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"here."
with a soft thump, takumi dropped something into his lap.
the time between the other boy's swift approach to where he was seated and the bestowing of this mystery item was so short that the rise of nausea in eito's throat was cut short by surprise. it was already an odd occurrence that anyone would initiate an interaction with him to begin with, but takumi?
"to what do i owe the pleasure of seeing your hideous face?" eito smiled at his visitor. "and with a repulsive gift, as well. should i be pulling on the lottery today?"
takumi scowled at him, chewing at the bottom of his mouth. likely holding back another scalding remark - what a shame.
"just take it." his visitor muttered, markedly looking to the side.
well, eito appreciated the sentiment. one benefit of being mutually insufferable was that eito was rarely ever forced to stare directly at the fleshy contortions that made up 'takumi sumino's face'. it was a win-win situation for both of them.
"and i have the honour of receiving…?"
"open it for yourself."
what hospitality. at this rate, eito was half-convinced they'd found an euthanizer they all voted for him to kill himself with.
after a heavy pause and no further instruction, eito deigned to explore the item himself. or rather, items, as it seemed? now that he was properly observing the blue sack that had been unceremoniously thrown upon him, he was noticing that there were several small bumps underneath the fabric. the entire bag was too light for it to be weaponry, and the noise the items made as they collided held no weight. perhaps dried rations, as they prepared to abandon him for an extended period of time. or something enigmatic, something they wanted eito to spend his time interpreting. not that he had any real belief they'd choose to entrust him with anything - he'd been made out to be quite the emblematic evil as of late.
before eito pulled apart the drawstrings to peer inside, he glanced upwards to notice that takumi was still there. they had an accidental tense moment of eye contact before both of them flicked their gazes away, resolutely determined not to acknowledge the other. if this wasn't anything dangerous, then surely takumi could just leave? eito wasn't exactly a fan of having an audience during gift unwrappings, and while takumi was intriguing, he was also plainly gross. what a shame that he'd have company for a while longer.
he returned his full attention to the bag, now further confused about its contents. he wouldn't put it past takumi to give some sort of speech about abandoning him if it did happen to be rations, but the SDU's prized leader seemed too awkward for that. at this point, there was no meaning in dragging out the mystery. with a weak pull, the tightened string at the entrance of the package gave way to reveal…
dolls?
no, more like… plush toys?
he wrapped his hand around the one resting at the top and pulled out a green figure.
"that's shouma." takumi finally spoke.
eito blinked.
this was… shouma. he paused, slowly setting down the plush on the ground beside him. he moved to pull out a second item from the bag.
something purple with a striking gaze.
"hiruko."
someone dark-haired with bright red eyes.
"gaku."
a white-haired girl with a kind smile.
"nozomi."
one by one, the entire student body of the SDU came out of the bag in plush-sized forms. takumi supplied the names of every plush as they appeared, but eito felt that he could've figured them all out on his own. there was something characteristic about each one. by the end of it all, takumi was kneeling in front of him, staring at the army of stuffed toys together with eito. it was an absurd sight, seeing them all lined up beside one another like a shelf at a store. he almost felt like he should've been making a sales pitch.
"did you all have too much time on your hands? defense training so mindlessly dull that you all elected to produce self-serving miniature dolls instead?" eito quipped, but his typical bite was frighteningly lacking.
far be it from him to say that he was touched by such an action. he didn't even want to palate the idea.
"can you ever just be normal?" takumi sighed. "takemaru had the idea to make these for you. he said that if he couldn't see us normally as humans, you could see us another way."
"heartening idea."
he'd meant to follow up with something snide, but the words died in his mouth. there was something unfamiliar gnawing at the edge of his stomach. he leaned forward to pick up a certain offensively red figure and held it in the air next to its counterpart in front of him. it made his stomach churn. he glanced between the two, some desperately naive part of him trying to project 'takumi sumino' onto the disfigured, ugly, repulsive masses of blood and bones that he could never, ever escape from. the stench started creeping into his nose. the way 'human flesh' distorted and unfolded on itself as if the body were a cannibalizing automata writhed its way into his field of vision.
eito aotsuki was an fundamentally broken person.
"what," takumi shifted uncomfortably under his prolonged gaze. "got something to say?"
"...has anyone ever told you that your hair is an unnatural and freakish colour?"
"wh- what the hell?!"
"it's intriguing," eito lowered his glasses from his face to see the miniature takumi in better detail. "the contrast between your eyes and hair is glaringly striking."
"w-well… just so you know, we couldn't find better colours of felt. it's probably not accurate."
eito had the feeling that it was worse in reality. he wore his glasses for good reason.
