A/N: So, erm, how would you guys like it if this fic were to become… a huge thing? Like, the first in a three-part series? Stretching into when Yuuji and Nagisa are adults?
Because...that's pretty much my plan at the moment.
A few days later…
Against all odds, the world had continued to turn. The sun rose and set, hours passed excruciatingly by, and people went about their daily lives.
Here in the suburb of Kunugigaoka, too, it was another normal day.
A slight breeze swept through the air, ruffling the edges of Yuuji's dark-colored jacket. The neighborhood surrounding him was both familiar and unfamiliar—buildings in styles that he had seen before, but not in any arrangement that he recognized. In the background, the dull noise of society continued on from somewhere behind the rows of houses. Late afternoon sunlight spread heavy over the town, soaking into each inch of concrete. Just looking at it made Yuuji want to curse Japan's school system for running to such late hours.
After all, today was the day he finally got to see Nagisa.
Nagisa stood in front of Yuuji now, blinking in confusion. "So…what are we doing here, again?"
The two of them were currently standing in an abandoned lot. Located just a few blocks away from the main road, Yuuji had dragged them here immediately after meeting Nagisa at the train station. The plot of land stretched around them in a desolate landscape, relatively small for what it was, but made to feel bigger by its utter bleakness. A few pieces of scrap metal lay scattered about. Weeds reached hungrily up through cracks in the ground. From where Yuuji and Nagisa stood by the far wall, a small pile of tires could be seen gathered together in a corner.
Yuuji spread out his hands in response. "Like I said, 'what else can you do?'"
"I'm curious after seeing your skills with that, er, that 'rival assassin'," he continued. "And I know you're in training for something. So that means you've probably got even more tricks up your sleeve, right?"
Surprise showed on Nagisa's face. "Eh? You want to see that stuff?"
Yuuji nodded. He put his hands on his hips in a confident gesture. "I want to know everything about you. How are we supposed to be…uh…friends, otherwise?"
Yuuji blushed slightly. He had said that last bit while looking away. To be honest, he hadn't quite gotten a handle on what they were to each other. What happened between them back the other day… Well, it hadn't exactly been a full confession, but it hadn't been nothing, either. Still, it wasn't like they were officially dating now or anything. It had just been…a moment. Yeah. A starting point. Yuuji struggled to keep his cheeks from flushing deeper as words from that day drifted through his head. All Nagisa had said was 'I like you'…
Just thinking about it made Yuuji's stomach twist into knots. And he wasn't quite sure what to think about the feeling.
On the inside, Yuuji gave a frustrated sigh. He probably shouldn't read too much into this. He was just glad that Nagisa still wanted to see him.
Nagisa gave him a look. The boy had come today dressed in a cream-colored sweater over a white shirt, complete with his school uniform tie and gray cargo pants. It was a casual, well-put-together outfit for after school. "You can't know everything about me," he said in a tone that managed to sound more soothing than accusatory. "It's just not possible, like I told you." He tilted his head to the side. "Besides, are you sure? I would have thought that learning about these things was kinda scary."
"You don't have to tell me anything," Yuuji said quickly. "I know you can't say more about, um, the 'program'. But maybe…" He leaned in closer to Nagisa as his voice took on a conspiratorial tone. "You could show me, just a little bit?"
For a moment, Nagisa stared back. Then a small, impressed smile appeared at the corner of the boy's mouth. "Sneaky. I like it."
He turned to the side, looking over towards the edge of the lot and into a nearby alleyway. "Alright. In that case, let's go over there."
Yuuji followed the boy's gaze and frowned. "There?"
"Yeah, I know that alley. It'll work well for us."
Before Yuuji could fully register what a strange thing that was for a middle-school student to say, Nagisa had set off at a near-jog. "Race you."
Yuuji moved, answering the challenge. Why the hell not? Might as well go along with it—he was excited to hear anything Nagisa had to say. A sudden thrill ran through Yuuji's veins at the very thought of what he might learn, lightening his shoulders and bringing a spring to his step.
