Chapter Text
“I’ll be gone for a couple of days”
“Uh huh”
“Across the country”
“Yep”
“I really don’t want to come back to a burning dorm”
“Got that”
Leon glared at his roommate from the door, Kazuichi was laying on his bed in a white t-shirt and boxers staring at his phone, looking very much like he wasn’t listening
“Because last time I had to leave to go to a big ball game I came back to you, Fuyuhiko and Hajime evacuating the room because you set the microwave on fire”
“That was one time! And besides, I’ve grown and I’ve learned from my mistakes, and it’s insulting being lectured about safety from a man who walked into a river because Maizono was waving at you”
Kazuichi finally looked up from his phone to see his friend go bright red, he matched his hair now
“Listen, I’ll only be gone for a couple of days, if you want to burn shit go to Hajime’s dorm room to do it” Leon stammered, regaining his composure “I’ve got to go, just, make sure the place is still in one piece when I get back ok?”
Kaz rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah, now go score some goals or whatever you do in baseball”
Leon snorted before walking out the door and closing it behind him, it was quiet in the room for a few seconds before the door opened again
“That was quick” remarked Kazuichi
“Haha, I just wanted to say that you are not to take this as an opportunity to stalk that Sonia girl from your class, if I hear one word from anybody saying that you were being creepy around her I will get Nekomaru to hunt you down and make you join in with baseball practice for a month” Leon threatened with his eyes narrowed
“Of course I won’t! Now go, hit some balls with a stick, be famous, shoo, get out of here” the mechanic replied, making shooing gestures with his hands
“Aight, bye Kaz, have fun”
Leon closed the door and his footsteps echoed as he walked down the hallway
Kazuichi waited until he couldn’t hear the younger boy’s footsteps anymore before jumping out of bed, throwing on his jumpsuit and brushing out his hair, like hell he was going to spend the next few days away from Miss Sonia! Leon had been keeping an eye out and stopping him from hanging out with her outside of school and this was perfect opportunity to spent some time with her without someone breathing down his neck
He was already envisioning how today would be the day he would sweep her off her feet with some perfect romantic gesture as he grabbed his beanie off his desk and jammed it over his bright pink hair, he checked himself in the mirror to make sure there wasn’t anything obviously concerning about his appearance, nope! He didn’t even smell strongly of motor oil for once, he really was pulling all the strings today.
Kazuichi exited his room cautiously, making sure Leon was no where in sight, before quickly hurrying down the stairs to the front of the school where he knew the princess would be. As he pushed open the doors he was hit with the bright light and the heat of the summer sun, it was the end of May and the temperature had been record high for the last week or so.
Eye’s squinting against the sun, Kazuichi scanned the grounds for the familiar long blond hair and dress. Most of the student body was outside enjoying the heat and relaxing now that the exams were over, and the mechanics eyes wandered over a group of students from Leon’s class lounging on the steps while a boy in a striking white uniform told them off for loitering at the entrance of the school
[“That is strictly against the school rules and you know it Kyoudai!” “Will ya relax and just enjoy the sun for once bro? Chihiro says he’ll teach me how to play chess”]
“Where is she…?”
He passed a group of students he didn’t recognise, probably from Class 78, sitting on a bench eating lunch together, well, trying to. From what Kazuichi could tell, most of them were trying to eat lunch in peace whilst a small boy with a checkered bandana and a shit eating grin ran around the table poking people and generally being a nuisance
“Ahah!”
Finally, he spotted Sonia sitting in the grass in the shade underneath the trees, she was talking happily to someone out of sight
Kazuichi began to walk faster and ducked behind a tree as he entered the shady area
“Please don’t be talking to Tanaka…” He prayed as he got closer to the princess, he had no patience to deal with the breeders eccentric speech patterns and over the top mannerisms at the moment
“Fascinating! I had no idea that your knowledge of the Nintendo gaming company was so vast~”
Sonia’s voice came into focus as the mechanic ducked behind another tree to think of his plan of action
“It’s nothing, video games are my passion so I guess I just pick up some knowledge about the makers while I play them” a familiar tired voice replied, Chiaki Nanami the Ultimate Gamer
Kaz grinned to himself behind the tree, Chiaki is about as far from Tanaka as you can get!
