Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

10/11/25, 6 PM...

BOYFRIENDS🔥🔥🔥🔥

Shidou Ryusei created a group chat

Shidou Ryusei added 3 people

Shidou: HIIII CUTIESS 😝😝😝

Rin: Kys

Isagi: Woah chill

Sae: Stfu isagi you have no right to tell anyone to chill

Isagi: Why not

Shidou: sae chan thinks your deranged

Rin: You’re* also it’s not only him

Isagi: Fuckers if im deranged yall are like metaranged

Sae: Isagi I trust that you won’t get offended

I feel like if someone went around talking about some imaginary “Isagi Syndrome” no one would ever notice its imaginary

Shidou: 😭😭😭😭

Isagi: Is that an insult

Shidou: (say no or hell call u slurs)

Sae: Idfc

Also

It’s not an insult

Rin: It’s not a compliment either

Sae: It’s an observation

Isagi: Okay

Rin: The hell is that response shitty npc

Isagi: Aw worried i might take it personally and cry myself to sleep without the warmth of your embrace? So sweet rin 🥺

Rin: Jump off

Isagi: 💞

Shidou: awww lovers

Rin: No.

Isagi: Nah im playing

Shidou: pussy

sae chan ily

Sae: Huh?

Rin: What do you even love about him.

Shidou: hes like a hot ice cube with a grabbable waist hes outside of the laws of thermodynamics

Isagi: Somehow an accurate description 😭

Sae: 💀

Rin: 💀

Isagi: Omg brotherly synchronization

Sae: We don’t synchronize, Rin just copies whatever I do

Rin: No I don’t??

Sae: Yes you do??

Shidou: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Sae: Nice stolen personality you got there.

Rin: Stfu

Isagi: Bless

I think you two are so apart tho

Shidou: nah they prolly breathe the same amount of oxygen 💀

Isagi: Anyone with eyes can see the difference in their personalities.

Sae: What he means is that I’m better and everyone knows

Rin: Sure Mr. I-went-back-to-my-ex-13-times 💀

Shidou: SAE CHAN WHAT

Isagi: LMAO NAHH

Bro kept count 🙏

Sae: This is forbidden territory

Shidou: sae chan forget abt that other bitch im right here 💔💔

Isagi: Don’t call them a bitch? 😭

Sae: Don’t defend him?

Isagi: Ok sorry for triggering your past toxic relationship mb

Rin: Sae was likely the toxic one

Sae: You’re getting on my last nerve by calling me Sae

Rin: It’s your name

Sae: Disrespectful dipshit

Isagi: I’m with sae on this one

If my lil bro called me by my name id whip him tbh

Shidou: whip me sae chan forget rinrin

Sae: That doesn’t sound too bad

Shidou: FOR REAL? 😝🔥😻😻

Sae: Not you omfg

Whipping Rin

Rin: Child abuse

Sae: You’re no child

Isagi: Legally he is

Shidou: damn minors

so sae chan since were not minors when are we getting married

Sae: I have an offer for you that involves sex and travel

Shidou: OMG FR??

AM I FINALLY GETTING IT

WHAT IS IT

Sae: Fuck off

Isagi: LMAOO9O

THAT WAS GOOD

Shidou: ☹

Rin: Get clogged fucking roach

Shidou: isaisa tame ur doberman 😾😾

Isagi: Hes more like a black cat but either way that task is impossible

Wait no nothings impossible

Sae: That fuckass blue rose has influenced you way too much

Isagi: Hes constantly pestering me i have no escape from the subliminals his voice carries

Rin: Lukewarm excuse

Isagi: 💔

11/11/25, 1 AM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Otoya Eita created a group chat

Otoya Eita added a bunch of people

Chigiri: tf is that lame gc name

Otoya: got smth to say princess?

Chigiri: be fr

Kunigami Rensuke left the group chat

Reo: ??

Chigiri: i’ll summon him brb

Chigiri Hyoma added Kunigami Rensuke

Isagi Yoichi sent a voice message (01.49 minutes)

Bachira: isagi u good? 😿

Otoya: 1 min i aint listening to allat

Karasu: is he srsly drunk messaging rn

Aiku: Yes Isagi were also convinced that the atmospheric force exists now please go to sleep

Nagi: i didnt listen but if its isagi it must be righf

Chigiri: what did you even drink dude

Isagi: I forgor

Reo: 💀

Dumbass

Isagi: Home go get a spine you the type to text your ex at midnighr

Otoya: WHAT

did bro just say home instd of homie

Karasu: such trivial details otoya

Reo: I’ll pretend I never read that

Isagi: Dp you thinj just by pretending your sins would go away teo?

Otoya: teo 💀

Reo: I don’t know a Teo, sorry

Chigiri: he’s got a point tho

Reo: Shut up princess

Chigiri: love ya too

Isagi: Wait omh imagine

If Kaisee died randomly

Id be sad ngl

Bachira: isagi dont you tell that guy to khs on a daily basis 😭

Isagi: Thats differemt

Bcux

He wo9nt khs just bc i told him to

I WISHHHGH

Like

Go on do everythinh i say 😴

Wrong emohu

🥱

Aiku: Isagi

Isagi: Ywgj

Karasu: woah

bro invented a new language

Aiku: Please go to sleep

Isagi: Slwwp comes t9o me

I wont go

Idc

Bachira: i can come too 💛

Otoya: isagi can u take ur shirt off send a vid

Isagi: Why

Nagi: good ide

Reo: a

Wait no

Bachira: did u just finish nagi chans sentence 😭

Otoya: for educational purposes

ill send the vid to professor lavinho and ask him for improvement

Isagi: Oohh

Alr

Chigiri: ISAGI NO

Listen

No

Isagi: Huh

Otoya: princess 😠

Karasu: princess.

Aiku: Wasted reserve of blackmail

Chigiri: that fucker is lying

he’ll spread ur nudes trust

Isagi: Woah

Thats nor nice

Otoya: thats not the case at all

i wasnt gonna spread em

i was gonna SELL em

aint studyin international trade and logistics for nothing 🙏

Aiku: Nah nvm the eyelashes junior would wreck you otoya, not worth the trouble

Isagi: Eyelqshes

Whar

Whose eyelsahrs

Aiku: Rin’s

Isagi: Ugh

Im mad at jim

Bachira: whos jim

isagi whso jim

Reo: He meant “him”

Chigiri: why are you mad at rin

Isagi: BECAUDE

HE

Annoysingme

Karasu: Ah yes

Annoysing

Nagi: isagi do i annoys u :x

Isagi: Yed

Def

Nagi: oh

Isagi: Every9own here

Is annoyind rn

Karasu: finally showing your true colors?

Isagi: Blue

Otoya: LMAO

i want that kinda brain ngl

Aiku: You can’t

He a genius, you aint

Isagi: No no no ni

Genius am not

Talenywd learnet

Chigiri: huh

Reo: ?

Bachira: isagi what r u even sayingg

Karasu: yeah we get it go on

Isagi: Kys

Aiku: WOAH

CHILL

Reo: You should be canceled

Nagi: ehh whats wrong w it :x

Otoya: 💀

Chigiri: hes just joking trust

Isagi: Whoevwer gets offended by kys have no AUT0NOMY frfr like you honna kys just bc i said so? alr bark for me too b4 you die

Karasu: i fear he has a point

Chigiri: i dont fear he has a point

Otoya: im convinced af

Aiku: Nah yall trippin 💀

Chapter Text

12/11/25, 2 PM

BOYFRIENDS🔥🔥🔥🔥

Isagi: Sometimes I’m scared of my eyes cuz theyre so big

Shidou: i face the same problem w my dick 🥀

Isagi: NAH

Isagi Yoichi changed Shidou Ryusei’s name to “Sh**ou”

Sae: ☠

Rin: Freak.

Isagi: That was outrageous

Sae: When is Shidou ever not outrageous

Isagi: Good point

Sh**ou: glad u pay attention pretty boy 😝😝

also this glorious name needs a splash of color

Sh**dou changed their own name to “Sh**ou👅”

Sae: You do you ig

Rin: Every time this mf speaks I hear a faint skittering sound in my soul

Isagi: You had a soul?

Rin: ??

Didn’t you recently say my soul must be like endless dark plains because I’m plainspoken?

Isagi: Yeah I did say that didnt I

Sae: He’s not wrong

Lil bro ain't like me at all

Isagi: At least lie subtly 💔

Rin: And you wonder why I’m constantly cranky with you Sae

You're like a statue

Tryna get you to react feels like pushing a lamborghini with extra weights attached to it

Sh**ou👅: I PUSH A LAMBORGHINI CHOCHA MAGIC LIKE HOUDINI

MY BODY SHAPED LIKE GENIE BOOTY DREAMY WAIST IS TEENY YES I TOLD HIM TO GET TIDAL SO HE STREAM ME WHEN HE LEAVE ME

plain rin fr 🔥🔥

Isagi: Plain rin 😭

Sh**ou changed Itoshi Rin’s name to “Plain Rin”

Plain Rin: 😐

Sae: We'll talk about this later

Isagi: Its okay rin ill love you no matter what 💖

Ykw? Ill even cut my ahoge to be plain with you tgt

Sh**ou👅: ISAISA NO 💔

Sae: Yeah don’t do that

Isagi: Why?? Its just an ahoge

Sae: Dude

You get the signals of the world through them

You can’t function otherwise

Isagi: Oh

Its fine rin will function on my behalf

Right rin?

Plain Rin: I hope you drown in a pool of still water

Isagi: Through Freudian analysis of rin’s symbolism, I conclude that this means yes 💕

Sh**ou👅: saebabe u were a horrendous influence on lil rinrin

Sae: Ok

Rin what do you want for dinner

Plain Rin: Your bones

Sae: I’m making salmon ochazuke then

Plain Rin: Ok

Sh**ou👅: i want some too 🙁

mind if i come over 😘

Sae: Sure ig

Plain Rin: No??

I don’t want that Kafka footnote in our place

Sae: Good thing I’m not asking you then

Sh**ou👅: HA

take the L shitty rin 😜😜😜

Plain Rin: Then Isagi is coming too

Isagi: Oh sure

Thx for asking

Sh**ou👅: omg a double date

were goated

11/11/25, 7 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Otoya: so chigiri

hows ur sis doin

Chigiri: jump off a cliff

Otoya: so meann princess

arent u supposed to b like

feminine n soft n caring

Chigiri: i care a lot about your funeral

does that count mf

Reo: 💀

Karasu: dominant women are better

Aiku: You just want a mommy voice

Karasu: icl i do

Bachira: whats a mommy voice

Chigiri: dw about it bachira

Bachira: okayy

Isagi: Bro who in the FUCK would call another man my little bunny

I feel violated and quite uncomfortable

Aiku: You spend wayyy too much time with that blue rose guy

Isagi: I wish I had a choice

Reo: Damn colonizers

Bachira: hail to victory! 💛

Karasu: LMAO

Isagi: Bachira don’t say that 😭

Bachira: is it a bad thinggg

Reo: Nope, you do you 😀

Chigiri: DONT ENCOURAGE HIM

Isagi: Bachi listen to me

Do you support the Nazis?

Bachira: who

Isagi: Okay

Don’t say that again

Bachira: okayy i trust u isagi 😋😋

Nagi: what does it even mea

Reo: n

Nazi’s were basically a fascist genocide army

Especially towards Jews

Albert Einstein himself suffered a lot from this because he was a Jew

Chigiri: nerd

Karasu: erm actually

Otoya: 🤓

Reo: Sorry for being cultured I guess

Isagi: Fr reo im with you on this one

Reo: Don’t be

I don’t need you to defend me

Isagi: Alr fuck you nerd

Chigiri: i love slursagi

isagi throw some slurs

Isagi: Lies

Nagi: oh yea

u called the king a retard didnt u

Otoya: when n how 💀

Nagi: 2 much of a hassle to expln

Reo: Nagi, Isagi, Barou, Chigiri, Kunigami and I were playing among us

Barou kept trying to go everywhere by himself, not letting anyone trail behind

He thought he was the alpha lone wolf

Except, Isagi didn’t listen and kept annoying him

Then they came across a body

Barou reported

That mf blamed Isagi when he was with him the entire time

Isagi rage quit

Chigiri: he called him a retard

caught in 4k

Isagi: That was a mistake

Heat of the moment

Kunigami: When will you get canceled.

Isagi: Hello to you too

Karasu: we can always leak this convo

he didnt deny it

Isagi: Leave me be

Rin is glaring at me to drop the phone

Gtg

Otoya: i sense homoerotic tension

Isagi: I sence hexasuicide

Bachira: whats that

Reo: Oh my days

Chapter Text

12/11/25, 1 AM…

BOYFRIENDS🔥🔥🔥🔥

Sh**ou👅: yall heard the news?

the hardest thing in the world aint diamonds anymore

Sae: I know

It’s wurtzite boron nitride

Sh**ou👅: its my dick

Isagi: NAH

Shoulda had it coming 💀

Plain Rin: Sicko

Sae: I’m not even gonna

Plain Rin: Yeah you don’t gotta

Sh**ou👅: rinrin why u so mean 💔

did yall notice that it rhymed

rinrin

why u so mean

im poetic like that

Sae: Poetry is dumb as fuck

Isagi: Why so judgemental 😭

Plain Rin: Judgement or trauma?

Isagi: 🤨🤨🤨

Sae: You fucking Lucifer’s unpaid intern

Don’t test me

I know all your secrets

Sh**ou👅: hes deflecting 🧐

Plain Rin: Of course he is

I’m not afraid of your threats shitty brother

Isagi: Okayy lets change the subject shall we 😀

So

What do we like abt each other yall

Plain Rin: What makes you think I like any of you.

Isagi: Sigh

Okay serotonin drop-out

Pack it up

Sae: Maybe not you two but I don’t like a single thing about this Gregor Samsa prototype who somehow escaped Kafka’s draft folders

Sh**ou👅: tell me more pretty boy 😝

Sae: We’re not sexting, come back to your senses

Sh**ou👅: we ARE sexting

just w/o the sex part

well get to that part soon enough 😘

Plain Rin: Fuckass freak

A demon in beta testing

Go back to the second circle of hell

Sh**ou👅: go back to the seventh circle rinrin 😹

we know ur a fugitive down there

Isagi: No one here has the right to talk abt the circles of hell 🙂

12/11/25, 3 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Oliver Aiku added Niko Ikki

Oliver Aiku added Barou Shouei

Isagi: Oh were adding the gang

Isagi Yoichi added Yukimiya Kenyu

Isagi Yoichi added Hiori Yo

Isagi Yoichi added Kurona Ranze

Chigiri: lets not forget the other shark

Chigiri Hyoma added Raichi Jingo

Karasu: otoya you dont know ANYONE atp

Karasu Tabito added Nanase Nijiro

Karasu Tabito added Sh**ou👅

Karasu Tabito added Plain Rin

Reo: What the hell are those names

Otoya: mb twins ion have all em numbers ✌

add everyone

Oliver Aiku added Sendou Shuto

Aiku: Do we add the exchange students?

Isagi: NO

AIKU

PLS

Aiku: Haha why so worked up

Isagi: Im racist

Reo: What.

Aiku: You know Im half Swedish right

Chigiri: hes not serious yall

Hiori: yeah hes playing

ik the real reason behind it

Isagi: Ok im not racist true

I just needed an excuse

Karasu: k bro we wont add em imperialists

Aiku: Lorenzo is cool tho

Niko: no tf he isnt 💀

hes got that post-apocalyptic sparkle

like if zombies had influencers

he prolly gets human flesh as pr packages

Bachira: LMAO

isagi taught you well niko 💪

Kurona: Whats pr

Hiori: ill explain it later kurona

Chigiri: nah cuz i see the vision 😭

Isagi: Yukki cant relate

Yukimiya: Count your days.

Isagi: Count my fingers 🤘

Karasu: damn 😪

Plain Rin: @Hiori and what was the real reason?

Isagi: Coulda just asked me 😕

Hiori: isagi has a teeny crush is all <3

Plain Rin: Rlly.

Isagi: At least dont lie in front of an audience???

Kurona: The blue rose guy who looks like an exotic form of alien life?

Bachira: ISAGI U HAD A CRUSH AND DIDNT TELL ME? 💔

Chigiri: aint no way 💀

Isagi: AINT NO WAY INDEED

GUYS I HATE THAT FRIDGE LIGHT WITH OPINIONS

TRUST

Hiori: theres a thin line between love and hate

Isagi: Thats not true at all

Theres in fact a great wall of china with armed sentries posted every 20 feet between love and hate

Aiku: Imma have to agree

Reo: House MD reference

A man of culture

Yukimiya: Isagi you should reconsider your standards

Isagi: Stfu Yukki you should go have a threesome and reconsider living

Otoya: alr lets go

Karasu: im down

Yukimiya: 😐

Chigiri: why is isagi such a menace to yukimiya today

Bachira: he told me yukki was an easy target 😋

Sh**ou👅: rinrin is sulking like the wilted flower emojiLMAO 🥀

Isagi: Ugh Im coming

Otoya: send an audio

Niko: ew creep kys

Otoya: that is no way to talk to ur elders lilbro

Niko: youre no elder

youre an elderflower with no consciousness or any form of coherent thought

Aiku: High schoolers are so disrespectful nowadays

Niko: at least im not a walking clickbait

girls only date you cuz you give off sugar daddy vibes

not a flex btw

Karasu: aiku admit defeat

hes the mentee of slursagi 💀

Sendou: Whos slursagi?

Aiku: @Isagi

Sendou: Oh

The sprout guy

Niko Ikki changed Oliver Aiku’s name to “Aikunc”

Otoya: LMAO UNC

Chigiri: he had it coming

Aikunc: Youll pay for this

Nanase: That doesn’t sound nice 😥

Kurona: Its not mean either dw

Raichi: YOU CALL THAT MEAN?

THAT AINT MEAN

ILL SHOW YOU MEAN

Chigiri: dude chill

Otoya: imma have to ask u to turn off capslock gang

Raichi: WHAT IF I DONT

Nagi: whos this pomeraiainn again :x

Reo: It’s pomeranian Nagi

Nagi: wtvr

hiori lets play cs

Hiori: alr give me 10 mins

Nagi: k

Raichi: WHO ARE YOU CALLING POMERAINANIN YOU BAG OF FLOUR

OI

ANSWER ME

WHERE DID YALL GO

HAH

OFC YALL ARE AFRAID OF MY WRATH

Kunigami: Shut the fuck up.

Chapter Text

Isagi banged on the bedroom door.

“Rin, open the door. We have to talk.”

The said person —laid on his bed while glaring daggers at the ceiling— grumbled.

“Leave me the fuck alone.”

The ravenette let out an exasperated sigh.

Why was Rin being so difficult? All that because there was a rumour about him and a certain clown dating. Stupid. Utterly stupid.

He wasn’t even together with Rin. That emo boy had no right to sulk.

But still, the rumour felt like betrayal.

“Just open the door and let me talk. You don’t even have to say anything.” Isagi insisted.

Silence. Rin didn’t even bother replying.

Isagi let out a groan, leaning his forehead against the wooden door.

“Yo Rinrin! If you want us out that’s fine, you can have blueberries all to yourself!” Shidou shouted from the livingroom where he and Sae were watching a movie.

A vein popped up on Rin’s forehead in the other room.

Sae shot him a look that said ‘Stop it.’

Shidou only shrugged, stuffing his mouth with popcorn.

Realising this was a waste of time, Isagi sat in front of Rin’s bedroom door and leaned his back against the wood.

He pulled out his phone and opened his DM’s with him:

Isagi: I dont like him. He keeps provocating me and thats why i talk to him, to curse him out and nothing else. Its just a rumour I swear

Rin heard a ding come from his phone. He ignored it, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

“Look at the message.” Isagi said from the other side of the door, knowing damn well.

The greenhead couldn’t help but feel a twinge of curiosity. His hand, moving on his own, grabbed the phone from the nightstand and expanded the notification

He read it. He read it again. Did it a few times until it was fully processed.

He let out a huff.

“Lukewarm…” he muttered under his breath.

Although he sounded unimpressed, there was a tiny skip in his heartbeat. Not because Isagi assured that the rumour was untrue —he had an inkling already— but because Isagi had spent the effort trying to convince him, as if what he thought about the situation was important.

“You don’t believe it anymore, do you?” Isagi asked, fidgeting with his fingers on his lap.

…

“I don’t. Now go home.”

A small, dimpled smile tugged at Isagi’s lips.

He got up, spared one last glance at the door—and the handwritten ‘DND’ sign hung on it, as if calligraphy never existed in the world. He headed towards the exit without saying anything.

“Yo Isaisa, leaving so soon? We have popcorn!”

“Thanks, I’ll pass. See you guys later.” Isagi replied with a stupid smile of relief on his face.

12/11/25, 6 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Aikunc added Don Lorenzo

Lorenzo: yoo

Niko: HELL NAH

Niko Ikki removed Don Lorenzo

Sendou: Im sent why so harsh 😭

Aikunc: Look kid

You have to learn to coexist with other people

Barou: You’re not adding him.

Otoya: damn what he do

Aikunc: COME ON

Itll be fun i promise yall

Hes chill

Karasu: i think it wouldnt hurt gang

Otoya: ikr

Karasu: right

Otoya: do we kiss

Karasu: no

Niko: fine

but if he does anything remotely close to creepy im removing that bitch

Barou: He has one chance.

Aikunc added Don Lorenzo

Lorenzo: hi again

Aikunc: Hi bro

Chigiri: dude what is that pfp

Lorenzo: whats wrong with my lambo

Otoya: YOUR lambo?

Sh**ou👅: LIT

Chigiri: ok damn no need to brag 😭

Nanase: Thats so cooll 😮😮

Lorenzo: thx pals 🤙

Reo: Gold looks nice on it

Nagi: looks ugly ngl (ㆆ_ㆆ)

Reo: Nagi don’t be mean

Nagi: im honest not mean

Karasu: i wonder what loki has to say abt this

Sh**ou👅: lets add that mf 🔥🔥

Nanase: Uhh

I don’t mean to be rude but

Didn’t Isagi warn us not to add international students?

Not that I don’t want you here! @Lorenzo

Lorenzo: i get you fam dw

Nanase: It just sounds kinda disrespectful to Isagi 😅

Chigiri: holy respect

somebody evilize this guy

Sh**ou👅: isaisa send an akuma rq

Isagi: Shut up

And its okay nanase

Yall can add anyone

AS LONG AS ITS NOT MICHAEL FUCKING KAISER

Hiori: dang it

Plain Rin: That guy’s name is Michael? 💀

Hiori: 🤨

why so chill rin

uncharacteristic of u icl

Plain Rin: He’s no threat

Hiori: OH REALLY

Sh**ou👅: loverboy 💕

Karasu Tabito added Julian Loki

Lorenzo: AYY LOKINO MY GUY

HI

Sh**ou👅: BONJOUR GANG

Loki: It’s bonsoir but it’s fine

Hello

Chigiri: youre the guy who aced the track team test.

Loki: Oh hi

You were great out there

Chigiri: watch your back

Bachira: WATCHUR BACK WATCHUR BACK WE CAN COUNTER THEIR ATTACK HIT EM TILL THE ARMOR CRACKS 😝

Sh**ou👅: UNTIL THE NIGHT FALLS EVERYONEE WE STAY TGT TILL THE BATTLE IS DONE

Plain Rin: If reincarnation is real, you’re in your third kitchen.

Isagi: 😭

Oh also

Isagi Yoichi added Itoshi Sae

Sh**ou👅: DADDY LONG LASHES

Sae: Hi

Sendou: Not this guy 💀

Sae: Who are you again?

