Kari is a compassionate girl on the geeky side with budding culinary talents. After her family had to move halfway across the country, Kari is unable to adjust in her new high school where she is an outcast. Repeatedly forced to do group assignments...
It kept happening. Whenever there was a group assignment, whether in gym, math, whatever, Kari would end up with Milo. It was always for the same reason; Kari not knowing anyone, everyone flocking to their friends, and whatever reason Milo had for not even giving a passing glance at peers. It was something Kari had to accept.
While Kari felt herself improving little by little, Milo continued to be all but totally clueless. He often would operate as if he's a stoned sloth driving a bus. But she tried not to judge him for it. He wasn't stupid. He's brilliant at writing composition, and when he knew something, it would more often than not be correct. It's just that he was... sleep-deprived? He mentioned to her that he suffered from insomnia.
At the very least, Milo was a nice boy, if weird, but who isn't in some way? Kari would've been lying if she said she wasn't called weird. She started to sit next to him regardless of if they were working together or not, since he'd become closer to being a familiar face than anyone else.
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During downtime one day, the final period, Milo attempted to rest. He placed his backpack on the desk and laid his head on it. Meanwhile, Kari, who was sitting beside him, had her eyes wandering around the room, as they often did, until they began tracing the plump curves of Milo's backside and the belly resting in his lap. It gently rose and fell with his breathing in a way she found soothing.
His belly looks soft... it must feel snuggly like a pillow... oh, for the LOVE OF— no! Kari puffed air out exasperatedly and clenched her fists. Don't stare. Why is this so hard? Apparently that's a task so difficult, she sometimes 'tingled with embarrassment' and her heart raced like she just finished running a marathon. Like now.
If it embarrasses me so much, why can't I look away...?
Still feeling heat on her cheeks, she tried to find something else to look at. Oh, Milo's backpack worked. A kind of retro-looking bag in such shabby condition, the bottom's been worn out to the point where it needed to be reinforced with duct tape. It would've not surprised her if he'd used this same bag since kindergarten, or longer, even, if it was a hand-me-down. Oh, what's this? Clipped to one of the zippers is a keychain of a certain conjoined dragon character from a certain slightly obscure flop of a 90's movie that she recognized, a revelation that made her gasp in awe.
"Milo, that keychain on your bag there... isn't that Devon and Cornwall from Quest for Camelot?"
Slowly, he lifted his head, and he turned to her, eyes wide.
"...How— ...yeah."
"Cool! That must be rare!" She gushed, shaking her fists excitedly. "I've seen Quest for Camelot! It has some gorgeous animation. With the exception of that kiiinda ugly CGI scene with the giant ogre... but given the time that's excusable. Some of the songs are pretty good too, even if some of them were like... really unfitting for the scenes."
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