Chapter Text
"I'm sorry, but this project is not eligible for the hackathon"
"What— Why? It uses flutter for the front-end and rust for the back-end. I don't see why it shouldn't be eligible. The rules clearly say any flutter based projects are welcome. It doesn't even mention back-end requirements like rust or javascript. I chose rust because—"
"We already have a lot in the market. It doesn't bring anything new to the table"
"Not every project out there is new. The bowling game project got a pass and that doesn't even use flutter! It uses unity—"
"I'll rephrase myself. Takayama Riki, you're project is deemed ineligible due to it not matching the university's guidelines. A dating app is not something that we find formal enough to represent our university"
Taki knew he had to calm down. He knew it was risky and yet he took it. If there was one person to be blamed it was him.
"Ma'am, can I get extra time if I change my topic?"
"You won't be able to apply for this one but I will let you know if there are any future projects that you could apply to. For the time being, I would recommend you to work on your semester project and get it approved by your guide"
"Yes ma'am"
🐣
Taki wasn't mad, but his mood definitely got sour. He didn't want to start his day with a rejection. He kicked a plastic bottle on the pathway in frustration.
"Ahh!", an agony filled voice echoed.
Taki looked to his left to find a former classmate being the victim of this frustrated kick. He quickly walked towards him to ask if he was okay. The boy brushed his shin while Taki picked up the boy's water bottle.
"Harua, are you okay?" Taki asked the boy.
Taki wasn't friends with Harua, but they weren't distant enough to be strangers. They had a few classes together in their 2nd semester. Computer Science and Electrical Engineering had a few common subjects like differential equations, engineering physics, engineering chemistry, C and C++, calculus and digital system design. Taki didn't have all of them with Harua but he did have engineering physics and digital system design.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just plastic so it didn't hurt much"
"Sure didn't sound like that" Rei said before sipping on her coffee.
"I… I just didn't think that the person who kicked me would check up on me you know… you get what I mean?"
Rei tilted her head towards Taki first, then nodded. "No I don't. If someone kicked me, I'd hunt for their face and demand compensation"
Taki looked around and bowed his head muttering a few apologies. Rei smiled while Harua stopped Taki from embarrassing him even more. He pulled Taki up and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"It's okay. I forgive you"
Taki smiled politely and placed some distance between them. "I'm really sorry about that once again. I was just in a terrible mood and—"
"Your project got rejected?"
"How'd you guess?!" Taki asked in surprise.
"Ours did too. Our guide felt the topic was too basic"
"Oh... you meant the semester project"
"What did you mean?" Rei asked Taki but Taki was slightly distracted by Harua pulling his cargos up to check his shin. "Taki?"
"Oh yea, I was doing a separate project for the hackathon. My idea got rejected and the professor said to stick to my semester project"
"Do you have a new topic in mind then?"
"Not really. I don't think I pay enough attention to my struggles to have an innovative topic. What was your topic by the way?"
"I wanted to do keychains that could connect to phones, so if you lost your keys you could have it beep and detect it by the sound"
"Oh, which microprocessor would it use?"
"Was aiming for ESP32 but our guide felt no one uses keychains like that anymore"
"That's not true. A lot of people don't use digital locks"
"Exactly! I really wanted to do something keychain related" Harua chimed in.
Taki almost forgot Harua was there. Rei had kept the conversation going all this while. He was a little startled when he heard Harua's voice.
"Enough about us, what was your idea?" Rei asked him.
"It was a dating app"
"Ahh! I see why it got rejected" Rei nodded. "Not gonna lie, how did you think you could get that accepted?"
"Was just gambling I guess"
"And in the end you lost" Rei patted Taki's shoulder. "It's okay, if I get any other ideas, I'll let you know"
"Thanks"
The duo waved at Taki and parted ways.
Taki was now back in the dorm after a day of classes and brainstorming. He settled with doing a shopping app based project because that felt the safest. It was novel the way most guides wanted it, but it was safer that what he did before. Worst case it would get rejected and he'd need another topic.
