Chapter Text
The breeze of a hot summer Sumeru day greets Cyno’s face, he sneezes seconds later and his friend begins laughing, “How dare you start laughing after dragging me out here? I was so tired and I had tons of assignments to finish and you pulled me out here for a walk of all things?” Cyno sniffed his nose and brushed back a bit of his hair, while pulling up his hoodie.
“According to research it is mandatory and advisory for a human of our age to go outside and catch some air, it’s not my fault your lazy butt couldn’t finish your work.” Tighnari replied timely, he had his hands in his pockets for once- he wasn’t picking at the plants or stepping on mushrooms, just whistling a short tune.
“Research my foot for a change.” Cyno slightly kicked him in the back.
“I gladly will, your foot is interesting as it seems, legend says you have a wart on your pinky and a sixth toe.” Tighnari rubbed his spine as he laughed about.
“Shut up Nari,” Cyno crossed his arms and sped walked in front of him closing his eyes, “Your crap is what makes me want to move out, even move to a different country sometimes, like keep your freaking plants to yourself, your stupid cacti hi-” he was mentioning all his struggles and dislikes of living with his roommate before bumping into someone.
On default Cyno was about to say nothing because he never really felt obliged to apologise to anyone, but this time, his mouth opened and he was really speechless. Even if he wanted to say sorry, the words just wouldn’t tumble out.
A thick red haired girl with two back pigtails, turned around, her blue big eyes pined into his skull, glistening brightly, her rosy cheeks were pink and flushed, and her face had a big smile on it.
“Sorry, that was my bad.” Her voice matched her completely, her voice moved swiftly but softly and it bursted into Cyno’s heart.
Looking at her then and now, Cyno felt mesmerised in her beauty, she was like a popular celebrity, at least she looked like it. Naturally pretty and happy, not to mention her voice and appearance were fitting. She had nice style too, a nice sweater and long trousers with boots to go with it. Long, slender fingers peeking out of the sleeves of her sweater. She was young at appearance too, probably the same age as Cyno and Tighnari.
“Excuse me?” Her precious voice was heard once again, Cyno felt his heart thumping uncontrollably.
He knew she wanted him to reply, but he couldn’t think of any words to say.
“Dude say something,” Tighnari whispered into his ears, Cyno immediately got shivers and cursed him to get out of his way.
“Am I…bothering the two of you?” Her positive smile dropped and she looked like she didn’t want to offend any of them. Her lips curved in anxiety, Cyno could notice that, and he stuttered trying to find the words to say.
“N-no, I was bothering him, I mean he was bothering you, w-wait, uh, he was bothering us? Yeah. That was it.” He corrected himself and then found his ears becoming hot, brushing his white fluffy hair in his face to avoid eye contact clearly because he was embarrassed. He stopped to the sound of a soft chuckle.
“You’re so funny, it’s cute,” she complimented, those words had never been said to Cyno before. He didn’t know how to react, she said those words so naturally as if she wasn’t even hesitating.
Before Cyno could say any words of response and gratitude, she began getting on her way,“Anyway, I hope you two have a great day.” She bowed and slipped through the pair, giving a small little wave before disappearing into the scenery of the Sumeru air.
Cyno on the other hand, was frozen. He was grasping his chest in distraught and dismay, before pulling his hair, and then going back to covering his face with his hood.
“Are you having a tantrum?” Tighnari looked at his friend’s antics and Cyno turned around in distress, clearly annoyed. “Of course not! Ugh…my chest is hurting and my face is really hot, not to mention my stuttering, my voice is dissipating, help, you’re studying Bio-something could you please be useful and tell me what this is?” Cyno shook Tighnari up and down annoyed about his unhelpfulness.
Nari broke into a long laugh after Cyno’s complaints, then his laughter paused, “I study botany and plant science, don’t mix it up.” He was not amused by his friend’s unawareness to his own course even though they’d known each other for ages.
Seconds later he went back to laughing when Cyno said he’d remember his course from then on and that he still needed help desperately, that now he was hallucinating the girl in his mind.
