Chapter Text
Tomioka sighed in despair, as he watched the city he lived in peer over into the distance, his sister’s car growing closer and closer to the camp he so adamantly wanted to avoid going to.
“Why do you want to ruin my summer?” Giyuu mumbled, laying down on the backseat of his sister’s car.
“Don’t be dramatic Yuu, it’ll be fun! Besides, it’s the middle of July, and you’ve barely gone out.” Tsutako hummed, tapping her fingers gently on the wheel to the rhythm of the song playing on the radio.
“I’m 17, I can make my own decisions..” He whined, his shoulders tensing up once he saw the entrance of the camp.
The sign outside said ‘Camp Wisteria’. Oh God.
“Why’d you even sign me up to this anyways…” He muttered.
Tsutako sighed, her lips forming a frown.
“You know why I signed you up for this. You’ve barely gone out of the house ever since… the incident.” Tsutako paused for a brief moment, an almost deafening silence filling up the car before she spoke.
“This will be a nice change of pace. I promise.”
Tomioka frowned at the mention of the incident.
“I guess..” He conceded, his head tilting slightly to the ground.
A few minutes later, Tsutako had parked and helped Tomioka unload his bags from the car.
“I’ll be back in 3 weeks… I want you to promise me you’ll be safe and that you’ll have fun.” The boy’s sister smiled, cupping his face with one hand.
It always irritated him how much she babied him. But, since this was the last time he’d see her for weeks… He allowed it.
“I will..” Tomioka muttered, brushing her hand away from his face and pulling her into a hug. A hug which she gladly returned.
After they’d said their goodbyes, Tomioka watched Tsutako drive away. Afterwards, he turned to the entrance, taking deep breaths.
Once he worked up the courage to enter, he found two boys ahead of him. One was about the same height as he was, and the other was gigantic. They both had relatively long hair, one’s being blonde with red highlights, and the other’s being white. The two boys both checked in their names to the guy with the clipboard up ahead, which was foreseeable as one of them had the other in a headlock.
Tomioka overheard their names. The blonde one was Kyojuro Rengoku, meanwhile the tall one was Tengen Uzui. They were to live in Cabin 3.
A sudden dread filled his stomach as Tomioka realized, he had no idea where and what the cabins were. And to find out, he’d need to ask someone.
For the average person, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for someone as antisocial as Tomioka was… It was an almost impassable obstacle.
Despite this, Tomioka still went up ahead to check his name in.
“Name?” One of the workers there asked, looking down on the clipboard he was holding.
“Tomi-” He cleared his throat. “Tomioka Giyuu.”
The worker silently read out the names on the clipboard he had in hand, making a small checkmark on the paper where Giyuu’s name was written.
“Cabin 3.”
Thank God.
Now all Tomioka had to do was follow the two boys to the cabin. It almost seemed like things were looking up for him.
At least, until the two guys in front took notice of him.
They turned around, approaching Tomioka with a big grin on both their faces.
“Excuse me but, we’ve not seen you here before, does this happen to be your first time coming here?” The tall boy asked, waiting for a response.
“...Yes?” Tomioka gulped.
Both their faces lit up, as they turned to look at eachother for a split second before looking back at Tomioka.
“Oh we’re so happy to have someone new here!” Tengen firmly shook Tomioka’s hand.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Tengen Uzui! The flashiest person to ever step foot into this camp.” Tengen put his hand on his chest, a confident grin being worn by his face.
Tomioka wish he had his confidence.
“And this is my best buddy, Rengoku!” He continued.
“ HELLO! ” Rengoku exclaimed, startling Giyuu so much so he almost fell.
“How about you? What’s your name?” Tengen asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.
“...Tomioka. Tomioka Giyuu.” He murmured, the tone of his voice soft and quiet as always.
As intimidating and loud Tengen and Rengoku were, Giyuu did not feel like he needed to be extremely cautious. They didn’t emit negative vibes, they weren’t necessarily scary. They were kind… In their own peculiar way.
“Come walk with us! We’ll show you around the cabin and the camp!” Rengoku said excitedly, grabbing Tomioka by the arm and beginning to walk along with Tengen.
He had a very firm grip.
