Message from the Past
En, Atsushi, and Kinshirou take part in a proud Binan tradition.
Inspired by Happy Kiss ep 4. So minor spoilers for that.
"Last chance, Atsushi. We can totally ditch this thing, and go get drinks or something instead."
"Not happening, Yufuin. This is a proud Binan tradition, and a once in a lifetime event."
"There, there En-chan, it'll be over soon. Besides, it'll be even more embarrassing if we're not here. Remember the golden rule."
"Ugh… I'm starting to understand why they make us wait till we're legal for this…"
This was, of course, one of Binan's oldest and proudest traditions (a label which seemed to apply to all of their town's customs, En couldn't help but notice), the time capsule. Every year, a class of bright-eyed, innocent 6th graders would write letters to their future selves and bury them in a metal sphere on Mt. Binan. And every year, a class of now-jaded and cynical adults would hold a reunion to dig up their old time capsule, and redden at the things they'd written at 11.
It was a fun and harmless enough tradition, but the golden rule was that if you didn't attend, your letter would be read aloud to everyone. "So that our absent classmates are with us in spirit" was the official justification. Or something like that, anyway.
That rule was probably the main reason behind the surprisingly good attendance of the elementary school class of 2009, despite what the Graduation Committee (of which Kinshirou was a proud member) wanted to believe. It probably wasn't everyone, but it had been a while since En had seen most of those faces, so if anyone was missing, he couldn't tell.
It felt awkward really. He recognized some of the guys from his high school class, and some others from those pain-in-the-ass monster incidents, but the majority of his former grade school classmates' faces were a blur to him, which only made the revelation that he was something of a popular (or at the very least, recognizable) kid annoying. He was seriously tired of pretending he remembered everyone.
"How could you not remember Kindaichi-kun?" Atsushi whispered after the latest awkward greeting. "He sat next to you for most of 3rd grade."
"The fact that you remember that when we weren't even friends then is far more questionable."
"I sat behind him."
"Again, questionable," En ribbed. Of course, Atsushi wasn't faring all that much better than him. Only Kinshirou, as expected of the upstanding ex-Student Council President, genuinely seemed to remember everyone they went to school with, while Atsushi and En could only quietly play "Guess that Classmate" as he went around to greet everyone. Kinshirou was fairly well remembered too. He was a pretty memorable guy though.
"Thank you for coming today," he would say politely and proudly to everyone he passed. "We will be breaking up into our class groups soon, so please gather around your old teacher."
There had been 4 elementary school classes in their year, which amounted to around 120 young adults gathered on Mt. Binan, laughing and reminiscing with their old schoolmates and teachers. En recognized his teacher at least. Had the old man always been that short though? Amazing how one's perspective changed as they aged. Iwamuro-sensei always looked so tall and menacing back then.
"That's just because you were always sleeping in class," Atsushi told him pointedly.
"You remember that too?"
"It's your most memorable quality." Atsushi's innocent smile was almost insulting, but En didn't really have a counter. What had Atsushi been like in elementary school? They had been in the same class, but they didn't really talk much then, so En couldn't remember. But he figured that the Atsushi back then probably wasn't too different from how he was now.
Less cynical though. Definitely less cynical.
"Kinugawa-san, is that you?" Someone called out and a group of four started waving at Atsushi.
"Who's that?" En whispered.
"En-chan, they were in 3-C with us," Atsushi sighed, then turned to Kinshiro a few feet away. "Kin-chan, we're going to go catch up with our old class."
"Alright, I will join as soon as everyone arrives," Kinshiro replied calmly. With that Atsushi rushed over to join his classmates, while En trudged behind.
Despite the golden rule, En's first reaction to receiving the letter from the Graduation Committee was to tear it up and pretend he hadn't seen it. But between Atsushi's curiosity and Kinshirou's demands (and threats), he found himself tagging along anyway. As he watched Atsushi cheerfully catch up with old classmates, and Kinshirou organize everyone like the natural leader he was, En decided that this kind of things wasn't too terrible.
As nice as it was exchanging awkward greetings with people he didn't remember, and making small talk with those he did, all too soon, the main event began. They split up into their respective groups and followed their old teacher (it really was elementary school all over again) out to a dirt patch, where apparently all the time capsules were buried. Rumor had it that the area housed a hot spring beneath the surface, so it seemed strange to have it also be the site of an annual time capsule event. Then again, if there were a hot spring on Mt. Binan, someone would have surely dug it up already.
