Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the 26th of March, a bright and sunny day. The empty bus slowly stopped and passengers started to fill it up. Stray sorries and excuses were thrown as people went around to look for a place to sit and settle.

A boy with ebony hair who was clearly a bit too tall, awkwardly sat at one of the seats at the back. A bulky, black bag saddled on his legs, he found himself situated beside a crying kid whose mother was shushing at.

He shifted and reached into his pocket and grabbed a candy — among the many he stashed for his trip — and met the gaze of the young mother, silently asking if it was okay to give the candy to her child. After a brief pause, she smiled and gently nodded her head.

Shin smiled and turned to the little boy who was now staring at him.

He chuckled and greeted, "Hello."

The little boy sniffled and smiled in return, eyes, nose and cheeks red from excessive crying.

"Here," Shin handed the candy to the kid, "My name is Shin, what's your name?"

"Kenta," the little boy choked, receiving the candy and slowly unwrapping it.

"Wow, that's a great name, mine's spelled with the kanji 心, it means heart," Shin explained, writing the kanji on air. "I just returned to Japan today actually," he smiled.

Kenta cocked his head in curiosity, "Where were you before coming here?"

"Oh, I was living in America, my family is still there actually." Shin answered gently, recalling the goodbyes that happened just a few hours ago; some more tearful than others.

"America, really?" Kenta straightened looking intently at Shin, eyes sparkling. "International and stuff? The ol- oily- um...," He turned to his mom, eyes pleading for help. She smiled softly and whispered, "Olympics, dear."

"Yeah! The olympics! They were held there recently, weren't they?" He zealously turned back to Shin, eyes shining.

"Oh yeah, me and my family went and watched it live." Shin indulged the young'un.

"You watched it live? Truthfully?" Kenta went in and got closer to Shin. The child's mother gently scolded him and made him sit back down.

"Uh-huh, we really did. It was great!" Shin chuckled softly at the happiness he saw in the child. "Why? Do you have any interest in Olympic sports?"

Kenta fiercely nodded his head, "I love skating! It's really great, my cousin started competing too. I was crying earlier 'cuz I really wanted some skates but they were too expensive." And the child once again frowned when he finished his sentence. Popping the candy in his mouth, he smiled once more.

"Is that right? I find skating great as well. I also skate once in a while, not that I am great by any means." Shin quickly dissuades when he saw Kenta looking more and more ready to burst with excitement.

For a couple hours Shin conversed with young Kenta, his mother piping up once in a while but overall staying quiet, occupied with her craft. She had pulled knitting tools not long ago after they reached the first hour mark.

Their discussion soon ended when Kenta's eyes started to droop, his figure swaying and with constant yawning to boot.

The kid ended up sleeping against his mother. Both Shin and the woman nodded to each other politely, smiling softly towards Kenta and kept the silence. The sun was already painting the skies with beautiful shades of oranges, pinks and purples; an indication that night would soon befall on them.

Just then Shin's phone rang, the familiar tune from one of the animes he watches crooned. He reached in his pockets to get it and smiled when he saw the caller's ID. Happily accepting the call, he placed the phone beside his ear and he sank back into his chair.

"Hey Taiga, how's America?"

"Don't be such a smug asshole, you know exactly how I'm doing in America." Taiga groaned in response.

Shin snickered, "Yeah, well it's your fault for not passing that output. You're lucky they still allowed you to walk and get your diploma. I can't believe you forgot about that and never told Mrs. Heraldez. I've honestly never seen her that angry."

"Well it ain't my fault her lessons are so boring that I fall asleep the moment she opens her mouth."

Shin's shoulders started to shake as he covered his mouth to stifle his laughter, being mindful of the kid sleeping beside him.

"I'll be arriving in Japan on the 30th, are you up to some exploring in Tokyo by then?"

"Yeah sure, I think I can manage that."

"So... any news about Tatsuya yet?" Shin slowly drawled, a bit cautious about the touchy subject.

"None." Taiga gruffed, clearly ending the discussion. Shin sighed and moved on to another topic, diverting them from the gloomy subject.

Himuro Tatsuya along with Kagami Taiga, were some of the closest friends Shin had acquired during the years he stayed in America. They were close friends, could be considered brothers even, but then Tatsuya just stopped talking to them.

Tatsuya was a year older than them so he graduated first, after a few weeks to a month they were still talking...until they weren't. It was all so sudden and they lost contact.

Shin and Taiga didn't even know where Tatsuya was now. He could still be in America or hell, he can be anywhere in the globe right now! It would have been more pleasant if he sent them a message of some sort explaining where he was, so they weren't constantly worried and anxious for his well being. Or at least a "Hi, hello. I'm still alive," would have sufficed.

Shin knows something happened with Taiga and Tatsuya that he doesn't know about. There must be something they just refuse to tell him. Shin's honestly fine with it, their dynamic with each other was different with each pairing. But with this it is just getting frustrating with how gravely it is affecting their relationship with each other— well mostly with Tatsuya.

A few more hours passed, the sun already gone and the vast skies now covered with visible twinkling stars, only then did the two boys finish their chat.

"Bye Taiga, talk to you later."

Yawning, Taiga returned the gesture, "Yeah, bye Shin."

Softly humming Shin plucked out his black earphones from his bag. Quietly plugging them in his ears he slowly closed his eyes, napping for the rest of the journey.

Finally arriving at his stop, Shin glanced at his watch, 9:45 P.M. it says.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and retrieved most of his luggage while awkwardly shuffling to the other end of the bus where that exit was.

With an ummph, Shin waved at Kenta, smiling kindly as the little boy buoyantly bid him goodbye. There was still some rice sticking to Kenta's chin from the late dinner he and his mother had on the road.

The tall teen watched as the bus continued on its way, it's form slowly getting tinier and tinier until it disappeared from his point of view entirely. Shifting on his feet he glanced around him and at the wooden shack-like bus stop he stood from. Crickets could be distinctly heard as the wind chimes chimed in response to the cold, violent winds that passed by.

After stretching briefly, Shin started his trek to his grandparents' home. He keenly observed his surroundings while walking on the dirt road he oh so fondly remembered running to and fro from. Tall green grass swaying ever so softly to the tunes of the wind.

Shin hummed under his breath as he noticed the little pond and the big rocks conjoined together just a couple of distance away from each other. It used to be the place he and his childhood best friend, Yuu, used to play at.

Curiously watching tadpoles and pretending to be pirates while catching bugs before letting them go again, well it was technically Shin who was catching the bugs, while Yuu clung behind him in tears, frightened.

Shaking his head and chuckling, Shin really hoped he could reconnect with his childhood friend. They did everything together and because their grandparents were friends, they were acquainted early on and became the best of friends. Going to adventures and playing pretend, even though more times than not, Yuu would end up crying over the silliest things, but Shin adored him anyways.

Longing to know if his little friend from before was still the crybaby that he was, Shin made a plan to ask his grandma if she knew where Mineo ojii-san and Yuu were currently residing.

Bright, but not harsh, golden lights bathed him as his walk continued on peacefully, Shin taking note of the changes that happened around the neighborhood when he was gone.

Once he finally spotted the ever familiar patches of marigolds and chrysanthemums, Shin nearly squealed in delight and almost tripped as he hastened his steps towards the two-story house. His heart pounding in both excitement and anxiety he slowly breathed in-and-out before finally ringing the doorbell.

Not long after, footsteps and shuffling could be heard from the inside of the house before Shin was once again bathed in warm golden light, sliding door wide open showing the person from the other side. Heart feeling light and happy, Shin smiled softly.

"Hi nana, I'm home." 

Chapter Text

Shin exhaled contentedly as he burrowed his head and reacquainted himself with his old bed.

His old room before he had left for America when he was just seven was still there, not a thing changed and it was kept clean. (Though they should probably buy a new bed. His seven year-old self's bed just wouldn't sustain Shin's ever growing legs that were currently half-hanging uncomfortably at the ends.)

Half an hour ago, just when Shin greeted his grandma at the door he was immediately smothered with affection as Atsuyama Ayumi excitedly led her grandson inside the house, with Shin clumsily taking his shoes off at the genkan.

The cold hardwood floors greeted his feet as he let his grandma drag him. It was a comforting feeling as Shin settled on the old green couch in the living room, while Ayumi shuffled inside the kitchen to prepare some tea.

Familiar clutter surrounded him, some candles here and there with varying shades along with small potted plants decorating the whole area.

Books were piled up in random places and a full bookshelf was placed just a shy away from the TV cabinet opposite to Shin.

A coffee table just in front of the couch with treats and magazines piled in it's different compartments ready when in time to entertain guests.

On the walls were old pictures of his grandma and their family: family photos, silly ones, photos taken from different trips and hiking escapades and a bunch of them were just of tiny Shin smiling brightly.

Shin looked fondly over at one picture placed on a small extra table beside the couch with some small flowering plants decoratively placed beside it.

It was an older one, taken back when he was still three. Together with his grandma and grandmother, Ayumi and Chihiro respectively, the three of them were covered head to toe with dirt and leaves but still beaming at the camera holding up the plants they had potted and the vegetables they harvested.

Humming, Shin stood up and navigated inside the house like he never left at all and found himself standing in front of a small wooden door.

Bracing himself, he slowly slid the door open to a dimly lit room with another door at the end of it that led to the gardens at the back of their home. It was spacious with little things inside. Clicking on the light switch, he went in.

At one far corner sat a small two-story shelf, reddish-brown in color and was clearly well cared for. The bottom shelf had books of different literature (with poetry dominating the selection), looking worn and old and especially loved. On the shelf above those and on the left side was a soldier cap displayed beside a letter and to it's right was a beautiful purple vase filled with fresh sunflowers.

And on the very top of the mahogany shelf were three photos, and though they were distinctly divergent all three of them shared one common theme, they were all smiling.

Shin sat on the clean wooden floor under him so that he could be within eye level of the shelf and examined all three familiar photos.

The first picture was a young man, looking a year or two older than him. He was in uniform and along with his stiff posture created an awfully cold demeanor, yet it was pleasantly contrasted by the soft expression on his face. A smile ever so soft, full of adoration and love towards something just behind the camera.

It was clearly really old with its black and white coloring and different tiny blotches dotting it in random places. There were distinct areas of the picture that had seemingly faded out of constant rubbing, most prominently near the charming young man's smiling face.

The second picture was of another man, this time however the man was wearing comfortable looking clothes with round glasses atop of his nose, looking much more relaxed than the prior.

The picture was taken at just the right time, catching the handsome man in the middle of laughing. His mouth open with a big smile, so wide that you could see a subtle dimple on his left cheek. With his eyes crinkling at the sides, twinkling in mirth and nosed scrunched it painted a bright happy memory.

The last, and clearly the most recent photo was of a woman. She had long black shining hair, delicately framing her beautiful face. She was holding a bundle of sunflowers extending them infront of her as if offering it up for the person behind the camera. And alike the other two, she too was smiling and fondly gazing at something indiscernible.

All three photos were the pictures of lovers Ayumi has had in her lifetime.

The first man was the first love of her life. She had married at the ripe age of sixteen while he was seventeen because of the war, it was now or never really.

Not long after their marriage, her husband, Kiyoshi, was to be enlisted in the soldiers to war.

It was heart wrenching for the young wife to see her husband off to war, but they knew it was bound to happen with it's heightened state. She only had prayers and unending hope that her husband would come back home alive but was only met with ache, pain and denial.

Her husband couldn't be dead, she repeated to herself as she spent night after night waiting for him at the door—waiting for a sign...for something—with his picture in her hand and his cap in her grip to accompany her. (Then there was the letter that she refused to read. For the longest time, she ignored it. Because it only made things more real, more raw and it just hurt so much...)

It took Ayumi a long time to get over Kiyoshi, but never forget, never. But just enough to ease the pain to a dull numb until she was able to live with it, because Kiyoshi had occupied her heart for the longest time and has taken a piece with him when he died.

Ayumi met her second husband in her mid-twenties, ten years after the heart-break, on a hike. She had just moved in a couple months before and decided to acquaint herself with the surrounding greenery.

Ayumi came to know that he was a university professor at one of the local universities near her home. They became good friends and it became a common thing for them to drink tea and hike together.

After 2 years of being friends, Kentarou had asked her out and she agreed after his 5th time asking. They got married after dating for a year or so. It was wonderful but not always.

There were just times Ayumi felt desolate and was brought back to the times of war. She sometimes cried in the middle of the night for Kiyoshi and the life they could have spent together, but weren't able to.

Kentarou understood and he would let her cry while he hugged her tightly, whispering sweet things and words of assurance. Those nights were ended with little to no sleep but with soft smiles and warm teas.

Their love brought forth life, a son that they named Seiryuu.

They were the most excitable parents, floundering here and there but went on, watching their son grow up from a mere baby to a toddler until he became the most energetic child they had ever laid their eyes upon.

Everything was perfect but all too soon shattered with not even a warning.

One rainy night in September, Kentarou was driving home and had a car accident. A truck had swivelled down the road and hit his car head on.

The truck driver was drunk and had lost control of the break. Though they were able to bring him to a hospital, he was deemed dead on arrival, leaving his wife widowed and his son fatherless.

The weeks that followed had been a blur for Ayumi. Kentarou's parents needed to take away Seiryuu for the moment with how she couldn't even properly get out of bed and take care of herself. Oh how she felt so guilty, what a horrible mother she was, she thought to herself.

Inside the empty house that was once filled with joyous laughter, but was now left with ringing silence, she called.

"How will I get through this again Kentarou, Kiyoshi, please tell me," but only quiet greeted her.

She was in a never ending cycle of guilt and sadness. Guilt that she couldn't even pull through to plan for her husband's funeral and for her son and continued to wallow in her pain instead.

Was it her fate to lose everyone she loved, leaving her to pick up the broken pieces of herself from every loss?

She felt numb at the funeral. She saw from the corner of her eyes relatives that were crying for her husband, but all she felt was exhaustion. Her eyes had dark bags under them, lips chapped and pale. Her child, her sweet eight year-old son sat beside her, stiff and willing himself not to shed an ounce of tears.

When they both got home all dams broke loose as her little baby boy clung to her.

"Will you leave too, mommy?"

The whisper sounding more like a scream inside the shell of a home of what it once was.

Ayumi dropped to her knees and sobbed, enveloping her son in her embrace, and he holding on just as tight.

"Mommy's sorry, so so sorry, my baby, my sweet little child, my little brave dragon. I won't leave, I will never leave."

Ayumi rocked them back and forth, repeating, we'll get through this, over and over, like a mantra feeling less and less for her child and more for her self.

The now-family-of-two spent the night curled up together. Tired and completely wrecked, with tear stains on both their cheeks, and seeking comfort from one another.

It was a bright and sunny day when she first encountered her last and final partner, Chihiro. The younger woman had just moved-in in their neighborhood, opening up a flower store not that far away from the park Ayumi and her now twelve year-old son frequented.

They got along really well and Ayumi was fascinated by the flowers the younger woman arranged and their meaning. Chihiro even said she planted them herself, which was already so impressive as it is. Seiryuu was also quite fond of her, calling her Chichi-san.

Ayumi didn't really know when she developed feelings, but she only realized after 4 years of friendship that she was pining for her best friend.

Not that she found anything strange with being attracted to women. She even dated some girls back before she even got married at all.

At first she only started to do it to piss off her parents, she was quite the rebellious teenager back then, but actually ended up finding attraction towards girls after a while of dating them.

Kiyoshi, the man she married, found it hilarious and loved her with all his heart despite her oddities.

With Seiryuu finally starting high school, Ayumi found herself quite lonely inside the house and with Seiryuu growing up it didn't really do any good of reminding her how painfully old she was getting.

Later that night she complained to Chihiro about the certain instance along with some wine to lighten the mood and help the flow of the conversation— not that it was really needed. She didn't even notice it until they were finally kissing and Ayumi back tracked at what happened.

