Chapter Text
The sound of clicking shoes echoed throughout the halls of the grand mansion.
A boy trudges his way down said halls, carrying a stack of thick books. The white walls around him scream of wealth and luxury as chandeliers decorate the ceilings above him and marbled floors below him.
Suddenly, he hears a loud bang which he can only assume to be the door.
Not long after, the sound of shoes gradually multiplied as a group of kids flooded into the halls. They make their way to the edge of the halls where the boy stood all alone.
The voices call out to him, but their words sound like a faint murmur, something he can't exactly make out. Even with their blurred faces the boy can still clearly tell that they're here to shower him with admiration and praise.
Eventually an adult figure comes up from behind them, scolding them harshly and before long the kids are suddenly gone.
After the adult — who looks like a maid — finishes ushering the children, she seems to sigh and mutter something under her breath.
She turns her attention back at the boy, crouching to his eye level. She whispers words that sound like sweet apologies all while patting his head softly.
She leaves soon after, leaving the boy all alone as he was before, almost as if not a single soul had interrupted him.
He wanders around the place, already knowing its structure in the back of his mind, yet he can’t help admiring the beauty of it.
Eventually, he finds himself near a water fountain. Even the sound of the coursing water seems melodious.
The boy looks into the fountain and sees a faint reflection. Short black prim hair and amber eyes stare back at him.
A reflection that definitely doesn't belong to him.
The boy touches the water and it ripples beneath him, blurring the reflection.
It's only then does he realize that —
Ah.. he's back in this strange dream.
He wakes up.
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Yuuya doesn't exactly remember when he started to have these strange dreams.
Occasionally when he fell asleep, he would find himself back in the same big mansion, surrounded by all too familiar yet also foreign faces.
These dream sequences or whatever they were seemed to be continuous and seemed to be telling a story, one that he never agreed to be in.
He blankly stares at his dark ceiling, a soft light filters into the room, signaling that daytime had already come.
His life was nothing compared to those dreams.
Yuuya couldn’t help the sigh that left his mouth as he covered his eyes with his arm. However, the action only caused his eyes to twitch, triggering a painful shock through his head.
He tries to hold his head up with his hand trying to prevent the pain from getting worse, slightly flailing as he makes his way out of his bed — for some reason, he'd always wake up with a heavy headache the morning after, almost as if he was hungover.
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After stumbling for a few more steps he manages to make it to the bathroom and turns to lock the door behind him.
Stepping out of his place, Yuuya finally breathes his first ounce of fresh air. The air today was damp after the rain, he could only smell the scent of petrichor left behind.
He lived far from where his campus was, though his residence was near the train station which made commuting effortless. Making his way there felt like a breeze as he’s done it countless times before, but he can’t help but notice the whispers from people around him on the way.
“Hey did you hear from the news?” exclaimed a girl sitting not far away from him.
“Is it about the celebrity that drowned in the river?” another said, “How horrible.. they said it was an accident, but somehow I doubt that’s the case..”
“Do you think it’s the work of a youkai?” the girl from before said a little too excitedly, “They say that—”
Yuuya tunes out the rest of the conversation as the name of his station comes up on the speakers.
“Youkai huh..” he mutters to no one in particular as he steps out of the carriage.
The hazy outline of a figure can be seen from a distance, though Yuuya doesn’t pay it any mind.
Nothing good will happen if he were to acknowledge their existence.
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Yuuya shuffles around his pockets and pulls out a lighter and flicks a cigarette out of its box. It takes a few tries for him to light his cig, the flint of his lighter having worn out over the times he’s used it.
He takes a deep breath and feels a sickening sense of relief at how the smoke fills his lungs. He tilts his head upward as he exhales the smoke and sees the line of smoke blending into the dark cloudy skies.
Classes had ended just as abruptly as it began, with the professor giving little to no care for the students and simply taught whatever he thought was best in his own mind.
Yuuya never paid much attention to them since in the end, he always ended up reviewing everything on his own. With nothing better to do, he decided to go out and admire the not-so-clear skies.
His mind naturally wanders, about the dreams and just how it was compared to his real life.
He thinks about his own place, it was small, your average run of the mill place at least for where he was from. A single room in that dystopian dream place was probably bigger than the size of his entire apartment.
