume seemed so... peaceful... after, maybe she woke up after the spell wore off and realized what kind of monster she was with.

She doesn't know. She just knows she can't have nice things. It's not in her fate. She's the villain.

Dressed in black sweats and matching hoodie, her hair tied back into a sporty ponytail, and pink and white cross-trainers on her feet, she makes her way to the gym, eyes squarely leveled on the ground. She reached for the door, and her hand brushes someone else's.

Recoiling, she snaps, "Wait your turn, assh-oh, Suzume-!" Eyes are wide, affixed to the mousy girl's face, stunned momentarily and unsure how to react.

[Noob]

Without warning, Suzume felt a hand right on top of hers as she went for the door. She wasn't sure who had just completely ignored her presence at first but as soon as she heard the beginnings of an insult she knew exactly who it was. "Hey I was here fir...ah! Katsumi!" Suzume said after a little gasp. She hadn't expected to see them. She turned to face Kat and all of a sudden she was at a loss for words. She'd just stare at them like a deer in headlights. The lengths her brain was going through to dig up some words would be quite apparent from her expression. But soon she found some words...way too many words.

"Oh I umm can't believe I bumped into you here! I was just on my way out though! I was only testing the door eheh." She'd say despite clearly having been about to enter the gym. Upon realizing just how ridiculous that excuse was she wanted desperately to play it off as a joke. But before she could she just couldn't keep herself from just rambling some more. "But yeah I totally gotta catch you later for some arcading! I've been practicing more combos and I know you're gonna hate them but still!"

Eventually She'd have to take a breath...right?

"Anyway! What I meant to say was I've been suuuuuper busy lately trying to turn my noodle arms into ummm well not that! Gotta if I don't wanna lose any more matches!" Suzume continued to ramble with no end in sight. It was times like this where she desperately wished she could just keep her mouth shut. "Cause I mean after OUR match you know...Ahah I mean ummm right and...yeah!" It seemed Suzume finally got to the point that her brain was catching up to her mouth and abruptly stopped her from continuing her train of thought. Finally there was just silence. The bruenette would just shift around in place as she looked back up at Kat for some sort of reassurance.

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi's mind, meanwhile, is attempting to keep up and process what she's hearing. "T-testing the door..?," she asks quietly. Amidst that torrent of words, Katsumi manages to get out only a few things.

"Arcading..."

"Noodle... arms...?"

And then that silence.

It lingers. It hovers. It presses down over them. Katsumi staring at Suzume, Suzume staring at Katsumi.

"Our match...," she says finally.

Her gaze falters, lowering to her feet. "You'd... tell me if I ruined things... right?," she asks. "Like you did at my car? When you started kicking my tires? If you hated me, or wanted me to leave you alone, you'd tell me.. wouldn't you? I know I'm mean, and stupid, and make everything hard."

She doesn't have it in her to come right out and accuse her of avoiding her. It's a defense mechanism. Maybe hearing it bluntly would hurt too much. But what she believes is likely very clear; this is all her own fault.

[Noob]

It didn't seem like Suzume was making too much sense but towards the end Kat at least picked up on something. Finally Kat spoke, although the words weren't particularly reassuring. It only took a few questions before Suzume was feeling horrible. What kind of jerk makes their friend think she hates them?

"Ah! No no no no no no no!" Suzume immediately responded. Her mind was scrambling to find the right words now. "I mean um wait no!" The brunette gasped after the quick realization that no was indeed the wrong answer to each of those questions. "Hold on! Words! Wait!" Suzume squeaked. She took a deep breath, and then another before she decided to speak again. This was no time for rambling. She was unsure of just where to start though.

"Ok so...no of course you didn't ruin things. And I definitely don't hate you." She began. That was a good place to start. She could probably have just left it there but that wouldn't fix the problem. "I've just been...well all over the place really." Suzume continued, still avoiding addressing things directly. "So ummm yeah I know I've been kinda stupid and making everything hard lately, but I really don't want you to leave me alone."

[CyanDimitrik]

If Katsumi were one of those boppable punching balloons with a clown face, it would be a sad clown. Just standing there, weathering Suzume's noodly flailing.

"It seemed like you wanted me to leave you alone," Katsumi submits. "Just.. tell me what's wrong, huh? What happened? You seemed alright afterwards. A-and neither of us really went in expecting it to go that way, but neither of us were really backing off either..." Her posture is slouched, quite noticeably lacking the typical bristle and thorn of her standard demeanor. Hands defensively stuff into the pocket of her hoodie.

