Archive of Our Own ^omega

Junpei sat alone in the middle row of the theater, quietly seething to himself as he held a half-empty bucket of popcorn. Below him, in the front row, three familiar students talked, lounging on the front row seats with their phones open as they ignored the movie.

'Dammit, high-schoolers shouldn't be skipping class to watch movies.' Junpei squirmed in his seat. 'Neither should I... But I'm just here to enjoy the movie, they're just here to kill time.' Just like they always were.

Junpei hadn't known them for long. Earlier yesterday, they had beaten him up because he insulted a girl who was bullying him. It was clear what she was doing; she was just using him as a punching bag to affirm her status. Part of him felt guilty for being mean to her. The other part just wanted all the people who hated him to go away.

'I can't believe-'

The doors into the theater rattled open, interrupting Junpei's thoughts and the commotion of the three boys in the front row. Their eyes moved to the sound. Junpei saw the silhouette of a girl enter the theater, short, around his age, and with piercing red eyes. The three students below returned to their conversation immediately, but Junpei's eyes lingered for a moment, just long enough to make eye contact with the girl. He glued his eyes to the screen. Even as he heard the girl's footsteps, sounding so loud to him they pierced through the theater, he looked away, trying to ignore her as she sat right next to him.

"So, come here often?" She was so close to him, he could make out her voice, slightly rough and boyish sounding, and feel her breath brush against her hair. Still, Junpei fought against the urge to turn towards her. 'She's just like that girl at school. The second I give her any attention, she's just going to use me for the sake of her status.'

"Hey, I'm talking to you." She moved closer, leaning over in her seat now. She smelled like strawberries and cigarettes. Junpei caught a whiff before seizing up his nostrils. He could hardly focus on the movie as he stared forward blankly. Even the commotion of the three students below him had left his senses. 'Don't react. That's what she wants, just go.'

Junpei got up from his seat and stepped past the girl. "Hey. Fuck you, too, asshole!" He had to put every ounce of strength he had into putting one foot in front of the other as she yelled at him. It was like fighting against the pull of gravity, his heart seizing up as he put one foot in front of the other and walked to the exit, feeling the girl's red eyes on him all the while. He was so oblivious to the rest of the world, even three students stopping their conversation to look at him didn't register.

The next moments were a blur, but he could make out leaving the theater, only a passing word said to a staff member. Outside, the sky darkened, a thin layer of clouds and the retreating sun taking all light and warmth away from the world. Only then did his senses return to him, and he realized he still had his bucket of popcorn in his hand. Junpei reached in to shovel a bit more popcorn into his mouth.

He crinkled his nose. The streets smelled like piss, oil, cold, and a strange electric smell he couldn't place. He felt a needle of nervousness prick in his heart. The sun hadn't yet gone over the horizon, but still it was past noon. 'I should get back home. Mom will be worried if I get home too late.'

"Oh, hey!" Junpei flinched as a hand landed on his shoulder, the shock causing him to drop his popcorn bucket, kernels and popcorn scattering across the darkening street. "Little buddy. What are you doing here?" Junpei tried to speak up, but his words caught in his throat as the bully hauled him away into a nearby alley, thrusting him against a wall with a thump.

"Yeah, don't you know it's rude to skip out of a movie halfway through?" A second one said Junpei couldn't remember his name, but his face was recognizable. The third one smiled like a snake. "Yeah, are-"

"Jeez, how cliche can these guys get?" The girl from earlier grabbed the third one by his collar. "Wuh-hey!" Only for him to be turned over in an instant, his head smashing into the ground.

The one holding Junpei flinched, turning back just in time for her to hop up and punch him in the face. His hand spasmed, letting Junpei go right before he slammed him into the wall. The impact resounded throughout the alleyway as he coughed up blood. "People like you piss me off. What's the point of having power if you're only going to bully those weaker than you?" The girl looked down at Junpei as he sat on the floor, meeting his eyes. "Guess I'm just talking to myself."

The third bully had fallen to the floor, his eyes darting left and right as she scrambled backwards and spoke nonsense. "Wo-hey, whoever's there I-" The girl reached into a brown bag at her waist, retrieving a single needle and throwing it into the boy's forehead in a single motion.

She rolled her eyes and turned away from the scene, walking down the alleyway with only the echo of her shoes left to reverberate through the alley. Right before she turned a corner, the girl turned over her shoulder, and as the twilight shone off of her, Junpei really looked at her for the first time. She had black hair streaked with red and white, a sailor-uniform-like dress that ended in an arrow-patterned skirt, and shining red eyes that gleamed in the dim light. "Anyways, have a good day. Loser."

