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Takehaya Seiya viewed the world in colors. He assigned a color to everyone he knew. Perhaps it was sort of like reading their aura, but it really didn't have to go as deep as that. It was actually rather superficial, and pertained only to the way he viewed them personally. Someone else might think Nanao was a soft blush, but he preferred to view him as more of a mustard color. Cheery, but with a certain depth. And Minato. Minato had always been green.A soft green, like breezy summer fields, or the inside of a honeydew; sweet, if you picked a good one, but not always to everyone's liking. Fortunately, Seiya liked honeydew. And he really, really liked Minato. Minato was his best friend and closest confidant. Their bond was unlike any other relationship Seiya had in his life, having spent so much of their waking time together since the day they met so long ago, when they were both still in elementary school. They were neighbors. Schoolmates. Teammates. Closest, dearest friends. But it wasn't enough. Seiya wanted more. And it had quickly become more of a pressing concern the past year than he'd like to admit. His every waking moment was consumed with thoughts of Minato. When would he see him next? Would they walk to school together today? Would they eat lunch together? Would they talk at practice? Would they walk home together after? Would they go over to one of their houses and study? Would they talk... talk about what Seiya was dying to finally express before the words ate right through his chest?Most days the answer to multiple, if not all of these, had been no. For Minato had been drawing away from him slowly, and Seiya couldn't figure out for the life of him why. It was disheartening, yes, but he'd been used to the feeling of almost losing Minato before. It had happened on more than one occasion. When Minato first discovered Shuu and started practicing Kyudo. When he got into the accident, and Seiya blamed himself for it every day after. When he got target panic and nearly gave up Kyudo entirely. All those times, Seiya thought he was going to lose Minato. But he always came back around. Seiya always thought he would come back. But for the first time in forever, Seiya wasn't as sure anymore. Everyone had to say goodbye eventually, he just never thought it would be so soon, or when both of them were still very much alive and well and in each others lives. "Seiya?"He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of his mother's voice behind him. He had been standing in the road, staring at Minato's house in a daze. "You're going to be late," she warned him. He looked at his phone. She was right. It was so close, in fact, that there could be no doubt Minato had already left for school, otherwise he probably didn't intend to go at all.Seiya let out an almost imperceptible sigh and straightened his glasses. "Sorry, I'll get going." He adjusted the bag over his shoulder and finally headed off, already in a sour mood for no particular reason besides the fact that this was the fourth day in a row he had yet to say more than a hello or goodbye to his supposed best friend. This mood was immediately felt by his classmates, particularly Nanao and Ryohei, who had exceptionally good radars for just this sort of thing. "What's wrong?" Nanao asked."Yeah, who pissed you off?" Ryohei added, receiving an elbow to the side from the smaller boy next to him. "I'm fine," Seiya lied, placing his bag on the side of the desk and sitting down gracefully. Every move he had was very graceful. Some might call it calculated."Tsk, you walked into the room surrounded by an almost visible grey cloud," Ryohei teased, leaning over Seiya, his hands propping himself up on the desk. "Is everything okay at home?"Seiya grunted in affirmation, taking out his notebook and pencil bag. Nanao had already gathered that Seiya wasn't going to talk and whispered to Ryohei to let it go. If he was still like this at practice, then he'd press harder, but the day had barely begun and maybe he'd get out of his weird slump by the afternoon. Wishful thinking. Seiya was grateful they left him alone. This was hardly the place to spill his guts about Minato. If he even wanted to do that at all. They were his friends, yes, but they weren't really his first choice in confidants. Minato was that. But this was about Minato, so obviously he was in a bit of a bind. During lunch, Seiya decided to stay at his desk, as he didn't have much strength to get up, really, and it looked uncomfortably hot outside today anyway. However, now would be the perfect time to try and find Minato. But was that too much? With all the apparent avoiding Minato had been doing lately, maybe it wasn't the best idea. Maybe, just maybe, Minato would come find him for once. Yes, if Minato wanted to see him, he would come find him himself. Seiya squared his shoulders and stayed put, forcefully pulling out his bento box and angrily sifting through the contents with a pair of chopsticks. When class resumed, Nanao was once again at his side, a cheerful "Merha!" alerting Seiya to his presence once again. "Why did you eat alone?" he asked. "You always eat with us. You had some of us worried.""Huh?" Seiya felt his heart flutter. "Did I worry Minato?"Nanao blinked once, then shook his head. "What? Minato? No. I haven't seen Minato all day. I don't know where he is. No, Kaito was asking about you."Kaito...Kaito was the last person Seiya cared whether he was concerned for him or not. He quickly dismissed all thought of him. He was more focused on the fact that Nanao hadn't seen Minato either. "Maybe he is home sick today..." Seiya whispered, mostly to himself but Nanao still managed to catch it. "Huh? You two didn't walk to school together today?""N-no.""That's like the third time this week!"So someone else had noticed this odd change in Minato's behavior besides Seiya. "Yeah, he's usually gone before I'm ready to leave, so it just sort of...hasn't worked out this week."Nanao scrunched his nose and shook his head. "What a weirdo. He get's so moody for no reason sometimes and cuts people off. Is that normal?"Seiya couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, it kinda is.""Well, I hope he gets over it soon cause today is our first day back at practice and I really don't want to spend the afternoon with him like that. He's no fun to shoot with when he's grumpy."Seiya agreed. But honestly, it was never fun to shoot with any of the five of them in a bad mood. They were a team, a unit. And as such, when one person was having an off day, all of them felt the repercussions of it. "I'm sure he'll be better this afternoon, if he is having a hard time. It's hard to stay upset when doing Kyudo.""That's true. Well, I've got to head next door, I'll see you at the range later," Nanao waved goodbye, quickly being swarmed by a group of girls as he headed off. Seiya hung his head as soon as he left. He'd almost forgotten that today was their first day back at practice after the holiday. He'd have to see Minato then. There was no way Minato would miss practice, no matter if he was purposefully avoiding Seiya or not. This gave Seiya a bit of hope, if at least to gain more insight into what was going on, even if they didn't get the chance to resolve it. When he walked into the hall, he was the first one there, even before Masaki. He took the opportunity to set up the targets, and check off the opening tasks that often befell him as President of the club. He didn't mind, and the quiet was actually rather peaceful and welcome. It managed to calm his thoughts enough that he felt like he could actually gather a proper breath into his lungs. He hadn't realized he'd been holding so much tension in his chest. He was an easily stressed person, but at least he had the ability to recognize it and try to do something about it. The floor creaked then, and he was startled to his senses by a deep voice apologizing. He picked up the pencil he'd dropped.Not his first choice of company. "Masa-san." Seiya acknowledge the presence by retrieving the pencil Masaki was holding out to him, but quickly returned to what he was doing and promptly ignored his coach. He still felt awkward and uncomfortable around him since he'd told him he hated him. He'd never apologized for it (and didn't intend to) and the weight of that still seemed to hang between them. "You're here early," Masaki supplied.Seiya made a noise of affirmation, but didn't elaborate.Masaki fiddled with a few things here and there but quickly noticed that Seiya had taken care of most everything on his own. "You're very prepared today," he went on, obviously uncomfortable by the silence.Seiya was thinking how much he'd like to tell him to shut up, since the silence was what he had been enjoying up until now. Instead he said, "it just sort of happened."That made Masaki laugh, for whatever reason, and Seiya frowned at the sound. "Well, I'd expect nothing less of a devoted President like you."The compliment was not welcome and thankfully Seiya didn't have to respond because Nanao and Ryohei took that moment to step out on the veranda. Seiya stood up, still refusing to glance at his coach, and walked over to greet the other two boys. Really, every word that came out of Masa-san's mouth frustrated him. He just rubbed him the wrong way and it was starting to become a real...nag. Nanao and Ryohei were talking about some girl Nanao had turned down today, and Seiya was almost interested for a moment before all attention was pulled away by none other than Narumiya Minato's sudden appearance. They grew quiet, or at least, all other sound slipped away as Seiya stared at the face he'd barely seen in four days. It was like drinking water after weeks of drought. Minato was so-"Narumiya!"Masaki stepped into Seiya's line of sight. Nanao tapped Seiya's shoulder. "So should I apologize to her?" he asked. "Was I being too harsh?""W-what?" Seiya looked confused. What was he talking about. "Who?""Ugh, the girl he turned down today!" Ryohei answered for his friend. "Geez, were you even listening at all?""Sorry, I..." He was still looking to where Masaki was talking to Minato. Minato hadn't even glanced this way yet. Could he really look through Seiya like that so easily? Like he wasn't even there? "I'll be right back." He left the two boys gaping after him and stepped over next to Minato, right in the middle of his and Masa-san's conversation. "Minato," he greeted him, trying desperately to act normal, to smile. Did he remember how to smile? He tried it. It felt weak.He expected Minato to be angry that he'd interrupted, but he didn't frown. He sort of smiled, but it too looked weak. "Hi," he said back. "I was worried you weren't feeling well since I didn't see you around school today.""Mm I was late." Seiya didn't intend to blush, but he suddenly very passionately prayed that Minato hadn't caught him staring at his house this morning. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wish I would've known. I could have-""You don't always have to do stuff for me, Seiya," Minato cut in. He probably didn't intend to snap, but to Seiya, it sort of stung. "But I want to," Seiya countered."But you don't need to."Seiya didn't know what to say. He knew he was a bit clingy, but Minato usually understood that Seiya's advances were generally well-intended. "Oh, okay, but um,""We need to start," Minato said, grabbing his bow off the rack and turning his back to his friend. "Masa-san doesn't like when we start late."Masa-san.Masaki.Seiya felt his body tighten instinctively. "Right." He too grabbed his bow, and practice proceeded like planned. Honestly, as they got started, everything felt fine. They found their usual rhythm, and generally shot well. It felt the same as before, almost as if they'd never had a break at all. That was until Masaki took to Minato's side, gently placing his hand on Minato's arm as he corrected his form. Seiya watched them, transfixed, unable to tear his eyes away as he saw an ever faint blush trace its way across Minato's cheeks as Masaki whispered something just slightly too close to his ear."Ugh, you've really got to stop looking at him with puppy dog eyes. It really pisses me off." The sound of a fired string startled Seiya into turning around. A sharp, blunt Kaito stood at his side. Seiya hadn't noticed Kaito wasn't here. In fact, he'd appeared so suddenly that Seiya wasn't convinced he hadn't been here all along. Kaito lowered his draw, snapping his head towards Seiya. He narrowed his eyes. "Why aren't you shooting? Don't waste our time by staring at Narumiya all day."Seiya's hand shook. Colors danced before his eyes. Kaito.Kaito was a fiery, untouchable red.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kaito was the only one who was bold enough to comment on Seiya's obsession with Minato.The two other boys probably had their assumptions about Seiya's feelings for Narumiya, but if they did, they certainly didn't talk to him about it. But Kaito...Kaito generally was unafraid to broach any topic, no matter the sensitivity. And he generally seemed to have a sadistic fondness for making Seiya in particular as uncomfortable as possible. After Kaito's comment to stop staring and start shooting, Seiya blinked away his embarrassment and focused his attention on the target in the distance beyond. "I wasn't staring..." he mumbled under his breath, drawing a sharp tsk from Kaito who released his next arrow which landed firmly in the center of his target. Seiya missed his by a good foot and he immediately felt even more stupid than he already did ten seconds ago. "Stop aiming for my target!" Nanao teased playfully, and it managed to draw a small smile from Seiya's lips."Stop talking, Kisaragi." Kaito snapped. He must have been in a particularly bad mood if he wasn't even calling his own cousin by his first name. All five of the boys seemed to quiet then, focusing on their practice rather than making small talk. Seiya thanked his lucky stars that Minato was at the farthest end of the line so he most likely didn't hear any of his and Kaito's conversation. Even if he was closer, Seiya assumed Minato wouldn't have heard anything anyway, since he was so absorbed in Masaki's preening. "You're still glaring," Kaito remarked again in a sing-song voice. "Stop being so obvious.""O-obvious?" Seiya sputtered. What the hell was that supposed to mean? He didn't get a chance to find out because Masaki finally managed to pull himself away from Minato long enough to come between Seiya and Kaito and start correcting the other boys in the group on their techniques. When they finished 45 minutes later, Seiya packed up as quickly as possible in order to catch Minato before he ran off and disappeared like smoke again, or sand between his fingers. It really was aggravating, and Seiya was quickly exhausting himself by being so aggressive. Normally, he was one to avoid conversation or conflict as much as possible, but when the time called for it, he wasn't afraid to be stern, blunt, and to the point. He supposed really he just wasn't used to having to chase after what he wanted, especially with Minato. Usually, he was lucky enough that most things in life had landed nicely in his lap, wrapped like a perfect package, tied with a bow. Minato was always there, always with him, but now he was actually having to do something to keep his friend around.And that was what was exhausting. Seiya was still pulling on one of his shoes as he hopped out of the kyudo hall and into the dying daylight. He saw a quickly retreating figure ahead of him a few yards. "Minato!"Was it his imagination or did the other boy's shoulders tense at his name being called? Seiya tried not to blow things out of proportion already. They hadn't even talked yet. Minato turned around but didn't say anything, so Seiya continued with, "Can we walk home together? I was hoping to talk to you."Minato shrugged. "Sure." He only said yes because it would just be awkward if he walked all the way home with Seiya only a few yards behind him. So they might as well walk together. Seiya smiled brightly. "Great!" He finished putting on his shoe and readjusted the bag over his shoulder, catching up to where Minato waited for him. They started to walk and Minato continued to remain silent, waiting for Seiya to say something since he was the one who wanted to talk, after all. "So..." Seiya suddenly found himself nervous now that the time had come for him to actually broach the subject with his friend. "I was just wondering if everything's okay?""Okay?" Minato echoed."Yeah, like...with us.""Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Minato answered defensively. "Well, you've seemed kind of...distant lately. And I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to upset you."Minato didn't answer right away, simply shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and stared at the ground ahead of him. The silence made Seiya uneasy and he quickly filled the tense air with a ramble of words."I mean, we're best friends, right? We should be comfortable enough with each other to tell each other anythi-""Why? Do you think I'm hiding something from you?" Minato interrupted, still on the defense."What?" Seiya looked pained. "No, I didn't say that. I just mean if there's something bothering you, you can always come to me.""I don't need you for everything, Takehaya!"Seiya stopped walking. Minato never addressed him so formally; it was almost like an insult. "What's wrong with you?" Seiya tried to hold back tears, and the sadness soon turned into anger. "I've never done anything to hurt you. You have no reason to be like this.""You..." Minato's cheeks grew red as he grew flustered. "You're so... so suffocating!"Seiya took a step towards him, quickly closing the distance between them so they were face to face, almost too close. "I'm suffocating? You find this suffocating? Me, being concerned for you, me, trying to help my best friend. Is this..." He motioned between them, "nothing to you? I'm sorry I care so much! You'd really have me care less?" Minato looked startled. He always was when this side of Seiya came out for show. It was scary because it hurt. He knew Seiya wasn't afraid to speak the truth when it mattered. "Maybe I do wish you'd care less! You always want to be with me, you're like my shadow, constantly following me around. It's like... it's like you can't think for yourself!"My entire world revolves around you, is what Seiya wanted to say. But he couldn't. It was too close to a confession, and he was certain now couldn't be a worse time to make said confession. Instead he went back to his fail safe reason for being like this, which was "Ever since your accident, I-""Stop!" Minato shoved him in the chest. "Stop using that as an excuse! I'm completely fine! I'm not helpless and even if I was...I don't want you to be babying me like this anymore.""Babying you? Is that all it feels like to you?" Seiya really wanted to know. He did. Because he never viewed his love as a form of babying Minato. Minato ignored the question and instead said, "I think we need to spend some time apart." So they were breaking up, Seiya scoffed to himself. They weren't even together and they were already breaking up. "For how long?" he whispered. It felt like Minato was a reflection in a pond, and someone was poised ready to throw a stone that would ripple away the image. "We've already spent so much time apart."Minato held himself back from snapping that four days was hardly "so much time." "I don't know. Until you can recognize that I don't need you, and you don't need me. There's a difference between need and want."I do need you! Seiya's heart screamed. "And do you even want to be friends with me, Minato?" he asked aloud.Minato hesitated far too long, and that was the moment the ripples spread across the pond. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Seiya. It's not like I'll never see you. We go to the same school. We're neighbors. And there's always Kyudo."
