Kaito hadn't noticed when she moved.
At some point while the variety show ran she had shifted.
Now she was kneeling directly in front of the window, facing it, facing him, her face close to the glass.
Her chin rested on her hand. Her red eyes moved over him slowly, top to bottom.
She was smiling.
It would have creeped any human in the world, but, Kaito was used to it.
His eyes stayed on the TV.
"Kai~~~," she said.
"Mm."
"You are so handsome."
"I know," he said.
She was quiet for a moment.
"Your face would have been red like a ripe tomato if that girl had said that to you."
"..." He didn't reply.
"Shall I dress like her tomorrow?"
"No."
"Kai~~~."
Her voice went soft. "Look at me once."
"What is it." He looked at her.
Her top was open.
Both sides pulled apart, held open by her fingers.
Her breasts were bare in the light coming through the glass, full and pale, pink nipples catching the glow.
She held his gaze and tilted her head, one corner of her mouth pulled up.
"Whaa—" He snapped his head away. His face went hot immediately.
"Hahaha!" She laughed.
Both hands flying up to cover her mouth while she giggled.
"That expression. That is the one I wanted." She pulled her top closed and straightened her jacket. "I won~."
"Don't do that again," he said, eyes fixed hard on the TV. "Or I will close the curtain."
"Sorry," she said.
She did not sound sorry.
"Kai~~~."
"What now."
"If you call my name once," she said, "I will show them to you again."
"I don't want that."
He turned the TV off. The room went quiet.
He set the remote down and stood up.
"I am going to sleep," he said.
"Kai, wait—"
He looked at her.
Just for a second, his eyes dropped before he caught himself and looked back at her face.
Her lips curved up slow. Her chin lifted. Her eyes were bright.
"Were you expecting me to show my tits again?" she asked.
"Fuck you," he said.
"I am ready." She smiled wide, the pointed teeth at the corners. "Come here, darling. Fuck me all you want."
He had already turned and was walking toward the stairs.
Behind him he heard her laugh again, quieter this time, just for herself.
He didn't look back.
She smiled once more at his back.
.
.
The university cafeteria was loud at lunch.
Trays scraping, chairs dragging, a hundred conversations running over each other.
The smell of rice, miso, and fried chicken came from the counter.
Kaito picked up his tray, scanned the room, and found a seat near the window away from the loudest tables.
He sat down and started eating.
He was halfway through his rice when a tray landed across from him.
Hana pulled out the chair and sat down, already unwrapping her chopsticks.
She looked at his tray, then at hers.
"You got the fried chicken."
"Yes," he said.
"I wanted the fried chicken." She looked at her grilled fish. "I don't know why I didn't get the fried chicken."
"You can get it tomorrow."
"It won't be the same." She picked up her chopsticks. "I'll be thinking about today's fried chicken the whole time."
He pushed his tray slightly toward her. She took a piece without asking and ate it.
He pulled the tray back.
"Better?" he said.
"A little." She settled into her seat properly and looked around the cafeteria. "How was your morning?"
"It was fine. History was boring."
"History is always boring," she said. "That's its whole thing."
She stirred her miso.
"You should try doing nothing sometime. You always look like you're thinking about something."
"I'm usually not," he said.
"What were you thinking about just now when I sat down?"
He picked up his juice and took a sip.
Set it down.
"Whether the fish was better than the chicken."
She pointed her chopsticks at him. "See. Always thinking."
He ate some rice.
She ate her fish.
Outside the window a group of students crossed the courtyard below, loud about something, one of them laughing hard enough to stop walking.
Hana watched them for a moment.
"Do you know anyone else here yet?" she asked. "Besides me."
"There's a guy in my Sociology class I've spoken to twice." He paused. "I think he thinks my name is Kenji."
She looked at him. "Did you correct him?"
"The first time."
"And the second time?"
"I was tired."
She pressed her lips together. Her shoulders moved slightly. She was trying not to laugh and losing.
"It's fine," he said. "I don't think we'll speak again."
She gave up and laughed properly, and looked at him with bright eyes. "You are genuinely the strangest person I have met here."
"Is that bad?"
"No." She picked up her miso.
"It's good actually. Everyone else is very normal."
He didn't know what to say.
She didn't seem to need him to.
They ate the rest of lunch without rushing and it was easy in the same way the metro had been easy, the silence between them the kind that didn't require fixing.
He nodded.
Outside the cafeteria window a pigeon landed on the ledge, looked at something, then left.
"What did you do before university?" she asked.
He picked up his juice and took a long sip through the straw, thinking of her question.
"Studied at home mostly."
"Home school?"
"Something like that."
She looked at him for a second. He looked at his rice.
She didn't push it.
He ate some rice. The cafeteria stayed loud around them.
"Do you like it here?" she asked. "The university."
He thought about it honestly.
"The classes are fine. The commute is fine." He paused. "Back home everyone knew my family. Here nobody does. That part I like the most."
She looked at him. "Your family has a reputation?"
"You could say that."
She nodded.
"I like that it's busy," she said after a moment. "I grew up in a quiet town. Too quiet. I used to count the cars that went past my house."
"How many?"
"Fifteen on a good day." She smiled.
"Now I live in the city and the noise is constant. Oddly, I sleep better than I ever did."
He laughed softly. It came out involuntarily.
She looked at him and her smile went wider.
They finished lunch.
She gathered her tray.
He gathered his. They dropped them at the counter and walked out into the corridor.
At the junction where their next classes split she stopped.
"Same time tomorrow?" she said.
"Sure," he said.
She smiled and turned and walked away down the corridor.
He watched her go for a second, then turned and went the other way.