Chapter Text
Tetsuya joins the photography club on a whim. Simply put, he had wanted to partake in an extracurricular activity and of course students from many clubs - science and math clubs, casual sports clubs, home economics clubs - reached out to all first years, trying to recruit as many members as possible.
He had found that nothing was really catching his eye, until he was handed a flyer from the photography club. His interest immediately piqued - he loved taking pictures - so he signed up right away.
It was meant to be a leisure activity - take a couple of pictures of things he found interesting, develop them, and put them in a photo album or frame them or something.
But Tetsuya was taking tons photos everyday, and the senpai had to tell him to hold off on developing every single picture or else they’d run out of materials and club budget. When they gave him a digital camera, he went and filled the memory card within three days.
“Yuki-kun, why do you take so many pictures?”
The first year lowers his camera. “What do you mean?”
The club president sighs to herself as she sits in the seat beside him. She had anticipated such an answer from Yuki-kun.
“I mean, you take so many photos every day,” she says, tilting her head to the side. “Why is that?”
Tetsuya takes a picture of her and she blinks with confusion before blushing. “Y-Yuki-kun, delete that picture right now!”
He complies, and deletes the image after looking at it for a good minute. He looks up at the club president.
“Do you not take many photos?”
She clears her throat. “Of course I take many pictures, but only of things that interest me. And I make sure that the photo will come out looking beautiful.”
“Hmm,” Tetsuya mumbles as he fidgets with the settings on the digital camera. “I guess I take a lot of pictures because I’m trying to find what interests me.”
The club president leans her elbows on the table, resting her chin on the knuckles of her hands.
“Huh.” She wonders about what he would be interested in.
*
The world is different at night, beautiful from behind the lens of his camera. Tetsuya doesn’t take any pictures yet, thinking about whether or not he should use a flash.
‘Around 9:30pm... when it’s really dark... behind the boys’ dorms... you’ll find something interesting there for sure.’
That’s what the club president had told him earlier (he had asked her for her name afterwards and she had reddened in response, mildly upset that he didn’t know her name).
Well here he is, absentmindedly pacing behind the boys’ dorm at - he checks the time on his phone - 9:38pm, and the nighttime charm has already worn off.
The moon is hidden behind thick clouds, so it’s unusually dark tonight and he sighs, rubbing his forefinger on the capture button.
The last bus is at 10:10pm so if anything interesting -
Tetsuya bumps into something and the flash goes off; he stumbles backward and there’s a loud shout.
“OY! WHAT THE HELL?!”
Tetsuya needs to blink rapidly to regain his vision, but there are still black spots in sight as he strains to see the figure in front of him.
“Hey you!”
He’s abruptly pulled forward by the front of his shirt, suddenly nose to nose with an unfamiliar, angry boy about his age. This guy is blinking profusely as well, mouth pulled into an impressive frown.
“What are you doing here?? Fucking blinding me like that!”
His eyes are blazing, glaring, and Tetsuya almost forgets to answer.
“The flash went off accidentally.”
“Hah??”
He feels the other boy press his forehead to his. Is he trying to intimidate him?
Then he’s released, shoved backwards a little, and Tetsuya immediately raises his camera, snapping a quick picture of the scowling boy.
“Fucking..! Don’t do that!” the boy says loudly as he rubs his eyes.
“Sorry.” Well, not really.
“So what are you even doing here?”
Tetsuya is about to reply, but there are little specs of light rising from the bushes behind the angry guy. “Looking for...”
Tetsuya takes another picture and the boy is about to yell or something, but he notices the fireflies too, and he stares at the pinpoints of magnificent light that begin to surround him, his expression softening with wonder.
“...Something that interests me,” Tetsuya whispers as he takes another photo.