[fic] From Broken Wings {2/2} - part 5
[fic] From Broken Wings {2/2} - part 5
pairing: akame, ryouchi (implied XD)
rating: pg-13
Summary: sequel to Concrete Angel. They always knew they were special to each other, that no matter what drove them apart, they'd always have each other in some way or another, but is there more connecting them than just lifelong friendship? What is the meaning behind these haunting dreams that tore them apart in the first place?
part 1-1 | part 1-2 | part 1-3 | part 1-4 | part 1-5 | part 1-6 |
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part 2-1 | part 2-2 | part 2-3 | part 2-4 |
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Jin wondered why everyone kept staring at him; it had been happening since lunch period ended, but no matter who he asked, he didn’t find out anything useful. Pi had just shrugged and told him he didn’t notice anything strange; Toma had asked him if he was imagining things from ‘being depressed about his inability to ask Kamenashi out on a date’; Ryo had gotten to class late so he couldn't ask Ryo, but Jin thought he saw Ryo sending him strange looks from time to time. The rest of his classmates had just shot him grins and told him not to play dumb.
Confused and bewildered, Jin went to meet Kazuya at his locker, trying to avoid the stares on him as he passed by groups of students.
“Do I have something on my face?” Jin asked as soon as he saw Kazuya.
He got a confused blink in return, and if he wasn’t imagining things, Kazuya was turning a bit red as he spoke in a strained voice, “Why do you say that?”
“Everyone keeps staring at me.” Jin muttered, looking confused, “Did Ryo draw on my forehead while I was napping in class again?” he asked, rubbing his forehead in suspicion.
“Jin,” Kazuya laughed a little, grabbing Jin’s hand, “There’s nothing there.”
“Then why does everyone keep staring at me?” Jin complained in confusion, “And no one will tell me why they’re staring either!”
“Um…I know why,” Kazuya said awkwardly.
Jin perked up, “Really? Why then?”
“Um…let’s um…get started on the walk back to your place first?” Kazuya suggested, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the stares. He wondered why the whole school seemed to be anticipating what had been rumoured would happen; not that he was complaining that he and Jin weren’t ostracized for being linked to each other in a romantic way, but…it was just so unexpected!
“Alright?” Jin said in confusion, following Kazuya. He glanced surreptitiously around, and sighed in frustration, “What’s so interesting to them anyways?” he asked irritably, “It’s getting annoying, and a bit creepy.”
He noticed that certain people’s grins seemed to widen, if possible, at the sight of him and Kazuya walking together. He wondered why.
“Um…” Kazuya laughed nervously, “You see, there’s this…rumour going around school.”
“Rumour?” Jin frowned in confusion.
“Yeah, about you…” Kazuya said hesitantly, “Um…and about me.”
Jin blinked, “But that stuff has been going around for weeks,” he said in confusion, “About what happened with Maeda right?”
Even though weeks had passed, he occasionally still had a random student coming up to him and asking if he really had bashed Maeda’s face into the locker. It had been worse right after he had come back to school and Kazuya was still recovering, since both of them had been away from school with no appearances for the time it had taken for Kazuya to regain consciousness - and even then, Jin had refused to leave Kazuya’s side for a few days afterwards.
“Um…not that,” Kazuya said nervously, “You see…there’s this rumour around…I heard from Koki and Junno that…um…well…”
“What’s wrong? It can’t be that bad can it?” Jin asked, stopping in the middle of the path. He turned to Kazuya, “Are they bad rumours about you? I’ll hurt whoever started them!” he declared vehemently, “That’s why you’re so nervous aren’t you?” he asked in concern.
Kazuya smiled at Jin, “No, I swear, it’s not anything like that. Well, it’s not bad; but…no, actually, it’s good, but…um…I guess it’d be bad if it wasn’t true…” he said, looking up at Jin with nervous fear in his eyes.
Jin felt his heart skip a beat at that look; why did Kazuya have such a look in his eyes? What…
“What….what’re they saying?” he asked fearfully.
Kazuya merely shook his head, “I…” he took a deep breath, “Apparently, you’re planning to ask me something today. Something about…going out…”
Jin felt as though someone had just dropped a ton of lead into his stomach, as his eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened.
He tripped over his own feet in his surprise, and knocked into Kazuya, sending both of them sprawling to the ground, falling to the side of the empty path.
“Sorry!” Jin yelped as he sat up; he had landed sprawled across Kazuya’s legs when they had fallen down the small hillside, “Are you okay? Are your ribs okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?!” he panicked as he leaned over Kazuya, checking to make sure the younger man was alright.
“I’m fine,” Kazuya said with a groan, propping himself up with his elbows and looking up at Jin, “Did you trip on something?” he asked; the fall had been so unexpected and sudden that he hadn’t been quite sure what had happened - only that Jin had crashed into them and sent them off the walking path.
“I…” Jin was keeping himself up with his hand on the grass, “I…”
His hands formed a fist as he looked down at Kazuya, remember what had caused him to trip in the first place, “I…I’m just startled,” he explained.
Kazuya could only nod, but didn’t move from his spot, half-lying, half-sitting, on the ground and looked up at Jin searchingly, “By…the rumour?” he asked hesitantly.
Jin nodded, looking down. He had a handful of grass in his fist and he tried to ignore the irritable feeling in his chest as he looked down at the ground.
Just because of a stupid rumour, a really stupid rumour…
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh, looking at Kazuya hesitantly.
The younger boy sat up completely, looking at Jin warily, “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I…”
How was he supposed to explain it? That somehow, the fact that everyone knew before Kazuya about Jin’s feelings, about what Jin was going to do today, that it somehow seemed to cheapen it? That it seemed to cheapen this moment where Jin had planned to finally tell Kazuya his feelings?
That he didn’t want Kazuya to ever think that it was because of everyone’s pressure and teasing that he had asked him out. That he didn’t ever want to think it was the rumour that pressured Kazuya to accept Jin’s feelings, out of pity, out of consideration, or whatever else. He didn’t want the doubts that would come from that to taint any relationship they had.
“It’s nothing,” Jin said with a forced smile; his fists were still clenched around blades of grass, “It’s nothing. Really. About that rumour…”
But hadn’t Kazuya said that he didn’t think it was a bad thing, that it was only bad if it wasn’t true?
