A.N. (11/13/21) - Almost a week without updating, thanks to studying for midterms.
DNAngel (9) - Ice and Snow
His nightmare started with a familiar memory.
It was the day of his arrest. Only in his dream, he was wearing a straight jacket and stuck inside an empty white room. Crying out, he kept yelling that he was innocent and that he wasn't supposed to be here.
Yet nobody listened, his voice hoarse from shouting so long.
Then a moment later, his uncle and grandmother barge into the room to shout at him. You're nothing but trouble, we should have never taken you in. Look at all the problems you caused us! You should be ashamed.
He wanted to reply, but his mouth froze and he was unable to make a sound. Before Nagi could say anything, the dream slowly shifted into a new scene.
This time, he found himself in a place he didn't recognize. Inside a grand corridor, Nagi watched as a red-haired boy dressed in a dark cloak ran down the hallway. Although the boy was far away, Nagi could tell that he was smirking as he made his way towards the set of doors before him.
Without prompting, Nagi found his perspective changing as he followed after the strange boy. Soon, he was inside a room with the boy from before. But there was someone else as well, a new person with long hair and a delicate figure.
Somehow, the new person seemed familiar to Nagi.
"Oh, you again." The new person looked up and sighed. "I don't create art just for you to steal."
"Woah there." The red-haired boy raised his arms. "Not so fun today are we, Hikari?"
The person called Hikari stayed silent, and the red-haired boy chuckled as he began walking around the room. "It's not a sin to be captivated by beauty. In fact, you ought to be grateful. You're able to make the things I desire. Things…" he raised a small card. "That a 'Phantom Thief' desires."
He moved closer to Hikari and placed the card in his breast pocket. "A small gift from me, here's your note."
"..." Hikari finally spoke. "You're free to be captivated. But you have no idea what horrors art can have, Niwa."
"That's right," Niwa turned to face Hikari. "There's no way I could understand… what 'life' only a true piece of art can hold. What about you then? Do you understand my 'thirst' for beauty?"
He raised an arm and held it towards Hikari. "I'm not able to fight against it. Not after you showed me the 'light'."
Hikari gave Niwa a dumbfounded look for a moment before he sighed. "You're just saying that because you can't make them on your own."
Niwa gave a boyish grin. "Says the one how has his work stolen by me every time!"
"What?!"
"Hehe~"
Finally, the person called Hikari smiled. And Nagi realized why he felt so familiar.
Because his face… was almost an exact copy of Hiwatari.
}-{
Nagi woke up with a start.
There was a knock at his door, and Hiwatari's voice echoed a second later. "It's time to get up. Breakfast is ready, and we have school today."
"Alright," Nagi called out. "I'll come out soon."
Looking to the side, Nagi blinked as he realized for the first time that the view of their school could be seen in the distance. Watching the building barely peeking above the rooftops through his window, he yawned before stepping out of bed.
I should probably get ready quickly before Hiwatari waits too long.
After a few minutes in the bathroom and changing into his uniform, he entered the kitchen and found Hiwatari already eating a simple sandwich from his plate. Across the table was another dish waiting for him.
"Thanks, I'll try to wake up earlier tomorrow and make something in return."
"It's alright, I'm a light eater."
"If we're going to be living together, it would be best if we got along." Nagi smiled as he sat down. "Sharing a meal is a good start, but I would like to get to know you better. Besides, I can also make us lunch to take to school if it's alright with you, Hiwatari-san."
His smile faded as he noticed something concerning. Without warning, Nagi reached forward and grabbed Hiwatari's wrist, causing the other boy to flinch.
"What happened to your arm?"
"It's nothing," Hiwatari quickly pulled his hand away from Nagi. "It's just a little blood."
"That looks like a nasty cut."
"I said I'm fine," Hiwatari replied stiffly. "I'll wash it and properly bandage it later, just ignore it for now please."
Nagi bit his lip but didn't say anything else. He could tell that Hiwatari wasn't in the mood to accept his help. Unable to do anything else, he bit at his sandwich and remained silent.
