Kobayakawa's Pov

Neon lemon-lime splatter! Orange soda spray! White silk lighting glitter!

Watching the obscenely bright colors explode with a deafening boom amongst the twinkling sparkles in the inky darkness, I wondered why the four of us were celebrating the Fourth of July.

Not that it was taboo or anything, but….

We live in Japan. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would we celebrate the US's Independence Day in Japan when we are not even Americans? Not that Hiruma made much sense anyway…

I might have mentioned that celebrating the start of a five week vacation from school with fireworks would be cool, but I stupidly forgot how Hiruma blows things up.

Quite literally sometimes.

That's how the four of us, me, Mamori, Monta, and Himura, ended up watching these fireworks from the roof of a blackmailed wealthy man's house. Poor man was shaking, face pale and terrified. I bet Hiruma had plenty of information on him from his little black book.

I noticed that the lawn was getting burned up too. Oh well…. At least the man is rich. He can afford it. I just feel sorry for the plants.

All our other friends already went off to visit their friends and family or off on a "free" vacation that he or she won, strangely enough. I suspected it was the work of that blonde-haired devil sitting next to me. I suspected he was playing matchmaker with Mamori and Monta just so "the f-ing manager would get off [his] case".

I guess the only reason I'm still here is because I'm the one who originally wanted to watch the fireworks.

I'm careful not to make more than a few passing glances at Hiruma. Since he sits so close to me (Yay!), I can pass it as trying to see the fireworks at the far left. Stupid guy just happens to be so observant. Stupid guy happens to be so hot, too. And I'm the stupid guy who happens to like him.

What irony! The coward of the team crushes on the devil of the team.

It figures.

My life has always been unlucky and unfortunate, yet I'm blessed with such special people like my football team, Mamori, and Suzuna. And despite the rumors, Suzuna and I are not dating. She's like the twin sister I never had. I'm crashing at her place for the rest of the school year and paying rent, of course. I got evicted from my house, that being a story for later.

So yeah…. Getting off-topic here.

Fireworks. Hiruma playing matchmaker. Mamori blushing from holding Monta's hand. Me sitting next to a blonde-haired devil that I secretly adore.

A wistful sigh emits itself from my mouth. My crush will eventually end in sadness. Just because I'm gay and happen to be a star football player does not mean that Hiruma would ever have a fleeting thought about me outside of football and blackmail. -____-'

Argh! Stop emo-ing! Enjoy the fireworks and the smell of gunpowder. Hiruma always tries to conceal the smell of gunpowder with the gum he chews.

I'm starting to get drowsy. Yawn~! I can't hear the fireworks anymore. I must have been more tired from my chores than I remember. I pay rent with a small amount of money offset with by doing half of the household chores at Suzuna's house. Unconsciously, I began leaning toward Hiruma's shoulder and inhaling the clean scent of laundry from Hiruma's blue sweater. I like blue sweaters, especially on Hiruma, but I don't remember him ever wearing one before.

I'll just rest my eyes for a moment. My brain was screaming bad idea, bad idea! Idiot me didn't listen.

I, Kobayakawa Sena, fell asleep against the shoulder of Hiruma Yoichi, blissfully snuggling into that blue sweater while inhaling the soft scent of clean laundry.

So.. hahahaha... oh man.. this chapter is LONG overdue. My grades suck so bad even though I'm working so hard. Stupid teachers. After finals, my 7 As became 5 Bs and 2 As. Heartache.

But anyways, enjoy this chapter. Things will go much smoother after and faster than the last time. Tell me if you like this version more than the other. My writing style has changed very much after AP English. Sorry. It will be near impossible to convert back to my previous style. PM me if you think this is incredibly stupid and that I should jump off a lake for my horrible... ness. ^^