That meant Kazuya liked him at any rate, and that created an euphoria of fluttery feelings in his stomach, and it made him so happy, but…
But it still didn’t change the fact that everyone knew about it.
Still…
He leaned forward, capturing Kazuya’s wrists in his hands as he pressed his lips against the younger boy’s. Kazuya’s eyes widened in surprise, before he relaxed, closing his eyes in contentment as he kissed Jin back. Jin felt a little bit of his heart flutter, right before falling, at that. Kazuya liked him, Kazuya liked him back; how was he supposed to…
He drew away after a few seconds, that seemed much shorter than they actually were, “But…I’m not asking you out right now.” He forced himself to say, watching with a breaking heart as Kazuya got a confused look, then a hurt look, and then there was a look that Jin couldn’t identify that broke his heart even more than the previous looks, “I can’t…not right now, you understand right?” he asked hopefully, knowing that there was no way that Kazuya could understand that.
Kazuya wouldn’t understand, but one day he would.
“I’m sorry,” Kazuya said with an awkward laugh, a forced laugh that tried to hide his pain, “I guess I just assumed things. You didn’t need to kiss me out of pity Jin.” He said, shaking his head, “I would have understood.”
Before Jin could say another word, he got up, brushing invisible dirt off his pants and started up the slope to the path again.
But not before Jin caught a glimpse of Kazuya’s hand wiping at something at his eyes, and he felt his heart fall, breaking into a thousand pieces.
“I’m sorry.” Jin said quietly, but he knew Kazuya heard.
All Kazuya offered was a shake of his head, before he turned around and shot Jin a shaky attempt at a smile, “I’m sorry; let’s just pretend that never happened, okay?”
Jin bit his lip as he hurried to Kazuya’s side.
“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on Kazuya’s shoulder. It was the best he could offer, after deliberately hurting Kazuya and dashing his hopes like that.
“Don’t!” Kazuya flinched, twisting away from his hand, “Just…just don’t.” he said with forced cheer, “Don’t…”
Jin felt like crying, but he knew that he couldn’t explain to Kazuya; they had gone through so much teasing, so much subtle pressure to get together, that when they did get together, he wanted it to be a moment that only Kazuya knew about - not one that the whole school had known about before Kazuya did. It wasn’t fair to Kazuya for that to happen; it wasn’t fair to him, and he’d rather hurt Kazuya now than have him doubt their relationship in the future. He’d rather hurt Kazuya now than have both of them doubt their relationship in the future.
“You know that you’ll always be the most special person to me, right?” Jin asked, moving so that he was in front of Kazuya, blocking the younger man from his determined walk.
Kazuya had his head ducked, shoulders stiffening a little at the words, “I guess that’s all I can ask for right?” he asked, before moving around Jin, “I’m sorry…” he murmured to Jin as he passed, “I guess I just thought…” he shook his head, continuing on his way.
“No, I’m sorry…” Jin said quietly.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…
They walked back together in silence; this time, the silence spoke more for them than words could - the sad, pained, silence that hung over both of them.
* * *
“You what?”
Toma and Yamapi blinked in unison, not quite sure why Ryo was looking so shocked and enraged at them. The two of them exchanged a look.
Meanwhile, sitting next to Ryo on his bed, Uchi slapped a hand to his forehead, “And these are my senpais…” he muttered in exasperation.
Toma looked affronted, “Hey!”
Uchi raised an eyebrow, “I have a right to say mean things to you if you do something stupid. Ryo’s rule.” He added.
Toma shot Ryo a glare, but it had no effect on Ryo.
“We thought it’d push them along,” Yamapi said with a shrug, “I don’t get what you’re so angry about.”
“Next time,” Ryo said sardonically, “You stick with wise relationship advice, and you leave the evil plotting to me. It’s less painful that way.”
Yamapi looked confused.
“Seriously, Pi, you may be really good with giving Jin advice to sort his feelings out, but you suck at evil plots. This being an example. Spreading those rumours around? What do you think will happen?”
Yamapi blinked, “Make Jin realize he has nothing to fear from asking Kamenashi out? Because everyone can already see how they’re good for each other? Make Kamenashi take the initiative if Jin chickens out on asking him, since he’ll know about it?”
“Wrong!” Ryo sighed, “Well, in theory, it could work, but you forgot one thing. Just how important Kamenashi is to that idiot!”
Seeing perplexed expressions, he sighed again, “Hiroki, help me out here.” He muttered.
“Alright,” Uchi said, turning to the two older students, “You’re Jin.” He pointed to Yamapi, and then at Toma, “You’re Kazuya. You’ve known each other all your lives, and grew apart, but no matter how far apart you grew, you held a special place for each other in your hearts.”
“You make it sound like some sappy love story.” Ryo complained.
“You told me to help, so I am, unless you want to explain, Ryo-chan?” Uchi asked. At the silence, he grinned, “Thought so. Anyways, you two have recently begun to grow close again, closer than even before; everyone sees it and is pressuring you, teasing you; one day, you, as Jin,” he said to Yamapi, “Realize how much you feel for him. You, at first, thought that it was because you let everyone’s teasing get to you…but you slowly realize why everyone was teasing in the first place, because it was just so obvious. So you decide to do something about it.”
The two were beginning to understand a little, he could tell.
“You decide to ask him out. But when you do, everyone knows about it. Once again, there’s pressure, and you can’t help thinking: he must have heard the rumour, and then, you think: what if he’s only accepting your feelings because he doesn’t want to hurt you? Or because he feels pressured to? And you can’t help thinking as well…what if one day he thinks that you only asked him out because of the rumour? What would that do to the relationship with the person you treasure so much? You’d do anything for him, and you would never want to risk your relationship with him. So…”
“In the end…I won’t ask him out,” Yamapi whispered, eyes wide, “Because he’s too important to risk my relationship with; I’ll deny the rumour and probably hurt him, but in the end, I want to ask him out on my own terms, where there can’t be any doubts at all.”
“Exactly,” Uchi said triumphantly.
“Maybe you should be the new Pi,” Ryo said approvingly. Then he turned to Yamapi and Toma, “And that’s why I have to do this.”
He promptly smacked them both across the head.
“Ow!”
“Go apologize to Jin! And evil plots are my job, not yours. Stick to being the group’s personal psychiatrist.”
“I…I didn’t mean for that to happen…” Yamapi muttered, looking dejected, “I actually thought I was helping…”
“It sounded good when we thought of it,” Toma defended, but he still looked subdued.