“Care to share what’s so funny?” Cyno was offended that he was just guffawing about while he was quite literally dying.
Tighnari wiped a tear of his cheek and giggled a little more, “You’re fond of the girl.”.
“What? Fond?” Cyno squinted his eyes.
“Fond,” a smug crept onto Tighnari’s face.
It took Cyno to understand what Tighnari meant, before frowning and dropping his eyes, he shook his head in dismay.
“Once again you prove to be useless Tighnari,” Cyno shoved his face out of the way, he had no time to face with Nari’s idiot ideas.
Cyno turned around after, “Let’s just go home. I think I might call in sick tomorrow.” Tighnari laughed the more at first, but when he realised Cyno was serious about going home and calling in sick he began to catch up with him.
“Well, I guess it’s good that you’re not really into her, she’s a really popular Social Media Influencer. I’m surprised you didn’t recognise her.” Tighnari walked side by side with him.
“You forget I don’t have nor want social media. It’s a waste.” Cyno took out his keys and unlocked the entrance to their Apartment block.
“I suppose you could agree, social media does take a lot of my time. Why haven’t you ever given it a try though?” Tighnari wondered as they trekked up the stairs, but was greeted with silence. Cyno was in deep thought, he had the urge to go upstairs and into his room where he could lie on the fluff of the bed, squeeze his pillow and scream.
And that’s what he did.
His face was flushed and the girls words repeated in his head, ‘So funny, it’s cute.’, Cyno pulled his hair and started kicking his legs like a teenage girl.
At night, Cyno couldn’t sleep, he had his hands on his stomach, looking up at the ceiling in the walls. “What is this…? Am I intimidated by her?” He couldn’t cope with the bursting thoughts he had in his mind, his red eyes would swirl across his room and then eventually close.
He wasn’t sleeping he was meditating, breathing in air and trying to sit still, he liked the quiet though, he could hear the crickets, the sound of the wind, the ruffles of the grass, and the sound of his air conditioner.
His hand was gripped to his chest when he woke up, turns out the loudest sound he ever heard last night was his heart beat. A thrashing annoying one. He found himself dreaming about the girl too, waking up in deep sweat and tired some days. This happened days on end.
He found almost everything that reminded him of her, walking past red and blue clothing, cups with red and blue designs, books with red and blue stripes, even people with red hair or blue big eyes like hers.
It would all make his stomach churn, his heart pound, his ears go hot, his face go even hotter. He just couldn’t control his body.
“I really need to see the Doctor.” He had been attending lectures at school as normal though, and as he continued stumbling across things that reminded him of the nameless girl, he once noticed a big banner hanging from the walls of his education’s entrance.
His eyes brightened when he saw the face on the front, startled by the photo, he gasped and found himself brushing his hair back to see the full picture.
“Sh-she’s here…” he whispered. He stretched out his fingers to feel the banner, “Nilou…”
The banner was her modelling at the front, the text explained how she was coming to attend the university as part as her Slice of Life Tour. She’d been talking all about it on social media.
“Maybe I should engage in social media?”Slipping out his phone he froze when thinking if he should download it so he could be updated on her.
In the end he decided not to, just because she was attending on campus doesn’t mean he has to be one of the typical folk who just start following her because of that, besides he was never a fan of dancing. Maybe she was just good at it and that’s why she was famous? Nothing extraordinary.
“…” Cyno’s hood covered his hair, but as he entered his next class, he chose a seat to sit with and began taking out his laptop and books before being tapped on the back. The small pokes of a finger made him shiver with a bit of surprise. Due to his introversive personality, he wasn’t often approached and especially because of his demeanour and appearance. Tighnari said a lot people were scared of his red eyes and that when he stared, his staring was cadaverous, like a vampire.
“Excuse me, can I sit here?” The muffled voice slipped out of a mask. To the sound of her voice, his stomach already got butterflies. Once Cyno turned around, he immediately felt his cheeks grow hotter.
