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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 1 year ago

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Yuu can do it!

Part 32

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Kuroki looked at the mirror in front of him. Of course, like all of the mirrors in this damned place, it didn’t actually function like a mirror, so he had to turn to Ito and Enma, opening his mouth...

“Yes, you look fine,” Ito assured him. Again.

“Would we let you go out if you looked bad?” Enma asked.

Kuroki squinted at him.

“If you were going to do something this important?” he amended.

Kuroki huffed a halfhearted laugh, and turned back to the mirror. The frame was silver, decorated with winding tentacles. At their feet, little pieces of coral and a singular blueish-purple anemone poked out of the tile.

A pair of eels hung over the top of the frame. The silver sheen on the tops of their heads was dulled, as if people had made a habit of petting them while they passed. Maybe it was one of those traditions that people sometimes came up with for statues – rub here for good luck! He had never really believed in those, but he hadn’t believed magic was real a week ago, either, so…

Kuroki reached up and rubbed both of the eels as hard as he could.

He took a deep breath, and then stepped through.

His shoes tapped on the glass beneath him, and he instantly flinched back at the unexpected sound. His head poked back through the mirror, knocking against Enma’s chest, and the boy gave a yelp.

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Ito raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just didn’t expect…” He slipped a hand through to wave vaguely. “Y’know.”

“I don’t,” said Ito, amused.

Kuroki huffed. “You will,” he said, before slipping back through.

He was in a circular tunnel made out of glass, relatively blank other than a light purple sign nearby asking him to take off his shoes. But that was fine, because the world beyond the glass made up for the plain surroundings.

They were surrounded by water on all sides, so far beneath the waves that Kuroki couldn’t even see the light coming from the surface — if there even was a surface at all. It was very possible that this particular pocket dimension was entirely full of water, with no land to speak of.

Bioluminescent fish and plants glimmered in the dark water, lighting up the other flora and fauna floating around. A group of blue-ringed octopi were playing what looked to be volleyball with a very stressed-out flounder. A school of minnows circled the tunnel in an endless game of follow the leader. A crab was playing the drums on the stomach of a turtle who seemed surprisingly chill with the situation.

An angler fish bumped against the glass, almost seeming affronted by the fact that it wasn’t allowed to come inside and eat him.

He waved at it.

It stared at him for a long time, considering him, before tilting from side to side, the glowing light attached to its head swaying back and forth in a kind of wave of its own.

He smiled a little and looked back up, at the liters upon liters of water pressing in on the glass.

He grimaced. Well, that’s a safety hazard and a half.

Like, sure, he understood the concept of magic and all that, and that the glass was probably reinforced, but there was still a very large part of him that was going AAAA WE’RE GONNA DIE.

Maybe the reason for the no-shoes policy was that the people running this place didn’t want the glass to break either. Mm. Maybe he should get on that.

The others stepped through while he worked at untying his laces.

Ito was first. They seemed relatively relaxed about the whole situation. Looking around idly, toeing off their shoes, smiling with all of the grace of someone who had decided that they weren’t going to let magic surprise them anymore.

Enma, of course, did the opposite. He immediately rushed to press his nose against the glass.

“Shoes,” Kuroki said.

Enma waved him off, too intent on staring out into the water, taking in everything he could.

Grim floated through after them, only to immediately rush to hide beneath Kuroki’s jacket. Which was rude. That was Kuroki’s thing. But fine, he’d let him.

“What’s up with you?” he asked, wrapping an arm around the bundle in his clothing.

“I don’t like water,” Grim muttered.

Ito sighed and rifled through their pockets, practically throwing their money at the back of Enma’s head. Enma, for his part, didn’t even seem to notice.

Luckily for them, Grim didn’t notice either. Mostly, because his furry face was hidden in Kuroki’s jacket, making it kind of hard for him to see the interaction.

“Let’s go. You can be a librarian with Ito,” Grim suggested.

Kuroki raised an eyebrow. “First of all, I’m not a nerd, so write that down.”

Ito flicked him in the side of the head. But it was worth it, Grim snickered a little, relaxing, if only slightly.

“You’re literally a shut-in,” Enma said, finally tearing his eyes away solely to insult him. It was flattering, in a way. “You’re the most nerdy out of all of us!”

“You’re the one that carries a journal everywhere!”

“Yeah? How many otome games did you play back in our world?”

“What would you look up here first if you got your hands on a phone?”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” Ito cut in.

Kuroki scowled. He was never going to do something out of the goodness of his heart ever again.

“We need to get him to work in time for his interview. Enma, c’mon, we can look around on the way back, m’kay?”

Enma huffed, but slipped off his shoes. The four (well, three, kind of, because Kuroki was carrying Grim) of them slowly made their way down the tunnel. The one they were walking along was the main one, larger than the rest, but there were several other paths branching off, towards different things. The tubes might have seemed futuristic, if not for the fact that they had to walk them. Instead, it felt a little bit tedious. Too many steps. Literally.