Que panic and then some roundabout complicated way of finally getting together. The two of them finally decided to tell Seiryuu and both of them were nervous of his reaction—quite the understatement really.

Ayumi's son accepted the arrangement quite well, in open arms even, though he never really got used to calling Chihiro her other mother and instead continued to call her Chichi-san. She was totally fine with it. She wasn't expecting the young lad to call her mom at all.

Ayumi and Chihiro continued to spend the following decades together, moving into a much smaller and manageable house and watching Seiryuu grow up from a bright teenager to an equally bright young man and start up his own family.

Sighing softly, Shin greeted all three photos.

"Hello! It's been a while since I talked to you guys," though to others this sight might be weird and creepy, but for Shin it was something comforting.

It felt like a warm hug after exploring an icy terrain. It felt like being surrounded by family around the fireplace with hot coco and stories on a cold weathered day.

Shin grew up hearing stories about all three of them.

Chihiro obaa-san was actually the only one Shin was able to spend time with, albeit only short because the woman died when he was only four at the age of seventy. Though with little time spent together, Chihiro had still left a big impact on Shin's life and he's happy that she did.

He continued on and on and told them—the pictures— of what he has been doing, how he has been doing, all of his friends, his time back in America and about his little brother Messiah.

"This is nice. Talking to you guys again is so soothing that it might be bordering more than a little weird," Shin laid back on the hard floor as he joked and let the hush reigned over the room.

After a couple minutes of silence, Shin heard a soft knock at the door. Leaning against the open entryway was his nana. She was smiling as she slowly made her way to him and sat beside him, fondly sighing as she looked at the three pictures.

"I honestly still can't believe I was lucky enough to spend my life knowing and loving these three dorks," her gaze softened as she continued.

"I bet the three of them are having a blast gossiping and sharing stories about me on the other side, especially Kiyoshi. He knew me since we were but a babe and I was quite the hard headed girl, always getting the two of us into trouble. The three of them are probably complaining about me even now," she chuckled and got up from her sitting position.

"Well, come along now Shin, drink a bit of tea before going to bed. It's already 10:20 P.M."

"Yeah, okay nana," Shin snuffed the lights of the candle and followed her out of the room. After one final look inside, he turned the light off and closed the door.

Chapter Text

The surrounding was dim, coloring of blues and purples. It was early in the morning, 5:46 A. M. too early. Shin grumbled as he sleepily jogged around a park nearby. He had woken up earlier than normal and he couldn't go back to sleep, plus the fact that he only got to sleep around 11 P. M. last night did not help at all, so he decided to go outside to do some early workout.

He neither got the insight to wear a jacket nor did he bring money and his phone. He was freezing and hungry but couldn't buy anything from the vending machine he spotted, because he was currently a total wreck of a person. 

This is why he doesn't wake up this early, his brain just can't function.

So instead of leaving and actually getting money, he just stared dumbly at the display and if he was any less of his mother's child he would have been salivating by now. It was not his fault that his wretched brain decided to 'oh let's wake up very early in the morning even though we happen to have slept super late last night,' and it can't even function properly by its own ministration.

Shin's self monologue and inner war was interrupted by a cough then followed by an, "Excuse me."

With Shin's current mood plus his perpetual hunger, he turned his head and glared at the person who have dared to interrupt his inner self dispute. Like come on, can't they see that he was having a debate with his emotions if it was okay to edict and just kick his brain out of his body. No brain = nothing to think about, nothing to think about = no worries, no worries= hakuna matata. He was finally going to live his lion king dreams for goodness sake!

"What?" He snapped, using his ever told intimidating looks to its full capacity.

"I-I, I'm sorry. I thought you um... do you want me to lend you some money?" The stranger proposed.

Shin mouthed another 'what' before finally looking at the stranger properly. And golly was he gobsmacked.

He didn't know he was meeting such a cutie early this morning. Would he agree to an adoption?

By his train of thoughts Shin finally concluded that he must be delirious. Did he somehow drink some of grandma's displayed vodka? He doesn't remember doing such a thing, but it could still be a possibility.

"Uh...if you don't then I'll just go no-"

"Oh, no no no. I really do need some money right now. It would be just amazing if you are able to lend me some." Shin dissuaded the other boy.

"Oh, okay." The shorter lad perked up in happiness. He dug through the pocket of his over-sized red and black jacket that made him 10x more cutter-I mean look at him-Oh how I would love to squish those cheeks-NO-Shin- no, focus you doofus.

Shin shook his head intently, most of the time Shin could keep his now long obsession over cute things on a tight leash but it seems like Shin's grogginess plus his deliriousness was proving to be quite the obstacle.

"Here!" The ginger, oh and he was a redhead-a cute redhead- OH MY GOSH Shin is so close to slapping himself, happily handed him money and beamed at him like he was the one giving the money to him, not the other way around.

"Thanks." Shin quietly replied and slowly walked towards the red vending machine. He slotted the money easily and was able to buy his favorite drink, strawberry milk, and 2 milk breads.

The little ginger followed him like a little duckling and sat down on the bench not more than a couple feet away from the vending machine when Shin sat on it.

There was a pregnant pause as Shin loudly sipped his drink. Not that he was being obnoxious or anything, but it was really silent so the simple sound was like thunder on a bad storm.

And it looked like the redhead was content with the silence and did not bother talking and was humming a soft tune instead, either completely unaware or unbothered by the awkwardness of it all - although he was throwing him some side glances when he thought Shin wasn't paying attention.

Tired of the silence, Shin decided that he would do the ice breaking, "Here," And handed the other boy one of the milk bread that was bought with what he lent him. The kid--he didn't really know if he was actually a kid, but it did seem like it, with his height and all...

And Shin just realized how rude that was... okay, no judging people by their height from now on!

The boy had received the bread well enough, even borderline happy about it.

"How tall are you?" Shin was startled by the question, feeling a bit nervous, he hoped that the ginger was not able to tell that he just mentally insulted the boy's height.

"Um.. I ah, last time I measured it I was about 188 centimeters, or so."

"Really? That's so cool! Do you play any sports? Volleyball, maybe?" The red-head suddenly became excitable, leaning close to Shin and stared straight at his eyes with the intensity of a little puppy -- he was suddenly reminded by the little boy, Kenta, he encountered on the bus yesterday.

"Well, no, I haven't played volleyball before. I never really got the chance. I played basketball and was on the swim team. I was also part of the debate club." Shin offered the shorter, a bit bashful, not really wanting to brag.

"Oh, really? Darn I thought for sure you'd play volleyball. I mean, you're so tall! Like so 'Waaaahh' -- the boy made a vague circular motion with his hands -- If I had your height I'm sure I'd be more great at volleyball," The last part was near to a mumble, the ginger visibly deflating. Then silence took over once more.

Welp that took a turn...

Wanting to get rid of the quietness, Shin teased "So, do you make it a habit of lending money to every stranger you meet by a vending machine?"

"Oh no, I really just noticed you because of your height and how you were constantly shifting in front of the machine looking like you were ready to pounce at it if it didn't give you food," Little red—yes Shin was going to nickname him after a children's book character— replied with surprising sass that Shin almost did spat out his drink.

Coughing, Shin's face began to color a pretty cherry red that was ever so visible against his pale skin. Chuckling, Shin rubbed the back of his neck, "You got me there."

He was embarrassed, and here he thought he was hiding his hunger well enough. 

"My name's Shin by the way, Atsuyama Shin. Thanks again for lending me that money earlier, you're a lifesaver."

"I- um, my name is S-Shinata Hoyo... oh wait no, that's not right. Shoyo, my name's Hinata Shoyo." Shoyo fumbled as he said his name.

Shin laughed, amused by the little ginger. What a cutie, he thought.

"Well it's nice to meet you Shoyo, and hopefully you're up for breakfast. It'll be my payment for the money."

Shoyo looked back at Shin, an incredulous look on his face, "You don't need to pay me back."

"I insist." Shin flashed a charming smile in Shoyo's way. "Come on now, let's go. I'll be cooking for you this morning." He hauled up the shorter boy to stand and started to lead him back to his grandma's home.

"You aren't kidnapping me are you?" Shoyo interrogated.

Shin gasped, putting a hand over his chest, "How could you Hinata, and here I thought we had struck up an extraordinary friendship."

"I just met you."

"Yet you were the one to approach me and offer yourself like lamb to the slaughter." Shin said with a brow raised.

"Point taken." Shoyo laughed, "Then lead the way."

Shin doesn't know if he should be happy that Hinata trusts him enough or if he should be worried that he trusts him already, so he just laughed along.

"We're quite the pair aren't we Shoyo? Weird and all that, plus with the different heights we could make our own comedy duo." Shin merrily suggested as they neared a corner that would lead them straight to his home.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you tall ass." Shoyo sniffed, a pout on his lips.

"Feisty aren't we." And finally they stood in front of the Atsuyama residence.

"Welcome Hinata. You best get yourself comfortable and work up an appetite because I will be preparing a feast in your name, the most delicious you could have ever dreamed of trying." Shin pompously bowed as he opened the door.

Amused by the theatrics, Shoyo huffed and went inside and removed his shoes before saying, "I'll be taking you up on that."

What an extraordinary friendship indeed.

Chapter Text

Shin didn't know how it happened, but let's call it the natural progression of a story plot.

Hinata and him continued to hang out with each other for the following days, quite satisfied with each other's company. He soon learned that Hinata and him were of the same age, followed by different kinds of topics then on. It happened the day after their impromptu breakfast together. The two of them were back at the park where they met yesterday, sitting on the same bench:

"You mean we're the same age? You?" Shin hesitantly pointed at Hinata.

"Yeah, you got something to say about it, huh?" Hinata puffed out, scowling with his chin jutted out, daring Shin to comment on it.

"Nope, not at all," Shin replied with a quiet snicker.

Hinata harrumphed, "That's mainly the reason why I approached you, you were really tall."

"You were attracted to my height and not my devilishly handsome looks?" Shin joked, quirking his eyebrows in clear mirth.

"Well, I couldn't really see your face at first. You were also pretty pissed when I spoke to you. It was only after getting over the intimidation did I notice that you were really handsome," Hinata contemplatively drawled out, nodding to himself.

"Oh, so you do think I'm handsome. Well I don't really blame you. I am quite the looker aren't I?"

"Oh shut up," Hinata softly punched Shin's shoulders, chuckling.

"But now that I'm looking at you closely, are you a hafu?" Hinata leaned in at Shin and stared at the paler boy's features.

"Yup," Shin replied, popping the 'p' and shrugging his shoulders, "My mom's half Russian, quarter English and Southeast Asian, I forgot which specifically though, and dad's full Japanese. Both of them are fairly tall, dad's 182 cm while mom is 178 cm, if I remember correctly."

"Wow, that is so awesome!" Hinata exclaimed fervently, eyes twinkling in wonder, "No wonder you're so tall! That means you're taller than both your parent's right?"

"Yeah, and I'm still growing too."

"That's so unfair," Hinata wilted, lips pulled taunt into a pout.

"Oh don't be sad Hinata, I'm sure you're going to do fine even with your pint-sized, red-haired, over-enthusiastic self and besides it makes you undeniably endearing," Shin cheekily pinched Hinata's cheeks, smiling with both amusement and satisfaction pouring into him. He has been dying to pinch Hinata's cheeks since yesterday.

Hinata growled and pounced at Shin, punching him on the shoulders, not hard enough that it would hurt but firm enough to out-balance him on his seat.

"Joking, I'm joking, jeez," Shin chuckled as well and pulled out his phone, hands in the air in mock surrender. "In less than a week it'll be the start of the new school year, huh?" He commented offhandedly after checking his phone for the time, seeing the date; March 28th it said.

"Yeah, I'm so pumped for it. I'm going to the little giant's high school!" Hinata brightened up by the shift of topic. His eyes were practically sparkling with joy and excitement.

"What's a little giant?" Shin asked, confused, because what in the world is a little giant.

"You don't know about the little giant?" Hinata gasped offendedly.

"I clearly do not."

"He is the most amazing volleyball player ever! He was the one who inspired me to play volleyball, he was short too and when he jumps he looks like he'd grown wings and flew!" Hinata exclaimed.

Clasping Shin's shoulders he shook them violently, "And I'm going to be like him one day. I'll go to nationals and I'll let everyone see that I can fly too."

"Okay, okay I get it. Stop shaking me, I'm getting dizzy," Shin centered himself and blinked hard a couple of times to steady his sight.

"O-oh, um, I'm sorry," The red-head apologized sheepishly and tucked both his hands back on his lap.

"No, it's alright. It's nice to see such enthusiasm in youngsters," The taller teen says.

"Oh my gosh, can you stop that," Hinata groaned into his hands. "Stop what," Shin asked and his eyebrows furrowed. Hinata made a vague hand motion, "That! Stop talking like you're an old man."

A mischievous grin took over Shin's face and he proceeded to stroke his invisible beard, "I don't know what your fussing over about whipper-snapper, I am but a wise old man that has traveled far and wide searching for all the knowledge out there," He says, voice croaking, trying to imitate that of someone old.

Hinata's shoulders started to shake in silent laughter, "What knowledge are you even traveling for, oh wise one?" the ginger played along.

"The knowledge of how to make the finest food of course. Food is life and you are what you eat. Loving food equates to loving yourself. I myself am a wonderful chef."

"Pfft.." The mostly silent park was filled with Hinata's laughter as he doubled over. Shin smiled smugly and ruffled Hinata's hair as the redhead continued his echoing laughter.

"You're an idiot," Hinata said, panting while he clutched his stomach. It was aching from all of his cackling.

"You ought to stop, you have insulted this wise old man to the highest degree, midget" Shin continued to mess up the smaller male's hair. Hinata squawked, affronted by the assault. He retaliated by tickling Shin's sides but was rewarded by a smirk from the taller boy, "Uh-uh-uh, not so fast little one. It is best if you stop that. I am not ticklish Hinata."

Shin guffawed as he and Hinata began to scuffle. Tousling each other and play-fighting until they both dropped out of the bench and onto the ground. They rolled around the green grass of the luscious park followed by their joyous laughter.

It was nice to have a friend nearby again, which reminded Shin of his planned outing with Taiga any day from now.

"Hey, call me Shoyo," Hinata said, bringing Shin out of his musing. He grinned and rolled over so he was no longer laying on top of Shin's back. Settling on his back and facing the sun, he sighed in contentment letting the sun coat him with its brightness.

"Wha?" Shin asked and followed Hinata's example. Now on his back, he stretched his aching arms and legs, hoping that his bouts of growing spurts would be over soon. He was so ready to be over with the constant ache of his bones.

"You called me Hinata awhile ago, call me Shoyo," Hinata-- Shoyo quietly murmured.

Shin hummed while closing his eyes. "Okay, call me Shin then."

"Oh yeah that reminds me, what does your last name stand for by the way? That has been bothering me since yesterday." Shoyo flipped over so he now laid on his belly and turned to the black-haired teen.

"Atsu as in 較 , it reads as rule and Yama, 山 which connotes to crown," Shin explained, eyes still closed feeling a bit hazy and sleepy.

"Wow, so it basically implies that you're royalty? Rule + Crown, that's so cool! You didn't mention that you were a royal, old man!" Shoyo ribbed.

"It does seem a bit vain doesn't it? And you should really learn how to respect your elders, Shoyo," Finally opening his eyes, Shin grinned and poked Shoyo on his sides making the red-haired lad squawk once more.

Shoyo flailed, rolling a few feet away from the other teen and glared at Shin, lips drawn into a scowl, "When's your birthday then? No way you're older than me. Mine's on June 21."

"May 29," Shin smirked, "See? I am older than you."

"You aren't that much older though, just a month or so," Shoyo pouted but relented and rolled back next to Shin hissing, "Don't tickle me."

Raising his hand in a mock surrender, Shin sank back on the ground, body relaxed and peaceful.

"You didn't tell me which high school you'll be going to," Shoyo whispered softly, also soaking in the peacefulness surrounding them.

