A Castle in the Trees (Saiouma Fantasy AU) (HIATUS)

9

listen to I'm In Love With a Creeper by Danny Gonzalez ft. Kurtis Conner rn it fucking slaps also watch Marble Hornets lol anyways here's a chapter 

consistent updates? actually good writing? what's that?

"Meet me at the lake during sunset later. I have something for you."

Shuichi read over the words scribbled down on the scrap of parchment Kokichi had given him over and over again, trying to comprehend what he could possibly mean. He had a habit of overthinking things, and this was one of those times, where the simplest thing got the gears in his head painstakingly turning and he spent hours hung up on one concept. 

It was just so difficult to fathom the idea of someone giving him something. For no reason. 

During holidays, everyone was generally feeling more relaxed. He was allowed extra time off and even given small presents from time to time, like new clothing, extra food, or the odd object here and there. But even then, it was rare, as during festivities most of them had to work double time to get everything done and it was neccesary to have all hands on deck.

So the thought that Kokichi had a gift for him waiting at the lake, something unprompted and, as he felt, undeserved, was just alien to him. 

Then again, a few months ago, he never thought he'd even get to talk to the prince. And here they were being best friends, although he still had his doubts.

He sighed, folding it neatly and tucking it into his pocket for later. The first logical suggestion he had raised himself in his head so far was that it was something more to treat his foot, still mangled and burned. It had been about a month since that thing had attacked. He had healed a considerable amount, although he would likely have scars forever. It still proved difficult to walk on.

 He had stayed well away from the furnace since then, never even looking its way for fear that the thing's face, angered with what he had done to it, would be staring back at him. 

Kokichi had sloppily changed out the dressing for him regularly, something that made him incredibly anxious considering seeing a high-quality bandage wrapped around his wound when usually all they had to work with was torn strips of linen could certainly raise questions. But nobody batted an eye towards him, as per usual, so everything bad been fine so far. 

He still constantly feared exposure, knowing what would happen to him- and worse, Kokichi- if anyone found out. Kokichi was someone he cared about, he couldn't deny that. And he really did enjoy his time with him, although he could be a bit tiresome. He didn't want it to end, but he knew that everything crashing down was just a slip-up away and he would be exiled, or worse, publicly killed as a demonstration of what happened to rule-breakers.

He tried to push away the unpleasant thought to little avail, as that one worry constantly lived in the back of his mind, an unforunate side effect of a simple friendship between the two that really shouldn't have meant much. His thoughts controlled him more than he controlled them, anyways.

The scrap of paper had shown up that morning in a bucket of peaches he had picked. He truly had no idea how Kokichi had managed to get it there in the few minutes he had been preoccupied with something else without him spotting him.

Well, I can ask him when I meet him later. He was a bit nervous about finding his way to the lake. Kokichi had taken him there quite a few times to heal his foot, always in mid-afternoon to keep them away from the creatures in the lake, and it had admittedly been quite therapeutic for him. Not only did it soothe his foot, but it was nice to sit on the shore with just him and Kokichi and enjoy each other's company, far away from either of their worries.