title: The Hallway
rating: G
summary: Set pre-game, 100% headcanon. To Mina, Soma will always be her very own hero.
.the hallway.
Six-year-old Mina Hakuba was no stranger to sleepovers. Or to be more accurate, she was no stranger to having her friends spend the night at her place. What she wasn’t used to doing was to actually stay at a friend’s home for a night. While she would never ever admit it out loud, the young girl thought that sleeping in a room that wasn’t hers, in a bed (or futon) that was entirely unfamiliar was pretty scary. The knowledge that mom and dad weren’t in a nearby room was enough to increase her fear of things that went bump in the night by tenfold.
But she had pushed her fears aside this time, had asked her newest friend if she could spent the night at his place. He was always so quiet and shy, a very difficult boy to speak and connect with. Despite that, there was something about the smaller boy - Soma, which made her feel so curious about him.
And it was because of that curiosity that Mina had ended up where she was right now, tucked in under the sheets of someone else’s futon (most likely one reserved for guests), on the floor of her friend’s room, unable to sleep and in dire need of a visit to the bathroom. It should’ve been simple. The bathroom was located in the hallway outside Soma’s room, barely a few meters from the door. But said hallway was also very dark… And what if there were monsters hiding in the shadows?
Mina didn’t want to be eaten by a monster.
After a few more moments of tossing and turning, twisting in a sea of hot sheets and pillows, the girl made up her mind. Slowly, she slid out of the futon, sneaking over to the western-style bed in the room.
“Soma-kun. Hey, Soma-kun,” she whispered as she shook the shoulder of the bed’s sole occupant.
“…What is it?” came the boy’s soft reply, his voice thick and his speech slightly slurred with the grogginess that came with being awoken so suddenly.
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
Silence for a few seconds.
“Then go to the bathroom.”
“Can’t you come with me?”
Silence. Then the smaller boy sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes. A yawn, then he slipped out of the bed and stood next to the taller girl. She flashed him a bright smile before grabbing one of his hands and promptly tugged him along out into the dark hallway with her. And of course, Soma allowed it, didn’t protest in the slightest. Maybe he was just embarrassed about holding hands, though. She almost snickered at the thought. It would be just like him, to get all embarrassed and go quiet about something like that.
Soon enough, the pair arrived at their destination and Mina let go of her friend’s hand.
“I’m gonna go now.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’d better not go back to bed and leave me here, Soma-kun!”
“I won’t.”
She flashed him another smile before she entered the bathroom, cheeks going slightly pink.
“I know you won’t. You’re my hero, after all.”