#iwtymb

He lived with his sister, Gin, in a small penthouse near the university they attended. Akutagawa lives modestly, he would say, but to say he’s wealthy would be an understatement. After being adopted by one of the biggest CEOs in the country, his life had been lavished with luxury and glam, but he never had an interest in so much money. He would turn down anything that he deems unnecessary, which includes the extravagant things and services that his adoptive father would offer. All he asked for is his own allowance (which was already a lot, but he doesn’t have the energy to complain) and for his medical bills to be covered, other than that, he lives dependent on himself. He accounts for his own school tuition, being a small price because of his academic scholarship, food, essentials, and his rent. He makes it a goal not to rely on his father’s riches and glory, so as not to be seen or flaunted as Mori Ougai’s second eldest son, because he doesn’t enjoy the attention. As for his sister, he doesn’t force his own ideals on her, but reminds Gin not to rely on Mori too much and rely on his brother instead. Gin already knows this, after sticking to his brother’s side for their entire lives since they were practically born into the slums, but appreciates the concern. Akutagawa believes that his sister deserves all the best things that she can receive, whether those things be from him or their adoptive father, but he prefers that she ask for them from him.

He gets up every day at six in the morning, no matter what the day. This early streak of his has been going on for almost his entire life, sparing the days where he sleeps for days when he’s sick, giving him a few hours (depending on the day) before his day officially begins. Going through his planner over some tea and sliced apples, he drags his calloused finger over the words he had written a week before, mouthing each one silently. 

“Sophomore student orientation, MPH, 10:30 am…” he whispers under his breath, sighing in slight irritation after digesting the words. He utterly despises large gatherings that he thinks is a waste of time, and student orientations were a part of those events. Unfortunately, as an obligation to the school as a scholar, he has to attend every event held in the university or else his scholarship might be waived off. It was a bit chilly today, so Akutagawa decided to dress in a black turtleneck under his signature gray coat with some black slacks. After preparing a small breakfast topped with a swiftly scribbled note for his sister, he left his penthouse at 9:45 am to catch the ten o’clock bus. 

Making his way to the sophomore student orientation, which is being held at the open-air multi-purpose hall of the university, he flips through the syllabus given to him through his email that he printed out. He always gets ahead in lessons and readings whenever he possibly can to maintain the “good student” role, but he never considers it work. He sees advanced reading and assessments as an interest, feeling as if it was his hobby to read so much, and it doesn’t become something he’s supposed to do, but something he wants to do. Reading through the syllabus, he skims through the professors and their respective details, making a mental note of all the pieces he’ll indulge himself with when he gets home from the orientation-

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

In what feels like a half-second, the paper he was just skimming through had been knocked out from his hand and onto the cold floor of the hallway. His shoulder has been knocked back as his eyes immediately shift to the figure that stumbled onto the ground, hearing them mutter incoherent curses while rubbing their wrist that slammed to the floor on impact. They got up as quickly as they could, grabbing the syllabus along the way. After composing themselves, wiping off any debris that might’ve caught on their clothes, they clear their throat and extend their arm out to Akutagawa with the paper in hand.

“My apologies, sir, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Your day was messy, to say the least. After moving in the dorms only the night before, you didn’t have the time to roam the university campus which you’ve initially planned. Scrambling through the unfamiliar hallways and buildings after finding out that your freshman orientation was to start in thirty minutes, you rely on your phone’s GPS to guide you (which isn't much help, by the way, since you couldn't pull up any detailed map of the school), but due to your complete focus on your phone, you couldn’t see anything in front of you.

Damn it! was your first thought after you’ve made your descent on the ground, attempting to soften your land with your palm which ended up almost spraining your wrist, try to look where you’re going next time, Y/N! He must be a professor, good job! I’ve already embarrassed myself and I haven’t even been here for a day.

“Try to look next time, then.” Akutagawa mutters loud enough for you to hear, snatching his syllabus from your hand, irritated. “I’ll be late for my sophomore orientation because of this.”

“I’m really sorry, sir- wait, sophomore?” you clutch your aching wrist, wiggling it around to ease the pain, which it doesn’t. “You’re a student?”

“Yes? You just picked up my syllabus. Are you blind?”

“Jeez, I already said I was sorry!” you whined, wincing from the growing pain in your hand, “would you mind if I asked for directions? I need to get to the freshman student orientation at the gym-”

Akutagawa was usually expressionless despite the circumstances, but after you asked, his eyes slightly downturned in annoyance.

