Oumasai Oneshots

~(Ouma x Saihara) You're Special~

School.

The hell on earth.

Ouma hated school. It was probably one of the worst places in the world according to him. Now you might be wondering, what caused this hatred towards school. Everybody hates school to some extent yet Ouma hated it more than anyone. What was the reason? Two words.

Tsumugi Shirogane.

The meanest, most manipulative hussy on the planet. Ouma hated her, despised her even. They seemed to have an enemy relationship since preschool, Ouma doesn't even remember when was the first time they fought. Teasing turned arguing, arguing turned to pranks. By the end of middle school, it looked like the conflict between the two of them had settled. But then,

Tsumugi decided to up the game.

Simple teasing turned into bullying. Extreme bullying. Tsumugi was primarily focused on winning the final argument by eliminating Ouma. She turned the whole school against him, spread lies, rumors. She convinced everyone that she was the sweet little angel who never did anything and that he was some massive bully who hurt people for no reason. And it was all to bring Ouma to rock bottom.

Ouma hated liars, especially liars like Tsumugi. It made him sick to his stomach. But fear was a much stronger emotion than hate. He was scared of Tsumugi. He had never planned to let a small conflict into this war. He was sure, Tsumugi wanted him dead. Soon the bitter treatment of his peers became too overwhelming. Ouma wasn't sure for how long he can keep living like this. Getting shoved in lockers, people leaving packs of razors in his bag, whispering things behind his back, or physical punishments ranging from one kick to the stomach to a beating that made him pass out. And one day...

He had enough.

Today was the day. Ouma looked outside. It was a beautiful spring day. Not one cloud was to be seen in the blue sky. The light wind coming from the open window, brushed against Ouma's skin as he could hear the beautiful melody of the birds chirping. He closed his eyes. 'What a pretty day...' he thought to himself. He looked over to the calendar. It was the 20th of March. The day of his death. He's been considering this for a while now and today was the day he finally broke. He looked at the calendar on his wall. It was a pretty calendar with a picture of a cute kitten. Months past March have been ripped to shreds and put in the trashcan. Ouma looked at the calendar. He sighed. He got up and went up to the bathroom. He washed his face and looked in the mirror.

His messy hair was tangled in knots, he had black bags under his purple eyes and his skin was a pale hue. In summary, he looked terrible but was too tired to care anyway. He dressed and went downstairs. His mom was there with luggage. She was going on a business trip today for the next two weeks. "Oh sweetie, did you stay up playing video games again instead of sleeping?" Ouma looked at her. Ah, video games, yes that excuse for the black eye bags. "Yeah..." he groaned. His mom huffed "You need to take better care of yourself Ouma! I hope you don't pull anything like that while I'm away." she said. I nodded blankly and went outside. I walked to school. His school wasn't far away so it didn't take him long to get there. As he walked past the corridor, he felt people stare at him. He wasn't sure if they were really staring at him, or was it his paranoia getting the better of him. He intended to go to the rooftop, however before he got the chance to go there, the bell rang and the teacher patrolling the hallway told him to head to class. What a pain.

Ouma walked into class and sat in his seat. He groaned as he saw the word 'DIE' scribbled on his classroom desk. Thankfully it was written with some cheap marker, not a permanent one, so he simply rubbed it off with his sleeve. The teacher walked into the classroom, a big grin on her face. Ouma simply stared out the window, not really interested.

"Good morning students! Now before we start today's lessons, I have an announcement to make! A new student has joined our class! C'mon in!" Ouma looked over. A blue-haired boy with pretty olive eyes stood in front of the class. His hat covered his face and it looked like he didn't want to be in this situation. "Now, please introduce yourself." The teacher said. "M-My name's Shuichi Saihara." he stuttered out. "Okay, Shuichi! There's an empty seat behind Tsumugi Shirogane, she's the blue girl with the glasses." Shuichi sat down in his seat. Ouma quickly glanced over. He noticed a certain blush creeping on Tsumugi's face. 'Does she like this new boy?' he wondered.

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Tsumugi's POV

I felt a warm blush sprout on my cheeks. This new boy... he looked pretty cute. I felt my heart skip a beat. Was this... a crush? Love at first sight... just like in all my animes! Yes! Yes, that's definitely it. As soon as the boy sat down I turned towards him. "Hello, Shuichi! My name's Tsumugi Shirogane but people just call me Tsumugi." I heard the boy stutter. "O-Oh! My name's Shuichi Saihara but I prefer Shuichi," he said to which I smiled. "I heard rumors going around that you transferred here? Is that true and if so why?" I asked curiously. Shuichi nodded "Y-Yeah...I transferred. My and I uncle moved here a couple of days ago. We didn't exactly live in the most tolerant neighborhood." he said with an awkward laugh. Okay, time to turn him against Ouma. 

"Well, I'm happy to welcome you to this school, Shuichi! However, I must warn you of one thing." I said in a serious tone. "What is it?" he asked surprised. "Don't speak to Kokichi Ouma, he's one of the worst bullies in this school. Everyone can tell you that. Some say he was so mean to some girl, she transferred to a different school cause she was scared. The boy's pure evil" I said annoyed. The only I did this to Ouma, is because he used to tease me and call me four-eyes in preschool, it annoyed the heck out of me. Then my hatred towards him only grew. "W-Well, if you say so. I'll try to stay away from him." Shuichi said. I giggled slightly. "We can talk more after class. For now, let's just focus on what the teacher is saying." I said turning around. He nodded. I rested my hand in the palm of my hand. My blush increased. The way he stutters, the way he looks, it's all so... cute! I chuckled.

Love truly is the sweetest emotion.

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Ouma's POV

I walked out of class tired. I slept through what the teacher said. She didn't even notice. That's the perk of sitting in the back. In any case, I walked down the hallway and up to the stairs. Along the way, I bumped into Himiko. I fell to the ground and she also did. I could see a little glass bottle with pink dust break on the floor and the pieces inside scattering on the hallway floor.

