#ciphertwin

Hours after Miu had finished her work, the dining hall table was filled with a carefully-selected menu of even more carefully cooked dishes. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were on the table and it was barely a few minutes before the morning announcements usually sounded.

That meant the twins would be coming soon, to taste their first meal.

Not that they knew it yet. She’d been vague about everything but the meeting time and place.

“Hey you two, it’s done.” Miu didn’t elaborate beyond flicking open a plastic case, pulling each of their hands forward, and dispensing a chalky-looking tablet into each of their palms: she was dead tired and details of things were escaping her after such a late night, but she’d chased her ambition into the wee hours and finally, finally hit the breakthrough she needed, and no way could she sleep until she saw whether or not it worked.

It would have to be enough that there were pancakes, eggs, sandwiches, dressed salad, cheese and crackers, fruits and vegetables, buttered fluffy whipped mashed potatoes with crispy breaded katsu and all the other side dishes she could think to make on the table.

And of course, purple Panta.

“Chew these completely-the important thing is to let it coat your whole tongue. I’m too tired to explain, so just-trust me.”

A beat.

@ciphertwin @galacticluminary

Things had become oddly quiet in the ruined city.

Among the rubble and fire stood the young man once known as Kokichi Ouma, wearing his signature hat and cloak over black attire. Only his face was exposed to the elements, and not even his hands went uncovered. Around his waist, a pistol that had seen the end of many lives rested in its holster.

Today, he was alone. 

Everyone had come to fear him. The boy who kills indiscriminately, the mad old dog who will execute anything and anyone who gets in his way. Sometimes, they would die to his hands even if they were harmless bystanders.

Soon, he had found one, an elderly man buried in the rubble. Only one arm and his head were visible, and there was a scary amount of blood seeping through the cracks.

Kokichi figured that his limbs were entirely crushed from the weight of the rubble he was buried under, if not completely crushed. The elderly man was wheezing and shaking, groaning from pain and very clearly suffering.

So when the old man noticed him and reached out to him, he took out his pistol and aimed it at the pitiful man. 

The elder gasped, and despair filled his eyes.

“W... wait,” he begged. They always begged. “I don’t--”

The loud echoing of a shot being fired could have been heard for miles, with how otherwise quiet his surroundings seemed to be.

Looking over the corpse he had just created, the person that was one Kokichi Ouma frowned, and bowed his head, and muttered oh-so quietly, “Rest in peace.” 

And without another beat, Kokichi sharply turned and continued his search. His search for the wounded to put them out of their misery, his search of the evil that deserved an execution. There was no difference in his cold, dead eyes when the bullet left the chamber.

The mad old dog who would kill anyone and everyone. Even “fellow” Remnants of Despair feared his wrath. The face that only invoked fear in others.

“Have you ever made any kind of spy robots before? Would that even be a good idea? Robots can’t exactly move like people, huh, it’d be easy to catch them.”

Kurochi had a lot of questions for the Ultimate Robotics Engineer, some of them purely whimsical. He loved the idea of high-tech spy gear, although he wasn’t involved in a scene where he’d have access to it, and robots seemed to be part of the ideal.

“I heard a lot of robots are super easy to hack if you don’t make good security measures, so it’d kinda be dumb to send in a clunky robot that just gets caught–. Oh, but I guess they could just self-destruct anyway.”

│⚙️│ “Robots built for the purpose of spying would be small and quiet, much like a bug device. Though, I can’t exactly say I’ve ever actually built a robot with that exact purpose in mind...”

Kibo frowned somewhat, letting out a small hum of thought. Kurochi’s questions regarding ‘spy’ robots had definitely interested him; it certainly wouldn’t be out of the question for someone such as him to build and create a wide array of robots specifically designed for the purposes of obtaining information in various locations. But the robotics engineer always saw his robots as people no matter what; wouldn’t it be cruel to force them into such a role?

Kurochi’s laughter died down into stray giggles, the kind that would burst from his chest as he thought about what had set off his laughter to begin with. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. Even though he’d stopped laughing, he couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.

He liked this, being so close to Kaito. Even if his heart beat unbearable quick when they touched, or his face burst into flames if their eyes caught at just the right moment. These moments, where they could laugh so hard together, and stay comfortable even as they fell silent, they were too precious for him to give up.

“Hey…”

Kaito’s voice drew his gaze back onto his face. Kurochi gave him a curious look, complete with a quizzical tilt of his head. He didn’t expect the question to come out of his mouth.