"do you really have a prong of hair that extends directly upwards?" eito poked at the plush. "i never cared enough to scrutinize you, so i thought it was an appendage."
takumi looked terribly offended. "of course it's my hair! i was born with it, and it never stays down if i try to style it…"
"this seems like a sore spot for you. apologies for mentioning it." eito beamed, satisfied with how desperately takumi was scrambling for stable footing.
his visitor grumbled. "only say sorry if you actually mean it."
"you find me so insincere that it wounds me, takumi."
he sighed in response, standing back up. perhaps eito had gone a little too far on teasing - getting to see the SDU members was genuinely fascinating. he didn't mind talking to takumi as much if he was able to just stare at a marketable version of him the whole time instead. and plug his nose. and maybe if takumi could use a vocal filter-
"i should head out. i promised kurara i'd help her track down something she lost yesterday."
ah, what a shame. he'd just started to acclimate to takumi's stench. as much as the rest of the student body may have thought otherwise, eito didn't spend that much time scheming. it really only took up about 4-5 of his 24 hours of daily free time. the rest of it was spent letting his thoughts wander and being, frankly, bored out of his mind.
"ever the busybody."
takumi huffed like he had something to say, but thought better of it. before eito could comment further, takumi's distorted convulsing form took its leave and brought his only source of entertainment with it. promptly thrusted back into the monotony of solitude.
his gaze strayed back to the plush toys arranged on the floor next to him and the odd scene they made for. against his better judgement, he found himself trying to imagine everyone in human form. with his only reference point being himself and photos he'd seen, he was sure he was missing the mark, but it was an interesting idea to sit with. he picked up 'darumi amemiya', making a haphazard attempt at piecing together how her shrill voice and aborrent movements could translate to the softness in his hands. tugging at the arms, he mimed one of the motions her corpus would often perform. no, not quite right. she would be more full of life, more human. she would be human in a way that eito couldn't mimic, and a way that was completely new to him. she would be vibrant, she would be warm, and she would be normal. she would be a friend.
he grimaced and set the doll back down. he was running a pointless exercise fed by his own delusion - he knew this. no matter how they looked, humanity was repulsive. changing their appearances wouldn't change a thing for eito himself. he still found himself surreally hoping, somehow, that being able to see people like everyone else would somehow slot himself into the comfort of living in 'humanity's' reality. despite their inherent hideous nature. eito was only digging his own grave with these directionless sentiments.
he made his decision to stop staring at the bite-sized SDU student collection. there were more productive things to do in the cage, after all, like ponder the appropriate ending for the fifth story he'd concocted in his brain that week. as sun set, however, the plush toys weasled their way back to the forefront of eito's mind. they'd been left in the exact same position from earlier, and eito was almost reluctant to even touch them. they'd taken on a bit of semblance to their real life counterparts, it seemed. even worse than that. at his rejection of being dishonest to himself, he was forced to come face to face with the fear nibbling away at his thoughts. fear of attachment, mainly. if he began to truly see the others as something untarnished, he wasn't sure what he'd do next.
…no matter what, the resentment rotting in his chest wouldn't go away. the autophagic amalgamations of organic flesh and maggot-like stirrings would be there forevermore.
because he was human, and they were human. because even here, he wasn't able to escape. the sense of loneliness that had been his only companion throughout his life.
he stared upwards at the sky. the white light shining down at the cage amidst the sea of unending blue swam in his field of vision. despite the torrid sentiments twisting away at any shred of goodwill eito possessed, he still couldn't find it in himself to dismiss the miniature figures entirely. they… looked normal, after all. it wouldn't be fair.
he shifted, pulling himself out of the covers he'd tucked himself into. it was chilly. two by two, he shifted each one to the leg of the bedframe. he arranged them to minimize any potential interpersonal conflicts, and kept them all huddled together. that was optimal for space conservation of course, and eito didn't want to asininely injure himself tripping over a toy. also keeping in mind that it was chilly. but mostly because takumi would be insufferable if the aforementioned incident really did occur.
after finishing the displacement, eito crouched down to judge his work. it wasn't bad. they were visually balanced as well, with colour distribution across the board being equal. being able to control something about his environment provided him a sense of contentment, but continuing to stare at the toys brought up that unfamiliar discomfort in his stomach once again. he decided at this point that the cost outweighed the benefits, and that he was better off spending his time sleeping.
eito moved back towards the bed and the reflecting white light shined back at him. an average night, with sights he'd already become accustomed to. he tucked the blankets around him neatly, releasing the tension in his body with a small breath of air.
he closed his eyes, and felt an odd sense of ease. it was just a little warmer.