Arashi - AU - Thank You for the Rain - 13/30
Title: Thank You for the Rain
Chapter: 13
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: sho/nino, nino/ohno, tba
Word count: 2846
Notes: I feel so productive today. I was actually going to add even more to this chapter, but I thought that would be pushing it. A little bit. At least this means that I have the next Ohno chapter almost written. Yay. <<;;
I think I'm now about half way through this fic. Oh god, if I end up writing a 50 000 word fanfic, I KNOW I'm obsessed. *cries*
chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5
chapter 6 | chapter 7 | chapter 8 | chapter 9 | chapter 10
chapter 11 | chapter 12 | extra 1
13. Ohno: Heavy fall.
Ohno thought that it was slightly suspicious that Nino and Sho had suddenly become unable to go anywhere without him.
Every morning, Ohno would meet Sho waiting for him at the train station. They would walk to school together. Sometimes, when their schedules met, Nino and Aiba would be there too. Sometimes even Jun (only on Mondays, the other days their schedule was always different) was there with them. Then, on the breaks between classes, he found himself being dragged with Sho or Nino wherever they went. He didn't think he had been alone at all in three weeks.
Sometimes, when he thought he had slipped away from them and hid himself in the art classroom, he could still feel eyes on him. He thought that this was probably how being stalked felt like.
It was always very lively around Sho and Nino. Nino came attached to Aiba, so the noise levels always rose exponentially when they got together. Sometimes it was even hard to hear his own thoughts, though Ohno didn't mind it that much anymore. He had slowly learned to shut the noises out, to get lost in his thoughts even when there was a loud argument going on right next to him.
Nowadays it was mostly Jun and Nino who liked to bicker. It seemed that Sho and Nino had found something in common and had instead started to whisper to each other, looking very conspirational. Nino had even stopped glaring at Sho.
Ohno wasn't sure he wanted to know what was going on.
This Thursday felt different. The day had been dark and suffocating. The air felt still, like it was waiting for something - maybe rain, maybe something else. Aiba was home sick and Nino's tension levels had been uncharacteristically low all day. During the lunch break, Jun had preferred to read books instead of talking, leaning against Nino's side without even a mention of Nino's bony elbow digging into his back. Even Sho had been quiet, listlessly watching Nino pick at his food. It was like three boisterous weeks had completely drained everybody and they had just stopped caring what the others thought about them.
Secretly Ohno preferred this peace and quiet to the constant bursts of personality around him. No one was straining themselves, trying to come up with clever things to say. He had never been good at that, so the quiet was comfortable to him. It made him feel like this was something that was supposed to happen, that this was something natural. These people were supposed to be there with him. He could already pick up their mood and feelings so easily just by being around them. It felt like he had known them forever.
He had already forgotten how they had met. Only the comfortable heaviness of his new sketchbook kept reminding him. He was already halfway through its pristine white pages, turning them into studies of the things around him, of the smiles, the classrooms, yesterday's lunch, everything that caught his eye.
And, there, in the exact middle of the book, was the drawing Nino had made him to draw. Nino hadn't asked about it after that afternoon when they had bought the sketchbook. Maybe he had already forgotten. It didn't matter. Ohno thought that he had caught something in that picture, something that made him a little hesitant to show it to Nino. He liked the drawing so much that he wanted to keep it to himself so that no one's critical eye would find the flaws in it.
To him, the picture was flawless. Even if it could have been much better technically, the way the bodies had settled on the page, the way the watercolours had run together... it had been easy. It had felt like there was a glimmering thread connecting his fingers to the picture in his head, like he had been drawing with his mind instead of his eye and arm. It had been only a moment, and it was gone now. But it had been there. The magic had been there, in him.
He had been daydreaming again, Ohno noticed, when Nino made a move he didn't register before it was too late. Nino had snagged his sketchbook from under his arm, probably bored to death with the quiet of his friends, trying to distract himself any way he could. Ohno's arm twitched. He wanted to grab the book back, but he didn't. He watched Nino leafing through it lazily, not paying much attention to the drawings. It was just a way to pass his time before the next class. Maybe he would miss the picture.
