Shindeku Oneshots/Drabbles

Week 1 (Follow My Footsteps, 2/4)⚠️

TW: Mentioned Character Death, Mentioned Suicide
Please read with Caution <3
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The fall leaves fell from the tree branches outside, in colors of yellow and red. They swished and blew into the cold October wind outside of the college, signaling the end of summer and for the fall and winter to come.

The temperature dropped low, and coats were starting to come out.

Afternoon classes let out with a soft ring of the bell that afternoon, signaling the end of the day. Footsteps were heard by a few university students as they exited the art room, leaving behind both unfinished projects and finished on messy paint-splashed easels.

"Shinsou, please come here."

Hitoshi stopped what they were doing, leaving their hands encased in black charcoal while having a few dark handprints on their clothing.

Sighing in defeat from the dirty cream overalls, they wiped their hands onto their clothing once more before dusting their hands off. The purplette stood up from their chair and walked over to the professor's desk, the latter having a troubled look on her face.

The remaining classmates sent them somber looks of sadness and confidence, but they didn't notice.

She lead the both of them into their office, and the door closed behind them, making a clicking noise in retort.

Hitoshi stood uncomfortably close to the office door as they chewed the inside of their cheek, waiting for any other instructions. The art professor ushered them to the padded wooden seat in front of her desk, making them shift a bit awkwardly as they walked before finally getting in the seat.

The two sat in complete silence, the professor and the student staring at each other for a few minutes—which felt like years—until one of them spoke.

"Kayama-sensei," Hitoshi said, slowly shifting themself in the chair across from the teacher. "What seems to be the problem?"

Kayama cleared her throat, took off her big framed glasses, and leaned a bit forward. At that, Hitoshi's body sat up straight on instinct at the movement before she started to speak.

"This assignment is due in 3 weeks, have you thought about what you what you wanted to do?"

Their eyes widen at that, they haven't thought about what they wanted to do. It has been a week ago since the project was given to them.

A charcoal painting of a self-portrait, to represent an emotion of some sort.

Hitoshi puts their dark covered hands ontop on another as they cleared their own throat in response, ignoring the big lump that felt persistent in their throat. That was beating harshly under pounds of stress.

Begging, pleading to not speak out.

"I," They started to say, trying to find their words while avoiding the college professor's stern gaze. How do they explain their reasoning? "I haven't really started."

"Then what have you been doing? Shinsou, you know better than this."

"I'm-I'm sorry," Hitoshi said, and they were. It's been stressful since April, and this huge workload wasn't making it any better. Money was starting to get tighter and more demanding. "I've been working on getting money for my mother's funeral and—"

They were cut off by a raised manicured hand, sucking in the big breath they were about to use for ranting.

"That's absolutely no excuse," Kayama said, putting her hands back on the desk. "Please make sure to get your work in on time, otherwise you'll fail this class for the semester."