Well here's chapter 4. I had time after coming back so, here you go!


Friday was, a, well, interesting day for Takumi, to put it mildly.

It all started at lunch.

With Leo.

"Oi! Takumi!"

Takumi sighed and steeled himself for the impending annoyance. He picked up his lunch tray and started off towards where Hinata was sitting.

"Hey! I wanted to talk to you about something!"

Takumi rolled his eyes and turned. "What do you want?" he demanded.

Leo gave him a shrewd look. "So, I hear you've got a crush on someone…"

Crush…?

"..."

"..."

"HINATA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Unfortunately Hinata saw him running and sped off as fast as he could, using the hurried excuse of "football practice" to get away.

Leo didn't help either.

"Wait, Takumi! Is it true?"

Takumi gritted his teeth. One day. That's all it took. "Maybe," he replied, trying to get Leo off his trail.

"Oh! So it is then!" Leo cheered in elation. "So who's the girl?"

When Takumi didn't answer, Leo continued. "Well, I shouldn't be too narrow. Is it a guy?"

"I'm not gay. Leave me alone."

Leo gasped in mock hurt. "Takumi, we're friends right? I'm only trying to help you!"

"Lord Leo!"

Takumi was thankfully spared the option of answering in the form of a distraction. A guy who looked older than them with longish, gray hair sauntered up to Leo. "We are here to do your bidding."

Servants, huh? "Wow, Leo, you have servants? I'm almost impressed." Takumi whistled.

"Niles isn't -" Leo objected, but was interrupted by Niles again. Takumi noticed he was wearing an eyepatch. "Oh, who's this? You didn't tell me you had cute boy friends, Lord."

"How many times have I told you, don't call me Lord!" Leo shouted, sounding exasperated. Takumi was taken aback, but decided to ignore it.

"LORD LEO!"

A new voice came in from behind them. Leo facepalmed.

"I GOT MY OWAIN TO LEVEL 30!" A boy in their grade who Takumi had seen before but never really thought much of ran up to Leo, clutching a gold-coloured DS.

"Odin! First of all, don't call me Lord. Second of all," Leo paused, glancing at his handheld, "why are you playing those JRPGs again? You know if you get caught, they'll take it."

"I know! But this one's different," Odin whined. "It's called Fire Emblem Awakening, it's super fun and -"

"I know what it's called!" Leo practically roared.

"Of course you do milord," Niles appeared out of nowhere again. "You play it too."

"..."

"Leo you have such interesting friends," Takumi smirked.

"..."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS HERE?"

"Sorry, Lord, if you want us to leave, we'll leave!" Odin scrambled away, joining a girl with burgundy hair and a guy with grey hair. Selena and Laslow. He didn't know where the names came from. Maybe...drama class? Art? He didn't remember now.

"Argh…" Leo rubbed his forehead. "Why do I even put up with them?"

Takumi was about to make a cunning retort when Hinata made his timely appearance. "Hey guys," he nodded to Leo.

"...aren't you supposed to be at football practice?"

Hinata rubbed his arm sheepishly. "Well, you looked angry so…"

Takumi sighed. With all this commotion, he probably wouldn't be able to eat lunch today. He set down his tray and sat down as Hinata set down next to him. Leo infuriatingly deemed it okay for him to sit on Takumi's other side.

"So, tell me more about your crush…" Leo asked snidely.

"Let's not talk about that," came Takumi's icy reply.

Hinata, sensing a fight nearing, tried to hastily change the subject. "Ohey! Didn't Reina tell us to recruit more people?"

Oh no, anyone but him. But it was too late. "Recruit for what?" Leo asked, interested.

"All you need to do is help watch children and do...various other things related to that," Hinata explained. "It's after school until six, until the end of next week." That was a painful reminder the business was closing soon, but Takumi tried not to let it show.

"Count me in." The damage was done. Takumi groaned and banged his head on the table three times. They weren't even through lunch yet, and he could already tell it was going to be a long day.


After school came quicker than he expected. And, unfortunately, so did Leo.

"Great work Takumi!" Reina congratulated him. "One more person to help! Hinata said he couldn't make it today, something about football, so glad you could bring someone else." He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. He went with not.

Reina gave a much-needed break to Takumi by taking aside Leo for a few precious moments and de-briefing him on what he was needed for.

"Who's that?" It was Oboro, except this time she was carrying what looked like knitting needles.

"Oh, just a friend - I mean, guy from school," he dismissed, wincing at his use of the word "friend". "Are those knitting needles?" he asked, pointing to the long objects in her hands.

She held them up. "They sure are, along with tailoring, I can sew, shopkeep, and knit! All necessary skills for my dream job."

"Sounds amazing!" Takumi marvelled, really meaning it.

