"...Wait, you owe me 20 yen?" Inui Sadaharu asked one day after the Kantou finals were over, confused. "I don't remember this."
Yanagi Renji grinned. "Then I suppose the debt is forgiven." He said, turning away.
Inui shook his head, then realized Renji was walking off. "Renji!" He called, running after him and tackling the other teen. "If you owe me money, I want it back." He said, having wrestled Renji to the ground.
"If you can't remember it, then why should I pay it back?" Renji smiled. "You don't remember back in third grade I saw this pen I wanted but was twenty yen short, so you lent it to me?"
"So why ididn't/i you pay it back?" Inui asked, not moving an inch.
"Sadaharu, get off of me, and I may explain."
Inui shook his head. "No." He said decisively. "Explain first, then I'll think about moving." He smirked.
Renji just rolled his eyes behind his closed lids. "Fine. Because up until recently, I had a bad habit of spending my allowance on candy and rarely had anything left so I could pay you back. At least before we moved. Now I just have a bad habit of buying books."
"So give me my money." Inui said.
"I don't have any money with me right now, Sadaharu." Renji said, exasperated.
"It's twenty yen." Inui said, annoyed. "Who doesn't carry a few coins on them?"
"I lent my last fifty to Akaya." Renji explained.
Inui stared down at Renji, wishing his glasses would slide down on his face and have the sunlight glare through them at just the right angle to light Renji on fire. "Go. Get. It. Back."
Renji just raised an eyebrow. It was rare for Inui to show a temper like this. He sighed softly. "First, I can't accomplish this until you move, and second, knowing Akaya, he's probably given it to someone else. Actually, now that I think about it, he was begging from all of his sempai..." Renji mused. "And I know for a fact he doesn't get his allowance until Wednesday at the earliest...when he will proceed to the arcade and spend it all...and start this circle all over again." Renji frowned, feeling a bit stupid for not realizing this sooner.
Inui paused. "Did your kouhai just outsmart you?" He asked as he got up.
Renji remained on the ground and let out a small puff of a sigh. "Yes." He admitted. Inui snickered at this development.
"You're slipping, Renji."
"I'd be more impressed if Akaya pulled something like this off with Niou, honestly." Renji said, rising to his own feet and brushing his legs off. Renji smiled at Inui. "However, if you don't mind my borrowing one of your particular talents, I'll see about getting your money by the end of the week." Renji said. "And a bit extra to cover the cost of this plan." It was Inui's turn to raise an eyebrow, but nodded in agreement. After all, you had to spend money to make money – even if it was your money in the first place.
Afternoon practice for the Rikkaidai Junior High tennis club had ended for the day. Renji was in a fairly good mood, even if he was careful to maintain his calm mask. Very few were left in the change room. Marui and Jackal were joking around, Sanada was glaring at them, but said nothing. Akaya was trying to look cute and trying to see if he could con Jackal and Marui into treating him to an afterschool snack.
Renji was amused by this for a moment. "Akaya?" He approached. "I'll go with you, but you have to pay for at least part of yours."
Akaya pouted. "You're the sempai, you should treat me." He argued as if this was the most logical thing in the world.
"Then perhaps you should treat Urayama-kun someday, since you're his sempai." Renji countered, seeing the look of disgust on Akaya's face. "Besides, I didn't say you had to pay for all of yours." Renji said, ruffling the seaweed like hair.
Sanada looked over at Renji, looking a bit surprised. i"Yanagi must be up to something..."/i he thought to himself.
Renji loosely tied the formal tie of their school uniform around his neck. "If you're ready?" He said, indicating for the younger boy to go ahead.
They had walked a ways towards some shops. "Hey, Yanagi-sempai?" Akaya started. "Why are you being so nice today?" He asked.
Renji smiled. "Because I can." He answered. "Ah, here we are." He said, entering a small smoothie shop.
Akaya stared. "What the hell...?" He wondered out loud. Renji noticed Akaya hadn't followed him. He went back out the door and pulled Akaya with him inside the shop.
"Nothing in here is going to kill you." Renji said. "While they have a reputation as a health food, there is actually more sugar in them than you realize, since most of them are fruit based and fruits are high in natural sugars."
"...You sound like a science teacher." Akaya said, making a disgusted face.
"Just sit down, Akaya." Renji said, going up to the counter and explaining to the clerk what was going on. Renji joined Akaya at the table. "Besides, I thought you'd be the perfect person to try this new one they're coming out with. But I still insist you share in the cost. It's only a small amount though. Two hundred twenty-five yen sound alright to you?"