He began his research— one tab had google scholar open and and another had a niche shopping website. It seemed to be of a newly launched start-up that hadn't shot up yet. He scrolled through the elements and tried finding things he could improve on.
"Oh! You can doomscroll here??" he announced to the room.
"Are you on tiktok?" his roommate, Maki asked him.
"No, I was just going through this start-up's website and they have an option where you can doomscroll the tiktoks made by people with the product link attached. So even if they were but planning to get something but didn't know what to match with it, they can get recs…. you know what I mean"
"Is that a good thing? Cause you wanted something different right?"
"I did, but this is not bad. Maybe I can tweak it like have tiktoks attacked to the product instead of other way around… you get it?"
Just as he was scrolling it to show him, he saw a skirt worn by someone with familiar legs. Unlike the other videos, this didn't reveal the model's face. It had just their legs and the skirt in video. The room in which in which the video was taken had yellow walls and the room arrangement reminded him of his own room.
"Maki, doesn't this look like our uni dorm?" Taki asked him.
"Yeah, that looks like the boys dorm"
"You know how the girls dorm looks?"
"Yeah, Moka's stories usually have the dorm in the background. So unless she's modified stuff, I know what the room looks like at least"
"Oh"
That made sense. Maki knew a lot of people on campus. Taki didn't know any less, he just had a different circle. He was a nerd with his own interests. He knew every pokemon tcg player on campus. He wasn't any less introverted than Maki, he just had his own interests.
"I didn't think there were femboys on campus" Maki added. "They seem cool. I like the little handcuff accessory at the belt string thing…ah, what was it called" Maki closed his eyes and pinched his forehead. "Ah yes, I love how he's put the handcuffs in the belt loops. Belt loops was the word I was searching for"
Taki hummed in agreement. He wasn't particularly into femboys but the legs felt familiar. This video didn't have a face or an account attached which meant that the model wanted to keep their identity a secret but he couldn't help but wonder where he had seen those legs before.
🦋
"I can't believe that just happened"
"He probably thinks of you as just a classmate" Rei broke Harua's bubble.
"But he talked to me!"
"He talks to everyone to Harua. Taki is just a ball of sunshine like that. I'm surprised he was in a bad mood. I mean I know he's human and he's got negative emotions but I've never seen him crash out" Rei added.
"You're supposed to be the one who hypes my delusional fantasies, not debunk them"
"Aww, sorry for being practical"
"Piss off" Harua pouted.
At this point everyone that knew Harua knew about his crush on Taki. Well, except Taki of course.
Rei never understood why someone like Harua would have a crush on him. Harua was quiet, organised and soft spoken. He was creative and loved decorating his things with stickers and keychains. Taki wasn't a bad person, but he was a total nerd. His personality seemed weak for someone like Harua. Taki was a potato and Harua was a pineapple. They simply had different auras. The only reason she'd push Harua into delusion (which was rare) was because she believed all nerds had parts they'd keep a secret from the world. Maybe Taki was a femboy and no one would guess with his comp sci nerd persona.
A part of Rei was also annoyed with Harua's antics. Last semester he'd try to sit right behind him, hope he picked him in group projects and followed him around the corridors. This semester was a completely different story. He avoided Taki at all costs, made sure he had no classes with him and started helping Yuma out with his start-up. She wasn't sure on how things were in his room, but she hoped it was because he wanted to help Yuma and not because he was being forced into it. Yuma was a senior after all! She had her doubts.
She knew Harua wasn't a child. He was just as old as him, but he was a lot naive than her. He wore his heart on his sleeve and she didn't want to see Harua hurt. Maybe she was possessive of Harua, but he was a close friend. She'd been hurt by boy before and she didn't want Harua to go through the same.
"How are things with Jiwon?"
