Chapter Text
Eugene Korekishi is never late, no perfect prodigy like himself ever would be.
His mother drilled that into him, you are perfect, you are gold in a sea of pebbles. Eugene does not make bad impressions. Eugene certainly wouldn’t be late to his own speech either.
That’s why, on a whim, Eugene left for his first day of high school ten minutes earlier than planned.
-
Mogari gasped, breath ragged as a boy dragged him out of the ocean. He was yelling, calling him crazy, shaking him back and forth. And all Mogari could do in response was wheeze and cough up water, shivering.
The boy finally paused, looking at Mogari. He stared like he was the odd one, and at least appearance wise Mogari would argue the opposite.
The boy had spiky white hair, black peeking though at the roots. Jagged scars forming x shapes stood out against eyes Mogari assumed were contacts (no way someone can have pink eyes right?). His expression was a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. Finally he spoke, hoisting a soaked Mogari up with him. “What kinda dumbass runs into the ocean without knowing how to swim?!”
Almost instantly, all joy at being saved is sucked out of Mogari. “Uh, me, duh. Also i’m not a dumbass I just-“
The boy brushed him off, grabbing his half soaked bag and grumbling about his already shitty day. “nope, not hearing it. It’s shitty enough I even have to go to school, I'm not dealing with this shit on top of it.”
Then, the bell rings.
Shit, they’re late.
-
Eugene took the podium, eyes scanning the crowd. He almost began to speak when two boys, delinquent types by the looks of them (or what his mother warned him they looked like), barged in. They were soaked head to toe, shamefully slinking into their seats.
Eugene nearly cringed, but that would give a poor impression for crowd. He didn’t need two reckless boys making his first impressions sour.
His voice was clear as he spoke, eyes nearly giving away his boredom. The speech was plain, all flowery language and an annoying emphasis on his mixed heritage (they act like he’s a miracle child for looking japanese as opposed to european). Like mother taught him, he kept his voice light, friendly enough to keep others at ease without any once of said friendliness in his intent.
Actually, that was a lie. He wasn’t as cold as he forced himself to think. Despite all attempts to keep his mind functioning like a robot’s, a desperate want for friendship was something he never escaped. He’d hoped, against all odds, of finding that here, in an ordinary high school.
Looking among the crowd he knew he was sorely mistaken. All these faces, seeing the numbers only, his IQ, his usefulness, his ability to be of service.
Maybe he admired those delinquent boys in that regard, they had a freedom he didn’t.
He doubted they’d ever know though.
Mogari felt his face burning as he slouched back in his seat, heart pounding. He’s never seen so many people before, especially not in such a confined space. He was used to small crowds, family members cooing over his little self when he was still young and gullible. He’d always felt claustrophobic in those moments, too many eyes and words. So hundreds of people staring nearly put him into a coma.
A boy, a fancy sounding one, stood on the stage, drawing attention away from Mogari. He relayed a speech Mogari only half listened to, though his voice sounded bored. It was the same boredom he heard from high ranking people in his clan, the fake friendliness hiding utter detachment. Kinda surprising hearing it from someone his age.
Mogari turned his attention to peek at Zaki, who had told him his name as they ran to make it to school. He looked similarly embarrassed, hand raised and shielding his face from his neighbors in his row as he shot Mogari a death glare. Mogari only shrugged in response, giving a sympathetic look.
He’d never been one to care about people’s opinions of him. His old classmates, aside from Fuku, stayed polite but distant. Now, his current classmates either looked amused or annoyed by his entrance. Zaki though, he mused, was different. He hadn’t been as openly insulted like that before.. and honestly the feeling wasn’t awful. He vastly preferred it to the usual yes-man treatment he got anyway.
Zaki seemed reliable in that regard, like the type to smack him over the head if he acted stupid. It was a relationship he greatly needed, given his tendency to act reckless. He also noticed, when Zaki was dragging him out of the water, that he could see spirits briefly. Y’know, now that he thinks of it.. Zaki having that ability could be pretty useful..
-
November , two years later.
-
Eugene stared blankly at the paper in front of him. Two years ago he'd been dragged into student council, and now this is his life apparently. He was alone at the moment. Ichimiya was in the other room, his entourage following along. Eugene reread the paper, an incident report with an annoyingly familiar name, and a name he was vaguely acquainted with.