Yet he walked them anyway, making sure to keep track of purple signs pointing him along. They passed quite a few people with light purple armbands as they went, as well as a couple of yellow ones. Most people were heading down the main tunnel towards a large, castle-like building, or branching off halfway down, towards a smaller place.

Predictably, the signs declared the smaller place to be exactly where they were supposed to be going.

The smaller place was still pretty large, even its windows were taller than Enma, allowing a perfect view of the watery depths they were submerged in. To get inside, you had to walk through the jaws of a giant, but thankfully long-dead, fish. The interior was decorated in shades of purple, lavish in color and material quality. Smooth jazz rolled over them.

Kuroki hesitated, poking his head out of the fish’s ribcage, searching for a possible employee entrance. If there was one there, it wasn’t blatantly obvious, and he wasn’t sure whether he should enter through it, anyway. So, he sighed and drew back. Only to realize that his friends had gone very tense, their eyes locked on someone in front of them.

Kuroki whirled around to look.

Wow, this guy was tall.

Kuroki craned his neck up to look at him, and almost regretted it when he saw the boy’s face. Not because of the face itself, he looked… fine. Symmetrical. Teal hair that framed his face shape well. A cool earring. Two entirely heterochromatic eyes, one yellow and the other an olive color. A single strand of black hair fell in his face, but even that seemed to be intentional. A thin-lipped smile and well-maintained clothes.

It was one of the guys that had been taking notes with Azul that first day.

Jade Leech, according to his nametag.

There was something… off about him. In a way that was impossible to truly explain. Something about him threw him for a loop. His face was somehow wrong. All of the proportions were right, but there was something strange about the way the muscles moved. It was like staring at an AI model. It was perfect, but to the point where it was undeniably fake. Whatever Jade Leech was, he wasn’t human.

Then again, Kuroki was currently being used as a shelter for a monster under his arm. Even if this… person wasn’t human, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was evil, right?

Though, admittedly, the specific style of the suit and fedora he wore kind of reminded Kuroki of a mafia movie. Not a fun thought to have about your future employer.

But, hey, he had thought that the school was a cult at first, so fashion might just be different here!

Hesitantly, he offered his hand to shake. “Hi, I’m assuming you work here – because of the nametag and all – so… I’m Kuroki Yuuya. I’m here for an interview?”

Jade looked mildly surprised. His smile stretched a little wider, showing off too-sharp teeth. He shook Kuroki’s hand with that perfectly calculated amount of firmness that all businesspeople seemed to have down to a science.

“Jade Leech. Second year.” His gaze flicked over Ito and Enma and he removed his fedora, pressing it to his chest. “Loitering is not allowed at this fine establishment, so I must ask you to either purchase something or, kindly, leave.”

Ito mustered a halfhearted smile. “Ah, sorry, senpai, we don’t have enough money. We’ll go.”

Enma nodded his agreement, already taking a careful step back.

Kuroki sent them both pleading looks over his shoulder, but they both shied away.

“There’s a reason you’ve got to get this job, Kuroki. We can’t even afford to wait for you,” Enma joked, but it wasn’t quite as lighthearted as he tried to make it seem, so it fell flat. “See you at home?”

Jade tipped his head to the side. “You seem tense. Do I unsettle you? My, that hurts my feelings. Sniffle. Sob. Boohoo.”

Jade wasn’t even bringing his hands up to hide the fact that he wasn’t at all crying. Or even upset. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying their wariness, watching every little uncomfortable shift that they made intently.

Okay. Just because Jade wasn’t a human didn’t mean he was evil. He was evil. But not because he was inhuman.

Speaking of inhuman people, though this time the subject wasn’t (too) evil, Grim ducked out from under his arm.

“Let’s go before they throw us out.”

“You too?” said Kuroki, hurt.

“I don’t like it here,” said Grim, frowning. “It smells like fish.”

“You like fish.”

“Weird fish,” Grim ‘elaborated’. In quotations because that clarified absolutely nothing.

Kuroki sighed. “Fine. I’ll see you guys later. But.” He looked at Ito. “I expect food as repayment.”

Ito snickered. “I was going to cook anyways, but sure. I’ll make you something extra.”

With a lighter heart (and lighter stomach, too, he was suddenly aware that he was kind of hungry), he allowed Jade to lead him inside.

The Mostro Lounge was… a restaurant. About what you’d expect. Admittedly, it was a rather nice restaurant, he could feel the money dripping from this place, and the bar on the far wall was definitely more well-stocked than you might expect an average college to have, but it wasn’t all that different than any other high-end restaurant. The only thing that Kuroki found mildly surprising was that it seemed to be a seafood restaurant of sorts; even then, he supposed that made sense, considering they were out in the middle of an artificial(?) ocean.

Suddenly, an arm looped around his shoulders and started pressing down. Kuroki hissed a curse as someone threw their entire weight into him, and he struggled valiantly to stay upright, but he was crushed soon enough.

“Nine and a half seconds,” said Jade, still using that pleasant little voice.

