Twelve Shots of Shuuya

By: Aviantei

A Kagerou Project Anthology

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit 1/12]

00. Cleanup

"It's sure cold in here, huh?"

Ayano's breath frosted the air as she tightened her scarf. Shuuya fingers slipped on his zipper, wishing he had gloves. Tsubomi's hood was up, but the tip of her nose was pink, and Marry was suctioned to Kousuke's side as he headed for the light switch.

"Well, the last time we were in here was summer," he said, turning on the lights and then moving to the thermostat. "At least the power's still on, but it'll take a while for the heater to do any good. Until then, we'll just have to work hard to stay warm, right?"

Shuuya went to toss in a comment, but Ayano nodded with a clap of her hands. She seemed excited, but it was more the fact that she was actually there that stopped him. Right there. Real. Alive. August had been months ago, but Shuuya still wasn't used to it. "Nothing to start off the new year like some cleaning up," she said. Being stuck in the Heat Haze had obviously altered her priorities. "Where should we start?"

The hideout wasn't particularly cluttered or anything. In fact, Marry's cleaning job had held true, save for the months' layers of dust. The messiest things were probably the remnants of their improvised sleepover for Momo and Shintaro, and the storage space they had never actually gotten around to organizing.

But it had ultimately been a secret base. Now that Ayano was alive and Kenjiro had become himself again, the reason for their powers understood, there wasn't much need for the Mekakushi Dan any more.

"We managed to drag a lot of crap in here," Tsubomi muttered, staring down at the couches and table in the middle of the living room. They had walked here, so there was no getting rid of anything big. Tsubomi shook her head with a sigh. "This will definitely take more than a few days to finish up."

"It should be fun, though!" Again, Ayano's enthusiasm perked up the situation. Even Marry, who hadn't grown up with Ayano, seemed excited. Then again, it was hard to tell with her face obscured by the green of Kousuke's jacket. "I at least want to check out the place. You guys stayed here a lot, so I wanna take a good look around before we clear it out." Kousuke grinned, and even Tsubomi's lips gave way to a smile.

"I'll show you around then," Shuuya offered. For a moment, he locked eyes with Tsubomi, but Shuuya only tossed her a shrug in return. Maybe because they understood each other, she wouldn't try and accuse him of slacking. "It'll be real quick, then Onee-chan and I will get right to helping out okay?"

It really wasn't a big place at all, so it didn't take too long for Shuuya to show Ayano around. Tsubomi had started hacking away at the living room, and Kousuke was helping Marry sort out boxes of random trinkets from the medusa's closet, everything from Marry's handmade flowers to a stray party popper spread out on the floor.

"Let's start out over here, then," Ayano suggested, pointing to a stack of totes left alongside the wall in the kitchen. They had moved a lot of things out of the house once Ayano was gone, though there hadn't been quite enough space in the hideout to spread things out. "Since it's already packed up we could move it easily…" She pulled open one of the lids, revealing some clothes that none of them could really wear anymore. Ayano lifted up a t-shirt, that probably used to be Kousuke's. "Then again, maybe we should just get rid of some of it?"

Shuuya nodded, unable to repress a shiver. The heater had started running during their tour, but it wasn't quite up to speed yet. "Tsubomi's sure a slave driver. Spring cleaning shouldn't start 'til March at the earliest." He opened up another tote, finding nothing but some old notebooks that probably hadn't been written in since Ayano was alive.

She's here now, he reminded himself. You don't have to think like that anymore.

Ayano giggled, the same as anytime Shuuya had made a dumb joke when we was younger. The Heat Haze hadn't changed her much, or maybe nostalgia was getting in the way. Ayano tucked a strand behind her ear, still shuffling through the shirts. "Maybe Hibiya-kun could wear some of these?"

"Could and will are two different things." Shuuya found another crate filled with old toys and board games, mostly free of dust. Kousuke had taught Marry how to play all of them, letting her win most of the time. "Sheesh, what did we think we needed all this junk for anyway?"

Even as he said it, he knew. He knew exactly what they had wanted this all for. Because they had wanted to hold on to everything from their time as a complete family. Even back before Ayaka had passed, before Kenjiro became possessed, before Ayano…

"Are you okay? Is it too cold for you?" Ayano had unwound her scarf—still red, still the color of a hero—and hooked it around Shuuya's neck before he could protest. With expert hands, she had tied a warm knot next to his shoulder. "Hm, red's still a good color for you. Maybe I should have bought you a different hoodie back then?"

