STRAY [Yamaguchi/Tsukki/OC]

Prologue

🧪

Nora Matsumoto knocked on the door before her.

In the bustling, cramped hallway, she worried that she hadn't knocked loudly enough, that her wordless plea got lost in the tide of thudding bass and drunken chatter. In the darkened shadows of the hall, she fiddled with the hems of her damp sweatshirt sleeves, picking picking picking at a fraying string at the seam. A wave of regret swept through her, making her shiver from head to toe. This was a bad idea, no doubt about it. But that didn't change anything. She knocked again.

It didn't take too long for the stranger to answer. The man she was looking for loomed in his sliver of a doorway, towering over her and sneering down his nose with an inscrutable expression. Strobing crimson lights reflected from his glasses and light hair, distorting his face into something malignant... something demonic. "What."

Without thinking, Nora said, "You're really goddamn tall."

"Correct," he answered, equally as deadpan.

They stared at each other as the party continued on around them, bodies flowing in and out of dorm rooms before proceeding down the cramped hall like a coursing river. The first weekend before classes was always a little insane, per campus traditions, and this year was no different. Despite the unseasonable rain, everyone was ready, willing, and able to blow off some latent spring break steam.

Nora steeled her nerves and glanced around for eavesdroppers. "I heard you're the guy," she said, willing her cheeks to stay cool as she dragged her wet hair out of her eyes. Her body tensed up, tight with embarrassment and nerves. "So... are you?"

He frowned at her. "The what?"

"You know..." she said louder over the music, "The guy. The... 'player' guy."

The strange man rolled his eyes at her use of air quotes. "I don't really do that anymore, but... fine, sure. I was that guy. What about it?"

The girl pulled a handful of money from her pocket, brandishing it upon her palm to entice him. "I want to get this shit over with. You in?"

He pursed his lips and frowned at her. "It's not like that. I don't take cash."

"Then... what do you want?"

He sized her up, noting her long legs (covered with stripe-printed pajama shorts), oversized school sweatshirt (soaked from the storm outside, obscuring her figure, and nearly covering her shorts), dark hair (which could really be any color under the flashing lights) and her crystal clear eyes (likely pale blue or soft gray, maybe a bottle green). All in all, she wasn't ugly... in fact, despite her lack of makeup or anything remotely girly about her, the stranger was attractive in her own way. She had something... magnetic about her, something that drew his eye back to her face over and over no matter how hard he tried to look away.

Raising an eyebrow, he jerked his head toward his room, cracking the door just wide enough for her to slip inside. "We'll think of something," he said.

She mirrored his expression and said, "Think fast then, lover boy."

He threw a hand across the doorway, blocking her path. "Listen... No feelings. There's nothing between us. The second we're done, you forget my room, you forget my name, and you forget my face, you understand?" he said.

Nora nodded. "I'll forget you exist as soon as it's over."

The stranger smirked. "Perfect."

Without further delay, she ducked under his arm and slipped inside of his dorm room.

He locked it behind her.

And the rest, as they say, is history.