Chapter Text
It’s not like this is Fuuta’s first choice in terms of hobbies. It’s lame, it’s boring, it’s girly, and yet… these stupid plants on his windowsill make a strange sort of warmth bloom in his chest. It’s subtle, but it’s there- these little guys are alive because of him. In some small way, that justifies him being alive at least a little, right…?
He sighs heavily, setting the plastic water bottle he was using to water them on his desk. His dorm room is small, but comfy, he supposes. There are worse places to live. He would know.
Besides, the little pots make it slightly more tolerable, as loath as he is to admit it. He likes looking at them, likes being reminded that there are small pleasures in life. He cringes at the fact he actually just thought that.
“Fuuta!” his roommate calls from the hallway, through the closed door. “What’re you doing? You have class in ten minutes, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, but it’s a seven minute walk!” he retorts. He reluctantly scans the room and starts gathering his things, tucking his laptop into his backpack and shrugging on his favorite hoodie.
“God, you’re dumb,” his roommate laughs. Fuuta opens the door scowling.
“I don’t wanna hear it from a film major.”
He chuckles again. “Fair point!”
Fuuta groans and shoves past him, huffing a snarky ‘goodbye’ before tugging his mask on and heading out the door.
He’s about to start down the stairs- living on the top floor adds another minute to his walk time- when… something catches his eye. He almost misses it: a little sticky note stuck to his door.
He glances left, then right- nobody watching him for a reaction. Still suspicious, he reaches for the note and snatches it off, squinting to read the elegant handwriting.
I like your plants :) -1306
1306. That’s the dorm across from his. His gaze shoots up to the door to observe anything distinct about it, and it’s… largely plain. It’s undecorated, just like his own, with no indicator of anyone living there. Move-in days did end only two weeks ago, but still…
Someone has to be fucking with him, right? He looks at the note again.
It’s… definitely a girl’s handwriting. God, how mortifying. He knew putting them in the window was the only way for them to get sunlight but he wasn’t expecting it to attract attention!! This random chick probably thought another girl lived here, because a dude would never have something as stupid as potted plants in their dorm, right? He groans in frustration, shoving the note in his pocket and storming down the stairs. He has to get to class.
The lake is so peaceful at this hour of the afternoon, Mahiru thinks to herself. The park across from her dorm is having a little festival of sorts to celebrate the start of the semester, and her roommate had insisted on coming- not that Mahiru was opposed. It sounded fun, after all!
Well, emphasis on ‘sounded’. The actual event didn’t seem nearly all it was advertised to be; the free food was mediocre at best, and the games that they had set up were quite underwhelming compared to her expectations. There were people gathered around the pavilion where they were distributing pizza and snow cones, and a group of guys playing soccer in the field behind her, but she preferred this, simply sitting on a bench facing the lake and watching the water. It brought her peace- something that’s been few and far between since… his passing.
She sighs as she watches the overcast sky, the buzz of conversation and playful shouting providing white noise to her introspection. It’s interrupted when her roommate, Hinoka, takes a seat next to her.
“Here, I brought you some stale pizza,” she offers with a lopsided grin.
Mahiru giggles, and holds up a hand in denial of her offer. “No, thanks! I’ve had enough stale things in my life trying to talk to guys around here,” she huffs with an exaggerated pout.
“You and your ‘guys’,” Hinoka groans. She’s joking, Hinoka knows that, but their banter is quite precious to Mahiru. “More for me, I guess.”
“Gross!” Mahiru protests with an airy breath of laughter.
Hinoka simply smirks, snickering deviously as she feasts on two slices of stale pepperoni. “You ate before we left though, right?” she questions in between bites.
“Yes, Hinoka. Thank you for asking.” Ever since meeting her, Hinoka has been a phenomenal friend and roommate to Mahiru. She wonders if she’ll mess this one up, too- but forces the thought from her mind. They’re having fun, after all.
“Yeah, no problem,” she replies breezily. “Hey, I’m gonna go grab a snow cone. The line looks stupid long though, so behave until I get back, alright?”
“Okay!” Mahiru chirps, and just like that, she’s alone with her thoughts again.
The lake. That’s what she was thinking about. A duck preens its feathers nearby, a small group of ducklings surrounding it, and she smiles at the sight. Cute.
However, before she can pull out her phone to snap a quick photo, she’s snapped out of her reverie by a particularly loud yell coming from behind her. It must be those sporty guys- they just can’t pipe down when they’re having fun, she supposes- and she’s proven correct when as soon as she turns around to see what the racket is about, her sandal is nudged lightly by a soccer ball.
She looks down at it, and chuckles. It’s quaint, in a way, the novelty of something so stereotypical happening to her. By the time she looks back up, sure enough, someone is jogging over to get it.
She smiles warmly at him, and waves a little ‘hello’. “This yours?” she calls with a giggle as he gets closer.
He seems to slow when he realizes that it had bumped into her, and oh, isn’t the way he gets all bashful just adorable?
“Sorry,” he mumbles, bending to get the ball she had nudged away a few inches.
“Oh, no worries! It’s no trouble at all.” Mahiru offers another little smile of reassurance, which may have been the wrong choice, because the poor guy’s face turns a shade closer to his fiery red hair, avoiding her eyes like the plague. Her heart flutters.
“T-Thanks.”
And with that, the guy kicks the ball back to his friends and jogs back over to them. That was… certainly something that just happened. She watches his retreating form, still processing the interaction.