Then Nino's hand halted, hovering over the page. "Ah." There was surprise in Nino's voice and the look in his eyes made Ohno embarrassed.
"What do you think?" Ohno asked nervously. He didn't want Nino to point out the crooked curve of Sho's arm in the picture, or the way Aiba's legs defied all the laws of anatomy. He wanted to know how Nino felt about the picture.
Did it make him feel anything?
"It's..." Nino frowned. There was a pause while Nino examined the picture. "It's not finished."
Ohno blinked, surprised. Not finished? But it was. The colours were all in place, the lines were all there. What did Nino mean? Had he dreamed that he had painted the picture? What was really on that page?
"It's not?" he asked, peering over the edge of the sketchbook, coils of worry in his belly.
Nino glanced at Ohno, one eyebrow raised. "I'm not accepting this before you include yourself in it too. Right there," Nino said, tapping his finger on the space between the Nino and Sho in the picture.
Ohno felt like laughing. He was that relieved. "Sorry," he said, taking the sketchbook back.
Nino smiled back to him. His nose wrinkled. "I don't get you at all."
The hours moved on sluggishly, like even the time was tired today, refusing to move at its normal pace. At the desk next to him, Sho was sighing his way through the last hour of school. Ohno forced himself to stop staring at the clock, it was only moving slower if he looked at it. Instead, he forced himself to think about the weekend. It was only one day away, and then he could do whatever he wanted.
Ohno glanced at Sho. Maybe he and the others would want to do something together. Somehow it didn't feel enough to only gather during the lunch hour. He had never thought that he would prefer spending time with people more than the comfort of his own room and his paints and canvases and music playing in the background. But he wasn't really that surprised.
He had known it for a while now. Things were changing.
Finally the bell rang, ending the school day for Ohno. He stood up and thought about spending few hours in the art classroom before going home. It had been a while since he had done that.
He had barely finished packing his bag when Nino suddenly appeared. As soon as their teacher had left the room, he had stepped in the room and headed straight to Ohno.
"Hi," he waved and grinned. "Do you have any plans for today?"
Ohno smiled and picked up his bag. "Not really. Why?"
"Can I come to visit today? My parents are both away and I feel like doing something fun for a change. Today was so boring that I think I'd go mad if I was forced to go home now."
"I'd come with you," Sho said. "But I can't."
"Yeah. Practice again?"
"What else?" Sho shrugged.
"Why don't you just quit?" Nino asked.
"Can't," Sho said, his expression darkening.
"Why can't you? It's just stupid soccer. It's not like the world stops turning if you quit. And I bet the team will do just fine even without you."
"Just can't," Sho said. His tone was clipped, clearly signalling to Ohno that he didn't want to talk about it. He could also see that Nino wasn't convinced. He was just about to say something more when Sho turned away from Nino. "See you tomorrow."
"See you, Sho-chan," Ohno nodded and gave a little wave to Sho when he vanished out the door.
Nino frowned. "Since when have you called him Sho-chan?" he asked.
Ohno shrugged. "Since yesterday, I guess."
Nino tipped his head to one side, looking at him quizzically. "Yesterday? When yesterday? I didn't hear you mentioning anything like that."
"Well, Sho came to visit me yesterday after school," Ohno said, feeling curiously embarrassed. "He was making me laugh and I slipped into calling him Sho-chan because he was acting so stupidly. He said he didn't mind. So I'm calling him Sho-chan now." Ohno lifted his eyes to meet Nino's gaze, feeling like he should somehow defend himself.
"What kind of weird guys call each other chan anyway?" Nino said.
Ohno didn't answer. He thought it might be rude to remind Nino that he had called him Oh-chan once.
They left the school building together, walking slowly towards Ohno's home. Nino had once again slipped into silence and Ohno wanted to ask what was wrong. Then their shoulders brushed together, so casually and gently that it calmed him. It was a quiet comfort, something that told Ohno that everything was fine, that Nino just didn't feel like talking but that he still wanted Ohno's company.
