Not long after Nejire's announcement, Isshun found himself sitting in front of both of his parents.
'Am I about to get the birds-and-the-bees talk?'
That was, unfortunately, his first thought.
Kako opened her mouth first. "Shun-kun."
"…Yeah?" Isshun replied, glancing between them. Did he do something wrong?
"Are you aware that Nejire-chan is moving away after she graduates?"
"Uh… yeah?"
Kako first glanced at Genzai with a smug expression, like she won a bet, but quickly turned back to Isshun.
"Well, after Nejire-chan moves, we'll be moving too."
…What the—? That was awfully convenient.
"But not to Musutafu, like Nejire-chan," Kako clarified. "I actually received a promotion a while back. The company wants me to head a new branch office in Central Tokyo."
She folded her arms lightly. "I could refuse it or delay it, but honestly, the main reason we stayed here this long was because of our friendship with the Hado family."
"So…" Isshun said, flattening it down to its simplest form, "since Nejire's moving, we're moving too."
Kako nodded.
"…Okay?" Isshun shrugged. "I don't really know what you want me to say."
"We just wanted to let you know ahead of time," Genzai added. "So you'd have time to tell your friends at school."
'I don't have any friends,' Isshun thought flatly, but obviously, that wasn't something he was going to say out loud.
"Well… okay," he said instead, giving a short nod.
Truthfully, Isshun didn't feel much attachment to the school. With no close friends, there wasn't anyone he felt the need to say goodbye to.
If anything, he was just relieved they weren't moving in the middle of the school year, as transfer student nonsense was a headache he didn't want to deal with.
After getting the specifics from his parents(unlike Nejire), Isshun promptly told Nejire the news that night.
For a brief moment, Nejire's eyes lit up when she heard that Isshun would be moving too, her posture straightening with excitement. But the moment he explained where, her shoulders sagged.
"Tokyo…" she repeated quietly.
--<>--
Isshun had multiple ideas for Nejire's graduation gift.
For one thing, just based on Nejire's personality, she would probably prefer it if the two of them matched in some way.
Even though Isshun had reassured her more than once that they would still be able to meet after graduation, the fact that their time as neighbors was steadily ticking down, second by second, still weighed on Nejire.
It made her nervous in a way she didn't quite know how to explain.
With some enthusiastic recommendations from her friends at school, one particular concept started gaining traction: something that could keep Nejire "spiritually connected" to Isshun.
(Or at least, that was how they put it.)
As a result, Nejire had recently become enamored with the idea of matching jewelry.
That much became obvious one day when after school ended, Nejire came after her home economics class, proudly holding up a pair of handmade friendship bracelets and talking a mile a minute about how cute matching accessories were.
The knowing looks Isshun got from his mother that day were… irritating, but they also gave him an idea.
After asking Shiori for some of Nejire's hair—which was an awkward conversation for everyone involved—Isshun got to work.
He taught himself the basics of CAD software, consulted his parents for their opinions, and managed to put together a rough prototype surprisingly quickly.
As for the actual "string" of the piece, the solution was simpler than expected.
Using his hair in its raw state felt… unsettling, even to him, so instead he fused it through his teleportation quirk, thickening it into something closer to a durable cord rather than something thin and stringy.
Once his hair had been condensed down to roughly the width of a thick guitar string, and after confirming that it still counted as sufficient DNA to maintain a Nejire-sized Domain, Isshun nodded to himself, satisfied.
He'd put more thought into this gift than he probably realized.
First, it had to be growth-resistant.
He didn't want to waste time modifying it later just because Nejire grew or changed.
Second, it couldn't be something that might accidentally fall off.
And lastly, it couldn't inconvenience her during hero work or daily life.
After weighing all of that, Isshun settled on a necklace.
It was simple in looks, secure, and practical all in one.
And most importantly, something that Nejire could keep close to her.
--<>--
A week before Nejire's graduation.
'...Hmm.'
This was Isshun's first time actually wearing his own set, and he couldn't help but scrutinize it.
'This necklace looks like I put way too much effort into it.'
He held it up to the light, watching it reflect off the yellow gemstone set into the cup-shaped charm.
The one meant for Nejire had a blue gemstone in the same style of setting.
Even though his family was solidly upper-middle class, Isshun had never been someone who liked spending money unless it was on food.
For the gemstones, he'd simply bought cheap, uncut ones and shaped them himself using teleportation before placing them directly into the charm.
The charm itself was silver, but even that had been done by 'cheating', using small amounts of sterling silver bought separately and then fused together with teleportation.
All things considered, he'd spent less than thirty dollars on the entire graduation gift.
All hail teleportation!
