#;hajima

[hikikomo--ri]

online meet || crrp!open

                                  ρєσρℓє ωιтнσυт ƒαcєѕ αη∂ νσιcєѕ,

                  y̶̶o̶̶u̶̶ ̶̶f̶̶e̶̶e̶̶l̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶o̶̶m̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶c̶̶o̶̶n̶̶n̶̶e̶̶c̶̶t̶̶i̶̶o̶̶n̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶o̶̶.

                                                ʰᵒʷᵉᵛᵉʳ˒ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᶜᵃᶰ'ᵗ ᵇᵉ ʳᶤᵍʰᵗ ᵃᵗ ᵃˡˡˑ

          ❝ — Finally, some peace and quiet for once. 

          Ever since he moved to Hajima, it seemed to be one thing after another; the hikikomori was glad to revert back to his normal lifestyle, locked in his dorm room, browsing the Internet at a leisurely pace while working on his next song. The last one, unfortunately, had received mixed responses on the NND boards - on one hand, his romanticized lyrics and notes seemed to be popular with the female crowd, but most young people preferred fast-paced pieces, as it seemed.

          Feh. None of them understood his genius, after all. Not that it mattered - at least one of his songs was going to make it big, eventually. Then he would be able to escape this unsightly lifestyle...

          Grabbing the cola bottle and taking a sip, Shintaro worked away at the music synthesizing program with renewed vigor. 

          He finished in a few hours' time, a rough draft of the song - a fusion of catchy melody, with high BPM, and his 'old fashioned' style of music. He even used electronic instruments with this one, and a new Vocaloid that had been catching on. Typing in the title to the song [ ロスタイムメモリ ], and clicking the save button, Shintaro leaned back with a satisfied smile on his face.

          「”Heh, let's see those critics bash on this song, now... Well, I think I deserve a break after all that hard work.“」

          Turning his attention back to the computer, the boy navigated to a obscure BBS site that specialized in underground communication, rumors and the like. There was a certain level of mystery and intrigue to these kind of things that always interested Shintaro, if only a little - even if he sometimes thought it was almost like some kind of manga cliche. The webpage finally loaded, and Shintaro typed a few more characters before gaining acess to the chatroom.

「                                 ｌｏａｄｉｎｇ ． ． ．  

    ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ [ ｄａｒāｚｕ ]  ｂｂｓ， _ｊｉｎ．   」

_jin has joined the chatroom [ 8:32 PM ] _jin : hello! [ 8:32 PM ] _jin : how are you all doing?

[hikikomo--ri]

   ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ， 

             ɪ ᴄᴀɴ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴏʀ sʟᴇᴇᴘɪɴɢ, 

                  しかし、私は私の COMPUTER なしでは生きすることができないだろ。

tediousgrins

sonorous-soundwaves

bellus-cantor

cutterknife

nihilisticfool

odotsu

          ❝ —  No, no no. No, this couldn't be happening. There was no way. 

          Brown hues darted from side to side, the calamity of the situation sinking into the NEET's consciousness slow as molasses. On the flickering monitor of his computer lay a single, unmoving ivory arrow in a sea of garbled Japanese characters, bordered with a maroon background. A choked gasp escaped the recluse's lips, made even more pathetic by his unsavory tone and the fact he was fussing majorly over a piece of technology. His tongue finally untied itself, frustrated mutterings filling the awkward silence in the room. 

          「”Please, work... If I can't use my computer, I'll die from boredom...“」

          Shintaro's pleas were to no avail, a quick shifting of the mouse doing nothing but knocking over the cheap, knockoff cola he often drank while he worked. 

                                                                         . . . Oh, just my luck.

          His precious, high-tech computer input devices were now swimming in a sugary, carbonated solution of death. Reaching out a shaking palm, mouth agape, Shintaro reflected upon the utter idiocy of the whole situation. Out of all the improbable things to happen today... this was it.

          「”Uuu... What do I do? I can't order online, the computer's frozen...“」

          The grim realization finally hit him. He would finally have to do...  that.

          Five minutes of nervous pacing later, Shintaro had donned his red-and-white jersey jacket and ventured out into the outside world for the first time in about a week and a half. Of course, it wasn't a completely foreign idea to the boy, but it still felt quite strange to have the sun on his face. And tiring. He was panting within a minute of going out.

