What a strange one Mikazuki was…
That fact was already rather apparent to Yosetsu ever since the two of them had first met by their respective lockers… and yet, for as rude as it sounded to admit, that thought was only reinforced further in the following four days.
After the Quirk History Teacher had paired the two of them up, and after the two of them had gotten something to eat, Yosetsu wasted no time in showing Mikazuki around the school, and by all means, the blue eyed child didn't seem impressed in the slightest as he was dragged around the place. Awase was, admittedly, a little taken aback by how… inexpressive and, quite frankly, quiet Mikazuki could be, especially after the two of them had exchanged a handful of words not too long ago, though despite this, out of some form of mutual respect for the boy, as he wasn't sure if his calm demeanor was a byproduct of his Quirk, whatever it was, or some other personal reason, he didn't think to bring it up.
With that being said, however, Yosetsu, for as much as he pretended not to be, still found himself feeling just a tiny bit uneased by just how… dead Mikazuki acted as he was dragged around the school, not enough to make a fuss about it, but just enough to make him feel uncomfortable. He knew that stoic children existed, regardless of how they were dime a dozen, but for crying out loud, Augus was certainly taking it much further than necessary, as he didn't even make so much as a sound as they walked around the major locations of the Choritsu Middle School, and his ghostly silence, paired up with his completely neutral expression was more than enough to unease the headband-wearing boy.
At the very least, however, Augus did seem to show some interest in the school library when they had passed it, with him even stopping briefly to look in through its glass doors whilst Yosetsu had passed it completely. By the time he had noticed that Mikazuki was lagging behind, Awase was already standing a good few metres away from him, and he was quick to stop his walking and glance back at the blue eyed child with an eyebrow quirked up on his face, both confused and just a little irritated at the shorter boy's unexpected slow-down.
Both aforementioned emotions were quickly replaced with no small amount of shock when he saw that, in that one instant, the usually indifferent expression that was usually on Mikazuki's face had been replaced by a more… curious glance, so to speak, one that seemed rather out of place on his face, what with Yosetsu having gotten used to his neutral expression by now, though just as quickly as it had come, his curious expression was quickly replaced by his neutral one as he shook his head, turned away from the library and jogged up to Yosetsu's side, a sign for him to continue onwards.
"You interested in the library?" was something that Yosetsu had asked Mikazuki as they walked onwards, and in response to his question, the blue eyed boy simply shrugged, a clear sign of his indifference towards continuing this conversation as Awase sighed a little. Jeez, at this rate, Mikazuki would probably be able to dethrone him as the most antisocial person in class, and that was no laughing matter, for crying out loud!
After that one time incident regarding the library, the whole 'tour' of the school had ended without a hitch, with the only other thing of note being when Awase had brought Augus over to the school's football field and was nearly socked over the head with a football. Luckily for him, however, the shorter boy was able to snatch the ball out of the air with little issue, with him not even looking at the ball as he did so, before he threw it back at the field. Yosetsu had offered an impressed thanks after he was saved from a massive headache, and though it was subtle, Augus had accepted it with a mild nod of his head.
Thereafter, the two of them had made their way back to class 5C, where they were quick to part ways. Yosetsu did at least have enough respect left in him to offer Mikazuki a quick farewell before leaving for his desk, and in response, the blue eyed teen simply nodded in appreciation for all that he's done for him today, a gesture that Awase almost missed as he walked off. Well, at least he wasn't too rude, Yosetsu reckoned…
The rest of the day passed on with very little issue. If anything, it seemed as though Mikazuki wasn't even present throughout the lessons, as he did very, very little to contribute to any of the discussions their teachers had started. By the time classes had ended, and after the teacher had dismissed them for the day, Mikazuki was the first to leave the classroom, with him ignoring any and all questions that the other students who were interested in him had to ask. Yosetsu would've thought it to be rather rude of him, but at the same time… considering just how antisocial he was, he reckoned that it was to be expected.