“You have the nerve to ask me for directions? I told you, just look where you’re going.”

“Okay, fine! Go to your orientation then! I’ll ask somebody else- ow.” your whole face scrunches up in pain, groaning under your breath as the ache in your right wrist worsens. Clutching it close to your chest, phone safely tucked into your pocket, you walk past the dark-haired male with a small frown on your face.

They lied to me; they said people at this university were nice. This guy is a total asshole, you thought while looking around at the now-empty hallways. What? I swear this hall was packed just a second ago! Aren’t there any other freshmen getting lost? Sighing, you slouch forward dramatically and drag your feet to who knows where, uttering quiet curses when you move your wrist out of place even just for a second. Damn it, how am I gonna survive three hours of the orientation with a sprained wrist-

“To your left.”

Your head whips back almost at light’s speed, looking back at the sophomore you just banged shoulders with. His expression is less annoyed now, but still visually upset. 

“Excuse me?”

“To your left,” he lazily points to the left side of the end of the hallway, “there should be a campus map, maybe even a security guard. You can find your way from there. Take a picture while you’re at it.”

A smile makes its way to your lips, eyes shining much brighter than it had ever been today. You bow exaggeratedly, pushing back the pain shooting up from your wrist every time you leaned forward, yelling a mix of “thank you”s and “I appreciate it”s. Akutagawa winces at your loud voice, but bows his head at your incessant show of gratitude. 

“I better get going, take care Mr. Sophomore!” 

Akutagawa watches as you sprint down the hall, harshly turning left after reaching the end. He figures out that you’ve encountered the security guard, just like he predicted, as he sees you being accompanied to the right direction. He shakes his wrist and glances at his watch, only to find that he’s only given five minutes to make it to his own orientation. Scoffed, he shakes the thought of running to the MPH so as to not give out his lungs so early in the academic year, and takes his time to walk all the way there. He makes it only eight minutes late.

-

"I'm home," Akutagawa's voice echoes through the small penthouse. He hooks his fingers into his shoe to wiggle them off, inspecting the open-spaced room while he is at it. As he folds his coat over his arm, he notices the food he left on the table gone, the plate and cup stashed back into their respective containers. "Gin?" 

“I’m here.” Her older brother’s eyes shift to the other side of the home to see her waving a book in her hand, the other holding back the large headphones she was wearing. Akutagawa responds with a curt wave.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the freshman orientation?” He asks, hanging the coat near the window. 

“I already know what the university looks like, I went there for high school.” She murmurs, fully resting her headphones on her shoulders, tossing her book on the couch after placing a random receipt she had found as a makeshift bookmark. “Plus, I don’t need to be there.”

Akutagawa gives her a pointed look but decides not to push her anymore. Just like him, Gin prefers to be alone and only wants social interaction when it is on her own accord. Her brother couldn’t scold her about that, since he himself also acts this way, but there’s a lingering feeling that he feels that urges him to force a happier lifestyle for his sister despite her being satisfied with whatever she currently has.

Deciding to leave her alone for now, Akutagawa climbs up the stairs towards his room to fix his things for tomorrow. He pulls out his notepad from the desk drawer and his syllabus to jot down all the literature that he took note of at his first glance of the lesson plans. After laying down a bit and changing into a new shirt (the one he’s currently wearing got a bit sweaty after speed-walking across campus), he sets off once again towards the library.

Akutagawa dislikes pollution, as do many asthma sufferers do, yet he chooses to walk to every destination he desires to reach if he knows he can take it. The roads he walks are filled with black smoke and heavy fog, people coughing and sneezing every other second, filling the air with things Akutagawa knows he shouldn’t be exposed to. Still, he trudges towards the high pillars and walls of the library, letting out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding as he entered the premises. The air inside was much cooler and more controlled, filtered out by several machines planted around the building. He makes a beeline to his section and starts browsing for familiar titles.

As he continues to scan the muddy colored books, his ear catches the voices of several freshmen at the end of the bookcase he was occupying. He makes out the word’s “readings” and “weird professor” in their conversation, hearing an occasional groan and quiet giggles. Akutagawa was never one for eavesdropping, but when he hears one of the students say “the one with the limp wrist” after the other students asked about any particular stand-out freshmen, he was intrigued. Grabbing a random book off the shelf, he pretends to busy himself with the pages while he listens in closer to the conversation.