          「”Really, this is the worst... I don't see why people even go out here, especially when it's so hard to get around...“」

          Shintaro already felt his imaginary health-bar lowering by the minute, going into the orange... And there wasn't even a minimap to help him around, either. His phone wasn't much of a help, given the terrible signal in the area that didn't even support a simple call. Not that he ever called people, in the first place. Well, that meant he would have to ask someone for directions... A shiver went down his spine at the thought of it. Ugh. Seeing a nearby person standing on the sidewalk for some unknown reason, he approached the other with caution and tapped them on the shoulder gingerly, as if they were some kind of nuclear bomb.           

          「”H-hey, do you know where the nearest electronics store is...?“ The stutter did not help with his whole 'pathetic-boy-who-does-not-go-out-a-lot' image.」

[hikikomo--ri]

boys and girls, face forward, finding hope in only the shimmering heat. recall, and bring to words, your miraculous encounters and farewells.

verlorenphantasmagoria

citytovaporize

squaredshark

nurturingeyes

reclusivereverie

weaponizer

mythomaniac3

digitalinnocence

moonlightattention

shinozakishadows

          ❝ — He was finally doing it. He was... outside.

          And it was absolutely dreadful.

          Shintaro felt as if he was literally going to melt. Either that, or his blood was going to evaporate inside of his body. Both physically impossible, but felt probable in the presence in this torturous heat. A stray bead of sweat ran down the hikikomori's forehead, confirming that his inner thermometer agreed with his sentiments.

          He slumped down the sidewalk of one of the more modern areas of Hajima, lined with shops and attractive window displays that the recluse seemed to take no interest in. His physical health had declined dramatically from extended periods of time shut in his room, being already out of breath from about ten minutes of walking and sweating heavily, used to the air-conditioned atmosphere of his dorm. 

          The boy tried to focus on the vague artist playing in his earbuds, glancing down at the screen of his outdated phone to see the song's title. It was unreadable due to the glare of the sun. He sighed, but didn't put the phone in the pocket of his jacket like the average teenager would - he had an odd habit of always keeping it out, almost as if expecting something or someone to show up on the screen. That was absurd, of course.

          Perhaps it had something to do with his large lack of memories. A twitch of annoyance crossed his otherwise melancholy face at the thought of it. His amnesia wasn't diagnosed by any sort of doctor or psychologist, but he knew more than enough to know something was wrong with his brain. Who else remembered nothing but three things of their entire past? And vaguely, at that.

   His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, when he collided with another person. Stumbling backward a bit, almost losing his balance, he let out a small noise of surprise and dropped his phone.

          「"Eh...! Ah, are you okay? Please be okay..." Strangely, he wasn't referring to the other person with the inquiry, but his phone. When the screen flickered to life, he gave a sigh of relief, then glanced to the other person. "Oh... Uh, sorry..." he said, trying to give his best form of apology. Which wasn't much, to be honest.」       

[hikikomo--ri]

when your dreams are gone, then why repeat the daily grind? there's no point in it. . . . eh? who's that at the door?

a-littlebirdtoldme

thoughtfuldove

dasvariations

insekii

shogunindistress

kokkuris

sleeplessinthemanor

haijrne

kirakirapekopekoyama

incadescentscharfrichter

          ❝ — As per usual, Shintaro was holed away in his room; even moving to Hajima hadn't changed his habits. It hadn't even crossed his mind to explore the city or greet any of the neighbors, upon arrival he had simply unpacked and started up his desktop computer, not moving from the dorm since. 

          Clacking of computer input rang throughout the empty room, unheard by the boy wearing a studio headset. On his screen was a music production program, currently playing a track called SONG_24. Contrary to the name, this was the first song he planned on releasing on NND, a video website.

          The recluse leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, listening to it for any flaws. Of course, it wouldn't have any - he had painstakingly went over every note - however, it gave him a sense of content to hear that it was exactly the same. No change in the melody, tone, chorus - everything was constant.

          「 "Heh... Finally. Something that'll sell..." he muttered to himself, a rare grin growing on his lips."First, popularity on NND... Then, a ringtone... An album, when it really catches on... I'll finally be able to escape this lifestyle..." 」 

          Shintaro removed his headphones and placed them on the desk near his keyboard, standing up to stretch. A walk seemed like quite the attractive idea right now, especially due to his good mood. He had already memorized the map of the city, after all. Just as he was pulling on his jacket and wondering which coffee shop to visit, he realized there was something wrong with the doorway.

          There was someone on the other side of it.

          His uncharacteristic cheerful attitude melted like ice in a furnace, eyes narrowing and mouth twisting into a slight frown. There was a problem with his outing, however; people. The thing he tried to avoid most, and yet were unavoidable fundamentally. The ultimate paradox, for him at least.

          「"... Oh. Hello," his unenthusiastic greeting went. "I was just going out. Is there something you need?"」