╰┈➤ ❝ [GIFT] ❞
┏━━━ ━━━┓
Love like Mine by Stela Cole playing...
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺
┗━━━ ━━━┛
EXHALING A BREATH OUT, looking at the healing process of your burned arm. It's been a month since you've heavily burned your arm, so it has shown symptoms of heavy healing which you were glad of. There were still some signs that your arm was burned but other than that, it was smoother than before.
While examining your healing arm, you drifted into your thoughts, silently thinking to yourself. 'It's been a month... I wonder if Chota's leg would've been better if he just stayed a little longer..'
Chota hisses suddenly, clutching your arm so tight, you can feel his nails dig into your skin, it causes you to bite your lip. "I'm so sorry, Y/N. I-It just... hurts so..." He hisses, "So fucking bad."
It made you frown to see your newly made friend hurt the way he's hurting right now, you can see the tears run down his cheeks, trying to endure the pain of you tending to his burned leg. "You know you can always be more gentle." A low feminine voice says right behind you, it made your eyes roll, knowing it was a certain blazer-head.
"I am being gentle."
"Doesn't look like it, obviously." She mutters, rolling her eyes back with her arms crossed.
"Oi, oi. Just let her do it. She's the one with experience." Karube chimes in, pointing his finger at your crouched figure in front of the injured man who continues to his at the stinging burning sensation. It just felt so weird to feel his skin move in its wrinkled way but at the same time, he felt he lost movement of his leg.
Blazer-head tusks her tongue and stomps her way over to you, taking the rag from your hand. "Does it really look like she has experience? She only applied petroleum and cooled his leg down then applied ice - it doesn't take a genius to do the same." She says with a scoff and puts the rag on the man's leg only for him to hiss even louder,
"Ack!" Chota painfully moans, shutting his eyes closed.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry!" Shibuki apologized loudly, earning an eye roll from Karube and you.
"You dumbass..." Karube mutters.
Your eyes continue to lay on the same spot while you're in your own head space, nothing coming into your head after the whole flashback of the gang tending to Chota's leg until you blink back to reality.
"Should I still apply some cream?" You question yourself, a little bored as you are unable to think of what to do for today since you've recently just come back from a quick three of diamonds game and now you have to hopefully wait for your friends Arisu and Usagi to come back.
'A month since I've got to see them...'
Time is fucked.
You shrug your shoulders, "I probably should. Still looks like shit." You tell yourself and stand up to apply a bit of cream onto your arm. As you were thinking of what to do next, - maybe think of a new hobby and sort - a knock was heard and you stood up from your comfy bed immediately, thinking it was either Usagi or Arisu.
But as you walked to the door, very excited since you expected either Arisu or Usagi, you suddenly remembered Arisu's words before you two parted ways from each in order to play the game. You told them about Niragi's delusional obsession back then and how he'd try and sabotage your relationships with people back then. You still feared Niragi hadn't changed, - maybe even became worse - You definitely didn't want to imagine what he'd be like with Arisu and Usagi.
"What if they come after me? The doors are unlocked, Arisu - And.. And I don't think Niragi is done with me... nor is Chishiya, but I doubt he cares."
"Then I will tell you if it's me. I'll pick you up and we will be hiding in Usagi's room, okay? -"
"Always stick by my side - got it?"
You stopped yourself from opening the door, knowing full well who was on the other side, and it was neither Usagi nor Arisu. "Go away, Niragi."
"Not my name." A nonchalant yet calming voice was heard from the other side of the door which made you pale and feels tense once again. You didn't know who made you tenser - Niragi or Chishiya? God. You just couldn't catch a break.
Chishiya, at least back then, didn't care where you were or what you were doing unless what you were doing was beneficial to his own prideful ways of getting into his theories.
Though, you did realize there were times he'd isolate you. And that includes pulling your heartstrings and teasing you with a sip of deprivation until he moves away. To you, he likes the attention and how much it took for you to follow him like a puppy.
The human heart is the greatest weapon, isn't it?
Even your own heart can turn against you.
