If he was a little more talented in being as stupid as he wanted to, he would've blamed it on the lack of life in his room. Now that his plants are gone, it reminded Hanako just how desolate his small apartment room was. Even when he had his old roomate, the plants gave the room a natural glow that was hard to find, in his opinion. But that was just the plant lover in him.
But alas, he knew it wasn't the case.
It had something to do with who he was moving in with soon.
This wasn't the first time he had to move in a new apartment nor was the first time he gotten a new roomate. However, this roomate was a little different than the rest. Hanako would've called his roomate wildcards. Never really know if they'll be good to live with truly until 2 - 3 months of living with them. And if he was lucky, the worse ones showed their colours quite early on.
It should give him more relief that he was going to move in with someone who he did know. And he knew he would get along. And sure, they didn't really knew eachother, but there was a familiarity that couldn't be replicated often in the world of jumping from roomate to roomate.
Except…. Hanako wasn't even so sure if he was the same person.
Sure, they looked the same, talked the same, but there was way too many unanswered questions. Hana was nice during their meet-up at the cafe. He did his best not to ask unnescary questions, knowing it likely wouldn't benefit either if they knew. But that didn't make the curiosity in him disapear. Especially when Hana will now live with him.
And those same unanswered questions came hitting back later in the day when he moved on to his dusty bookshelf. It was essentialy untouched for months. Maybe even years. Clearly, not a reader. But as he transfered most of the books to the donation pile, he found a particular one that made him smile. " Wow.. I forgot I had this..", he mumbled, flipping through the pages of his yearbook from his years at Romano's.
It was old, clearly aged a bit now. But the bookmarks he placed for every page that had his face was still there. Except this time, his first instict wasn't to remind himself how good looking he was as a teenager.
" Burnett.. Burnett..ah her- eh?"
It was empty. With only Burnett's name right under an empty photo. Right. He hadn't graduated that year. Up and disapeared.
A moment of silence passed as the internal debate went on in his head.
Screw it..
Hanako tossed the book aside and rummaged through his bookshelf deeper, trying to feel the familiar sensation of the yearbook and pulling them out one by one. Once he felt he had gotten enough, he laid them all on the floor, circling him like some sort of ritual. Turning page from page, taking a different coloured sticky note to mark them. Like a man on a mission ( or a serious case of procrastionation ), Hanako spend an hour finding each photo of Jack Burnett.
Most of them, having his photos. The same cheeky grin, and a twinkle in his eyes as if he was going to a prank if you as much as blinked. A theme that followed all the way through their years until at some point, it stopped. The photos people did manage to capture of him at 17-ish , looked a lot more like the Jack he met in the coffee shop. Not just because of the age. Something about the eyes. The way he looked at the world, or in some case- the camera. The childlike enthusiam replaced with a distant seriousness that Hanako couldn'tt properly place. It was one thing to look a bit different, even if Jack's features never really changed much over the years. And another to just…feel.. different.
" Could it just.. be you growing up?" He poked the latest photo of Jack as a student, as if he could answer. But thats the thing with living alone. Looking crazy wasn't all that bad. He looked around at the different versions of Jack, as if waiting for an answer to come pop out of the yearbook. " Or something else…"
Hanako sat there glancing between the books, until he felt the small bump of a scaly head press against his leg. Looking back at his pet snake, Hanako brought her on his lap. Shaking his head as if he had pulled himself out of a trance.
" …. Well… we'll soon find out won't we?" Hanako mumbled out in a whisper, the uncertainty tinged in his tone.
Kitomyx