She tilted her head, looking confused and furrowing her eyebrows. "Hmm…"

"What is it?" Takumi inquired.

"Well…Hinata said that you're not one to give out liberal praise like that…" her gaze softened. "So I guess I must be a really lucky girl."

They talk about me? He decided to store that information for later. "I'm not like that!" he objected.

She laughed. "Just kidding, Taki, I know you're not really like that."

Taki. It gave him the chills just to hear her say his name like that. When he said nothing, she frowned. "He also said that saying that would annoy you. Guess he was wrong."

They shared a small laugh.

Oboro started to knit as their initial laughter died down. Takumi noticed hazily that Leo didn't come out of Reina's office, maybe he was Hinata's replacement for today. Meanwhile, he was too engrossed in watching Oboro knit. Click-click-click-click. Her hands moved so quickly while her end product was looking clearer and clearer as the seconds passed. He knew he should be paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing, but he couldn't tear his vision away.

"Hey...Takumi?" He looked up. The bluenette had a faint rosy blush on her cheeks. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while…"

He pulled back, sitting upright. "Sure, what is it?" he replied casually, although he could feel his heartbeat speed up and his cheeks heat up a tiny bit. No more than that.

"I want to make you an outfit!" she burst out. Takumi was mildly surprised, and a bit disappointed it wasn't something else. He wasn't going to let himself rain on her parade though.

"I appreciate the thought, but can I ask why?"

"Sure, but I don't know why I even asked you. I would've done it even if you'd said no!" She laughed to herself. "It's just a thing I do. You'll have to live with it. Here, if you want a sample, try out this scarf!" She did a complicated sort of wave with her needles and the now-shapen scarf came off, fully tied. She folded it up and handed it to him. He accepted it reluctantly.

"Thanks, Oboro. Are you sure, though? I mean, you just spent a lot of time making this," he cautioned.

"I'll just make another one if I want to," she dismissed with a wave of her hand.

He pressed the scarf to his face. It was simple, just a solid gray. It smelled of lilacs, just like her. Suddenly he felt reckless. Throwing caution to the wind, he scooted over, threw a hand over her shoulder and gave her a one-sided hug. "Thanks!"

"Hey!" Reina barked, her head appearing from behind the door frame. "No snuggling! Watch the children!" Takumi and Oboro jumped apart. Not that they had been snuggling. Nope. Not at all. It was just a hug. Simple enough.

"Oh. Er, sorry," he muttered. He remembered when they first met, he pretty much mirrored her actions from their handshake.

"It's fine," Oboro gave her trademark smile. "It was...warm. I kind of...liked it."

She - liked! His heart soared. He opened his mouth to say something, but was very rudely interrupted by…

Dee-

It didn't even get through the first ring. He made a mental note never to wear that watch again (okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. He wore it again the next day). As if on cue, the same man from a few days ago walked in. He was probably related to Leo, as Takumi assumed using his super-developed sense of deduction.

"Xander?" Leo came out of Reina's office, choosing to ignore Takumi.

"Time to go, Elise, Leo," Xander said, taking the girl whom Sakura had been playing with earlier by the hand. Great, another connection to that dastard.

"Bye, Takumi," Leo called as he passed the two. He joined Xander and Elise as they walked out. He's being unusually nice to me now.

"Are you going now?" Oboro asked.

He nodded regretfully. "C'mon Sakura, let's go."

"Takumi, wait." He turned back to Oboro, who was pointing towards the front window. There was Hinata, skidding around the corner and almost sliding into Leo & Co. Takumi saw his best friend utter an apology before calmly walking into the building like nothing happened. He had the urge to start laughing uncontrollably, but her knew it would piss off Reina, so he wisely refrained.

"Hey, Takumi! Oboro!" he greeted. "Are you leaving now, Takumi? Because if you are, then I thought we could walk together. All three of us, you know?"

"I guess so," Takumi shrugged. "Just gotta escort Sakura to her royal carriage."

When that was all done and taken care of, he joined Hinata and Oboro on their usual path home. "Great!" Hinata cheered. "I haven't seen you in, like, two hours and fifty-five minutes!"

Takumi laughed. Hinata never failed to cheer him up.

The three kept up their banter all the way until the park, Hinata asking how things going and Oboro asking about his crush. He didn't say, of course but Takumi had a nagging suspicion that Hinata had done more than play football.

As they neared the park close to Takumi's house, he spotted two figures on the bench.

"Takumi...isn't that your brother?" Hinata asked slowly.

He squinted. "Yeah, it does look like...him…with a gir...l…"

Their talk faded into silence as they realized what was happening.

Ryoma.

Kagero?

Kissing?

This was going to be an interesting dinner.


The Friday From Hell part two is coming tomorrow. I'm going to have so much fun writing it...