Otoya: why is bro lowkey majestic

Karasu: i was boutta say that

Sh**ou👅: ikr my man is gorgeous 🔥

Plain Rin: He’s not your man?

Sh**ou👅: yet❗

im futuristic like that

Otoya Eita added Bunny Iglesias

Plain Rin: Wait

Sae: ?

Isagi: Oopsie

Lorenzo: OH BUNNYELLO

Loki: 💀

Bunny: Hi :)

Sae: Bye

Itoshi Sae removed Bunny Iglesias

Otoya: wait no my guy

Chigiri: who tf names their kid bunny

Isagi: Sae you didnt need to remove him 😭

Lorenzo: yea bro hes cool

Don Lorenzo added Bunny Iglesias

Bunny: Hi once more?

Lorenzo: hi fam

Sae: Omd

Bunny: I see

Did you get the personality update yet? @Sae

Sae: Devastated to inform that it never downloaded

Bunny: So still a cynical bitch :D

Sae: Sadly

Lorenzo: dont say that bro 💔

Sh**ou👅: i dont appreciate this negativity twin :)

Sendou: Is he wrong though

Plain Rin: Your facial proportions are wrong

Worry about your own falsity

Aikunc: Alright lets chill

Isagi: Nah lets argue

@Bunny did sae leave a MARK somehow?

Makes it two

At least it wouldnt be as ugly as the first one

Niko: LMAO

Aikunc: Dont laugh???

Hiori: o_o

Chigiri: oh thats…

Plain Rin: lmao

Sh*ou👅: 🤯

Bachira: oh 😺

Bunny: The fuck did you just say

Karasu Tabito removed Bunny Iglesias

Karasu: yall do too much

Otoya: this is the meaning of friendship gng

a little unethical but wtvr

Sae: If we’re looking at it from his perspective he’s kinda right though

I was a little cynical back then

Isagi: Ok

Were not looking from his perspective tho

Sae: Fair enough

Hiori: guys if any1 flames u just tag isagi

Bachira: @Isagi

Isagi: Who is it?

Bachira: otoya

Otoya: I DIDNT DO ANYTHING?

Bachira: MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE BECAUSE OF U

U FLAMED ME

Reo: Oh my god…

Chigir: bachira thats not what flaming is.

Isagi: ARE YOU OKAY?

Bachira: im fine now ty isagi 😋

Aikunc: @Isagi

Isagi: Who is it?

Aikunc: Niko

He told me I look like a thought but function like a lag

Niko: i did

what abt it pops

Aikunc: You dipshit

Isagi: Keep up the good work niko

Niko: thanks ig

Sendou: Why are you being shy lol

Aikunc: Isagi stop enabling him.

Isagi: Are you saying i should disable him?

Wow

Thats way too far

And here i thought you were a decent human being

Barou: Shut the fuck up peasant you talk too much.

Isagi: Kys i havent forgotten abt your betrayal

Ill lurk in your nightmares just you wait

Chigiri: and we all know he will

Chapter Text

13/11/25, 11 AM…

BOYFRIENDS🔥🔥🔥🔥

Isagi: Earthquake tomorrow

Around 6-7 pm

7.5 magnitude

Plain Rin: The fuck?

Sae: Mf giving out coupons

Sh**ou👅: SIX SEVENNN

i mean

source?

Isagi: Astral projection

Sh**ou👅: solid proof ngl

Sae: 💀

Plain Rin: You okay?

Isagi: Omg youre worried sick about me

You love me dont you

Admit it

Plain Rin: I meant in the head.

Isagi: Still worried

Plain Rin: Die in a ditch

Isagi: What if I die in your arms instead

Sh**ou👅: same thing basically 😘

Plain Rin: I’ll skin you alive then put you in a pool of salt

Sh**ou👅: sae chan ur lilbros being so mean!

Sae: Tf you want me to do?

Sh**ou👅: ground him 😾

Sae: Rin you’re washing the dishes tonight

Plain Rin: I always wash the dishes?

Sae: Right

Then you’re doing the laundry

Plain Rin: I also do the laundry

Sae: Um

You’re cleaning then

Plain Rin: Did it yesterday 💀

Isagi: Sae what do you even do around the house 😭

Sae: I feed

Isagi: Seems pretty fair

Sh**ou👅: make him clean the ceiling sae chan

allll the corners

i dont want any mold causing u pulmanory diseases 💗

Plain Rin: You’re literally a disease

If you care so much about my brother then just stay the fuck away

Sh**ou👅: u cant act on his behalf 👎

ur bro loves me fyi

Plain Rin: Well he’s stupid

In fact, you made him stupid

Every time you talk, everyone around you loses 3 IQ points

Isagi: Bro does AoE dmg

Sh**ou👅: rinrin ur sooo lucky ur bigbro is sae thats all im saying

yk otherwise i wouldve broken ur nose already

Plain Rin: You’re lucky I’m patient that’s all I’M saying

Sae: When will you two stop bickering like you’re enemies in every universe

Isagi: Plot twist: they are

Sh**ou👅: cmon guys

im js spilling out facts

for example rin has the emotional range of a spoon

am i right or am i the rightest?

Plain Rin: At least I’m useful

You’re more like decorative cutlery

Looks extra and good for nothing

Sae: Cut it out already

Sh**ou👅: okie

only for ur sake sae chan 💝

(this isnt over rinnie the pooh)

Plain Rin: K

13/11/25, 4 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Otoya: so gang

what be yalls roman empire

Reo: The Roman Empire

Otoya: yep

didnt think articles mattered that much but wtvr

Reo: No, literally

The Roman Empire is my Roman Empire

Otoya: 💀

Aikunc: Bruh

Karasu: hioris left leg

Hiori: not this again ಠ_ಠ

Karasu: its erotic as hell

Otoya: if its my karabro it must be right

love u twin

no homo

Karasu: love u too gang

no homo

Nanase: What does "my roman empire" mean?

Hiori: a weird thing u think abt at random intervals

Nanase: Thank you for explaining 🤗

Hiori: np (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

Chigiri: somebody get this positivity out of here

its triggering for everybody

Karasu: its just you princess

Bachira: my rome empire is the dream i had when i was 7

bees looked like humans like legs n everything

humans looked like bees and acted like bees

i remember stinging a sitting bee

and i lost my guts there

it was terrifying 😿

Reo: Bachira what was even going on in that mind of yours 💀

Isagi: Freud is afraid of Bachira

Kurona: whos freud

Isagi: A psychologist

Psychoanalyser

Psychiatrist

Whichever you prefer

Karasu: you like women?

heh…

your mom is also a woman 😉

Hiori: what the actual fuck karasu

Karasu: NOT MY IDEA

FREUDS

Isagi: HE DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT FFS

Yukimiya: Freud actually meant that a man is likely to be attracted to a woman who resembles his mother

Reo: Thank you for clearing that out.

Lorenzo: ive heard micha talk abt that guy a lot

Isagi: Of course he does 😒

Thank god im Jungian

Loki: Whats up with you and Kaiser anyway?

Plain Rin: That walking hanahaki disease is a pest Isagi can’t get rid of

Karasu: oh?

and who are you to decide that?

 Plain Rin: He told me obviously?

Karasu: isagi couldve easily answered it

but you went ahead and talked on his behalf

as if you were trying to prove a point

Plain Rin: What exactly are you trying to imply here you fucking local feathered imbecile

Karasu: caught my eye is all :D

protective much?

Plain Rin: Why don’t you mind your own fucking business and jerk off to mommy asmr videos

Karasu: .

Otoya: LMAO

PINPOINT ACCURACY

Niko Ikki changed Karasu Tabito’s name to “Karasugarbby”

Otoya: SUGQR BABY

Yukimiya: Can’t even defend you karasu

Chigiri: i love drama rin pls continue cussing that bitch out

Karasugarbby: lock your windows tonight princess.

Hiori: what in the wattpad

Chigiri: 💀

Karasugarbby: OH SHIT I DIDNT MEAN TO DO IT LIKE THAT

Plain Rin: Your parents didn’t mean to do “it” like that as well

Sh**ou👅: I FELL OFF THR BED LAUGHINGLMAO

Chigiri: HAHAHSGA

Aikunc: What’s happening why is rin being a menace

Bachira: rin chan why are u so mad 😭

Sh**ou👅: i mightve caused that srry gng 🥀

Karasugarbby: FUCK U SHIDPU

THAT MF EXPOSED ME

Plain Rin: You’re exposed enough

Probably to intense radiation

Hence the genetic mutations

Raichi: AHASHGASHHAAHJAKAKA

Isagi: Rin chill istg

Plain Rin: He shouldn’t have stuck his beak into our business

Lorenzo: STOP IM CACKLING

BEAK

I REMEMBER MICHA SAYING THE SAME THING ABT PROF SNUFFY

Aikunc: NAH

Loki: I don’t think we should talk about Kaiser again 😃

Sh**ou👅: @Sae tame ur lilbro

Sae: Idek how

Rin stop with the whole cursing thing

Plain Rin: How about you stop with the respiration thing

Sendou: BAHAHA

Loki: Didn’t he tell you your facial proportions were wrong yesterday?

Sendou: Oh right

Fuck you rin I hope you trip and die

Plain Rin: We’re co-hoping

Isagi: Alright thats enough rin

Yukimiya: You’re talking?

Hiori: holy hypocrite

Chigiri: as if they dont match each others freak by being menaces 💀

Lorenzo: allat bcuz my guy lokino mentioned micha 💀

Loki: Bless

Chigiri: @Sae are isagi and rin arguing lol

Sae: I cannot inform

Doctor-patient confidentiality

Sh**ou👅: my poor baby boo sparkle cotton candy playing the couple therapist 🥺💔

Niko: kys for that

Nagi: gm

Reo: Nagi it’s 4

Morning is a distant memory

Nagi: :x

anywy

will u buy me the new val skin

Reo: Sure

You have my credit card information already

Buy whatever

Chigiri: couple goals

Lorenzo: damn pal u trust anyone w ur card like that?

Reo: Nagi isn’t just anyone 🙂

Lorenzo: @Loki will u be my notjustanyone like that 💛

see the way i used yellow heart to match ur topaz eyes?

Loki: I’m not too sure about that 😅

Otoya: ACCEPT IT

think of urself like france around 15th century

embrace ur colonialist roots

Karasugarbby: 💀

Aikunc: Great analogy ngl

Loki: Is that supposed to be a disrespect to my country?

Otoya: not at all twin

political goals frfr

accept the proposal

u will thank me

Loki: How can I trust you?

Yukimiya: He might come off as intrusive and negatively mischevious

But you can count on him for sure :)

Otoya: whatever he said fr

Lorenzo: the deal is ongoing lokinocci 😉

Chigiri: dignity or wealth

my favourite dilemma

Loki: I’ll think about it

Chapter Text

14/11/25, 6 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Niko: did yall feel the earthquake?

Aikunc: Nope

Lorenzo: nah

@Loki did u?

Loki: Leave me alone

Lorenzo: why do u hate me

Loki: I don’t hate you

Lorenzo: @everyone he confessed yall

Otoya: congrats bro

Karasugarbby: whens the wedding

Niko: the earthquake?

Isagi: I did

It was subtle

Sh**ou👅: NAH BRO

is ts real

Sae: This is crazy

Plain Rin: 💀

Aikunc: What is?

Itoshi Sae sent an attachment:

Isagi: Earthquake tomorrow

Around 6-7 pm

7.5 magnitude

 

Plain Rin: The fuck?

 

Sae: Mf giving out coupons

Hiori: our lil medium (✿◡‿◡)

Otoya: is ts tuff in the chambers of hell 🥀

Plain Rin: Lorraine Warren ripoff

Chigiri: you PROMISED you wouldnt sell your soul to satan

Bachira: he never promised about not DATING satan! 🤨

Nanase: Shouldn’t we worry about Isagi? 😥

Kurona: Dwdw

Isagi: Sigh

Great theory bachira 💕

Karasugarbby: he didnt deny it

Aikunc: It gives off sae and shidou vibes

Plain Rin: No it doesn’t

Niko: why not

Plain Rin: Because I said so

Hiori: fair enough

im convinced

Karasugarbby: did anybody else see lokitoki wearing all chanel today

Aikunc: I saw him get in a Rari

Idk bout chanel

Sh**ou👅: a rari? i saw my guy getting out of a porsche 😝🤙

Otoya: bro took my advice 🙏

but damn IN A DAY?

Hiori: just how rich is that left4dead jockey lol

Isagi: Plot twist: loki is richer

Sae: I thought y’all already knew that?

Otoya: WHAT

Niko: oops bitch 👎

Otoya: LOKIKI YOU PLAYED ME 💔

Karasugarbby: its ok bro youll find someone else to advise

im always here if you wanna talk abt illegal fentanyl shipping

Otoya: ty karabro ur the best frfr

Chigiri: loki on his way to become reo 2.0

Loki: God forbid

Yukimiya: 💀

Reo: I can and will buy you.

… (Insert agonizing silence)

Nagi: whts happening here

Hiori: not now nagi 🙏

Loki: Excuse me?

Reo: Excuse you?

Niko: 🍟

Sae: Ew why fries

Niko: couldnt find the popcorn emoji

Lorenzo: lokinocci how bout we meet up get some coffee yk

Loki: And let this rotten eggplant talk down on my kin?

Plain Rin: It’s not even that serious

Sh**ou👅: rinrin u sulked for a whole day when u had a dream of isaisa talking shi behind ur back

lets not talk abt taking stuff serious 😻😘

Isagi: Nagi

Ask reo out right now

Its urgent

Nagi: :x

@Reo lets play mariokart at my place

Reo: Fine

@Loki don’t let me catch you

Loki: You physically cannot

Isagi: Okay lets not

Chigiri: @Loki your dad was faster when he ran away the day he saw you opening your eyes for the first time

just talking about genetics yk 💓

…

Lorenzo: @Loki im waiting cmon

Loki: I’m coming

@Chigiri you were absolute dogshit at the track team test by the way

Isagi: Mature and shut the fuck up already

You’re just a bastard who happens to be born with fast legs

Reo: And some pocket money

Nagi: reo

r u coming or not :x

Reo: I am

I’ll be there in 10 :)

Otoya: holy U turn

Bachira: i was taking a bath with my rubber ducks what happened 😗

Isagi: Ill explain it later bachira

14/11/25, 9 PM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Hiori: guys back me up for the shit im abt to pull

Kurona: What is it

Karasugarbby: dw whatever it is otobro and i gotchu

Otoya: fax

Isagi Yoichi is no longer an admin

Chigiri: thats it?

Hiori Yo added Michael Kaiser

Chigiri: i apologise for questioning your level of mischief 🙏

Sae: And guts

Lorenzo: HI MICHA

Loki: Oh no

Isagi: What is going on.

Kaiser: Hi Yoichi

Miss me?

Lorenzo: yea js ignore me no worries

Plain Rin: What the fuck is he doing here.

Isagi: I CANT REMOVE HIM

Hiori: i almost forgot

Plain Rin is no longer an admin

Plain Rin: You’re dead

Count your days

Kaiser: @Isagi not even gonna talk to me?

Isagi: My phone is glitching

I think theres a virus in there

Sh**ou👅: learn to love humanity gang ❗

@Kaiser hi twin

Kaiser: Don’t talk to me I’m not interested

Sh**ou👅: oh

doesnt matter if IM interested in you 😏😘

Sae: Seriously?

Sh**ou👅: no im kiddingdont abandon me

Hiori: hes only here cuz hes blocked by isagi everywhere

Isagi: Hiori

Just wow

I wouldntve expected this from you

Betrayal stings ngl

Plain Rin: Ivy poison would also sting

Since we have a lab RAT in here

Why not try it out

Kaiser: Youre the emo guy Yoichi talks about all the time huh

Come on

Drop the tough guy act

This isn’t a playground

You can’t handle Yoichi

Isagi: Bitch what do you think i am, exam stress?

Otoya: yes but w/o the letters e s t r

Karasugarbby: xam?

Otoya: wait no im trippin

this wasnt how it was supposed to go

Plain Rin: What the fuck do you even want from him

Otoya: who me?

Niko: not u omfg

hes talking to that red cheeked cordon bleu

but yellow version

Aikunc: Were tuned out arent we

Kaiser: I could ask the same thing to you Rin

And yet unlike me, you wouldn’t be able to answer

Reo: Why don’t you take this to DM’s?

Chigiri: NO

keep going 😇

Plain Rin: Forget the motives

You fucking disturb Isagi

He doesn’t want you around

Doesn’t want you full stop

Sh**ou👅: periodd 😝😝

go rin go ✊

Kaiser: At least he’s himself with me

No sugary words, no “what will the other person think of me?”s

You think he’s feeling all sunshine and rainbows with you

Ever think he might be faking for your sake?

Not exactly “for your sake” per se but rather afraid that you’ll retreat into your shell the moment he lets go of the pacifier mode

Isagi: Holy yap

Allat to be fucking wrong 💀

Kaiser: Keep telling yourself that Yoichi

Plain Rin: First of all stop calling him by his name you two aren’t REMOTELY that close

Kaiser: Apparently, neither are you

I don’t see you calling him Yoichi

Isagi: That doesnt even mean anything omg.

Sae: Nobody calls him that

It’s the Japanese culture don’t fucking overthink it

Bachira: i volunteer 🤸‍♂️

Chigiri: not now bachira.

Plain Rin: As I was saying.

Second of all

I haven’t even had the misfortune of meeting you until now and you think you got me and Isagi all figured out

Who the fuck do you even think you are?

You being a brain-free inconvenience is all

Kaiser: You’re not even saying anything to refute my theories haha

Because you know deep down I’m right

You have no legitimate objections

Isagi: I have

The mind doesnt work like inside out the disney movie you dumb fuck

There are no sharp borders between emotions, theyre flexible and intertwined most of the time

And emotions are not the deciding factor for somebodys personality

One moment youre angry another moment youre joyful

Doesnt mean one of them is real and the other is not

I cant even believe Im explaining this gosh what are you a 14 year old with mommy issues?

Count to 14 and off yourself

Niko: does he know how to count?

Kaiser: You know what will happen after I’m inevitably removed from this group chat?

You’ll go ahead and prioritise comforting Rin

Mumble meaningless assurements to calm him

Even when YOU should be the angry one here, not Rin

I annoy YOU, I stalk YOU, I challenge YOU, I make YOUR academic life a living hell

And yet Rin is angrier and more offended than you

It’s ironic, really

Whenever you talk to Rin about me, HE ends up pouring his anger out, HE ends up sulky

And most importantly he ends up pushing you away

Because he’s still a toddler who can’t deal with his own emotions

Sae: Pack it up Kaiser you can’t talk about pushing people away

Don’t act like you’re not as emotionally constipated as Rin

At least be honest about it

Sh**ou👅: my boo spilling fax as always 🤩

Karasugarbby: i think blue rose has a point tho

Otoya: i go with my karabro

u right fam (probs)

Plain Rin: Who the fuck are you calling a toddler shithead

Isagi: I cant deal with this

Somebody remove him

Michael Kaiser sent a location 📍

Kaiser: Let’s settle this face to face then Rin

Isagi: Rin dont

Plain Rin: Bet

Isagi: Istg.

Hiori: what in the kdrama yall

Niko: do you regret your actions at least

Hiori: nah lmao

Niko: as you should

Karasugarbby: goddamn sadist

Chapter Text

The rooftop door slammed open so hard it nearly bounced back into Rin’s face, but he didn’t care—he was already vibrating with anger like a phone stuck on infinite notifications. Sae trailed behind him, hands shoved in his pockets, wearing the expression of a man who’s done this way too many times.

“Rin, seriously,” Sae muttered, “This is stupid. Like Olympic-level stupid. You know damn well this is meaningless.”

Rin didn’t respond. His jaw was locked, eyes narrowed, breath sharp. Classic doom-cloud mode.

A walking storm, held together by spite.

Isagi was already there—nervous, pacing, hands fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie.

He perked up with visible relief when Rin appeared.

“Rin! Finally. Let’s just go home, okay? This whole thing is dumb—"

But then Kaiser stepped into view.

Leaning against the fence like the city was his personal background. Hood down, shoulders relaxed, posture so painfully self-assured it felt like a slap.

Kaiser looked at the greenhead the way a scientist looks at a test subject they’re lowkey rooting to fail.

“Well,” he said, voice dry enough to chafe. “If it isn’t Yoichi’s emotional support thundercloud.”

Rin’s eye twitched so hard Sae actually sighed out loud.

He knew there was no turning back now. Rin would never back down. He had always been too stubborn for his own good.

Rin took a step forward. “Keep his name out of your mouth.”

Kaiser smiled—tiny, sharp, the kind you don’t trust.

“You dragged him here. I didn’t ask him to watch you embarrass yourself.”

Sae muttered under his breath: “And we’re done.”

Rin lunged.

Isagi yelled something like “WAIT WAIT WAIT—!” but it was useless.

Rin swung first, a straight punch with enough momentum to possibly bruise his knuckles on impact. Kaiser sidestepped it like he’d been expecting that exact angle since the argument began.

“Predictable,” Kaiser said, almost bored—before snapping a kick toward Rin’s ribs.

Rin blocked it with his arm, but still staggered from the force. It felt like being hit by a steel beam with opinions.

“Damn.” Shidou—who arrived just now—muttered. “Them German legs built like factory equipment.”

Sae shot him a warning look that said ‘Don’t intervene.’

Rin shook the pain off and shot back:

“Funny coming from someone built like a tax audit. You ever talk without mentally charging people for it?”

Kaiser’s eyebrow twitched.

He hated when people tried to read him.

“Careful.” Kaiser said, kicking again—this time a spinning heel that Rin barely ducked. “Don’t strain your singular functioning brain cell.”

“Oh trust me,” Rin said, swinging a hook that clipped Kaiser’s jaw, “I keep spare to deal with stuck-ups like you.”

That one actually surprised Kaiser—he stumbled back a half step.

Isagi let out a relieved “Yes! I mean—no! Don’t hit him!”

Sae scoffed. “Pick a side.”

Shidou nudged him. “Why don’t you step in? Aren’t you Rinrin’s big bro?”

Sae shot him a deadpanned look. “Rin can hold himself up just fine.” he muttered audible enough for Shidou to hear.

Rin charged again. And this time he got inside Kaiser’s kick range. Close enough that Kaiser couldn’t fully extend his leg.

Rin’s gaze intensified.

“My turn.”

He delivered a solid body shot straight to Kaiser’s ribs.

Kaiser hissed, grip tightening on Rin’s shirt as he pulled him close enough to speak directly in his ear:

“You think Yoichi wants you like this? An angry little dog on a leash?”

Rin saw red.

He headbutted him. Clean. Disrespectful. Powerful.

“Shut up about him.” Rin growled. “You don’t know shit.”

Kaiser shoved him off like peeling off a sticker he hated.

“Oh please. He tiptoes around your moods like they’re landmines. With me, he actually breathes.”

“You don’t know him.” Rin’s voice cracked—not weak, but cracked like breaking ice. “You know nothing about him.”

“Girls, girls!.. Stop fighting, there’s Isaisa for everyone!” Shidou teased, not being able to hold his mischief in.

That resulted in a harsh elbow from Sae and a glare from Isagi.

“And you clearly want him,” Kaiser shot back at Rin, “but you’re too pathetic to admit it.”

Rin swung again with murder in his fist.

This time Kaiser blocked—barely—and countered with a knee to Rin’s stomach that knocked the breath out of him.

Rin stumbled, coughing. Kaiser stepped closer.

“See? All bark.”

That irked Sae the wrong way.

He took a step forward—finally ready to intervene—but Isagi grabbed his arm.

