A/N: Hi all! This time I bring you guys something original and unique today. Since the Japanese version of Fire emblem awakening has a mute option for your custom avatar, why not apply that concept on Yu Narukami?
I have seen Female Yu, OOC Yu, Jerk Yu and many more… all except this.
I mean… someone has to start it someday right? Hope more of these unique alternate versions of our silver-haired swag protagonist being produced on this site.
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Summary: Ever since he had discovered all the different sides of Naoto, Yu Narukami had fallen helplessly in love for the 'Detective Prince'. But how can he express his affection to her when he could not even say out any words from his mouth? Mute!Yu Narukami X Naoto…
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~The Love of the Silent Fool~
Chapter 1: Yu's answer
A young man stood in the middle of the shrine, staring up towards the darkening skies. He stared at the empty space that was once occupied by a certain blue-haired girl.
His legs were weak. His footsteps were shaky and unstable. His heart lost its lively rhythm. His mind was an empty world.
His voice… or rather the lack of it… became much more silent, a feat that he could not even believe that it could.
The man leaned his back against the pillar that supported the entrance of the shrine. His body then slowly slid down into a sitting position.
Then the inevitable happened…
Tears, Tears of sorrow soon streamed down his cheeks. Once it began, he could no longer hold it back.
Oh, how he wished he could hold it back...
…
…
"Ding~! Ding~!"
The school of Yasogami High could be heard ringing loudly in the skies of the late afternoon in Inaba. It signalled the end of the last lesson of the school period, and students from different classes streamed out of the building as they walked their way home.
They were tired and exhausted for it was full of the usual lengthy lectures by the teachers. The students of Yasogami High could not wait to get back home to rest. However, among the long line of pupils walking out of the school compounds, there was a young silver-haired man leaning against the wall of the corridors leading towards the exit.
That young and bright looking man is Yu Narukami, a student transferred from the city in April.
Unlike others who were dying to get into the comfort of their home as soon as possible, he was waiting silently for something… or rather someone.
His silver orbs darted around the faces of the students pouring out of the classrooms, seeking for that one person he desired to meet. It was then Yu heard footsteps opposite from the direction he was looking at.
"…I hope you didn't wait for too long, Senpai." A voice called out from behind him. It seems the person Yu was looking for found him instead.
The silver haired man turned around to find Naoto standing closely behind him. His eyes widened in surprise for a moment before a small smile of amusement appeared on his lips. Yu swiftly took out his mobile phone and typed out words on the device. After a while, the transfer student pressed a single button and a beeping sound could be heard from Naoto's phone.
Naoto gave the upperclassmen a look of confusion. The detective flipped open her own phone and read the message send by Yu.
It reads:
You sure you think you are not secretly an undercover agent? You snuck up behind me numerous times lately… like a little stealthy ninja.
The words seemed to try to lighten the mood between them. However, there was a glaring word in the message that Yu had sent… 'Little'.
The underclassmen had a deadpanned expression on her face, sending the impression that she was not pleased with it. Naoto sighed as she began to jest, "For the last time, Senpai… If I was a secret agent, I won't be here right now. You could even say I would be on missions much more complex than this."
"And please don't use such insulting words like 'little'..."
Yu gave a silent chuckle as he watched the change of expression on her face. He then titled his head slight towards the exit of the school building and pointed the direction behind him with his thumb.
Naoto returned his gleeful expression with a small, thin smile of her own. Though she would not admit it, she does find his antics funny at times.
"Yes, Yes… Let's move on. We got a case to solve." The sleuth spoke in mock annoyance as she led the way. Yu followed the detective closely behind, with his heart beating in excitement. They both walked slowly out of the school and towards their destination.
The duo reached the streets of Inaba, close to their intended destination in mind. They came here based on the information they gathered about the 'Phantom Thief'. Although they were a few steps off to the shrine, Naoto stopped walking when she reached a point beside a nearby telephone pole.
"I have always wondered, Senpai…" Naoto began.
Yu gave a questioning look towards the detective. He did not interrupt her train of thought, for he waited patiently for her to continue.
"I have always wondered the reason why you are still here with me… You could have easily backed out of it." Her voice grew softer as her words began to trail off. "I mean, you should have a time where you thought in the lines of 'you are simply wasting your time on me', right?"
The silver haired man let the question sink into him. He tilted his head and placed a finger under his chin, thinking hard on a suitable answer. However, in his heart, he knew that there was no need to waste time thinking on it.
(You are important to me…)
Those words… those are the words he wished he could have said right there and then.
Nevertheless, Yu dropped his posture and gave Naoto a playful smile. He walked towards her, leaned in towards dangerously close to her face and…
…Used his finger to poke her small nose.
In an instant, a bright red blush soon covered her cheeks and backed farrrr away from the mischievous upperclassmen. Naoto pulled her large blue cap down to cover her bright red face, feeling a mixture of shock and embarrassment.
"W-What… W-What are you doing?!" The 'detective' stuttered horribly as she sent a hateful glare at the joker.