Two boys, one from his class (who had caused disturbances before) and one from the class of a boy he was basically counseling. Tamon had mentioned the Kanzaki boy before, during geometry tutoring. Supposedly Tamon had a slightly easier time interacting with him, enough that he could probably withstand a second of eye contact.
For Tamon, that was a miracle. They’d been assigned to work together because Eugene was deemed as a rather gentle person, though detached felt more correct. Tamon had been struggling in two ways, light issues with mathematics, and social anxieties. Eugene had been helping, mostly with math, but he always made a point to offer advice or practice for Tamon’s social issues. Usually the offer was declined, but he was very polite so Eugene didn’t mind.
Tamon was the closest he had to a friend, though an acquaintance was likely more accurate. Maybe that was why this paper made him pause. Two boys who’d become so close over the last two school years that they were apparently getting into fights for one another.
Basically they were reckless idiots.
Eugene didn’t get it, why bother so much for another person. He understood empathy, but actively getting into fights was insane!
He stared down at the paper, rereading the report. After a few bullies attempted pouring black paint into Kanzaki’s hair, Shishikuno intervened and beat the offending bullies enough to be sent home early.
And of course they wanted him to try to talk to Shishikuno.
Given his lax temperament, teachers and staff tended to ask Eugene to be the one to talk to students. They believed it’d be better for them to relate to and admit wrongdoing when talking to someone their age. And given Eugene was basically treated like gold here they thought he was perfect.
Now, here he was, waiting for Mogari Shishikuno to arrive.
Mother would hate him interacting with such a boy.
-
Mogari grumbled as he stepped in, flexing bandages on his hands and slumping into his seat.
In his mind, this was all justified. Zaki, despite the attitude, was one of the sweetest people out there. He shared everything with Mogari, and didn't treat him differently on account of his family. Hell he even helped catch ghosts!
Two years ago he saved Mogari from drowning, and ever since Mogari has been trying to return the favor tenfold. And that had consequences apparently, because he can practically hear the detention coming.
He sat down at the seat, catching the eye of the boy on the other side. He vaguely knew Koreshiki,(or was it Korekishi?), they’d been placed in classes together both this year and their first year here. They had never talked beyond Mogari asking for a pencil or notes in a class he missed.
Despite barely knowing him, Mogari did know one thing; He was treated like royalty. He’d seen it, how staff were particularly kind to him, the way students got flustered or nervous. He had this untouchable energy to him that made it feel like he was better than everyone.
But he wasn’t, Mogari knew that for certain. He knows exactly what it’s like to be royalty in school and can say for certain neither of them are as untouchable as people believe.
“So when’s the teacher coming to yell at me?”
“I’ll be the one talking with you actually, Shishikuno.”
Mogari raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side as he leaned back in the stiff seat.
“Aren’t staff supposed to do that?”
“They’ve entrusted me with this situation. They said, and I quote, ‘students feel better talking to their fellow students more than they do teachers’”
Eugene didn’t falter as he explained, either not acknowledging or not registering that he was basically doing the staff’s job for them.
Mogari just stared at him like he had a second head.
“Is that not like.. child labor or something?”
For the first time he’d ever seen, Eugene cracked the smallest smile, though more genuine than any he’d seen from the boy before.
“I prefer volunteer work.”
The smile dropped quickly, and he glanced down at his paper. He glanced up, taking in Mogari’s relaxed posture
“The report I have says you assaulted two students in defense of Kaoru Kanzaki, is this true?”
Mogari stared for a moment, then looked away with a nod.
“Yeah, I did that.”
“Knowing the consequences?”
“Knowing that they were hurting my best friend.”
Eugene stared for a long moment, taking in Mogari’s increasingly intense posture.
“You could’ve pulled Kanzaki away from the sink and left.”
Mogari looked back at Eugene, tone getting more defensive.
“If you saw your friend having paint dumped on their head would your first reaction honestly be to do that?”
Eugene looked away at that, not for some honesty in Mogari’s tone, but for a different reason; He didn’t know. He didn’t know because he wasn’t close enough to anyone to know how he would act in such a situation.
Mogari stared intensely, taking in Eugene’s avoidant gaze. He was silent for a moment, then spoke.
“Whatever your answer would be doesn’t matter, I reacted by getting into a fight. So are we going to finally come to a verdict on-“
“Why would you trouble yourself and risk punishment for him?”