Not to mention, those massive halls were never empty, somehow they would always be filled with countless people who would always crowd around him and shower him in endless praise, as if he was the main character of some game.
Yuuya almost wants to scoff.
Even when he was a child the only people who were ever in his old house were his parents and if he were lucky, his relatives who would only visit for perfunctory reasons.
And after “that” happened, nobody ever seemed to visit and he was left all alone. In the end, his parents were..
“You’re free to do whatever you want sweetie, we’ll support you!”
“Really? then, I want to be –”
The strange warmth on lips snapped Yuuya out of his thoughts, he looked down and saw that his cigarette was dangerously close to running out.
In a swift motion, Yuuya takes out the cig and stomps it on the asphalt beneath him.
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“One pina colada" the bartender flatly states as he slides the drink on the table, the ice inside audibly clink against the glass cup as they do so.
The bartender hastily leaves as another customer calls out for them, leaving the two of them alone.
"That's for you, consider it my treat" Kazuha says, slinging his arm around his shoulder. He's close enough for Yuuya to smell how his breath reeks of booze.
Just how has this guy been drinking? He thought, taking a reluctant sip of what he hopes isn't a spiked drink. To his disdain the drink is sickly sweet, nothing like his tastes.
Kazuha, one of Yuuya’s very few friends in university. Well if anything, he was really just the only person who had followed him into this place.
He’s been friends with Yuuya since they were little, back when everything seemed perfect. Though lately, he’s become.. less favorable to be with.
With his newfound freedom away from home, Kazuha has been doing nothing but wasting his life away in the crowd of a party. Yuuya would periodically fall victim to his invites and be dragged into harshly lit bars and drinks that could potentially knock someone out by the second or third sip.
He’s someone who Yuuya wishes to get away from and yet, he's one of the only people who ever called out to him in the past years.. And he can't find himself losing him.
"So?" Kazuha asks, his words are filled with enthusiasm, "Whaddya think?"
"Think of what?" Yuuya is somewhat frustrated that he isn't getting to the point.
"The mixer dude!" Kazuha exclaims with an excitement that Yuuya could only describe as irritating. He wonders why girls would ever sign themselves up to meet a guy like him.
"I'm," he pauses trying to find an excuse, "not really interested" his words trailing off.
He's never found the appeal in those kinds of events. Not to mention, he's particularly not fond of —
"Aww don't be like that," Kazuha cuts off his train of thoughts and unhooks his hand to slap Yuuya's back.
His voice then shifts to a more suggestive tone "Sometimes ya gotta let loose y'know? I know how some of the girls have been eyeing you up and down" chuckling languidly.
— that exact reason.
Yuuya can’t help the twitch of his eye when he hears that, but he doubts that Kazuha was sober enough to pay attention to his expressions.
“I’ll think about it” he simply says, he almost wants to curse at himself for saying so.
“You’re the best man!” he says leaning into him, the scent of booze stronger than before.
Kazuha then proceeds to talk his ear off about some girl he’s been meaning to talk to and how he’s planning to get closer during the upcoming mixer.
“Speaking of,” Kazuha says after what feels like forever, “Could I borrow some more cash?” he says with no guilt on his face.
Even now, Yuuya can’t find himself saying no, even to this man who was barely in the right state of mind.
It’s better this way, he tries to convince himself. If he were to say no now, Kazuha would surely throw a fit and cause a scene. Everything was alright.
After all, Kazuha was still his friend.
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Yuuya stumbles back into his apartment, struggling to remain upright as he battles the wave of nausea and the urge to collapse right there and then.
He manages to crack open the door, and close it behind him with a resounding bang and collapses on the floor.
Yuuya hadn’t even realized just how much Kazuha had made him drink until it was too late. The all too pleasant buzz hits his nerves, which signalled that he needed to get away from there as soon as possible.
Knowing what happened last time he’d been drunk out of his mind, he didn’t want to know what’d happen this time around. With that Yuuya managed to gather himself and sway his way towards the exit.
The room was beginning to spin at the edges of his vision.
He still had his shoes on, he should at the very least..
"This is the worst.." he mutters under his breath as he feels the world start to spin uncontrollably. He hears a loud thud before promptly passing out.
