Twelve Shots of Shuuya

By: Aviantei

A Kagerou Project Anthology

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit 2/12]

01. Endeavor

"Alright, what are you hiding there?"

Shuuya stopped in the middle of the doorway and turned to see Tsubomi. Her hands were harmlessly in her pockets, but he could recognize that glare anywhere, even diluted a bit. Kousuke had left for work in the morning, Marry following in his wake. "You didn't go with Onee-chan today?" he asked. Ayano and Kenjiro had arranged a small day trip, and Shuuya had been banking on Tsubomi going with them, leaving an empty house.

"Now you're just sounding even more suspicious," Tsubomi accused, voice only laced with half of her usual venom. She hadn't started closing in on him or threatening violence, either. The return of their family to normal had mellowed her out quite a bit. Tsubomi pointed, the wire of her earbuds tucked between her fingers. "Come on, spill. What's in the bag?"

It was an automatic loss. If Shuuya tried to fluster her, Tsubomi's retaliation level still had the potential to fly off the charts. At the very least, she could keep a secret, too, so it wouldn't be a walking time bomb like Kousuke.

Flashing a smile and a shrug, Shuuya reached into the bag. No need to seem defeated now. Finding the sweater, he pulled it out, making sure to bring the button up shirt with it. "Tada!"

Tsubomi narrowed her eyes, then grimaced. "Don't tell me you stole that or something," she grumbled, already looking exasperated. Her hand twitched, like she wanted nothing else than to put her earphones back in and forget she had ever instigated the conversation.

"Now, now, don't be rude," Shuuya teased, returning the shirt to the bag and setting it down. He undid the sweater's buttons gently tossing it around his shoulders. "I earned this, you know. Got accepted and everything." Sliding both arms into the sleeves, he looked over himself. Much better than the girls' uniform in the days he had taken on Ayano's image. "I think it suits me, don't you?"

Tsubomi attempted to form a few sentences, cutting herself off with a sigh. "Nothing you do surprises me anymore," she muttered. Shuuya experimentally did up a few buttons, but ultimately decided to leave them open. "I think Onee-chan would have seen you when you took the entrance exam, tho—don't tell me you…"

Shuuya grinned and activated his power, even as Tsubomi put a hand to her forehead and looked up to the rim of her hood avoiding eye contact. "Behold, Completely Nondescript Student A!" he declared. It was really the most generic appearance he could think of, and it had been best to avoid Ayano's attention. "These simple changes are easy enough to pull off, plus even easier when I'm only trying to keep out of one person's line of sight, you know. Onee-chan didn't notice me, and we sat next to each other one exam day, too!"

If Tsubomi got any more exasperated, her face would probably turn purple. "Ka—" she started, but stopped herself. They had called each other by their family names for so long, even if under the silly secret organization guise, that it wasn't hard to have one of them to fall back onto the habit. Just the other day he had almost called her Kido before remembering it wasn't necessary anymore. "Shuuya," Tsubomi corrected, "you're serious about this? Actually going to a public school?"

Shuuya had been to the school before at Ayano's request, but there were somethings that were best kept as secrets between them. He propped a hand on his hip, flippancy having served as his default for so many times. "Not all of us got to have fancy private tutoring like the Little Miss here," he teased, and Tsubomi tried to tug her hood up to hide the transition to red in her ear tips. "I just wanna try it, really. Who knows, maybe I'll be a prodigy and do something worthwhile with my time."

It was unlikely, given his history with education. His mother had always kept him at home, not letting him out too much, the orphanage had tried its best but there was only so much they could do there, and Kenjiro and Ayaka's homeschooling had only lasted until his second mother had died, and Ayano's clumsy but loving attempts had also faded into the Heat Haze…

"Well, I guess if anyone can pull it off, it would be you." Shuuya grimaced, further gritting his teeth at his own reaction. Even though he tried to convince himself that it was natural, the level of forgiveness everyone had given him still felt undeserved. Tsubomi had hardly ever given him any slack, but she was believing in him, even now. "You're not focusing."

The growl was accompanied by a light jab to his side. Even with his plush new sweater, Shuuya felt it, though there didn't seem to be a bruise from this one. Shuuya tried to toss up a puppy dog pout, but Tsubomi only ruffled his hair instead, sparing him from eye contact.