“So, tell us Tomioka,” Tengen began. “What brings you here to Camp Wisteria?”
“Uhm… It wasn’t really my decision to come here per se… My sister signed me up.” He responded, head tilted slightly to the ground.
“How unflashy! What a boring response.” Tengen laughed, something that slightly irritated Tomioka.
“ Then what made you want to come here..” Tomioka muttered, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“I am so glad you asked! See, when I first came here I met these three gorgeous girls. We got close and well… Eventually we all started dating.” Tengen boasted, scratching his chin.
“So when camp was about to end, we started planning to see eachother regularly . Turns out, they live much farther away than I do! An almost 5-6 hour drive to get to each of their houses! So every summer, for the past 2 years, I come to this camp so I can meet up with my girls.” Tengen looked up at the sky smiling. His expression softened as he thought about his girlfriends.
“Well what do you have to say about that?” Tengen turned to Tomioka, raising an eyebrow.
Giyuu, invested in the story and currently in awe, responded with one word and one word only.
“...Flashy.”
“That’s right.” Tengen laughed.
A few minutes passed, and the boys finally made it to the camp. Or well, one of the camps. Turns out, Camp Wisteria was split across two camps.
The boys’ camp with two male instructors, and the girls’ camp with two female instructors.
Both camps were next to eachother and they had a similar layout. There was one big cabin, in which the instructors lived, surrounded by 8 smaller cabins, in which the campers lived.
Once the three boys had entered their cabin, they started emptying their bags in order to organize their stuff. Initially, Tomioka thought the cabin would be cramped and bug infested, but it was surprisingly cozy and clean.
In the cabin there were two beds. One large bed capable of fitting two people, and one smaller bed that could only fit one. The group agreed that Uzui and Kyojuro should take the large bed, while Giyuu takes the small one.
Once they’d settled in and were waiting for orientation, Rengoku approached Tomioka who was sitting by the window, and began to talk.
“Listen,” His tone of voice had change completely from before, it was as if he was a different person. “There’s some people that I’d recommend you avoid.” He pushed the drapes of the window aside, and started to point towards a group of people in the distance.
“See them? They’ve been coming to the camp for as long as I have. I’d suggest you stay away from them.”
“...Who are they?” Tomioka asked nervously.
“See him?” Rengoku pointed towards a boy with peculiarly colored eyes.
“His name is Douma. Notorious for being creepy and flirting with girls in the camp.” Rengoku continued. “He’s not dangerous because he’d beat you up, he’s dangerous because he doesn’t know when to stop. He’s a lunatic.”
Rengoku then shifted his finger to point towards a short haired boy, who was currently shouting at Douma. “His name is Hakuji. He despises Douma, however he continues to hang out with him. Just don’t purposefully try and annoy him, and you’ll be fine.”
Rengoku then shifted the subject to something more cheerful, talking about his friends and how he wanted Giyuu to meet them. At the end of their conversation, Tomioka had a question of his own.
“..I don’t understand, why are you doing this all for me?” Tomioka asked, resting his head on his hand. “I mean, you met me like half an hour ago..”
“Because you’re our friend now, Tomioka! We want to look out for you and make sure you have fun! Besides it’s our last year here, we want to make the most of it.” Rengoku exclaimed, a grin decorating his face.
Tomioka was astounded by the boy’s statement. Giyuu never had many friends growing up, so to be considered a friend by people who he met barely 30 minutes ago, was a huge deal to him.
“...Thank you.” Tomioka muttered, too embarrassed to say anything else.
“No problem! And if there’s anything you need, just a-” Rengoku was cut off by a deafeningly loud announcement.
“All campers head to the front of their respective camps for orientation.”
The announcement repeated another 2 times before everyone in the boys’ camp was gathered at the front of the big cabin in the center.
A few minutes later, two men came out of the big cabin, both holding clipboards.
The first man looked pale and frail, with a birthmark that covered his entire forehead. Despite this, he wore a welcoming smile on his face.
The other man however, although as pale as the first, wore a scowl on his face, eyebrows furrowed, shoulders tense and drawn. He flipped through the pages of his clipboard furiously, before looking up at the campers. His eyes were this unnatural crimson red color. It was almost like he wasn’t even human, but instead a demon of sorts.