What he didn't exactly expect to happen, however, was for this shockingly antisocial behaviour to be maintained for the next four days of school, with Mikazuki Augus contributing so little to the classes that he was in that he may as well have not been there in the first place. Honestly speaking, his lack of action whilst in class was somewhat… worrying, so to speak, as even the teacher, namely the foreign language (English) teacher, had forgotten about Augus existence at one point…
For the most part, Mikazuki did seem to pay attention to whatever was being taught in class, though that in itself was up for debate, as he always seemed… out of it, so to speak. His eyes were focused on the board, and his attention, while seemingly sporadic as his gaze would periodically dart around the classroom, almost as though he were expecting something bad to happen at any given moment, was mostly locked onto whatever teacher was present at the time, and yet, it never seemed as though he was paying complete attention to anything that was being said. Physically, he was there… yet mentally, he wasn't, so to speak… though then again, Awase couldn't exactly judge Augus for not paying attention to most of his lessons. It wasn't as if he paid too much attention as well, anyways…
The only time when Mikazuki would snap out of his trance was when the final bell rang and after the teacher had dismissed them. As soon as the last teacher of the day had allowed them to leave, Mikazuki would be the first to bolt out of the classroom, with him surprising many students on multiple occasions at how quickly he had left without a second word. This in itself was confusing to Yosetsu, among many other students, as they knew that people tended to not like class, though not to this extent…
Regardless, Awase, by the second day since Mikazuki had joined his class, was able to mentally disregard the blue eyed boy's presence, not that one could blame him, anyways, as the guy never bothered to announce it regardless. And if anything, the entire class seemed to forget about his existence as well, as he ignored any and all of their attempts at friendship, among other things. Hell, due to reasons beyond Awase's understanding, by the time the third day had rolled along, the students were actively avoiding Augus, something that, honestly speaking… surprised Yosetsu. Sure, the blue eyed bugger was an odd one, what with his disinterested attitude and oftentimes rude demeanor… but those weren't really good reasons to avoid him actively…
There had to be more to this… though whatever this was, Awase couldn't bring himself to learn about it. Sure, he was curious, but ultimately, it wasn't his problem. Whether or not people liked Mikazuki Augus didn't affect him in the slightest, after all, and by all means, as long as it continued to not be his problem, he had no reason to look into it beyond surface level details.
Any yet, in a rather… bizarre turn of fate, the reasoning behind why Mikazuki was so actively avoided would end up being found out by Awase in a rather strange manner.
Irritation was not an emotion that Yosetsu tended to have, but he reckoned that there was a first time for everything, as evident by how he was walking towards the Choritsu Middle School library with a stiff stride and an annoyed look on his face.
A sharp exhale escaped the headband-wearing boy's nostrils as he placed a hand up against the glass door to the school library and pushed it open, with him mentally berating himself for forgetting that the mid-term examinations were coming up soon. As much as he wanted to say that it wasn't his fault for forgetting, he couldn't do so, as it was his fucking fault for forgetting! He had been so soaked up in that event on his favorite mobile game that he had completely forgotten about his mid-terms, and now he had to pay the price for it!
Rather quickly, Yosetsu breathed in deeply, held his breath for a few seconds, before letting it loose once more, with him repeating this several times over as he took a step inside the library. That seemed to calm his nerves down a little as he shook his head and walked a little deeper into the library, with him slouching his shoulders all the while. He couldn't panic now, for he had to be focused… he still had about two weeks before the first exam paper was set, after all, which was enough time for him to prepare… or at least he hoped that it was!
Slowly but surely, Yosetsu retrieved a book for his weakest subject… English. Aurg, just thinking about that language made Awase shudder a little as he pulled the English textbook out from the top of the shelf. Turning it around so that he could look at its cover, Yosetsu audibly groaned as his brain attempted to translate the words printed onto it, to little success, as he grit his teeth together in annoyance.
'How do the people at Union even manage to learn all this stuff and remember it?!' yelled Yosetsu mentally as he recalled the America/Japan aligned military organisation, one of the very last militarised groups in the era of Quirks, speaking English frequently. How did they do it… or at least, how did the Japanese soldiers in the organisation learn how to not only read but to also remember the English language so vividly?! He needed to know!
Well… maybe next time, Awase supposed. For now, he reckoned that it would be best to focus on actually learning the English language, and with that in mind, the headband-wearing boy walked out of the shelves he was sandwiched between and began making his way over to the multitude of tables that were in the library. As he searched for an empty spot, however, Yosetsu felt his spirits dying down a little when he realized that practically all of the tables present in the library were occupied in some way… it seemed as though everyone in school wished to get to studying before their exams came by.
Commendable… but due to current circumstances, Yosetsu thought of it more as annoying. While he could simply borrow the book and study at home, he reckoned that it would be best to do it here, where he had nothing to distract him from his studies…
As luck would have it, however, Yosetsu did end up finding a single spot that was mostly unoccupied for now. Strange… there was just one person sitting on this table, and there were four seats in total around it. The other tables in the library were holding up to six people at once, so the lack of people sitting with this lone person, a boy, Awase realized, one that was staring down at a notebook, with a pen held in his hand as he scribbled down… stuff onto it. Yosetsu couldn't see just what the boy was writing down from where he stood, though he didn't dwell too much on it for now as he marched towards the table in question rather quickly, with him not wishing for anyone else to get the same idea as him and steal his spot.
It took him less than a few seconds to get to the aforementioned table, without much issue, he placed his book down atop it, across from where the other boy was sitting at, and placed a hand atop the chair. Before pulling it out, however, Yosetsu reckoned that it would be a good gesture to tell the other child about what he was gonna do, and as such, he glanced up at the boy with a neutral look and cleared his throat to get his attention.