“I know, and Jin might be mad for a little bit, but he’ll understand, but…you still screwed it up,” Ryo said in a surprisingly serious voice, “Some things, he can’t be pressured into doing. I mean, I know I push him to reveal things he tries to deny, but things like this, he can’t be pressured into doing. It just doesn’t turn out well.”
“How did you get so smart - and so good at reading Jin?” Yamapi asked pathetically, looking very much like a kicked puppy.
“I’m Nishikido Ryo,” Ryo said with a smirk, but then he added, “While you’ve been calming him down, I’ve been learning which buttons to push to make him reveal things he doesn’t want to. With my years of riling him up, you’d be an idiot not to learn which buttons not to push.”
He paused, “And Hiroki’s just smarter than you two.” He grinned fondly at his best friend, “Comes from being around me so many years.”
Uchi rolled his eyes and smacked Ryo across the head, “This is why you’re not allowed to be right too much - your ego grows. A lot.”
“Owwww, Hiroki!” Ryo whined.
“Hiroki’s also a good deflator of your ego,” Toma muttered. He sighed and prodded Yamapi, who was lying on his arms, looking sad and depressed, “C’mon, let’s go apologize…we have to do it some time.”
Yamapi nodded as he followed Toma out the door, his shoulders slumped.
“He’s taking it hard,” Uchi said in concern.
“Well, he’s never been wrong about Jin before,” Ryo said with a nod, “And about something so important. He knows that this was really important to Jin.”
“They really were just trying to help.” Uchi murmured.
“I know, and I’m sure, once Jin calms down, he’ll understand too…” Ryo said with a nod.
And that was the question of the day - how would Jin be after such a thing happening? Angry and lashing out…or depressed and hurt?
Uchi could only nod, “You know what, Ryo-chan, sometimes, you actually act your age.” He grinned at Ryo’s embarrassed expression.
“Shut up Hiroki,” Ryo muttered, but he couldn’t hide the slightly pleased expression on his face at the compliment. Uchi just smiled brightly at him.
* * *
Yamapi and Toma returned from Jin’s place, looking a bit better than they had before, but with Pi still very dejected and upset with himself. It didn’t take long for Ryo to get what happened out of the younger boy. Jin had been angry, he had been hurt, and what’s more, he had felt betrayed by the best friend he thought he could trust with that secret, and thus, Yamapi had been on the receiving end of quite a few harsh words. It had ended better than Yamapi had hoped, though, which was the reason the younger man wasn’t a dark storm cloud of depression at the moment - after all, Jin, although furious, was still at least acknowledging Yamapi. It was also worse when it was the silent treatment and getting no acknowledgement at all.
A visit to Jin from Ryo soon followed.
Jin grumbled when he saw Ryo at his door, but let the younger boy in, leading him upstairs to his room so that they could talk. As they did, Ryo saw Kazuya sitting at the kitchen table; the second year waved back with a forced smile, and Ryo knew immediately that things had gone as he had feared and predicted.
“What happened?” Ryo finally asked when he settled down on Jin’s computer chair.
“You heard from Pi already, most likely,” Jin retorted, “He spread that rumour around. Like my personal life was some kind of game he could play around with!”
“Jin....”
“No! I’m right and you know it! It’s not fair! I had finally worked up enough courage and then -” Jin broke off, looking away angrily.
Ryo rolled his eyes with a sigh, “Well, at the moment, Pi is looking like a kicked puppy on my bedroom floor. And you look like someone stole your puppy, so…what happened? I promise I’ll be on my best behaviour and won’t make any mean comments.” At Jin’s disbelieving look, he added, “I promised Hiroki.”
Jin blinked, and then shook his head exasperatedly but had a small smirk on his face, “…I…well, he told me about the rumor going around…” Jin started with a shrug, “And I knew that there was no way I could go through with asking him out after that. But…I kissed him, again. I don’t know why, but I did, and,” he looked frustrated, “Maybe I wanted to be sure that I really did feel that way…and I did…I do…but then I told him that I wasn’t asking him out. And it hurt him. It really hurt him; I can tell from the way he acts now.” Jin bemoaned, looking down.
“Bakanishi…” Ryo sighed, rubbing the sides of his head, “Okay, I get why you did what you did…I really do. But you know, you could have told him why you did it, or not kissed him at all. That only got his hopes up and all that.”
“I know…” Jin muttered, looking depressed, “But…but…I had to be sure.”
“And are you?”
“Yeah…” Jin said quietly, “I am. I definitely am…”
“Then do something about it,” Ryo said, panicking a little because Jin looked like he was going to cry and Ryo definitely did not deal well with crying people, “I know you want to wait for a time when the pressure is off you, but don’t let this drive a wedge between you two. You can’t let him drift apart from you…and that’s what you’re letting him do by letting him stay hurt like that.”
“But…”
“Even if he doesn’t want you to, you should.” Ryo said matter-of-factly.
Jin looked at Ryo shrewdly, “How did you get so smart?”
Ryo looked affronted, “What do you mean, I’ve always been smart! Why does everyone keep asking me that?” he demanded indignantly, before rolling his eyes at Jin’s disbelieving expression, “Fine. It’s probably Hiroki’s fault.” He admitted.
* * *
Taking Ryo’s advice, after the shorter boy left, Jin went in search for Kazuya. There was no one else at home so he simply went in the direction of any sort of noise and found Kazuya in the living room, looking blankly at his textbook in front of him. The younger boy’s shoulders were slouched, a clear sign that he wasn’t really studying.
Jin approached, and Kazuya looked up with a snap of his head. Upon seeing Jin, he forced a smile onto his face.
“Nishikido-senpai went home?” he asked hesitantly.
Jin nodded, sitting on the arm of the couch, “Homework?” he asked questioningly.
“Yeah…” Kazuya said with that same smile, “You know, we always have homework.” He said, trying to make light conversation and not to show Jin how much it hurt to just see him right now.
“Kazuya…” Jin started.
“No, Jin,” Kazuya interrupted, knowing what Jin wanted to talk about, “It’s okay. I understand. Really. You don’t have to keep trying to make me feel better; I know that my feelings aren’t -”
He was cut off when he felt Jin slide into the spot next to him, and Jin’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling Kazuya tightly to him so that he was embracing him from behind.
