It was a cloudy Thursday. The kind of day where everything felt muted, colors, sounds, motivation, hope.
Dakota was halfway through his lunch, when Erika practically skipped by like a burst of sunshine wearing knee-high socks.
Erika: "Ah! Dakota! Shinatsu! You're both eating together again! Looks like the two of you became friends," she said, smiling with the kind of energy that made small woodland creatures nod approvingly.
Shinatsu: "Pals."
Dakota: "Technically, I'm just trying to finish before she finds new ways to mock me," he replied, gesturing toward Shinatsu, who was reading a book while eating lunch with the poise of a duchess pretending the world was her servant.
Shinatsu didn't even look up: "You make it sound like I do this for amusement."
Dakota: "You do do this for amusement."
Shinatsu: "I said you make it sound like I do."
Erika giggled: "You two are like an old married couple."
Both looked at her, offended on instinct.
Dakota: "Don't say things that could ruin my reputation."
Shinatsu: "And don't associate me with his fashion choices."
Erika: "See? Perfect harmony."
Dakota sighed: "She's like optimism in human form. It's terrifying."
Shinatsu: "Or like medicine. Great in small doses, fatal in excess."
Erika: "Was that a compliment?"
"Yes," they both said at the same time.
Erika sat down and noticed a boy sitting just two rows away who looked eerily familiar to Ishigami, at least how he used to be. Not his looks, but the air around him. Same aura that said "please don't perceive me." He wore his uniform sloppily, with bangs too long and headphones covering both ears.
Erika: "Hey," she said softly, following Dakota's gaze. "That's Eren, right? He's in a couple of our classes."
Dakota: "Uh, yeah."
Erika: "He doesn't talk much, I tried greeting him, but he just looked away."
Shinatsu closed her book and gave Dakota a knowing glance. "I think I know where you're going with this. He reminds you of how Dakota used to be."
Erika: "Yeah, how'd you know?"
Dakota: "That's racist."
Shinatsu: "In what way?"
Dakota: "In the emotional way."
Shinatsu smirked: "You can't deny it."
Dakota sighed: "…No. I can't."
By the end of lunch break, Erika had decided they were going to help him out. By "help him out," Dakota assumed she meant smile at him and hope the sunbeam energy fixes everything. But Erika was persistent. Terminally so. After one of their afternoon classes ended, Dakota tried sneaking away knowing what Erika had in mind, but she caught him.
Erika: "Dakota," she said with that warm, confident voice that made it hard to refuse her, "you should talk to him."
Dakota: "Why me?"
Erika didn't answer. She simply made a smirk with a face that said "You know exactly why."
Shinatsu appeared beside them like a well-timed boss encounter: "She's right."
Dakota: "Et tu, Shinatsu?"
Shinatsu folded her arms elegantly: "If you can recognize the same darkness in someone else, it means you've already stepped far enough out of it to see it."
Dakota stared at her: "That's… surprisingly deep for someone like you."
Shinatsu: "Watch it, pal."
Dakota sighed: "Peer pressure and emotional manipulation. Great. I'll talk to him. Tomorrow though."
***
The next day, Dakota approached Eren during lunch. It was awkward from the first step. The boy didn't even look up. His food tray was untouched. His shoulders slumped like gravity had something personal against him. Dakota sat across from him. No introduction. No preamble. Just quiet mutual suffering.
After about thirty seconds of shared silence, Eren finally muttered: "Do you need something?"
Dakota: "Not really. Just here to ruin your solitude."
Eren blinked, confused: "…Why?"
Dakota: "It's a hobby."
Eren gave a small, almost imperceptible smirk, the kind of reaction that told Dakota he still had some light in him.
Dakota: "So, have you been here since you were a freshman?"
Eren: "Yeah."
Dakota: "How's the school treating you?"
Eren hesitated: "It's fine."
Dakota: "That bad, huh?"
Eren exhaled through his nose, the universal sound of someone pretending to be okay: "I just don't know if I can do this anymore. My one and only friend was expelled last semester. I'm trying to become friends with my new roommate, but he's just one of those overly nice guys. I can't deal with it."
Dakota: "Yeah," he said quietly. "That's the problem with nice people. They make you realize how bad you are at being normal."
Eren looked up: "You get that too?"
"Every day. At least, that's how it used to be for me. But now, it's not so bad."
Erika was watching from afar, hands clasped, as if cheering silently for emotional progress. Shinatsu stood beside her, analyzing like a strategist on an infiltration mission.
Shinatsu: "He's not terrible at this," Alexia said.
Erika nodded: "He's helping."
Shinatsu smiled faintly: "You're dangerously optimistic."
Erika: "And you're secretly proud of him."
