A year had passed, seemingly without a trace. School events and holidays came and went, and before either of them knew it, the winter season is upon them. With Christmas and a ten-day break just around the corner, kids all across Japan are eagerly planning their free time, and Raimon students are no exception.
In the time since they started training and going out together, Kaiser had grown sturdier and even a bit taller. However, doing more workouts requires more stamina, which requires more food, and with JP's astounding eating habits, some weight gain was inevitable. Despite having rock-hard abdominal muscles from daily crunches, few are willing to look past the soft layer of fat padding it—least of all his best friends, who like to tease him about it every chance they get.
"I'm sorry, Kai," Adé says with a sheepish grin, rubbing the bump on the head Kaiser gave him just seconds ago, "but I still can't get over how fat you've gotten."
Eugene slaps Adé in the back of his head, further adding to his suffering. "What he means is that he finds all these changes a bit hard to deal with. He's still trying to wrap his head around you dating JP. Besides, I think 'husky' is a better description." He pinches Kaiser's cheek, smiling devilishly while barely avoiding a hit from him.
"Speaking of changes," Adé cuts in, warily eying the dark eyeshadow and black lipstick on Eugene, "when did you start wearing makeup? I get people calling you girly, but isn't this takin' it a bit far? And why black? Ain't that a little...?" His brown eyes widen, as if the lights turned on upstairs. "Oh, I get it. You're goin' on a date with that kid from the cultural festival, aren't... you...?" His words trail off, as the bespectacled redhead shoots him a gaze—a gaze which both of his friends knew firsthand meant death if provoked further.
Later, at the end of the school day, Kaiser packs up and heads out of the third-year building. He flings open the door, only to get tackled by a familiar face. "Michael," JP calls out, his lilting French accent soothing Kaiser's nerves as his short arms embrace him. He continues talking, even as Michael sets him down. "So what will it be today? I've heard that the new Samurai Eleven movie is really good. Or maybe we can check out that new cafe that just opened. I hear you can pet rabbits while you eat!"
Kaiser wants to make a snarky comment, but doesn't. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with your friends for that kind of stuff? I mean, you and Arion aren't fighting again, right?"
"No, we're friends again, thanks to you." Kaiser remembers that incident, clear as day. Things were awkward between them and Arion—not helped by the rest of the team learning about their relationship—but eventually, JP talked it out with him, and things turned back to normal. No, that's not quite right. Things stopped being normal the moment Kaiser fell in love with JP. "Michael? Are you alright? You looked kind of lost for a second there."
Snapped out of his thoughts, Kaiser nods aimlessly. "Oh, ja. Let's go practice a bit first. I need to clear my head after being stuck in that stuffy classroom all day."
They exit the school grounds and head over to the riverside, where a group of kids are playing on the pitch. Feeling motivated by the children's footwork, they go down to the patterned sidewalk, where they test their dribbling skills. After warming up individually, they practice dueling against each other, football style. Soon, they become enraptured in their two-man game, only stopping once they notice the sun beginning to set.
JP invites him over to his house, being the closer one. His home is small and modest, a perfect fit for him. His parents are also short like JP, with his father bearing an uncanny resemblance to his son, both in looks and personality. His mother, though more demure in comparison, becomes a cheerful bundle of joy whenever guests come around. "Any friend of JP's is a friend of ours," she said during their first time meeting. Though Kaiser feared his brusque nature would rub them the wrong way, they proved to be surprisingly tolerant—unless he just held back due to being in the presence of adults.
They gather around the table, where food is served in absurd amounts to accommodate for the Lapins' large appetites. Even with his own increased appetite, he finds himself wondering how they could fit so much into such tiny bodies. After finishing his first serving, he puts down his chopsticks and stares down at his growing gut. That's it. I'm going on a diet, starting now—
"I hope you've saved room for dessert," says Ms. Lapin. Kaiser almost lets out a swear under his breath; her desserts really are some of the best he's had.
"Uh, thanks, but I'm not all that hungry today, so…"
"Hey, you're a growing boy. You need all you can get!"
JP looks up at Kaiser with a frown, tugging at his uniform. "Mind if I talk to you alone?" He leads Kaiser out back, where he says bluntly, "Michael, have you been eating enough? You haven't been playing as well, and you look tired and stressed all the time. Are you worried about getting fat?"
That last word triggers Kaiser into looking away, hiding his embarrassment. In response, JP bursts out laughing. "What the hell are you laughing at? There's nothing funny about this!"
Wiping a tear away, JP calms down just enough to speak. "I'm sorry. I'm just relieved it's nothing more serious. You have to admit, it is a bit silly, though."
He crosses his arms in contempt. "Says you. You're not the one with asshole friends."
