With a flash of red light, Hinata jerked awake. Fear filled his chest and the last images of his nightmare faded from his vision as his eyes adjusted to the dark room. He felt sticky, covered in sweat, and his whole body felt tangled and itchy, as though he was submerged in the fur as some huge animal, or in spiderwebs, or… hair. With deep breaths, he pushed the fleece blankets of his bed down to his knees and laid on his side, noting the small streak of sunlight that was trying to peak through the corners of the thick curtains in his room. Morning. It was morning.
"…You had another nightmare?" A voice asked from behind him, sounding almost flat and uninterested. Hinata had learned not to take that personally. He sat up in bed and looked around, noticing the light of a portable video game illuminating the face of Chiaki Nanami, who was sitting on his dresser with her legs curled up beneath her and her long turquoise coat dangling off the edge. She lowered the 3DS and tilted her head. "…But you don't remember it again." This time it wasn't a question. He hadn't remembered any of his nightmares for the past two months. Why should this one be any different?
Most people would have been surprised to find a young girl sitting on their dresser, but he only nodded his head and pushed back the curtains to let in the blinding light of morning. Nanami had shown up at his doorstep a few months ago, just after the nightmares started, offering assistance. And as a freelancing demon hunter, he could use all the help he could get.
After having her knock on his door at ungodly hours four nights in a row, he just gave in and lent her a key to the apartment.
"For someone who's always so tired, you're up at the weirdest hours." He muttered, and she barely twitched in response, clicking away at her game again.
"…Did you find a job?" She asked, and he didn't answer. Most demon hunters hunted demons for a living. They got missions, completed missions, and then they got paid. But him… well it was a different story.
"Do you have a job?" He asked in return. "How do you pay for all those electronics? And I suppose you just sleep in my apartment all the time?" She actually managed to look mildly offended at this, and he'd wager a guess it was because he'd insulted her games.
But she simply murmured "sometimes", hopped off the dresser, and walked towards the door, assumedly to let him put on clean clothes and get ready for the day. He did so, throwing on his white shirt and a tie, with an olive-toned button down jacket for good measure.
He entered the sitting room a few minutes later, buttoning up the jacket.
"So are you leaving, or staying here?" He asked. Staying here at my apartment, he thought as the words left his mouth, and took a moment to realize what a bizarre relationship he had with Nanami. Thank god she didn't eat his food too. But she gave him a small smile as she grabbed her hat off the counter, a dark blue one made to resemble cat ears, and turned towards the door, and Hinata realized he had grown a bit of affection towards the gamer over the past few months. Just a bit.
"Okay, I'm going to check out those reports of ghosts later today," he told her as she left. "and maybe try applying to that place down th- uh, what's wrong?" The girl was just standing in his doorway, one hand still on the handle, staring. He couldn't even be completely sure what she was looking at, with the door blocking his sight, but anything that caught her attention more than the game in her hand must be of some significance. So he grabbed his gun off the kitchen counter, slipped it into its' holder on his belt, and moved towards the exit, one hand on the hilt of the gun cautiously.
And just as he reached her, she turned away and kept walking, leaving him slightly dumbfounded in the doorway.
"Ah, hello!" A soft voice greeted, turning Hinata's attention towards a boy that could only really be described as… fluffy. A long green coat, a white scarf wrapped multiple times around his long neck, and extremely wild, fluffy white hair. "You must be my new neighbor." He continued, and the hunter stepped back to look at the rest of the picture. Boxes. The empty apartment. Moving in, right. So what had Nanami been staring at so intently? Was it just another one of her many quirks? He forced himself back to reality, and managed a smile in return.
"Uh, hello." He responded. "I'm Hijime Hinata, nice to meet you."
"Nagito Komaeda." The boys tone was unusually happy, relaxed. Something seemed… off somehow. Or was it Hinata's own nerves causing him to misinterpret the situation? He might have thought so, but then the boy tilted his head slightly to the side, as if something new just occurred to him.
"You're a hunter, aren't you?" He asked happily. Same tone, same voice, as if that were a completely normal question to ask your new neighbor.
For a second, Hinata's heart stopped.