"Nyeh... Nyeh!? My lucky powder bottle broke! It was supposed to help me on today's test!" She said staring at the dust in shock then staring at me. "You i***t! Thank you so much, now I'm going to get a bad grade!" Himiko yelled at me. "Maybe if you studied and not slept in the park all day, you'd get the grade without your 'lucky powder'. And that's not lucky powder, that's just some flour you dyed with food coloring and mixed with glitter" I said and went away. I know it was mean to say that but currently, I didn't even care anymore. She gritted her teeth. "YOU GO TO HELL, KOKICHI OUMA! I'LL MAKE SURE TO SEND A THOUSAND OF MEAN SPIRITS ON YOU!" She screamed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind..." I muttered as I went up to the rooftop. The door would usually be closed at this hour but I knew how to pick a lock so I didn't consider that a problem. I went up and looked through my pocket. A white hairpin. I started working on breaking the lock and after about 5 minutes of moving the hairpin, it opened. I smiled at this little victory. I opened the door and looked around. The coast was clear. I went outside and closed the door.

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Saihara's POV

"I-I'll be right back Tsumugi! I-I just gotta...um...g-grab something from my locker!" I said as I speed-walked away from the blue girl. She kept following me around and it was beginning to scare me. I decided I wanted to go somewhere peaceful, somewhere where nobody would find me. But what place like that is there in a packed and crowded school like this.

The rooftop.

Yes, the access to the rooftop is usually blocked, so there would be no point for anyone to look for him there. I walked up the stairs and up the stairs. As I was closer, I heard a clunk of the door closing. Was someone at the rooftop? But why?  Oh, wait. Saihara faced palmed himself. Maybe this person also wanted some peace and quiet just like him. Well, I'm sure he won't mind there being two people on the roof.

I walked up the stairs and opened the door.

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Ouma's POV

I stood at the school rooftop. Nobody was here. I slowly walked up to the edge and looked down at the ground beneath. No student was there to watch, everyone was inside. Perfect. I didn't want anyone's attention when I died. I didn't want to ruin anyone's day by making them see a bloody corpse on the ground, at least not for a little while. I went over the railing and stared at the ground for a little longer. The space behind the railing was small. One move and you'd easily fall. There was no way to get back now, If you try to turn, you might as well consider yourself already dead. I took a couple of deep breaths. I was about to die. It would finally be the end. The end of the torment of my fellow classmates. The end of the rumors. I was about to make the step when suddenly, I heard a yell. 

"Hey!"

I was immediately startled by the sudden yell and tripped, falling back. Although the fall was unexpected can't say it wasn't what I wanted. But what I didn't want was for whoever this boy was to grab and pull me back on the rooftop. Something, which unfortunately for me, did happen. I stared at him in silence, my eyes tired and annoyed. "What were you doing!? You could've died if you fell!" He said concerned. I chuckled bitterly "No s**t, Sherlock. What did you think I was trying to do?!" I said annoyed. "What about people who care about you? What will they think?!" He said. "First off, you don't know crap about me and my life, so don't use that shit." I said with venom surprising him, I looked down at the ground before asking "Have you made any friends yet? " I asked curiously. "Yeah, I met this girl Tsumugi...she seemed sweet, a bit crazy but sweet" I flinched at the sound of that name. Great. If she manipulates this boy, he'll just turn into another one of my bullies. That just reminded me of the reason I was even here. 

"Then you've heard the name 'Kokichi Ouma' at least once." I said bored. "Yeah...? He was supposedly some bully? And she said some bad things about him and about how I should stay aw-"  He said clearly confused but I interrupted him "Yeah, stay away, he's the bad guy all those rumors. I'm Kokichi Ouma. And I don't want to live in a world where I'm constantly being terrorized by everyone I know, with nobody to turn to. So let me put myself out of this misery." I said. Despite what I told him, his grip on my hand remained. "Please, reconsider it. At least for a day." I looked at him my look devoid of any emotion but sighed and nodded. I lied about reconsidering it. I was already set on my decision, however, I knew by his look he wouldn't just let me go. 

We went down from the roof and headed to class. We were a bit late but it wasn't that bad anyway. As soon as I sat down I noticed something lying on my desk. White chrysanthemum. How ironic. I heard the person in front of me snicker. I sighed and put the chrysanthemum in my bag. I saw the Shuichi look at me concerned. I ignored him. I then saw Tsumugi turn to him and sneakily talk to him. while the teacher writes stuff on the board.

I wonder what the rumor will be this time.

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Shuichi's POV

"Hey, Shuichi! Are you okay? I saw you walking with Ouma down the hallway. I'm pretty should I'd barf if I ever got too close to him!" Tsumugi said with a laugh. I frowned. This wasn't right. How could the entire class turn on one boy because of a rumor started by one girl? Whoever this girl is, she must be good at manipulating others.

"Why is that?" I asked wondering what were the rumors Ouma was talking about. "Because he's gross! I heard he's into some weird s**t. Kinks, ya know?" She said looking over at Ouma with hatred in her eyes. I looked over at Ouma as well. A boy from behind hit him with a crumpled paper ball. I could see in his eyes this wasn't anything new to him. "Are you sure these aren't just false rumors?" I asked to which Tsumugi looked at me half irritated. "Nah, Miu's a trusted source when it comes to kinks. She wouldn't lie about this!" she said as if she tried to desperately convince me Ouma's bad.

"Still, I think It's mean to just whisper such things about someone..." I tried to argue. "Maybe, but I'm sure he did SOMETHING to deserve it. Everything has a reason, right?" she said with such venom and disgust. "Anyways, let's stop talking about that brat. Would you like to hang out with me sometime~?" she said with a flirty tone. I was surprised. Where did this come from?

"U-Uh, I'll pass... maybe later?" I said blushing. She looked bored at me "Oh, how boring, though you'd be more interesting." she said in an almost provoking fashion. Was she trying to get to hang out with her by annoying me? Doesn't matter. She puffed out her cheek and turned around, looking at the teacher wrote something on the board.