“No no—if you go in, Rin will literally bite you.”

Rin wiped the blood from his lip, chest heaving, glare molten.

“At least I don’t shove people away because mommy didn’t want me.”

The rooftop froze.

Even the wind paused.

Kaiser didn’t react at first. He blinked once. Twice.

Then something cold and dangerous flickered through him.

His next kick was brutal.

It caught Rin across the jaw so hard he hit the fence.

Isagi shouted, voice cracking. “KAISER STOP!”

The said person didn’t.

He grabbed Rin by the collar, lifting him enough to knock the last bit of breath from him.

“You don’t talk about my family.” his voice was barely a voice—more like frost forming over something hollow.

Rin spat a bit of blood onto the ground, scoffing through the pain.

“Touchy. You should try therapy.”

“And you,” Kaiser said, “should try being someone Yoichi doesn’t feel the need to babysit.”

Rin kneed him in the thigh.

Kaiser elbowed him in the shoulder.

Rin punched his ribs.

Kaiser kicked his calf.

Rin swung again.

It wasn’t choreography—it was pure emotion given arms and legs.

And they were both bruised, both panting, both too stubborn to fall.

Sae finally stepped in between them. “Okay, break it up you two. The fuck are you even–“

Then:

Footsteps.

A voice boomed from the doorframe:

“Hands where we can see them! NOW!”

Kaiser immediately distanced himself from the brothers.

Rin froze on the spot.

Isagi threw his hands up so fast he almost dislocated a shoulder.

Sae groaned. “Great. Dad’s gonna love this.”

Two officers rushed in, separating Kaiser and Rin like they were radioactive.

“You two—against the wall. Now.”

Kaiser leaned back, breathing hard but composed, expression ice cold once more.

Rin pressed his back to the fence, chest heaving, glare still locked onto Kaiser like he wasn’t done.

The officer sighed.

“Teenagers… Ahem– you’re all coming to the station with us. Come on, move!”

Shidou leaned in towards Sae’s ear. “You called the cops?” he whispered, a rare hint of seriousness in his tone.

Sae shook his head. “But we should thank whoever did.”

Isagi let out a sigh of something between exhaustion and relief.

He stared at Rin’s bloody lip, his gaze unreadable.

In the meantime…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Otoya: do we go as well orrr?

Yukimiya: I don’t think we should intrude. Plus, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to break them apart anyway.

Aikunc: But we cant just let blue rose beat rin up

Rins our friend

Nanase: He’s right!

I don’t want to see Rin get hurt

Bachira: we should definitely go

rin chan will be fine but that stinky incense deserves a lesson

Chigiri: i dont think thats a good idea bachira

im sure sae and isagi are already there

theyll surely do something

Reo: Plus, they both asked for it

Who the hell argues in a group chat?

Nagi: it ws fun 2 watch tho :x

Hiori: ur welcome

Kurona: We should go

Otoya: frfr we dont leave a friend behind

what if blue rose ends up coming with a gang

not in the affectionate term btw

Karasugarbby: nobody is going anywhere.

leave it for fucks sake

Barou: You peasants are all dumb as fuck.

Just call the cops.

Kunigami: Already did it.

Chigiri: WHAT

Bachira: KUNI WHY

Kunigami: Nobody go there.

Or you will have to give a statement as well.

Just leave it.

Let the professionals handle it.

Lorenzo: ur gon be a great cop my guy

Nagi: princess said he can handle me instead fyi

Kunigami: Why the fuck would I handle you?

Reo: Let me correct

Princess said “He can handle me instead” FYI

Chigiri: THERE WAS A FUCKING REASON I SAID IT OUT LOUD MF WHY TYPE IT OUT

TWICE NO LESS

KYS

Hours later…

The room was quiet—save for Sae’s voice in the other room, talking to their mom on the phone.

Isagi used his phone’s flashlight to check Rin’s pupil dilation.

“Dizziness? Nausea? Double vision?”

Rin rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, shitty Isagi.”

The ravenette shot him a stern look.

“Well, sue me for being concerned. If you forget my name tomorrow, best believe I’m punching you awake.”

He began cleaning Rin’s bloody knuckles with a wet towel. Then he grabbed the antiseptic to disinfect the area—ignoring the hiss the other let out.

“I was worried sick, Rin.” his voice dropped to a lower, more intimate tone. “You have no idea.”

“…”

“…”

“Lukewarm…”

Isagi covered Rin’s knuckles with small bandages. Then he grabbed the ice pack Sae gave them, wrapping it in a towel.

“Hold it against your jaw.” he ordered and Rin listened.

Without warning, he pulled Rin’s shirt up, revealing bruised ribs. He let out a sigh.

“Sit upright and take your shirt off.”

And Rin did, leaning back on the pillows half-naked.

Isagi began probing his rib area, very gently. It felt like lukewarm water on Rin’s skin—ironically so.

Until he touched a sensitive spot. That made the greenhead wince and the ravenette stop in his tracks.

“Take slow breaths.” he muttered too quietly for someone who was supposed to be angry.

He wrapped an elastic bandage around Rin’s torso, making sure it wasn’t too tight. Then he grabbed a clean hoodie from Rin’s closet—knowing where they were already—and threw it on his lap.

He moved onto Rin’s scraped elbow after he put on the hoodie. He cleaned the area with the same wet towel, making sure he properly removed any grit.

“You fight like a racoon, I swear. How did you even manage to scrape your elbow on a rooftop? Was the floor personally mad at you?”

“Stop talki– Hss–!“ Rin sucked a breath through his teeth as he felt the burn of antiseptic.

The ravenette covered his elbow with a non-stick pad, taped to secure it.

Then came the bloody lip, looking like a rift in spacetime.

Isagi grabbed Rin’s chin and unceremoniously tilted it up, setting the ice pack away for now.

He leaned into Rin’s face—completely unfazed by the proximity—and grabbed a clean cloth to wipe the blood off.

Rin was not so unfazed.

Despite his expression appearing as stoic as usual, the pink hue on his cheeks and the clench in his jaw were undeniable. Adding to the fact that he couldn’t keep eye-contact, it told a lot.

Except, Isagi was too focused on tending to Rin’s injuries that the signs (or the whole damn context for that matter) were lost on him. Bless his heart.

While Isagi was focused on Rin’s split lip, Rin was also focused on Isagi’s lips like GPS to a target location.

He noticed the way they looked so round. His Cupid’s bow was barely visible, making his upper lip appear slightly fuller than the lower one.

Isagi was also unaware of the fact that he pouted in concentration.

Rin was hyperaware.

“Do you have petroleum jelly?” Isagi muttered.

Caught off-guard, Rin gulped and let out a “Hm?”

“Vaseline.”

“Oh. I don’t know.”

“I’ll ask Sae.”

He got up and walked towards the doorframe. He shouted from there: “Sae, where is the Vaseline?”

Finding the room to finally breathe, Rin let out a long exhale— ‘Fucking hell…’

Isagi came back with the small plastic box.

He leaned in, unaware of Rin’s racing heartbeat again.

“Part your lips.”

Rin could do nothing but comply.

He dabbed his finger in the clear gel and spread it over Rin’s cracked lips. The tip of his finger was soft and warm in a tantalising way.

Rin suddenly had the urge to bite it. But thankfully, that urge remained as just an urge.

Rin swore Isagi was doing it deliberately, punishing him on purpose. He felt like a low-life sea creature looking up at a crane high up in the air.

“Make sure to use this every day after washing your face.” Isagi leaned away after applying the gel.

Rin nodded.

For a moment, they just stared at each other.

Rin couldn’t handle Isagi’s vast oceans dimming with pain and underlying guilt.

“Never do this again. Ever.” the ravenette said sternly.

“Can’t promise. That dickvein deserved it.”

“Rin. I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

Isagi let out a sigh. “Goddammit, Rin—what if you got hurt badly? What if you had a concussion or serious brain damage? What if the cops arrested you?”

Rin deadpanned, not at all feeling bad about his decisions.

“I’m fine as you can see, shitty NPC. And they wouldn’t’ve arrested me anyway. I’m a minor and had no weapons.”

“What if he had a weapon? What then?”

“Well, he didn’t. That’s enough proof that you’re exaggerating.”

The ravenette let out a scoff. “Exaggerating? Rin, I’m concerned. You don’t get to get your ass in trouble and then deem my worries as hyperboles.”

Rin just rolled his eyes. “I get it, I was being reckless—I always am. Can you shut up now?”

“I know you’ve been reckless ever since you were born, but you’re older now. You have consciousness, you have to stop yourself. Or at least let us stop you.”

“I won’t do it again or whatever.”

“You better not. Otherwise I’ll be the one bruising your ribs.”

“…”

“…”

“Do you actually feel like you’re babysitting me?..”

That question—mixed with Rin’s quiet voice—caught Isagi off-guard. After a second, he understood what that meant.

Kaiser had gotten into his head already.

The ravenette let out a soft sigh. He grabbed Rin’s hand, instinctively caressing the bandaids on his knuckles.

“No, I don’t.” Isagi muttered, making sure to look into Rin’s seafoam eyes. His lips turned upwards. “I’m used to you Rin. I know what you mean and what you don’t. Doesn’t matter if you say ‘I hate you’ a million times if I know you mean ‘I care’"

A deep sense of relief washed over Rin after seeing the ravenette’s dimples.

Then the softness of Isagi's smile turned a tad bittersweet.

"Do I wish you were more open? Absolutely. I wish you would feel more free to express your emotions with me. But I’m willing to wait. Even if you never change, that's fine. As long as you’re fine, I’m fine.”

Oh.

He appreciated the fact that Isagi didn’t deflect or didn’t pull a stupid ‘Where is that coming from?’ like everbody else. He liked his perceptivity and honesty.

In fact, he liked a lot of things about Isagi.

But right now, his understanding and patience stood out the most. Isagi was like a raincloud in Rin's desert of a heart—he surely didn't belong there but he damn well was welcome.

“…”

“…”

“Wanna play League?” Rin muttered.

Isagi let out a chuckle. He hadn’t expected a proper response anyway.

“Sure.”

“Damn situationships these days…” Shidou whispered to Sae where they were eavesdropping.

Chapter Text

In the meantime…

The police station had gone quiet in the way buildings do when midnight rolls in—the lights too bright for the hour, the halls too empty, the hum of fluorescent bulbs louder than human voices. Down the corridor, a vending machine flickered with the same stubborn, dying glow as the lamps overhead.

Kaiser sat alone in the holding room they’d placed him in. Not a cell but not freedom either.

A gray box with cold metal furniture, and the kind of silence that crawled into your ears and stayed there.

His hands were clasped on the table. Still, but not steady. He had been waiting for a few hours now.

Every so often a tremor flickered through his fingers like a ghost of something he’d already lived through.

Rin’s vicious words kept replaying in his head.

'At least I don’t push people away because mommy didn’t want me.'

“Dammit…” he muttered under his breath, rubbing his face with a heavy sigh.

He thought of Isagi then.

He thought of the colour of his eyes. He swore the only reason was that it was coincidentally his favourite colour.

He thought of the softness of his night sky hair under his fingers when he patted him just to get a reaction.

He thought of the way he had watched Rin on the rooftop, the way he had looked at that fucker like something worth caring for.

Unlike himself.

Kaiser felt inadequate.

He knew he was better. He was older, smarter, more mature, more successful. He was better than that low-life seaweed.

So why did it not feel like that at all?

He didn’t move, didn’t blink.

His wretched mind spiraled him backward, down and down, all the way into the old wound that kept bleeding as if his soul was on blood-thinners…

He could still hear his father’s slurred rage. The flash of blue lights in the hallway. The shuffle of boots on the carpet outside his room. The officers muttering as they opened drawers, boxes, closets.

His father standing behind them, leaning in too close.

“Search his room. He hides things.”

Then a cop found the safe under young Michael’s bed. The small, cheap one he’d kept cash in—the money he’d stolen because his father spent every bill drowning himself in liquor. The money young Michael used to eat, to live, to think.

They opened it, saw the bills inside. Not a fortune, but enough to trigger fury.

Michael remembered watching his father’s face twist.

The man lunged. One of the officers held him back.

Young Michael wasn’t worried about the money, he could always recoup.

The fear though, was familiar.

But then—

One of the officers found the book.

His book.

‘The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog’

The thick book he’d bought with stolen money—the first thing in his life he could claim as his. The one he read under the blankets at night, hiding treasure between the pages.

He had felt connected to it for obvious reasons.

His father’s eyes locked onto it.

“You’re hiding money in there, aren’t you?! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

He snatched it out of the officer’s hands.

And tore it.

Ripped the pages out one by one, shredding the words Michael had memorised, learned from, held onto like they were salvation.

Page
by
page.

The image sunk into his chest like a blade and everything inside him tightened.

Something had snapped that night. Not anger—something older and sharper and infinitely biblical.

Something that didn’t care who got in the way.

He lunged, not necessarily to hurt, just to save that last piece of himself. But anyone who stepped between him and that book met the same feral, panicked force.

And then came the cuffs.

Then the cell.

Then the quiet that swallows you whole.

A different quiet—heavy like the one in this room.

Urgent and uneven footsteps echoing fast down the hall pulled him back to the present. The door burst open.

“Michael—!”

Ness.

He stood in the doorway, breathless, puffy hair mussed from running, magenta eyes blown wide with panic. He froze when he saw Kaiser sitting still as stone.

“Michael?..” voice soft, unsure.

He stepped inside slowly, as though approaching an injured animal.

“I heard you got into a fight… I came as soon as possible. Lorenzo said you—”

He faltered. Kaiser didn’t look up.

Ness moved closer, the devotion in his posture so naked it was almost embarrassing. He reached out, gently touching the blond’s shoulder.

Kaiser flinched back instantly.

“Don’t.”

Ness’s breath hitched. He drew his hand back like he’d touched fire.

“You’re…you’re shaking.” he whispered.

“I said don’t touch me.”

Ness tried to swallow the hurt. He was good at that—rearranging pain into worship.

“I just want to help. You look…you look like you’re hurting, and I—”

“Alexis.” a single, precise blade of a word. “Stop talking.”

Ness flinched, but nodded. He stayed close anyway, hovering like a shadow trained to remain even after the sun sets.

He needed to be useful. He needed to be wanted.

Kaiser didn’t give him either.

For a moment, the only sound was the hum of lights and the vending machine down the hall.

Then the door opened again. Quieter this time, deliberate.

A man stepped in.

Not tall enough to intimidate by height, not bulky enough to threaten by build—but the entire atmosphere shifted the moment he entered. His presence was sharp, neatly tailored, commanding without raising the volume of the room by even a fraction.

Ray Dark.

Director of Internal Intelligence.

Not a public face, not someone civilians knew existed. But every officer in the building would stand straighter if he passed by.

Ness froze, eyes widening with recognition he didn’t fully understand.

Dark gave him a single, calm glance.

“Leave us.”

Ness hesitated, torn between obedience and clingy desperation.

“I— I just wanted to stay with—”

Dark didn’t repeat himself—he didn’t need to, his silence was authority.

Ness’s shoulders sagged. He stepped back, lingering for one last painful heartbeat.

“If you need anything, Michael, I— I’m right outside, okay?”

The blond didn’t answer.

Ness slipped out the door, closing it softly.

The room fell into a colder kind of quiet.

Dark pulled out the chair across from Kaiser and sat, crossing one leg, hands folded neatly. He studied him for several seconds, expression unreadable.

“Michael.” he said at last.

No scolding, no pity. Just acknowledgment.

“Why did you do it?”

Kaiser didn’t lift his head, didn’t even blink.

“He mentioned Alice.” he said quietly, leaving out the actual reason.

Dark didn’t nod. His gaze simply sharpened, observing him like a man studying data.

“You’re fortunate,” Dark said calmly, “that the boy’s brother didn’t press charges. Your situation would be…significantly more complicated.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“You need to understand something.”

A pause.

“You are standing at a threshold. You can let the past dictate what you become…or you can move beyond it.”

His eyes were steady, cold but not exactly cruel.

“Boys react. Men choose.”

The hum of the lights filled the space between them. Outside, an officer scribbled into a clipboard. Somewhere far down the hall, a phone rang once before being silenced.

Inside this room; only Dark, Kaiser, and their history existed.

Past and present.

Breakage and potential.

Ruin and whatever came next.

15/11/25, 8 AM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Sh**ou👅: chat i took the most insane dump ever

its a masterpiece i swear

my asshole is like an art studio 🔥

Bachira: OMG SAME SAME SAME

WERE SO IN SYNC

HOLY MOLY

MINE LITERALLY HAS THE CURVE OF A CRESCENT MOON

Chigiri: lets not make this convo a thing…

Sae: Just ignore them

Sendou: That your man?

Sae: That your unpaid tuition?

Niko: damn 😭

Sendou: MF HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABT THAT

Sae: I lurk

Loki: You bet he does haha 😅

Lorenzo: rmmbr that 1 time sae planted a bug in my car cuz he thought i was doing illegal drug shipping? 🤣🤣😹😹

good times

Loki: Haha…

Sh**ou👅: SAE WHAT LMAO

my beloved is capable like that gng

Sae: Didn’t even rat you out

Be grateful

Otoya: YOU ACTUALLY DID IT? @Lorenzo

Lorenzo: wat

NO

SAE

Sae: I didn’t mean it like that

Didn’t rat him out for “something” else

Loki: Uh huh 😅

Lorenzo: oh me jerking off?

couldve ratted me out on that ngl

i couldnt care less

lust isnt to be ashamed pals

Sh**ou👅: i like u 🤩

(no homo i swear sae)

Reo: Of course you do…

Kunigami: Nothing you do is ever not homosexual.

Chigiri: he got a point

Reo: Get a spine princess 💀

Chigiri: FUCKER YOURE TALKING?

NAGI FRIENDZONED YOU LIKE A CATRILLION TIMES

YOU STILL TRY TO HIT THAT

GIVE UP

HE DOESNT WANT YOU

Reo: ..

Hiori: LMAO

ACCURATE

im like playing w nagi and i sometimes ask abt reo

the things he says broo 😭

Nagi: wht am i supposd to say :x

Hiori: not ‘hes a good friend’ ???

Nagi: but he is a good friend

i dnt get it

Reo: Thanks Nagi

Really

I appreciate it

Isagi: @Hiori youre DONE for

Where are you

Hiori: chat protect me

Karasugarbby: get behind me hiori

Otoya: frfr we gotchu twin

Isagi: Hiori tell me where you are

Right now

Im not playing

Hiori: then lets play isagi (^◕.◕^)

stardew valley?

Isagi: Im serious

We have to talk

Kurona: He said ‘oopsie!’

Isagi: God said ‘oopsie!’ when he made him

Niko: 😭

Chigiri: the sadist is on the run

hiori run faster

break the sound barrier so you wont hear isagi calling you slurs

Karasugarbby: oh i know a slur fit for hiori

Hiori: karasu.

Karasugarbby: starts with n

Aikunc: Thats kinda offensive ngl

Niko: ur existence is offensive and yet ur still here

Kurona: I heard a window break

Someone broke in

Bachira: can i take some pieces? 🥺

need it for my artwork

Chigiri: BACHIRA NOT NOW

WDYM A WINDOW BROKE

ARE YOU GUYS OKAY

Reo: Um

Call the police, maybe? Instead of texting in the group chat?

Kurona: Oh dw it was isagi

Plain Rin: What.

Kurona: And shidou for sum reason

Idk why he came

Sae: What.

Chigiri: MF TELL US MORE

Kurona: Isagis yelling

He looks mad

Im scared somebody pick me up

Niko: LMAO I CANT

Kurona: Im serious theyre arguing

I dont wanna be here

Yukimiya: I’m coming Kurona

I’ll be there in 5

Kurona: Thx

Otoya: NO YUKKI POOKIE DONT

Karasugarbby: dont complain when isagi throws shade at ya in the crossfire

Meanwhile…

Isagi entered the apartment through the broken window, Shidou laughing behind him.

“You stay here and wait until I’m done.” the ravenette warned.

The demon incarnate nodded, doing a salute.

Hiori’s apartment smelled like old coffee and textbooks, cluttered but lived-in. The cyanhead froze mid-sip, eyes wide.

“Isagi—”

“Don’t. Just…don’t.” the said person snapped. His voice was low, tight. “Do you realise what you set off?”

Hiori set down his mug, trying to stay calm. “Look, I didn’t—”

“You didn’t what?” Isagi’s fists clenched at his sides. “You added Kaiser to the group chat and didn’t think it would spiral into him and Rin fighting? Did you even consider it?”

“I didn’t know it would get this bad!” Hiori said, his voice rising slightly, panic and guilt tangled. “I just…I thought it’d be funny. I didn’t mean fer anyone to—”

Isagi took a deep breath, his chest heaving. He ran a hand over his face, then exhaled slowly. “Hiori… look at me. I know you didn’t mean for this. But it still happened. People got hurt, and Sae had to clean up the mess.”

Hiori nodded, swallowing hard. “I know. I messed up.”

The ravenette’s jaw softened slightly, just enough that Hiori noticed. “You really need to think before you act. You can’t just shrug off other people’s safety for a laugh or a convenience.”

“I know.” the cyanhead admitted quietly. “I… I screwed up, and I won’t do it again. I really didn’t realise it would explode like that.”

Isagi let the tension in his shoulders ease just a bit. “Alright. I believe you. But next time—don’t make me come here screaming at you.”

Hiori gave a small laugh, relief washing over his face. “Noted. I’ll survive without yer verbal assaults.”

Isagi smirked faintly. “Good. That’s progress.”

The ravenette opened the door but stopped at the threshold.

“My bad for breaking your window…” he chuckled sheepishly. “I’ll Venmo you the money, I’m sorry.”

Hiori laughed, the sound lighter than it had in hours, maybe days. “Sure. Don’t stress over it though. I kinda deserved it anyway.”

Later that day…

Isagi walked across the campus like someone trying to outrun his own thoughts, except they were sprinting faster than he could step. His expression stayed flat, cold-marble neutral, but inside his head things were ricocheting like loose screws in a dryer. 

Rin’s bruised face; and him acting like it didn’t matter.

Kaiser’s annoying laugh; brittle, forced, loud enough to hide something.

Hiori’s soft voice; trying to defend himself.

His own voice; sharper than he wanted to remember, feeling almost loaned. 

The argument with the cyanhead still clung to him like smoke. The memory of breaking into his apartment—that dramatic shattering of boundaries he’d promised himself he wouldn’t cross again—kept looping.

They had made up, sure, but reconciliation didn’t erase the crash that came before it. His brain curated disasters like a private museum. 

Then Rin… God, Rin. Half leaning against the mattress, Isagi lecturing him for an agonising amount of time while pretending he wasn’t terrified that the he had been hurt because of him. Indirectly so, but still. The kind of fear that made Isagi quietly furious at everything.

And Kaiser—the ravenette clenched his jaw. Of all the people, Kaiser was the only one whose behavior never matched his emotional state. Too smooth, too flippant, too performative. A man made of smirks and armor.  It bothered Isagi more than he liked to admit. 

The philosophy lecture hall came into view. Isagi inhaled, pushed the storm down into some inner pocket he’d dig through later, and walked inside.

The large room buzzed with low chatter, the air thick with that half-awake academic tension. Students lounged in their chairs, bags dumped on the floor, laptops open but not yet touched.

And there—middle row, one leg propped casually on the empty seat beside him—was Kaiser.

He looked perfectly fine.

Which immediately set Isagi’s mood on edge.

The blond’s eyes flicked up and caught his for half a second. A grin curled across his mouth, a little too sharp to be friendly.