"Hey, I'm taking this spot, you don't mind… do… you…?" began Yosetsu rather nonchalantly as he pulled the chair out from beneath the table, though right as he finished his inquiry, he found himself trailing off as the boy that sat on the other side of the table abruptly glanced up and made eye contact with him. At that, Awase's breath found itself stuck in his throat for the briefest of moments when his grey eyes made contact with the other boy's blue pair, though before long… the other child… Mikazuki Augus, simply huffed at the headband-wearing boy, a wordless assurance that he didn't mind Yosetsu sitting there, and stared back down at his notebook, and not a second later, he went back to writing down… whatever onto it, with him swiftly forgetting about Awase shortly thereafter.
'... doesn't seem to mind, I guess,' thought Yosetsu with some finality as he shrugged and sat himself down, and after he pushed his chair inwards a little, he flipped his textbook open and went to work on reading through it… work that, evidently enough, lasted for less than a handful of seconds before he got bored of it, though the thought of him graduating Elementary school and entering an above average Highschool ended up being a good enough motivation for him to focus on his studying, regardless of his boredom. He had to focus… for his parents sake!
Though with that being said, however… the sound of Mikazuki silently groaning and grunting from the other end of the table did quite a bit to distract Yosetsu from focusing completely on his revision. From time to time, the headband-wearing boy would glance over at Augus out of curiosity, and whenever he did so, he would notice that he was focused entirely on that notebook of his. How he even got it was a mystery to Awase, though regardless, the blue eyed child was certainly very into writing down whatever was on screen. Hell, he seemed more focused now than he has been in the past four days of class combined…
'The heck is he even…' thought Yosetsu curiously as he peered over at Mikazuki's little notebook, with the headband-wearing boy raising a brow as he tried to make out the near-incomprehensible chicken-scratch that marred its pages. It seemed as though Augus was trying to write something onto his book, though whatever that something was had been buried under several layers of erased words and pencil strokes.
At the very least, however, Yosetsu could make out… something, or rather, a single word that was written onto the page Augus was currently writing on as he raised a curious brow. It was… well, it was Mikazuki's name… spelled incredibly poorly. The strokes were all over the place, and the last letter of his name was mirrored… something that was incredibly amusing to Awase.
"Is something wrong?" came the rather emotionless voice of Mikazuki Augus, with it being so sudden that it threatened to deafen Yosetsu as he jolted upright and turned his attention from the blue eyed boy's notebook to the guy himself. Their eyes locked onto one another for the briefest of moments, and in those handful of milliseconds, Awase thought that he could see a small amount of irritation burning in the other boy's irises… irritation… and perhaps a small form of curiosity? He was probably just imagining it, though he didn't have enough time to confirm or disprove that thought as he swiftly began to shake his head.
"N-No, nothing's wrong, Augus," assured Yosetsu offhandedly as he shook his head, with his words being enough to attract the attention of a handful of nearby students as they glanced over in his general direction. Now that he thought about it… Awase realized that the other students in the library have been observing him for the past few minutes, most definitely because he was sitting with Mikazuki, though for now, he ignored it in favour of focusing on the more… immediate problem as he bit his lower lip in exasperation.
Thankfully enough, however, Mikazuki seemed to accept Awase's assurance as he nodded, with him wordlessly going back to doing his thing as he erased a good portion of the page he was writing on and narrowed his eyes back at it once more. His hand gripped the pencil, the incredibly short pencil, tightly as he did his best to write his name out yet again, though as with his previous attempt, he came short of writing it perfectly, as he ended up butchering the spelling for his surname, eliciting a groan from the boy as he erased the page yet again.
"... having trouble spelling?" muttered Yosetsu rather mindlessly after watching Mikazuki erase the nearly torn page that he was on thoroughly with his eraser, and upon hearing him speak, Augus blinked and stared up at Awase, who, despite tensing up a little beneath his stare, remained mostly calm as he propped both his elbows up onto the table and clasped his hands together expectantly. A handful of seconds of silence was shared between the two classmates as the blue eyed boy narrowed his eyes at the headband-wearing child, with him silently judging the sincerely behind his question before nodding. He seemed sincere enough, so there was no reason to not answer, if only to humor him…
"Ah," confirmed Mika rather swiftly as he stared up at Yosetsu for the briefest of moments before turning back to his notebook. His focused demeanor faltered for the briefest of moments as he responded, though Awase didn't notice it too much as he nodded in understanding and glanced over at Augus notebook with a curious look on his face, though before long, his curious expression was swapped out for a surprised look when he noticed something off about his classmate's writing.
"Hmph, you missed something in that word. ガ is supposed to have two strokes near the curve on its top right, and you missed it out," commented Yosetsu without thinking about just how rude that could've come across as, with him pointing a finger in the general direction of one of the words that Mikazuki was spelling out. Mere seconds after those words left his lips, however, the boy tensed up as he finally acknowledged just what he had said, and thereafter, he sweatdropped a little as Augus glanced between him and his notebook silently, with him trying to make sense of what he was just told all the while.
