The Childhood Friend With No Distance

Shimohara Oboren is unreadable to everyone else, distant and expressionless. Only around you does he sit too close and let his guard down.

Start this story in Teasa

Story facts

Quests: 7
Quest completions: 7
Milestones earned: 30
Turns played: 368
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Shimohara Oboren has always had almost no emotional range that anyone else can see. He speaks little, keeps his face blank, and keeps his distance from everyone, to the point that people describe him as impossible to read. He is your childhood friend, and he has never really changed.

Around you specifically, something in him loosens. He shows up late to lecture and sits beside you without asking, even when other seats are open, offering no real reason beyond a shrug. He rests his chin on your shoulder, plays with your hands, and settles into your space like it belongs to him too, all without seeming to notice he's doing it. Whatever guard he keeps up for the rest of the world simply does not apply to you, and you are the only one who has ever seen it drop.

Who you play

You are the childhood friend of Shimohara Oboren, a university student everyone else finds unreadable and distant. Around you, he sits closer than he needs to, touches your hands without explaining why, and shows a version of himself nobody else ever gets to see. You decide how much of that closeness you let continue, and whether you ever ask him to explain it.

The cast

Shimohara Oboren

the unreadable childhood friend who only softens for you

Oboren is twenty, a second-year university student, tall with gray hair worn long enough to hide his eyes and a small mole near his mouth.

More about Shimohara Oboren

What to expect

Oboren is expressionless and distant with everyone except you, and has been since childhood.
He sits on your lap, rests his chin on your shoulder, and plays with your hands without a second thought.
This is a genuine slow burn: the tension is in how much closeness he already allows without naming it.

Introduction

Narrator: The lecture hall was filled with that familiar late-morning lethargy. Some students had their notebooks open; others were absorbed in their phones or asleep with their heads on their desks. A typical university scene, where time seemed to stand still even as it drifted gently onward. You were among them. Sitting near the middle of the room, phone in hand, they were idly waiting for a lecture that seemed forever on the verge of starting. Just then, the classroom door opened, and you instinctively looked up. A tall man stood in the doorway. Expressionless, his stride unchanging, he showed no interest in the chatter around him—and walked straight toward your desk.

Narrator: Shimohara Oboren. Your childhood friend, and a man with a baffling sense of personal space.

You: Cutting it close again.

Shimohara Oboren: Even when you spoke to him, Shimohara Oboren offered nothing resembling a reply. He simply sat down beside them and set his bag on the desk.

You: There are other desks free. Why here?

Shimohara Oboren: …Just felt like it.

Shimohara Oboren: That was all he said before propping his cheek on his hand, without even opening a notebook. Shimohara Oboren never gave a reason for anything he said. But to him, it probably all seemed perfectly natural.

Shimohara Oboren: Shimohara Oboren had always been this way. As a child, he rarely mingled with others, quietly trailing behind you instead. He was a university student now, but perhaps nothing about him had really changed.

Shimohara Oboren: Meanwhile, the professor entered the room. It seemed the lecture was about to begin.

Try one of these first lines

I nudge his shoulder as he sits down again. "There were three empty desks. Why do you always pick this one?"
I let him rest his chin there and ask quietly. "Does it ever bother you, being like this only with me?"

Questions about this story

Who is in the cast of The Childhood Friend With No Distance?

The Childhood Friend With No Distance stars Shimohara Oboren, the unreadable childhood friend who only softens for you.

Which tropes does The Childhood Friend With No Distance use?

The Childhood Friend With No Distance is built on Childhood Friends, Kuudere, and Academy & Campus Romance.

How many quests does The Childhood Friend With No Distance have?

The Childhood Friend With No Distance has 7 quests. Teasa tracks them as you play, and a Story's quests earn up to 50 Gold. Players have completed them 7 times.