<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 >> School Grounds<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Flashback - a few days before school starts, morning >> early afternoon<br/><strong>With:</strong>Shizuma + Open<br/><hr/>"It's just... convenient." Taro shrugged, not sure how best to explain his choice of living arrangements. "I can stay up as long as I like, get up as early as I want, without disturbing anyone. And I kind of just like having my own place. It..." He shook his head, wondering if he could put it into words. "It makes me feel... grown up. Self-sufficient, even if my parents pay for it. If I go to university I might not have the luxury of a dorm room, so I guess it's a good preparation for that eventuality."<br/><br/>He looked at Shizuma, a little surprised that he had almost forgotten about her powers during the day and their rather mundane, school-centered conversations. "True. You could fly. But I thought you might not feel comfortable flying in your school uniform? Would you wear your flight suit then, in broad daylight?" Right now he was too focused on Shizuma the person, to pay all that much attention to Shizuma the spirit talker. And even if he had, how could he have understood how much flying meant to her?<br/><br/>As she mentioned the sunset, his hand moved a little closer to hers, without him even noticing it before his fingers touched hers. When their hands touched, Taro just let his fingers rest there, neither withdrawing, nor intensifying their gentle touch. The sunset was beautiful, he would readily acknowledge that, but, together with her mention of flying, it put him in an odd mood. In his mind's eye he could see Shizuma just take flight and rise towards the setting sun, growing smaller and smaller until she disappeared in the sky.<br/><br/>"Yes, it's beautiful," he finally said, half his mind still lost in his thoughts.