"Not bad actually. I think I might actually land myself a third date"
"At least someone's making a move on their crush"
"Well, no one's stopping you"
"You can't be serious. I'm a bottom, I can't be the one to ask him out"
Rei sighed. "Top or bottom doesn't matter. Someone has to put in the effort. You've had a crush on him for months… unless it's Yuma—"
"NO WAY! Me and Yuma and strictly business"
"You keep ignoring—"
"He pays me to model for his startup"
"WHAT-"
This was news to Rei. She did know that Yuma had a start up and Harua was helping him with it. She did not know that Harua was helping him by modelling. That was still okay. Holy shit! Harua was making money!
"Yeah, I started last month. I've modelled for a few outfits. It's all on his exclusive website. My identity is a secret after all. I don't have any tattoos and it doesn't have my face"
"That's so cool! I'm so proud of you!"
"Thanks. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier"
"Hey, it's chill. You probably weren't comfortable before. I understand", she smiled.
🐰
Harua pinched his cargos and smiled back at Harua. He finally told Rei his secret. It wasn't the full secret, but it was true. He mostly modelled for bottom wear since that was the easiest piece of clothing to keep his anonymity. He modelled for jeans, shorts, cargos, joggers and even skirts.
Yuma had to beg him to get him to wear the skirt. It wasn't that he didn't like wearing skirts. He just thought he would get judged for it. Femboys were only loved on the internet. He didn't know Yuma was queer until recently. They hadn't been roommates for long and Yuma was a senior. He was scared that he'd get bullied for being gay but Yuma was only supportive.
He was glad that he had supportive friends. Rei was bisexual and she was very open about it. Her family was open-minded and supported her. Harua wasn't out to his parents yet and he didn't think he ever could be. He was their only son who was supposed to continue their bloodline. Little did they know the bloodline was ending with him. The only reason he could dress the way he did in university was because he was away from his parents. His parents wouldn't disown him, but they'd definitely make his life a living hell if he came out.
Maybe Rei's parents were nicer because they hoped that she would end up with a man. She was bisexual so the chances were low, but not zero. Harua was gay and he knew that since he was a teen. He learnt to keep his sexuality a secret from his parents when he saw their reaction to a queer movie. His love life was doomed. That was one of the reasons Harua would never make the first move. Harua didn't have it in him to fight with his parents. He knew it was better to have his love unrequited than confess and fall into a relationship which had no future. He didn't want to give Taki fake hope.
He never dated anyone in school, and he had a feeling he'd graduate while maintaining that streak. He was cute enough to be asked out, but he always rejected them— both girls and boys. He didn't mind dying a celibate because in his eyes, it was better than forcing someone through things that would bear no fruits.
A few hours later Harua was on his bed after a heavy dinner. Yuma was on his laptop. Harua guessed he was probably checking up on his sales and he was proved right when Yuma thanked Harua. Apparently the skirt was selling really well. That was obviously good news because that meant he'd done a good job. He could expect Yuma to pay him a bit more. This also meant that he could be wearing skirts more often.
"I was thinking, let's go to the beach, let's go get away"
"When?"
"Saturday morning. You can call your friends— Rei, Shota and Sakuya as well"
"Are you going alone?"
"Of course not! My boyfriend is going to be there"
"YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?"
"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you. I know we've been roommates for a few months but I've had a boyfriend for over a year now. I'll introduce him to you tomorrow"
🐶
Maki was starting to get bothered by how Taki shut himself into his side of the room. If he wasn't in class, he was glued to his laptop. The rejection really took over him. He was locked in so hard, which was in no means bad news, but Maki was just a little worried. He hadn't seen Taki like this ever. He knew this couldn't be because of a bad break up and Taki was asexual. Plus, everyone coped with break ups differently. Naturally Taki would react differently from him because they were different, but he'd known Taki since first year. He knew this wasn't because of a break up. Maki knew there were multiple reasons Taki could be sad. He just didn't know which one was the right reason.
"Bro, you need a break" Maki squeezed Taki's shoulder. "You've been sitting with the laptop for days. There's still time until the first review. You're trying too hard to rush it"
Taki slowly turned around on to look into Maki's eyes. "I know I need a break, but I also gotta think of alternatives—"
"The shopping app idea is a safe bet. I'm sure your guide will like the idea!"