At least that was what he thought.
They were already passing the small playground when Ohno suddenly noticed something. "Nino," he said, frowning. "Where's your schoolbag?"
Nino stopped on his tracks and stared at Ohno. "Shit. I left it in my classroom." He blinked, stunned at his own inattention. "I was in a hurry and I thought I'd get it after I had talked to you. I forgot."
Ohno laughed.
"It isn't funny," Nino pouted. "Now I have to go and get it."
"It is funny," Ohno laughed. "I can come with you," he then offered, hoping that Nino didn't feel offended.
"Nah, you can wait here. It won't take me long and it would be stupid to make you walk all the way back just because I'm an idiot. Damn, I hate today. Today sucks."
"Okay. I won't mind waiting," Ohno smiled.
"Thanks. It won't take more than ten minutes," Nino said, sighing. "Wait for me!" Then he turned and jogged back towards the school.
Ohno's smile widened and he shook his head. Was it just his imagination or was Nino getting more and more distracted every day? Maybe there was something bothering him. He would ask about it once they got back home.
The playground was silent. The threat of rain was once again hanging over them and the wind was picking up. All children were safely inside. He walked to the empty swings and sat down on one of them, glancing up at the sky. The dark clouds were gathering.
Ohno hoped that the rain would wait until he was home with Nino.
The rain started suddenly and fell hard.
Ohno took shelter under a large tree, standing in the corner of the playground. Still Nino wasn't back. It had already been fifteen minutes since he had left.
He could just go home alone, he didn't have to wait. He could just run home and get wet, but just for a while. He didn't have to wait. Maybe Nino was keeping rain at the school or somewhere along the way, even though it looked like the rain wouldn't stop very soon. He really didn't have to wait.
Nino had asked him to wait for him.
His back was pressed against the moist bark of the tree, pearls of water dropping through the thick leaves, into his hair and shoulders. The tree didn't offer much shelter, but he had nowhere else to go. The playground had no other cover and Nino would be back soon.
It only took few moments for him to be soaked through and through, shivering from the cold, from the loneliness. He looked up and the skies were grey; thick, smoke blue-grey that sucked all the colours from the world. The clouds were hanging low over him, massive, impenetrable. Dark, like a bad omen. He hoped there wouldn't be any thunder, at least not before Nino got there and they could go, run through the rain. Nino would laugh at him, tell him that he looked like a wet stray dog. But he would be soaked too and they would have to splash their way to Ohno's place, because it was closer than anything else, their wet sneakers making wet noises on the pavement.
"All alone?" he heard someone say and he shivered, waves of coldness travelling through his spine, not from the rain but from inside him. He looked up.
"Waiting for my friend," Ohno told Sakamoto, not quite looking the boy in the eye. He couldn't, because he knew what was coming next. It always started with taunting until they could gather enough contempt to use their fists instead.
He hated this part more than the actual pain. Knowing that it would happen again, but still needing to answer back, still somehow needing to fight, but knowing that it was all in vain. Nothing he could say would change their minds.
He wished that instead of Nino - the tiny, fragile Nino - it would have been Sho who would be soon there. Sho could always stop them. He didn't really have to even try.
"A friend?" Sakamoto laughed, glancing at Morita, standing few steps behind him. "Hear that? He thinks he has friends!"
Sakamoto grabbed at Ohno, yanking him forward so hard that he almost lost his balance. The ground had become slippery with the rain, little muddy rivers running between their feet. The two boys were holding umbrellas, but their shoes and the cuffs of their pants were already soaking wet. Ohno could see it clearly when Sakamoto pushed him roughly, sending him face down to the ground.
"What's this?" Morita asked, picking up Ohno's school bag. Ohno followed his gaze and saw that a corner of the sketchbook was peeking from the bag. The zipper had failed, coming half-open without Ohno realizing. He stood up and faced the two boys, cold fear gripping at his guts. He couldn't let them touch that. All his drawings, all his little worlds were there.
"Give it back," Ohno said, his voice wavering slightly, betraying his feelings. He swallowed and took a step forward, reaching for the bag. The rainwater was running down his face, obscuring his vision.