You still hated liking that guy, you wished your kid self would've just left him alone. On the other hand, Niragi was the exact opposite, he'd be wherever you are, invited or uninvited, he's always there. Everything that you do, he'd observe, standing so close to you. Unlike Chishiya, he'd take care of you, caress you in your arms. But one thing that the two can relate to is their love of your attention.
You nip on your bottom lip. "Fuck" You whisper to yourself, "I'm sorry, who's this?"
"Oh, so you are trying to avoid me. Not working, Y/N." The man from the other side tells you, and even though you couldn't see him, somehow, you can see him smirking at your dumb plan which is true since Chishiya is just grinning, not planning to go away until you admit defeat.
"That's not my name."
"Oh? -Let's try sweetheart, then? I'll be glad if you remember that?" He asks, his smirk just getting wider as he knows full well you're flustered on the other side of the door. Which you are. Or were you disgusted?
He leans closer to the door, "Is the passcode right, sweetheart? S-W-E-E-T-H-E-A-R-T."
You cringed, remembering the time when you considered the younger Chishiya as your crush and you didn't even care to admit it to him back then. God, how embarrassing that was.
"Taro-kun! Taro-kun!" Your younger self cheers as you run towards the very quiet kid who scoffs in response but didn't fully dislike it. To him, he found it quite weird that your crush on him was obvious, but he was quite impressed with your bravery - a reason why he chose you.
"Please, do not call me that. I told you this before." Younger Chishiya snarls. It can get annoying too though, but he's not gonna let that go. In fact, you're acting this way to only him, and no one other. Why would he want that to go away?
"But you called me sweetheart yesterday! Don't lovers call each other that name? - You love me!"
Chishiya flicks your forehead, earning a yelp from you as you push his hand away and rub the part where he flicked you. "It's only so you could shut up. I wouldn't be surprised if it worked on you again, sweetheart."
"See! - I love you too!"
"Stupid." Chishiya smiles underneath his closed fist that covers his small smile.
"That is such a common name, you're so boring. Just go away. Don't harass me because I'm not Y/N - and certainly not sweetheart."
Chishiya sighs in frustration, leaning back so he can put his hands into the pockets of his shorts and roll his eyes, "It can't be harassment if I'm talking to Y/N."
"It's still harassment even if I am Y/N but I'm not Y/N."
"Cute attempt - but you're really bad at lying, you know?" He laughs and then proceeds to lean back, shrugging his shoulders, you can just hear his smile. He's enjoying this.
"Fine, let's say that maybe you're not Y/N. So then why can't you open the door? You know I can just open it."
"Why would you want me to open the door? I'm not even Y/N. And don't open the door without my permission, I will hit your head with a vase and feed you to the birds."
"Jesus, you sound so defensive. I'm starting to think you are indeed Y/N. She always sounds defensive if she's caught doing something she's not supposed to do."
"Y/N, did you eat my muffins?"
"What? No, I did not! I baked them anyways, why couldn't I eat one if I did but I totally didn't!"
"I'm telling you, I'm not her! I don't even know who you are nor do I want to know!"
"Then open the door if you're not her."
"Fucking asshole." You mumble to yourself, finally giving in as you thought it was better this way. Besides, you changed your contour technique and decided to change the contacts to make your pupils a little bit bigger as well as give yourself some eyebags.
But then, as you held the doorknob, you instantly thought of Niragi. If Niragi - a clueless dumbass with anger issues and unresolved trauma - found out through your contacts, then so can Chishiya - a mega mind of super fucked up games and can probably make you your own enemy. Which he did once.
You sigh, hoping for the best. The only difference between the two of them is that Niragi is way more obsessive with you than Chishiya. Niragi is more careful. Chishiya didn't care. You open the door nevertheless and glare at Chishiya who smirks back and leaned against the frame of the door as he leans closer to you, his breath hitting the side of your neck as he smudges the contour off your face.
"What the fuck are you doing?" You question breathlessly, trying to act dumbfounded but you already knew that you're under the pressure of boiling water. It's so clear.
"Surprise~"
He didn't move his position, but he did look up at you with his eyes without any further movement.
"Remove those contacts, sweetheart."