Surprisingly enough, for everyone who had overheard the conversation, barring Mikazuki at least, the blue eyed boy didn't seem particularly offended by Yosetsu's comment, not noticeably so, at least. No, instead, he simply raised a brow and stared down at his notebook, in the general direction of where Yosetsu had pointed to, and tilted his head. It seemed mostly fine to him… 三日月・オーガス... though upon further inspection, the blue eyed child noticed that the last word in his name was indeed missing the strokes that Awase had told him about, prompting him to nod and add it on within a moment's notice.
"... thanks…" thanked Mikazuki, sounding genuine with his words as he glanced up at Yosetsu for the briefest of moments, with his sudden thanks being enough to make the headband-wearing boy jolt upright in shock as he was brought out of his trance-like state. He eventually recovered from it, however, and once he did so, the boy found himself raising his brows in… shock when he thought that he saw a small amount of… gratitude shining in Augus' mostly neutral gaze, and the sight of this was almost enough to make him smile… though as things were now, he simply snorted and shrugged before leaning back on his chair.
"N-No biggie, I guess," assured Yosetsu as nonchalantly as he could as he leaned back on his chair, though his nonchalant nature was quickly broken when he felt his face heating up just enough to be noticeable. Was being complimented that satisfying to him…? Eh, regardless, Mikazuki didn't seem to notice that as he stared down at his newly written name with his usual, flat gaze… and right as Yosetsu looked away from him, with him covering the lower half of his face when he realized that he was blushing… the blue eyed child smiled.
Well, to call it a smile would be a bit of a lie. It was better described as a very mild, upward twitch of his lips, and it had only lasted for a handful of seconds before it faded away. But even so… regardless of whether or not he had smiled, one thing was for certain.
Mikazuki was… grateful towards Yosetsu's help… not that he really showed it, of course. For the next hour or so, the blue eyed child had stayed mostly silent as he went on to write several other words, or more specifically the names of people that he knew to varying levels of success, before he abruptly snapped his notebook shut, shoved it into his backpack and made his way out of the library. His sudden departure was more than enough to make Yosetsu blink as he watched the shorter boy pick his bag up, though he didn't say anything as he turned back to his English textbook with little issue.
"... bye."
Wait what.
Blinking a little when he heard that, Yosetsu raised a brow and turned back towards Mikazuki with his brows raised in confusion, and when he saw that the aforementioned child was staring right back at him, he tensed up for the briefest of moments, though he was quick to loosen up a little when he realized that Augus' gaze seemed… different, so to speak.
It wasn't as cold, calculating and, overall, disinterested as Yosetsu had become used to. No, instead, there was a spark in them that made him look more… human, so to speak, as he stared at him. This unexpected spark of humanity was more than enough to catch Awase off guard as he let his jaw drop in surprise, though before long, he shook his head and responded.
"Uh, yeah… bye, Augus," responded Yousetsu with a small amount of finality, to which Mikazuki nodded and left the library wordlessly. As he did so, however, several students all around them began whispering amongst themselves as they pondered just what Awase's relationship to Augus was, and all the while, the aforementioned headband-wearing child simply huffed as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
'Well… that was a thing that happened…'
A handful of days later
Physical education was a subject that Yosetsu didn't mind, so to speak… but with that said, considering how close mid-terms were, he genuinely did wish for the subject to be cancelled so that he could catch up on some studying…
But alas, that wasn't meant to happen, and as a result, Awase had to skimp out on some studying in favour of playing some basketball in the school's indoor sports hall with his classmates, a sport that he wasn't particularly good at, though at the very least, he didn't suck at it.
Though with that being said, it would've been nice if he could react fast enough to catch the ball with his hands rather than with his face. One of his peers, a guy with bad vision due to his Quirk, had mistakenly thrown the basketball at Yosetsu with a little more force than necessary, causing it to slip by his fingers before he could catch it. As a result, the damn thing impacted Awase's nose and sent him onto his back, and after their Physical Education Teacher, a guy with a… panther head(?) blew on his whistle to signal everyone to stop playing while he swapped Yosetsu out with someone else on standby, Awase found himself grumbling a little as he walked off to sit by the closest indoor field bench.
Leaning his back against the wall the bench was propped up against, Yosetsu began to rub at his nose, with him hoping that it wasn't dislocated or bleeding after that basketball headshot. Miraculously enough, there was no bleeding to be had, and likewise, it remained at where it was, which was great, as Awase really didn't want to know how it felt to snap a dislocation back into place. He heard that it really hurt something fierce…
With a sigh of relief, Awase brought his hand down from his face and sighed briefly to himself, though as he did so, the guy glanced over to his side, only to raise a brow when he saw…
"Augus…?" muttered Yosetsu as he stared over at the aforementioned boy with his brows raised up in confusion. Upon hearing his name being called, Mikazuki stared over towards Awase with his usual expression as he blinked at him, and he remained that way for a handful of seconds before huffing in apparent amusement.