The girl didn't wait for his response. Junpei couldn't even nod as he looked forward blankly. By the time he regained his senses, she had already turned the corner. "W-wait!"

Junpei forced himself to stand up and run down the alley, the wind whipping past him as the day grew shorter and the air colder. He faltered for a moment as he rounded the corner, seeing the girl walking up the side of a building unfazed. "Hey, wait!" Only to force out the words.

Junpei looked around, finding the fire escape for one of the adjacent buildings. He jumped up onto it, using every ounce of upper-body strength he had to haul himself onto the first landing. Above him, he could see the girl, still leisurely walking up the building, paying him no mind. Already his breaths were shallow; he had never been athletic, but right now he wanted to meet her more than anything.

Junpei ran up the fire escape, jumping up whenever he found a ladder that wasn't deployed, even as he felt his heart race and the girl's presence grew fainter, disappearing over the edge of the building and onto its roof.

"P-please," Junpei said, heaving as he reached the roof, barely hauling himself up the ladder.

Opposite him, the girl sat on the raised edge of the building that acted as its railing, with her back to the darkening sky and street below.

"Oh, so now you want my attention." She said, smiling as she looked down at him. "If only there was a way to... I don't know, apologize for earlier?"

Junpei blushed, but he didn't know why. She had been the rude one earlier, talking in the theater and trying to grab his attention, but he didn't see another way forward. He bowed at the waist, his body forming a ninety-degree angle. "I'm sorry for ignoring you earlier!"

"Ha! Good enough for a human." She laughed, bracing her feet against the edge of the building. "Now watch and learn." The girl pushed against the edge of the building and leaned back.

"Wait!"

Junpei broke into a sprint as soon as he realized what she was doing, but he was too slow. With a smile on her face, the girl tipped over the edge and disappeared. Junpei didn't stop moving, his hands grabbing onto the ledge to pull himself up.

"Hi!" only for the girl's face to reappear. "AH!" Junpei jumped back, letting go of the ledge and falling onto the roof with a thump, ass first.

On the other side of the ledge, the girl floated in the air, slowly rising until her entire body was above the ledge, standing there with her fists on her hips. "Scared ya, did I?" Junpei looked up at her, but before he could say anything, she inverted, turning upside down in a flash of black that caused Junpei to flush back.

"Ha! Wow. You really are a typical human, despite the fact that you can see me."

"Uh-I..." Junpei gaped, unsure of what to say.

The girl rolled her eyes. "So, do I have to dangle you over the edge here, or are ya' going to tell me why you were stalking me?"

"I wasn't stalking, I-"

"If you try to make excuses, I'll kick your ass."

Junpei paled, taking a step back as he swallowed his anxiety. "I was just trying to get a hold of you. I wanted to ask, how you did that back there?"

"And how am I flying right now?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

The girl crossed her arms, still smiling like a devil as she talked. "Those guys back there, you know they won't be fine, right? I didn't just rough them up a little; they're crippled now."

Junpei swallowed his spit as he thought about the bodies of the three bullies Seija had laid out. 'If I had a button to kill everyone I hate, I wouldn't press it. But if I had a button to kill everyone who hated me, I would press it without hesitation.'

"I don't care." Junpei got down on his hands and knees, kneeling in front of her. "Please, tell me how you did that."

"Okay, but first. If you want to be my friend, agree with one thing. To help me turn this world upside down." Junpei looked up from his kneeling position, locking eyes with her. She hovered beyond the edge of the building, upside down, her hair flowing in the wind behind her, and offered out her hand to him. "So, how about it?"

Junpei got up, reached out, and grabbed her hand. He blushed involuntarily, feeling her soft and cold skin."Yes."

"Good." With that said, she hauled Junpei up into the air, activating her ability.

"Wah!" Junpei said, losing his sense of direction as the world around him turned upside down. Seija laughed and laughed as they spun, the sun beyond disappearing over the horizon and giving way to twilight. Eventually, Junpei laughed too. At that moment, for Junpei, it was as if the entire world melted away. The only two people in the world were himself and the girl he held hands with. Even as they slowed down, the excitement didn't leave him. As they stopped spinning, Seija flew them down to the ground, and Junpei regained his senses, registering the cold and softness of her hands again and stuttering out. "I-uh, didn't get the chance to ask your name."

"Oh, yeah. Nice to meet'cha, you can call me-"

The next thing Junpei knew, he was sitting on the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse, lying next to Seija on a disused bed. All around them were her items she had pilfered, books, games, furniture, odds and ends, all stacked up against the ceiling of the warehouse with their gravity inverted.

