Twelve Shots of Shuuya

By: Aviantei

A Kagerou Project Anthology

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit 3/12]

02. Simplicity


He had never noticed that sunrises were made up of the primary colors. There was a certain moment where the sky was turning blue, a line of pale yellow separating it from the space where the sun burned the atmosphere to red. Of course, he could have just been delirious from waking up so early, but everything else in his vision seemed clear, from the darkening green of summer trees, birds sprinkled amongst them, to the neighbor next door stretching in his front yard, looking dressed for a jog.

Shuuya yawned, flopping back into his bed with a groan. He didn't need to look at the clock to know it was too early for this. First day of summer vacation, and he was up at the crack of dawn. How was that even fair?

Worse, there was no way he was falling back asleep. Shuuya had stared at the window long enough to know that. All he could do was get up and move on with his day. Shuuya dragged himself upright and onto his feet, headed towards his school uniform, and kicked away an empty candy wrapper by his foot, remembering that he didn't have to go to school today.

It was funny. Not even a year ago everyday had been a free day, and the Mekakushi Dan had done as they pleased, searching for the Kagerou Daze. Now Shuuya had grown used to his daily routine, getting up in the morning, going to school with Ayano—completely ordinary and mundane.

I suppose there's always summer homework…

Yeah, he couldn't quite convince himself to go along with that one. Ayano would probably rope him into a study session at some point or another. Not that she would be very helpful at figuring out the assignments, but it would be a fun time nonetheless.

Shuuya smiled a bit, not bothering to change out of his pajamas and heading for the door. He could at least scrounge up breakfast for himself.


"Good morning," Shuuya mumbled, tempted by the smell of coffee. Kenjiro must have woken up earlier, but was nowhere to be found. Instead, Kousuke was humming at the stove, frying up what looked to be pork.

"Good morning!" he chirped in reply, flashing a grin over his shoulder. "I was just making enough for me, but you can have some if you want."

"Yes, please." Shuuya almost yawned through the words, but managed to keep it to himself. Wanting to offer to help but knowing he would just make a mess of things in his current state, Shuuya dropped into a chair at the kitchen table instead. Kousuke didn't seem bothered, coming over with plates and bowls balanced across his arms a few short minutes later.

Besides the pork, Kousuke set rice and natto on the table—one meal for Shuuya, the other for himself. While Ayano and Tsubomi took up the mantle in the kitchen most mornings, Kousuke wasn't a slouch, either. Shuuya hardly got through his thanks for the meal before snatching up his first bite.

Mm. Just as good as he remembered.

"I usually don't catch you up this early," Kousuke remarked, and Shuuya shrugged, chewing before answering:

"That's 'cause you're always up for work before the rest of us can even think straight." Once Ayano had found out Shuuya was coming along, she had tried to convince her other siblings to try out school for themselves. Kousuke had opted to keep up working instead, as he had a pretty solid temp job history from the past few years. "You don't get home until later, either since you always go and spend time with Marry. I'm your own brother and I hardly ever see you anymore." The last bits were teasing, and Kousuke would know that, even without Shuuya flashing a grin in his direction.

That didn't stop Kousuke from blushing at Marry's name. "Well, you know…" he said, taking an especially long stare at his natto, as if inspecting each bean. "She likes her family's house, but it's a bit out there in the woods. Not really ideal for getting to work in the mornings." Shuuya allowed himself a smirk. "If I keep saving up by the time I'm old enough to move out, we should be able to get a nice place."

"For such a dunce you really are going all out with this, aren't you?" Shuuya snickered, and Kousuke only went darker, looking as if he wanted to bolt from his seat.

Shuuya was happy for his brother, though, even if it meant they didn't see each other much. All of their birthdays had passed in a blur earlier in the year, and it wouldn't be long before they were considered adults. Even though Shuuya had a couple of extra years thanks to his late entry to school, it didn't change the fact that turning eighteen was on the horizon.