Damn, Kyudo! What's the point of even seeing each other if it's tense and awkward and weird and fake. Fake. Fake!
Seiya took a breath. "Yeah, okay." He was done with this mess of a conversation. He stepped back towards Minato and placed his hand gently over his shirt, where Minato's scar lay below. He remembered seeing Shuu do this, and the effect it had on Minato then. "I'm not giving up on you, though," he whispered. "I'll be waiting." That was their mantra. To be waiting. Always waiting for the other.But Seiya was suddenly terribly afraid that this time, he'd be waiting forever. Minato quickly pulled away, taking a step back. He looked into Seiya's eyes - deeply, uncomfortably - and then headed off without another word. When he was gone, Seiya cried. He stayed in the middle of the path and sank to his knees. Maybe he'd have noticed the nice park he was in and the beautiful sunset beyond the horizon if his vision wasn't clouded by water that soon trickled down his cheeks. He had to take his glasses off in order to wipe his eyes angrily. He was starting to get the impression that Minato maybe wasn't worth so many tears. "Where'd Minato go?" A voice broke the sound of his sobs and Seiya froze where he was, too embarrassed to turn around.Onogi. Seriously? Now?! Seiya cursed his bad luck. What sort of day was this? "What do you want?" Seiya snapped.Kaito didn't respond right away. He simply walked over to where Seiya sat and knelt down next to him, his arms draped casually between his legs. "Give me your glasses," he commanded. Seiya was confused but didn't object. Kaito took the hem of his shirt and began to clean them, huffing on the glass softly and then wiping them free of the moisture. He waited till Seiya looked up at him before he slipped them back onto the bridge of his nose, carefully tucking them above his ears. Seiya was so shocked by the gesture that his mouth actually fell open. "When are you going to get over damn Narumiya?" Kaito asked, rather calmly which was surprising. Seiya couldn't reply. He felt like the answer was of course never, but he wasn't about to say that to Kaito, of all people. Instead he sighed and looked to the ground where their feet were nearly touching. "When was the last time you did something because you wanted to do it?" Kaito asked. "Huh?" Seiya was already confused."Not because Minato wanted to, or because a group of us were hanging out. When was the last time you went and did something - anything - that made you happy. Just you." Kaito knew, as did most people who knew anything about Minato and Seiya's relationship, that Seiya started Kyudo because of Minato. But beyond that, Kaito wasn't sure what Seiya liked doing. Like, actually enjoyed purely because he just did. "I...I don't know..." Seiya answered honestly. He really didn't do much when he wasn't with Minato or the other boys. "Well, figure it out," Kaito stood up, hands on his hips. "And go find something, just one thing, that makes you happy because you goddamn deserve to do something for yourself. Don't listen to anyone else, don't think of anyone else, just fucking do it for you. No one else matters, okay? Stop worrying so much about making other people happy. It'll never make you happy the way you want it to."Seiya's mouth still hung open. When did Kaito ever even care about this sort of thing, or about Seiya himself, at all? It was actually kind of frightening. But he did have a point."Now, stop crying before someone walks by and you utterly mortify me." Kaito turned his face away from Seiya as he stood up and then looked back at him with a frown. "See you tomorrow, Takehaya.""Wait!" Seiya called before he could get too far. "T-thank you." It felt totally unnatural to thank Kaito for anything, considering how much Seiya disliked him. But what he did was rather...kind, no matter how Seiya wanted to look at it. "Whatever, Takehaya," Kaito waved over his shoulder.Seiya couldn't help but smirk.What an utterly Kaito thing to do.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Saturday morning brought with it a soft, sunny sky and a breeze that fluttered the curtains through the open window. Seiya had woken a while ago, but had laid in bed, huddled under the covers tucked up to his chin, gazing at his phone in dismay. Sure, Minato had said they should spend some time apart, but Seiya had been hoping maybe it was spoken in the moment, and not really meant. So he was waiting for Minato to text him. It was a Saturday and they usually ended up spending the day together...or that was, they used to. Now things were different and as the minutes ticked by, Seiya was starting to realize that he would end up spending the day alone.It was terrifying. What was he supposed to do? He groaned and threw his phone at the end of the bed. Great, this was just great. He yawned and sat up, shivering from the chill that met his bare shoulders. After showering and dressing, he headed downstairs to make some breakfast, which was unextraordinarily a piece of toast. As he sat munching, staring idly at the bowl of fruit on the table, his phone buzzed. He reached for it in a mad dash, disappointed to find that it was just the Kyudo group text he was a part of with the other boys.Ryohei: it's sunny! Let's go to the plaza or to that new cafe!Nanao: I'm down! Kaito: we always go to a cafe.Seiya smirked at Kaito's message, and then suddenly remember what he had been told by the other boy just the other day. Do something because it's what you want. Not for anyone else. Just for you. Seiya's fingers hovered over the keyboard. Then after a moment's thought, he responded.Seiya: I'm actually not free today, but maybe another dayIt only took a few seconds more for Minato to chime in. Minato: I'll go! Nanao: Seiyaaaaa noooRyohei: So no cafe?Kaito: I won't go if we just go to a cafeRyohei: >.< And soon they were talking about their plans, and Seiya set his phone aside so he wouldn't have to watch their conversation. Of course Minato said he'd go. He probably had been waiting to see what Seiya was going to say before he responded, and once he'd seen that Seiya had turned it down, he was willing to go. It took a lot of strength to stand by his resolve and not text back that he'd changed his mind. So instead, he focused on thinking of five things he'd like to do today instead. He grabbed his phone again to make a list in his notes.1.He stared at the number for what felt like far too long. How come he couldn't think of something, anything? Just one tiny, tiny thing? Finally he wrote:
1. Go on a hike
Minato didn't like long walks.
2. Try the famous fire ramen at Ryuji's Ramen
He loved spicy food and had yet to visit the famous restaurant since none of the other boys liked hot foods. Suddenly, the thoughts started to flow.
3. Go to the bookstore
4. Play at the arcade.
5. Visit the seaside.
He stopped at five and admired his list. Yes, these are all good things, and things he could easily do alone, regardless if they did seem more fun with someone else. He tried to tell himself he didn't need to have someone with him to have fun. He could enjoy himself alone. He could. He kept repeating that over and over in his head, hoping he'd start to believe it. He put his plate in the sink and went to grab his sweater, as even thought it was sunny, he knew it could get quite brisk in a moment. Seiya took the 11:15 train to the city center. It felt odd to get off at the final stop and be surrounded by so many strangers completely alone. He imagined Minato next to him, ready to take his hand if things got too crowded so that they wouldn't get separated. He shook the fantasy off and grew frustrated with himself. This was his day and he didn't need thoughts of Minato to ruin it for him. He hurried through the streets and found the building he was looking for. The little bell rang as he pushed open the door. A waitress quickly greeted him."Welcome! Sit wherever you'd like."Seiya nodded and made a noise of understanding before finding his way to a small table for two in the corner. It had a nice view out the windows and he watched as couples and families strolled by, no doubt enjoying one of the last nice days of summer before autumn swept over the valley. The waitress made her way back to him and asked what he wanted to order."I'll take the fire ramen," he asked. She seemed surprised. "The special? Are you sure, it can be quite hot." "Yes," Seiya nodded, a swell of pride puffing up his chest slightly. "I'd like it as hot as they can make it."Surprisingly, she managed to look even more stunned. "Are you quite sure?"Seiya calmly replied in the affirmative again and she wrote it down with a nod and soon brought him a large pitcher of water, no doubt assuming he'd need it when his food arrived. As Seiya waited for the ramen to arrive, he grabbed his phone without thinking. He scrolled through the past messages from the group text, reading that they'd decided to visit the special exhibition that was in town for some anime that Nanao and Kaito watched together. Seiya smiled fondly thinking that Ryohei would no doubt still convince them to stop for food somewhere, much to Kaito's dismay. He wondered if Minato was having fun without him, too. When his ramen finally came, steam rising out from the bowl in front of him, Seiya took a moment to just stare at it, wondering if maybe it was a bit too much food for just himself Nanao, Ryohei, Minato, and Kaito were strolling down the boulevard after visiting the special exhibition. Minato and Ryohei had ice cream in their hands, licking at it furiously to keep it from dripping down their hands. Nanao was talking with Kaito about the costumes they'd just seen, recreated in exquisite detail after the show. "The red battle suit was my favorite!" Nanao cooed, hands folded under his chin as if he was swooning over a beautiful girl. "And the posters from the premiere episode! They look even better in person than the photos online!" Kaito grunted in agreement. He wasn't one to get excited about much, even though he did agree with most of his cousin's comments. He listened to Nanao ramble on, taking in his surroundings as they walked on. This part of town had some nice shops, and some good looking eateries, in fact...He stopped in his tracks, staring through the window of a little ramen hut. Nanao had kept walking, but suddenly turned around when he realized he was talking to himself. "Kacchan?" Kaito was too distracted to correct Nanao on the nickname. "I'm going to stop in somewhere real quick. Don't wait for me.""What?" Nanao looked frantically between his cousin and the quickly vanishing Ryohei and Minato ahead of him. "Are you sure?""Mm," Kaito grunted, already walking away, leaving Nanao no choice but to catching up to the other two boys and let them know that Kaito would catch up with them later. He stepped through the door of the shop, the bell alerting the staff to his presence. A waitress came up to him to greet him but he easily ignored her and walked over to the little corner table by the window.Seiya nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw who slid into the seat across from him, the noodles on his chopsticks falling back into the bowl before they could make it to his mouth. "Onogi?!""What are you doing?""Um...eating."Kaito rolled his eyes. "Obviously. But, why now? Alone?"It was as if he didn't remember the advice he'd given Seiya before. Seiya took a bite, not afraid to make Kaito wait for his answer. When he'd finished, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and took a sip of water. "Well, I'm doing something for me." It took a moment, but soon Kaito's eyes widened in understanding. "This is what you wanted to do?"Seiya looked down at his food to avoid Kaito's persistent eyes. "Minato doesn't like spicy foods," he whispered, barely audible. Kaito was impressed, but also unsurprised. Seiya didn't even push his relationship enough with Minato to go to a restaurant he'd wanted to visit. He always went wherever Minato wanted, not willing to put up a fight if it meant possibly upsetting the other boy.Kaito reached across the table and stole Seiya's chopsticks. "Give it here." "What?!" Seiya stuttered but didn't stop Onogi from taking his food. It was too much just for him anyway. "But you don't like spicy food either.""Whatever, it's not my favorite but I don't hate it.""Wait! It's really, really spicy. It's actually famous for how hot it is. That's why I chose this place."Kaito rolled his eyes. "I can handle it, I'm sure." He poised to take a bite. "Besides, they always say its 'the hottest of them all' but they're all just saying that to get customers in." He then took that moment to put the chopsticks in his mouth with a grunt. Seiya held his breath as he watched Kaito chew.It only took a few seconds for Onogi's face to contort in a mixture of disgust and pain. "Fuck!!" He yelled, dropping the chopsticks into the bowl with a splash, fanning his open mouth as if that would take away the taste. "Shit, Takehaya, how the hell do you like this?" He grabbed the water and chugged it straight out of the large bottle, not bothering to pour it into a cup.Although Seiya was initially mortified by the attention Kaito drew to the two of them, he couldn't help but let out an equally loud laugh at Kaito's antics. Kaito stopped yelling long enough to blink in surprise at Seiya who had removed his glasses to wipe at his eyes. "I told you it was hot," Seiya giggled. Kaito blinked again, slowly, staring at the mole on Seiya's cheekbone. Seiya had a delightful laugh, he thought to himself. It was a pity he didn't hear it more. In fact, he thought this was the first time he'd heard it ever."Shut up, Takehaya," Kaito turned his head and pretended to wipe his mouth with his sleeve in hopes to hide the blush that colored his cheeks. What on earth was he blushing for?Seiya took the bowl back from Kaito and continued to eat. "How was the special exhibition?" "Fine," Kaito answered, crossing his arms and leaning on the table as he watched Seiya eat. He didn't really want to make small talk, and so he ended up waving down a waitress and ordered some gyoza for himself, since he hadn't got ice cream at the cafe that they'd gone to earlier. Seiya surprisingly didn't mind eating in silence with Kaito as company. It was a little weird, but it was better than talking and ending up arguing about something like the usually did. Then he realized with a pang of horror something he found himself getting flustered at.This was the first time they'd ever spent time together just the two of them. Seiya hurriedly shoved the rest of the noodles into his mouth, choking on the spices a bit. Even though he liked spicy things, it was still pretty hot, even for him. He coughed, as he took out his wallet. "I should get going," he mumbled through his mouthful.Kaito accidentally dropped his half eaten potsticker, startled by Seiya's sudden change in mood. "What? Already? Okay, um, let me walk you to the station at least."Seiya froze, change pressed in his palm hovering over the table. "W-what?" Had he heard him correctly? "You don't have to.""Don't be stupid, it's crazy crowded out there. You might get, like, pickpocketed or something."Seiya refrained from commenting that that was rather unlikely. "I'm fine, Onogi."Kaito seemed to be ignoring him, since he also got out his change and was shoving three gyoza into his mouth at once. It was rather impressive, Seiya thought absentmindedly. "Well, too damn bad, I'm going to anyway. Geez, don't be such a stick in the mud." Seiya followed Kaito out of the restaurant sheepishly, and the two walked in silence towards the station. "What happened to the other?" Seiya finally asked. "They're at karaoke."Seiya hated karaoke. He didn't like to sing at all. Minato had a nice voice though, so he'd always gone to listen. "Are you going to go meet them?"Kaito shrugged and grunted. A vey noncommittal response. "Thanks for walking me this far," Seiya whispered to the ground. It felt weird, whatever this was. He didn't know why Kaito had bothered to stick around him this long today. It wasn't like him in the slightest. "Yeah, sure," Onogi shrugged again, hands pressed deep in his pockets as he rocked on his heels."Okay, well...see you." Seiya turned to head off but was soon stopped by Kaito calling out to him. He turned back."Takehaya. Good job."Seiya didn't know what he meant at first, but then it clicked. He smiled and gave a half-hearted thumbs up. When Seiya had gone, Kaito made his way back onto the street and promptly found a bench to slump down on. He'd only meant to encourage Seiya to spend a nice day by himself, and then he'd ended up interrupting it for his own selfish reasons. He kicked himself for being so dumb. He just had a hard time staying away from him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Seiya woke the next day with an insufferable headache. There didn't seem to be any reason for it. He didn't stay up later than normal, he certainly didn't have a hangover or anything of the likes, so he assumed he was just tired. It was still the weekend, so there was no reason to hurry out of bed. He decided to lay back down and see if he couldn't sleep off whatever mysterious ailment plagued him.He woke up three hours later to several texts on his phone. It was almost noon by then. He was shocked he had managed to keep sleeping so long. He grabbed his phone and scrolled through the texts he had missed, squinting at the screen without his glasses on. Most of them were from their Kyudo group chat:
10:45 am
Minato: Masa-san said there's a special ritual at the temple this morning we can watch if you all want to go.Ryohei: Sure, I'd go I guessNanao: Hmmm yeah I guess so. Kacchan is still asleep, though.Minato : It starts at 11:30.So Kaito was a late sleeper. Seiya wondered why he didn't know this and also why it didn't surprise him. He chuckled to himself.