She turned to us with a friendly smile. "Okay, class! I wish to inform you that we'll be doing a class project! It will be a partners project and I will be pairing people up. On my desk are the project instructions. You can pick them up after the lesson's over." She said pointing at the stack of papers "I'll now write the pairs on the board." she said picking up the chalk and writing the pairs.

Angie & Korekiyo  Himiko & Tenko  Kaito & Maki  Kirumi & Ryoma  

Kiibo & Gonta  Miu & Kaede  Rantaro & Tsumugi  Shuichi & Kokichi

Tsumugi turned to me and almost immediately whispered "Oh, I'm so sorry for you. You have to do a project with him! That's gonna be a bummer." she said but the teacher noticed and told her to pay attention. Thank god. I looked again at Ouma who picked up the crumpled piece of paper and slowly unfolded it. Soon after the lesson was over and everyone went to take a break. When Ouma went out of the classroom I noticed the crumpled paper ball on his desk. It was now straightened out. It had something written on it.

"Nobody would care if you died."

I gasped. Ouma had to go through this every day? How long has this been going on? I sighed and went out of the classroom. Some kids were hanging out by the fountain in from the school, some were sitting on the benches in the hallway and some went to the cafeteria. Ouma sat at one of the benches alone just sketching something on a notepad. People passed, almost making sure to keep their distance from him. As I walked out Tsumugi suddenly startled me. "Hey, Shuichi! Wanna go to the library with me and read some detective stories? I heard the library had a new delivery!" she said in a sweet voice. "U-Um no thanks? But maybe we should go la-!" Tsumugi grinned suddenly 

"Why are you looking at Ouma Shuichi hmmm? I think we should go. I mean, you don't want to be with someone who's secretly a smoker!" she said in a whispery tone. "Smoker?" I asked confused to which Tsumugi quickly nodded "Yeah! I heard he once got caught carrying a pack in school. He blamed it all on Kaede and she got suspended because of him. Didn't even get any justice. Better stay away from him." she said in a warning tone. Everything she said sounded exaggerated if even true at all. "Um, okay..." I lied. Tsumugi grinned at me before walking away to talk to someone else. I sighed. I knew better than to trust her words. I walked over to the bench Ouma was sitting at.

He looked at me, slightly surprised but continued scribbling stuff on his notepad. It was a bunch of sketches of a black cat. "Are you here to talk about the project?" he asked quietly. "Well, I guess? The teachers put us together after all." I said, to which he continued sketching. "Well, I took the worksheet and it looks like we both have to write a poem and then give it to each other to analyze. Then we have to both write our understanding of the other's poem..." he said pulling out the neat paper "Honestly I think the teacher was just lazy and picked a project from some 62+ School Project Ideas. This seems boring as heck." he said bored giving me the paper. "Well just so you know, poetry isn't exactly my forte." I said shyly. "Well, poetry isn't my strong side either, but we'll get through it." he said still not turning to me. He then paused before asking "What was Tsumugi talking about me now? I prefer to know what is said about me, even if it can be pretty brutal." He suddenly asked. For a second I wondered if I should tell him but I decided to be honest.

"She said you were a smoker and into weird stuff. However, it looked obvious she was lying."  I said. Ouma chuckled "I wish everyone was as observant as you, but they believe her. She uses different things for every person because she knows what makes them mad. Eventually, it just spread that I'm the worst." he said with a sad expression. "I don't understand how everyone can just believe her. You look harmless" I said to which he stayed silent. "Wanna maybe hang out after school together?" I asked, but he denied "You don't have to pity me. You can hang out with someone with a better reputation like Tsumugi." he said, a shadow covering his eyes. "Tsumugi might have a good reputation but she's evil on the inside. She spread lies about you in school and almost made you kill yourself. That's sickening." I said.

He sighed "You're not gonna give up are ya?" He said seemingly exhausted. I nodded. "Fine, I guess we can hang out after school together, seeing as I have nothing better to do. And we have to get together to do the project anyway." He said. I smiled widely to which he blushed. "Cool. So your house or mine?" I asked. "Well if we want peace and privacy we should go to my house. My mom's out of the house for the next two weeks on some business trip." He answered "Anyways I really think It'd be better if you stayed away and made other friends." he said with sadness lacing his voice. "I don't really care about my social status. If everyone here is stupid enough to believe her lies, I'd rather just hang out with you. You're nice." I replied and he chuckled " You won't be saying that once they stuff you in your school locker." He said with a bitter laugh. We talked about mindless things for the rest of the break. 

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TIMESKIP

Ouma's POV

It was the end of class. I was supposed to wait for Shuichi to come and then we'd go hang out at my place and also work on the project. I stood by my locker silently, finishing the drawing I was making before. It was nothing special, just some doodle to pass the time. However before I knew it, an angry yell went across the room.

"HEY LOSER!"

I flinched. I recognized that voice. It was one of my main bullies. I turned around and fear took over me. It wasn't just him. He brought his friends this time around. I looked around, hoping that Shuichi would be around somewhere, but he wasn't.

"Hah! Look at his face! He's already scared and we haven't even done anything yet! Hilarious!" The bully's girlfriend commented with a laugh. "Totally! What are we gonna do to him today?" The bully's friend asked. "I'm sorta busy with something else so I don't really want to waste much time on him." The boy said and then grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. "Hey, babe? You said that Tsumugi told you something very interesting about Ouma that might help us?" he said. My eyes widened. Whatever Tsumugi told them just means trouble, Tsumugi always has a trick to make someone feel terrible.

"Yeah, the little s**t has claustrophobia. She also said his locker combination!" she laughed, I started shaking. No...they wouldn't...they wouldn't do that, r-right? Before I knew it the girl was opening the lock with the combination and I was being shoved inside. The boy locked the locker shut and I began to panic. Tsumugi obviously must've have passed around the information that I'm claustrophobic. Fan-f*****g-tastic. I tried to open up the locker, but the door wouldn't budge. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I basically clawed against the door. I heard them laughing as I struggled to try to get free. Nothing worked.

