#killnow

with the help of nanami-san, it only takes him a few hours to perfect extreme mode for every single song on project diva x. that seems sufficient enough. is it a little ridiculous? probably. but he has an image to uphold. probably. something like that. 

getting dressed takes much longer than it should for plans with matsuda-kun but he still finds himself scrutinizing outfits in the mirror until he’s stricken the right balance of comfort and aesthetic. they can’t look like they’re trying too hard! but they want to look good, still. it doesn’t help that he can hear enoshima’s voice in the back of his head the whole time, rambling on and on about fashion. awful. 

once he’s dressed, though, it’s just a matter of throwing a few things in his bag and heading out. for good measure, they swing by a convenience store on the way for some snacks. as they put the strawberry pocky in their basket, they think that maybe this time matsuda-kun will get the clue. he won’t. they know better. with a sigh, he also grabs a few of matsuda-kun’s favorite instant noodles. he wonders, vaguely, if he could recreate them fresh. it might even make matsuda-kun eat a vegetable that hasn’t been reconstituted in some way. 

finally, he’s there, knocking at matsuda-kun’s apartment door. despite the resting bitch face, he’s quite happy to be here. there’s something nice about hiding away from the world. 

they do their best to smile when the door swings open. 

no use waiting or exchanging greetings - he walks right in and swings his bag onto the table, pulling out the snacks for matsuda-kun to peruse. 

they have been through a lot together, for better or for worse. komaeda often doubts himself, and it shows in his body, not his face. his shoulders get tense, and he wrings his hands, and less often now, he picks his scalp. he does not expect people to notice. he does not, even after all this time, expect kamukura to notice. ​there are certain things that set him off, sure, but sometimes he just gets into a mood.

today is one of those particularly bad days when doubt might as well be ruling his entire body; his hand is fixed on his scalp, almost gorilla glued there, picking at the same scab over and over and over again. when kamukura says this, he's genuinely surprised. it's coming out of nowhere, for starters, and secondly, he doesn't quite believe him. he's telling himself to look at the facts- kamukura is a different, better person than when they first met- but it's hard to quite see the forest for the trees. he pushes his eyebrows together unconsciously as he scans kamukura's face. content that the other is not lying, he says, "you've changed me, too. for the better."

despite the number of times he’s gone out scouting, the stories never get any less unbelievable. and he’s never lost the way it delights him. the batch for this year is huge - and the students he’s gone to observe have been quite the colorful bunch. he’d been able to travel all the way to novoselic, to the heart of a yakuza den, to a humble mechanic shop just outside the city. they’re characters, the lot of them, and now he’s onto his next, and possibly most excellent prospect. 

a neurologist - full fledged physician and neurosurgeon - and he’s just graduated middle school! 

koichi finds himself waiting just outside the hospital he’s heard the boy is working at. studying at? whatever. he should be there, and that’s what matters. still, koichi finds himself sighing, a touch impatient. it makes sense that he’d get that advanced by being a serious workaholic, but that doesn’t mean koichi wants to be one. it’s 7:30 and he’s supposed to take the kid out to dinner to talk and he’s hungry. and he wants a drink. 

finally, though, he spots a guy much too young to be sporting the doctor’s jacket he’s wearing. perfect - that’s gotta be him!

“matsuda-kun!” he calls, with a cheery wave. “that’s you, right? kizakura koichi, pleased to make your acquaintance. would you have time to chat? i’d love to get dinner with you - on me, of course! well, on the trustees board of hope’s peak academy. but those are just details.” his tone is a bit on the overly friendly side, but unfortunately he’s never been able to turn that off about himself. 

hinata thought it was a date. he’d thought kazuichi was taking him on a date. and it strikes him how many of the others on the island would balk at him for not taking that opportunity and running. it isn’t his fault the simulation decided to boot up his consciousness before he came out.

still, with the opportunity to make up for it now - with the fact that kamukura still wants to go on a date with him - he’s not about to blow it.

it’s just a walk on the beach and a picnic. shit they’ve done before. but fuck it’s a date now and his palms are sweaty as he stares at his closet in desperation. what the hell do you wear on a date? a beach date? a frustrated whine leaves him before he decides that if kamukura likes him enough to ask on a date, and he’s seen kazuichi in just about every state, it really doesn’t matter that much.

he reaches for his usual swimsuit brief, has a moment of remembering trying to get hinata to match with him, and decides that instead he should just go with normal fucking swim trunks. then he grabs a garish short sleeve button up, leaving it mostly unbuttoned. tastefully slutty. something like that.

enough has gone into getting ready that he’s dangerously close to running late. in record time he has eyeliner smeared on and hair pulled back into a decent enough ponytail beside his braid. whatever. it’s fine. it’s fine.

without further ado, he’s locking his cabin door and in front of hinata’s, knocking a few times.