It was Hiwatari who started the conversation again. "Where were you yesterday?"
"Hmm? I got lost trying to return home." Nagi gave out the excuse he prepared beforehand. "And I found my surroundings interesting, so I took my time heading back here. This town is pretty nice."
Hiwatari nodded. "It's nice that you're acclimating to your new surroundings, but I need to remind you that you're still on probation. While I won't limit you to solely the confines of our apartment, at least let me be made aware of any decisions to explore the town."
"I understand," Nagi nodded. "Most likely, I'll check out the local markets and possibly the library. I doubt I'll spend my time anywhere else."
"Not interested in checking out the heists?"
"Heists?"
"The ones conducted by the Phantom Thief Dark," Hiwatari clarified. "I've come to learn that his actions are quite the sensation amongst our age group. Many of our classmates are interested in his exploits and sometimes participate whenever he attempts to steal another artwork."
Nagi desperately held back from telling Hiwatari that he was technically already involved with Dark somewhat thanks to the events of last night. It was already a miracle that Hiwatari hadn't noticed by now.
"As someone who is already on probation, I think frolicking with other criminals wouldn't exactly shine a good light on me."
Hiwatari hummed. "Also, before I forget. Regarding yesterday's matters…"
"Yesterday?"
"Apparently, Hio-san received an order from my father to stop annoying you any further." His face contorted into a grimace. "I may have informed him of yesterday's events as well as my opinions on the matter. Rest assured that she will not pester you as she did yesterday."
"Huh?" Nagi blinked. "Oh, thanks… I guess?"
Now that Hiwatari brought it up, Nagi's thoughts went back to yesterday.
She was trying to hypnotize me yesterday, but what for? Is it because I'm under the Commissioner's care? Why is Hiwatari's dad even interested in me in the first place?
Due to the following events occurring within the snowy painting, Nagi had almost forgotten that he even met the strange girl. Perhaps now that she's been ordered to avoid him, it wouldn't be wrong to simply forget about her until he dealt with other matters.
After all, there was a bigger issue that he was trying to figure out at the moment.
Last night… How come I didn't experience the Dark Hour?
}-{
"Good morning, Kujikawa!"
"Hello to you as well, Saehara."
"Guess what," the other boy sat on top of his desk and threw a grin in his direction. "It seems that we're going to decide on the roles for our culture exhibit today?"
"Roles?" Nagi blinked. "You mean for the culture festival? Wait, what exactly is our class doing?"
"We've decided to do a play, based on a story called Ice and Snow."
Ẃ̷̡̤̐r̸̛͓͈ō̸̭̎n̴̘̼̎g̵̙̉́.
"Our class presidents are going to be busy as committee members for our festival, so it'll fall to me to act as our script-writer and director!"
"That sounds like a lot of work."
"Oh, it is." Saehara nodded. "That's why I'm going to ask Hio-san to be my assistant director."
He blinked. "Wait, Hio? As in Mio Hio, our classmate?!"
The girl who also might have the ability to hypnotize people?
Well, she was supposedly ordered to keep quiet. So Nagi didn't see any obvious issues with that. But knowing that there was a dangerous person that was going to be working closely with his new friend made Nagi anxious.
He tried to change Saehara's mind. "What if she wants to perform instead? Did you ask if she was okay with working with you yet?"
"Hah?" Saehara gave him a look. "Well… not really. But as for your first question, that won't be a problem. We've decided last week that our class would do a Shakespearean type of play where only the males will perform. The rest of the ladies will work backstage."
It took him a second to process that. "Wait, so doesn't that mean that even the female roles will be performed by guys?"
"That's right!"
He shuddered. "Well, that's… certainly a unique idea." He recalled what Saehara said earlier. "So we're deciding who's playing as who today?"
"Yup. Since I'm the one planning our roles, it's best to have everyone's opinion on who's okay doing what. Speaking of which, interested in being Village Girl No. 1?"