“He’s so cute, isn’t he?” Hinoka’s voice startles Mahiru, making her jump just a little. Sure enough, she holds a blue snow cone.
“H-Huh?” She blinks owlishly at her roommate. “Well, I wouldn’t say he’s not cute…?” Mahiru offers shyly, staring at the lake again.
“Uh-huh.” She doesn’t like the way Hinoka is smirking at her right now. “I think I’ve seen him before. He was in one of my gen-ed classes last year. Don’t remember much about the guy, but… not bad, dearest Mahiru.”
“Oh, shut up!” She swats her arm playfully. “I don’t even know the guy.”
“Yeah, but you probably could if you tried. Did you see the way he got around you?”
“S-Some guys are just like that!” she protests.
“Hm… okay.” Hinoka stands, having finished her snow cone, and stretches. “Well, I had the revelation in the snow cone line that I have an assignment I’ve been neglecting, so I think I’m gonna head back early.”
Mahiru raises an eyebrow, but she knows that is a very Hinoka thing to do. “Ah, alright! I think I’m gonna stay and watch the lake a little bit longer,” she decides. “But I’ll see you in an hour or so!”
Hinoka nods in affirmation. “Alrighty. See ya then!” She gives Mahiru’s hair a little ruffle, then leaves to walk back to their dorm.
By herself again, it seems. The sky has darkened, she notices. It was only slightly overcast before, but now…
Now a raindrop lands on the tip of her nose. Then another. It is now that Mahiru realizes it is in fact raining. And she doesn’t have an umbrella. Peachy.
She hurries to the nearest pavilion- a dainty creature like her shouldn’t be soaked in rain, after all- and pouts in annoyance. How will she get home now?
She gazes across the field. The soccer boys are heading this way too it seems, likely not wanting to get muddy. The guy with the red hair is among them, too. She waves at him. To her surprise, he looks around, and waves back. He still won’t meet her eyes.
She sighs, redirecting her attention to her phone to check when this stupid weather will pass; not for a while it seems. It’s not long before she starts shivering. A short-sleeved blouse was a poor choice today. This is just her luck, isn’t it?
“Hey, um…” A gruff voice causes her to look up. It’s her soccer guy! “You live in the dorms across the street, right…?”
She nods wordlessly.
“Y-You can… You can use my jacket, if you want.” With what seems to be a tremendous amount of effort, he offers the black windbreaker to her, staring at the floor.
She smiles. Then she beams, bright as the sun that seems to have vanished from the sky. “Ah, really? That would be wonderful! Thank you!”
The guy drags his troubled gaze to meet hers, finally, and he is just a sight to behold- cheeks flushed red, raindrops dripping from the tips of his hair, and a shy smile to top it all off. It takes all Mahiru’s strength not to swoon as she takes the offered garment, fingers brushing briefly.
“I- um, sure. N-No problem,” he stammers, fidgeting with his now empty hands. “I’m actually heading back r-right now though, so…”
“Oh, that’s okay! I was, too.”
He gives a jerky nod in the direction of the dorms, indicating he’s ready to get going. She simply grins, and trots next to him, holding the jacket over her head as they step out from under the covering.
The walk is painfully silent, but Mahiru can’t bring herself to mind. Not when she’s being walked home by some mysterious prince who has saved her from certain catastrophe, not when she can’t stop smiling to herself all the while.
“Which building is yours?” He asks suddenly.
“Ah- building ten. Third floor.”
“Me too.” That’s about all he’s said this entire walk.
“Oh, we’re neighbors!” she exclaims delightedly. He just nods, bashfulness written all over his face, and it makes Mahiru’s heart swell.
When they get to the stairs, she wraps the jacket around her frigid shoulders, at least until they reach the top.
“Well, this is mine,” he informs gruffly. “See ya.”
Wait a minute. She knows this door. “Oh, wait! Is yours the room with the plants in the windowsill?!” She inquires excitedly.
He blinks, eyes widening subtly as he briefly glances up at her and back down. “... Yeah. They’re mine,” he admits.
“Oh, they're lovely! I noticed them one day and smiled the whole walk to class,” she gushes. “I think I wrote a little note about it and stuck it to your door.”
He looks at her again. In fact, he stares. Gapes at her, even. He looks so profoundly troubled she wonders with terror if she said something horrifically wrong.
“... That was you?!”
Before Mahiru can reply, a door opens, and Hinoka appears. “Oh, Mahiru! I was about to come get you, since you weren’t answering your…”
Hinoka looks at Mahiru. Then at Soccer Guy. Then at Mahiru again. The silence is near suffocating. “Ya know what? Take your time, actually.” She pops back inside, and the door shuts.
Poor Soccer Guy’s cheeks burn a radiant scarlet, and Mahiru can’t suppress a giggle. “Thanks again for coming to my rescue! I never caught your name, did I?”
“It’s… Fuuta.”
“Fuuta! So nice to meet you!” That sunny beam is back on her face; she just can’t help it. “I’m Mahiru!”
He nods in acknowledgement. “Yeah, nice to meet you, too.”
“I’ll see you around, then! Thanks again!” She offers one more joyful wave before disappearing into her own room. Hinoka gives her a look that makes her dread the rest of the night. Now that interesting things are starting to happen to her, maybe it's time for her to start blogging again.
I went to a little festival held at the park across from my university housing development today. It didn’t quite go as expected, and I even almost got rained on, if it weren’t for a handsome stranger offering me his jacket. It might be silly of me to say, but maybe the rain came for a reason. Fate works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?