Nothing Out of the Ordinary
Author: Nyx Midnight
Rating: G
Status: 1 of 1
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Type: Gen
Characters: Shura, Isamu, Chiaki
Warnings: —
Disclaimers: Characters and such belong to Atlus. I'm just dipping
my toes in the captivating world they created.
Feedback: Yes please! Critiques welcomed.
Spoilers: —
Thanks: As always, Wolfsbride for the beta, but this time, I'd want
to give huge thanks and mad props to Lerefuge, whose great help and
prompt allowed me to write this story even as I was still freaking
out from the pain of MA final papers.
Written for Cathyrne for Yuletide 2006.
There's nothing out of the ordinary about them.
The three of them are average students, Chiaki a little more brilliant, though, as her parents have more money to pour into private classes. They met back in grade school, before Isamu took to wearing a hat as often as he could but after Shura discovered his love of shorts. Class photos of years passed keep a record of their friendship and the varying length of Chiaki's hair.
Every weekday, they take the train and go to school. They study hard, most of the time. They chat on their cells a lot, so they can meet and chat face to face. They play games when they have time, and sometimes when they don't, Isamu and Shura more than Chiaki. They have happy days, and bad days. They laugh and they cry together, young and alive.
There's nothing out of the ordinary about them.
Sometimes, Isamu dreams he is standing in a desert. A hot sun glares down at him mercilessly. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but pure, blond sand. It's everywhere, even in the air. He feels it under his feet, between his toes, striking his bare chest with the wind, even feels it on his tongue at times. The land is devoid of any living soul except him. The heated air feels stuffy and hard to breathe, but somehow, he feels good. He is not afraid. On the contrary. He feels at home.
Sometimes, Chiaki dreams she is in a ring. The spotlights warms the sweat glistening on her skin, and the cheers of the crowd fill the air, resonating in her ears, filling her with joy. Her opponent is fierce, and is twice her size, but she is not afraid. She is dominating him completely, in control and powerful, not worrying for a second about her tousled hair tied in a messy ponytail, her chipped nailpolish, or how she looks in these shorts. When she lands a final, fatal blow on her adversary, the crowd goes wild, but the blood beating in her ears drowns them out. Every one of her muscles is buzzing with adrenaline; she throws her head back and howls in victory. She has never felt more alive.
Sometimes, Shu dreams he is standing on top of the tallest building in all of Tokyo. Night has wrapped her coat of darkness around the city, but the Tokyo lights glitter and shine like a fabulous treasure chest. He looks down at the city at his feet, and suddenly he is high in the air, standing on the emptiness between him and Tokyo, between him and all of Japan, between him and the world. It doesn't even occur to him that he could fall. He is too taken by the beauty, the perfection of the city at night. At those times, he feels that the city is his for the taking.
There's nothing out of the ordinary about them.
When morning comes, they never think much of these dreams. It's better to dream about that than to dream about finding themselves in class in their underwear, or even worse, to dream about facing the hardest test of their life without having studied or attended the class at all, ever. The three of them meet up on their way to school, passing countless shrines and temples. They talk together and laugh. Shura often tries to steal Isamu's "awful" hat, and Isamu often tries to headlock Shu, making Chiaki roll her eyes at their childish behaviour. They make plans for the future, silly plans, grandiose plans, and want to stay best friends forever.
There's nothing out of the ordinary about them.
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