Soon they left leaving me stuck in the locker. Great, how the heck is Saihara gonna find me now. I tried everything but it was useless. Suddenly I noticed through the thin opening that Shuichi was passing the locker. I immediately started banging at the door as loud as I could. Thankfully, he noticed.

"Huh?! Ouma is that you?! What's your combination?!" he asked quickly. I told him the combination and he unlocked the padlock quickly. I fell as I walked out the locker but thankfully Saihara caught me. I breathed heavily, scared out of my mind. "Ouma! Are you okay?!" he asked as tears welled up in my eyes. "It's dark and scary...e-every...time" I stuttered out. More tears fell from my eyes. I didn't want to cry but, I couldn't help it. Saihara hugged me tightly as I cried. While I cried, a random girl student passed us. When she saw me cry, she immediately giggled "You deserve to cry, you freak" she muttered. "Leave him alone!" I opened my eyes as I saw Shuichi yell at the girl, surprising both me and her.

"Um, I'm sorry but this is Kokichi Ouma we're talking about, he deserves to be treated like this." she said bothered.  "No, he doesn't. No one does!" Shuichi said, but the girl just shrugged. "Pfft, whatever..." she said as she walked off. Shuichi looked mad but after taking a deep breath, he calmed down a bit. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" he asked. I blushed at the amount of care but just shook my head. "N-No, they just shoved me into a locker. Nothing more" I rubbed my eyes of tears "L-Let's just go and work on the project. I-I don't want to talk about it." I said. He sighed and nodded.

We walked to my house talking and trying to avoid the topic of what just happened.

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Shuichi's POV

As I entered Ouma's house, I noticed the gloomy atmosphere inside. It was that kind of feeling where you just know something is wrong. Ouma dropped his bag by the door and gestured me to follow him to his room. The house looked empty. Curtains covered every window, preventing any sort of light to come through. A light cover of dust covered the furniture making the house feel somewhat more abandoned. "Sorry if the house looks like a mess... I forget to clean it sometimes." Ouma said as he opened the door to his room. The room was small but cozy. The bed was covered with fluffy pillows and plushies and a cover with a checkered pattern. He sat down on the bed pulled out the worksheet and two pieces of paper and two pens. He handed me one piece of paper and pen.

"Let's just start working..." he said in a quiet whisper as he began writing words on the paper, occasionally crossing stuff out. It was obvious he was upset. I looked at him sadly, before starting to write my poem. As we were writing, I got a dumb idea, an idea so dumb that it might cheer him up. Maybe it'll work?

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Ouma's POV

"Hey, do you know what you're writing about yet?" Shuichi asked, breaking the silence. I blinked and looked at my paper. It was mostly just brainstorming, as I mentioned, I'm not exactly a poet. "No, just brainstorming. Do you know what you're going to write about?" I asked him curiously. "To be honest with you I have no idea what I'm doing. Look, this is what I got." he showed me the paper which had crossed out verses of some simple poem but also a terrible drawing of the bully, with an 'i***t' labeled hat on his head. I blinked. This is what he did? To be honest, the picture did look kind of funny. Karma's a b***h was the first thing I thought. I snickered "You dork, we're supposed to be working! But you got the details right. He is an idiot." I said. He smiled "There you go, I don't think I saw you smile once since I met you!" he said happily making me blush. He wanted to see me smile...? 

"I appreciate your efforts to make me feel happy." I said with a slight blush "Haven't exactly been treated that nice in a while, hehe..." I said with an awkward laugh. "Well, you deserve to be happy, so I tried to cheer you up. I didn't want you to be upset after all that's happened today" he said. It was true that many sad things happened today. How was your day? Oh, nothing much, people scribbled a big Death threat on my desk, I got told I should go to hell, then tried to jump off the school rooftop, got a note saying I should die thrown at me and scared to death when someone shoved me in my locker. Y'know the casual teenager day.

But then there was Shuichi. The one good, unexpected thing about this. I honestly didn't know what to think of him yet. He's been so nice to me and hasn't fallen for Tsumugi's lies. Was he my friend? Possibly. Was that a good thing?

...

Maybe?

...

Then again, what if he just gets hurt in the process? 

...

"Y'know if we're both just cluelessly looking at pieces of paper, maybe we can hang out and do something fun. Like, play some cards. After all, we have some time before the deadline" he then suggested. I looked over at the neat stack of Yu-gi-Oh cards lying on my desk. "Um...have you ever heard of Yu-gi-Oh cards?" I asked, picking up one of the cards. He nodded. "Frankly I'm not that good at the game but sure I played it a couple of times" I was surprised but didn't question it. I grabbed the pack and smiled faintly.

"Well then, I guess we can then."

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Shuichi's POV

One card game turned to chess and chess eventually turned to video games. Currently, we were playing Cuphead. Ouma looked like he was fun and so was I. "Jeez you suck at this game," Ouma said with a slight smile. "Yeah, but it's my first time. You know this game better than me" I paused before saying happily "I have fun playing with you Ouma." he chuckled.

"I have fun spending time with you too, Shuichi." Ouma sighed as he looked at the controller "Seriously though...why do you want to spend time with me. Is there something you want from me? Is that why?" he asked. "No." I said almost immediately "I don't feel a need to hang out with you, I WANT to hang out with you. I consider you my friend Ouma. I'm doing this because I want to" I said. Ouma looked at me with a small smile "Thank you, for the kind words but I really don't deserve them." he said after a second. "What do you mean?" I asked him. He shook his head, tears ready to fall from his eyes "Maybe what they say is true? What if I am just a worthless person? Maybe I am just a freak and weirdo. Maybe I am trash-!" I grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Stop it Ouma. You're not trash and you know it, so stop it." I said determined look in my eyes. He looked away from me, still despaired. "It's not as easy, Shuichi. I... I know they're bullies and that what they say isn't true but, it just...it gets to you, y'know? It hurts..." he responded tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Without thinking I hugged him tightly "Well...just know that I care about you." Ouma stayed still for a while before hugging Shuichi tight. "Thank you... Shuichi" he choked out.

