Chapter Text
I clicked on the mousepad lazily, scrolling through different YouTube videos, hoping to finally find an interesting video.
I snuggled into my bedsheets more, pulling the comforters over my shoulders like it was a shield against the cold wind outside.
It had been a busy and cold day so when I finally trudged up the hill and through the cold snow to my house, all I could think about was laying in my warm bed. Cozying underneath my sheets as I watch mindless YouTube videos on my laptop.
In the big 2025, hardly anyone used YouTube anymore. My kids surely didn't. Always preoccupied with a new Netflix show or a brain rotting TikTok.
As I thought about my precious kids, my fingers scrolled through the recommended videos almost automatically.
Suddenly my fingers stopped, cursor floating over a video.
The video’s thumbnail showed two teens sitting next to each other, large goofy grins on their faces as one of them, a blonde, held up a sign that wrote ‘A’ in a large messy handwriting.
I looked below the thumbnail as I felt myself straightening up. The title was short, only consisting of one single letter: A.
I checked the date and publisher of the video.
Found media • 2M views • 2 weeks ago
My cursor moved before I could fully process the video’s name.
Click. The video was loading now.
Suddenly, a blurry image filled my laptop screen. The camera shook unsteadily as someone propped it up against something stable, giving the video an amateur sense. Almost like it was never meant for anyone else to see.
When the video finally focused, a raven haired teen smiled at the camera brightly as his hand moved away from the camera.
The teen pointed two thumbs up at the camera while striking a wide grin before he quickly shuffled back to the bed behind him.
Sitting beside him on the bed, was a blonde teenager with bright blue eyes like the morning sky.
He was absolutely beautiful.
Skin as milky white as light clouds in the morning sky, hair as soft and fluffy as feathers, lips soft and pallid red and eyes that shined through the screen as if they were the sun itself.
The blonde smiled slightly when the noiret sat down cozily beside him.
The two were sitting on an old bed in a dully lit room. The bed and the two boys were the main focus of the video, with little to no other subjects in view except for the decor that decorated the room they sat in.
Behind them, plastered on the walls, were different drawings and pictures. The drawings were in messy and bright colours, like children had just scrawled them out and the pictures were of different people, most of them containing the two teens in them. All the decor looked old and worn out, making it obvious to the audience that the two teens had lived in it their whole lives.
“C'mon Mika! Introduce yourself!" The raven haired boy said excitedly to the blonde, grabbing his hand tightly as a sign of encouragement.
“Do I have to?..." The beauty grumbled, though his smile only widened at the contact.
“Yes Mika! C'mon! Don't be embarrassed!” The noiret shook the blonde’s hand encouragingly.
“Ugh…ok…” His face cringed cutely as he tried to hold back his smile.
“I'm Mikaela Hyakuya and I'm turning 16 this year.” He said unenthusiastically.
The noiret giggled softly in his hand. “I'm Yuuichirou Hyakuya! Turning 16 this year too!” His eyes widened slightly as he remembered something, “oh! We're from the same orphanage by the way! So we aren't siblings in case any of you were wondering…”
“I don't think anyone's gonna think we're siblings yuu-chan…”
“Oh yeah?! Why not hmm?”
“Caus’ I'm literally super model pretty and you're a 7 at most!” Mikaela joking, mocking a matter-of-factly voice as he spoke.
Yuuichirou rolled his eyes at the blonde, but his eyes glazed over dreamily, eyes lingering as he smiled lovingly at Mikaela. “Haha…sure…super model pretty…”
“Anyway! Getting back on our real agenda for today…” Yuuichirou coughed into his palm bashfully, a faint blush painting his cheeks pink as he woke up from his slight trance. “Today is the first day of my countdown!”
“Countdown? To what?” the blonde looked curiously at Yuuichirou, imploring him with his eyes to continue.
“Heheh…that's a surprise! To both you and the viewers…” Yuuichirou’s blush increased slightly.
“Anyway…today's letter of the day is…” Yuuichirou paused dramatically and tapped Mikaela’s thigh like he was beating a drum.
“A!” Yuuichirou cheered excitedly as he pulled out a sheet of paper with a large ‘A’ written messily over it.
“Letter of the day?...Isn't this a countdown?” Mika asked snarkly, a smile still imprinted on his face like the constant humming a computer emitted.
“Shh…it can be both…” Yuuichirou shoved the paper sheet into Mikaela’s face. “Now hold this up for the camera so it can be a good thumbnail!”
“Hah…ok…” Mikaela held the paper sheet up defeatedly.
Yuuichirou’s eyes glistened slightly when he looked over at Mikaela holding the paper up, a glint of playfulness sparkling in his green irises.
“You look like one of those actors in those JAVs…” Yuuichirou joked playfully.
Mikaela faked a shocked expression.
“Shuddap…why would you even think about that you perv…”
“Have you ever gone online? It's like common knowledge to all Japanese people”
“No way…you're just a degen!” Mikaela dropped the sheet of paper slighy now.
“Hey! It's not my fault you're uncultured!” Yuuichirou grinned widely at Mikaela.
“God forbid a man wants to focus on his studies and not the brain rotting abyss that is the internet!” Mikaela exaggerated as he laughed happily at Yuuichirou, reciprocating Yuuichirou’s wide grin.
“Oh yeahhh? Wanna say that to my face, tough guy?”
Yuuichirou stared longingly into Mikaela's eyes before he pounced on him jokingly.
The two erupted into an outburst of laughter as the video ended there, video recommendations appearing where the two boys' faces were.
I looked at the video dazingly. A rush of nostalgia washed over me. I quickly exited the video, rushing to the description for more information.
!this video isn't mine! This is a reupload of the first ever video from the infamous letter countdown series from ‘Yuuichirou’s internet diary’. The original creator has sadly deleted his entire channel along with the original videos so I'm dedicating these few weeks to reuploading his entire series for nostalgia sake!
I scrolled down mindlessly to the comment section next.
@ieatdinosaurs: mann…what a call back! I remember when I was still in highschool, waiting every week for a new update. Keep up the good work man! I totally miss those two lovers lol!
@seraphoftheendgooner: ahh! The letter countdown…haven't heard that name in a loooonnggg time.
@micahelamith: I remember those two! That was when YouTube was still good! Their videos always had such an amateur and childhood vibe to them!
I rushed to click on the channel name and waited impatiently for the page to refresh.
“Daddy! Dinner's ready!” my child called loudly.
I'll watch the rest after dinner. I thought to myself before yelling ‘coming!’ to my beloved child.