“Lasted longer than I thought he would,” said his assailant.

Kuroki groaned.

His pain seemed to amuse the person, because he heard them laugh by his ear in the moment before they rolled off of him.

He sat up slowly, testing everything to make sure it wouldn’t bruise too badly, before looking at the person who had tried to flatten him.

It was… Jade again?

No, wait, his clothes were disheveled. Which, admittedly, wouldn’t be unexpected after throwing his entire weight onto Kuroki, but a glance upwards confirmed that Jade was still standing a few feet away, looking not at all upset by the disruption. This had to be the other person he had seen taking notes with Azul, then. He looked between the two. Up close, it was clear that they were identical twins. The kind that mirrored each other in looks, he had forgotten the term for it.

Whatever.

He looked for a nametag, and frowned when he couldn’t find one. Maybe he was off-duty?

Jade chuckled. “Yuuya-san, meet my twin brother, Floyd.”

Floyd offered Kuroki a hand up. “Nice to squeeze ya.”

Kuroki took it. “Don’t you mean ‘nice to meet you’?”

“Nope,” Floyd said, grinning widely. He helped Kuroki up, and then some, lifting him clean off the ground.

Kuroki quickly realized that his arm might pop out of its socket if he hung like that for too long. He grabbed Floyd’s hand with his free one, taking some of his weight off of his poor, unfortunate joints.

Floyd gave him a considering look. “You’re not trying to escape?”

“It’s not going to help anything,” Kuroki said, attempting to shrug. Instead, he ended up doing a minute pull-up in midair.

“Azul was right, you definitely are non-threatening,” said Floyd.

Kuroki’s eyebrows knit together. “Thank… you…?”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Oooookay.”

They lapsed into an awkward silence. Or, at least, it was awkward for Kuroki, who shrunk under the stares of the two Leech twins.

“Could you… let me down, please?” he tried.

Of course, this was too much to even pretend to hope for. He was thrown over Floyd’s shoulder.

Kuroki wheezed, not at all pleased by the bone digging into his stomach, nor the way that it only pressed into him more with every bouncing step.

He hates this damned school.

He was paraded around the room twice, and he pressed his face into his hands so he wouldn’t see the strange combination of amused and pitying looks from the restaurantgoers. Most of them hadn’t even seemed surprised. Maybe this was routine. Like a hazing.

Eventually, he was released from his Hell, because Floyd and Jade entered a side room and he was set down. He’d been moved too fast, he would like to add, the sudden rush of blood moving to his head making the room spin. He fell to the ground and laid there for a solid ten seconds, spread-eagle, wondering whether it was even worth it to get up.

Floyd stepped over his prone body and moved further into the room, so it was probably safe to try.

Slowly, he pushed himself up to sit once again, looking around, his hand cradling his still-pounding head.

This room was, somehow, even more opulent, with several aquariums dotted beneath the wall-to-wall bookcases, like they were mere accessories and not at all difficult or expensive to maintain. On the wall opposite the door, there was a giant, gold-plated vault, which just made him wonder about the value of the stuff inside the vault. Two plush-looking couches had been pressed against the wall, making room for a single folding chair in front of a large desk.

Azul Ashengrotto smiled at him behind the desk, one leg crossed over the other, leaning back in a rather expensive-looking office chair.

Kuroki would wonder why they had opted for a folding chair, especially considering the chairs in the Lounge were actually rather nice, but he wasn’t dumb.

Great. They were doing power plays.

As if just being Kuroki’s potential boss wasn’t enough.

“You’re late, but I’m sure that’s only due to my… associates,” said Azul.

Floyd threw himself over one of the couches, grinning. “He was on time, yeah,” he confirmed.

Jade chuckled. “Apologies, Azul, but we wished to size up our possible new hire.”

“I can see that,” he said, watching the puddle that was Kuroki struggle to his feet. “Make it up to me by being a dear and closing the door for me?”

Jade did so without complaint, and Kuroki tried not to flinch when he heard a lock click into place. It was probably just because they didn’t want anyone to barge in during the interviewing process. Probably. Hopefully.

Azul gestured for Kuroki to sit, and Kuroki did so, wondering whether the place would offer medical benefits, because someone had to pay for the heart attack these people were inevitably going to give him.

Azul set a thin folder on the desk, smiling. “I suppose that we should get right into it. So, you wish to become a staff member of this fine establishment, do you?”

“Yes. I’m –.”

“Kuroki Yuuya. He/him pronouns. One of three magicless residents of Ramshackle Dorm. Housewarden in name only. Most well-known for being involved in four major incidents on campus so far. Known friends include: ‘Ito’ Mor-al-es, Enma Yuuken, Grim, Ace Trappola, and Deuce Spade. Also well acquainted with Riddle Rosehearts, Trey Clover, and Cater Diamond. Am I correct so far?”

Kuroki nodded slowly.

Well. This was uncomfortable.