I gently patted his back as we hugged. I thought a bit about Ouma as we hugged. Ouma was so kind, so fragile...what drove Tsumugi to do this to him. "You're a good person Ouma, and I'm not leaving you no matter what ridiculous lie people tell me about you." I said as Ouma smiled.

We stayed hugging like this for a while.  

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Next Day...

Ouma's POV

It was another day. I opened my eyes and stared at my ceiling for a while. I was still alive. I lazily blinked before getting up. I washed my face and as I looked at the mirror, I wondered.

Should I try again?

Yesterday was a good day... You made a friend, played Cuphead and smiled for the first time in years. Maybe...just maybe, you can be happy for once. I shook my head. We'll just see how today goes.

After a 5 minute walk to school, before Ouma even got the chance to get inside the school building, he was grabbed by the hair by some boy and thrown in the garbage. Damn you lord Nagito, your luck doesn't work in my favor.

I went back to the rooftop. I took out the hairpin from my pocket and then saw that the door was still open. Weird, but saves me the trouble of picking the damn lock. I put my hand on the doorknob and

I froze.

My hand shook. Why...Why can't I open the door...? What...What was this? Hesitation. Yesterday was a good day. You made a friend. Maybe things will be better. The hairpin in my left hand fell to the floor.

"Thought I might find you here..." a soft voice said, I turned around. It was Shuichi. He looked at me with the same comforting smile as yesterday. He didn't look mad or angry. I stared at him. I was paralyzed. I...I didn't know what to do."Ouma..." he said in a comforting tone, reaching out his hand towards me.

"Let's get back to class... okay?"

I looked at his hand then back at him. He was smiling and reaching out his hand. I opened my mouth as to say something but shut it after no words came out. I slowly nodded and grabbed his hand.

"O-Okay."

We went down the stairs and Shuichi I talked about things like video games and other things. I was surprised he didn't ask about why I was up there. "If you're wondering why I'm not asking about why you were at the rooftop again is because I don't want you to feel uncomfortable by talking about it. You're safe, that's what matters me." He said. I blushed. "You really care about a stranger like me, huh?" I said awkwardly. He chuckled "You're not a stranger to me." He said quickly. I looked up at him confused "Huh?" Saihara turned to face me.

"Well, we are friends aren't we?"

I blushed. Friends...how long has it been since I had proper friends? I looked at the hopeful boy in front of me. I grinned.

"Yeah... We're friends."

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Timeskip (Two Weeks Later Cause Author's lazy)

Ouma's POV

For the next three weeks, I felt a lot happier. Shuichi kept his promise and kept on hanging out with me. The weird stares people gave us... they didn't as much to me. They hurt, but...Shuichi was always there to protect me. Today I woke up with a more positive attitude. When I went outside I noticed Shuichi came by my house. "Wanna walk together to school?" he said with an adorable blush. I blushed as well, he looked so cute when he was flustered. "Seeing I don't really have a choice, sure! I'd love to!" I said with a grin. He chuckled nervously as I joined him. 

We both walked down the street until I stopped. An ice cream truck stood close by. My eyes lit up with excitement. Ice cream was probably my second favorite treat. I almost drooled at the sight of the chocolate ice cream cone advertised on the front. "Want one?" I heard Shuichi ask me. "Well, duh. But I have no cash on me so I'll have to pass" I said. "Well, I know a solution to that!" he said before walking up to the truck. What...was he doing? Before I knew it, Shuichi came back with two ice cream cones. "Did...Did you just buy me ice cream?" I asked slightly confused. He nodded "Well, you wanted one right? Besides it's a hot summer day, almost everyone wants ice cream on a hot summer day." he said licking his ice cream and giving me the second one. "We should probably go or we might be late." he said with a smile. My cheeks reddened. 

I walked with him to school with him occasionally cracking jokes just to make me smile. 'He's so nice...' I thought. I really didn't deserve all his attention, but... I can't say I didn't like it though. Shuichi was of course overreacting. When we arrived we were at least 15 minutes early. We decided to discuss random topics while sitting on the bench in front of the school. But even though everything was going smoothly, I still felt Tsumugi's cold glare on my back. I decided to try and ignore it, after all, I couldn't let my time with Shuichi ruined by my fear. 'Calm down...she won't hurt you in front of Shuichi...' I thought to myself. I looked around the school courtyard and spotted a patch of flowers. Maybe I can make Shuichi a flower crown for the ice cream he bought me. It's not the greatest gift, but I'll just repay him with a better one later. 

"I'll be right back, Shuichi." I said and walked off to get the flowers. He nodded. I looked at the flowers on the patch. Daisies and daffodils. I plucked a bunch of flowers of the ground and tied them, forming a flower crown. I smiled. It was perfect. I returned to the bench and arrived at the sight of Tsumugi sitting by Shuichi and flirting with him. I came closer. "I'm bac-" Tsumugi looked at me with a serious glare "Shut up and leave vermin. Nobody likes you." I looked over at Shuichi. "Um...Tsumugi? I think it's you who needs to leave. You just randomly came here and started talking to me." Shuichi said timidly. Tsumugi huffed "Fine! Laters cutie~" she said but before leaving she...

She kissed Shuichi on the cheek.

"Umm...okay that was weird." Shuichi said. For a second I debated if he wasn't lying but I know a liar if I see one. He wasn't. "A-Anyways, I wanted to give you this, a little gift for the ice cream earlier!" I said as I showed him the crown. He looked surprised but grinned at me. "Thank you, Ouma! That's really nice of you." He said. I took off his hat and placed the crown on head. I blushed. Why did he look...so adorable?! I placed his hat on my head. "You look much better without your hat Shuichi. I can see your olive eyes better." I said, to which he blushed a ruby red. "W-Well you look pretty in my hat t-too." he said. I chuckled "Can I borrow it for a day then if you think I'm so cute." I asked. He nodded nervously. Then the bell rang. The rest of the day went by smoothly. Of course, there wouldn't be a day without being called a worthless failure, but it didn't matter that much with Shuichi around. He was there to cheer me up.

But miracles like this don't happen randomly.

Something bad was about to happen, I just knew it.