The words came out before Eugene could stop them, the quiet tone that gave away his utter inexperience in emotional bonds. How could you feel so deeply for a person that you hurt others for them? Maybe as a child he would’ve bit someone for his grandmother but he was a child and-
“Because I love him, platonically of course, he’s my best friend.”
Eugene stared, he attempted to school his expression, to hide the disbelief at such a statement, but his mouth was far quicker.
“..why?”
“Why is he my best friend?”
“…”
“..because we’re there for each other. He’s been there for me since the first day of high school and we just get each other.”
“But.. never mind. I’m being idiotic, apologies.”
Finally, he got a rein in his expression, pulling away the curiosity around Mogari’s friendships. He looked away, writing on the report.
“I’ll tell them you own up to your mistakes, and do not denounce them. Your likely punishment will be detention.”
He stood up fast, ignoring Mogari’s expression at his slip of the mask. Adjusting his glasses, he nodded curtly and grabbed the file.
..And that left Mogari wondering what the fuck he just witnessed.
-
Eugene dropped the papers off wordlessly, leaving before the teacher could question his clamminess. It was so incredibly stupid of him to ask that.
But..
The response he’d been given was so confusing he was tempted to pry further. How could you care so deeply for a friend to do that? He had seen movies where couples did such dramatic acts for each other, yes, but friends?
Eugene isn’t stupid, he knows platonic love exists, but was still baffled by the idea of feeling it so intensely for someone.
Was he simply broken in that regard?
He could feel eyes on him as he walked through the halls, people grouped together glancing at him then away. Would they do that for one another? Put their lives on the line just for another person who they shared no blood relationship with? No soulmate level connection?
Was it normal to feel that way? Maybe Eugene was broken, he didn’t have childhood friends like he heard people talk about, he had no core memories truly connecting with other children. He’d been taught they were below him, even if his grandma tried to say otherwise, his parents made it clear Eugene was special.
But was that special wrong? Was it some curse that made it so he could never connect in such a way with others?
What was he missing??
-
Mogari sat still, looking at where Korekishi had been minutes ago.
Why did he react like that?
Maybe Mogari saying he platonically loved Zaki did it? But he’s heard people say things like that about friends before. And it isn’t a lie, Zaki is basically the brother he never had.
Maybe Eugene just didn’t know the feeling, he’d never actually seen him with a friend group before..
Actually, he’d only ever seen him working or passive. Eugene never seemed truly engaged in anything other than assignments handed to him, and even then he finished quickly.
He left the small office-like room silently, avoiding the raised eyebrows of the student council. Though he did hear a girl with long hair whisper to another with short pink hair that he must’ve acted horribly to upset Korekishi.
Mogari ignored them, walking through ever thinning halls of students. The ‘meeting’ if you could even call it that, had taken place at the end of the school day, so most students were filing out. Mogari slipped out, weaving through the halls as he stepped outside.
Warm fall hair hit him, with the whispered beginnings of winter coming second, like a breeze. The leaves crunched under his feet as he walked, quickly replaced by fresh ones on the ground.
Zaki greeted him by the gate, both his hair and jacket were still stained, and he looked embarrassed to be so messy.
“..was it bad?”
Zaki’s tone was almost gentle for once, probably out of worry that he’d genuinely gotten Mogari into trouble. And the embarrassment didn’t help with him already looking like a mess.
Mogari just smiled, brushing it off. He slung an arm over Zaki’s shoulders as they walked. Luckily, Mogari’s apartment had a washing machine so they could at least attempt to clean Zaki’s uniform.
“Nah, nothing's set in stone yet. They did put Korekishi up to doing the talking though”
“Seriously? isn’t that basically child labor?”
“That’s what I said! And y'know what? He smiled when I asked!!”
“Like genuinely?”
“Mhm!!”
“He can do that?!”
“Apparently!! He also seemed super confused about why I defended you.”
“I mean you did kinda overdo it..”
“No not that bit- also fuck you don’t complain now- BUT, he was confused about the fact that I would do it for a friend.”
“huh.”
“Yeah he got all flustered when I explained and left super fast.”
Zaki made a face at that, seemingly just as confused by the idea of freaked out Korekishi as Mogari.
Mogari made the face back before continuing, “Wanna hear my theory for why he did it?”
“Sure why not..”