“You don’t understand, not completely,” Jin whispered, his lips grazing against Kazuya’s ear, “And I don’t blame you, but just…just don’t create a rift between us. I can’t bear to stand by and lose you. You’re important to me, Kazuya, really important. I care about you so much. I…I know it hurts, but please…don’t drift further away; no matter what you think, you will always be the most important person in the world to me.”
Kazuya had stiffened at his touch, before he let himself give in and leaned into Jin’s embrace. He didn’t say anything though; he just stayed in Jin’s arms without trying to move away like he had been doing recently.
“Just wait, Kazuya; one day, I’ll make you happy,” Jin said in a soft voice, tinged with determination, “As long as you wait, just a little bit more, I can make you happy. I know I can.”
Kazuya couldn’t say anything to that; he merely took Jin’s arm holding him so tightly against Jin and gripped it tentatively. From behind, Jin buried his face into Kazuya’s shoulder, and a whisper of, “Thank you,” softly reached Kazuya’s ear and Kazuya could only grip Jin’s arm tighter, trying his best not to cry.
How long would the wait to the promised happiness be? How long was it supposed to hurt before it turned into happiness?
Just keep your promise one day, Jin…please.
* * *
The next few weeks passed slowly; the return to school had garnered disappointed reactions from most of the student body, and Kazuya had been perplexed about it - why did anyone else care if Jin asked him out? And why were the so…accepting?
Koki had answered that question with ease, “Because Kame-chan,” he had said with a grin on his face when Kazuya had asked that question aloud, “No matter what, you’re still the star of the baseball team, and everyone loves you. Akanishi is popular as well, being on the soccer team; when Maeda,” the older boy’s fists clenched at the mention of the bully, “And what happened with him got out, especially about how Akanishi dealt with them…for you, because you were hurt, and how he spent all that time in the hospital waiting for you to wake up, everyone knew that there was something there. Something special.” Then, noticing Kazuya’s expression, he had added, “But I guess it was all just a rumor after all.”
Questionably sane schoolmates aside, Kazuya and Jin had tried to act like they had always done, and for the most part, it worked. The student body still stared and whispered whenever they were together though, no matter how many times they tried to deny that they weren’t together in any way.
However, one thing that was constant and still bothered them were the nightmares. For a while, the nightmares had gone away, and then all of a sudden, they had come back again. Kazuya wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling it was linked to how hard they tried to find out the reason behind them; when he had been actively trying to figure out the truth, he had gotten close to no nightmares, but then…once he had stopped, they had appeared again.
That only strengthened his resolve that they needed to find out the truth.
Also, it distracted him from thinking too much about his feelings regarding Jin and the ache in his heart.
He did his research secretly, knowing Jin wanted nothing to do with what he was doing - the older boy still looked stubborn when the topic of the nightmares were brought up, even though the nightmares were getting more and more frequent, almost nagging.
Kazuya stopped in the hallway when he heard his phone vibrate in his pocket. Answering it, Kazuya stopped in his room - well, the guest room, which was really pretty much his room now anyways - and paused, “Tat-chan?”
“You asked me to get my father to look up some stuff for you,” Tatsuya said, sounding curious, “I’ve just forwarded everything he sent me over to your email.”
“Oh, wait…” Kazuya sat down and opened up his laptop, quickly opening up his email inbox, “I see it. Thanks Tat-chan.”
“Kazuya…” Tatsuya said hesitantly, “Are you alright?”
The older boy had been asking that more often than not lately; after hearing about what had happened with Jin, Tatsuya had felt a bit guilty for pushing Kazuya to realize his feelings, which resulted in the younger boy’s heartbreak at the moment. Kazuya stiffened.
“I’ll be fine,” Kazuya reassured his best friend, “Don’t worry about me. Thanks for doing this Tat-chan; thank your father for me too, will you?”
Tatsuya’s father was an extremely successful lawyer, which was how Tatsuya and Kazuya had met each other; both their fathers worked in the legal field. It was only through the elder Ueda’s connections that Kazuya would have ever been able to find this information - short of asking his father for who his contact had been, but that was out of the question. There was a reason that file had been in the back of the drawer, hidden away from everyone for years.
“Do you need me to drive you?” Tatsuya asked in concern.
“Tat-chan…”
“I know you’re not going to tell me what it is, and if it’s important enough that you have to ask me for help, I know you’re serious about that, but I can drive you, and I won’t ask questions. I’ll just be there if you need anyone.”
Kazuya hesitated, but then the thought of facing that truth alone made him agree, “Are you free right now then?” he asked.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Tatsuya said quickly.
Hanging up, Kazuya took a deep breath as he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. It took much longer to write out the note than he thought, but he knew he had to say something; he couldn’t just completely lie to Jin.
Knocking on Reio’s door, he pushed it open, surprising his childhood friend, who looked up at Kazuya in surprise, before a fleeting look of immense guilt crossed his face. Kazuya knew Reio’s reasons for avoiding him lately, and he knew it would take time - a lot of time - before Reio could face it, so he had been giving Reio that, but…
“I know you don’t want to face me right now,” Kazuya said quickly, “But…but I’m going out to do something, and I need you to give Jin a note for me when he gets back.”
Reio frowned in confusion, but nodded.
“Thanks,” Kazuya flashed a smile, “I’m really grateful to you Reio. I really am.” He wasn’t just talking about the favor just now; Reio had always been so loyal to him, not willing to betray Kazuya’s secrets in any way. That was why he was taking this thing with Maeda so hard - because keeping a secret had resulted in Kazuya’s injuries.
Reio merely blinked and Kazuya turned on his heel to leave.
“Kazuya.”
The call of his name made him turn around.
“I’m sorry.”
Kazuya flashed a reassuring smile at his long-time friend, “I’ve told you before, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It was my choice, and my decision. There was nothing you could have done to stop me.”
Reio nodded, albeit reluctantly and a bit disbelievingly.
A car horn beeping outside made him look up, “Well, Tat-chan’s here to pick me up. I’ll see you later Reio.” He said, waving.
Reio paused as he stared after Kazuya; why did it seem like Kazuya was doing something more than going out with Tatsuya? It seemed like…Kazuya was going off to fight against some horrible monster.
He stood up; it was probably a good idea to give that note to Jin as soon as he could. He had learnt once already that sometimes, Kazuya made choices that would only hurt himself. He wasn’t going to let that happen again.