"I-uh, how did you know?" He managed after a moment, even more unsettled than before, and kicking himself for answering honestly.
"Lucky guess." And then he gave a small pained grin, as if that were some sort of inside joke. "I am too. A hunter." That charming smile again.
But that still isn't something you ask as an introductory question! he thought in response, but kept the words to himself.
"Well, I'm not a real hunter." Hinata tried to clarify, uncomfortable and still unnerved by the situation. "I'm not certified by OOH, and I don't have The Gift." He admitted, and shame built up in his chest just saying it aloud. The OOH. The Organization of Hunters. The organization that took down the big demons, kept order, paid you, and was made up of hundreds of hunters with The Gift, some sort of power that lent to slaying monsters. It was a power he didn't have, and an organization that had rejected him multiple times. So he fought with guns, and a lot of good that did. But he tried. At least he tried.
"Really?" Komaeda's grin widened, and the excitement in his voice actually took Hinata off-guard. "But you hunt demons anyway, just to help others. Just because you love it. Ah, that's amazing!" He pulled his arms up to his chest, as if giving himself a hug.
"Well… yeah." Suspicious rose in the Hinata's throat. What was wrong with this guy? Is he… is he a demon? Hinata stuck to hunting small monsters. Animal like demons, spirits, the occasional ghosts. But he knew there were humanoid demons out there, lots of them. And without any powers to speak of, he wouldn't want to go up against one of them alone.
"Ah, sorry if I scared you Hinata-kun." Komaeda continued, sounding almost normal again. "You see… I don't have any great talent either." Oh. Well he hadn't been expecting that. So, there were others like Hinata? Others that the OOH rejected, and who wanted to be part of this amazing supernatural world? For a second Hinata felt a warmth in his chest, a touch of acceptance and belonging. He quickly pushed it aside, leaving him quite unsure of what to make of his new neighbor.
"Um, would you like to come inside?" He offered, taking a step into his apartment. He had a spiritual barrier at every entryway. If Komaeda was a demon, he shouldn't be able to enter.
But he did. He pushed the last of his boxes through the doorway, and ambled into Hinata's sitting room. For a second, he could swear the barrier flickered, just a short flash of blue light in the doorframe. But no. Spiritual barriers were the one area of magic he could actually manage, the one thing he could do without needing The Gift. If he couldn't trust his barriers, then there was no point in having them at all. Komaeda followed his line of sight and nodded in understanding.
"Oh, you want to know if I'm a demon?" He asked, and Hinata's expression must have been confirmation enough. "No… I'm not a demon." He paused, looking down in thought, before looking up and smiling again. "But there's no harm in checking!" The smile really did seem genuine.
"Yeah, uh, sorry." He apologized, scratching his head. "But with the way my friend was staring at you, I couldn't help but wonder. Sorry about that too, by the way." Lots of apologies.
"Oh, her? Hmm, I do think I know her from somewhere." He said thoughtfully, then grinned. "That's probably why she was staring!" And Hinata couldn't help but wonder where he could possibly know her from, because he sure knew next to nothing about Nanami. There was a moment of silence, and Hinata turned towards his fridge in an attempt to break the awkward atmosphere. Popping open one soda, he held out another to the boy.
"Hey Hinata-kun." Komaeda continued, taking the drink and opening it in one swift motion. "Do you have any interest in the Exorcist Convention?" Hinata froze. Of course I have interest! he wanted to yell. Instead he just shook his head.
"Only hunters certified by the OOH can get in." And how unfortunate that was. The convention had everything. New weapons, updates on recent OOH activity, a general celebration of the hunters in Japan… Everything that was just out of his reach as he struggled to make a living on killing demon nats.
"Oh that's not a problem." The white haired boy waved his hand, still smiling. "I was going to sneak in alone, but I would be happy to bring you with me, Hinata-kun!" Well shit.
On one hand, this was the Exorcist Convention. It was something he'd been hoping to attend for as long as he could remember. It was somewhere he could learn something new, become better, meet new people.
On the other hand, he would have to sneak in with a boy he only met a few minutes ago, and to top it off, he was pretty sure that convention was today.
He felt at least a little bit guilty for choosing the latter.
A bit of a slow start, but I promise it gets more interesting!