Shuuya almost flinched, feeling his eye power flicker in an attempt to cover it up. But he remembered that Ayano didn't think his eyes—any of their eyes—made them monsters. With everything he had done, she would still smile at him, still take care of him.

He didn't want to cry. He had already cried enough months ago: cried for relief, cried for guilt, cried tears that he let someone else see, not hidden behind his masks. He didn't deserve to cry anymore. He fought the instinct of his ability; Ayano didn't deserve to be treated to a lie.

"Shuuya," she whispered, making him open his eyes. Ayano's own shimmered red. "I love you very much. You know that right?"

"I know." He knew even without her power, but the connection helped, giving him peace. Ayano really was the perfect big sister, caring and compassionate, always ready to help him out. Shuuya took a deep breath, putting on a smile without lies. "And if you had gotten me a red jacket, I would've matched Shintaro. He tugged at his hood, still on even under his thicker winter jacket. This one suits me just fine, Onee-chan."

Ayano smiled in return, her eyes fading back to dark brown. "Good, I'm glad you liked it that much." She let go of the scarf, leaving it for Shuuya to wear. The chill didn't seem to bother her too badly. "How much of this do you want to keep? If we're not going to use it then maybe we should at least donate it."

"Hm, maybe." There wasn't too much point in keeping any of it anymore, besides from the memories. "We should probably talk it over with the others. I might not want anything, but who knows what Kousuke might have stowed away in here." Even Tsubomi could be sentimental when the right moment came.

"Then let's try and organize it so they can look through it easier," Ayano said. Shuuya grimaced as he found what looked to be a tangled mass of cords in a case, but they had to start somewhere. "Who knows, maybe we'll find something else interesting in here?"

In the end, they kept the board games and some stuffed animals that Marry would like, but there were several totes it would probably be best to get rid of. It was getting time for dinner when Ayano decided it would best to stop for the day, and Tsubomi agreed with more than a bit of stray lint clinging to her hair. Marry was still toying with her party popper, and squeaked when she accidentally tugged the string too hard, setting it off. Kousuke was searching for a game to play, leaving Shuuya to call for dinner.

"Thanks for taking care of that," Ayano said once he hung up. The heater was finally running in full force, but Shuuya still had her scarf on. He went to tug it off, but she stopped his hands with her own. "Don't worry about it. I won't need it until we go back outside."

"Hey, anyone want to play Rich Man Poor Man?" Kousuke called, waving a pack of cards and cutting off Shuuya's protest. Always up to any game, Ayano chimed in, offering to shuffle the deck. Marry rushed to brush her confetti explosion from the table, and Tsubomi removed her earbuds in interest. "Some of the others are gonna come over to help, too, so we can have a warm up game before they get here!"

Even as the rest of the Mekakushi Dan filed inside, bringing in bursts of winter air, Ayano's scarf still carried the faint scent of summer.

[NOTES] Well, I may have disappeared in the past few months due to life (school, work, and noveling), but I will always come back for [Twelve Shots of Summer]!

[Twelve Shots of Summer] is a one shot based writing challenge, in which you are given prompts to write one short story per week of summer. We're just getting started, so I would go ahead and maybe poke around the forum, or possibly just take a look at the C2 for some of the work that we've done the past two summers. We're all over the place as writers, so there will be something good for you out there, I promise.

This is our third year, so I decided to try something a bit different. I'm going for the anthology challenge, and so will be writing Twelve Shots focusing on Kano Shuuya! My hope is that these one shots will be able to cover the three years following canon (with some headcanoning because why not). I will also be doing a seasonal challenge, as well as looking at Shuuya's relationships with the Mekakushi Dan (in numerical order no less). There's a bunch of other personal challenges I'll also be doing, but just know this might be a crazy ride.

The fact that I'm focusing on Shuuya for the third T-Sauce Year is relevant, since Shuuya's number is three, too! (shot)

This week's prompts were: "Inheritance," "Unfinished Business," and the optional classic of Chekov's Gun! In this case, the hoodies from Ayano are the inheritance, cleaning up the secret base is the unfinished business, and party popper Marry sets off is a parody on Chekov's Gun (after all, if it appears in the first act, it must go off by the second or third)! I'm really excited for the rest of the summer, and hope to bring about regular story updates as well.

Week two's prompts are "Spreading Grand Wings," "Down to the Foundation," and the optional classic Backstory! Personal challenges include Spring and Shuuya's relationship with Tsubomi! I've actually already written it, but if you want something else to read in the meantime, maybe check through those archives? Or just keep your eyes out for anything with the [Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit] tag!

See you then!

[NOTES] 060416