En briefly wondered how they kept track of what was where, but apparently all of the teachers had maps to pass out to outline the general area of their treasure.
Well, at least they didn't have to dig around blindly.
After only a few minutes of digging, as luck would have it, it was Atsushi who ended up finding their class's time capsule. He held up the metal sphere proudly as everyone gathered around him, eyes flashing hungrily. No doubt most just wanted to secure their letter before anyone else saw it.
"Now, now boys, settle down," Iwamuro-sensei laughed heartily as he spoke, as though he were still speaking to his 6th graders, and not a group of adults. His words still carried their old authority, as the rowdiness dissipated and Atsushi was safely able to hand over the prize. "It's been almost a decade since you wrote these letters. No doubt, you've experienced many things since then…"
It was a rehearsed speech, from a teacher who had to do this song and dance every year. En had to hand it to Iwamuro-sensei though. Despite how many students he'd had over the years, the old man very clearly remembered their class (way better than En did), and the speech did have a certain heartwarming personal touch. It was almost enough to make them forget that they were up to read their decade old letters and make their childhood selves cry with how they turned out.
Almost.
"I'm going to begin handing out the letters now," Iwamuro-sensei said, and opened up the capsule. He let everyone see the pile of white rectangles inside (amazing how clean they looked) before pulling out the first one. "Akagi-kun…"
For all of the buildup, the actual distribution of the letters went by very quickly. En, Atsushi, and Kinshirou all received theirs early on, and patiently stood to the side looking them over with wary smiles. Some of their classmates rushed to read theirs right away, and there was plenty of laughter and redness to go around. En briefly turned his over to discover that his 6th grade self was a lazy little brat who'd only filled up around 2 lines in large childish hiragana, but he held off on reading the actual words. He couldn't risk his poker face now.
In the end, there were three of their classmates missing: Hanamaki, Sawatari, and Yuzawa – all names vaguely familiar to En, but not enough to place a face to a name.
"It's unfortunate those three couldn't join us today," Iwamuro-sensei lamented. "But we have their letters here, so it's as though they are with us in spirit." There were some knowing chuckles, but the old man was unfazed. "I know what you're all thinking. Reading their letters like this is embarrassing. Perhaps, but can you really laugh at your friends for the things they wrote as children? Think of it as remembering the youthful passion you once held." That got him some more guffaws, but Iwamuro-sensei's eyes just twinkled and he began reading Hanamaki's letter out loud.
The old man was right though. You couldn't really laugh at those letters. Sure, the revelations that Hanamaki wanted to meet Bill Gates, Sawatari wanted to buy a candy store, and Yuzawa was determined to be married with three kids and a dog by 20 were worth plenty of howls, but it was just so innocent that you couldn't help but smile. Those revelations did help reshape those kids in En's mind a little, which seemed to be the point. He still didn't remember them that well, but he did start to remember some of the little things like Hanamaki bragging about things he read on the internet, or Sweet Tooth Sawatari always buying dango at the corner store after school. Yuzawa was an only child, En recalled. He was always jealous of the kids with siblings.
The letters were also an icebreaker in making people more open to sharing their own letters. En kept his hidden and stood off to the side, but Atsushi and Kinshirou were happy to share theirs with curious classmates (not each other though – there was an agreement). Whatever they'd written clearly made them flustered in front of their peers, but En still couldn't help but smile.
Remembering his own letter, he briefly took it out of his pocket, and decided to take a quick look.
Immediately, his eye twitched.
"What the heck?"
After the capsules were dug up, and the letters handed out, there wasn't much left to the event. In fact, it felt over too quickly, even though En had been eager to leave as soon as he'd arrived. As with any reunion, people wanted to catch up, some wanted to go out drinking with their former teachers (which just felt weird to En), so the actual leaving took far too long.
"Ah, sorry, we have plans to meet someone," Atsushi apologized on their behalf, as he had to turn down several invitations. It was unsurprising. Atsushi and Kinshirou always were popular with their classmates.
"Another time," Kinshirou said politely. "The Graduation Committee is always looking to organize more events such as this."
With Kinshirou on it, En didn't doubt that. They were finally able to escape after swapping numbers with pretty much everyone (weird to think about how cell phones weren't all that common back then), and began their descent down the mountain.