Isagi ignored him completely and took a seat in the other half of the rows, where the other had to crane his neck to look at him. He didn’t look back, but he felt Kaiser’s gaze latch onto him like a hook.

Professor Ego strolled into the room, clapping his hands once—the kind of man who didn’t like philosophy but rather lived it.

“Alright everyone,” he said, inelegantly placing his notes down. “Today, we’re jumping straight into one of my favorite headaches: compatibilism versus determinism.”

A few students groaned.

“In plain terms,” he continued, “are we truly free to choose our actions? Or are our choices determined by prior causes—upbringing, environment, trauma, biology?” Ego paced. “Now. If someone commits an act of violence—”

Isagi’s stomach tensed.

Kaiser’s jaw twitched.

“—are they morally responsible? Or were they shaped into that choice by forces beyond their control?”

A pause.

Then Ego clasped his hands behind his back, expression as flat as a landing field.

“Who wants to start us off?”

Silence.

Isagi wasn’t planning to speak.

But of course, Kaiser raised his hand.

“Yes, Michael Kaiser?”

The said person leaned forward, voice smooth.

“I think people always have a choice. Circumstances can influence you, sure, but they can’t decide for you. At the end of the day, you either do something or you don’t. The responsibility’s yours.”

Isagi’s eyes narrowed.

That was too…polished, too controlled.

Like Kaiser was giving the answer he wanted to be true, not the one he believed.

“Anyone disagree?”

The ravenette’s hand rose before he even realized it.

“Knew it.” Kaiser muttered under his breath, amused.

“Isagi Yoichi?” the professor prompted.

Isagi didn’t look at the smirking blond. He looked straight ahead, voice cool and precise.

“People don’t choose in a vacuum. If someone’s entire history pushes them toward a decision, calling it ‘free will’ feels…dishonest. You can hold them accountable, but pretending they weren’t shaped by their past is absurd.”

Kaiser sat up straighter, eyes locking onto his.

“Oh? So you’re saying people can’t change?” he said, tone deceptively light. “Sounds defeatist.”

“I’m saying change is possible.” Isagi replied, eyes narrowing, “But pretending everyone starts on the same playing field is naïve.”

Kaiser’s smile stretched, sharp. “Maybe some people just use their past as an excuse.”

“And maybe some people pretend they’re unaffected because admitting otherwise would break them.” Isagi shot back.

The room went dead silent. Students turned.

Kaiser’s expression flickered—just for a heartbeat—something wounded, something dangerous, something Isagi wasn’t supposed to peer into.

Then the blond leaned back, mask sliding on like armor.

“Touché.” he said quietly.

Professor Ego was interested, to say the least. This wasn’t just an academic debate to him—this was a clash of two young and great minds, polishing each other with every word.

“Fascinating.” he said. “Two opposing models. Determinism in conflict with a belief in radical agency. Continue.”

But Isagi and Kaiser weren’t listening to him anymore.

They were looking at each other—assessing, calculating, cutting into each other’s ideas like it was personal.

Kaiser tilted his head. “So your logic is: trauma equals destiny?”

Isagi shook his head. “My logic is: trauma leaves fingerprints on behavior. Ignoring that doesn’t make you strong, it makes you blind. On the other hand, knowing that and choosing to hide it, makes you two-faced.”

Kaiser’s smile faltered—only slightly—but Isagi caught it.

A hit. A clean one.

The blond recovered quickly.

“Funny, you talk like you know what people are hiding.”

“Funny, you talk like you think no one notices you hiding anything.”

That one went straight through Kaiser.

He didn’t speak for a few seconds. His eyes slipped away. Jaw tightened.

Ego cleared his throat, interrupting the cold war. “Class, take notes. Between compatibilism and determinism lies a..." he went on with the lecture.

Neither of them were interested in whatever Ego had to say.

Kaiser looked anywhere but at Isagi.

The ravenette didn’t look away.

Isagi’s mind was still loud, still chaotic. It always was.

But now?

Now Kaiser was loud in it too.

And Kaiser—for once, under Isagi’s intrusive blue gaze—wasn’t pretending as well as he thought he was.

Chapter Text

15/11/25, Midnight…

Shidou was on the floor surrounded by canvases, paint on his neck, hair, and probably lungs. Not even gonna talk about his hands…

His inn (art studio) was a mess, to say the least. Brushes and paint tubes were scattered everywhere like planets in the solar system.

And the demon was spiraling. Like, screaming and pulling at his hair spiraling. He had never spiraled this bad before, because he never had an artblock until now.

“I CAN’T. I RUINED IT, IT’S ALL UGLY! TAKE ME OUT BACK AND FINISH ME LIKE A SICK HORSE AT THIS POINT.”

Sae, picking up a brush off the floor, spoke calmly “It looks fine.” (Translation: It’s beautiful.)

“YOU DON’T GET IT, LASHES! LOOK AT THE FUCKING GRASS—WHO PAINTS GRASS LIKE IT’S A LARGE LUMP OF HAIRY TUMOUR THAT ESCAPED AN ONCOLOGIST’S LAB?!”

“…You need air.” (Translation: I hate seeing you upset.)

“NO, I NEED MY FUCKASS ARTBLOCK REMOVED.”

“Step outside. I’ll clean this mess.” (Translation: I care way too much.)

And Shidou listened. Shidou only ever listened to him.

Not because Sae was controlling—but because he was the one person who never tried to shrink him, to govern his fire.

He just stabilised his messy orbit.

He stepped outside of the art studio he had been in for the past 5 hours. He cracked a window open in the livingroom and breathed in the fresh air that thankfully contained no chemicals.

He took a few long breaths, reassuring himself that the Van Gogh in him wasn’t gone, just…in hibernation.

Meanwhile…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Chigiri: @Isagi @Hiori @Kurona @Sh**ou👅 yall fuckers never talked abt what happened

spill the tea

what happened in there.

Otoya: its midnight and u thought of this now princess?

Kunigami: He was busy.

Karasugarbby: oh? 🧐🧐🧐

Reo: And how exactly do you know that?

Were you two together perchance?

Chigiri: you bourgeois fucker i swear ill tell everyone how you use nagis morning voice as your alarm

Bachira: BAHAHAHHSGAHSHAAHQSHQYUHSQUHS72

Otoya: THATS INSANE

even for u reo

srry i meant teo

Reo: THANK GOODNESS YOU DIDNT SAY IT PRINCESS.

LIKE, THANK GOODNESS.

Chigiri: oops bitcj 🙄

Hiori: nagi asks whats wrong w it

Aikunc: Oh nothing at all 💜

Chigiri: hiori hop off the fucking game

spill

Hiori: cant

im playing jungle i have to be vigilant

Chigiri: SOMEBODY COME ON

Isagi: Chill damsel in distress

Nothing happened

Kurona: Except for the fact that u broke our window and started screaming at hiori

Niko: we know that much already dude

Isagi: I venmoed the money

were good

Chigiri: r u aware of the definition of good?

mf ypu dont just break into peoples apartments, start an argument, venmo the money for the damage done and then say yall good

Bachira: ur forgetting that its isagi

isagi is always right 💙✨

Isagi: 💛

Hiori: no isagis actually right

were good

Niko: i thought you were playing league?

Hiori: i died

gotta wait for 3 mins

Karasugarbby: holy friendship bro

i heard they use something called comu****tion

Kurona: Whar

Karasugarbby: shh i cant spell it

its a curse

like voldemort or sum shi

Otoya: frfr

if u say it out loud 3 times the ghost of petrarca turns u into a hum***st

Nanase: This is creeping me out…

Chigiri: dw nanase these fuckers are just asking for a satanic ritual to be done with their heads as sacrifice

Reo: Dumbass, that will creep the guy out more

Left your brain at Kunigami's?

Chigiri: didnt you delibaretly leave your hoodie at nagis apt and he began using it as a washcloth instead?

Reo: Check it thrice before crossing the road.

Meanwhile…

The storm hit like it had beef with the entire building.

Rain slapped the windows sideways, thunder rolled low like a warning growl, and the fluorescent lights in the hallway stuttered just enough to make the receptionist mutter something about ‘backup generators’ before waving the two teens in.

The mental health center in the campus.

Rin was only there because his brother had forced him. And that shithead had the audacity to stay at home (that demon’s home, no less) and leave his little brother alone—not even bothering to come with him.

Nii-chan better appreciate this, Rin thought.

He wouldn’t. Sae never appreciated anything until Rin accidentally died almost, or accidentally started a fire almost, or accidentally got arrested almost. Like yesterday. Rin had to be on the edge of a cliff for Sae to finally turn his direction around.

Kaiser was a different story. He had an assignment due morning—he had to do a mandatory psych observation—and he had procrastinated until midnight.

They didn’t look at each other. They never did, not properly anyway. Two stray dogs pretending they didn't just get kicked out of the same alley.

The staff member gestured toward a tiny consultation room with a too-white table and exactly two chairs.

“Wait here until your names are—”

The lights flickered again. Hard. The staff member squinted at her tablet like it personally betrayed her.

“…Yeah, someone’ll come get you. Sit tight.”

The door closed, the electronic lock clicked.

And that was it.

The storm snarled outside, and the air felt loaded—like even the oxygen was side-eyeing them.

Rin slumped into one chair, legs sprawled obnoxiously wide like he owned gravity.

Kaiser leaned against the wall instead, arms crossed, hood half-up, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, including hell.

Silence stretched—not comfy, not meaningful. Just…disturbing, the kind that pressed on your eardrums because the world outside was literally breaking.

Finally:

“Hey you,” Rin muttered.

“Mm?” the blond replied, the universal noise of yeah I heard you, go on idiot.

Another beat.

“You’ve seen…him?” Rin asked, chin tipping vaguely in the air, no name needed.

The only ‘him’ that mattered was Isagi.

Kaiser huffed out a tiny laugh—tired, not amused. “Yeah. Earlier today. He was distracted. Probably ruminating.”

“When is he not?” Rin retorted.

There was a pause—and some strange gravitational pull softened both of them by 5%.

Talking about Isagi was like poking an old bruise they both pretended didn’t hurt.

“He’s got that face,” Kaiser said; eyes unfocusing, pupils dilating. “The one he gets when he has a shit ton in his head but doesn’t wanna say anything.”

Rin scoffed. “Didn’t look worried when he was yelling at me.”

“You made him yell at you.”

“I make everyone yell at me.”

“That’s a you problem.”

Rin kicked the table leg, gentle but not gentle. “…Yeah.”

The storm cracked the sky again, light splashing white across the room. Both of them flinched—not outwardly, not enough to acknowledge it. Just a twitch.

Kaiser’s fingers drifted upward, brushing the royalblue rose on his neck.

Slow circles, like he was soothing it.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think it was just a habit.

But really, his thumb pressed inward—just a little too hard—tracing the edges of ink like the pressure might drain something out of him.

His breathing went quieter.

The greenhead didn’t notice just yet. He was busy with his own subconscious spiral.

His nails scraped along his forearm in small, thoughtless arcs. Not digging—not enough to draw blood. Just scratching skin in a rhythm that betrayed something eroding.

He didn’t realise he was doing it though, which was more concerning in and of itself.

And neither of them realised the other was watching at one point.

Kaiser caught the motion from the corner of his eye but didn’t say anything because calling it out would be…naming it.

Naming it would make it real.

And real…shouldn’t be real.

Rin caught the blond pressing the tattoo, thumb shaking just a bit; but he looked away fast.

Not his business—or so he told himself.

So they both pretended.

“Hey,” Rin said again, more of a grunt this time.

“What?”

“You think he’s gonna…y’know—keep overthinking? For long?”

Kaiser shrugged with one shoulder, slow. “He overthinks because he gives a damn. You know that.”

"..."

"..."

“…Yeah.”

Rin stared at him, then at the wall, then at the window and the chaos behind the glass.

The lights flickered again, harder this time.

A sharp mechanical clunk echoed from the door—an electronic system resetting the wrong way, a little gremlin error hiding in the wiring.

The lock didn’t open. It locked twice instead.

Both of them looked up.

“…Did it just—?”

“Don’t.” Kaiser cut in. “If you jinx this, we die here.”

Rin scoffed at the exaggeration. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Kaiser tilted his head back, sighing through his nose. “Well, congrats. Looks like we’re roommates.”

Rin visibly scowled at that. “Don’t say ‘roommates’. Makes it sound disgustingly friendly.”

“Then stop making eye contact with me like it is.” the blond said it without looking at Rin, voice flat, almost bored, but the spark between them jumped anyway.

Rin rolled his eyes and turned away. “Shut up.”

A beat of agonising silence.

Rin broke it.

“Honestly? Better than being caught in the storm.”

Kaiser’s jaw ticked, a strange sense of recognition settling in him. “…Agreed.”

The said storm roared outside. The lock stayed red.

And for the first time, they weren’t enemies—not friends either, not even allies.

Just two idiots in a tiny room, equally haunted by the same boy who worried too much.

And the silence finally, finally, felt like something they could both sit in.

“So…” Rin muttered, tugging at one of the scabbed scratches near his wrist. “You and Isagi. What’s with that?”

Kaiser didn’t answer immediately. He dragged a thumb up his neck, brushing the tattoo, like he’s checking its position—but the greenhead caught the pressure behind the gesture. Too firm, not casual enough—a test run of control.

Kaiser shrugged. “Nothing’s ‘with’ anything.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“It wasn’t meant to.”

“…You like him, don’t you?”

The blond let out a breath that was half a laugh, half an exhale of annoyance.

“You say that like you’re not obsessed with him yourself.”

“I’m not obsessed.”

“You talk as if he’s yours, as if he’s the air you breathe.”

Rin threw him a glare, sharp and instinctive. “Say another poetic line like that and I’ll jump through the ceiling tiles.”

Kaiser smirked a little. “They’re metal reinforced. You’d just concuss yourself.”

“That was the point.”

The room quieted again. But they had opened the door now—not the physical one, that thing was as dead as Rin’s impulse control—but the conversation one.

Isagi’s name spun around in their minds like a distant echo.

Kaiser tapped his throat again. Rin scratched his forearm again. Both of them noticing, neither of them admitting.

“He’s…good.” Kaiser muttered, soft—too soft for a person like him.

“He’s— yeah.” the greenhead swallowed. “He’s…something.”

“I don’t get why he cares so much.”

“I do.”

Kaiser looked over. Really looked. “…Tell me, why?”

Rin’s fingers dug deeper into his skin now, red crescents rising like warning signs.

“He sees people.” he muttered. “Even the annoying ones. It's in his nature, he was born that way. He just...keeps noticing. A lot.”

"..."

"..."

“Annoying?” the blond echoed, acting like it was the only thing that caught his attention.

“You’re literally—”

He waved his hand vaguely, as if searching for an insult that captured Kaiser’s entire…Kaiser-ness. But words felt incompetent.

The said guy rolled his eyes. “Don’t strain your brain cells, there aren’t that many.”

“Screw you.”

“Don’t offer what you can’t deliver, buddy.”

“I’m gonna jump out the air duct.”

“Be my guest. Better than talking to me, right?”

Despite the bickering, the tension was different now—thinner, less like a warzone and more like two people circling the same wound from opposite sides.

Rin leaned his head against the wall and sighed.

The other shadowed him with a long stare. Quiet, unreadable.

Then Kaiser said, voice low: “He worries about you, you know.”

Rin didn’t answer for a long, long moment.

“…Yeah. I know.”

“…”

“…”

“Must be nice.”

Rin looked at him sharply—like he wasn’t expecting that sliver of truth.

And the blond instantly covered it up—chin lifted, humor sliding back like armor.

“Don’t get sentimental or whatever. This room’s too small for emotional vomit.”

Rin huffed half of a chuckle that was real.

Kaiser caught it.

They didn’t comment.

The storm cracked again, nearer this time. The emergency lamp flickered.

And in the flicker, both boys looked a little more human, a little more frayed, a little more exposed.

And neither of them said a damn thing about it.

Chapter Text

16/11/25, 9 AM…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Sh**ou👅: chat @everyone

Sh**ou👅 sent a location 📍

Sh**ou👅: all of u

EVERY SINGLE ONE of u ❗

is coming to the art exhibition starting at 8 pm *uses siren voice*

or

idk

ill figure something out to punish whoever doesnt show up 👿

Bachira: YES YES YES YES

ITS GON BE SO LIT

ISAGI UR COMING @Isagi

Isagi: I was already planning on it lol

Chigiri: about the punishment

how severe would it be?

Sh**ou👅: im very much into extreme bdsm

Sae: No you’re not

Plain Rin: I hope he’s not.

Otoya: we’ll be there fr

right karabro?

Karasugarbby: mhm

Hiori: u dont know the first thing abt art

Karasugarbby: im art

Yukimiya: I’d love to come

Nanase: Me too! 🥰

Reo: Same

Nagi: if reo is coming im co

Hiori: LMAO HE DIED TO A ZOMBIE MID SENTENCE

Plain Rin: Skill issue

Niko: fr

Nagi: rin u get lost in ur own mc world even when there r torches everywhere

ik u aint talkng bout skill issue

Plain Rin: You didn’t know what a crucifix was until you played Devour

Mf talking down on me

Have some common sense

Hiori: forget the crucifix

he didnt recognise jesus

how does one not recognise jesus

even the most atheist person FROM BIRTH would know abt him

Sh**ou👅: @Sae

Chigiri: how do u achieve this 😭

Isagi: Never put common sense and nagi in the same room

Plain Rin: He said “I thought that guy was a random pope or something”

Reo: Nagi…

Nagi: :x

Loki: Popes are almost never random though

Sh**ou👅 added Charles Chevalier

Bachira: AYY

CHARLIE

HI (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Loki: Oh great…

Lorenzo: HELLO CHARLETTO

Charles: BONJOURRRRR

Sh**ou👅: BONJOUR PETIT FRERE

CV?

Charles: BIEN BIEN MERCI BCP

Karasugarbby: all im hearing is croissant

Otoya: 🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐

Plain Rin: All I’m hearing is guillotine

Isagi: Of course 💞

Charles: omg frerot sae is here

HI FRA SAE

Sae: Don’t call me that

Charles: one day ull accept it 🥱

Sh**ou👅: chat meet charlouchet

my lilbro

Bachira: MINE TOO 💛🌻

and lokiko’s friend ( •̀ .̫ •́ )✧

Loki: Now “friend” is a strong word

Charles: ello ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Nananse: Hiiiii 😊

Kurona: Heyo

Hiori: hey (*￣▽￣*)ブ

Isagi: Helloo

Niko: hi

Aikunc: Niko? 🤨

Niko: what?

Aikunc: 🤨

Niko: tf u want u radioactive cabbage

go back to chernobyl and re-see the blue light

Karasugarbby: bro didnt even say anything 😭

Aikunc: Shh

I know what’s going on

Chigiri: care to share

Aikunc: Guys niko NEVER says hi to just any person

Charles: what does that mean? (⊙ˍ⊙)

Niko: omfg.

it was just a greeting

pls let only isagi do the overthinking here

anyone else fumbles like their parents

Barou: If you’re gonna do something then back it up shitty brat.

Be honest to yourself once and for all.

Niko: I JUST SAID HI??

HI????

Sh**ou👅: its okay lil nikotine

my bro is friendly ull get along in no time 💗

Bachira: NIKOTINE 😭

Aikunc changed Niko Ikki’s name to “Nikotine”

Aikunc: Payback

Nikotine: at least mine sounds cool mf

Lorenzo: nicotine is not cool twin

Nikotine: thats why i said SOUNDS cool

phonetically

holy fuck why is everyone illiterate

Charles: I AGREE IT SOUNDS COOL

YOU SOUND COOL TOO

WANNA BE FRIENDS 🤩

Nikotine: sure ig

Charles: YIPPIEEE

Plain Rin: You’re not fooling anyone bangs

Nikotine: kys rin UR not fooling anyone

hate it when fuckass hopeless romantics act like cold hearted cynics

Plain Rin: Ok Samara

Wrap it up

Chigiri: real samara is that glam guy or whatever his name was

Aikunc added Aryu Jyubei

Chigiri: you didnt have to do that but wtvr.

Aryu: Hello Chigiri ✨

Your profile picture appears glamorous, especially your hair 🎀

Mind sharing your hair care routine?

Chigiri: LEAVE ME ALONE FFS

Aryu: One product, I beg 🌷

Chigiri: i use the blood of the forsaken

Aryu: From where can I obtain such item?

Reo: It’s DIY

Just a knife is required

Sh**ou👅: @everyone dont forget abt the exhibition gng ❗❗❗❗

i WILL take attendance if i have to.

Plain Rin: Take my advice and abuse substance

Sh**ou👅: how bout i abuse ur asshole instead

Sae: Demon.

Sh**ou👅: BUT LASHESSSS >:C

Sae: Go help with the preparations or something

Sh**ou👅: is that an order pretty boy 😝😝🔥

Sae: If anything, it’s a cry for help

16/11/25, 8 PM…

By the time the clock slid toward 8 PM, the Fine Arts building looked like it had just chugged three Red Bulls and dared the night sky to fight it. The sun had vanished behind a violet horizon, leaving the campus buzzing under streetlamps that flickered like they were gossiping.

Inside, the exhibition hall glowed warm and golden, the kind of light that made everyone look slightly more interesting than they actually were. The tall matte-white walls drank in every drop of colour, and the polished concrete floors reflected silhouettes like watery shadows trying to eavesdrop.

It smelled like acrylic paint, cheap champagne, and that one fancy candle the department insisted was ‘affordable’. Soft ambient music floated through the room, something electronic and dreamy—like someone’s heartbeat wrapped in velvet.

Students, professors, and the occasional bewildered outsider drifted between artworks with tilted heads and paper cups. Every few minutes, someone let out an exaggerated wowww at a sculpture they definitely didn’t understand.

Isagi and Rin were by Bachira’s corner. One of his artworks had made it to the exhibition after all, despite being a first-year yet.

The painting shimmered under the gallery lights—a sunset so bright it looked like it was trying to break free from the canvas. The sea was unrealistically blue, the dolphins too acrobatic, and the sun—upon closer inspection—was made of actual glass shards arranged like a mosaic.

The image looked like a part of Bachira’s soul; warm, free, vibrant.

Karasu, Otoya and Yukimiya were at the statue section. Whilst Yukimiya was genuinely interested in the immaculate craftsmanship, the other two kept cracking jokes at every given chance.

“I’m as hard as the material they used.”

“Hahaha!”

“I’m begging you, be civil for once.”

Hiori and Kurona stood shoulder-to-shoulder, staring at a black-and-white portrait of a girl crying underwater.

“That’s…unsettling, unsettling.” the shark said, tilting his head.

“It’s giving ‘mental breakdown but aesthetic’” the cyanhead replied.

“Honestly?” Kurona nodded. “Mood, mood.”

Chigiri picked up a clay bowl like it was a mysterious artifact. Kunigami stood beside him with the vibe of a museum security guard who had already given up on humanity.

“You break it,” the ginger said, “you are paying for it.”

“I would never break art,” Chigiri insisted—right before the bowl almost slipped out of his fingers.

Kunigami caught it mid-air.

The princess blinked. “Okay maybe I would.”

Aryu chimed in out of nowhere. "That was GLAM!"

"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE."

On a TV, a video of a man peeling oranges in total silence looped endlessly.

Loki frowned. “Is he just…peeling?”

Lorenzo nodded. “Continuously.”

“…Why?”

“Art.”

Loki inhaled slowly. “I want to fight someone.”

The walkway outside was lined with floating lanterns in glass jars, glowing soft gold. Aiku and Sendou lingered there to escape the crowd.

Sendou exhaled. “This is the prettiest thing I’ve seen all semester.”

