Chapter Text
The first time they encountered each other, it had been like a miracle, a saving grace.
Naoto Hachiouji, the 3rd year artist, felt worthless. He had been in the library working on his manga project when an accidental spill led to him getting laughed at by a bunch of girls. And to make things worse, one of them had gone out of their way to stay and harass him about it even more. She’d called him “weird” and a “chump” for the story he’d been writing. He knew that much about himself already and thought he could just bear with the insults. Of course, he was writing some sort of wish fulfillment with that manga. He could bear it; he just needed to hold out a little longer.
“Disgusting”
That was the word that broke him. After playing out a scene, he had drawn only to laugh in his face when he considered playing along, the tanned girl pushed him over the brink. He hated this, crying in front of someone else. And then she had the nerve to give him a handkerchief before leaving. He watched the girl leave; her final gaze stuck in his head as he collapsed to the floor. He pulled his legs and held the sides of his head as he continued to feel her presence somehow. That big and toothy smile, that cutting jeering laughter, those amber eyes that almost seemed to cut into his very soul. He sat there, wallowing in the pit of emotions he’d allowed to consume him. She was right. He was disgusting…
“H-hey…”
A soft voice broke through all the screaming in his head, and everything went silent for Naoto as he dared to look up at what faced him. Before him, squatting to meet his gaze, was one of the girls from before. Her hair was brighter than the tan girls’, a light brownish orange with pigtails and a curl of hair sticking up from the top. He remembered the laughing face she’d had after his “spill”, but that was now replaced with a deeply concerned expression. Her shoulders were pulled up slightly, and he looked into those light brown eyes, eyes that bore him no judgement from their warm shade.
“...H-hello.” Naoto responded nervously, to which the girl’s eyes widened with surprise. Her concerned expression began turning into one of sadness.
“Are you ok?” she asked, scooting closer much to Naoto’s surprise as a barely audible chuckle escaped him.
“Hah…I don’t know?”
Yoshi felt a wave of regret wash over her as the boy gave her a smile that felt so wrong. Despite trying to seem like he was fine, there was a slight jitter to his shoulders as he adjusted the way he sat. And his eyes, plain and dark as they might have looked, very also pink and wet as if he had forced himself to stop crying when he realized she was there. “I’m sorry, we made you upset.”
The boy let out a bit more chuckle. “It’s ok, I don’t know why…”
“Can I see it again too?”
Naoto froze for a moment, glancing around expecting someone to be recording him or something at this rate. But he saw nothing of the sort. Rather, he saw a sincerity in the girl's eyes that was unmistakable. The girl seemed to be almost as nervous, and that was enough to tip the scale of apprehension in his head. “O-ok…”
Yoshi’s eyes widened upon seeing the sketched pages. Before she had only gotten glimpses between her friends joking and passing them around but seeing them like this was different. She thought the designs looked cool, like something out of the manga she read. And the bits of story looked wholesome, if a bit cheesy. She thought that it was something she’d like to see more of.
“Woahhh…” quietly escaped the girl's changing expression, and Naoto began to feel something inside him grow lighter. A genuine smile began to form over the artist's face just as Yoshi turned up to look at him.
“This is really…” the girl began, only to become very self-aware upon seeing the boy’s smile. It was different from one’s she’d seen before from the sorts of guys that actively sought their attention. This wasn’t something with a hint of leering, the sort of thing Gamo would have to scare away. This was a genuine smile, and something about it put her off guard in this already rather awkward situation.
“Uh… c-cool…” Yoshi found herself losing momentum as a fluster of embarrassment began to cover her face. “T-this is nice.”
Naoto felt a mix of relief and joy filling his heart as his shuddering all but ended, instead a kind of bashfulness taking its place. “I-I…uh…you really think so?” he asked, sitting himself up properly.
“Y-yeah, It reminds me of those dungeon fantasy stories.” Yoshi nodded as Naoto chuckled, “I’d been reading a lot of those in the past few months, there was this one with a boy and a merchant doing adventures…”
“I know that one!” Yoshi pressed forward, and the two progressed into a short conversation comparing some of the manga they had read before. The only thing that stopped them was the realization that they were getting up in each other's faces during the sudden excitement. Backing away slightly with a renewed mutual embarrassment. Naoto dared to press his luck.
“I-I’m Naoto. Naoto Hachiouji. What’s your name?” the artist asked with a wary smile.
“Y-yoshi. I’m Yoshi!” the girl replied with a cheer that shone like the sun. “We should talk again tomorrow too!”
Taken aback, Naoto offered, “Do you have a line?”
Pausing for a second before nodding with more energy than he expected, Yoshi pulled out her phone and the two exchanged contacts. It was then that Yoshi noticed the handkerchief by Naoto’s side. “Is that hers?”
The artist looked at it glumly, “she gave it to me after...well never mind.” He shook his head, and Yoshi saw how his expression turned sour.
“I’m sorry,” Yoshi lowered her head, only for Naoto to quickly respond. “Hey, it’s ok. You didn’t laugh so much, and you came back to talk to me…” scratching his head, he took a good look at Yoshi as she met his gaze, “You seem like a nice person.”
An awkward stare later, the two began to pick themselves up.
“It was nice to meet you, Yoshi,” Naoto gave a sigh of relief as the girl nodded, giving him a look with some concern.
“A-are you sure it’s ok, Naoto?”
The boy thought for a good long moment and let out a shudder. “I just gotta…give it back to her, and then it’ll be over.” He shook his head, putting on a fake smile. That got a small giggle from Yoshi. “You’re acting like your character, senpai.”
Naoto gave an embarrassed cough before Yoshi waved her hands in a defensive fluster, “it’s kind c-cool though.”
Another awkward silence between the two passes, then they both bow to each other with an “I-I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Y-yeah.”
A bit of stuttering and the two promptly parted ways.
Naoto ended up walking home with a slight spring in his step. He had been ready to cry himself to sleep just a few minutes ago, but now he had something really nice to look forward to. A new friend, and the feeling that things were going alright in his small world.
Meanwhile Yoshi soon caught up with her other friends. She played off most of their suspicions about what had happened, and despite a glare from Nagatoro, things seemed to go back to normal. But Gamo could tell that there was something different in Yoshi’s eyes. In truth, Yoshi felt particularly happy. She was always happy to make a new friend, but in the back of her mind there was something special about that boy, and the thoughts left a slight glaze in her eyes.
“Oh well,” Gamo thought to herself upon observing Yoshi for longer. “I’ll just be ready in case something goes down.”