Chapter Text
Unmatching eyes frollicked across a filled, but boring room
What was there to really see here? Other than the fact that Obanai saw this stupid place almost every single day to the fact it was most often represented in anime and manga for whatever fucking reason, the guy was tired of this place
He was in an intense wave of boredom. These last few days have been boring in general. Even Kyojuro, the most happy go-lucky guy Obanai has ever met by far agrees that lately, things have gone into a stalemate
It’s just that life turned uneventful. In this particular time of their sophomore year, there are no school festivals near, this period’s tests had ended a while ago, with no wild results in any member of the group, with Giyuu just barely passing in everything but Geography and Japanese, Sanemi getting max grade in Maths and Physics as usual, Kyojuro almost ripping the History test to shreds with how well he went, while Obanai himself did very well in Chemistry
Another reason for this uneventful time was that Sabito had just gone overseas to study for a year, returning in the second half of their senior year. That prick got away
Still, this class was mind numbingly boring and Obanai wished he could teleport out
And even the Hasugakuen pricks had gone quiet… For now
Oh Hasugakuen, and the sheer hatred Obanai bore for that school and everything it stood for was incredible. Those snobby fucks always looked down upon his buddies in Hebigakuen. They dared.
To be more specific, Hasugakuen was a school full of rich girls that just loved to pick on the Hebigakuen guys. Specifically the guys, as they’d usually ignore the girls
The pickings were not the usual stuff you’d expect. Instead of making fun of them, dumping trash on them, they were much more passive-aggressive. Something Obanai hated, having an enemy he can’t fight
That’s a detail one should know before judging our main guy and his buddies
Obanai, Giyuu, Sanemi and Kyojuro are not the best models of students. When they weren’t skipping class, they simply weren’t paying attention. They hung out in delinquent spots that they themselves cleaned up for themselves and fought for
The four weren’t any proficient in martial arts. Kyojuro knew how to wield a katana for whatever fucking reason but he could easily hold himself in a hand-to-hand fight, even if he often stood back until one of his friends got hurt. He didn’t like conflict, you see
Now that the class was over, our main gang would go off to hang out in one of their favorite spots
A mostly empty little fountain in the back of the street’s library. It was meant to be a garden, but due to a lack of treatment, it ended up ruined
“Man… Do I need to say it?” Obanai complained
“Nah, it spoils the mood” Sanemi responded, playing a game in his phone
“What mood? We don’t have shit to do…” Giyuu answered
“I gotta go to work in a couple of hours” Obanai reminded. They knew he had work, but none of the three could be bothered to remember the exact time, maybe kind of Kyojuro since he got an alarm for it
“And this means you’ll get us some of that cake as usual huh?” Kyojuro forced his arm around Obanai, trying to bribe him into giving them the leftovers, knowing fully well that this was an event so rare it was treated like a full on festival
“You do, we don’t” Giyuu said again, grabbing his phone to mindlessly browse at the whatever, or simply play whatever mobile game he and Sanemi were currently competing in
The group fell into silence. What a situation. Usually, they’d be laughing their asses off with whatever conversation started out of nowhere, but everything was just so unbelievably boring that no true talk started.
Sanemi still distracted himself with his phone, while Giyuu and Kyojuro had a random conversation about dinosaurs or something. Obanai didn’t really catch the full conversation. The masked boy himself was close to falling asleep
From an outside perspective, one would see:
A boy with what looked like bleached white hair and a multitude of scars in his body that made him look more like an aged bounty hunter than a high-school student
A boy with a mask and long jet black hair divided in large bangs, penetrating eyes despite his relaxed demeanor
A boy with messy ashy black hair that had a face so antisocial it could kill
And a boy with such abrasive energy and powerful eyes, hair that could be confused as dyed considering its two-tone nature that not even Kyojuro himself could explain
But on a closer look, you’d find
A guy with very sensitive skin that would scar for just any minor cut, and hair unexplainably born white
A guy that simply had low self-esteem and was just born with those eyes
A guy that was just really tired
A guy that was just trying to cheer up his friends, and had the same level of energy of a puppy
After a few hours of nothingness, Kyojuro woke Obanai up, as he had put an alarm on his phone to wake the boy up for work.
Obanai bid his friends farewell, making his way to his family’s restaurant, one that would occasionally serve the cake that his friends loved so much
He soon put on his uniform, washed his hands and got to work. He would usually work as cashier or waiter, depending on what regular employees were around
Today, he was doomed to working as waiter
He hated this job, mostly because costumer service fucking sucks, but also that he hated having to wait for a lousy client to finish their order while he had like, four other tables on hold
That’s not even mentioning it wasn’t cost effective, as most people would be immediately scared off by Obanai to order what they really wanted to order. He tried using this to get people to buy more stuff but the effect was the exact opposite.