Akaya blinked. That was all? That wasn't so bad..i"Oh, yeah, I owe sempai money anyway...thought he'd forget...Oh, wait, Yanagi-sempain never forgets."/i Akaya thought, a small scowl on his face.
"Don't worry, I've covered the cost of the rest of it." Renji said. "Considering they were thinking of charging six hundred fifty for it. A bit outrageous for a bit of fruit thrown in a blender, don't you think?" He asked casually as he set the drink in front of his kouhai.
Akaya shrugged. "They always overcharge for crap like this." He said, looking at it curiously. Though considering he was only being asked to cover a third of the cost, if that... Well, that was two hundred less for the arcade, but...It might be worth it. Akaya handed over a handful of coins to Renji. "You're cruel though, sempai." He complained, taking a sip of his while Renji sipped calmly at his rather normal one.
Akaya's looked normal. It was a deep red-orange color. It was rather interesting.
Until he tasted it.
Taking a step to the side, Renji avoided getting smoothie spit all over him.
"What the hell is in this?!" Akaya demanded. "That was gross!"
"Tomatoes, oranges, banana, butterscotch syrup, pickle juice, and anchovies." Renji recited.
"The..." Akaya didn't have a chance to finish cussing out the smoothie since he had to run to the bathroom.
Renji chuckled, pocketing the money. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket.
"It worked rather well. Shall we meet up on Saturday, Sadaharu?" He asked of Inui once the other had picked up.
"Ah." Inui answered. "How was it?"
"In Akaya's words...'disgusting.'" Renji replied. "It appears it didn't agree with him very well." Out of curiosity, Renji tried some of the random ingredient smoothie. "I think the butterscotch was overdoing it though...Otherwise it isn't too bad."
"You're just trying to make me feel better. And I also know you're trying to wash it away with your orange-pineapple-banana."
"...You know me too well." Renji said. "I'll see you Saturday." Deciding it was best to make his escape before Akaya could recover, Renji left the shop. He would pay for it tomorrow at practice, but it was worth it. Perhaps Akaya had learned a lesson from this – not to screw your sempai out of their hard earned allowances.
"I didn't know you knew people, Sadaharu." Renji said, bouncing a tennis ball on the court they were about to play on. "Especially someone that owned a smoothie shop. Thank you for talking him into this little plan."
"So how is Kirihara-kun?" Inui asked.
"It was two days before he came back to school." Renji answered, finally serving the ball. "And of course, he challenged Seiichi, Genichirou, and myself as usual. He played two games with Genichirou before running off to the restroom."
Inui looked a bit shocked, but managed to return the ball while thinking. "I've never had something affect someone for that long."
"Oh, that wasn't entirely your fault." Renji said, returning that ball with a drop shot, cursing himself mentally. He really was set in his ways. "Apparently last night, his family went out for sushi. The sushi-ya had procured some bad fish unknowingly, and served it. So part of it was food poisoning."
Inui chuckled a little. "Interesting coincidence." He said, taking the point. "Renji, if you keep doing drop shots as your third hit, you're never going to get this point." He said, proving his point. "You have one of the same habits Tezuka does."
"Shut up..." Renji muttered under his breath. Though he was oddly flattered to be compared to Tezuka. "By the way, I have your money." He said, as he served again.
"It's about time." Inui said. "I did finally figure out when you borrowed that twenty yen. It's been six years, five months, and one hundred forty days."
Renji raised an eyebrow. "So you finally remember?"
"Yes, that was rather cruel."
"So I was short on money that day." Renji said, as he took the point. "What are best friends for if you can't pay back your loans six years later?"
"Funny."
They continued their game until it was tied at six-all. They decided to call it a day after that. There was no sense in wasting their energy on a tie break since it wasn't an official match.
Renji dug the money out of his bag. "There you go." He said, handing over some coins. It was a bit more than he owed, but he disliked working with strange figures, so he rounded it up. "Consider the extra six years worth of interest." He said, shouldering his bag.
Inui stared at the money in his hand. "...That's a bit ridiculous for interest." He said, calculating the percentage in his head.
Renji smiled, turning his head back to Inui. "Oh, Sadaharu?"
"What, Renji?"
"Can I borrow twenty yen?"
Inui just tackled him, screaming "Renji!"