“Listen here you brats ,” The man with the scowl spoke up, “My name is Muzan Kibutsuji, and this is my colleague Kagaya Ubuyashiki, we are some of the instructors overlooking this god forsaken camp. We have gathered you all here to inform you about camp activities. This also serves as an opportunity for you to ask us questions, if you have any.” Muzan took a deep breath, continuing to talk.
“At the start of each week, we will gather you all here in the morning, and inform you of the activities that will take place in the following days. I wanted to clarify this, in case some idiot forgets and decides to sleep in.” Judging by the look Muzan gave to one of the boys there, this was definitely targeted.
“We have separated you all in cabins of 3. The way we separated you was determined through how old you are. For example, the kids with the kids and the teens with the teens.” Muzan looked back at Kagaya, almost to get some sort of verification that he was delivering the information well enough. Kagaya nodded, which made Muzan continue to talk.
The instructor stopped talking after about 15 minutes, having explained everything that will go on in the following days. Tomioka listened carefully, Rengoku zoned out throughout the entire thing and Tengen was half asleep.
“Any questions?” Muzan asked.
Suddenly, a hand flew up in the middle of the crowd.
“Yes?” Muzan sighed, already recognizing who’s hand it was.
“Are we allowed to enter the girls’ camp after midnight?” The voice in the crowd asked.
Tomioka wouldn’t swear by it, but for a second he thought Muzan popped a vein upon hearing the boy’s question.
“You ask this every year, and the answer is always no. What makes you think this time it’ll be any different, Douma?” Muzan’s eye twitched.
“Oh, nothing~” Douma sighed, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
Truly, Muzan was on the verge of bursting. His pale face had even started to redden.
Tomioka turned to look at Tengen, only to find him trying not to laugh.
And as Muzan was about to open his mouth and unleash god knows what insults at Douma, a female voice interrupted the tension in the air.
It was later discovered that female voice was actually Kagaya’s wife, Amane Ubuyashiki, one of the instructors that overlooked the girls’ camp. Turns out, the reason she was there is because the instructors had organized for both camps to go on a hike on the mountain the camp was built upon.
Tomioka, was not a fan of hikes. And it’s not that he was out of shape. On the contrary, Tomioka was very fit. Tomioka just wasn’t the biggest fan of… mountain hikes. His shoes got dirty, he’d have to be extremely cautious to not step on a snake or god knows what other creatures there were, and not to mention the overbearing heat they’d have to endure. So already, the camp activities weren’t something Tomioka favored.
During the 2 hour hike, Tomioka mostly stuck by Rengoku and Tengen’s side. He even got to meet some of the other people Rengoku talked about. Four of them in fact.
The first one was a short boy, with relatively mid length hair. He wore a mask, one of his eyes blue and the other yellow. His name was Iguro Obanai. Iguro was a rather bitter person, who had difficulty trusting others. He didn’t like Tomioka, no matter how much Rengoku tried to defend him.
The second one was a boy around the same height as Tomioka, with short spiky white hair. He had a scar across part of his face, all the way to his nose. He had purple eyes, with freakishly small pupils and to Tomioka’s surprise, no eyebrows. Similar to Iguro, he did not particularly like Tomioka either. He found his silence annoying.
The third one was a girl, much shorter than him, with bright pink and green hair. She had two beauty marks under each of her eyes, which were green. Her name was Mitsuri Kanroji. She talked a lot , so much so that even when Rengoku and Tengen dragged him away, she kept talking. Not that it was necessarily a problem, he wouldn’t know what to say back anyways.
And lastly, the third one was a girl a bit shorter than Tomioka, with two butterfly hairpins on each side of her haid. She had bright pink eyes, and a gentle smile. Her name was Kanae Kochou. She was surprisingly nice, in contrast to the other people he’d met on the hike. However, Sanemi made sure there was at least a 6-7 meter distance between Giyuu and her. Tomioka couldn’t imagine why. The only other information he got on her was that she had a younger sister, Shinobu Kochou, whom he saw with Rengoku, talking.
She was pretty.
