Twelve Shots of Shuuya
By: Aviantei
A Kagerou Project Anthology
[Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit 6/12]
05. Largess
Shuuya scanned the class postings in the courtyard, finally finding his name listed under class 2-C. A skim down the same line revealed Ayano's name as well, and he smiled. It was a good thing the school didn't organize its students into classes by academic prowess, otherwise the dream of spending all three years in class with his sister would have ended right there. He would still have to worry when the curriculum split between sciences and the arts, but that was conflict a year in the future.
Satisfied, Shuuya turned away from the board, slipping around new coming first-years, nervously checking their entrance exams results posted farther down the schoolyard. Among them were a few others he recognized—students from his class and several senpai, all confirming their new room assignments.
The fact that he almost missed her was almost ironic, but Shuuya glimpsed Momo heading in through the entrance, head held high. That summer had made him used to seeing her sneak around, doing anything to avoid being seen. But now, even without Tsubomi's assistance, no one seemed to notice the idol walking among them, the Drawing Eyes ability firmly under control.
Calling out to her then probably wasn't the best idea, Shuuya considered, and instead waited until he was in a much reasonable earshot to greet her, tossing up a wave. Momo returned the gesture, her hair bouncing as she came to meet him.
"Look no farther, Kisaragi," he said, raising a finger in the air, "for I have discovered that we are classmates this year!" Momo froze in midstride, the poke at her less-than-stellar school performance striking hard.
"Y-you can't be serious!" she protested, foot stomping at the sidewalk. "I studied real hard, and Onii-chan even helped me out. I couldn't have failed my make-up exams like that!"
"It's a lie," Shuuya said before her tirade could go any further. Eye ability or no, Momo's popularity had been increasing, and there were enough kids here to start a big commotion if they realized there was an idol in their midst. "Even if you did fail out, you're not in my class, so you can rest easy!"
Momo marched forward, stubbornly stopping at the third-year's board. Her eyes skimmed the board, and Shuuya started from the opposite end, trying to find the kanji first. "Ha!" Momo called before he had even made it through the first row, her finger pointing close to the top. "Class 3-B!" She grinned, nudging an elbow into Shuuya's side. Sure enough, her name was there. "I oughta make you start calling me senpai for being such a jerk."
Shuuya chuckled, dislodging himself from Momo's arm. "How about we just go and get something to snack on instead?" It was bad enough that Momo was a grade above him when they were the same age—she really didn't need an excuse to rub it in. "You got those eyes pretty well under control, so we should be able to go downtown without too much trouble, right?"
Momo patted over her pockets and must have found what she was looking for. "Hm, alright. There was a new Sockeye-chan keychain I wanted to pick up, so we can grab that, too." Grinning, Momo grabbed onto Shuuya's sleeve, dragging him out the gate before he could even agree. "It's been a while since I've had a day off to run around!"
Even though Shuuya tended to keep lots of things to himself, he was pretty used to crowds. Being that there were only a few days left until the school year started, teenagers were everywhere, trying to soak up last bits of freedom from their spring break. Even though Momo was less adept at maneuvering around people, Shuuya let her take the lead, seeing that she actually knew what shop they were headed to.
Compared to the outside, the accessory shop was pretty devoid of people, which might have been a factor in why Momo had chosen it. Shuuya distracted himself browsing a line of backpacks he didn't really need, only to look up and find Momo trying on a pair of orange headphones, despite the wall of keychains being right behind her.
Shuuya slipped around her, easily locating the Sockeye-chan accessory in question due to its distinctive design. The exact appeal of a piece of tuna with pits of darkness for eyes was far beyond him, but the character must've been pretty popular to still have merchandise coming out. Momo seemed to be listening to the demo reel, and Shuuya dangled the keychain in front of her face, waiting for the girl to open her eyes.
When she did, Momo screamed as predicted, and years of just taking Tsubomi's punches finally helped him dodge Momo's flailing arm. Despite her indignation, Momo snatched Sockeye-chan from his grip, her free hand tugging the headphones away from her ears.
"I thought you forgot what you came here for," Shuuya said, "just thought I would remind you." Following the headphone's cord to the display case, he raised his eyebrows at the price tag. Definitely something out of his range, but Momo did make more money than the rest of the former Mekakushi Dan combined. "I didn't know you were so serious about your music, Kisaragi."
"Well, I usually don't bother too much but Leader—" Momo caught herself, her cheeks quickly tinting. Even though the gang no longer officially existed, her habit of using Tsubomi's title remained. "You know, I was thinking for her birthday—"
"Which was two months ago," Shuuya interrupted. Really, she should have known better than to try lying to him. "While I commend you for shopping in advance, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting a gift for someone you're close to without reason." He grinned, even as the remaining color drained out of Momo's face. "She taught you a lot about your powers, but I figured there was something else going on while you were hanging out."
Momo's arm hooked around Shuuya's shoulders and forced him to duck beneath the display case, even though there wasn't anyone else in the store. "She told you?!" Momo hissed, aghast. She narrowed her eyes at him, and suddenly her arm seemed to be way too close to Shuuya's neck for comfort. "Who else did you tell?"
"Come on, I didn't tell anyone at all." Shuuya managed to slip free of her grasp—even if Momo was picking up on Tsubomi's body language, mimicking her strength was a whole other issue. "She didn't tell me, either; I just guessed." Momo's glare didn't lessen, though she did stand up straight. "I wasn't gonna spread it, either. I'm not a rumor mill, and idols have enough complications without their love lives leaking out."
Finally, Momo let out a huff of air, returning the headphones around her neck to their display stand. "Fine," she allowed. "I'll trust you with this. But she and I wanna tell everyone when we're ready, you got me?" Shuuya nodded, and Momo sighed again. "You know, you've actually gotten pretty respectable, Kano-san. Kinda."
Well, that was probably the best he could expect out of her. "Well, we got Sockeye-chan there. Anything else you wanna pick up before we go?"
Momo hummed in thought, still staring at the headphones. Tsubomi tended to use earbuds, but Shuuya knew she wouldn't complain about a nice studio set like that. Momo locked eyes with him, her tone once again deadly serious: "Rock, Paper, Scissors for who has to pay for lunch."
Shuuya spectacularly lost three games in a row and was left counting up the bills in his wallet as Momo tucked the box of headphones under her arm and headed for the counter.
[NOTES] I am honestly way too out of it to even think about making a proper author's note right now.
Even so, thanks to Tiffany Wave, Chronic Guardian, and professor ita-chan for their respective favorites, follows, and reviews. Like, seriously.
Please note that moving, working, being in school, and participating in two writing challenges is no easy task. But, if your schedule is less hectic than mine, please consider checking out the [Twelve Shots of Summer] challenge! We're officially halfway through, but there's still plenty of time to join in, or at least read the results!
Next week...is challenging, but I should be in a better state to post and such.
[POST] 070916
