Osaka Romanesque
'Don't make me worry so much, dammit...'
The only sound in the darkened hotel room was the low hum of the air conditioner and the steady ticking of the clock hung somewhere on the wall.
Bossun let out a tired sigh as he leaned back in the stiff armchair where he was slumped in, careful not to move his body too much as every little movement reminded him of how sore his body was at the moment.
What a crazy day it had been.
Bossun stared at his right knuckles; slowly, painfully, balling his hand into a fist, the black and purple bruises clearly visible even in the dim glow of the street light that shone through the gaps of the window curtains. It was with this fist that he had powerfully struck Mishiyama Tsunemoto's face, that yakuza prick who was harassing Himeko's childhood friend, Koike Sumire.
'Son of a bitch…'
Bossun cursed under his breath at the thought of the bastard who had hurt Himeko. He had created so much trouble for him, and almost ruining his Osaka trip with Himeko and Switch.
Ah dammit, saying that hurts my face.
Bossun rubbed the left side of his face where Mishiyama had hit him. His punch had sent him flying to the wall; he was amazed that his spine didn't crack when he crashed against the hard concrete. Just remembering it made him wince in pain.
'Bastard,' he hissed, clearly pissed off, ignoring the pain on the left side on his face when he said that.
He closed his sore eyes and let out another tired sigh, sinking deeper into the armchair, wishing someone would drown him in painkillers so he wouldn't have to feel the pain all over his aching body and be reminded of how worried he had been thinking about Himeko's safety, of his rage shooting through the roof when he packed that mighty punch to Mishiyama's face, wishing he had broken it. He couldn't stop thinking of Himeko's bruised, crying face, of the sound of her quivering voice thanking him while she clung to him…
Bossun cracked open an eye to look at the figure sleeping soundly in what was supposed to be his bed. In the silence of the night, even from the armchair he had collapsed into, he could hear Himeko's steady breathing alternating with Switch's soft snoring.
He was so glad everything turned out alright despite the pain and the bruises covering all of their bodies. But he was still a little worried about Himeko. Would she be alright? When they got back to the hotel after everything with the police was settled, Himeko had refused to return to her room alone, even to just take her luggage. Bossun could clearly see that she was shaken by the things that had happened to her.
'We'll go to your room with you, Himeko,' Bossun had said to her with a warm, reassuring smile, Switch nodding with encouragement at his side. And she had smiled back at them, relieved.
Himeko spent the evening in Bossun and Switch's room, pretending that she was alright and that she wasn't affected by the unfortunate events of the day as the three of them sat at the square coffee table eating dinner bought from the convenience store. She was chattering away about how great Osaka was in that distinct Osaka dialect of hers.
But Bossun could tell. He knew her all too well.
That was all a front.
A façade.
He wished she would stop and just let her real emotions show. He knew Himeko was probably crying hard inside, like she did against his shoulder after he had saved her for the first time at the elephant park years ago.
Somehow late into the night, Bossun found her asleep in his bed. He couldn't really tell when Himeko ended up in his bed; he must have been busy doing something else, because when he was about to crash his drained body onto his bed, he realized that Himeko was already in it, sleeping like a baby. He didn't have the heart to wake her up and ask her to sleep somewhere else. Where else could she sleep anyway? The stiff armchair? No way. That was not how you treat a girl who had gone through a huge ordeal, even if that girl happened to be the strong legendary Onihime. She'd smack the hell out of Bossun before he could even suggest to her to sleep elsewhere, anyway.
Switch was already lost in a deep, deep dream in the next bed judging from his rhythmic snoring. Bossun didn't feel like squeezing himself into that narrow bed with Switch. It would be too tight.
For a quick second, the thought of sleeping in his bed with Himeko crossed his exhausted mind. She was a lot smaller compared to Switch; it wouldn't be too tight to share the bed with her, right?
She's softer too.
Before his aching body longing for a comfy mattress could carelessly agree with his reckless thoughts, Bossun felt a strange, foreign feeling rising inside of him. It made his heart beat a little faster, and his face felt a little hotter. Quickly, he shook the ridiculous thought out of his muddled head.
He ended up falling asleep in one of the armchairs, his sore body didn't care how stiff it was. He just wanted some rest. But he woke up with a start in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure what time it was, but it probably was hours past midnight.
And there he sat wincing at the very present pain he felt all over his body. Somehow he couldn't fall back to sleep. The pain and the thoughts prevented him from doing so although his body was screaming to let it go back to sleep and forget the pain for a while.
Bossun let out another mighty vocal sigh. He didn't know how many times he had sighed since he was awaken from his sleep.
He sat up straight when he suddenly heard Himeko mumbling in her sleep.
'Himeko?' he whispered quietly in the dark.
There was a little more mumbling as Himeko shifted in the bed. And then she was quiet.
Bossun stared at her figure for a long time before he slowly, painfully, crawled out of the armchair, his aching body protesting angrily but he didn't care. He clambered on all four as he quietly made his way towards the bed. He sat on the floor next to it, resting his arms on the soft mattress and placing his chin on the back of his hand that he didn't use to punch the lights out of Himeko's kidnapper.
In the dim hotel room, he stared at her sleeping face.
Cute.
He smiled at the look on her face before reflexively letting out a soft hiss.
Dammit, smiling hurts too.
There was quite a huge cut on his mouth. He ignored it, his eyes back on Himeko. He didn't think the Onihime could look this cute in her sleep. It was probably the first time he saw her sleeping face this up close; so serene, so childish, so innocent. How could that bastard Mishiyama hurt her?
He balled his hands into tight fists. Just the mere thought of that guy made his blood boil. He should have punched him a couple more times, that bastard.
Bossun breathed in deeply a few times to calm himself down. He should stop thinking about that worthless guy. It was bad for him.
He rubbed his face with his hand to clear his mind and glanced at the girl sleeping on the bed. He took note of every bruise on Himeko's face, every little cut, every scratch.
If only he had come to her rescue much earlier, she wouldn't have to bear all these bruises. He wondered how much pain she was in.
'Himeko, you idiot. Why did you have to go and do that all by yourself? Look at you. All beat up and bruised,' Bossun said softly, his voice was like the touch of feathers in the quiet night, his eyes roamed her sleeping face. 'Don't make me worry so much, dammit…'
Bossun sighed again.
Slowly, his bruised, trembling hand reached up to Himeko's face, wanting to push back a strand of blond hair that was covering her closed eye. His fingertips was about to touch her hair when Bossun suddenly stopped himself.
He hesitated.
He wanted to do it so badly, but there was something stopping him, he didn't quite know what. It was the same feeling that had stopped him when he was about to hold Himeko in his arms when she was hugging him after he had saved her.
His shaking hand hovered just a sliver away from her face; it was so close he could feel the warmth of her skin already.
Slowly, Bossun pulled back his hand away from her, letting her hair be.
He sat there unmoving for a long while, just staring at her.
'Goodnight, Himeko,' he whispered before he dragged his body back to the stiff armchair where he finally fell asleep until the morning sun was up.
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***End***
Author's Note
Hi! If you haven't figured it out, this story is actually set during the trio's trip to Osaka in the Sket Dance manga :)
Also, I borrowed the title of this story from one of my favourite songs, Osaka Romanesque by Kanjani8. I was listening to this song one day and an idea to write about the Sket Dance Osaka trip came to mind. I hope you enjoyed reading the story!