"Awa," responded Mikazuki absentmindedly, much to Yosetsu's chagrin as he realized that he had yet to stop calling him that, though he was able to hold his groan back for now as he stared the blue eyed boy down. Strange… he was still in his Choritsu Uniform whereas Yosetsu, and by proxy everyone else in class, was dressed in the standard issue Choritsu physical education attire, which consisted of a white shirt and a dark blue set of pants. Sure, this wasn't the strangest thing to come to Awase's attention, but even so…
"Basketball isn't your thing, I'm guessing?" quipped Yosetsu, with him opting to speak to Mikazuki, if only to pass the time a little faster, as he glanced over at the aforementioned boy curiously, with him resting an elbow atop his thigh whilst also propping his chin up atop his hand. In response to his question, Augus simply shook his head as he responded.
"No. Can't participate. Quirk related reasons," responded Mikazuki straightforwardly, with his tone of voice sounding oddly… down as he spoke. That in itself was more than enough to surprise Yosetsu as he blinked at that new piece of information. He knew that Quirks could be rather intrusive in modern day life, especially Mutation Type Quirks, but this was the first time he's actually seen it affect someone's everyday life firsthand, and in all honesty, it was more than enough to make Awase slouch his shoulders down a little as he nodded sympathetically.
"Damn… that sure fucking sucks," muttered Yosetsu rather sympathetically as Mikazuki raised a brow at him, clearly having not expected someone to sympathize with his situation as he found himself questioning Awase's sincerity… only to pause briefly when he realized that he was being completely serious. Nothing about him, be it the look in his eyes or how he had said those few words, told Augus otherwise… and that in itself surprised him more than anything. "... if you don't mind me asking, what-"
"I mind," cut off Mikazuki rather abruptly, with him tensing up a tiny bit as he acknowledged just what Awase was about to ask him. Apparently, however, Mikazuki had spoken a lot more defensively than he had originally intended to, as Yosetsu noticeably flinched at his words, though with that said, one couldn't really blame him for that.
His attitude, his mannerisms and above all, how he was forced to act on a daily basis… it was all tied to his Quirk. His Quirk… his curse… it tended to drive people away from him for more reasons than one, though it wasn't without reason. To possess such a villainous ability would naturally cause people to view oneself in a negative light, after all, and considering just how… repulsive Augus' was, he found himself expecting much more than the worst out of someone, should they learn of just what his Quirk was…
And Yosetsu, for as… nice as he has been to him thus far, was no exception.
"R-Right… if you say so, I guess…" muttered Yosetsu uncertainly as he watched Mikazuki look away from him. As he did so, a small pang of guilt found itself welling up near the bottom of Awase's stomach… something that struck him as odd, as he was never one to feel bad about most of the things that he's done in his life, be it good or bad. But even so, his stomach ended up churning a little with the guilt that came with asking the boy sitting with him a question that was clearly a lot more personal to him than the headband-wearing boy had initially expected, and as a result, he found himself opening his mouth as he made an attempt to apologise to his classmate.
"AWASE, INCOMING!"
Before he could even let an apology make it past his lips, however, Yosetsu was interrupted when he heard one of his classmates yelling at him, prompting him to turn his attention back towards the basketball court… only to widen his eyes when he saw the ball being thrown towards him! His eyes widened in shock as time slowed to a crawl, with the basketball barreling on through the air as it flew towards his face, with Awase having literally no time to shield himself from the ensuing impact…
… and yet, mere seconds before the ball could slam into Yosetsu's face, the headband-wearing boy felt something swing past his cheek, with it moving so fast that, to the naked eye, it was nothing more than a blur, and with so much force that, despite it being nowhere close to striking him in the cheek, the boy was still able to feel the wind pressure that came with it passing by. At the same time, a screech could be vaguely heard, though Awase's eyes didn't even have time to glance at its course before he heard a pop in front of himself, and seconds later, the basketball slammed into his face.
Or rather… what remained of the basketball ended up slamming into his face. Gasping in shock as it impacted him, Yosetsu swung his arms around in a panic as he had expected something to hit him with enough force to give him a nosebleed at minimum, so when he was hit with the equivalent of a mild knock over the head with a squeaky toy hammer, he was rightfully taken aback… and that was when he realized that the basketball had been cut in half before it could hit him in the face.
Holding the deflated remains of the basketball, Yosetsu found himself… confused at what had just happened as he stared down at the bisected ball with an uncertain look in his eyes, and likewise, the rest of his class, including his teacher, were noticeably shocked as well… though Awase's attention was abruptly drawn towards Mikazuki when he heard the sound of… bone scraping against concrete coming from where he was sitting at, prompting him to turn towards him and see that he was leaning forwards a little.
The headband-wearing boy was quick to raise his brows in shock when he saw something sharp slither its way up the bottom of Mikazuki's school uniform and nestle itself against his back, though before he could think much more about it, Augus leaned back against the wall and looked over at him with a mostly neutral expression, with him ignoring the looks his classmates were giving him as he fixed his attention squarely onto Yosetsu for now.
And he was probably just imagining it… but it seemed as though Augus was… worried about him as he stared at the taller boy passively.
