Pages of a Book (Open)

Jakuta sought to escape the hustle and bustle that was common of the academy any time between classes. This was considered his downtime but for others, it was ample chunks of scheduled horseplay. They used these moments between their learning and studying to shout across corridors and courtyard alike, run around, and just generally be a nuisance in Jakuta's opinion. He didn't have a thing for crowds, he preferred to disappear into silence and obscurity, the reasoning behind that was the same for why that was nearly impossible. The fourth year stood out like no other. His hair was as white as a lamb's and he towered over nearly everyone in the academy, even his fellow fourth years. It got old fast and boring even faster. He didn't like answering the same questions over and over again: how's the weather up there? Are you really six-and-a-half feet? Do you dye your hair?

So he snuck away, choosing instead to be where others weren't. Jakuta didn't run away from others, he wasn't afraid of them, but if they had a hard time happening upon him well then that was just fine in his mind. He had slipped off to the yoga room and while Jakuta was a boy who enjoyed the relaxation the exercise brought him, he had no intention of performing a downward dog. Instead, Jakuta sat on the yoga room floor, his legs folded and tucked underneath him as he cracked open a nonfiction book and began to read.

While others had moved on to kindles and smartphones for reading their books, if they even read at all, Jakuta was somewhat stuck in the past with his traditional physical cover and paper pages. There was something about turning a page physically. That rough feeling against your fingertips, the harsh sound of paper's friction against itself as it turned, even the scent. It all helped with telling the story that was printed on those pages. Reading words from a glowing screen was only appealing to Jakuta in the dead of night, there, traditional paper could not contend. He was not so pretentious that he would pretend otherwise.

So he was alone. In the yoga studio. Reading a book. The world around him almost oblivious to his existence.

made by Wolf of GS