There is no reason for this to exist. No comprehensible excuse for something like this to live,

But that's fanfiction. Also, I know how it seems like it, but this story is not Yaoi.

The Unlikely Duo

He was cursed.

There was no other way around it. Yuta Okkotsu was cursed. He can't even feel denial over that fact, because that curse is always behind him, always watching over him. Ever since that incident, the raptured soul of the one he cherished would always follow him. He didn't know how to hold it back.

He's gone through so many phases regarding Rika.

The first time he realized that Rika could actually harm people was when he was elementary, a year after her death. A few entitled kids had decided that he was intruding in their territory (the playground), so they believed that he needed to be taught a 'lesson'.

He tried to talk them out of it, but they were having none of it. They attempted to get physical with their "lesson", but that was a mistake they would never make again.

They ran back into the school with broken arms.

Were it anyone else, they would have considered that a blessing, but Yuta was too kind for his own good. He began to spite his own curse.

Things did not go up from there. It started out as more bullying, then it started happening out of school grounds. As he grew older many people started becoming more violent against him, and any and all slight against him was slight against her.

Broken limbs, torn flesh, gore-filled imagery that burned itself into his young mind.

He hated it.

The soul of his dead friend forever haunted him. He couldn't look at his reflections anymore, lest he saw the horrid curse that Rika became.

Much of his anxiety came from trying to just comprehend her existence. He was only talking to a classmate that he was working on a project with, a girl his age that sat next to him in class. They were assigned as group partners because of their proximity. But halfway through their planning, Yuta saw the shadows start to move.

Large claws and sharp teeth faded into being right behind the girl.

Don't hurt her! She's innocent! He inwardly screamed.

But he saw Rika's claws begin to move towards the young girl. If he had listened closely, he would have heard whispering.

He's mine! Rika chanted those words over and over again.

He highly doubted he could get the girl to move, so he decided to be the one to move.

"Teacher! I need to use the bathroom!"

Thankfully no one was hurt that day. Yuta had decided to stay in the bathroom until Rika calmed down. He cowered in the stalls the rest of the day.

Things like that became almost a common occurrence.

He couldn't control her, he didn't know how to. So he opted to avoid all interaction unless he had to. People had begun to avoid him, rumors spread of a "gloomy kid that makes you depressed by just being around" in his schools. Other kids began to call him cursed, and reality had already begun to sink in.

He was truly cursed.

So consider his surprise when someone actively wasn't avoiding him or being malicious towards him. That kid would become his very first friend.

Yet that friend was someone even he wouldn't have expected becoming friends with.

It was in the very middle of his first year of pre-high school. In order for him to keep away from others and to drown in his solitude, he resorted to eating lunch on the school roof. It was a surprise at first, but barely anyone ate lunch on the roof. One or two times he would see the door open and a small group of popular kids would walk through, but once they caught sight of him they would immediately backtrack into the building.

Then one day he ate on the roof, he saw the door open and a single boy walk out.

Brown spikey hair and a face that wasn't exactly remarkable. He knew this kid.

Issei Hyoudou was infamous in his school for being a pervert. For months he would hide behind the girls locker room and peek through the window from behind the trees.

But one day he was caught. Were it a certain school he would just end up with a beating from the girls and continue his perverted shenanigans another day.

Sadly this wasn't that school, he was sent to the principal's office on the day he was caught. No one knows the exact details but it's believed that he was threatened with expulsion if he were to attempt to peep again.

That shut the pervert up real quick.

But a pervert is still a pervert, he would have got his socks off one way or another.

Across the rooftop Issei sat down, placing his lunch to the side and then pulling out a plain book from his bag. Yuta would have ignored it, were it not for the perverted grin on the brown-haired boy's face.

As Issei sat the book down on his lap to grab a bite of his lunch, Yuta clearly saw what the perverted boy was reading.

He brought porn to school?!

More specifically a full-on printed paper doujin.

Complete with the open-mouth gazes and the (intentional) pathetic attempts at censoring.

Yep, Issei Hyoudou definitely brought porn manga to school.

Yuta just stared with wide eyes and red cheeks, really what else was a loner like him supposed to do? Tell the teachers? (Looking back at it he probably should have done that).

So he opted to ignore the scene altogether— or at least he tried to ignore it. It was challenging to ignore blatant pornography in front of him.

This continued for the rest of the week. Yuta didn't know if Issei was intentionally ignoring him or if he just didn't notice there was another person present.

That all changed the next monday, when Issei arrived on the school roof with a small gift.

Yuta always arrived first, moving to the farthest part of the roof where he could stare down towards the road near the school exit.

He felt something smack his leg, and he snapped his head towards that object. Picking it up and flipping towards the front, it felt like the title was jumping out at him.

"Bleach?" He whispered. The cover held an amazing drawing of a tall young boy with spiky orange hair.

In the corner of his eye he saw a shadowed silhouette. He turned his head towards it and his eyes met a familiar brown-haired pervert— who merely smiled in his direction.