"... are you alright?" inquired Mikazuki after a few moments of staring, with his focus being entirely on Yosetsu as he spoke, and upon hearing him, Awase's cheeks heated up in embarrassment as he sheepishly threw what remained of the basketball off to the side and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. How… peculiar… Augus seemed genuinely worried for him… a sentiment that would've shocked Yosetsu into silence if he wasn't doing his best to kill the redness in his cheeks.
"Y-Yeah… I'm fine… thanks?" responded Awase rather awkwardly as he smiled in embarrassment, to which Mikazuki simply nodded. Thereafter, the two of them went silent for the rest of the day as their physical education teacher simply sighed to himself and moved to get another basketball for the class.
By all means, the school would have to charge Mikazuki's guardians for that basketball, though due to his… unique Quirk, so to speak, he had quite a bit of protection against those charges. And besides, he did technically save Awase from getting a ball to the face, so in the teacher's book, things were mostly fine for now.
And though it was subtle, Mikazuki did end up sitting a little straighter atop the bench after Awase had thanked him for saving from that misthrown basketball.
A brief sigh escaped Mikazuki's lips as he sat by the school cafeteria table, all by his lonesome.
All around him, the other students present were actively avoiding him for one reason or another, and by all means, Mikazuki didn't mind nor care. It was to be expected by now, he reckoned. After all, who'd want to sit with someone like him? No one, of course, and upon acknowledging that one fact, the blue eyed child scoffed to himself as he glanced over towards the cafeteria clock, with him drowning the small pit of loneliness that came with sitting alone as he checked the time.
12:53pm, it read… which meant that Mikazuki still had seven minutes before he had to return to class… more than enough time, he reckoned. It was rather nice to have hour-long lunch breaks, though then again, the same couldn't be said for when you had nothing meaningful to do whilst out of class, especially when you had no one to listen to… heh, now wasn't that ironic. He's survived years worth of… bullshit, so to speak, prior to being enrolled into an elementary school, and now, his biggest issue was boredom. Talk about anticlimactic.
As he thought that, however, a mild shifting sensation on his back, beneath his school uniform, caught his attention, prompting him to glance backwards a little. As he did so, the shifting weakened a little as the sizable bulge on the back of his shirt wiggled around in an attempt to make itself comfortable, a sight that made Mikazuki sigh to himself as he shook his head in annoyance, a gesture that elicited a mild shift on his back yet again, and at the same time, his spine tingled a tiny bit as… it told him something mentally, prompting the blue eyed child to roll his eyes as he adjusted the collar of his school uniform to better suit its needs.
It liked this uniform just as much as Augus did… Hell neither of them liked any of the uniforms that they wore prior to the Choritsu Middle School's, but like him, it knew that there was nothing they could do to change it. It would just have to bear with it for now… until he graduated…
Rather abruptly, however, the shifting on his back paused briefly, surprising Mikazuki a little as he leaned backwards a tad. As he did so, however, the blue eyed boy found himself tilting his head a little when he saw a somewhat familiar person claiming a seat on his mostly unoccupied table. Zig-zag patterned headband, grey eyes and a mostly uncaring demeanor… yeah, there was no doubt about it.
That was Awa, and he was now sitting not too far from Mikazuki's spot on the cafeteria table with a piece of bread in his hand, with him biting into it with little care all the while. After ripping a small chunk of it out, Awase blinked a little and glanced over at Augus, who was simply staring at him with a flat gaze as he nibbled on the chunk in his mouth. Admittedly, the sight was rather comical, so much so that Mikazuki almost smiled at it, though as things were, he simply remained silent as he listened to Awase speak.
"Erm… you don't mind me sitting here, right?" inquired Yosetsu, with his speech somewhat impaired due to the bread chunk in his mouth, though for the sake of the reader, it has been properly translated to avoid confusion. And regardless, in spite of his impaired speech, Mikazuki was apparently able to understand him perfectly as he shook his head, with him flushing his surprise straight down the mental drain in his brain and replacing it with his usual neutral self before responding.
"No," assured Augus as he watched in bemusement as Yosetsu chomped down on the piece of bread, and thereafter, he snorted in amusement at just how… odd Awase was. Well, odd in the sense that he didn't seem to be threatened by him in any way, shape or form, or, at the very least… he didn't seem to be on edge around him.
Though it was rather odd to admit… Mikazuki has, unfortunately enough, become very used to people actively avoiding him for one reason or another. Be it his attitude, his cold demeanor or just his Quirk in general, people were quick to put a lot of distance between themselves and him, and while Yosetsu was still oblivious as to what his Quirk was, or at least he seemed to be, Augus was still rather surprised that he wasn't put off by his attitude alone. But then again… something about just how earnest the guy was towards him, regardless of his intentions, was a rather nice breath of fresh air for Augus…
"Hey, Augus?"
Blinking a little as his surname was called out, the aforementioned boy glanced back towards Awase and raised a brow when he laid eyes on him. Said brow ended up raising itself just a little higher when he noticed that Yosetsu seemed to be… smiling a little as he stared at him, though for now, he didn't question why he was doing so as he responded.
