Chapter Text
The weekend was coming to a close on this lazy Sunday afternoon. It was nice to have a day where there were no expectations and no responsibilities. Chiaki, for example, was happily laying on the couch upside down while playing her Nintendo Switch. She had installed Splatoon a few days ago and was already at the top of the ranks in competition.
She was happily playing when a knock came from the front door. She was far too engrossed in the game to notice until the 6th or 7th knock.
"Huh?" The gamer paused her game and sat up slowly, yawning, before she headed over to the door and opened it up.
Standing in the doorway was a girl. Her hair was in messy black pigtails, and streaks of red and blue ran through some of it. She also wore a gas mask on her face and dark tinted lenses. Her outfit was a goth aesthetic with long sleeves rolled up to her elbows and black leather gloves. She wore a plain black skirt that had a utility belt slung around her hips, ripped black tights, and thick goth boots with platforms on them. The numerous colours of paint added A splash of colour to her otherwise dark outfit splattered across her.
"Oh, hey Yuna. What are you doing here?" Chiaki greeted casually.
Yuna typed on her phone before Chiaki's phone chimed, indicating that she received a message.
[Yuna]: 🎮 = 🤔? 🎮, 🏠 📖! (Chiaki, do you not remember? You invited me to live here since I'm starting at Hope's Peak Academy!)
Yuna looked over her shoulder and pointed to the car which had some boxes stacked in the back seat.
Chiaki read over the emojis, trying to understand the message for a moment before she let out an, "Ooooh..." She gave a slightly embarrassed look, puffing her cheeks.
"Right. I must have forgotten. We haven't cleared out the spare room yet." Chiaki tucked her phone away and stood to the side to invite Yuna in. "Come in, I'll get my housemates."
Chiaki walked over to the bottom of the stairs and cupped her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice.
"Hajime? Nagito? Can you come down, please?" She called from where she stood. "I forgot to tell you. I invited a friend to live with us. She's just started at Hope's Peak Academy and her first day is tomorrow. This is Yuna Iwamine, the Ultimate Graffiti Artist."
Nagito, who'd been watching a movie in his room with Hajime, headed down the stairs, dragging a slightly unwilling Hajime behind him by the hand. The brunette looked like he was trying to pull away and go back upstairs.
"Nagito, c'mon... I'm not even dressed properly-" He hissed under his breath, looking nervous with sweat on his forehead, but he immediately shut up when he noticed the girl standing in the hallway.
Nagito let go of Hajime's hand and bounded down the stairs, a friendly and welcoming smile on his face.
"The Ultimate Graffiti Artist, huh? That's pretty impressive. Nice to meet you. Since Chiaki invited you to live here with us, I hope we can make your time here at least satisfactory." He stuck out a hand and shook hers.
"Oh, if you want, Chiaki and I can show you around the school when we go, or not. Since you're new and all. It's a pretty big school so it might be overwhelming, but you'll get used to it quickly." Nagito said, trying to sound reassuring to ease any worries she might have about starting school here.
Slowly, Hajime made his way down the stairs too, finally giving in and deciding he should at least try to be polite. "Hey. Uh, nice to meet you." He reached out his hand to offer a handshake.
Yuna looked between the two boys as they introduced themselves and greeted her. The white-haired boy seemed far more welcoming than the brown-haired boy, but she didn't mind too much. She herself didn't come across as too friendly with her appearance and all.
She shook Hajime's hand but offered no response other than a quick nod. She pulled out her phone before she handed it over to Nagito and Hajime to collect their numbers so she could text them and communicate with them.
He ruffled his hair with his free hand. "Sorry, I'm not great at talking to new people and I didn't expect all of this since Chiaki didn't tell us." He gave the gamer girl a light-hearted glare, feeling no genuine anger but wanting to portray his slight frustration.
"Sorry," Chiaki responded, not sounding or looking all that sorry as she momentarily looked up from the game she was playing before immediately going back to tapping the buttons and watching the flashing screen as she waited for everyone to finish talking.
"Since school doesn't start until tomorrow, I guess we could clear out a room for Yuna," Nagito suggested.
