Water poured onto the muddied, white tiled floor. As the mud began to dissolve into the water, the bristles of a well worn floor brush broke the surface. Scraping and scratching away at the dirt. The rhythmic scrubbing sound echoed through the empty club room. Aoyama wiped the sweat off his forehead and leaned against the handle of the long wooden brush, breathing a sigh of tired relief at another clean section of floor. He glanced over at his best friend, Ichino, who was trying to pry some bubblegum off the underside of the table where Minamisawa used to sit before he left the school. Watching Ichino just made Aoyama think, unintentionally bringing himself back to question what he saw that day.
Red and gold light, the shades of autumn leaves, poured through the windows of the deserted corridor. The only sound was that of footsteps, Aoyama's footsteps to be exact. He cursed silently at himself for being such an idiot and leaving his homework folder under his desk. He was almost halfway home when he realised that his bag was a fair deal lighter than it was suppose to be, considering the fact that he had two essays to do over the weekend. So Aoyama had to revisit his classroom just to get it. As Aoyama neared his class, he heard voices. Familiar voices. He softened his steps and quietly made his way to the opened door before peering inside.
Seated on a tabletop was Ichino, his bag slung over his shoulder and hanging off the edge of the table. Opposite him sat Shindou, one leg casually crossed over the other, a rather amused smile on his face. Their mouths were moving, but Aoyama couldn't catch what they were saying.
Ichino's laugh rang through the silent classroom, loud enough for Aoyama to hear. The laugh that he had not heard since they had left the soccer team after being defeated by Tsurugi. The sight of Ichino's lit up face, his wide smile as he spoke with the captain caused a painful tug at Aoyama's gut. He felt guilty, eavesdropping like this, but moreover, he felt a tiny bit of jealousy growing within him. He had been best friends with the blonde ever since they were in preschool! They had been together in the same school, same class uptil now even! Aoyama couldn't stop clenching his jaw in sad frustration. He had tried, tried so hard to bring that smile back onto Ichino's face for the past few months. And when Ichino talked with Shindou, his face lit up almost immediately. He stared at the two boys as they got up to leave, still thoroughly engrossed in their conversation. One trip, two seconds. Both Ichino and Shindou now lay on the classroom floor. Ichino, in the midst of their conversation, tripped over Shindou's foot as he got up. In an attempt to steady himself, he grabbed the captain's shoulder, but only pulled Shindou down with him. The two boys were on the floor, Shindou pinning Ichino to the ground (Or so it seemed). Silence, broken by laughter and the stupid grins on their faces. Unaware of the hot tears rolling down his cheeks, he turned to leave them alone. The homework could wait. For now, Aoyama needed to go home to sort through his feelings.
"Aoyama? Aoyama?"
Ichino's voice shook Aoyama back to reality. The blonde gave him a worried look. While Aoyama had been in a world of his own, Ichino had finished cleaning and polishing the tables and had come over only to find Aoyama staring blankly into space.
"A-ah... Ichino..." Aoyama mumbled, turning so that the blonde faced his back. Ichino tilted his head slightly to one side, something he did whenever he was curious or didn't understand something.
"What's the matter..? By this point you're usually complaining to me about homework or teachers." Ichino asked the black haired boy, dumping the rag he had been using into a bucket of murky water. The smaller boy didn't answer him, he just kept his back turned.
"You know you can tell me whatever's bothering you, right?" Ichino reassured, holding onto Aoyama's thin arm in an attempt to turn him around. Aoyama jerked his arm out of Ichino's grasp.
"WILL YOU STOP THAT?" He shouted at the blonde, his back still turned. Ichino stood there, his mouth in a silent gasp, a worried look on his face. Even when they fought as kids, Aoyama had NEVER done anything like what he just did.
"Aoyama what's wro-"
"SHUT UP! YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING!" Aoyama yelled, turning to face Ichino,his hands balled into tight fists. Before Ichino could say anything else, Aoyama stormed off, leaving Ichino very hurt and confused.