Azul smiled. He handed Kuroki the folder. It… was, honestly, closer to a mini conspiracy board than anything. A spread of notes in a curling kind of scrawl and a number of photos that Kuroki hadn’t noticed being taken. “Of course I am. However, that is all that I know for sure. There is very little information on you.”

Kuroki grimaced.

“In fact, there’s nothing on any of the residents of Ramshackle Dorm. No school records, no hospital records, unlisted countries of origin, no known families to speak of. Not even a single birth certificate among the four of you.”

Here it comes.

“You’re spies,” said Azul, grinning victoriously.

Kuroki stared at him for a moment.

And then he turned his face away, trying his damndest not to let on that he was struggling not to laugh. You shouldn’t laugh at your future employer, it was absolutely a terrible first impression to make when the person could potentially provide you your livelihood.

Unfortunately, if Azul’s mildly affronted look meant anything, he hadn’t hidden it well enough.

Finally, seeing that his attempts had been fruitless, Kuroki started snickering into his hand. “Spies,” he mumbled, more than a little incredulous. He tried to imagine Ito or Enma as spies. Ito, he could kind of see, they certainly had the social skills to pull it off, but Ito wouldn’t bother, they had found out Crowley was committing fraud and decided that they would only extort him for minor favors. As for Enma, he was far too earnest to do something like that, his strategy would probably be ‘tell people that he is a spy and then hope they laugh it off’.

Kuroki himself would run away screaming and then get shot in the head because he knew too much, of course.

And, beyond the hilarity of that ideal, it was also… interesting. If they had jumped to spies as their first explanation, the idea of dimension travel must be just as impossible here as it was back where they were from.

They were really stuck here.

But that was a problem for later, for now he had to deal with… whatever this was.

Azul, Jade, and Floyd were all looking at him. Azul looked, expectedly, affronted. Jade’s eyes were gleaming with curiosity. Floyd looked like he was going to laugh along with Kuroki, if only because Azul’s face was steadily reddening.

Kuroki wiped a tear from his eye, still grinning. “S-sorry – hahaha – sorry! I just. Am not a spy.”

“Then – then how do you explain it?” Azul asked, thrown.

Kuroki rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

Jade hummed. “You’ll find we’d believe quite a lot.”

“Yeah, and you shouldn’t be keeping secrets from your employers,” Floyd added, resting his head in his hand.

Kuroki gave them a flat look. “We’re from another dimension.”

It was silent for a solid minute.

“What.” said Floyd.

Kuroki shrugged. “I told you you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Well, if you insist on lying, of course we’re not going to believe you. At least lie believably,” said Azul, who had looped right back to being offended. He definitely thought Kuroki was saying that because he thought Azul was dumb. If only.

Kuroki sighed. “So, can I assume that I’m not getting the job?” There had to be a town or something nearby that he could find work in. Or maybe he could find odd jobs. Or he could do people’s homework for them, but that plan wouldn’t help in the short term, considering his lack of base knowledge about this world.

Or maybe he could just become a sugar baby to one of the millions of rich people on campus.

He grimaced. Maybe not that last one, if he could help it.

“Okayokayokay,” said Floyd, not answering in favor of pressing Kuroki on his ‘story’. He seemed torn between being annoyed and amused, which was decidedly the best reaction out of the three. “So, we’re supposed to assume that, somehow, you three nonmagical people managed to get into another world? How?”

Kuroki shrugged. “Honestly, if I knew more, I’d tell you.”

“Was there, like, a portal or something, and you three just happened to be there in time to walk through?”

Kuroki’s eyebrows furrowed. “No, nothing like that. We weren’t in the same place when we got taken here. I mean, we didn’t even know each other before any of this. Like, Ito was across the world from Enma and me.”

Jade snickered. “Then why are you assuming that you’re even from the same world at all?”

Kuroki opened his mouth, because obviously they were from the same world, nothing else made sense.

But then his mouth hung there. His head tipped forward to rest in his hands. Shit. They hadn’t even considered that. And, as a couple of random interactions began to flit past his mind, dumb things that Kuroki had brushed off, he began to realize just how obvious it was. Hell, Ito didn’t even get taken in the same way as Enma and Kuroki had!

Fuckfuckfuck.

“I have to admit, he’s quite the actor,” said Jade, giving Kuroki a contemplative look. “He truly does seem to be having a crisis.”

Kuroki couldn’t even bring himself to roll his eyes. It wasn’t like he would believe it if he wasn’t living it. Even while living it, he would be quicker to assume he was in a coma.

Shit, was he in a coma?

Hahahahahahaha oh god new paranoid thought unlocked.

But… no. He had dreams when he slept sometimes. Not important ones, just the kind of ‘oooooh your teeth fell out’ ‘oooooh you have to take a test and you forgot to study’ ‘no one even cares about you enough to hate you’ or ‘ooooh look at this fool he forgot his clothes’ dreams that everyone has from time to time. He was pretty sure you can’t dream while in a coma. That wouldn’t work. Right?

Right?

… he’d look it up in the library later.

