In retrospect, it was too quiet. There were too many students out on the sunny grounds today, and he shouldn't have said it out loud into his boring library book, but he did it anyway. "Why couldn't I be in literally any other House?!"

It was really just a murmur, an experiment with ways to get some of his frustrated energy out. But he clearly hadn't been quiet enough, because from the armchair behind his, a familiar voice said: "What are you talking about? Ravenclaw is amazing!"

Soul turned, craning his neck to give its speaker a nonplussed stare. Sure enough, it was that argumentative, pigtailed Gryffindor from half of his classes, peeking out from her own chair.

"My mama was a prefect there," she elaborated. "It's a great House."

"Uh, okay. No offense to your mother, but it's kind of depressing. All anyone does is read and be quiet." In fact, people did play music and make many other noises at times, practicing their abilities, but he left that part out.

"Except the ones who are out doing other things - they're not just reading and being quiet," Maka answered, already flushing with indignation. "And Merlin forbid you should have to think about things now and again."

Oh, no. She had a chip on her shoulder and she was taking it out on him. Soul frowned. Who could she possibly think she was, lecturing random innocent people in the library? "Look, nerdbrain. If it's so great, then why aren't you in my House?"

It didn't make her huff and turn away, as he hoped, because he was so right. Instead, she just narrowed her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean? You snob!"
"What?" he asked, far more offended than he would have predicted and pushing aside doubts and flashbacks to things his parents' friends would say. "I'm not - you're the one who's all high and mighty on books, school, learning, all that crap! I'm just not here to sit around and read all the time."

"I already told you," she said, bullying her armchair around so she could see him better, settling in for the long argument, "that's not Ravenclaw. You don't even know your own House. And for your information, I was calling you a snob because you never have anything good to say about anything. Nothing's ever good enough for you. You should just be a Slytherin."

Soul's head swam at the onslaught of hostility. He buried the idea that perhaps it was only reflected rather than generated by this know-it-all girl who somehow insisted that he was the snobby one. Along with Slytherins. He'd gathered for the past couple of weeks that they had a reputation, but the ones he'd met had seemed...well, 'snobby' was definitely not the word he would use.

"I like things," he tried.

"Really? Name one thing you really, really like."

"Food," Soul said.

"Nice try," she answered with an irritating, smug grin, "but most people like food because you need it to live. Try something else."

He gave Maka a long-suffering eye-roll. "Um. I dunno. Music."

"Hmm." Her mouth twisted with uncertainty. "What kind? Do you play an instrument, or are you just saying that because everyone likes music, too?"

"I did – I used to play. Now I don't. But I still like listening a lot. I think it is a bit different for me than most people." He regretted those last few words for their entitled sound, but they couldn't be taken back.

"Really." She lifted her eyebrows, and something in her expression immediately opened up. "What do you mean?"

He didn't know why he was telling all this to her, so he stopped. "Eh. I dunno, it's hard to say. I don't...really want to talk about it."

Maka cocked her head to the side, curious.

"But it is something I like, so you can't say I hate everything."

Maka pursed her lips; it made Soul nervous. She was judging him. Of course, people around here were rarely this interested in him at all. He was about to turn back to his book and try to pretend none of this had happened when a smile slowly lit up her expression.

"You got me there," she said, and held out her hand. "I'm Maka. Nice to meet you."

"We've met," he answered, confused.

Maka shook her head, her pigtails swaying. "No. We've argued. I want to introduce myself properly."

Soul shrugged and took her hand. What an odd person, so ready to fight and be friends. "I'm Soul. It's nice to meet you, too."