"I told you not to fucking call me that."
"Mmm. You know you can't trick me, Y/N. It's so obvious when you lie, your eyes can't even meet mine." He points out and that is when you finally looked at him, both of your cheeks red.
"And I remembered I told you to shut up last time, did I not?" You grit your teeth, pushing him off from breathing so close to your neck.
He laughs heartily then gives you a thumbs up then proceeds to do what you can tell is sign language. You gulp from this gesture. You knew sign language because of your deaf father, and though you spoke rarely of him since he worked in a different country, you spoke of him with pride.
You didn't know whether to be impressed with his skill or dumbfounded since you just realized Chishiya has maybe been paying enough attention to you at least in the slightest way. I mean, he did remember your little habits when you lie. But then again, that is only because he didn't like to be lied to, he can tell a lie when he sees it. So it shouldn't even shock you.
"I do remember. I just thought that maybe I can get away with it - Why? Are you probably shocked to know that I knew sign language?"
"Fucking seriously..." You deadpanned yet he just smirks back, proud of himself.
"Yes, I am. And you're Y/N. You can't prove me wrong because I know my Y/N had a partially deaf father. So stop hiding, no matter how much you change yourself, I will always know who you are." He boasts.
"That's not what it seemed like last time..." You murmur, recalling the day you two met at the Five of Spades and this made the cat frown. He knew what you were implying, those eyes he was staring deeply into, the eyes that refused to look at him were the eyes that held the story of the past, it's certainly not only the Fives of Spades from the looks of you.
"It's because I haven't seen you for 5 years since then, idiot. But after I saw you again, I see a very big difference now. - You're very eye-catching, so to say."
"What a fucking creep." You mumble to yourself. "What's your business here?"
"Thought you needed this." He states in sign language before taking off a second jacket that is layered on top of the first jacket he's wearing. He handed it out to you,
You stare at it, nipping the bottom of your lip, unable to form words. 'Has he seen me yesterday? Oh my god... that reminds me...' You look down just to see your revealing attire and instantly snatch the jacket, earning a fine laugh from the genius Chishiya.
"You're so cute." He points out.
"Shut up." You mumble, embarrassed, as you zip the jacket that was slightly larger than you - just as you wanted to cover up your exposed skin.
"I am shutting up, can't you tell? I'm literally using sign language - But now that you mention it, I gave you that jacket, may I talk now?"
You stare at him for about three seconds before scoffing, "Fine... I couldn't understand a single thing anyway. You're bad at sign language."
He grins childishly, "Yay." He nonchalantly cheered, playfully rolling his eyes, "And hey - I'm not that bad. You understood it anyway." You roll your eyes, scoffing at him.
" - I got an extra jacket from my closet, bigger than your size - just as you liked it. Right?" He points out, fully unaware that he looked more excited, you were wearing something that was his. And the fact that he's one step closer to knowing you.
This time, you'll be my greatest accomplishment.
Yet you just kept silent. But that didn't stop him. "So... what happened to your arm? I've seen some patches."
"What the hell do you think? You're the medic."
"Nasty - Luckily for you, I like you though." He leans closer to get a closer view of your arm only for him to frown in response, "- but I'm guessing it's a second-degree burn, isn't it?" You nod your head, "When did you get it? - Looks like it's been a while." He raises his hand to touch it but you slap his hand.
"The first game I played... three of clubs, it's the game before you and I saw each other."
"I'm glad you survived - and it seemed like it was well taken care of - Who... took care of it?" Chishiya asks, looking up at you, no amusement found whatsoever across his face as he thinks of two answers - either you or Arisu. And he had hoped to the dead that it wasn't the second choice or he'd just be another step further to reaching you and another step closer to strangling that raven-haired man.
"You're so in love. " Kuina snickers and Chishiya looks over to her, his eyes meeting hers with curiosity. Was he? He kind of felt anticipated, maybe doubtful but he certainly did not dislike the idea of it.
"How do you say so?" Kuina shrugs her shoulders and looks away from the blondie, an amused smirk painted on her doe face.