"How many village girls do you want exactly?"
"Depends on how well I appeal the idea to the boys!" He smacked Nagi's back. "After all, I'm not expecting everyone to easily accept the idea of crossdressing for the play. Let's just hope we find a suitable heroine in time, but my bet is that Daisuke's going to get the role."
Nagi winced and gave a silent prayer to the red-haired boy. As amusing as the concept of crossdressing actors was, it was surely going to be a somewhat embarrassing affair for the middle schoolboy.
Then again, better him than me.
"Since the festival is coming up soon, we'll be practicing immediately once I'm done with the script. I'll try and come up with something by tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll save a few scenes for you in my script."
"Yay," Nagi gave a weak, unenthusiastic reply. "Can't wait for that…"
At the idea of performing on stage, Nagi almost preferred the idea of getting sucked into another alternate dimension again instead. Hopefully, he wouldn't receive too many lines from his enthusiastic classmate.
}-{
Soon after, the homeroom meeting began.
Standing at the podium for some reason Saehara, who was taking charge while the two class presidents were away at the committee meeting. The entire class was in the middle of voting over who got what role for the play.
"Alright, looks like the role of Village Girl No. 1 goes to Kujikawa!"
Nagi gave out a sigh of relief at that. Compared to some of the other roles, the role seemed fairly unremarkable and didn't have as much importance compared to the other positions. This way, he could say he contributed while not being forced to do as much work as everyone else.
One of the girls raised their hands. "Should we tell the committee members who is playing who?"
"Probably," Saehara nodded. "At the very least, Nishimura and Sawamura need to know so they can work with the others when it's time to set up the stage for the play. Since our two class presidents will coordinate with the committee while we focus on our practice sessions."
"Won't we have to ask for a budget for supplies later?"
"I asked about that," Saehara replied. "It seems that we can borrow some stuff from the Drama Club if we get permission. Any minor things, we can get ourselves later once we figure out what we need first."
"Does that mean you haven't asked permission yet?"
"Erm," Saehara hesitated. "Well… no, actually. I guess we should probably have someone do that."
"I can do it," someone volunteered. "I need to speak with some of the athletics club leaders anyway, so it won't be too troublesome."
"Perfect," Saehara beamed. "But if they do agree, see if you can bring back some materials to see what we can work with. I can have someone else go with you to carry stuff too. Kujikawa, you're up!"
Startled, Nagi's back suddenly straightened as he heard his name. "Huh?"
"You don't have as many lines as everyone, right? That means you won't need to practice as much" Saehara pointed a rolled up paper towards him. "Go with elder Harada and talk to the drama club members to see if we can borrow any supplies for today."
"Elder Harada?" Nagi blinked. "You mean…"
Turning his head to face the person in question, Nagi found himself meeting the gaze of his classmate, Riku. With an appearance so alike to her sister, it was easy to understand why Saehara would describe her as one of the more popular school idols amongst their age group.
She nodded in greeting when she noticed him looking at her. "Guess we'll be working together."
"Erm… yeah, I guess so."
"Alright everyone," Saehara called out. "Let's make sure this festival goes off without a hitch!"
As everyone began chatting amongst themselves, Nagi blinked as he noticed Riku walking towards him.
"Hey, we can meet up together during lunch if that's okay with you. While drama club meetings are usually held after school, sometimes a few of their members practice in the club room. If we're lucky, we can talk to some of them to request some props."
"Sure," Nagi agreed. "But I'm not too sure on the construction side of things. If I recall, it's the girls who are going to be in charge of all the stage details later, right?"
"That's right," she nodded. "While the boys act out front, we'll take care of the stuff behind the scenes. From lighting, costumes, make-up, and a bunch of other stuff."
"Is it possible for everyone to consider me an honorary girl?" Nagi joked. "I'd pretty much do anything if it meant I wouldn't have to go out on stage."
"Oh sure," she rolled her eyes. "Then you can help the rest of us pretty up the other boys with our meager skills in makeup. Meanwhile, we'll chat about boys and go to the bathroom together in groups."
