The Unholy Pact - Gundham x Fem Reader

Chapter 1 - Scouted

You thought you saw a dark figure lingering near your mailbox. Dawn had just broken over the horizon marking the time as 6:30 in the morning. The mailman never showed up so early to your neighborhood district, and you couldn't understand why the person was just hovering there beside the little red mail container you kept hanging near your door.

At first, you thought one of your neighbors might have been visiting before a morning shift to ask you something or offer you cookies. Your neighbor happened to be a baker, so early gestures like this were very common for her. But you didn't get the sense it was a neighbor from their strange aura. It gave off the impression that they had shown up on a life-or-death mission.

What really made you worry was when you happened to blink at the wrong moment. As if the figure knew you were watching, they disappeared from view.

It happened so fast, you wondered if you had imagined it. You wouldn't be shocked if that were the case. It's true that you haven't been getting quality sleep since you started a new job babysitting for one of the most powerful industrial families in Japan: the Gushiken Family. Ever since they requested your services watching their children at the start of the summer, you began a grueling routine each morning that involved catching a 7:45 am train to a bustling city with too many people. You sincerely hated the subway, but it was the fastest way to travel. Better to take the train than to bother your mom or dad with driving you two hours to work every day.

The possibility that the figure was the aftermath of your dream was actually pretty high. Before you went to bed, you got a notification from a prominent science magazine that a middle school student managed to revive an extinct species and was working with scientists and environmental workers to create a habitat for it. Intrigued, you clicked the link to the article and saw the face of someone you hadn't seen in a long, long time. Not since the end of elementary school. You often dream about old memories and people, so seeing him in a picture must have been the trigger. Seeing him is probably why you're imagining dark men hovering around your mailbox like a hummingbird from hell.

Of course Gundham Tanaka would make you start imagining strange things...

You met him in kindergarten when his optimistic mother sent her special child to engage in public education. He was a ghost of a child who never spoke. At the start and end of each class, he would always be hiding in the corner of the classroom all by himself. While other kids played games with each other like tag or hide-and-seek, Gundham would hide himself away anywhere he could. He refused to hold hands with the children in the school hallways and would curl into a ball and start screaming if a teacher tried to force it. People seemed to frighten him.

You never actually talked to him until you both officially started elementary school. Incredibly, he lived three houses away from you with his single mother. His mother would hold your hand as you both walked down the sidewalk to the school. Gundham would cautiously peek around his mother's legs a few times to catch a glimpse at you, as if trying to assess whether or not you were dangerous.

After what had to be hundreds of walks, he finally started saying some words to you.

"...There's a really cool snake in my pocket," he said out of the blue.

His mother laughed at his comment and said that he was always pulling pranks like that. When you didn't believe him, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a rat snake, which he had tamed that morning from his front yard. It coiled around his hand affectionately, and he gave the snake loving belly rubs.

Suddenly, you knew why he was always in the corner. He ALWAYS had some sort of living creature burrowed in his pockets. No one but you knew his secret, and you never told a soul.

Once he told you about his secret, he began showing you some of his animal friends. He owned tons of small rodents, and he easily snuck them into school with him. They were so well-trained that they knew when to squeak and when to be quiet. Other days, he would bring snakes, lizards, birds, and turtles. Not frogs, though. They can't go that long in a dry environment. Seeing what animal he brought each day became part of your morning routine, and he became more than happy to show off.

After years of walking together to and from school, whispering secrets, hiding out in the nurse's office during noisy school events, and occasionally having play dates at your house to play pet simulators, it came as a shock when his mother suddenly pulled him from school. In a flash, he was gone from your life, and you had to find new friends to stick with you through middle school. Such is life, you supposed.

Gundham was ghostly pale for as long as you could remember. From the picture you saw, that was still true. His sleek black hair grew longer, and he seemed to have experimented with some gray highlights to match his midnight overcoat. Even as a child, he only wore dark colors so he could blend in with the corners and disappear. In the picture from the article, it seemed like he turned into a scarf enthusiast and decked himself out in earrings, charms, and rings. It was... a bold look. One you never would have thought appealed to him.

Your second alarm started going off, dragging you out of your memories. Oh, right! Work! Shoot!

Jumping to your feet, you dashed downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a protein bar. You left the house and locked the door behind you. Just to make sure the mysterious figure wasn't the delivery man, you opened the lid to your red mailbox.

There was one envelope inside, and it was addressed to you. It had none other than the grandiose Hope's Peak Academy logo on the front, and you felt your breath catch in your throat. No... No, there's no way–!

Lifting the envelope and opening it, you realized who that dark figure was: the Hope's Peak Talent Scout. And they decided that YOU have the makings of an Ultimate Student. Feeling faint, you couldn't help letting the envelope fall through your fingers and watching the acceptance letter sprawl out onto the ground.

Dear Ms. (Y/N):

"You are receiving this letter because you have been scouted by the academy for your flawless demonstrations of talent and leadership in your field. As you likely already know, Hope's Peak Academy accepts only the brightest students to participate in our unique education program which allows students to continue honing their skills however they see fit. Because of your nationwide success as an Ultimate Babysitter, you have been accepted into our highly competitive, elite program."

You couldn't breathe. Hope's Peak... You got into Hope's Peak!!

—Timeskip—

It had been a long summer of waiting, and it was finally time. Finally, it's time to step into your all-time dream school. You're going to meet the Ultimates! The best of the best! The teachers will be the best, and your classmates will be the best, and–

...And you had no idea how you would live up to the Ultimate talents around you. When you started looking up various student talents, you realized that your talent was one of the most mundane of the bunch. There was one student who was simply labeled as the "Ultimate Lucky Student," but even that seemed like more of a conversation starter than "Ultimate Babysitter." There aren't even any babies at this school! What will you even be learning about?!

You gripped your head and forced all the negative thoughts away. There was no chance you were going to let those thoughts make you late for your first day of classes. You boldly took your first steps forward and made your way toward the large front doors to the school.

"I just have to find Class 77-B!"

As soon as you said those words, dark patches started appearing in your vision. Your words echoed inside your skull as the world turned darker and darker. You thought you were going to faint.

"77-B~77-B~77-B"

And then the world disappeared.