Closed Crossroads

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Rain battered against the window in the student lounge, looking down onto the grounds. Kyousuke sat beside the window and turned another page of his book. He usually spent his time in the library or the common room, but the library was strangely busy that afternoon and Kyousuke had some study to do. His mind kept wandering, however. He still felt a little hollow, a little raw, from Hazel's letter. He was trying to move past it. Each day, he made up his mind anew to forget about her and whatever she had going on. He bore her no ill will, nor was he angry at her. He was just hurt. To add to that, he'd had a bit of a breakdown the previous year and his future was weighing heavily on him. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, he thought to himself, quoting Shakespeare in his mind. To his mind, he was a king - and he had virtually been dethroned by his own failure.

He turned another page without reading. He needed to expand his horizons. He needed something new, or someone new. He'd always been a lonely sort of a person but he'd never minded it too much. Now, however, he was starting to realise how important company could actually be. How frustrating. How pointless. He closed his book with a degree or finality and leaned back into his seat. Maybe he could salvage this year from being as bad as the last.

 

[Elise Ito]

Elise was happy to be back at school. She felt better than she had last year at the same time. Her brother graduating had shaken her more than expected but now that she had gotten used to being without him and the ground felt more solid and the air was easier to breath. She loved rainy days, there was something to the cloudy sky that made her feel more at easy. She found her way to the student lounge to try and find her friends, it was their usual spot with Hazel not allowed into the Ravenclaw house. She often wondered if they could have gotten an exception to let her in, just for the afternoon or an occasional sleepover. But as she scanned the room she came up empty, until she saw Kyouskue. He had become a regular character in her life since he was dating one of her friends. Maybe he would know where she was and Elise practically skipped over to him. "Hey Kyousuke-" she began but remembered Hazel had broken up with him over the break. Thankfully she was able to bite off her next words before they escaped her mouth. The last thing he probably wanted was to be asked about his ex-girlfriend. She mentally scolded her friend for putting her in this position to begin with. "-how are you today?" she ended up asking. That was a normal friendly thing to ask.

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke looked up, surprised to see one of Hazel's friends. Well, maybe less surprised to see her, more surprised that she was talking to him. He blinked at her question. No one had asked him that in a while, it seemed like. There wasn't even something pitying from what he could hear. "I'm...okay," Kyousuke said, tripping up a bit on his words. "I mean, I'm getting by." There was the elephant in the room but Kyousuke was going to avoid it as long as he could. "How about you? Good break?" he asked politely.

 

[Elise Ito]

Elise stayed standing, not sure if she wanted to make herself comfortable or not. She swung her arms back and forth slightly and wondered how long she'd have to keep talking before she could exit, and if it matter that she had been the one to initiate the conversation. She nodded in response to his answer and felt a little sorry for him. He didn't seem that upset exactly but he didn't seem happy either. It didn't help that Hazel had moved on already. The second part of this answer didn't instill much confidence. "Oh I'm fine." she said with a shrug. "And break was good. A little boring." she answered but felt the silence that fell after like a ton of bricks. She drummed her fingers on her legs and searched for something to say but there was only a few things that came to mind, and unfortunately her need to break the silence beat out her better judgement. "I'm sorry about Hazel." she blurted out. "Or, like I'm sorry she broke up with you. That was probably hard." she speculated, she had never been broken up with but she imagined it didn't feel great. "And I'm sure it doesn't help she's seeing someone else." she added with a sigh. Elise was kind of impressed with her friend's ability to move on and find someone new so quickly. Oskar seemed nice but she couldn't help but wonder if Hazel was determined to only date Slytherin's out of some kind of house loyalty.