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( ⚡ ) “Ah, just like Eichi-kun said, they really do give you a cellphone after you stay here for a month~ Let’s check my fortune~”

Eichi’s expression didn’t change while he looked better to the former unit member in front of him. Once the initial surprise passed, he caught a few interesting details. The glasses, the hair… he was Aoba Tsumugi for sure, but… a little different from his memories. Perhaps it was only his own imagination playing tricks, Tsumugi’s presence shaking his spirit more than he would like to admit. Still, he had would observe and see where the talk would lead them.

Tsumugi’s answer, though, brought a smirk to the Emperor’s face. Oh, it was Aoba, no doubt. He would play like nothing in the world was wrong and turn it in a silly chat. Last time Eichi saw him at the stage the boy looked… troubled, would be the word? He looked friendly now, but… Tsumugi’s last words pierced Eichi’s spirit just a little bit, but enough to make him even more defensive.

“Ufufu~ you are going to get a phone back if you are unluck enough to complete a month in this place… I just recently was gifted with one. Even in this situation, are you worried with fortunes? How amusing, Tsumugi.”

“Inconvenient... yes. That’s a fitting word. Ufufu~ are you enjoying yourself, Tsumugi? The sight of a powerless Emperor must be really amusing… don’t be timid and rejoice at your heart’s content~ Don’t you feel like releasing your loudest laughter?~”

The smirk widened and Eichi opened arms, cynical and bitter, definitely the tone and expressions matching the war’s Emperor, the young man that trampled over the Oddballs one by one before Tsumugi’s eyes and brought order to Yumenosaki with an iron fist, at the expense of many sacrifices.

( ⚡ )  "Oh~? They simply just give you one? How lovely!" Tsumugi frowned however given the other information, "So you've been here for a month? That's quite unfortunate.... Ah! But, I'll be here for that amount of time soon too. How exciting~"

Superficial as it was, this was the type of confrontation Tsumugi was used to when dealing with Eichi. At least, the one he knew. But, the next reply he gave...

No...

It couldn't be. But the more the Eichi before him spoke the more Tsumugi was sure that the Eichi standing in front of him was the one from their second year.

                                           Sharp. Defensive. Manipulative. Saddening.

Yes, that's right... The concept of time was not linear per se, as he had read once in a book. It was a jumbled mess-- possibility after possibility that turned a road into a tangled forest. So, of course it would be entirely possible for the scientist's to pick Tsumugi up from his "present" and Eichi from a completely different "present" than his. But of all the places in time they had to pick... It just had to be the "him" from a time of strife. Was this meant to be a punishment? A way of repenting? Were the scientists watching with an amused smile on their face?

This is the person you abandoned on the stage that day. Now, show us how you'd act around him.

He couldn't be so sure. Even if they both were plucked from the very environment that gave birth to their current personalities, surely nothing would change how they would act to each other.

"Here we aren't bound to the duties of the school you know~? Why don't we enjoy a "happiness"  we couldn't afford in Yumenosaki?"

"Why don't we go to karaoke together~?"

Those sort of lighthearted phrases... Not even Tsumugi was as careless or heartless to let out these thoughts. At least not now. 

Chiaki heard someone call out to him, and even though it wasnt his own name he found himself turning intsticntively. His eyes widened when he saw who it was.

It was a student from Yumenosaki, in the same year level as him. 

    “Aoba…?”

It’s true that he’s met other people from Yumenosaki already, but he didn’t think there’d be more people here. Are they all slowly being dragged to this world? Chiaki frowns slightly at the thought, but remembered he was with someone else–someone who looked troubled at that, so he will entertain that thought later.

     “Aoba!” he laughed, his voice a little more cheerful as he addressed him a second time. “I’m not the person you’re looking for–” the name was Aoba’s unit mate’s, Chiaki soon realized, and his voice dips to a more concerned tone–”–but is he here with you? Did you get separated?”

( ⚡ ) It would be no surprise to Tsumugi that the other would recognize him, for Natsume or not, he was still wearing the Yumenosaki uniform. Speaking his name with a sense of familiarity even-- as he got a better look, even Tsumugi would be able to recognize the hot-blooded senior before him.

"Ah! Chiaki-kun...Right?" He offered a smile to the other's laugh, a sense of relief that he did not upset the person before him too much with the previous misunderstanding. Though of course, from the things Tsumugi had heard about Chiaki, such a thing would never have been a problem had the two had ever gained the chance to talk.

If fate was a thing to believe in, then surely fate deemed that the moment they should meet would be now, here, in this unknown city.

♮ The first unbearable thing to meet his ears is the name Eichi, the likes of which alone cause him to flinch and grit his teeth. But perhaps–no, he has better things to be doing than to wheel around and stoop to that one’s level of nonsense.

Then he hears blood orange being uttered in his presence, and decides that no, he does need to wheel around and cease whatever’s going on immediately.

“Non! That color is red!” Shu snaps, turning a few heads in his direction (but not many, thankfully the store was hardly populated at the moment), and he wants to go on further with his words, but the one who’s speaking finally registers as he puts the voice and hairstyle together. 