“Ah?” At first all Kurochi could do was make a helpless noise. Forget the racing heartbeat; his heart stopped altogether. “I–. Uh…”

In his view, that hesitance alone was damning. Still, Kurochi couldn’t bring himself to answer right away, his eyes scanning desperately over Kaito’s features. What did Kaito think of it? Would it be a good or a bad thing, if they were really flirting with each other?

Kurochi hadn’t meant to flirt with Kaito. Not so obviously, at least. He’d accepted already that Kaito just wouldn’t ever like him back. He bit his lower lip, terrified of how to answer.

If he said that the flirting wasn’t serious, that they were just friends, Kurochi was sure that Kaito would take his word on it. He wouldn’t ask him again, and any faint hope that Kaito would return his feelings would be snuffed out forever. But if he said that it was serious… If Kurochi admitted that he thought of Kaito as something other than a friend…

What would Kaito think of him if he didn’t feel the same as Kurochi?

Unable to hold his gaze on Kaito’s face any longer, Kurochi’s eyes dropped to the floor. He squeezed his hands together, willing himself to speak. It still took him a solid minute to work up the courage.

“I-is it… would it be a bad thing if it was serious?”

Kurochi’s hesitance in answering tied Kaito’s stomach into knots, and if it weren’t for the way his throat constricted and stole his ability to speak, he might’ve snatched back up the question with a forced laugh. But all he could do was wait through the torturous minute for Kurochi to finally respond.

His non-answer and returning of the question increased Kaito’s nerves tenfold. The ball was in his court, despite his attempt to get an idea of Kurochi’s feelings before confessing anything and making things awkward between them. Not that things weren’t already; his question had made Kurochi nervous as well, that much was clear.

Kaito just couldn’t tell if it was nervousness from admitting any feelings, or nervousness for potentially having to let Kaito down. The question leaned towards the former, but... It didn’t make it any less intimidating.

“Well, I mean... I... I don’t think it would be bad..?” His voice broke in the middle of his response, and he felt his face heat up all the way to his ears. But even if he was embarrassed, it was too late to back down now. “I wouldn’t... think it was bad, at least.”

He swallowed, averting his eyes. His chest felt so tight, and his fingers curled into fists to help calm the trembling in his arms. His body wanted to run away, pumping adrenaline through his veins to attempt to urge him into motion. It didn’t want to hear the answer, too afraid that it would be negative, that it would be rejection. But at the same time, his legs were frozen, too stiff to move.

Rantaro had gotten an early start in the dining hall, having brought out a kit containing a travel-sized amount of nail and cuticle oil, a buffing and shining block, a nail file, and some hand lotion.

He knew, reasonably, that there wasn’t a reason to feel nervous about Kurochi coming to meet him. They’d crossed paths in the dining hall the day before while making lunch, and it’d been then that he’d glimpsed the elder Ouma twin’s hands and made a friendly offer of some nail grooming after some pleasant conversation about his experiences with his sisters.

(...I’m too early, aren’t I. Maybe he’d like some tea?)

Quickly finding something to occupy himself, he’d no sooner set some water to boil than he heard the dining hall doors open.

“Oh hey, is that you?” Rantaro gave a warm smile in Kurochi’s direction over his shoulder. “Sorry to keep you waiting, but I thought I’d make something warm to drink. You like anything in yours? It’s just chamomile. You can get comfortable, I got it all set up.”

Send me ♥ and I’ll write some positivity for you.

I would actually bet money on it being Rylie that sent the anon.

L, you’re extremely admirable because despite your reserved nature, you work so hard every day and you’re still able to write amazing fics, drabbles, and roleplay posts. There’s a lot of talent in this, and you certainly have it. You’re a quiet and steady force to be reckoned with and I fell in love with Kurochi fairly early on.

God, I was so nervous at first because I was afraid I’d be boring--or that everything I’d do had already been done, but I enjoy our interactions a hell of a lot. You reassure me silently in every post because Kurochi is a vivid character, and every scene is unique, and I see this in the writing.

📋 “Am I...am I making y...you unc-c-comfortable..?” Elijah still struggled reading emotions, empathy being a near impossible task for him. But he could swear he could see the flicker of something in the other boy’s eyes as he tapped one of his carving tools on the side of the sink to shake any bits of blue wax stuck to it. His eyes wandered back to the scalpels and sickles probes on the washcloth next to him. 

{ OC Ramblings }

Might as well start off with the ‘protag’, yeah? Anyway, her name is Hitomi Abe! She would be apart of class 80th and her Ultimate title is ‘Ultimate Honors Student’! She’s a pretty easgygoing, if not a little eccentric at times; normal girl. But as her talent implies; she is extremely academically intelligent, due to studying like hell in a variety of subjects and thus, practically getting straight A’s like it’s nothing.