Fortunately Yuuji had been the one standing closer to the alleyway side, so with a bit of effort he managed to reach the entrance first. He slapped one hand against the wall, feet skidding to a stop. "Ha! Beat you—"
"Not there, silly." Yuuji barely caught sight of a blurred grin as Nagisa passed him. "That's not our finish line."
In the blink of an eye, Nagisa had clambered up the corridor wall, climbing via a drainage pipe. His hands and feet made soft, skilled taps against its sides.
When he reached the top, Nagisa lunged out to touch an old signpost. He turned to face Yuuji, holding onto the pipe with both legs and one hand while bracing himself against the sign with his left. He grinned down. "I win."
Yuuji's jaw dropped.
Nagisa let go, managing to do one forward flip before hitting the ground. He sprung back up lightly onto his feet. "This is one part of what I do," Nagisa said. He cast a glance around the rest of the alleyway. "There's also…"
With practiced ease, he moved. In three quick bounds Nagisa had climbed a nearby stack of crates, alternating feet between boxes. He turned and leapt up to an overhanging bar near the street sign, swinging under it and then heaving his feet upwards, rotating once around the bar like a gymnast before letting go, landing and turning the momentum into a controlled forward roll.
He came up in a crouch. Nagisa glanced up once, raising his head. Then he charged forward in a run before doing a kick-flip off the nearest wall, blue hair a blur.
When Nagisa next stood, he stopped. He looked towards Yuuji, frozen in place. Yuuji just stared. It seemed like a strange thing to see Nagisa back on the ground now, vertical and obeying the laws of gravity.
Nagisa curled in on himself, one arm crossing in front his chest as if he were embarrassed. "Weird, right?"
Yuuji breathed. "W-woah…"
Nagisa wouldn't look at him, keeping his gaze on the ground. "I know it's not something that a normal middle schooler should be able to do…"
"So cool!" Yuuji burst out, startling the other boy.
"You can do parkour? That's awesome!" Yuuji gabbed. "I wanted to do it once, too, but going to classes would have been a major pain. Some of my buddies were still interested, though. I've seen so many videos…"
Yuuji gaped at the pile of crates on his left, trying to reimagine the path Nagisa had taken to scale them. Excitement pulsed through his mind like lightning. His brain was a buzz of activity. This narrow alleyway now seemed like a place of boundless possibilities.
Yuuji took a look around before coming back to focus on Nagisa. "Umm…" He made a sheepish expression and raised one finger to point at himself. "Teach me?"
At first, Nagisa looked surprised. Then, the expression faded into something that was more like 'touched'. He nodded once.
They began.
For starters, Nagisa tried to run Yuuji through some basics. A little hop off of the lowest crate. The briefest explanation of ukemi technique ("how to fall safely"? Yuuji didn't get it. Was such a thing even possible?). Making sure that one's shoes were tied tight. No, leave your backpack on the ground, it'll throw off your balance. Bend your knees more!
Yuuji tried many different things, but whenever they moved beyond the fundamentals, he failed utterly. He struggled to pull himself up onto any surface. His legs quaked when simply standing on top of the highest stack of crates. Compared to Nagisa, his movements were clumsy and slow. He spent long minutes flailing, scrabbling for even the most obvious of handholds. He never got more than two feet off the ground, and not for more than two seconds at a time.
Nagisa continued to give out instructions, but the occasional pause signaled whenever the boy stopped to muffle a laugh. The light sound of Nagisa's laughter was a pleasant companion, but not an altogether helpful one when Yuuji was struggling. Still, the blue-haired boy continued to assist, correcting Yuuji's footholds and guiding him towards alternate routes. Judging by the intensity of the stare Yuuji felt on the back of his neck, Nagisa seemed to be fascinated by all of his attempts.
At one point, Nagisa shook his head and muttered. "You really have no clue about this, do you?"
"What?" said Yuuji, red in the face from trying to do a pull-up.
"Nothing."
Eventually, Nagisa declared that he would demonstrate a few moves. Yuuji relished the chance for a break, gasping and bracing his hands on his knees. When he looked up, Nagisa had already begun.
In one deft motion, Nagisa leapt off of the crates in a sideways roll, spinning like a whirlwind before somehow landing on his feet. Then with a running start, Nagisa leapfrogged over a small garbage can. The lid didn't even rattle as it passed beneath him. A place slightly lower than Yuuji's stomach hurt just thinking about trying that.