After the hike, the campers were all guided into the cafeteria to have dinner. Tomioka sat at a table along with Tengen, Rengoku and everyone else. He sat at the corner of the table. In every social situation he was placed in today, he couldn’t even muster up the courage to talk. What a disastrous failure this was. He seriously doubted anyone would talk to hi-
“Wow, Kyojuro wasn’t kidding. You really are quiet.” A female voice was heard chuckling near him.
He turned to her, discovering that the person sitting next to him was Kanae’s younger sister, Shinobu. The only thing he really knew about her was that she was one year younger than her sister, making her 16.
“...Shinobu, right?” The boy tilted his head slightly.
“Yeah. And you’re Tomioka right? Rengoku’s talked a lot about you. Or well, as much as he could talk about you. You’re not a very social person, are you?” She teased, raising an eyebrow.
Tomioka was taken aback by this rather personal question, his eyes widening ever so slightly in surprise.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Shinobu laughed. “So, since it’s your first time here, what do you think of Camp Wisteria?”
Tomioka waited for her question to settle in for a bit before answering.
“It’s been…. An experience. Mr. Kibutsuji is intimidating..”
“I wouldn’t say intimidating..” Shinobu took a bite out of her food, waiting to swallow before continuing to speak. “But uptight.” She smiled brightly.
“Which, I can’t really blame him, especially since he has to deal with Douma..” Shinobu’s smile wavered for a second once she mentioned him.
“Is he really that well known?” Giyuu asked, taking a sip out of the cup in front of him.
“Yeah. But, for all the wrong reasons. ” Shinobu scoffed. “Among girls, he’s a creep, among boys, he’s a weirdo. The only people who hang out with him are either there because no one else will befriend them, or in Hakuji’s case to keep him in check.”
Tomioka thought about what she’d said at the moment. If he hadn’t met Tengen or Rengoku, would he have had no other choice but to be friends with him ?
And that’s when he realized how lucky he was to be cabinmates with the both of them.
“He sounds like an asshole.” Giyuu muttered.
“He is an asshole. Last year, he kept harassing one of the instructors to the point where she quit. Her name was Kotoha. A shame, she was really nice too..”
“...Someone ought to put him on a leash…” Just hearing about this guy made Giyuu shudder.
Shinobu snorted, muffled laughter coming out of the hand that covered her mouth.
“Wow, I really didn’t think you could make jokes!” Shinobu teased, resting her head neatly on both her hands.
“I’m not humorless–” Tomioka responded.
“You look humorless.” The girl laughed, putting the eating utensils she used on her plate to signify she was done eating.
“...You know, when you actually talk , you’re kind of fun to be around. You should do that more.” Shinobu looked at Tomioka, her lips curling into a smile.
Shinobu really was a sight to behold. Fair skin, beautiful big violet eyes and a smile that put others to shame. And the butterfly hair clip at the back of her head matched her perfectly.
“..Th-Thanks?-” Tomioka nervously responded, his cheeks flushing red at the sudden compliment.
Suddenly, an announcement was made by one of the instructors.
“All campers head to their cabins. Roaming around both camps is allowed up until 23:30. Lights out at 00:00.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.” The girl smiled at Tomioka, getting up and catching up to her sister and friend, heading towards their cabin.”
Tomioka sat there in awe for a few seconds, before getting up and following Tengen and Rengoku to their cabin.
Later in the night, Tomioka couldn’t stop thinking about her. About their conversation. About how she smiled at him. To the point where he couldn’t sleep. Surely he wasn’t in love? It wasn’t necessarily impossible.
There’s three things important to boys his age after all. Grades, Health and Romance.
Giyuu was good at only two of those things. He decided it wasn’t worth pursuing, and decided to brush it off.
However, Tomioka still couldn’t sleep. He’d have trouble with it for some months now. Ever since… the incident. It had him in a chokehold. Back when he was at home, Tomioka used to just go to the balcony of the house he shared with Tsutako, and sit there until he finally relaxed. But now, he was nowhere near home, and all alone. In a desperate and frustrated attempt to calm down, Tomioka exited the cabin, hoping the ‘clean mountain air’ he’s heard so many people talk about helps him.
