Abstract Eyes (Konoha / Kuroha X Reader - Kagerou Project)

Act 06 - Shoujo Brave.

"Just so I tell you. It cannot be controlled." A boy with cranberry hair and red eyes spoke in a blunt yet, because of his young age, slightly high-pitched voice. A girl, slightly older than him, with the same features though her hair was down to her waist in length, stood up from the meadow they sat on. It was the meadow deeper inside the cherry blossom sanctuary they, the Astrath bloodline, called home.

"I know." She took a few steps forward. "But we still don't know why yet alone undestand. That's exactly why..." She faces him.

"I have to try." With that, though a faint one, he knew it was a genuine smile. An action of hers that she shows once in a blue moon. And that action reassured the young boy that there was hope.

There was hope in changing their nightmare-alike systems.

-*-

It was another good day, the 23rd of August. A week and a day had passed since the 15th, the day you were first introduced to your new 'family' or so what they called you. Nonetheless, little by little, you didn't seem to regret joining and staying under one roof with the Mekakushi Dan.

The days were always lively, and you tried your best to catch up and blend with them. Though you had trouble adjusting, everything was made easy because of, first; your Aisen-nii. He was the reason you were assured of being with these fellow teenagers. Every now and then he would come back to the sanctuary, but he didn't take you with him. He refused to, the reason being the talisman is only one, and that it would be better if you were with the Dan when he's not around. Without complaints, you agreed, since he never did and would never do anything that would hurt you.

Also, Marry, since you were the same. Both of you were shy and shared interests in flowers, and most of the time, she admired you as you painted her flowers and well-maintained garden. When she was not with you, she was with Seto-san, which was for you and to you a gentleman, a nice person.

Kido Danchou was a serious one, but she was never good at hiding her feelings--- well, that was one fact from Kano-san that you acknowledged. Despite that, she was really caring of you all, except for Kano, it seems.

Shintaro-san and Ee-kun (he was the one who decided that) were close to you as well, specially the latter. Often times you would see Ee-kun tease and meddle with Shintaro's gadgets, but hopefully he just keeps it cool after few minutes or hours of screaming at the data boy and just acts mature about it. Same cycle went with Danchou and Kano, though Danchou was over 9000 times more violent.

And Hibiya-kun was, well... too adorable to be hated for his rather rude attitude. It was always a good thing that Momo-san was there to have his manners in check, despite being called 'obaa-san' in return.

As you observed them, these thoughts were in your mind. But someone's missing from the living room right now as usual...

Yet you'd never miss him out.

"We're WHAT?!"

Your train of thoughts stopped, hearing Kano screech almost like a girl. The whole place quieted down as he complained. "We're out of budget?! Oh such crisis! So dismay! Such unbelievable! Very disappoint---Ooooweezdcvhbbnndffaq." The last word of his ended like gibberish. Apparently he was smacked by something invisible again; and as per your days of stay here and knowing them quite a bit, you knew right away it was Danchou. The gang leader with eye concealment.

"Stop overreacting, dimwit furball. It's not a big deal."

"Are you sure it's not? I mean, we are a lot here and..." Shintaro asked, his hand on his chin.

"Fweehheeh. Goshoujin is worried. Well yah. Go ahead and be the father to this family! The bread winner! You there, bro!" Exe forced an arm over his shoulder, almost making Shintaro fall.

"Hey, let go, Exe."

"Gah you're so cold! Just when I finally thought you were more handsome than me!" Exe countered, jokingly. Not to brag or anything. "And it is E X E pronounced by letter, not Ekuse, Goshoujin!" But to you, Ekuse as Exe suited him just as good. You knew almost nothing about gadgets, but Shintaro-san said that E X E was a file extension for applications as 'executables'. It suited him since basically he has an 'executable body' whenever he wants it to.

"It's not a problem, really. We just have to do what we usually do in times like these." Danchou replied, sitting courteously on the couch.

"What we usually do, you mean that? Ah. It brings back memories..." Seto interrupted, a smile making way to his face.

"Eh? Why? What do you do? Was it fun?" Marry asked in an eager tone, to which Seto answered, "Ah, what we do? Hm, let's see now. It's been a while so, I think we might have---"

"An human offering to the money buddha. Sou, sou... along with all the flowers you grew in your garden." And that totally set Marry off.

Before Marry can think of screaming or getting completely chickened out, Danchou in her invisible form disciplined Kano's spinal chord again. Just how does he live one more day with this kind of daily lifestyle?

It was...Kano's fault for not learning his lesson anyways. He just made Marry cry. You wanted to go to her side, but it seems Seto-san could handle her just fine.

"So, what are we going to do?" Shintaro asked, picking up from where they left off. Kido turned to Seto and he smiled.

"We're doing a summer festival."

The room fell into silence as most of them either jaw dropped or mouthed a low gasp. You however, had your eyes widened, and they twinkled in delight. Your chest was warming up, and you were suddenly filled with mixed emotions.

Happiness. Anxiety. And most of all, nostalgia.

"Eis!"

You continued to ran to the voice, sliding through the streams of people in the crowd. It seemed the most packed today compared to the ones you attended the past few years.

You finally stopped at a stall and the vendor smiled at you. "Ah, Eis! I've been waiting for you, cute girl! How was your year?  Juro and I sure missed you!"  The elderly lady spoke as he wrapped some takoyaki for you. She continued to ask on how you had been doing, and you always politely replied.

"Here. I know it couldn't make up for the months we haven't seen each other, but take it, okay?" She smiled, assisting you with the bag of food. "Now, don't forget to go to everyone's stand! They all missed you and your siblings, too!" Both of you waved at each other as you ran from the stall in glee.

You suddenly saw a familiar person. You rushed to it, hugging from behind.

"Ei." It whispered in its usual impassive tone you'd never forget. Despite that, you knew it hid a lot of caring emotions inside. You were pat on the head and hugged back possessively.

"Let's go." The person with the same features as you held out its hand, gesturing you to go with it to where a boy barely older than you with the same red eyes and dark hair was.

No wonder... Ei was familiar.

"Ei?"

You were startled as you saw a tall male with a pale complexion already sitting beside you, staring right into your red eyes like his reddish ones. When did he get there? Were you spacing out?

But he turned away right after you traded eye contact with him. He didn't let you see his face.

Was there something wrong?

Danchou called out, "Hey, Konoha. It's already late. You need to ea---"

And before anyone knew it, he already zoomed out to the kitchen.

Was there...something wrong?

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