Shinatsu: "Hmph."
The next few days, the pattern continued. Dakota would sit with Eren. Sometimes Erika or Shinatsu joined. They talked about anime, cafeteria food, how math class was a war crime. And slowly, Eren started to laugh. Not loudly. Not freely. But enough that Dakota noticed. One afternoon, while walking home, Erika jogged up beside Dakota.
Erika: "You're doing great, Dakota!"
Dakota: "I hope I am."
Erika: "Of course you are! You're showing him he doesn't have to be alone."
Shinatsu walking slightly behind them, added: "She's right. Some people just need company."
Dakota looked at her: "That's awfully insightful for someone who forced me to be with them."
Shinatsu: "It was all fun, right?"
Dakota looks at her as if saying "Seriously?".
***
The progress came to a halt one rainy Friday.
Eren didn't show up to class.
Erika noticed first: "He's absent again… second day in a row."
Dakota said nothing, but his jaw tightened. He hoped it was nothing, but knew that wouldn't be the case. After school, he checked the quietest, most forgotten places around the campus. Eventually, he found Eren, sitting by the window in an empty classroom with his hood up, staring at nothing.
Dakota: "Yo."
Eren: "What are you doing here?"
Dakota: "Came looking for you."
Eren: "Seriously? Why?"
Dakota: "You haven't been to class. What's up?"
Eren looked at him, eyes red: "I'm tired, man. I can't keep up anymore."
Dakota didn't respond immediately. He sat beside him with his hands in his pockets. Then he spoke: "I get that."
Eren: "I really thought if I tried my best, I could change here. I was lucky when I passed the enrollment exam. And for the most part, I've continued to be lucky. But now that's all gone. I can't make it any further with my own abilities."
Dakota: "And why's that?"
Eren: "I have no talent. How am I supposed to keep up?"
Dakota: "You know what they say. Hard work beats talent."
Eren: "Easier said than done. I'm at my limit."
Dakota: "Eren, why'd you come here? To the Hunter Academy."
Eren: "Because… My older sister was killed by a vampire. So I wanted to get stronger and avenge her by killing those blood suckers."
Dakota: "Then isn't that reason enough to stay? It's a better one than mine, I'll tell you that."
Eren: "Then what's your reason?"
Dakota: "I just… have a friend I wanna catch up to. He's someone who makes me want to try harder, and become a better version of myself."
Eren: "Hey. My reason isn't any better than yours. Plus, looks like you've actually come a long way. I just simply didn't want to avenge my sister badly enough."
Dakota: "Do you still want to avenge her?"
Eren: "Of course."
Dakota abruptly stands up and grabs Eren by his shoulders: "Then hang in there man! If I can do this, there isn't any reason in the world why nobody else wouldn't be able to either."
Eren is shocked, but he gives a light smile as he replies: "You must've really looked down on yourself before, huh? But not anymore."
Dakota let's go and turns around, smiling: "I'm sure there are more times to come where I won't be able to help but look down on myself. But I won't give up. I won't keep on looking down. I'll get back up as fast as I can, and look forward."
Eren chuckles: "You look cool as hell right now."
Dakota: "That's the first time someone's said that to me."
As things calm down, they can hear Erika's voice in the hallway: "I heard Dakota!"
In a few seconds, her and Shinatsu come bursting into the room.
Shinatsu: "Don't jump!"
Eren: "Uh, if you're talking to me I wasn't planning on it."
Dakota: 'She did not just say that…'
Shinatsu: "Phew."
Erika sat on the floor beside them. "We just wanted to hang out, that's all."
Eren: "No lectures?"
Erika: "Nope," she said cheerfully. "Just company."
Eren: "Good, cuz Dakota already gave me an earful."
Shinatsu leaned against the wall: "You can sulk all you want. But do it with supervision."
Eren laughed, a short, wet laugh that sounded half like a sob: "You guys are weird."
Dakota: "Correct."
Erika: "But we're here," she said, her smile as reassuring as could be.
***
Eren came back to class the next day. He didn't suddenly become cheerful or confident. He still kept his hood up. Still mumbled his answers. But during lunch, he sat near Dakota's group. Not with them. Just near. That was enough.
Shinatsu: "Progress," she said, observing him like a scientist tracking an endangered species.
Dakota took a sip of his drink: "Feels weird, seeing someone else where I used to be."
Shinatsu glanced at him: "Keyword being used to."
Erika: You've been smiling a lot more, Dakota!"
Dakota: "No I haven't."
Erika: "You totally are!"
Dakota: "Muscle spasm."
Austin: "Denial is the final stage of growth."
Dakota: "Pretty sure that's acceptance."
Shinatsu: "Not for you."