"So you're on vacation, right?" It seemed breakfast and conversation had won out in the end, Kousuke mixing his natto and rice together.

"First summer vacation ever!"

"Onee-chan was talking about taking a big trip together, I think," Kousuke mused. "It would be fun to go relax with everyone. I'll have to take some days off for that."

That would probably be later in the summer, once Ayano had time to organize. That didn't give Shuuya something to do today. And even though summer homework wasn't the most appealing prospect, Shuuya had been trying new things lately.

"Well," he said, with a flourish of his chopsticks, "since you're working today, how about I come with you?"


Kousuke didn't have a problem with the proposed plan of action, and his current boss was more than happy to have an extra pair of hands around. The July heat was nothing compared to last year's August, but Shuuya was still sweating far before he was able to collapse into their given lunch break, too busy trying to catch his breath to remember the sandwiches they had packed up for themselves before leaving.

Happily munching on his own lunch, Kousuke didn't seem any worse for wear. The job of the day was a delivery project, and they had been loading and unloading boxes into the boss's truck all day. Shuuya could lift more than he looked capable of, but not by much. Kousuke had easily outpaced him the entire morning, and, even though it was to be expected, Shuuya had grimaced at the gap between them.

His moping was broken up as Kousuke nudged a still wrapped sandwich against Shuuya's cheek. "You gotta eat to keep your energy up," Kousuke said, one cheek puffed out like a squirrel's, still chewing on his latest bite. "There's still a lot to get through today. You're dragging as it is."

"You think I don't know that?" Shuuya pouted, crumbling up the plastic from his sandwich and taking a bite. They had packed a lot, but Shuuya would probably need at least three more of these to keep himself going. Not to mention at least a gallon of water. "Eh, being a normal guy is hard…"

"Think so?" Kousuke finished off his first sandwich and headed for his second. Shuuya tried to chew faster before his brother ate them all. "I guess I've been doing this for so long I never really thought about it. It just seemed natural to me."

For a moment, Shuuya felt guilty. Even though they and Tsubomi were roughly the same age, Shuuya was technically the youngest out of the three. Kousuke had done a lot of work to help him, Tsubomi, and Marry all out, especially after Ayano was gone, and he had never complained once. Whining about something Shuuya had butted his way into was trivial in comparison.

"Hey, what's that look for? You wanna head home?"

"No," Shuuya protested a little bit too quickly. It didn't really matter, though. He couldn't lie worth crap to Kousuke, even though it was supposed to be his specialty. "Just some stray thoughts. We never thanked you enough, did we? At least I didn't."

Kousuke rolled his eyes, lightly shoving Shuuya's shoulder. "Don't be silly. I didn't mind at all." It wasn't quite as reassuring as it should have been, and Kousuke caught on, even with his eyes in their usual bright yellow. "Besides, you were always out looking for information and other members. You worked hard, too."

That wasn't all I was doing—but Shuuya cut thought off before it could fester. His feet ached, he smelled like sweat, and his lungs still seemed to be questioning his activity decisions, but today hadn't been too bad of a day so far. The work was monotonous enough without having things like that run through his mind.

"So," Kousuke declared, claiming another sandwich from their shared pile, "we thanked each other by putting equal effort into it. That's good enough for me."

Shuuya didn't think that was quite how it worked, but Kousuke's grin was too contagious to try and convince him otherwise.


As if his tenacity wasn't enough as it was, Kousuke managed to keep up a steady stream of chatter through the second half of the work day and still keep on par. Shuuya could only provide a few gasped out responses here and there, but it definitely kept his brain occupied enough that he didn't even notice that it was already getting close to evening and they were free to go for the day.

But not after getting their pay first. Since all positions were temporary were Kousuke was concerned, he pulled cash on a daily basis. Since he had come from recommendation, Shuuya was granted the same courtesy as well, and ended up a little bit more than surprised that the money in his pocket was his, not a gift or allowance.

