Chapter Text
Honestly, Zemu’s first month at school can be a lot worse.
She pats the bench, sweeping away fallen leaves with the back of her hand. Friends can be pretty challenging to come by especially in a new environment—plus, some of these kids have known each other since junior school. It’s no wonder why most of them already have friend groups of their own and they can’t accommodate a newcomer like her. Really, this is the best-case scenario for Zemu; after all, it’s better to be left alone than be bullied.
Pulling out her bento, she starts picking through the food her parents packed for her that morning. Despite being a total chatterbox who can’t help talking between every other bite, she usually finishes lunch quickly. But today, with none of her old friends sitting across from her and no one to listen to her ramble about random things, she finishes way faster than usual. Before she even realizes it, her lunch is gone and everything’s neatly packed away.
She figures she might as well head back to the classroom early. Maybe another loner like her will wander in before the bell rings. If that happens, she could try striking a conversation with them. Easier to do it when there aren’t a million people around to overhear her blubbering.
The tiny possibility of making a new friend gives her a burst of energy, and she’s just about to make her way to the classroom when she spots a strange kid crouching awkwardly near the door, his back to the wall. He looks maybe a year older than her, though he did look quite young. For a second, she thinks he’s kind of cute, but not in a way that really catches her attention. Just another quiet and slightly weird upperclassman, perhaps.
Then, out of nowhere, he pulls out a bright blue PSP.
“Hey!” she gasps in surprise. “I have a PSP too!” The one thing that disappointed her about her classmates was that none of them seemed interested in gaming. She was surprised when she first started asking people about their hobbies, hoping to make some friends—she’d always thought gaming was super popular with kids her age. Instead, everyone only seemed to care about sports and TV shows. Someone told her that the gamers were in the other class, but since their schedules didn’t line up, she never really got the chance to meet them.
The guy doesn’t seem to hear her, though, too engrossed in his game. So Zemu, not wanting to disturb him, looks at the screen over his shoulder. He’s playing Persona 3 Portable! Her excitement is off the charts—not only did she stumble across a student who likes gaming, but he also turned out to be interested in the same games that she is! This is the best day of her life!
Grinning, she keeps watching him play, completely absorbed in the way his fingers move so confidently over the buttons. She could never! Meanwhile, this kid makes it look so easy like he’s barely even trying.
As much as Zemu loves the game—she does, she really does—no matter how much she plays, she just can’t seem to get good at it. No, a more accurate description is that she’s actually terrible at P3P, almost always ending up underleveled at the worst possible time.
How does he do it? she wonders, and watching him handle everything so smoothly makes her grin widen even more, even if there’s a tiny spark of jealousy in her chest.
Zemu’s so caught up watching him play that she completely forgets that she went over to actually talk to him. It had caught her so off guard to see him play a game she really liked that she ended up just standing there, silently spectating him like she’s watching a Let’s Play—only instead of a screen, there’s no video and it’s just him in the flesh navigating every move.
By the time she realizes how long she’s been watching over his shoulder, it’s already too awkward and late to start with a casual, “Hey.” In the end, she only bites her lip and hopes that the ground would swallow her whole. Maybe this kid’s also too absorbed in his game that he didn’t notice her staring. Maybe she can just silently sneak away—
“Uhh… Did you need anything from me?” the guy asks. He sounds anxious, and Zemu feels sorry for making him feel awkward. Clearly, he’s not used to people randomly approaching him.
Still, he’s the one who makes the first interaction, and she takes this as an invitation—which, of course, she enthusiastically accepts.
“Ah, yeah!” She waves her wands animatedly. “I mean, no. I don’t need anything from you. But, I just saw how good you were at P3P—like, insanely good! You cleared that floor just now with so much ease, it actually made me jealous. I mean, that took me, like, five tries. Actually, six because I used the Normal mode instead of Beginner.”
He stares at her, unsure of how to respond. “Um…” he says carefully. “You could have switched?”
“No!” she groans. “I didn’t want to give up my progress on that save file for another! I honestly thought I could handle it, but I kept getting wiped because I didn’t fuse my Personas properly. Oh, it was nothing but a disaster! And, here, you just—” she gestures wildly at his PSP, “—you just walked through it like it was nothing. You didn’t even hesitate in battle! I panic every time I see a strong Shadow.”
She’s rambling nonstop that she kinda forgets conversations are supposed to be a two-way thing—and this kid had not at all been able to say a thing during her entire rant.
“Oh, sorry!” she lets out, mentally kicking herself in the shins. This is why you have no friends, Zemu! “I, ah… I’m Zemu.” She holds out her hand to him, laughing nervously and desperately hoping he won’t leave her hanging. That would only add up to the long list of things she’s embarrassed about. “Zemu Langpakundangan! I’m a first year, and I actually just transferred here. You?”
“Kozume…” Thankfully, he shakes her hand, but it’s brief, and his hand feels stiff to the touch. “Kozume Kenma. I’m a second year…”
“Oh, so you’re my senpai!” she exclaims. “Let’s be friends. I’d love to talk more about games with you, senpai! My classmates are no fun at all~”
“Oh, uh…”
“KENMA!” a voice comes calling out. At the sound of it, Kenma flinches, his stance resembling that of a startled cat. He looks around like he’s trying to find a place to hide.
“Is… someone chasing you?” Zemu asks cautiously, to which Kenma nods. Cute, she thinks to herself before pointing at a tree a few feet away from them. “That seems like a good place to hide.”
Kenma nods again and runs toward it, hiding behind its study bark. He disappears completely from view, which Zemu finds genuinely impressive. This guy must have a lot of experience in hiding from people because he knew exactly the ways to fold his body so he’s nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, first year!” A tall guy with messy hair and broad shoulders comes jogging toward Zemu, who audibly gulps at the sight of this intimidating boy who’s clearly years her senior. But his messy hair kind of reminds Zemu of a rooster comb, and she has the overwhelming urge to snicker. Thankfully, she manages to stop herself.
“Yes, senpai?” Zemu responds.
“Have you seen a guy with bleached hair and, uh, a tired-looking face?”
“No, I haven’t,” Zemu lies. “Sorry!”
“Where could he be…?” he mumbles under his breath and scratches his head in confusion. Glancing at her again, he says, “Thanks,” and jogs away.
As soon as he’s completely out of sight, Zemu calls for Kenma, “Coast is clear. You can stop hiding now, senpai!”
Kenma’s head pops out from behind the tree trunk, sharp eyes darting around to confirm that the guy is indeed gone.
Zemu laughs at him. “Kozume-senpai, you looked so scared! That was so cute.”
“Cute…?”
Just as Zemu’s about to explain in great detail about how she found him adorable, the bell rings. Ah, crap. There goes her plan to make friends with the other lone wolves of her class. “I’ve got to get back to class now, senpai. Let’s talk about games again sometime, okay? You need to teach me how to be as strong as you!”
Kenma rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, and though Zemu doesn’t realize it, he looks like he wants to be anywhere but here. “Ah, yeah. I think it’s time to head back…”
“Goodbye, senpai!”