The gap in between
Second Chapter – Change
The first thing I heard when I opened my eyes was my alarm clock's ringing. It was a penetrating sound, I didn't like to hear it. In fact, I hadn't heard it for a long time, because every morning, even before my alarm clock ringed, I would always get a "Good Morning" message from Lev. But on that morning I didn't receive one. Only less than a day had passed since his flight, but I already noticed a change in my daily life. I had gotten accustomed to waking up like that, I had to smile every time I read his messages. Even though most of the times it was the same basic message. He would write "Good morning Yaku-san" and add a kissing emoticon at the end of the message. Sometimes the message varied, though. But one thing was sure, it always made me happy.
I decided to stand up and turn off my alarm clock. Immediately after that I fell back on my bed. It was a Sunday, so I didn't have to get up early and do stuff. I wanted to stay in my bed for the next 20 years. I didn't feel like doing anything at all.
After lying there and staring at the ceiling for another 10 minutes I finally stood up again and walked into the kitchen, I was hungry. While I was standing in front of the fridge I noticed the second change: there was no breakfast ready. I had no motivation to cook something myself, so I quickly got changed and headed towards a near café to eat breakfast there.
It was a sunny and cloudless Sunday morning, my mood rose again, sunny weather always made me happy. It was weird being up and walking around that early on a Sunday morning, it was a new experience. There were already lots of people on the streets, mostly elder people though, I guessed they had more than enough free time, so why not walk around in town. But honestly, I didn't understand people that stood up early voluntarily. How could you manage that? I guessed their beds weren't the best ones, so I figured you'd want to get up from a bad bed. Luckily my bed was a good one, a very comfortable bed. And it was big enough for Lev too, so we could both sleep in it together and also… Let's not get there.
After some more minutes of walking around in town I found a decent looking café where I could eat breakfast and quickly entered it. As soon as I opened the door a bell resounded and a friendly voice said "Welcome!" to me while I closed the door behind me.
"How many seats?" the employee at the front desk asked me.
"Uhm, only for myself-" but before I could order a table for one person, a loud, very familiar voice interrupted me.
"Oooiiii, Mori-saaaaaan, over heeeeere, helloooo!" you could hear Bokuto yelling through the entire café. I shortly thought about leaving again but I came to the conclusion that having some company wouldn't be that bad.
"Uhm, I'll take a seat at their table if that's possible." I said while pointing at the still waving Bokuto. Next to him I saw Akaashi who had buried his face into one of his hands, a natural reaction to Bokuto's… behaviour. After the employee wrote down some things I headed towards Bokuto and Akaashi.
"Moooorning Mori-san, how you doing? What brings you hear this early in the morning?" he asked even before I could sit down.
"Good morning Bokuto, Akaashi. Well, to be honest, I just didn't feel like making breakfast and because there was no one to make me some I decided to head out. That's it." I explained to him.
"Ahhh, right, Lev left. Hehe, he lev-t. Get it?" he was waiting for a reaction. I had to laugh, even though it was way too bad. Akaashi didn't seem that amused.
"I apologize that you have to listen to Bokuto's bad puns this early in the morning, Yaku." he said to me.
"Ehhh, come on Akaashi, that one was good, he laughed, okay? That means he liked it."
"Bokuto, he was only being considerate, don't misinterpret it."
"It's okay, it really was amusing, thank you Bokuto." I finally said to stop their little argument. Right after that another employee final came to ask me if had decided on something to eat. I ordered pancakes and a hot chocolate.
"So, and why are you two already out so early in the morning?" I asked them after the employee walked away again.
"Trainiiiiiing!" Bokuto said while putting his hands up in the air. He sure was full of energy, even though it was a Sunday morning.
"Training? On a Sunday?" I asked curiously.
"Yes." Akaashi replied while grabbing Bokuto's arms and putting them down again.
"Bokuto decided that we should train as much as possible before the next tournaments start. And because there are lots of players that are buys during the week, he decided to make a little training session every Sunday. That's why we're here already."
"I see. So I guess you'll be leaving soon, huh? Don't feel like you need to stay here with me, I don't mind being alone, so feel free to go whenever you want, okay?" I didn't want to bother them.
"Nah, it's okay Mori-san, we still have time." Bokuto replied while leaning back on his chair.
After a while my pancakes and hot chocolate arrived. It looked delicious, I wanted to start eating right away. But as soon as I grabbed the maple syrup I wanted to drip on my pancakes, Bokuto's eyes began to twinkle. They twinkled like Lev's eyes always did when he either was looking forward to something or when he wanted something. I guessed Bokuto wanted to do something, so I asked him.
"Is something wrong, Bokuto?"
"Can I draw something with the maple syrup on your pancakes?" his eyes started twinkling more.
"Bokuto no." Akaashi said as fast as lightning.
"But."
"No."
Now Bokuto looked like a little puppy who had been abandoned in the heavy rain. I couldn't bear to see him that frustrated because of pancakes, so I smiled and handed him the bottle of maple syrup. His whole facial expression turned to the complete opposite, he was now overly happy. But before starting drawing he looked to Akaashi again, asking if it really was okay to draw on the pancakes. Akaashi seemed to have given up on convincing him otherwise and sighed, accompanied with another burial of his face in his hand. His sigh sounded like a "do whatever you want".
After some minutes of drawing, Bokuto closed the bottle again and put the plate in front of me.