11:23 am
Kaito: Nanao said I don't have a choice. I can't believe he woke me up for this shit. We see Masa-san all the time.Minato: Yeah, but not like this. It's different.Ryohei: Can we at least get crepes afterwards??Kaito: All you think about is foodMinato: Are you almost here?? It's about to start.Seiya looked at the clock again. It was far too late to catch up with them now, and besides, he still didn't feel very well. That was the last of the group thread messages but there was a private text from Ryohei and several others from Kaito, which surprised him most of all.
11:29 am
Ryohei: You never responded to the group chat! Are you coming?
11:15 am
Kaito: Are you going to the temple thing?
11:25 am
Kaito: Seiya
11:27 am
Kaito: You can't still be asleep, even on a Sunday.
11:35 am
Kaito: Well it's started so I guess you're not coming. Are you okay? Don't be an ass, just text back okay?Seiya was surprised by how many texts Kaito sent. It didn't seem like him to care what Seiya did or didn't do on his days off, but recently, that had been changing. Seiya decided he had better respond before Kaito - or anyone else - got worried.
11:58 am
Seiya: I'm fine, sorry I didn't respond. I just woke up. I didn't feel well so I slept longer than normal. I hope the ceremony was fun.Kaito: No, it was god awful. Bored me right back to sleep. I have no idea why Minato likes going to those things.Seiya didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. Kaito: Shit sorry, I didn't mean to make things weird.Seiya: it's fine(Even though it wasn't really fine.)Seiya set his phone back down on the nightstand, rolling over and stretching his arms above his head. He looked at the sky outside his bedroom window and despaired about how nice of a day it was. He really wanted to go outside and do something--continue working on his list of things for himself--but when he tried to sit up, the headache that had slowly been creeping towards his temples forced him to lay back down. It didn't look like he was getting up any time soon.There was a soft ding from his phone, and he groggily reached out a hand for it, nearly knocking it from the table. When he held it up to his face, it lit up to reveal another text from Kaito.Kaito: Sorry you're not feeling well. Do you need anything? If Seiya didn't already know he was feeling ill, he might have second guessed the reason why his face flushed as a wave of warmth rushed through his body. Was Kaito... worried about him? Well, that was utterly ridiculous so it couldn't be that, he decided. Seiya didn't end up responding. He told himself it was because he couldn't muster up the strength to reply, but really, it was more that he wanted to avoid the embarrassment (for both of them) that might come from acknowledging Kaito's apparent concern. He rolled over, pulling the blankets back up around his shoulders. Normally, whenever he closed his eyes, it was Minato's face that quickly appeared. But today, it was Kaito's face he saw, and it really did make it hard to fall back asleep. However, after forcefully shooing away his classmate's sudden appearance in his subconscious, he was able to drift off again, and his dreams were thankfully silent. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep again when the sound of something taping on his window startled him awake. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, this time grabbing his glasses and sliding them on before crawling over to the window. He sat up on his knees and peeked out the glass. Someone was throwing pebbles at his window; each rock made a soft tink sound as it hit. He was surprised it even managed to wake him, now that he was truly paying attention. Not just anyone. It was Kaito. "What the--" Seiya reached for the latch and slid the window open, glaring down at Kaito where he stood on the sidewalk below. "What are you doing?!" he hissed. "You dumbass!" Kaito snapped in return. "Have you even checked your phone? I've been trying to get a hold of you for the last couple hours!"Seiya grabbed his phone to confirm this was true and was surprised to find that Kaito wasn't lying. There were several text messages from him, sitting unread. "I'm sorry," Seiya apologized as he returned to the window. "I was asleep.""Shit, for real?" Kaito asked. He was shifting his weight from one foot to the other and Seiya just then noticed he was holding a plastic bag in one hand. He looked uncomfortable. "What are you doing here?" Seiya asked, trying not to yell despite the distance. "Ah," Kaito refused to look at him, for some reason. He held up the bag as if he could pass it to Seiya even though he was inside the house and up two stories. "I brought you some stuff. Your parents are gone this weekend, right? I didn't know if you...you know...had what you needed."Seiya was pretty certain that his red cheeks were, this time, not due to a fever. "Oh..." He wasn't sure what to say. He was stunned, to be honest. Kaito had somehow remembered that Seiya's had mentioned his family would be visiting relatives that weekend and had gone out of his way to do something about it. It was so utterly un-Kaito like that Seiya was certain the boy down on the street was possessed by someone else--someone much nicer, more selfless than the Kaito Seiya thought he knew. "Come to the front door," Seiya told him. "I'll let you in." He didn't wait to see if Kaito responded before slipping out of bed and rushing down the stairs. When he got to the front door and swung it open, Kaito was standing in front of him holding out the bag of supplies."Here."Seiya hesitated before grabbing the bag from Kaito. He looked inside and found forehead patches, some cold medicine, water, and a few onigiri. "Th-thanks." He stumbled over the word, feeling his face flush again. "Okay, bye." Kaito suddenly turned heel and attempted to rush off."Wait!" Seiya reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket, stopping him. What am I doing?! Seiya internally screamed. He didn't know why he'd stopped Kaito, or what he planned to say. "Yes?" Kaito looked at him, confused. Was it confusion, or something else?"There's two onigiri.""Yeah.""Do you... want to come inside and share them?" Share them? That's the best you could come up with? Seiya wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it and never look Kaito in the face again. "They're for you, though," Kaito said."To be honest," Seiya admitted, "I'm a little bored."Kaito's eyes widened in surprise before he sighed, shaking his head. "I didn't peg you as someone who got bored easily, but I guess it makes sense.""Does it?" Seiya asked."Yeah, because you--" Kaito cut himself off. "Never mind. Just... yeah, I'll come in for a little bit." Seiya stepped out of the way to usher Kaito inside. As he shut the door, he watched as Kaito gazed about the house. He looked out of place, and it felt strange and foreign having him there. It felt like he didn't belong. Seiya couldn't help but picture Minato in his place, the one who usually came over. Well, who used to. It was a rare almost entirely unexpected occurrence for Seiya to invite anyone else over but Minato. But here was Kaito, maybe the first person ever besides Minato to come over when his parents weren't home."You have a nice house," Kaito said awkwardly. "Thanks," Seiya said, as if it was something he could take credit for. He started up the stairs, turning back to make sure Kaito followed. "My room's up here," he told him, pointing off in the direction of his bedroom. Kaito followed him the stairs and into Seiya's room. Seiya didn't realize until just then how the few minutes he'd been up and out of bed had utterly exhausted him. He sat down on the edge of his bed with a sigh, removing his glasses and messaging his temples with a groan. "Sorry, that really winded me for some reason." "Take the medicine," Kaito demanded. He looked for the bag he'd brought, finding it where Seiya had tossed it in his desk chair. Although he was rather bossy in tone, Seiya didn't mind being told what to do in this situation. "Here." Kaito handed him the pills and a bottle of water, standing in front of Seiya, arms crossed. He looked angry as he stood there, waiting for Seiya to comply.When he'd taken the pills, Seiya jokingly stuck out his tongue at him, mouth open. "Ahhhh. See? I took it. Not hiding them under my tongue."Kaito relaxed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, good job." Seiya chuckled, falling back on the bed and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, Kaito was slowly pacing the room, taking it all in, Seiya assumed. He was looking at the books on the bookshelf, fiddling with the pens on his desk. He even opened the closet and gave it a quick once over. "Hey." Kaito jumped and quickly shut the doors, spinning around and leaning his back against them. "Ah, you're awake? I thought you were gonna fall sleep again." His cheeks reddened having been caught in the act of snooping. Thankfully, Seiya had nothing to hide. "Do you want to play a game or something?""Sure. What do you have?"Seiya thought for a second, swinging his legs and kicking them against the side of the bed. "Monopoly, Checkers, Sorry, Clue, Scrabble...""Those are board games.""Yeah?""Who plays board games anymore? Don't you have video games?"Seiya sat up on his elbows. "I play board games. I don't have a game console."Kaito sighed loudly again. He did that a lot, Seiya realized. Like he was always slightly annoyed by everything, all the time. "Fine, then you pick the game. I haven't played any of those in long enough that I barely remember what's what."Seiya ended up choosing Scrabble, which ended up being a delightful choice since Kaito, apparently, could barely spell. "Oh my god, that's not a word!" Seiya yelled for what felt like the tenth time since they started playing. "Yes, it is!" Kaito argued. "Look. Sa-ka-ya." "Do you mean sakuya?""...""Kaito.""Dammit!" Kaito removed the tiles and replaced them on the stand in front of him. "You couldn't just give me that one? You're winning anyway.""Nope." Seiya continued to organize his own tiles as he waited for Kaito to try again. "You're so bad at this it's almost pitiable.""Shut up, Takehaya.""No really, how have you gotten this far through school?""I am this close to upsetting the board and we will have to start all over.""You'd actually play again having done this badly so far?"Kaito looked up at Seiya then and glared, but all Seiya could do in return was laugh. He threw his head back and laughed until his stomach hurt and tears pricked the backs of his eyes."Yeah, laugh it up, Takehaya, you big bully.""When Minato and I play he always--""Why do you do that?" Kaito cut him off. Seiya stopped laughing, coming down from his high almost instantly. "What?""You're always bringing up Minato any chance you get. It's like you're obsessed with him."Seiya felt whatever happiness he'd previously been experiencing sink and settle itself as a lump in the pit of his stomach. "No, I'm not.""Are you sure?" Kaito spat. "Cause the way you're utterly unable to hold a conversation without bringing him up proves otherwise."The words hurt--they stung--and yet Seiya knew Kaito wasn’t wrong, as much as he tried to deny it. He wasn't sure what it was that made him decide to speak truthfully for once. It certainly couldn't have been Kaito's presence alone, as they barely tolerated each other, but there was something there. Seiya took a breath in, avoiding Kaito's glare, and said through a shaky breath, "I can't help it. He's my best friend. I know that we're all friends--the group of us from Kyudo--but sometimes I feel like I don't have anyone else but him."Kaito scoffed and Seiya looked up to find that although he still seemed angry, he looked more hurt than mad. "It's almost insulting that you'd say that to me when I'm sitting right here in front of you." Kaito met Seiya's gaze and the two locked eyes. Surprisingly, neither looked away. "I'm here with you right now," Kaito said. "Not Minato. Me." Seiya's breath caught in his throat and he felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs. His cheeks warmed--he was certain he must be the same fiery color as Kaito's eyes that were staring at him intently from across the game board. "I-" Seiya tried to form some coherent thought, but nothing came to mind except "I'm sorry." He did, finally, look away then. Having had their eye contact broken, Kaito looked away too and back down at the board. He sighed and shook his head. "Don't apologize. I just want you to realize that you have other friends besides Minato. You should reach out to the other guys, too. I'm sure they'd be down to hang out with you."Seiya swallowed thickly, and nodded his head. He couldn't open his mouth for fear of saying the wrong thing, and worried his voice might crack from the emotion. Kaito finally made his move on the board (with a word that actually existed) and Seiya felt like he was finally gaining control of the feelings that had been threatening to build up inside him."Your turn," Kaito said quietly, reaching into the bag to grab fresh tiles. Seiya tried to look at the board for the options he had to create a new word, but for some reason he couldn't see. His vision was a bit... blurry. "Fuck, Takehaya, are you okay?" Seiya looked up at Kaito and he was blurry too. "What do you mean?" "You're...you're crying."Seiya reached up a hand and felt at his face. His cheeks were damp. "Oh." he said, voice small. He felt small. He felt stupid for crying in front of Kaito of all people. "Shit, I didn't mean to make you that upset." Kaito's way of apologizing wasn't very polite or eloquent but Seiya got the gist of it. "No, it's not your fault." Seiya, now being forced to speak, found that he couldn't keep the tears from rolling down his cheeks in waves, and he hiccuped as he tried to talk. "You're right, I need to get over Minato but it just hurts so much." There it was again. That strange feeling of wanting to tell Kaito everything and at the same time not wanting to because it was him. "Do you even get it?" he asked. "Have you ever had anyone you care about so much not want anything to do with you?""I've felt something similar, I think.""You try and try to get their attention and they just don't see you.” Seiya continued to ramble, unable to stop the outpouring of words. “They don't get it; that you'd do anything for them. They're too busy looking the other way.""Yeah...Yeah, I've felt that."Seiya looked up and removed his glasses, reaching for a tissue from the box on his nightstand and blowing his nose. He was sure he looked like a mess right now, but there was no reason to try and impress Kaito. His eyes were red, his nose and his cheeks, too. He sat back down on the floor, leaning up against the side of the bed for support. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to drag you into all this."Kaito crawled over on his knees so that he could sit beside Seiya, leaning against the bed next to him. "It’s okay. I brought him up, so it's mostly my fault. But do you feel better after crying?"Seiya let out a half-laugh, half-scoff. "Yeah, I do.""Good." Kaito held out his hand and Seiya looked at him, confused. "Your glasses."Seiya handed them over and Kaito began to clean them with the hem of his shirt. Seiya watched the movement of his hands as he worked, mesmerized by how gently he handled the frames. Just like he did the other day when he’d found Seiya crying before. "Your glasses are always dirty," Kaito mumbled. After holding them up to the light and inspecting the lenses, he turned and slipped them back on Seiya's face. His hands lingered longer than necessary at Seiya's cheeks and Seiya could swear that Kaito's thumb brushed against his skin before he pulled away. "The mole under your eye...""Yes?" Seiya's voice came out a breathless whisper. "I...like it.""Huh?" "I mean, it suits you! It's... you know. There." Kaito looked away and anxiously shifted positions, leaning a bit farther away from where he was pressed up against Seiya's side. He stretched out a leg and accidentally kicked the game board, upsetting the tiles of letters beyond repair. "Whoops."Seiya found that he couldn't help but laugh again. "Well, I guess that means you forfeit.""Honestly? Thank god. I was sick of that game."That only made Seiya laugh more and this time Kaito joined in. "I should probably go home, though," Kaito said, rising from the floor. He held out a hand in offer to Seiya, who took it and stumbled a bit as he rose. Kaito deftly wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him in place. Seiya flushed for what felt like the hundredth time that day and quickly pulled away, rubbing a hand at his neck and awkwardly apologizing. He followed Kaito to the door and watched him as he waved goodbye, walking down the sidewalk and out of view around the corner. When he shut the front door, he turned and put his back to it, sliding down to the floor and bringing his knees up to his chest.What the hell was all of that?! He began to replay that afternoon's events in his mind; from the moment Kaito threw rocks at his window, to their awkward goodbye. He analyzed every word as he walked back up stairs to his room. He second guessed every sliver of body language as he got back in bed, and he replayed the moment Kaito had put his glasses back on for him over and over until he guessed--no, until he was certain--that there was something more going on than just a friend checking on a friend.But what if he was wrong? What if Kaito was just being nice and there wasn't anything more? Seiya turned and buried his face in the pillows, uncertainty pooling in the pit of his stomach. The bigger question, more than any of this, was how did he feel about it all? Did he like the attention from Kaito, or did it make him uncomfortable? He definitely felt confused, but he wouldn't say that the rest of the feelings were bad. It was an undeniably nice thing that Kaito did, in visiting him to make sure he was okay, and bringing him all the things he might need to get well. "Oh, right." Seiya remembered that Kaito had said he'd texted him before stopping by, since he never heard back. Seiya grabbed his phone and held it above his head, scrolling through the missed messages. Kaito: Sorry you're not feeling well. Do you need anything?Kaito: I can stop by the store if you're not well enough to go out yourselfKaito: Aren't your parents gone this weekend? Are you okay alone? Kaito: Well, I know you're not a kid butKaito: Can you at least tell me to stop bugging you so I know you're alright?Kaito: Ok you have to reply or I'll show up unannounced and that seems like something you'd hateKaito: Takehaya? Kaito: FFS I'm actually getting worriedKaito: That's it, I'm just coming overKaito: Don't say I didn't warn youSeiya held the phone to his chest and tried to catch his breath. His heart was pounding. The texts weren't anything special but they showed him something he didn't think was possible.Kaito cared. He cared about Seiya, and there was no denying that. As he held the phone close, it dinged again and the sound nearly made him jump out of his skin. He fumbled with it as he saw a new text from Kaito come through.Kaito: Plz don't ever repeat this to anyone ever but I had fun today. See you at school tomorrow, if you're well by then.Seiya smiled, despite himself. He shouldn't be as happy as he felt about one text from someone he could barely called a friend, but there it was. It was happening. Maybe Kaito wasn't as bad as he'd always thought he was. He was certainly unbearable at times, but Seiya had to admit, he was a good person.For the first time in a while, he was actually looking forward to going to school the next day.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
