Chapter Text
Giyuu Tomioka opened the door to the dorm he'd be sharing. He knew who he'd be sharing the dorm with, thankfully, and it was a person he didn't particularly mind. At least this year he'd be with someone who didn't actively hate him. He hoped it'd stay that way. Sitting on the bed on the left side of the room, eating a cup noodle, was his roommate. Kyojuro Rengoku. He'd known Kyojuro for a while, having met him his sophomore year of university, and they were on relatively good terms with each other.
"Hello, Kyojuro," Giyuu said, wheeling his suitcase into the room and closing the door before sitting on the bed on the opposite side of the room. "How was the summer?" He tried to sound less... exhausted than he was. He was admittedly very tired from the trip here, but didn't want to come off as unhappy to see his acquaintance.
"Ah! Hello Giyuu!" Rengoku said, smiling warmly. "I've been alright, my summer was... eventful, to say the least! How was yours?" There seemed to be something he didn't want to admit, but Giyuu didn't pry further.
"My summer was pretty boring, honestly. Worked as an intern for the aquarium in my city though, so that was fun." Giyuu smiled slightly. Rengoku was significantly more pleasant than his last roommate. "Did you do anything interesting?" Giyuu felt awkward asking that, he generally wasn't one for small talk. Regardless, he did want to be polite.
"Ah! That does sound fun!" Rengoku said, smiling. "I went home and visited my family, which was nice. I missed my brother."
"Oh, how is he?" Giyuu desperately wanted the conversation to be over, so he could get to unpacking, but he didn't particularly want to unpack either, so he was kind of stuck in a rut. He decided to begin to unpack while talking, hoping that the conversation would die down once Rengoku realized he was busy.
"He's doing well. He's such a good kid, taking care of my dad when I'm gone. I've offered to help more, but he seems insistent that he can do it on his own. I don't know what I'd do without him."
Giyuu nodded awkwardly as he put his clothing away. "Sounds nice."
"Is that just a way of you saying you're done talking?" Rengoku sounded amused.
"I- yeah." Giyuu admitted awkwardly.
"We can always continue talking later, I don't mind. I have some unpacking I still need to do anyways." And with that, the dorm was rather quiet for the rest of the afternoon, with a few brief exchanges punctuating the silence.
That night, as Giyuu laid in bed, the only illumination coming from Rengoku's phone and the lights outside, there was a loud knocking on the door. Giyuu sat up in surprise, and Rengoku seemed to grow tense. The knocks came again, this time more insistent.
"I'll get it," said Giyuu, going up the door and looking through the peephole. A young man, seemingly around their age, was standing at the door. He was heavily tattooed, and his hair was very clearly dyed pink.
"Are you awake, Kyojuro?" the man with the pink hair asked, seeming insistent. Giyuu opened the door a crack.
"Who the fuck are you? And why are you at our dorm this late at night?" Giyuu was aggravated. What gave this asshole the right to knock on their door? It was 1AM for god's sake!
"This is Kyojuro's dorm, right?" Upon hearing this, Rengoku stiffened. He seemed to recognize the voice, and it wasn't a good thing to him.
"Um..." Giyuu looked over to Rengoku, who shook his head no. "No, why?"
"He's my ex, and the next time I see him, I'm kicking his ass." Giyuu stood there, kind of shocked.
"Well, he's not here, so please leave and stop knocking on my door." Giyuu sounded annoyed, and the tattooed man got the hint.
"Alright, I'll go."
Giyuu slammed the door shut and slumped against it. He hadn't realized it until now, but his heart was pounding. Once he heard footsteps moving away from the door, he spoke.
"Who was that?" he asked Rengoku.
Rengoku looked away, but then spoke. "He's my ex. We broke up over the summer on pretty bad terms, and I guess he hasn't gotten over it yet."
Giyuu blinked in surprise. "He wasn't lying?"
"No, he wasn't. We dated from the middle until the end of last year. And then summer came, and time away from him made me realize how awful he had treated me. So I broke up with him over text. Probably not the best idea, in hindsight, but... I wasn't expecting him to react like that."
"Do you mind telling me his name so I can tell the RA about him?"
"His name is Akaza, but I never got his last name."
"Alright. I'll tell the RA in the morning, then."
"Thanks, Giyuu." Rengoku smiled slightly. He sounded appreciative.
"Of course, it's no problem. That guy is weird." Giyuu got up and walked back over to his bed, returning to laying under the covers. Soon, he fell asleep.
The next morning, Giyuu awoke late to some commotion outside. It sounded like a fight, so he quickly got up and went to see what was going on. Rengoku had already left, likely to get breakfast. He opened the door, and he immediately froze. He knew where Rengoku was, at least.
Akaza had seemingly come over to their dorm again, and Rengoku must have opened the door before he had gotten the chance to knock. This seemed to have resulted in a physical fight, as Rengoku was now on the floor with a bloody nose and a swollen eye. Akaza seemed furious.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Giyuu exclaimed, absolutely floored by the scene. He moved himself between the two, hoping that he would snap Akaza out of whatever the hell he thought he was doing. That didn't help, and instead, Giyuu got decked in the face. He stumbled back, nearly tripping over Rengoku.
"Get out of the damn way!" Akaza grabbed Giyuu by the shirt and shoved him aside. Giyuu took the opportunity to grab Akaza as well, making him move away from Rengoku, who was solidly on the floor.
"What is wrong with you?!" Giyuu kept his grip on Akaza's shirt, grimacing as Akaza slammed him against the wall. Giyuu elbowed Akaza in the stomach to try to get him off of him, unsuccessfully. Other people had come out of their rooms by now, as the commotion was getting too intense to ignore. Out of the corner of his eye, Giyuu saw someone run towards the RAs' office. Then, Akaza slammed Giyuu's head into the wall hard, and he fell unconscious.
Giyuu woke up to see a boy around his age with bright blue hair staring down at him. "Ok, good, you're fine." He waved someone over. "I gotta go now, thanks for letting me know this was going on." The boy then walked off.
Giyuu looked over at who the blue haired boy had waved over, and to his surprise, he recognized him. Tanjiro Kamado, a sophmore he'd met last year since he toured him around the campus. "Hey," Giyuu mumbled. "Thanks."
"It's no problem, really. I was worried about you and Kyojuro. That fight didn't look good." Tanjiro smiled slightly.
"Right, where's Kyojuro?" Giyuu looked around worriedly, but didn't see him. This was a terrible start to the school year.
"He... went to the hospital. He got pretty badly beaten up." Tanjiro looked down at his shoes.
"Oh..." Giyuu went pale. "Do you know if he'll be ok?"
"According to the paramedics, he should be."
"There were paramedics here?"
"Yeah, like I said. He got beaten up pretty bad."
"Wow. What about Akaza?"
"Oh, he... ran away before the police got here. So he wasn't caught. They're looking for him, though." Tanjiro looked slightly upset about that.
"Damn. At least Kyojuro is going to get help."
"Yeah."
Neither of them knew, but this year was only beginning in the amount of things that could go wrong.