As he got closer, his certainty grew. It was Aoi Daichi, that serious newcomer kid that never spoke to anyone.
In the distance, he had heard a mere sob. Now... the sob became a word.
One he had pushed into the back of his mind.
One he definitely avoided to pronounce.
"Mom..."
He had lost his mother, then...?
Hosuke felt differently from his classmates about never having met his mother. He knew about his backstory and he knew about what had happened when he was too tiny to remember. He had wanted to ask why didn't his mom come back for him, but as a kid raised up in an atmosphere of persecution and general unease, he wouldn't bear to see his mother risk her life to take him with her. He couldn't take Sousuke's sacrifice and risk losing his remaining parent, lest putting his adoptive parent in a bind that could also end his life.
As long as his mother was safe, somewhere, it would be fine with him.
But, of course, hearing a kid his same age whimper and cry for his mother's embrace flipped a switch inside of him. He could feel the bracelet going literally haywire on his wrist, but the pain on the wristbone was nothing compared to the wave of anguish that emanated from that bench and the kid sobbing on it.
It was a howl, a bellow, a roar.
It didn't belong in a middle schooler.
And Hosuke was one, but he also wasn't.
His helter-skelter life with the Defiant Dragons had molded him as a little adult instead.
One who already knew how to separate personal and study matters.
He had approached this boy, not expecting much more than being friendly to a classmate... and in return, he was learning yet another unexpected lesson from him...
"Ugh... this is how it feels... when you had a mother and you lost her... So much pain... too much pain! I-I have to stop this!... this has to stop once and for good!"
But how? Suddenly, the weight of being an eleven-year old kid sagged over his shoulders. No Dhurke to ask for pointers here... He had to figure that on his own, and fast.
"Daichi-kun?" he voiced tentatively.
There was a gasp and a frantic rustle of clothes. As if someone was drying their face in a hurry.
"Get away, Hosuke-kun! Don't come over here!"
Was he... was that first name-basis?!
He sounded upset. Not upset at him, but at having been found.
And indeed, an involontary, broken sob escaped his chest at the end.
It could have been a warning, but it was a plea, and one way too feeble to stop Hosuke. His worry had evolved into relief.
He sounded tearful, but otherwise he might not be in immediate danger.
Wait, did he think of danger?
Had his life in Khu'rain programmed him to fear peril lurking at any corner?
He stepped forth, his brain running at top speed. He had, after all, spent a week trying to make friends, to no avail.
Was this going to end in a fight?
He didn't want to use his bracelet...
At least now he had a precise idea of what was wrong exactly...
In the silence that followed his process of thought, it seemed as if Daichi Aoi had convinced himself that Hosuke had walked away.
Another broken sob broke the silence.
"What can I do...? This might just be out of my league..."
What to do, what to do, what indeed...
"Guess the only thing I can do... is try to ease this pain myself"
"Aoi-kun" First name basis was a big relief, he felt his chest heave with the thought that, maybe, he had cut some distance between them. "Listen to me. I don't have a mother either..."
That wasn't, evidently, what Aoi had expected to hear. "Huh?" was all he could say, his teary eyes raising to meet his classmate's pupils.
Without invitation, Hosuke sat beside him and started to unwind the tangled wire of his feelings, those he never told Nahyuta or Dhurke, feeling more and more and more relieved. The mantle of secrecy, of silence, of cover-ups he had to live under... was coming off him, out of his own will... and it was like getting rid of a heavy weight.
"I always think, everybody else has a mom. Why am i the only one...? But, y'know... when I start to feel that way, I yell at the top of my lungs."
Probably, Hosuke thought, he isn't going to believe me if I don't tell him what I yell...
I holler "I'm fine!" and then, you know what? I start to feel like maybe I really will be fine. ODOROKI HOSUKE IS FINE! Okay, Aoi, your turn now.
For a fleeting second, it looked like the latter was going to stand up and leave, so bizarre was the suggestion.
"Um, okay... Daichi Aoi is... is... FINE!"
Score!
There you go! Now we're both fine!
And Hosuke broke into laughter. The first full laugh he had since his Khu'rain days.
He had the feeling, as he released himself into chuckles, that Aoi had noticed this.
That he knew it hadn't been easy for him to come that far out of the sealed vault of his past experiences.
"We're fine" His small, uneasy laugh sounded just like someone who had forgotten and was relearning how to laugh. "WE'RE FINE!"
And the dam broke. Laughing aloud, with a pitch and strength that would have made any baritone proud, he turned to look at Hosuke, who was grinning ear to ear.
"What are you laughing about?" His own chuckles seemd to have found a reason to come out, for he could not stop them, nor wanted to. "See? We're fine!"
"You laughed first!" Neither could -or would -Aoi, by the looks of it. "I'm fine! You are fine! We're both fine!"
The tide of laughter slowly subsided, as both paused to massage their ribs. The dark-haired boy still had traces of tears on his cheeks and sported a red nose, but a full smile now crossed his face.
"Arigato, Hosuke-kun"
"Don't even mention it! That's what my Chords of Steel are for! Putting people at ease!"
"Oh, and how many people have you, um, done this for?"
A childish grin illuminated the double-fringed boy's face once again, as he replied:
"As of now... Just one person."
At the disappointed look in his new friend's face, he felt the need to add a quip:
"Oh, but mark my words" he stated, in a firm, unwavering way, "that one person... sure has been worth it!"