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Kajiyama Fuuta had finally been awarded a handheld game system from Es, for “tolerable behavior”, and hadn’t put it down once since he got it. He was currently sat alone in the Panopticon, sitting at one of the tables and vigorously pressing buttons, the occasional arcade-esque sound emitting from the device.
Well. Almost alone. Shiina Mahiru sat at the near same table, talking about her life outside of prison. Fuuta would glance up every once in a while, unsurprised that she was still talking. It seemed as though Mahiru’s lungs were incapable of getting tired, and that she could talk for hours without pausing for breath. Although Fuuta hadn’t said a word for nearly an hour now, she continued to ramble on, undeterred. He couldn’t deny that it was somewhat cute, with the passion of which she spoke about her outside life, but he found himself ticked off whenever she mentioned some guy outside, who she was apparently infatuated with. Every minute or so, she would launch into a new story about how “Oh, he took me to see this once” or “Oh, we went to this once”. It was driving him crazy, hearing her incessant prattling on about her favorite person on the outside.
Fuuta wouldn’t ever admit it, but his heart burned a little every time she mentioned this guy. Not because he liked Mahiru or anything, of course. He just had never had that kind of relationship before, so it made him a bit…jealous to hear her gushing over her apparent perfect man. Sticking to video games and online friends all the time could really limit a guy’s social life, it seemed.
“Well, Fuuta? Do you have anybody on the outside waiting for you?” Mahiru said suddenly, interrupting Fuuta’s brooding session and causing him to almost startle awake. “Huh? What? No, I guess…I don’t really need people on the outside. I’m self sufficient, you know.” Fuuta’s guard was instantly up, despite Mahiru practically exposing her every last detail to him in the conversation before (if you could even call it a conversation, since Fuuta didn’t contribute much - just the occasional grunt or “Mmm-hmm”)
“Don’t NEED people?! Well, that’s just plain silly, Fuu! Everybody needs somebody, even if it’s a best friend, or a sibling, or a girlfriend~” After thinking for a moment, Mahiru shrugged. “Or a boyfriend, I won’t judge you~” Fuuta’s face turned bright red as he scrambled to correct Mahiru. “I-I’m not gay!” he quickly coughed out, waving his hands in the air as if to bat away her wild accusation. “I just have always been a loner. I have a couple of online friends, I’m sure they think I’m dead, but mostly I just keep to myself.” He smiled after this, as if he had just said something incredibly wise and world-changing, but he looked at Mahiru to see her almost tearing up.
Huh?
“Fuu…” she said in a voice much more subdued than she had been before. “You can’t actually think that, right? Do you really just…not have anybody?” Fuuta made a “eh” gesture with his hands and said, “Well, yeah. It’s different for you, you seem to have your entire life all planned out. Your perfect boyfriend,” and with this he couldn’t keep a bit of venom from seeping into his voice, for deep down he really was jealous that this perfect girl, his one piece of sanity in this shithole, was of course hopelessly devoted to some other guy, “and all your family, and your friends…I never really got the point of all that.” He almost went back to his game, but looked up again when he heard Mahiru shift her chair away from the table and stand up. Oh shit did I make her want to leave?? he thought to himself, and started to say something, when she walked over to where Fuuta was sitting. “Uh…Mappi?” he laughed a bit nervously, unsure of what she meant to do. Was he about to get his ass kicked?
Mahiru slid onto the bench next to him, and, for the first time this whole conversation, seemed a bit unsure of herself. She rested her hand on his arm, and Fuuta could feel his face flush almost instantly. Oh, the effect this girl had on him…It was almost ridiculous, really. It was a shame that he couldn’t get enough of it.
“He’s not in my life anymore, you know. My ‘perfect’ boyfriend. We had, um…Differences.” she struggled with choosing the right word, but gave Fuuta a smaller smile than he had ever seen on her. Usually, she seemed so confident, particularly when it came to things related to love, but she seemed strangely unsure of herself and shaky in her words. “Oh. I’m um…I’m sorry?” the master of public speaking, Fuuta, stammered out. His brain had filled with an unexpected buzzing, and the only thought he could really form was Oh my fucking god, she’s touching my arm what does this mean what should I do??. She laughed at his comment, and nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t be silly. Besides, I think…I might have found someone new.” Mahiru looked patiently at him, waiting for it all to click together.
“You mean…Oh. Oh.” Fuuta’s eyes grew twice their normal size and a stupid, wide grin spread across his face. “Me? Is that why…” “I asked all those questions? Of course, Fuu~ Why else would I be so suddenly invested in your personal life?” Fuuta laughed suddenly, breaking the softer mood the two had created. “I dunno, I just thought you were really nosy! Who am I to try to understand how your brain works, Mappi?” She paused for a moment, and laughed right along with him, leaning her body against his. Fuuta could feel her whole body shaking with laughter, matching his perfectly. It was almost crazy, how she could curve to match how he was sitting perfectly. He could almost hear her heartbeat, thumping in time with his.
Mahiru sat up after a minute, after the mood had died down a bit and the both of them had just sat there in a bit of awkward silence. “So…do you accept?” she said, a little hesitantly again. Fuuta smiled encouragingly, and took Mahiru’s hand. “Mahiru, I’ve been crushing on you since the first time I got here. You’re one of the few people I actually really, really like in this horrible place. The luck I have…Of course I accept.” He moved his hand, reaching for her face but stopping himself, her unsuredness seeming to infect him.
They sat and simply did nothing, for a moment. The two just looked into each other’s eyes, both smiling like complete idiots, when Mahiru looked down and noticed what Fuuta had been starting to do. She giggled a bit, and reached for his hand, cupping her face with his hand. “Silly.” She leaned in close to Fuuta, holding him with her own hand, and kissed the side of his face softly. Still close to him, Mahiru opened her eyes again, searching his face for any sign of discomfort, or unwillingness.
The only thing she found was Fuuta’s other hand, reaching for her and pulling her back in for a real, proper kiss.