The other glanced at him. “You said that last week about a cookie.”

“That cookie was life-changing, Aiku.”

Nagi lounged on a velvet bench, arm draped over his eyes, sprawled like he owned the gallery.

Beside him, Reo chatted with anyone who looked at him twice, effortlessly popular as always.

“You good?” the chameleon asked without looking away.

“Wake me up if there’s free food,” the sloth mumbled.

“You’re at an art exhibition.”

“So that’s a no?”

Reo shook his head, smiling. “Unbelievable.”

Nagi sighed and flopped back down. “Wake me if something explodes.”

And then there was Shidou’s own corner.

Two paintings—one massive, one relatively smaller—had somehow turned that section of the hall into a gravitational event. People kept stopping there, whispering like they were dissecting an unsolved mystery.

It dominated the wall like a warning.

Abstract, technically—but no one had to think twice to know who it was about. Anyone who looked at it instantly muttered some variation of 'Oh, yeah. That’s him.'

The canvas stood enormous, swallowing its wall entire. Deep navy, storm-gray, and a violent streak of sharp white carved down the middle like a comet splitting the sky. The colors clashed in structured chaos, the kind of tension that felt…familiar.

A silhouette was hidden inside the abstraction—not literal, but unmistakable in the geometry. The posture suggested a person standing rigid, controlled, shoulders drawn slightly inward as if bracing against the world. One angled brushstroke hinted at a jawline kept permanently clenched. A man made of edges and swallowed words.

And the background?

Alive.

Around the silhouette, explosive streaks of vibrant teal and palevioletred in brutal textures scratched across the canvas, laced with shimmering strips of gold leaf. All of it felt like emotions slamming themselves at a barrier that refused to crack.

And in the far corner of the canvas laid a sentence, written in significantly small letters: ‘He moves like nothing is happening, but I feel everything in him.’

Everyone on campus who knew Sae and Shidou’s dynamic took one look and went; 'Oh, damn.'

Sae’s steps faltered at the gallery’s threshold, a quiet hesitation gnawing at him.

The hum of muted conversations seemed to vanish the moment his eyes landed on the canvas.

At first, it felt like staring into a storm, abstract and untamed. But then he saw it—himself.

Not literally, not like a photograph, but unmistakable: a silhouette carved from the chaos, slender and still, shoulders slightly drawn in, jawline just hinted at in a brushstroke. It was him, every contour speaking of his instinct to hide, yet also the quiet pull he exerted on the world around him. The hair, the posture, the impossible familiarity—it couldn’t be anyone else.

Sae’s chest tightened, a rush of warmth and disbelief. Shidou had seen him. Not just the surface—but the unseen corners, the parts he thought were invisible. And somehow, amidst the teal, violet-red, and gold, he understood; Shidou had captured what mattered most to him—the self he tried to hide, made radiant in the chaos.

He stepped closer, breath catching, unable to look away. Every stroke of color, every deliberate splash, was a confession. The silhouette in the storm wasn’t just an image—it was Sae, mirrored through Shidou’s eyes, untouchable and vulnerable all at once.

And in that moment, Sae didn’t just see the painting. He saw himself reflected in someone else’s understanding, and the quiet gravity of it nearly unmoored him.

“How did you—“ his words fell short as he took one look at the demon’s electric eyes.

Shidou smiled. “How did I manage to hide it from you? Painted the whole thing at the campus days ago, never brought it home. Couldn’t spoil the surprise now, could I?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Don’t worry, you look hotter in person.”

“I—this is… Why would you— Shidou.”

“You inspire me.” the blond shrugged nonchalantly.

“I shouldn’t.” Sae said quietly.

“Why not?”

And Sae had no answer. Because the truth is, he liked this. He liked being seen. He liked being understood. But above all; he kind of, sort of, definitely liked Shidou.

“…”

“You don’t have to like the art. Just…don’t hate the part of me that made it.” Shidou muttered with a rare hint of vulnerability.

Sae didn’t run away, didn’t outwardly deny anything. Just said:

“I could never hate you.”

“Am I supposed to pretend I’m not watching this?..” Niko scowled.

“Look at my bros, they're so cute!” Charles whisper-shouted.

Chapter Text

In the meantime…

Isagi was very much invested in Bachira’s work. He was grinning; wide, warm, painfully earnest. He looked like he wanted to wrap the canvas in a hug.

The vivid colours and the glass shards had added an illusionary abstractness to the whole thing, which just helped boost the fact that it wasn’t just a landscape.

It reflected him so well: the warmth of summer and the brightness of the morning sky. Isagi swore if he somehow touched the acrylic sun, his finger would burn.

Rin appeared disinterested—but only appeared so. The ravenette could see him stare at the colourful canvas with a default stoic expression, but keep staring nonetheless.

Bachira’s voice cut the inspection.  “Like it~?” he wrapped an arm around Isagi’s shoulder.

“I love it!” Isagi replied with a smile. “It’s like looking at you if you were a scenery.”

“I knew you’d like it!” the brunette let out a chuckle. “And what about you, Rin-chan?”

“…Why dolphins?”

“I like dolphins! You don’t?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Does that mean you don’t like it? ☹”

The greenhead let out a sigh. “It’s fine, I guess.”

“YIPPIE!” Bachira jumped in happiness.

Isagi let out a chuckle.

What he knew was that Bachira didn’t start out as sunshine. He became sunshine. The way a seed isn't born a tree but is grown into one.

He was born soft, warm, full of colour. But the world kept trying to dim him, like it didn’t know what to do with someone who sparkled in a way that wasn’t…normal.

Little Meguru was that kid.

The one running around barefoot, hair wild, pants stained with paint, humming melodies he never learned, just invented on the spot.

And always —always— looking over his shoulder.

Because he insisted he had a monster behind him.

Not a scary monster.

A friend.

Tall, shadowy, mismatched eyes, floating like smoke instead of walking.

“He helps me carry things.” Meguru would say proudly.

“He tells me stories.”

“He protects me.”

Kids freaked out, obviously.

He’d wave at empty air, hold conversations with silence, giggle at jokes no one else heard.

So when he approached other children like, “Wanna meet my monster?”

They’d sprint away screaming like they’d been chased.

Meguru tried. God, he tried.

He brought cookies to share, he drew pictures for kids during recess; he’d run up, beaming, eyes sparkling like ‘maybe this time’

Only to watch that sparkle shutter when they whispered he was weird.

Eventually, he stopped trying.

The monster became his only playmate; his confidant, his imaginary best friend.

Some days, the monster was huge and proud, towering like a guardian.

Other days, tiny enough to sit on his shoulder.

But always there. Always loyal.

Meguru never feared it.

He feared losing it.

He turned to drawing —then painting— like it was oxygen.

Sketchbooks filled up fast: monsters, dolphins, oceans, suns with jagged teeth, sunsets split into shards.

He’d sit in corners, legs crossed, tongue poking out slightly while he scribbled like he was trying to capture a whole universe before it slipped away.

And someone noticed.

His mother —warm-toned, paint smudged on her clothes, eyes tired but tender— saw him.

She never flinched at his monster, never told him to stop talking to empty air, never said he was strange.

She’d just cup his cheeks and whisper: “Every artist sees what others can’t, baby. That doesn’t make you weird. It makes you gifted.”

She taught him how to hold a brush, how to mix colours; how to make art loud, unapologetic, alive.

Their tiny apartment smelled like acrylic and comfort. There was always music playing, always sun creeping through curtains, always love.

As for his father?

A ghost, a blank page, a story never told.

Meguru didn’t care. He already had his monster and his mother—and eventually, he’d have Isagi:

The hallway smelled like sweat, marker ink, and teen angst. Students flooded out of third period like migrating birds.

Isagi stood in the stream, backpack slung over one shoulder, when he heard it: a thud against metal.

A choked sound. Then a voice dripping with cruelty.

A freshman —tiny, trembling— was pressed against a locker by a huge upperclassman. The bully was talking low, that venomous tone predators used when they thought no one could touch them.

Isagi didn’t even think.

He stepped forward, calm but unyielding.

“Hey,” he said, voice steady. “Leave him alone.”

The bully turned, sized the ravenette up.

Clearly decided he didn’t care.

“Mind your business.” he growled and shoved Isagi back—hard.

Isagi stumbled a step, shoes screeching on the tile floor.

But he didn’t fall, didn’t waver.

He pushed his hair out of his face and stared the bully down with this quiet fire that assured he was not scared of him.

The bully rolled his shoulders, preparing for round two.

But that was when everything shifted.

Because another presence stepped into the edge of the hallway’s fluorescent glow, a boy Isagi had seen before in class.

Meguru.

He looked like someone carved out of sunlight and mischief; with wild strands of hair, a paint-stained school uniform, and eyes so bright they almost glowed.

He walked like he was approaching a stage, like the moment needed him. And maybe it did, indeed.

And he stopped right between Isagi and the bully.

For a second, the whole hallway fell weirdly still.

The bully scowled. “And who the fuck are you?”

Meguru tilted his head and smiled; sweet, eerie, too calm.

“He says you should stop.”

The bully blinked. “Who?”

Meguru’s smile widened just a bit. Not threatening, but unsettling in that way a candle flickers before blowing out.

“My monster.”

A few kids nearby froze. Some exchanged looks, some muttered.

Meguru didn’t care.

He kept his gaze locked on the bully, as if listening to something only he could hear.

Isagi watched, stunned.

Everything about this boy was strange—but not the dangerous kind of strange.

The brilliant kind.

The kind that sparkled in its own language.

Meguru took a step closer to the bully, voice quieter now—gentle, but with steel braided inside.

“He doesn’t like when people get hurt.” he said. “Especially small ones.”

The bully shifted, glancing over his shoulder like something might actually be standing there.

And Meguru, as if hearing something, nodded once.

“He says you should walk away.” he added softly. “Before he gets…annoyed.”

That did it.

The bully scoffed, muttered something under his breath, and backed off—not because he believed in monsters, but because there was something unnerving in the boy’s certainty.

Something that made the hallway colder.

He shoved past the crowd and disappeared.

Silence lingered.

The freshman bolted, the onlookers dispersed.

And Meguru finally turned toward Isagi.

Up close, sunlight lived in his eyes; a fragile, shimmering warmth.

“You okay?” he asked, voice suddenly normal—no theatrics, no weird cadence. Just gentle.

The ravenette blinked at him.

“…Yeah. You didn’t have to jump in like that.”

Meguru shrugged, grinning lopsidedly.

“I hate bullies.” he said simply. “They’re too violent.”

Isagi huffed a small laugh. “That was… a creative way to handle him.”

“Oh,” Meguru said, as if surprised. “Thanks. The monster says you were brave.”

Isagi raised an eyebrow. “…You can tell him I appreciate it.”

Meguru nodded seriously.

“I will.”

And right there—in that weird, chaotic, heroic moment—something clicked quietly between them.

A moon recognising a sun. A sun finding someone unafraid of its bright, strange warmth.

Meguru didn’t know it yet, but that was the moment Isagi stepped into his life—and never, ever stepped back out.

Later that day…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Sh**ou👅: so chat

what yall think abt the exhib 😘😘

Isagi: It was greatt

I loved the artworks you and bachira made

Plain Rin: They were tepid

Isagi: What he means that they were beautiful but im too much of an asscrack to admit that 🤍

Rin: Kys

Bachira: TY ISAGIIII ヾ(^▽^*)))

AND TY RIN (SORT OF)

Sh**ou👅: start digging up yo buth twin 🔥🥀

Bachira: STOP SAYING THAT OUT OF NOWHERE LMAO 😭

Yukimiya: It was awesome, Shidou and Bachira

Keep up the good work 😄

Otoya: bro were them statues greek gods or sum like holllyyy

Karsugarbby: otoya literally said im as hard as the material they used

Aikunc: LMAOO

Lorenzo: GOOD ONE

Nikotine: sick bitch

Hiori: i think i let go of a part of my soul in there

Kurona: Is that a compliment?

Hiori: id like to think it is

Kunigami: Chigiri almost broke an artpiece.

Isagi: WHAT

Chigiri: KEY WORD IS ALMOST

Aryu: Kunigami glam-tastically handled the situation ✨

Chigiri: he actually did 😭

Charles: CETAIT FANTASTIQUE FREROT

Sh**ou👅: MERCI BCP PETIT

Nikotine: stop speaking croissant nobody gets u

Plain Rin: Fucking piss heads

Isagi: PISSHEADS

IM SENT LMAO

Charles: I LOVE PISSING 💛

Sh**ou👅: then my boy bachi is piss AND poop 🔥🔥

Bachira: LMAOO 😭😭

Loki: What even the fuck was that orange peeling thingy

People call that art?

Reo: Art is subjective

Loki: Fuck the subject who made it then

Lorenzo: chillacco lokinocci

it was abt patience yk 🔥

smth u clearly lack

Loki: I will pull your fake teeth out one by one

Lorenzo: ill js buy another set lolz

Aikunc: Do you shit money or sum

Otoya: lemme be ur toilet paper fr

Nikotine: ew ew ew

kys

Nagi: i dnt rmmbr wht happend

 Reo: You slept through the whole thing, Nagi

Of course you don’t remember anything

Nagi: if there ws free food id be awak

Barou: Fucking type properly you shithead.

Nagi: dnt tell me wht 2 do

we have democ

u no legal king

Lorenzo: democ goes hard 🔥

Hiori: ok guys

can we talk abt shidous painting

i was flabbergasted

Nikotine: oh right what even was that like

Chigiri: romantism goes insane

bro brought love back from the renaissance

Isagi: Let me tell you my jaw dropped to the FLOOR when i saw it

Plain Rin: Show-off.

Isagi: OH COME ON

IT WAS SO FUCKING LOVELY

STOP IT RIN YOURE NOT A SOUR PATCH TAKE YOUR IDENTITY BACK

Plain Rin: It was unnecessary

Isagi: Sigh

Sendou: Wait whats going on

We were outside the whole time

Karasugarbby: apparently shidou painted sae and it was in the exhibition

Aikunc: Oh

Damn

Like

Damn

Kurona: I liked it

Raichi: IT WASNT BAD

Yukimiya: It was an awesome thing to do

Conveyed beautifully

Reo: I agree

Sh**ou👅: TYSM GNG LOVE YA ALL 😝😝💖💖

Lorenzo: @Sae

what do u have to say saello

Sae: I am exercising my right to remain silent

Loki: Haha

Don’t ghost him too

Sae: Didn’t your mom ghost you

Oh wait

She WAS a ghost mb

Loki: .

Chigiri: LMAOOO GET SHIT ON

Plain Rin: Lol

Isagi: SAE YOU DIDNT

Lorenzo: sae dont

Sae: Tell your imbecilic bf to shut his trap then

Sh**ou👅: sae chan how bout i come over 😘🤩

Plain Rin: No.

Sh**ou👅: i dont recall u going by the name sae

 Plain Rin: No.

Sae: I’ll come over instead

Sh**ou👅: SUREE

Isagi: Wait a second

Why the fuck is kaiser still in this gc

Hiori: let him stay pretty pls

Kurona: Why do you want him here so much loll

 Hiori: i get off on drama

kaisagi givin me lots

Yukimiya: Kai-what now?

Nikotine: its kaiser and isagi lmao

im a rinsagi stan tho

Aikunc: Im guessing thats rin and isagi?

Hiori: kaisagi is the best bro

theyre like

idk

hydrogen and oxygen

most natural pair

and there are two H’s bcuz isagi has two personalities

Chigiri: LMAO

i fucking hate that blue rose tho

disapproved

rinsagi better

Isagi: Im here hello??

Remove that bitch

Now

Nikotine removed Michael Kaiser

Isagi: Thank you

Hiori: this isnt over isagi

At Shidou’s apartment…

Sae didn’t even know why he agreed to come over.

Well—he did know. But he was ignoring that part of his brain, the part that went a little staticky whenever Shidou smiled at him. Or whenever he leaned in too close. Or whenever he touched him in any sort of way. Point made.

Shidou’s apartment was small, artsy, cluttered in the most intentional way. Half-finished canvases leaned against the walls like sleeping animals, brushes sat in jars of murky water and more. He did have a separate art studio room but everything was still everywhere. The whole place smelled faintly of citrus soap and acrylic paint.

Shidou opened the door like he’d been waiting right behind it, hand still on the knob, hair down a little messy as if he’d been running his fingers through it too much.

“Hey.” he said, voice uncharacteristically light and warm.

Sae stepped inside, stiff posture, hands in pockets like he was afraid of touching anything—even the air.

Which was odd, because Sae had been to this place more times than he could count. He had stayed over multiple times, knew the location of every piece of kitchen utensil, knew the way Shidou drew the curtains in a certain way so there was always some sunlight in the room.

But right now, something heavy was settled in his chest. Something named and talked about—but not quite, not fully.

Shidou moved around the apartment with this casual grace Sae hated for making him feel things.

He tossed a hoodie over a chair, nudged aside a stack of sketchbooks, and gestured vaguely at the couch.

“You can sit anywhere,” he said. “Except there.”

He pointed at a cushion covered in paint.

Sae wasn’t even surprised.

He nodded silently and sat somewhere aggressively safe.

For a minute they didn’t talk.

It was comfortable and familiar for Shidou, agonising for Sae.

And then—of course—it came up.

Shidou stood in front of his window, fingers playing with the curtain cord, eyes flickering with nerves he almost hid.

“So…” he inhaled. “You saw the painting.”

Sae froze.

Oh God. Not this again.

He’d been trying so hard to not think about it—the silhouette, the colors, the way Shidou saw him without ever actually looking at him.

“Yeah,” Sae said, voice too quiet. “I saw it.”

Shidou glanced back at him, the smallest smile ghosting his lips.

“What’d you think?”

Sae swallowed.

His chest did that annoying tight thing again.

“It was…something.”

Shidou raised a brow. “Something?”

“A lot.” Sae corrected quickly. “It was a lot.”

Shidou laughed, but it came out softer than usual—almost shy.

“I didn’t think you’d notice yourself in it.” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sae blinked. “How could I not?”

The blond’s eyes dropped to the floor.

“I didn’t mean for it to be obvious.”

Sae leaned back on the couch, heart doing full gymnastics. “Shidou, it was literally my shape. My posture. My—” he waved vaguely. “—whole…vibe.”

Shidou looked mortified in that cute way where his ears turned red first.

“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you.” he murmured. “I just…paint what matters.”

Sae’s breath caught.

Matters.

He hated how that word burrowed under his ribs like a secret.

“What does that mean?” Sae asked, too quickly.

The artist hesitated. He walked towards him; slow, unsure steps—like approaching a wild animal.

“I mean…” he knelt by the coffee table, fingers tracing invisible lines on its surface. “You have this way of being distant but…still present. Like a storm in human form. You hide so much, but you don’t disappear.”

His voice dipped lower.

“I guess I wanted to paint the part of you I can never quite reach.”

Sae forgot how lungs worked.

He stared at Shidou like he was a painting himself—something layered, textured, impossible.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Sae whispered.

Shidou lifted his eyes, warm and steady.

“I wanted to.”

Silence stretched between them—electric, delicate, humming like guitar strings pulled too tight.

Sae’s throat felt thick.

“…It was beautiful.” he admitted. “So beautiful it pissed me off.”

Shidou barked out a laugh. “Pissed you off?”

“Because you made me look—” he gestured again, desperately. “—like…I’m worth painting.”

Shidou’s smile softened, turned almost sad.

“You are.”

Sae had to look away.

Because Shidou said it so simply, so truthfully, so devastatingly.

Like he wasn’t aware he’d just cracked Sae open with a single sentence.

Shidou was still kneeling by the coffee table, fingers smudged faintly with drying paint. Sae sat rigid on the couch, pretending very hard not to melt from that last ‘You are.’ bomb.

The air between them had settled into this warm, humming stillness.

Then Sae exhaled softly.

He didn’t know where the words came from—maybe from the art, maybe from the intimacy, maybe because Shidou just had that effect on him.

“You…talk like someone who’s lived ten lives,” the teal-eyed boy said quietly. “Like you’ve seen things. Felt things.”

Shidou’s hand paused mid-motion. A tiny flicker passed over his face—nostalgia with a shadow stitched to it.

“Maybe I have.” he said with a small smile. “Or maybe I’ve just started younger than most.”

Sae’s brows drew together.

He knew the broad strokes of Shidou’s story—all of them.

But the tone in Shidou’s voice…that was sort of new.

Soft, remembering. Not hurting.

“Is this about—” Sae began gently.

“France?” the blond finished for him, still smiling but looking somewhere past the room. “Yeah.”

He shifted, sitting cross-legged on the carpet now, like he was grounding himself.

His eyes had that faraway glow—the one people get when they see a memory overlaying the present.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Most people think orphanage is the sad part of the story.”

He let out a breathy laugh.

“For me, it was the part that saved me.”

Sae relaxed a little, listening.

Shidou brushed a loose strand of hair aside, the pink-dyed ends glinting faintly.

“I don’t remember the accident clearly anymore.” he said. “Just…the color white. Broken glass. Charles says that means my brain is protecting me. I think he’s being dramatic.”

He shrugged lightly.

“Six-year-old me went from Japan to France in a single day, apparently. One moment I had parents, the next moment I had…a suitcase and a room full of strangers.”

His voice didn’t tremble. It wavered like sunlight on water—gentle, uneven, but warm.

“But the orphanage,” he continued. “was loud. And messy. And full of broken crayons and mismatched socks and kids who snored too loudly.”

He laughed softly.

“And it became home.”

Sae found himself leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

“That’s where you met Charles.” he said.

Shidou’s eyes softened instantly, like someone lit a candle behind them.

“My little chaos goblin...” he murmured fondly. “He was five when I met him. Blond as a lemon, missing his two front teeth, and absolutely convinced he was a knight.”

A grin tugged at his lips.

“First thing he ever said to me was, ‘You’re tall. You can be my dragon.’”

Sae snorted. “Did you say yes?”

“I absolutely did.” Shidou laughed. “He climbed on my back and tried to ‘slay’ me with a plastic sword. Nearly took my eye out.”

His laughter softened into something quieter—something tender.

“We became brothers before either of us understood what that meant.” he played with the sleeve of his hoodie absentmindedly. “He’d sneak into my bed at night when he had nightmares. I’d help him tie his shoelaces. He’d steal bread rolls from the cafeteria for me.”

His voice dropped.

“We grew up together. Lost together. Found together.”

A beat of silence passed.

“...And art?” Sae asked.

Shidou looked up at him, smiling the way someone smiles when remembering their first love.

“Oh, that found me too.” he said. “There was this caretaker—Madame Colette. She painted in her free time. I used to watch her mix colors. One day she gave me a brush, and…”

He shrugged again, helpless and soft.

“I never put it back down.”

Sae’s chest tightened—not in pity, but in awe.

Because Shidou was sitting there with pink hair, eyeliner smudged from earlier, hands stained with colors—and yet speaking about his past with such lightness, such freedom.

“Despite everything,” Shidou went on. “I loved that place. I loved the noise. The found-family stuff. Charles calling me big brother before he could even pronounce the ‘r’ properly...”

He laughed.

“That orphanage felt more like home than anywhere else ever did.”

Sae stared at him for a long moment.

“You talk about it like it was…warm,” he said softly.

Shidou met his eyes—steady, open, unguarded.

“It was.” he whispered. “Because I wasn’t alone.”

Something unspoken rippled through the room then—gentle, aching, bright.

And Sae realized with a quiet, uncomfortable clarity that Shidou wasn’t alone now either.

Not really. Not anymore.

And he knew he would never let that happen anyway. Not on his watch.