As much as he wanted to, Seiya unfortunately didn't return to school until Wednesday; three days after he'd first gotten sick and Kaito had visited him at home. His fever had gotten worse the next day, and Seiya blamed himself for not resting as much as he should have the first day he started to feel under the weather. He worried that he may have gotten Kaito sick, but was too nervous to text him and ask. Kaito also didn't text him again except for Tuesday morning, checking in to see if the reason he'd missed school the day before was because he was still sick. Seiya replied in the affirmative and that was the end of their conversation. Maybe he's feeling awkward because of the time we spent together Sunday, Seiya thought. He'd certainly been thinking about it plenty, but he decided that it was unlike Kaito to overthink something like this and that he was probably not nearly as worked up about the whole thing as Seiya was.The days Seiya spent at home in bed allowed him far too much time to internalize his thoughts and get into his own head about too many things. He thought a lot about Minato--and dare he admit an almost equal amount thinking about Kaito--and neither recollections about either person were all that pleasant. Seiya fretted over the fact that Minato hadn't checked in once since he'd been sick. He knew Minato had to know that something was wrong since they were in the same class, so what was keeping him from at least offering to share his notes with Seiya so he wouldn't fall behind on homework? What had Seiya done that had so utterly pushed Minato out of his life? Was it really because he was "suffocating"? Because he cared too much? The more he mulled it over, the angrier it made him. If Minato was going to be like that, then maybe he should let him go. He'd realize one day that Seiya only meant the best for him, for the both of them, and he'd come around eventually. At least, that's what he told himself. Whether it was true or not was still up for debate. When he thought about Kaito...When he thought about Kaito, Seiya couldn't sit still. Something about him got under Seiya's skin unlike any other person in his life. He said things seemingly without thinking that still somehow had more truth to them than Seiya wanted to admit. Kaito was loud, prickly, and honestly, sort of obnoxious. But he was nice. He was good. How could all of these things exist simultaneously in one person? It was hard to wrap his head around, and he had to distract himself with other thoughts before it started to hurt.When Wednesday morning rolled around, Seiya pulled himself out of bed and into his school uniform almost in a trance. He felt better--significantly so--but his excitement to return to school had faded a bit. The thought of seeing Kaito lost its luster, and Seiya returned to his regularly scheduled frantic worries about seeing Minato. He ate breakfast in silence, feeding Kuma small scraps of meat under the table before heading to the door. His mother handed him his wrapped bento and kissed him on the head goodbye before ushering him on his way.Minato wasn't outside when he left, which was starting to become less and less unusual. Seiya did meet up with Ryohei on the way, though, and it was nice to talk to a friendly face."I'm so sorry you got sick!" Ryohei threw an arm around Seiya's shoulders and nearly knocked them both over. "Did you at least get to lay in bed and watch movies or something? That's what I like to do when I'm sick. Just one after the other. My parents don't care how much TV I watch when I'm sick. It's great!"Seiya smiled, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. They were a bit dirty already, and he flushed at the sudden reminder of Kaito's hand against his cheek. "No, I read a bit, but honestly, I just slept a lot." Seiya refocused on Ryohei with stern intensity. He wasn't going to get flustered this early in the day. It was too unlike him. "Aw, well, I'm just glad you're back. You were seriously freaking missed at practice. I never realized how much balance you bring to the team! It's kind of chaotic without you, to be honest."Seiya smiled at the unusual compliment. He didn't really ever think much about how he affected the rest of them, but it felt nice to know his presence was missed by someone (even if that someone wasn't Minato.) As they walked up to the front of the school, Seiya felt his heart jump at the sight of Kaito and Nanao leaning up against the bike racks. When they noticed Seiya and Ryohei, Nanao waved hello and Kaito stuck his chin up, as was his standard form of greeting. Kaito's and Seiya's eyes met briefly, but Seiya found he couldn't hold the gaze, quickly looking away and turning his attention on Nanao instead. "Hey you two!" Nanao greeted them. "I'm glad you're back, Takehaya. Feeling better?""Yeah, thanks." It was strange. Seiya was hyper aware of every movement Kaito made, even by his peripheral vision alone. He watched as Kaito moved around Nanao so that he was standing next to Seiya instead. Every muscle in Seiya's body tensed in anticipation. He could swear their arms brushed for a brief moment, but when he looked down, Kaito was a good few inches away. Seiya couldn't help but sneak a glance at Kaito's face and nearly jumped out of his skin when he found he was already staring at him. "You sure you're all better?" Kaito asked suddenly. "Huh?" "Your face is all red." The two other boys were distracted with their own conversation and didn't pay either of them any mind. Seiya's hands came up to his cheeks suddenly as if he could feel whether they were flushed or not. He felt fine. Well, physically. Maybe not emotionally. "I'm fine," Seiya said, his arms falling back at his sides. "I should head inside. Class is about to start." He didn't wait for Kaito to respond before rushing away from the group of them and towards his classroom. He was so flustered from his interaction with Kaito that he sat down at his desk before even realizing that Minato was already at his own seat, scribbling away at a piece of homework in front of him. After Seiya felt his heart slow, he gathered the courage to stand back up and walk over to Minato's desk, standing in front of it and waiting silently until he was acknowledged."Yes?" Minato asked, finally looking up at Seiya."Do you have notes on the homework?""Yes.""Can I copy them?""Sure." Minato reached into his bag and removed a separate notebook, handing it over to Seiya without meeting his eyes. Seiya took it with a small, barely audible "thanks". He hesitated a few seconds before returning to his seat, waiting to see if Minato would say anything else. He didn't even ask me how I'm feeling, Seiya mused. He folded his arms and rested his head on the desk over Minato's notebook. He had half a mind to keep it and not give it back. But maybe that was too cruel, even for him. Because that was the thing; Seiya knew he could be cruel. He had no need for compassion or empathy when he was serious about something. He used to be able to make Minato cry at the drop of a hat with only a few choice words. These days, it felt like no matter what he said, it only made Minato mad. At least the conversation they'd just had over the notes wasn't hostile. It was just...normal. But that was the problem. They weren't just classmates. They were supposed to be best friends. Maybe he needed to stop thinking of Minato in the light of being his best friend. Maybe if he just thought of him as his classmate, or even just a friend--no "best" attached--he'd be able to look at their interactions in a more objective light. The day felt long and Seiya struggled to stay awake during most of his classes. By the time practice rolled around, he was surprised he even found the strength to draw his bow. He managed to shoot rather well, too, despite his exhaustion. Nearly everyone at practice commented on his absence the past few days, and asked how he was feeling, and still Minato acted as if nothing was wrong. Now Seiya was the one getting mad. Was it so hard for Minato to acknowledge that he'd noticed Seiya's absence and comment on his well-being? Minato was so wrapped up in his own life and his own problems--so wrapped up in every word that fell from Masaki's lips--that he couldn't even be bothered to check on the friend he's had since childhood?!Seiya knew he shouldn't say anything. He knew nothing good would come from harassing Minato about his behavior, and yet he still couldn't stop himself. After they'd cleaned up the Kyudo hall and put everything away, Seiya waited until Minato was about to walk away before stopping him, physically, by grabbing his arm before he could ride off on his bike. "What are you doing? Let go." Minato tried to pull his arm free but Seiya held on tight. He had good upper body strength from shooting and wasn't going to let go easy."Why are you refusing to acknowledge that I was sick?""What are you talking about, that's ridiculous." "Is it? Are you going to try to deny that you knew? Why did you think I was gone from school?"Minato's brow furrowed in annoyance and he tried yet again to pull his arm from Seiya's grasp. "I did know.""Why didn't you check on me? You live literally next door! You could have brought me the homework at least. I could have done it at home and not gotten so far behind!""You're blaming me for that?""I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying if you'd thought-""I thought," Minato spat, "that you were being taken care of just fine by Onogi."The shock of the accusation startled Seiya into loosening his grip on Minato's arm. Minato wrenched it away immediately and put a good two feet of distance between them."What?" Seiya asked. He needed to clarify. What exactly was he being accused of? "How did you-""I saw Onogi come check on you. I figured you'd have arranged something with him.""He's not even in our class!" Seiya nearly shouted. "Why would I ask him to do that for me?""Well, you two seem pretty close so I didn't worry about it."Seiya couldn't believe where their conversation had diverted to. How had it turned from his accusing Minato of being a bad friend into Seiya being accused of...again, he wasn't sure what. "This isn't about Kaito.""Kaito? You're on a first name basis now?"Seiya snapped his mouth shut, pressing his lips together tightly. Maybe he should just shut up. Minato sighed, swinging a leg over his bike and straddling the seat. "Listen, Seiya. If all you're going to do when you talk to me is point out all the ways I'm failing as a friend, then maybe we should just stop.""Stop? Stop what?""Stop being friends.""What?" Seiya felt like Minato had sent a fist straight into his gut. "Why on earth would I want that?""You might not want that, but maybe I do. Have you ever thought about what I want? It's always about you. You're always trying to get me to do what you want. You wanted me to join Kyudo again so badly, and now I'm back. Now you want me to check on you more, do certain things to be your friend. You're awfully selfish, you know?"Seiya felt instantly weakened by the false accusations. "I'm not selfish. How could you even say that? I've only ever thought about you.""Because you think you need me to survive. That's why it's selfish. It still comes back to how I can make you feel better." Minato shook his head. "Please stop doing this to me, to us. You're just making this harder than it has to be." Minato lifted a foot to one of the bike peddles and rode off before Seiya could offer any sort of retort.He stood there, outside the Kyudo hall far longer than he should have. "I'm not selfish," Seiya said to the silent late afternoon air. The wind picked up in the trees, almost in response, lifting the bangs from his forehead. Maybe it was because of Minato's strange observation about him and Kaito, but Seiya suddenly recalled Onogi's words. When was the last time you did something for yourself just because you want to do it? He sighed. Maybe he needed a distraction. Instead of heading straight home he decided to take the bus into town, wandering the streets of the city until he stumbled about a bookstore he'd often walked by but never gone in. This particular outing had been on his small list of things for himself. He had a strange inability to spend time on his own. Even for small excursions like this. He always wanted someone to tag a long, and usually that person was Minato. But today, he was alone.He browsed the titles for a while, but it didn't seem to be doing what he wanted it to to lift his spirits. He wandered over to the manga and pulled a few titles out, flipping through the pages idly hoping that one of them would catch his eye."That one's utter garbage I've heard."Seiya glanced up and found a familiar face browsing the opposite shelf. Kaito didn't even look over as Seiya turned towards him, startled. "Really?" Seiya asked, shutting the paperback and slipping it back into its place on the shelf. "Why's that?""There's basically no plot. And I heard the magic system is weak.""What about this one?" Seiya reached for another title and held it over his shoulder for Kaito to see. "I've heard good things. Haven't read it myself.""It's my favorite. I own the first three."Kaito took it from Seiya's fingers and flipped through it. "This is a romance.""Yeah. Minato always made fun of me for reading shōjo." Seiya kicked himself for mentioning Minato yet again, but kept talking in hopes of covering it up. "Are you going to tease me, too?"There was a pause before Kaito said, "No. There are some good shōjo. Why would I make fun of that? I've even read my sister's yaoi."Seiya's eyes widened and his cheeks reddened. He took the manga back from Kaito with a chuckle. "Sounds like you have discerning taste.""Don't knock it till you try it, 'swhat I always say."Seiya hummed in acknowledgement but didn't offer any further commentary. What exactly was Kaito doing here? Was this pure coincidence? Surely not. It was strange enough that they'd stumbled upon each other the other week when Seiya had visited the ramen shop. But now they'd done it again at the bookshop?"Did you follow me?" Seiya asked, suspicion lacing his tone. Kaito snapped the book closed that was in his hands. "Ah...well, to be honest, yeah. But I swear I just wanted to make sure you were okay.""Why wouldn't I-" Seiya felt his heart harden. "If you're about to tell me you overheard my conversation with Minato...""I didn't mean to, I swear!" Kaito turned then and the two finally met eyes. "Why can't you just keep out of my business!" Seiya snapped. He hadn't meant for it to be so loud or so aggressive, but it did shut Kaito up instantly. "Stop trying to butt into my relationship with Minato. I don't need you to check on me. I don't need you to ... to baby me!" He wasn't sure why but he couldn't stop himself from hurting Kaito the way Minato had hurt him. If he couldn't take it out on Minato himself, then Kaito would have to do. "Damn, Takehaya. Tell me how you really feel." Kaito scoffed, tossing the book he'd been holding on a nearby display table, not bothering to put it away properly. "You can be fucking ruthless, you know?" He'd turned and left before Seiya could stop him. He felt his knees go weak and he slumped to the floor, wrapping his arms around his legs and burying his face so no one would see him cry. Maybe Minato was right. Maybe he was selfish. And maybe Kaito was right, too. Maybe he was ruthless. Maybe he was a huge, unfixable mess, and there was no one to blame but himself. The next day at school, Seiya found a package waiting for him on his desk. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a simple string. As he unwrapped it, he found it was the fourth volume of the manga he'd been looking at the day before. A small, neon green sticky note was peeking out from one of the pages and he felt his heart stutter as he pulled it free.