“C-can you…-?” His hands let go of his books and they slammed off the table. That drew attention to the back of the class immediately, everyone’s eyes turned around like a stalking birds.
Screams of delight emerged when the social media influencer was discovered to be present in their class, people approached her, bustling about her, woman and men, asking for autographs, questioning her, scorching with laughter, and snapping photos.
Cyno only watched from his seat as other people began asking her to sit with them, and so he found himself sitting on his own for that class, and he was kind of glad, there was extremely loud amount of noise coming from the corner of the class with Nilou. People would whisper questions to her and sometimes even shout.
Cyno could never stand all that noise, he wondered how she did it and with the same happy, helping face she gave him that day.
Plucking his pen from his pencil case, he wondered if the girl remembered their short encounter that day. He wondered what she had been doing that day around his Apartment block? And he wondered how long she’d be staying and if he could ever talk to her?
He doubted it because she was too popular but he found himself drawing a few sketches of her, while glancing at her occasionally.
“…” Cyno’s smile crept up on his face while just watching her. Not knowing who she was, oblivious to her identity and to her personality, he found himself drawn to her anyway.
When he met up with a few of his friends, or as he called them ‘annoying followers’, he kept on staring at his notebooks.
“What is he doing?” Al Haitham looked in disgust, he’d never seen Cyno this dug into any book.
“Who knows? I for one don’t. Anyway, let’s continue discussing about switching roommates. Cyno already said he wanted to move out tons of times, and I’ve recorded them too, we have his permission to swap so now we just need your roommate’s permission.” Tighnari was scribbling down a logical way to go about disposing Cyno. Or at least not having him as his roommate. He’s done this before, trying to get Cyno to move out because of their sour and bitter relationship despite their long bond, but it’s never worked anyway.
“Give it a rest Nari.” Haitham flicked his forehead and then shook his head. As the pair stirred up a conversation about their roommates and their trouble or what not, Cyno got more caught up in his drawing, his sketching became more defined. He had became more hypnotised in his own vision of her.
“Ooh, I really like your drawing,” it was a different voice that greeted the trio.
It was her again.
On instinct Cyno closed the book and abruptly turned around, “N-Nil…?” He let her name only slip out of his mouth a bit even though they’d never introduced each other properly. Tighnari nudged Al Haitham and began whispering, “That’s the girl he admires.” and Haitham nodded in amusement as they watched their interactions.
“So you do know my name. Nil. Sounds like a good nickname, I like it.” Her smile showed she agreed, she clapped her hands happily.
“Silly me, I forgot to catch your name, what’s your name?” Nilou queried, she stretched out her hand for Cyno to shake. His arms quivered, as he brought out his fingers for a handshake. He’d feel how soft her hands really were.
“Cyno.” That was a word he could never get wrong, as their fingers touched and swivelled into each other, they began shake hands for a long time, awkwardly continuing their eye contact and Nilou’s smile never wavered.
“That’s a pretty name.” She stated. Then the awkwardness continued, silence flew through the café and the pair seemed to be frozen in place.
Seconds later Nilou let go of his hand, “Say, I was wondering if I can hang out with you all. I’m new to the campus, and although it’s embarrassing to say this, I have…zero friends.” She gave a little laugh at the end and took a seat beside Cyno. He immediately packed away his things, and then moved on to his friends things too.
“Nice to meet you Nilou, you’re extremely popular I must say,” Al Haitham passed a smile to her and she reciprocated it happily. Cyno couldn’t find the right words to say as he was freaking out since she was right beside him. He fiddled with his fingers a bit and just watched everyone else converse across from him.
“It was rude of us not to introduce ourselves, my name is Tighnari, that’s Al Haitham, he has a roommate who’s yet to join us and there’s Cyno like you’ve heard. He’s really quiet, compliments his introverted personality.” Tighnari took the stand to talk to her, Nilou nodded at every mention of a new name and seemed pleased to know them all.