He edged slightly closer and peered out from behind the tree, it had occurred to him that this probably counts as spying on the princess but he pushed that thought away quickly, “I just want to get to know her better! Thats all”
The two girls were sitting on a pale pink blanket under the cool shade of the trees, Chiaki had her 3DS in one hand but was ignoring it in favour of talking enthusastically to Sonia
The pair continued their conversation as Kazuichi began to formulate a plan in his head
“Alright… I need to think of something good to say when I walk up to them, something that’ll not only interest Miss Sonia but also won’t make it too obvious that I’m planning to ask her out, I also need to think of a way to talk to her without Chiaki, maybe if I tell her Gamestop is having a sale?…”
He glanced over to Sonia again to make sure he hadn’t been spotted yet and watched as she tossed her hair back, the sunlight coming through the trees catching it in just a way that made it look like woven gold
Kazuichi let out a sigh of longing and started letting his mind wander as he watched her hair settle back down on her shoulders,
“Miss Sonia is so beautiful, she’s the most perfect student at this school! One day, one day we’ll walk through these grounds hand in hand, she’ll laugh at jokes I make and we’ll spend every day together and-“
A low voice from right next him spoke up
“Enjoying the view fiend?~”
Souda almost shrieked out loud, but stopped himself just in time, [as confident as he was, he didn’t really feeling like explaining his ’not spying’ to an angry Sonia Nevermind] and turned his head to see, yep, Gundham fucking Tanaka, the bane of his existence, leaning against the tree with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face
Kazuichi barely had to speak before the breeder grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit and dragged him a bit further away from the girls
He pushed the smaller male against another tree before leaning back against the tree behind him and glaring at the mechanic
“Care to tell me what you were doing intruding upon the Dark Princess’s meeting Sharp toothed one?” The dark haired boy growled, his arms once again crossed
Souda blinked up at the taller boy angrily before looking him up and down to survey his opponent for this first time. He was still wearing his normal dark jeans and knee high boots, but instead of his usual long black trenchcoat, Tanaka was just wearing a white t-shirt with a purple mark on it, and his signature purple scarf was dropped loosely over his neck and shoulders
“Looks like the heat is even bothering the Great Overlord of Ice” Kazuichi thought to himself
“Why should I tell you anything Hamster-Chan? None of your business” He said outloud
Gundham sighed in annoyance at those words, he looked like he was having an internal struggle with himself over this whole situation
“What exactly gives you the right to wreck havoc and stalk the Lady of Darkness whilst she is conversing with the Slayer of virtual demons?”
“First of all I’m not stalking Miss Sonia, I’m just keeping an eye out for her that’s all, and secondly, I don’t know if anyone has told ya this, but it ain’t the Middle Ages anymore, no need to talk like a Shakespear actor on crack”
The two boys glared at each other angrily, waiting to see who would speak next, finally Gundham spoke up again
“I will have to inform the Dark Princess of this behaviour”
Kazuichi’s heart dropped into his stomach at the thought, Miss Sonia would definitely take this the wrong way and he hated it when it when she got mad at him, and the very though of a month of Nekomuru’s vigorous baseball practices made his legs feel weak
“Woah, ok there do we really need to do that??” replied Souda frantically, this day was not going according to plan, “It’s not that big of a deal, she doesn’t really need to know!”
The dark haired boy shook his head slowly, “Pink haired fiend, whilst it mightn’t seem that way to you, you’ve crossed a line drawn in the sand and the She cat deserves to know of this heinous act”
Faced with real consequences for his actions, Kazuichi was feeling desperate, he closed his eyes as he started to really panic “There is no way that Miss Sonia can find out about this, I’ve fucked up, I’ve fucked up, I’ve fucked up, goodbye hopes for a future with the girl of my dreams, goodbye dreams of the perfect first kiss, she’s never even gonna LOOK at me again after this”
“Unless..”
Gundham’s voice snapped the mechanic out of his spiralling thoughts, he opened his eyes to see the breeder staring intently at him
“Y-yeah? What is it?” Kazuichi asked hopefully, maybe Tanaka had decided to spare his life and let him of the hook
“I could turn a blind eye to this incident, if you help us with something” the breeder replied, looking down at his feet as he said it
“Whatcha mean by us?” Kazuichi asked suspiciously, he wasn’t about to become the errand boy for a bunch of hamsters
Gundham sighed again, still looking at the ground
“The Dark Princess and I plan to hold a seance tonight with some associates of ours, we need five mortal bodies to complete the ritual and the Allseeing one has refused to help us, something about foreseeing tragedy in his crystal ball, we need someone to take his place” he explained
“Allseeing one, Yasuhiro Hagakure from class 77?”
Gundham nodded, “That’s the one”
Kazuichi brought his hand to his chin and thought for a few seconds,
“Lemme get this straight, you want me to take someones place in your creepy seance thing, and if I do, you’ll keep quiet about me watching Miss Sonia?’
Gundham nodded again, “You also have to cease any plans to continue this endeavour of yours, if I ever catch you doing this again I will not hesitate to cast you into the fiery pits of the nine hells”
Kazuichi closed his eyes and weighed the pros and cons of the offer, on one hand a seance sounds like the worst possible thing he could attend, he could barely get through fair ground haunted houses, let alone an actual fucking ritual, but on the other hand he really couldn’t risk Miss Sonia finding out about this, and this would be an excuse to spend some time around her and make sure Tanaka doesn’t try to pull anything fishy on her, so maybe this wouldn’t be a complete waste of time
He opened his eyes to see Gundham staring at him with a slightly apprehensive look on his face
“Here we go”
“Fine” Kazuichi sighed, “I’ll join your stupid seance if you promise not to tell Miss Sonia about any of this”
Gundham started to smile widely, he look relieved that Kazuichi had agreed so readily
“Excellent, meet me on the steps of the Realm of learning at 1.00am tonight. Do not be late”
And with that Gundham nodded goodbye to a very confused Kazuichi and strode out from beneath the trees and back towards the school, leaving Kazuichi to process what he’d just signed up for