It was the end of the school day, I was walking down the hallway to the place I was supposed to meet with Shuichi. Shuichi and I decided to do a sleepover because I never had one but always wanted to. However before I even managed to make it two steps out the classroom I was pulled into a corner by Tsumugi, who was apparently standing by the door with a furious expression. She cornered me, her face so close to mine, there was no way I could run away from her. My breathing fastened and I began to shake. What did she want to do to me this time?

"What do you think you're doing you insufferable s**t!?!" she screamed as she punched me in the face and then pushed me to the ground, making me fall flat on my face. "W-What do...y-you mean...?" I said in a hoarse voice. She began kicking me in the stomach. It hurt like hell. "I see you walking around the school with a big f*****g smile on your dumb face! Who said that you deserve to be happy!? And even more so, it's Shuichi that made you this cheerful!" Tsumugi said kicking me in the face. "Can't you see!? SHUICHI IS OFF-LIMITS! I HAD A CRUSH ON HIM EVER SINCE THE FIRST DAY HE CAME TO THIS SCHOOL AND HE JUST RANDOMLY GOES UP TO YOU?! HOW DARE YOU!" she said screaming "AND WHY THE f**k ARE YOU WEARING HIS HAT?!" she said grabbing the hat off my head and placing it on hers. "You're gonna go up to Shuichi and tell him that you shouldn't be friends anymore. Else, I'll make sure to make your life turn into a one big joke." she said walking out of the classroom leaving me crying and trembling on the ground.

I'm weak.

Pathetic.

Such a crybaby.

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Shuichi's POV

Meanwhile, I stood by the lockers with my headphones plugged in the phone and listened to Twenty One Pilots. I then noticed Tsumugi cheerfully walking towards her locker which was conveniently next to me. I saw her wave at me. I turned my music off. "Hello Shuichi!" she said in a voice so sweet I thought I was gonna puke. I sighed and tried to keep my anger to myself. "Hi, Tsumugi." I muttered, but then noticed she was wearing my hat

The hat I gave to Ouma in the morning.

"Where'd you get my hat?" I asked concerned. Did something happen to Ouma? After all, I can't imagine him giving it Tsumugi willingly. "Oh! I heard the brat stole your hat so I may or may not have retrieved it! Here you go Shuichi!" she said removing the pretty flower crown off my hat and placing the hat. She looked at the flower crown with a smile before ripping it apart and stomping on the pieces with her shoes. "D...Do you know where he is...?" I asked worriedly. She put a finger up to her lips "Hmm, dunno. Hey about we go hang out an-" I walked away from her and in the direction of Ouma's classroom, I didn't want to listen to her babbling

I needed to find Ouma.

I walked up the stairs and looked around the hallway. No one was here. But then there was a sound of something like soft crying coming from Ouma's classroom. I quickly ran into the room. In the corner, Ouma was curled up in the ground trembling and whimpering. Bruises covered his face and his nose was bloody. "OUMA!" I yelled shocked coming up to him. "Ouma! Are you okay!?" I said concerned, he looked at me sadly. "I-I'm f-fine... C-Could be w-worse..." Ouma said standing up shaky.

"Could be worse...COULD BE WORSE?! YOUR WHOLE FACE IS COVERED IN BLOOD FOR GOODNESS SAKE! YOU'RE BARELY STANDING UP! " I screamed. He looked down, sad. I sighed and hugged him close. "Oh Ouma, why do you have to suffer all this? Why you?" I said holding him close. "P-Please don't hug me, the bruises they..." he said pulling away. Oh, right it probably hurts him when I touch him. "L-Let's go to the nurse's office. " I took his hand but he immediately let go. 

"N-No...I-I don't want to..." Ouma said with a certain fear to his voice. I looked at him confused, he sighed. "I...I'd have to explain the bruises and... I don't want to do that. I don't want any more drama happening..." Ouma said playing with his hair. I sighed "Can we at least go to your house so I can stop the bleeding?" I asked. He looked off to the side before slowly nodding. I smiled and took his hand. He blushed and his cheeks lightened with a pastel pink blush.

Once we reached his house, I immediately got some tissues to wipe off the blood from the nose and some ice to relieve the pain. It looks like his mom wasn't home yet from work. Once I found what I was looking for I went back and gave it to him. It was scary how many bruises Ouma had on his face alone. "Do you feel a bit better Ouma?" I asked him after the bleeding stopped and he nodded. I almost immediately noticed the worry in his eyes. Something was obviously bothering him and I didn't know what. Did Tsumugi say something to him? "H-Hey Shuichi, would you like to...uhm...watch some anime?? Yu-gi-Oh or something else?" Ouma asked shyly. I nodded.

We watched some anime and ate some pocky.

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It was night. We were both writing the poems we were assigned to do as a project, hoping that it would tire use enough to go to bed. I was already dressed in PJs and so was Ouma, with a pastel purple blanket wrapped around his shoulders. However, I was unable to focus on the poem. I continued to worry about Ouma. His hands shook nervously and he didn't seem to be able to focus on anything. It was worrying, to say the least. After a while of scribbling words on paper, Ouma suddenly looked down on the ground. "Saihara-chan" he whispered slightly, avoiding my gaze "Can...Can I tell you something...s-something that's been on my mind for a while..?" I could see how hard he was trying to hide his nervousness.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked, curious, as to what he was getting at. He sighed "Saihara, I think that we shouldn't see each other, you know after the project. " he said with a glare. I was surprised by this. "Ouma, but why?" I asked sadly. I noticed his facial expression change. His lip twitched slightly. "I...I can't tell you." he muttered. "Ouma is this because of the bullies?" I interrupted him. He looked troubled, his facade was breaking. "No, it's...it's" he stuttered out, his eyes were trying their best to avoid me, looking around frantically. Tears started to spill from his eyes as he bit his lip. "Ouma you're crying." I pointed. He tried to brush the tears away but they kept coming. "It's...It's..." he said before finally breaking down.

"I-It's...IT'S TOO HARD!"