The boy barely paused between tricks, flowing from one to the other. He moved with an ease that seemed to not be of this world. At one point Nagisa managed to scramble up the wall using only his arms, no toeholds. After that, he pounced back down from the rooftop, landing on top of the dumpster and transferring to the ground, making as little noise as an owl's wing.
For the main event, he even leapt across the entire gap above the alleyway, a feat that made Yuuji gasp and his innards run cold.
Lastly, in a complicated maneuver, Nagisa ran a few steps up the wall. He kicked off and made a 180-degree turn before kicking off of the other wall, now behind him, catapulting himself up to the rooftop. Gripping the ledge, Nagisa stayed with his feet braced against the concrete like a cat. He hung there for a few seconds before dropping, uninjured, using his legs like a springboard to absorb the landing.
For a moment or two, Yuuji thought he saw a flash of darkness, some cold concentration around Nagisa's limbs as the boy went. Nagisa's eyes were sharp, glinting as they found each precise foothold, always calculating the next part of the route. Each movement was smooth, bunched with hidden power. It reminded Yuuji a bit of the coiling and uncoiling of a snake. But Yuuji didn't care. It was probably just adrenaline.
By then, the "demonstration" had turned into more of an exhibition. The two of them ran around for a bit, Yuuji chasing after Nagisa and shouting while Nagisa cheekily bounced away, pausing to smack the baseball cap off of Yuuji's head as he passed. A game of tag turned into keep-away turned into teasing which turned into just plain having fun. For a few short minutes, the alleyway expanded until it became their entire world.
"Come on, you can do it! Keep going, Yuuji!" Nagisa cheered.
Yuuji was currently struggling to shimmy up the wall, having decided to take up the challenge again. Damned if he wouldn't get at least one thing right! But his palms were sweaty, losing whatever negligible grip they had. Beads of perspiration formed on his brow. His arms ached. It seemed impossible to hold one's weight away from gravity by sheer force alone. How on earth did Nagisa do this?
With a gasp, Yuuji lost traction. He fell with a stomach-churning lurch.
Fortunately, Nagisa was right behind him.
They collided. Yuuji felt his torso hit against something firm, one arm coming around to grab him from the side. There was a mess of bumping. Dull pain burst from one spot on the back of Yuuji's head as they tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.
The next thing Yuuji knew, he was lying face-down against the concrete. He groaned.
The mysterious weight behind him lifted, rolling away. In its place, Nagisa came into view. The boy was rubbing his chin as if he had hit it on something (the bruise there matched the sore spot on Yuuji's head, Yuuji realized dully), but judging by the grin currently on his face, it was no big deal.
Nagisa flopped down on the asphalt right next to Yuuji, his arms spreading out and chest heaving with laughter. To his surprise, Yuuji found himself drawn into laughing at the situation as well. Both of them lay there together for a minute, laughing, out of breath, their heads spinning and muscles tired.
When Yuuji next opened his eyes, he found Nagisa's face less than a foot away from him. Lit up and beaming with joy, he could see the curve of the boy's cheeks, each sweep of his eyelashes. The world seemed to jolt for a moment. Yuuji heard his voice waver as his heart skipped a beat. Damn, Nagisa was close.
Nagisa rolled slightly, moving from his side onto his back for a moment. One of his arms came up with the motion. Unaware, their hands brushed against each other.
The feeling was electric. A shiver shot across Yuuji's skin beginning in his fingertip. A sudden warmth seeped between them, spreading through the place where they touched with a feeling as gentle and warm as two sunbeams meeting.
Reflexively, the two of them drew away. Yuuji pulled his hand in close to his chest. Nagisa blinked and gave an apologetic smile before hurrying to look somewhere else. The laughter between them petered out. Yuuji stared silently down at his hand, flexing its fingers.
The silence stretched on. The two of them calmed down, resting next to each other as their breathing slowly returned to normal.
After a little while, Nagisa sat up.
"Well," he said. "That was fun." The boy gazed around them before doing a double-take. "Oh, shoot! I didn't realize how long we'd been here."
