[ack.]

Shut up.

[he almost spilled his coffee by gripping it too hard kyouko!!! goddammit why did baren have to call her.]

What's with that look?!

[STOP IT]

You didn't want me saying anything...now I'm not to look, either? Childish...

[zoro slaps the back of the couch]

DID YOU JUST COME HERE TO INSULT ME?!

No. I came here to check on you. [ ... ] Teasing you is just a bonus.

[he's pouting]

I don't need to be checked on.

I'd agree had you contacted me instead of brooding alone.

[gOD KYOUKO]

Fine. You've seen me, I'm fine, congratulations. What else do you want?

...Talk to me.

[zoro just. stops. considers. runs a hand through his hair and then raises the coffee to her.]

This coffee's weak. They say how old the pot was when you went in for it?

[that's not what she meant zoro]

...About the things you held back, Ryouta.

That's pretty broad, Kyouko.

[but. fine. even he can appreciate that he's being a bit too difficult]

... I didn't hide anything from you. Nothing you needed to know.

But you weren't telling these things to anyone else, either...

No one else needed to know either.

I know that much, at least. But for some reason I don't think drinking alone is as good a solution to dealing with the fallout that...at the very least, drinking in company.

[hm.]

So. What? Are we supposed to get drunk and I'm supposed to complain to you about Baren? That what you're expecting?

Not really. I don't get drunk very often. [ she's only recently legal but even now... ]

...What I'm expecting is to lightly scold you for not talking to me. And to tell you that the next time you're going to brood, at least call me over. And...I suppose I also should stick to that agreement as well...?

[he takes a moment to think.]

... You know I'm crap at comfort.

[meaning she doesn't have to share if she doesn't want to. If it makes her uncomfortable.]

I'm not asking for comfort. What happened back then happened, and it can't be changed now. The fact that I likely died doesn't bother me, considering the alternatives.

[that gets him to sit up, a bit more alert.]

"Likely died"? When'd that happen? Who did it? Are they here?

[zoro will kill them.]

No. It was part of a "school killing game"...though this was after my graduation.

[but how?? can you graduate??? and still be in school???]

I'm lost.

...To put it very simply, "graduation" in terms of the killing game meant leaving that school either a killer or a survivor...I think.

Or both.

[killing is a way of survival and all that. a grim outlook, but a true one in the right circumstances. he sips his coffee.]

How'd you almost die?