A Silent Love I

A simple command from Hino, "Sit,"  and Sora sits on the other side of the table across Hino, taking off his headphones. 

Hino picks up her bag from the floor and places it on the table, leading to a thump sound. She placed "A Family of Five" on the table and proceeds again to scour her bags to search for the next manga to show Sora.

There has to be a good amount of books in there. Did she carry all of them the entire day? She must be pretty excited to go out of her way just to show me her mangas. She does seem really passionate in searching for her books...

Sora looks closer at Hino. Her passionate purple eyes, staring intensively inside her bag. Contrasting her eyes, her dark hair, slightly messy, falls down to her chair. Her face, defenseless. Unprotected. Submissive. Powerless. Deep down she is passionate, but looking at her, Sora was unsure if she has the strength to fight back any adversities. Her heart burns with desire, but by the looks of it, they are being repressed.

All these thoughts came together in Sora's head to reach a conclusion. Her intense passion in her search for her book. Her desire to simply do the things she like. And her powerlessness to do so. Sora thought to himself. She's... kind of... c-

Finally finding the manga, with a slight burst of energy, Hino pulls it out and holds it in front of her, covering her mouth and nose, making only her galaxy purple eyes the only part of her face visible. "Hino likes it"

Third person speech? That's not something you hear often.

"My Place of Comfort" I've seen her reading it, but sadly I haven't read it nor do I read much romance. "I haven't read it."

Hearing Sora's words, Hino's body and eyes slightly lowered itself with her hopes unrealized. Hino understands that it is obviously impossible that a person would exactly be the same as her, but still, if someone had the same interests as her... 

Noticing her slight disappoint, Sora tries to make her feel better, "What do you like about it?" 

Hino's eyes avoids Sora's. She stared at her book, at the table, the floor, aimlessly staring at things without any true intentions of even looking at them. Trying to answer the question. Her mouth opens but not revealing the words inside. She know why she likes it, but she can't say it. 

Aware of Hino's unsettled feeling, Sora felt guilty for asking the question. So instead, Sora changed the overall subject, "What else do you want to show me?" 

And brighter than even the stars in a night sky Hino's eyes glowed once again. She places "My Place of Comfort" aside on the table with "A Family Five" and once again searched her bag for the next manga. "Fight On!" 

Oh, didn't expect her to own "Fight On!" It's a heavy action shonen series. Didn't expect someone like her to read "Fight On!" 

"You like it too?"

"No!"

No...? Sora was slightly taken aback by her exclamation. Well, didn't think so. I kinda liked it, though.

"What do you not like about it?"

"I don't like action."

"What's wrong with action?"

"No emotions."

No emotions? There are emotions. 

"There are emotions," Sora defends action series, "It's exciting watching the characters fight for what they believe is just. It's intense and there are emotions when it gets serious." 

"No. Action is boring," Hino refutes. 

"Well, what kind of series do you read then?" 

"Romance."

What's so good about romance? It's boring.

"Romance is boring."

Offended by Sora's words, Hino got slightly infuriated. Clearly shown throughout her entire face, that that line hit her a bit too personally. Her purple eyes slightly shifted towards a red hue, and with her thin eyebrows furrowed, she stares passionately into Sora's eyes, conveying her complete disagreement.

Sora's eyes stared back at hers, unfazed and not withdrawing his statement. Her anger instead made Sora at ease, knowing that she was able to at least convey her desires, even if it is only a bit and for a brief moment.

"You can read whatever you want. I just don't find romance interesting." Not the optimal words at this moment but it did help slightly cool Hino down. Not completely trusting his words, however, Hino continued staring at Sora. 

After a few seconds, she eventually placed "Fight On!" with the others on the table. And seeks into his bag to search for the next manga. "The 10th Detective." 

"Oh, have you read it?" Sora asked and instantly replied by Hino with a small nod, as she opened the book showing the chapter she's on. 

Chapter 3. That's the same chapter I'm on.

"I'm also on chapter 3. There's more characters, so it's getting exciting. It's nice that they still focus on the main story, while introducing the members of Moonlight."

"Hm," Hino gave Sora confirmation that she agrees with her, passionately looking at Sora, listening his opinion. "The characters are cool." 

That might have been the first time she has spoken a complete sentence, despite only consisting of four words... 

"Who's your favorite character?" 

After a slight pause, Hino answered him, "Callisto." 

Hm, the leader of Moonlight. We haven't even received much information on him. The story is still focusing on other characters. But, he is the leader.

"Who's yours?" 

"Maho." He's the first character among the other members of Moonlight the series focused on, so it's natural that the readers would favor him. He's also the physical representative of the group. He would be assigned to take part in face-to-face meetings, to search crime scenes and help in general interrogations. Thus, having the most risk out of the group. 

"I respect him for taking on the riskiest role of the group," Sora justified his choice, "Why Callisto? We haven't even seen much of him."

"He's the leader..." Hino answered, slightly disappointed in her own reasoning, especially after hearing Sora's. 

"I see... Callisto is cool," Sora relieves her. 

"I liked how each character originates and specializes from different country..." And the conversation proceeds, both of them enjoying themselves in the conversation, completely forgetting the other presence who was with them. "I guess I'll let the kid stay a while longer," the shop owner thought to himself, as he resumed to organize the store.