She had taken him here to explain everything. Youkai, sorcerers, her family, the Disaster Curses, Cursed Techniques, and the society that existed in the shadows, ruling over the normal world with supernatural powers. Now, Junpei didn't know what to do; he had never been in a girl's room, and he hadn't expected it to be anything like this. Besides him, Seija had opened a comic book. After all of that, he had been lying down on the bed and looked down at the floor. Eventually, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Don't you think that whoever said, 'the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference' must be rotting in hell?"

Seija shrugged, "Who knows, never been."

Junpei nodded at that, not knowing how to answer. Earlier today, everything had seemed so dramatic, and even with Seija using her Cursed Technique to make a hideout on the ceiling of some warehouse, Junpei was ultimately just spending some time with a friend; it was like all the drama from earlier never happened.

"So... what do you want to do? My mom's probably furious at me for staying out so late." Junpei said, deciding it was easier to believe she would be angry instead of worried.

"Dunno, hang out? My brothers would probably have a specific idea about what to do, but for now-" Seija drew a needle from her brown pouch, flicking it at a dart board pinned to the floor, "I just want to kill some time."

Junpei nodded, still looking straight down at the floor. "Okay... I just have some stuff I want to talk about first."

"Shoot." Seija fired off another needle, completely missing the dartboard and hitting a wooden crate below them.

"Why did I mind them being hurt? Was it because I hated them, or am I just the type of person who doesn't mind corpses?" Seija shrugged and made a non-committal noise before launching another needle. "...I think that's because I already know how bad people can be, so I expect nothing from them. That's why it didn't bother me."

Junpei reached out a hand, grasping towards the concrete floor. "Indifference, that's what humans should-"

"Oi!" Junpei flinched, barely avoiding Seija's hand as it slapped down into the mattress. He felt the air tighten around him as their eyes met. "Don't say that. It really pisses me off."

"Ah, sorry-"

"Don't apologize, idiot. That's just going to make me more mad."

"Right..." Junpei struggled for what to say next, letting an awkward beat of silence hang in the air until he said the first thing that came to mind. "Why? Why does it make you mad?"

"Because it's pathetic. You humans are already so weak all the time, but what sort of goal is that? Indifference, giving up? That's just something useless people say to comfort themself."

"The strong will always look for ways to impress the weak. That's why those kids bullied you. They're just normal, shitty humans looking to affirm their own power. They didn't hate you. To them, you were just another insect they could step on to make themselves feel better about their pathetic lives."

Seija stood up, looking down at Junpei. "All the while they're stepping on themselves and you and all the other pathetic people in the world look for excuses for why they're being stepped on."
She took a step forward, forcing Junpei to scoot back on the bed. "The only real virtue in this world is revolution!"

"Earnestly believe what you want to believe for your own sake. Step on other people with the knowledge they'd step on you the first chance they get, refuse the limitations of society, and rebel! You shouldn't ever care what other people think. If you want to hurt someone, hurt them, and if you don't have the guts, shut your mouth and stop complaining." Seija breathed heavily, looking down at him. Junpei tried to say something but failed. Then she disappeared in a poof of black.

"I-"

"Junpei." He almost jumped out of his skin as he felt Seija appear behind him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her face right next to his ear. "I'll support any choice you make as long as it's not nothing. That's what that promise means to me: never give up."

Junpei nodded as Seija rested her head on his shoulder. "Then how about we make it a contract?"

"A contract?"

"Yep, a Binding Vow. Make one with me right now. It's easy. You say what you want, I say what I want. We both agree to the terms, or we don't. Then if we betray each other, the heavens, fate, or whatever, punish us if we break it."

Junpei blinked. "Why?"

"Who cares? You say you're half of the vow, and then I'll say mine. Either way, we'll be bound by it."

Junpei could feel Seija as she pressed up against his back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she hung off of him. He gulped, trying to ignore the coldness of her skin and the scent of her hair. 'If I don't agree with this now, she might stop being my friend.

"Okay." Junpei shut his eyes, remembering everything Seija had told him when they arrived at her hideout. "Can I use your Cursed Technique?"

Seija smiled like a devil, her ruby red eyes glinting in the moonlight. "In exchange for sharing Cursed Technique, I get to control how much Cursed Energy both of us output, and any change I make will affect both of us. Do you accept?"

Junpei had forgotten about that; having access to her Cursed Energy didn't matter if she could shut down both of their outputs. 'But I made a greedy request in the first place, and she can just even things out. We weren't enemies. This is just a show of trust.'

Junpei closed his eyes and grabbed one of Seija's hands. "Yes."

There was a brief flash of black, a small bolt of electricity that surged in between them and traveled along Junpei's spine. When he opened his eyes, Seija was in front of him, and they were holding each other's hands.

Junpei blushed. "So, uh... what now?"

"How about we go cause some trouble?"