And yet, staring at the finished necklace, Isshun couldn't shake the feeling that it still looked… excessive.
'Maybe I should get a second opinion.'
He headed downstairs, where Kako was sitting in the living room with her laptop open.
"Mom."
"Hm?" Kako glanced up from the screen.
Isshun sat down beside her on the couch and pulled out both necklaces and handed them over.
'Wow… the quality on this,' Kako thought immediately as she felt the cord and examined the silver charm. 'Nejire-chan is so spoiled~'
What a lucky girl~
But when she looked up and noticed Isshun's genuinely worried expression, she frowned slightly and glanced back down at the necklaces.
'Is something wrong with them?' she wondered, inspecting them more carefully. They looked perfectly fine, even better than fine, honestly. Like most things Isshun made.
"…Don't you think this looks way too overboard?" Isshun asked.
Kako raised an eyebrow. "Is that really what you're worried about?" she said, incredulous.
"No, look," Isshun continued, gesturing at the charm. "Doesn't it look really expensive…? Maybe I should just take the charm out," he muttered, already thinking through revisions.
'I mean, I kind of agree,' Kako thought, 'but compare this to your past birthday presents for Nejire-chan and tell me if this is where you draw the line.'
She wisely kept that to herself.
"Shun-kun."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think Nejire-chan would be happy with this?"
"She'd be happy with whatever I give her," Isshun replied honestly. "…But yeah. She would."
'…And you still wonder why I ship you two,' Kako sighed internally. Such an unfairly wholesome relationship.
"Then what's the problem?" she asked gently.
Isshun paused, then nodded to himself. "...Maybe I was just overthinking it. Thanks, Mom."
Kako smiled and closed her laptop.
"That's only natural."
--<>--
Nejire's graduation ended anticlimactically.
Well, it was only elementary school.
After the ceremony, the Hado and Shunkan families celebrated with a group dinner.
Even though they did that multiple times a week anyway.
Once the Hados had left, Nejire rushed to her room, already eager to call Isshun.
After all, Shun-chan had told her to look forward to her graduation gift, but every time she asked during the day, he'd just said after dinner.
Now that dinner was over, her anticipation was at an all-time high.
She opened her window, letting in the cool spring air, and spotted Isshun in his room already, holding a small box.
At his signal, Nejire stepped back as Isshun teleported onto the windowsill.
"What's my graduation gift, Shun-chan!?" she asked brightly.
Isshun handed her the wrapped box.
Nejire tore it open, revealing a necklace.
"How pretty!"
The braided cord intertwined vanilla and periwinkle. The cup-shaped charm held a blue gemstone where liquid might have been.
As Nejire looked closer, her eyes widened.
"Ah!" She gasped with realization.
She glanced at her bookshelf, at the very first Cup Phone they'd ever exchanged.
The drawings and the engraving were the same!
'How did Shun-chan even—?!'
She turned back to Isshun, who leaned against the window with an amused look.
"Shun-chan!"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you!"
She rushed forward and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you!"
Nejire repeated, emotion in her voice, her hug getting tighter.
"Thank you so much, Shun-chan," Nejire mumbled.
"Whoa—don't get too excited," Isshun huffed, smiling despite himself. It was always nice to see someone appreciate your gift.
After a moment, she pulled back, still clutching the necklace.
"Can you put it on for me?"
"Sure."
Taking the necklace from Nejire's hands and putting it around her, Nejire just belatedly noticed that on Isshun's neck was a similar necklace.
"We're matching!"
"Yep." Isshun nodded, finishing putting on Nejire's necklace.
Isshun backed up and looked at Nejire, who walked up to the mirror to see how it looked on her with satisfaction.
'As expected of me.'
"But that isn't all," Isshun started, getting the attention of Nejire, who was still admiring the necklace.
"That's not all!?" Nejire looked at Isshun in surprise. 'There was more?!'
"Well, it's just a feature of the necklace," Isshun clarified. "Not a new present."
"Oh…"
"Don't be so disappointed yet." Isshun shook his head in amusement at Nejire's changing expressions.
"If you call my name or need my help, I'll be there."
That got Nejire to pause, registering what Isshun said.
"...Really?" She asked hopefully.
"Really."
"Really really?"
"Yes, Really really."
"Reall—"
"If you say it one more time, I'm taking it back."
She immediately shut up—then hugged him again, relief washing over her.
"…Thank you, Shun-chan."
--<>--
A/N: I saw a comment where someone said Miquella pilled, and now that I think about it, the isshun in my head does resemble Miquella more than i thought, so for the people wondering what his face looks like, there you go.
--<>--
2500PS - Complete
4700PS - Not Complete