Chapter Text
Morning was a quiet time. There were noises: an alarm, a coffee pot boiling, a yawn or two, but they were few and far between.
Things were louder when Akira left the coffee shop, but they were still just background noise. The train against the tracks, the chattering of commuters, the mass of footsteps against pavement, they were loud, but external to Akira. He drifted silently through these noises, more preoccupied with the scenery around him, or the words on his cell phone.
The fog that filled the streets of Tokyo seemed to muffle the noise, but only until rain started cutting through the clouds. The sky remained gray, but the fog cleared away, allowing the sky to return to its typical expansiveness, releasing Tokyo from mother nature’s brand of claustrophobia. Now only the usual claustrophobia induced by Tokyo itself remained. The umbrellas that quickly spread through the walkway toward Shujin Academy blended into the background as much as the people holding them.
Akira had been attending Shujin for two weeks now, but he still felt like a stranger here. As many times as he walked the streets, they felt cold and unfamiliar, the students here equally so. The whispers, always just loud enough that he could hear but conveniently quiet enough that the teachers did nothing, had yet to die down since he’d started. Drama and gossip were staples of any high school stereotype, but Akira never thought he’d be thrust so forcefully into the centre of them.
It was tiring, and sometimes Akira wished someone else could take the role as primary gossip victim, if only for a day.
But with no end to the careful glances and not so careful avoidance in sight, Akira would just have to wait until his fellow students forgot about him. It was lonely, but in a familiar way.
To be ignored or scorned, it was a toss up.
Akira saw the school gate come into view, hoards of students scurrying inside to avoid the rain that had begun to pour harder. He kept his own pace though, careful not to get in anyone’s space. The rain kept hitting his glasses, making it hard enough to see that he didn’t want to risk running anyways. He wiped the water off with the collar of his turtleneck, before starting to speed walk a little bit.
Small groups of students clustered under shared umbrellas, trying to match each other’s pace.
A boy ahead of Akira, in an effort to keep up, dropped his bag as his friend pulled him into the safety of Shujin’s foyer. Pausing for a moment, Akira bent down and picked up the bag, carrying it with him inside. Taking a quick look around, it was pretty easy to spot the bag’s owner, given his panicked expression at losing all his possessions.
Knowing where his efforts to socialize had gotten him so far, Akira had half a mind to drop the bag off at the lost and found instead. But with the boy’s scrambling only getting worse, Akira steeled himself and approached.
“Excuse me, I think this is yours,” Akira offered, holding up the bag in his hand.
The room around him froze, everyone’s eyes now on Akira.
“Oh my god, did he steal it?” a nearby bystander whispered.
“He probably took the money already,” another said.
“Maybe he’s just being nice,” a girl suggested, only to be elbowed by her friend.
The bag owner met Akira’s eyes with so much fear that Akira couldn’t help but feel guilty for making him the center of attention. Akira offered a small reassuring smile to help ease the other boy.
The boy gulped, shaking slightly as he walked toward Akira. It was quiet, much quieter than this school had ever been before, as the boy reached his arm forward in such a slow motion, one might think he was trying to poke a sleeping bear. As soon as the boy’s fingers wrapped around the bag’s handle, he was ripping the bag out of Akira’s hands and sprinting in the opposite direction.
Then, as if someone had pressed play on a movie, everything returned to normal, with students changing into their indoor shoes, and making their way to their classrooms.
Akira watched the boy for a second. Watched his friends clap him on the shoulder and poke fun at him, offering words of teasing reassurance. It was only when the warning bell rung that Akira forced himself out of his trance and stuffed his possessions into his locker.
He made his way to class alone.
***
School ended like it did everyday, new homework to do and new rumours about Akira circling around the school.
The number of labels he’d already accumulated was honestly pretty impressive. Criminal, violent maniac, and delinquent were probably the most common, but thief was new. As much as he shouldn’t be surprised by people’s ability to skew things to make them as dramatic as possible, he still couldn’t wrap his head around how returning a dropped bag had led to him being a thief.
Well there wasn’t much he could do about it now. Previous attempts to talk casually with his classmates had been rather unsuccessful, so the only thing he could really do was what he’d been doing since he’d gotten to Tokyo.
Wait it out and hope things got better.
Akira lagged behind his classmates who were already vacating the room, eager to get home. It was Saturday so many of them had plans, or so Akira had overheard.