* * *
----- PART 6 -----
pairing: akame, ryouchi (implied XD)
rating: pg-13
Summary: sequel to Concrete Angel. They always knew they were special to each other, that no matter what drove them apart, they'd always have each other in some way or another, but is there more connecting them than just lifelong friendship? What is the meaning behind these haunting dreams that tore them apart in the first place?
part 1-1 | part 1-2 | part 1-3 | part 1-4 | part 1-5 | part 1-6 |
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part 2-1 | part 2-2 | part 2-3 | part 2-4 |
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Jin wondered why everyone kept staring at him; it had been happening since lunch period ended, but no matter who he asked, he didn’t find out anything useful. Pi had just shrugged and told him he didn’t notice anything strange; Toma had asked him if he was imagining things from ‘being depressed about his inability to ask Kamenashi out on a date’; Ryo had gotten to class late so he couldn't ask Ryo, but Jin thought he saw Ryo sending him strange looks from time to time. The rest of his classmates had just shot him grins and told him not to play dumb.
Confused and bewildered, Jin went to meet Kazuya at his locker, trying to avoid the stares on him as he passed by groups of students.
“Do I have something on my face?” Jin asked as soon as he saw Kazuya.
He got a confused blink in return, and if he wasn’t imagining things, Kazuya was turning a bit red as he spoke in a strained voice, “Why do you say that?”
“Everyone keeps staring at me.” Jin muttered, looking confused, “Did Ryo draw on my forehead while I was napping in class again?” he asked, rubbing his forehead in suspicion.
“Jin,” Kazuya laughed a little, grabbing Jin’s hand, “There’s nothing there.”
“Then why does everyone keep staring at me?” Jin complained in confusion, “And no one will tell me why they’re staring either!”
“Um…I know why,” Kazuya said awkwardly.
Jin perked up, “Really? Why then?”
“Um…let’s um…get started on the walk back to your place first?” Kazuya suggested, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the stares. He wondered why the whole school seemed to be anticipating what had been rumoured would happen; not that he was complaining that he and Jin weren’t ostracized for being linked to each other in a romantic way, but…it was just so unexpected!
“Alright?” Jin said in confusion, following Kazuya. He glanced surreptitiously around, and sighed in frustration, “What’s so interesting to them anyways?” he asked irritably, “It’s getting annoying, and a bit creepy.”
He noticed that certain people’s grins seemed to widen, if possible, at the sight of him and Kazuya walking together. He wondered why.
“Um…” Kazuya laughed nervously, “You see, there’s this…rumour going around school.”
“Rumour?” Jin frowned in confusion.
“Yeah, about you…” Kazuya said hesitantly, “Um…and about me.”
Jin blinked, “But that stuff has been going around for weeks,” he said in confusion, “About what happened with Maeda right?”
Even though weeks had passed, he occasionally still had a random student coming up to him and asking if he really had bashed Maeda’s face into the locker. It had been worse right after he had come back to school and Kazuya was still recovering, since both of them had been away from school with no appearances for the time it had taken for Kazuya to regain consciousness - and even then, Jin had refused to leave Kazuya’s side for a few days afterwards.
“Um…not that,” Kazuya said nervously, “You see…there’s this rumour around…I heard from Koki and Junno that…um…well…”
“What’s wrong? It can’t be that bad can it?” Jin asked, stopping in the middle of the path. He turned to Kazuya, “Are they bad rumours about you? I’ll hurt whoever started them!” he declared vehemently, “That’s why you’re so nervous aren’t you?” he asked in concern.
Kazuya smiled at Jin, “No, I swear, it’s not anything like that. Well, it’s not bad; but…no, actually, it’s good, but…um…I guess it’d be bad if it wasn’t true…” he said, looking up at Jin with nervous fear in his eyes.
Jin felt his heart skip a beat at that look; why did Kazuya have such a look in his eyes? What…
“What….what’re they saying?” he asked fearfully.
Kazuya merely shook his head, “I…” he took a deep breath, “Apparently, you’re planning to ask me something today. Something about…going out…”
Jin felt as though someone had just dropped a ton of lead into his stomach, as his eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened.
He tripped over his own feet in his surprise, and knocked into Kazuya, sending both of them sprawling to the ground, falling to the side of the empty path.
“Sorry!” Jin yelped as he sat up; he had landed sprawled across Kazuya’s legs when they had fallen down the small hillside, “Are you okay? Are your ribs okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?!” he panicked as he leaned over Kazuya, checking to make sure the younger man was alright.
“I’m fine,” Kazuya said with a groan, propping himself up with his elbows and looking up at Jin, “Did you trip on something?” he asked; the fall had been so unexpected and sudden that he hadn’t been quite sure what had happened - only that Jin had crashed into them and sent them off the walking path.
“I…” Jin was keeping himself up with his hand on the grass, “I…”
His hands formed a fist as he looked down at Kazuya, remember what had caused him to trip in the first place, “I…I’m just startled,” he explained.
Kazuya could only nod, but didn’t move from his spot, half-lying, half-sitting, on the ground and looked up at Jin searchingly, “By…the rumour?” he asked hesitantly.
Jin nodded, looking down. He had a handful of grass in his fist and he tried to ignore the irritable feeling in his chest as he looked down at the ground.
Just because of a stupid rumour, a really stupid rumour…
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh, looking at Kazuya hesitantly.
The younger boy sat up completely, looking at Jin warily, “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I…”
How was he supposed to explain it? That somehow, the fact that everyone knew before Kazuya about Jin’s feelings, about what Jin was going to do today, that it somehow seemed to cheapen it? That it seemed to cheapen this moment where Jin had planned to finally tell Kazuya his feelings?
That he didn’t want Kazuya to ever think that it was because of everyone’s pressure and teasing that he had asked him out. That he didn’t ever want to think it was the rumour that pressured Kazuya to accept Jin’s feelings, out of pity, out of consideration, or whatever else. He didn’t want the doubts that would come from that to taint any relationship they had.
“It’s nothing,” Jin said with a forced smile; his fists were still clenched around blades of grass, “It’s nothing. Really. About that rumour…”
But hadn’t Kazuya said that he didn’t think it was a bad thing, that it was only bad if it wasn’t true?
That meant Kazuya liked him at any rate, and that created an euphoria of fluttery feelings in his stomach, and it made him so happy, but…
But it still didn’t change the fact that everyone knew about it.