"I'll be attending Karasuno. It's somewhere near here I think?"

There was a beat of silence before Shin gave out a startled yell when a body suddenly threw itself on him. Body recoiling, Shin coughed a little — to Shoyo's delight, the little devil.

"I'm going there too!" The ginger boisterously announced with a grin that could rival the sun. Shin grumbled quietly, still a bit miffed by the sudden heavy weight on him, but he couldn't really stay mad at the cute boy.

"It seems like we'll be seeing each other more often, Shoyo," He smiled softly and pinched Shoyo's cheeks, a bit vindictive, though it did little to dampen the shorter boy's obvious glee.

"It'll be so much fun!" Shoyo exclaimed.

Shin, smile still on but has somehow broadened, "We'll see about that."

The two of them spent the whole morning soaking in the sun. Shin considered it more or less 2x, because he was literally laying down next to the sun personified, though he didn't really mind it.

Shin could already see it now, Shoyo and Taiga will surely get along like a house on fire. The prospect was both pleasing and terrifying. He should find time someday to introduce the two.

Shin already knew Hinata Shoyo will be a constant in his life from then on.

Chapter Text

Zipping the bag close, Shin sighed and plopped back on his fluffy bed. The day has finally come, March 30th. He will be going on a fun exploration of Tokyo with Taiga today and spending a night at his friend's apartment.

He was really excited and he will probably go off on his own after a while of exploring, leaving Taiga to his own devices. Though he held Taiga dearly in his heart, the boy didn't have one curious bone in his body, reckless? Yes, but not really curious.

Taiga's very stubborn, headstrong and is a determined kind of a person who doesn't back down from any kind of challenge. He wears his heart on his sleeves and follows it more than his head, dives head-first in most situations without thinking over the consequences plus he's also a hothead, which doesn't really bode well. He gets them in more trouble than needed, but Shin knows he means well.

Shin loves him but he was an utter dunderhead. If they were in a Harry Potter-esque world, Shin was sure Taiga would fit right into the Gryffindor stereotype.

Loud. Impulsive. Willful. Courageous. Passionate. A Gryffindor.

Which is mainly why he thought Taiga and Shoyo would get along very well. The more he hung-out with the ginger the more it became prevalent that yes, Shoyo is very much insecure about his capabilities and his abilities as an athlete but he was also such a bright and determined kid that would and could become so much greater.

Shin could smell the potent stench of potential in him. Taiga would probably love someone as bright as Shoyo to tail him like a duckling to its mother.

Taiga was also, surprisingly, housewife material contrary to his gruff exterior. The guy could cook mean meals that would put some restaurants to shame with how mouthwatering they were. Cooking had actually been the crux of their friendship at first. He was also slightly a clean freak and the years they spent being friends, Taiga has embedded the same cleaning habits that was ingrained in the tall redhead in him.

Getting off his bed with a happy hop to his steps, Shin slung his bag over his shoulder and speeded out of the room. He grabbed a piece of bacon and an egg sandwich on the table and kissed his nana goodbye. He was out of the house in less than 5 minutes, a bacon strip in his mouth and a sandwich on his left hand. Before going any further, he used his right hand to pat his pockets to see if he had his wallet, phone and keys– just in case, you never know when you need an extra key.

Nodding firmly, a smile unfurled on his face as he gripped his bag and started his journey to Tokyo while eating his first meal of the day.

Hopping on the bus, Shin threw a quick smile and 'thank you' to the old bus driver before making his way to the back and sitting in the same exact location he did last time. Thankfully, it wasn't crowded so he had a lot of legroom.

Fishing out his phone from one of his pockets, he quickly sent Shoyo a text. He had gotten the redhead's phone number yesterday after telling him he would be away all day the next day.

A horrible fairy tale retelling

Big bad wolf: I'm on the bus

Red riding hood: Remember, you promised me that you'd send me pictures of the sky tree and tokyo tower

Big bad wolf: yes, yes, I remember

Red riding hood: You better

Big bad wolf: Why not just the tokyo tower tho? It's nearer and both of them are technically the same

Red riding hood: No they're not, and you promised

Red riding hood: So don't you forget ಠ ೧ ಠ

Big bad wolf: Yes, yes, of course your highness

Red riding hood: stay safe you tall ass

Big bad wolf: You too, midget

Shin smiled and popped on his earphones, letting the songs string him into a peaceful blur, the warm, pleasant sunlight covering his face and the beautiful scenes of rice fields and luscious greenery past by.

It was a beautiful and perfect day for an adventure.

Yawning, Shin softly rubbed his eyes before scrambling to get off the bus. He had not noticed that he had fallen asleep. His face was blotchy and red from squishing it against the bus window the entire time he was out.

Stretching his aching limbs, Shin sighed and searched his bag for any food. He was hungry and his neck and cheek were still slightly aching from his unmoved sleeping position.

He got on the train hoping it was the right one, because god was the Japanese train route map a freaking mess and a whole different kind of monster that he wasn't ready to take on. He swore his eyes were aching just looking at it.

Shin quickly found a seat near a kind looking old woman and a young adult male. He quietly munched on his onigiri -- bless his nana for being the amazing woman that she is -- and scrolled through some social media and news articles.

"FAMILY GONE MISSING; HOUSE LEFT UNOPENED SINCE THE DAY THEY WERE SUPPOSE TO MOVE IN"

"WRITER TSUKISHIMA SHIZUKU ANNOUNCED THE RELEASE DATE FOR A SEQUEL OF HER FAMOUS NOVEL: WHISPERS OF THE HEART"

"VIKTOR NIKIFOROV WINS 3RD CONSECUTIVE WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDAL"

Humming to the tune of the song, Shin clicked on the third article. He had a specific phase in his life where he was obsessed with having long hair. His grandma Chihiro had long hair and he just insisted on growing his too.

His obsession with it was only further pushed on one faithful day.

His grandma was watching the junior world championship for skating when he saw a fairy walk onto the ice. He was so mesmerizing, with his gray, iridescent long locks that swayed with his every step. And his skating was superb, every moment of it was breathtaking and Shin, as a 3 year old, thought it was magic.

(It was no help that he was in love with Harry Potter at the time.)

Shin remembered latching on the TV and refusing to move because he wanted to be as close to the fairy as he could be. He insisted fervently to his grandmas that he wanted to be just as pretty as the fairy.

They were very much amused by him and humoured him into letting his hair grow even longer than intended. He could have easily passed as a girl back then. Even little Noya had fallen to the clutches of the facade and had a crush on him when they were younger just because of it.

And along with his admiration for the skater, who he had come to know as Viktor Nikiforov, so did his newfound obsession with skating bloomed. He loved it as a child. Although only grandma Chihiro would accompany him to the skating rink because nana hated ice and being cold, it was still so much fun and Shin held those fond memories close to his heart.

He admittedly had a very big crush on Viktor Nikiforov and his grandparents found it adorable. His nana would still sometimes tease him about it to this day. But it has long fizzled out, along with his rabid fascination with skating.

But he still does seek it out once in a while; whenever his heart cries out for it and it cries back to him, urging his soul to take flight and slipping back on the ice feels like a welcoming embrace of an old friend.

The train ride was long but maddeningly dull. His only hope of bringing light to the otherwise dry travel was the picturesque sights that would flash by in a second he was on the train.

When he finally stepped off the wretched traveling vehicle, he all but silently cried in gratitude, no longer would he need to suffer through the boring journey.

"Taiga, where are you?"

"Didn't I tell you we would meet at Shibuya? Near the Hachiko memorial statue."

"Wait, isn't that a statue about a dead dog?"

"Yeah, though I loathed those beady-eyed, fur monsters, Hachikou has earned my respect."

"Pfft.. Taiga you're such a freaking drama queen."

"Shut up Shin, you know how I feel about those monsters."

"Yeah, yeah, they're your mortal enemy or whatever and quit your yapping... Ha, yapping....cuz y'know, dogs...I'm gonna shut up now."

"..."

"..."

"Idiot."

"Okay I deserved that. Oh, and I think I see the statue now. Are you there already?"

"Oh, wait really? I think it'll take me a bit longer to get there. Do you mind waiting for a bit?"

"Yeah sure, but if you arrive and I'm not there, I'm probably by the nearest vending machine buying strawberry milk."

"You and your strawberry milk addiction."

"What? They're really tasty. And besides, they bring back nice memories,"

"Yeah, okay, I'll see you in a bit. My gods, there are a lot of people around here."

"Mmhm, stay safe you gigantic idiot."

"Don't be conned, you gullible bastard."

The call ended and Shin pocketed back his phone. Trudging over to the dog statue, Shin gazed at it softly. He remembered the first time he heard the story of Hachikou as a child. He cried his heart out for that dog, and now he still holds a soft spot for it. 

Casting it one final look, he began his search for a vending machine.

After a while of roaming around, he spotted a distinct blue and white automat. He jogged his way over while clumsily clambering for his wallet. By the time he stood in front of the hulking machine, he already had his money out and ready to be slotted in.

Scanning the options in front of him, a soft artificial clinking of swords could be heard, though a little muffled. Peering at the side of the vending machine, there Shin saw a teenager crouched and in his hand was a blue game console -- which, Shin could only guess, where the sound came from -- wearing an over-sized black hoodie and dark-blue jeans.

The teenager was entirely focused on the game, not at all paying heed to Shin's snooping. His face was partially obscured by his curtain of hair. They were, what he could only estimate, a little above shoulder-length. It was bleached blond and black roots were already peaking at the top.

It kinda reminds me of pudding, Shin mused to himself, chuckling at his own thoughts.

The sound must have been louder than he thought as now Shin found himself staring at striking eyes. They were like molten gold. Like the color of saccharine honey. They were strangely cat-like in many ways than one. Shin felt being observed and scrutinized, like he was being dissected from the inside.

Startled, Shin backed away a few inches before an awkward smile graced his lips.

"Sorry about that, I was just a bit curious 'is all," abashed, Shin said.

The other teen stared at him for a few more seconds before nodding his head and returning his focus to the game that he left.

"Uh, um, as an apology, do you want a drink? I was already planning on getting one of my own," Shin fumbled and reviewed what he said in his head. What was he doing? He probably thinks I'm a creep now. Shin grimaces at his own thoughts, but is hit with a strong sense of deja vu. He swore this has happened before. Strange.

He was able to capture the attention of the teen. Another pause happened before the other nodded his head gently, eyes still trained on Shin.

Shuffling awkwardly, Shin slotted in the money and predictably, got the strawberry milk. He did a backtrack before looking back at the bleached-blond boy who he found was still observing him.

"Um... is there anything specific you wanted?"

"Apple juice is fine, thank you."

Shin nodded before getting the drink as well. He silently handed it to the other boy and apologized once more for the disturbance and scuttled back towards the memorial statue.

When he did get back Shin spotted Taiga already there waiting for him. The redhead was wearing a big black denim jacket over a white band t-shirt. Along with black joggers and black air shoes, a white bag was thrown over his shoulders. He had his old red headphones hung around his neck as he leisurely waited, scrolling on his phone.

Taiga easily towered over everybody around them. People were casually throwing the tall boy glances and quietly whispering to one another.

Shin did all but run towards his best friend, arms open while yelling, "Taiga!" And pounced at the wide-eyed teen.

Clinging tightly at Taiga, Shin laughed joyously while the taller boy steadied himself.

"What the heck, Shin? Can you stop greeting me like this? You aren't the same squirt you were before," Taiga grunted, huffing in annoyance but still indulged his friend and centered himself so he could stand straight while Shin clung to him.

This did not escape Shin's trained eyes. He smiled brightly before unlatching himself from Taiga and settling back on the ground, smile still intact.

"Oh come on Taiga, you're still taller than me anyways."

"Yeah and you completely forgot that we're in public. Ugh, you're so embarrassing," Taiga groaned, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Don't be like that. You love me!"

"Unfortunately," Taiga sighed before smiling softly at Shin. He patted his friend's black hair and ruffled it. He really did miss Shin. It has been weeks since they last saw each other face-to-face. They were just really busy with graduation, plans of moving back to Japan and enrollments to new schools. It was all just a very hectic time. And now he can finally spend some quality bro time with his best friend.

The two tall lads happily conversed and left the bustling park, heading to which sightseeing spots they chose, not at all noticing the golden cat-like eyes following their shrinking backs as they got farther and farther away.

Chapter Text

It was a busy start, the two youngsters navigated their way in Shibuya district. They walked by the Shibuya crossing -- and wow were there a lot of people.

Pulling out the list that Shin prepared beforehand, deciding to prioritize places Shin wanted to see because he wouldn't be in Tokyo for longer compared to Taiga.

There weren't that many places Shin was able to list down because they needed to be mindful of the time and the activities they may or may not be able to do; they were only human after all.

The list covered:

• Meiji Shrine
• Tokyo tower
• Akihabara
• Sensoji Temple
• Edo-Tokyo museum
• Skytree

(He got the list from a travel blog but that's a secret.)

Their first stop was Meiji Shrine.

The two, tall teens ultimately decided to commute. It wasn't really that far and it gave Shin more opportunity to let his eyes wander at his surroundings.

The two continued a strong stream of conversation about their expectations about the 'Japanese high school experience' — not that there was a lot to base on aside from the anime and mangas Shin has seen and forced Taiga to watch with him.

With only a few more minutes of travel before they reached their destination, Shin suddenly pulled Taiga towards a conspicuous street. Everything was so colorful and was bursting with people — which, Shin guesses, must be a recurring theme around Tokyo.

"I- what-, Shin! Where are you dragging me? We're almost there!" Taiga pointed at the thick foliage across them from the other direction.

"I know that, but look at this place! It speaks to me. Come on, can't we get side track for a bit? Where's your sense of adventure Taiga?" Pleading, Shin procured the most convincing puppy-dog eyes he could make.

"Drained along with my sanity," Taiga disgruntledly mumbled before nodding his head, to the clear joy of Shin as the black-haired boy jumped up with a beaming grin on his face before dragging Taiga into the flowing crowd.

The whole time, Shin was like an excited little dog with a fiercer and bigger dog in tow, looking here and there letting everything around him soak in, gawking at strangers with such bizarre but concomitantly exquisite fashion.

People could be seen wearing poofy, cutesy dresses — which Shin loved by the way — while others were milling away with vintage-but-not-really looking outfits. Some even opted to garb in genderless clothes; androgynous, over-sized, layered, monochrome, vibrant, you name it!

There were pedestrians as well, reveling in the busy, colorful street. Some were even throwing the two of them weird glances, which Shin blamed the weird mash of English and Japanese he and Taiga were speaking, but mostly blaming Taiga for standing out too much.

His eyes scanned all the boutique and candy stalls around them before pointing out;

"Taiga look, cotton candy!" Shin exclaimed all too happy to tug Taiga along with him. The two colossal teenagers crowded at the stall, almost scaring the sales lady into a heart attack.

Looking at Taiga with determination, Shin pressed his hands into a praying position, pouting while doing so. Scoffing, Taiga reached back into his pockets and took out his wallet making Shin pump his fist in the air, delight written all over his face.

"Hello ma'am, good morning. Can we get one of the large cotton candy? A blue one and—," Taiga looked at him in questioning, "A pink one please."

"Yeah, what he said. One blue and one pink."

Handing the money to the stricken lady, Taiga pocketed his wallet once more before turning to Shin and crossing his arms.

"You'll be buying lunch, just so you know."

"Fine, fine. Thanks for buying me cotton candy."

"Sure thing."

Retracing their steps, the two successfully excited the street and then continued on to the cluster of trees ahead of them.

They strolled through the, otherwise, peaceful path. Encountering other visitors but keeping to themselves while munching on their cotton candy.

By the time they arrived in front of the torii gates, they were already done with their treats and hungry for lunch. Shin snapped a couple photos of the gates after catching themselves from their stupor upon the most humongous torii they had ever laid their eyes on.