Akira on the other hand, only had an irritable coffee shop owner and an empty attic waiting for him. While the peace and quiet of his own space sounded comforting considering the day he’d had, Akira knew the quiet would quickly become all consuming.
So instead of following the masses of students heading down the stairs and out of the building, Akira went against the grain and made his way toward the roof. He paused at the top, where an off-limits sign had been posted on the door, but if he was already labelled a delinquent then was this really that big a deal?
Opening the door, Akira took in the view of the empty rooftop. There were old desks and chairs stacked every which-where, but that was about all there was to see. Rain continued to fall, but it was more of a drizzle at this point. Walking over to the edge of the roof, any view one might have had was obstructed by the other large buildings in the area. Akira only really saw the small forms of Shujin uniforms leaving the school, most headed in the direction of the train station.
“What am I even doing?” Akira asked aloud, a humourless laugh leaving his lips.
There was nothing up here, but there was something about distancing himself like this that had a numbing effect. Or maybe it was just the cold.
Akira wasn’t someone who spent time without purpose. He kept himself busy, be it by studying or by one of the part-time jobs he’d gotten. It was better to keep occupied, because when it was just Akira and his thoughts, his mind tended to wander to things he’d rather forget.
Which was why it was strange that Akira had brought himself to a place where he could easily remember how everything had gone wrong.
His whole life he’d wanted his parents to notice him; for them to take even a minute out of their busy days to acknowledge him. A hug may have been asking too much, but just a single word of approval would have been enough. Anything to prove his parents noticed his existence. Funnily enough, the only time this desire had been fulfilled was when his parents had to attend his trial.
The attention he’d longed for so long morphed into disappointed stares and harsh words, which only circled back to Akira being alone all over again.
It was a vicious cycle, a vortex that had Akira trapped. Everyone around him could see it, but did nothing to break him free. It was dark here, but Akira was used to it. He tried not to wish anymore, to be happy with what he did have. He was healthy, had a roof over his head, which was more than a lot of people.
Whining about it would just drive more people away, but up on the roof by himself, Akira found himself making a wish, despite himself.
If he could have just a single person see him, really see him, even if only for a moment…
“There must be one person in Tokyo who won’t hate me,” Akira said to himself.
Looking up at the sky, the rain finally stopped. Even the clouds parted slightly, making way for a small sunbeam that hit Shujin’s roof directly. Akira had to shield his eyes with an arm, but the warmth still felt nice even if it blinded him.
Having no reason to stay any longer (not that he’d had a reason to be here to begin with), Akira bent down to retrieve his school bag.
“Uh, hey there dude?” a voice said, startling Akira enough to drop the bag he’d just picked up.
Akira whipped his head around to see a blond boy standing sheepishly a few feet away from him. The boy wore all white aside from an oversized purple coat that hung loosely over his shoulders, unzipped in the front. The bright white paired with the sunlight bouncing off of the fabric only blinded Akira more.
“Sorry man, I didn’t mean to startle ya,” the boy apologized.
“Umm it’s fine,” Akira replied, eyes having finally adjusted.
He should feel excited that someone was talking to him like a normal person, but there was clearly something strange about this boy. Firstly, judging by his clothes and the fact that Akira had never seen him before (it’d be hard to miss such bright hair), this boy was not a student here. Secondly, if he wasn’t a student, what was he doing on Shujin’s roof?
Akira wasn’t exactly sure what to say or ask, afraid to offend the stranger. At the very least, the blond looked like he was having just as hard a time as he was, face scrunching up as if deep in thought.
“So… what are you doing up here?” Akira asked, keeping the question neutral.
“Oh.. Uh well…” the boy attempted. “So…”
Akira waited patiently.
The boy groaned in frustration, taking a breath to steady himself.
“Okay, sorry dude, it’s just… this is gonna sound really effin’ crazy,” the blond managed.
Akira wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, but he continued to listen, muscles tensing up slightly.
“Umm ya see I’m actually—”
The opening of the roof’s door cut him off.
“The door clearly says off limits—oh why am I not surprised…” Ms. Kawakami, Akira’s homeroom teacher, said, not hiding her annoyance. “Mr. Kurusu, I know you’re not used to playing by the rules, but you really can’t be up here.”
Akira felt a mixture of shame and frustration. Yes, he shouldn’t be up here, but he’d been nothing but a model student since he’d started. Apparently believing rumours wasn’t exclusively a teenager thing.
