He runs his hand over the spine of the book, then touched the blurred name, eyes widening with intrigue when he realised that it even felt blurry. Of course, he didn't understand how he knew what a blur would feel like, but the sensation was there, and he realized with a shock that he absolutely knew what it was.

'What is this?!' he thought, starting to panic as his senses began to dull. 'Gotta... get my hand out...'

"Hey, you alright, roomie?" someone said, sticking their head in his room. "I heard scuffling, so I came to check on ya-- You put your hand on the name of a blurred book?! Everybody knows you're not supposed to do that! Here, uh, let me help!"

He ran over and knocked the book out of Karma's hands, snapping him back to reality.

"Ah!" he gasped, eyes wide with fear. "Thank you so much! You saved my life!"

"Not really, just saved you a trip to the hospital," he said calmly. "Once, I saw a news story where somebody couldn't get their hand off that exact book 'til it was too late and the book had to be surgically removed. And he did actually die a few days later, so maybe I did save your life..."

"Yeesh... Well, you saved me from that. So thanks. I'm Karma."

"Nice to meet you, Karma. I'm Justice. Nice books, I brought a lot as well. They're all ones I haven't read before, so I brought them from home when I packed. I grabbed a blurred book I never got around to reading too. It's called 'The Madness of King George.' Yours?"

"Crime and Punishment. No idea where I picked it up, but hey, you like books, I like books, let's read these first two together?"

"Uh... I read really fast. I've never met anyone who can keep up. Are you sure you wanna read with... me?"

"Uh, actually, I'm in the same situation. And nobody ever wants to read any books I recommend them either..."

"And it's as if they don't understand that I only do it with their personalities and interests in mind.

"And I always give whatever bullshit they come up with my time of day, but they just don't have time for shit I have to say."

"And my mom's the only one who really understands me," they said in unison.

Then they stopped to look at each other, realising with a jolt that both of them had just spilled something to a total stranger that even the people who were closest to them didn't know.

"So..." Justice muttered awkwardly, holding out a soft, gloved hand with long, slender fingers, and sharp, clean nails showing their shape through the fabric. "Friends..?"

"Uh, yeah," Karma replied just as stiffly, taking the hand and shaking it. "Friends."

They look at their feet for a few minutes, before Karma speaks up.

"So, uh, since nothing's going on today while everybody moves in, wanna wander the campus for a while..?"

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Justice murmured.

They got up and walked to the parking lot they had first arrived in, watching students say goodbye to their parents, some fathers and uncles helping daughters and nieces carry boxes, mother kissing their daughters and sons and adults, the caretakers, generally just reminding their children that they're cared for and to call if they need anything. There are crying kids and proud parents and tearful interactions, and the love, love, love in the air is nearly tangible. Both Karma and Justice are stood stopped, tearing up. They both had scenes of their own that were just like this, they knew. But standing there now, as witnesses, they realised just exactly how heartwarming it was.

"Whoa," Justice whispered. "That's... really cool."

"Yeah," Karma said quietly. "It's like magic or something. Wait... Is that Naomi-chan and Tanizaki-kun?! I mean, actually, I knew he went here after he left our old high school, so I thought she might, but I didn't think I'd actually see her. They're both nice, we should go say hi. I wanna see if she needs some help as well."

"That sounds like fun," Justice said with a small smile.

"Naomi-chan! Tanizaki-kun!

"Is she your... you know?" Justice asked as they walked toward the smiling siblings.

"Hm? Oh, is she my girlfriend? No. I don't swing that way very often."

"What way do you swing, then? I'm bi with an undeniable preference for men, by the way. They're behind most societal catastrophes, but my god, some of them are built like my catastrophe."

"Omni, with a preference for cute boys."

"Ha! I miss that! No idea when my preference changed back to hotties, but jeez, only falling for cute boys saved me in highschool. All the major assholes were hot as fuck and it was probably some sort of survival instinct!" Justice said, before giggling nostalgically.

 "There were no hot boys in my school. Just cuties, stoic types, and the weird and annoying ones," Karma snorted as they came to stand in front of the smiling Tanizaki siblings.

"Yo, Karma," Junichirō said, with a kind smile on his face. "It's been quite a while since I last saw you, huh? You're looking well. Congratulations on making it here."

"Karma!" Naomi gasped, looking offended. "How dare you not tell me you found a boyfriend?! Hi, I'm Naomi, Tanizaki Naomi, and this is my elder brother Junichirō! It's nice to meet you! I've known Karma since we were in kindergarten, and he's a lovely person. If you hurt him, I will personally hunt you down and end your life. Aside from that, what's your name?" she said, smiling kindly.

"U-um, I'm Justice. But I think there's been a misunderstanding..? I'm not Karma's boyfriend. I'm his new roommate. It's nice to meet you, Tanizaki-san and... Tanizaki-san?"

"Um, Tanizaki-kun is fine—" Junichirō tried to say before being cut off by his little sister.

"No, no, onii-sama!" she said, jumping onto him.

"Eh— Naomi!" he gasped, struggling to stay upright.

"He can call me Naomi-chan, you stay Tanizaki-san~" she crooned in his ear.

"Alright, fine," he coughed, prying her surprisingly strong hands from his neck and shoulder.

"So, Naomi-chan," Karma spoke up, as he was, unlike Justice, completely unaffected by the siblings' regular antics. "Do you and your brother need any help with boxes?"

"Oh, that would much appreciated, yes," she said, a pleasantly surprised expression painting her face.

"Justice, do you wanna come too?" Karma and Junichirō asked in unison, making Naomi laugh a bit.

