Work Text:
There once was a little girl called Yashiro Nene. She had rosy eyes and rosy cheeks, with rose-colored eyes that saw the world through rose-tinted glasses to boot. Speaking of boots, Nene couldn’t wear them because of her thick ankles. This caused a problem. Nene was a lonely girl. Other kids would make fun of her ankles and never seemed to want her to play with them unless they could make fun of her along the way, and she would always find herself alone in the forest, crying wherever she went. Day in, day out, every single day, she’d cry until exhausted before trudging back home to sleep.
Nene frequented a large, flat rock to sob her heart out. It was close enough to civilization to keep her safe and far enough not to bother others. Except, one day, she attracted attention to herself.
She was lucky she was no gullible child. She was doubly lucky she hadn’t encountered any deadly animals. No, she had accidentally piqued the interest of a lanky kid just short of her height with a toy musket in one hand and a dull knife in the other.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“Nothing is wrong,” she said.
“Okay then.”
He walked away.
Nene cried as soon as he left.
Nene had her head buried in her knees the next day. She perked up, alert, at the snap of a twig. Looking around frantically allowed her to pinpoint the source of the sound to the same boy as yesterday. He looked embarrassed.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“If you say so…”
He didn’t leave this time. He sat with his back against the rock and fiddled with his hands.
“No toys today?” Nene asked hoarsely. The boy’s gaze trailed to her bloodshot eyes.
“It’s my brother’s turn to play with them.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Nene cried intermittently for the rest of the day.
He stayed with her until she slid off the rock and headed home.
“Do you want to talk about it,” he asked one day.
“No,” she managed to sniffle between her sobs.
“Okay.”
He stayed with her all day.
She was hiccupping through tears on the rock another day. He came by with food.
“My mom says food can cheer anyone up.” He passed her a loaf of bread and offered her a jar of jam. She took it hesitantly, using a proffered knife to spread a thin layer of jam onto her bread.
“You can add more, you know.” Nene slowly spread more jam on her bread, eyeing him the entire time in case he decided she had enough. All he did was nod and encourage her to use as much as she wanted.
“It’s good,” she said after taking a bite.
“Right? My mom makes the best foods,” the boy replied proudly. “My name is Amane, by the way.”
“‘M Nene,” she mumbled, her mouth still full of bread.
“Do you like this place, Nene?” Amane gestured to the trees around them and the rock they were sitting on. Nene shook her head. “Do you want to come over to my place?”
“Can I?”
“Yeah!”
“When?”
“How about this weekend? We’ll meet here and then I’ll take you to my place.”
“That works!” Scarfing down the rest of her bread, Nene hopped off the rock and excitedly shook Amane’s hand. “See you tomorrow then! Thanks for the food!”
He stopped her from running back home with a butter knife in her hand.
Sheepish though she may have been, Nene did not cry for the rest of the day.
Excitement was all she could feel the next few days as she waited for the weekend to finally arrive. Amane had some warnings, however.
“If a guy called Tsukasa shows up, ignore him.”
“Why?”
“If he asks you to play with him, say no.”
“But won’t he be lonely?”
“If he keeps talking about being my favorite person or anything like that, feel free to call him annoying and selfish.”
“That seems a little mean…”
“And whatever you do, don’t let him eat your stuff.”
“Wait, what?”
“Two Amane’s…”
“No, he’s Amane. I’m Tsukasa.” A boy near identical to her new friend pointed to himself as an introduction before pointing at her. So this is the rumored Tsukasa… “Who’re you?”
“I’m Nene…”
“Well, Nene. Amane promised me he’d play with me today so you should go home.”
“Stop that, Tsukasa. I said I’d play with you tomorrow.”
“Nuh-uh! You said today!”
“Well, someone’s come over so just wait another day!”
“But you promised! Amane, you liar!” Tsukasa stomped his foot.
“Why can’t you understand that we should always make sure guests have fun here instead of always thinking about ourselves!” Amane let out a haggard sigh.
“Well, you’re the one thinking about yourself since you had her come over and only told us the night before!”
“No, I’m not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Yeah-huh!”
“Do you want to play with us, Tsukasa?” Nene interrupted hesitantly, pulling Amane away from his brother before things could escalate. Tsukasa immediately grinned. Amane looked betrayed.
“Okay!”
“Hey, wait! Nene is supposed to—“
“It’s fine, right? He wants to play with you and I want to too, so why not play together?”
“If you say so…”
“C’mon, c’mon! Let’s go already!” Tsukasa pulled Nene into his house. “I’ll give you a tour!”
“Wait, I was supposed to give her a tour—“
“First come, first serve. Better luck next time, Amane.”
“Hey!”
“I’m sure you can both give me a tour together…” Nene laughed nervously. “No need to fight.”
“Yeah, Amane. Stop fighting and let me do the tour.”