"What if he doesn't?"
"You know what? If you take a break and he doesn't, blame the break. If you do decide to not take a break and your idea gets rejected, wouldn't that be like gun to the heart?"
"But the outcome of both is rejection"
Maki pinched his nose. "That's not the real reason you're doing so much research. Am I right?"
Taki froze. He paused his reading for a bit. The bit was fast, but it was long enough for Maki to notice. Make wasn't the type to not notice things like these.
"I'm right!" Maki jumped. "So what's the reason? You wanna quit uni? You feel like a burden to your parents? You feel like an imposter?"
That was what Taki usually felt bad about. Sometimes he'd break down into tears when he got a D because he'd feel like he was putting down his parents. He was forced into the degree, but he felt he was forced because his parents saw potential in him. Whenever Taki felt like he didn't match his parents' expectations, he'd go silent and question his entire life. All of Maki's guesses were calculated keeping the past events and probability frequencies in mind. Maki smirked. He knew he hit the bullseye.
Taki simply turned back to screen and continued his research. Maki noticed that he wasn't looking up research papers. He was looking up people on Instagram.
Now Maki just felt he was an asshole. Taki's response made it feel like Maki was accusing Taki of being an imposter. He wanted to jumping into his bed and scream, but he didn't have the patience to climb the ladder. He decided to drag his chair and have a deep conversation with Taki.
"Are you looking for a teammate?"
"No"
"A new friend?"
"No"
Maki gulped. Maybe today wasn't Maki's day. Maybe he was destined to lose his powers as an empath. He may not be a wizard to the world, but he was a magic boy to himself. He was destined to solve problems, just like a reverse of Mahou Shoujo Ore!
Maki raised his eyebrow. "I can't tell if you're being like this because you're autistic or asexual"
"It could be both" Taki chuckled.
Nice. At least Maki got him to smile. This was the longest he had seen Taki go without smiling. Who was Taki if not for his goofy, geeky personality? Never mind… that made him sound one dimensional. He was worried about Taki. That's all Maki needed to convey to Taki. He wanted to tell him that he he'd always be there with him as a friend. Taki looked like he needed support, and Maki was ready to be just that.
"You can be honest with me" Maki pulled the chair and hugged Taki. "It hurts me to see you like this"
"I appeciate the concern Mr. Dramatic, but it's not that serious"
"To me it is!"
"Fine. I'll tell you what's been bothering me. Remember the femboy I saw a few days ago on that app? He looks very familiar and ever since you confirmed that he's from our uni, I can't stop thinking about him… or them… or her… or whatever pronouns—"
"They and them should be a safe bet" Maki pat Taki's back.
Physically, Maki was cool about it. It's just his friend who has never talked about his romantic intentions was trying to find this mysterious person. Internally he was screaming. Maybe Taki was experiencing a crush for the first time.
"I.. I don't what to do. I really want to know who they are. I don't even know why"
"Maybe" Maki looked away and giggled. Physically giggled. Taki looked at him with a judging stare.
"Bro u good? I think you need more help than me"
"No, no" Maki composed himself. "It's just that I never thought I'd see you have a crush"
"It's not a crush! I'm asexual! I don't do crushes!"
"Well, asexuality is a spectrum. You could be romantically straight and sexually ace. You could be biromantic and asexual. Romantic attraction is different from sexual attraction" Maki explained.
"But I've… I've never had romantic feelings for anyone. I don't even know the dude.. dudette?"
"Dude is gender neutral, don't worry. It's not gonna bother them. I can promise you that"
"This is a lot to take in… it's a lot to process"
"You know what? Get a good night's sleep now. Tomorrow morning we can go to the beach, clear your mind and maybe find the dude you wanna find. A lot of students go to the beach on weekends. Maybe they've had their mind screwed by their guide as well. Maybe they'll show up in shorts tomorrow. Maybe you can match their thighs. Try not to look like a creep, but there's hope for you!"
"What if I don't want to go?"
"Oh the beautiful illusion of choice"