Chapter Text
Hope's Peak Academy, one of the most elite schools in all of Japan. Students known as ultimates are chosen to attend, making them set for life in their respective talent. One of the students attending this elite school is Kazuichi Souda, the ultimate mechanic.
Kazuichi isn't someone you'd put under the label of normal due to his hot pink hair, pink eyes, and sharp teeth. Then again, being different is the norm at the school he attends, so he doesn't feel like as much of an outcast as he had before.
Kazuichi was a second year at this academy, meaning he had established a comfortable form of living, friend group, etc. One thing that hasn't changed from day one, however, was his affections for the ultimate princess, Sonia Nevermind.
Sonia was a beautiful girl with long, blonde hair and grey eyes. She dazzled every room she went into and always had a regal smile on her face. She was perfect in Kazuichi's eyes.
In all honesty, Sonia wasn't a perfect human being; this was only the opinion of the ultimate mechanic. And, since he had believed this for so long, he thought that she was the only one he would date in the entire school (crazy, right?). Kazuichi would always make an effort to greet her, give her small gifts (that he made), converse with her, and invite her to most daily activities (like eating lunch, nothing too drastic). He even made it a point to call her Miss Sonia - a formal nickname for a formal person, he supposed. But, no matter how much the pink-haired male tried, Sonia never gave in, so of course this made him try harder. Yet, despite how much he tried, there was always one other thing in his way, and that was Gundham Tanaka.
Gundham Tanaka, the ultimate breeder, the "Supreme Overlord of Ice" is another person you wouldn't call normal. The guy dressed in a long, flowing black jacket, wore dark-clad clothes, and always had a purple scarf around his neck. His hair was black with grey highlights, his eyes were two different colors - crimson on the right and grey on the left - and he possessed a scar over his right eye. On top of being the ultimate breeder, Gundham was into the occult and the dark arts - something that scared Kazuichi out of his wits. The breeder was strange in a way, but labels don't stop friendships from forming.
With that said, Gundham and Sonia connected almost instantly. Sonia - though Kazuichi denied it with every inch of his being - shared the same love for the occult that Gundham did, so of course they clicked. Wherever the princess was, the breeder followed, and Kazuichi hated it. Not to say that he hated Gundham, he just hated not having the attention of the princess.
The obvious competition had Kazuichi dub him and Gundham "love rivals" fighting for the princess' love. Every day repeated the same pattern: the mechanic would attempt to flirt with the princess, the breeder would intervene, and they would fight. They would scream harsh words and call each other names (some, well, most broken up by the princess herself). Kazuichi grew tired of the fighting, but he continued with it because it was all for the sake of the princess.
Right?
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Another day, another fight, but this time it was issued by the breeder. The fight was so meaningless and petty, and, upon recognizing this, Kazuichi simply walked away. He had given up talking back, there was no winning. He didn't even hate Gundham, like at all. The only thing Souda hated was the attention he got from Miss Sonia.
Or, that's what he told himself.
He really only kept it up to see the dark-clad teen, nothing more. However, this is a fact that he'd never admit for two reasons. For one, everyone was convinced of the rivalry, and two, Tanaka hated him. So, he kept his mouth shut and continued the cycle.
Kauichi sat with his best friends, Hajime Hinata, the ultimate hope, and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, the ultimate yakuza. It was around noon and the class was given a break for lunch, so that's exactly why the boys sat in the dining hall. There was quiet for the moment - a thing very rare with the three - until Hajime took notice to Souda's wondering eyes. Slowly following the field of vision, he saw the princess and breeder sitting together, pleasantly chatting. Hajime sighed a long, tired sigh.
"Dude, when are you gonna let off of Sonia? It's been forever of the same thing." With that, Kazuichi's eyes darted to the man sitting in front of him, a light blush colonizing his face.
"What do you mean Sonia?" He asked not thinking through his words.
"Who the fuck else would he be talking about, dipshit? Tanaka?" Fuyuhiko added with a harsh tone.
Quiet followed that statement. Kazuichi's blush reddened.
"No." A blatant lie on Kazuichi's end.
"Really, your blush says otherwise." Hajime now looked unimpressed. The mechanic was a terrible liar, and Hajime being his soul friend knew this very well.
"W-well be-cause it's embarrassing!" Kazuichi tried to convince himself, "Y-yeah, so embarrassing that my face is red!" Souda internally cringed at how bad the lie was.
"Save it, highlighter. Your sad attempt at a lie isn't convincing." Fuyuhiko said, holding a hand to Kazuichi's face. The mechanic's face dropped as he sighed, thinking of what to say next.
"Guys come on, I really don't like him that way," he said, "we always argue, over a girl I might add, and never have anything nice to say to each other."
"Is that really what you're telling yourself?"
"Why would I lie to myself out of all people?"
"I don't know, maybe because you've put on this charade for so long that-"
"That's enough Kuzuryu." Hajime stated sternly, shutting the yakuza up. Hajime then turned to the pink haired male. "If you don't want to tell us, then don't, but just stop all the nonsense with Sonia, okay?"
Before Kazuichi could retaliate, the bell for the next class rang and lunch was over. The mechanic gathered his stuff and said goodbye to his friends, heading off to the labs. He wasn't lying to them or himself either, he really didn't like Gundham that way. They were so very different from each other that it would never happen.
But is that really what he thought?