They took time to make their offerings in the main hall before each buying an ema and hanging them up. Having a consensus agreement to not let the other see their wishes, the two hung their own from the other ends of the display. And lastly, before bidding the shrine adieu, Shin and Taiga bought some lucky charms for their start of high school.

It was a unanimous decision to first get lunch prior to their afternoon escapades.

They soon found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant and adamantly found themselves an empty table. At this point Shin's stomach was already growling like a gremlin, ready to tear down anything just to be fed and by the look on Taiga's face, the tall redhead could empathize.

They both ordered an abundance of dishes— enough to fill the whole table even— and as soon as they were laid on the table, and a synchronized, "Itadakimasu," all politeness was lost.

What? They were both ravenous, growing teenage boys.

Inside a run-of-the-mill restaurant, two teens could be seen scarfing down the food on their table, nearly shoving them in their mouths. The gratified look on their faces every time they tried a dish enticed more than one of the people gaping at them and urged them too, to eat the hearty food prepared by the restaurant while others felt a bit queasy. 

Once every plate and bowl were scraped clean, both Taiga and Shin were finally satisfied. Hunger quenched, Shin was ready to bounce back out there and dive through the crowds.

Shortly after paying, the two boys stumbled out of the restaurant.

Groaning, Shin stretched his taunt limbs, rubbing his slightly bloated stomach and sighing happily, "That was great."

Letting out a small burp, Taiga replied, "Yup. We should probably stop by a supermarket and buy some ingredients for dinner after everything, because all I know is that my fridge is empty and I actually want to prepare my own food this time."

"Yeah sure."

"So, what's next?"

"Tokyo Tower."

The two chose to take the subway to Tokyo tower. The trip took less than an hour but was long enough for a nap. The balmy shine of the sun plus their previous satiation, it was the perfect time to have a food coma.

Finally hearing the mechanical lady's voice, Taiga shook Shin to wakefulness and the two hazily got off the vehicle, making sure they didn't leave anything and sticking together in their woozy state.

The short walk to the tower was a good way to shake off the sleepiness and it only really took 8-10 minutes.

Shrugging off his backpack, Shin fished out his phone under the extra clothes he brought along with his water bottle. He took two big gulps of water before returning the water bottle back in it's confinements and zipping the bag up.

Shin took ample photos and directly sent them to Shoyo, leaving a message, "Tokyo tower!" and pocketing his phone, finally facing Taiga who was observing him.

"Who'd you message?"

"Oh, a friend I made back home. He's just the most adorable orange little thing."

Taiga's face scrunched up from the description. It looked like Shin's cute hoarding stroke again.

"I think you'd love him actually. He's like an excitable puppy, so adorable. He plays volleyball and has an intense spring to his heels. He jumped for me once and I was sure he stayed floating for some time," Shin continued as they paid the fee.

"Yeah? Sounds like an interesting guy. You should bring him around some time."

"I'm planning on it. Maybe sometime this year, summer vacation, maybe?"

The two trudged until they made it to the main deck. Shin immediately flocked to the glass windows and pointed at the buildings, admiring the scene.

LIST

• Meiji Shrine ✓
• Tokyo tower ✓
• Akihabara
• Sensoji temple
• Edo-Tokyo museum
• Skytree

Akihabara.

Shin was most excited about this one. He was probably going to buy stuff in bulk or whatever caught his eye and maybe visit some arcades during their time there.

However, they still needed to ride the train there. Shin honestly despises it; it took too much time and it was oh so boring.

And as expected, the ride was uneventful. All they did was talk and scroll on their phone...

Once reaching the said place though, all he could say was that Akihabara was now his personal paradise. There was anime everywhere.

He all but left Taiga on his own as he bounded to the nearest shop and when Taiga did find him the ebony-haired teen was already swimming in piles of manga.

"Are you sure you want to buy all of these?" The taller boy asked, snatching one manga from the pile, scanning it.

"Yup!" Shin answered, popping the 'p' as he gathered everything he chose. "All of them seem interesting to me and I need to restock on manga anyways. I'm almost out of anything to read, which reminds me, we should hit up a bookstore, maybe there's one around here. I may be a big nerd but I still need to read literary books sometimes, you know— or does that only make me nerdier? A double nerd?"

Taiga questioned all his life decisions that led him to this point.

The whole time they were in Akihabara, Taiga was pulling Shin along because the idiot kept getting distracted. He made it his personal mission to prevent Shin from splurging any more than he already has.

Kagami, to everyone's apparent surprise, is actually efficient at noticing certain tics from people and from the start of their Tokyo sightseeing he has been noticing the ever growing amount of eyes on them. Well, mostly on Shin but he digresses.

It has been a recurring theme even back in America, for Shin to get all kinds of attention; good or bad. And as much as Shin pushes that he was only remotely handsome— the humble simpleton— a large percentage of people would disagree, hell, Taiga would disagree. Shin was one of those people that did not have any dead angels nor was he unscrupulous. The boy even looked good while crying.

Love confessions were common whenever around Shin. He gathered admiration from all kinds of people, male or female, Shin wasn't particular and he was open about it too.

Despite all this, Shin has yet to date nor showed interest in dating and that somehow went across as being 'available' to most, which Shin complains about endlessly.

Shin has confided in both him and Tatsuya that he is more put off when people just start to push and don't respect his boundaries making all felt too shallow, so he has secluded himself.

Taiga could understand this but others seem to either be oblivious or choose to ignore Shin's obvious malaise.

He knows his friend well and one thing he could get from Shin when it comes to relationships was that, the other likes it to be gradual. Something carefully cultivated and continually built up. Shin doesn't like the detachment nor the feeling of shallowness and uncertainty of near strangers that barely know him.

Intense moments of emotions makes Shin tense up and uncomfortable so maybe that's why he takes pleasure in a slow paced kind of romance. None of that fast passion, intense hormonal responses that teenagers usually get whenever going into such young relationships.

Well, it's not like Taiga would ever engage in that kind of relationship with Shin or either of his best friends. Thinking about it reminds him of that time a random gossip spread like wildfire in their middle school; about all three of them being involved with each other— to their horror.

Hearing giggles and whispers not far from his left, Taiga spied a group of girls pushing one of their reluctant friends towards Shin who was busy reading a pamphlet.

The gaggle of ladies were able to finally push their friend that she almost stumbled forward but was timely grabbed by Shin before she could take a nosedive on the asphalt.

The cute girl flushed a bright pink color and scrambled to stand straight. "I- I'm so sorry!" She apologized after sending a quick glare to her friends. (Very shoujo manga esque of you Shin.)

"Ah, It's alright. Are you hurt anywhere," Shin replied pleasantly, an easy smile gracing his face.

"O-oh, not at all"

"That's good."

"U-um, do you mind if I... can I please have your number," The girl blurted out, face still blotched with pink.

Shin seemed to stop at this and gave an apologetic smile, rubbing the back of his neck — which Taiga recognized as something Shin does whenever he felt embarrassed or awkward.

"I'm sorry, but I would rather not." The girl visibly deflated at the statement before smiling and nodding her head silently, saying a quiet thank you before she rushed back to her friends.

Taiga winced and swiftly slid to Shin's right and pulled his friend away from the situation.

"Why'd you turn it down?" Taiga asked after a few more turns until they could no longer see the group. Taiga already had an inkling why, but he wanted to hear it from him.

"Narcissistic as it sounds, It was clear she wasn't just asking for my number with the intention of being simple friends. Either way, I don't really have time for relationships and the thought of leading a girl towards a relationship that might never come into fruition leaves an undesirable taste in my mouth," Shin smiled serenely, oddly calm as he tucked both his hands into his pockets, a ton of bags filled with manga and books hanging on his forearm.

Taiga hummed, officially ending the topic.

Sensoji Temple was next and by extension, Nakamise shopping street.

They first visited the shopping street that was bustling with people. Some ladies were wearing Kimonos which only got Shin eager to buy some.

"Should we buy a pair of hakama and haori too?" Shin incessantly asked Taiga, eyes practically sparkling.

"Why?"

"Just because. Wouldn't we look cool with those outfits?"

"Sure, but we're not wearing them today. Maybe another time, 'kay? I don't really think we can manage. Do you even know how to wear that?"

Shin blushed at that...

"Yeah, okay, sounds reasonable I guess," Shin mumbled, albeit disappointed that he couldn't wear it today, there was always another time. Definitely. With this new prospect his mood evidently shot up and rushed Taiga towards a shop that had the said traditional garments on display.

"Hello auntie, how much are these?" He pointed at the display as he asked the smiling, middle-aged woman. She was stout and chubby, her hair kept in a tight bun and her face looking bright and welcoming with prominent smiling wrinkles..

"What a bright looking youngster!" She exclaimed, "They're 4000 yen but I'll lower it to 3500 yen for you," The lady said, smiling as she pinched Shin's cheek.

"Oh no, I wouldn't like to impose on your business!"

"Don't be silly dear, you're not imposing on anything at all. Just take auntie's word for it," She waved her hands nonchalantly and enlarged the two teenagers to follow her, "Now come look at these and see which one you lads prefer. Though I think I have one that'll suit each of you just right."

Taiga hoped it was in their size.

The woman snooped farther into the shop before exclaiming, "Aha! Here they are," And dug out two garbs.

One was pitch black, it was big and had a splash of white scattered near the bottom shaped as a flock of birds flying higher while the other was in a dark royal blue adorned with thin, white, stripe motifs. Both were paired with a dark grey kimono and grey hakama.

Shin nodded appreciatively as he looked at the garments over.

"I think you'll look dashing in blue Taiga," Shin cheekily commented.

Taiga raised an eyebrow at the comment but was clearly amused.

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

Shin wagged his fingers, "Correction signore: flattery will get you anywhere."

Taiga shook his head. They then proceeded to pay and thank the auntie who accommodated them and continued looking around the bazaar. Buying Melon buns, and tiny trinkets. Shin made sure to buy some pretty hair pins and sweets for his nana.

After walking for a couple minutes they found themselves in the presence of Tokyo's oldest temple, its structure big and majestic. It was in a brilliant shade of red, and bathed by the beautiful sunset, its form illuminated by the lanterns starting to flicker to life around them.

It was already almost dark, the places around them were getting brighter as people were beginning to light up their own lights, making the whole place look brighter and livelier and full of life.

Two stops left.

LIST

• Meiji Shrine ✓
• Tokyo tower ✓
• Akihabara ✓
• Sensoji temple ✓
• Edo-Tokyo museum
• Skytree

The museum had a peaceful ambiance; not too many people were divulging in loud conversations, unlike in Nakamise where there was a constant buzz of sound because of the amount of people around.

Where were our two favorite lads you might ask?

They were both in a corner trying, but failing, to not be noticeable.

"Why am I doing this again?" Taiga hissed at Shin, his nose scrunched up in displeasure, ears beginning to wash over with a bright red color.

"Because dragging your friends with you in an embarrassing situation makes it less embarrassing and more fun and that is true friendship, said a person from the internet, maybe."

"That doesn't make sense at all. Why are we doing Romeo and Juliet anyways? This is the Edo period, not medieval Europe-" To which Shin pouted at, "But whatever, just these couple of lines okay? I ain't doing more."

Try as he might, Taiga still bent to his friend's moronic request. Looking left and right and noticed that no one was looking at the both of them, Taiga started:

Taiga :

" O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,

As is a wingèd messenger of heaven

Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air."

Shin:

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name.

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

Taiga:

" Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"

Giggling, Shin nodded his head along and decided this was enough because if this were to go on any longer than it has, Taiga was probably going to combust.

The taller boy quickly scrambled and dragged Shin away from there after noticing a curious crowd surrounding them.

I hate you so much Shin, Taiga moaned in his head. The frightening expression on his face did not hide the bright color painting his ears that had travelled down to his nape.

The remaining of their time there was spent speculating over the miniature figures—If they were to move once the whole building closes, like in the 2006 movie Night at the museum.

No more dramatization occurred, because unlike Shin who was utterly shameless —Taiga can't help question if the dude even knows what shame is—Kagami still has a healthy dose of modesty and he has already suffered enough mortification for today.

But on a better note, Shin got on a palanquin! Like some fancy lord, he stated, but was then laughed at by Taiga.

They came out of the museum pleased and ready to go to their last destination for the day, Skytree!

Inside the massive building, you could see almost the entirety of Tokyo or maybe that was just Shin exaggerating but it felt like it. Lights and buildings as far as the eye could see, distant mountains that could hardly be distinguished but nonetheless amazing.

It was just like how it was in Tokyo Tower but not at all diminishing the experience of the two.

Shin would argue that night time was the best time for city watching, though under the sunlight everything looked equally beautiful, but there was just something magical and whimsical about looking over the city when it is blanketed with darkness; lights from different places twinkling like diamonds, seemingly singing to one another and making a harmonious picture.

Shin of course did not forget his promise to Shoyo, and took photos of the Skytree and sent them to his tiny friend.

LIST

• Meiji Shrine ✓
• Tokyo tower ✓
• Akihabara ✓
• Sensoji temple ✓
• Edo-Tokyo museum ✓
• Skytree ✓

After a long day of walking and hopping from one place to another, both Taiga and Shin were ready to pass out but not before they could fill their bottomless pits that they called stomach.

And as they both planned earlier, they did stop at a supermarket not too far away from Taiga's apartment and brought ingredients for their dinner: rice, an assortment of vegetables, seasonings, sauces, fruits along with meat and a whole chicken.

"What are we making?" Shin inspected all the things inside the plastic bag that was handed to him.

"Tonkatsu and chicken curry," replied Taiga, handing the cashier-lady the total amount of money.

There were four plastic bags in total. Shin carried two while Taiga carried the other two, counting the bags that they were already carrying from earlier purchases, saying that their hands were full would be an understatement.

When they arrived inside the apartment, they both took off their shoes at the genkan and snatched slippers that were on the shoe rack.

Shin whistled as he let his eyes roamed inside the whole apartment. It had a big open space that could fill a lot of people and had wood paneled flooring, looking shiny and newly swept. There were not many appliances yet, except a couch, a glass coffee table and a shelf and in a corner there was a pile of unopened boxes.

"This is a really nice place," He complimented as he deposited all his luggage on the black couch.

His feet padded over to the kitchen where there were already some pans and pots, a rice cooker and some miscellaneous appliances. He opened the cupboards and only found a pair of plates, glasses and chopsticks.

"You haven't unpacked everything I presume," Shin switched to English as he went back and dug through all the ingredients they bought and laid them all on the counter.

"I didn't exactly have much time."

Taiga shrugged off his jacket and also brought the goods that he carried to the kitchen.

"I only really prioritize the kitchen because I knew I'd probably blow up if I didn't."

Shin hummed and scanned everything, "Should I prepare all the things we need for tonight's dinner or should you? I can store the others."

"Yeah, I'll prepare," Taiga grabbed the dark blue apron hanging from a hook. Shin nodded his head and followed Taiga, taking the other, and last, apron.

They instantly went to work. Taiga prepared the ingredients: chopping, mincing, pre-heating the pan and while Shin took everything that Taiga did not need and started putting them away. They both worked in a comfortable silence.

Shin made sure everything was organized and stowed away properly, no unnecessary spaces were spent, different assortments of spices were categorized and sauces were all placed in a neat corner.

The sizzling sound of hot oil and the strong smell of onion and garlic invaded their noses. Shin's stomach not so silently grumbled as he joined Taiga at the other side of the counter.

Taiga had decided to make chicken curry first and Shin switched his attention to the rice. After placing the pot inside the cooker, Shin turned it on so it cooked while he helped Taiga make the other dishes.

Taiga was still in the middle of making the chicken curry so Shin decided to make the tonkatsu.

Fortunately, Taiga had already cut the meat and laid out the other ingredients and another pot filled with oil was already starting to heat up, so all Shin needed to do was season the meat and dip it in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs, in that exact order.

They worked like a well oiled machine, tacitly knowing and subconsciously helping one another is a skill that they had honed for years now. In the kitchen you are in their domain. Only if Tatsuya was here, he'd surely be making dessert...