Once he exited the cabin, he saw in the center of the area a campfire. A campfire that was lit. He approached it, sitting down around it, knees brought up to his stomach. He watched the flame move erratically, admiring it in a way. Almost as if he was put in a trance.
But, Tomioka was pulled out of said trance, after hearing a familiar voice call out to him.
“I didn’t think I’d find you here.” It was Shinobu, in her pajamas as well, standing before the fire.
“...What are you doing here, it’s past midnight–” Giyuu whispered, bolting up.
“Relax, I’ve been doing this for years. All the instructors should be asleep by now.” Shinobu smiled, sitting cross legged by the fire.
Tomioka had made it a rule for himself not to put every ounce of trust into people he barely met since a young age.
But she was pretty.
Against his better judgement, Tomioka sat down beside her.
“..You said you’ve been doing this for years.” Tomioka decided to initiate a conversation, to Shinobu’s surprise, “What do you mean by that?” He asked.
“Well, I’ve been going to this camp for 3 years. This is the 4th one for me.” She hummed, holding her own hands. “Anytime I have trouble sleeping, I come here. It helps.”
“I assume that’s why you’re here as well, isn’t it? I mean, I haven’t personally met anyone who stares at a fire for a solid 5 minutes and isn’t troubled by anything.” Shinobu chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.
Tomioka was slightly embarrassed by her remark.
“...Just some trouble sleeping. That’s all.” Tomioka mumbled, the wind moving his bangs aside.
“I think there’s more to it than you’re letting on.” She pushed a bit further.
“It’s rather personal.” He responded rather quickly.
“Oh.. Sorry, I don’t wanna come off as pushy or anything, it’s the last thing I’d wanna do. If you’re comfortable with telling me, please do, I’d hate to see you troubled.”
Giyuu gave it some thought. The only other person he could talk about this too was only reachable through text, and that would not suffice. Besides… If not her, then who? Not like he could make any other friends.
“...Around May, there was an… accident , at the highschool I attend.” Giyuu paused to take a deep breath, then continued on.
“There was a school shooting. My childhood best friend, he– He went to help evacuate all the students. He left the classroom and…”
“I never saw him again.” Tomioka sniffled.
Pouring his heart out to someone he barely met was pathetic enough, but it didn’t matter at that point.
“I spiraled into depression. Everywhere I looked, I saw his face. Social Media, Posters, everywhere. Maybe if I’d done something, anything to stop him, he’d still be– Alive.” Tomioka wouldn’t allow himself to shed a single tear.
“And… I just–” Before he could say another word, he felt a warm embrace.
To his surprise, it was Shinobu hugging him. And it caught him off guard.
“Sorry if this is sudden you just– Seem like you really need a hug.” Shinobu laughed nervously, hoping she wasn’t making a fool of herself.
Tomioka quickly reciprocated the hug, burying his face into her shoulder.
“...I do.” He said, muffled.
Out of everything that had happened that night, that was the thing that calmed him most.
For the next 10 minutes, they talked about what troubled them, what was going on in their lives, anything they could get a conversation out of.
“...Shit.” Shinobu looked at her phone, noticing it had been a considerable amount of time since she’d sat down.
“I really need to go, it’s getting late. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Shinobu bolted up, dusting off her shirt.
“Yeah, sure.” Tomioka nodded.
Shinobu would turn around, and stop.
“...Would you be willing to meet here again? 12:30, like tonight?” She asked him, biting her lip down while waiting for a response. If he could see her face, he’d definitely notice how red her cheeks had gotten.
“Oh..” Tomioka’s face flushed red in embarrassment.
“..Sure.” He managed to blurt out.
Shinobu’s face lit up at that moment, a grin ear to ear forming on her face.
“I’ll see you then.” She hummed, walking off into the distance.
After ensuring she’d entered her cabin, Tomioka got up, and started making his way to his cabin.
Once he’d entered, he shut the door behind him, sighing in relief, the corners of his lips raising into a small smile. The moment he started making his way to the bed, the lights suddenly opened, revealing Rengoku and Tengen who were spying on him through the windows.
“Tell us everything.” They both exclaimed in unison.
This was going to be a long three weeks indeed.