Chapter Text
Sho Minazuki was a strange individual, to put it bluntly. A kid who went through hell, and yet somehow managed to come out mostly okay in the end… after attempting to end humanity in May, 2012.
It had been only two weeks since it all went down. The Rule-Smashing Pun Machine found himself wandering through Inaba for… something. Or nothing. Probably just something to do.
Sho didn’t really enjoy being anywhere in public, due to all the stares he’d get from people, but he began to feel numb to it all.
The only person he really had talked to was Yu Narukami, a kid the same age as him. He was the one who stopped Sho and Minazuki from ending humanity, and after Minazuki’s death, he helped Sho come to his senses, through fighting of course. But there was another thing, as before their friendly face off, he had said that he was just like someone else.
Labrys was a 5th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, or a combat android to simplify things. She shared almost the exact same origin as Sho, even suffering under the hands of the same group. The Kirijo Group.
However, Sho’s only interaction with her was activating her and throwing her into a TV, wanting to see what would happen. Great stuff with the only person who might have a chance at understanding him.
“What a pain…” He said aloud. He was at the bookstore of all places. “Narukami said some of this crap might be worth my time, but I’m not so sure about that.” He continued to sift through multiple books, not a single one captivating him.
He ended up leaving the store empty-handed. It was getting late now, so he decided to head out of Inaba and for his hideout not far from the area.
As he approached it, he could hear someone with a funny accent shouting “Sho-kun?! Are ya in there?! I’ve been wantin’ to talk with ya!”
Annoyingly for Sho, he was unarmed, as going out in public with two katanas around your hips is a bad thing to do, believe it or not. So he was being left with no choice but to make conversation with this unwanted visitor.
“Who the hell-” Sho recognised her immediately. “What the hell are you doing here?! How did you even find this place!?”
She smiled at him. “Oh I saw you walk here one time… Is this where ya live? It looks cozy inside.”
Labrys simply stood in front of his would-be house, no axe in sight. That fact made Sho unclench his fists, she probably was never gonna be looking for a fight in the first place anyway.
He kept his distance from her. “So whaddya want from me? I’ve got nothing to tell you.”
She appeared to be confused by his words. “I wasn’t lookin’ for anythin’ from ya, I just wanted to see if you were okay.” And now Sho was the confused one. “Have ya been up ta anything then? Pickin’ up on some hobbies maybe?”
He had been doing nothing with his life, but he didn’t want to admit that, it’d make him feel inferior. “I was… planning on getting into gardening. Yep. Plants! Flowers and stuff!”
“Really? That sounds like fun! I’m happy for ya Sho-kun.” He felt like his face was suddenly set on fire? Or something along those lines. Someone… was happy for him?
It was an understatement to say that Sho felt confused by the sudden fire on his face. “Uh… t-thanks? I dunno what ya want me to say to that…” She did nothing but simply smile at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work? Or like, hanging out with your friends or something?”
A puzzled look was on her face yet again. “But that’s what I’m doin’ right now, ain’t it?”
“No? I don’t see any of those morons here…”
“I mean you, Sho-kun.” … He was unsure if he wanted to laugh or not. “It doesn’t matter to me if ya don’t consider me your friend, cause you’re mine now.”
“Uh… okay- look can you clear off?! I don’t need any more morons findin’ this place other than you!” He wasn’t angry, but he sure tried to appear that he was.
“Alright alright, I’ll leave ya alone then Sho-kun, but don’t think this’ll be the last time you’ll be seeing me!” Labrys suddenly flies off, leaving Sho all alone.
He tried to collect his thoughts, but he was too confused by it all. Weren’t the Shadow Operatives supposed to be tracking him down? So why did she just leave without attempting to bring him with her? “... Maybe scrap is in need of an oil change or something.”
He takes the key from around his neck and unlocks the door to the safehouse, but he turns around before doing so. He expected Labrys to be there, ready to take him in along with Kirijo’s lackeys, but no. No one was there.
He shut the door behind him. It was quiet inside of course, it’s not like anyone else lived there. He sat down on the sofa as silence filled the room completely. “Living is so freakin’ boring… I got nothing to do.” He was surrounded by countless books, but reading wasn’t his thing. Or talking. Or anything besides fighting really.
Sho was completely lost on what he was supposed to do with his life. He could barely hold up a conversation to save his life- hell he couldn’t even look people in the eye. But, if there really was someone who understood him, then should he try to talk to that person? Make an actual connection with someone like he’d been told to multiple times by many different people?
What choice did he have? Narukami had taught him the importance of bonds, it’s just that Sho couldn’t wrap his head around it all still. How could everyone else form them so easily, yet Sho couldn’t even bear having more than a couple? He was scared, and he hated that.
Sho grabbed a nearby laptop. Minazuki had hacked into the Kirijo Group before when Sho wanted more data on Ikutsuki, so maybe he could find something he needed. Like someone’s phone number. Maybe a girl with a funny voice and red eyes.
Ring ring. Ring ring.
Labrys answered the call. “Hello? Who is this?”
“Who else ya piece of junk?!”
“Sho-kun?! How’d ya get this numba?!”
“Not important! Where are ya? I wanna uh… talk.”
“You… wanna talk… to me?”
“That’s what I just said!”
“Aight, aight… I’m at Tatsumi Port Island. Come down here and I’ll meetcha!”
“Meet me… where exactly? The train station?”
“Yeah! And before ya ask, I promise it’ll just be me.”
“... Thanks. Uh, just, nevermind.”
“Huh? Did ya say somethin’ Sho-kun?”
“I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING GOODBYE.”
Sho hung up on Labrys immediately. Now he just had to hope she didn’t call him back, or come knocking on his door or anything stupid like that. Sho just jumped into his bed and stared at the sky through the glass roof.
It was a new moon tonight. Sho used to keep track of the moon phases to remember Ikutsuki’s obsession with the moon, but eventually he stopped, though he still remembers them all. He wondered if it meant anything, but it probably didn’t.
But, for the first time in a long while, Sho fell asleep and never awoke to a nightmare.