PROSE
The early-morning buzz greets the high school student as she makes her way across to the subway station. Rings of card swiping cross her ears. She doesn’t make it twenty steps into the station before she collides with a blur, knocked down to the ground. The student winces when she gets up, one eyebrow shut in pain with a hand holding her head. A few meters away, the blur that hit her comes into focus: a purple-haired girl with pigtails in a suit. And strangely enough, her status isn’t clearly displayed above her head. Instead, it’s shown as a !!!!!. Five exclamation points, the student muses to herself. Never seen a status like that before. The student doesn’t have time to react before the girl (!!!!!) leans over and peers down at her, face only inches away from her own. “I’m so sorry!” !!!!! exclaims. “Are you okay?” She holds out a hand, one that the student gladly takes. “I’m alright,” the student replies, dusting off her pants. “Are you alright?” !!!!! frantically nods. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She quickly pops down to grab her bag and dashes in the other direction, not before tossing a “Sorry again!” over her shoulder when she leaves. The student is left staring in her direction for a few seconds before going to collect her own bag. What a strange person, she
3|The penchant||DEC 2021