He threw the paper and pen he was using to write the poem with on the ground and covered his head with his blanket. His mask of fake happiness cracked before my eyes. I immediately pulled him close. Ouma was so frail in this state. It disgusted me to even think of people who did this to Ouma.

"It's... it's too hard Saihara-chan. Tsumugi...she wants me to stay away from you but I... I can't handle leaving you. You're the only thing I have l-left..." I felt m blood boil. Tsumugi. She hurt him, she spread rumors. It made me feel rage whenever I thought of her. The fact she caused all this pain to an innocent, poor boy like Ouma and then talked to me in a sugar sweet voice. It was sickening. I clenched my teeth but focused on comforting Ouma. I looked at him and wiped away Ouma's tears. He smiled and blushed lightly at the contact. We stared at each other like that for a while, never breaking eye contact.

"S-Saihara-chan... promise me you won't get mad..." Ouma said softly, still not breaking eye contact. "What is it?" I asked. Our breathing felt synchronized, and everything felt, peaceful.

"I...I think...I love you"

The tension in the room increased and it seems that the sudden rise of pressure got to Ouma as he almost immediately covered himself with the blanket to avoid looking at me and curled up in a ball. I was surprised by this. But without thinking I took the blanket off him and kissed him. A pale rose blush sprouted on Ouma's cheeks. "I love you too, Ouma." I said with a grin, as he looked at me shocked. After a while he smiled, his blush reddening and his eyes lighting up with hope. "Saihara..." he whispered. "I promise I'll keep you safe, Ouma" I looked him in the eyes. "I won't let Tsumugi or anyone else hurt you. Not anymore" he said reassuringly. Ouma smiled tears falling from his eyes

"Thank you...Saihara-chan"

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Saihara-chan and I have been closer than ever. I loved and he loved me, it was simple as that. It was nice having Saihara by my side basically everywhere making it impossible for the bullies to hurt me alone. Of course, that didn't mean that the damage done by Tsumugi to my reputation was repaired. It stayed the same. I was still bullied. But with Saihara by my side, I had someone to cheer me up on those days. To make it all better. Currently, we were walking down the hallway talking about how some movie on Netflix felt a bit overrated when Saihara noticed a poster on the wall made by the Student Council.

"School Party This Weekend! Music, Food and More!"

"Hey, look Ouma! The school's organizing a party" he pointed out. I looked at it slightly uninterested. I always thought parties were loud and crowded, if not a bit annoying. "You seem excited..." I pointed out but he shrugged. "Nah, not really, I just kind of always wondered what it'd be like to dance with someone in the middle of the room, like people in movies." he said. Did he wanna go? Well, maybe I can bare one party for him if he wants.  

"Well, let's go then!" I declared, he looked at me confused. "Wha-! But Ouma I know that these kinds of things make you uncomfortable and-" he started but I interrupted him half sentence "If it makes you happy then I'm fine with it." I said. He still looked surprised so I explained. "You've been nice to me ever since I met you, listened to my dumb problems and helped me through a hard time. This is the least I could do" I said. He shook his head "Ouma really you don't have to do this" he said but I shushed him. "Too bad. We're goin-" I was about to say but a bittersweet voice interrupted me.

"Hey, Shuichi!"

It was Tsumugi. Yes, Tsumugi was still trying to socialize and get Shuichi to talk to her. She was like a bug, flying around the person's head. She walked up to us and grinned. "Hiya, Shuichi" she then looked at me with a slightly more disgusted look "And...um...you. Anyways Shuichi, would you like to go with me to the party on Saturday. I heard it's gonna be fun!" she said. "Well, actually Ouma and I are already going to go together and-" Tsumugi sighed and affixed her glasses on her nose. "Shuichi, I think it's time you stop pitying Ouma and go hang out with nicer people." she said. Shuichi looked at her annoyed "I genuinely care and love Ouma. Why can't you just accept that Tsumugi?" she huffed in response before saying "Oh please! It's embarrassing enough for you to talk to him. How much of an embarrassment is it gonna be for you, if you dance with him at the party!? It'll be humiliating!" she said but Shuichi only looked at her with a look of hatred "Tsumugi, just... shut up please. For once just shut up and leave us alone..." he said before taking me by the hand and dragging me away. He sighed. I looked back at Tsumugi. I felt her glare at me. I gulped

What's gonna happen to me now?

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TIMESKIP (Night of the Party) 

I was preparing to go to the party. I wondered if this party might be different because of Shuichi. Many things were more enjoyable because of Shuichi. Since this was a party I decided to put on something different. I put on my purple galaxy sweater and put a hairpin with a fake lotus as a decoration in my hair. I also stuck with my checkered scarf. I'll always wear it no matter what. I looked at myself in the mirror. "Feels kinda girly...eh." I thought. I don't mind looking girly. Suddenly the doorbell rang. That must be Shuichi. I quickly went to open the door. Indeed I was right, it was Saihara-chan. 

"Hello Ouma- woah..." he said before looking at my outfit. "What? Is my Saihara-chan checking me out~?" I said with a giggle, making him flush. "U-Uh N-No! I mean, ugh... you look...really pretty" he said his cheeks a cherry hue. It was adorable. "Saihara is so cute when he's flustered" his cheeks reddened even more and it made me smile. "Anyways, you wanted to go and see the party right? Let's go then!" I said going out the front door and pulling him in the direction of the school. When we arrived, the party already started. Girls were wearing their fanciest dresses and walking with their crushes. Tsumugi's dress was probably one of the most elegant out of all of them. Then again, considering she's a cosplayer, it was no wonder she had an eye for fashion.

She noticed us and I immediately gritted my teeth. Why is she still trying to ruin my relationship with him? "Heya Shuichi! I know we had a little argument earlier, but would you like to dance with me when the main song of the party starts? Everyone starts dancing together and then-" Shuichi interrupted her "I want nothing to do with you."  He then took me by the hand and left her without saying another word. After we went away, Tsumugi growled "This is not how it goes in animes. The boy ends up with the lovely girl! He dances with her at the party and kisses her! Not hangs out with some dumb loser. Tears rolled from her eyes as she stomped on the ground like an angry toddler "He was supposed to like me..." she muttered before growling once more

"Even if he can't be mine... I won't allow anyone making Ouma happy." 

