Chapter Text
Supervisor Hajime Sugoroku was almost regretting winning the New Year’s Tournament. Almost.
It meant that for one hour a week, he was required to play babysitter to not only the troublemakers of Cell 13, but also to their weird “friends” from other buildings, forcing him to endure the company of the other supervisors (and occasionally the terrifying scrutiny of the Warden) when he could be finishing off some valuable paperwork.
And given how gregarious Cell 13 turned out to be, it meant new inmates were joining the chaos almost weekly. It had gotten to the point where all of Building 13, half of Building 5, and select cells from Buildings 3 and 4 had been crammed into the tiny recreation room before he put his foot down and restricted it to only those who had participated in the New Year’s Tournament (and Tsukumo, if he was good that week).
His stomach began cramping up at the mere thought of that bedlam even now.
So that was why any addition to their “cozy” little groups made him more than a bit apprehensive. He still remembered the time that bastard Kenshirou had claimed that he had added most of Building 4 to Cell 10 just to fuck with him. Stupid dog had thought it was funny until Hajime called the Warden to report a mass escape from Building 4.
However, today such an addition was unfortunately not someone he could kick out so easily as he could the dog and monkey’s stupid pranks.
Kiji was trying to fill the third bunk in Cell 6 again.
Inmates 0303 and 0382 entered with their usual melodramatics and gravitated towards 11 and 15. Hajime was privately of the opinion that those two were a bad influence on his inmates that resulted in him needing to beat out whatever half-baked ideas they’d put into Cell 13’s escape attempts.
The okama wasn’t far behind, as his nasally complaints of “Hey Hajime, there’s no smoking in here! You’ll give my beautiful Cell 6 lung cancer!” were ear-achingly loud.
Hajime begrudgingly put out the perfectly good cigarette he’d been enjoying, and turned to glare at the supervisor of Building 3
There was someone hiding behind Kiji.
A small hand gripped tightly onto his uniform, tugging the material slightly as the owner moved away when the monkey tried to peer around the supervisor to see who it was.
The okama half-turned and began fussing over them. “Now, now. I know it’s scary with all these ugly people here, but you need to try and make more friends, ok? I know Hani and Trois will look out for you, but it’ll be bad if the only people you associate with are those underwear thieves—you don’t wanna pick up their bad habits, do you?”
Was he a mother trying to drop off her child at kindergarten? Hajime wondered, teeth clenching reflexively. Kiji spoiled his inmates, there was no doubt about that, but this was taking it to a whole new level of ridiculous.
“Look, the monkey, gorilla and dog over here are the scariest people in the room.” Kiji soothed. “If you can introduce yourself to them, then the others won’t be scary at all, I promise.”
“Who’re you calling a gorilla?” Hajime ground out as the monkey screeched “Who the hell’re you calling a monkey?!”
The two glared at one another with deep dislike. Kenshirou just huffed a disdainful sigh.
The hand holding onto Kiji’s uniform gradually released its grip, and the inmate it belonged to shuffled into view.
It was a child with a soft-enough face to be just entering his preteens. He was probably northern European based on the blue eyes, wan skin and atrociously-cut pale brown hair.
The boy fidgeted a little, then tried to look them in the eye (which required him to crane his neck quite a bit due to his short stature) and bowed low. A large “7” was tattooed into the shaved back of his head.
“It is nice to meet you. I am inmate number 0307 of Cell 6, Building 3. My name is Johnny Powers, but most people here call me “Nana”. I entrust myself to your care.” His Japanese had a heavy English accent, but sounded natural enough.
Kiji preened, obviously proud of adding such a well-mannered inmate to his “beautiful” Cell 6.
Hajime wasn’t fooled though (despite his stomach gurgling at the unfairness of being stuck with all the trouble-makers). In his line of experience, it wasn’t uncommon for prisoners to put up a well-behaved facade in order to try and give the guards the slip later. The fact that 0307 was a kid just made him more suspicious in the supervisor’s eyes. Nanba was a prison for those that the world couldn’t handle— for someone this young to be sent here, he must be at least on the same level as some of the world’s most vicious serial killers or its most proficient escape artists.
The unconscious glare he was sending the boy as he reflected on this made the child slowly grow paler and paler, until he was trembling slightly and his eyes were tearing up.
Kiji frowned, carefully placing himself between Hajime and his newest charge. “Hold it you, stop trying to frighten my inmate! Didn’t you ever learn it’s rude not to answer when someone introduces themselves to you?”
Samon snorted. “Forget him— gorillas are too stupid to have any manners in the first place.”
“Say that to my face, monkey.”
Hajime vaguely registering the dog scoffing as he put the monkey in a headlock, and turning to the new inmate. “I am Kenshirou Yozakura, Supervisor of Building 4. The monkey currently being killed is Samon Gokuu, Supervisor of Building 5. The rude gorilla bastard is Hajime Sugoroku, Supervisor of Building 13.”
Hajime released his hold on the monkey to turn towards the dog when 0307 spoke. “Building 13…is the one we’re in now, right?”
“That’s right Nana-chan! Can you remember what this building specializes in?” Kiji questioned indulgently.
0307 furrowed his brow in thought. “I remember Building 4 is culture, and 5 is athletics, probably. Building 13…is for problem inmates?”
Kiji clapped his hands in delight. “Yes! Good boy, you got it right!”
The child gave a small smile at the praise, cheeks flushing slightly.
“Oi, just what is it your shitty education building is teaching about mine?!” Hajime fumed, frightening the boy right back into his previous state.
The stupid okama ignored him, too busy ruffling 0307’s terrible hair. “Right, now why don’t you go see what Hani and Trois are doing to try and make some new friends? I’ll be right here if you need me.”
“Yes Kiji-San.” The boy nodded. Turning to the other supervisors, 0307 bowed again. “It was nice to meet you, Yozakura-San, Gokuu-San, Sugoroku-San.”
He scampered off quickly to where inmate number 0382 was arguing with 11.
Kiji sighed melodramatically. “You know, I think I’ve finally managed to fill the third spot in cell 6. Nana-chan’s so well behaved and sensitive, I haven’t had any trouble with him whatsoever, and the other children are fond of him too. I think I may have finally found someone in this prison who I can talk about the finer things in life to.”
The monkey eyed him suspiciously. “You’re going to try and turn him into an okama, aren’t you.”
“DON’T SAY THAT LIKE IT’S SOME KIND OF INFECTION!!”
Hajime and the dog shuddered in unison. They already had more than enough okama running around without adding another one to the mix.