Waiting for them at the base of Mt. Binan was Ibushi, leaning against his fancy imported sports car.
"There you are," he waved them over. "How was the reunion?"
"It was nice to see everyone," Kinshirou replied. "Have you been waiting long?"
"Not at all," Ibushi said in a tone that could have been taken both ways. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah," Atsushi said and quickly ducked into the backseat. En followed suit.
"I still think you should have come with us, Arima," Kinshirou told him as he sat down in the passengers' seat. "There were plenty of people from our high school class."
"True, but I wasn't with you in elementary school," Ibushi shrugged coolly. "It would have felt like an intrusion." He started the car.
"So you say, but you're still totally planning on reading our letters," En pointed out.
"Of course," Ibushi simply smirked.
The plans they had was to meet up with everyone at Kurotama. It had been a while. The four of them had graduated two years, the so-called "second years" a year ago, and Yumoto just recently. It was strange to think that none of them were high school students anymore. The last time they had all seen each other was at the Kurotama Christmas Party, still an on-going tradition.
They still had over an hour though—no one actually realized how quickly the reunion would end—so the four of them stopped over at a nearby café. They took a table in the back, En and Atsushi on one side, Kinshirou and Arima across them.
"It's been ages since I've been in here," Atsushi said brightly, after they gave their lunch orders. "Huh, I didn't even realize they had a drinks menu."
"At this time of day?" Kinshirou loomed disapprovingly.
"Aww, you know," Atsushi still looked giddy. "Last time I was here, I was a kid. Now I'm an adult."
"You were 19," En said bluntly. "Is it really that big a deal turning 20? I feel the same as always."
"Old and tired?"
"Hey!"
"Now, now," Ibushi teased, and looked at Kinshirou. "One drink never hurt anyone."
"Oh no, I'm good, I was just thinking it's weird that I can order it now," Atsushi assured him.
"You didn't go all out on your birthday?"
"Oh I did," Atsushi admitted readily, pointedly ignoring the intrigued and horrified looks he was getting from En and Kinshirou respectively. "But I've been coming here since elementary school, you know? The owners know my parents."
"They won't tell."
"That's not what I mean," Atsushi reddened slightly, and quickly changed topics. "So anyway, our class reunion. That was fun. You know, now that I think about it, it's kinda funny how the time capsule was just full of letters."
"Atsushi, you are not getting away that easy," En grumbled, making a note to make sure he got a full account of Atsushi's 20th birthday party later. The party they'd had together was fairly low key, but Atsushi had spent the day itself with his college buddies. En and Kinshirou shared a solidary nod. "But I'll bite. What's funny about it?"
"If you think about it, time capsules are normally full of all kinds of things, right?"
"Like what?"
"Like photos or old toys or a flag from a secret base with a mysterious symbol, and a children's book of prophecies."
"No one is going to get that reference."
"I'm just saying."
"Well, there are no particular rules about what students can put into that capsule," Kinshirou cut in. "Indeed some people do put in other things such as photos. But since the letter is a homework assignment, most just stick with that."
"Anything else is too troublesome," En said. "Kids don't really get what a time capsule is, or how long a time 10 years really is."
"Yeah, I guess that's true. I don't think I really cared much about it back then, but I do like that our school still does this sort of thing."
"Iwamuro-sensei mentioned that this is always the activity he looks forward to most every year," Kinshirou said. "Both the burial, and the reunion."
"I get that." Atsushi nodded.
"So you three only put letters in yours?" Ibushi asked.
"Our whole class did," Atsushi explained. "Kinda boring, but there were some good letters in there."
"Dreams for the future, reminders, and the like," Kinshirou added and reached into his pocket to pull out a carefully folded square. "Here's mine." He had no qualms about handing it to Ibushi, who unfolded it and started reading. At once, his grin brightened.
"You haven't changed at all, Kinshirou," he chuckled and handed back the letter.
"What? What's it say?" En asked.
"Kin-chan, you promised to share!" Atsushi reminded him.
"After you," was the curt reply.
"Ah, well," Atsushi quickly backpedaled. "Mine's not really anything special."
"Same," En said, carefully looking elsewhere.
"Then you should have no trouble sharing it," Kinshirou countered, but his focus was entirely on Atsushi. "What did you write about?"