"I still…think you're impressive," Shuuya said between breaths. The sun was sinking and leaving the air cool, crisp and free of humidity, but he still felt worn out. At this rate, Kousuke would have to carry him the rest of the way home, and Shuuya didn't think that was fair or worth the teasing he would get out of it. "You're not going to see Marry, though?"

"Nah, not today," Kousuke said, just as chipper as he had been humming over the stove in the morning. "I called her earlier and she said she'd be okay if I went home. She's okay with me spending time at home, too." Considering how much Marry enjoyed Kousuke's presence, it was almost impressive. "Besides, she's been spending time with Kisaragi, too, so it'll all be good."

Shuuya nodded, twisting the cap away from the last bottle of water they had between them. It wasn't cold by a long shot anymore, but it was better than nothing. "I'm sure they're having a grand old clumsy time," he said, not wanting to imagine whatever disaster the two could get into. Well, as long as they were having fun, he supposed.

"But what did you think about today?" Kousuke smiled at him, expectant. Shuuya sighed, not really sure what else to say but the truth.

"Long, hot, and exhausting." He had even needed to take off his hoodie—and that wasn't something he did on just any occasion. "I feel like I could sleep for a week." Not the best use of his summer vacation, by far.

Kousuke nodded. "But worth it, right?"

Shuuya thought about it for a moment, staring idly down the street. In their neighborhood the pavement took on the tint of orange from the sunset. On ground level, he didn't have as good as a vantage point, but he was sure the sky had been those primary colors again, at least for a moment. Kousuke nudged his hand for the water bottle, and Shuuya passed it over, glad to have this time together, even if it was only a moment in passing.

"Yeah," he said, a smile forming on his lips without calculation. "Definitely worth it."

Up the street their house came into view, lights on upstairs and a few from the kitchen. Kenjiro was off for vacation as well, and Tsubomi and Ayano had probably gotten started on dinner. They were all coming home together, as a family. Kousuke raced ahead without warning, splashing water on the concrete, and Shuuya failed to catch up with him, only to find his brother waiting for him at the unopened door.

"You wanna come again tomorrow?"


[NOTES] This piece is dedicated to ElementLegend, who requested some platonic Shuuya/Kousuke fic! Well, here it is, and I hope it meets your expectations, dear Element-chan. I look forward to seeing what you come up for my Konoha/Marry in return! :)

Also thanks to Bacteria Emperor, HAcker741, Shad0wKat, Chronic Guardian, laughingbelle, and FullMentalPanic for their follows, favorites, and reviews! Extra thanks to the [Twelve Shots of Summer] community in general for being super supportive about this collection. Whether it's in reviews or just passing comments in the forums, these guys are the best! Seriously.

If you haven't guessed, that's the cue to go check out the T-Sauce forum and possibly join up. Or, at the very least, keep your eye out for more works with this year's [Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit] tag. You won't regret it, I promise you.

That being said, I think that out of all the KagePro relationships, Shuuya and Kousuke's is my favorite. Not only do they compliment each other super well, but Shuuya has the sense of security that, even if he does lie, Kousuke's own ability will be able to counteract it. Um, not that I went into that route for this piece since I wanted to focus on a slightly different theme, but I really do feel like these two have a great amount of trust and respect for each other. I hope that I showed that properly.

Anyway, the prompts for this piece were "Hold Nothing Back," "Your Average Joe," and the optional Foil Character. It seems I'm aiming for vague interpretations this time, as "Hold Nothing Back" was used to represent Kousuke's attitude, "Your Average Joe" made its way in via the "Being normal is hard" line, and Foil Character was really easy because all the reasons I just listed above. Overall, I'm really happy with this piece, so I hope it was enjoyable.

Next week we have "Making Time," "A Rose by Any other Name," the optional Dramatic Irony, Autumn as the season, and it's Shuuya's solo piece. All these things apparently add up to...angst?! Find out, next Saturday, same place, slightly earlier than necessary time!

[POST] 061816

[EDIT] 070716