Chapter Text

Research expo day…

The hall thrummed like a living thing. A sea of chatter, paper posters, laser pointers, and —on top of all— intellectual flexing. Students in crisp blazers, professors with coffee breath and dead eyes, high schoolers pretending they understood quantum graphs.

Isagi’s poster glowed under white lights:

‘Cognitive Partitioning in Multi-Step Decision Trees’

He stood there —easy smile, button-shirt sleeves rolled up, notebook in one hand— surrounded by students firing questions at him like he was some rock star.

Because, well… he kind of was. In an academic sense.

Isagi had that annoying combination: genius brain and friendly demeanor. People loved him for his mind and his personality. Like if Einstein and a warm cup of chai had a son.

Meanwhile across the hall, Kaiser’s poster sat like a bruise:

‘Trauma Cognition: Memory Reshaping in High-Stress Youth Environments.’

Heavy, dark, quietly brilliant—reflecting him.

And Kaiser stood in front of it like a phantom—posture sharp, eyes half-lidded, every line of his face carved with something he’d never admit hurt. Professors spoke to him with careful admiration.

He didn’t smile much. He never really needed to. His intelligence was the kind that stared you down.

Rin walked in with his high school’s ‘elite students’ group—a cluster of nerds led by a tired teacher whispering “Don’t embarrass me…” under her breath.

But the moment they pushed past the doors, a few heads turned.

Then more.

Whispers rose like static:

“Is that him?”

“Sae’s little brother?”

“He looks just like him.”

“Think he’ll be on Sae’s level?”

The words hit Rin like cold rain sliding down the back of his neck.

He kept walking fast; chin down, expression blank. But his fists were curling in his pockets.

He felt that prickling sensation underneath his skin again, the one that refused to let go despite being scratched to oblivion.

Rin was used to being ‘Sae Itoshi's little brother.’

And he hated it with a special type of sharpness that could cut marble. He hated the weight named Itoshi that sat heavily on his shoulder, wished he could rip it off of his birth certificate.

He didn’t even glance at his group before veering off to Isagi’s booth, magnetized.

The ravenette noticed him instantly, and his whole face lit.

“Rin! Hey— over here!”

Rin’s spine loosened by exactly 0.01 millimeters.

His safe person.

His rival, sort of?

His…something.

“Hey.” Rin muttered; slipping beside him, avoiding eye contact but standing close enough that their sleeves brushed.

Isagi casually shifted so Rin didn’t have a direct line of sight to the crowd.

He didn’t comment on how Rin’s breathing was a little too shallow.

Kaiser spotted Isagi and Rin together and immediately rolled his eyes.

Of course those two found each other. Two braincells linked by fate and questionable life choices.

He strode over, hands in pockets, expression the usual mixture of annoyance and curiosity.

“Well, well…” the blond drawled, stopping in front of them. “Didn’t know this expo accepted toddlers.”

Rin’s jaw flexed.

Isagi sighed.

“Kaiser. Don’t start.”

The said person smirked—sharp, cruel, but amused. “Relax. I was talking about you.”

Isagi’s eyebrows shot up. “YOU CAME AT ME FIRST—!”

And just like that, the rivalry started buzzing in the air like neon.

Kaiser loved annoying Isagi. He was his designated enrichment activity.

And Isagi? He gave it right back.

Two geniuses, one top spot; and their egos were allergic to losing.

Rin could only sigh at their bickering.

Then the crowd shifted. A cluster of students drifted toward Isagi’s poster; smiles too wide, eyes a little too bright. One boy —slick hair, designer hoodie, the kind that grins like he owns any room— stopped directly in front of Isagi.

“Wow. This is…really impressive.” the student said, leaning a little too close, voice thick with something suggestive. “I mean, your breakdown of decision trees? Genius. Just…wow.”

Isagi blinked, then tilted his head. “Thanks.” he said politely, genuinely, completely missing the lingering edge in the guy's tone.

Kaiser, standing to the side, froze mid-breath. He noticed instantly—the gaze, the leaning shoulder, the micro-flirt.

Rin’s jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed. He had noticed too. How could he not? Anyone who wasn't Yoichi-dense-Isagi could.

The student smiled wider, nudged closer, hand brushing the edge of Isagi’s notebook. “So…are you always this…approachable? I mean, I usually don’t talk to geniuses, but like— wow.”

Isagi smiled, utterly oblivious. “Approachable? Sure, I guess. Whatever that means...”

Kaiser rolled his eyes so sharply it could've slipped into his cranium. Rin’s hands curled into fists.

Then the boy’s gaze flicked, caught Rin’s profile. He leaned in, grin splitting, voice dripping with faux admiration:

“Wait…aren’t you Sae’s little brother? That prodigy Sae? Who literally crushed this expo a couple years ago?”

Rin’s blood went cold.

Kaiser’s eyes sharpened. He easily recognized the pattern —the way the kid was setting up comparison, forcing identity against expectation— it was here.

Isagi frowned, annoyed at the interruption. He thought: Why even bring that up? What did he try to achieve with that?

The student lingered, waiting for Rin’s reaction, oblivious to the storm he’d just stepped into.

Rin barely had a second to process the student’s comment before a shadow fell across his line of sight.

Professor Luna; sharp suit, sharp eyes, sharper smile. His polished charm seemed to mask the quiet malice underneath.

The other students quickly walked away, not wanting to be in the professor’s vicinity too much.

“Ah,” Luna said; tilting his head, voice smooth, like warm syrup—but every word a blade. “You must be Sae’s younger brother. Quite the legacy to uphold, isn’t it?”

Kaiser stiffened. Immediate recognition lit in his brain. Flattery, comparison, pressure. Classic...

Isagi tensed, annoyed. He didn’t read the manipulation at first; he just didn’t like the man. No one did. Not really.

Luna circled Rin slowly, eyes sweeping over him like he was cataloging weaknesses. “I hear you’re looking at applied mathematics. Strategic management, perhaps? Following the path carefully mapped out by…your sibling.”

Rin’s chest tightened. His internal spiral ticked a notch higher.

Kaiser noticed every micro-cue: shoulder tilt, smile that didn’t reach the eyes, phrasing designed to force doubt. His jaw set.

No matter how much the blond disliked the younger Itoshi, he wouldn't let a piece of garbage like Luna manipulate someone —for no reason, too— in front of him.

Isagi’s brows furrowed, hands clenching lightly. Annoying dipshit, he thought. He wouldn't allow the sly man to get into his friend's head, especially about a topic as sensitive as this for Rin.

Luna leaned in slightly, lowering his voice, all politeness:

“I mean, it's an interesting choice. I wonder…will you match the brilliance, or merely echo it?”

Kaiser’s teeth ground. He saw the trap instantly.

Rin’s head buzzed, heart hammered. Something inside him sliced cleanly down the middle. His vision tunneled slightly.

Sae’s shadow felt like it was sitting on his shoulders; heavy, humid, unchanged since childhood.

He remembered:

Nii-chan teaching him multiplication at the ripe age of five, guiding his hand exactly how he wrote numbers.

Nii-chan showing him how to organise notes; color-coded, rigid, perfect—and Rin mimicking it because what else did he know?

Nii-chan choosing applied math, and Rin deciding —no, copying— the same path without ever asking if he even liked it.

If nii-chan liked it, it was worth liking; so Rin liked. If nii-chan did it, it was worth doing; so Rin did.

Nii-chan's posture.

Nii-chan's tone.

Nii-chan's vocabulary.

Nii-chan's pace when he walked.

Rin had mirrored all of it.

He didn’t feel like he had an identity. He had a blueprint. Someone else’s blueprint.

The prodigy’s blueprint.

He remembered being seven and telling a teacher:

“When I grow up, I’ll be exactly like nii-chan.”

The teacher had smiled back then.

He didn’t understand that. Back then, he didn’t know he had just declared himself a sequel.

Now he did.

Now it tasted bitter.

Kaiser’s tone was low, cold, perfectly even: “Professor Luna,” he said, stepping forward. “Not subtle today, are we?”

Isagi mirrored him, shifting slightly, putting himself between Rin and Luna. “Honestly, this isn’t a debate hall. You’ve made your point.”

Luna blinked, surprised for half a second. He was used to people bowing, to fear or admiration coating every exchange.

Kaiser leaned just enough, voice like ice. “You really think clever phrasing hides your agenda? It doesn’t.”

Isagi added, tone clipped, direct: “It’s time to disengage. Public humiliation isn’t your domain when it's you.”

The hall didn’t notice but Luna’s subtle smirk faltered. His polished menace flickered for a heartbeat. Both Isagi and Kaiser were fully aware of what he was trying, and they weren’t going to let Rin become the victim.

Luna straightened, a glint of irritation passing over his carefully crafted polite mask. “Very well…” he said, backing up a step. “Enjoy your…presentations.”

The hall got too loud, too bright. Voices smeared together, someone’s laugh spiked—sharp in his ear, posters looked like they were tilting.

Too many people. Too many eyes. Too many whispers of "Sae’s brother."

Rin’s heartbeat stuttered. His fingers twitched for stimulus, for something to ground him.

Isagi saw it instantly.

Kaiser saw it too—just slower, because he wasn’t quite emotionally invested.

He spoke first though; voice low, almost casual:

“Hey, kid. Question for you.”

Rin blinked sharply—dragged from panic into analysis by a single question mark.

Kaiser continued: “Do you actually want to take shitty Sae’s major? Or is it just muscle memory?”

Cold. Or simply neutral.

But those two sentences sliced directly into Rin’s spiral, gave his brain something to chew on instead of drowning.

It steadied him. Even just slightly.

Enough.

Kaiser wasn’t comforting him. He was simply curious. But sometimes curiosity hits harder than empathy.

On the other hand; Isagi didn’t speak, he acted.

He gently slipped a capped pen into Rin’s hand; a familiar texture, a grounding object, tactile relief.

The greenhead instinctively curled his fingers around it.

Then Isagi angled his body just enough to block half the crowd from Rin’s line of sight. A protective position disguised as casual leaning.

Then, in a soft voice meant only for the younger boy:

“Breathe, okay?”

Not commanding, not coaxing. Only offering a rhythm.

And Rin followed it.

Inhale. Hold. Exhale.

The noise faded, the lights steadied, his pulse synced to Isagi’s steadiness.

A few seconds —maybe a minute— passed.

Then Rin swallowed hard; grounding in the pen, the breathing, the sharpness of Kaiser’s question still ringing in his mind.

He whispered, almost angrily:

“…I don’t know who I am.”

Isagi blinked, gently.

Kaiser raised a brow, intrigued.

Rin curled the pen tighter in his fist.

“I keep chasing nii-chan. But I don’t even know if I want what he wants.”

His voice cracked slightly, quiet but real.

“And I hate— I hate that everyone looks at me and thinks of him. Like I’m only his…shadow. Like I’m not even a real person unless I’m following his path.”

Isagi looked at him with tenderness.

Kaiser looked at him like he was studying a psychological phenomenon. Typical of him.

Then the ravenette said softly:

“Compare your strategy, Rin. Not your name. That's pointless”

Rin’s eyes flicked up, focusing on Isagi’s calm demeanor. His internal storm slowed, almost enough to breathe through the static.

Kaiser watched, fascinated, arms crossed. He wasn’t helping. He was observing, learning. He didn’t care if Rin felt better. But the way the younger boy’s body shifted, micro-calm, tiny recalibrations—it was interesting.

The greenhead closed his fingers around the pen, held it like an anchor. His internal gaze shifted from Sae’s shadow to the small, grounded reality in front of him. Not comforted, not soothed; but stable enough to process, to survive, to exist in this chaotic hall without crumbling entirely.

The crowd roared around them, papers shuffled, laser pointers cut across surfaces, and Rin —still shaking, still raw— found a sliver of himself he could call his own.

Not Sae. Not anyone else. Just…Rin.

In the meantime…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Lorenzo: so apparently

the first femboy in history was found in 18th century

his name is le chevalier d’eon

@Charles 🤩

Sae: Why did you say it like it’s an animal species 💀

Loki: ARE YOU STUPID OR JUST INTENTIONALLY DENSE

CHEVALIER MEANS CAVALRY YOU FUCKING COXCOMB

IT LITERALLY SAYS “KNIGHT D’EON” RIGHT THERE

I EXPLAINED THIS TO YOU

Sh**ou👅: chill fam 😭😭🥀

Bachira: start digging up yo buth twin 🥀

Sh**ou👅: freak equivalent of "bless" fr

Charles: OMG JULIIII UR LITERALLY PROTECTIMG MY HONNEURR o(TヘTo)

Loki: It’s not about you brat

Charles: i love u too julibully q(≧▽≦q)

Sh**ou👅: JULIBULLY LMAO

NEAT

Nikotine: who tf says coxcomb

Otoya: what does it even mean bru

Karasugarbby: cox is just cocks in disguise

Chigiri: you must love them

Karasugarbby: i do love mine ngl

Reo: You’re talking princess?

Chigiri: YOURE talking???

reo dont test my patience

my blackmail folder is full of your pathetic self

Reo: Wow

And here I thought we were friends

How naive of me

Chigiri: dont forget the nights i spent comforting u

Nagi: princess surprisingly gives good advice tho

Chigiri: tell that to your bf

he doesnt LISTEN

Reo: Bitch you speak in tree metaphors

Fuck you want me to do?

Hiori: sure ur not pmsing and princess ends up irritating u?

Reo: Sigh

No

Princess just gives shitty advice

Chigiri sent an attachment:

                Me: youre mad at an apple tree for not giving you strawberry

                and youre saying if he loved me enough he would give me that strawberry no matter what

                but he grew up with an apple tree seed

                he doesnt even wanna be strawberry

                you hold him accountable for all the strawberry you never recieved in your life

                if you walk away from under that apple tree, youll see the strawberries

                but youre sitting and weeping in its shade

Karasu: solid advice

Otoya: in conclusion pals

text ur ex

Reo: I noticed that subtle hint too

Chigiri: overly simplified and mf still doesnt get it

Nikotine: thats not enough

he needs razor language

Hiori: LMAO

niko this specific chat is not grass-less enough for that reference

Nagi: i aint reading allat

@Hiori @Nikotine @Plain Rin hop onto paranormica

Sh**ou👅: rinrin is at the research expo with isaisa 😘😘

Nagi: oh :x

Hiori: ill find a 4th dw

Sae: Rin was selected too?

Aikunc: You live in the same apt how do u not know

Nikotine: no cuz why is sofatoshi surprised

rin gets like straight a’s ofc hes selected for the elite group

Kurona: Ur just mad u didnt get selected

Sendou: SOFATOSHI LMAO

Lorenzo: accurate 🤙🤙

Sh**ou👅: no cuz my boo is so smart that profs dont take his attendance anymore

he literally studies on sofa and ends up with a 4.0 gpa 💞💞💞

Sae: Luna is an exception

That motherfucker won’t let it slide

Aikunc: Im pretty sure that blond centipede orders the devil around

Karasugarbby: he gives off mastermind villain vibes

Lorenzo: snuffy better 💪

Sae: Noa better actually

Snuffy talks too much

Otoya: NOA IS A REAL PERSON?

i thought noa was a myth whats goin on

Karasugarbby: otoya what 💀😭

Yukimiya: Noel Noa is very much a real professor 😀😀

I think Sae is the only one here who takes his class though

Aikunc: I also thought that man was an urban legend

Like a hallway ghost

What is he like sae

Sae: He’s a social reject

Sh**ou👅: baby thats u 💕

Charles: what does social reject even mean (ง •_•)ง

Loki: I’ll explain it to you later

Otoya: i want proof that noa is a living human being

Karasugarbby: good luck with that twin

Chapter Text

Late evening…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Otoya Eita added Bunny Iglesias

Otoya Eita added Michael Kaiser

Otoya: before the older itoshi and puzzles fry me LEMME EXPLAIN

chat

i jus realized smth crazy

i need them to see

@Bunny @Lorenzo @Sae @Kaiser

put tgt the first letters of them mfs first names 😹

Sae: 😐

Kaiser: Haha so funny

Bunny: It is what it is 🤷‍♂️

Loki: Sigh…

Charles: blsk ? (。_。)

Nikotine: FIRST names dumbass

its bdsm

wait

.

WHAT

Lorenzo: BAHAHAH

Karasugarbby: LMAOAO

THE HORROR IN NIKOS RESPONSE

Aikunc: YO BRAT HOW DO U KNOW ABT BDSM

Barou: It’s probably you who influenced him, fucking split-in-half zany.

Hiori: IM ROLLING LMAO

Chigiri: MF HOW DID U EVEN REALIZE THIS

Otoya: pwoud of me for my cognitive abilites s-senpai? uwu 👉👈🥺

Reo: I hope a mammoth runs you over for doing that.

You’d be doing a great job at leading scientists into realizing that they were never extinct in the first place.

What you did was so fucking embarrassing that it can possibly mess with every animal’s DNA worldwide to the point of all of them growing wings and flying all the way over to Tokyo to take you down.

You’re a global biohazard.

Raichi: HES RIGHT SHITHEADS

THAT SHIT WAS SO SHITTING CRINGE MY TEETH SHRUNK IN REMISSION

Otoya: i was js kiddin fam 😭🙏

Reo: I wish your dad was kidding when he said he cut a hole into his condom

Hiori: CHILL?

Nanase: That sounds so rude 😥

Yukimiya: Oh that’s…

Chigiri: reo did u and nagi argue or what 💀

Nagi: no :x

reo y r u bein mean

Aikunc: a b c

Sendou: d e f

>> Replying to Kaiser: Haha so funny

Isagi: Kys

Kaiser: 💙

Isagi: Trip over a construction site and fall face-flat into wet cement

Kaiser: Whatever you say, Yoichi

Hiori: tell me yall see the vision

Nikotine: WHAt vision exactly

more like a mirage

Chigiri: brother i think you got isagi blocked or sum

somehow his texts are invisible to u

Hiori: denial is a river in egypt

Bachira: UR HUSBAND IS GAY WOO 😝😝😝

Charles: OH MICKEY UR SO FINEE SO FINE U BLOW MY MIND （＾∀＾）ﾉｼ

Kurona Ranze added Alexis Ness

Kurona: Hey

Ness: Oh hi

Kaiser: Alexis was machst du zum fuck hier?

Ness: Nix spezielles? 😅

Otoya: yukki pookie can u translate @Yukimiya

Yukimiya: “Alexis what the fuck are you doing here?” “Nothing special?”

Nagi: who is ness again

Isagi: The clown’s lapdog lol

Yukimiya: Isagi how about you tone it down? 😀

Kurona: Isagi hes not a dog

Hes cool

I swear

Dont be mean

Ness: It’s fine Ranze I don’t care

Hiori: ranze? 🤨

Kaiser: End the conspiracy theories, you fucking mint-flavoured disappointment

It doesn’t goddamn mean they’re close or whatever shit you think happens when someone calls someone by their name

Have some common sense instead of drowning in your arctic self-loathing

Ness: Michael sei mal nicht so unhöflich bitte

I’m sorry on his behalf @Hiori

Hiori: its fine ig? 😭

Chigiri: reo translate @Reo

Reo: “Michael don’t be so rude please”

Isagi: Triggered much kaiser?

Why so worked up over the THOUGHT of ness and kurona being close?

Kaiser: Haha please, Yoichi

You know damn well I just can’t stand imbeciles and that’s it

Isagi: Hence the self-hate

Kaiser: Hence the you-hate

Sae: WHATS GPING ON DONT STIR DRAMA WHILE IM BUSY WITH MY HUBBY BUBBYJKASDJK

Bunny: What the fuck??

Charles: FRA SAE??? (⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙)

Lorenzo: THATS NOT SAELLO ZAHAHAH

Sae: That was Shidou

Don’t get any ideas

Kaiser: Natürlich

Otoya: we do NOT know naturlich gng 🙏

Reo: Who’s we

Yukimiya: Who’s we indeed

Karasugarbby: we get it shut up

Charles: SCHEIBEEE 😋

Loki: Charles don’t say that

Charles: buzzkill 🙄

Lorenzo: lokinocci we’ve been cursing here since the beginning of time

youre worried now? 🙏

Kaiser: And it’s Scheiße, not Scheibe you butterscotch of fuckery.

Can’t even spell one word correctly

Otoya: holy dictionary 💀

the b doesnt have to be capital yk

Kaiser: ß is not fucking B you shitshow of illiteracy

Ness: Michael nicht jeder kann deutsch

Kaiser: Halt einfach die Fresse, Alexis. Du nervst so krass, ich krieg echt Kopfschmerzen.

Yukimiya: “Michael not everyone can speak German” “Just shut up Alexis. You’re so annoying, it’s giving me a headache”

Isagi: Maybe a brain is miraculously trying to spawn there, keep pushing!

Nikotine: LMAO

Karasugarbby: niko is probably taking notes

Kaiser: It’s cute how you jump at every opportunity to curse me, Yoichi

Obsessed much?

Isagi: LMAO OVER YOU? 🤣🤣😂😂

Plain Rin: Isagi I’m coming over

Isagi: Oh ok

Charles: my bros 🥺💖

Loki: Not everyone related to that shitty roach can be your “bro” Charles

Charles: CANT HEAR U CANT HEAR U BLEHHH TALK TO THE HANDDD ✋😜

Bachira: LMAOO ✋😝

Loki: This shit is aging me…

Meanwhile at Isagi’s apartment…

The livingroom was dim, the kind of warm light that usually calms things but now feels suffocating. Papers and books were scattered across the coffee table—Isagi had been working before getting caught up in the group chat while waiting for Rin to come over.

He put his phone down when he heard the doorbell. He opened it with a smile.

“Hey.”

Rin slammed the door behind him, fists clenched, jaw tight. Every step toward the couch was measured but jittery, like a tightly wound spring. Isagi—noticing the tension in Rin’s footsteps—frowned.

“Rin?..” the ravenette said cautiously, sensing the storm.

The greenhead ignored the question and muttered under his breath: “I can’t do this anymore.”

Isagi froze slightly—the words hung between them like sharp glass. He swallowed.

“Do what?” Isagi asked, calm but alert.

Rin ran a hand down his face, voice low and strained. “Everything. I’m drowning in work, in expectations, in everyone wanting something from me…and I—” he hesitated, caught somewhere between anger and exhaustion. “…and I care about you more than I’m supposed to.”

Isagi froze. The words hit him like cold water.

Rin kept going, spiraling now that the dam cracked:

“I worry about you constantly. I think about stuff that’s not my problem. I try to act like it doesn’t get to me but it does. And I’m tired. I’m tired and I don’t know what to do with it.”

Isagi’s stomach twisted—not because he was offended, but because he did not know how to hold this kind of vulnerability.

Not from Rin.

Rin’s eyes flicked to him—searching, raw, unguarded.

In reality, he wasn’t looking for solutions. He couldn’t give a damn about solutions right now. He was looking for a soft place to land.

But Isagi… Oh Isagi…

He shifted in his seat and said the worst possible thing:

“Then…you need better boundaries, maybe some space.”

Rin stared like the person in front of him just recommended uninstalling his emotions.

“Seriously?”

Isagi spoke carefully, logically: “You’re taking on too much. You’re letting things affect you unnecessarily. If you separate emotional weight from objective responsibility—”

“Stop.” Rin’s voice cracked.

Isagi straightened in his seat, suddenly alarmed by the break.

Rin’s breath shook as he stood.

“I’m literally telling you I’m overwhelmed and the only thing you have to say is ‘fix it’?”

Isagi tried to hold steady.

“I was trying to help—”

“No. You were problem-solving. That’s not the same thing.”

Isagi’s jaw tightened—not in anger, but in panic.

“I don’t know how else to respond to you, Rin.”

“Maybe just respond like you actually give a damn?”

