[He actually took the business card. Taku clenches his hand around the handle of his bag, physically stopping himself from sighing in relief. There's no reason for him to do something so strange. This was going fine. This was a casual conversation between two strangers. It wouldn't have meant anything if he didn't take it. It doesn't mean he won't forget about it, let it get destroyed in the wash- Or worse, throw it away when he was off the train. All he did was take it.
But he watches the small flourish as he pockets it with all the rapt attention of a child watching a magician's show.
Again. It takes him a few seconds to catch himself. It was embarrassing to get lost in the flit of paper and fingers and he had to stay composed. A stranger. They were strangers. The reminder repeats, a mantra at the back of his mind to protect this conversation. It reminds me that he can't ask for his name. Or say it. Instead he relies on niceties once more, nodding his head when Kaede does not.]
I will make sure of it.
[Like a fairy tale the train pulls into the station. Kaede's stop. It all happens too fast and yet the conversation feels like it lasted a life time. He has so much to write about today. So many ideas buzzing in his head that he has to contain on paper and make sense of. Taku lifts one hand in parting and smiles as the doors open with a chime and the announcer cheerily naming the location.
It never does occur to him that he acted before Kaede had moved to leave]
[It's not a conscious thought yet he wonders when he became like this. When every movement of this young man became fascinating to him. There was nothing exceptional about him. There was no transient beauty that could be compared to blossoms in a poem or peerless feature. If anything he looked sloppy. Like he didn't have a care in the world and was living each day as it came. Maybe it was that oddity that caused him to note every detail of his existence. It had to be rewritten everyday since it could be so different. He would muse on this later and write it down too on those rare days he thought about his new found routine. Much later. It was always more engaging to write about him than why he wrote about him.]
no subject
But he watches the small flourish as he pockets it with all the rapt attention of a child watching a magician's show.
Again. It takes him a few seconds to catch himself. It was embarrassing to get lost in the flit of paper and fingers and he had to stay composed. A stranger. They were strangers. The reminder repeats, a mantra at the back of his mind to protect this conversation. It reminds me that he can't ask for his name. Or say it. Instead he relies on niceties once more, nodding his head when Kaede does not.]
I will make sure of it.
[Like a fairy tale the train pulls into the station. Kaede's stop. It all happens too fast and yet the conversation feels like it lasted a life time. He has so much to write about today. So many ideas buzzing in his head that he has to contain on paper and make sense of. Taku lifts one hand in parting and smiles as the doors open with a chime and the announcer cheerily naming the location.
It never does occur to him that he acted before Kaede had moved to leave]
[It's not a conscious thought yet he wonders when he became like this. When every movement of this young man became fascinating to him. There was nothing exceptional about him. There was no transient beauty that could be compared to blossoms in a poem or peerless feature. If anything he looked sloppy. Like he didn't have a care in the world and was living each day as it came. Maybe it was that oddity that caused him to note every detail of his existence. It had to be rewritten everyday since it could be so different. He would muse on this later and write it down too on those rare days he thought about his new found routine. Much later. It was always more engaging to write about him than why he wrote about him.]
Today I talked to Kaede...