"Saw you staring a lot, so I thought you might be interested."

Staring? Yuta thought, before he realized what Issei was talking about. You were reading porn! How could I just ignore that!? You're not even relieving yourself, what's the point in bringing porn to school at all?!

But Yuta kept that thought in, as curious as he was his embarrassment kept him from saying anything more.

"Thank… you?" He said quietly, not knowing exactly what to say.

"It's no problem!" Issei said with a smile, proceeding to walk to his normal spot. Although it wasn't much, just that single statement made Yuta's socially inept heart move again. "Though if you find yourself wanting more, you know where to find me, I got duplicates of almost every volume." He said before sitting down. For a split second Yuta allowed himself to think that Issei was a decent human being, only for the brown-haired pervert to dig through his bag and pull out–

It's more porn?!

Yuta felt like his mind was slowly crumbling, and his thoughts subconsciously slipped through his mouth.

"Why do you have so many?!" Yuta asked loudly enough for Issei to hear across the rooftop.

"Huh?"

Still a considerable distance between the two, Yuta began to rant. "Right after you're caught peeking at girls you decide to come to school carrying a bag full of porn?! I don't understand! What's the point?! Just read that stuff at home! You don't need to bring it to school! Why risk expulsion just for this?!"

It was when Yuta finished ranting that he realized the distance between the two boys shortened. He had been so emotionally tilted that he subconsciously began to scoot closer to the brown-haired boy from across the rooftop.

"Wow, ok, um." On the other hand, Issei really had no idea what to say. Mostly because there was something about Yuta's ranting that stuck out to him. Perhaps he was just imagining things, but Yuta's last complaint…

"Are you concerned that I'll get expelled?" Issei asked.

"Of course– no! I'm not!" Yuta himself was confused about how he was feeling. Calming himself down with a deep breath, Yuta gathered himself rather quickly.

"I'm just confused, that's all." That's really all he felt.

There was a pause between the two, as Yuta began to feel embarrassment well up inside of him and Issei was thinking of how to respond.

Why did I even ask anyway? Yuta thought to himself. This was a new feeling for him.

For the boy who has not socialized with others for years out of fear, this was the first time he's had such an extensive conversation with someone, and for that conversation to be with someone who he didn't understand to this extent, it made him feel weird.

Issei finally finished his thoughts with a face of recognition. He made a gesture with his hands, slightly clapping the two together to show that he had an idea.

"I get it, you're one of those people." Issei nodded to himself, feeling as though he hit the mark.

"What?"

"You're one of those people who dislike lewd things right? My bad, didn't mean to make you that uncomfortable, I'll find somewhere else to read."

Where did you get that from? "N-no, that's not it. I don't dislike lewd things…"

At this point Yuta really didn't know what he was saying or why he was saying those things.

"Why bring porn to school when you can just read at home? Wouldn't that be a lot safer?" Yuta asked.

Issei took a second to think before responding, "It's because it's pleasing to the eye."

That's it? "You'll risk expulsion for that?" At this rate the anti-social boy felt like he would never understand the pervert in front of him.

"Hey, the principal said I'll get expelled if I peek again, he didn't say anything about hentai."

"I-I don't think he needed to say anything about that," Yuta released a confused breath and roughly rubbed his hands through his black hair. "Wouldn't it be common sense to not bring porn to school?"

There was a moment of silence between the two, one that only lasted seconds but felt like minutes. Yuta looked at Issei with a critical gaze while Issei had a blank stare. The silence was finally broken when the brown-haired pervert had the gall to look astonished, as if he remembered something important.

"Yeah, I guess it would be."

Yeah, Yuta would probably never understand the boy in front of him. Though before he could say anything else, the lunch bell echoed throughout the school.

"Welp, looks like it's time to go." Issei packed up his things before standing up. Yuta hesitated before getting up as well, walking across the rooftop to pack his things.

"That was fun, we should talk again sometime." Issei said honestly. Yuta stopped in his tracks to stare at his brown-haired classmate.

It was an exhausting conversation on his end, yet for some reason he didn't feel anything negative towards the brown-haired boy. Surprisingly, he felt elated. He told himself that he would separate himself from the rest of the world. He isolated himself out of fear and concern– not concern for himself, but concern for others.

The lingering regrets of the one he cherished will always be in the back of his mind, even on his happiest days.

"I…" So just this once, Yuta decided to speak honestly. "I wouldn't mind."

The two walked towards the door to enter the building, with Yuta being a slight distance behind Issei. When he opened the door, he kept it open for Yuta as well.

"By the way," Issei said as the two walked down the stairs. "Don't forget to read that manga I gave you, I promise you that you won't regret it."

Luckily Yuta did not forget the gift that he received earlier. "Al-alright. I'll give it a shot."

The two walked their separate ways to their classes.

For the first time in a while, Yuta was actually looking forward to going to school the next day.

Though he would never tell you that.

...

Okkotsu Yuta didn't have many hobbies, not anymore.