Shaking his head to get rid of the thought, Shin dropped the meat one by one into the pot of hot oil. It bubbled up as he continued to add more. At the exact same time the bursting, heavenly smell of aromatic curry carried through the whole house. Taiga had just opened the lid of the pan containing the curry that had been left to cook, simmering and submerging it in it's soup.

The scent carried a certain spiciness and headiness to it that made Shin slightly salivate.

"I'm almost done, how's the tonkatsu doing?"

"Same with me, can you please shred some cabbage?" He requested while fishing out the meat in the pot, placing them on a cooling rack.

"Sure," Nodded Taiga, already reaching out for the cabbage, knife and chopping board. He made sure that no stem was left in the cabbage before cutting it.

On the other hand, Shin was also cutting the Tonkatsu into pieces, plates already prepared.

"Can you turn off the stove on the curry Shin?"

"Okay," with the stove turned off Shin trotted over to the rice cooker and plugged it out because the rice was already ready.

Taiga, now done with shredding the cabbage, deposited them onto the plate while Shin scooped out some of the aromatic curry into a nice big bowl along with a ton of rice in separate bowls.

Finalizing for a few more minutes, the two teens were successfully done with their dinner.

"Phew, that was intense," Shin teasingly poked Taiga at the side.

The red-head squeaked, making Shin cackle.

"Oh, you're on," Taiga growled before taking off his apron and setting it on the counter.. And tackling Shin to the floor.

They spent a couple of minutes tickling each other— even though Shin wasn't ticklish,  and laughing like a bunch of deranged fools but finally got up because either stomachs were already protesting.

The tv was then turned on and changed into a channel broadcasting a basketball match, both something they enjoyed watching and started eating their dinner.

Shin moaned in bliss, the tender chicken was soft and bursting with flavor, spicy, savory and sweet. It balanced everything out. It was also piping hot, helping urge Shin to take in more and more of it, and battling out the spice with rice.

The tonkatsu was also quite delicious, with it's crunchy, flaky texture on the outside and it's soft, succulent inside. The citrusy flavor of the zest adding a little kick along with the sweetness of the sauce, tied with the crunchy fresh taste of cabbage, one could only feel like in heaven.

"This is so good, my gosh, I could marry you Taiga, '' Shin groaned, shoving another spoonful of curry in his mouth."

"Shut up stupid, speaking when you mouth is full is disgusting."

"Excuse me sir, I'm a fuckin' delight thank you very much."

"Debatable."

Happy laughter filled the entire apartment as the two teens continued to eat their dinner. The constant background noise of the TV surrounding them as they talked about school and recalled certain memories of the past, painting a warm image.

Chapter Text

Patting his clothes off of invisible dust, Shin smiled and hugged Taiga. He was still in his pajamas, with bleary eyes looking at him and rocking the bed head look. They said their goodbyes and with a last wave Shin closed the door behind him. His grip on his bag tightened, a bit disappointed that morning had come quite too soon for his liking.

He made a quick haste out of the apartment building and headed straight to a cafe. (He didn't see any vending machines in the near vicinity.)

He slowly opened the door and took in the design inside the shop. The walls were colored a mocha brown, quotes hanging in different places with different sizes. They also had random small potted plants littered all around and in the far left corner sat a white bookshelf filled with well loved and worn books. Some light jazz was also playing in the background.

This is nice, he thought as he headed for the register.

A pretty lady was waiting for him to get there. She smiled politely at him, "Hello, what can I get for you today sir?"

"Uh, Hi!...Kim?" He muttered, squinting his eyes at the name plate pinned to the worker's uniform.

"Yes, that would be me."

"Ah yeah, ha ha sorry," He continued to mumble, a bit embarrassed and trained his eyes towards the blackboard not far off from the register. It had all their products listed with their corresponding prices listed on it. He is definitely not avoiding eye contact with the pretty lady in front of him. Nope. Not at all.

"One strawberry milk please," He flashed her a smile before feeling up his pockets for his wallet.

"Alright, that would be 388 yen sir."

Shin handed her the money and waited patiently for his drink, observing the cafe and looking for a place to sit for the time being. It was surprisingly full. Though maybe not so surprising. It was a relatively small shop. Proudly displaying 5 tables with a pair of chairs each. The first table was occupied by a young lady that looked like she had not slept a wink in weeks. She was furiously typing on her laptop, paper of different sizes and an assortment of books were scattered on her table, not a space left. So that one is a nope.

Two men sat on the second table. They were both wearing the generic office suit and tie, drinking their coffee and conversing with each other. That's a nope as well.

The third had a creepy dude wearing black sunglasses and a black bucket cup. The fourth one had two girls sitting on them gossiping about something and the last table was sat by an old couple sharing each other's meals– which was absolutely adorable.

So it looks like I'll be sitting with Mr. Suspicious looking fellow.

"Here you go sir, your order."

The voice surprised him that he almost let out a squeak.

"Ah.. yes, thank you," He answered, a pink tinge on his cheeks. He quickly took his drink and scuttled towards table number 3.

"Hello, can I sit here?"

Kise was normally happy to entertain and soak attention from other people, but right now was not the time. He was dead on his feet. He had a photo shoot that 5AM and he was up a bit later than usual last night, because of the enrollment processes for Kaijo high and he was easily irritated when he didn't get enough sleep. So he doesn't really want to snap at unsuspecting fans and splash new issues for tabloids.

He scanned the boy that approached his table. The boy, looking to be the same age as him, was tall but not quite his height, wearing a gray beanie and a blue oversized jumper over a pair of white jeans; slightly wavy black hair, thick black eyebrows, slightly deeper set of eyes that only accentuated their beautiful blue color; straight long nose and a strong jaw made a very pleasing image to the eyes.

A model perhaps?

Kise doesn't recognize him though. After thinking about it for a moment, he nodded at the other boy. Now that the blond had his fill of caffeine he is slightly more amiable than a few hours ago and it seemed like the other boy didn't recognize him with his black cap, shades and mask.

The time was spent in silence in both their parts, not too keen on really having a conversation at the moment and just enjoying their own beverages. And by the time Shin finished his, he was comfortable enough to slightly smile and politely bid, "Thank you and umm...goodbye," to the stranger he was sitting with.

"Oh! Wait a moment please," The stranger reached into his pocket and placed a business card on the table and pushed it towards Shin, "If ever you're interested I think you'll do great in the modeling society." The guy added.

Shin's eyebrows furrowed at the sketchiness of the offer but accepted the card anyway, he did not want to come off as rude and tucked it in his pant's pockets. Once again bowing slightly at the stranger, he awkwardly shuffled out of the store.

While walking down the street he took the card out once again before bringing it up to his face.

"It looks legitimate," He muttered as he inspected the shiny finish on the card. It had the agency's name and logo printed front and center along with their contact information.

"Might need mom to look at it for me, just to be sure," absentmindedly Shin took out his phone and snapped a photo of it, front and back and sent it to his mother. She knew more about this type of thing than he did...

Arriving home was a whirlwind. Nana was acting like he was gone for a year rather than a measly day and had engulfed him in a tight hug once she opened all the presents he bought for her. Then came Shoyo who barreled into the house an hour later, yelling at the top of his lungs and lunging at Shin like some feral animal. What was more boggling was nana had only laughed at me as I cried for her help trying to get the orange little monster clinging at me like some sort of leech.

When did they even meet?

Shoyo then proceeded to regale him of what he had missed while he was on his Tokyo rendezvous.

Shin only hummed along, a smile playing on his face as he nodded his head amicably.

It's good to be home.

Chapter Text

"Waaah, you're like a real life prince!" A tiny girl version of Shoyo jumped up and down. Her eyes were shining with wonder as she asked her big brother, "Where'd you find him nii-chan?" as she squished my face and ruffled my hair.

What am I, a dog?

Shin awkwardly laughed at where he was crouching, but he wasn't really bothered by it. It was cute.

Shoyo's little sister was a firecracker, and sporting the same fluffy orange hair, amber eyes and the same kind of excitable energy that takes up the whole room as his brother.

"Stop that Nat-chan. You shouldn't do that to other people. I'm so sorry," a middle aged looking woman quickly addresses me while she gently scolds the small girl.

Natsu pouted but complied and stood next to her mother.

"Okaa-san this is Shin, Shin meet my mom." Shoyo introduced me to the middle aged looking woman who had brown hair that was in a bob cut. She carried herself with a certain softness, and as she smiled at Shin her eyes were alight with a kind and inviting aura that both her children seemed to have inherited.

"It's nice to meet you Shin-kun. It's good to finally put a face on the name Sho-chan keeps talking about."

"O-okaa-san!" Shoyo complained, cheeks heating up. Her only response was a soft giggle.

Shin was suddenly hit with a strong sense of nostalgia. Mrs. Hinata reminded him so much of granny Chihiro that it hurt.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Hinata." He croaked out and coughed a bit to unclog the tightness that started to build up in his throat.

Shoyo glanced at him worriedly, but he was glad that both Mrs. Hinata and Natsu didn't notice anything weird.

"We'll be up in my room for a while. Call us if you need us." Shoyo started to gently pull Shin down the hall and up the stairs.

"Nii-chan, play with me!" Natsu whined.

"Maybe later Natsu!" Shoyo hollered back at her as he opened a door and pushed Shin inside.

Shoyo sighs before flopping into his bed. Shin chuckled and walked over to the swivel chair in the corner and sat on it.

"Hey, why'd you get sad earlier," came Shoyo's muffled question after a moment of silence, his face still smushed into a pillow.

"Your mom just reminded me of someone, is all."

"Yeah?" He turned his head this time and faced Shin curiously, "you wanna talk about them?"

"Maybe next time," Shin smiled and scooted over to rub Shoyo's hair.

"Okay," Shoyo sighed and sank back on his bed, but then suddenly sprung up and bounded to his closet.

"Oh my god, have you gotten your uniform yet?" He excitedly asked, rummaging and trying to look for something in his closet.

"Yeah! Nana gave it to me this morning. It's so cool!"

"I know right? Here's mine!" Shoyo pulled something out of his closet and presented the gakuran. Just like his, it was black and had gold buttons adorning it.

Shoyo modeled his gakuran for a bit and Shin applauded accordingly. Even though it was just the exact same as his, it was still nice to see it on another person. People can look differently even if they wear the same thing. The way an individual carries themselves can also impact the clothes they are wearing. (He learned that from his mom.)

And either way it was a really cool uniform okay? Don't judge them.

The redhead then put them back in his closet and went to flop on his bed once again, this time with Shin on it as well. The taller teen migrated on it a while ago during Shoyo's runway.

"I can't believe there's three more days before school starts, I wish it was tomorrow! The sooner school starts the sooner I get to join the team." Shoyo complained while Shin bemusedly watched him roll around his bed.

"Are you that excited to join the volleyball team?" Shin asked.

"Of course! I mean as much as I appreciate my friends and the kind aunties and the girls from the volley team letting me join in their games and tossing to me, it just didn't feel right you know? They aren't really teammates...," then he trailed off into silence for a moment before springing up again.

Honestly, Shin's confused how he hasn't had emotional whiplash yet from Shoyo's mood swings.

Shoyo's eyes were lit with excitement and determination, "That's why I can't wait to get there! I'm already itching to spike a ball." He groaned, doing an odd groping motion with his hand.

Shin smirked at Shoyo's temperamental state as he tipped his head, "Yeah? Well, I don't mind tossing for you."

"You will?!" Came Shoyo's loud shout as he scrambled out of the bed and launched himself onto Shin.

With a loud thump, both teenagers fell off the chair and onto the floor. Shin groaned trying to get up but was stopped mid way with laughing and twinkling-eyed redhead.

"You really will? Really? You absolutely promise?" Shoyo all but shoved his face onto Shin's.

"Oh my god, personal space Sho. I can't toss to you if we'll end up getting our faces exchanged–"

"Sure you can!" But Shoyo did step back and gave him space.

Shin sighed, "Not really the point here, but yeah I promise. I can even do it now, but no promises that I'll be good. I've never really 'played' volleyball before. The closest I got was casual beach volleyball with my family and occasional P.E. activity in middle school, but I think I can get a quick grip of it if I try really hard."

"Yosh! Come on Shin, let's go!" Shoyo dragged him once again and led him outside. Their house was partially surrounded with woods and shrubbery and the nearest neighboring house was more than a couple meters away, so Shoyo's family had a big backyard.

Shoyo then pushed a ball into his chest and stood there for him like a dog waiting for treats. Shin chuckled at his comparison and examined the ball instead. It had blue and yellow stripes and was hard too. He carefully passed it from one hand to another to get a sense of its weight. It was lighter than a basketball, that was for sure.

He tried to toss it a couple of times and hummed to himself. "-Hey can we toss to each other for a bit. I just want to see how you do it."

Shoyo nodded enthusiastically and backed a few steps. Shin made small tosses and finally tossed to Shoyo but cringed when he noticed his form. It was much like he was tossing to a hoop than another person. And just as he expected, it went well right over Shoyo's outstretched hands.

The redhead ran for the ball, "Don't mind, don't mind," he says, getting right back into position.

They went at it for a couple more times before Shin got used to the right amount of power to exert.

"I think I got it Shoyo–"

A loud blam sounded in their vicinity.

Shin stood there in shock, his ears ringing with the sound of the ball hitting the ground. A few feet away from him was Shoyo, bouncing up and down in elatement. It looked like he was screaming and laughing, his beaming smile was then aimed at Shin.

"That was so awesome! We should do it again!" Shoyo cackled at his spot.

Shin was suddenly snapped out of his frozen state. What was that? He swore Shoyo was just in front of him a moment ago, not full out running to spike the ball that he tossed.

He stared at his palms. The sound of the ball connecting still vividly replayed in his mind. That was amazing. It has been a while since he felt this kind of rush.

"Shin? You okay?" Shoyo was now closer to him as he examined something in his face.

Shin grinned at Shoyo, "Yeah, let's do that again," the redhead must have seen something in his eyes that made him grin back and cheer loudly.

Getting back into position, Shin breathed in and out. The surrounding that once was filled with nighttime noises was suddenly silenced, and all he could hear was his steadily beating heart. Shin wasn't lying when he said it has been awhile since he felt like this. He remembers this exact feeling. This anticipation. The utter silence and the rush of blood in his veins, a certain zing in the air that felt like something monumental was going to happen. The last time he felt like that was during the basketball match where the team won the championship for their middle school. The ring was right in front of him, the time was ticking and his shot could make or break their game.

Shin was feeling that exact same thing right now.

He tossed.

And with bated breath he waited.

The ball soared and Shoyo was in mid flight, like a bird in the sky.

His hand was about to connect–

"Nii-chan dinner's ready!"

Natsu slammed the door open and yelled at the top of her lungs.

Shin gasped on air, not even noticing that he was holding his breath. It felt like someone suddenly turned the volume on on a muted movie. 

"Eh?" Shoyo turned his head to Natsu in confusion before he flailed when he dropped, the ball hitting his head instead.  Cricket chirps filled the entire place as what happened started to sink in.

"Natsu you brat!" Shoyo shouted in utter enragement.

Natsu's only reply was a "bleh!" her tongue stuck out and one of her lower eyelids pulled down before she ran away laughing.

Shoyo let out a frustrated noise while he grabbed his hair, "That brat just wait until I get my hands on her. She'll get the noogie of her lifetime."

Shin was still stuck in a bit of trance, so Shoyo just dragged him inside again and led him to the kitchen. On the way there, Shoyo stopped before facing him. His whole face was suddenly lit up in a big grin. It looked like light was emanating from his whole exterior. Light so bright that Shin needed to squint a bit.

"That was so cool Shin! We should totally do that next time! I'm definitely bothering you about tossing to me! The ball just went 'zoom' and I went 'zoom' and then.. and then I was about to hit like 'bam!' and slam like 'whosh' but then Natsu just had to interrupt," his hands were reenacting everything he was saying and his face morphing into a petulant pout when he got to the later part of his sentence.