"It's pretty silly," Atsushi said. "When I was a kid I wanted to be a super hero who saves the Earth."
"Hmm, that kind of thing did end up happening though," Ibushi said with a wry smile.
"Yeah, I guess it did," Atsushi said. "I also wrote about wanting to be a cool adult with a girlfriend." That brought out some laughs.
"You're…an adult at least," En said, after composing himself.
"En-chan, at least say a cool adult!"
"Cool adults don't get giddy about being able to order beer or make outdated references," En scolded him. "You've got a long way to go."
"What's a cool adult in your opinion then?" Atsushi asked.
En shrugged. He hadn't really thought much about it, so looking around, he just said the first thing that came to mind.
"Arima's cool I guess."
"Oh?" Ibushi raised a brow.
"What makes him so cool?" Atsushi pressed.
"Huh?"
"You brought it up."
"Atsushi, he's sitting right there."
"He doesn't mind." Ibushi assured them, smiling. It send shivers down En's spine.
"Well, uh, he has a car. That's cool." En reached for the first thing that came to mind and went with it. "Kusatsu's pretty cool too." Unlike Ibushi, Kinshirou just rolled his eyes.
"What makes Kin-chan so cool then?"
"You're surprisingly pushy…"
"Tell me."
"Well, you know, he's our President." En didn't think he'd ever stop thinking of Kinshirou as the Student Council President. "The way he organized today's event and recognized everyone? My heart skipped a beat watching you in action, Prez."
"Today's event was a group effort, but I'll accept the compliment," Kinshirou replied.
"See, that there's a cool reply," En said. Atsushi, in a display that was definitely not cool, lightly punched En's arm before straightening up in his seat again.
"You really want to be a cool adult that badly?" En asked exasperated, rubbing his sore arm in an exaggerated motion.
"Of course."
"I think you're plenty cool At-chan," Kinshirou, ever the flatterer, cut in.
"Thanks Kin-chan," Atsushi beamed and shot En a victorious look.
"Yeah, yeah, your win," En said rolling his eyes. "Prez, what did you write?"
"You first, Yufuin," he replied, sliding his letter over to Atsushi at the same moment. Atsushi took it, and started grinning. En tried to lean over, but Atsushi, evidently still miffed about being called uncool, shifted the paper away.
"Real mature."
"I'm just respecting Kin-chan's wishes."
"I'm sure," En said and reached into his own pocket to pull out the crumpled letter. It had been so neat before, surviving nearly a decade underground, but all it took was a few minutes in his pocket to lose that polish.
He still couldn't make much sense of it. Ibushi read it first, and his usually unflappable smirk morphed into one of confusion as he passed the note to Kinshirou. Kinshirou read it, closed his eyes, and En could just see the headache forming.
"What's wrong?" Atsushi asked and took the note next. His reaction was even better. "En-chan, what the heck is this?"
En snatched back his letter and held it up to read. There was one sentence. He read it out loud in a monotone.
"Atami may know best, 4000 yen."
All eyes were on him. What, did they expect him to know what he'd meant?
"Sounds…important," he finally said. "Whatever kid-me was thinking about at the time, I'm sure the very essence of his grade school life was on the line."
"You have no idea what this means either, huh?" Atsushi said knowingly.
"Not a clue."
"Sounds like you though," Ibushi offered.
"That it does."
"Who's Atami?" Kinshirou asked.
"If you don't know, I definitely don't." En said with a lazy grin, and felt a buzzing in his pocket indicating a new message. As he turned on his phone to check, he said, "So what's Kusatsu's letter?"
"Can I say it?" Atsushi asked.
"I'll do it," Kinshirou replied. "I told my future self to always uphold Binan's proud traditions."
"Heh. How very like you," En smirked as he read through his texts.
"He also looked up when the next meteor shower would be visible in Binan so we could go watch," Atsushi added happily. "I'm in, by the way."
"At-chan, that's not for another few years at least…"
"So what, we can make plans that far ahead," Atsushi assured him. "Just think of the time capsule."
"True. People do bury them with plans to come back several years later," Ibushi agreed.
"How many actually do though?" En chimed in. "As in come back on the exact day they'd planned to? With everyone in tow."
"Hmm, that could be an interesting statistic to look into," Ibushi said, albeit somewhat dismissively. "Who are you texting by the way?"
"Ryuu," En replied. "He's wondering how the reunion went and what are our letters say."