“I don’t think he’s got any friends!”
“actually.. come to think of it, I never see him with anyone..”
“Right!! and he’s always in his own world!”
Zaki was quickly getting into this theory too, face scrunching slightly as he thought.
“It makes sense.. but it’s not really any of our business.”
“But we could make it our business!”
“..what.”
Mogari puffed out his chest as he spoke, unlocking the door to his apartment as their walk finally came to a stop.
“Cmonnnn, I think everyone and their mom is curious about what he’s like! So we present our amazing personalities to him, get him in our circle, and have the smartest guy in school in our corner!”
“..is this a really elaborate plan for you to get test answers off him?”
“Yes! but-“
“Also wasn’t his first real impression of you getting in trouble for beating two people up?”
“..yes but-!”
Zaki sighed loudly, dropping his shoes at the door and heading for Mogari’s room. He distangled himself from his paint stained clothes and stole a fresh shirt from Mogari’s closet.
Mogari followed, taking off his uniform jacket and pouting.
“Can I at least try?”
“Why are you asking me?! I’m not your mom!”
“PLEASEEE, you’re the smart one!”
“I’m lit-... I'M LITERALLY FAILING ENGLISH!! I-…fine. do whatever.”
The expression Mogari made after nearly got Zaki to strangle him.
-
Eugene barely paid attention during the lesson, drawing mindlessly on his notebook. You’d think they wouldn’t even bother putting him in English given his fluency, but here he is.
..And he can feel someone staring.
Glancing back, he saw Mogari peeking at him from behind his textbook. Obviously, the boy wasn’t paying attention at all. Before he could do anything, the teacher suddenly called on Mogari, who sputtered with a half baked, and very wrong answer.
Usually he’d be offput, but something about the whole situation, and yesterday, made him both curious and amused.
Mogari’s face burned as he hid back behind his book, he could hear small snickers from a few rows ahead. But, that wasn’t his main focus. Yesterday’s conversation with Eugene had made him so damn curious about this boy that he couldn’t help but peek again.
Crap they made eye contact.
Mogari was about to look away when he noticed the confused little smile on his face, like he was both endeared but wildly confused as to why this was happening. It was surprising, he’d half expected Eugene to look at him like he was crazy, not just crack a tiny smile for the second time he’s seen.
Okay, game plan has to be created now. Eugene obviously isn’t standoffish to him, so he’s got that going for him.
…
RIGHT!! HERES MOGARI’s SUPER COOL AMAZING FULL-PROOF PLAN!!
1.approach after class, ask if he can borrow Eugene’s notes.
2.Mention he’s bad with history, ask for tutoring or help (forces more interaction!)
3. Use his amazing aura and charisma to make Eugene wanna be friends
4.Introduce him to Zaki, and use his absolutely immaculate skills and charm to make them best friends
5.DONE!! They’ve officially got a walking cheat sheet, mogari passes history, and (hopefully) Eugene will get what having cool ass friends feels like!!
Obviously, this plan is going to work flawlessly.
-
As class ended, Eugene packed up with his usual grace. Just as his notebook was about to be put in his bag, Mogari approached.
Eugene looked up, blinking. He sat up fully, giving his usual polite smile.
“Shishikuno? Do you need anything?”
“Oh- yeah uhh.. can i maybeee borrow your notes? I wasn’t paying attention.”
Eugene didn’t falter, pulling the notebook away from his bag and nodding. He flipped to the page he’d worked on recently and passed it to Mogari.
“yeah of course, do you need help with english at all?”
“No, just kinda was out of it today.. I am bad at History though. If you're willing to help with that.”
“Oh, of course I can. We can do-“
He paused, then cautiously asked, “Uh, before that, what was the verdict on your punishment?”
“Oh yeah I got detention, don’t worry though! I’m serving it today and don’t have any other plans.”
“Right.. alright um.. Thursday works for me, will that be okay?”
“Yep!”
Eugene nodded, writing down his number and passing it to Mogari.
“Here, we can figure out where it happens later. I don’t want to be late for next period.”
Mogari grabbed it quickly, smiling and nodding. He didn’t expect it to go THAT well! And he could only muster a dumb grin as he nodded, taking Eugene’s notebook to copy (with intent to return later of course) and let Eugene finally get up and leave.
Well, that’s step 1 and 2 done..
Now he needs to see how this guy ticks.