“August Bril,” the first girl answered. “He was a sports major here.”
“He went to our school?!”
“Hey.” Sila arrived and knocked on the table, forcing Rabbit to look away from the retreating girls. He frowned down at the completely untouched tray in front of him. “What’s up with you? You’ve barely eaten, and by that I mean, you’ve eaten even less than the three bites of food you usually take.”
Rabbit cleared his throat, but he wasn’t quick enough to come up with an excuse.
“Why do you keep looking over your shoulder?” Sila quirked a golden brow, and it was hard to tell by his tone if he was worried or just interested. “Did you get into some kind of trouble? Need help with anything?”
“You do recall I’m the oldest here, right?” He sighed. As the senior, he should be the one checking in with Sila, not the other way around. “I haven’t asked how your sophomore year is going.”
Sila scrunched up his nose, obviously about to point out they’d been in school for a month already, but then something caught his attention. His expression changed, going from open and friendly to composed and, maybe Rabbit was misreading it, but kind of scary.
Someone stepped up to their table and Sila offered that person a cool smile.
Rabbit half expected it to be Void, but when he turned it was to find Sila’s identical twin, Rin.
Rin was in his Academy uniform, indicating he’d probably come straight from class on that side of town. The uniform fit him well, hugging his broad shoulders and molding to the obvious muscles of his chest. Both he and Sila were attractive, but Rabbit was starting to realize the two were like night and day as far as personality went.
“Can I sit with you?” Rin asked Rabbit, who nodded and slid down the bench seat to make room.
This was the first time he was sticking around for longer than a minute here and there and Rabbit certainly wasn’t going to tell him no.
“To what do we owe the pleasure?” Sila drawled, straightening when that earned him a pointed glare from his brother. “What? It’s just Rabbit. He’s cool. You know that.”
Rabbit frowned, glancing between the two who continued to stare at one another. Why did he get the sense he was being locked out of a private conversation?
“He has to be,” Rin finally replied, “since he’s friends with a boring dude like you.”
“He’s actually pretty popular,” Rabbit said, running a hand through the short hairs at the base of his skull uncomfortably when that earned him looks from the both of them. “Whatever you two did over the summer, it helped open him up more.”
“Is that so?” If anything, Rin’s annoyance only grew hearing that.
“I think a personality overhaul is good every now and again,” Sila shared.
“Good for who?” Rin countered.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe everyone.” He shrugged and motioned to Rabbit. “Come on, senior, you tell him. Isn’t the whole point of college coming into your own and exploring who you want to be?”
“Don’t ask him that, he’s been the same person his whole life. That’s what happens when you’re born great at one thing and dedicate yourself to it,” Rin snapped, clearly in the heat of the moment, since both he and Rabbit winced afterward at the same time.
Sila seemed entirely unaffected.
“I apologize,” Rin turned to Rabbit and bowed his head. “That didn’t come out the way I meant it to.”
“It’s fine.” Rabbit tried to give him an easy smile and knew he failed miserably at it. “You’re not wrong, even if it sucks to hear. My life has been pretty monotonous my entire time at this school.” Although, hadn’t he considered it a routine up until recently? One that he’d convinced himself was for his benefit?
The way Rin made it sound, it seemed more stifling than anything.
Rabbit’s multi-slate dinged and he rushed to check it, heart squeezing in the hope that it was a message from Void.
Only to find it was from his mother.
He skimmed over the lengthy message, barely noticing the way his blood started rushing through him a mile a minute and his breathing had started to labor.
“Are you all right?” Rin pressed the back of his hand to Rabbit’s forehead, not seeming to care that the two were hardly even acquaintances with one another, let alone close enough for physical touch to be acceptable. Worry creased his brow. “You’re sweating all of a sudden and you look like you’re about to pass out.”
“Is it Baikal?” Sila asked, and when Rin’s head snapped in his direction, he shrugged nonchalantly.