For your collection.
- K
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Seiya's arguments with both Minato and Kaito ate at him for the rest of the week. He felt unsettled and completely lost. He was used to being blunt with those he was close to but he knew he had crossed a line. Kaito always wore a scowl, but the hurt that registered on his face when Seiya had snapped at him in the bookstore hit different. It cut deeper somehow. Probably because of how nice he's been treating me lately. Not that Seiya wanted to admit that Kaito was nice, because even though he'd been paying more attention to Seiya, he was still gruff and rather ...irksome... when they hung out. A few moments of kindness didn't make up for months of aggravation. Yet still, Seiya knew he needed to apologize, but he didn't know how, or when. He knew it needed to be soon, however, as it was starting to affect their shooting---and that's when they all knew there was a problem that needed resolved. The worst part of it all was that it was no longer an issue just between the three of them. Ryohei, Nanao, and especially Masaki could tell something was wrong, and the latter wasn't going to let any of them get away with it, as was unsurprising per his standard behavior as their coach. "Kaito, watch your form. You're leaning a bit too far back." Masa-san instructed him with that infuriatingly good-natured smile that Seiya couldn't stand. "Minato, be careful you're not gripping your bow too tightly. You seem tense."Seiya's eyes wandered away from the target he was currently aimed at and towards Minato instead. He couldn't help but bristle at the way he felt the two of them were standing a bit closer together than was necessary. "Seiya." Masa-san snapped. "Eyes ahead. If your bow is drawn you shouldn't be looking anywhere else but in front of you. That's how accidents happen." Seiya rolled his eyes in annoyance but did as instructed. He refocused his aim back on the target and exhaled a carefully controlled breath. He really did try to pay attention but he thought he felt Kaito's eyes on him and it startled him into releasing early, the arrow missing it's mark.Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Seiya.That was the biggest problem of being the team's anchor, of being the reliable one. There was no room for mistakes. And when you slipped up, it ended up being a bigger deal than it would have been if it were anyone else. Seiya avoided looking anyone in the eyes as he brought his bow down and stepped away from the edge of the range. When would practice be over? This was torture. Sharing the same space with two people he was actively avoiding was just as uncomfortable as he imagined it would be. He decided to take a moment to cool his head and gather his nerves before trying to shoot again. He walked away and stood towards the back wall of the kyudojo, watching the rest of his classmates shoot instead. When Kaito missed his third shot, there was a loud sigh next to him. Kaito snapped his head towards Minato and glared. "Got something to say to me?"Minato didn't look at him when he replied. "We're not supposed to comment on each other's shooting."Kaito huffed. "You sure sound like you want to, though.""It probably wouldn't be worth trying to explain it to you anyway." Minato mumbled under his breath, but it was still loud enough that both Kaito and Seiya heard him. Seiya's eyes went wide. What was Minato thinking, egging Kaito on? It would turn into a fight in no time if he kept this up. Turns out, it did end up escalating that far. Kaito had the wherewithal not to throw his bow down but he looked like he wanted to. He stepped forward into Minato's space, nearly knocking him over. "You sure are acting cocky for someone who--""Someone who what, Kaito?" Kaito's eyes slid to Seiya only briefly, but Minato caught the look. He scoffed, rolling his eyes as Seiya remained silent behind them, unsure if he should step in or not. Thankfully, he didn't have to. Masa-san stepped between the two of them and gently placed his hands on each of their shoulder's, pushing them apart. "I'm afraid the kyudojo is for archery, not arguments. Both of you, put your bows away. You're done for today.""But Masa-san--" Minato tried to protest, but Misaki shook his head, cutting him off. "Minato."Kaito looked like he was a tea kettle about to boil over. His face was red, his knuckles white where they clenched around his bow. He huffed, cursing under his breath before he hurried away towards the changing room. Minato hesitated, as if he lingered Masa-san might change his mind, but he didn't seem to be reconsidering his decision. He'd moved over to Ryohei, helping him instead, his back turned resolutely towards the rest of them. Minato eventually sighed, and dejectedly followed suit, leaving the hall and into the back room. Seiya brought a weary hand to his forehead and massaged a temple. He wasn't even involved in their argument, but somehow he felt responsible. Was he responsible? He should apologize. But was now a good time? He couldn't tell if it was a worse or better time since when they'd all first arrived to the kyudojo that afternoon. "You okay?" Seiya nearly jumped out of his skin, startled by Nanao who suddenly appeared at his side. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.""You don't usually miss.""I...know." Nanao didn't say anything more, just stood at Seiya's side and readjusted his glove. "Is Kaito..." Seiya started to ask before his voice drifted off as the thought left his head."Hm?" Nanao looked up at him. "Has Kaito been okay at home?"Nanao brought an introspective hand beneath his chin. "Hmmm, you mean more prickly than normal? Can't say that he has been. Maybe a little snappish, but not enough to warrant concern in my opinion. You wondering what caused that scene just now?""Yeah, I guess so.""Seems to be between the two of them. I know you're the Prez and all but you can't blame yourself for every off day we have as a team."Seiya nodded but couldn't voice agreement, since he was pretty sure this "off day" was actually his fault. "Yeah, you're right."Nanao seemed pleased to be told that, and smiled, slapping a hand on Seiya's back. "Everything will work itself out eventually."Seiya refrained from pointing out that it wasn't until Nanao and Kaito had their own intense competition--fueled by a yelling match--were they able to resolve their own quarrels. Seiya worried that it would only be through similar means that he, Kaito and Minato would be able to work out whatever the hell was going on between the three of them.He acted like he didn't know what the problem was, when in reality, he did know. He just preferred lying to himself and feigning ignorance in the dark. It was how he approached most problems in his life, he was realizing. After returning to the line up with the rest of his teammates, and taking a few more sad, half-hearted shots, practice was thankfully over. When he got to the changing room, it was empty. Minato and Kaito had already left nearly a quarter of an hour ago...or so he thought. He heard the sound of muffled voices outside, but couldn't see anyone when he glanced through the window. He finished changing quickly and grabbed his bag, not bothering to take out his contacts and put his glasses back on. When he rushed outside, the voices became clearer and it was obviously Kaito and Minato, though Seiya still couldn't see where they'd gone. "You know what you've done!" Kaito was yelling. "You treat him like garbage, and I don't get it! You're supposed to be best friends!""Stay out of this, Onogi. Our friendship is none of your business.""Yes, it is!""Why? Cause you've got a crush on Takehaya?"Seiya was about to round the corner of the building before stopping dead in his tracks."Shut up, Narumiya. I'm warning you.""Or what?" Minato challenged. "You'll punch me like you used to do to your old classmates?"Seiya couldn't stop a hand from flying up to cover his mouth. Their argument suddenly stopped, replaced with the sounds of a scuffle and muffled grunts. Seiya peeked around the corner and saw Kaito shove Minato to the ground, climbing on top of him and pining Minato's arms at his sides with his knees. He looked ready to throw a punch, but didn't, no doubt uneager to confirm Minato's previous accusation. Either way, Seiya wasn't going to give either of them a chance to let this get any worse than it already had. "Hey! That's enough!" Seiya dropped his bag to the ground and ran over to them, peeling Kaito off of Minato. Both of them stumbled backwards, falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. "Takehaya?" Kaito looked embarrassed, cheeks red at being caught fighting. Minato took the opportunity to scramble to his feet. Seiya expected him to use the chance to escape, riding away on his bike before either of them could stop him, but he didn't. Instead, Minato reached out and grabbed Seiya's wrist in an attempt to pull him away from where he was tangled with Onogi. "Come on, let's go." Minato said. "What? No!" Seiya shook his head. "We need to talk about what's going on between you two!""Between us?" Minato looked between Kaito and Seiya, confusion knit across his brow. "Okay, fine. Stop hanging out with him, and this will be solved.""What?" Seiya scoffed. "No! We're all friends here, I don't understand why there has to be contention.""You're okay hanging out with someone who demands you stop seeing other people?" Kaito piped in, directing his attention towards Seiya. "You're still hung up on this guy?" Seiya felt caught between two walls, and he could imagine them slowly pressing in on him. His heart began to beat erratically and he suddenly felt as if he couldn't breath. Both Kaito and Minato were on either side of him, offering him their own ultimatums, and he felt, right now, no matter what they said, he couldn't choose. "Stop, please. I don't want this.""Look what you've done," Minato snapped at Kaito. "You just can't stop hurting people, can you?" "What? You think this is my fault?" "Stop." Seiya's voice was a barely audible whisper that neither of them heard. "This is my fault...""When did you get like this?" Kaito continued to yell at Minato. "You used to be so...""So what, Onogi?""Nice!""Yeah, well you make it really hard to be nice, when this is what happens when you get involved in other people's business!"Seiya saw it all in slow motion; the way Kaito's face scrunched up into a familiar yet foreign scowl as he raised a fist. Minato took a step backwards, mouth open in a shout Seiya couldn't hear. He couldn't hear anything in that moment, just an oceanous roar in his ears that drowned out everything else. He didn't really think twice before stepping between the two of them, placing himself between Minato and Kaito's fist. The crack of knuckles on skin brought him back to the present. Red hot pain blossomed across Seiya's cheek, and the force of the blow had him staggering, but he didn't fall to his feet. Everything stopped then. The arguing, the glares and scowls, the harsh words. There was just stillness and a silence that they all shared now. "What the-- what's going on?!" Masaki was running from the kyudojo then, rushing over to the three of them. He bent over in front of Seiya, carefully grabbing his chin in his hands and turning his face to see the damage of Kaito's punch. Seiya thought he heard a mumbled expletive under Masa-san's breath, but couldn't be sure. His ears were still ringing. "I don't know what is going on between you three, but it's not going to be resolved here, or on the range. You're all banned from club until you figure this out.""What?" All three of them exclaimed at the same time, distress clear on all their faces. "I don't want to see any of you until you're ready to apologize to each other and your teammates for this behavior. Do you understand?"Seiya was surprised to see Masaki so stern. But he agreed, to an extent. He didn't feel like he even had the bandwidth to focus on practice right now, with how much of a mess his emotions were. Minato seemed the most upset by this. He didn't say anything else before rushing to his bike and riding away, here and gone in the blink of an eye. After Misaki asked Seiya if he wanted to be driven to the hospital--which Seiya forcefully refused--their coach told both of them to go home. Seiya retrieved his bag from where he'd thrown it to the ground earlier, slinging it over his shoulder dejectedly. He intended to brush past Kaito without saying anything, but the other boy stopped him before he could get away. Seiya felt an electric shock where their hands met, and despite everything that had just happened, his cheeks warmed. "Seiya." His heart did a somersault when Kaito used his first name."I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to hit you.""No, you meant to hit Minato."Kaito offered no defense. "He was saying things about you...""I don't need you to defend me!" Seiya pulled his hand away, clenching and unclenching his fingers as if he could rid himself of the feel of Kaito's skin where it had burned into his palm. "You're both in the wrong. We're all in the wrong. Me too. This is my fault, too.""I just want--""What do you want?" Seiya snapped, spinning around to face Kaito even though he knew he looked ready to cry. He didn't want Kaito to see this side of him, but he'd already seen it before, so what did it matter now? "What do you want from me?"Kaito opened and closed his mouth like a fish, unable to offer any words of reassurance or explanation, despite Seiya's demands for more. "Until you can tell me what you want out of... all of this--" he gestured between the two of them, as if that could encompass what he was trying to explain "-- then I don't want to talk to you. I'm tired of fighting. I don't want to be a referee between you and Minato. So until you can be honest with me about what you want from our friendship, then please, just leave me alone."He didn't wait for Kaito to agree to his terms before hurrying away. What started as a brisk walk, turned into a full on sprint, as large wet tears streaming down his cheeks, salt water stinging against the blossoming bruise on his cheek.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Seiya didn't like to sit alone with his thoughts. On a normal day, his mind was preoccupied with school, kyudo, and homework. After finishing these things, he'd quickly fall asleep, and the cycle would repeat itself the next day. He rarely had time in between for things he might otherwise call his hobbies or interests, but he didn't mind. Kyudo was his passion, as it was for his peers, and that was what took up all his time and energy outside of school.But now, he, Kaito, and Minato had all been "banned" from the school's kyudojo--and unlike Shuu, they didn't all have their own private kyudojos to practice at. So shooting was, without a doubt, impossible until they were allowed back at their own club. Seiya was at a loss trying to figure out what to do. He finished his homework fast on a good day, but even now, slow and sluggish, he still finished his assignments well before the end of the evening. He threw himself on the bed with a louder than necessary sigh. Removing his glasses, he messaged the bridge of his nose and rubbed at his tired eyes. It was only half past seven but he thought maybe he could fall asleep if he really tried... He accidentally bumped his cheekbone and winced, fresh pain shooting across his face. He turned his head and glanced across the room at the mirror on the wall. The bruise looked nasty today, black and blue and a sickly yellow around the edges. Explaining what had happened to his parents was a tricky lie, but he didn't want to tell them the truth. How could he possibly explain the truth of Kaito and Minato's argument without going back weeks into the depths of his own friendship with Minato suddenly falling apart? He'd said he'd taken a fall during P.E. and that Masaki was concerned about other potential injuries that hadn't surfaced yet and asked him to stay home from club for a few days. The problem with this particular lie was the longer he stayed home from club, the more suspicious it seemed. School hadn't been all that delightful either. None of them had spoken since the blow up three days ago, but they were all getting restless. Seiya was waiting to see who would cave first and apologize, so that they could all get back to kyudo, but so far, everyone had held out. He had run into Ryohei the second day who had begged him to figure out how to reconcile with the other two, so that things could go back to normal. But Seiya wasn't able to offer any sort of consolation. He wasn't sure what would happen. Maybe this was it. Maybe they were all done with kyudo for good, and would never reconcile.Okay, maybe he was being a little dramatic. But it felt that heavy, today anyway. Seiya reached for his phone and idly checked it for the dozenth time that night. There were no new texts. He wasn't even sure what he was waiting for. He supposed an apology, from either Minato or Kaito, but maybe he didn't deserve to be apologized to. This was, after all, his fault. Or at least, that's what he told himself. So why wasn't he the one that was apologizing? Because I'm not the one who punched myself in the face! he thought indignantly. Although, it was a silly thing to still be upset over. Kaito had apologize for that at least, right away, and it wasn't Seiya he was mad at. So maybe Seiya was waiting for an apology from Kaito on Minato's behalf. Which was ridiculous because he wasn't Minato's "knight" anymore. He didn't need to be getting in the middle of things that involved Minato. Hadn't this all started because he was incapable of leaving Minato alone? He thought back to that first day when Kaito had asked him when the last time he did something for himself was, and not because Minato had influenced his decision. Seiya had sort of forgotten about his list since the day at the bookstore. He thought he really should get back to completing that. Maybe that would bring him some clarity and help him push through this silly quarrel he was having with his friends. He still wanted to go on a hike, to the arcade, and the beach. He couldn't believe he'd only done two of the five things on his list. Why was this so hard; finding time to do things for himself outside of school and kyudo? Was it really because he was so busy, or was he afraid of what it meant if he got used to being alone? He shut his phone off and tossed it to the foot of the bed. If he got used to doing things alone, then it would mean Minato was right. It would mean Seiya didn't need him anymore, and he wasn't sure he was ready to admit that.At the end of the week, Seiya was officially exhausted by the tension. School felt like a chore--no, a battle--and the only thing keeping him from waving a white flag was his own pride. He had to give it the three of them. They were stubborn to an extent that was almost impressive. He was looking forward to the weekend and two days off from this will-they-won't-they contest ... that was until he found Kaito loitering by the entrance of the school. Seiya watched him for a moment before he was noticed. Kaito was shifting anxiously from one foot to the other, arms crossed over his chest, tapping a finger against his elbow impatiently. He was looking around as other students filed out of school for the day until he locked eyes with Seiya. His posture changed immediately; he stood up straight and awkwardly waved a hand in his direction, beckoning him over.Seiya hesitated before making his way towards him, stopping a good five feet away. "Onogi." Seiya said, voice cold and closed off."Takehaya." Kaito looked...anxious. Nervous? Was apologizing really this hard for him?"Look," he started. "I know I said sorry for hitting you before, but I don't think you really get it. I am sorry, truly. And I'm sorry that..."Seiya waited silently for Kaito to collect his thoughts. He was obviously struggling to say whatever he'd previously mentally prepared. "I know Narumiya is important to you," Kaito finally continued. "And I say a lot of shit about him, and to him, that probably hurts your feelings. He really, really pisses me off sometimes, and I don't know if I'm ready to apologize to him yet, because quite frankly, I'm not that sorry. But I do know that I don't want to hurt you. So I'm sorry that behaving the way I have been towards him has affected you, too. I swear it was never supposed to be directed at you. That is...I didn't really think about how it made you feel."The longer Kaito went on, the quicker Seiya's heart began to beat. He gripped the strap of his bag tighter around his body, fighting the urge to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat."Don't look at me like that." Kaito said suddenly."Like what?" Seiya exhaled. "Like it physically pains you to be around me." Seiya finally swallowed the lump in his throat and took two shaky steps forward, close enough to reach out and grab Kaito's hand. There was an electric shock as both of them pulled their hands away quickly. Kaito glanced around nervously, as if he was worried someone might see, though there weren't many students left at school anymore. "It doesn't pain me," Seiya said. "And I...accept your apology.""Really?" Kaito looked so relieved Seiya thought his knees might buckle beneath him. Seiya nodded.Their conversation seemed to be over at that point, although Kaito appeared to be staling, unable to walk away. "Well, if that's all..." Seiya offered, in an attempt to draw their meeting to a close."Wait, it's not." Kaito took another step and closed the space between them. Seiya could feel the warmth of Kaito's breath as he spoke. "Can I...make it up to you?""Make it...up to me?" Seiya didn't understand. "What do you mean?""To show you that I...I'm not always so uptight all the time.""How do you propose doing that?"Kaito reached into his pocket and pulled out two thin slips of paper. "Nanao got these...for a date. He didn't end up going, so he gave them to me. They're wrist bands for the arcade."Seiya's breath caught in his throat. Why did that keep happening when talking with Onogi? It shouldn't be this easy for him to lose all sense of composure. "Why don't you go with Nanao, then?" Seiya asked in a whisper."Because I don't want to go with Nanao," Kaito replied, equally quiet. "I want to go with you."Seiya's heart did a backflip, and suddenly he couldn't help but remember part of the argument he'd overheard between Kaito and Minato a few days before.
