#crossing resident with junko and chiaki

[aparticularbandit]

Crossing Resident (II)

Summary: Chiaki knows Crossing probably better than anyone else alive, other than its makers, or she could, if she wanted. When Junko asks for help, it starts a relationship she didn't know to expect.

Prompted by @yabashiri.

Chapter Rating: T for Teruteru thought implications. Fic Rating: T.

AO3

previous chapter

It takes a few days to set up an appropriate time for Chiaki to visit Junko’s village.

Junko couldn’t hang around the day she asked for Chiaki’s help – something to do with not having her GGA on hand – and then couldn’t the next few days because she had back-to-back magazine sessions: interviews and photography and all that sort of thing.  Hope’s Peak lets its Ultimates take the time they need off from school to pursue their Talent; some of their students need to pursue Olympics trials, others need to oversee an entire restaurant, Chiaki herself often needs to leave for gaming competitions (or, even more often, to set a new record), so it isn’t surprising that Junko needs to leave for a few days.  It’s more surprising that Junko seems to still be trying to hold to a normal weekend off schedule, so that she won’t miss too much school.

Or something.

Of course, they don’t have to be in the same room or around each other for Chiaki to visit.  It’s just scheduling.

….

And Junko wants to meet up for some reason.

~

Chiaki feels awkward walking into Junko’s dorm.  She doesn’t want Junko in hers, mostly because she doesn’t want to do all the cleaning up that would require.  Her dorm isn’t bad, but there are a lot of mostly empty pizza boxes and Mountain Dew bottles and Doritos bags that she doesn’t feel like shoving into trash bags right now.  She should – Yukizome-senpai would be very disappointed with her – but….

“This,” Junko says as Chiaki follows her inside, “is the front room.”  She twirls around on one heel, arms outstretched.  The front room is all pink and fluff and scattered Junk Co. merch – throw pillows, blankets, even a few plush animals here and there (mostly bears) – which is to be expected.  Junko whirls back around to face Chiaki with half of a smile.  “You know, where all the parties happen.”

“You throw parties?”

“Sometimes.”  Junko’s expression hitches.  Then that smile spreads – full, no longer half.  “You should come to the next one.  It could be wild—”

“No, thanks, I think.”

Chiaki has a good idea what Junko’s kind of parties look like, and they don’t sound like any kind of fun.  Teruteru would be jumping all over her to get in – to even get this far, if she’s honest, although in his mind, a secret meeting with Junko Enoshima at her dorm is probably a bigger win than just being invited to one of her parties.  She’s just never been one for that sort of social gathering.  She holds up her GGA.  “Should I sit, or—”

“Oh, we’re not staying in here.”  Junko clasps her arms behind her back and pulls until it sounds like her shoulder just pops.  “It’s like the whole island situation.  One for the fans, one for me.”  She turns away from Chiaki and starts further back into her dorm.  “You come to my island, so you come to my island.”

Chiaki follows Junko through a pink and white beaded curtain that catches the light in a way that honestly hurts her eyes and gets thrust into what feels like a whole other world.  Wood paneling and floorboards that creak when she steps on them (but not when Junko does) and dark lighting that feels just off.  "Your island is going for a horror vibe, I think.”

Junko laughs at that.  “I just get bored with expectations, you know?  All that frou-frou out there.  It’s exhausting to keep it all up.”  She pushes a door open to what must be her bedroom and gestures like a television game show host.  “In here, Nanami-senpai.”

“What if I changed my mind?”

“Then I’ll escort you right back out!”  Junko leans forward.  “I’m not scary, Nanami-senpai.  Horror vibes or not, I’m really just a normal girl.  Who needs help setting up her island.  That’s all.”

Chiaki doesn’t believe that for a minute.  She wants to believe it.  But the thing is that none of the Ultimates are what anyone would refer to as normal.  They are, in a sense, because they have hopes and loves and passions and desires just like everyone else does.  They are normal.  But often their Talent sets them apart – pushes them onto a pedestal that they have no idea how to handle and destroys them there.  Most people don’t have to deal with that sort of cage.

She hates it.

Chiaki walks into Junko’s bedroom.  It looks like a normal bedroom.  Bed.  Desk.  Drawers.  Closet.  It’s not all pink and white and fluff and Junk Co.-centric as the living room was.  If anything, it’s plain.  Too normal by half, maybe.  She pulls the chair out from the desk as Junko flops on her bed and sits on it.