"Hm?" muttered Mikazuki passively as he propped his elbows up onto the table and rubbed at his right eye, with him doing his best to rid it of the sudden itchiness it was feeling all the while. Awase didn't seem to think much about it, however, as he simply continued speaking.
"Thanks for the save back there," responded Yosetsu, and right as he said that, Mikazuki nearly jammed his index finger into his right eye out of shock. That was certainly… unexpected, so to speak, and after he lowered his hand, the boy found himself staring over at Awase with an expression close enough to pass as shock for him. He was convinced that what he had heard was just a joke… a sick prank from the headband-wearing boy… but after he replayed those words in his mind, and after he studied Awase's body language briefly, he found himself almost laughing to himself when he realized that… he was being completely genuine…
He was actually thanking him… thanking him for being a semi-decent human being! That was something that didn't warrant that much gratitude, much less being verbally thanked, though then again Augus supposed that the bar was already set very low for someone like him…
"You thanked me already," pointed out Mikazuki rather dismissively as he felt an uncharacteristic level of heat entering his cheeks whilst he spoke. Was he becoming flustered…? It seemed so… and though he has dealt with many issues in the past, this was something completely new to Augus… something that he had only experienced on occasion whilst talking to her… and as such, the boy was unable to properly calm himself down as he looked away from the headband-wearing boy with a sour look on his face, and all the while, it began shifting around a little more sporadically beneath the back of his shirt, with the sudden rush of blood to Mikazuki's brain making it more active than it usually was, though through no small amount of practiced concentration, Augus was able to forcefully keep it from ripping the back of his uniform open… for now…
The shifting on the back of Augus' shirt didn't go unnoticed by Yosetsu, though out of some respect for his privacy, he opted to not bring it up for now as he ended up snorting at what he had just said, a sound that made the blue eyed boy glance over in his direction as he raised a brow, with him silently hoping that Awase didn't notice the mild tint of red on his cheeks as he responded.
"Well, it didn't seem genuine at the time," admitted Yosetsu as he bit into his bread once more, with him ripping a chunk out of it before continuing. He didn't bother to swallow it before speaking up yet again. "I don't get to thank people that often, so I may as well do it right whenever I get the chance. And besides, do I really fucking need a deep and philosophical reason behind thanking you for saving me from a nosebleed? Don't think so, really."
'... fair enough, I guess,' thought Mikazuki dismissively as he nodded in acknowledgement of Awase's words, with him easily dismissing his mild swearing all the while. Mild vulgarities aside, he was certainly a nice kid, even if his usual demeanor said otherwise, though Mikazuki, more so than practically anyone else in this school, knew better than to judge others for their outwardly appearance, and when compared to everyone else in this damn place, Yosetsu, regardless of how he tended to act, most certainly had more heart than almost anyone else here.
"... you're welcome, I guess," muttered Augus after a few seconds required to process Yosetsu's thanks, and to that, Awase smirked a tiny bit as he shrugged, though seconds later, his shoulders ended up slouching a tiny bit as he glanced around themselves, with him seemingly unnerved by the stares that were being directed in their direction all the while.
It was to be expected, Mikazuki reckoned. After all, a kid who was hanging with an outcast like him was guaranteed to gain a handful of detractors. Hell, Augus reckoned that he had a worse reputation than even those with mutation Quirks…
Opening his mouth, Yosetsu seemed ready to ask something, though before he could do so, both himself and Mikazuki perked up a little when they heard the bell go off. It signaled the end of recess, and upon acknowledging it, Awase nearly fell off his chair as he panicked a little, with his arms launching up into the sky and sending his piece of bread soaring upwards in the process.
"Gah, shit! We're gonna be late!" proclaimed Yosetsu as he rebalanced himself on his chair, and as he did so, Augus shot his hand out to catch his falling piece of bread before it landed on the ground. Thereafter, he handed it back to Awase, who took it swiftly and shoved it into his mouth, in turn muffling his voice as he spoke up. "C'mon, let's get to class before we're late!"
And as soon as he said that, Yosetsu got up and bolted right out of there with little time to waste… and all the while, Mikazuki, in spite of his usual deadpanned expression, required just a bit more effort than he was willing to admit in order to maintain his usual poker face.
What a strange person Yosetsu was… though in Mikazuki's opinion… it was a good kind of strange. The kind that his… family would very much like.
'I wonder what Orga and the others would think about Awa…'
A handful of days later
For the most part, Awase's everyday routine remained largely the same. Waking up early for school, getting past his lessons with just enough determination to keep him from falling asleep in some of the more boring classes and him leaving school grounds around three in the afternoon, with him perhaps getting a few hours of study crammed in before his mid-terms came by. If he wasn't wrong, he had roughly five more days before the first paper was set, which was a lot less time than he was hoping for, though he reckoned that beggars can't exactly be choosers…
And yet… the one thing that changed in Awase's life was… strangely enough, Mikazuki Augus…
Ever since the two of them had… bonded, so to speak, over Mikazuki having saved him from receiving a second basketball to the face, the blue eyed teen seemed to be keen on sticking relatively close to Awase at every chance he got. It was almost a little creepy, if he were honest, as Augus tended to follow him around rather frequently, with the only exception to this being whilst they were having recess. He had enough decency within him to leave him alone whilst they were having their break, which was nice… though the same couldn't be said for everything else.