Yu simply gave a grin of victory and amusement as the silver haired student watched his underclassmen over-exaggerated reaction. Naoto soon realised the message he was trying to send.
('You are fun to play with.')
A look of annoyance formed on her face as she was very displeased with her upperclassmen. The back of her mind wanted to retort Yu for his childishness. Strangely for the rest of her, they did not seem to mind his antics.
In fact, she found herself enjoying the attention, despite being on the receiving end of the joke.
Why…? She asked herself. Why do I feel this way…?
"A-Anyways, now the question has been answered," In order to calm herself down, Naoto had to take in a deep breath. "Let us continue moving on with the case."
Yu put on a serious and stern façade, while he waited for the details of the said case.
After regaining her composure, the detective looked towards the only shrine in Inaba and explained, "I talked to the owner of the Shiroku Store and she said the man, who we are chasing after, a few hours ago."
From the pockets of her uniform, Naoto took out a familiar dull looking card that started this case. "She confirmed that it was the same man who bought the card…"
Her partner gave a curious glance towards the detective, was it truly that of a conscience?
Nevertheless, the proclaimed 'Detective Prince' continued, "If that is true, then he should be looking for the next hiding place for one of the stolen items."
She then turned to face Yu and discussed about her hypothesis, "If my deductions are correct, there are two things remaining that the 'Phantom Thief' have stolen. And if so, I'm quite certain that he's going to hide that one. Perhaps he is…"
"…"
Suddenly, Naoto paused mid-sentence. It was as if she wanted to put the blame on someone, but she was not sure if he or she was the culprit. A looks of concern was sent towards the sleuth by the sliver haired man.
He was about to 'speak up' and 'question' about the pause… until Naoto continued on talking out of nowhere.
"Anyways…" She dismissed her train of thought. "I think he deduced that he would be going to hide that item in that shrine… as it seems isolated and he could go without anyone noticing."
Just when Naoto finished her sentence, a beeping sound from her phone could be heard. She placed back the card back into her uniform before fishing out her mobile phone from her pocket. As she flipped open the device, the sleuth saw that it was yet another message from Yu.
The detective turned towards her partner behind her and gave a questioning look, with her eyebrow slightly lifted up. Yu just gave her a sad smile, and pointed towards her phone.
Her grey orbs glanced down to the screen of the device.
It reads:
This case is going to end soon. I feel… kind of sad.
Naoto was surprised at first, but soon… a wry smile appeared on her lips.
"You… too?" She slowly looked up from the screen to meet the sliver eyes.
"The detective I dreamed of becoming as a child… I feel that is what I am now. It is sad. It is saddening to see it end so soon." She spoke in a distant tone.
Seeing that she was feeling down, the mute silver young man walked over to her side and gave a pat on her shoulder to get her attention. Just as Naoto looked to him with a curious and quizzed glance, Yu tugged her soft cheeks with his fingers, forcing her to make a smile.
As soon as he forced the detective to make a ridiculous looking face, the trickster immediately let go and gave her a cheeky grin.
Naoto was speechless during the entire ordeal. While the light stinging sensation on her cheeks reminded her that the mischievous upperclassmen did in fact pulled her cheeks in a childish manner, she was at lost on what to do next.
Seeing the immediate shift of emotion, Yu laughed silently at her stupefied expression.
"Wha-? What are you…?" Naoto was about to start a scolding fest, however, it was then she realised the intention of the leader of the IT team. Her mind tried to process the information. It seemed strange and stupid at first… but the longer she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"Hahaha…" A soft laugh escaped from her lips as she seen through the purpose of the small moment of playful teasing. "You were just telling me that I should be happy, right?" She asked to confirm her deduction.
The silent upperclassmen gave a small smile of approval and nodded. He gave a small 'thumbs up' at her and mouthed the words "Good job, Partner."
Her mood was lifted up from the soberness of before and Naoto returned Yu with a genuine smile of her own. "You too, Partner. Let's end this, shall we?"
The silver haired man bowed slightly with an amused smile on his face and pointed both his arms to the direction to the shrine, as if to ask the detective in front to take the lead… which she gladly accepted it.
…
…
~Tatusuhime Shrine. Time: after school. Date: 11/22/2014~
It was just the few first steps into the shrine of Inaba, not enough to see the fortune telling box clearly… but it was enough to catch sight of a mysterious man wearing a black suit and a pair of sunglasses.
The 'Phantom Thief' was right there within their reach.
Upon laying her grey orbs on the target, Naoto rushed towards him for closer and clear look on him. Yu tried catching up with her pace as best as he could, while giving quick glances at their likely culprit.
The sleuth finally reached to the mini entrance to the fortune telling box. She stared at the back of the mysterious man with her eyes widened in shock. To her, she knew exactly who he is.
"You're…!" She exclaimed loudly but was out of words to express her astonishment.
The black suited man turned around in surprise, finding himself caught red-handed by Naoto and Yu. His eyes that were hidden underneath the sunglasses darted around his surroundings, as if trying to look for an escape path.
Unfortunately, seeing that he had no options to escape, the culprit used the hidden item in his hand that was reserved for the last resort.
-The man brandished a knife!
