puppycrush2 | week one

[ HANDS PRESSED TO HER HEAD ]

Ghhhh... Anna! Cut it out!

[ she's right!!!!!!! ]

Hahaha! Oh, you're a hoot, Mii-chan!

[ a gentle pat. ]

Sorry. I want you to find the love you deserve too. Someone that makes you feel safe enough to be as embarrassing and stupid as you wanna be. Someone you can take a bit of teasing from, 'cause you'll fire right back. Someone... who'll always be there with an umbrella, no matter how many rainy days you have.

[ a little wistful. that's a nice image. ]

You deserve that much, don't you think?

I...

[ It's my fault my mom died. I killed the class president and my teacher. I tried to make someone into a weapon. If I can't get the War Devil out of my head, it'll happen again and again. And you'd be her first target, all because I was selfish enough to believe you.

The blush fades from her cheeks, replaced by a sudden paleness. She feels sick for an entirely different reason than anything truth booth-related. ]

No. I don't. [ It was nice while it lasted. ] Anna... starting next week, I need you to stay away from me.

[ ...? ]

Why? What's wrong? Did I go too far or something?

I...

[ Say yes. It's the easiest way to make her hate you.

She can't bring herself to look at Anna's face. ]

I can't tell you why. But if you hang around me too long, you'll end up [ dead ] hurt. I don't want that.

[ ...

it's

not like nukumizu, is it...? it's just as vague, something that she can't be told -- something anna doesn't care about, not in the way that she doesn't care for her friend but it just doesn't matter to her -- but it's still. ]

... Seriously? But you can't even tell me why? Even if I didn't care, at least that useless Nukumizu-kun told me...

[ she can't even look at anna though. just like him. anna presses her lips together, frustrated. ]

Fine. But you didn't need to use some dumb excuse if I was just a bother... Mitaka-chan.

[ Hearing Anna's words makes her want to take it all back, but she can't. Even now... she's still trying to make it easier on herself, like the selfish, horrible person she is. Why can't she be selfless for once? Cut the cord with one clean slice. Don't let it tear apart slowly.

Asa lifts her head with a disdainful laugh. Looking at her expression, you'd never guess she was doing her best to hold back tears. ]

You know what? You're right. This whole time, you've done nothing but annoy me. I thought you'd realize by now, but I guess you can't take a hint.

[ she flinches a little, looking lost for a moment before it turns cooler.

fine. fine. it's not like she doesn't have other friends, it's not like mii-chan... mitaka's... ]

Guess I can't. I'm pretty bad at it, honestly. But I got it now, so don't worry. I won't bother you anymore.

[ and anna doesn't

want mitaka to see her face after that, so she's moving off. festivities are pretty done anyway; she has someone to wait for. ]

[ It's a good thing Anna is leaving, so she can just sit here and bury her head in her knees forever. ]

[When things have calmed the fuck down and most people have left he does do as he said he would and get some cake. Curious that weirdo girl is just sitting there. And she's looking remarkably depressed.

Color him curious.]

The hell is wrong with you?

[The nice boy act is circling the drain.]

[ She doesn't know how much time has passed since Anna left, and she doesn't care. Without even lifting her head, she snaps back: ]

I'm not in the mood right now. So whatever you're thinking, just go ahead and say it.

[He wasn’t even here for the friend breakup. Chill out.

He does take a bite of cake before answering.]

Just wondering why you’re out here being depressing. I thought people were all excited about the match.

Good for them.

[ Hearing her own voice in her ears, Asa winces at how bitter she sounds. But if she stays quiet now, he'll think it's something to do with Ryuji and Wednesday... so, even though it's the last thing she wants to do, she mutters an explanation into her knees. ]

I told Anna to stay away from me. [ Which, if he knows anything about Anna, he can imagine how that went. She looks up just enough to see who she's talking to, and... oh, great. As if she didn't make an awkward enough first impression on him, here comes the even worse second one. ] I said she was annoying, and that... I didn't want to be around her anymore.

[ Want had nothing to do with it. But when Anna asked her what she deserved, she realized the answer was this: to be alone, where she can't hurt anyone. ]

[Heh.]

That was a wise choice. She is annoying.

[He takes a seat beside her but with a respectable amount of distance.]

People like her who live with their heads in the clouds will eventually learn the hard way. She may learn that very lesson here.

[He drags another piece of cake off his fork, considering his depressing sofa company.]

Why the sudden choice to tell her to back off?

[ She's annoying, Akechi says, and Asa stiffens, missing Yoru for all the wrong reasons. To an outsider, they're saying the exact same thing: the one, important difference is that she knows he means it. Bastard (bastard).

She pulls her knees in tighter and rests on her chin on top, trying to disguise her anger as leftover tension from the earlier argument. ]

Yeah... she's always talking about love like it means something. Like it matters. Can you believe people actually think like that?

[ Maybe her real mistake was putting aside her own cynicism just because someone showed her the slightest kindness. Akechi's right about one thing — having hope only opens you up to future disappointment. ] When she started bugging me about my preferences, that was the last straw. It's one thing listening to her blab on and on about her boyfriend, but don't bring me into it.

[ The cruelty comes easy. All she has to do is pretend Anna is someone like her: selfish, jealous, fake. ]

[He laughs and it is a mocking and unkind thing. Friendship. Teammates. Love. God, it makes him sick. It still does. That little span of time in January. It didn’t mean anything. All those people who hated him and he hated in turn…

Stupid. All of it.]

We’re in a house full of people who think like that. Tsk… A girl like that should worry about herself before sticking her nose into other people’s business.

[But it’s nice to hear that someone feels the same. That he’s not alone in this circus tent.]

This match was the worst thing that could have happened. Now she’ll think she’s good at this.

[Insufferable. She’s so insufferable.]

True justice would be her not matching with Will.

[That would be hilarious. Couldn’t use your woman’s intuition to prevent that failure, huh?]

I don't know about justice... but I do think she shouldn't get her hopes up.

[ Except she means it from a place of kindness... mostly. The more twisted-up part of her bristles at the idea of watching others find the sort of happiness she never will, takes more joy in watching failure than success, but she didn't want to live like that anymore. She wanted to at least be able to say she meant well, that her heart was in the right place, even if it didn't change the outcome.

Turns out being a good person is really fucking hard sometimes. ]

Whatever. It's not my problem anymore. With the way she reacted, I doubt we'll ever talk to each other again. [ lmao bet ]

[Yeah, never talk to each other again. For. Sure.]

I think you're better off.

[He can't really get the vibe of her and if she's actually content with her decision or depressed... He can't say that he cares too much but this has been a cathartic way to bad talk one of the most obnoxious people he's come across. Not the most though that person is here too.

But he's not particularly interested in small talk and she clearly isn't up for it either so...]

Good luck out here, I guess... And really... There's no person alive that's worth whatever it is you're sulking over even if it is by your own choice. Shit like this is always for the best. The only person you can depend on is yourself.

[ The only person you can depend on is yourself. She snorts a little. ]

You don't have to tell me. [ And what if you can't even depend on that? What if the person in the mirror isn't you anymore, but your worst nightmare? What then? ] I'm done pretending to care about anything except the wish. Even if that's probably fake too... I just want this to be over with.

[ A month seemed like such a short time going into this. Now, it might as well be an eternity. ]

week one | overflow

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