“I’m sorry,” Akira responded.
“What are you even doing up here by yourself?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
“I—” Akira was about to answer before stopping himself. “By myself?” he asked instead, making direct eye contact with the blond who stood closer to Kawakami than even himself.
The boy kind of shrugged at him, rubbing the back of his neck almost apologetically.
“Well unless you’re hiding some other delinquent up here, then yes, by yourself,” Kawakami answered before muttering a small “why me?” to herself.
Akira was stuck, caught between believing this was some cruel joke and that he was finally going crazy. Could he really be so infamous here already that his teacher would outright neglect to warn the other boy clearly on the roof with him? Was this some way to isolate him even more until he was finally chased out of Shujin for good?
However, if this were the case, then Ms. Kawakami was an award-winning actress because the confusion on her face could only classify as genuine. She didn’t once look at the blond, who stood almost between herself and Akira, eyes boring straight ahead with a glance or two to her watch.
But if she really thought he was alone…
“You don’t see him?” Akira asked, pointing at the blond not even three feet away from him. This was clearly a risk in looking like a complete fool, but Akira needed to know.
A flash of concern passed over his teacher’s face, but was quickly replaced by even greater frustration than before.
“Ha ha, very funny Mr. Kurusu. Now if you and your imaginary friend will kindly leave the roof, I’ll let you off with a warning this time,” Kawakami said, not hiding how unimpressed she was. “And next time, just own up to your mistakes yourself.”
With that she held the door open, waiting for Akira to exit.
Akira, blinked a few times, looking back and forth between Kawakami and the blond stranger she apparently couldn’t see. He discreetly pinched himself, but the boy didn’t disappear. Looking back at the impatient teacher waiting for him, Akira felt himself freeze, brain too overloaded to follow his teacher’s basic instruction.
He knew in the back of his mind that this must look really bad, but Akira could very well have lost his mind completely and was beginning to hallucinate. Or maybe even the school ghost had taken pity on him and decided to keep him company. Maybe the ghost wanted him dead.
“Shit, I’m sorry dude, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” the boy said solemnly, looking guilty.
Too confused to feel any animosity toward the sincere look on the blond’s face, Akira nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“It’s fine,” Akira said. This was a lie, Akira was not, in fact, fine.
“What’s fine?” Kawakami asked, tapping a foot where she continued to stand in the doorway.
“Dude, don’t answer me anymore!” the boy said, frazzled. “I’ll explain, I promise… just after she’s gone.”
Akira, who felt even more frazzled, nodded, catching his mistake.
“Sorry I was talking to myself,” Akira said, noticing the suspicious look Kawakami gave him.
Kawakami sighed loudly, looking tired.
“Well, I suggest you go home and spend some time on your homework instead of… talking to yourself,” Kawakami suggested awkwardly. “Look, I have somewhere to be, so I won’t force you off the roof for today, but don’t stay up here much longer. And this is a one-time thing okay? Next time I catch you up here I’ll have to report you, understood?”
“Understood, thank you,” Akira said, surprised at the leniency he was being shown.
With that, Kawakami spared him another glance before retreating inside with a small click of the roof door. Akira stood for a moment, watching as his teacher left, and side-eyeing the blond who slouched as he stood, seemingly waiting for Akira to do something.
It was tense on the roof, silent apart from the chirping of the odd bird. Akira had so many questions, he couldn’t decide where to start. Who was this boy? What did he want with Akira?
Why couldn’t his teacher see him?
“So… that was awkward huh?” the blond forced a laugh, but the grimace on his face was clear.
Akira stared at him, face neutral, waiting.
“Yeah, I guess you’re waiting for me to tell ya what’s going on?” the boy said. “Okay, try not to freak out too much…”
“Too late for that,” Akira found himself saying before he could stop himself.
Hopefully that wouldn’t offend the potentially malevolent spirit.
The boy snorted a little instead. “Fair enough dude.”
The blond took a deep breath, while Akira checked the proximity of the door in case things went south. Although if this was a ghost, then running probably wouldn’t do much good. Akira then gestured for the boy to continue, keeping the remainder of his questions to himself until the stranger spoke his piece.
“So truth is Akira…” oh good he already knew Akira’s name somehow “…I’m—”
A ghost? An alien? An apparition of Akira’s perpetual loneliness which had amalgamated into a punkish blond boy his age?
“—your guardian angel.”