Even if he removed his mask and tied his hair, having an appearance so different to his usual self, his piercing, reptile-like eyes would inevitably scare off customers. He didn’t remember a single instance of one of them not being scared off at least a little
He got to work, as the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, it wasn’t really hard to get the orders. Obanai was still in school during Rush Hour anyway, and during the evening not a lot of people came by
With his efficient service, soon enough, everyone had ordered, and he just stood by the counter to wait for anyone else to come in
A single second of distraction and he heard the bell ringing as someone walked in.
It was a girl, hell, girl was too little. This was a woman
Despite her face looking to be his age, everything below her neck told him another story
The first thing that attracted his attention was her immense boo- Hair, being not only large enough so that it, while tied, reached down to her waist, but it was also bright pink and green, a combination he wouldn’t expect to see in hair in a million years. And he thought Sanemi and Kyojuro were the weird ones
Now being a little bit more adventurous, Obanai’s first thought upon looking at her body was “hourglass”, something that was quite out of character, considering it’s not like the object would appear in his mind often. One couldn’t even blame her clothes for making her appear more well endowed than she truly was, considering she was, by all means, dressed in some of the most revealing attire Obanai ever saw.
Absurdly short shorts? Fishnet leggings? Exposed belly with nothing but a large-busted crop top on her torso? A glinting silver navel piercing? For a second, he wondered if she was a prostitute
Of course, as per custom of his job, he had to do his job and take her order, as daunting as that task was
Now now, for a delinquent, you’d expect Obanai and his groupies to deal well with women, and while Obanai here is very good with arguing with them, when he has any sort of friendly interaction with a lady, his brain goes haywire. He just forgets how to human
This doesn’t happen with adults or kids of course, but any girl roughly around his age usually gets him out of his comfort zone.
Having to juggle his eyes between two different sets of massive orbs under him was a difficult task in and of itself
"Heey! What's the best sweet you have?" The girl asked bluntly, almost shoving the menu in Obanai's face, even though he pretty much memorized the thing
To be fair he was good in Chemistry, memorizing stuff was second nature
"Uhhh… Uhhh… I would recommend Number 3" Obanai needed some sort of footing, and getting the most money out of this situation as possible would probably do it well enough. Cake Number 3 was the most expensive one out of the lineup, and he knew what he was doing
"Alright! Give me a whole Number 3!"
"You mean a whole slice?" Usually, clients would ask for a specific number of slices
"No…" She pushed the tip of her fingers against one another. She meant a whole cake
"Surely it must be a takeaway, correct?" He asked, worried, only for the flamboyant girl to look away, redder than before
Though, it wasn't his problem. Money was money and if she was going to buy the whole thing, she'd pay for the whole thing and that was good enough
"Alright, I'll bring it in" He said professionally
Ringing the tiny bell, he feared his aunt's approach
"What's the order?" Hana asked him, even if she wasn't tired yet, she did look like it
"A whole Number 3"
"The cake?"
"Yeah"
"Do you need to sing happy birthday or something?"
"It's one girl."
"And it's not takeaway?"
"No." She could see the desperation in her nephew's face. Even if Hana was a fairly skeptical woman, she would believe a look of such pure horror any day
Hana was the owner of the restaurant and had employed Obanai, also letting him live under her roof. Considering the rest of the family lived on the other side of the country, he stayed behind with her
So he works in her restaurant to fill empty shifts and do menial jobs. He gets paid less than an average employee considering he does live under her roof and was gifted the job instead of earning it, despite his hard work
Hana was the cook. She was also the only one since she didn't trust anyone else to do it
In terms of appearance, she looked a lot like her nephew, though differently from him, she was slightly shorter, had an even more tired expression, her two eyes were cyan, instead of being dichromatic like Obanai's. The two's hair was pretty much the same, though Hana's was longer
She was also considered quite the beauty, and he forever regrets the day she had to pick him up at school after countless boys asked for her phone number. One of them was Sabito
What pissed him off the most was that she wasn't even dating or married so he couldn't brush it off by saying she was taken.
Obanai picked up the tray with the cake, carefully bringing it to the pink-haired girl's table. She uttered a thanks and immediately began eating. He chose to turn around and not watch the absolute massacre of the poor pastry that had committed the crime of existing near that girl
Time went on, he was excused for the late night rush hour for homework and then came back shortly after to finish it up and clean the place
There was, however, an unruly customer that did not want to leave
It was the pink-haired girl, absolutely delighting herself with a different cake
Upon asking his aunt, Obanai discovered this girl ordered six whole cakes throughout the whole day and ate them all by herself.
Obanai didn't believe in monsters, but if he did, this one would be the most terrifying one of all
He made sure to note to not include any discounts at all on the menu, or else this girl would just lead them to bankruptcy
"Miss, we're closing down, I'll have to ask you to leave" Obanai tried doing his job as professionally as possible. Now that it was cleanup time, he had an excuse to wear his usual face mask
"Awww, what's with the mask? You're so pretty without it! Oh! Sorry! I'm gonna leave! Just let me finish my cake, please, please, please?" She said with her mouth stuffed of the sugary treat, absolutely no shame whatsoever
But… Did she just call him pretty? For real?