“You little…”
“No fighting, I said!”
“Oh, is this the girl you’ve been talking about?” A woman came out of the house to investigate the ruckus. Nene couldn’t help but stare.
“H-hello! My name is Yashiro Nene, thank you for having me over!” The little girl bowed.
“No need to be so formal, dear.” The woman smiled. “We’re happy to have you here.”
So kind and beautiful! Nene tried to hold back her squeak.
“You’re staying over for dinner, right?”
“Yes!”
“Are there any foods you don’t like?”
“No!” Ahhh, she couldn’t help but yell from nerves! How rude! How mortifying!
“Mooom, you can talk to her later!” Tsukasa whined. “She’s gonna play with us!”
“Oh, all right then.” Their mother sighed at her son’s impatience. “Don’t go doing something reckless now.”
“Okaaaaay!”
They did something reckless. Somehow, despite a tame game of pretend where the trio re-enacted the plot of Little Red Riding Hood, Tsukasa the Grandma decided to be a spry old lady who would evade the wolf by climbing trees and jumping over streams and yet somehow managed to trip over a log and skin his knee. Sorry, Amane and Tsukasa’s mom.
“Tsukasa, don’t cry…” Amane hovered over his brother in a panic. Tsukasa sniffled, cradling his skinned knee.
“It hurts…”
“I know, I know…”
“Tsukasa, it’s okay,” Nene kneeled next to him, “I know a magic spell to make you feel better!”
“Really?”
“Really!” She waved her hands above his knee vaguely. “Pain, pain, go away!”
Nene flung her hands in Amane’s direction, staring at him expectantly. Amane looked at her, confused at first before his expression twisted into a grimace.
“Ack! My knee! What sorcery did you do!?” He dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt. “I’m dying!”
“Drama Queen—“
“—King—”
“Drama King.” Nene rolled her eyes.
“Amane, your knee hurts too? We’re sharing pain like twins do?” Tsukasa laughed.
“Yeaaaah,” howled Amane. “It reaaally hurts…!”
“We should get your knee looked at.” Nene got up and offered Tsukasa a hand. “Let’s leave the Drama King to himself.”
“Okay!”
“Hey!”
“You’re not eating much… Are you feeling worn out from earlier?”
“Our boys have always been hyper since they were born, after all!”
“Now isn’t the time to brag about that, Dear.”
“Ah, right, right. Sorry about that, little lady.”
Nene couldn’t move. This… brilliance! How could such a dazzling couple exist? Not to say her parents weren’t very couple-y but this family seemed picture perfect!
“Nene, you okay?” Tsukasa poked her cheek. “Earth to Neneeee…”
“Tsukasa, stop poking her.”
“Okay.”
“That doesn’t mean you can start poking me!”
“But your cheek is so sooooft.”
“Stop it. Hey, I said stop! Are you listening to me, Tsukasa?”
“Uh-huh.”
“No you aren’t!”
“Nene, how was your day?” Their mother suddenly shifted focus from the boys in front of her to their guest. “Did you have fun?”
“I did! Amane and Tsukasa are a lot of fun to be around!”
“Right? They’re so good at making the dullest things interesting!” Their father laughed.
“Yeah, yeah!”
“But they’re also so prone to getting hurt…”
“S-sorry…" Ah, the shame was coming back…
“Oh no, we’re not blaming you! They’ve always been like that.”
“I’d have been surprised if they hadn’t gotten hurt.”
“I really would have too…”
“But Tsukasa wasn’t even crying this time! He usually complains about the smallest bumps. Say, how’d you get him to calm down?” Their dad leaned in excitedly.
“Magic!” Tsukasa butt in. “She gave my pain to Amane! He was rolling on the ground and crying about how bad his knee hurt.”
“I wasn’t crying.”
“I would have magicked your tears away if you had…”
“Why do you sound disappointed?! Shouldn’t you be glad I didn’t cry?”
“I’m soooo glad…” Tsukasa looked at the ceiling in mock interest. Amane scowled.
“At least pretend to care!”
“I do care though. I love you, Amane!” Tsukasa lunged out of his seat at his brother without a warning.
“Wait, get off or we’ll— Ah!”
They fell to the floor with a thud.
“How many times would this make?”
“This would be the seventh time Tsukasa has knocked Amane out of his seat during supper, Dear.”
“Seven! Attaboy!”
“Dear?”
“Don’t do that again, young man. You’re a good boy. Good boys don’t misbehave at the dinner table.”
“Happy wife, happy life…” Amane mumbled. Nene laughed. Tsukasa leaned over his brother’s plate to smile at their guest.
“Neeeneeeee…”
“Yes?”
“Can I have some of your food?” Strangely, everyone stiffened.
“Why…?” Nene asked carefully. Tsukasa patted his stomach, left exposed from an unbuttoned shirt.