"Tadaaaa!" he said proudly.
"Aawww, look at this. This is a cute… uhm… it's a… what is this, Bokuto?" I really tried to figure out what he had drawn, but I just couldn't identify it.
"It's an owl." he said, still proud of his masterfully made drawing.
"Ahh, it's… it's an owl, yes. Now that you mention it, it really does resemble one. If you… tilt your head a bit and… close one eye. And if you know it's an owl, then yes, it definitely does look like one." I tried my best not to show that it really did not look like an owl. And it worked apparently, his eyes started twinkling even more.
"Ha! And Akaashi always tells me I can't draw. Did you hear that, Akaashi? Maybe you just don't have the same artistic vibes as Mori-san and me. Maybe you just don't understand art." he said to Akaashi.
"Or maybe you just can't draw, Bokuto."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"Do you want to say that I can't draw?"
"That's actually what I already said, yes."
"What do you mean?! And now you're gonna tell me I can't play volleyball, right?"
"Bokuto, I never said anything about volleyball. You're exaggerating again."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Bokuto, please calm down."
"I am completely calm, I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Bokuto, I really-" I had already started eating and was observing how those two began their argument. It was very interesting, it reminded me of the reality TV shows Lev and me always watched together in the morning. They were really entertaining and because nothing else would be on TV early in the morning, we always watched that while having breakfast. It was a change from my daily routine, but it changed into a better version of a reality TV show. It was live and unplugged, and the two protagonists were two good friends of mine. Lev would have loved to be here and observe them as well.
"I know I can't cook, I know you're better than me Akaashi, you don't have to tell me that again."
"Bokuto please, why are you talking about cooking now, I only said you can't draw. You're not making any sense at all."
"Do mean to say I am stupid? Is that what you wanted to say all the time?"
"No I did not want to say that, and now please calm down." I missed how they ended up arguing about that, but somewhere in between I ordered a second hot chocolate. I already finished eating, but it was too interesting to listen to them and I didn't want to interrupt them.
"Akaashi, enough of this. I'm leaving now for the training session. You can go on your own." Bokuto said as he stood up. He was sulking.
"Bokuto wait, I… Excuse us Yaku, we'll have to go now." Akaashi said to me after he stood up as well.
"Aww, you already have to go? But it was getting interesting just now and… uhm… I mean, right. Training. And stuff. Yeah, uhm, enjoy."
"Thank you, I wish you a pleasant Sunday." he said while bowing down to me.
And soon after he run after Bokuto, who was already in front of the café. They somehow looked like an old married couple. You know how they say a Buddha's patience is the greatest one? Buddha would go insane if he had to deal with Bokuto, you'd need Akaashi's patience to be able to endure Bokuto's… behaviour.
After a while I had finished my second cup of hot chocolate and paid the bill. It was time to do something productive.
When I left the café I thought about the things I normally did on a Sunday, until I remembered that I always spent my Sundays together with Lev. It struck me again like lightning that he wouldn't be there today, nor any other Sunday for the next few weeks, and even months. I started realizing how many things would change with him not being around. At first I had thought my daily life wouldn't change that much, but I was wrong, clearly wrong. Even if it were only the slightest changes, I'd notice them, if I liked that fact or not. I couldn't change that, I had to deal with it.
I decided to stroll around the park for a bit, maybe another idea would pop up in my head while being there. The park was already filled with lots of people, mostly little children and their mothers or elders that were enjoying the sun on a bench. I was looking for a free bench to sit on, but I didn't find any, so I just decided to sit on the border of the fountain and observe my surroundings. If Lev would've been with me he would be splashing water over me and then I'd get angry at him, would take my revenge and then apologize and he'd be all "It's okay, Yaku-san" and then he'd smile and his eyes would start twinkling.
I stopped thinking about what Lev would do, that didn't help at all and only made me feel lonelier than I already were. I really did miss him already, how was I supposed to survive all that time? And he hadn't even called me since he got there. Sitting all alone in the park didn't improve my mood, so I decided to stand up again and go elsewhere. But where?
After almost half an hour of walking around with a clear destination reached one of the local cinemas and because I literally had nothing better to do, I decided to enter it and see what movies would be shown. I don't remember which movie I had watched, I wasn't really focused on the movie. I guess I just went in there to kill some time. You're pathetic I thought to myself, it hadn't been even one day and I didn't know what to do with my free time already. Luckily, the next day was a Monday, so I had to go to university and had something to do.
I wanted to head home after having 'watched' the movie, but then I remembered it would've been good to buy something for dinner, so I stopped a store and then headed home.
As soon as I arrived home I put away the things I bought, headed to the living room and fell onto the couch, my face landing on the scarf Lev gave me.
"It smells like Lev. Stupid Lev, leaving something here that reminds me of him." I said to myself. Then I looked at the ring at my finger, yet another thing that reminded me of him.
"Get a hold of yourself, Morisuke. You're an adult, don't act like a little child, you can endure it, and it's been only a day, for heaven's sake." I said as I threw a pillow through the room. And wanted to sleep, but I wasn't tired enough, so I just kept on lying there, when suddenly my phone ringed.
I jumped up from the couch as soon as I heard that ringtone, I knew that ringtone. Almost every contact that is saved on my phone had its own ringtone, and the one ringing right now, was one I heard a lot of times.
It was Lev's.