No no, surely that was a tactic to manipulate him into letting her stay for longer
But since she was already on the last slice, he'd be kind of a shitty employee in general to kick her out now
"Finish up that slice and then go off, don't take too long please" Obanai said, parting to clean the other tables with his mind filled with utter nonsense that not even he could understand
Even if it could have been disingenuous, that compliment made his day
Made not just his day but his week, as Giyuu, Sanemi and Kyojuro all stared wide-eyed at Obanai proudly walking in the classroom with no mask on his face
"Lost the mask?" Sanemi asked sincerely
"You can get a new one at the Infirmary!" Kyojuro tried to help
"No, this was my choice" Obanai explained leading the three to glare at him even harder
"Alright who're you and what have you done to Iguro? Gotta tell you, big fan, but you gotta get your acting together" Sanemi joked, pretending like he was talking to an imposter
"I'm serious." Obanai crossed his arms "I don't mean to brag, but a girl called me pretty yesterday"
"Alright bets start now I go for eighty years old" Giyuu commented
"Fifty" Kyojuro was nice
"Ninety and I'm being nice" That's what Sanemi thought
"She is our age" Obanai complained
"Yeah, she'll be our age in like, three quarters of a century from now" Sanemi ironized
"You keep making fun of me but talking to girls is hard for big ol' Shinazugawa"
"You're an idiot if you think I need pussy to be happy"
"Awfully reductive! Great mindset! Depending on others for your happiness is completely pointless!" Kyojuro commented, despite the grim undertone, he sounded as cheerful as usual
"To be fair, just because you don't need something doesn't mean you don't want it" Giyuu added
"That's another whole thing, and yeah, can't disagree" Sanemi crossed his arms
"I was listening to that whole crap of a conversation and I gotta say, him removed, all of you are some ugly fucks" A white haired girl pointed at Giyuu while she barged in the conversation to roast everyone but the airhead himself "You'd be lucky if someone has pity on you enough to date any of you" At least she had a good backing, considering that this girl was agreed on as the school’s beauty, sucks that her personality is absolute trash
"I was listening to your bullshit and I gotta say, mind your own fucking business" Sanemi responded. He couldn't insult her, considering that her brother was quite the strong fuck that was even in a gang apparently. If not for her brother, this girl would have been subject to the single most deranged of insults known to mankind without any semblance of a filter on Sanemi's part
"Now I'm happy," Giyuu said softly, earning a hard glare from his three friends. This wasn't the first time. For whatever reason some girls really dug his look of 'I have no clue who I am or what I'm doing and it's not working'
"An ode to the hot guys here" Obanai offered his hand to Giyuu, who promptly shook it in a mock towards Kyojuro and Sanemi
"We deserve it" The raven further mocked them
"I am seriously going to hang both of you on the windows through your goddamn undies" Sanemi responded
"Don't threaten me with a good time" Giyuu said with his usual static and serious demeanor. The group fell into silence for brief seconds before all four started laughing loudly
After all of them calmed down and took their seats, Obanai started another conversation
"Also, no more cake for any of you"
All three turned around bewildered, and Obanai instinctively raised his hands in self-defense
"Wait, it's not my choice. Remember the girl that complimented me?" The three nodded "She ate six whole cakes yesterday. In front of me"
"Let me guess, you had to roll her out of the place, and then she got stuck on the door, and then…" Sanemi interjected
"No, she's actually slim" Obanai said, his eyes showed the truth, not even he understood this. Nothing made sense, the world was breaking, life was meaningless, his back was itchy
"You mean she's hogging all of the cake for herself?" Kyojuro asked, a flare one would only usually see in him when fighting surrounded the boy
"I'm not gonna tell you who she is" Obanai lied "She has bright pink and green hair, it's just impossible to miss"
"Wait a minute… I gave her that flier!" Kyojuro scratched his chin, earning a confused look from Giyuu and Sanemi "I was helping Iguro and his aunt by giving out flyers on the street, and I remember handing her one too" Kyojuro didn’t usually remember every single person he met, but accounting for both her strange looks and the fact she insisted on asking him if they served big portions, he ended up remembering her
"The greed that feeds you is the greed that kills you" Giyuu knew this didn't apply to the situation at all
"I mean we got a ton of money yesterday but it's scary as shit" Obanai explained
"Does she gulf it down, like a snake?" Giyuu asked
"That would be more funny than scary to be honest" Obanai laughed.
"That snake of yours freaks me out, no way in hell" Sanemi disagreed
"How many times will I have to tell you Kaburamaru is harmless. It's not even venomous if that's your problem with it"
"Yeah, you'll be seeing harmless and not venomous when you squirm to death in your bed" Sanemi tried to scare him "Dibs on the aunt"
"Fuck you"
"Ask her to do it for me"
"I am going to pull out your heart through your belly button and stuff it back in through your ear" Obanai threatened
"Harder daddy" Sanemi said nonchalantly, pretty much ending the conversation
Today Obanai came home slightly more excited, maybe this girl was there again. And considering LiveLeak exists, morbid curiosity drives the human, and Obanai is no exception
He really wanted to see that absolute disaster of a girl again