Shin laughed at his face with an edge of hysteria in there before he ruffled Shoyo's hair, "It's fine. There's always next time. I mean you told me just now that you'll bother me about it. I'm sure we can do that again."

"Really? I won't let you down!" Shoyo cheered and ran into the kitchen and delivered the noogie he promised Natsu. The little girl thrashed in his hold while her older brother didn't let up at all; she resorted to bringing in the big guns.

"Kaa-san! Nii-chan's bullying me!"

Shoyo squawked in offense, which Natsu used to her advantage to headbutt his chin. Shoyo squawked again, but this time in pain. He clutched his chin tearfully, "You brat!"

Natsu laughed and made faces as she hid behind her mother's leg who just entered the room with an unimpressed look on her face.

"I can't believe you two, is this how you act in front of a guest? I'm terribly sorry Shin-kun, they're usually much more behaved than this." She pinched both of the siblings cheeks and the two grimaced.

"Oh no, It's fine Mrs. Hinata. I also have a younger sibling actually, and it's quite fun to see how other siblings interact with each other."

"Oh is that so, are they here in Japan with you?"

"Oh no, he's staying with my parents back in America."

"That's a shame, I would have liked to meet him and your parents," She placed a thoughtful hand on her cheek.

"Well, there is always my nana. You can meet each other anytime, and I'm sure she'll be glad to meet you."

"Of course, but now that's settled how about we eat dinner now hmm? And I hope that this time both Nat-chan and Sho-chan will behave?" She turned her face at her children who both shivered under the disappointed look thrown their way.

"Y-yes."

Mothers sure are scary, Shin concluded as his thoughts went to his own mother. It's been awhile since he's skyped his parents. He probably should do that tomorrow.

The Hinata family plus Shin sat at the modest dining table and chatted away between them. Dinner was a peaceful and fun affair. Shin got to hear all the embarrassing stories of Shoyo's childhood. One in particular was his favorite. It had a lot of glue involved and socks were harmed in the process.

They finished and were putting the dishes away.

"Here let me do it Mrs. Hinata. It's the least that I could do as thanks for welcoming me in your home and for the delicious dinner you've cooked for us," Shin carefully took the dirty dishes off her hands.

"Oh my, thank you dear. How about you help him Sho-chan"

"Okay, come on Shin, sink's this way."

Yes, but how come he's ended up in this situation?

"Do you feel pretty yet Mr. Prince?" Natsu– I mean Lady Frost asked as she painfully dabbed make-up on his eyelids. The make-up kit she was using were those typical made for kids placed in a gaudy bright-pink plastic case. It could be folded to keep everything inside. Everything in the kit was so little and included too much glitter for comfort.

"Yup, super pretty," Shin faked a bright smile on his face while sending looks over her shoulder to Shoyo for help.

The redhead was no help at all. He was at the far corner trying to hide from his sister's eyesight, laughing his heart away.

After washing dishes, Shoyo's little sister somehow managed to convince them to play with her. Shin was totally left floundering on the onslaught of a tiny Shoyo while the said boy was maneuvering her like it was an art form. And now, Shin has his hair in disarray with all kinds of hair clips and hair accessories and a nine year old poking at his face.

"Tadah! Here, what do you think?" Natsu handed me a small mirror.

His face was powder white and cheeks so red that he looked like he'd been freshly slapped. His eyes had been smeared by what looks like to be blue and purple trying to imitate a smoky look but ended up looking like a back eye; the lips though, they weren't quite bad.

"Hmm, not bad little Hinata. Give it a few more years and you'll be an expert," Shin praised her and rubbed her hair.

"Yay! You mean that? So you'll be my practice partner? I need you to sign this contract right here and I told you before, call me Lady Frost. It's my stage name."

Shin grimaced, "Um yes sorry, Lady Frost. I...er...as for the practice partner part...maybe not all the time. And no I am not signing that contract–where did you even get that? But maybe your brother will be up to take that job." Shin smiled at Shoyo who shivered head to toe. 

Oh yes, sweet sweet revenge.

Natsu squealed and turned to her brother, "This is a lifetime contract nii-chan! It's for forever!"

"Hey, I never agreed to anything!"

"Yes you did! I have your fingerprint right here, see?"

"Wah– when did you get that?" Shoyo looked at his inked thumb while Natsu cackled in glee before she took off to her room.

"Get back her Natsu! Give me that thing!"

"Never!"

"Kids, stop yelling inside the house!"

Shin merely smiled and laid down on the floor.

"Well, that was a productive evening."

Chapter Text

The room was crowded with students, teachers and parents alike. The air was a bit humid as the sun’s rays beamed through the top windows. Other than the voice of the speaker on top of the stage, the gym was otherwise engulfed in silence as students did their best to keep their attention intact. Albeit the bright setting, most students were yawning and drowsy by the early wake up.

Today was the faithful day, the entrance ceremony for the first years and symbolizes the start of the new school year. Some students were still hung up about their break, wishing to go back under their covers and snuggle back in Morpheus's embrace. 

Hikaru, a second year student, yawned discreetly as she tried to stay awake. The vice principal was doing his yearly long drawn out speeches again. It was the same for every event that needed his sermon. It always took too long and left student’s more listless than not. She doesn’t know how he doesn’t get tired of it. She sure was. Her feet were silently aching from all the standing they’ve been doing during the whole formality.

Forgoing on trying to retain whatever soliloquies their vice principal was spouting up front, Hikaru instead turned her attention towards the upcoming students. She squinted her eyes and tried to access each and everyone that she could see. It seemed like there were a bunch of attractive new students this year. 

Her nose twitched, feeling both a little annoyed and ecstatic. Whatever in the world did these younger students drink to achieve whatever attractiveness they carried? Hasn’t puberty already clutched on them like leeches yet? Clearly it had as some first years were already as tall as steeples and some were looking to be on their way. Hikaru herself had one older brother and one little brother. Her little brother is still in middle school, but is already growing like a weed and has outgrown all of his new shirts that their mom bought the year before.

One first year in particular caught her attention. If it had not been for her hand that stifled her gasp, Hikaru would for sure have said what her mind exclaimed.

A real life ikemen! 

Her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the boy’s entire appearance. He was one of the tallest of the bunch, easily towering over his peers. Atop his head were rich ebony-black hair that were meticulously styled– or that was what she assumed, as no hair would look that good naturally carrying that wild sort of way. It was a bit wavy and some strands coiled around his face, framing it nicely. His complexion was as fair as a porcelain doll’s. From where she was standing she could spot some features of his– from his slightly deep-set  eyes and straight, tall nose, that suggested that he was biracial, which though not uncommon in Japan, was still seen somewhat of an oddity in more rural places like miyagi. 

Her staring might have set off the student as he turned his way toward her direction. Startled, Hikaru drew her gaze back up front, but not before she noticed how the boy’s eyes squinted and his eyebrows drawn together, a frown marrying his handsome face. If looks could kill, she would have been dead by now.

Slightly blushing, Hikaru took out her phone glancing left and right and front before she slowly lowered it in an angle not too visible. She noticed that her friend, Ema, had already sent her a text a few minutes before.

Ema: Why are the first years so attractive? 

Hikaru: I know right?

Hikaru: One student near the front is so good looking though. His frown is killer but it totally doesn’t take away from his attractiveness.

…

Hikaru saw a speech bubble pop up. Though, honestly speaking some people might say that his angry look could add more to striking looks. He could pass as a model, she thought and resigned herself back into facing the stage where the vice principal was yet to finish— even the student council president was looking a bit antsy at the side, checking her watch every now and then.

Hikaru sighed, what a tiresome start of the year.

“-have you played this new game–”

“-hell no, it’s too expensive dude–”

“-I hear that there’s a really pretty sempai in this school–”

“-my sister is an upperclassman maybe she knows her–”

“-do you think the exams will be hard–”

“-stop talking about exams, please–”

Class 1-5 was filled with a cacophony of noises— rowdy boys laughing loudly at one another, girls swarming together gossiping while some just remained in their seats doing their own thing. A buzz of noise. Students mingled with each other, finding friends from middle school while others tried to make friends with unfamiliar faces. 

A typical scene for newly minted high schoolers; some were excited by the new prospect of a new school, ready to take the year on while some bemoaned the time that slipped right through their fingers.

Their adviser, a nice but no-nonsense looking woman, guided them towards their classroom the minute the entrance ceremony ended, her eyes often trailed to her watch. Once they were all inside, she then promptly stormed out of the room after a hasty farewell saying, “Class, I am currently needed at the principal’s office please do behave and stay out of trouble while I am gone.”

It has now been exactly 5 minutes since she was gone. Once the students saw that she was no longer in sight the pandemonium started.

“Hey hey, have you guys heard about the really good looking freshman this year? Some seniors were gossiping about it a while ago. What class do you think he’s in?” A girl said, her dark auburn hair shined ablaze when sunlight was directed to it. Her hips were partially saddled on another person’s desk.

“I can’t believe you’ve already sunk your claws in the gossiping scene. We just got here!” The girl sitting on the desk the former was leaning on rolled her eyes, both amused and irritated with her sister. She has always been like this, from the tender age of 8 she had been slinking around covert areas trying to listen in to the adults discussing when their parents had guests over.

“Oh come on Miko, aren’t you curious too? We’re supposed to be twins, you know, there’s got to be a nagging feeling in there that wants to know the latest gossip to be spilled.” 

“Not even a little bit, Aiko,” Miko sighed, shoving her face into the crook of her arms and decided to rather catch some z's before their teacher arrived than hearing Aiko talk and talk and talk about this and that.

Aiko pouted petulantly. Honestly, why can’t her twin be a little fun sometimes. She’s such a party pooper, she thought before hopping towards another desk.

“Michiko, Miko’s being mean to me again,” Aiko flopped dramatically on another girl who squeaked in surprise, her phone almost falling down on the floor and her head phones clattering on her desk as they were unceremoniously brought down by the weight.

“Stop doing that Aiko, geez you’re going to give me an early death,” Michiko grubled but adjusted so both of them could stay in the position without much discomfort.

“Look at this cat video I found though,” Michiko handed Aiko her phone.

“Awww, how cute!”

At the other side of the classroom a group of male students were also having their own discussions.

“Look Kenzo, my man, my dude, my homie, you really need to confess sooner or later. I mean, you both like each other,” A boy with messy brown hair draped his arm on another boy with short, cropped black hair. He was finally fed up by all the dancing around his friend has been doing with this particular girl they’ve known since middle school.

Kenzo grimaced, “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me like that, Minato. I mean, look at her, she’s perfect…,” he trailed off into a trance as he stared at another girl across the room. That girl was in fact the girl he has been crushing on since middle school.

Minato exchanged suffering looks with two other boys in their circle; one having straight black hair and one with light blond hair, named Hotaru and Hoshi respectively. 

Hotaru just shook his head in dismay, slumping back into his chair while Hoshi sighed in defeat, another failed attempt in making their friend man up it looks like. They loved Kenzo, they really did, he was their friend, but could he just be a tiny bit more self aware and a little bit braver? The guy could bat a ball moving at breakneck speed and face it head on, but confessing to a girl on the other hand? Better try your luck on another guy.

Both Kenzo and Hanako seem to be aware of their own feelings, but only theirs alone unfortunately. 

For two years, Minato, Hotaru and Hoshi have been subjected to the two’s pussyfooting and honestly, they were tired of it. Imagine having to put up with your friend mooning over and complaining how nothing was going to happen about his ‘one-sided crush ’ on the same girl who stares at him all throughout the day. Could he be more blind? Was this a shoujo anime of some kind? Were those two the main characters and were they the long suffering side characters? Were the thoughts swirling in Minato’s head.

The three friends came to the same conclusion as they stared at each other— no way was this tension going to be resolved any day soon. Minato cried inside while he softly whimpered, Hotaru groaned in pain while Hoshi thumped his head on his desk repeatedly.

“Are you guys alright?” Came Kenzo’s worried voice. He seemed to have finally snapped out of his former trance like state.

The three other males groaned in unison, they’ve signed themselves up for an early death it seems like; what a year it’ll be.

“Fuck! Shit! This motherfucking bitch they better hope that I won't catch them or I'll shove this motherfucking pole up their ass till it sprouts out their mouth! I worked so hard to get that item and they’ll just swoop in and snatch all the fucking rewards? Fuckin’ bullshit!” A boy no taller than Yachi, cursed in increasing volume. The way his fingers nimbly tapped on his phone looked hypnotic.

Closing her eyes, Yachi cried inside in agony. The boy continued to spout words that have no right to be exiting a 15 year-old’s mouth. It really ought to be censored.

Dead-eyed, Yachi tried to scoot her seat a tiny bit farther away from the short boy, though there really isn’t much space to go from as she was placed next to the windows. 

During her struggle, she ended up glancing behind her in hopes of asking that person to help her or much better, exchange seats with. Assuming– praying was a closer word really– that it was a nice and friendly looking guy, her sights were instead bared to see a guy knocked out cold in his seat. His hair was long and bleached and had red streaks at the sides. His eyes were closed and the lower half of his face was covered with a face mask. She had spied a bunch of punctured holes on the other student’s ears and she was sure they were from piercings. Yachi’s eyes widened and she fearfully turned her head back in front and decided to ask help from the person in front of her.

Her eyes only bugged out more and her face showed horror when her eyes saw the gigantic lady in front of her. She had cropped hair— well it looked like that was what they were trying to achieve but failed as more than one stand was unusually longer than the others, and one of her legs was up on the desk making her skirt hike up. Fortunately, she seemed to be wearing rolled up joggers underneath, but she was sitting like she was in her own home and not at all inside a learning institution.

Yachi clutched her head in panic, as she spiraled. She was certain that if someone was actively looking at her she could be compared to a famous painting titled the scream; she certainly did feel like screaming at the moment.

Oh no , she was surrounded by delinquents that’ll probably eat her alive! She was too young to die and her direct seatmate was a gremlin who cursed like a sailor. She was going to die , she was literally going to die. She hasn’t even finished high school yet! She had too many things she wanted to do. Why oh why was she sandwiched between these three. 

Yachi thumped her head on her desk as she mourned for her brief life on Earth. Goodbye dreams, so long.

All the chatter in the classroom was soon shut down by the abrupt loud slamming of the door.

“That’s enough class. Everyone please go back to your proper seats, so we can continue on with the homeroom. Mr. Atsuyama, please come in and take your seat.” A woman with brown hair pulled back into a bun said as she pushed her glasses up her nose. Her eyes roamed the room as each and every student was quickly doing as ordered, even those who had been sleeping had woken up by the sound of the door. They straightened their backs from the onslaught of her stare, and once she was satisfied she nodded slightly and then faced the black board and started to write something.

“Ah, thank you sensei,” came a sheepish reply just behind the door.

Suddenly everyone's attention turned towards the door. One student even glanced around the room and saw one of the seats was empty. Huh, was he late to arrive? 

A male student walked past the door giving way for the students to get a look at their late(?) classmate. He then paused for a moment to look at everyone in the room searching for his seat while a collective thought went into everyone’s head.

Ah! A really handsome guy just appeared!

But before that, let’s rewind a bit shall we?

A few hours earlier

Shin woke up that day a bit later than planned. He forgot to put an alarm on yesterday night and his clock showed that it was already 6:45 A.M. His bedroom was shrouded in darkness, or it would be if it wasn’t for the light emitted from his alarm. Its red hue painting his dim room with the foreboding color like something horrifying was about to happen. 

Not letting it have a chance he immediately hopped out of his bed and dragged the curtains open while cursing his way into the bathroom. He did his morning routine in a flash. Putting on his gakuran and pulling his bag upwards, Shin skidded down the stairs yelling out, “Nana!”

Ayumi smirked from where she was in the kitchen, “In a tizzy are we? That’s your fault for not setting an alarm up.”

