[FIN] I Know You

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I'm not interested in answers you don't feel like giving me," Akira replied honestly. "As for the ones I didn't answer, you should know they were ignored for certain reasons. And I'm too tired to explain right now. So if you're not going to be direct and say what you want to say, then I'm going to go."

After blowing a bit more on his coffee, he yawned once and looked at her as she spoke his name. "Would you?" he asked, sounding doubtful. "I don't see any good reason you might have for wanting to. We don't see things the same way and almost all our talks turn into arguments. Besides, I think I know more than enough about you."  

[Tori Honoo]

Though heavy emotion twisted in the pit of her stomach, she took his words with grace, then lowered here gaze when he was finished. "That's a strong notion to have, considering we only just met. Kind of arrogant," she sighed, picking up her tea as she turned back to the window, hiding the pinpricks of tears in her eyes. Frustration, disappointment... At this point, she was unsure which was which.

With a slight wave, she forced herself to glance up at him again. "You're tired and I've kept you long enough as it is. I'm sorry. I'll hold my questions until you're ready to face them."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Not really, considering how we spent the first ten minutes of this morning," he considered. "I'd say that gives me a fairly good assessment of the person you are. As for being arrogant, I never claimed to be humble, now, did I?" Akira shrugged. "First impressions are a big thing to me. If we can't get along at the start, I don't have much reason to hope things will change."

Rolling his eyes at her excuses, he shook his head. "Just listen to yourself...hold your questions until I'm ready to face them? Sounds to me like you're the one too afraid to ask. You're not keeping me; I'm the one that called you to arrange this little meeting. Yes, I'm tired, but you're only making it worse by beating around the bush. I don't want to play these games with you."

"I'm going to ask you again - do you have anything to ask or say to me now or not? Because this is the last time I'll answer as Roka Toshiro."  

[Tori Honoo]

Her expression gave way to something much more intense, a fleeting smirk spreading across her face. "There it is."

She cut her eyes to him from her table as he stood at the door. "Are you going to sit down, or do I have to address you from across the room? Not sure how well a secret can be kept when shouted across the room."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"There what is?" he asked, raising a brow.

The 'secret' bit wasn't too difficult to decipher, however, so he walked back to the table. "You could have just asked nicely. How about a 'please' next time?" A sarcastic smile spread across his own thin lips. "Or do they not teach models such etiquette these days?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She shook her head, ignoring his first question. "It's amazing the things they don't teach a lot of people these days, though I do know it's human nature to not care about polite cliches when the other person seems to care less about how you view them anyway."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Fair enough. Though I'd like to think there's a difference between common courtesy and being polite for the sake of concealing ugly truths." He set down his cup. "Now what did you want to discuss?"  

[Tori Honoo]

"A commoner, fine, but common? Never," she sighed, taking a sip of her tea again. "Why did you leave without saying goodbye? I can't imagine it was because it would be too hard to part ways with friends, considering how our first meeting here went."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira blinked at the girl at her mention of common versus commoners. He wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, but it didn't seem like something important enough to inquire into.

"I left because it was an impulsive decision and I didn't want anyone to try to stop me or come after me," he explained. "And I'm sorry to say it, Tori-san, but I really didn't feel I had any proper friends among our society. That's just not way those people worked. No one in Ouran Academy, even, made friendships without strings attached. Don't you know that?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Well of course he didn't want to be followed, but had he explained himself a little better before leaving...

Her brows furrowed. "Are you kidding me?" After all of that, and he didn't consider her a friend? Of course people in their society were fake, but she thought it had been fairly obvious to distinguish which were which. "So everything you said to me back then was a lie? I know I didn't have many close friends, but those I cared about I trusted. I'm sorry that didn't come across as clearly as I thought it did..."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"No, I'm not kidding you," he said with a straight face. "You're a fake. Everything about you is fake. You don't even make it hard to tell. I can't stand you and I never could; the only reason I used to put up with you was for politeness and Kaoru-kun's sake, but now I don't have to do that any more. He was fake, too. None of you cared, so why should I have cared if you knew what had become of me?"

His eyes narrowed. "No, I didn't tell you lies. You just never listened well enough. Everything was always about you, even the way you pushed Kaoru-kun on me to get to Kyouya-san. You don't know the meaning of true friendship, so don't even pretend like you do. And the saddest part of it all is that I don't even think you realize just how very shallow and fake you are. You actually think you're a true friend to people. That's what's laughable."  

[Tori Honoo]

Without a word, Dove promptly stood and slapped Akira across the face.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The brunet hadn't even had time to flinch. He slowly put a hand up to his left cheek, the stinging sensation surging through it completely unfamiliar to him. He wasn't sure when he'd last been struck, if ever. Still, though, he couldn't come to regret his words. For a rare instance in his whole, miserable life, he'd been honest. Completely, blatantly, painfully, utterly honest.

"Maybe I deserved that," he said, looking at the hand that he pulled away from his cheek. "But you wouldn't have taken offense to what I'd said if you didn't think it was at least partly true, too." He got up. "Can I go now? I'd rather not make a scene."  

[Tori Honoo]

"The girl you knew back then wouldn't be able to deny everything you said, but at least I know now how you felt. I would explain, but I highly doubt you care which of your accusations are true and which are false. Just trust me when I say I've paid for her actions, in full." Tears streamed down her face as she gathered her bag.

She stopped at the end of the table, her expression blank aside from the tears that fell over her cheeks. "Thank you, however, for sharing your perspective. Skewed may it be, I don't care. That girl is a shell now, and you definitely don't know me." Her voice stayed calm, though now weaker. "I still stand by what I said, though. I really would like to get to know Akira, even if he wears a thicker mask than I ever did."

With that, she stepped outside, unwilling to cost the bartender any business because of her actions.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Why are you thanking me for sharing my perspective if you don't care...?" Akira asked the air as the girl left, somewhat amused. He recognized the childish tactic of leaving in order to have the last word, but he didn't mind. Her words and behavior simply verified for him what he had already suspected - that Tori Honoo hadn't changed a bit since she'd attended high school. If she wanted to convince him that he didn't know her - that she could surprise him - she would have to work a lot harder than that.

"Sorry, Tori-chan," he sighed with a bitter smile, staring out the window in the direction she'd gone. "but I'm done wearing masks now. You may not want to accept it, but this is the real me."