Chapter Text
They had told him to meet them in the music room.
Somehow, he had believed them. Really, he didn’t, but any semblance of hope would have been enough to make Kamishiro Rui believe that he had a chance at living.
After all, what’s the point of a bassist without a band? A lone anchor in a deep ocean of sound. Something to grasp onto with all your might.
When a couple of fellow third years invited Rui to fill in for their bassist during their band’s festival performance today, he was admittedly more excited than he should have been. While he was know for making evil terrible robots and drones to spy on people and plan their deaths, he played the bass guitar extremely well. He had showed up to an empty music room.
That was the last straw.
His pure foolishness and humiliation had sent him to the school rooftop. A place where he often went when things were just too much and he just needed some time alone.
Now, this is the last place Kamishiro Rui is going to see.
Rui sighed and set down his guitar case, crouching down to open it up and admire it. The shiny blue paint job on his bass was really remarkable, and he had even added his own embellishments on it.
He rose to his feet once more and peered over the ledge. His fellow students were gathered at a makeshift stage where a performance was taking place. A performance he allegedly was supposed to be part of.
People really needed to get a better sense of humor.
They all looked like ants down there. Laughing, cheering, moving in groups he never got the chance to be a part of.
Rui wondered if they would catch him before the ground did.
Probably not.
He wasn’t going to do it- probably. Not today. Not yet. But the thought hung in the air beside him, as casual and familiar as a shadow. He did have people who loved him, though he felt shame. He had left people who maybe cared in the dust.
Maybe that was the real funny thing.
“Nene…”
The last he had heard from the girl, she had joined an idol group. He was glad she had found something, albeit a bit jealous. He had seen the fear in her eyes last time they ran into each other. It made him feel guilty, but he knew it was for the best.
If she had been associated with someone like him, she would have never been invited to sing again.
Rui takes a shaky breath, and as he starts to climb the fence, the rooftop door creaks open.
“Oh, come on…” Rui whips his head around with a sharp inhale, stopping mid climb.
A student he recognizes as a second-year is standing in front of the entrance to the rooftop, looking as if he had just ruined their entire day by being there- which to be fair was pretty valid. He had that kind of effect on people pretty often, it’s why he was always by himself. Best to spare them from the eyesore that is him.
“Get down from there.”
Rui blinked at them, stopping in his tracks and gripping the fence so hard his knuckles started to turn white.
“I said get down,” they repeated, as if Rui was simply a cat stuck in a tree instead of a middle schooler considering throwing themself off a building.
Rui hopped off the fence, obeying them. His shoes hit the rooftop floor with a thud and he stood awkwardly, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring at his shoes.
The second-year student sighed and brushed a strand of stray pink hair out of their face. “You could at least wait til the festival is over… no one wants to see that.”
“They probably don’t want to see me in general…” He forces a small laugh. In all honestly, people would probably rather see him splattered into a million pieces on the concrete than in their classes all in one piece.
The second-year smiles. “I get that. But they’d probably also blame me for it, and I don’t really need teachers and the authorities all in my business just because you decided today was the day.”
Rui titled his head, studying them. They weren’t looking at him in pity, nor with fear. The look they gave him is unlike anything he’s ever seen before. How odd.
“I guess I just wasn’t expecting an audience in such a remote location…” Rui speaks, causing the second-year to laugh again.
“Haha, why do you talk like that!” Rui manages a wry smile. “You sound like you’re like, attending a fancy dinner or meeting or something!” They wheeze from the sheer force of their laughing.
“You’re not the first person who’s told me that.” He thinks. “Why are you up here, Akiyama, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Probably the same reason as you.” They smirk. “Now sit down before you do something stupid, Kamishiro.”
“Ah so my fame precedes me.” He takes a seat next to them on the bench. “Your first name is Mizuki right?”
They nod. Distracted by Rui’s bass, sitting open in it’s case, the sun reflected off the paint job and showing the reflection of the two outcasts on the roof.
“That’s… a really nice bass. You keep it in good shape.”
Rui frowned. Compliments weren’t something he was used to receiving, especially not about something that actually mattered to him and not academic related. “...You noticed…?”
“Yeah,” Mizuki said, crouching down to get a better look. “I play guitar. Not in a band or anything, but…” they shrugged, “I mess around with it enough to know when someone actually cares about their instrument.”
Rui blinked, momentarily forgetting what even led him to this conversation, and forgetting the emptiness in his chest. “...You don’t have a band?”
Mizuki laughed, almost embarrassed. “No. Never even came close to having one. No one really wants to play with me…”
“I will.” Rui blurts out.
Mizuki blinked at him, eyes wide. “...What?”
Rui froze, realizing what he just said. His face felt hot, and he looked down quickly, fiddling with his crooked tie. “I mean if you wanted… I’d play with you.”
For a second there was just silence, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the festival goers below them clamoring about. Then Mizuki let out a soft snort, and Rui couldn’t tell if it was a sound of disbelief or amusement. “You’re serious?”
Rui swallowed the growing lump in his throat. “Of course I’m serious. I’m a bassist without a band, you’re a guitarist without a band. It’s… logical I guess.” He forced a smile that didn’t match the way he was feeling inside.
“Guess we’re just two peas in a pod huh. Kindred spirits I guess.” Mizuki smiles awkwardly. “And yeah… maybe.”
For the first time that day, Rui felt something other than emptiness.
Hope. Maybe he wouldn’t be alone anymore.
Mizuki leaned back against the bench, “Alright, prove it to me.”
“Prove what?” Rui blinked.
“That you’re actually as good as I think you are.” They gestured towards his bass. “Come on. Play something.”
“I don’t have an amp…”
“I don’t care.” Rui inhaled. Normally his music was for himself and no one else. He played alone. He performed to no one but his own self and his robots. But the way Mizuki was staring at him with anticipation made him excited, and who was he to say no to someone who was actually definitely not about to call him a freak or something.
Rui lifted his bass into his lap, the sunlight catching on the blue paint. He adjusted the strap on his shoulder and placed his fingers gently on the four strings.
Mizuki tapped their foot impatiently. “Any day now.”
Rui rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. He plucked a single low note, letting the small sound bounce off the floor of the roof. Another followed, then a steady line of sound. His fingers loosened up as he played a riff he knew by heart, the one he could always remember even when his head got too loud.
The bassline thrummed in Rui’s chest. He closed his eyes, forgetting Mizuki was even there until he heard them whistle.
“Damn,” they muttered. “That actually sounds… really good.”
Rui opened his eyes. “You seem shocked.”
“I am… I’d never expected you to-” Mizuki cut themselves off, shaking their head with a wide grin. “Nevermind, just keep going…”
So Rui did.
The festival noise below faded into nothing, replaced by the steady pulse of strings and Mizuki’s soft humming along to the rhythm, filling the sound with unintelligible lyrics.
For once, Rui didn’t feel like a solitary anchor sunk to the ocean floor- he felt like he had a confidant, someone willing to settle in the depths beside him.