Morita ignored him and pulled the sketchbook out of the bag, not bothering to cover it from the rain.
"Don't," Ohno said and now he was pleading. He didn't care anymore. It didn't matter that he sounded pathetic.
Morita flipped through the pages, letting the heavy rain fall on them, smearing the drawings made with ink, blurring the ones made with graphite, ruining the thick, white pages.
Ohno took another step forward. Time had stopped and the distance between him and Morita had suddenly expanded too much. He couldn't reach him in time.
He could already see the watercolours running.
He wouldn't cry.
"What are you doing?" someone said.
Ohno could see Nino standing there, without an umbrella, dripping wet and furious.
Morita let go of the sketchbook.
Ohno could see it falling down, still open exactly from the centrefold, flipping upside down. The ground was muddy and wet. Ohno ran to it and snatched it up as fast as he could, but it was too late. The book felt limp, dead in his hands. He let out a shuddery breath.
"Now you have really done it," he could hear Nino saying from somewhere far away. He didn't realize that the two bullies had left him alone, now concentrating on Nino instead. Not before he heard a muffled cry of pain.
He looked up from the remains of his sketchbook and saw that Morita's nose was bleeding. The blood was quickly mingling with the rain, but Ohno could still see that there was lot of it. He watched, transfixed, how Nino whirled around, trying to hit Sakamoto next. But he failed and Sakamoto got hold of him, locking Nino's arms behind his back.
"Hit him!" Sakamoto was yelling at his friend.
Morita's fist got Nino on the left cheekbone, but he had been aiming at his nose. He had managed to get out of the way just in time. Nino kicked out, trying to set himself free from Sakamoto's grip.
Ohno realized that next time Morita wouldn't miss. That got him into action. He threw his sketchbook at Morita's face, hitting him on his already sore nose. That gave him enough time to circle Sakamoto and kick him in the back of his knees, making him topple over and release his hold on Nino.
"Come on!" he urged Nino, grabbing hold of his hand and dragging him away as fast as he could. "Run!"
Chapter: 13
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: sho/nino, nino/ohno, tba
Word count: 2846
Notes: I feel so productive today. I was actually going to add even more to this chapter, but I thought that would be pushing it. A little bit. At least this means that I have the next Ohno chapter almost written. Yay. <<;;
I think I'm now about half way through this fic. Oh god, if I end up writing a 50 000 word fanfic, I KNOW I'm obsessed. *cries*
chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5
chapter 6 | chapter 7 | chapter 8 | chapter 9 | chapter 10
chapter 11 | chapter 12 | extra 1
13. Ohno: Heavy fall.
Ohno thought that it was slightly suspicious that Nino and Sho had suddenly become unable to go anywhere without him.
Every morning, Ohno would meet Sho waiting for him at the train station. They would walk to school together. Sometimes, when their schedules met, Nino and Aiba would be there too. Sometimes even Jun (only on Mondays, the other days their schedule was always different) was there with them. Then, on the breaks between classes, he found himself being dragged with Sho or Nino wherever they went. He didn't think he had been alone at all in three weeks.
Sometimes, when he thought he had slipped away from them and hid himself in the art classroom, he could still feel eyes on him. He thought that this was probably how being stalked felt like.
It was always very lively around Sho and Nino. Nino came attached to Aiba, so the noise levels always rose exponentially when they got together. Sometimes it was even hard to hear his own thoughts, though Ohno didn't mind it that much anymore. He had slowly learned to shut the noises out, to get lost in his thoughts even when there was a loud argument going on right next to him.
Nowadays it was mostly Jun and Nino who liked to bicker. It seemed that Sho and Nino had found something in common and had instead started to whisper to each other, looking very conspirational. Nino had even stopped glaring at Sho.
Ohno wasn't sure he wanted to know what was going on.
