<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/a/ac/Taro03.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Taro Ikeda (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=257738.msg12730054#msg12730054)<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Cafeteria<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Flashback - a few days before school starts, breakfast time<br/><strong>With:</strong>Shizuma + Open<br/><hr/>It all sounded a lot like she had been the one who had show him those acts of kindness back then, anonymous, in secret, but the way she talked, the way this morning was shaping up as a series of unlikely coincidences...<br/><br/>Taro was just opening his mouth to say something. Then he wondered – what if it hadn't been her? If he thanked her for something she hadn't done, if there had been someone else like her? Maybe that was something she should not discover, if it were the case. So he closed his mouth again and brushed his hair into a semblance of order with his hand.<br/><br/>When the face that looked back at him from the window had more resemblance to his normal self than his old self, Taro finally turned to Shizuma. "Do not apologize for what you may not have done back then, please. I might not have appreciated it as much as I appreciate your kindness now." His smile was small, but at least he was smiling again. "I should take to heart what I told you earlier. The past is the past. And if the past has decided to catch up with me, I am glad it did it in your person, Shizuma."<br/><br/>He could have said a lot more about how well her gentle kindness seemed to suit her, how much he appreciated it, but instead he reached for his tea cup and slowly raised it to his lips. They already seemed awfully close to becoming a mutual admiration society. That wasn't really the best way to build a friendship.<br/><br/>Taro took a sip of tea, found it a little too cold by now, but took another sip. "You know," he said, his smile widening, remembering something other than school from his past, "if you really want to blend in, maybe you should move back to Harajuku, after finishing school. There's so many colorful people there, so many people dressed in costumes. Your hair would surprise no one and if you wore your flying suit in public, people would just assume you are a cosplayer."