[MYSTA ANGST] Letters from a Genius

03 ; save me again

Luca Kaneshiro ; Present time

It had been a couple of years since Luca first caught sight of the orange-themed detective. Mysta's laugh still echoed as he saw the possibility of the downfall of the mafia boss' life. Right now, Luca still tried to take care of himself desperately. He didn't want to waste the efforts the detective put into fixing his life right up.

He'd go for runs at sunset and run at night when nobody was there. Winter was already fleeting, and Luca wanted to live with the snow crunching under his shoes more. Searching through a drawer, he hummed a jazzy tune as he found his hair tie before tying his hair up into a bun. Mysta loved playing with his hair, he remembered that all too well.

The warm tones of the blazing sunset were leaking through the little cracks of his slightly damaged blinds. Sunsets like those weren't rare, but it usually got dark soon after. It was like the sun kissed the Earth's atmosphere one last time before running away. What a Cinderella cliche.

Those runs didn't help distract his mind at all. It played the same movie of his life over and over again, especially on a nostalgic winter night. The blonde's eyebrows visibly furrowed in unavoidable frustration. His guilt-stained chains that surrounded his heart went in loops, further tugging his heart so blood couldn't run to his brain.

His feet always fell into a deep sleep when he was running, so he always sits down on that same old bench they used to hang out on to relieve the feeling of pins and needles. The ex-mafia boss still wanted to learn how to smile at memories rather than cry. Moreso, there was still a fleeting hope that their little group clung to, but their grip on it was lessening as the penetrating winter breeze flew on. 

The feeling that he could've helped Mysta as he helped him. A favor for a favor between friends is only fair. Luca wanted to quit his delusions, for nobody could do something for a person who didn't exist anymore.

flashback ; 2nd year of college // Meeting Mysta Rias (fall)

"So there's this cool co-op game I found online, it has lots of cute characters," Ike swept his phone around to show the group lounging closely on the school rooftop. Pixel-like chibi characters blared brightly on his blue-cased screen as a mixture of wind and leaves danced through his own hair. The small figure Ike pointed to was the one he played. Rounded glasses were tilted onto its mouthless face as the temples were tucked into a neon shade of teal hair. 

Little specs that Luca thought were cookie crumbs dropped from Mika's face as she rummaged through a pink tote bag while simultaneously staring at Ike's phone, acknowledging the image on the screen as a bite was taken from a new frosted cookie. 

"Oh shit, top-down?" A tongue reached to swipe the crumbs still grasping onto her wet lips before continuing. She took her boots off the bench Ike was sitting on to sit up and have a better look. "Yeah, DM the name to me! I have time to play tonight if you want to hop on," Mika's toothy smile beamed with her hand shaped into a thumbs-up as she laid herself back down on the floor to rest her feet on the bench again.