▃▃▃▃▃ "good morning takeda-sensei!"

     "good morning class! let's start by opening your book to page three. for our first lesson, we will be analyzing with the oldest surviving works, from kojiki and nihon shoki", takeda started.

everyone started taking out their brushes, ink stones, and empty booklets as etsuko clicked her tongue in annoyance.

     it's already been nearly a week and the supplies still weren't here yet.

     just as etsuko was about to raise her hand, kita, who was sitting beside her because they were forced to sit next to their roommate, slid some supplies over to etsuko.

     "thank you kita-san", etsuko whispered as the male just gave a curt nod, returning his attention back to the front of the classroom.

     throughout the day, etsuko made extremely good efforts to try her best to ask questions and answer them when necessary.

     with only five classes everyday, there was only five professors with one principal.

     takeda-sensei taught literature and was also the school doctor. second period was with anabara takaaki, history. he was moderately interesting, but etsuko had to pinch herself constantly to stay awake.

     with third period being physical education by ukai keishin, etsuko had to get used to being tired as she attended fourth period.

     however, thankfully there was lunchtime in between, as fourth period was taught by ōmizu kiyoshi; mathematics.

     for some reason, the man especially favored daishō, which meant that etsuko needed to be careful around him.

     fifth period was art and music taught by irihata nobuteru, etsuko's worst enemy.

     having to have never drawn anything in her life—with the exception of randomly poking some mud with a stick—etsuko and the rest of her classmates were tasked with the homework of painting their roommate, as a way to get to know each other better.

however, etsuko didn't even know where to start. she knew that it was just homework, but the girl really wanted to impress irihata-sensei.

"haru-san, did you finish all your other homework for your other classes?", kita asked, to which the girl just nodded.

the first day was pretty simple. 'thank the lord!'

"then do you want to start on the portrait painting? I need to head to bed by ten and it's already almost nine", kita stated.

"o-of course! you may go first", etsuko said as the girl sat on the opposite end of kita, to which the boy had propped up his desk, swirling his brush in ink.

etsuko sighed as she knew she would have to stay there for a while. yet the girl still decided to smile, as it would've felt awkward just staring straight at kita.

the boy started quickly painting as he occasionally glanced at etsuko a bit longer, taking in the girl's naturally long eyelashes and thin eyebrows.

etsuko had extremely lively doe brown eyes; they were big and round, like an owl who would tilt its head to the side from time to time.

     meanwhile the girl's button nose would occasionally wrinkle at times like a bunny, her smile was like an innocent child's.

     etsuko's straight coffee brown hair curled slightly at the ends, near the girl's neck.

     she indeed had a very pleasing face to stare at. kita was glad that it wasn't one of the miya twins—mostly atsumu—or else they would've wriggled around nonstop like worms.

     "kita-san, are you finished yet?", etsuko asked, to which the brown-eyed male had snapped out of his trance.

     clearing his throat, kita nodded, taking his page off his propped up desk as he showed it to the girl.

     "it's not very good, but—"

     "HOW'D YOU MAKE IT LOOK SO GOOD?!", etsuko shouted, making kita slightly flinch.

     "s-sorry! I just think this picture is so amazing! you even got my weirdly shaped eyebrows down!", etsuko laughed, to which kita just awkwardly nodded, turning away with slight embarrassment.

     "you did a great job kita-san! can I keep it after irihata-sensei gives it back? if he gives it back of course", etsuko smiled.

     "sure", kita bluntly answered as he stood up, trading seats with etsuko.

     as the girl got comfortable, she sighed, pursing her lips together as they wiggled from right to left.

     "um...so...I've never really drawn before, so I'm sorry if it looks bad kita-san", etsuko apologized beforehand as she started her "art".

     with every brush against the paper, etsuko's tongue slightly stuck out to the side as her focus was immaculate.

     "mm...shit! how do I fix the eyes and make them smaller?", etsuko murmured, using the tip of the bamboo stick to poke her forehead.

     "aha!!"

     etsuko then started filling in the bottom of the eyes, making it seem like kita had major eye bags.

     covering her mouth, etsuko held in a laugh, refusing to look kita in the eye.

     the boy raised a brow, standing up as etsuko hastily covered her artwork.

     "i-it's not done yet!! you can't look!!", etsuko said, hovering over the page as kita just stood behind the girl, refusing to leave.

     "I just want to take a peek. you've already seen mine", kita reasoned.

     "y-yeah but it's bad...", etsuko muttered.

     "I won't judge", kita promised, to which etsuko sighed, seeing as the male wasn't going to give up.

     leisurely uncovering the paper, etsuko covered her face with her hands, to which only her eyes were visible, peeking through her fingers.

     kita examined the page, to which not only did his eyes have eye bags under them, but his ears were non-proportional to his face along with his nose.

     "it's..."

     etsuko hesitantly glanced up, trying to read kita's facial expression. however, his face was as stoic as ever. even his brows were perfectly parted, not furrowing in the slightest.

     "it's...not...too bad", kita said, his face contorting into a weird expression.

etsuko huffed as she immediately stood up, snatching the paper out of the boy's hand as she crumbled it up and threw it randomly in the room.

stomping towards their bed, etsuko crawled under the blanket as she crossed her arms, facing the wall.

     kita awkwardly picked up the crumbled paper as he relooked at it, cracking a small smile as it was quite horrendous.

though he did feel a bit bad that he had accidentally made fun of the girl when he promised he wouldn't.

sighing, he sat down as he took out a small mirror as he started using his brush once more.

there was ten minutes before kita's bedtime, and he was determined to finish a self-portrait.

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"good morning haru-san", kita greeted, to which the girl just grumpily ignored the male as she started brushing her hair.

     kita didn't seem too bothered as he still exited the room, knowing that the girl preferred changing alone.

     with the normal routine, etsuko groaned as fifth period arrived, to which the girl suddenly realized that she never repainted kita like she had planned.

     'FUCK!! MY PAINTING...it's...IT'S CRUMPLED UP BACK IN OUR DORM!', etsuko mentally cried.

     "haru-chan~ why do you look so constipated?", kuroo teased, to which etsuko's face squeezed together so much that it could compare to a wrinkly orange.

"tch! I bet you that peasant didn't even do his homework. how embarrassing", daishō snorted, to which the girl fumed.

"I-I did it okay!!"

"then where is it?", daishō questioned.

"take it out for us to see", tsukishima grinned.

tsukishima kei and yamaguchi tadashi both snickered as they watched etsuko slowly open her worn down bag, shuffling through her books and such.

"haru-chan doesn't need to prove to you bastards anything. what are you? his mother?", kuroo scoffed.

"if he isn't scared, then just show us", tsukishima pressured, peering over the girl as she suddenly pulled out a sheet of paper.

unfolding it, etsuko revealed a beautiful depiction of kita, to which she nearly choked on her spit as she stared at the miracle.

'but...when did I? maybe...maybe I'm a secret artist and I drew this while sleeping?!'

the girl then watched tsukishima click his tongue in disappointment as daishō and yamaguchi had nothing more to say.

"woah! didn't know you were this talented, haru-chan! I was worried about you for a second", kuroo whispered, to which the girl had glanced over at kita, who was staring at the front of the classroom, waiting for irihata-sensei to arrive.

"yeah...I was..worried for a second too...", etsuko mumbled as she continued staring at kita.

a small smile made its way onto the girl's lips, to which kuroo had glanced in the direction of where etsuko was looking.

the boy scoffed, noticing that etsuko was staring at kita.

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セレンディピティ
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