Chiaki yawned before stretching, looking sleepy suddenly. "Mm, not me though... You two, Hajime and Nagito, can do it, right?"
Nagito nodded enthusiastically. Hajime nodded too but not as excitedly as Nagito did.
"Of course. Anything to make her feel as comfortable as possible here. I wouldn't want to make a terrible impression on the first day."
Nagito looked sheepish suddenly, raising his hands in front of his chest as a passive display. "Oh, or maybe I already did, haha..."
There were a few beats of awkward silence before Nagito spoke again. "Anyway... Let's get to cleaning out that room?"
Chiaki looked up from her game, shutting it off as her eyes lit up slightly. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell all of you. Yuna is selectively mute, so she'll only text you. Her emojis might be hard to decipher at first but you'll get used to it, eventually." She explained to the two as they entered their contacts. Yuna nodded affirmingly at Chiaki before heading outside to collect some of the boxes from her car. Everyone else followed to help.
Luckily, there weren't many boxes. Only about eight, which were all properly organized and labeled. It didn't take them long before everything was inside and sitting in the front room with four people working.
After bringing everything inside, Yuna pulled out her phone and sent a text to Nagito.
[Yuna]: 👍! 🥱. (Thank you! That was tiring.)
Nagito, panting from the labor of carrying boxes in his easily exhausted body, pulled out his phone when it buzzed, looking at the message. He stared at it for a few seconds before nodding, smiling. "Yes it was, but now that all of it is in here, it should be easy to move in from this point."
Nagito smiled politely. "Even though our house isn't the biggest, I hope you'll still enjoy living here. If there's anything I can do to make your time here as hopeful as possible, just let me know."
Hajime thought about if Nagito was talking too much for a girl who seemed pretty shy and didn't like to talk, but he didn't speak his thoughts out loud, worrying about offending her or Nagito. He coughed to break the sudden silence.
"So... I guess it's a bit late. I can start on dinner if we're done here." Hajime suggested, rubbing the back of his neck.
Nagito perked up at that, tipping his head. "Oh, you haven't cooked in a while Hajime, I'm looking forward to it! If we didn't already have an Ultimate Chef, maybe you could have that title instead." He laughed.
He looked over at Yuna. "Hajime is great at cooking, but he likes to pretend he's not."
"N-Nagito, you don't have to praise it so much... It's average at best. Nowhere near Ultimate Chef level. Don't raise her hopes that much..." Hajime said, flustered, feet shifting nervously on the ground.
Nagito shrugged as Hajime left to make dinner, deciding this conversation wouldn't be worth the effort. Once Nagito and Yuna were alone again, he turned to her. "Okay, great! Listen, despite what he says, I think you'll really enjoy his food. He's just not used to compliments like that. In the meantime, is there anything else you want to do?" He asked, looking around the messy room and wondering if he should help clean it up. It'd be the most courteous thing to do, right?
Yuna turned her attention back to Nagito, tipping her head before picking up a box labeled. 'Paint Supplies'. She gestured her head upstairs and started to walk upwards.
Chiaki raised her hand upwards, slightly gesturing to point upstairs before she snapped it back to her game, aggressively clicking. "The spare room is on the left."
Yuna nodded and walked upstairs with two boxes in her arms. Nagito followed closely behind with one box instead of two. Yuna opened the door and immediately noticed how messy the spare room was. Oh boy... She thought, already feeling tired at the thought of doing that much. She cracked her knuckles, deciding she had to press on before she stepped inside and attempted to clean up some of the things on the bed and clear things away from the wardrobe.
She took out her phone and texted Nagito.
[Yuna]: 🍀 = ❌ (You don't have to help)
Nagito shrugged, smiling. "I don't mind. There's not much else to do but stand around while Hajime is making dinner, and I'm sure Chiaki is either helping or playing video games, so I don't mind offering some assistance." He assured her. Despite her protests, Nagito ended up helping her clean until Hajime finally called them down for dinner, which was about an hour later. By that time, the room was completely clear and only needed things to be put into it, which he'd leave to Yuna. He wouldn't go through a girl's stuff so carelessly like that.
