He came from above

☆Feathers and a voice ☆

Rantarou returned from another day of a long lecture and assignments weighing down his bag. As he walked into the dorm, he looked over to see a novel sitting on the couch. It was another murder mystery novel, something that Shuuichi would definitely read. This was most likely his. He walked over to notice a feather sticking out from somewhere in the book. It must be a bookmark. The feather was white but had a small tint of blue on the very tip. It was surprisingly captivating, especially with it having a slight iridescent finish to it, glowing a light rainbow pattern even under the cheap dorm lights. It looked soft and authentic, like an actual feather. Shuuichi walked in and jumped when he saw Rantarou looking at the book. "Oh sorry, is this yours?" Rantarou asked when he noticed Shuuichi standing nearby. The boy nodded and reached for the book. "What's with the feather? I haven't seen one like that before." Rantarou said with a small chuckle. He's traveled a good amount of times in his life and has seen many forms of wildlife, including various types of birds. And he was sure that none of the birds he had seen had feathers like the one in Shuuichi's book. Shuuichi tensed as he looked at the feather. "Oh, uh.." Shuuichi stuttered as he tried to think of something. "I-it's actually fake, just a novelty item..." Shuuichi said with a nervous smile, averting his eyes. "Ah, I see." Rantarou replied. "Is it valuable to you?" He asked and Shuuichi nodded, hiding the bottom half of his face behind the book.

However, what Rantarou didn't know is that he would be seeing a lot of feathers around the dorm. He figured that out when he spotted another one a day later, near Shuuichi's bedroom door. Shuuichi dismissed it as a spare bookmark. The next time, Shuuichi also said it was a spare. Over time, as feathers continued to randomly appear around the dorm especially near Shuuichi's bedroom door, Shuuichi confessed that he had a collection of them, despite all of the feathers looking the exact same. It was odd but Rantarou trusted Shuuichi, they were just small feathers after all, nothing to really worry about. Though, he didn't understand why Shuuichi always looked so nervous or bashful whenever another feather would be discovered. Everyone had small hobbies and collections, it was nothing to be ashamed of.

The next day, Rantarou found himself sitting at the small dining table, the desk sprawled with work. He was too lazy to walk to his room. It was rather late, about 10 PM but he had to get this done as soon as he could. He was writing hastily, each letter getting sloppier and sloppier. The clock continued to tick and Rantarou felt his eyes coming to a close, he couldn't do this. By 12 AM, everything went black. He wasn't sure what time he woke up but when he did, his head was lying on something soft. It wasn't a pillow and the rest of his body felt not as comfortable but at least he was on the couch instead of the floor. He felt gentle fingers move his hair from his face and pet his head. He heard gentle and pleasant humming. He almost wanted to fall back asleep. However, he fought it and opened his eyes and looked up. He saw Shuuichi, still wearing his cap and dressed as if he just came back from a lecture. Right, Shuuichi took later classes. Shuuichi had his eyes closed and it was clear the humming was coming from him.

"Saihara..?" Rantarou asked and Shuuichi flashed back to reality, his face now red. "Ah... Good morning...?" Rantarou said awkwardly. "I-I know it may not be ideal to w-wake up on your roommate's lap b-but I'm not very strong so this was all I could manage..." Shuuichi added with multiple stutters, looking away from Rantarou. "It's not that bad, better than the floor." Rantarou mumbled, his eyes at Shuuichi's knees, confirming that this really was his lap. "I'm glad..." Shuuichi's tone was still quiet but at least he wasn't stammering over his every word. He seemed grateful that Rantarou managed to find peace. It wasn't like Rantarou was surprised, Shuuichi always had a conciliatory feel to him. When Rantarou managed to shake off the exhaustion in his body, he thanked Shuuichi and got up to head to his room.

When Rantarou made it to his room, he felt something in his hair and moved his hand through it. When he managed to catch the unknown item, he took it out, only to find a small feather that looked like the ones in Shuuichi's collection. Did he give this to him? If so, why? He did see Shuuichi smile softly at him both when he was petting his head and when he was leaving, though it was a tad bashful, expected of Shuuichi. Wait, why did he put it in his hair rather than give it directly? There was a lot of questions to be asked but it was rather better if he didn't press too much on it. Rantarou just placed the feather under his pillow since he was too tired to find an actual place to store it.

The next morning, Rantarou woke up to hear a soft voice ringing around the dorm. The voice was gentle and strangely a little feminine. It had almost a magical feel to it. Rantarou slowly sneaked in and saw Shuuichi lightly singing to himself as he idly looked at the only window, watching the rain. The voice was extremely quiet so Rantarou wondered why it seemed to fill up the entire dorm. "Morning Saihara!" He said with a casual smile and Shuuichi squeaked, the singing abruptly stopping. "Ah, g-good morning Amami-kun..." Shuuichi said bashfully, looking at Rantarou for a brief moment. "I didn't know you liked to sing Saihara. Guess we learn something new about each other everyday." Rantarou said with a small laugh and Shuuichi looked away. "I-I mean n-not really... I-it's more a habit I do unknowingly..." Shuuichi sheepishly said. "Well, we might as well start on breakfast and get the day going, right?" Rantarou said encouragingly to change the subject and Shuuichi nodded.
One thing that Rantarou seemed to notice is how much of a different person Shuuichi seemed to be sometimes. Like how he wasn't very bashful when he was singing or when he was stroking Rantarou's head yet he gets all flustered when Rantarou points it out.
It's safe to conclude that Shuuichi is kind and clearly had good intentions but he was sometimes rather strange. Such as his unexpected habit to sing or his large, unexplainable collection of feathers that all looked the same.

A/N: fun fact! The song I put for this chapter is actually sung by Megumi Hayashibara, Shuuichi's voice actress! She's such a good singer, I'm surprised that they got someone like her to voice Shuuichi lol.