“…Hmph! How disgraceful,” his voice lowers, but he still doesn’t sound any less irritated, “I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s you disgracing this fabric in such a way.”  

He takes a few steps forward, going from being behind Tsumugi to next to him, and his own hand takes hold of the fabric as narrowed eyes scrutinize both it and the boy next to him. Of course Tenshouin would defile the name of a color by calling it something so blatantly wrong, and he’s not surprised at all that Tsumugi picked up on it too. 

“You shouldn’t listen to the likes of him. He hasn’t the faintest idea what he’s talking about, and are you really going to heed the words of a nuisance, instead of the very one who had run the handicraft club, Aoba?”

( ⚡ )  A loud disagreement reverberated through the shop, causing Tsumugi to turn slightly, wondering just who could it be that he caused a problem with. As soon as he caught sight of the other’s pink hair, he was knew exactly who it was. “Shu-kun!?”

This was quite... Awkward. Tsumugi wasn’t sure what to make of the situation at hand. The senior knew that Shu wasn’t fond of him, not after the events that transpired during their second year. Tsumugi would, usually, try to make his coming arrival known to the other-- often through Mika, but this wasn’t Yumenosaki, and Tsumugi would have had no idea that he would meet Shu here.

Though, with how amicable the other was being surely it would be alright to strike up a conversation with him? Who knows, maybe Shu had finally gotten around to forgiving him, or perhaps he already had~

Tsumugi smiled, after all, it the other was willing to even stand next to him-- no, even acknowledge him, then what could go wrong?

Until now, all the meetings with people from Yumenosaki were extremely amusing to Eichi. Two of his beloved and formidable enemies, he didn’t feel he needed anything else.

Then, suddenly a known tune caught his attention and made his throat go dry immediately, his skin turning even paler.

“… Tsumugi-kun.” He replied in a neutral tone, a serious expression in his face to hide the uncertainty in his heart.

“So, they caught you too. Troublesome, right?”

( ⚡ ) Shock would color his face first, if only for a moment-- a different shock than the one initially, for, when the two usually met, the Eichi he knew would be all smiles, as if finally at ease with himself...  That his duty was done and all that was left was to pass the year on by playing the all too easy role of “student council president”.

It was almost as if the person before him was from the past--

                                                                      But that’s silly.

( ⚡ )  As soon as Tsumugi had found out that Natsume was here too, Tsumugi was elated. He felt far more at ease now, knowing a precious friend was here with him-- his tense movements returning to their more relaxed and aloof state he normally carried himself with.

⚡ ( Send a ✮ & I’ll generate a number ( platonic edition ) )

12. butterfly kisses ( eyelash kiss )

⚡  Oh? How did it end up like this really, the senior would never be able to fathom, with how Natsume treated him normally. It seemed that the live they just participated in had taken quite the energy out of the second year. As soon as he had sat down next to him, Natsume was out like a light, going as far as to take Tsumugi’s lap as his own property and use it as a pillow. 

Hesitantly, Tsumugi would brush Natsume’s hair from his face, taking in the other’s sleeping face. It was tired, but there was a peaceful look to it, that captured the other. Tsumugi smiled, slowly petting the other’s hair gently. It was rare to see a vulnerable side to Natsume, with how he usually treated him.

⚡  ( send one for my muse’s reaction to your muse — )

♬ = singing to them .

⚡  ( send one for my muse’s reaction to your muse --- )

☽ = wandering alone at night .

With the stars glistening brightly from outside his window, Tsumugi felt like enjoying a night stroll. Only, he’d find a familiar figure wandering about the night as well. 

“Oh, Shu-kun, are you here to enjoy the stars as well~?”

And the other walked right past him, as if he didn’t exist.

“...”

( ⚡ )“Nostalgia is useless.” Tsumugi answered, “My glasses however are not. They have been with me for a long time, you know? It’s hard to get rid of them so easily, even if they don’t serve their function very well anymore…” Amber eyes that always held a sort of characteristic warmth dim, coldness seeping in. His sweet smile, so, so eerie. 

“You see, my dear hidden friend, there is a difference between ‘nostalgia’ and ‘remembering’. Memories serve as a reminder, a telling tale. ‘These are your mistakes and your accomplishments. Do well, and remember them.’ Is that not what memories are? Your life’s story, spun out for you in your mind.”

He always remembered that second year, the people he had hurt with his own two hands. In the name of a noble cause, a bright future in which he wasn’t included.

                                              And the one he abandoned because of it.

It was always weighed on the back of his mind. His regrets, his sadness, all of it. 

                                                               Nostalgia is useless.

“What good would it do to butter up memories? Nostalgia is but a distorted lie. It simply makes one believe that a time in one’s life was better than it truly was. “

⚡ ( Questions/Comments to be sent anonymously!

(though off anon is fine too!) )

( ⚡ ) “...Oh! I get it~ Anon, you seem to be asking the wrong person...~? But since I'm aware he's here too, I'll forward them to him if you'd like~”

⚡ ( Questions/Comments to be sent anonymously!

(though off anon is fine too!) )