"Why do you hang around with Kashima?"
"Huh?"
Usokawa shrank at the glance Hayato slanted at him, though he didn't know what expression he had to elicit that response.
"Er, ah, don't get me wrong, I like Kashima! He's a great guy! But it's just, uh…you know…you're complete and total opposites."
"Huh? Are you saying I'm not a great guy?"
"Why does it feel like you're just looking for a fight?"
Hayato ignored Usokawa's mumbling and returned to staring out the window. It was a warm, breezy day that would have been perfect for baseball practice if not for the history paper he needed to correct and had yet to touch. It was a waste of good weather. He was even willing to put up with Taka and Kazuma's snot if it meant he could stretch his legs on a walk with the kids. Maybe he could train by doing squats with Midori. Usaida wouldn't care—free hands meant a free nap—but Kashima would probably hover and fret and beg him to be careful with her, despite the fact that Midori took great joy in serving as his dumbbell.
Why do you hang around with Kashima?
Why, indeed.
When he thought about it, Hayato had to admit there was a large gap between their personalities. He preferred sports to socializing and didn't have the patience for niceties. He knew it made him come off as unapproachable, but it never really occurred to him to care. Kashima, on the other hand, was sunshine incarnate, kind to a fault even to idiot Taka, always picking up weirdos like Inui because he was too nice to reject their requests. It was one of the most exasperating aspects of his character, but if not for that, Hayato thought his life would have been pretty boring. He didn't know that he was lacking anything until Kashima befriended him.
Even the stupid things seemed so meaningful, like debating whether he should tell air headed Kashima he had stickers on his uniform again or that he had baby powder on his face. Going to festivals with his brother wasn't so bad when Kashima and Kotarou were with them, and he found himself perusing the children's aisles in stores for something to buy for the daycare center that Kirin might enjoy, since Kashima worried that she was often stuck playing boys' games. Wondering how someone could be so considerate of others yet blissfully unaware of his own popularity.
And without Kashima, who knew how long it would have taken Hayato to repair the relationship with his father, if he ever did? If Kashima had never come to this school, Hayato never would have met such interesting people, and he certainly never would have imagined joining the babysitting club, of all things. He would not have felt the sharpness in him softening and shifting into something a little more gentle.
Maybe he hung around with Kashima because he liked who he was around him. Or maybe it was because he liked his klutziness, and his worrisome nature, and the way he smiled, and his big heart, and his brother complex, and his laugh, and his expression when Hayato pulled a leaf out of his hair, and the slight jump he did when their hands brushed yesterday as they were cleaning up (an accident, of course, definitely not a calculated move on Hayato's part). How could he answer a question that had an infinite number of answers?
"Well?" Usokawa said. "You never answered me—why do you two hang out?"
Outside, Hayato suddenly heard the chattering of small children pass near the window, and then Taka started wailing, quickly silenced, no doubt by Kashima's soothing voice and caring hands. He hid a smile behind his hand.
"Who knows?"