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Who: Haruka and Chloe
Where: Junes
When: Tuesday, April 25th, late afternoon after school
What: Every day's great at your Junes!

Chloe was no exception to this. Deciding she would rather not subject herself to cafeteria food, she liked to make her meals beforehand. She would buy the ingredients in town and then borrow the Home Ec. room to make the meals. It was sometimes a bit of a hassle, but it usually paid off in the end; she was definitely not a bad cook at all.

Today, however, was mostly working against her. Most days did, but at least she had met Himeko earlier during lunch. That had gone surprisingly well if she was being honest with herself. One good thing to happen today at least. Right now though? Now was looking pretty bleak. She was exhausted from the shinmen training exercise from yesterday. It felt like a weight on her chest and it was only increasing in size each time she called Garmr. The others seemed to be getting used to it... so why was she having so much trouble? She was already tired from that, but she had just finished Judo practice not even an hour ago as well. The German's face, while fixed in its grim and emotionless mask, seemed a bit more tense than usual. Even her walk was a bit uneven...

Even so, she strode through Junes on a mission to purchase her groceries. She was mostly picking up fresh meat and vegitables. Some rice for practicing some Japanese dishes, and spices for cooking the meat. She was a frugal shopper and was usually able to get the best quality goods for the cheapest possible price. The German's eyes were a bit unfocused this time as she went about her menial task, clearly distracted...

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Haruka, meanwhile, was also shopping. She'd stopped by to pick up some items since she was in the area and it wasn't like the school had it readily available: some tea, some batteries, and, on an after thought, some fruit to snack on.

After asking around and getting some less than helpful advice (saying 'look for this and it's right beside it!' wasn't much use, no matter how enthusiastically you said it), she found herself in the greens section. After spraying some hand sanitizer on her hand, she surreptitiously felt what was in the dividers. She felt one thing, turning it in her hand, and then either put it back or in her basket. It sounded too crowded to give test too many without getting looks.

Unbeknownst to her, her cane lightly tapped near Chloe.

If she had been less distracted than she was, the German would have recognized that tapping. Being that she was distracted, Chloe turned and almost walked into the blind girl. She almost dropped the vegitables she had picked up. Before realizing who it was, she blurted out a reserved but tired apology.

"I apologize, I should have been more aware."

It took her a second to realize that it was Haruka who was standing there in front of her. Instead of saying hello or anything close to it, Chloe stood there with a dumb expression on her face, unsure of what to say.

Haruka recognized the voice. She tilted her head, and after a moment, her voice cracked out, low and serious and only loud enough for the two of them,

"You should be. You have a set of eyes. What's your excuse?" However, Haruka quickly shifted back to her usual chill self and gave a smile. "Is what I would say if I was a bitch. It's cool.

"You shopping too?"

Haruka had a habit of doing that, didn't she? That was twice now that a situation similar to this one had transpired. Either the blind girl really did have a sense of humour, or there was something a bit off with her. When her tone changed, Chloe shrugged slightly.

"Yes. Groceries."

The German saw that Haruka was purchasing greens. Inwardly she wondered how she knew if they were fresh or not. Some of the items' freshness couldn't be discerned from touch alone, but she figured the other girl had a good handle on shopping for groceries by now. She was somewhat surprised that she had actually bumped into Haruka here; she didn't often come across other students in these sorts of areas. Mostly because they chose to eat at the cafeteria, no doubt. Now that they were aware of each other's presence, what did they do now? Chloe awkwardly cleared her throat.

"... Are you well?"

"Groceries, huh," she replied. "But if you cook as well as you bake, it's probably better than caf-food?

"Not too bad?" She tilted her head slightly. She seemed to be peering at Abendroth, or it might have just been an idle motion. "You?"

Chloe watched Haruka as she tilted her head. It suddenly struck her that Haruka resembled a dog with that inquisitive tilt. The German cleared her throat again awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with a blind person.

"I am fine."

At least her tone was still low and even as usual. She shifted her basket of groceries slightly, almost as if to distract herself.

"Fine's good," Haruka said, regarding the other girl. Abendroth sounded a bit off, despite what she said. Spring cold?

"Do you have much more to grab?"

"Not much, no. Mostly meats."

The taller girl responded, taking a look at the groceries already in her basket. At least half of this was going towards Miyume's lunches that she had become accustomed to making. What with the other girl's flickering health, she felt it was necessary to help her keep her strength up by preparing food that was not only delicious, but good for her too.

"Yourself?"

"Pretty much?" Haruka shrugged. She picked up another piece of fruit - an apple - and hefted it slightly before putting it into her basket.

"Was going to grab dinner at the food court afterwards. Want to come?"