Why? Cause you've got a crush on Takehaya?
Seiya felt all the blood rush to his face, and he was certain he was as red as a cherry tomato. "Is your silence a no?" Kaito dared to ask. "No!" Seiya blurted out. "It's not a no.""So...it's a yes?" Seiya was sure no matter how hard he tried to speak, he wouldn't be able to. So all he could do was nod his head. Thankfully, Kaito was watching, waiting, and seemed pleased with the response. "Cool." Kaito scratched at some imaginary itch on the back of his neck. "How does...tomorrow sound? If that's too soon we can--""Tomorrow is good," Seiya managed to squeak out. "Okay, how about I meet you at the station downtown at seven?""Okay."If things were awkward before, they were exponentially more so now. Seiya no longer waited for Kaito to be the first one to take his leave and instead, headed off down the sidewalk himself. There was no goodbye, no "see you then"; Seiya simply rushed away before Kaito could tell that his heart was threatening to burst right out of his chest.He managed to collect his thoughts once he was a few blocks away, and had turned back several times to make sure Kaito wasn't following him. Did Kaito somehow know that going to the arcade was on his list of things he'd wanted to do? He hadn't shown the list to anyone. He'd only ever mentioned its existence to Kaito in passing. If Kaito didn't know, then perhaps it was fate. Seiya couldn't help but smile at the thought. If it was fate, then who was he to refuse such an offer?He brushed the smile away with a shake of his head. It's not like it was a date. What was he blushing for? It was just two friends hanging out. Two friends where one apparently (almost certainly) had a crush on the other. And the other ... might be feeling a rather similar way. Seiya was not one to fret over an outfit any day of the week. At least, that's what he told himself. Today, however, he'd been pacing in front of his closet for ten minutes, debating if a hoodie were too casual for the arcade, and if, similarly, a button down was too formal. He'd needed to leave five minutes ago if he wanted to be there early. He needed to leave now if he wanted to be there on time. But of course he ended up leaving ten minutes after that, skidding out the front door with barely a goodbye to his parents on the way. He'd chosen the hoodie. Better to dress down than up, he figured. Otherwise Kaito might get the wrong idea.What if I want him to get the wrong idea? Or would that be giving him the right idea? Seiya's head spun round and round with the logic of it until it made him dizzy. The train ride into town also made him sick to his stomach, not the nerves of a night out with Onogi, just the two of them. Why would that make him ill? That would imply he was nervous, and he most certainly was not nervous. He knew Kaito would be waiting for him at the station, as they agreed upon, but he wasn't expecting him to be right outside the doors of the train as they slid open. It startled him enough that he staggered backwards, but Kaito caught his elbow before he could stumble into the people behind them. "You okay?" he asked, concern knitting his brow."Y-yeah," Seiya stammered. "Thanks." The two of them stepped out of the way of the rest of the crowd and headed for the stairs that led up to the main level of the street. They walked in silence until they reached the front of the arcade, which was unsurprisingly very busy on that Friday night. "Good thing we already have the wrist bands. Looks like it's gonna be a wait to get tokens though," Kaito murmured. "I hope that's okay.""I don't mind." As they waited in line, they talked about school, assignments due, the recent sports day, books Seiya was currently reading, and games Kaito was playing. Seiya found himself surprised that they actually had so much to talk about. It had been awkward between them at first, but Seiya felt his nerves slowly slipping away, replaced by the same sort of calm and enjoyment he'd felt the day Kaito had visited him at home when he'd been sick. After they'd paid for their game tokens, the two stared at the large room of machines and activities in front of them, the ever difficult question looming before them. What to play first?"What are you best at?" Kaito asked suddenly. Seiya thought for a moment. "I don't know. I've never been here before.""You've never... you're joking, right?" Kaito looked like his jaw might fall to the floor. "You've been to an arcade, just not this one."Seiya shook his head."What?! Oh my god, well then we have to try everything, every single game till we find out what you're best at. Though it'll be tough to beat me. I'm pretty good at everything." Kaito puffed up his chest and placed his hands on his hips, chin in the air.Seiya brought a hand to his mouth and chuckled at the sight. "Really? Well, let's find out."The first hour flew by. Kaito was decent at everything they played, but Seiya was a surprising challenge to beat. When they got to the basketball hoops, Kaito beat him by only a few shots. "Damn, Takehaya. You don't even play!" "It's just a different type of aiming, isn't it?" He shrugged casually, although he couldn't ignore the way his chest filled with warmth at the pride in Kaito's voice.Seiya did beat Kaito at racing, which turned into a yelling match as Kaito slung all his best insults at Seiya in an attempt to distract him. The more Kaito lost, the more frustrated he became, and the louder Seiya laughed. After a while, he was pretty sure Kaito was doing it just to egg him on. Maybe both of them were happy with the outcome really. Seiya got to beat Kaito at something for once, and Kaito got to hear him laugh. After about an hour, the two of them slumped down on a nearby bench, both catching their breath from the laughter and competition.
"Geez, you're pretty good for your first time. Beginners luck?" Kaito asked."Maybe I'm just a prodigy." Seiya teased, leaning into Kaito's side with a gentle shove. "I doubt it," Kaito joked back. "Hey, are you hungry?""I could eat.""What sounds good, fries or ice cream?""You're making me choose?" Seiya pouted in feigned disappointmentKaito laughed. "I can get both." "You don't have to--" But before Seiya could protest Kaito had already stood up and rushed off towards the counter to order. Seiya watched him from the bench, kicking his feet as he waited. He'd never really looked at Onogi before. Or rather, he'd never studied him. He was tall and a bit gangly, but his shoulders were broad. Seiya could see the outline of his shoulder blades and the muscles of his back through his tee shirt. His eyes traveled down to where the shirt cut in at Kaito’s waist. Seiya forced his eyes back up to the back of Kaito's head, tracing the outline of his hair where it brushed the back of his neck. Seiya’s mind wondered suddenly, without warning, what it would feel like to run his hands through Onogi's brown hair. Was it soft? What sort of expression would he make if Seiya suddenly did something like that? Kaito turned then and looked back at him, smiling casually before facing forward again.Seiya's thoughts were shattered as his face flared red.
Oh shit.
He forced himself to stop watching Kaito and turned his attention to the people around him instead. Little children playing with their families, middle school kids out with their friends. It was a good night. It felt safe and warm and right. He was happy to be here. He was happy he was here with Kaito. "Alright, here you are." Seiya jumped at the sudden reappearance of Onogi, who had returned with a small basket of fries, setting it between them. Then he handed Seiya an already melting ice cream cone. "Hurry, it's making a fucking mess."Seiya took it from Kaito's hand, their fingers brushing in the transfer. He hid his face behind the ice cream for a moment, certain that Kaito could tell he was suddenly flustered. Could he tell? Did Kaito feel it too, whatever this was that was building between them? He didn't seem to notice, as he was already half done devouring his own ice cream before it could melt any further. "Geez I told you to hurry," Kaito said, and before Seiya could even process what was happening, Kaito leaned over and took a bite from the top of Seiya's melting ice cream cone."Hey!"Kaito only laughed, wiping his face with the back of a sleeve. Seiya was able to return to reality then, finishing off his ice cream before digging into the fries. They continued to talk about the games they'd played, rating which ones they liked best, which ones they needed a rematch on, and which ones were most definitely, totally rigged to lose."Claw machines," Kaito declared. "They're literally programmed to drop the item right before it reaches the end! It's so annoying, it makes me furious every time! It doesn't matter how good you are at picking the thing up, it's a one in a hundred chance the machine lets you keep it.""Are you sure you're just not bad at it?" Seiya smirked. "Hey! You saw me do it!""I know, I know." Seiya reached for the last fry and accidentally bumped hands with Kaito. "Oh, uh, you can have it.""We can share it.""Oh, sure." Seiya expected Kaito to break it in half, but instead, he brought it to his mouth and held it between his teeth."You don't seriously expect me to...""It's like the pocky game," Kaito said. "We're in public." Seiya hissed. "And we're not children anymore. I'm not doing that. Just eat it.""Chicken. Coward."Seiya huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You think you can bully me into doing it?!""I don't know," Kaito mumbled through his teeth. "Is it working?"Seiya couldn't help but laugh in disbelief at Kaito's sudden behavior. "You really want me to..."When it was clear he wasn't going to budge, Seiya leaned over and bit the fry in half. Although their mouths were nowhere near close to touching, it still sent his heartbeat into an erratic, inconsistent pace. "There. You win," he grumbled, turning away in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Kaito stood and held out a hand towards Seiya. "Come on, let's go see what other games I can win."*** They played for nearly two more hours, walking out tired and sweaty just a few minutes before ten. "I think we tied." Kaito said, ripping the entry band from his wrist and tossing it in a nearby trash can. "Tied?" Seiya scoffed. "Absolutely not, I beat you for sure. I definitely won more games.""What? Bullshit.""Were you even counting, then?""Were you?""No.""Then how do you figure you won?!"Seiya buckled from the weight of his laughter, clutching at his aching sides. "Sounds like we need a rematch some other time, then.""I'd like that." Seiya had felt warm all over, all night long. He was happy and his cheeks hurt from smiling. He and Kaito walked closer together on their way back to the station than they had on the way to the arcade, and the space felt good. It felt natural, and all animosity that had been between them earlier in the week was nonexistent now. Seiya was too high on cloud nine to notice when Kaito stepped on the train with him, rather than bid him goodbye at the doors. "What are you doing?" Seiya exclaimed. "Your train goes the other way!""I know. I want to walk you home.""But that's so far out of your way! And it's so late. What if you don't catch the next train?""Are you going to keep me at your place for more than two hours? That's rather bold of you."Seiya blushed at the accusation. "It's up to you, I guess." He muttered under his breath, but really, he was pleased. Their conversation had begun to drift off at this point, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Seiya attributed it to the fact that they were probably both tired. When they came to Seiya's neighborhood stop, they both stepped off and began the short walk to Seiya's house. The closer they got, the slower their steps became until they were quite literally dragging their feet in an effort to not let the night come to a close. "So," Kaito said as they rounded the corner onto Seiya's block. "Did I redeem myself?""Hmmm..." Seiya hummed in thought. "I'm not sure, to be honest. I think you may need to keep trying.""I can do that.""You're on your way though. I'd give it...two more times.""Two more, that's it? That's easy." "I am anything but easy, Onogi Kaito."They came to a halt outside Seiya's house, lingering on the street. Seiya's gaze wandered above them to the night sky, which was littered with stars he could just barely make out through the haze of the city. "I should go inside," he said. "I'm already later than I said I'd be."Kaito nodded but neither of them moved. The sounds of cicadas could be heard around them, signaling the close arrival of summer. It was one of Seiya's favorite sounds. It made him feel grounded in a world that other times overwhelmed him. The sounds of the insects reminded him that this was real, what he was feeling right now. That Kaito was with him, that they'd had a good night, and that it probably--hopefully--wouldn't be the last."Seiya."Seiya looked up at the sound of his name as Kaito stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He reached forward hesitantly before grabbing Seiya's glasses and slipping them from his face. He held them gingerly in one hand and brought the other to Seiya's cheek. His thumb gently smoothed across his skin of his bruise and Seiya could hear nothing except the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears. His eyelids felt heavy, and as Kaito leaned forward, he couldn't help but close his eyes. The sound of a loud, sudden bark had both of them jumping away from one another in surprise, eyes shooting open and darting towards the sound. Kuma stuck his head through the bushes in the fence and continued to yap at them, a bright cheery disposition across his face."Damn dog," Kaito cursed, a hand to his chest. "Nearly scared the shit out of me." Seiya laughed, though it was laced with disappointment. "Hey Kuma," he said, kneeling down to pet the dog. "I guess he's hurrying me up."Kaito nodded watching awkwardly until Seiya held out a hand. "My glasses?""Oh. Oh! Right, here. Uh, they were looking dirty so I, uh..." Although Kaito fumbled with them, he thankfully didn't drop the glasses. He used the hem of his shirt to half heartedly wipe the lenses. "Here you go. Sorry about that.""Thanks." Seiya slipped them back on and turned to head inside before either of them could get any other ideas in their heads. "Goodnight, Onogi.""Goodnight, Takehaya."It was hard to turn away from him, but somehow Seiya managed it. He turned the handle of the gate and headed inside the yard. When he got inside the house, he pressed his back against the door and slid to the floor, a hand over his chest to still his beating heart. He replayed the last ten minutes over and over in his mind, imagining what exactly had almost happened. Then he realized something even more shocking. All night long, he hadn't thought about Narumiya Minato once. Not even for a single second.Onogi Kaito, Seiya thought, what have you done to me?