Misfit Together

Chapter 1

(I have been so damn excited to continue this. Here we go~!)

It was unexpected, to say the least. Of all the things Urushihara could do, Maou and Ashiya were the most shocked by the idea of him actually going out for the sole purpose of socializing. What was going on with him?

Maou had arrived home just over an hour ago, not long after spotting Urushihara out and about in the Hatagaya area as he hurried past MgRonald's. Trying, and failing, to avoid being seen, no doubt. If it weren't for the fact that he was busy with customers at the time, he might have gone after him, but confronting him the moment he arrived home worked just as well. And he was surprised to hear Urushihara's reason for leaving the safety of their little one-room apartment.

"I-I just wanted to meet my internet friends, ok? Nobody noticed me, I didn't get arrested or anything, so it's all good, right?"

Friends? This was news to Maou. But then, he remembered as he took a sip from his cup, there were two other people nearby. He hadn't really entertained the thought that they might have been with Urushihara, so he didn't think to pay much attention to them.

Right now, Maou was sitting at an angle to the table with his manga open in his lap and a teacup beside him while Ashiya was tidying the room. It was quiet, and Maou was thinking. Letting the book fall shut, he leaned his elbow up on the table and rested his chin in his hand, looking across the room at the subject of his thoughts. Urushihara was in his usual spot in front of the laptop, his head tilted down and the screen titled forward so that neither Maou nor Ashiya could see exactly what he was doing. He was hunched over the desk, shuffled as close to it as possible, with his headphones in. He was giving off every signal that he wanted to be left alone.

And Maou did leave him alone, for the time being.

As Maou mused over the possibilities of what kind of people someone like Urushihara would be friends with, or what they would do together, Ashiya left for a brief moment to take the trash out. When he returned, Maou spoke, still looking at the back of Urushihara's head.

"You know, I can't help but wonder," he shifted his attention onto Ashiya, who had now joined him at the table, "Who would an anti-social shut-in like him be interested enough in to actually want to go out to see?"

"I think a better question would be who would be interested in going out to see an anti-social shut-in?" Ashiya replied with a wry tone, "Still, it may be worth finding out more about these friends of his. We wouldn't want him to cause any trouble."

"Maybe you're right... Wait, cause trouble for them or with them?"

Ashiya grimaced, "Either way, it won't be good for us."

Maou had to admit, he was right there. Urushihara may not have caused any problems this time, or it didn't seem he had anyway, but that didn't mean he wouldn't in the future. Maou nodded and reached for his tea again as Ashiya continued.

"You saw them outside MgRonald's, correct? What did they look like?"

"I didn't really get a good look at them, plus I didn't even consider they could all be together..." he thought for a moment, "I do remember a few things, like there was one guy and one girl. The guy looked pretty average, I guess, but the girl was wearing all these bright colours and stuff. If you ask me, she doesn't seem like the type Urushihara would hang around with."

Before Ashiya could respond, though, Urushihara's voice came from the other side of the room, sounding tired and uninterested.

"You're talking about me, aren't you?"

They looked up to see that he hadn't even turned to face them.

"... Did you hear all that?" Maou asked carefully as Urushihara removed his headphones.

"Nope," now, he turned around and leaned back on one hand, his expression bored but slightly irritated, "but I did catch my name. What's going on?"

Maou and Ashiya looked at each other for a second.

"Tell us about your friends." Maou said.

A demand, not a question. Urushihara faltered, glancing away for a moment.

"What about them...?"

"Well for starters, who are these people? You never mentioned having friends before."

"That's 'cause it's none of your damn business," Urushihara frowned, "I can have my own life. You don't need to know everything."

"We do if it's going to put us in any kind of danger." Ashiya's tone was calm but he was starting to look like he could snap any minute.

"They're not dangerous. And we were just hanging out. I already told you I was careful, so what's the problem?"

"The problem is we can't be sure..." Maou paused, narrowing his eyes, "Have you told them about us?"

Urushihara, surprisingly, looked offended by this.

"Of course I haven't, do you think I'm an idiot?" Ashiya opened his mouth but Urushihara fixed him with a sharp glare, "Don't answer that," he turned back to Maou, "If I tell them, who knows what they'll do? I mean, at the very least they wouldn't want to be around me or even talk to me anymore."

But that only confused Maou even more.

"You don't even like being around people. You said it yourself, you're socially awkward."

"It's different when it's someone I have things in common with. It's easier to talk to them when they understand what I'm saying..." Urushihara sighed.

Maou and Ashiya were quiet. Urushihara turned back to the screen and picked up his headphones again.

"You don't have to worry," he said snidely, "I might screw up a lot, but I won't this time. Just drop it."

He clearly had nothing more to say on the subject, but his roommates were still in the dark as to what sort of people Urushihara had found. For whatever reason, he was desperate to hold on to them.

Maou had said he had one more chance, but that was on the topic of him sneaking out. It wasn't about him leaving the apartment at all. Which meant if Maou would just let him, Urushihara could meet up with Shizuka and Momoko again. Thus began the days of trying to convince him that there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. It started with casually mentioning it sometimes, just in passing, then he was openly talking about how much he wanted to see them. Then asking directly, and eventually all-out begging. It took some time, but he did manage to break them both down.

And once he had done that, he turned to his laptop with a rare grin and typed a message.