The Darker Side Of Things • [kamigami no asobi]

【ONE.】

Her patience was wearing dangerously thin. Thorns scratched at her hands, the bush rattling with protest, as Luca searched vigorously for an escape. She was going to tear through every nook and cranny of this hellhole, and that most definitely included the very heart of it. Luca was not only determined to get home, but also to prove that delusional geezer wrong.

But, so far, she had no such luck.

Smoke was practically spiralling out of Luca's ears, and she stared down angrily at the vacant plant, giving it a frustrated kick.

She had tried for hours upon hours on end, searching for a route that actually led away from the place--- but each one she trudged on ended up leading straight back to where she left originally. Luca had zero success whatsoever. The 'garden', as Zeus not-so fittingly called it, was more like a fucking dead-end maze. Once you got in, you couldn't get out.

Frustrated beyond extent, Luca eventually headed back to the campus. The castle-like place reminded her begrudgingly of a school; some sort of fancy-ass, snobbish academy.

Low and behold, she even found dormitories there, too. The girls' one specifically, to which she discovered a door marked with her name on it, 'Luca Hardt' engraved in large, messily-written cursive just below the peephole.

Giving the knob in front of her a cautious twist, Luca pushed open the door. She was greeted by something not quite easily explained.

"Hello!"

Luca stared down, hard, upon the little patchwork thingamajig, it's perky voice damaging to her ears. The creature disturbed her to no extent, every last delicately-stitched inch of it. It resembled a peachy-pink, button-eyed stuffed doll---and just something about it really mocked her. The thing even gave her what looked to be an 'innocent' tilt of its head, causing floppy tangerine dreadlocks to droop all to one side as it smiled dumbly at her.

The girl immediately tucked her leg right back and, with a powerful kick, launched it straight out the window.

"Creepy motherfucker," Luca muttered to herself. The doll looked like something that came straight out of a voodoo-horror flick. Far from something she even wanted remotely close to her room, forget inside it.

Ignoring the broken glass shards that now littered the floor, she headed straight for the bathroom, intending on washing her face. It must've looked disgusting by now, splattered in blood and grime and other miscellaneous things.

"Oi!" Abruptly turning towards the somewhat scratchy voice, Luca watched in grim realization that yet another demented stuffed Lalaloopsy imitation stood before her, it's teeny arms crossed and bearing a slightly miffed expression. "I'd appreciate it if you'd treat my co-worker and fellow friend with respect. Neo-kun was created specifically by Zeus to watch over you, and--- Hey!! Stop that!"

Luca had managed to finally grasp the talking creature by its head (with it swatting her hands away like she were an oversized mosquito), and began carrying it towards the smashed window, ready to hurl it through.

"I demand you put me down this minute, Hargt! This-- "

The ponytailed doll didn't have the chance to finish; she had already thrown it like an expert pitcher would with a baseball, it's mouth emitting shrill screeches as it went three stories down. But only one thing was running through Luca's mind-- did the twat just call her Hargt?

"M-Melissa-san...!" A petite body suddenly ran past the teenager to pathetically peek out the window, seemingly out of breath. It was a girl, with clear Japanese features and long (dyed purple?) hair tied back by a flimsy-looking ribbon. She leaned by the window, little drops of sweat sliding delicately down the side of her head, and actually looked somewhat concerned for the possessed blob. "Oh goodness..." She glanced to the side, suddenly noticing Luca with a surprised squeak. "A-Ah! Erm, gomen, I didn't see you."

Luca looked her up and down. "...What the fuck are you doing in my room?"

The girl looked a bit scared off by her attitude, at how hostile her voice sounded, and nervously smiled. "Um, I think I'm actually your roommate... Zeus-san mentioned something about another human joining me in teaching... "

"Roommate?" the taller girl stepped closer towards her, glowering down at the other. Honestly, Luca had no real reason for behaving so meanly, but then again, she couldn't really control herself that well anyways, and things kind of just lashed out how they were. "What are you, blind? Outside, my name is written in big, bold fucking letters. I don't have a roommate. And, even if I did, you're still not allowed in here." Luca pushed the girl back some, hissing, "So get out before I make you."

Looking successfully scared shitless, the vionette gave hurried nods of understanding, scooting towards what looked to be a closet door. She opened it with fumbling fingers, revealing a whole other room looking identical to her own. Looks like they were "roommates" after all; their living quarters were apparently connected by a single door.

Luca seemed appalled at this discovery, giving said door a strong look of disgust. Later I'll have to board that up or something.

"B-but, anyways," the petite girl said, lingering by the exit. "I am Kusanagi Yui, in case you're wondering-- "

"I'm not," she deadpanned.

"..." Yui rubbed the back of her head at the blunt answer, smiling slightly, as she slowly backed out. "U-um, well, goodb-- "

The door was not-so carefully slammed mere inches away from the other's nose, Luca turning on the ball of her calloused heel as she walked away without a single regretful thought of her (actually quite rude) action. She didn't exactly consider other people's feelings when she did things. It just wasn't how Luca rolled.

The fifteen year old ran scabbed and scratched-up fingers through her dirty hair as she mentally reminded herself how that was the second time she slammed the door on someone that day. It didn't beat her record, especially when said door broke right off its hinges from the sheer force of the slam, but was still a nice distraction. A nice distraction from her failure attempts to find a way home, that is.

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ik ik, kind of a short chap! i'm probably going to write this anyways lol 😂😂
but hey, i want to update (somewhat) consistently, soooo...
enjoy~~ ♪♡♡