Still…
He leaned forward, capturing Kazuya’s wrists in his hands as he pressed his lips against the younger boy’s. Kazuya’s eyes widened in surprise, before he relaxed, closing his eyes in contentment as he kissed Jin back. Jin felt a little bit of his heart flutter, right before falling, at that. Kazuya liked him, Kazuya liked him back; how was he supposed to…
He drew away after a few seconds, that seemed much shorter than they actually were, “But…I’m not asking you out right now.” He forced himself to say, watching with a breaking heart as Kazuya got a confused look, then a hurt look, and then there was a look that Jin couldn’t identify that broke his heart even more than the previous looks, “I can’t…not right now, you understand right?” he asked hopefully, knowing that there was no way that Kazuya could understand that.
Kazuya wouldn’t understand, but one day he would.
“I’m sorry,” Kazuya said with an awkward laugh, a forced laugh that tried to hide his pain, “I guess I just assumed things. You didn’t need to kiss me out of pity Jin.” He said, shaking his head, “I would have understood.”
Before Jin could say another word, he got up, brushing invisible dirt off his pants and started up the slope to the path again.
But not before Jin caught a glimpse of Kazuya’s hand wiping at something at his eyes, and he felt his heart fall, breaking into a thousand pieces.
“I’m sorry.” Jin said quietly, but he knew Kazuya heard.
All Kazuya offered was a shake of his head, before he turned around and shot Jin a shaky attempt at a smile, “I’m sorry; let’s just pretend that never happened, okay?”
Jin bit his lip as he hurried to Kazuya’s side.
“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on Kazuya’s shoulder. It was the best he could offer, after deliberately hurting Kazuya and dashing his hopes like that.
“Don’t!” Kazuya flinched, twisting away from his hand, “Just…just don’t.” he said with forced cheer, “Don’t…”
Jin felt like crying, but he knew that he couldn’t explain to Kazuya; they had gone through so much teasing, so much subtle pressure to get together, that when they did get together, he wanted it to be a moment that only Kazuya knew about - not one that the whole school had known about before Kazuya did. It wasn’t fair to Kazuya for that to happen; it wasn’t fair to him, and he’d rather hurt Kazuya now than have him doubt their relationship in the future. He’d rather hurt Kazuya now than have both of them doubt their relationship in the future.
“You know that you’ll always be the most special person to me, right?” Jin asked, moving so that he was in front of Kazuya, blocking the younger man from his determined walk.
Kazuya had his head ducked, shoulders stiffening a little at the words, “I guess that’s all I can ask for right?” he asked, before moving around Jin, “I’m sorry…” he murmured to Jin as he passed, “I guess I just thought…” he shook his head, continuing on his way.
“No, I’m sorry…” Jin said quietly.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…
They walked back together in silence; this time, the silence spoke more for them than words could - the sad, pained, silence that hung over both of them.
* * *
“You what?”
Toma and Yamapi blinked in unison, not quite sure why Ryo was looking so shocked and enraged at them. The two of them exchanged a look.
Meanwhile, sitting next to Ryo on his bed, Uchi slapped a hand to his forehead, “And these are my senpais…” he muttered in exasperation.
Toma looked affronted, “Hey!”
Uchi raised an eyebrow, “I have a right to say mean things to you if you do something stupid. Ryo’s rule.” He added.
Toma shot Ryo a glare, but it had no effect on Ryo.
“We thought it’d push them along,” Yamapi said with a shrug, “I don’t get what you’re so angry about.”
“Next time,” Ryo said sardonically, “You stick with wise relationship advice, and you leave the evil plotting to me. It’s less painful that way.”
Yamapi looked confused.
“Seriously, Pi, you may be really good with giving Jin advice to sort his feelings out, but you suck at evil plots. This being an example. Spreading those rumours around? What do you think will happen?”
Yamapi blinked, “Make Jin realize he has nothing to fear from asking Kamenashi out? Because everyone can already see how they’re good for each other? Make Kamenashi take the initiative if Jin chickens out on asking him, since he’ll know about it?”
“Wrong!” Ryo sighed, “Well, in theory, it could work, but you forgot one thing. Just how important Kamenashi is to that idiot!”
Seeing perplexed expressions, he sighed again, “Hiroki, help me out here.” He muttered.
“Alright,” Uchi said, turning to the two older students, “You’re Jin.” He pointed to Yamapi, and then at Toma, “You’re Kazuya. You’ve known each other all your lives, and grew apart, but no matter how far apart you grew, you held a special place for each other in your hearts.”
“You make it sound like some sappy love story.” Ryo complained.
“You told me to help, so I am, unless you want to explain, Ryo-chan?” Uchi asked. At the silence, he grinned, “Thought so. Anyways, you two have recently begun to grow close again, closer than even before; everyone sees it and is pressuring you, teasing you; one day, you, as Jin,” he said to Yamapi, “Realize how much you feel for him. You, at first, thought that it was because you let everyone’s teasing get to you…but you slowly realize why everyone was teasing in the first place, because it was just so obvious. So you decide to do something about it.”
The two were beginning to understand a little, he could tell.
“You decide to ask him out. But when you do, everyone knows about it. Once again, there’s pressure, and you can’t help thinking: he must have heard the rumour, and then, you think: what if he’s only accepting your feelings because he doesn’t want to hurt you? Or because he feels pressured to? And you can’t help thinking as well…what if one day he thinks that you only asked him out because of the rumour? What would that do to the relationship with the person you treasure so much? You’d do anything for him, and you would never want to risk your relationship with him. So…”
“In the end…I won’t ask him out,” Yamapi whispered, eyes wide, “Because he’s too important to risk my relationship with; I’ll deny the rumour and probably hurt him, but in the end, I want to ask him out on my own terms, where there can’t be any doubts at all.”
“Exactly,” Uchi said triumphantly.
“Maybe you should be the new Pi,” Ryo said approvingly. Then he turned to Yamapi and Toma, “And that’s why I have to do this.”
He promptly smacked them both across the head.
“Ow!”
“Go apologize to Jin! And evil plots are my job, not yours. Stick to being the group’s personal psychiatrist.”
“I…I didn’t mean for that to happen…” Yamapi muttered, looking dejected, “I actually thought I was helping…”
“It sounded good when we thought of it,” Toma defended, but he still looked subdued.
