Chapter Text
gangstas
Wednesday, 23 December
5:32 PM
scara changed the group name from “gangstas” to “heizpu is a fucking bitch”
heizou
HEY WHATD I DO???
also you typoed heizou hahahahahah
scara
if you don’t stfu right now i will actually murder you tomorrow.
heizou
oooOOooo sooo scaryy
spooky pookie
scara
fuck you to hell and back
thoma 😊
woah woah woah what's going on here
heizou, did you steal scara’s lunch again…
shinobu 👹
stop swearing, scara
❄️ ayaka ❄️
Merry Christmas, everyone!
heizou
what a way to change the topic
thoma 😊
shush she’s just being considerate
heizou
now how in the world is that being considerate??
ure just a simp
thoma 😊
i think i understand scara now
scara
you get it too right
let’s murder him tomorrow. i have the house key
heizou
NO
FRICK
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EVEN HAVE MY KEY
@kazooha 🍁 HELP THEYRE BULLYING ME
shinobu 👹
he’s not online right now so no one can help you
heizou
huh then where is he
shinobu 👹
working part-time
heizou
he’s old enough to get a job????
scara
we’re all old enough to get jobs, you moron
heizou
yall are just so mean
scara
and you are just so annoying
❄️ayaka❄️
Stop arguing, guys
thoma 😊
yeah guys stop arguing 😠
heizou
arent u a cute little parrot
coochie coochie 🦜
yoi 💥
heyaa :3
thoma 😊
oh hey yoi nice timing wanna watch me slaughter heizou
yoi 💥
is that why the group name’s like that…
ohhh heizou you stole scara’s lunch
okay then kinda deserved
heizou
U TOO???
yoi 💥
it isn’t my fault you’re basically a kleptomaniac and that you enjoy provoking ppl :D
heizou
no, i dont like stealing stuff. stealing is from scara and scara only 😍
scara
motherfucker
why do you exist
yoi 💥
um ok guys let’s calm down and
talk about the christmas party
heizou
ugh fine
when is it
scara
on christmas???
❄️ayaka❄️
My place :D
thoma 😊
will ayato be there…
❄️ayaka❄️
Of course! And his friends too ^^
thoma 😊
great.
shinobu changed the group name from “heizpu is a fucking bitch” to “civilised beings”
scara
change it back, please
shinobu 👹
i’m hoping that if you two see the group name often enough, you will conform to it
yoi 💥
wishful thinking
heizou
yep :P
shinobu 👹
fml
heizou
why don't i f you instead
yoi 💥
WHAT THE HELL
scara
it's a great day to have eyes
shinobu 👹
i'll pretend that never happened.
heizou
awww
yoi 💥
okay i'll just send the party details here 😭
25 dec christmas party
ayaka's place (kamisato estate)
bring all manner of tasty snacks or games to share! 😋
dress code: red, green, or white; smart casual
yoi 💥 pinned a message 📌
❄️ayaka❄️
Thanks, Yoi :)
Wednesday, 23 December, 6:12 PM
Shinobu rummages through her sadly barren wardrobe. There's literally nothing acceptable to wear to a Christmas party at the Kamisato's, because all she has are oversized T-shirts, cargo pants or jeans, and hoodies in all the colours of the rainbow—none of which fulfill the requirements of smart casual.
Oh well, there's still a day left before the party, so at least she can go out shopping for a decent dress.
There's a lot to look forward to for the Christmas party, actually. Ayaka and Ayato's family is filthy rich, so there's sure to be a really great spread, and Shinobu's not one to pass up on free food. There's people to talk to and games to play; more interesting things to do to fill in the holiday time than—marinating on her couch.
Other things are not so much looked forward to. Seeing Heizou again, for example.
They were in the same class for a brief period of time—but then Heizou had done Archons-knows-what, and got himself transferred out of the class. Another kid who was (seemingly) Heizou's best friend, also involved in the incident, ended up expelled. Shinobu doesn't want to know what happened to him in the end.
Anyway, even their short time together in the same class had been enough to make Shinobu despise Heizou. A lot. He'd constantly bother people—and he'd make flirty or suggestive comments at her all the time. Unfortunately, her classmates didn't find him particularly irritating—they said he had a certain charm, a certain charisma. Shinobu thinks this is utter bullshit.
There'd just been something about Heizou that rubbed off her the wrong way. Maybe it's his general immaturity, or maybe just his absolute idiocy. For a so-called “Master Detective!” (his words), he really was stupid sometimes. But she suspects Heizou never really does anything without some reason (he’d proved so a couple times in the past; she’d never have guessed), so perhaps it’s all some subtle psychological tactic. She wouldn’t know.
Anyway, despite his... infamous quality, her friend group had still welcomed him. Yoimiya calls him comedic relief, Shinobu calls him an uninvited addition (by her and Scaramouche, at least. Although she has the tact to at least not start petty wars with him online).
She doesn’t know if his presence is for the worse or for the better, but… still.
Shinobu checks her calendar reluctantly. School's starting soon, and her schedule is absolutely packed after New Year's. After all, it is their last year of high school. The final exams are bound to be stressful for everyone.
It's fine, she tells herself, like she always does. Just cross those bridges when you get to them.
Wednesday, 23 December, 11:56 PM
It's late, but it always is. Heizou stays hunched over his phone, reading through old messages. Pathetic, he knows. But when everyone's gone to sleep and there's no one left to talk to, it's all the fragile comfort that he can grasp. Some semblance of companionship, or something that can make him laugh again.
Truth to be told, Heizou is a pretty lonely guy. He can hide it behind a cheerful, idiotic facade, but the fact of the matter shines through like a torchlight in the face when he's alone with no one to show off that pretty illusion to.
He recalls seeing a video once, about how the most hilarious, seemingly-happy people are usually the saddest. He gets that. You're so lonely that you're even afraid to show it to strangers, you don't know how not to be lonely after all this time, and you have friends but you don't do much together beyond the texts and the interactions at school, because you’re busy trying to support yourself and you have literally no life.
People may say he's a fun person, but he's acutely aware of how they're wary of him, giving him a wide berth half of the time. Even though all he'd done was having been in the wrong place at the wrong time, rumours get out of control easily, and he'd turned from a witness to an accomplice. It didn't help that he was friends with the suspect, either.
Loneliness is one thing, but the isolation that comes with it is far more suffocating, like a dense fog that settles low and refuses to go. Perhaps subconsciously, your body or mind begins to recognise that you're destined to be alone, and you end up distancing yourself from your group. Heizou's always been different in this very-not-good way, and he doesn't like it at all.
What does it take to be normal?
This isn’t normal. Normal people have a supportive, put-together family, one that offers them comfort and reassurance when they’re down. Most people aren’t the sole individual holding up their household like some sort of flimsy foundation; most of them have fun with their friends, and have people to drag them out of the deep depths of whatever-the-hell he’s always stuck in.
They always say hindsight is 20/20, and they’re right. It allows Heizou to realise that the pit he was drowning in was a depression, a deep and a dark pit—not a shallow recess in the ground. A dank place, chock-full of the stuff from his worst nightmares.
But he digresses. He isn’t normal, but every little chip and scratch at his too-young, too-weary soul, is enough to give him a sort of ladder out of the pit. A very worn and tattered rope ladder, but a working ladder nonetheless. It’s all his own, because he has no one to build it for him.
In the end, the ladder tears. And that’s good, that’s excellent, because Heizou has no plans of ever entering the pit ever again.