“Nana, why didn’t you wake me up earlier? I could’ve made breakfast for you,” he half grumbled half whined as he trudged into the kitchen.

“You’re in high school now, meaning you need to start being more responsible. I may love you but I won’t baby you, that was your grandma’s job. So you best believe I won’t pass up the opportunity of embarrassing you.”

“You’re so mean. Where does you waking me up early and embarrassing me even correlate?” Shin continued to grumble as he sat on the chair and started digging into the breakfast prepared. The plate had stacks of rice and three uncut tamagoyaki in it along with a bowl of bone broth soup reheated from last night’s dinner. 

“In a lot of ways dear, in a lot of ways. Now hurry up and eat so we’ll have more time when we get there. I’m eager to meet Shoyo-chan’s family.” Ayumi smiled as she sipped her tea.

Shin grumbled some more but did what was asked nonetheless.

Arriving in front of the school, Shin was soon bombarded by two gingers. One particularly smaller than the other.

“Shin!”

“Mr. Prince onii-san!”

They both yelled simultaneously, with matching bright eyes and big grins. 

“Hi guys.”

From a distance, Shin could see his nana and Mrs. Hinata softly conversing with each other. Wait–were those pictures? Why would they be exchanging pictures? 

“Hey Shin, let's go before we’ll be late for the session. Natsu, stay with mom. You guys will probably sit in another section,” Shoyo shooed his sister as he started pulling the taller teen with him.

“Eh? But I also want to sit next to prince onii-san!” The little girl complained.

“Bye Natsu!” Shoyo made a quick escape before the situation escalated, pulling along a confused Shin with him. Shin really doesn’t know how Shoyo does it, escaping those arguments and situations that’ll probably eventually end up with a fight or tantrum so quick and efficiently like a ninja. Maybe it was because Shin spent most of his existence as an only child and only recently has he acquired a little sibling. With time, maybe he too would be as good as Shoyo in handling those situations.

“Do you still remember how the ceremony goes?” Shoyo asked curiously when they were finally far enough.

“Well, it has been a while since I’ve participated in an entrance ceremony so my memory is pretty hazy, but I’m sure I'll manage. I still have you if all things fail.”

Shoyo cackled proudly, his nose turned up and his chest puffed out, “Of course I do! Just rely on me Shin,” and sent him two thumbs up. Shin in return chuckled at his gestures.

Shin was ready to bash his head into a wall. 

The vice president’s speech was getting too long and he was at his patient's limits. He has drowned out what the older man has been saying ages ago and was theorizing with Shoyo if the vice president’s hair was fake or not. (It totally was— Shin could see the shade difference from the hair on top of his head and the one behind.)

Slightly manipulating the ginger, Shin managed to snatch a bet between them on the subject. And now Shin just needed to wait until he’s won.

He couldn’t wait for this to end.

After the ceremony,  Shin and Shoyo parted ways. Both of them were in different classes and besides, Shin also needed to visit the principal’s office with his nana to talk about some technical things about his school papers.

Finalizing his papers was surprisingly easy and was swiftly handled. Most of the talking was done by his nana while he stood there beside her and answered some of the questions thrown his way. 

Then a knock sounded behind the door.

“Oh yes, please come in Ms. Nakamura,” the principal said.

A woman looking to be in her late 20’s to early 30’s entered the room. She looked prim and proper, from her white blouse under her russet blazer and matching pencil skirt. Her shoes, black and shiny, clicked and clacked with every step she made.

“Good morning principal, I came right away. Is this our student?” She turned to me with a smile.

“Ah yes, this is Atsuyama Shin and his guardian Atsuyama Ayumi. Atsuyama-san, this is your homeroom adviser, Ms. Nakamura Yui,” the principal drawled while he looked over some papers.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Ms. Nakmura greeted both Atsuyamas, which they also returned.

“The pleasure’s all our Nakamura sensei. I’ll be leaving my wayward grandson in your care for the time being,” Ayumi smiled at the younger woman in front of her.

“Nana!” Shin whined as a red tinge climbed up his ears.

“Oh hush child. You better be on your best behavior okay? Don’t do anything I would do,” Ayumi smiled at him as she fixed his collar.

“No promises,” Shin grinned down at her and received a soft thumping to the head.

“Come right this way. All your other classmates have already arrived together after the ceremony so hopefully this won’t affect anything socially with your classmates.” Nakamura sensei chattered well-meaningly.

“I hope not, but I think I’ll do just fine sensei.” Shin replied with a smile.

They arrived in front of a classroom, the sign 1-5 hanging above it. The noise inside could be heard from where the pair stood.

“Well here we are. It seems like the students are socializing with each other. I’ll go in first and call you to come in afterwards.”

Shin nodded but jumped a bit when she abruptly pulled the door open.

She strode into the room like she didn’t just scare the living daylights out of her students.

“That’s enough class. Everyone please go back to your proper seats, so we can continue on with the homeroom. Mr. Atsuyama, please come in and take your sit.” Nakamura sensei turned towards the board and started writing something on it with chalk.

“Ah, thank you sensei,” Shin replied and awkwardly stepped into the room. He could feel the eyes on him— which, admittedly, was quite disconcerting but he ignored it either way and started to search for his seat.

Once he found it, he calmly walked towards it. Luckily, the chair was right at the back of the room. He didn't really want to inconvenience anyone with his height. The seat was beside the wall which was also nearest to the second door which Shin totally thought was a steal.

The room continued to be silent even when he already sat down, but was soon back to a softer buzz this time. More of whispers than outright talking. Ms. Nakamura seems like she doesn’t mind much about the noise, but the students kept it well under limits so all was good.

Shin turned to his seatmate, a smaller teen who had soft looking brown hair and a smattering of freckles on his face. His eyebrows were downturned making him look particularly meek with his brown palette.

“Hi, I’m Atsuyama Shin. It’s nice to meet you,” Shin smiled at the boy.

“H-hi, um, I’m Takahashi Eiji, nice to meet you too.” The boy answered quietly.

“I’ll be in your care this year, thanks.”

“Me too,” he answered, clearly a bit flustered. Shin's smile broadened, cute he thought.

“Hello class, good morning! My name is Nakamura Yui. You can refer to me as Nakamura sensei or Ms. Nakamura, and I will be your adviser. This will be your class for the entire year and we will all be seeing each other everyday for all three semesters, so I hope we’ll all get along. Let’s start the roll call shall we?”

His eyebrows won’t stop twitching. 

Shin groaned inside his head, shoving his face in the crook of his elbow. Shin had gotten used to being stared at and he can usually ignore it, but there is so much staring and side glances I guy can take.

They were at their final stretch of the morning before lunch. Their Japanese literature teacher, Takeda sensei, was wrapping up his explanation for what was expected to be tackled this school year.

Shin bounced his leg up and down glancing time and time again towards the clock just above the blackboards. He was ticking down the seconds when the bell finally rang. 

Freedom at last!

“That’ll be all for this morning class! You guys can now take your lunch break.” Takeda sensei collected his things and exited the room after a final wave.

—Aaaand he’s gone!

Shin pushed back his chair and booked it out of there without another word. By the time he found Shoyo’s classroom he was sweating a bit from the heat.

Other students were already rowdy and slowly trickling out their classrooms. Shin stood in front of the backdoor to class 1-1’s room. 

Brushing his hair back Shin searched the room for a familiar redhead. When he spotted the unmistakable teen, Shin grinned and called out, “Shoyo!”

The redhead turned to face him who first looked confused but then had a beaming smile on his face. He ran up to him, “Shin!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Do you wanna have lunch with me? I’ll pay.”

“Sure. I’m not rejecting free food,” Shoyo grinned as he grabbed Shin’s arm and pulled him out and to the cafeteria they went, not even noticing— or not paying attention in both Shin and Shoyo’s case, to the eyes that followed them out.

“How do you know him, Hinata-kun?” Shoyo startled at the sudden pair of hands slamming on his desk. He was in the process of putting his bag on and heading out. First day of class finally ended and he was ready to apply to the volleyball club at that moment.

“Um, know who?” Shoyo looked up at the girl standing in front of his table. Now that he looked around, it seemed like everybody were also tuning into their conversation including even Acchan.

“That handsome tall guy that visited at lunch time.” The girl squinted her eyes at him.

“Ah, you mean Shin!” Shoyo beamed at her, “I’m friends with him. Why?”

“So his name is Shin huh,” The girl muttered to herself before turning again to Shoyo, “Do you know if he has a girlfriend?”

“Shin? Well, he never really told me but I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t have one. Why?” Shoyo tilted his head in confusion as he saw the girl's expression brighten along with the other girls in the class when they heard what he said. The guys though looked a tad despondent by the news.

“Thanks Hinata-kun!” The girl brightly said to him before she skipped back to her group of friends who squealed together when she got there.

Weird.

“You’re applying for the volleyball club, right Shoyo?” Acchan asked him as he stood from his desk.

“Oh yeah! Thanks Acchan, remind me later to introduce you to Shin. See yah!” Shoyo blitzed out of the classroom, leaving Acchan to shake his head amused as he pushed his glasses back up.

Same old Shoyo.

Chapter Text

The scent of sweet sugary treats wafted in the kitchen. One sole person stood in front of the oven, one hand on his hip pulling off the blue padded glove on his hand. Shin hummed, once over checking his phone for the time. He shuffled over to a baking tray filled with chocolate chip cookies, which have been resting for some time now. 

Humming a tune under his breath, Shin plucked out a tupperware from the cupboards. Unbeknownst to him, a certain ginger had taken it upon himself to startle the taller boy.

Shin yelped in surprise when a pair of hands started groping his sides.

“I told you that I wasn’t ticklish Shoyo,” with an amused roll of his eyes, Shin continued to pack the fresh batch of cookies.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that— Hey! How’d you know it was me though?” Shoyo pooped out from behind him, his brows furrowing. 

“I don’t know, maybe you’re just short.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Sure it does,” Shin secretly smiled, sealing the tupperware, now full to the brim with baked treats.

“You want some?” He asked the redhead, already grabbing a small paper bag in the cupboards.

“Really? You’ll give me some?” Shoyo’s eyes were practically twinkling, drool slowly trickling down his mouth.

“Ew Sho, don’t drool like that. Gross,” Shin laughed as Shoyo whipped the drool with the back of his hand. “And yeah, I’ll give you some. We’ll probably need to wait for a few minutes more for the new batch to cook.”

“Yes! I’m patient!” Hopping over to the oven and crouching, hands and nose pressing on the glass window.

“Yeah sure,” Shin scoffed, not at all believing that statement. “So, are you still applying for the volleyball team?” Shin checked the things in his bag for whatever was missing and placed the container with the cookies inside.

“Yeah, I applied yesterday.” Shin hummed at Shoyo’s answer.

“What club are you joining Shin?” Shoyo asked in turn, his face finally detaching from the oven.

“Well, there’s many in mind. I could always join the other sports club in school, basketball is always an option. Or I could join the home economics club and maybe the art club.”

“The art club?” Shoyo munched on a cookie of which he somehow snatched when Shin wasn’t looking.

“I’m already familiar with sports and I’m pretty versed with cooking and baking already, I just thought that it would be fun to pick up a new skill. Art sounds pretty cool.” Shin moved to put on his oven mitts to finally get the cookies out of the oven.

“You could always join the volleyball club with me Shin,” Shoyo stared at him with an excited smile on his face.

“I could do that, yes. And in all honesty, I have considered it, but I don’t think I could play it any good without any prior experience at all, y’know?” Shin set the scalding metal pan on the cooling rack.

Shoyo pouted but nodded his head, “I’m not giving up on convincing you to join though.”

“Okay, you do that,” Shin chuckled, eyes lighting up, entertained by his friend’s vigor about the subject.

Shin took the tongs and one by one placed the cookies in the paper bag. After everything was packed and tidy, Shin handed the paper bag to Shoyo.

“Here, you can share it with your classmates if you want.”

“Hehe, you sound like my mom,” Shoyo cheekily commented after taking the package. 

Shin already decked out in his uniform, only needing to remove the frilly apron was ready to go. Conversing about their new teachers, both Shin and Shoyo started heading to the door, but not before Shin kissed his nana’s cheek and said, “We’ll be going now.”

“You boys have fun at school,” Ayumi said in return, her eyeglasses sat perched on his nose and a book at hand.

“See you later, granny Ayumi.” Shoyo also bid.

They arrived at school at 8:10 which was relatively early because classes started at 8:30. 

Shoyo parked his bike in the designated shed while Shin waited for him.

“Shoyo,” a stranger’s voice called out. Shin turned and saw a boy with dark hair swept up. He had glasses and was wearing their uniform.

“Ah, Acchan, good morning!” Shoyo greeted the stranger in exuberance. Shin only looked at the unknown boy with curiosity.

“Come on Shin, I’ll introduce you,” Shoyo grabbed Shin by the arm and pulled him to where Acchan was.

“Acchan, meet Shin. Shin, meet Acchan!” Shoyo introduced both his friends to each other, head snapping back and forth between the two, his invisible tail wagging behind him.

Shin smiled at the display and turned his attention to the other boy— Acchan? Should he also call the boy Acchan? And reached his hand over for a handshake, politely saying, “Hi it’s nice to meet you.”

“O-oh, nice to meet you too,” The other boy hastily shook Shin’s hand, feeling slightly bewildered at the shining boy in front of him.

“Okay class roll call.” Yui-sensei pulled open a log book and a pen, her glasses perched tautly on her nose as her eyes squinted. “Let’s start with the males.”

“Inoue Hotaru”

“Present!” A boy– Hotaru, replied, his hand making a waving motion. With straight black hair swishing softly under the torrent of the fan set next to him. He had bright hazel eyes and long thick lashes that any girl would die to have, which only accentuated his eyes.

“Imamura Hoshi”

“Present ma’am,” He had light blond hair and enchanting black eyes that sparkled under the morning light shining through the classroom windows. His face and neck were littered with moles haphazardly but somehow looked to be placed with aesthetics in mind..

“Abe Minato” 

“Here,”  Minato had a head of messy brown hair with matching brown eyes; a cat-like smile adorned his face while a pair of dimples embedded on his cheeks. His eyes crinkled a tiny bit, carrying a hint of mischief in them as he slouched on his chair lazily.

“Fujioka Kiryu”

“Y-yes?” asked Kiryu, clearly startled as the book he was reading clattered on the floor and his glasses became askew at his haste in trying to save it . He looked at their teacher with wide eyes and looked around him to see his other classmates were also watching him. Like a beetroot, Kiryu steadily became red, trying to hide his face behind his black fringe. He said,  “Sorry sensei,” before he bowed and retrieved his book and proceeded to hide his face there. 

His display only gave way to raised eyebrows and amused smiles from his fellow students while Yui sensei only nodded kindly before returning to the roll call.

“Okay, next Amachi Shiryuu”

“Here sensei,” A voice called out, although spoken so softly, it was not at all quiet. Eyes slanted downward and the slow blinking of them and the serene smile on his face, gave Shiryuu an odd air around him. His hair had an underlying purple tint in them and if one was close enough, they would notice that his brown eyes also had speckles of purple.

“Atsuyama Shin”

“Present sensei,” Shin raised his hand and took out his water bottle from his bag along with his notebook and pens.

“Satou Atsushi”

“Here,” Atsushi's black eyes were bleary as he blinked them open, sleep still clutching on his conscience. His shoulder length hair bleached stark white and strands of red were bothering him. So he pulled out a rubber band to tie it up giving way for the undercut beneath those long tresses to show.

“Kaiyo Jun”

“Present,” A boy with an apparent scowl grinded his teeth as he stared at his phone in anger. It was quite the sight really, because Kaiyo Jun had the appearance of a sweet angel. A mane of curling strawberry blond hair and bright blue eyes, along with his chubby cheeks that seemed to carry a natural blush on them made him look like a cherub not unlike those in renaissance paintings.

