The sky outside was filled with clouds blocking the light from the stars and the supposed moon.
"Akeno!"
The voice suddenly brought Akeno back to her senses. Just as she regained her consciousness and pulled away from her deep thoughts she felt the sudden jolt of shift in her body by the strong grip on her shoulder. Her eyes were a bit red.
Akeno: "Huh!?"
Her eyes widened by the sudden call of her name and she felt the grip of Gracie on her shoulders. She looked up to her but the watery blurred vision caused by the tears was irritating for her.
The lantern illuminated her face as well as glint in her tears. Her cheeks were red and wet now and her tears had momentarily stopped.
A small trail of gel tried slipping off of her right nose and it itched her nose.
Sniffs
By instinct she rubs her face and eyes in attempts to remove the tears on her face.
"G–Gracie?"
Gracie: She still had her grip on Akeno's shoulder holding her tightly… Though she was quiet.
…
She makes no movement for a while except her eyes wandering over Akeno's face, then she opens her mouth.
"Akeno, you were…" She stops mid sentence and her eyes scan Akeno's face for a moment "Crying just now. Why?"
Akeno: She shakes her head. "I wasn't crying."
Gracie: "Tch"
She shakes Akeno's body again but this time it was a bit lighter and less forceful then the previous.
"It's clear you were just sobbing right now. You just rubbed your face off, didn't you feel the dampness of it?" Her voice carried a sense of irritation in it.
Her eyes again wander over Akeno's face, taking in every detail of her face as she recalls the vision of Gracie seeing the first tears to fall and Akeno shaking. The show of Akeno's dull eyes was still present in her head.
Gracie's grip loosened.
"Come on, tell me. What is it?"
Akeno: She looked down as her hands came to cup both of her cheeks and she felt the dampness on them.
[So, I was crying. It seems.]
She looked up to see Gracie staring at her. Gracie too seemed to be in some deep thoughts.
…
[Did I really cry?]
Sniff
Gracie: She sighs and tilts her head a bit to right, her hands still holding onto Akeno's shoulder.
"Akeno, are you even listening?"
She shifted a bit on the couch, the left hand nearly dropped from Akeno's shoulder but she regained back the grip over Akeno.
Akeno: She slowly nods. "I–I am." Again nods.
"It's just… I was in deep thoughts."
Gracie: "I can tell. But, what kind?" She raised her eyebrows.
Akeno: "..."
Gracie: She drops her left hand off of Akeno and cups her left side if neck with it. While the right hand was still on Akeno's shoulder. She leans back, giving some more space to Akeno.
Akeno: "... Something about… my home."
She tilts her head to the left side due to which her head lays on the couch's back cushion. She glanced at the hand of Gracie gripping on her shoulder. She wasn't gripping too tight, just the right amount to hold her from falling… If she might.
Her eyes again met Gracie's then she blinked, her eyes still carrying the red on it as well as the watery tears.
She started rubbing her right eye with her right hand index finger.
"It's itching." She muttered.
Gracie: She just watched Akeno in the state she was, looking weaker than before. She shifted herself a bit to now leaning head on the back cushion of the couch and looking straight at Akeno. Her left hand was still on her neck.
She bit her lip as her right hand tightened its grip on Akeno's shoulder.
"Hey, don't do that. It'll cause more itching." Her voice was low. Maybe too low.
Akeno: Even though Gracie gave a warning Akeno continued rubbing her right eye with the index finger.
"Aughh" A low, almost silent sound escaped her mouth. And Gracie heard it.
Gracie: She clinched her teeth and grip tightened. Her left hand dropped from her neck.
"Hey, are you ignoring me? I said stop doing that."
Akeno: She stopped.
Gracie: She dropped her right hand as well, and she reached out, grabbing Akeno's right hand and moving it away from her face.
Akeno closes both of her eyes.
"Hey, don't hide it any more. Let me see it."
Akeno: She hesitates, leans back and opens her eyes. The left eye was just a bit swollen red and watery, while the right eye seemed too bright red and swollen, and some tears still trail down it.
[I'm gonna get scolded, again. Ain't I?]
Gracie: sighs. She lets go of Akeno's arm.
"See. I told you not to rub it. And… It's too swollen for just… Seconds of rubbing it. How harsh were you on yourself? Huh?"
Akeno was again silent.
"Hey, I'm talking here."
Akeno: She blinks rapidly.
[It's still itching.]
Her right hand twitches.
[No. I shouldn't.]
…
Gracie: "Hmm. Akeno, don't answer…"
Gracie shifts on the couch and looks away from Akeno. Sitting straight she crossed her legs and arms with her eyes forward. Both right leg and hand were positioned above the left.
And she seemed to have muttered something under her breath.
Akeno: She flinched at what Gracie had just said. "What?"
Her voice was too low for Gracie to hear.
"H–hey, Gracie. What did you just say?"
Gracie: Without turning to Akeno.
"I just said you don't have to answer what I'd just asked earlier. About your place, where you come from cause that seems to inflict something in you that makes you cry so don't!"
She said it too loud, the annoyance and irritation still intoxicated her tongue. She breathed heavily.
Akeno: She shivers.
[What just happened…? Did I… irritate her too much? Probably. I'm the kind to do that, unknowingly.]
She clinched her hand, looking at the blue sweater Gracie had given her earlier.
[She was trying to be kind, it seems. And, she became like this because of me…]
Akeno shifts on the couch sitting straight and facing forward. She rubs her face again, with both hands.
Gracie: She sighs loudly, as if wanting Akeno to notice her. She leaned forward and both her hands grip on the shin of her right leg, and without turning to look at her.
"Listen now. As I said before, you're important because Miss Alina suspects you're a…" she bit her lip.
"A unique case. Something other worldly."
She again sighed loudly and glanced at Akeno.
"It seems, you're not from here… Fuck! I mean…"
She slammed her fist on her knee.
"Yes! That's what I mean!"