“I do. I just assumed you—“

“Couldn’t you just listen before assuming, Isagi?”

“I was listening.”

“No, you were dissecting.”

Isagi’s chest tightened, though subtly. He had never been good at handling sudden raw admissions—especially from Rin of all people—but he wanted to help. He leaned forward slightly.

“Look,” Isagi said carefully, “I know you’re not the type to want to be comforted. I thought if I helped figure out the problem—”

Rin snapped his head up, eyes blazing. “I don’t even wanna hear it. Just be honest and admit you think I’m fucking overreacting. Don’t bother with this bullshit.”

And with that, he stormed toward the door, every step a punctuation of frustration and hurt.

Isagi stayed frozen for a moment, realising that what he thought was help had just been rejection.

Rin paused at the door. His voice cracked despite his effort to stay controlled. “I’m tired, Isagi. I’m tired of feeling everything and thinking about shit and trying to keep it together and—”

The ravenette took a deep breath. “Rin, I’m trying—”

“No!” Rin shouted, spinning on his heel. “Stop trying. It’s clearly not working. Just…stop. I don’t need your fucking logic right now! If I wanted to rationalise my feelings I would’ve asked my shitty brother. Not you.”

The words hit the room like a physical object. Isagi’s shoulders slumped subtly, a rare break in his composure. He had wanted to reassure Rin, to ease the burden, but he felt like had misread the situation entirely.

Rin didn’t wait for a reply. The door slammed behind him with a finality that left the apartment eerily quiet.

Isagi stared at the space where Rin had stood, running a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself.

I just wanted to help, he thought.

At Itoshis’ apartment…

Rin stormed into the apartment, slamming the door behind him harder than necessary. His shoulders were tight, fists clenched, and his jaw was rigid—the kind of tension that could snap.

Sae, sitting at the kitchen counter with his laptop open, glanced up. “Rough night?”

Rin didn’t answer. He flopped onto the couch, muttering under his breath. “I…I went to Isagi’s.”

Shidou, leaning against the wall nearby, arms crossed, gave a small smirk but didn’t laugh. “Yeah? I figured. So…what happened?”

Rin groaned, rubbing at his face. “…We fought.”

Shidou’s expression softened slightly, voice calm but encouraging. “Okay. Start at the beginning.”

Rin hesitated, then finally exhaled, letting some of the storm out. “…I went there to vent. I thought Isagi…maybe he’d understand. He’s the only one who’d get it. And I just…I can’t handle everything anymore. School, exams, everyone expecting everything from me, worrying if I’m even good enough at anything. I just…” his voice dropped. “…I’m exhausted.”

Sae leaned back, arms crossed. “Okay…so the fight was about him trying to help and you getting frustrated?”

Rin slammed a hand onto the couch beside him. “Yes! And no! He…he just assumed I wanted solutions. That’s all he gave me! I didn’t want solutions, I just wanted—” he broke off, exhaling shakily. “…I just wanted someone to…care, you know?”

Shidou stepped closer, leaning lightly on the back of the couch. “I get it, Rinrin. That’s…fair. That makes sense. You just wanted him to see how much weight you’re carrying.” he chuckled. “I get why he matters…and why you’re letting him get to you like this. You're not subtle by the way” he poked Rin's cheek.

Rin’s glare flicked at Shidou, frustration still sharp, slapping his hand away “…I hate your guts.” he muttered—then exhaled through his nose, voice quiet but tense. “…I just…I thought he’d understand. I thought maybe he’d actually…at least try to comfort me instead of trying to fix everything as if I’m some…inconvenience.”

Sae raised an eyebrow. “Look, Rin. If you went to him for help and he gave help…that was the transaction. You were being emotional.”

Rin’s head snapped up. “Aniki, stop trying to rationalise shit for once in your goddamn life! Isagi’s done enough of that already. I really don’t need that right now.”

He looked like he was one word away from committing fratricide.

Shidou leaned closer, placing a steady hand on Rin’s shoulder. His tone was firm but gentle, grounding. “Hey…I get it. I see that you’re not just frustrated about Isagi. You’re carrying a lot more. And you’ve been carrying it alone for too long. That’s heavy. And it’s okay to admit that it’s heavy. And I know I’m not him. I can’t be him. But…I can sit here with you. You don’t have to hold it in, not for one second. You can just…be tired here. That’s it.”

Rin let out a shaky breath, the tension in his body loosening ever so slightly. “…Thanks, I guess.” he muttered.

Sae didn’t move, expression neutral, but he gave a small nod. Shidou stayed close, letting Rin exhale, vent, and feel understood, even if it wasn’t the person he truly wanted.

It wasn’t Isagi’s comfort. It wasn’t perfect. But for the first time in hours, Rin felt like the storm inside him had a place to land—even if that place was temporary, even if it was only shitty Shidou.

Midnight…

The street looked washed-out under the fluorescents—that weird ghostly glow convenience stores always had after midnight. The air was cold enough to sting a little, the kind of cold that sobered the nerves but didn’t quite soothe them. Cars passed every so often, slow and soft, like the whole city had dialed itself down to half-volume.

Rin sat on the pavement near the store’s entrance, elbows on his knees, a cold drink sweating in his hands. His breath came out in shaky little puffs he pretended not to notice.

Shidou’s words still lingered, a thin thread of comfort against the avalanche in his mind. It wasn’t the comfort he wanted—it wasn’t Isagi—but it had taken the sharpest edge off the panic.

Still, everything else stayed loud: exams, pressure, identity, expectations, the fight, the humiliation he didn’t want to call humiliation.

The sliding doors hissed open behind him.

Footsteps. A brief pause.

Then Kaiser’s voice—annoyingly soft for once.

“…You good?”

Rin tensed, looked up, and immediately regretted it.

Of all people, he thought.

Kaiser stood there with a plastic bag hanging loosely from one hand, cans of coffee poking out the top. His hair was slightly messy, like he’d been fighting with his own brain for hours.

His expression…wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t pleased, either. More like he was taking mental photographs.

Rin scowled. “Why are you here?”

The blond shrugged, dropping down beside him like gravity had personally invited him. “Ran out of coffee. Got stuff to finish tonight.”

Rin eyed the bag. “…That tracks.”

“Why are you here?” Kaiser asked, sounding almost curious.

Not nosy—curious. Like he was studying the weather.

Rin looked away. “Air.”

“That bad?”

The greenhead didn’t answer. Kaiser didn’t push. The silence stretched thin and brittle between them, the hum of the vending machines filling in the gaps.

Kaiser cracked open one drink. “You look like someone carved out your insides with a plastic spoon.”

“…Is that your professional opinion?” Rin muttered.

“Unofficial. I haven’t got the degree yet.”

Another passing car washed silver light over both of them. Rin’s shoulders sagged under the weight of everything he’d been trying to outrun. He exhaled; slow, broken.

Kaiser didn’t move—he just watched him with that unnervingly steady gaze he used when he was trying to map someone’s mind to their bones.

“You fought with him.” Kaiser said quietly. Not accusing. Not triumphant. Just annoyingly certain.

Rin didn’t reply, but silence was loud enough.

Kaiser waited, giving Rin the space to either talk or choke. Rin picked the middle: a low, barely-there mutter.

“I went there ’cause I needed— I don’t even know. I thought he’d…get it.”

Kaiser didn’t look surprised. “And he didn’t.”

Rin hated how the words stung. “…Not really.”

“What happened?”

Rin rubbed a hand over his face. “He kept giving me solutions. Like— like I was some problem to fix. I told him I just needed to talk. I told him I wasn’t okay and he—” His voice cracked off hard. “He made it worse.”

Kaiser leaned back on his palms, eyes half-lidded, thinking. Calculating. “He does that a lot. Problem-solving.”

Rin’s jaw clenched. “…Yeah.”

“He’s terrible at emotions.”

Rin’s head snapped toward him so fast Kaiser almost laughed. There was this tightness in Rin’s expression—hurt, defensiveness, anger, confusion—all knotted together.

Kaiser's words felt too...accusatory to be true.

The blond watched it all. Absorbed it. Catalogued it.

He spoke again, a little softer. “You needed comfort.”

Rin didn’t admit it out loud, but the truth trembled in his silence.

“And he didn’t give it.” Kaiser added, tone warm enough to be believable but sharp enough to cut.

Rin swallowed. Hard.

That was when Kaiser pressed—gently, but deliberately. The part that felt like help but wasn’t.

“You know…people like Isagi? They’re consistent. Predictable. Logical. Not really built for—” Kaiser gestured vaguely at Rin’s chest, “—all this. They’ll always default to fixing instead of feeling. It’s just how they’re wired.”

Rin looked stricken for a moment—hurt, angry, and desperate for someone to understand him.

And Kaiser saw it. He saw the opening. He felt the shift.

“Rin,” his voice lowered into something velvety, calculated. “You deserve someone who handles you better than that.”

For a second, Rin almost believed him.

Almost.

But then something flickered in Rin’s expression—a tiny, fragile loyalty. Something that said you can insult me, but don’t you dare insult him.

Kaiser saw it instantly, and knew he’d pushed too far.

The manipulation halted like brakes locking on ice.

He backtracked—smoothly, naturally—tone easing into something real for the first time.

“…Look. I’m not saying he doesn’t care. He does. He just…cares wrong. He’s scared of saying the wrong thing. Overthinks everything. He tries to help the only way he knows how.” the blond let out a slow breath. “And you take things to heart even when you pretend you don’t. So you bruise each other without meaning to.”

Rin blinked, startled by the accuracy.

Kaiser leaned forward, elbows on his knees. For the first time, he wasn’t studying—he was seeing.

“Where you saw ‘he doesn’t care,’” Kaiser murmured “I saw ‘he cares too much and is trying not to drown in it.’

Where you saw ‘he was detached,’ I saw ‘he was scared to say the wrong thing because you take everything personally.’

Where you saw ‘he was cold,’ I saw ‘he was overthinking your reactions before you even had them.’”

Rin’s throat tightened.

Kaiser didn’t touch him. Didn’t move closer. He just stood up slowly, brushing off his jeans.

“Go home,” he said gently. “And talk to him again. Properly this time.”

He picked up the plastic bag with the coffee inside. “You two are too stupid about each other to stay mad for long.” he muttered.

Rin almost laughed. Almost.

Kaiser walked away without looking back, letting the fluorescent light swallow him whole.

Rin stayed on the curb a little longer, the cold seeping into his bones—but the fog in his head finally, finally beginning to clear.

Kaiser’s apartment…

The room was dim, the only light spilling from Kaiser’s desk lamp onto scattered papers and a half-empty coffee can. The faint hum of his laptop filled the quiet room, punctuated by the occasional drip from the kitchen faucet somewhere in the background. Outside, the city slept, but in here, the world had narrowed to a single rectangular screen and a handful of thoughts he needed to untangle.

Kaiser leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his temples, letting his gaze wander over the notes he had scribbled over the past week. Observations, patterns, microexpressions, tone shifts—everything cataloged meticulously.

He had chosen Rin deliberately, and tonight had provided the final pieces. The kid’s posture, the tension in his shoulders, the way he exhaled when he thought no one was watching—it all told a story if you knew how to read it.

He sipped the iced coffee. The caffeine was essential. Essays—or rather, reports—demanded it. He glanced at the clock, a little past two in the morning, and allowed a small smirk.

Some people pulled all-nighters out of desperation. Kaiser pulled them for amusement, information, and the sheer satisfaction of observing patterns come together perfectly.

Replaying the encounter outside the convenience store, he wrote down behavioral cues as he saw them: the curl of Rin’s hands around the drink, the subtle tightening of his jaw, the way his eyes flicked away when confronted with truths he didn’t want to admit. Kaiser noted the hesitation in Rin’s speech, the sudden leaps from defensiveness to near-quiet vulnerability.

Fascinating.

Predictable, but still fascinating.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard as he typed the final section of the observation report, voice and thought separate but intertwined.

Subject exhibits strong loyalty conflicts. Tends to overextend emotional investment in select relationships. Emotional reactions can be externally suppressed but leave micro-signals of internal struggle.

He paused, tapping the pen against his notebook.

The last part of the encounter had been…delicate. He had pushed just enough, nudged the perception of Isagi’s care, and yet, when Rin’s loyalty flared, he had recognised the line he couldn’t cross. Respecting it—or something close enough—had been critical.

He added a note:

Subject responsive to subtle reframing. Engages more fully when given autonomy and minimal direct pressure.

Kaiser leaned back, letting his chair creak under him. He rubbed at his eyes once, then rested his hands on his thighs, quiet for a moment.

The city outside hummed faintly, the late-night air pressing against the windows, and the apartment felt almost empty. But he didn’t mind.

Observing Rin had been…precise, efficient, and—admittedly—a little enjoyable. He allowed himself a small, almost imperceptible flicker of satisfaction: the report would be flawless, the data complete, and the relational chain he’d been quietly nudging…looser.

He clicked save, leaned back further, and let his gaze wander over the room. The coffee cup sat there, the notes in neat chaos, the hum of electronics marking the passage of time.

He exhaled slowly, just enough for the tension to leave his chest. Tonight, the observations were done. The conclusions drawn. The assignments fulfilled. And somewhere in the mix, the kid on the curb had been seen—truly seen—whether he realised it or not.

Kaiser tapped the pen against the desk once more and allowed himself a small, private thought: All in a night’s work.

Chapter Text

Afternoon…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Aikunc: Chat

I need some comfort over here

Im heartbroken

Karasu: what happened bro

Otoya: all ears frfr

Aikunc: My gf broke up with me

Otoya: oh shiii

we can share mine gng

Chigiri: otoya you did NOT just say that 💀🤦‍♂️

Karasu: its okay aiku

it gon be fine

why did u guys break up

Aikunc: She caught me cheating

Karasu: oh

well

u deserved it?? 💀

Yukimiya: And he has the audacity to be heartbroken

Reo: For real Aiku get the fuck out

Chigiri: oh yea reo knows A LOT abt heartbreak 💖

Nagi: whar

@Reo u sad?

why u sad

Reo: Princess

One more word

And I swear I’m renting every hitman in the country to take you down

>Chigiri reacted “💝” to the message

Aikunc: Guys can we go back to my heartbreak? 💔

Nikotine: literally kill yourself

ur so annoying

why do u even live

they say the eyes are the windows to the soul

ur soul is split in half into SϹ and ϽS

even ur soul is tryna escape u

Sendou: bitch what does that even mean 😭

Bachira: i dont get it (°ー°〃)

Isagi: It spells SOS

Aiku’s soul is sending signals to the world to end him

Not my words btw

Aikunc: HOLY DISRESPECT TO UR ELDERS

FUCKASS BRAT

Nikotine: holy disrespect to the human race

Charles: LMAO LA CROIX DU GENRE HUMAIN

Loki: Not the Notre Dame de Paris reference

Lorenzo: i love it when u type shit out meticulously lokinocci

Sh**ou👅: CHARLOUCHET THATS NOT HOW IT WOERKS BASHGSDHGA

Chigiri: ts is what i mean when i say niko is rinsagi’s love child

Hiori: ok i get isagi

the menace mentoring

but why rin?

Sh**ou👅: bcuz theyre tgt and happily married lolllzzz 😜😜

Plain Rin: We are not

Isagi: NO WERE NOT??

Kaiser: No they’re not?

Sae: 💀

Chigiri: no not that

niko deadass has those itoshi eyes ngl

but make it 5x more doe

Nikotine: god forbid the human genes coincidentally match

Hiori: alr i see it

but kaisagi still 🔛🔝

Isagi: Sigh

Sh**ou👅: @Plain Rin protect ur marriage rinrin 😾

Plain Rin: I’m studying leave me the fuck alone

Barou: @Nikotine see how he studies without anyone putting a gun against his head?

Take example.

Aikunc: Yeah brat take example

Nikotine: 😐

yall deadass not funny

why are u here

Otoya: cuz i invited em twin ✌ theyre friends

Nikotine: i meant planet-wise

no wonder yall friends

the sum of ur iq points is barely above two digits

Reo: @Isagi this is all your fault

Isagi: I just think you have a habit of blaming me

Chigiri: LOW BLOW

i love it continue

Reo: You’re a literal homewrecker

Kaiser: What a shallow way of thinking.

You don’t blame a flower for all the pest it attracts.

Chigiri: oh

Reo: .

Hiori: omg he literally complimented isgi

he called him a flower

i love my kaisagi life

Nikotine: get a GRIP hiori

Kurona: Am I hallucinating is this real

Yukimiya: 😦😦

Isagi: Did you just???

🤨🤨🤨

Kaiser: I’m just stating out the obvious.

Couldn’t care less about how you peasants might interpret it.

Isagi: Right…

Ness: I kinda agree with Michael

It wasn’t Yoichi’s fault in the first place

Holding him accountable for your relationship’s (?) fallout is pointless

Reo: You don’t know anything???

Chigiri: dude since when do u know 😭

Nagi: how do u even know abt that situation :/

Ness: I lurk a lot

Sh**ou👅: LMAO @Sae

Ness: Not in a creepy way btw! 😅

Kurona: DEF in a creepy way

Ness: Ranze.

Chigiri: pause

r we gonna ignore the fact that kaiser and ness defended isagi

Hiori: thats what im sayinnn

Karasu: touch some grass 💀

Sh**ou👅: touch me instead 🔥🔥🔥

>Read

Meanwhile…

The rain had been half-hearted that afternoon—too light to mean anything, too stubborn to stop. Rin had camped out in his favorite corner of the coffee shop anyway; hoodie up, earbuds dangling but not playing anything, laptop open to a spreadsheet he’d been pretending to understand. His iced americano sat at his elbow, sweating more than he was.

It was peaceful; soft indie playlist, steam hissing, people minding their business.

So of course the universe sent a centipede.

Rin didn’t even notice him at first. He only felt a shift in the air, like the temperature dipped by a single, rude degree. Then a shadow slid across his table.

Rin looked up and instantly wished he hadn’t.

Professor Luna stood there in a charcoal coat, dry despite the rain, posture perfect like he was posing for a magazine cover titled ‘People You Should Probably Not Trust’. His smile was the same as always—razor-thin, polite in a way that made Rin’s spine pull away from it.

“Studying?” the blond asked, though he could clearly see the laptop and the notes and the highlighted textbook pages. His tone already had that patronizing lilt. “Trying to keep up, I assume.”

Rin resisted the urge to close his laptop. Or launch it across the room. Or across the man's face. Preferably the last option.

“Just reviewing.” he said, keeping his voice neutral. Sae always said neutrality was safer around guys like Luna.

The blond pulled out a chair without asking and sat down. Rin’s shoulders stiffened.

“You know,” Luna began, leaning forward like he was offering wisdom and not psychological warfare “I’ve been thinking about your progress lately.”

Here we go…

“I’m doing fine.” Rin said slowly, because he was. His grades weren’t legendary like Sae’s—but they were solid, earned, steady at the very least.

Luna huffed a soft chuckle, the kind that somehow sounded like you’re adorable and you’re incompetent at the same time.

“Only fine?” he repeated. “You could be doing better, Itoshi junior. Much better. But I suppose you lack a certain…edge.” Luna’s eyes swept Rin’s notes like they were graffiti on a sacred wall. “You don’t lead. You follow. And following only works if the one ahead of you allows it.”

Rin felt his jaw tighten. “I’m not trying to compete with anyone.” A clear lie.

Luna smiled wider. “Ah, but competition doesn’t care what you’re trying to do.”

Rin had no idea what that meant, but it sounded like one of those phrases people wrote on motivational posters if motivational posters were designed by supervillains.

Before Rin could respond, Luna lowered his voice to form a surgical strike:

“Your brother succeeded because I allowed him to.”

Rin froze.

“What?”

The blond shrugged casually. “Sae was talented, of course. But he lacked direction. And focus. And enough maturity. I shaped that. I molded that. I lifted him higher than he ever could’ve managed alone.”

Rin blinked at him, stunned. “That’s…not how he described his time with you.”

Luna tilted his head. “Then he was being modest. Or sentimental. Or afraid of appearing ungrateful.” he tapped Rin’s notes with two fingers. “You, however…should be grateful early.”

Rin felt the burn rise in his chest—anger, confusion, insult all tangled together. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

“You don’t have to.” Luna stood, brushing invisible dust from his coat sleeve. “That’s the beauty of influence. It moves whether you notice it or not.”

And with that cryptic little mic drop, Luna walked away—toward the exit, coat swaying, rain still pattering gently outside.

Rin sat frozen for a full five seconds.

Someone else stood up two tables away.

Charles.

He’d been hiding; hood up, earbuds in, pretending to scroll on his phone but actually hearing every syllable. The second Luna left, Charles pulled out one earbud, eyes wide with fury—not the loud kind, the dangerous quiet kind.

He muttered “Nah. Nope. Absolutely the hell not.”

He grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and marched straight past Rin.

This is above my pay grade. Fra Sae needs to hear this.

At Itoshis’ apartment…

Sae had the whole place to himself —a rarity— and he used the silence the only way he knew how: sprawled on the sofa, notebook open on his lap, pencil tapping against the margin while he worked through a string of equations that looked like they were plotting against humanity.

He was halfway through rewriting a proof when the front door rattled with a knock in a manner not frantic, not polite—but controlled. Too controlled.

Sae blinked, set the pencil down, and stood. When he opened the door, Charles was there.

But not the usual Charles—not the immature minx, not Shidou’s cheerful pseudo-brother who did pranks like they were currency.

Nope. This Charles looked carved from something older. Jaw tight, eyes shadowed, rain dampening the ends of his hair—like even the weather was nervous to touch him.

Sae had never seen him like that.

“…Charles?” he said, stepping aside.

Charles walked in without a word, which was immediately alarming. He held his backpack like it was a briefcase full of war plans. Sae watched him cross the living room, drop the bag onto the armchair, and stand there; hands on his hips, breathing through something that was clearly bothersome.

Only then did Sae feel the atmosphere shift—heavy, like storm clouds settling inside the apartment.

“What happened?” Sae asked.

Charles didn’t sit, didn’t blink, didn’t joke. His instincts had already sharpened. He swallowed once. You could practically hear it.

Then he turned to face Sae.

“I didn’t want to come here like this.” Charles began. His voice was low—quieter than Sae ever heard it. “And I didn’t want to tell you without Ryu… but I couldn’t let it sit. Not him.”

Sae inhaled slowly —controlled, steady— but something beneath his ribs tightened.

“Start from the beginning.” Sae said.

Charles took a breath, ran a hand through his hair, and then the words spilled out—not rushed, but urgent, like he’d rehearsed them on the way over because they couldn’t afford to come out wrong.

“I was at the café near the station.” he said. “Rin was studying there. Luna walked in. And he went straight for him. Like he’d been waiting.”

Sae’s fingers curled at his sides.

Charles continued “He talked down to him. Subtly insulted him. Tried to get under his skin, and Rin was already stressed.” Charles shook his head. “That man enjoys hurting people, you already know that. But then he said something— something about you.”

Sae’s gaze sharpened, if it was even possible.

“He said—” Charles hesitated, jaw working. “He said ‘Your brother succeeded because I allowed him to.’”

Silence.

Not the peaceful kind—the hypertonic kind, the kind that pressed against the walls.

Sae didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t breathe for a second too long.

Charles stepped closer. “Fra Sae… he’s going after Rin. I’m sure of it.”

Sae shut his eyes briefly—and it hit him like a shard of glass, sharp, sudden:

‘You fly only as high as I allow.’

A classroom. A shadow over his desk. Luna’s hand pressing down on his shoulder, on his future.

Set-up questions designed to humiliate. Cold praise meant to bind.

The illusion of support that hid a noose.

