Written Wonderland

The two of them began walking per Mizu's instructions, and she set to work with her camera, adjusting a couple settings to fully capture the afternoon sun against their figures.

It was just windy enough that Mizu only caught a few words of the conversation Serio struck up with Yukiko. "...Mizu has told me nothing about you..."

Mizu snapped a few more pictures as a gust of wind caught one of the ends of Serio's scarf. Yukiko was giggling with a finger against her chin, and she looked positively adorable. Mizu smiled down at the shot after she had taken it.

"...on the costuming team... can't wait for the performance..." Mizu heard Yukiko say as Mizu raised the camera to her eye again.

Serio smiled wide, and Mizu couldn't help the urge to zoom in on him a little, catching his delight with the background of falling leaves.

But then Mizu heard Yukiko squeal and grab Serio's elbow, bumping his hips so that he fell out of Mizu's frame momentarily. Mizu lowered the camera, a slight frown on her face as she shielded her eyes from the sun. She didn't want Yukiko's casual touch to bother her, but it did, a little. "You didn't tell me he was a theatre kid!" Yukiko yelled, and Mizu shrugged, coming closer to the two of them again.

"You didn't ask," Mizu said, hoping to convey to Serio that she hadn't told Yukiko much of anything.

Mizu walked a little past the two of them, trying to get her bearings again. In the meantime, she shot several close-up pictures of the nearest trees in quick succession during the next big gust of wind, hoping to capture the moment a leaf broke from a branch.

Maybe she should figure out a way to touch Serio if her stomach was going to tie itself into knots every time Yukiko did it. It wasn't as though Yukiko was shy about touch.

Mizu did indeed look like she was frowning slightly as she lowered her camera, and Serio promptly, gently, nudged his elbow in Yukiko's grasp. To his relief, Yukiko took the cue and released contact with him, drifting away just as happily as she'd drifted toward him in the first place.

"You didn't ask," Mizu said non-chalantly as she began to stride past Serio and Yukiko. It was on the edge of sharp, but Yukiko just gave a playful "Touché," and a soft giggle. Serio chose to trust that and relax, his eyes casually following Mizu for a moment as she raised her camera to snap a few pictures of some nearby trees.

Serio felt nervous, tugged on by a sense of perhaps purpose or respect nudging him toward continuing to engage with Yukiko. She was a lovely human so far, one Serio would be delighted to continue getting to know. But, at the same time, something else tugged him toward Mizu, and he had a hunch that following that tug would be just a little more delighting.

So, softly sighing out a flutter of nervous energy, Serio stepped over closer to Mizu, and began to situate her in the frame of his phone. Initially it began as a candid shot of Mizu from the shoulders up, capturing a sense of movement through her pose and the wind through the trees. He tried to snap that moment, but suspected he was too slow on the draw, and ended up with something a little more disjointed. Determined to go undiscouraged, he chose to step closer, then, going for a shot that was more focused on Mizu's face from the side. In truth, perhaps using the photo-taking as a little bit of an excuse to simply study her face, spend a moment in curiosity about how her expression related to the activity she was doing, or the situation she was in. Was this going well for her, so far? He couldn't quite tell, and that both unsettled and fascinated him, like a mystery he was pleasantly compelled to solve.

"Touché," Mizu heard Yukiko say behind her. She hoped that her roommate wouldn't take it too hard. Yukiko rarely had before, but they were still getting to know each other in some ways, too.

Mizu saw Serio approach out of her periphery but didn't stop her work with the camera. After a few more shots, Serio had his phone up to eye level as though taking a photo of her. She was grateful for the flower in her hair.

Still, she tried not to pay any outward attention to Serio, intent on her work. She moved the camera down to check and shot and then took several more pictures. Then Serio stepped closer, close enough that one whole side of her body lit up with tingling sensations. She was positive that he was still a respectable distance away--far enough back to take a good photo--but that did not seem to stop her physical responses. She couldn't help it, then. She lowered her camera and looked at Serio through his camera lens. Her lips parted unconsciously, and she thought about the many ways they had touched each other, how otherworldly it had felt.

For the briefest of moments, she smiled--and then promptly remembered that Yukiko was still behind them, and shook her head almost not at all.

She still wanted to take a a chance, though.

Coming closer to Serio, definitely closer than was ideal for a photo, Mizu met Serio's gaze and turned back alongside him. After a pause, she looked back over the water and allowed her fingertips to graze Serio's, hoping to be subtle and yet tame her stomach.

That done, she walked back toward Yukiko, asking Serio over her shoulder, "Do you think you'll get back into theatre? Or are those days over for you?" Mizu said with some lightness.

Serio watched through his phone as Mizu looked into her camera with a soft determination. He felt a little bad when it seemed like her focus wavered, as he strongly suspected it was due to his attention. And he wasn't even finding a good shot. Had he intruded? Should he have left her to photographing the trees in peace?

She surprised him, then, by turning her camera on him, the bot hof them looking at each other through camera lenses. Serio caught a flicker of his own reflection in her camera lense, and he snapped a shot on impulse. Who knew whether it would turn out to be any good. Then, there was a flicker of a smile on Mizu's lips, and Serio snapped another shot, his own lips smiling as well. Well, he'd been smiling the whole time--he'd all but trained that to be his default expression--but, more authenticity bloomed into it, echoing a warmth at seeing Mizu smile, which was a notable deviation from her default.

