Prompt 1: Hideout/Seclusion/A place only we know
Chapter Summary: No matter how far the leaves scatter from each other, a wind will always blow them to drift someplace else.
And by some random chance, a new leaf joins the other in riding the wind towards their destination.
"Have you ever lived a life where everything remains the same?"
That question was constantly revolving around her mind whenever she went to her school...
...Life was hard when everyone you know was part of some group or friendship circle. Being alone can be quite bothersome sometimes too.
But what can she do about it really?
She is the ultimate gamer; video games are, like, her own special thing.
Thinking back on that question, maybe she really did live a life like that. It was the same thing every single day: wake up from that dreadful ringing of an alarm clock, prepare for the day, go back to her gaming cavern, and play video games until her battery runs out of juice. Of course, there was school as well but it was still the same thing; pass by a bunch of energetic people, greet them with a wave of a hand to remind them that she still exists, discreetly participate in some "girl's gossip", forget to eat lunch because beating Julius without the book of Naga was more important than her basic human needs (she thinks), trying to stay awake to make sure that the teacher in front won't chew her out for napping during class, and many more. It was too tiring to list every single thing that was constant during her daily school life.
Even with all that, despite her love for anything related to 8-bit and electronic, she was envious. She didn't understand it all. Why is it that every time she shares her hobbies with other people and gets excited about them, they shun her and look at her the wrong way, but when it's the others who do that, they become happy and more sociable? To make it hurt even more, they called her weird and...wait, what was that word again?
Was it "Au-something"? Or was it "o-something-something"…?
…Well, whatever it was, it was very apparent that they do not share the same tastes that she has. It wasn't fair! Video games are awesome too, especially the retro games on those dated arcade machines! Sure, the new games look better on the eyes and have more gameplay features, but the oldies are worth remembering too! After all, they-
She stopped her mind ranting when she realized that she was almost crushing the buttons of her poor Game Girl Advance with her pent up frustrations. She softened her grip on the console and sighed before continuing her video game session…
…Alone, in the middle of some weirdly placed forest within the school.
Except that she wasn't technically alone, but the mysterious person whose gender is unknown due to their long luscious locks of hair and semi-feminine body shape and structure and semi-masculine business attire could've been mistaken as a non-existent person. They were sort of like the phantom in the scary stories that the teachers of their school retell to their students. They would make up a bunch of hogwash, like how this phantom would kidnap girls and boys and strip them of their innocence or that this phantom would steal the souls of its unsuspecting prey and use the empty husk as fertilizer to expand their hunting grounds, to keep them away from this suspicious-looking forest.
Those were all fake. She knows this for a fact because this stranger never made any attempt to do anything inhumane to her like in those scary stories. She even goes to this forest during the same time every school day to skip her afternoon classes to play video games in solitude and yet she manages to escape unscathed and unbothered.
But whatever; as long as it keeps those *mean* people away from her then it's fine…
…She's long given up on the hope that maybe she could convince them that video games are fun and that maybe she could finally have a gaming buddy for once. She didn't need to be reminded of how socially incapable she is or how bad she is at making simple conversation while trying to keep the topic strictly off of anything about games every time she opened her mouth.
Just like right now when this enigma of a person decided to start the conversation after her 14th visit…
"Are you not bothered at all with my presence?"
Well, she was now, albeit for a different reason. That voice would NEVER fit for a woman, or so she thinks. It sounded masculine, bored, but most of all...
...She really liked the way it sounded, so much so, that that voice compelled her to stop completing her FE4 playthrough.
Yeah...beating Julius can wait...
Pocketing her Game Girl Advance, she spoke in a soft slow tone. "Oh...so you're a boy..." she cocked her head to the side. "...Are you though?"
"I can surmise that you are a socially awkward person and that you do not have a single friend prior to your first visit to this place. How boring..."
"Rude..." she muttered under her breath while pouting childishly at his blunt remark. She couldn't deny that fact. She just wished he sugarcoated it. The truth was still a critical hit to her self-esteem. Well, at least he was straightforward about it, unlike some people. "…How about you- umm…"
"Kamukura Izuru."
"…Kamukura-kun," she continued. "Don't you have any friends?"
"I do not possess the luxury of companionship nor will I ever intend to."
"Why?"
"Even if I had "friends", nothing will change. Simply making "acquaintances" is a task too pointless to take…"
The girl before this long-haired man felt bad for him. It was just too depressing to think that this person who has not bothered anybody else and living in solitude in this forest has not made friends, but enemies because of idle gossip. She wasn't sure if he realized this but if he didn't…
…It scared Chiaki just how much she can relate to Izuru. It was almost as if it was possible that she could end up like this aloof guy who seemed to have considered this compact yet peaceful thicket of trees and bushes as his new home. She's…
No. She can never say that she's lucky that she didn't turn up like him; especially when she already had a taste of being shunned by the others but not to the point where people actively tried to convince their connections to avoid her. They still avoided her; it's just that, they want nothing to do with her…or so she thinks.
Her eyes fell towards the irregularly-shaped weight on the pocket of her jacket. She let out another long sigh of longing. If she had known about this beforehand, she would've brought an extra one so that they can play together. Who can blame her, really? No one could've expected two loners to suddenly start talking to each other- well, maybe he did, but then again, it was him who decided to talk; he was the unpredictable one here.
There was always tomorrow, right?
She stood up from beneath her shaded spot and brushed off the dirt from her skirt and jacket. She looked at the red-eyed man who was still perched on that same area beneath another tree and waved her hand at him, bidding the other a curt "See you tomorrow". He didn't return the gesture but she didn't mind that.
Her new quest for tomorrow was to gain her first friend and to be his first friend. She still believed that there's hope for the both of them.
We'll find a way to escape our forests together, Kamukura-kun.
Here's my late submission to Kamunami Week and an excuse for me write some Kamunami to relax my brain for a bit. On second thought, maybe this won't do the trick but hey, I finally decided to give some attention and care to one of my most favorite ships in Danganronpa!