Heartfelt Headlines // Nikei Yomiuri x Fellow Child of Utsuro OC

𝓦𝓮𝓵𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓤𝓽𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓸

Walking back to my apartment with my messenger bag, I adjust my face mask and pull up the sleeves on my lab coat. I took it 4 years ago, I was 16, yet it feels like only yesterday.

I reach my hand into my bag and pull out my keys, brushing my hand past the ID I had picked up on that same day. Utsuro's.

I sigh, and bite my lip. My teeth have dulled down since those 4 years ago. Still sharp, but much less.

I walk up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment complex, and at my first glance down the hallway, I stop.

Standing by my door was a man with black hair covering one eye and wearing a beige coat with a purple vest underneath, his foot tapping the floor, seemingly impatient.

I fiddle my fingers on my left hand, and with my right I grip the strap of my messenger bag. Creeping to the top of the stairs and staring through the bars of the ledge, I stare at the man.

In a crunch of bad luck, I trip on a step, falling face first onto the steps. The man quickly turns and runs over to me, extending a hand out. "Hey, you alright?"

I rub my forehead from smacking it on the steps, and look up at him. Seeing his face clearly, he had lavender eyes and fair skin. His lips were pursed as he waited for me to take his hand, and with me just staring at him, he grabs my hand and yanks me to my feet.

I yank my hand away from his out of reflex and stand still, before trying to quickly walk around him to get to my apartment.

"H-Hey! Don't just walk away like that-!" He exclaims, tripping in front of me to stop me. "Just listen to me-!"

I pause, before sighing, and talking in a low voice. "Who are you?"

His eyes open a bit wider. "Oh yeah, I was supposed to do that- god damnit, I swear Iroha is rubbing off on me..." He mutters the last part, before putting his hand on his hip and looking down at me. "Nikei Yomiuri, at your service!"

Nikei Yomiuri... Didn't he, like, write some articles? Yeah, he's a journalist. Not a super famous one, but a journalist none the less.

"..." I just stare at him, and nod, before once again trying to walk past him, but once again being stopped.

"Stop trying to walk past me, girl!" He pouts slightly and sighs. "I was wondering if I could, uhm, talk with you?"

I look at Nikei with a confused expression and tilt my head a bit. "Why?"

"Can we just... You live here, can we talk inside your apartment?"

I raise my eyebrow. He seems normal enough, but you can never know someone's personality fully... Even so, I have plenty of ways to defend myself. Hell, I could bite him and he'd probably be screwed.

"...yeah, sure." I mutter, and push past him, and walk up to my door with the keys. Nikei doesn't protest and trails behind me.

I open the door, entering my apartment. It was weird having someone else inside. It was also a bit embarrassing, since it was just a mattress on the floor, a fridge, a TV, and some other random things, clothes littering the floor. Although, it wasn't that bad since I didn't really even know this guy.

I wait for him to get in and I close the door, and I pull out a folding chair from behind the TV stand, aka a box stuffed with a bunch of old clothes to keep it from caving in. I gesture for Nikei to sit down and I sit down on the mattress.

"Now what is it?" I question.

Nikei takes a breath. "It's kind of a monologue, you sure you want to-"

"Just get along with it, Yomiuri."

"Okay, okay..." He mutters, and lifts his pride back up. "As I mentioned, I'm Nikei Yomiuri. And you are Neptune Sakuma, right?"

My eyes widen. How the hell would he know that?... Nevermind. I'll just listen.

I nod, and let him continue. "As I thought. Well, this is going to sound weird as hell, but we've been watching you for a little while..."

"We?" I interject.

"Oh yeah... I have a little... Group. It's not important right now, but that group is why I'm here. We want you to, well, join, since it seems like you've encountered *that person* before as well." He said, a bit hesitantly. "Your divine luck strike seems to have happened way more recently, the rest of us were saved when we were much younger, so you've been searching for a much shorter amount of time."

I nod at Nikei. "It's been 4 years, but... How do you know this?"

"Divine luck has led us to you. Many of us fellow children are, well, dead, for one reason or another, so finding another person... It's honestly awesome. There's 4 of us, including me, and 5 just feels like a better number, ya feel me?"

I blink at Nikei a decent bit, and just decide to ignore the "most are dead" part. "Yeah, but uh, can you get on with it...?"

Nikei clears his throat. "O-oh yeah! That, that, that. It's pretty simple. We're looking for *that person*, just like you, and we figured that you'd maybe do better if you join us?"

"...your group is failing and you want help but you have too big of an ego to just ask."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Right..."

"Anyways, my life is chaotic enough, why not? I mean, I can just ghost my apartment since it's, like, 2 days away from rent paying day. I'm guessing you guys have some sort of living arrangement?"

"Yeah, of course we do!" Nikei sighs. "So... Is that a yes?"

"Sure."

"FUCK YEAH- I mean I'm not happy about this shut your whore mouth."

"Didn't even say anything."

"Right-"

And just like that, I packed my clothes, some snacks, and other random things, before throwing my apartment keys into the drain without another thought. Hey, it was just temporary housing.

"Okay, your all packed and stuff, sooo follow me!" Nikei grins at me, before turning into a random alley, and I follow him, watching him struggle for half a minute to climb on top of a crate and hop over a fence, to which I just grip the fence and pull myself over.

A door in the corner of the closed off alley is opened by Nikei, lifting the handle a bit to open it, and waiting for me to trail behind him.

The door closes behind me and a light switch is flipped. "I swear, you 3 need to do better with this. Just because it's abandoned doesn't mean that people can't get in, at least watch the door while I'm gone. I'd expect this from Iroha, but Emma? Hajime? I expected better."

"Nikeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, you can't say that!" A slightly squeaky voice yells from behind a couch, unable to be seen from where I am in the doorway. 

Nikei sighs. "Iroha shut the fuck up, I'm the leader."

"Eek-! Sorry-!"

"Nikei, calm down. Did you get her?" A girl says in a calm tone, walking around the corner. She had long blond hair and blue eyes, and I'm pretty sure I've seen her in a movie? Not a really well known one, but I sure remember her. Emma Magorobi, I'm pretty sure?

"Whatever... Yeah, I got her." Nikei gestures to me and I tilt my head away, before shrugging my shoulders.

"I'm, er, Neptune Sakuma." I say, slightly awkward.

"Yeah, that's Neptune, not important." Nikei shrugs. Excuse you, good sir, wtf you mean "not important"?

Nikei continues. "Just make her feel welcomed, mkay?" Nikei glances over to me. "Go properly introduce yourself, or something, I have stuff to do." Nikei says, suddenly much more flippant. He walks back out of the door, and I sigh.

Great, now I have to introduce myself "properly."