"I was just getting hungry, so let's head down," Nagito suggested, leaving the room with Yuna following behind him. She was tired, but she was glad to finally get some of that stuff cleared out. They headed down to the kitchen and dining room where one of Nagito's personal favourite dishes, macaroni and cheese with tomatoes from scratch with four types of cheese, sat on the table.
"It looks amazing, Hajime! I'm excited to eat. Maybe now that we have a new housemate, you'll cook for us more often." His eyes shone as he looked at the meal steaming on the table, the pleasant light smell of cheese wafting off it. He half-joked on that last part. He wasn't sure Hajime would really agree to keep on making them dinner.
"Haha, well... If she likes it, maybe I'll consider it," Hajime said surprisingly, looking down at the food he made before taking a glance around at the other three sitting at the kitchen table.
"Really? So hopeful! Yuna, your simple presence here might let us enjoy Hajime's dishes more often, so thank you so much." Nagito chimed in gratefully, even though it wasn't exactly her doing that caused this.
Hajime attempted to change the subject, still looking pretty nervous. Hajime was probably the worst with people out of all of them if you were judging based on how easily he could talk to someone. Nagito, for example, had considerably worse social skills than Hajime in the long run, but he could talk to people a lot more easily even if he ended up saying weird or off-putting things.
"Okay already, let's just sit down. You don't need to rant about how 'hopeful' my food is."
Yuna took her seat at the table just as Hajime asked them to, Nagito joining and sitting beside her
"It looks tasty. Thanks, Hajime. Oh, make sure Yuna gets the first plate since she's our new housemate." Chiaki said with a soft voice, pushing the glass container over to Yuna, who took her serving before everyone else took theirs.
She looked down at the food. Feeling a little embarrassed to have to be eating in front of other people, Yuna tilted up the bottom of her gas mask just enough to put her fork underneath and eat the food. She tried her best to not make it too awkward, however; she failed as she noticed she got some slightly strange looks while doing it.
When she put the food in her mouth, she realized how good it tasted, the strong notes of cheese and tangy notes of tomato mixing together pleasantly on her tongue. She looked around at her housemates before she gave Hajime an enthusiastic thumbs up. She was really enjoying the food! Since it was so tasty, despite how awkward she felt doing it, she kept eating from under her mask.
Chiaki smiled. "She likes it." She said as Yuna continued to eat.
"Oh, what would you guys say to let Yuna spray paint her room? She's been wanting to do it since she's the Ultimate Graffiti Artist and all." Yuna perked up at the comment Chiaki made. It was obvious she was smiling, even though no one could see her mouth.
Nagito suddenly perked up and Hajime immediately anticipated what would come next, attempting to stop Nagito with a "Nagito-"
But he was cut off as Nagito started talking. "Ah, Yuna wants to use her talent to improve our house even more? An Ultimate is going to grace this place with her amazing work! You're so generous and hopeful! I wonder, what'll it look like? Well whatever it is, if it's made by the Ultimate Graffiti Artist, it'll surely be-"
"Nagito, can you be quiet, please?" Chiaki's soft but steady voice interjected the long-winded rant calmly. Nagito looked guilty immediately and quieted. He averted his gaze to stare at the food.
"Oh, right. Sorry. Don't mind me, I do that sometimes." He apologized, trying to smile with a nervous laugh as he met her eyes. "No need to listen to trash like me ramble on about useless things."
"A-anyway," Hajime started. "Yes, you can. It's your room after all." Hajime awkwardly attempted to move on. "Do you already have the paint and stuff?"
[Yuna]: 🎨!! 🖌️✨~ ❤️! (I have lots of different paints! I can't wait to start painting~ I hope you love it!
She looked happy where she sat in her chair, gently bouncing. She felt really excited to get started on her painting.
The night continued on with no issues or strange events. Yuna kept cleaning up her room and putting some stuff out. She kept Nagito out of her room as much as she could despite him constantly offering to help. It was a bit annoying if she was honest, but she didn't want him to help and didn't want to be rude about it.
Somehow she managed to keep Nagito at bay until she was mostly done cleaning. She fell into her mattress and fell asleep quickly on the freshly made bed.