Reminiscent // KUNIKIDA DOPPO ||

Reminscent IV

"Hurry up you! We're gonna miss the start of the show. The girl urged the kid on as they continued to climb the hill. It was extremely steep, but not steep enough to be a mountain. Either way, the gravel continuously made Kunikida slip and fall even further down.

"I'm trying I'm trying." He scoffed. This better had been worth it. The skin on his knees was getting scratched up and his shorts were utterly ruined. Why was the boy even doing this??

Eventually, Kunikida saw the end of his torturous adventure. Y/N's hand reached out to him as she already got to the top. For a moment he was almost hesitant to grab it out of embarrassment.

What if my hand was sweaty? What if there were rocks on it that would stab her palm? What if I made her fall down? What if-

"Doppo-!"

The blonde started to slide down again when he came back into focus. "Ah!" Kunikida desperately slid his feet back up but only kept going back down. He cried out a bit until Y/N finally grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him up quickly and harshly.  After Kunikida had grabbed his bearings, he realized he had landed practically on top of her. They made eye–contact, and Kunikida couldn't help but feel flushed.

"Oh! Look!!" While Y/N was distracted by the sudden explosions, the boy used the opportunity to get off of her without feeling too embarrassed. They both looked up to the sky and saw fireworks....colorful and big. The firework show had begun for the weekend's festival. No matter how much Kunikida had seen them, he was more starstruck than before.

***

"Was it worth it?" The mischievous girl asked the boy with a grin after the show ended. They were still sitting on the hill.

"You're lucky I didn't wear anything special today, it would've been ruined," The blonde responded, clearly avoiding the question. His mother's husband would usually make him wear a hakama for the festivals, but he wasn't home this weekend so Kunikida decided to go more casual. "You on the other hand.."

"It was definitely worth it."

"No stupid, your kimono. You ruined it."

"Clothes are made to get dirty!"

"Well try not to ruin your special ones! I know you work with dirt every day but jeez.."

"Hehe..."

The sky was clouded with smoke from the fireworks. There was a new silence that made Kunikida's ears suffocate.

"Hey Y/N."

"Hm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Woah huh?" She almost seemed shocked by the question. "That's super random, haha...what would be wrong?"

It was a sudden question, but something felt off. The way she spoke..and how she was constantly moving. She didn't seem to take too many things in for the moment. "I don't know..." Kunikida clicked his tongue and looked away. "You just seem different. I know you've been trying to act normal ever since..." He trailed off. Mentioning her mom's death probably wasn't the smartest idea. It's clear that's what was bothering her, considering the anniversary of her being pronounced dead was only a week ago, but what about it? There had to have been something else. She hadn't acted the way she did last year, maybe that was because Kunikida didn't know her as well?

Noticing that Y/N hadn't made a peep, he turned his head over her and saw her staring out into the sky with a frown.

"Am I really that obvious?" She said with a slight, but pitiful grin. "Sorry, I don't mean to be a downer."

"No! You're not!! You have every right to be upset!" Kunikida gestured over to her quickly, he didn't want to make her feel bad after all. "It's just..something feels different this time, and I just wanted to check in...that's all."

With that statement, Y/N let out a sigh. She looked to the dirty ground for one moment, then looked back up. "I just wish my dad would be more honest with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I asked him what the cause of her death was, and he got really defensive about it for some reason. I never found out what happened whenever it..actually happened, and he never told me. A part of it bugged me so I asked him."

"Why wouldn't he tell you?"

"I DON'T KNOW!!" She yelled out with widened eyes as she looked back at Kunikida. She bit her lip and dropped her hands down to her thighs, which gave a harsh slapping noise. "Due to his stubbornness, I'm going to make it my life goal to find out what happened to her." The girl crossed her arms and grinned. "I will.."

"Well let me know if you find out." Kunikida pat her shoulder.

"I will, and you have your own mission don't you?" Y/N quickly changed the subject and put her arm over Kunikida's shoulder, making their faces incredibly close. The boy was flustered for a moment by the sudden movement.

"H-Huh?" He stuttered.

"Your dad. You said you wanted to find him once, do you still want to?"

"Well...of course I do." Kunikida looked in the other direction. This was to both get farther away from her face and to hide his doubt about finding his father. The world was a big place, and the likelihood of ever finding him again was slim.

"So then I guess we both have mysteries to solve, don't we? It'll be fun."

Fun. Is that what it would be? Kunikida had guessed that the outcome of both of their discoveries would be pretty depressing. He had supposed it was Y/N's little way of distracting herself from a harsh truth that would soon come to light.

"Yeah,  good luck Y/N." He smiled, looking back at her.

"You too Doppo." She gave him a hopeful smile, which was contagious to Kunikida's lips.