Respond

Ezekiel-" Stalker~"

Lynnon-" I'm not a stalker. I'm friends with your sister, Mei"

Ezekiel-" Yeah I know"

(Lynnon becomes confused and freaked out at the same time)

Ezekiel-" She's talked about you. I've also seen you skate"

Lynnon-" And you're calling ME a stalker"

Ezekiel-" The one time I saw you, you fell. It was quite funny"

Lynnon-" I'm not that bad! You just happened to be there at a bad time"

Ezekiel-" Was I really?"

(Ezekiel patiently waits for Lynnon to let out her anger on him)

Ezekiel-" You act so weirdly. Like some sort of bear. I don't believe that people actually like your personality"

(Lynnon gets furious and begins to walk away)

Ezekiel-" It's only the truth!"

(At nearly 5 pm, Ezekiel's class begins to conclude. As classmates pack up and leave, talk with friends, or stay for a little while longer, he walks up to his professor)

Ezekiel-" Professor Mintoki"

(Ezekiel's Professor slightly jumps from the small scare he had given Her)

Mintoki-" Ezekiel! You frightened me, sir"

Ezekiel-" With great apology ma'am"

Mintoki-" Ha.. anyways. Did you need something?"

Ezekiel-" I needed to work on something for my job-"

Mintoki-" Ah~ The entertainment industry, correct? Working with your father~"

Ezekiel-" mn"

Mintoki-" You sure are talented to be working in the big leagues, Ezekiel. I'm sure I can do whatever you ask of me"

(Ezekiel pauses)

Ezekiel-" I wanted to see if I could maybe stay late? In the studio I mean. I need to work on some things and I need to get used to more equipment"

Mintoki-" Oh of course you can. I know you've been into more traditional photography... There is just one problem"

(Ezekiel secretly clenches the strap of his bag in worry)

Mintoki-" There is another class that has it for the rest of the day so you'd have it at, the latest, 8. I'm not sure if you'd want to stay that late but if you REALLY want to, it's free afterward"

Ezekiel-" That's fine. I'll just wait on campus for a bit"

Mintoki-" Ok, stay as long as you want. No classes for photography tomorrow morning so you're free"

Ezekiel-" Thank you, Professor"

(Professor Mintoki swishes her hand side to side)

Mintoki-" It's no problem. Glad I could help"

(Ezekiel leaves the class and Mintoki watches as he does, not taking her eyes off of him once until the door closes and he was out of sight. Mintoki sighs)

Mintoki-" I wonder if he's into older women..."

(Meanwhile in Lynnons art class, while a friend talked to her, all she could think about is how much work she needed to make up)

Nori-" And then she was like 'I like him too!' and I was like 'Whaaaaaat?!' but I was faking and now I hate her. Like she should've obviously known that I liked him. I had given so many hints but whatever. I kinda hated her already"

(Nori looks over and sees that Lynnon wasn't even paying attention, only frantically sketching out designs in her sketchbook)

Nori-" Lynnon? Are you even listening?"

(Lynnon doesn't answer. Nori leans over and looks at all the sketches Lynnon had drawn)

Nori-" Damn that's amazing?! And that's just the sketch"

(Again, Lynnon doesn't answer. Nori gets a bit annoyed and she shakes Lynnon by one shoulder. She finally snaps out of it and looks over at Nori)

Lynnon-" Sorry! Were you saying something?"

Nori-" Omg girl, I swear you're deaf. I was saying your sketch is really good. I could never"

Lynnon-" Thanks..."

Nori-" Is it for our projects?"

(Lynnons nods)

Nori-" Girl, I already finished those. How are YOU not done when you work like that"

Lynnon-" Some stuff happened with my skate team"

(Lynnon rubs her face)

Lynnon-" I'm pissed. I don't think I really wanna see them for a bit. I worked so hard on the stuff they messed up. Probably the best art I'd ever done, to be honest, but now I gotta work on them all over again. I can't waste another minute"

(Right after Lynnon begins to sketch again. Nori rolls her eyes and looks back front, knowing she won't get Lynnon out of that state again. The class ends around 7 and Lynnon immediately heads to the art studio. She stays there for hours. Ezekiel walks out of the photography studio and looks at his watch)

Ezekiel-" 12:47... great"

(Ezekiel begins to walk down the hall and once he turned a corner, he saw a light coming from a big room with glass walls. He continues to walk and slowly, art from inside becomes visible. アートスタジオ plastered on the side of the glass wall in white matte letters. Ezekiel rolls his eyes and goes into the room, before reaching for the light switch. He becomes surprised as he sees, in the corner of the room, a girl with tied-up red hair wearing a green apron. She was covered in paint stains but weirdly enough, she was fast asleep, leaning on the wall to her right)

Ezekiel-" Are you kidding?"

(Ezekiel places down his stuff at the doorway then walks over to Lynnon. He places his hand on her head)

Ezekiel-" Lynnon... Lynnon you shouldn't be asleep here"

(Lynnon, still asleep, shakes off Ezekiel's hand. After, he gets a notification on his phone. He checks it and sees he had many before and they were all from Mei)

[Hey have you seen Lyn...]

[Brother!]

[I think she's mad at t...]

[We messed up her ar...]

[Did you see her?]

[She isn't at the hous...]

[Is she safe?]

[Respond brother!]

[Are you there?!]

(Ezekiel sighs)

Ezekiel-" Shit..."