Disclaimer: K belongs to GoRa Project and the definition of keyframe belongs to The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

keyframe: n. a moment that seemed innocuous at the time but ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life...

A young man stood outside a small pub in downtown Shizume's east district, quietly observing the rundown building flaking with chipped paint. After a few moments, he walked away with his hands in his pockets, not once looking back.

Within a month, he had purchased the abandoned bar and began renovations on the failing walls and rickety roof. The bar was renamed HOMRA and officially opened its doors a year later in the spring, enticing customers with its rich, smoky atmosphere, its previous state long forgotten.

On the same day, Munakata Reisi moved to Shizume and enrolled into Noboru Academy.

HOMRA had frequent visitors, although only one loitered around the bar everyday from four in the afternoon to the late evening, sometimes even until its closing in the early hours of the morning. Suoh Mikoto made himself at home, leaning against the counter as he watched his friend mix a drink, a bored expression on his face. He attended Shizume High, a decent public high school four blocks away from the bar his close friend opened. He spent most of his time lounging on the couch in the bar's dim lighting, although there were times when his friend managed to persuade him to roam the city for a few hours. Those days he would wander aimlessly around the city, sometimes going as far as the upper, west district filled with high-end shops and expensive restaurants. There were more than a few times he passed Norobu Academy, a private high school which he assumed to be for the offspring of the affluent and affected residents of Shizume. He never gave the school so much as a passing glance every time he strolled by. Gradually, Suoh roamed the city less and less, taking more to reclining on HOMRA's couch. His friend eventually stopped nagging him to "go outside and get some fresh air," and Suoh's place on the couch became a permanent one.

Upon enrolling into Norobu Academy for his second year of high school, Reisi Munakata became director of the student council and head of the disciplinary committee. He was intelligent, level-headed, and exhibited qualities of becoming a great leader. After school hours were spent in the council room where he oversaw the planning of school events. His responsibilities constantly kept him busy, and even months after his arrival, he had never traveled outside of Shizume's west district.

It was an unusually chilly day when Munakata found himself outside his school gate a little after the last bell, signaling the end of the school day. With the closure of his school's cultural festival, he found himself with more free time than he had in the last month all together. No specific objective in mind, he ambled down the streets and took a subway downtown. The heart of the city was bustling with traffic and blurs of people moving past each other in opposite directions. The commercial buildings towered over the streets, the colorful billboards scraping the sky. He continued strolling down the sidewalk alongside several restaurants, the aroma of delectable food wafting out the door. He stopped briefly outside a small bar that remained closed until later in the evening, taking a moment to admire the building's tasteful façade before moving onward. After another hour of exploring, he started to head back toward the subway station when there was a sudden commotion. An ambulance raced down the street, stopping when it reached the hospital across the road. The paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, unloading a stretcher carrying an unconscious, teenage boy with a heavily bandaged arm and leg and rushed him into the building through the side entrance. Munakata watched silently, the red lights flashing across his face and the loud sirens in his ears before turning and walking the rest of the distance to the subway station.

Suoh and his friend ran in the hospital doors moments later.

On the last day of school before summer vacation, Suoh ditched class and headed for the bar when he remembered his friend was off gallivanting with some nondescript girl. He spent most of the morning straying around town, inhaling Popsicle after Popsicle more out of boredom than to ease the heat. It had been rather hot the past few weeks – although the heat failed to affect him – given his friend's complaining and blasting the air conditioner. In the afternoon, he ended up walking to the Shizume's central building, a towering skyscraper with a giant television screen mounted high on its side. The center was built mainly for tourists; its information desks stacked with tour guide books and flyers to the city's main attractions. He walked up to a small convenience counter selling an array of snacks and purchased a pack of cigarettes. He made his way to the open area of the lobby and slouched down on a wooden bench. He reached into the right pocket of his pants, and then promptly fished around in his left pocket, groaning upon realizing he had forgotten to bring his lighter. His head lolled back against the wooden bench, and he stared at the blue sky through the glass ceiling, the sunshine streaming down on him. He closed his eyes for a minute, peacefully enjoying the warmth coursing through his body before standing up once again to buy another lighter. He wormed his way through the growing amount of people when someone awkwardly brushed against him, dislodging his pack of cigarettes and sending it to the ground. Suoh turned around to see someone reaching over to pick up the pack of cigarettes.

"Ah, excuse me. I apologize for that," the calm voice said.

"Ah excuse me." Munakata bent over and picked up the object he knocked from a person's pocket, his fingers wrapped around the cigarette pack. "I apologize for that." He looked up, starting to hand over the packet and found himself staring into a pair of startling, amber eyes.

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A/N: Attempting to add to the small amount of MikoRei fanfics out there. Hoping to make it out alive unscathed – and by that I mean actually finish writing a chapter story for once in my life. I may come back and edit this chapter later because I am sorely unsatisfied with it. Anyway, give me some of your feedback – both good and bad. :)