“– could be beneficial to have that on our side,” Azul mused.

Dully, Kuroki noticed that he was somehow acing his interview while having a crisis. Multitasking king. He’s so talented.

He is going to have a full-on breakdown.

How could he have been so stupid?

“Or dangerous.”

Azul hummed consideringly. “I’m more worried about what would happen if we didn’t have him under our thumb.”

Floyd’s smile lessened. “He’s pretty anxious, though – or, at least, he pretends to be. That kind of person isn’t usually the most loyal when things go wrong. Are you sure you want this kind of shrimpy guy working for us, Azul?”

Azul opened his mouth to respond, but Kuroki snapped out of it at that moment.

“Shrimpy?” Kuroki said indignantly. “I’m average height where I’m from!”

Floyd laughed. “So, that’s what gets you. What, don’t like being called a shrimp, Koebi-chan? You’ve got the posture of one right now.”

Kuroki immediately straightened his back, his face flushing. “Can’t a man have a crisis in peace?”

“No,” said Jade, smiling ‘sweetly’.

“Well, at least you’re honest,” Kuroki muttered.

“What was that?” Floyd asked.

Kuroki grimaced. “Nothing! Sorry.”

“No. Genuinely. We’re hard of hearing.”

Kuroki blinked. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Azul waved him off. “It’s fine, just repeat yourself a little louder, please.”

“I was just saying… at least you’re honest about it, you know?” He cringed. Please don’t kill me.

“Honest…” repeated Jade, very much seeming like he was going to kill him regardless of Kuroki’s silent plea. He tilted his head to the side, weighing his options, and then crossed the room in three smooth steps, leaning in Kuroki’s face, taking his chin in his hand. “Look me in the eyes.”

“Uh…” said Kuroki. He tried to back off, but Jade’s grip was surprisingly strong. “I don’t really swing like that…”

Floyd cackled.

Jade sighed. “Not what I meant.”

Kuroki glanced at Floyd, wondering why he couldn’t be enjoying himself this much, and then looked Jade in the eyes. They sure were… eyes.

“Is something supposed to be happ –?”

“Shock the heart,” he said.

It sure did shock his heart. A jolt of electricity rushed through him, and he pressed his lips together to suppress the groan that threatened to leave him.

And, granted, Kuroki had never particularly liked looking people in the eyes, but that had never happened before.

“Are you a spy?” he asked.

“No, man. I already told you. I’m from another dimension.”

Kuroki blinked. He… hadn’t meant to say that so bluntly. He blushed and pressed further back in the chair, dislodging Jade’s grip surprisingly easily as he rushed to hide in his jacket. “Shit – I mean – oops. I – uh – I’m sorry,” he rushed to explain. “That came out ruder than I was intending.”

They paid little attention to his stammered apologies, looking between themselves with tiny frowns.

“Maybe he’s schizophrenic,” offered Floyd.

“Huh?!” Kuroki said, his voice nearly squeaking in its incredulity.

“This is the right age for that to develop, but he doesn’t have a flat affect,” Jade mused.

Kuroki threw his hands up. “I think I’d know if I had schizophrenia.”

“You wouldn’t, that’s one of the core traits of that mental illness,” Azul dismissed that idea, and successfully added one more paranoid thought to Kuroki’s arsenal. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay. You’re not a spy. Just probably delusional. That’s… good.”

Kuroki noted that they no longer thought he was lying, just delusional.

But he filed that under the rapidly growing folder labeled ‘Problems For Later’.

He gave Azul a tiny smile. “I’m not going to betray you. To be honest, you guys are terrifying.”

“Aw. Thank you!” said Floyd.

Kuroki shot him finger guns.

Azul considered him for a few moments more.

And then he sighed. “I suppose it’s worth it if I get a favor from our esteemed Headmage.”

Kuroki lit up. A stable income!

Jade leaned into his face once again, and Kuroki tipped so far back in his chair that it started to fall. ‘Thankfully’, Jade caught it.

“Our parents own a particular kind of organization. If you betray us, not only will we make your school life a living hell, but we will use our connections to make sure that, no matter where you run or hide, you cannot escape our wrath. Okay?”

“Understood,” Kuroki said, much less excited about the money than he had been before.

Jade smiled pleasantly and let go of the chair, allowing Kuroki to fall back onto the floor in a heap.

Kuroki swallowed thickly, pushing himself up for what felt like the millionth time that day. “Am I free to leave, then?”

“Of course. You start tomorrow, we’ll go over your contract then,” said Azul, smiling primly.

Kuroki lifted a hand in an awkward wave. “Okay. Bye.”

“Bye, Koebi-chan!” Floyd said gleefully. “See you tomorrow!”

Kuroki nodded jerkily, gritting his teeth to make sure he didn’t upset the mafia member by fighting back against the nickname, not even waiting for a dismissal from Jade before he fled.

Okay. Okay. That was a lot. Kuroki… needed a moment to collect his thoughts.