Ms. Yui gaved Jun a pointed look and stated, “Be sure to drop your phone in the basket here at the front Mr. Kaiyo. Student’s are not allowed to have phones with them within the school premise, and most especially during classroom hours.”

Jun seemed to have noticed his mistake as he cursed quietly to himself and grumbled all the way up to the front, placing his phone on the basket placed on top of their teacher’s desk before stomping back into his chair.

“Let’s continue shall we? Minami Katsuhito”

“Present ma’am,” Katsuhito had short curtained hair that was parted in the middle. His eyes were shock green and on his face was a pleasant smile.

“Takahashi Eiji”

“Present,'' said the boy sitting next to Shin. Turning to Eiji, Shin started to inspect the boy, catching certain features that he had failed to notice yesterday. Eiji’s eyes carried dark bags under them pertaining to lack of sleep and he was a bit pale that morning, making his freckles more pronounced. His brown hair was flopping sadly on top of his head.

A bit worried, Shin took some of the cookies he packed and discretely passed them to his seatmate who was startled by it guessing from the bewildered looks he was throwing at Shin. Shin only gave a small smile and Eiji returned a grateful one.

“And last for the boys, Matsuno Kenzo”

“Here!” A voice with boundless energy boomed in the classroom as Kenzo gave his teacher a big jolly smile. Ms. Nakamura only raised an eyebrow at him, but her eyes gave away her mirth. Kenzo had the body of an athlete, even his gakuran could not cover his stature. His skin sun kissed, probably from being under the sun too much and his hair, short and spiky black had undercuts at the sides.

“Now starting with the girls, Asano Kamiya”

“Present ma’am” Kamiya had inky black hair that was tied loosely into a side ponytail. Her grey eyes shined with mirth as a polite smile graced her face; really, the girl just radiated politeness in general.

“Hamasaki Aiko”

“Present ma’am! Do you have a boyfriend, Miss Nakamura?” Aiko brightly asked along with a beaming smile, her hand raised enthusiastically up in the air. Her twin sister sitting next to her just face palmed.

“That would be none of your business Ms. Hamasaki. Please stop waving your arms or you will hit someone with it.” Nakamura sensei answered blandly.

“Moving on, Hamasaki Miko”

“Present,” Miko answered, making a total unemotional mask as she howled in pain inside for her embarrassment of a sister. How are they even related? Aiko and Miko were identical twins, but compared to Aiko’s auburn hair Miko’s was more black but hit with the right light, could look blue.

“Ikari Ryuko”

“Here ma’am! I am hoping for a fruitful year with you all!” The girl sitting in front of Yachi exclaimed with a smile, startling the blond behind her in a tizzy. She was a tall girl— she could even be as tall as Shin given a few inches more. Her tall figure cuts an intimidating frame and her loud voice reverberates in the room. 

Shin quietly mused to himself how Ryuko somehow looked like a genderbent Taiga. Does Taiga have a sister that he didn't know about? 

“...yes indeed, I hope for a fruitful year with this class too. Please sit back down Ms. Ikari and please lower your volume next time.”

“Yes ma’am!” Came Ryuko’s loud reply. Nakamura sensei only sighed and shook her head.

“Hitoka Yachi”

“H-Here!” Yachi squeaked behind Ryuko, her face out of view but her raised hand could be seen slightly over Ryuko’s head.

“Aikawa Hanako”

“Present sensei” A girl with brown hair with a portion of it tied behind her with a ribbon answered. Her eyes were bright and the smile on her face sweet, giving off a ‘girl next door’ kind of vibe. A few rows behind, one could see Kenzo sighing with a soft smile unconsciously creeping up on his face. Minato and Hoshi who sat only a few seats away saw this scene and exchanged long-suffering glances with each other. 

“And lastly Kasai Mayu”

The said student raised their hand, preferring not to speak. Mayu’s black hair was cut really short, up to their ears and swept to the side, brown eyes expressively staring at their teacher.

“Alright, everyone is present. Well done class. Now let us proceed with our agenda for today. In today’s homeroom, you will be picking out your class representatives. One for the boys and one for the girls, to help collect paper for the teachers and facilitate your classmates during events. You guys can assign other roles such as a secretary and a treasurer to help with school yearly events— although some teachers would probably refer to them for information from time to time but that would be all. The two representatives will be the ones to mostly be on duty all throughout the year.” Nakamura sensei explained whilst adjusting her glasses.

“But sensei, we haven’t even gotten to know each other yet,” Aiko complained as she laid her whole body on her desk.

“Yes, unfortunately. Homeroom yesterday was supposed to be assigned for you guys to be able to talk and mingle more, for you to get a sense of each other's personalities. Alas the entrance ceremony was longer than planned and took a chunk out of the homeroom time.

“Yeah, because the vice principal couldn’t shut his trap,” Yachi horrifyingly heard her seatmate, Jun, grumble to himself.

“So we must make do with what we have. You have all the time for homeroom to decide, you are free to discuss in groups and know each other, however, please do not go overboard with the noise and be reminded that the deadline will be at the end of homeroom. Am I understood, class?” Nakamura sensei continued.

“Yes sensei!”

“Well, go on then, you may begin. If any of you need me, I will be getting some papers in the teachers’ lounge.”

“Yes sensei.” Then Nakamura sensei proceeded to exit the classroom and head to the teachers’ lounge.

“So…how do we do this exactly?” Aiko decided to start the conversation, because she didn't really think anyone was going to. And because Miko is her sister, she decided to drag her with her, “Do you want to be class rep sis?”

Miko recoiled at the thought. “No,” Miko replied immediately with somewhat of a disdainful and disgusted tone in her voice. Thinking of all the responsibilities on top of the studies she needed to do, plus her kendo club duties top of those two and you want to add being class representative in there? Yeah, it’s a no for her.

Aiko only smiled slyly at her sister. She knew of course that Miko would say no. She was the one who was subjected to her sister’s complaining 90% of the time. But with that conversation alone started to get the ball rolling as everyone is now participating in the conversation— or actively listening for some people’s case.

“Should we separately decide for the boy’s and the girl’s or should we decide collectively instead?” Minato strolled towards the twins, one of his eyebrows raised.

“I think we should probably decide collectively. The ratio of our class’s boys and girls is a bit uneven with only 9 of us while there are 11 of you boys,” Kamiya turned towards Minato, then turned towards the other students in the room, and because her chair was in the right vantage point, she could see everyone at where she sat and vice versa. “But on the other hand, how will we go about it? Being class representative is a bit vague. Some schools choose based on looks and smarts to represent the class.”

“Well, some people really don’t want to be class rep while some are willing or maybe are in between. We should start there and segregate so we don’t force anyone to stand for the position.” Aoi also faced the others in the class and because she was sitting next to Kamiya all the others could see her too.

“That is a good suggestion. Should we also implement the positions for secretary and treasurer for events? Just like Nakamura sensei said?” Kamiya said with a smile on her face.

“I want to be treasurer,” A hand shot up. It was Katsuhito who raised his hand, “And just so we’re clear, within every major event I will be setting a betting pool outside of the teacher’s knowledge and I hope none of you guys will be snitching.” He then started to check his cuticles after dropping that bombshell.

Kamiya gasped, horrified, “Excuse me?” While Katsuhito only gave her a condescending smile. “Class 1-1 will be my main place of operation. I plan to make a business empire when I grow up, and this is where it starts.”

Kenzo only threw his head back, laughing heartily and smacked Katsuhito’s back, “Aren’t you an ambitious fellow?” Katsuhito coughed at the hit, feeling like all the air in his lungs had been punched out by Kenzo’s smack. He glared hatefully at the bigger boy, but Kenzo only smiled brightly in return, “I like you!” Which made Katsuhito’s face crinkled in the absurdity of the statement.

“Well…that was something, but either way we have a treasurer now!” Minato clapped his hand.

Kamiya coughed, trying to regain her composure. She filed what Katsuhito said in her head to be brought up another time she supposed, “Does someone want to object to Katsuhito being our treasurer?”

“Nope”

“Nah”

“Not really”

The other’s in the class agreed so they moved on to the secretary, leaving the two class representatives for the finale. “How about the secretary, does someone want to be the secretary?”

Two hands raised up. Minato and surprisingly Ryuko looked at each other. Because no one really knew each other that much, Kamiya decided to let Minato and Ryuko prepare some type of proof or material that’ll make them viable for the position.

Minato had impeccable handwriting all thanks to the calligraphy classes his parents made him attend as a child. He has always been confident in his notes and he is relatively clean and organized. However, on the organization side of the work, Ryuko totally beats Minato. Although her gruff and rough features and her delinquent-like way of presenting herself,  all or Rhyuko’s things were meticulously labeled and named, materials properly put away in a bit of an obsessive kind of way.

(But maybe it isn’t that surprising as they were class 1-5, which was one of the two college prep classes in Karasuno.)

Unable to decide, Kamiya let the two candidates settle it themselves as they were the only ones that wanted the position anyway. 

At the side Minato and Ryuko were quietly conversing— well, on Minato’s part at least. Ryuko doesn’t really seem to have a good grasp at an indoor voice or have it at all . Nodding to each other, Minato and Ryuko told Kamiya their decision, “She’ll handle the organizing part of the job while I’ll handle the writing part.” And with that finalized, only the two daunting positions remained.

“Does anyone want to be class representative?” Kamiya took to standing in the front of the class by that time so that everyone’s attention was fully on the issue.

“Why not just you for the girls, Asano,” Hoshi drawled a suggestion, a pencil carefully balanced on his nose. Hotaru saw this and flicked the pencil off. Hoshi, affronted by this, lunged at his best friend, both of them crashing on the floor. The class looking at the two wrestling teens in amusement.

“I don’t mind in particular. Is this decision okay for everyone?” Kamiya made sure to look at each and every student in class 1-1 to ensure that they truly were fine with this decision.

“Yeah!”

“Go for it Asano.”

“You look like the responsible type so why not.”

“No objections here at all, class rep!”

“Thank you so much. I am honored to be given this position.” Kamiya smiled happily. “How about for the boys? Is there anyone who wants the position or is willing to take it up?” A curious tilt in her voice let her eyes roam the classroom.

Minato would have been a good choice, but he preferred a much less stressful job than class representative, thank you very much. Hoshi and Hotaru were still not done with their squabble, and Kenzo was too much of a baseball addict to really take the job seriously. Kiryu had his face stuffed in a book, trying his best not to get noticed. Shiryuu was entirely not with them at the time and in his own plane of existence. Atsushi was very much dead to the world, snoring peacefully behind his mask. Jun somehow pulled out another phone from thin air and was back to playing his game. Katsuhito was already their treasurer, a position that he was very happy about. It gave him plenty of excuse to have a lot of cash in hand y’know? Eiji was avoiding total eye contact with their newly minted class representative, mouth stuffed with the tasty cookies Shin gave him. Shin cluelessly smiled back at Kamiya, who squinted her eyes and nodded her head, pleased by what she saw in Shin.

“How about you Atsuyama-kun, do you want to be class rep with me?”

“Huh?” Shin's confused reply.

“Are you against being a class rep with me?”

“Oh no, not at all bu–”

“Well it’s decided then! You’ll be the second class representative.” Kamiya sent him a closed eye smile, something about it made whatever Shin wanted to add halt.

Shin’s voice caught on his throat as his face was filled with shock. He wasn't particularly opposed to the idea but he wasn’t entirely sold either. What was that about not forcing anyone again?!

Everyone clapped, some whopping, truly happy that they were not given the responsibility. Kenzo even gave Shin an enthusiastic shake in the hand, “ Thanks so much for taking one for the team dude!” 

“Er, yeah… you’re welcome…”

That officially closed their homeroom session for the day, just in the nick of time too as there was only a minute left until their next subject was scheduled to start.

Shin sighed internally, thinking he’ll just take this as a new learning experience. Leadership 101 am I right?

“So let me get this straight— the dude that defeated your team in your first and last game in middle school suddenly appeared here in Karasuno? The same guy that you vowed to defeat?” Shin brows raised to his hairlines as he added quietly to himself, “which you also cried about?”

“Yes! Like what the heck even is that?! And I hate that he’s totally really really good at volleyball. The way that he spiked was just like zoom and bam and wahhh!” Shoyo scowled.

“So, if he’s that good, why settle for Karasuno?” Shin mindlessly chewed on the straw of his strawberry milk.

“Get this… he didn’t get in.” 

“Pfftt!” Shin violently spat out the mouthful of milk in his mouth as he heaved, coughing at the sudden laugh that took him out. Shoyo, as the menace that he is, laughed at his struggle. 

“That’s hilarious.” Shin finally coughed out a few painful chuckles.

“I know!” Shoyo continued to cackle.

“But because you two pissed off your soon to be captain, you guys won’t be accepted in the club if you don’t work with this guy– Kageyama was it? And with the Tanaka-dude to win a game against the other two applicants. And the game’s this Saturday?”

Shoyo groaned as if it physically hurt him to be reminded of the happenstance, “It’s all that idiot’s fault! He kept insulting my playing, saying stuff like, ‘you’ll be wasting three years again’ or things like ‘if i had to play with this guy in  match I would rather receive, spike and toss all by myself.’ ” Shoyo pulled down the front of his hair trying to imitate whatever person he was describing.

“Like what the hell is with that?! He pisses me off!”

Shin hummed, shooting the empty carton into a biodegradable bin 3 meters away from them. The carton went in with a satisfying ‘whomp.’ 

“But your captain is right, you know? Squabbles like that during a game can cost you a lot. It has no right to be on the court. The best thing you could do is be civil around each other.”

“I know that, but- he just rubs me the wrong way! The infuriating git!”

“Oh, and I told you that the vice principal’s hair was a wig, now you have to pay up for the bet.” Shin dawned a cheshire grin as he twirled around to face Shoyo who was dragging along his bike at his side.

“Hey, that’s no fair! I knew his hair was a wig and I didn’t even agree on that bet!” Shoyo whined, dragging his feet along.

“Excuses, excuses, my dear little redhead. I hear there’s a store selling meat buns here. Buy me one and I’ll null the bet.” 

Shoyo sighed, “Okay.”

Hot meat buns at hand, Shin took a big bite off of his, now only a measly half was left on the big bun. 

“You guys'll practice tomorrow morning right?” Shin asked mouth open, trying to cool the hot steamed bun in his mouth.

“Yesh,” Shoyo garbled out, his own mouth stuffed with a meat bun, “It’s at 5, so I don’t think I’ll get to walk with you to school tomorrow.”

Shin did not reply, looking at the distance instead. It seems like Shoyo’s going to be busy for quite some time. He should probably also look into those clubs his interested with tomorrow, just to keep him busy while Shoyo does his own things.

“Will you be able to eat breakfast that early in the morning?” Shin asked his friend, with a tilt to his head.

“Yeah, I’ll ask mom to cook extra dinner for a while so I can reheat the leftovers in the morning.” Shoyo crumpled the wrapping paper of his bun and shoved it in his pockets.

“Okay then, how about lunch? Will you be able to pack one?” 

“Hmmm.. the canteen is probably where I’m heading.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll cook lunch for you and bring them to school. I’ll make sure to bring a big batch so you’ll get enough energy to practice lots.” Shin mumbled and nodded to himself. Shoyo stared at Shin so hard that Shin thought his forehead was going to melt off, before the biggest smile took over Shoyo’s face, lighting up the whole place.

“You know Shin, you’re really just like an okaa-san! A mother hen!” 

“Wha-what?! No I’m not!” Shin groused. This was entirely slander, slander on his name.

“Yes you are.” Shoyo sing-songed as he took a seat on his bike.

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“I’m not!

“You are”

“Am not!”

“Is too”

“Not”

“Yes”

Shin growled and pounced at the redhead who laughed and rode his bike away. “You are Shin! Just accept it.”

“Get back here you little shit.” Shin gave chase while Shoyo pedaled faster, getting tinier and tinier in the distance, his laughter still echoed behind him. Shin shook his head, though he sounded annoyed, on his face was a fond smile.