Stargazing - [Nagito Komaeda x Reader]

Ch4 - |Sippy Cup|

~~~~~~~~

He's still dead when you're done with the bottle
Of course it's a corpse that you keep in the cradle
Kids are still depressed when you dress them up
And syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup

~~~~~~~~

An awkward silence fell between the two of us. In the meantime, a waitress brought our order. I thanked her and took a few bites of my cupcake quietly. When I reached out to take a sip of my coffee, Nagito decided to break the silence.

"So... What about you? How did you end up here?" he asked curiously while chewing on a piece of kiwi from his fruit salad.

"Ah, me? Well..." I proceeded to tell Nagito about how I decided to move to this city so my parents didn't have to spend money on me anymore.

After I finished, he nodded and asked "What about your ultimate talent? How did Hope's Peak Academy recognize it?"

"You haven't heard about it?" I tilted my head to the side, pouting a bit. "I discovered a comet when I was in middle school. It was all over the news for a few days." I made an amazed expression and performed a wide gesture with my arms. "Teenage girl discovers a comet, makes astronomers all over the world look like idiots! She didn't even use a telescope! Scientists hate her!" I said, paroding the tone that TV presenters often used on the news.

Nagito giggled at my silly little performance. "Unfortunately, I don't recall hearing about anything like that." he responded. "I always read the news so maybe it was during the time when I was kidnapped in middle school."

"Yeah maybe... Wait, kidnapped?!" I exclaimed, looking at Nagito in shock. He simply grinned, took a sip of his green tea and went around the subject. "More importantly, do you mind telling me about your big discovery?" he tilted his head in a cutesy way and smiled innocently. I looked away.

"Well... Sure. One summer day when I was watching the stars, as usual, I just... Noticed it. A small comet, soaring through the night sky. I don't know how the astronomers managed to miss it, but after staring at it the whole night I called the right people and then blah, blah, blah, paperwork and stuff. But at least I got to name it!" I talked excitedly as I remembered the day it happened.

At that moment, I could see a spark in Nagito's eyes. Pure amazement and admiration made the pupils of his eyes look like they were in the shape of a star, shining brightly.

"W-well? What did you name it?" his voice shook a bit in anticipation. "Nyeheheh... Does the name Vulpix ring a bell?" I grinned at him in a mischievous way.

"...you named your comet after a Pokémon?" Nagito stared at me blankly. I pouted. "N-not just after a Pokémon! Oh come on, don't tell me you don't remember!... That comet... Had a tail... And it looked like a fox' tail, so I..." I mumbled, a bit embarassed.

"Wait... A fox? You mean, our fox?" Nagito blinked a few times, and then a wide smile grew across his face. "Oh... Yes! I do remember..."

***

A day after Nagito had rested from suffering his fall, we both went to the park. "Over there, come on! If we hurry up maybe we can still find it!" he shouted as I followed him.

"Maaan, how much longer? My legs are bleeding!" I cried out as I wiped off the blood from tiny cuts on my legs with a napkin I carried around. Wow, that park sure had a lot of sharp branches lying around. And of course I had to get cut by each and every one of them. How clumsy was I?

"Down here, next to The Bunny Stream!" Nagito shouted excitedly as he slid down the small hill into a tiny valley surrounded by old trees. 'The Bunny Stream' was a silly name we've given this place, because once we saw a mother bunny with a group of small baby bunnies jumping along the stream here. Nagito really wanted to pet them, but they were too scared and ran away.