“I know, and Jin might be mad for a little bit, but he’ll understand, but…you still screwed it up,” Ryo said in a surprisingly serious voice, “Some things, he can’t be pressured into doing. I mean, I know I push him to reveal things he tries to deny, but things like this, he can’t be pressured into doing. It just doesn’t turn out well.”
“How did you get so smart - and so good at reading Jin?” Yamapi asked pathetically, looking very much like a kicked puppy.
“I’m Nishikido Ryo,” Ryo said with a smirk, but then he added, “While you’ve been calming him down, I’ve been learning which buttons to push to make him reveal things he doesn’t want to. With my years of riling him up, you’d be an idiot not to learn which buttons not to push.”
He paused, “And Hiroki’s just smarter than you two.” He grinned fondly at his best friend, “Comes from being around me so many years.”
Uchi rolled his eyes and smacked Ryo across the head, “This is why you’re not allowed to be right too much - your ego grows. A lot.”
“Owwww, Hiroki!” Ryo whined.
“Hiroki’s also a good deflator of your ego,” Toma muttered. He sighed and prodded Yamapi, who was lying on his arms, looking sad and depressed, “C’mon, let’s go apologize…we have to do it some time.”
Yamapi nodded as he followed Toma out the door, his shoulders slumped.
“He’s taking it hard,” Uchi said in concern.
“Well, he’s never been wrong about Jin before,” Ryo said with a nod, “And about something so important. He knows that this was really important to Jin.”
“They really were just trying to help.” Uchi murmured.
“I know, and I’m sure, once Jin calms down, he’ll understand too…” Ryo said with a nod.
And that was the question of the day - how would Jin be after such a thing happening? Angry and lashing out…or depressed and hurt?
Uchi could only nod, “You know what, Ryo-chan, sometimes, you actually act your age.” He grinned at Ryo’s embarrassed expression.
“Shut up Hiroki,” Ryo muttered, but he couldn’t hide the slightly pleased expression on his face at the compliment. Uchi just smiled brightly at him.
* * *
Yamapi and Toma returned from Jin’s place, looking a bit better than they had before, but with Pi still very dejected and upset with himself. It didn’t take long for Ryo to get what happened out of the younger boy. Jin had been angry, he had been hurt, and what’s more, he had felt betrayed by the best friend he thought he could trust with that secret, and thus, Yamapi had been on the receiving end of quite a few harsh words. It had ended better than Yamapi had hoped, though, which was the reason the younger man wasn’t a dark storm cloud of depression at the moment - after all, Jin, although furious, was still at least acknowledging Yamapi. It was also worse when it was the silent treatment and getting no acknowledgement at all.
A visit to Jin from Ryo soon followed.
Jin grumbled when he saw Ryo at his door, but let the younger boy in, leading him upstairs to his room so that they could talk. As they did, Ryo saw Kazuya sitting at the kitchen table; the second year waved back with a forced smile, and Ryo knew immediately that things had gone as he had feared and predicted.
“What happened?” Ryo finally asked when he settled down on Jin’s computer chair.
“You heard from Pi already, most likely,” Jin retorted, “He spread that rumour around. Like my personal life was some kind of game he could play around with!”
“Jin....”
“No! I’m right and you know it! It’s not fair! I had finally worked up enough courage and then -” Jin broke off, looking away angrily.
Ryo rolled his eyes with a sigh, “Well, at the moment, Pi is looking like a kicked puppy on my bedroom floor. And you look like someone stole your puppy, so…what happened? I promise I’ll be on my best behaviour and won’t make any mean comments.” At Jin’s disbelieving look, he added, “I promised Hiroki.”
Jin blinked, and then shook his head exasperatedly but had a small smirk on his face, “…I…well, he told me about the rumor going around…” Jin started with a shrug, “And I knew that there was no way I could go through with asking him out after that. But…I kissed him, again. I don’t know why, but I did, and,” he looked frustrated, “Maybe I wanted to be sure that I really did feel that way…and I did…I do…but then I told him that I wasn’t asking him out. And it hurt him. It really hurt him; I can tell from the way he acts now.” Jin bemoaned, looking down.
“Bakanishi…” Ryo sighed, rubbing the sides of his head, “Okay, I get why you did what you did…I really do. But you know, you could have told him why you did it, or not kissed him at all. That only got his hopes up and all that.”
“I know…” Jin muttered, looking depressed, “But…but…I had to be sure.”
“And are you?”
“Yeah…” Jin said quietly, “I am. I definitely am…”
“Then do something about it,” Ryo said, panicking a little because Jin looked like he was going to cry and Ryo definitely did not deal well with crying people, “I know you want to wait for a time when the pressure is off you, but don’t let this drive a wedge between you two. You can’t let him drift apart from you…and that’s what you’re letting him do by letting him stay hurt like that.”
“But…”
“Even if he doesn’t want you to, you should.” Ryo said matter-of-factly.
Jin looked at Ryo shrewdly, “How did you get so smart?”
Ryo looked affronted, “What do you mean, I’ve always been smart! Why does everyone keep asking me that?” he demanded indignantly, before rolling his eyes at Jin’s disbelieving expression, “Fine. It’s probably Hiroki’s fault.” He admitted.
* * *
Taking Ryo’s advice, after the shorter boy left, Jin went in search for Kazuya. There was no one else at home so he simply went in the direction of any sort of noise and found Kazuya in the living room, looking blankly at his textbook in front of him. The younger boy’s shoulders were slouched, a clear sign that he wasn’t really studying.
Jin approached, and Kazuya looked up with a snap of his head. Upon seeing Jin, he forced a smile onto his face.
“Nishikido-senpai went home?” he asked hesitantly.
Jin nodded, sitting on the arm of the couch, “Homework?” he asked questioningly.
“Yeah…” Kazuya said with that same smile, “You know, we always have homework.” He said, trying to make light conversation and not to show Jin how much it hurt to just see him right now.
“Kazuya…” Jin started.
“No, Jin,” Kazuya interrupted, knowing what Jin wanted to talk about, “It’s okay. I understand. Really. You don’t have to keep trying to make me feel better; I know that my feelings aren’t -”
He was cut off when he felt Jin slide into the spot next to him, and Jin’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling Kazuya tightly to him so that he was embracing him from behind.