The past cracked open in his spine like a trapdoor:

The hallway had smelled faintly of old paper and lemon cleaner—that sterile, hopeless scent that clung to elite schools like a warning label. The afternoon sun spilled through the windows in narrow, accusing strips, catching the dust in the air like it was evidence.

Sae had stayed after class again. Not because he wanted to. Because Luna had “requested” it.

His physics notebook lay open on the lab table, pages filled with neat handwriting and halfway-finished derivations. Sae had been working on the problem set for hours, knuckles aching, mind running on fumes, the weight of every obligation pressing down on the back of his neck.

He didn’t look up when the classroom door clicked shut. He didn’t need to. He felt the shift immediately—the air dipping colder, tighter, too still.

Luna walked toward him with slow, deliberate steps, the sound of his shoes echoing in the empty room.

“So,” the blond drawled, voice purring with false interest, “You’re still here.”

Sae kept his gaze on the notebook. “You told me to finish the supplementary problems.”

“I did.” Luna replied. “And yet…” A hand slid across the table, stopping just above Sae’s page. “…you’re still not done.”

Sae forced himself not to stiffen. “They’re not standard-level problems.”

“Oh, Sae...” Luna’s laugh was soft, almost fond. “That’s the point.”

Luna moved behind him—that predatory, orbiting motion that always made the world feel smaller. Sae felt the man’s shadow fall over his shoulders as he pretended to review the scribbled equations.

“You’re intelligent.” Luna murmured. “Very intelligent, actually. Too intelligent, maybe.”

Sae gripped his pencil a little too tightly.

Luna leaned down, close enough that Sae could smell the faint cologne—something sharp, expensive, suffocating. “But intelligence without proper discipline?” he continued. “Without pressure? Without someone to shape it?”

His hand came down —lightly at first— on Sae’s shoulder.

Then firmer. Then firmer still.

Sae’s pencil froze mid-equation.

“You think you can soar wherever you want.” Luna said. The smile in his voice was unmistakable. “Astrophysics. Cosmology. The entire sky in your hands.”

Sae stared at the page, heart thudding too loudly in his ears.

“But you’re young.” Luna whispered. “You don’t understand how fragile talent is. How easily it drifts. How quickly it collapses without structure.”

The pressure of Luna’s hand increased—not enough to hurt, but enough to trap. Enough to make the message unmistakable:

I control this.

Luna bent slightly, lowering himself to Sae’s level, his lips curving into that polished, immaculate smile Sae loathed.

“You fly only as high as I allow.”

The words slithered into the air, cold and triumphant.

For a moment, Sae forgot how to breathe.

Luna held his gaze, searching for the crack—the flinch, the surrender, the proof that Sae was just like every other toy. Breakable.

And Sae hated how tired he was.

How drained.

How close he felt to showing something he didn’t want anyone —especially Luna— to ever see.

At last, Luna straightened. He lifted his hand from Sae’s shoulder, almost gentle this time, as if releasing something fragile.

“Finish the rest tonight.” he said smoothly. “I expect perfect work.”

Then he walked away, shoes clicking calmly across the tiles, leaving Sae alone with shaking hands he refused to acknowledge and a future that suddenly felt smaller than it had that morning.

Sae opened his eyes again, but they were different now—darker, steadier, more awake.

“Where’s Rin now?” he asked.

“I think he left the café after Luna did.” Charles said. “He looked shaken and angry. I didn’t let him see me—I figured he wouldn’t want that.”

“Good call.” See murmured.

Charles hesitated, then asked softly “Are you okay?”

Sae felt the familiar tug in his mind. The instinct —to lie, to stay calm, to show nothing— was so deeply ingrained it was practically muscle memory.

“I’m fine.” he said.

It sounded like a reflex.

Charles didn’t push.

Instead, he stepped back, grabbed his bag, and headed toward the door. “I’ll…leave you to talk to him. And Fra Sae—” he paused, hand on the doorknob, voice dropping “—don’t let him mess with your brother."

“I won’t.” Sae said.

Charles nodded once, then slipped out into the hallway. The door closed after him.

And Sae stood alone in the silence —the open notebook still on the sofa, the pencil still resting in the margin— and felt the past humming under his skin, ready to surface whether he wanted it to or not.

Rin came home just past sunset; hoodie half-zipped, hair messy from running his hands through it too many times, the ghost of fury still simmering under his skin. He slammed the apartment door a little harder than necessary.

Sae, who’d been sitting on the living room couch with a stack of notes and a half-finished graph beside him, lifted his head instantly. His expression didn’t change, but the air around him shifted—quiet, alert, sharp-edged.

“Rin.” he called out, opting for no greeting or preface.

Rin froze like he’d been caught stealing something. “What?”

“Come here.”

The words weren’t loud. They didn’t need to be. Sae didn’t ask things. He summoned them.

Rin muttered something under his breath but dragged himself to the living room anyway, dropping his bag beside the table.

Sae closed the file in his lap and set it aside. “Sit.”

Rin sat. Crossed his arms. Looked everywhere but at his brother.

Sae observed him for a long moment—watching the twitch in Rin’s jaw, the redness beneath his eyes, the stiffness in his shoulders. Then he said, quietly:

“Charles came by.”

That got Rin’s attention. His head snapped up. “Why?”

“He overheard you and Luna today.” Sae said. His voice didn’t waver, but something in it tightened—like a violin string being pulled too far. “He told me everything.”

“Oh my god…” Rin buried his face in his hands. “Oh my GOD. I swear to God if he tells Shidou—”

“He didn’t and won’t.” Sae’s tone cut through his panic like a clean blade. “Rin, look at me.”

The greenhead reluctantly lifted his head.

Sae’s gaze was calm, but not cold. It was the kind of calm that came after a storm—the air thick, the ground still shaking.

“What did Luna say to you?” Sae asked.

Rin clenched his teeth. “Forget it.”

“Rin.”

Rin looked away.

Sae leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees. “Rin, this is not something you hide from me.”

Rin scoffed. “Since when do we talk? You barely even look at me unless I’m holding a textbook upside-down or standing in your way.”

Sae didn’t react. “Tell me.”

Rin hesitated. Then he exhaled, defeated.

“He said— he said I’m basically just...your copy. That the only reason I’d ever succeed is because of your name. Because of your reputation. Your grades. Everything you did.”

Sae’s fingers curled slowly where they rested.

“And then he said…” Rin swallowed hard. His voice cracked with anger he didn’t want to show. “…that you succeeded because he allowed you to. That you were only as good as he made you.”

Silence. Heavy, suffocating, earthquake silence.

Rin forced a laugh, trying to hide how bad that line had hurt him. “I mean…whatever. He’s just— he’s just a bitter old asshole. What does it even matter? I shouldn’t— I don't care.”

But he did. It was written in every trembling muscle in his face.

Sae finally spoke.

“Rin,” he said, voice low, “if Luna ever tells you something about me, you come to me first. Not after, not ‘maybe.’ Immediately.”

Rin’s brows pulled together. “Why? What does it matter what he thinks of—”

“Because he has done this before.”

Rin blinked. “Done what?”

Sae’s mouth pressed into a line, the first real crack in his facade. “Used filthy manipulation to hurt someone.”

Rin stared. “Hurt who?”

Sae didn’t answer.

Rin leaned forward, suddenly uneasy. “Nii-chan?”

Sae inhaled, slow and sharp, staring at the coffee table like the past was carved into the wood grain. His shoulders tensed in a way Rin had never seen before—controlled, yes, but threaded with something older. Something worn.

And then Rin whispered, almost afraid:

“What did he do to you?”

Sae’s eyelid twitched. That tiny motion —that ghost of a flinch— was the trigger.

A single sentence pulled the pin in the grenade inside his memory. The echo from years ago. Sae heard it again, rising out of the dark corners of his mind:

‘You fly only as high as I allow.’

And the rest of Spain —all of it— slammed back into him like a tidal wave.

Sixteen, foreign soil under his shoes, Madrid sun burning quietly through the classroom windows; everything smelling like chalk dust, citrus cleaner, and a strange new life he wasn’t sure he fit inside.

The first week, Sae had been composed—quiet, observant.

Everyone had whispered things like:

“The Japanese kid looks so serious.”

“He’s like…always working.”

“Does he ever blink?”

He didn’t mind the attention. He didn’t mind the pressure. He only minded the absence of his brother.

Then came Bunny.

That guy had leaned back in his chair on the first day, looked Sae up and down with that half-sly, half-haunted grin, and said in accented English:

“You look like you do math for fun.”

Sae had stared flatly. “I do.”

Bunny had laughed like that was the most charming thing he’d ever heard.

From then on, they were inseparable—or at least, Bunny insisted on being inseparable.

He teased. He poked. He talked. He passed Sae stupid doodles during class.

He dragged him to the cafeteria despite Sae’s attempt to study instead.

Slowly —painfully slowly— Sae warmed.

Bunny made him feel almost…normal. Like a teenager. Like someone who was allowed to breathe.

But then…

Luna arrived in their lives the way a shadow arrives—silently, unnoticed, but suddenly unavoidable.

He wasn’t a teacher. He wasn’t even around students much.

But he was the school’s Academic Coordinator at the time; which meant he hovered at the edges, collecting data on grades, behavior, student performance.

He loved charts. He loved numbers.

He loved control.

The first time he spoke to Sae, it was under the guise of “support.”

“Exchange students often struggle.” he had said smoothly, switching between Spanish and English as if performing. “If you need structure, I can provide it.”

Sae didn’t know what “structure” meant yet. He would learn.

Luna noticed Sae’s natural precision. Noticed how he grasped abstract concepts instantly. Noticed how his grades were flawless.

And like any predator, he honed in.

It started small—an extra worksheet, an additional reading, a special “independent research assignment” he insisted Sae was “uniquely suited for.”

Sae didn’t question it. He loved challenges. He loved being great. He loved achieving.

But three extra tasks became five. Five became ten.

Suddenly Sae’s nights blurred into dawns. His fingertips were permanently ink-stained. His backpack weighed as much as a small child.

Bunny noticed first.

“Hey,” he’d say, bumping Sae’s shoulder. “You’re gonna burn out, Saesito.”

But Sae shook him off. “I’m fine.”

He said it so many times he almost believed it.

Luna liked that.

He’d appear behind Sae like a ghost, smiling like a surgeon preparing for an operation.

'You thrive with pressure, don’t you?'

'We must maintain your performance.'

'Excellence requires sacrifice.'

One afternoon, near the end of 11th grade, Sae had stayed behind to finish an assignment Luna insisted “only he could handle.”

Bunny had been waiting in the doorway, arms crossed, expression oddly soft under the scar running down his face.

“Let’s go home.” he murmured. “You’ve done enough today.”

Sae didn’t even look up from his notebook. “Five minutes.”

“It’s never five minutes with you." Bunny sighed when Sae stayed silent. "Come on, you look tired.”

“I said I’m fine.”

Bunny’s smile faltered. A hairline crack in the performance.

“Okay.” he whispered. “Yeah. Sure.”

It was the first time Sae hurt him.

It wasn’t the last.

12th grade arrived with the force of a tidal wave.

Luna doubled the workload, tripled the expectations. He singled Sae out in meetings, praised him publicly, criticized him privately.

He dangled opportunities. Threatened his scholarship application. Made it clear that Sae’s entire future hinged on meeting standards no one else had to meet.

And Sae…obeyed.

Because dropping grades wasn’t an option. Because his little brother looked up to him. Because he didn’t know how to stop.

Bunny tried to talk to him again and again, but Sae brushed him off every time—cold, unintentionally cruel.

They fought. They shouted.

And one night, after Sae said something sharp enough to be unforgivable, Bunny said:

“You don’t love anything, do you? Not me, not your work, not even yourself. You only love winning.”

And Sae, exhausted and empty, replied:

“Then maybe you should let me the fuck go."

That ended them.

Bunny walked out. Sae didn’t chase him.

He turned back to his desk. He kept studying.

Astrophysics had once been the light behind Sae’s eyes—the one thing that made him feel awe instead of pressure.

But Luna poisoned it. Tainted it.

He buried Sae under so much forced work that the stars stopped sparkling for him. Equations lost their beauty. The sky became a chore.

Physics became synonymous with Luna’s voice. Luna’s expectations. Luna’s hands tightening around Sae’s future like a leash.

By high school graduation, Sae couldn’t even look at a telescope without feeling something inside him crumple.

He switched paths not because he wanted to…but because he couldn’t breathe in the old one anymore.

On the last day —the very LAST— Luna pulled him aside after handing him his final transcript.

That final 0.1 deduction. The petty wound carved onto his 3.9 GPA.

And Luna, smiling like a man proud of his own cruelty, whispered:

“You fly only as high as I allow.”

It had been the closest Sae ever came to hating someone.

He locked the memory away. Buried it so deep it almost fossilized.

The apartment had gone quiet in that strange way pain leaves behind—not empty, not loud, just…echoing.

Rin couldn’t stand it. The silence felt like it was breathing.

Sae sat on the floor between the coffee table and the couch, knees drawn up, elbows on them, head bowed. He looked older in that moment. Not in the “wise” way—no. In the “burnt and rebuilt too many times” way, the way porcelain looks after being glued back together.

Rin approached him carefully, like Sae was some mythic creature he might spook.

He wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t built for comfort—not the gentle kind, not the human kind.

But Sae… Sae had been human for him before. A small kindness. A steady hand. A quiet 'Do you want ice cream?' when the world was too loud.

So Rin crouched down beside him. Not touching. Not yet. Just…present.

Sae didn’t speak, didn’t look up, didn’t dare to move. His shoulders shook once—barely. But Rin caught it.

Rin always caught Sae’s small tells, the way Sae always caught his.

“Hey,” the greenhead murmured, voice crackly like an old vinyl someone forgot in the sun.

Sae didn’t answer. Rin’s throat tightened.

He hesitated, then reached out—awkwardly, somehow too gentle for someone with such sharp elbows—and placed a hand on Sae’s shoulder.

Sae froze.

Then slowly lifted his head.

His eyes were red in that way that wasn’t just about tears. It was exhaustion, grief, humiliation, betrayal—a whole solar system of hurt. He stared at Rin like he was seeing him for the first time. Or maybe like he was remembering something that had slipped through the cracks over the years.

Rin swallowed. Hard.

“You’re not alone.” he said.

And the words felt enormous, like moving tectonic plates inside his chest.

“I mean it. You’re not.”

Sae’s lips quivered—barely, but enough. A tiny, quiet collapse.

Rin scooted closer. Then, with a courage that felt wild in his body, he wrapped his arms around Sae.

Sae went rigid—shocked—like he’d forgotten what it was like to be held by his little brother.

Then slowly…he sagged into Rin.

His breath left him in a shudder, as if someone finally let him put down the weight he’d been carrying since Spain.

Rin tightened his arms around him, awkward and fierce.

“Shitty Luna doesn’t get to take you from me.” he whispered into Sae’s hair. “Not again. Not ever.”

Sae let out a sound that wasn’t quite a sob and wasn’t quite laughter—something raw, something breaking open.

His hands came up, hesitantly, and rested against Rin’s back. Not gripping. Just holding.

For the first time in their lives, Rin was the one steadying him.

The moment stretched—soft, trembling, sacred.

Sae finally spoke, voice low and frayed: “…I’m sorry you heard all of that.”

Rin shook his head against him. “Don’t.” he murmured firmly. “Don’t apologise. I’m your little brother. Let me carry some of your weight.”

A silence followed—a warm one this time. A healing one.

Then Sae breathed out, “Thank you, Rin.” like it was something he’d been waiting decades to say.

Rin held him tighter. That conveyed a 'You're welcome' alright.

And for once—for just one night—the world outside their apartment could burn.

Because inside, two brothers were finally choosing each other.

Chapter Text

Next day…

Isagi stepped out of the main gates just as the last bell’s echo dissolved into the courtyard. The sky was that soft, heavy gray—the kind that didn’t just warn rain, it promised it.

Most people would’ve seen clouds. Isagi saw the micro pressure shifts.

He inhaled. The air smelled like cold metal and damp pavement. Humidity clung to his skin like a whisper. And beneath all of that, there was this faint, low rumble in the atmosphere—not thunder, not yet, but the prelude his hypersensitive brain had learned to read like braille.

“Fifteen minutes…” he muttered to himself.

Rain ETA? Imminent.

He pulled his bag higher on his shoulder, already rerouting his plan. He’d intended to stop by the bakery across the street—maybe grab something sweet to stay awake, because three nights of studying had turned his eyelids into lead. But the weather said go home. Isagi listened to the weather.

He crossed the courtyard, ignoring the noise of people spilling out of clubs and lecture halls. Every sound hit him sharp—laughter, chatter, shoes slapping pavement—but it all faded into the background hum of static that told him more about the upcoming storm than any weather app could.

By the time he reached the bus stop, the air had shifted again. The temperature dipped. The hair on his arms rose.

About five minutes now.

He sat on the bench, leaned back, and let his head fall against the glass shelter. His body was exhausted enough that the world’s overstimulation blurred into white noise. The rain smell deepened. His breathing slowed.

And just as the first droplet kissed the pavement, Isagi’s eyes fluttered shut.

He didn’t mean to sleep. But his body—tense, overworked body—surrendered.

Rin stepped out of the school building like he was carrying a whole encyclopedia set of problems in his skull. He didn’t even check the sky—mostly because checking the sky would require hope, and he was fresh out of that.

The air was heavy and damp. The kind of damp that Isagi would immediately side-eye and go yeah, the sky’s about to implode. But Rin? He was too busy thinking about how life currently felt like one long, unskippable ad.

It started with one drop. A single, fat, disrespectful raindrop splattering right onto his cheek.

He blinked up.

The sky said “lol no.”

And then the heavens basically dumped the entire Aegean Sea on him.

Sudden, violent, personal.

Rin inhaled through his teeth, pulled his hood up (as if that ever helped anyone in the history of humanity) and broke into a sprint. His sneakers slapped against the pavement, splashing, slipping. His hoodie was soaked in five seconds flat. His hair got plastered to his face, turning his vision into a damp emo curtain.

And his thoughts—oh, the thoughts.

Every intrusive memory lined up like they were clocking in for a shift.

The fight with Isagi…

Shitty Luna…

Sae…

Exams…

That fucking math problem—The one that had sat there smirking at him for an hour while he tried every possible approach except throwing the textbook out the window...

Everything swirled in his head, mixing with the pounding rain until he couldn’t tell where the storm outside ended and the storm inside began.

His breath came faster. Not panic—not yet—but close.

He kept running, not even sure where his legs were taking him.

Then a rectangular shape appeared up ahead through the blur of rain: a bus stop.

He veered toward it like instinct, shoes splashing, lungs burning. He stumbled under the metal roof, chest rising and falling, the rain still roaring inches away from him.

He was soaked and miserable.

He froze upon fully looking ahead.

There was someone already there. Someone asleep. Head tilted back, eyelashes trembling faintly, hoodie wrinkled, hair slightly damp from the humidity.

Isagi.

Rin’s heart did a weird, traitorous little jolt.

Of course it was him. Of course the universe said ‘Let’s make today just a bit more unhinged for Itoshi Rin.’

Rin swallowed hard, trying to quiet the chaos in his chest.

He was soaking wet, he was exhausted, and the one person he wanted to avoid was right there, asleep like the rain itself had gently knocked him out.

Rin didn’t move, didn’t speak. He just stood there, dripping onto the concrete, staring at him.

And for the first time all day, his brain went quiet.

Completely, terrifyingly quiet.

Like even the storm inside him paused to watch what would happen next.

It happened so subtly that Rin almost thought he imagined it.

Isagi’s breath hitched, just slightly. A shift in the air, barely there.

Rin blinked, confused—and then remembered: Isagi feels everything. Pressure, movement, presence. If a butterfly flapped its wings within five meters Isagi would probably go ‘Huh? Noise?’

So of course the moment Rin stepped under the shelter—drenched, miserable, radiating emotional turbulence like a busted radio tower—Isagi’s senses went: new entity detected.

Isagi’s lashes fluttered once. Twice. Then his eyes opened. Sleepy, unfocused, soft in a way Rin absolutely did not have the emotional capacity for right now.

For a second, Isagi looked straight ahead, like his brain was still buffering at 144p.

Then his gaze sharpened. Shifted. Flicked to the side.

And landed on Rin.

The greenhead stiffened like someone hit pause on him.

Isagi jolted upright—not dramatically, more like a startled cat who pretended he wasn't startled.

Their eyes met.

Shock. Startled confusion. A flash of something else Rin didn’t want to name.

Isagi blinked rapidly, processing the situation like a glitchy robot:

Rain, bus stop, alone, not alone? Rin. Drenched, silent, looking at him like he got caught doing something illegal.

Isagi sat up straighter, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, hair falling messily over his forehead.

“Hey…” he said; voice groggy, soft, like sleep clung to the edges of the word.

Rin swallowed, throat suddenly tight. “…Hey.”

Silence thickened. Rain pounded around them. Isagi’s gaze drifted from Rin’s soaked hoodie to his dripping hair to the small puddle forming under his shoes.

“So you, uh…” Isagi gestured vaguely at the sky. “Got hit by that.”

Rin scoffed. “Wow, incredible observation. Genius-level analysis.”

Isagi cracked the tiniest smile, sleepy and crooked. “…Still mad at me, huh?”

Rin opened his mouth—then shut it. He didn’t trust his voice, didn’t trust the way his chest felt too full, too raw.

Isagi exhaled through his nose. He looked down, fiddled with the string of his hoodie.

The tension between them pulsed, thick and heavy. The kind you could drown in if you weren’t careful.

And for the first time since the fight…Isagi looked nervous. Properly, genuinely nervous.

“Rin,” he said quietly, steadying his breath. “We need to talk.”

Rin’s heart tripped over itself.

Isagi met his eyes—fully awake now, fully present—and there was something gentle and tired in his expression that made the storm inside Rin stall for a heartbeat.

He nodded once, barely. Isagi saw it anyway.

He always did.

Meanwhile…

the lock with no key and it happens to be blue

Chigiri: which one of you fuckers stole my hair conditioner

Sh**ou👅: what kinda idiot would break into some1s apt and steal a fuckin conditioner 💀😭

Chigiri: it was in my duffel bag fucking late night pest control ad

Otoya: js buy a new one dawg

Chigiri: i had it shipped from korea and i dont have a spare one

speak up

Nikotine: princess i think u KNOW who it is

Aikunc: Niko what did I tell you about not snitching on people

Nikotine: stfu unc

i didnt even give names

Chigiri: give me the name

or ill unlock my bmf

Nikotine: tf is bmf

Reo: Blackmail folder

Nagi: its an abyss :x

Nikotine: @Aryu

Chigiri: KNEW IT

FUCKING BITCH

GIVE IT BACK

Aryu: You’re tremendously mistaken.

I only took a photograph of it. I most certainly did not dare steal it. How rude.

Chigiri: THEN WHO DID???

Loki: Holy shit just let it go I’ll buy you ten of those

Chigiri: will you?

why

Loki: You’re annoying when you’re mad

Chigiri: i mean

sure im down :P

Otoya: its all ur looks

perks of bein a femboy

Karasu: 💀💀

Chigiri: im more muscular than you otoya

Otoya: female enough 🤙

Meanwhile…

Isagi inhaled slowly, eyes flicking toward the rain like he needed courage from the weather itself.

Then he looked back at Rin—really looked. Not at the soaked hoodie, not at the dripping hair, but at him.

“I’m sorry.” the ravenette said.

Just that.

Soft. Direct. No fluff, no hedging. It landed heavier than the rain.

Rin blinked at him, stunned. He hadn’t expected that to come first.