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Yuuya opens his eyes to bright lights and the sound of chirping birds outside the massive window.
Once again, the same scenery, another sequence of dreams.
Though this time—he glances down at himself. He doesn't seem to be in the body of the person who's been haunting his dreams. Rather he was in his own body, though it seemed to be semi translucent of sorts.
Yuuya looks around, for once he isn't being led around and has full control of himself. He’s at a loss on what to do with the sudden freedom. Not to mention, he's never seen this part of the building before. Just how big was this place?
Suddenly, he feels someone passing through him like a ghost. Yuuya wasn't even shocked at that, he could only sigh as he watched several people continue to walk past him.
Seeing as he didn't really have a lead on where to go, he settled on following said people. They all seem to be going in the same direction, implying that there may be something happening here, in the dream.
Perhaps it’s the very reason he was given the ability to move around for once.
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He finds out the reason quite quickly.
Currently, he’s standing outside of a room that looks to be a grand hall. A group of canvases spread across the room and in the center of it all was the familiar figure of the person who’s been haunting the scenery of his dreams.
Though, he seems a lot older than what Yuuya remembers.
This Tsubomi person—as he’s learned after a couple of dreams, is a noble of sorts, if it wasn't obvious enough from the buildings he's been surrounded in.
There's maids and butlers crowding every inch of the place, all of them calling him ‘Tsubomi-bocchama’ with a sickly sweet voice. That guy was living the epitome of luxury, everyone would be on his beck and call.
Ugh, just the thought of being treated the same way pisses him off.
He watches as whatever was happening—a competition of sorts he presumes—plays out as he keeps a close eye on Tsubomi.
Just what was so special about this kid? Why exactly was he haunting his dreams?
Yuuya doesn’t even realize how long he’s been watching until he sees the kid? Teen? Walk up onto a podium holding a trophy.
…A third place trophy to be exact
Huh, Yuuya thinks. He certainly didn’t quite expect that.
A crowd of kids suddenly storm by his side, a scene he’s seen countless of times in these dreams. He’s constantly surrounded by people whose names he probably doesn’t even remember.
Even after his loss they still cling to him huh… Yuuya can’t say that he wasn’t envious, that would be a blatant lie. That Tsubomi guy has the nerve to look grim after everything, jeez how ungrateful.
Yuuya finds himself gritting his teeth at the reminder of his own life. There weren't many people in his life, he mostly stuck by his parents and the few friends who temporarily kept him around for a while before unceremoniously leaving him once they'd found someone else.
The rest of the dream is a blur to him as he’s too absorbed with the thoughts clouding his mind once again.
Yuuya ends up getting more questions than answers following the dream as it progresses. He would soon find the answers to those questions, without realizing it.
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Yuuya halts in his steps when he hears the awfully familiar voice of someone having a conversation from a distance.
“Huh the guy who claims he can see youkai? You mean Yuuya-chan?” the voice asks around the corner, away where Yuuya can see them.
The other person says something, but Yuuya doesn’t catch any of it.
“You really think I actually like the guy?” Yuuya freezes, he’s afraid of what Kazuha would say next “Of course not! That guy’s just a convenient pushover who’d easily do anything for others, y’know?”
“Being friends with him since back then was just a bonus, it made it all the more easier for me to benefit from him, I mean who wouldn’t want to help out a friend in need?” Kazuha grits out, saying the latter half of his sentence sarcastically.
“Wait, Yuuya?” Kazuha looks back, he isn't using that stupid nickname that he always does and it throws Yuuya off more than it should.
Not to mention Yuuya has never heard of his voice the way it is now, void of its saccharine sweetness, flat, and uninterested in him.
Yuuya feels his blood run cold and flees the scene, knowing that confronting the guy would just result in more trouble than necessary.
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“I’m seriously pissed off,” he says, chuckling bitterly to himself as he lay in bed.
The only friend that he’d kept close by association, the only person who’d ever talk to him, had been using him this entire time. He should’ve seen it coming yet—Yuuya sighs feeling frustrated at himself—he always believed that he wasn’t that kind of person.
He falls asleep with nothing but fury on his mind, little did he know his monotonous days would soon come to an end.
“But would such a change truly be for the better?”