This Thursday felt different. The day had been dark and suffocating. The air felt still, like it was waiting for something - maybe rain, maybe something else. Aiba was home sick and Nino's tension levels had been uncharacteristically low all day. During the lunch break, Jun had preferred to read books instead of talking, leaning against Nino's side without even a mention of Nino's bony elbow digging into his back. Even Sho had been quiet, listlessly watching Nino pick at his food. It was like three boisterous weeks had completely drained everybody and they had just stopped caring what the others thought about them.
Secretly Ohno preferred this peace and quiet to the constant bursts of personality around him. No one was straining themselves, trying to come up with clever things to say. He had never been good at that, so the quiet was comfortable to him. It made him feel like this was something that was supposed to happen, that this was something natural. These people were supposed to be there with him. He could already pick up their mood and feelings so easily just by being around them. It felt like he had known them forever.
He had already forgotten how they had met. Only the comfortable heaviness of his new sketchbook kept reminding him. He was already halfway through its pristine white pages, turning them into studies of the things around him, of the smiles, the classrooms, yesterday's lunch, everything that caught his eye.
And, there, in the exact middle of the book, was the drawing Nino had made him to draw. Nino hadn't asked about it after that afternoon when they had bought the sketchbook. Maybe he had already forgotten. It didn't matter. Ohno thought that he had caught something in that picture, something that made him a little hesitant to show it to Nino. He liked the drawing so much that he wanted to keep it to himself so that no one's critical eye would find the flaws in it.
To him, the picture was flawless. Even if it could have been much better technically, the way the bodies had settled on the page, the way the watercolours had run together... it had been easy. It had felt like there was a glimmering thread connecting his fingers to the picture in his head, like he had been drawing with his mind instead of his eye and arm. It had been only a moment, and it was gone now. But it had been there. The magic had been there, in him.
He had been daydreaming again, Ohno noticed, when Nino made a move he didn't register before it was too late. Nino had snagged his sketchbook from under his arm, probably bored to death with the quiet of his friends, trying to distract himself any way he could. Ohno's arm twitched. He wanted to grab the book back, but he didn't. He watched Nino leafing through it lazily, not paying much attention to the drawings. It was just a way to pass his time before the next class. Maybe he would miss the picture.
Then Nino's hand halted, hovering over the page. "Ah." There was surprise in Nino's voice and the look in his eyes made Ohno embarrassed.
"What do you think?" Ohno asked nervously. He didn't want Nino to point out the crooked curve of Sho's arm in the picture, or the way Aiba's legs defied all the laws of anatomy. He wanted to know how Nino felt about the picture.
Did it make him feel anything?
"It's..." Nino frowned. There was a pause while Nino examined the picture. "It's not finished."
Ohno blinked, surprised. Not finished? But it was. The colours were all in place, the lines were all there. What did Nino mean? Had he dreamed that he had painted the picture? What was really on that page?
"It's not?" he asked, peering over the edge of the sketchbook, coils of worry in his belly.
Nino glanced at Ohno, one eyebrow raised. "I'm not accepting this before you include yourself in it too. Right there," Nino said, tapping his finger on the space between the Nino and Sho in the picture.
Ohno felt like laughing. He was that relieved. "Sorry," he said, taking the sketchbook back.
Nino smiled back to him. His nose wrinkled. "I don't get you at all."
The hours moved on sluggishly, like even the time was tired today, refusing to move at its normal pace. At the desk next to him, Sho was sighing his way through the last hour of school. Ohno forced himself to stop staring at the clock, it was only moving slower if he looked at it. Instead, he forced himself to think about the weekend. It was only one day away, and then he could do whatever he wanted.
Ohno glanced at Sho. Maybe he and the others would want to do something together. Somehow it didn't feel enough to only gather during the lunch hour. He had never thought that he would prefer spending time with people more than the comfort of his own room and his paints and canvases and music playing in the background. But he wasn't really that surprised.
He had known it for a while now. Things were changing.
Finally the bell rang, ending the school day for Ohno. He stood up and thought about spending few hours in the art classroom before going home. It had been a while since he had done that.
He had barely finished packing his bag when Nino suddenly appeared. As soon as their teacher had left the room, he had stepped in the room and headed straight to Ohno.
