Lion vs Vixen

From a distance I heard a familiar voice.

- Arata, brother!

I didn't even have to glance. Everyone within a fifty-meter radius already knew that Leo was just coming. His voice sounded loud, and his footsteps were brisk and loud.

Before I could even respond, someone put his arm around me and squeezed me with as much force as if he wanted to check whether my ribs were still in place. His embrace was strong, even clinging.

- I knew I would find you in the same place, in the same position and with the same expression on your face. Leo sat down on the bench like a king, spread his hands on the backrest and flashed me that broad smile of his - slightly hooked, a little provocative, but without a shadow of ill intent. His gaze was full of energy and his movements were casual and confident. - So? Are you still sitting here pretending not to like life? - Leo leaned slightly toward me, and sparks of amusement shone in his eyes. Raising one eyebrow, he looked at me expectantly.

- Just because I don't jump for joy every time I see a tree... doesn't mean I don't appreciate life, Leo. - I looked at him with a slight smile, but without enthusiasm. My shoulders remained casually lowered and my posture was relaxed, though not effusive.

Leo confirmed his head with feigned seriousness.

- So are you still the type to look at the sunset and say "meh"? - He raised his eyebrows and looked at me with anticipation.

- And are you still the type who sees a puddle and MUST run into it? I looked at him with a slight smile, knowing what the answer would be.

Leo smiled wider.

- Because you can't walk past a puddle and not find out how much it splashes. - Leo spread his arms as if to embrace the whole world emphasizing his enthusiasm, and joy shone in his eyes.

I sighed.

- And that's exactly your problem, Leo. - I sighed with a slight smile, shaking my head in disbelief.

Leo poked me on the shoulder and bared his teeth in a wide, confident smile.

- It's not a problem, it's a lifestyle! - He announced enthusiastically, raising his hands in a triumphant gesture

Next to us, Megumi grunted.

Of course.

Of course she wouldn't let us enjoy the moment.

But this time... she didn't attack right away.

Instead, she watched Leo in silence.

As if she was analyzing him.

As if she was trying to find the answer to a question she herself was afraid to ask.

Leo, of course, ignored her gaze, as if it was natural for her to attract attention.

Unhurriedly, he stretched comfortably, stretched and sighed theatrically, as if he had just returned from a long, tiring trip.

- Oh, Arata. - He patted me on the shoulder. - It's good to see you, but it's even better to feel that everything is back in place.

Megumi continued to remain silent.

But her gaze was getting more and more meaningful.

Finally, she looked away and shook her head.

She took a slow breath.

- I don't believe it.

Leo turned to her with an expression on his face suggesting that he had just received the greatest compliment of his life.

- I know, my aura is impressive.

- It doesn't. - She rolled her eyes, then raised her hand and rubbed her temple, as if she already felt a headache coming on. - I don't believe what you are doing.

- It's hard to believe that someone can shine for so long? - He raised his hands in an innocent gesture, spreading his arms like someone who had just been accused of something absurd.

- No. - Megumi put her hands on her hips and looked at him in disbelief. - It's hard to believe that no one has turned off that light yet.

Leo laughed quietly under his breath, then theatrically moved his hand over his shoulder as if shaking off invisible dust.

- So you say I shine like a lighthouse? That's good to hear.

Megumi squinted and crossed her arms, her fingers tapping rhythmically against her forearm.

- No. Like a neon sign on a cheap motel. Too bright, too annoying and you can be seen from a mile away.

- Ouch. And yet, despite everything, you still look at me. - He pressed his hand to his chest and wobbled slightly in place, as if he had just received a blow straight to the heart.

- Just because I can't believe that you really exist. - she breathed deeply, then turned her gaze sideways, as if trying to find something in her surroundings that would help her regain the remnants of her patience.

Leo raised an eyebrow, then dragged his hand across his chin, pretending to analyze her words like an eminent philosopher.

- Well, genius is rarely appreciated by contemporaries.

Megumi slowly closed her eyes, as if counting to ten in her mind, then lifted her chin and looked at him with pity.

- It's not genius, it's a disaster.

Leo smiled wider, tilting his head and glancing at her with a flash of amusement in his eyes. Then he shrugged his shoulders, as if he really didn't see the difference.

- And like any good disaster, it's hard to take your eyes off me.

- No. It's hard to take your eyes off as one tries to comprehend the scale of the destruction. - She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head slightly, there was a note of amusement mixed with pure frustration in her eyes.

Leo scratched the back of his neck, as if he was actually thinking about it, and then sighed and spread his hands.

- So you're saying that I evoke emotions? Great.

Megumi sighed heavily and dragged her hand across her face, as if she was really starting to consider running away to a secluded place where Leo would never find her.

- Leo, you only evoke one kind of emotion - frustration.

Leo sighed deeply, raising his hands and dramatically looking up at the sky, as if begging fate for a little more understanding.

- Some people just can't appreciate uniqueness.

Megumi furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head slightly as if she was really analyzing his words only to let out a second later with pure disapproval.

- Some people are simply a mistake of evolution.

Leo nodded his head slowly, squinting his eyes slightly, as if he was actually calculating something in his mind.

- So you're saying I'm one of a kind?

Megumi opened her mouth, ready to drop another retort... but suddenly something inside her snapped.

She hung her gaze on Leo.

Then she looked at the ground.

Then at him again.

Leo was standing there with that perpetually amused smile of his, nonchalantly slipping his hands into his pockets, as if he had just broken the world record for annoying people.

And that's when she realized that the argument no longer made sense.

Leo had won.

Not because he had better arguments.Not because Megumi had given up.

But because she had reached the point where continuing this exchange of words was like pouring water on a stone - Leo would have absorbed it anyway, smiled wider and found a way to use it against her.

Megumi closed her eyes and let the air out through her nose, as if trying to flush out all the meaninglessness of the situation.

After a moment she opened them and her shoulders slumped slightly she looked at me and in her eyes there was something I hadn't seen in a long time.

A pure, crystalline, authentic HELPLESSNESS.

It was not defeat.

It was a full acceptance of the fact that Leo is not subject to any rules of logic.

Megumi tilted her head and looked up at the sky, as if trying to find answers to existential questions there and then she looked at me again.

As if she were the only person who could understand her pain at that moment. It was a look that said "Arata. I beg."