First, he was pretty sure he just joined the mafia. Or, at least, an extension of it, though that hardly made him feel better about it.

Plan of action: be as boring as possible and hope they lose interest.

Good plan! He was very boring and not at all prone to getting in trouble!

Next problem!

Second, Crowley now owed Azul and his cronies a debt.

Ha!

No plan needed, that was awesome.

Finally, and perhaps he had only included the other two to stall thinking about this one, he was from a different ‘Earth’ than Enma and Ito were.

Plan of action: ???

Should he tell them?

Probably, right?

That was the morally correct thing to do.

However, saying it aloud meant that he would have to genuinely confront it, and he didn’t want that.

But, then again, it was yet another reason to stay here, in this reality. With his friends. Maybe it would give them a reason to want to stay, too.

But what if it wasn’t enough?

What if he wasn’t enough?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he knocked shoulders with another student. Kuroki murmured an apology, still intent on speed-walking to Ramshackle to, at the very least, drown his sorrows in whatever Ito had made for dinner.

But a hand clamped around his wrist.

Kuroki jumped, looking over at a student. Yellow armband. Savanaclaw. Joy of joys. He was going to get his ass handed to him by someone in the dorm known for being full of muscle heads.

“Look where you’re fucking going,” the boy hissed.

Kuroki smiled nervously. “I’m sorry, I was thinking about… homework. I didn’t mean to.”

Savanaclaw dude, hereby named Meathead, scoffed. “Not even going to argue? Sevens, have some self-respect.”

“You… want me to fight you?” Kuroki asked, incredulous.

“It’s more fun that way, don’t you think?” Meathead said, grinning sharply.

“Uh, no, I prefer just not fighting at all.”

This only made Meathead more mad, unfortunately. And, as Kuroki tugged at his arm, panic rising in his throat, it sunk in that, for what was basically the first time since he’d been dropped into this world, he was very much alone. No Enma and Ito to hide behind, no Grim to spit fire at them, no one but himself. And ‘himself’ really wasn’t anything special.

‘Himself’ wasn’t really worth saving. Kuroki certainly wouldn’t put in the effort to save himself if it wasn’t so imperative for his own survival.

But it was, so here he was, debating the morality of lying about his religious status and pacifistic ways to get out of this.

Thankfully, before he could commit to that, he was saved:

“Knock it off,” a deep voice said.

Meathead froze, his grip loosening on Kuroki’s arm in his surprise, and then letting go entirely, his hands immediately coming up in a kind of ‘I wasn’t touching him!’ gesture.

Or, maybe, a ‘please don’t hurt me’ gesture. That would be rich, coming from Mr. Fight Back Or You’re Lame.

Kuroki followed his gaze to a tall man. Even under his uniform — perfectly fitted, and yet thrown on sloppily, his suit jacket hanging off one of his shoulders lazily — Kuroki could see that the guy was solid muscle. He had a nasty scar over one eye.

And that wasn’t even going into the quiet aura of power surrounding him. Unlike the one Jade had (and, by some extension, Floyd had it, too, though he was less concerned with hiding it), which was a quiet whisper of something off, something in the back of his mind whispering that he was a predator in disguise, this was more of a… result of the man’s attitude. He walked with the kind of ease that came from knowing you can beat anyone around you in a fight, knowing you’re the most powerful person in the room. Kuroki was pleasantly surprised to find that the glass wasn’t cracking beneath his feet with every languid step he took.

Nevermind. Meathead was right to not fight back. He’d lose so fast.

“Leona-san,” Meathead murmured, backing several more steps away from Kuroki, just to be safe.

Leona crossed his arms. “So, what, you move up a year, and suddenly you’re picking on freshmen?”

Meathead blushed. “It’s not like that at all! He bumped into me!”

“And?”

Meathead didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, but that was fine because Leona was no longer looking at him, anyway.

Their eyes met, and Kuroki shrunk back.

Leona took a step forward to make up for the new distance, and then another step seemingly just because. His nose twitched.

“Sevens, that’s a lot of anxiety,” Leona said.

“I’ve noticed,” Kuroki said, continuing to back away until he hit the glass.

Leona hummed, closing the distance easily. And then he got even closer, leaning down, until his nose was way too close to Kuroki’s neck. Kuroki wondered if he was going to tear his artery out with his teeth or something, because there was surely no good reason for this to be happening.

Leona drew back, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “You smell just like the other magicless student.”

Does he just make a habit of sniffing people?!

“We all use the same shampoo?” Kuroki offered meekly.

“Like dirt.”

“Huh?!” said Kuroki. He might have jerked back in surprise but, unfortunately, he had no room to.

“And, of course, there is no scent of magic on you,” Leona continued to drawl, as if he hadn’t killed Kuroki’s already low self-esteem in one fell swoop. He turned back to Meathead, whose eyes were widening, as if he was only just now seeing Kuroki for the first time. “He’s one of the ones who got here on the charity of the Headmage, who knows how he’d react if you lay a hand on him.”

