Shuichi took a bite out of his peach, staring off towards the dreamy and picturesque view of the Oma Castle. The marble towers extended upwards great heights, almost touching the clouds as they drifted in the sky.
He was taking a break from harvesting peaches for a pie to eat one of his own, sitting on the ground with his back against the trunk of the tree. It wasn't all the way ripe yet, thus being a bit harder than the good ones reserved purely for cooking, but it was still a nice treat. He tried to be careful about eating out of the garden, not wanting to get in trouble, but he took what he could every now and then.
It was yet another hot and sluggish day. Wake up, eat, work, eat again if he had time, more work, take a bath if he could, eat again if he hadn't had lunch that day, go to sleep, repeat. It was all so repetitive. Honestly, that combined with the heat gave everything a slow and trancelike pace.
Although the winter months that would ensue after were harsh, he looked forward to fall. The weather would cool down and the leaves would start to change, leaving the surrounding forest in several beautiful shades of orange and red and brown. For now, he had to withstand the heat.
"Ne-hehe! You can't catch meeee!"
"Well, obviously I cannot, not in these shoes!"
Two familiar voices came from the direction of his castle and he focused his attention there, seeing Kokichi and Celestia running away from the building, Celeste giving chase to her grinning brother with an irritated expression on her face.
He froze, unable to look away but not wanting to look towards them. He didn't know if he should get up and move, or go back to working, or just pretend he didn't see them. Eventually, he decided on what he thought would be the most reasonable option, which was to duck behind the tree in a panic and hide. He silently hoped that they hadn't seen him, peeking around the side of the trunk just subtly enough that they didn't see him.
However, just his luck, they had. Kokichi halted his sister and looked towards the tree curiously. "Hey, did you see him?" He questioned.
"Who?" She asked.
"The guy that was over there." He pointed towards the tree, trying to crane his neck around it to see if Shuichi was still there.
"The one who just ran behind the tree as soon as he saw us?"
"Yeah, him."
"What about him?" She asked. "He is probably another worker. Leave him be."
"I've been seeing him around a lot lately. I think he's our age. I should go talk to him!" He said decidedly.
Celeste sighed. "Kokichi, you know better than any of us that we are not allowed to interact with them. We would get in huge trouble, and put him at even more risk. It is better if we let him be."
"I'm in hot water already anyways, so why is it such a big deal? Besides, I never said you had to come along. You're boring anyways." This was a line of reasoning Kokichi stuck to frustratingly frequently- if you were already in trouble, what's a bit more? Yet another annoyance his sister had to deal with when trying to keep him safe.
"Doing so would raise your 'hot water' status, as you put it, to scalding, boiling, lava-hot. I'm telling you, we are to stay away from him." He said sternly. He scoffed.
"Just because you're jealous that some guy I don't even know is more interesting than you doesn't mean you get to dictate who I'm friends with." He teased. "I'm going to talk to him, and you can't stop me." He started towards the tree with determined footsteps and his hands on his hips, fueled halfway out of a will to see what exactly Shuichi's deal was and halfway by a will to defy his sister.
She grabbed his arm firmly, and when he shot around to glare at her, she returned it with just as much intensity. "Kokichi. I am warning you. Do not."
He tried to shake off her grip, but she was a lot stronger than he presumed. "What's stopping me? I'll just sneak away from you and find him some other time." He asked.
"I will put itching powder in your sheets and clothes. Don't bother saying you're going to lock the doors, because you know very well I will find my way in. I will also tell Father and Mother that you were the one who released that barrel of Bog Pixies into the dining hall." She threatened. He released a prolonged sigh.
"Fine. I won't talk to him." He grumbled. She nodded, finally releasing his arm.
"That's what I thought."
The two of them turned and walked away, Kokichi still pouting from the previous ordeal, Celeste completely unfazed. She was almost completely used to his antics at this point.
Shuichi watched as the two of them walked away, squashing down the urge to chase them and say hello. It wouldn't be so bad, would it? Just a quick greeting, and then run past- I could pretend I was doing work. No one would see, and I don't know if they would mind. No, I can't. He shook away the thought. He hadn't been able to hear any of their conversation due to how far he was, he had simply watched and waited for them to walk away so he could come out.
He took a few steps out from behind the tree, taking a shaky breath and trying to regain the train of thought he had been in before they had even showed up.
However, before he could return to what he was doing, someone stepped in front of him, glaring down at him with enough pure hatred to rival a Demon. He froze, looking up to greet the figure, suddenly finding it difficult to do, well, anything.
It was Kokichi and Celeste's aunt, standing in front of him and looking quite disapproving. And that is an incredible understatement.
"What are you doing here?" She spat. He swallowed, blinking a few times and trying to make his fear of her go away. It most certainly did not. He feared mostly everyone in his life, really, besides Kirumi. Everyone else was either terrifying or just so unfamiliar that he didn't even know where to begin with them. That, or he just didn't bother, because he knew they didn't care for him in the least.
"I-I'm picking peaches." He mumbled quietly. His hand wouldn't stop shaking, and it was very annoying.
"Oh? Really? Is that what you were doing? Because it looks to me like you were standing behind a tree, stalking the royal children, and trying to trick them into thinking they had any business whatsoever with you." She said, her voice dangerously low. To this, he had no response. Was he tricking them? He didn't even know what he was doing, but if he was pulling some sort of trick, he genuinely didn't know how he was doing it, and desired very much for her to explain.
"I-I wasn't stalking them... I was just-"
She suddenly grabbed him by his collar, tightening her hand around his shirt to the point where it was making it difficult to breathe. He let out a strangled squeak of terror, staring up at her. She responded with nothing but rage.
"Listen to me, you dirty little insect. You are not to look their way, not to talk to them, not to even breathe in their general vicinity. Take this as a warning for what will happen to you if you do. If I find that you have broken this rule, you will be punished severely. Do you understand? Nod your head if you understand." She growled. He nodded hastily.
She let go of his neck and he gratefully took in several ragged breaths, trying to be quiet as not to aggravate her further while also trying to make up for the time in which he was unable to breathe.
"Get back to work. In the time you've wasted breaking rules, you've most likely been unable to make yourself useful whatsoever. Keep in mind how expendable you are." With that, she turned and walked away.
He slunk against the tree, placing the hand over the spot on his neck. He could tell he would probably have a bruise there tomorrow. That was something he hated about himself- his skin was so fragile. Although it stayed the delicate white of fine china come heat or cold, it bruised so easily. He would have to brew him some tea later to alleviate his sore throat.
Once his breathing evened out, he tried to digest what had just happened. Although he had received stern lectures from time to time, no one around the castle had ever tried to hurt him before. He had no idea how to fight back
You are not to look their way, not to talk to them, not to even breathe in their general vicinity. He repeated the words in his head numbly, trying to make them more apparent to himself. He knew they had been laid in front of him for a long time, and he knew defying them could only bring him trouble and pain, but he had done so anyways.
He found it unfair. How they were able to look down on him and treat him like garbage when he was only just another person, not all that different from them. He hadn't even done anything except look at them, but she acted as if he had walked up to them and dumped a bucket of paint on their heads. How was I even supposed to know they were coming through here? What was I supposed to do? He asked himself in his head.
He sighed. It wasn't worth his time to try and debate with himself and think over it much longer. Things weren't fair, and there was nothing he could do about it. I have to stay away from them, no matter what.
So he stood up, sucked it up, and returned to what he was previously doing, trying not to beat himself up about it too much, which was difficult.
I'm so tired of all of this.
if a SINGLE one of you dirty-minded fucks says "kinky" in the comments i will throw myself into a trash compactor I'm not kidding