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Seiya wasn't there when Kaito apologized to Minato.To be honest, he wasn't even sure if they'd really reconciled at all. Knowing the both of them, Seiya wondered if they'd come to some sort or "agreement" rather than apology, just so they could get back to kyudo. Whatever happened, neither of them elaborated. They simply stopped Seiya outside of school one day out of the blue. The sight of the two of them together sent Seiya's heart into a panic. But neither of them were fighting--with each other or with him--when he walked up.Kaito did most of the talking. He said they were ready to get back to practice and apologize to Masa-san and the others. So Seiya agreed to it as well. It was silent as they walked to the kyudojo; they barely even looked at each other as they stepped inside. Masaki's face granted no readable emotion from what Seiya could tell; was he mad? Surprised to see them? Happy they were finally back?Seiya wondered if the other two boys felt as uncomfortable as he did when they walked in. The girls and Ryohei and Nanao were already there, and everyone stopped to look at them as they came in. The air was still and silent as Masaki crossed his arms, waiting patiently for whatever they might do or say. Seiya wasn't sure what kind of apology Kaito and Minato had planned, so he took the lead upon himself, dropping to his knees and bowing until his forehead touched the floor. He could hear the shift of rustling clothes as the other two followed suit, the three of them lined up in front of their coach and classmates. "We're sorry," Minato said.Seiya twitched, surprised he had spoken. "Sorry," Kaito and Seiya echoed together. Kaito raised himself up and sat back on his heels, looking red in the cheeks and a bit annoyed. Seiya understood. Bowing like this was reserved for moments of deep sincerity. And admitting his faults was not one of Kaito's strongest suits. This was probably very difficult for him.Although, he was getting better, Seiya had to admit. "We'd like to be allowed back," Minato continued. "We've already apologized to each other, and we promise to behave moving forward."Seiya's shoulders tensed as Minato spoke. Apologized? Maybe to Kaito, but Minato certainly had apologized to him. "Is that so?" Masaki sighed. "It has been over a week. I suppose it's only fair you return to practice. We do have a small tournament coming up." He ran a hand through his dark hair as he looked them all over. "If you three--or any of you, for that matter--fight again on the premise of the kyudojo, I'll have to take it to the school board. This simply cannot be a regular occurrence. Do you understand?"Everyone nodded and hummed their agreement. "Alright. Kaito, Minato, Seiya...go get changed."The way the three of them lit up in excitement was brighter than the sun on the summer solstice. Misaki almost felt bad for kicking them out in the first place. Their voices were a chorus of gratitude as Masa-san ushered them out from the range, urging them to hurry up. No one addressed the elephant in the room as they got dressed. But Kaito and Seiya shared a small, secret smile with one another behind Minato's back, the other boy none the wiser. Seiya felt a flood of memories rush back to him from their night at the arcade and his cheeks warmed. He felt a soft buzz all throughout his body and he had to tear his eyes away from Kaito before it was too obvious what he was thinking of. That afternoon's practice wasn't perfect. Seiya definitely felt out of it, but he knew his form and all the rest would come back to him in time, like riding a bicycle. It was impossible to forget, truly, how to shoot. When they'd finished, Masa-san made the three of them clean up as a final penance for their argument, but by the end of it, he was talking with them as if it had never happened at all. Shockingly, Minato didn't rush out like he had been doing before, and instead made some amiable conversation with Ryohei and Nanao as he gathered his things. Seiya watched the three of them talk until he felt Kaito sidle up to him. He leaned over just enough to be heard as he lowered his voice. "He seems better." "Who? Minato?""Yeah. Not as...antagonistic.""Did he really apologize to you?" Seiya couldn't help it, he had to know. "Yeah, he did. I think he meant it too, which is the truly impressive part."Seiya bit his lip. He refrained from mentioning that Minato hadn't apologized to him. He didn't need to. Like Kaito had pointedly told him before, he didn't have to turn every conversation into an exposition on all the ways Minato had hurt him. "I'm glad," he said instead. "Well, see ya later, Takehaya." "You're leaving?" Seiya hadn't meant for his voice to come out in such a high pitched, desperate tone, but it slipped from his lips before he could stop himself. "Do you...not want me to?"How was Kaito so bold all the time? He was so capable of saying exactly what he thought and felt and Seiya wished he could be more like that. But every time, it caught him off guard and the only response he could muster was red cheeks and a stuttered reply. "Well, I...I was just wondering...you don't have to..." "I can walk you home.""I thought we established that was significantly out of your way." "It is." Kaito stared at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Well, if you're sure."And he was. ***
The tournament they had coming up took most of Seiya’s free time away from him. Between studying and practice, there wasn’t much time for him to keep working on his list of things for himself. Thankfully, this also meant there wasn’t much time for his mind to wander to unnecessary things, like his maybe-date with Kaito and his lessening feelings for Minato.
But as the week of the tournament rolled around, Misaki ended up forcing them all to take a break, since they were prone to over practicing due to nerves. Though the decision was met with uproar, Seiya knew their teacher was right. Practicing too much often ended up hindering their performance in the long run.
So, with two days of freedom ahead of him, Seiya pulled the folded notebook paper from his school bag and reviewed his list.
1. Go on a hike
2. Try the famous fire ramen at Ryuji's Ramen
3. Go to the bookstore
4. Play at the arcade.
5. Visit the seaside.
Well, the weather was supposed to be good that week. It should be decent enough for a hike. Something that would help him feel energized and like he was still making an effort to stay in shape for the tournament that weekend.
The only question was…did he have to go by himself?
Before he could let the thought ruminate any further, his phone gave a soft ding from his desk. Kaito : hey Seiya : hi Kaito : I’m gonna go crazy with 2 days off practice Seiya : lol you might Kaito : what are you gonna do with your free time?
Seiya sucked his lower lip between his teeth as he shifted from one foot to the other, staring at Kaito’s message on the small, glowing screen
Seiya : I’m going to go hike Hana Mountain tomorrow, I think
Seiya waited for a reply but none came, and as he stared at their text thread waiting for Kaito to say something, he nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone started to ring. He nearly dropped it in his haste to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Kaito’s deep, lazy voice spoke from the other end of the line.
“Hi.”
“Are you going by yourself? To hike Hanayama?”
“Oh, I wasn’t totally decided yet.”
“It’s not safe to go alone. What if something happened to you and no one was there to help?”
“I have my phone…”
“What if your phone died? Or you tripped and it flew out of your hand and broke? Or worse, it went skidding down the side of the mountain?”
Seiya was fighting back laughter and Kaito blurt out, “What?? It could happen you know.”
“I know. And what do you propose I do instead?”
“I could…come with you.”
The two boys let silence settle between them, the only sound that of the soft buzz of the telephone line.
“Do you even like hiking?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really done it much. But I could try. I’d try anything, for you.”
Seiya was glad Kaito wasn’t in the room with him to see the way his face turned red as a tomato.
“Okay,” he said back, voice barely above a whisper. “We can go tomorrow after school?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, see you then.”
“See ya.” And then Kaito hung up before Seiya could say anything else. He let the phone fall to his side, holding it limply in his hand.
Oh god, was this what it felt like to be prioritized? To be cherished? To be…
He couldn’t muster the last thought, shaking away the word lest it somehow curse whatever wonderful thing was currently happening to him.
With a burst of newfound energy, Seiya sat himself down at his desk and rushed through his homework as fast as he possibly could so that nothing could come between him and tomorrow’s adventure with Kaito.
In fact, he was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t even register Minato’s bedroom light flickering to life across the street, a sight that he used to be hyper aware of. Evening came and went and the light across the street turned off, and still Seiya’s eyes never once wandered towards the window. ***It was an immense struggle to get through the school day. In the past, Seiya had always been an exemplary student, someone who always paid attention in class, took copious notes, and did their homework quickly and turned it in on time. But today, he found his eyes drifting to the window, mind wandering as the teacher's voice turned to a faint drone that nearly lulled him to sleep. He watched the minute hand of the clock on the wall make its rounds, counting the seconds until lunch. Then counting the seconds from lunch till the final bell.He tried not to burst through the classroom door and run down the stairs. With a strength that surfaced from who knows where, Seiya calmly packed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, walking from the room and taking the steps one by one until he made it to the shoe racks by the front doors of the building. Kaito was already there, leaning idly against Seiya's locker. He hadn't noticed him yet, and so Seiya took the opportunity to watch him. Kaito ran a hand through his hair and let out a big yawn. He did look a little tired, Seiya noticed. Kaito pulled his phone out of his pocket and swiped his thumb over the screen before shoving it away again. He looked impatient, but...cute. It was cute. Seiya stepped forward and cleared his throat, grabbing Kaito's attention. The other boy started at his sudden appearance. "Hi," Seiya said, a soft blush coloring his cheeks. "Hey." Kaito moved out of the way so Seiya could swap his school slippers for his sneakers. "Do you still wanna come hiking with me?" He felt embarrassed asking, still surprised that Kaito would want to spend more time with him. "Yeah, of course." Kaito was already dressed in a pair of running shorts and a hoodie, and after waiting for Seiya to change, the two headed to the bus stop and rode to the edge of the city where they were dropped off almost directly outside the hiking trail. There weren't many other people around--as it was a weekday, and the sun would set in only an hour or so--but Seiya didn't mind. The quiet made it more peaceful, which is just what he had wanted."We don't have to go all the way to the top," Seiya said, turning to Kaito over his shoulder. "We can turn around when the sun starts to set." Then, as an aside, he added, "I should have gone home first to grab Kuma."Kaito leaned over to touch his toes, then bent over backwards, hands on his hips. Was he...stretching? Seiya couldn't help but giggle. He was taking this so seriously. "I bet if we hurry," he said, "we can at least find a good spot to watch the sunset."Seiya nodded and the two set off at a rather brisk pace that Kaito set.This didn't last long.Kaito was out of the gate too quickly, and after about twenty minutes, he was struggling to hide his heavy breathing. He looked over at Seiya at one point, a scowl on his face. "What?" Seiya asked, eyes wide with innocent confusion."How are you...not winded...like even a little bit?" Kaito stopped and doubled over, hands on his knees. Seiya smiled, reaching for his arm to help him back up. "Slow down. It's not a race.""But the sun--""Yes, yes, the sunset. It'll be fine. We'll watch it from wherever we end up."Seiya held onto Kaito's arm as he stood, and for some reason he found he was unable to pull away. Without thinking about it too hard, he let his hand slide down Kaito's arm and reached for his hand, interlocking their fingers together. Kaito's eyes went wide in surprise. But he didn't pull away."Come on," Seiya said, turning away in order to hide his embarrassment. "Let's keep going."Kaito made some sort of grunt of acknowledgement and their feet started moving again. Seiya couldn't believe it. He was here with Kaito, and they were holding hands. Had he lost his mind? He'd only felt so brave because they hadn't seen anyone else since starting out on the trail. He didn't want anyone to see them. What would they think of two boys holding hands? He shook away the thought, determined not to let his fears and worries ruin such a perfect moment. When had he grown so comfortable in Kaito's presence? Was it when they went to the arcade, or before that even? Was it when Kaito had visited him when he was sick? Or even when he had crashed Seiya's solo date to the ramen shop? He couldn't pinpoint the shift. All he knew was that it was a welcome one. Though the trail went on for several more miles, the two boys reached a landing where the trees were cleared to offer a view of the city below. There was a park bench here, and Kaito nearly tripped over himself in his haste to sit down. When he pulled his hand from Seiya's, the other boy tried not to show his disappointment. "Wow," Kaito exhaled. "This is a great spot. Look, I can see our school!"Seiya sat down on the bench next to him and followed with his eyes to where Kaito was pointing. Seiya wasn't certain that was actually their school, but he didn't want to spoil the moment. "If you're this winded after a little hike, you need to work out more," Seiya teased, brushing their shoulders together. He sat closer to Kaito than was probably necessary, but he craved his closeness and didn't feel like denying himself this little pleasure. "You're right. Nanao goes on runs, and sometimes I go with him, but I hate it every time. He keeps telling me its a necessary evil, but I'm not so sure. I think it might just be pure evil."Maybe it was an accident, maybe not, but when their knees bumped together, Kaito didn't pull away. Seiya turned his focus on the sunset, watching as the evening colors changed from blue to orange to pink and purple. A peaceful silence surrounded them, wrapping them in its safe cocoon. But then Kaito broke the stillness, as he was wont to do. His voice came out a whisper, almost too quiet for Seiya to even hear. "You know that I like you, right?"Seiya's head snapped to the side, unable to hide his surprise at Kaito's confession. Words from the overheard conversation between him and Minato came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.
Why? Cause you've got a crush on Takehaya?