Kuroki, privately, figured Crowley wouldn’t care, but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Leona gave a cheeky grin. “If you’re going to bat at mice, do it where people won’t see you, yeah?”

Kuroki did not like that he wasn’t outright saying not to harm him, but he’d take the win, honestly.

Leona threw up a hand in a lazy wave, though it was hard to tell who it was aimed at. “I have business to tend to, play nice.”

Kuroki watched him walk off towards the Mostro Lounge for just a few seconds before deciding that, actually, he wasn’t going to stick around to see whether Meathead would behave when Leona wasn’t there.

And, besides, he had a breakdown scheduled in about three minutes.

So, he turned tail and ran.

Ito and Enma were in the kitchen. Enma was manning the fire extinguisher in case the stove malfunctioned, and Ito was… well, cooking, obviously. It looked to be a stir fry of some sort.

Kuroki glanced back into the living room, making sure that Grim was still sleeping, content by the fireplace.

And then he sighed, closing the door behind himself.

Enma looked over at the sound and, upon seeing Kuroki’s face, grimaced. “Didn’t get the job?”

Kuroki hesitated.

“It’s fine, we’ll figure it out,” Ito promised, not looking up like all good cooks should. “I’ll see if I can get more money out of Crowley.”

“Honestly, it’s probably best this way, someone has to watch over Grim,” said Enma.

“And we can always budget. Lord knows that monster needs his tuna can funds cut.”

Kuroki’s face flushed. It was much harder to lie to them when they were being nice to him…

“I got the job,” he started, chewing on his bottom lip nervously.

Enma and Ito stopped trying to make him feel better, because they no longer knew what they were supposed to be helping him with.

Enma’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then…?”

Okay, no going back.

He took a deep breath. “What do you guys know about Disney?”

Ito and Enma looked at each other, confused. Ito quietly moved the pan to another burner and flicked the knob to turn off the stove. “What’s a Disney?”

Kuroki cringed and looked at Enma, who only shrugged.

He sighed. “Okay. We’re from alternate universes.”

Enma and Ito went very still.

“How… why do you think that?” Ito asked, their grip on their wooden spoon tight.

Kuroki leaned against the door, sighing. “Enma. What’s that one thing you keep quoting? Something about aiming for the head?”

“It’s a musical in English, I wouldn’t expect either of you guys to know it,” he argued.

Kuroki hummed. “And, Ito, how did you know you liked Coke?”

Ito frowned. “It’s… it’s Coke.”

��Something you recognize from your world,” Kuroki said. “But I don't. Enma?”

Enma cringed. “No. But that doesn’t mean anything. Ito is from Mexico, we’re not, it could totally be a different brand in Japan — or just under a different name.”

Kuroki shrugged. “Which is why I brought up Disney. Where I’m from, there’s something called Disney, Japan. It’s a pretty big deal. There’s also, like, ten Disney things in America, so Ito I think you should know the name, too.”

The silence was deafening.

(For now, Kuroki chose to leave out that this entire world was seemingly based around the Disney stories. The alternate reality stuff in itself was already a lot to take in, and he wasn’t completely sure about that one quite yet, anyway. From what he could tell, the Great Seven weren’t at all what he remembered being told about the characters they resembled, as — despite his general lack of knowledge about most things Disney — he was pretty sure they were supposed to be villains, not paragons.)

So, quietly, they took it all in.

Even if Crowley managed to find out how to send them back to their original worlds, they wouldn’t be together.

There was no winning.

#yuu can do it #twst #twisted wonderland #twst fanfic #twisted wonderland fanfic #kuroki yuuya #enma yuuken #yuu twst #twst yuu #grim twst #twst grim #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #octavinelle #leona kingscholar

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asexual-juliet · 10 months ago

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we are not free. but we are not alone. one song for each We Are Not Free Character

playlist notes under the cut

I. Minnow Ito - Everything Stays - Adventure Time Everything stays, right where you've left it / Everything stays, but it still changes / Ever so slightly, daily and nightly / In little ways, when everything stays The fact that both of Minnow’s chapters take place in San Francisco and bookend the novel make this the perfect choice for him as he reflects on how Japantown has both changed yet stayed the same as the city of his childhood

II. Shig Ito - Little League - Conan Gray And when we were younger / We wore our hearts right on our sleeves / Why did we ever have to leave? / Little league Shig’s chapter is basically him reflecting on his childhood in Japantown as he prepares to leave it and I think this song is perfect for that! There’s also the line “Do you remember days on our old block?/ Messin' with our neighbors who called the cops” which is SO Shig&Twitchy-core… them and their shenanigans!!

III. Yum-yum Oishi - You Are Loved - Defiance, Ohio And as the story unfolds over time / Things we once knew, they do dissolve into the sky / She swears she sees a brand new constellation / Every time somebody we know dies I love the bit in Yum-yum’s chapter where Tommy and Minnow are making up constellations and I have always associated Yum-yum with astral imagery because of it! I think this song really speaks to her unsurety about the future and I love the line “the radio plays a familiar song,” because Yumyum’s chapter is also where we get the first reference to Mas’ Silvertone radio!