“I think I’ll get along great with all of you, especially you Cyno,” she turned her head and looked straight into his eyes with a bright smile, “We’re both introverted! Despite being bombarded with crowds, I like walks and quiet conversations like these. Small friends, eating out alone, reading books, taking transport on an empty vehicle and binging shows. I’d love to hang out with all of you guys.” Cyno felt his ears grow warmer with all the things she said, they were stuff he liked too. Of course, he wouldn’t say anything, in fact, he looked away and just watched his reflection. What could he say?
Suddenly he found his watch beeping away alarming him that he had a lecture in a few moments. Standing up, he murmured, “I have to go.” And left. Outside the café he brushed his hair in annoyance to his cowardliness. He couldn’t even say anything. Usually he’s so straightforward. When it came to that girl, she just sucked the words out of him, and when he’d say stuff it’d come out all weird.
While he was on the walk to his next class, he heard a shout, “C-cyno wait!” It was Nilou again. He turned around and stopped in his tracks, the pathway he was taking was kind of busy people brushing past and crowds forming, but he could notice her thick red hair out of all the NPCs he could see. She smiled, relieved that he waited for her.
“We have a lot of similar lectures, like the next class you have a class with Mr Asfand right?” Once she caught up to him, the both of them checked their schedule and found out it was completely identical.
The only thing Cyno could possibly do was nod or shake to her questions, he didn’t know why he’d suddenly become a mute. He even felt guilty for making it so awkward.
“So, I was thinking,” On the walk to the next class the both of them stood next to each other. Beside Cyno, Nilou was like a light bulb, bright and noticeable. Cyno felt as if he could just fade away in the crowd if he wanted to. “Why don’t we stick together Cy? A-am allowed to call you that?” She’d already thought of a nickname for him. He hesitated to nod, because he never had a nickname before, but he went with it.
“Oh, yay then, I think Cy is a very cute nickname. A-anyway, I was thinking if…we could hang out together?” She was slow with putting the words out, Cyno just glanced at her in confusion, hadn’t she already asked this question when the guys were around?
Nilou avoided his eyes and stared at the glass walls surrounding the side of the class, soon they’d enter campus and she wouldn’t be able to ask him, “I-I think you’re very…very cool. And I want to hang out with you more. Like we go to classes together and we can study together t-too because we have the same classes for a lot of things Uh…if that’s alright with you? I totally understand if you don’t want to.” She seemed to become shy, in Cyno’s eyes she was confidently speaking out the words without a hint of blushing or stuttering, but to Nilou, she was messing up and extremely embarrassed in her head.
“I’d like that.” He finally released a few words of response.
Nilou looked up at him in surprise and then kind of smiled to herself, “G-great. Then, can I get your number?” She pulled out her phone and asked.
Cyno didn’t mind, he was even considering himself lucky to have her number. “Right. I’ll see you later.” With her phone in her hands she turned away and went off with a smile on her face.
Cyno stopped and stood in place for a few moments before checking his phone and looking at her profile picture. “Cool?” He whispered as he zoomed into her photo.
“Cyno, you just– did you just get asked out?” Tighnari spawned beside him seconds later giving him a fright.
“W-what? What’s that?” His eyes furrowed in confusion, and Tighnari just looked at him in shock. Al Haitham caught up with the two after.
“What happened to them?” He asked.
“Cyno has never been on a date before. And now he’s been asked out by Nilou and he didn’t even know he was!” Tighnari exclaimed in frustration, Al Haitham began to look shocked before looking away in guilt. Tighnari’s expression dropped, “Let me guess, you never went on a date either?” Haitham shook his head and Tighnari confessed to never having a date before either.
“We’ll discuss this later, but as far as I know, you better keep an eye on Nilou, she’s real popular so it’d be easy for her to be asked out and forget about you in an instance.” Tighnari patted him on the back and they walked to the next lecture, Cyno felt weirdly anxious for the whole day. Nilou did walk around with him to the next lectures, but she was always bombarded with people and friends walking by.
It was up until they met up online when their relationship really kicked off.