"What'd you tell him?" Atsushi asked and leaned over to read the screen.
"That he'll have to dig up his first."
"Good answer," Atsushi nodded approvingly. Even if their own letters ended up being mostly harmless (and En's just ridiculous), they were still plenty embarrassing, so it was only fair that Ryuu would have to share his own childhood letter as well.
"Knowing Ryuu though, his letter was probably something like "I want to have 100 girlfriends"."
"And Io's was definitely about money," Atsushi agreed, then frowned. "Wait no, he went to a different elementary school…"
"Akoya didn't bury anything either," Ibushi added. "He mentioned the other day that he'd been out sick that week." Kinshirou nodded.
"Oh," Atsushi shoulders drooped. "And come to think of it, the Beppu twins were living in space already at that point. So then out of those five, we only have 1 letter? That's sad."
"Yumoto likely buried something," En said. "Any bets?"
"Snacks? Kurotama coupons? A long letter about how much he loves Goura-san?" Atsushi quickly rattled off.
"Snacks sounds awfully unhygienic." Kinshirou crinkled his nose. "I highly doubt the teachers would allow it."
"Guess we'll find out in two years," Ibushi said.
Their food was finally brought out, and for a while the spirited conversation died down.
"Say, I've been thinking..." En suddenly cut in.
"What's up En-chan? Did you finally decipher your message?"
"No. I was thinking it's kinda lame that so many of us didn't bury anything on Mt. Binan back then," he continued. "So why not do that sort of thing now?"
"By that sort of thing, you mean you want to bury a time capsule?" Atsushi asked in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"More letters?" Kinshirou, very clearly on board already, asked.
"Sure, why not? Letters, photos, anything's good."
"En-chan, we're not little kids anymore," Atsushi pointed out. "What would you even write to your future self now?"
"I don't know," En admitted. "But I bet it's different to write a letter to your 30-year-old self when you're 20, then to your 20-year-old self when you're a kid."
"The age difference is about the same, yet leagues apart, is what you're saying?" Ibushi asked.
"Yeah. When you're a kid, 20 feels ancient, but when you're finally there, it's nothing special. Yet 30 doesn't really feel so far off either…"
"30 definitely feels more "adult" though," Kinshirou mused. "At 20, you're either a student or just joining the work force, but by 30, it's quite common to have a steady career and family."
"At 30, Atsushi may finally even be a cool adult."
"Hey!" Atsushi pouted, but then his expression softened "It does sound interesting though. Let's do it! We can dig it up in ten years during the Christmas Party."
There Atsushi went, making plans despite the fact that no one else actually agreed yet. Heck, no one else even knew yet.
"It may be difficult to dig it up in winter, but we'll cross that bridge in ten years," Ibushi chuckled. "If Kinshirou's in, I'll play along."
"4 down." En smirked. Maybe it was kind of impulsive, but after the string of nonsense his grade school self wrote, he felt a bit cheated and wanted a do-over. With Kinshirou on board, he could also leave all of the actual planning and remembering to him. He could probably consider that statistic Ibushi mentioned earlier. It seemed a little farfetched that something like that existed, but people kept track of weirder things. En stared at his phone wondering if he should text Ryuu now, or let Atsushi and Kinshirou bring it up at Kurotama later.
Definitely Kurotama, he decided after a moment.
In the meantime, he needed to start thinking of what he wanted to tell his future self.
For starters, he drafted, always clearly annotate your ramblings. Context is important. Then, looking at Atsushi laughing happily with boyish wonder in his eyes, he added, and make sure you tell Atsushi that he's definitely not a cool adult.
AN: Thanks for reading!
It's been too long since I've written any boueibu fic, so I apologize for any rustiness and ooc-ness...though writing this has made me realize how different Atsushi's character feels when he's with the other 3rd years vs. the Defense Club. Somehow he took on a more playful attitude. Hopefully it's still within the confines of his general character though. But I hoped you liked this fic! I really like the bits of lore Happy Kiss has been giving us and while I don't feel comfortable writing the HK boys yet, I do want to explore that lore some more. Hence 3rd years and time capsules! :D
As always, feedback is really appreciated
Side Note: all the minor characters were named after onsen. Because, in Binan your name is either an onsen or a monster pun.
(So naturally En-chan's note is referring to the place, not a person)