[Noob]

"I..." Suzume started. Try as she might though she couldn't get any other words out. She wasn't used to seeing Kat quite like this. She had always seen them as the tougher of the two, both physically and mentally. The last thing Suzume wanted now was to make things worse, which seemed to be her forte at the moment. She would lightly grab her elbow and soon both of them were gazing at the ground. "I just don't know what to say." She finally continued.

Eventually Suzume's gaze lifted as she looked back to Katsumi. "That's the problem." She stated quite plainly before realizing that she probably needed to elaborate. "I mean...it's not like I wasn't. Or else I would have ya know...stopped earlier." She replied "Just sometimes I'm... " She stopped before starting again. "Really I..." She had started somewhat strong but soon Suzume trailed off.

"UGH! Words goddamn it! Why can't I words?" Suzume practically yelled, visibly frustrated at her inability to communicate. It was rare she got herself this worked up and couldn't help but feel bad that this was her response to a sad Kat. She would take one deep breath before trying to just get everything out.

"This is the EXACT thing I didn't want to do." A still annoyed Suzume huffed. She'd once more take a breath before finishing. "Sometimes you can be kinda...well YOU...and I just don't know what to say and didn't want to be teased about this quite yet. Cause I knew I'd be...well ME. I just thought if I gave it some time I wouldn't be so...well I'd be able to actually words. And that's why I've been avoiding you like a shitty friend!"

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi stares owlishly at Suzume as she struggles, wanting to help, but also feeling extremely vulnerable in this state, herself. Her shoulders are in a constant flux between uncomfortably hunched and forcibly shrugged back to project a level of confidence she doesn't feel.

Her mouth opens here and there, as if to interject, but she seems to think better of it and holds off. But finally, when it's laid out for her, it twists her heart a little. In a sideways manner, she's admitted what Katsumi was afraid of. Or, perhaps more likely, the self-loathing Punk Princess is internalizing everything.

"Y-yeah... I know what I'm like...," she says weakly. "Or- or I don't, not really, I don't get it, but I... get it." People don't like her because she rubs them wrong. Suzume was just protecting herself. From her. While Katsumi thought everything was fine, and thought of Suzume as a friend - her only friend - in her ear, history has repeated itself. She's a monster without even trying. She's given Suzume every reason to expect her to be awful to her.

There's a quiet wince when Katsumi realizes a tear has escaped. She quickly turns her face away. "I didn't mean to- to be that bad with you. Just- just so you know. I never meant to be."

[Noob]

For a brief moment Suzume felt like she had gotten a weight off of her chest. That relief was short lived though as she saw Katsumi's reaction. They weren't taking it quite like Suzume had hoped. Granted had she given her words a bit more thought perhaps she would have chosen them better. "W-wait no that's not what I..." She'd start to reply. "...meant. I've just been overthinky and stuff." Suzume continued. She felt pretty stuck right now, as if anything she could say was just going to make things worse. Unfortunately that wasn't an unfamiliar feeling for her.

"You're not bad with me!" Suzume finally blurted out. She decided to leave out a -usually- at the end of that this time. "I was just... I dunno. I didn't wanna be hanging out and just get all awko-taco Suzu...I really hate being that around friends! So I picked the dumb solution."

By this point Suzume didn't really know if she should even keep talking. She was beginning to panic as she saw a single tear in Kat's eye. "S-so please don't...don't be sad." Suzume could feel her lip start to quiver. "Cause if you s-start to cry... I'm..." She couldn't finish the sentence before the sniffles began to take over.

[CyanDimitrik]

Oh god, it's the parking garage all over again.

"S-Suzubean..," chokes Katsumi, her emotions caught in a whirlwind of confusing odds and ends. On the one hand, she feels like a jerk who did something wrong, even if she's not sure what she did. But she knows Suzume is a good person who wouldn't hurt people unless they had it coming, she's confident in that! And pile on top of that the latent need to protect her smolfriend, whose lip is now quivering and the sniffles have begun. She has to stop her from feeling sad, but she doesn't know how, because she's sad, and she doesn't know if it's okay to be around her or if she's making it worse AAAAA

"Y-," sniff, "y-," sniff, "you don't hate me?," Katsumi manages, inching closer to her again. Her hands are working feverishly to try to catch her tears before any escape, but it isn't subtle. "You don't," sniff, "want me to go away?"