Nezu's challenge! (Villain Rehab)

14: Hound Dog

"AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAAHAHAAAAAAAHHHH"

"Are you laughing or yelling?" Tsuki stood face to face Hatsume Mei. Or rather, she sat, someone's nose only inches away from her face.
After a few hours of silence, the two had started talking, and now they were here. The library was almost empty of people, but still someone managed to shush them harshly.

"Both! Oh you NEED to learn me how you DO that!!"

Blinking confusedly, Tsuki turned her face away. "No thanks."

"Ah—" Hatsume looked for a moment as though her heart had broken, "But I need to learn how to sketch better!!"

"You can draw just fine," Tsuki said as she gestured to her sketches a while off on the table.

Hatsume frowned and grabbed Tsuki's paper. "Really, you're talented! How do you do it? There's so much emotion in it...? But like, so good—!" While the support course student rambled, Tsuki gathered the rest of the drawings she had made and crumbled them up.

"I'm leaving." She tried to grab the drawing out of Hatsume's hands, but it got pulled away just before she could.

"I'm keeping it!" Hatsume said with a grin, "Before you ruin more precious art! You shouldn't treat your babies like that!"

"Er..." Tsuki crumbled the paper more tightly as she frowned, "What now?"

"Your art!" Hatsume smiled at the drawing in her hands, "I'm going to try to redraw it, just to learn some technique."

"Er..." Tsuki threw the paper in a bin and then she left.

—

"Ah, there you are," Mic said when he found Papillon sitting on top of Arawaru in the middle of ground Beta.

"Tell her to get off!" Arawaru said loudly, "I didn't do anything to deserve this!"

Papillon crossed her arms and legs, getting more comfortable. "I'm enjoying my revenge, thank you."

Mic chuckled. They were acting like siblings, he thought. "I need Arawaru actually. Sorry."

Papillon opened her mouth to speak, only to get thrown aside by Arawaru.
"Haha!" "Ouch."

The next moment Arawaru followed Mic back inside the H shaped building.

"So, busy day, huh." Mic tried his best to make conversation.

Arawaru just shrugged and followed, not even bothering to walk next to the teacher.

"Can I ask what that was about?" Mic eventually tried to ask.

"It wasnt my fault," Arawaru said annoyed, "Gyro suggested we go play hide and seek. I got to seek, and so I let them hide."

"And...?" Mic asked, raising an eyebrow as he opened the door to inside.

As he walked past Mic, through the door, Arawaru smiled a bit despite himself. "I just walked off. No harm in that—"

"Papillon was right in seeking revenge, huh." Mic said without much thought.

"No she wasn't!" Arawaru defended, crossing his arms, "She didn't even want to play in the first place!"

With a smile Mic saw how much Arawaru acted like a kid. It was as thought Arawaru noticed as well and he looked away.

"So where are we going?" Arawaru changed the subject rather quickly.

"Oh, were going to hound dog!"

"...oh..."

—

Hound dog was a dog, big surprise there.
"So, Arawaru."

"That's me."

"Can you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Er..." what to say? Arawaru's eyes glanced around the room. "I... I like... trains?"

Hound dog wondered if it was a reference.

"I don't actually," Arawaru confirmed, "But it used to be a meme."

"I already thought so," Hound dog admitted, "Do you know a lot of memes?"

It felt odd, talking professionally about memes. And it was.

"I mean, not anymore, I guess. I used to though."

"Really?"

Arawaru thought about it. Of course he could have continued scrolling through a phone, even as a lonely villain. He didn't though.
"My sister was always crazy for socials, she had like a thousand followers on insta. She was the memer, really, I just went along with it."

"I heard about your sister," Hound dog said carefully, "I'm sorry what happened to her."

With a sigh, Arawaru sat back, putting his feet on the coffee table to make a point. "Sure you are."

"It's horrible how fights cause so much damage," Hound dog hummed as he gave Arawaru an understanding look, "It was no less horrible when it happened then."

"But—" Arawaru stopped himself, afraid he'd lose his shit if he admitted it out loud. It felt like he had to prove right from wrong, like he had to tell himself, if not Hound dog.

"But?"

There was a silence where Arawaru's ears prickled for sound.
"It was my fault."

"Why do you think so?"

"I could have protected her," Arawaru muttered as he stared off into space. "Instead she got covered in fucking debris."

"You did everything you could."

"Guess I'm just not enough, huh," Arawaru's voice fell away a bit and he took a breath. "I hate this." Quickly he got up. He looked at the door and clenched his fist. He wanted to leave, he didn't. He just had to get the story clear. If not for hound dog, for himself. "She pushed me, she took the rocks, then she told me to run when she was stuck.
"I could have helped her— I didn't."

"She saved your life, she was a hero."

Arawaru smiled and turned to Hound dog again. "You have no idea. But... she's gone now." He sighed and rubbed his eyes, afraid he'd cry now.

"Even if she's gone, you're still here to honour her memory."

"Fuck that," Arawaru turned to the door again, "She'd hate me for getting all sad, so I should go."

When he was at the door, Hound dog spoke up. "You don't have to be sad to remember her."

Arawaru ignored it and closed the door loudly.
"Fucking therapist." He cursed hound dog all through his walk to his room. When he found it he fell face first in his bed. He needed a nap.