Due to his constant state of freight he would hide himself away in his room doing only what needs to be done. He didn't go out unless it's to help with groceries, and he didn't have any friends that would be by his side.

At home, he would study, talk with his sister, and wallow in his own self-pity.

Of course, he had a phone, but he really only used it to help with school and to view the most recent news in Japan.

Sometimes anime and manga would pop up every now and then, so it's not surprising that he has heard of Bleach before. Though he never watched or read it.

So color him surprised when he found himself really enjoying the first volume. To the point that he scoured the internet for nearby places that sell manga. For the first time in a while he left the house on his own accord. He bought the second and third volume using birthday money.

He went to school slightly different from before, and those who sat next to him could tell.

The boy who always entered school grounds with his head hanging low and avoiding eye contact with anyone entered the building with his posture slightly better and with an almost eager look.

The day felt slower than usual. His spirit felt higher than usual. So it was a surprise to almost everyone that knew him when they saw the meek boy quickly walk out of the classroom once the lunch bell rang.

With his lunch in one hand and a rolled up volume of manga in the other, he quickly walked towards and up the stairs to the door that leads to the roof, but as soon as his hand reached for the handle he stopped.

He started to doubt.

What am I so excited for? He thought.

Issei had only said "we should do this again" but that didn't mean it had to be the next day, in fact Yuta started to think that the boy was only being nice. Perhaps that was all that exchange was. His brown-haired classmate was tired of the awkward silence so he decided to change it for once, maybe that was just a one-time thing.

He probably won't even be here on the roof. Maybe he was tired of the silence.

Such thoughts–no matter how unreasonable they were– entered Yuta's mind, and slowly his gaze casted downward.

So he slowly opened the door and was prepared to just sit alone for lunch.

But…

"Hey! What's the holdup?"

That familiar voice called out, and Yuta looked up to see the same brown-haired boy from the other day smiling. Issei waved towards his classmate, holding a small stack of papers in his other hand.

"You're… here?" Yuta accidentally slipped.

"Yeah?" Issei responded, confused at the question. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The introvert shook his head, "N-no reason, just… never mind."

Not wanting someone to know about his sudden burst of self-deprecation, his eyes darted around to look for a change in subject. Luckily for him, Issei had the same idea in mind.

"Alright then…" Assuming that the boy wasn't going to explain the small mishap, he decided to speak his mind. "I got some more manga you could borrow."

Yuta walked over to his classmate, who had set the multiple volumes of manga on the ground next to him and laid them out. His eyes widened when he saw how much. There were at least 10 volumes of manga, half of it was for Bleach and the other half were series that he wasn't familiar with.

He spotted the second and third volumes of Bleach in the pile. "I uh…" He pointed towards the two volumes.

"I bought these two last night, so… I don't think I'll need these." His voice slightly trailed off into a mumble at the end, luckily it was loud enough for the other boy to hear.

"Really?" Issei asked with slightly widened eyes, and when he saw the other boy nod in response he couldn't help but gain a slightly mischievous smile. "Looks like I found another Otaku."

"T-that's—!" Yuta suddenly felt the need to defend himself from that label.

"Kidding!" But the brown-haired boy held his hands up, waving them for a second. "I'm kidding! If liking a manga series made you an otaku then half of this country would be under that label."

That sentence ran through the boy's mind again, before he corrected himself by muttering, "Well, almost half of the country already falls under that label."

"Not helping."

Issei coughed into a fist. "My bad, uh, anyways–"

Attempting to move the topic forward, Yuta looked towards the unfamiliar volumes of manga. He picked up the first one he saw. On one half of the cover was a cute girl in a white habit–worn by nuns.

"A Certain Magical Index?"

"It's originally a light novel, but that kind of stuff is only for people with certain tastes, and I felt like you would like the manga better."

"What's it about?" Yuta skimmed through slightly, just getting a feel for the art.

"Can't say honestly, it's something best experienced yourself."

(A/N; I'm totally not shilling Toaru right now)

"I'll give it a try."

That exchange repeated for each other volume of manga, it was a few minutes of Yuta picking up a series and Issei giving a description of it. Finally, Yuta took the Bleach Volumes that he hasn't bought yet and one of the extra volumes of a different series (A/N; Totally not toaru).

"Oh, I almost forgot." After grabbing the volumes, Yuta took out the first Bleach volume that was borrowed from the day prior, handing it to his classmate.

"Here."

Except Issei only waved his hand. "Keep it, and those ones I just gave you too, I have a spare of the first ten volumes so it's no big deal."

"Seriously? Do you collect these things or…"

The brown-haired boy shook his head. "Nah, they were mostly birthday gifts, everything else I bought using Christmas money."

"Huh… Alright. T-thanks."

At that moment, Yuta didn't feel the need to hide the smile on his face, and neither did the boy across from him.

Such began a common occurrence for the next couple of years. The two would talk about whatever manga series the other finds interesting, Issei would occasionally bring an extra volume that he had lying around, and Yuta had to try his hardest to keep Issei from bringing porn to school again.

It didn't work sometimes.