“You don’t understand, not completely,” Jin whispered, his lips grazing against Kazuya’s ear, “And I don’t blame you, but just…just don’t create a rift between us. I can’t bear to stand by and lose you. You’re important to me, Kazuya, really important. I care about you so much. I…I know it hurts, but please…don’t drift further away; no matter what you think, you will always be the most important person in the world to me.”
Kazuya had stiffened at his touch, before he let himself give in and leaned into Jin’s embrace. He didn’t say anything though; he just stayed in Jin’s arms without trying to move away like he had been doing recently.
“Just wait, Kazuya; one day, I’ll make you happy,” Jin said in a soft voice, tinged with determination, “As long as you wait, just a little bit more, I can make you happy. I know I can.”
Kazuya couldn’t say anything to that; he merely took Jin’s arm holding him so tightly against Jin and gripped it tentatively. From behind, Jin buried his face into Kazuya’s shoulder, and a whisper of, “Thank you,” softly reached Kazuya’s ear and Kazuya could only grip Jin’s arm tighter, trying his best not to cry.
How long would the wait to the promised happiness be? How long was it supposed to hurt before it turned into happiness?
Just keep your promise one day, Jin…please.
* * *
The next few weeks passed slowly; the return to school had garnered disappointed reactions from most of the student body, and Kazuya had been perplexed about it - why did anyone else care if Jin asked him out? And why were the so…accepting?
Koki had answered that question with ease, “Because Kame-chan,” he had said with a grin on his face when Kazuya had asked that question aloud, “No matter what, you’re still the star of the baseball team, and everyone loves you. Akanishi is popular as well, being on the soccer team; when Maeda,” the older boy’s fists clenched at the mention of the bully, “And what happened with him got out, especially about how Akanishi dealt with them…for you, because you were hurt, and how he spent all that time in the hospital waiting for you to wake up, everyone knew that there was something there. Something special.” Then, noticing Kazuya’s expression, he had added, “But I guess it was all just a rumor after all.”
Questionably sane schoolmates aside, Kazuya and Jin had tried to act like they had always done, and for the most part, it worked. The student body still stared and whispered whenever they were together though, no matter how many times they tried to deny that they weren’t together in any way.
However, one thing that was constant and still bothered them were the nightmares. For a while, the nightmares had gone away, and then all of a sudden, they had come back again. Kazuya wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling it was linked to how hard they tried to find out the reason behind them; when he had been actively trying to figure out the truth, he had gotten close to no nightmares, but then…once he had stopped, they had appeared again.
That only strengthened his resolve that they needed to find out the truth.
Also, it distracted him from thinking too much about his feelings regarding Jin and the ache in his heart.
He did his research secretly, knowing Jin wanted nothing to do with what he was doing - the older boy still looked stubborn when the topic of the nightmares were brought up, even though the nightmares were getting more and more frequent, almost nagging.
Kazuya stopped in the hallway when he heard his phone vibrate in his pocket. Answering it, Kazuya stopped in his room - well, the guest room, which was really pretty much his room now anyways - and paused, “Tat-chan?”
“You asked me to get my father to look up some stuff for you,” Tatsuya said, sounding curious, “I’ve just forwarded everything he sent me over to your email.”
“Oh, wait…” Kazuya sat down and opened up his laptop, quickly opening up his email inbox, “I see it. Thanks Tat-chan.”
“Kazuya…” Tatsuya said hesitantly, “Are you alright?”
The older boy had been asking that more often than not lately; after hearing about what had happened with Jin, Tatsuya had felt a bit guilty for pushing Kazuya to realize his feelings, which resulted in the younger boy’s heartbreak at the moment. Kazuya stiffened.
“I’ll be fine,” Kazuya reassured his best friend, “Don’t worry about me. Thanks for doing this Tat-chan; thank your father for me too, will you?”
Tatsuya’s father was an extremely successful lawyer, which was how Tatsuya and Kazuya had met each other; both their fathers worked in the legal field. It was only through the elder Ueda’s connections that Kazuya would have ever been able to find this information - short of asking his father for who his contact had been, but that was out of the question. There was a reason that file had been in the back of the drawer, hidden away from everyone for years.
“Do you need me to drive you?” Tatsuya asked in concern.
“Tat-chan…”
“I know you’re not going to tell me what it is, and if it’s important enough that you have to ask me for help, I know you’re serious about that, but I can drive you, and I won’t ask questions. I’ll just be there if you need anyone.”
Kazuya hesitated, but then the thought of facing that truth alone made him agree, “Are you free right now then?” he asked.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Tatsuya said quickly.
Hanging up, Kazuya took a deep breath as he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. It took much longer to write out the note than he thought, but he knew he had to say something; he couldn’t just completely lie to Jin.
Knocking on Reio’s door, he pushed it open, surprising his childhood friend, who looked up at Kazuya in surprise, before a fleeting look of immense guilt crossed his face. Kazuya knew Reio’s reasons for avoiding him lately, and he knew it would take time - a lot of time - before Reio could face it, so he had been giving Reio that, but…
“I know you don’t want to face me right now,” Kazuya said quickly, “But…but I’m going out to do something, and I need you to give Jin a note for me when he gets back.”
Reio frowned in confusion, but nodded.
“Thanks,” Kazuya flashed a smile, “I’m really grateful to you Reio. I really am.” He wasn’t just talking about the favor just now; Reio had always been so loyal to him, not willing to betray Kazuya’s secrets in any way. That was why he was taking this thing with Maeda so hard - because keeping a secret had resulted in Kazuya’s injuries.
Reio merely blinked and Kazuya turned on his heel to leave.
“Kazuya.”
The call of his name made him turn around.
“I’m sorry.”
Kazuya flashed a reassuring smile at his long-time friend, “I’ve told you before, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It was my choice, and my decision. There was nothing you could have done to stop me.”
Reio nodded, albeit reluctantly and a bit disbelievingly.
A car horn beeping outside made him look up, “Well, Tat-chan’s here to pick me up. I’ll see you later Reio.” He said, waving.
Reio paused as he stared after Kazuya; why did it seem like Kazuya was doing something more than going out with Tatsuya? It seemed like…Kazuya was going off to fight against some horrible monster.
He stood up; it was probably a good idea to give that note to Jin as soon as he could. He had learnt once already that sometimes, Kazuya made choices that would only hurt himself. He wasn’t going to let that happen again.
* * *
----- PART 6 -----