"What?" Yuuji blinked. Was it really that late? He looked up at the sky. It was a deep orange color, the kind of hue given off by the Sun as it hovered on the edge of the horizon somewhere out of sight. Incredible. The time had passed so quickly.
Nagisa stood and brushed off his pants. "I should get home. I promised that I'd cook dinner."
"Already?" Yuuji scrambled to sit up.
Nagisa smirked. "Don't you always say that when I have to leave?"
Yuuji's only response was a stupid grin. He couldn't deny it. No matter how much time he spent with Nagisa, it never felt like enough.
He stood to join the other boy. At Nagisa's suggestion, they tried to do a small clean-up of the area. They erased handprints left in the dirt and moved the broken pieces of a crate into one natural-looking pile next to the other boxes. Then they focused on making themselves look presentable, Yuuji batting dust off of his jacket while Nagisa straightened his tie.
"Well, I guess that's good enough," Nagisa said once they were finished. He gave Yuuji a farewell smile. "Bye, then."
Yuuji nodded. "Yeah, sure. S-See you again?" He cursed inwardly at the sudden stutter. What the hell? Where had that come from?
"Of course," Nagisa chirped, accepting the invitation. Then the boy seemed to remember something. He brought one finger up to his lips. "Just remember-"
"It's a secret," Yuuji finished. He made a motion of locking his mouth and throwing away the key. "Don't worry—my lips are sealed. Your superpowers are safe with me."
Nagisa stifled a laugh. He looked at Yuuji and raised an eyebrow. "Superpowers… Heh. What a nice thing to call it."
Then he gave a little wave and left.
Yuuji waved back on automatic, watching as Nagisa walked out of sight. As the boy passed into the open lot and then slowly disappeared around a faraway corner, he slowly lowered his hand.
Yuuji straightened his posture and gave a long sigh. He felt so…content in this moment. So happy. There was a glowing feeling in his chest, lifting him up and making him almost believe that he could defy gravity. His face kept pulling itself into a damnable grin.
Humming to himself, Yuuji did a second self-check before heading home. His fingers batted a piece of trash out of the back of his hair. Yuuji made a face, part of his good mood vanishing instantly. Eugh. That was what he got for laying on the ground.
Although, his thoughts started to wander. With Nagisa there it hadn't seemed so bad…
Speaking of Nagisa, the boy was gone by now. Yuuji blinked, coming to his senses. The alleyway felt so much emptier in Nagisa's absence. Hollow, like all the fun had drained out of it. Yuuji gave the area a cursory glance before shrugging and setting off towards the opposite end of the corridor. There was no point in being here any longer.
As he walked, the slight sensation of floating still lingered about his limbs. A fleeting thought of what had caused it drifted through Yuuji's mind, and he fought to suppress the resulting tidal wave of self-consciousness. He still felt flustered thinking of how they had touched. For a moment, Yuuji brought up his hand and stared at it, rubbing the fingers together as if imagining sparks shooting between them. If he thought hard, he could almost remember the way it had felt…
Suddenly, something on the corridor wall caught Yuuji's eye. It was the drainage pipe. Yuuji stopped and stared.
Silently, Yuuji stepped closer. The pipe looked the same as before—a dingy gray column running vertically up the wall. Yuuji reached out and took hold of it with one hand—his left, the one that hadn't touched Nagisa. He tensed the muscles, shifting his grip. For a moment Yuuji concentrated, imagining the path, the motion he would need. Yes. That was it. He could see it now. Yuuji's brow furrowed as he pulled, feeling his arm strain against the resistance-
And stopped. Yuuji could tell without even trying. There was no point to it.
Useless.
Yuuji stood there in silence for a long while. Then he moved on, letting go of the pipe.
As he walked away, Yuuji scratched the back of his head with his left hand. What had Nagisa once said to him? 'I think you're interesting, Yuuji.'
A small scoff escaped his lips. "Man, really? I can't even climb a wall."
He rubbed his fingers together the entire train ride home.
Afterword: So anyway yeah, future chapters will be slightly episodic in the meantime!
((Rough draft of this chapter: Yuuji climbing = palms sweaty knees weak arms spaghetti))