IV. Bette Nakano - Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying - Sabrina Carpenter 'Cause I'm young and I'm dumb / I do stupid things when it comes to love / And even if I always end up crying / No, you can't blame a girl for trying I feel like I don’t even have to explain this one like this encapsulates Bette’s vibe EXACTLY!!! She would be such a teen pop girlie <3

V. Frankie Fujita - Amy aka Spent Gladiator 1 - The Mountain Goats Play with matches if you think you need to play with matches / Seek out the hidden places where the fire burns hot and bright / Find where the heat's unbearable and stay there if you have to / Don't hurt anybody on your way up to the light Thinking about this song as a Frankie song makes me FERAL!! something about the fire in this verse as a metaphor for his anger, him knowing he needs to do whatever he can to make sure he doesn’t hurt anybody with that anger… the first line of this song is “Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive”...yeah. i luv you frankie fujita <3

VI. Stan Katsumoto - Once More with Feeling - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Don't let the people make you think / That just because you're young you're useless / You know it's not naive to think that you can change the things around / And that no man is an island This is mostly in reference to Stan wanting to go to college to be a lawyer for the ACLU which is a piece of his character that I absolutely LOVE!!

VII. Aiko Harano - Warrior Girl - Nicole Visco Warrior Girl only goes to where she wants to / Warrior Girl maybe has a heavy sword / Warrior Girl has no idea where she jumps to / But she jumps to where she wants to / And she's never ever bored This is absolutely Aiko’s song!!! She is a scrappy little warrior girl and I adore her for it!! There is also a refrain in this song about “maybe someday / there'll be some way I could get to roam free” which. yeah. I love you Aiko <3

VIII. Yuki Nakano - Crazy Dreams - Carrie Underwood Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers / Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players / Here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms / There's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you / Thank God even crazy dreams come true This just reminds me a lot of Yuki’s dream of playing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League!! especially because there’s a part of the song that says “Never let a bad day be enough / To go and talk you into giving up” which reminds me so much of Yuki’s chapter!!

IX. Mary Katsumoto - Something About Lemons - Chumped And every day, I grow a little more resentful / Of the choices that I did or didn't make / Wanted this to feel a little more eventful / Every day that I'm awake just feels the same This is SO Mary!! especially the line about being resentful of the choices that she didn’t (get to) make… like that’s literally the plot of her chapter.

X. Kiyoshi Tani - Lion’s Teeth - The Mountain Goats And my arms get sore / And my palms start to sweat / And the tears roll down my face / Till my cheeks are hot and red and soaking wet John Darnielle called this song a “revenge fantasy” about standing up to his abusive stepfather and I think that Kiyoshi deserves that kind of catharsis.

XI. Mas Ito - human - Christina Perri But I'm only human / And I bleed when I fall down / I'm only human / And I crash and I break down Song about pretending to be strong and fake a smile and force a laugh until you literally can’t anymore and it fucking destroys you… hello Mas Ito!!

XII. Keiko Kimura - Who Knew - P!nk That last kiss, I'll cherish until we meet again / And time makes it harder, I wish I could remember / But I keep your memory, you visit me in my sleep / My darling, who knew? Fucked up behavior of me to choose this for Keiko but yeah it’s about Twitchy. Feels self-explanatory.

XIII. Twitchy Hashimoto - Brother - Kodaline We've taken different paths / And traveled different roads / I know we'll always end up on the same one when we're old / And when you're in the trenches / And you're under fire, I will cover you Very much chosen with the Twitchy&Shig dynamic in mind but also because Twitchy literally refers to the other characters as his “siblings back in Topaz”... and something about the line about “we were… the kings and queens” combined with the motif of royalty surrounding Twitchy & his relationship with Keiko (“company of kings,” Aiko’s thought about Twitchy treating Keiko like a “queen,” Keiko’s comparing Twitchy to a prince, the Cinderella motifs in Keiko’s chapter…. yeah) and ofc the reference to trench warfare… this is his fucking song.

XIV. Tommy Harano - Landslide - Fleetwood Mac Well, I've been afraid of changin' / 'Cause I've built my life around you / But time makes you bolder / Even children get older / And I'm getting older too something about Tommy finally making the decision to leave his parents behind… he’s built his life around a family that doesn’t treat him right but time has made him bolder as he’s grown up. and like. the references to snow in both the book and the song are beautiful and aplenty but i don’t have the time to unpack that.

XV. All Of Us - Disposable Youth - No-No Boy Disposable you / Disposable me / Disposable hearts / Indestructible teens Off an album named for the year the Japanese American incarceration of World War II began, this is songwriter Julian Saporiti’s “imagining of what it would have been like to be ever experience a Memorial Day bbq with people who looked like me” and has a very similar vibe to the scene at Tanforan where they celebrate of the infield after the Americans defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. somethin’ bout teenagers getting to be wild and loving and free <3

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