"Yes, you'd be very welcome," she said, smiling warmly.

"Uh, sure. I know I might not look it, but I've actually got a bit of muscle on me, even though nobody can see shit," he laughed good-naturedly, making everyone else laugh too, because his outfit was just comfy, puffy, plain black, and revealed neither shape nor skin below the neck.

"Well anyway," Junichirō said. "We should get to these boxes if it's gonna happen. Daylight's a-wasting, y'know?"

"Yep," Karma said, picking up two smaller boxes and handing them to Justice before taking a bigger one. "By the way, Naomi-chan, have you..?"

"Huh?" she asked, before a realisation dawned on her features. "Uh... no, not yet. She's so pretty, how am I supposed to even talk to her? I wanna be friends with her, but I feel like, 'Why would she ever talk to me?'"

"Haruno-san's way too nice to do that to anyone, and I've seen her glancing at you before. She seems to be interested in you, truly," Karma said. "She's told me before that she'd like to get to know you, and that she likes your hair, but she didn't think you'd want to have anything to do with her."

"Wait, really?! How have you never told me this before?! Okay, okay," she said, appearing to steel herself for something. "I'll talk to her as soon as I get the chance, alright? You're right, Karma-kun, I can't avoid her forever!"

"I feel as though I missed something..." Junichirō said, looking confused.

'Same,' Justice thought. 'But it's none of my business, so I'll keep my mouth shut.'

"Oh, you did!" Naomi realised. "I'll tell you and Justice later, after we've dealt with these boxes!"

"Huh?!" Justice asked, completely baffled. "But it's none of my business, right? Why would you tell me anything? You just met me."

"Naomi-chan is always open with her friends, no matter how new of a friend they are," Karma smiled. "It's something I'm very fond of, actually."

"Oh," Justice mumbled. "Alright, then. Let's go put these boxes up, then come back for the rest."

"Mhm," she said, grabbing a medium-sized box and falling into stride between Karma and Junichirō, after smiling happily at Justice.

After they were done, they went to a nearby restaurant, relying on Junichirō's knowledge from already having lived here a year.

"The best restaurant in the whole area is literally just two blocks away from the school. It has a discount for the college students if we study there, then tell one of the super sweet and kind employees about something we learned, or managed to remember from studying, or a random fact we really liked that we'd heard recently," Junichirō grinned. "Mary-san works there, Naomi. I really want you to meet her, she's in my year at school, so you might even see her around. She was excited about meeting you, I've really told her quite a lot about you. She loves you already."

"Is she gonna take you away from me, onii-sama? You know we can't have that, don't you?~" she said, pouncing on him before wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Ah! Y-yes, Naomi, I do. And don't worry, her biggest concern is that she doesn't want to interfere with our bond. She's so worried about it that it's actually really adorable."

"Hm... well I guess I approve of her then," Naomi sighed. "But she better be nice!"

"She's nothing short of lovely, I swear."

"Hmph... well, alright, then. I'd love to meet her," Naomi said, smiling with approval.

"Oh, thank the gods," he whispered, feeling like he'd dodged, not a bullet, but a huge tactical nuke.

'That "hand on the chest" gesture,' Justice thought. 'Comes out a lot for him in conversation with Naomi. Her opinion appears to mean a lot to him. But I mean, I suppose if Peace and I were the only ones left, I'd care about her opinion too. Thank fuck we aren't, then, she's the worst, most inconsiderate and unloving little sister one could possibly have.'

"Hey, Justice!" Karma half-shouted, jolting the black-clad boy back to reality. "How are you so strong, those boxes look so heavy?!"

"Sometimes I just find machines, broken ones, on the side of the road. I take them home and bring all the equipment to fix them by myself. All that stuff is heavy, so I just got stronger as I kept up with the hobby. Also, I have a bunch of working machines in my room at home, and I'm lowkey running out of space."

"That's cool. I'd quite like to see them someday," Karma mused.

"Really?" Justice smiled, laughing good-naturedly. "Well then, I'd quite like to show them to you someday."

Just then, up ahead, they heard a fairly familiar sound. A door opening, and the bell on it ringing, voices coming out, wind coming in, and the smell of food coming out as well. They looked up to see the Tanizaki siblings walking in ahead of them, and then giggled at each other in mutual understanding before racing toward the building, reaching out at the same time and having their hands also hit the door at the same time, before bursting out laughing.

"Rats, fooled again," Justice said, making Karma laugh so hard he had to lean on the door.

When he was done laughing, Justice was still giggling a bit at his antics. The two of them then went into the restaurant to the Tanizaki siblings, where Junichirō had already ordered for all four of them. Naomi didn't look very happy about it though.

"Just trust me!" Junichirō begged. "It's so good, Naomi!"

"Hmph, no!" she whined back. "That's not what I wanted!"

"I know..." he sighed hopelessly. "Will you at least try it when it comes, though?"

"Hm... sure," she said happily, flipping a complete switch on her unsuspecting brother.

"Wait... really?!" he asked, jaw dropped.

"I mean, of course! I care about what you think, onii-sama!" she said.

"That's grea—" he said, before stopping short at the look on his sister's face.

"Of course, I didn't really ask for it, but that's neither here nor there, is it, dear brother?" she said, a hint of sweet evil bleeding into her words, as well as into the dark sparkle of her eyes.

"Uh— sorry..." he said, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "But it really is good!"

"Tanizaki-kun! It's nice to see you again!" a new voice said.

"Oh! Hi, Mary-chan!"