<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/>"Well..." Having a friend in this girl was something to be treasured. But her last remark gave him pause. Was she imagining a future for herself in which Taro played a roll larger than just a friend? That was pretty heavy for a first meeting, or at least a first meeting of sorts, of both of them as adults, or close to being adults. "I honestly have no idea yet what I will do after graduation. I am not even sure if I will aim for university or some more hands-on work. All I know is that I want to do something that helps people, but if that means becoming a firefighter, or a paramedic, or a doctor, or a lawyer..." He shrugged his shoulders in a clearly helpless gesture. "No clue yet. It's hard to tell right now where I will end up after graduation."<br/><br/>Again he sipped his tea, again to buy himself a few more seconds to think without just sitting there and doing nothing. "But you shouldn't talk about a lack of bravery," Taro stated firmly. "You have just returned to the world at large. All you need is get back into a normal life, make some friends, adjust to this change, and I am sure you will do just fine, Shizuma."<br/><br/>So maybe she had a bit of a crush on him, or maybe he was just reading too much into her words. Maybe she saw more in him than he saw in himself. Or maybe he saw too little of what she saw in him. But he couldn't deny that he liked her. And he still saw a fragility in her, the delicacy of a rare flower, that deserved being protected.<br/><br/>None of that was consciously thought out, but when his emotions settled, he felt his calmness and composure return. "I also thank you for your offer of friendship," he declared. "I, too, will be a good friend to you from now on."<br/><br/>He extended his hand to her, fingers balled into a fist, just his pinky sticking out. "Promise."