"Hi," he waved and grinned. "Do you have any plans for today?"
Ohno smiled and picked up his bag. "Not really. Why?"
"Can I come to visit today? My parents are both away and I feel like doing something fun for a change. Today was so boring that I think I'd go mad if I was forced to go home now."
"I'd come with you," Sho said. "But I can't."
"Yeah. Practice again?"
"What else?" Sho shrugged.
"Why don't you just quit?" Nino asked.
"Can't," Sho said, his expression darkening.
"Why can't you? It's just stupid soccer. It's not like the world stops turning if you quit. And I bet the team will do just fine even without you."
"Just can't," Sho said. His tone was clipped, clearly signalling to Ohno that he didn't want to talk about it. He could also see that Nino wasn't convinced. He was just about to say something more when Sho turned away from Nino. "See you tomorrow."
"See you, Sho-chan," Ohno nodded and gave a little wave to Sho when he vanished out the door.
Nino frowned. "Since when have you called him Sho-chan?" he asked.
Ohno shrugged. "Since yesterday, I guess."
Nino tipped his head to one side, looking at him quizzically. "Yesterday? When yesterday? I didn't hear you mentioning anything like that."
"Well, Sho came to visit me yesterday after school," Ohno said, feeling curiously embarrassed. "He was making me laugh and I slipped into calling him Sho-chan because he was acting so stupidly. He said he didn't mind. So I'm calling him Sho-chan now." Ohno lifted his eyes to meet Nino's gaze, feeling like he should somehow defend himself.
"What kind of weird guys call each other chan anyway?" Nino said.
Ohno didn't answer. He thought it might be rude to remind Nino that he had called him Oh-chan once.
They left the school building together, walking slowly towards Ohno's home. Nino had once again slipped into silence and Ohno wanted to ask what was wrong. Then their shoulders brushed together, so casually and gently that it calmed him. It was a quiet comfort, something that told Ohno that everything was fine, that Nino just didn't feel like talking but that he still wanted Ohno's company.
At least that was what he thought.
They were already passing the small playground when Ohno suddenly noticed something. "Nino," he said, frowning. "Where's your schoolbag?"
Nino stopped on his tracks and stared at Ohno. "Shit. I left it in my classroom." He blinked, stunned at his own inattention. "I was in a hurry and I thought I'd get it after I had talked to you. I forgot."
Ohno laughed.
"It isn't funny," Nino pouted. "Now I have to go and get it."
"It is funny," Ohno laughed. "I can come with you," he then offered, hoping that Nino didn't feel offended.
"Nah, you can wait here. It won't take me long and it would be stupid to make you walk all the way back just because I'm an idiot. Damn, I hate today. Today sucks."
"Okay. I won't mind waiting," Ohno smiled.
"Thanks. It won't take more than ten minutes," Nino said, sighing. "Wait for me!" Then he turned and jogged back towards the school.
Ohno's smile widened and he shook his head. Was it just his imagination or was Nino getting more and more distracted every day? Maybe there was something bothering him. He would ask about it once they got back home.
The playground was silent. The threat of rain was once again hanging over them and the wind was picking up. All children were safely inside. He walked to the empty swings and sat down on one of them, glancing up at the sky. The dark clouds were gathering.
Ohno hoped that the rain would wait until he was home with Nino.
The rain started suddenly and fell hard.
Ohno took shelter under a large tree, standing in the corner of the playground. Still Nino wasn't back. It had already been fifteen minutes since he had left.
He could just go home alone, he didn't have to wait. He could just run home and get wet, but just for a while. He didn't have to wait. Maybe Nino was keeping rain at the school or somewhere along the way, even though it looked like the rain wouldn't stop very soon. He really didn't have to wait.
Nino had asked him to wait for him.
His back was pressed against the moist bark of the tree, pearls of water dropping through the thick leaves, into his hair and shoulders. The tree didn't offer much shelter, but he had nowhere else to go. The playground had no other cover and Nino would be back soon.