"You find out yourself. I can't be the one who says you're in love with who. It's just what I see... who knows, maybe you're not. It's just - the way you talk about her, it's so obvious you treasure her, but I guess you never noticed that when you're with her until she's the one who got away. But I don't know if you see the same."
Chishiya hums, nodding to himself. Was he capable of love? He couldn't even recall the time he felt sad, nor did he really think he ever felt such emotion. But then, of course, you left. Didhe really wake up when you left?
Nothing was what he felt before you left, but he guessed that Kuina was right. When you left, maybe you left something with him. He remembers the feeling of being lost, was it?
Perhaps, it's what he's been looking for. And he'll be grateful for it. Maybe when he sees you, the presence of emotions will grow stronger. That's the power of the human heart or perhaps the brain, right? It'll always be stronger than what he can comprehend.
"Me." You answer, interrupting the man's thoughts whose eyes snapped back up to you.
"Oh -" His eyes relaxed and a smile appeared, "I'm impressed you know your way. Didn't think you'd take interest in medicine - all you ever did back then was eat and play on your phone... and talk to me."
You shift your eyes away from his, "... I was forced to study with you, remember...? What am I supposed to do?" You admit, yet felt embarrassed as it hurt your pride since you just told him you didn't want to see him anymore. But the past is in the past, you quote Elsa.
A silence occurred between the both of you - for you, it was because you recalled the times you were plain stupid - and it's the same for him, he recalled the times he was plain stupid. Though the two of you had different meanings behind your stupidity, it definitely gave a different reaction.
You were embarrassed but he was genuinely flattered. Not once in his life has anyone taken that point of interest - it was either his name or nothing at all.
"Really?" He questioned so softly as a small smile appeared rather than his usual smirk that most people either feared, feel challenged, intimidated, or got annoyed with which includes you.
You caught onto this reaction, "Don't get so fucking cocky. It was years ago. Now go, since that's all you're here for."
"What about my gift? No thank you? - You still have manners from what I know, kind of unfair if you treat me differently." He grins, recalling the time you bowed to some people who greeted you yesterday and even helped a few people who had a clothing malfunction with their swimsuits. It disappointed him that you treat him differently now, and it's not the way you treated him back then - with so much admiration. Now it's all full of hatred.
"What gift?"
"The jacket." He points to it, "I thought it'll be... a nice gift for you."
"Are you trying something?" You defended in an annoying tone but he just shook his head, chuckling at your silly thoughts. Sure, he is planning to keep you this time, but it's as if that idea was such a bad plan. Though you are wise to think this way, with this, he'd be sure that you wouldn't be so stupid when someone tries to swoon at you.
Hopefully, you'd just reject them the way you did with Chishiya.
"Of course not, I just had a feeling the Borderlands will lead you here... didn't you also see it coming? - I mean, I know you did, there's nothing else out there anymore."
"Yeah... but what about the boxes then?" You mention, remembering the boxes you were given almost every day. Chishiya's grin fell, and all that is written on his face was nothing. From his expression, you can only confirm that it was indeed the other man - but that didn't make sense. You clearly stated that the sender should stop sending the box if he was smart - the smart one being Chishiya.
Your throat felt dry. Oh, you knew it, you knew it. You refused to believe it.
Why can you just never believe yourself?
"What... boxes?" He questions and from that question alone, your breath hitches as you finally found out who the gifter was.
"T-The boxes you gifted me...? You would give them twice or once a week, it's usually filled with my favorite snacks..." You state out very slowly just to have your throat tighten. If it was really Chishiya, Chishiya would've been boasting about it and said he was just taking care of you, that alone will make you somehow in debt to him... but if it was Niragi, he would've used someone else's name and the name he used was... Chishiya's.
Just like I said. Niragi is careful.
"Y/N - I don't even know your favorite chips. It's been five years. You just eat everything. And how was I supposed to know where you were after separating?" He questions ever so slowly but also ever so tense. 'Has someone else taken an interest in Y/N? - Has she rejected them?'
Thinking about someone else spoiling you gave him weird vibes, he didn't like it. In fact, he felt envious of it, just as envious he was of Arisu. But that's weird, the word 'envious' doesn't seem to be the right word, it felt like it was much deeper than that.