Then Mizu stepped closer to him, and Serio let his phone drift to the side, abandoning any pretense that he was trying to get a good shot. She met his gaze briefly, sending a happy flutter through his chest, and then stood beside him, her fingers grazing his as she looked out over the water. His eyes were fixed on her, taking in every detail of her expression, the shape of her jaw, the way the flower pin in her hair rustled in the breeze.

The moment passed quickly, and in a blink Mizu was already walking back toward Yukiko. Serio couldn't help an almost silent, airy chuckle as he saw Yukiko lowering her phone by her side, quite likely having been aimed at Serio and Mizu a moment earlier. She gave them both a cute, closed-eyed, wrinkle-nosed, kawaii sort of smile, before turning her attention to a particularly colorful tree beside her.

"Do you think you'll get back into theatre?" Mizu asked over her shoulder as Serio began taking some quick strides to catch up. "Or are those days over for you?"

"Hmm." Serio wasn't sure if the sound would carry over the wind, but he wanted to offer it just in case, to let her know he was considering the question.

"I don't think those days are necessarily over for me," he replied once he was in stride with Mizu again. "But I suppose I've taken a break. I tend to kind of start fresh every time..." he trailed off a little, realizing he was unsure exactly how he wanted to frame this. He didn't want to make things somber out of nowhere, but he also didn't want to seem like he was obscuring anything, especially not with Yukiko skipping back over to them, apparently content with whatever photos she'd taken of her colorful tree.

"Well," he offered a thoroughly lighthearted tone, hopeful that would be sufficient to keep this light. "I changed schools a lot growing up. In that sense, starting college hasn't been much different. But I haven't quite figured out what I want this era to be about, yet."

Except, maybe... this felt risky, but Serio chanced a glance to Mizu, along with another light brush of their fingers against each other, echoing Mizu's gesture from moments before. He wasn't sure how she'd feel about it with Yukiko almost certainly clocking the motion, but he hoped that the brevity of it would keep pressure off.

Yukiko was quiet for the time being, happy to have rejoined the group and curious to let the current conversation play out a bit before jumping into it. Serio offered her a warm smile to ensure she felt welcome, which she seemed to appreciate.

Mizu heard Serio catch up behind her, the wind blowing a particularly large gust of wind, though it didn't last long. Mizu did pull her jacket a little closer around herself.

"I don't think those days are necessarily over for me," Serio said when the wind had died back down. "but I suppose I've taken a break. I tend to kind of start fresh every time..." Mizu furrowed her brows, watching as Yukiko came toward them. She wasn't sure where Serio was going with that, so she was grateful when he continued.

"Well, I changed schools a lot growing up. In that sense, starting college hasn't been much different. But I haven't quite figured out what I want this era to be about, yet." Mizu nodded, understanding that. But then she felt Serio's eyes on her, and before she could turn to face him, his fingers brushed the tips of hers the same way she had done to his only moments before.

The combination of his words and the tenderness of the gesture overcame Mizu. It felt as though sunlight suddenly burst through the top of her head, fountaining out above her. She raised her eyebrows and her lips parted, unable to fully keep from reacting to the gesture. Internally, though, she chided herself. Surely she was reading far too much into the timing of all that. Serio surely wasn't trying to say that he wanted this next era to be about her. And she wasn't even certain she wanted that. Serio should be... he should be focused on...

Yukiko joined the group, and Mizu was certain that she had seen Serio's gesture, but surely, from an outside perspective, it was subtle enough as to not draw much attention. Mizu irrationally wondered if Yukiko had somehow seen whatever sparks had poured out of Mizu's head, but surely not. That was ridiculous.

Mizu tried to think of a follow-up question, but then she saw a jogger coming toward them from a ways off, headed straight for a large flock of pigeons. Realizing immediately that the scene would soon be a very interesting shot, Mizu almost ran into the grass, careful not to disturb the flock herself as she knelt down to get a good angle. Sure enough, as the jogger approached, he disturbed the birds, and they all took off at once toward the trees. Mizu fired off a quick burst of shots, trying to keep only the jogger's legs and feet in the frame. There were wings and leaves everywhere, and when everything settled, Mizu found herself a little breathless.

Lowering the camera, she stood, a wide smile on her face as she shyly looked at the ground for a few moments, one hand holding the opposite elbow, before coming to rejoin the group.

Mizu's eyebrows rose, her lips parting as Serio's fingers brushed against hers, and elation danced in his chest. Then, all at once, she was running off, and Serio's own eyebrows raised, fear flickering in him that something had gone wrong. She didn't go too far, though, before she knelt down in the grass, camera rising, and Serio relaxed. His eyes followed her angle to a flock of pigeons nearby, to a runner that approached them, and he watched in awe as the flock erupted from the ground in a startle as the jogger passed by, wings and leaves coloring the entire landscape before them.

"You really like her, huh?" Yukiko asked, lightly tapping Serio's hip with her own. He let out an airy, nervous laugh in surprise, and playfully tapped her hip with his own in response.

"As it happens, I believe I do."

"Well, good." Yukiko stated emphatically, sending butterflies through Serio's chest with her sidelong smile. Then, she waved to Mizu as the photographer began to walk back toward them.

"That was so cool!" Yukiko called, cupping her hands to ensure her voice carried. Serio offered Mizu a warm smile and a nod in firm agreement.