"Trust me, you're not the only one. Aitor makes fun of how small I am, and we make fun of the lame names he comes up with. We all have things we're not proud of, things that even our friends poke fun at us for. But I think a good friend knows what lines not to cross, and respect you if you're honest about how you feel." He hugs Kaiser, rubbing his face against his belly. "If it makes you feel any better, I think you look just fine." He pecks a kiss on the cheek and walks back to the door. "Allez! We'd better get back before Mum and Dad eat the whole thing."
Feeling more comfortable with himself, he gorges on Ms. Lapin's delicious chocolate cake. (It's a little embarrassing how much he ate, considering how little he had at dinner.) With bellies full of food, JP offers to escort him to his house. As they pass by the train station, they encounter an unusual sight. Waiting by the goddess statue is Eugene, bundled up in more stylish clothing than usual. Even odder, his pigtails are held up by dark-colored ribbons with a golden stripe running down the center. This minimalist pattern strikes Kaiser as familiar somehow.
Exiting the station is a tall, young boy with dark skin and red hair, lengthy bangs in deliberate disarray. The boy's slate gray coat blends in with the darkness, the gold trim and buttons shining under the street lights. The German boy recognizes him as a student from Lunar Sea Military Academy. He starts making the connection, immediately confirmed by their gestures: roses and a kiss, a laugh and a chat as if they've known each other for years, a bit of hand-holding. Even for him and JP, this is a bit much. "Ew, they're acting like a couple of newlyweds," a voice behind them echoes their thoughts, startling them.
Having a good look at the person who spoke, Kaiser is unsure whether to hit them or not. "Adé, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Oh, just passing by." Pause. "Oh, fine! I was tailin' Eugene cus I wanted to know who he was seein'. And whaddaya know, I was right! Are you out datin', too? Geez, everyone I know's got somebody for the holidays!"
Adé lets out a laugh, but JP catches a glimmer of sadness in his tone. "Actually, we were just practicing together. Michael was telling me how much he wanted to hang out with you today." Kaiser flinches, not at all expecting this response, then looks down at the French rabbit, who winks in a "just play along" manner. "It's okay, Kai. You deserve this for putting up with me so long."
To this, Adé's face brightens up. "Sure you won't get jealous? I could steal 'im anytime I want." He wraps an arm around Kaiser and starts walking off with him in tow. As they head back to his place, Adé lowers his gaze, his cheery mood turned somber. "Hey, 'bout what I've been sayin' lately, I wanna apologize. It's just so much has changed this past year, and... I guess Eugene's right when he said I haven't wrapped my head around it. And this must sound silly to you, but I feel out of touch with you two. Like, I don't think I've changed one bit."
"What's wrong with that? I think it's great that you haven't changed. If anything, I'm worried that I changed too much. I think I've gone soft."
Hearing this, the Geordie jokes, "Yeah, in more ways than one." Kaiser responds with a light jab at his arm, barely hard enough to drive a point home. "Alright, maybe not that soft. But y'know, despite all that, you're still the Kaiser I knew from day one. Heck, you're more like the Kaiser I knew from day one than you were last year." This catches him by surprise. Had he really changed that much? "I guess JP's helped you show that better side of yourself. As your best friend, I can't help but feel a bit jealous."
Kaiser has to take a moment to absorb all this. He never knew Adé to be the jealous type, but with how close they were before then, it was perhaps inevitable. "You damn idiot! Why would I forget about you? Maybe I did neglect you a bit, but we're making up for lost time, right?" He smiles and holds his hand. "You're still my best friend, no matter what happens or who I'm with."
Adé returns the gesture, gripping his friend's small hand tightly for good measure, and together they walk onward, through the gently falling snow.
Author's Note: Long time, no see! After several months, I was struck with a lightning bolt of inspiration and started chugging away at this for the past day or two. Admittedly, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to return to this, but it looks like I did. As such, I'll leave the completion status of this up in the air until I feel for sure that it's complete.
Onto the story itself. I didn't intend for such a huge time jump, but I wanted to write a winter/Christmas story (partly to leave the "cultural festival" incident ambiguous, to retain the twist near the end), which, after reviewing part three, required me to skip over a year's worth of events. Will I ever cover that missing length of time? Most likely not, but we'll never know until it does happen.
Something that might catch some readers off-guard is Kaiser's, uh, change in body type. Stout!Kaiser was an idea I initially wanted to explore solely through art, particularly as I was preoccupied with writing Dreams of Discord, which featured a vastly different interpretation of Kaiser, leaving no room for any major divergences. But at the time when I started writing this, I was struggling with DoD (yet again), and wanted to shift gears a bit and work on something a bit lighter and softer. So I turned to this fic and thought, "Huh, maybe I can put this idea to good use here." And that's how this chapter was made.
Call it self-indulgent, call me a horrible, disgusting person for daring to write about something you don't like, I don't give a crap. This is fanfiction, which means I can write whatever I want, by my own personal standards. With that said, even if just one person likes what I do, that's enough to motivate me into doing more.