Had Haruka just... invited her to go somewhere? Chloe looked at her blankly. She had, hadn't she? The German didn't know how to respond to this. No one really invited her anywhere. Ever. She was either drafted into things like the shinmen stuff, or she volunteered to go because of a sense of duty like with the archery practice thing. Never had she been invited out somewhere because someone genuinely wanted to spend time with her. Her confusion was almost tangible due to her prolonged silence. Possible answers meandered through her tired mind....

"...You don't mind?"

It was genuine question. Most people wouldn't want to be seen with her, nevermind speak to her. Why was it that Haruka didn't mind? The blind girl wasn't the most popular kid in school, but she by no means had a poor reputation. Why would she ruin that by associating herself with Chloe?

"Not really?" She turned her head skywards. "I wouldn't have asked otherwise? Besides, it's better to eat with company?"

The German stared at the floor for a few moments. Eating with company was nice when they weren't trying to alienate you to the point of leaving their country all together. The basket in her hand drooped slightly as her shoulders sagged a bit at the thought of it. Her mind was stormy, definitely troubled.

"... Perhaps dinner would be good."

She said quietly, the tiredness leaking into her voice.

"Yep. And coffee," Haruka replied without missing a beat. "Haven't tried their ice coffee yet. Good for staying awake too, after a long day?"

Abendroth sounded like she needed that too.

"I prefer tea. Coffee is nice on occasion."

She said simply. It was true; she had a rather vast tea collection and drank tea pretty much every day multiple times a day. Sometimes Miyume would even join her. It had almost become their thing, really. Iced coffee, hm.... she hadn't had one since she had left Germany. They could be refreshing sometimes, she reasoned with herself. After a few moments, the German shook her head to shake her from her thoughts.

"What else do you need to purchase first?"

"Probably have that too?" Haruka replied with a slight shrug. She readjusted her hold on the basket at the question.

"Some pocky. But I can grab it another day."

The German tilted her head. Pocky, eh? She quietly reached into her own basket and picked up a bright red box.

"Is chocolate alright?"

There were many flavours of pocky, but she preferred the regular chocolate variety herself. She wasn't sure about Haruka, so she might as well ask. Since she was here anyway, she could save the blind girl the trip if she did want the chocolate kind.

Haruka heard the ruffle of something and the question, and she seemed to think on it as she linked the two together, before replying, after a beat,

"Yeah. Love chocolate." She tilted her head again. "So you're the chocolate type?"

Chocolate type? She tilted her head very slightly, wondering what Haruka meant. Did she LIKE chocolate? Yes, she did. She wasn't aware someone could dislike chocolate, now that she thought about it.

"I do like chocolate."

She said in a low voice, carefully placing the package in Haruka's basket. It was the regular size of pocky, so it shouldn't be too expensive.

Haruka heard it placed in her basket, and the slightest change of weight. She thought on something a bit longer, Chloe's response only somewhat registering.

However, Haruka shrugged again, and replied, "Huh. How about candy apples?"

She plucked an apple from her basket and held it out to Chloe.

There was a long pause after Haruka's words as Chloe stared at the apple. She had only ever had one once, and she could barely remember it. Her brows furrowed gently as she tried to remember. She had been 9... her father had brought one home for each of them. She remembered... it had been sweet, but hard to eat. That was probably due to the fact she had been only 9 at the time. She also remembered liking the candy-coated treat. Lost in thought, the pause was obviously longer than it should have been. Chloe cleared her throat awkwardly.

"No thank you."

She didn't want to think of her family right now. Instead, she looked back over her shoulder. She had never eaten at the food court here so she wasn't sure where exactly it was.

A beat passed.

"Darn. Guess I'm not very persuasive." Haruka pulled the apple back and placed it in her basket. She took a leading step towards the direction of the cashiers, tapping once.

"Going to pay for stuff. Meet you in the food court when you're done grabbing stuff?"

Chloe nodded and then remembered Haruka couldn't see her.

"Alright."

She agreed. She looked at the signs around the mall. Alright food court, where were you...?

A bit later, Haruka had paid for her things and was in the food court. She was sipping on an iced coffee she got from one of the nearby vending machines, her bag and her cane tucked under her chair.

Her fingers with one hand flicked across the school assigned tablet, while her other hand read the braile reader. On the screen was pages for a manga called 'Attack on Giant'.

Chloe arrived only a short time later, items paid for and neatly packed into bags. She made her way towards the blind girl, the familiar scent of earthy tea giving her away before she actually got there. Even so, Chloe gave off a small amount of noise so Haruka would know she was there. Aside from that, she was silent in her advance as she sat down beside the blind girl.

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