Shuichi and I entered the main place the party was centered in. It was the place where the music from and the place booze was located. Yes, booze. Real booze. It happened every time they had a party at school. Someone would spike the drink with cheap vodka and hell would break loose.  Suddenly a soft song started playing and I smiled. "Shuichi that's my favorite song! Let's dance!" I said with a sweet smile. We joined the couples dancing. He blushed. The music was slow and calming. He held me close as we danced. This moment...I wanted nothing more than to remain in it.

We were looking in each other's eyes. His beautiful olive eyes were dreamy and I felt like I could look in them forever. It was surprising how close we got to each other in such a short amount of time. Without noticing we found ourselves leaning closer. We were about to kiss until a loud thud of the entrance door being kicked open and an enraged scream.    

"WHAT IS IT SHUICHI?!"

A furious yell echoed in the ballroom. Everyone, including me and Shuichi, could only stare as Tsumugi, dressed in a beautiful dress with her makeup smudged by tears, entered the room infuriated. Shuichi's grip on my hand tightened. Not this again. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! I WAS NOTHING BUT NICE TO YOU BUT YOU DID NOTHING BUT IGNORE ME! What does he have that I don't that interests you so much?! Huh?!" she screamed, making a scene.

I'm the top student! I'm best-behaved! I'm kind, caring, smart, confident and pretty! He has absolutely nothing to offer you. He's a mean, little lying s**t! Yet you love him over me! Why Shuichi?! Why don't you just love me!" She screamed louder. People looked over at Shuichi and me. Some confused at the situation, some angry for not being by Tsumugi's side, some excited by drama.

"Haven't you heard about who Ouma is?! I'll tell you what! A little purple haired dipshit who bullies people! A liar, a freak a dumbass! One of the most worthless people in existence! A laughingstock of the school! HE. IS. GARBAGE!" She shouted out with a laugh. I looked down. It's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. I'm useless. I didn't deserve someone like Shuichi. I should've just died back there on that rooftop, then I wouldn't be a bother to anyone. Shuichi would have a calm and simple life and not have to deal with this s**t. Tears strolled down from my eyes as I looked down.

Shuichi's POV

 I looked at Ouma worried. No. Ouma didn't deserve this. "Tsumugi-" I said but Tsumugi immediately interrupted me with another shout. "LOVE ME! I'LL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED! LOVE, AFFECTION, EVERYTHING! JUST TELL ME YOU LOVE ME ALREADY!" She yelled out. Ouma began shaking. Tears were strolling down his pale cheeks. My eyes filled with rage. 

I won't let her hurt Ouma.

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Ouma's POV

"TSUMUGI!"

A sudden shout suddenly rang out. My eyes widened. It was Shuichi. The entire room quieted down, leaving everyone in shock including me and Tsumugi. Shuichi never sounded this serious. He was the quiet kid. He was shy and an introvert. So hearing him yell was a surprise to everyone.

"Tsumugi, I don't care about grades, I don't care about looks! But I do care about Ouma." Shuichi looked over at me with a comforting smile. I looked up at Shuichi, my eyes teared up. I was in disbelief. Shuichi once again looked at Tsumugi, disgust in his eyes. "Tsumugi, Ouma's lovely, both on the inside and out. He's witty, he's smart and he's sweet. And even if he's not perfect, he means the world to me. And I want nothing but to stay by his side."  He said wrapping his arm protectively around me.

More tears welled up in my eyes as I smiled lightly. I was loved, I wasn't alone anymore. I immediately hugged Shuichi, happy to have him in my life. I really didn't deserve someone like him, but with him, by my side, I felt like I could do anything, and not be afraid anymore. I hugged him tight, but if life taught me anything, talk and speeches don't solve anything. Tsumugi's rage isn't yet over.

"Ugh... UGH! Why can't you just let me have him you, CRETIN!" Tsumugi grabbed the glass sitting on a nearby table, pushed Shuichi away from me and threw the glass at me. She pushed me to the ground, shoving the large chunks of glass deeper into my skin, blood falling from the gashes. I yelled in pain as she did this, trying my best to get her of me. Soon enough Tsumugi was pushed away from me by Shuichi and he grabbed me wrapping his arms around me protectively. "SHUICHI WHAT DO YOU SEE IN HIM!? CAN'T YOU SEE WHO HE REALLY IS?! A DISGUSTING FREAK!" Tsumugi screamed at the top of her voice, meanwhile, I just held tightly onto Shuichi. "He's a freak?! HE'S A FREAK?! Tsumugi LOOK AT YOURSELF! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PSYCHOTIC BULLY! HE'S DONE NOTHING TO DESERVE EVERYTHING YOU DID TO HIM. SO STOP BEING SUCH A COLD-HEARTED b***h!" He said angrily, stunning Tsumugi and everyone else in the room.  He sighed and grabbed me by the hand "C'mon you don't deserve to hear this s**t" he said, dragging me out the room. Once we were far enough, Shuichi looked at me concerned.

"Are you okay? She really tried to hurt you... Does it sting?" he asked quickly. "N-No I'm okay! It doesn't hurt that bad..." I said with a pause afterward "Why did you defend me back there?" I then asked. He smiled at me. "Because I love you Ouma. You're one of the only I care about in the world." He said to me. I teared up again "Awe Saihara-chan, you're gonna make me cry again!" I said to which he brushed away the tears "Please don't cry. You know it makes me sad to see tears streaming down from your eyes!" He said to which I giggled. "Sorry, Shuichi. Sheesh, I'm a total crybaby aren't I?" I said making him laugh.

"I don't care either way. Anyways, wanna ditch this party and go to your house to watch a movie? Maybe watch something on Netflix?" He asked. I grinned and kissed him on the cheek. "That sounds lovely." I said. He blushed at the sudden kids which made me giggle. Shuichi was truly the brightest thing in my life.

Who knew love was such a good feeling?