#a3itaru

[mochiiwrites]

Aww Man

hello! this was actually the first thing i’d ever written! and it is very old!

“Come on, dude. Please?” This was practically the only time Banri Settsu had asked for something politely. What was he asking for? The student was asking for Itaru Chigasaki to...come to karaoke with him?

“Why are you asking me? Go bother Tenma.”

“I can’t.”

“Ehh? Why not?”

“He’s got a shoot coming up.”

Itaru rolled his eyes. “Okay then, why should I go? Can’t you go by yourself? I’ve gotta grind for the upcoming event, anyways.”

“I can’t just go to karaoke by myself! That’s weak!” Banri lied. He was completely okay with going by himself, but he wanted to test something.

“Guess you’re weak, since I’m not going. Take the L.”

It seemed like it was time for his special move. “If you do it, I’ll get you an iTunes card.” At the mention of the precious card Itaru practically rocketed out of his seat “Alright, when do we leave?”

-👾🎵👾🎵-

The pair arrived at their destination after a long car ride filled with complaints from the office worker, and insults from the high school student. Itaru begrudgingly followed Banri to the small platform that was supposed to be a stage.

“You’re getting me a $50 card for this, Settsu.”

“Busting out the last name, huh? Alright, deal.”

“What song are we doing, anyway? Lifelight?” Banri punched in the number code and chuckled.

“Nah, not lifelight. Don’t think they have it. But...it’ll be hype.”

Itaru sighed “Depending on how this goes, that card might get buffed into $100.”

-👾🎵👾🎵-

The title of the song rolled across the screen. “DJ got us falling in love? Seriously?” Itaru shot a look at the smug high schooler. Banri shot a look right back, “Just trust me.” The songs intro blasted and when the cue came to sing “Usher, yeah man” Banri instead had sung lyrics that brought Itaru back to his childhood. “Creeper, aww man” Itaru didn’t join in. He just...stared with a look on his face that screamed “You cannot be serious.” Banri had expected this to go on for the whole song until he heard the office worker mutter, “...’cause baby, tonight the creeper’s try’na steal our stuff again.” Itaru slowly sounded less dead inside as the song progressed. He didn’t sound good, but he didn’t sound bad either and Banri would take that W.

-👾🎵👾🎵-

After mediocre renditions of How do I Craft this Again?, Screw the Nether, Don’t Mine at Night, and other parodies, the pair headed back to the dorms. Sure, Itaru lost some of his dignity, but luckily, Chikage or any other co-workers weren’t there. Banri was completely content with the outcome of his test. He got to see Itaru reach peak geek levels and proved that Itaru had, in fact, listened to parodies and still remembers them after about 9 years of not hearing them. Which is either impressive, or very depressing. What was very depressing to Banri was that he lost $100 that day. But maybe, it was worth it, since- actually no scratch that, it was not worth $100. It was still a moment worthy of Banri screaming “POGCHAMP!”

[mochiiwrites]

Speedrun

Itaru didn’t want to go on a delivery quest. He just wanted to get an iTunes card and possibly some Pokémon cards. Just those two things were on his list. But Homare, Azuma, Yuki, Muku and Izumi added much more to his quest log. Things like, too many boxes of green tea, essential oils, a plethora of fabric, the manga about a young girl getting Isekai-ed into a video game, (Itaru couldn’t remember the title, but made a mental note to ask to read it after Muku finished) and so many spices. There were so many that Izumi listed that if you were to pour them all onto a dragon it would instantly die from fire-damage.

-⚡️🎮⚡️🎮-

After spending too much time trying to figure out what the heck chiffon and basil was, Itaru finally got to the final stage. The cashier. “Itaru?” Huh, this was an unusual part of the level. Usually, the cashiers aren’t familiar. Itaru looked up from his phone to see...a very tired Tsuzuru.

“Oh, hey. What are you doing here?”

“...I work here, part time.”

Itaru blinked, once, twice and then realized how stupid his question was. “...right. You think I could get this stuff for free? Y’know, since we’re troupe mates and all?”

Tsuzuru stopped scanning his items and slowly raised his head to stare at Itaru. After the light left his eyes, he finally replied. “No, that’s called shoplifting. Last time I checked it was illegal.” Itaru pouted, similarly to how a child would pout after being told they can’t eat ice cream for breakfast. “Aww, they patched it? Damn, now I have to sit through this unskippable cutscene.”

-⚡️🎮⚡️🎮-

Once Tsuzuru finished bagging the ‘loot’ he had been nagged by the older man to come back to the dorms with him. After setting his half of the bags down on the floor, Tsuzuru asked, “Why did you want me to come with you anyways?” Itaru clicked his tongue and awkwardly replied, “I uh… I wanted to speedrun the grocery level.” Tsuzuru almost dropped the box of tea bags he was holding. He wasn’t sure what answer to expect from Itaru but it certainly wasn’t that. “What does that even mean?” The college student exasperatedly asked.

“I read somewhere that boys tend to walk faster with their friends of the same gender.”

“What game did you get this info from?”

“No, not a game, actually. It was Tumblr.”

“...I’m not sure whether that’s better or worse.”

Itaru chuckled, “Let me be more clear, it was the science side of Tumblr.” Tsuzuru silently got up and headed out the door. It seemed like the Tsuzu-Ita speed run combo wouldn’t be in service for a while.