Chapter Text
There are no such things as miracles.
At least, that’s what our protagonist here believes. Not really blaming him in all due honesty, considering his rough life, as rough as the blisters on his hands from his most recent creation.
But before I get ahead of myself, let me do a little bit of introduction over here!
Ahem: “Kamishiro Rui, thirteen years of age. Has yet to get the height boost of that one summer everyone’s gone through. Our boy is average height, pale as snow (making his huge eyebags more than barely noticeable), asian, hair looking like that one highlighter we all mixed with another colour to get this cool gradient, only to end up messing the whole colouring book with a poop colour and crying to our teachers about it…”
Perhaps I’ve been a tiny bit unfair in his description, however I couldn’t care any less. The point got across. Besides, I feel like I told this story somewhere else… Hmm…
Anyhow! I’m still yet to uncover the truth. Our purple-haired buddy over here doesn’t have the best time at school, and it’s really gotten into him. Come on, a thirteen year old boy going through puberty, being judged by his looks and strange hobbies, it was obvious that he would not be feeling it! I still can’t believe we are focusing on developing AI and destroying half of all the industries, yet we can’t force shut a mommy boy’s mouth. Wait, I’m getting off topic.
So, as a result of this current tragedy (again, bullies can damage a thirteen year old lil’ dude for life, don’t do that crap), Rui is yet to find friends. Or someone to properly trust in that matter.
This conveniently brings me to his current family situation. Ah, teenagers and parents, parents and teenagers. We’ve all been there, nothing new…
Rui doesn’t necessarily hate his parents, but he doesn’t have a special liking in them either. You can see it as him just going from front door to bedroom, from bedroom to front door. Food can get eaten in between hours when the kitchen is deserted (at past midnight, as clarification).
What do Rui’s parents think about this? Shh! Misterioso!
What I can AND will spoil is that it’s not approval (as if it wasn’t obvious).
BUT!! Let’s keep going! I apologize for you my friend, as you can see my attention span is short, but not as short as you.
And my attention span is microscopic ;)
To summarize this all the old fashioned way, Rui is an angsty teen (with reasons, not because TikTok decided to traumatize another kid) that has lost hope in getting better. He doesn’t believe in miracles.
But if you’re here, it means you don’t agree with him. You agree with me!
Now then, sit down and relax, because you’re about to experience a world-twisting event from a simple coincidence.
As known as fate.
“Rui…”
Short circuit, again… Must’ve not placed a resistant somewhere over here…
“...Rui!”
… Crap, I think this whole blueprint is messed up. How couldn’t I notice earlier on? Now I gotta start all over again! Ah, woe is on me…
“Kamishiro Rui!!”
Rui jolted from his seat, accidentally biting his tongue in the process. As painful as it could get, he made sure to properly respond to this aggressive call.
“Yeah?” Rui loudly asked back, as loud as he could get (barely above a whisper). He began stuffing mechanical props in his blue duffle bag as he could kind of get a blind idea of the problem over here. He just wished he could do the same with his chickenborg though…
“You’re already late! Come on, what’s wrong?” His mother called all innocently, although this wasn’t anything new and she expected what was wrong.
Without an answer back, Rui’s figure popped from the staircase and, as rapidly as his untrained legs could, he walked down the stairs and quickly stretched his arm to reach for the doorknob. Just before twisting it, he gazed back at the face of his mother one last time before going to… School…
His mother was standing in the doorway, a sweet motherly smile plastered on her face, as sweet as her homemade cinnamon buns. Rui never understood why people would feel the need to vape and all that, having sweet treats at the tip of their fingers…
He snapped awake and shook his head. This wasn’t the time to get sentimental, especially before going to one of the worst places on this planet. Rui turned around without further ado, and finally twisted that doorknob. With a small click, the door creaked and was gently opened by the purplenette.
“Have a good day, my baby!” Rui’s mother breathed out as her only son walked out the door. Rui just rolled his eyes, he couldn’t afford any emotions right now.
With all of that done, the only thing left now was… School.
School.
“Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, don’t look at me”.
Rui whispered in his head the same words he always did, sitting in the back of the classroom and trying to become as small as possible. These words had already turned into his anthem, a bitter lullaby engraved into his muscle memory. He didn’t like this at all, he felt all of his power washing away with each passing bad thought, but it wasn’t as if none of this was true. Even when he desperately clinged to the idea of him being delusional, everyone in his class proved him right.
Every.
Single.
Time.
“Ew, what’s with this horrendous smell? Open the damn windows!” One of his classmates screamed as soon as he took a step inside the class. His friend did as told, and they both launched towards the small open space of fresh air.
“Must be Rui, don’t ya think?” A girl snickered with her friend behind Rui itself. Rui’s heart stopped for a second, as he got more self-aware than usual. He did put on a lot of deodorant, and wore a freshly washed uniform, so it couldn’t be him! But perhaps it was, and he’d just gotten so used to the smell that he wasn’t able to discern from fresh air to his odor.
Rui simply buried his head inside his barely-planned blueprint, earning a round of giggles from those mean girls. Todas iguales.
It wasn’t his fault that he kept getting purposely distracted by his robots, they were far more interesting that hearing mockery hinted towards him all the time. Countless were the times where he walked away for lunch with tears streaming down his cheek.
Talking about lunch, how much time’s there left…?
AH!! HE’S ALONE IN CLASS!