“Hungry.”
“Just… a tiny… bit?” She plucked a few pieces of pork from her plate and deposited it onto Tsukasa’s still full plate.
“Nene,” Amane swooped in to cover her eyes. “Don’t pay him any mind.”
“Wha—“
“Thanks for the food!” A deep growl rumbled through the air, not at all like the sound of hunger one would expect. She thought she could hear whispers and moans coming from Tsukasa’s direction despite the small sounds everyone else made to cover it. When everything quieted, Amane removed his hands from her eyes.
“Didn’t that taste great?” Tsukasa asked with his face smeared with grease. Nene looked between him and his family in concern.
“It’s just his special way of eating,” the adults tried to reassure her. “He’s just like a wolf!”
Ironic that he wanted to play the Granny earlier.
Nene looked at Amane in shock, eyebrows quirked in a silent question.
“He’s got a weird demon in him,” Amane tried to laugh off. He still looked mildly disgusted. “Got a hole of a stomach…”
“I think I’m glad not to have seen anything…”
“Exactly.”
Dinner proceeded without a hitch thereafter.
“Did you have fun today?” Amane asked as he and his brother escorted Nene home. He shot anyone who looked at them mockingly with a glare.
“Mhm! It was really fun!” Nene skipped alongside him, a small bag of leftovers in her arms. Tsukasa began to skip with her.
“You should come back tomorrow. Amane’s got some chores to do so we can have the toys a~ll for ourselves.”
“Jerk.”
“I’m telling Mom you called me something mean.”
“Tattletale.”
“And proud.”
“You shouldn’t be.” Amane rolled his eyes. “But he’s not wrong.”
“We can have the toys for ourselves?” Nene asked with feigned innocence.
“What? No— I mean, yeah. But I meant you’re welcome to come back tomorrow. Mom and Dad won’t mind, I promise. They really liked you from what I could tell.”
Nene stopped dead in her tracks. The boys stopped a few feet ahead of her, confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you mean it?” Voice trembling, she asked, “I can come by tomorrow too?”
“Of course!” Amane took her hands and shook them encouragingly. “You can even stay the night if you want!”
“We can sleep in the same bed!”
“Ts-Tsukasa!”
“You know you were thinking the same thing.”
“No, I wasn’t!” His red face said otherwise. Nene pretended the sunset was the cause.
“You don’t mind playing with me?” She hiccuped.
“Of course not!”
“You don’t find my legs ugly?”
“They’re weird!”
Nene began to cry.
“He means it in a good way!” Amane added quickly. “In a cute way!”
“They’re funny.”
“Tsukasa…!” Amane said through gritted teeth.
“I like them though!”
“Me too!” Amane brushed her tears away. “See? We don’t think they’re ugly.”
“But, but Tsukasa said…”
“He was just being misleading.” Something wet touched Nene’s cheek and ran up to her eye. She froze.
Amane pulled away with his tongue still out of his mouth. He wiped his mouth quickly and stuttered, “A-a magic spell t-to cheer you up!”
“Wow, Amane!”
“Don’t give me that look!”
“That’s what I normally do to cheer Amane up!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, don’t tell my mom, I didn’t mean to gross you out— Oh my God, that was gross, wasn’t it? Hold on let me get a handkerchief—“
“Pff—“ Nene spluttered. “What’s with that? What kind of spell requires licking tears away?”
“Tsukasa started it.”
“I did.”
“I thought it was weird when he did it.”
“And yet you did the same for her. You’re such a weirdo, Amane.”
“Sh-shut up…”
“It was weird,” said Nene. Amane groaned in agreement. “But it was nice too. The meaning behind it! Not the, uh, the actual action of it.”
“I know…” Amane buried his face in his hands. “I knooow…”
“But I do want to play with you two tomorrow. Does tomorrow afternoon sound good?”
“Absolutely!”
“Totally!”
“Maybe we can invite some other friends next time. You’ll like them for sure.”
“Like Mitsuba! He’s so funny when you scare him. Totally not the same as that shouty blond guy.”
“I like Kou more than Mitsuba though…” Amane shook his head. “Anyway, what we’re saying is to look forward to it. We’re gonna make each day fun so you won’t cry anymore.”
“And less lonely!”
“That too.” Amane nodded. “What do you say?”
Nene pulled them into a hug. “I think that’s a great idea. I look forward to it. Thank you.”
There once was a little girl. Sad and alone, she sat on a rock and cried all day. One day, she made a friend. And the next day, she made a few good friends. And soon, she found herself hoping to make many more, have much more fun each day, and cry less and less as time went on.
Yashiro Nene was once a lonely girl. As time went on, she thought of those days as a bad dream finally passed. She hoped they would stay that way.
Something in the back of her mind told her it would, and she had no problem with that.