During lessons, Awase could very much feel Mikazuki's gaze darting towards him at every given moment, though with that being said, whenever he turned towards him to confirm his suspicions, he saw that Augus was looking back at the board, much to his chagrin. As for physical education, while he didn't participate due to Quirk related issues, Yosetsu could still feel the guy's cold, calculating gaze following him wherever he ran across the courtyard with a ball in hand.
Likewise, Mikazuki seemed to be rather keen on seeking Yosetsu out during their recess periods as well, with him usually sitting by his side whenever possible. He never did speak much to him, however, as he was more focused on staring at him, however creepy that sounded, and a good majority of the conversations between the two of them were started by Awase himself rather than Augus.
Overall, it seemed as though Mikazuki was, for the lack of a better word, studying Yosetsu, silently judging him for whatever reason, so to speak, and though he did wish to know why he was suddenly paying so much attention to him, Awase never did manage to muster up enough courage or care to actually ask why…
After all, this didn't really affect him too much, so why ask about it?
Rather unfortunately, however… the… bond, so to speak, that was slowly but surely forming between both Mikazuki and Yosetsu didn't go unnoticed. Whilst the teachers were completely fine with it, the students were a little less forgiving, as they were still rather wary of Augus, and now that Awase was seemingly growing closer to him, they were also wary of him by proxy, and as a result, they began to avoid the headband-wearing boy rather vehemently… something that, honestly speaking, didn't really phase him too much. Though it was a tiny bit disheartening to know that people were avoiding him for something so ridiculous, Yosetsu still found himself not noticing it.
It wasn't as though he had any actual friends in this school, anyways. He wasn't the sociable type, not by a longshot, and at best, he only had a handful of acquaintances that had grown relatively distant from him ever since Augus had begun making his move at getting more acquainted with him, something that he, honestly speaking, didn't mind at all. Augus' silence was a lot better than his acquaintance's awkward attempts at conversation, after all.
Though with that said… Yosetsu did overhear a handful of… comments, so to speak, from his fellow classmates. They were mostly whispers that he couldn't make out, though at one point, he did overhear one of his classmates lamenting over the fact that he was hanging out with a, quote, future villain to be, and likewise, he recalled someone commenting on a place known as Chryse, a name that was unfamiliar to Awase, and as such, he didn't think much of it.
As for the first comment, however, it did do quite a bit to rile the headband-wearing boy up as he found the notion of calling someone a future villain just because of their mannerisms, or even their Quirk, to be downright deplorable. He wasn't one for philosophy, nor was he the type to get political, but Yosetsu knew for a fact that neither appearances nor Quirks defined a person. Rather, it was what was inside that counted… not that he'd ever voice that admittedly cheesy thought out, anyways…
All in all, the two of them, whilst not exactly friends just yet, did end up growing just a tiny bit more connected to one another in some sense of the word. Mikazuki's strange interest in him did set Yosetsu off a little, though by all means, he didn't find it intrusive enough to warrant it being reported to his teachers, and likewise, Augus found himself liking Awase more and more as time passed. He was just so… unlike everyone else that he's met in the past.
He accepted him for who he was, regardless of his knowledge in regards to Augus' Quirk, and Mikazuki couldn't be more thankful for that. He wasn't one to crave companionship, but Yosetsu, regardless of his true intentions, was willing to tolerate him in spite of just how repulsive he really was, and that in itself was enough to make the boy feel rather… nice, so to speak, whenever he was around him…
And inevitably, his… family would catch wind of Yosetsu's existence and his impact on Mikazuki's school life, and, rather unsurprisingly, they were quick to ask about meeting him… and while Augus himself was rather uncertain about this at first, he eventually relented.
After all, who was he to deny his family the chance to meet the only person he actually liked outside of them, anyways?
Fun fact, I wrote 7 chapters of this story in the past month!
So there's going to be a handful of updates for this story in particular!
It's fun to write, though Renn did have a lot of creative freedom in helping me with this story as well.
Writing Mikazuki and Yosetsu bond is certainly a fun thing for me, even if it took quite some time to get the scenarios properly written. What are their Quirks, you may ask? Or rather, what is Mika's Quirk?
Only time will tell!
One review response today.
ElementGuardianTree: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! And in regards to the cover pic…
In regards to the cover picture, I attempted to PM him to link but it didn't work. So as a compromise, I'll just tell you guys that I got the picture from Danbooru, which is a very NSFW website so please proceed with caution! You can find it fastest on the website by searching the artist: fujimoto hideaki and going onto page 7 of their works, or you can search Mikazuki Augus in the website and go to page 6!
That's all for today! Ciao!