August 15, 2016.

It's only afternoon and already I'm feeling sluggish. Ah, isn't Akaashi attending a college nearby? Perhaps it's still early enough leave and find his dorm for some moral support. I glance at a wall clock as I enter my own campus, and I frown. It's almost half past one and Akaashi isn't out until a quarter to three. The next class is at least a five minute walk, but I don't need to be there for ten minutes, so if I'm lucky I may still have time to call him while he's at lunch.

I don't have that kind of luck. I spend four minutes speed walking before I feel weight on my shoulder and something dark obscures my peripheral. I turn, ready to ask the person to not touch me, only to realize it's a bird. I roll my shoulder back and it takes off to join its friends in circling over my head. How long have they been doing that? It couldn't have just started so maybe I've gotten so used to it I hardly notice when it begins. The area is mostly empty, thankfully, so I spend a solid five minutes trying to scare the crows off to wherever their nest is. I may have been flailing my arms and I may have been yelling, but no one needs to know that for sure. People haven't gathered around when I'm done, but a group of students are close enough so I can barely hear them talking about these other two students that caused trouble earlier in the day.

I almost laugh at the idiocy of such a thing.

I find a quality seat just as the bell rings for history to begin. The teacher, Mr. Sawamura, announces the final project, saying not to stress about it but to begin thinking of ideas so we know what we will do for it when the time comes. Not everything is set in stone but there will likely be options for what it will be turned in as, such as a presentation or short story.

"What are you going to do yours on?" someone nearby asks, and it takes me a moment before I realize they were talking to me.

I pretend to think as the guy slides in on my right, leaving me to be squished against the wall if I want space between me and him, and I always want space between myself and another person.

The guy doesn't bother to give me enough time to answer. I guess it's okay since I wasn't going to give him a proper one anyways. At most he'd receive a shrug, since I really need Akaashi's moral support now. The orange haired guy makes me feel like I'm standing out in the sun during early summer.

(Speaking of the sun, ninety nine percent of all mass in the our solar system is taken up by the sun.)

Eventually I want to tell him to shut his mouth. Sure, his inability to remain on one topic is amusing, but my roommate is better at making himself understood, and he stumbles over his words very often.

"Oh! On the topic of the principal," the guy said. How he started talking about the principal is beyond me. Last I checked he was trying to explain why he likes meat buns. "It was so funny this morning, the face he made. It was like blurgh!" he shouted as he pulled a shocked expression.

He then went on to describe how he'd spotted his friend from high school by the school cafeteria that morning so he decided to just jump on the other's back. The poor guy lost his balance (presumably from the sudden weight on his back, but my classmate was convinced his friend was too excited to stay upright) and ran into the principal.

"Wow, are you really that short?" I asked.

"Eh, what was that beanpole?" he asked as he hurried to stand on his chair.

"I'm surprised you were able to reach your friend's back." I turned my attention back to the computer I'd taken out earlier to research ideas for the final project. Did the shorty have anything in mind? Probably not, if his rambling is anything to go off of.

"I may be short, but I can fly!" was that last thing he got in before Mr. Sawamura shouted at him to sit down.

"Okay, kid, I'll believe it when I see it." My voice trailed off as I began reading an article about the ancient times when witches were considered to be gods.

"Hey! My name's Hinata Shouyou, and one day I'll show you." he declared before asking for my name.

"Tsukishima Kei."

...

Did I doubt that Hinata could fly? Only a tiny bit. This is a mixed college, after all, so there's bound to be a student with flying abilities. But he didn't give off a very witch-like vibe as most of the other witches I knew did. Perhaps he's merely a late to the party and his witch vibe will kick in later. Perhaps it was a metaphor meaning he had a higher than average jump. I guess I really should just leave it. I mean, right now, there's a bigger problem: a giant mess of rose petals outside my dorm room that begin a trail that ends at the nurse's office.

I stare at the petals for a moment before realizing that my roommate must somehow be a popular guy even if he certainly doesn't seem like he is. After all, he stumbles over his words and hides himself in a red duffle coat. It's really hard to put a face to a name with him because he looks down, so I've forgotten what it is and ended up calling him Pudding because he needs to go fix his hair dye or cut the dyed parts off. But I guess he's kind of cute. Not like the attractive kind of cute, but more like the kitten kind of cute

It takes a while to move the petals so I won't step on them when I enter the dorm. There's no reason to be rude to my roommate.

Twenty minutes later, as I'm laying on my bed, doing my work, Pudding walks into the room with his eyes staring the life out of his phone. It's almost hard to tell because his sweater is also dark red, and I would've missed it if he hadn't stopped with his back to me.

There are a few rose petals in his hood.

First of all, thanks to bennettflynt over on Tumblr for making this AU and allowing me to write for it.

Second of all, this can also be read on ao3. Head over there if you want.