[b]Toma Tanaka - Warakuma Streets[/b]

Toma couldn't help but give a small laugh at Hamada's offended little huff after she spoke about all the attention the strange teens were getting. He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye, pausing long enough to note that she looked pretty cute when she was annoyed -- at least, when her annoyance wasn't directed at him. "Probably because there isn't much else to report on," he said, mainly to keep the conversation going.

The girl then looked over at him, prompting his eyes to quickly dart away, focusing back on the street ahead. 

[i]"You don't sleep well at all, do you?"[/i] she asked, causing Toma's brows to move up in surprise. [i]"Tch. No wonder you look so awful."[/i] He gave an embarrassed smile at this, not entirely certain of what to say. She turned to look through her bag, pulling out something and moving her hand towards him. He simply stared dumbly at her hand as she did so, unsure about what she was doing or what she held. Before he could identify the object, she stuffed it into his open jacket pocket, taking him by surprise again. 

Toma looked up at her with an innocent, questioning look. She quickly answered, explaining that it was a kind of tea that helped her when she was having trouble sleeping.

[i]"Think of it as your...reward,"[/i] she said. 

A small, but bright, smile spread across his lips. "Thanks. I'll give it a try tonight."

Hamada then stopped suddenly, and in his state, Toma didn't even notice until she spoke.

[i]"We can part ways here. I'd prefer that my parents didn't see me walk home with someone like you, or things will become quite uncomfortable."[/i]

[i]'Someone like you.'[/i] Ouch. While Toma had already accepted that she probably didn't mean any harm, and despite the fact that he kind of agreed with her, her comments still stung a bit. Though he [i]could[/i] appreciate her blunt honesty. There weren't many people like that. Probably for good reason. But it made her interesting and fun to talk to.

"Oh, um, yeah, sure," he said, his smile wavering for only an instant. He stepped up towards her and carefully handed her back her bags. "I guess your place isn't much farther, but take care the rest of the way, mm?" He gave her a lazy salute as he turned away. "I'll see you around."

He shoved his hands into his pockets, to get them out of the cool air, as he inspected his surroundings and backtracked. His right hand fingered the tea packet.

Toma thought about the interaction, and realized something strange. She had so nonchalantly given the tea packet to him, like it hadn't meant anything, but she had noticed his lack of sleep. And she had correctly assumed that it wasn't a one time thing. That it was a perpetual, daily issue of his.

[i]And[/i] it had apparently concerned her enough to motivate her to offer him some help. Despite the fact that they had only just met and had had a rocky start.

Slightly dumbfounded, he looked over his shoulder, though Hamada was of course out of sight by now. A second passed, and the boy continued on his way.

She definitely wasn't as bad as what he had been told.