Maybe it was Arisu who gifted them but if it was, then you would've known. But he didn't know what snacks you prefer, what your favorite color is, or when's your birthday. But he's getting there, you just have to be patient.
You, on the other hand, refuse to believe that Niragi had already seen you before coming to the beach. It was very possible to happen, but just imagining him lurking around and eyeing you like that from the distance without you knowing - without you seeing him, frightened you more than Chishiya catching you last night. You couldn't believe your gut feeling was right, you wished it wasn't.
He's been watching the whole time.
If only you knew more than the two of them, you wouldn't be so anxious about Niragi and just give yourself false hope, convincing yourself that you'll be okay. But no. It just had to be Niragi who took that away from you.
"Don't you trick me"
"I'm not! I know that you know that it's impossible to be me and we both know the reason why." Chishiya scrambles. Panic. He knows this feeling. He's panicking. His heartbeat is fast. Strong emotions. This isn't good. He needs you to see that he'll change. He couldn't just have someone else interrupt the time that he will finally try and change - he shouldn't have left you in that game.
If he didn't, this wouldn't happen. The strong emotion was all too familiar. It was the emotion he felt when you first disappeared. Now he's thinking of it again, he leans toward you.
"You don't have to trust me, I don't know anything - and I admit... it's my fault I didn't know anything about you. But now, I wouldn't even try to trick you - ask me what your favorite chips are or something."
"What did... my last note say?" You hesitantly ask
"You... Did you give a note back? Why did you give a note back?- I, wait... am I not the only friend you have before the Borderlands?" He questions, seeming to only lean towards you the further he questions. You lean back, choosing to be silent because you just don't have the courage to say his name. It felt like you cheated.
Chishiya scoffs, feeling mocked as he only smiles out of nothing, "That... hurts." Chishiya embarrassingly admits, blinking his eyes repeatedly just to glare at you in the end. His shoulders slumped and his eyes held nothing but regret. Regret is what's always present in his eyes whenever he looks at you, speaks to you, and speaks about you.
"Of course, did you really think I'll be stuck up to only you?" You bite your lip, finally giving in to the thought that Niragi was indeed the gifter. You then look down to the ground, holding the temple of your head as you remember a crucial note between two of your former best friends.
Chishya doesn't know who Niragi is since he left the school five years ago - but Niragi knew him... and everything that you two have done. In fact, Niragi is the one who replaced Chishiya's place when you two separated.
Chishiya clenched his jaw as you continued to give into silence. He was tense, and unusually so too, he wasn't a person to be usually tense. Of course, he's a sociopath. - hell, he isn't even the type to be jealous but this. Is he being made a fool? He always knows everything and everything that's going on. The only thing left he's clueless about is you.
Or maybe perhaps... he knows nothing at all. Sanity is what he wants to hold but the heart can be so dangerous as it's already clutching itself. He doesn't know how to handle this after all. 'It hurts.' Chishiya thinks to himself.
'How come you still hurt me?'
How come - after all - he didn't know his best friend? Perhaps he's hurting himself. It is his own organ that's affecting him after all. "Y/N." He calls out again, this time more calmly and he holds out a hand to hold your shoulder down. He needs composure. And that's what he achieved when his touch reaches your skin.
You eye each other. Feeling the tension that he gives off with those dagger and cunning eyes - you knew you didn't do anything wrong to him? You always obeyed. But somehow, you still felt like you had just broken his heart when in fact, he broke yours first.
╰┈➤ "Was I not the only one...?" - Chishiya Shuntaro
Selfishness. Is it finally getting to him? He knows nothing at all. And you're all the answers that he needs. After all, you are the one who gave him strong emotions when you left him at the time he wanted you the most. Now, that want is slowly converting itself to something more. Need.
You weren't able to handle the rather angry and heavy glares Chishiya is casting upon you. Guilt is what summoned you to open your mouth but you weren't even talking to him when you say,
"It's Suguru. Of course, it's him."
EDITING PHASE II COMPLETE