It only took few moments for him to be soaked through and through, shivering from the cold, from the loneliness. He looked up and the skies were grey; thick, smoke blue-grey that sucked all the colours from the world. The clouds were hanging low over him, massive, impenetrable. Dark, like a bad omen. He hoped there wouldn't be any thunder, at least not before Nino got there and they could go, run through the rain. Nino would laugh at him, tell him that he looked like a wet stray dog. But he would be soaked too and they would have to splash their way to Ohno's place, because it was closer than anything else, their wet sneakers making wet noises on the pavement.
"All alone?" he heard someone say and he shivered, waves of coldness travelling through his spine, not from the rain but from inside him. He looked up.
"Waiting for my friend," Ohno told Sakamoto, not quite looking the boy in the eye. He couldn't, because he knew what was coming next. It always started with taunting until they could gather enough contempt to use their fists instead.
He hated this part more than the actual pain. Knowing that it would happen again, but still needing to answer back, still somehow needing to fight, but knowing that it was all in vain. Nothing he could say would change their minds.
He wished that instead of Nino - the tiny, fragile Nino - it would have been Sho who would be soon there. Sho could always stop them. He didn't really have to even try.
"A friend?" Sakamoto laughed, glancing at Morita, standing few steps behind him. "Hear that? He thinks he has friends!"
Sakamoto grabbed at Ohno, yanking him forward so hard that he almost lost his balance. The ground had become slippery with the rain, little muddy rivers running between their feet. The two boys were holding umbrellas, but their shoes and the cuffs of their pants were already soaking wet. Ohno could see it clearly when Sakamoto pushed him roughly, sending him face down to the ground.
"What's this?" Morita asked, picking up Ohno's school bag. Ohno followed his gaze and saw that a corner of the sketchbook was peeking from the bag. The zipper had failed, coming half-open without Ohno realizing. He stood up and faced the two boys, cold fear gripping at his guts. He couldn't let them touch that. All his drawings, all his little worlds were there.
"Give it back," Ohno said, his voice wavering slightly, betraying his feelings. He swallowed and took a step forward, reaching for the bag. The rainwater was running down his face, obscuring his vision.
Morita ignored him and pulled the sketchbook out of the bag, not bothering to cover it from the rain.
"Don't," Ohno said and now he was pleading. He didn't care anymore. It didn't matter that he sounded pathetic.
Morita flipped through the pages, letting the heavy rain fall on them, smearing the drawings made with ink, blurring the ones made with graphite, ruining the thick, white pages.
Ohno took another step forward. Time had stopped and the distance between him and Morita had suddenly expanded too much. He couldn't reach him in time.
He could already see the watercolours running.
He wouldn't cry.
"What are you doing?" someone said.
Ohno could see Nino standing there, without an umbrella, dripping wet and furious.
Morita let go of the sketchbook.
Ohno could see it falling down, still open exactly from the centrefold, flipping upside down. The ground was muddy and wet. Ohno ran to it and snatched it up as fast as he could, but it was too late. The book felt limp, dead in his hands. He let out a shuddery breath.
"Now you have really done it," he could hear Nino saying from somewhere far away. He didn't realize that the two bullies had left him alone, now concentrating on Nino instead. Not before he heard a muffled cry of pain.
He looked up from the remains of his sketchbook and saw that Morita's nose was bleeding. The blood was quickly mingling with the rain, but Ohno could still see that there was lot of it. He watched, transfixed, how Nino whirled around, trying to hit Sakamoto next. But he failed and Sakamoto got hold of him, locking Nino's arms behind his back.
"Hit him!" Sakamoto was yelling at his friend.
Morita's fist got Nino on the left cheekbone, but he had been aiming at his nose. He had managed to get out of the way just in time. Nino kicked out, trying to set himself free from Sakamoto's grip.
Ohno realized that next time Morita wouldn't miss. That got him into action. He threw his sketchbook at Morita's face, hitting him on his already sore nose. That gave him enough time to circle Sakamoto and kick him in the back of his knees, making him topple over and release his hold on Nino.
"Come on!" he urged Nino, grabbing hold of his hand and dragging him away as fast as he could. "Run!"