Ame
present
Zoldyck and I's relationship is new. It's a week old, in its beginning stage. Friendships in the beginning stages are one of two things. They can be soft, mild introductions that grow into something stronger over time. I call that type I. Then, friendships can be immediate, fresh, something all-consuming, the types of friendships that can fizzle out without warning. Those are type II.
Watching Zold walk away, so much fervor behind each step I actually start to question whether he really did want an ally at all. I also question what happened in his life that he could be so repulsed by an act of consideration.
"Mu!" My head spins. It's after hours. The sun's going to set soon. Campus is usually close to empty by now. So what I never expected to see would be Kenji running after Mu as they walk with their fists clenched and a tear running down their cheek. "Mu! Stop running away from me!"
"I'm not," they bite. Kenji runs till she's in front of Mu, blocking their path.
"Mushi–"
"Don't 'Mushi' me." Mu scowls down at her, brows knitted, nose scrunched, a kind of anger unakin to them. Kenji wrestles with her next breath, frustrated.
"I don't understand what I did," she says, tearing at her own hair.
Mu scoffs. "You know exactly what you did."
"Mu, he doesn't mean it," she says like she's pleading. "He just gets anxious and thinks he has to show off in front of his friends–"
"Oh really? Oh my god, that just makes everything so much better!" Mu's tone is laced with sarcasm. They toss their head back feigning a laugh of relief. "The next time someone calls me slurs and asks if I have a dick, I'll just chuck it up to anxiety."
That single tear on their cheek is dry. Now, something else takes its place, an ugly redness, a forceful sort of tone that doesn't fit our friend at all.
Kenji puts her hand to her heart, guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry he said all that, I'll talk to him–"
"Oh shut up, Kenji," Mu tries to walk past her. I walk over to them both. "As if you aren't going to back down the second he gives you a shred of affection."
"Hey!" I stop them this time. "What's going on?" Because whatever happened, it's not an excuse for Mu to treat Kenji this way. This isn't how we deal with things, not since we were babies.
"Dai–" Kenji begins, trying to word it sensitively, "Dai said mean things."
I make a noise, an okay so? kind of noise. "Dai always says mean things."
Mu laughs, barely making eye contact with me. "I'll add normalizing being an asshole to the list of excuses."
"People say that stuff about us all the time, Mu!" Kenji yells. Her hair is frazzled. Her expression is tired and sad and angry. This fight's been going on for a long time. It probably started weeks ago. I just wasn't there to mediate it because I've been so focused on everything in my life but them. "They say it to our faces, in school, online– people have been calling me fat and you a faggot since we were kids and you never cared so why are you tearing me down over this now?"
Mu turns away, their teeth working on their jaw. The sun doesn't shine on them. They're caught in the shadow of building 33. The two of them probably came from main campus, Mu running away, in any direction at all to try and find me. Dai and Kenji have been dating for a few months now. I've told you, he's kind to her as far as I've seen even if he's a piece of work with everyone else. She mellows him, brings him a sense of decency. She is right about one thing– Dai does act differently in front of his friends, in front of that pack of wolves. None of them have quirks powerful enough for the hero course so they take it out on others. They've been taking it out on me since the start of the year (until I got bigger and Kaido did that thing in the mall at least). Dai is exactly the kind of person that would call Mu those things and ask those questions just to get to them. Kenji, I think, is starting to remember that Mu isn't as strong as they always act. Sometimes, their pain, the ones inflicted by others' cruelty, isn't something they can bear to show.
