Chapter Text
She had came today too.
Rui slowly got out of his bed. He looked at the calendar on the wall, and sighed.
He was tired. He had gotten enough sleep, it was not the point.
998 nights in a row, that girl had never broken her streak.
It was her, the point.
"Again? That means that in three days, it'll be the 1000th time she visits you. Be careful, you could get, like, a special event", Nene had commented the day before.
The purple-haired boy took his red pen, and crossed today's box. Two years, eight months, and twenty-three days.
A sigh, again.
It was Saturday, so no school, and no practice. Tsukasa had catched a cold... how surprising. He was always outside without coat.
So, Rui decided to go to the SEKAI, where he found...
"...What are you guys doing?", he asked. His voice was mostly confused, but also... slightly amused?
"Tsukasa had promised Miku he'd make a show with her, but since he's sick, I'm replacing him!", Emu announced.
She seemed happy as she spun around. But she kept quiet for a few seconds, her smile slowly faded, and she asked:
"Is something wrong?"
Rui chuckled a bit, and shook his head.
"Ehe, thanks for the concern. I have just something bothering me about Robo-Nene's battery."
He was lying, and he knew he wouldn't fool anyone with that poor excuse. Especially not Otori Emu.
"Rui, are you- EHHH!?" the short girl yelled.
Her director and friend had already left. Miku was starting to worry, she couldn't run after him. She knew he wanted to be alone.
So Emu just looked at Rui while he was walking away. They were both sad.
Rui was such a sad person.
The inventor sat on a bench. The plushies did not dare talk to him. They knew it was a bad day. He was not in the right mood.
"Are you okay?"
Rui, who had taken his face in his hands, looked up. KAITO was standing in front of him.
"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But Emu looked sad after talking to you, so I was wondering if something was the matter", he explained. "May I?"
Rui nodded silently, and the blue-haired VIRTUAL SINGER sat next to him.
"I know it isn't Robo-Nene, and Emu knows it too. Is it that one pink-haired girl again?
The purple-haired boy nodded again, not looking at KAITO. It had been almost three years. The "girl of his dreams" was starting to be well-known in the SEKAI.
"It's been so long! Why do I only dream of her? I don't even know her name!" Rui finally exploded. "At this point, I just want her to go away!"
"Didn't your therapist tell you it's just a coping mechanism?", his friend softly asked.
"A coping mechanism? Dreaming of the same girl for three years? The only thing she helps me coping with is insomnia! Yeah, you can be sure I've never slept that well from that fucking day!"
Rui took a deep breath and whispered:
"Sorry. It's just... it's been so long. Two years..."
"It's okay, Rui." KAITO smiled.
He hated that. The purple-haired boy hated this smile. He knew the pity. He was seeing it every day.
Every single day.
Everyone had been pitying him for two years, eight months and twenty-three days.
That damn day.
————— ♪
His heart sinking.
"I was just kidding, don't get that upset. I know Tenma is a real boy."
A chuckle.
"Not like you, huh?"
Orange eyes staring at him.
"Oh, wait? Do not tell me... he didn't know?"
His world falling apart.
"Tenma, you didn't know Kamishiro's real name is Mщð*#§¿
————— ♭
"May I enter?"
"Not now, Mom! Wait a second!" Rui yelled.
He quickly grabbed a random long-sleeved pullover and put it.
"You can!"
The door of Rui's room opened, and his mother entered. It was a middle-aged yet beautiful woman, with purple eyes and hair.
Her eyes were of a pure, light purple, as if they were made of a crystal.
And right now, her amethyst eyes were piercing his soul.
"No need to hide, I know you did it again", she announced.
Kamishiro Kyouko always kept a soft voice, but Rui knew her enough to know she was irritated. Irritated and anguished.
"Sorry", he mumbled.
He wasn't really sorry.
He wouldn't stop just because his mother asked.
"Show me your arms. I don't want you to get a illness because of... these", Kyouko asked.
Rui was feeling a bit sorry for his mother. She didn't deserve this, and she didn't know how to cope with it.
The amethyst eyes woman was a peaceful woman. She hated conflicts and her child's scars.
"Sorry", he repeated, his voice dull.
"It's okay. Just... try to talk about it with your therapist, okay? I'm scared for you."
Kyouko smiled sadly.
Rui and she were both sad people.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to take you disinfectant", she continued.
His son nodded, and she walked back to the door.
"It'll be okay, okay?" she asked before leaving the room. "Look at me, it'll be okay. Okay, Mπµ¥¢±¶
————— ♪
"Rui? Rui, where are you? Rui!"
Tsukasa was running towards him. He seemed anguished. More than anguished.
Tsukasa was... crying?
"Oh, thanks God, you're here... I've looked for you in the whole school." More hesitantly, the blonde added: "Are you okay?"
Rui tried to inhale and speak.
But oxygen... entered his mouth, and left it without going into his lungs.
He was suffocating.
"Oh, no, no, no, no..."
The noises were blurry and his head aching.
Mж¥§¢†$
M÷@²♀ƒ»
M΅ºþĺijª
Mθβςƒ\
The name.
The real name.
The deadname.
There we were! Rui would die in this corridor. He couldn't brKeathe, coulKamn't thinbreathek, heit'll be okay was about to die.
He just breathe Rui, you'll be okay, I promise!
"Go the fuck away! Let him breathe, for God's sake!"
"Rui, take deep breathes. You're making a panic attack."
Slowly, things became less blurry, and Rui could recognize some people around him.
There were three people around him.
Nene, who was repeating "just breathe, it'll be okay".
Tsukasa, surprisingly silent, looking terrified.
And... a stranger.
This guy looked his age, maybe a little younger. His ginger hair completely messy, he was screaming at a crowd.
A crowd?
Suddenly, Rui realized. There were dozens of students looking at them.
"Ena, be useful and take Tenma somewhere else!", the ginger yelled.
A brown-haired girl made her way out of the crowd and roughly said:
"Excuse me, who told you what happened?"
She quickly continued, way more kindly, to Tsukasa:
"Come on, Tenma. You both are... Sorry."
She seemed regretful, and Rui knew why. A sad look on her face, she took Tsukasa's arm to make him go farther.
"What are you all looking at?" The ginger was more irritated every time he yelled at anyone. "Showtime's over!"
Nene suddenly looked at the unknown guy.
"I know something against panic attacks. We have to massage the vagus nerve. Let me do it, Shinonome."
She looked at the people around them. She hated being looked at.
But a look of the one Nene named Shinonome and most of students started walking away.
And in fact, it worked. Rui's head ached less and air finally got to his lungs.
"You're doing good", Shinonome smiled a bit, then looked serious again. "I'm Shinonome Akito — nice to meet you. I know what happened, and, uh... You'll be okay."
Rui kept quiet for a second.
Then he realized he was on the floor.
Then he got up — slowly got up.
Then he answered.
"You don't have to act as if I wasn't disgusting you."
———— ♭