Yu's mind went high on alert as his eyes caught sight of the dangerous looking object in the man's hands. The mute silver student rushed to Naoto's side and stood in front of her protectively, while his silver eyes sent a harsh glare towards the mysterious man. He grabbed the sleuth's hand pulled it forcefully, forcing her to stand behind his back.
"…Narukami-san?" Naoto squeaked as she was shielded by the protective mute man. After being stunned speechless for a moment, she tried to resist the forceful grip on her wrist. The detective attempted to squirm and pull away from his grasp, hoping for a response. However, the stubborn man refused to turn around and continue to shield her from the danger.
…At least he thought he was.
"Senpai, there's no need for alarm!" She shouted in desperation. "The knife is just a toy!"
-Err… what?
Yu turned around only to stare at her incredulously, stupefied at the truth given to him. The man took this distraction as a chance to escape. He dropped the knife and ran past the duo. They did not even try to stop him, for they were left dumbfounded.
After the 'Phantom Thief' had left without a trace, Yu and Naoto just silently stood there. Both of their minds were overwhelmed… for completely different reasons apparently.
The mute silver-haired teenager scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, embarrassed that his attempt to be 'heroic' failed miserably. The sleuth, on the other hand, was enraged for his foolishness.
The toy knife was left forgotten on the ground as there was a much serious matter at hand.
"Why…?" Her voice was almost unheard by the silent Yu. But it was enough to cause him to look directly into her expressive greyish eyes. They showed only one emotion that seemed to hurt the person at the receiving end – Anger.
It was then something snapped deep within the usually calm and collective young woman. She threw her large blue cap off her head and swung her arms violently in fury.
"It was just a toy! If you would just listen to me for a moment before reacting, we could do this without losing our focus!" Naoto exclaimed furiously as she had completely lost her composure.
Yu winced at the loudness of her voice. His face formed a hurt and sorrowful expression as he was being scolded by his underclassmen.
Naoto stared at her upperclassmen with her eyes blazing with rage, "Even so, what you did… what if the knife was real?! You could have been seriously injured… or worse, DIE!"
Yu could only stare at her. He was at lost on how to respond to her words. It was painful, but it was the truth.
Her small fragile frame shook uncontrollably and her breathing was heavy and uneven. Because of the silent man in front of her, she had completely lost control of her temper.
The worried teen tried to reach out to her, thinking of comforting her and reassuring her that at least everything turned out fine in the end. Unfortunately, he was soon interrupted by the furious detective as she continued to shout.
"I would be clueless of what to do if you ended up in grave danger because of me. Have you even sparing a single thought for me?! I…I can't imagine becoming a woman only to be protected by man. It is shameful!"
Suddenly, the anger in her eyes slowly died off, replaced by the dreadful feeling of sorrow. Her shaking slowly became a quite tremble. Her eyes were glistened with tears, threatening to fall off from her face. Naoto was breaking down, showing her weaker side in front of the young man she had always looked up to.
"And yet… you always…" She refused to let the tears fall off. She refused to show any loss of control of her actions and emotions any further. She refused to allow let the subject matter overwhelm her.
However, she wanted… or rather needed to know something important.
"Why?" It was a simple question, yet the same time it was difficult and complex.
The mute young man stared silently at Naoto, observing her facial features. She looked scared. She was scared. And she looked smaller than ever before, not like the strong, level-headed detective he was used to seeing.
Silent hangs in the air. None of them wanted to move a single inch. They could stand there and waste an entire day without realising it.
However, someone had to take plunge.
Yu could no longer hold in the hidden feelings that he had buried deep within in. He had always silenced it, ripped it apart and discarded like it was nothing. However, it always came back, stronger than ever before. It was an emotion alien to him, something he never got to have… until now.
Yu had always seen the different side of Naoto. Good and bad, strong and weak. He had seen it all. In a way, she reminded of himself. Perfect on the outside but flawed on the inside – the mask that he used to hide himself from the world around him.
Fortunately for him, he had learned to accept himself. And now… he wanted to accept Naoto for who she is.
The silent protagonist pondered on whether to use his phone to convey the message to her. That thought was soon thrown aside as he decided… he wanted to say those words, regardless of his inability to do so. He wanted to taste the sweetness of the words, the forgotten feeling of saying each syllable and the tone used to express it.
He wanted to say it… those three simple words.
Yu clenched his fist tightly. He recited the answer in his mind several times.
He typed a message on his phone and sent it to Naoto. The familiar beeping sound could be heard echoing around them. The detective was not sure what to expect as she slowly took out the phone and flipped it open.
It reads:
Look up and read my lips.
Naoto followed the instruction and looked up from the screen of her device.
It was at that exact moment… she saw the answer that she was not expecting in a million years.
Yu mouthed out the words using his lips, with a solemn expression in his eyes.
-Because I love you…
A/N: I am sorry to leave this in a cliff hanger… But it will drag on too long for any reader to paid attention. Plus, it adds excitement on what happens next, no? The next chapter will be on soon and hopefully a little bit of sweeter and shorter than this.
Stay tuned!