"I...I don't..." Seiya stumbled over his words trying to catch up with his own thoughts.Kaito turned to him then, facing him head on. His cheeks were clearly flushed, despite the darker color of his skin. Maybe he was winded from their hike still, or maybe he was shy. Seiya didn't know. "Because I do. Like you." Kaito said it clearer this time, louder, and with more confidence. "I like you, Takehaya Seiya. Even if you don't like me back. Even if you like me, but not as much as Narumiya. I still like you." Seiya's heart was in his throat. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. Did he like Kaito? Of course he did. But did he like him more than he wished Minato liked him?Seiya swallowed his nerves, removing his glasses to wipe at his eyes that were growing itchy with threatened tears. Even without his glasses, he could see Kaito clearly before him, eyes stern with resolve as he waited for Seiya's reply. Was there any point wasting more of his life on Minato than he already had?He met Kaito's gaze head on, his red eyes burning a hole into his heart. "I like you too, Onogi Kaito."Kaito let out an audible exhale, placing a hand to his heart, and Seiya couldn't help but chuckle at his dramatics. Then, ever so slowly--as if Seiya were a deer he was worried he might frighten away--Kaito lifted his hand and placed it on Seiya's cheek, threading his fingers through his hair. With a gentle but firm grip, he pulled Seiya's face towards his own, and carefully pressed their lips together. It was chaste and sweet, unlearned, unexperienced.Seiya's eyes fluttered open, the sound of his heart an oceanous roar in his ears. Kaito had kissed him. Kaito was his first kiss. Not Minato, as he had always so often dreamt and wished. Kaito."That was..." Kaito shook his head. "I can do better. Can I...try again?"Seiya had never nodded so quickly; he worried his head would fly off.Kaito placed his other hand on the other side of Seiya's face and pulled him back in for a second kiss. This time, he angled his head slightly to the left, and kissed him with more urgency than he had before. Seiya made a sound of surprise low in the back of his throat and gripped the collar of Kaito's hoodie to keep himself grounded.After what felt like a lifetime absorbed in one another, Seiya pulled away suddenly leaving Kaito gaping at him in confusion."What's wrong?" he asked."I think I felt a rain drop," Seiya said, turning his eyes towards the sky. The sun was almost completely set. They had lost track of time so quickly."Rain? Did it say it was going to rain today?" Seiya shook his head and then made a sound of surprise as another few drops landed on his cheeks. Kaito shot from the bench and pulled Seiya to his feet. "We better hurry before it downpours." He laced their fingers together as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Seiya found himself smiling even as they hurried down the mountain path, skipping and tumbling their way back to the bus stop. They were only slightly damp as they stumbled onto the bus. They'd nearly missed it, rushing from the forest like a couple of wild animals to flag it down. They fell into a pair of seats laughing, Seiya leaning into Kaito and burying his face in his shoulder. "At least you have a hood," Seiya said, smacking him lightly on the arm. "You want to wear it?" Kaito's offer had Seiya's heart doing another jumping jack. "I'm ok."But Kaito was already shrugging it off and handing it over to Seiya, who took it and held it awkwardly in his hands, unsure of what to do. "Do you need me to put it on for you?" Kaito teased. Seiya shook his head and hurriedly pulled it on before Kaito could embarrass him further. As was Kaito's usual habit, he insisted on walking Seiya home, even though it was out of his way. They jogged through the streets as the rain continued to pour down on them, skidding to a halt in front of Seiya's house. And yet, still, they lingered with one another despite the poor weather. "You can come in until the rain lets up," Seiya offered, pulling Kaito's hood tighter around his face. His glasses were fogged from his breath as they'd ran and he tried to wipe them with one of his damp sleeves. Kaito shook his head. "I should get home."Seiya was looking up at him with his wide, blue eyes, and Kaito reached for him like a magnet drawn to metal. "Wait," Seiya stopped him, a hand to his chest. "What?"Minato might see. Seiya glanced over Kaito's shoulder, but the window across the street was dark. Turning back to Kaito, he said, "My glasses will get smudged.""So? I'll just clean them for you, like always." And Kaito kissed him again, and it took his breath away. Saying goodbye had never been so difficult. Seiya stood in the rain as he watched Kaito run off down the street, waving over his shoulder. Only once he'd vanished from view did Seiya rush inside to the warmth of his house.Needless to say, sleep that night eluded him entirely.And he wouldn't have had it any other way.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Though they’d both stood in the rain, only Seiya made it out the other side unscathed. Kaito was absent from school the next day having caught a cold from the no doubt long walk home in the rain. Masaki warned them that they may have to withdraw from the tournament that weekend if Kaito didn’t get better in the next twenty-four hours. There was a great uproar at that, but there wasn’t anything much they could do except wait and hope for the best. Seiya kept his mouth shut when the rest of the boys were musing over how Kaito could have gotten sick. The last thing he needed was them pestering him with questions should they find out Seiya knew more than he was letting on.
After practice, Seiya ducked into a convenience store on his way home. He gathered a few things from the aisles—medicine, a forehead cooling patch, some ice cream, and a magazine—and rushed to check out. As the cashier asked him if he wanted a bag, someone interrupted from beside him.
“What’s all this?”
Seiya turned, eyes going wide as he found Minato staring at the items he was buying on the counter.
“Just…some stuff for Onogi.” There wasn’t any point in lying, not to Minato anyway. Minato, who probably had a good idea what was going on by now between Seiya and Kaito.
“Shouldn’t someone like Nanao do this? They live together, after all.”
Seiya resisted the urge to argue. He took a deep breath in through his nose and replied as calmly as possible, “It’s just nice to check in on someone when they’re sick.”
After he’d said it, he realized it still came out more sarcastic than he’d intended. Clearly Minato got the hint. He bristled at the comment but Seiya ignored him, turning his attention back to the cashier who gave him a bag with his items in it after he’d handed over his cash.
Minato followed Seiya out of the store. Once the automatic doors had closed behind them, Seiya whirled on him.
“What’s your deal?”
“I told you,” Minato replied, “I don’t like Onogi.”
“Okay?
And
?” Seiya took a step closer, forcing Minato on the defensive. “
I do
. It doesn’t matter to me what you think of Onogi.”
“Well, that’s a surprise. It used to always matter to you what I thought.”
Seiya recoiled at the accusation. “Well, things change. Your opinion doesn’t mean as much to me as it used to. And let’s be clear, that’s
your
fault. You said you wanted space, and you got it. So why are you pestering me about Onogi now as if our friendship means anything to you? If I didn't know better, I’d say you’re jealous.”
“Me? Jealous of Onogi?” Minato scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
Seiya shrugged. “If you’re not going to give me a better excuse, then that’s what I’m going to assume.” Seiya readjusted his school bag over his shoulder and turned to leave, but Minato’s next words stopped him in his tracks.
“I saw you together last night.”
Seiya froze, his back to Minato. Slowly, he turned over his shoulder. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”
A bout of silence settled between them, and though no words were spoken, Minato and Seiya kept their eyes locked on one another.
Eventually, Minato’s gaze slipped. “Never mind.”
Seiya’s knuckles were white around the handle of the bag in his hand. He didn’t even know what to say, and so he shrugged and hurried off before Minato could say anything else that would widen the gap between them further.
***
When Seiya got to Kaito’s house—the address of which he’d been given by Nanao—the other boy was the one to answer the door. Nanao told Seiya that Kaito was sleeping, but thanked him for the supplies and would tell him he’d stopped by. Seiya tried not to show his disappointment that he didn’t get to see Kaito himself, but understood that it was important for him to rest if they all wanted to participate in the tournament the next day. He ended up sending a simple get well soon text to Kaito before heading home. He didn’t get a reply, and though it made his anxiety swell, he tried his best to assume it was just because he was resting, and not because something had happened.
Maybe it was because of all his issues with Minato, but Seiya couldn’t help but worry that Kaito had decided he didn’t like him after all. What if he’d changed his mind? What if everything he’d said to Seiya last night had been a lie? But would he have kissed him if he hadn’t meant it? A headache threatened behind his forehead as his mind went round in circles trying to figure out if everything was going to be okay.
The next morning, there were no new messages on Seiya’s phone, not even from the Kyudo group chat. Unsure what else to do, Seiya got ready for the tournament. His mother drove him to the school the competition was being held at, and after a bit of wandering, he was flagged down by Ryohei. Minato and Ryohei were the only boys there, waiting alongside the girls.
“Good morning,” Seiya said quietly, shrugging off his bow and making a point to avoid looking at Minato.
Ryohei, surprisingly, wasn’t his usual chipper self and immediately started talking Seiya’s ear off. “Have you heard from Kaito and Nanao?”
“No.” Seiya didn’t mention having stopped by the night before, though Nanao hadn’t said anything about the tournament during their short conversation.
Ryohei looked stressed out of his mind. He was chewing on his bottom lip and bouncing on one leg.
“Where’s Masa-san?” Seiya asked in return.
“He left to take a call.”
Seiya couldn’t help but glance over at Minato, who was leaning up against the building, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t seem all that worried.
“If they don’t get here soon we have to forfeit our match. The girls will still get to shoot though.”
Seiya turned to the girls in question and smiled at them. “Well, that’s good at least. We can still watch them compete.”
“Aren’t you worried?” Ryohei cried.
“About what?” He wasn’t worried about the tournament. He
was
worried about Kaito, however. But he couldn’t just come out and admit that.
“Well…if we don’t compete today—“
“Then we’ll be disqualified from the competition.”
The new voice caught all of the student's attention as Masa-san rejoined their group. He seemed totally at ease, hands in his pockets. The calmness with which he delivered the news didn’t match the startling information that he had just given them.
“Have you heard from them?” Ryohei asked Masa-san.
Masaki shook his head. “No. I tried calling Nanao’s parents but they didn’t answer. You kids need to prepare for the worst. I’m sorry about all this.”
Ryohei looked like he was going to cry. But Minato, Minato looked angry.
“There will be another chance next year,” Masa-san reassured them. “I know it’s disappointing but it can’t be helped. These things happen.”
A hush settled over the group as they all came to terms with the inevitable. But after a moment, one of the girls looked up and pointed over Masaki’s shoulder. “Wait! Look!”
Seiya whipped his head around and scanned the crowd around them. After a moment, he felt all the air in his lungs whoosh out of him at the sight of Nanao making his way over to them, with Kaito beside him.
When they made it to the edge of the group, Kaito said, “Why do you all look so surprised? Like we’d miss this.”
Ryohei couldn’t contain his excitement and threw his arms around both Nanao and Kaito and then apologized as Kaito groaned at the weight around his neck.
“Are you sure you’re well?” Masa-san was looking Kaito over, as if searching for any signs of remaining illness.
“I won’t lie, I’m a bit tired,” Kaito admitted. “But I can shoot.”
Masaki looked unconvinced, but in the end, he didn’t tell Kaito he couldn’t compete.
“Okay then, you all better get ready.” Their sensei placed a hand on Kaito’s shoulder. “Take it easy, okay?” he told him, and Kaito nodded in agreement.
Seiya watched their interaction, waiting for Kaito to meet his gaze, but the other boy never did. He felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.
They all made their way to the locker rooms to change into their hakama and the room was pretty quiet save for Ryohei and Nanao chatting as if everything was normal, per usual. Kaito was clearly moving slower than was normal for him, and Seiya loitered around, waiting until the others had left before cautiously stepping over to Kaito to get his attention.
“Hey, are you sure you’re feeling well enough?” Seiya asked. He reached out a hand to place on Kaito’s arm before hesitating and thinking better of it.
Kaito nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
Seiya chewed at the inside of his cheek, wondering how to bridge the awkwardness between them. “If you’re sure…”
Seiya didn’t get to finish the thought because Kaito brushed past him, knocking him in the shoulder in his haste to leave. Seiya staggered from the force of it, feeling tears prick the backs of his eyes. Surely that was an accident. But if it was, wouldn't Kaito apologize? Why did it feel like he was avoiding him? First, he ignored Seiya’s message and now this?
Seiya felt like walls were closing in on him from all sides. His chest started to feel tight and itchy, his breathing shallow. He did his best to calm himself down, but none of the usual tactics were working. Eventually, Masa-san came looking for him, and it took every ounce of will power in him to act like everything was fine.
Masa-san led him to where the rest of the group were already gathered and waiting for the start of the competition. They were on deck to shoot and Seiya was focused on a point in the distance, still trying to calm his racing heart. His palms were so sweaty he worried he wouldn’t be able to hold his bow. It was pure muscle memory that got him through the steps as they lined up to shoot. But once he was standing in front of the target, all he saw was an evil eye staring back at him.
Somewhere in the back of his mind there was a voice reminding him that he was the omae. He needed to keep it together for the sake of the rest of them. He took a deep breath as he drew his bow, steadying himself before letting the arrow fly.
That tournament would go down in his memory for the rest of his time doing Kyudo.
He’d never shot worse in his life.
***
Seiya couldn’t look any of his teammates in the eye when they’d finished. He wasn’t the only one who’d done poorly, not even the one who’d done the worst, but for him, and the expectations he and everyone else had for him, it was a fumbling mess.
Masa-san did his best to reassure them all, that though it wasn’t their best game, it certainly wouldn’t be their last. There would be another chance to redeem themselves.
But Seiya couldn’t help worrying that everyone was secretly blaming him.
He changed out of his hakama slowly, sluggish from the residual anxiety of his earlier panic attack. Everyone else left quickly, and he was alone in the locker rooms. Or so he thought.
“Hey.” It was Kaito’s voice, though Seiya found he couldn’t look at him. “Are you okay?”
Seiya shook his head.
“I don’t like admitting when the man is right, but Masa-san is correct. It’s not the end of the world.”
“It is for me,” Seiya whispered, voice small. “I let everyone down.”
“No, you didn’t. We were all out of sync. It’s not all on you.”
“I was worried,” Seiya ended up admitting. “About you. The whole time, all I could think about was how you didn’t reply to my text. How you must hate me now.”
“Huh?”
Hearing the surprise in his voice, Seiya finally looked at Kaito, noticing how his eyes were red around the edges.
“You didn’t message me,” Kaito said.
“What?” Seiya’s eyebrows drew together. “I did! Last night, after I dropped off the things for you.”
“You stopped by?”
Seiya’s mouth hung open. “Y-yes. Did Nanao not tell you?”
Kaito shook his head.
Seiya let out a long, loud sigh, clearly exasperated. “I dropped off medicine and some other things for you. Nanao was the one who answered and said you were sleeping, but that he’d make sure to tell you I’d stopped by. Then I texted you on my way home.” As if to prove his point, Seiya rushed for his bag and pulled out his phone. Kaito’s text thread was at the top of the list of contacts, and as Seiya clicked into the message his cheeks colored red with embarrassment.
“Oh…um, it looks like it didn’t deliver.”
“My phone died last night,” Kaito explained. “I normally put it on the charger but I was so out of it that I forgot. It was dead this morning.”
Seiya crouched to the floor and hung his head, arms wrapped around his knees. “Geez. I thought you were mad at me.”
There was the sound of shuffling and when Seiya lifted his head, Kaito was crouched down in front of him.
“I’m not mad at you,” Kaito reassured him. “I thought
you
were upset after…after the other day. I thought maybe you regretted what happened and were avoiding me. I didn’t want to force you to talk about it so I was trying to give you space.”
Seiya shook his head. “No! Of course I don't regret anything! I’m sorry I worried you.” Seiya clenched his fist. “Nanaoooo. I’m gonna give him an earful for forgetting to tell you.”
Kaito chuckled. “I’ll chew him out too. It’s kind of you…to have gone through all that effort for me.”
Seiya blushed. “Well, after you did the same for me when I was sick, I wanted to return the favor.”
“Thank you.” It was so unusual to hear those words from Kaito. Seiya’s heart did a somersault from the amount of affection he saw in the eyes looking back at him.
“So…you don’t regret what happened, either, right?” Seiya felt the need to clarify, again, to reassure himself that he and Kaito would be okay.
“Nope. Not one bit. In fact, all I’ve been able to think about since listening to you talk is how I want to kiss you again.”
Seiya’s ears burned, and he looked around in a panic, worried someone might have overheard.
Kaito was completely unphased, continuing to stare at him with half lidded eyes. “So, can I?”
“Someone might walk in.”
Kaito inched forward, leaning over his knees to bring their faces closer together. “Hm. Someone might
not
.”
Seiya didn’t stop him when he pressed their lips together.
It was as warm as he remembered, filling him with the same electric buzz as before. Kaito gently pushed against Seiya’s shoulders until he fell onto his back. He braced himself above him, hands on either side of Seiya’s head. The moment Seiya’s lips parted for air, Kaito’s tongue slipped into his mouth. Seiya’s fingers gripped the sleeves of Kaito’s jacket to steady himself, swallowing the moan that tried to escape.
Someone cleared their throat.
Seiya pushed Kaito off of him, the other boy rolling to his side as Seiya sat up in a hurry, wiping a hand across his mouth. His cheeks burned when he saw Masaki standing in the doorway.
“It’s time to head home.” The command was curt but their teacher didn’t look upset. If anything, he seemed amused. It only served to make Seiya more embarrassed than he already was. How much had Masa-san seen?
Kaito sat up, looking equally mortified. He grabbed his bag and bow, though he didn’t rush off, as Seiya expected. He waited, cheeks red, until Seiya had risen from the floor and grabbed his own things as well.
They bowed to Masa-san, hurrying past him before he could scold them further. They nearly collided with Minato, who was waiting around the corner, eavesdropping. Seiya felt the beginnings of something angry and volatile building up within him, but the feeling of Kaito’s hand in his cooled his fury.
He was pulled away before either of them could start something that would only end in more heartache.