Rui quickly grabbed all of his stuff and dashed out the door. He couldn’t risk leaving his duffle bag inside the classroom and get it trashed with paint from that one arts project again…
“Lunch will be the same” Rui thought, as he swiftly walked down the empty stairs of the main hall. Before the hall could become full view for him, Rui spotted his tutor from across the room. He seemed preoccupied with a bunch of chatter about something… He couldn’t care less about.
Rui turned to the side, ready to walk through the front door to the playground and avoid any contact with people, but his plans failed miserably.
“Ah, Kamishiro-kun!”
Great.
Rui turned around, not even caring to put on a good show for these old people who keep sending him home with “worried” notes written on his school agenda for his parents to sign. As if that was gonna make the people stay quiet!
His tutor smiled at the sight of Rui, something unusual. Ah, they must be needing someone to fix Ninth Grade C’s projector, when they can literally just wipe off the purposely placed wax on the lens.
“Just in time! Care to help me out for something?”
Rui nodded as usual, and just walked a bit closer while trying to not make the shuffling sounds of metal clattering against each other in his duffle bag obvious. As if it didn’t already look like he was carrying a corpse around campus…
“So,” the teacher started, “there is gonna be this new kid in your class, and it would help me a lot if you showed him around!”
Huh?
“What?” Rui blurted out, far more rude than what he intended to. He thanked God the teacher was an undiagnosed autistic and couldn’t pick up on the tone of his voice. The teacher nodded with a bigger smile, before continuing on where he left it.
“Yep! He’s not the… Normal kid you’d imagine, but that doesn’t matter! As your fellow tutor, I think you’re a perfect match to show him around campus!”
… As the tutor was met with hesitant silence from Rui, he took it as his cue to keep going (it was in fact quite the opposite).
“Think about it, he’s going to feel much more comfortable getting to know one of his new classmates beforehand. Besides, I don’t really trust your classmates…”
That little comment was supposed to make Rui even smile a bit, but it didn’t. Rui was instead more fixated on his new task. Show a new kid around? But what if they make fun of him?
But, perhaps, they won’t make fun of Rui… Since they won’t have been in contact with rumours about Rui at all! Wait, that actually seems much more plausible!
With new motivation found, Rui excitedly nodded and ran away before the tutor could say anything else. He just got a brand new chance of being able to talk to someone without previous judgement!
Even if the good impressions will only last today.
But it can be enough.
No, it will be enough.
Rui spent the rest of the playground fixing his hair in front of the bathroom’s mirror.
Rui’s excitement was more than evident. As clear as water.
He kept kicking his feet from under the table while checking out the birds out the window. Just right now, he even felt like playing football! Mind you, he doesn’t even think of touching a ball!
“Yo, what’s that freak giggling about?”
“Probably about one of his chinese ching chong ching kid shows”
Bro, why were some Japanese students racist towards Chinese people? They’re literally from the same continent! That single comment made Rui snap out of his good mood, just in time to realize the teacher weirdly staring at him. Uh oh.
“Rui?” The history teacher asked.
Rui simply smiled.
Enough for the history teacher to resume on his lesson about Sparta and how the society worked back then.
But Rui couldn’t care less. He had the chance to finally meet someone new! Someone he’d be able to give a good impression to, even if it was probably only going to be for a day.
The only thing left now was waiting… Waiting, waiting, waiting…
… The robot waiting for him inside the blue duffle bag was very tempting.
A knock on the door.
It was time!
When the tutor peeked his head inside the classroom with a smile, Rui immediately stood up from his seat.
“Excuse me, would it be fine to borrow Kamishiro for the time being?” The tutor politely asked. The history teacher immediately agreed without further ado, although he didn’t have a say in where Rui could go as he’d already sped out the door before finishing his phrase. Even his classmates were simply curious, not weirded out.
The tutor hummed while closing the door of the classroom, before patting Rui’s back with a smile.
“You ready? He’s waiting downstairs, in the teacher lounge’s corridor.”
Ah, it’s a boy? Even better! Rui will have a better chance of connecting with him as he’s from the same gender! Rui enthusiastically nodded, before his tutor lead the way. They needed to go through the emergency stairs, as they were closer to the teacher’s lounge.
But just when life couldn’t get any better…
“You know, he’s very excited to come to this school! It’s his first time going to a school outside of his Juvenile Center… ”
…
What?
Rui stopped dead in his tracks.
Did he hear that right? Was this boy…
Was this boy truly from a Juvenile Center? Was the school really about to let in a full-on criminal here? Especially from a Juvenile Center?
The tutor immediately noticed Rui’s stiffness from the news. Truth to be told, he knew deep down that Rui would grow even more hesitant to help out if he was aware of this condition beforehand, so he might’ve kept it hidden on purpose. They both knew there was no backing off now.
Even so… Rui made an effort on showing his discomfort when resuming on his previous task of walking down the stairs.
“Uh…” Rui muttered, before deciding on speaking up completely, “... It makes me feel uneasy to meet a criminal like him.”
The tutor chuckled, not even looking behind to meet Rui’s eyes.
“Ah, don’t worry!” The tutor said lightheartedly, “he’s a chill dude, you’ll see!”
That was… Reassuring, in some weird way. Perhaps Rui was just holding onto any lasting bit of hope that perhaps something wouldn’t go horribly bad for once? It didn’t matter.
There they were, in front of the door.
Behind it, they could hear commotion. Teachers talking, teachers laughing… But Rui couldn’t hear any boyish voice his age.
But before he could mentally prepare himself of what he was about to encounter, his tutor gently slid the door open.
And there he was.
His new classmate.
Rui’s heart stopped.