"Are you worried?" she asked, voice low and soft. Not quite up to Ayano's par, but caring for Tsubomi. Shuuya closed his eyes and allowed himself to nod. Tsubomi let out a snort, but he knew it wasn't malicious. "You sneak around behind everyone's backs and pass an entrance exam, and you're worried about going to high school? I think we've survived a lot worse than that."

He knew it was true. Even if he couldn't remember every summer like Shintaro could, Shuuya could remember enough. From the Clearing Eyes snake, all the way back to his first death and trip to the Heat Haze. And even though the circumstances hadn't been ideal, he had still enjoyed the atmosphere at the school. He had at least earned this much, right?

"But I'm a liar," he whispered. No illusion of a smile could cover that up. Tsubomi slackened her arm, closing up some of the distance between them, but she didn't move her hand.

"Yes, you are," she said. Shuuya would've chuckled if he weren't so afraid of choking on his own voice. "But that's not all you are. We don't have to live in our powers anymore. I don't have to disappear anymore, and you don't always have to lie, either." Tsubomi shuffled her arm around Shuuya's shoulder, though neither of them moved into eye contact. "You're just doing a lot better than I am at finding a new place to start. I really don't think I could handle going to public school after all this time."

This time, the snicker broke loose. "You'd just disappear and be considered truant all the ti—ow, ow, come on Tsubomi!"

Tsubomi released her death grip on his shoulder, tossing him a sidelong glance. Shuuya returned it, a smile slipping onto his face before he could realize. He didn't know that he could feel this relaxed anymore, even with Ayano back. Something had reset inside him, though he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Okay," he said, letting out a small puff of air. Tsubomi stepped back, though she was within arms' length. "Sorry for getting all mopey there!" It's just a story, danced on the tip of his tongue but never realized themselves. That sort of excuse wouldn't work anyway.

Tsubomi rolled her eyes, hand fiddling with her MP3 just outside of her pocket. "You don't have to give me that," she said. Considering how skilled she was at hiding herself, Tsubomi had always had a talent for staring right into him. "I just wanna know why you were sneaking around with this. It's really no big deal."

"It's a surprise for Onee-chan!" Not wanting to accidentally tear up and get snot all over his new uniform, Shuuya pulled off the sweater one sleeve at a time, tucking it safely back into the bag with the rest of the pieces. Gesturing for Tsubomi to follow, he headed towards the kitchen, feeling snackish. "It'd be super lucky, but wouldn't it be awesome if we were actually in the same class together?"

"So you really just wanted to hang out with her all day."

"Mmmmaybe…"

"You know that you won't be able to wear those boots with your uniform. You're gonna lose a lot of centimeters that way, too."

"Come on, you already hit me twice. No need to go after my ego, too!"

[NOTES] Welcome back to the second entry in the [Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit] challenge! It's super early in the morning for me, but let's kick this thing off!

Thanks to kimikokimono, Chronic Guardian, laughingbelle, Soror Curantis, and FullMentalPanic for whatever favorites, follows, or reviews they may have left behind. Writing is definitely easier knowing that I have folks like them behind me. Seriously.

Anyway, this week's prompts were "Spreading Grand Wings," "Down to the Foundation," and the optional backstory. In this case, I figured that, while for some it may be a hassle, making the choice to actually go to school and strive for further improvement is a grand enough achievement for someone like Shuuya, who's probably never had a proper education. The foundation in this case is his own worries and self, which was handled a bit indirectly, but still inspired some of the elements of this fic. And, well, basically my school headcanons worked their way into this, so I'm just gonna call that backstory (though that call is up to CG, really).

I'm having fun with these pieces, and also having fun trying to get back into regular fanfic updates! While they may not be super consistent, they will certainly be in existence. If you have your eyes on a particular story of mine, you may just be surprised soon (or maybe not, depending on your luck). Hopefully we'll see some new material coming out this week.

I once again encourage you to check out the [Twelve Shots of Summer] forum and C2 for all its awesome challenges, writers, and content. It's a great way to stretch your writing legs for the summer, so come on by!

Next week we have: "Hold Nothing Back," "Your Average Joe," the optional foil character, Seto, and summer! How do all these things come together into a comprehensible one shot? I sure need to find that out soon! Thanks for reading and look forward to the next episode!

[POST] 061116

[EDIT] 061416