“You could sit on the bed, you know.  It’s super soft!”

“I’d rather not, I think.”  Chiaki pulls out her GGA.  “You’ll get everything set up, right?”

“Mm!”  Junko gives a sharp nod and pulls out her personal GGA.  Unlike her fan-centric one (which Chiaki suspects is a bright pink), it’s split straight down the middle – white on one side and black on the other – with a red rim to the screen and red buttons.  “My island’s open to visitors – to you, Nanami-senpai!  All you have to do is connect!”

Chiaki hesitates, and then does.

[aparticularbandit]

Crossing Resident (I)

Summary: Chiaki knows Crossing probably better than anyone else alive, other than its makers, or she could, if she wanted. When Junko asks for help, it starts a relationship she didn't know to expect.

Prompted by @yabashiri.

Chapter Rating: G. Fic Rating: T.

AO3

next chapter

“Nanami-senpai.”

“Hm?”

Chiaki barely looks up from her Game Girl Advance.  She could play this game in her sleep – most of the moves aren’t randomized, and there’s only so many places the enemies can be, and she’s played the game so much that she doesn’t even think about any of this ever (because she’d never thought about it when she was playing it the first time and now it’s just all muscle memory) – but that doesn’t mean she wants to look away.  This game has good graphics – gorgeous graphics – and the soundtrack is enhanced by the sound of the water fountain behind her.  It’s very atmospheric.

“Do you play every game?”

Chiaki flinches.  Blinks twice.  Doesn’t stop playing her game, and doesn’t miss a beat in it.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean, there are, like, hundreds of games that come out every year.  The big name pushy stuff, the big name good stuff, the indie games, the mobile games, all that gambling bullshit—”

As the list goes on, Chiaki considers that there’s no such thing as bullshit games and good games.  A lot of times what makes a good game is subjective.  Different gamers want different things, and one gamer’s Sonic Boom is another gamer’s Pokemon Red.  No one really wants to have that conversation, though.

When the girl finishes, Chiaki says, “I play the games I want to play.  Mostly retro games.  Chat gets mad that I don’t play shooters, but I don’t like them.”

A smile twitches at the corner of the other girl’s lips – Chiaki can see it reflected in her GGA screen – and she says, “How can she be the Ultimate Gamer if she’s not winning any competitions?  Like that’s how you measure that sort of thing.  It’s all bullshit.”

“Did you want to ask about a game in specific?”

“Yeah, uh.”  The girl sits next to her and then says, much more quietly, “Do you play Crossing?  I just started my own game, and I’m trying to get all the fruit trees.  And cosmos seeds, if you have them.  Or pansies.  They’re my favorites, but I got stuck with tulips and mums.  Which is shit luck because pansies are one of my birth month flowers, so I could have—”

Chiaki pauses her game and glances over to the other girl.  She’s familiar with her enough to recognize her once they’re sitting next to each other, but not so familiar that she could guess who she was from her voice alone.  “Enoshima-san,” she says, “why are you asking me?  Your fans would give you anything you want.  You just have to ask them.”

Junko sighs and clasps her hands together between her bare knees.  “I’ve got an island for them to visit,” she says.  “It’s all decked out and full of the most popular villagers.  I hold raffles to have fans come in and take a villager when they leave, and I go out and visit their islands, too, from time to time.”

It’s so boring, she seems to say, even though those words never leave her lips.

“I just….”  Junko sighs again, and her head tilts innocently enough to the side.  “I wanted something that was just for me, you know?  So I’ve got a second system and game and everything.  I’m starting it over from scratch, and I thought…maybe you’d help.”  She shrugs.  “But it’s fine if you don’t.  I can wait for the random flower seed drops at the store, and I’ll get the ones I want eventually.  Fruit will be harder, but if I get really desperate, I can swap some over from my original game.  It’s just—”

“Lonely,” Chiaki completes for her, gaze dropping to the GGA in her hands.

Out of the corner of her eye, Junko nods and hunches forward.  “Yeah.”

Chiaki presses her lips together and then nods.  “I’ll help.  But,” and here she pauses, careful not to meet Junko’s eyes as the other girl looks hopefully at her, “I want to visit your island instead of the other way around.  Okay?”

Junko beams.