Flip.

“They were so funny, I thought they were special since there was a guard escorting them, turns out they just got lost.” One of the three students’ whispers, barely holding back her giggles.

Flip. Flip.

“Right? I feel bad for the person sitting next to them the whole time, they were groaning non stop because of their wrist.”

Akutagawa immediately recognizes the student as the freshman who bumped into him earlier today, feeling a bit irked at the thought of them followed by a second irk after hearing the group gossip about them. He keeps on flipping the pages as a cover, his ear nearly perking to hear more.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

“I swear, I can smell them from where I was. It was so gross.”

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip

“I wonder if they’re-“

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip.

“What’s that guy doing over there?”

Flip. Fl- what?

“How can a guy read that fast?”

“Let’s just get out… he seems weird. Might be a creep.”

Once the group of freshmen leaves his earshot, he closes the book with a slam, making all the other surrounding students look his way. After sending each one a pointed glare, he decides to roam the section again to find his books.

-

“Ryuu, you don’t have to send me to class. Don’t you have your own class to go to?” Gin nudges her older brother with her elbow, making him grunt half-heartedly as they make their way through the busy hallways of the university. The first day of classes are always busy, random freshmen dashing through the crowds to get to class on time, noisy juniors tossing around empty bottles of soda and water above your heads and such. Akutagawa just couldn’t risk letting his sister walk through this chaos alone, pestering her the moment she stepped out the door with him. 

“I’m doing this so I can feel at ease.” 

“Please don’t do this every day or I swear to God I’m telling Mori-san.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would, so I’m begging you, this is the last time-“

“Mr. Sophomore!”

Both Akutagawa’s face the source of the voice from the door of the room. Ryuunosuke scowls before he can even register their face completely. Gin makes a more appropriate face of concern and curiosity, looking between you and her brother.

The words came out of your mouth before you could recognize the other person next to the sophomore you recognized. He looks exactly the same as the last time I saw him. What is he even doing here? I thought he was a sophomore? 

Akutagawa takes a quick glance at you. You’ve fixed up your appearance better than the last time he saw you, hair in all the right places and skin looking more dry and less sweaty. They look more… decent, he thinks. Cleaning up does your face justice, he observes, as he gets a clearer view of your face without the stray hairs around it. Your outfit doesn’t look bad either, being a lot more put together and coordinated-

“You know… him?” She asks before jabbing her elbow into his guts again, making him straighten his face out, realizing he spaced out and made a face.

You nod quickly, straightening your back to look more presentable. “We bumped into each other on the way to the orientation! There was a bit of an accident though…” You wiggle your injured wrist a bit. Who is she? They look so alike. Maybe they’re relatives? I shouldn’t assume… is he canoodling with freshmen? This early in the semester? He’s a total creep-

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Gin suddenly bows towards you with a full 180.

“Huh?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s his fault, isn’t it?” She gestures to your wrist after raising her head, cradling your hand ever so gently to inspect the damage, “he might be bad with his anger but he doesn’t usually pick fights like this.” Gin bows again, making Ryuunosuke make a spit take at his sister’s actions, “Please don’t report him! He’s a scholar and he’s really good at his course so-“

“Woah woah, slow down!” Placing your hands on her shoulders, she looks back up at you. “I-he- we didn’t fight! We literally bumped into each other and I fell. Nothing more, I promise.” 

Your sheepish smile and her brother’s unamused face doesn’t convince her, but feels an odd gut feeling to let it go. 

“Okay, but please don’t report my brother. It won’t happen again, right, Ryuu?”

“…”

“I said right, Ryuunosuke?”

Akutagawa immediately straightens up, uttering a small “yeah, right..” then goes back to his resting scowl face.

You let out a small chuckle at the two siblings, waving them off.  “Of course, of course. I won’t. You said he was a scholar?”

Gin nods. “It’s really important for him to keep it so-”

“Don’t worry!”, you smile. She’s so worried for him. He has a sister who cares so much for him… but he acts so weird. He’s a scholar though, maybe I misjudged him. “I’m a scholar too, so I know how important it is to keep your disciplinary record clean.”

Akutagawa looks down at his watch while you and Gin make small talk about your scholarship and being in the same class, noticing the time being too close to his first class for his liking. He tapped his sister’s shoulder before gesturing away.

“I have to go. If you need me just call-“

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call. Shoo.”