"Sounds perfect. Where do I sign up?"
Riku smiled. "Alright, enough joking around. Let's meet up later and get to work."
"Fine," Nagi sighed. "Well, nice chatting with you Harada-san."
}-{
When the break period came, Nagi was surprised to find several more people waiting for him with Riku.
"Hey, Kujikawa." Daisuke gave a tiny wave. "Sorry for not saying hello this morning. I was a bit late getting to class."
"Just call me Nagi," he replied. "Kujikawa is such a long name. And I think everyone knows about that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been saddled with the unenviable position as the main heroine."
Daisuke's face formed a grimace, even as the two girls next to him giggled. Seeing as Daisuke wasn't here to vote this morning, everyone had unanimously decided that he would play the role of the character Freedert.
Personally, Nagi had mixed feelings regarding that outcome. He was 70% happy that he wasn't stuck with the role, 20% feeling sad for his latest friend, 9% amused that it was Daisuke of all people who got chosen, and a strange 1% interest in seeing how well the bishounen character would look in drag.
Sue him, looking was fine.
"Nagi and I are planning to head to the clubs to talk to them about our school play," Riku began to explain. "If you want, the two of you can follow us."
"We'd be delighted," her sister replied. "And it would be nice to talk with Nagi. The two of us haven't had much chance to interact ever since he transferred here."
"I mostly talk to Daisuke, since Saehara seemed to take a liking to me for some reason. And by transitive properly, that meant I got closer to Daisuke as well."
"Is that how transitive property works?" Riku wondered.
"Math was never my strong suit."
The four of them began walking together.
"Still, I don't know that much about the source material that our play is based on. Do all of you know the story of Ice and Snow well?"
"Well, yeah." Riku blinked. "It's a pretty popular local tale, so a lot of us know about it even by osmosis. There's also plenty of published books detailing the story, even if the historical accuracy of it is debatable at best."
"Guess I'll have to borrow a copy from the library later," Nagi mulled. "It would be nice to see how it compares to the modern love stories of our time."
"Do you have an interest in love stories?" Risa asked.
"Not really," Nagi replied honestly. "At least, not ones that are unnecessarily complicated or dramatic. I kinda prefer simpler stuff like slice of life manga."
"Ah, I totally get what you mean," Riku nodded in agreement. "Most love dramas you find on TV have really convoluted plots and twists. But then again, a pure love story is nice in its own way. So something like Ice and Snow is pretty nice for our class to perform, rather than something else."
"Don't the two main characters die at the end?" Daisuke asked. "Wouldn't that make it a tragedy instead of a love story?"
"A lot of fairy tales usually have dark and disturbing origins," Nagi replied. "But as time passes, they end up being cleaned up so that it's more palpable to the general public. Daisuke might be right in that it might have originally been a tragic story rather than a romantic one."
After all, the most famous examples of sanitizing fairy tales from his past life were usually Disney stories. The famed animated movies usually based their stories on source materials that had such horrific origins that almost always drastically differed from their derived materials.
In this world, that practice has been taken to an even larger degree.
The Cultural Reform.
A period of time where books, stories, and countless other works of art were destroyed. Most of the efforts in the destruction of artworks were led by the government at the time. Even now, it is considered a major event in history due to its effect on every aspect of human culture. Any remaining works preceding that period were heavily modified to appeal to the more tamer aspects of society. Leaving a lot of gaps and holes in the mythological and historical records of the past.
"Ugh, all this talk about tragedy is making the mood weird." Riku made a face. "Come on everyone, let's get the permission from the Drama Club out of the way first before we lose track of time."
"Alright."
Took a break to go through midterms this week. Also watched Eternals a few days ago, and all I can say is... eh~? Not really amazing, but still pretty good for a movie.
This chapter was mostly slice-of-life stuff to get Nagi to connect with his classmates. The real plot will progress sometime either in the next chapter or the one after that.