Track for this chapter:
The Scenery Begins, by Yiruma, from the album From the Yellow Room
A knock on the door startled him to waking.
Deep slumber had peacefully serenaded him throughout the night, for the first time in months; unburdened by the stress of a full-time, unpredictable job, he had finally found good rest at last.
Now the knocking grew more intense; Tsubasa stumbled out of bed and opened the door, staring bleary eyed at a wall.
"Hey! HEEEEYY! Tsubasa! I'm DOWN HERE!" The words coordinated with the insistent tugs on his shirt. He looked down.
Yuu Tendou stared up at him, a backpack slung over his shoulder, sweater enveloping his body in lumpy folds.
"Oh. Hello, Yuu. What time is it?"
"10:00. Don't tell me you only just woke up, Tsubasa!"
"Wow, I sure slept late, huh."
"Yeah you did."
"Why aren't you at school?"
"It's SATURDAY! Did you go become a cave-dweller in secret? Because you seem to know nothing about what is going on IN THE REAL WORLD!"
Tsubasa scratched his head awkwardly, yawning softly.
"Well, are you going to ask me to come in, or not?...Please tell me your kotatsu is heated up. It's freezing out here!"
Tsubasa opened the door wider, and Yu slipped in past him, setting something on the table and settling beside the kotatsu gratefully. Tsubasa opened his eyes wide enough to see that he'd set a bowl of oranges on top of the kotatsu, and settled across from him.
"What's with the fruit?"
"GRAPEfruit, Tsubasa, it's GRAPEFRUIT. This apartment is ugly so the orange is good for it. Also", he added, rolling a grapefruit idly between his palms, "It's good for long life."
"What? Who told you that?"
"Poppleton. Actually he heard it on TV."
"Why do I need long life?" Tsubasa took on of the grapefruit as well, examining its orange globular surface quizzically.
"Come on, Tsubasa, you have to admit it sometime! You're secretly as old as Les, right? That would explain the grey hair!"
"What!? No." Tsubasa replaced the grapefruit. Yuu babbled on.
"Actually, Poppleton found out that the secret to long life is friends, but you don't get out much, you know."
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Tsubasa zipped up the backpack, put it in Yuu's arms, and shoved him gently out the door.
"See you later, Yuu. Thanks for the fruit, but my apartment needs it more than I do."
"You mean because it needs a new paint job and, like, actual furniture?"
"No. It's older than I am and is about to die. See you, now."
"Okay, bye, Tsubasa." Yuu hurried down the stairs, breathing heavily on purpose so he could watch his breath turn into clouds.
Tsubasa shook his head and warmed up the coffee pot silently, eyeing the grapefruit. Yuu must be bored. Making up theories about his hair. Honestly.
He passed Les at the corner later that day, ever conscious of the you-don't-get-out-much comment from Yuu.
"Ahp. AHP-papapapap, nuh-uh. Do NOT pass go." Les grabbed his collar and swung him around onto the cold sidewalk, where he landed with a thump.
"Hi, Les."
"Hi, Son. Ye look tired."
"Yeah...I guess sleeping in will do that to you."
"Seems like it oughta be te opposite reaction, but okay. Whatcha doin, where ye seein, and how you goin' about it today, son?"
"I don't know. Without working I'm not sure what I'm doing today."
"Eaten breakfast yet?"
"No, sir."
"Might ah recommend a lil' place of East Griffin street?...Mah great-nephew works thar. Andre Romero. Ask around, you'll find 'im. Gotta coffee shop an' a bookstore in it. Spend ta mornin' thar an' ye'll see some pretttttttty interestin' things happ'nin. But I hafta warn ye, Anndre's a hugger..."
"I might just do that. What's the name of the coffee shop?"
Tsubasa had to say that the name Andre Romero sounded hauntingly familiar.
"Uhh...cain't remember fer ta life'o me. Gotta lil' reindeer painted on ta window. Ye cain't miss it. Oh, and, uh...ye might pick up a book or somethin' fer Hik'ru. She's still feelin' down bout you leavin' all a sudden."
"Okay, Les. Maybe I'll do that. See you later."
"You may pass go. And, if ye see a hundred dollars, it's mine."
Tsubasa chuckled and walked on towards East Griffin, feet creating rifts in the snow. He dragged them on purpose, leaving a trail like deep wagon wheels behind him, going slow through the chilly air as snowflakes stuck to his blue sweater.
Sure enough, when he looked up, a faded reindeer, badly painted, stared sideways down at him from the window. The sign on the coffee shop's door read "The Scenery Begins".
Funny name for a coffee shop, he thought. Sounded like a song.
He walked in, up to the counter, preoccupied with reading the menu. It was placed inconveniently high up, so he had to crane his neck to look at it.
By the time he reached the counter and looked up at the guy standing behind it, it took him a moment to register the man's face because of the crick in his own neck.
A brown-haired, tall boy looked boredly down at him. The tag on his shirt read, simply, "Andre."
"Are you Andre?"
"Read the tag, man. Nobody got time to answer questions like that no more."
"Les Romero's grand nephew?"
"Oh yeah, oh yeah, Les my great-uncle", he slurred. "You know him?"
"Yes. He told me to come by. I'm Tsubasa." He stuck out his hand and the guy straightened.
"Hold on, hold on, you're Tsubasa Otori? I remember you from back when you was little! You was the little guy who came around and beat me at the tournament! The one with the lil' pet bird, what was following you 'round night and day!"
"Now I remember you. You're the one who rigged the poles so they'd fall."
"Yeah. Yeah, good to see you again!" Andre crossed around the counter and hugged him. Les's words from earlier rang in his head. "He's a hugger..."
Or maybe that was the blood ringing in his head. Andre finally let go of him and resumed his position at the counter.
"Hey, you ain't still mad, are ya? Cause you didn't hug me back."
"That was because my arms were becoming one with my sides. No, I'm not still mad."
"Oh, good, man, good! Because you're my hero, man, and you can't stand it if your hero's mad at you."
"Why am I your hero."
Andre studied him for a moment and then whistled. "Man, oh, man, you have grown UP so much since that little battle! You got to see the world, become legendary! You were a HERO! That's why you're my hero. Cause I can go to some random man around the street an' tell them, 'I battled that Tsubasa guy once, an' I won!'"
"You cheated, Andre..."
Andre went on as if nothing had happened. "Man, what I wouldn't give to be you. I mean, like, just for a day. Going into coffee shops an' getting recognized by everyone...and having a career as a blader...now, I haven't took out that Flightwing Aries in ages, man. I swear it's sitting in my closet. I got no more blader spirit."
"I would switch with you any day." Tsubasa leaned on the counter, caught up in conversation.
"Seriously, man!? You'd like, totally give up your blader spirit and place in the world?"
"Just for a day. Then I'll go back to my monotonous life of ugly apartments, ferret-sitting, and minimum wage. Oh, wait, I'm not employed anymore. Scratch that."
"Wow. You sure have fallen. You just need a little cappuccino." Andre set down a sup on the counter. "This one's on me. For my hero."
"I'm not a hero. I'm the one they remember as the evil guy and the not-really member. Kyouya should have gotten my place on Gan Gan Galaxy."
"HEY! No, no, no, no dissing your own life, man." Andre leaned on the counter and glared at him. "You got a great life. You just gotta live it, don't you know that!? You can't have a good life unless you try! I sure din't remember you as the guy who was evil! You're the one who totally got over it!"
"I don't know, Andre. Being that guy is not all it's cracked up to be. You got a small-city life, a great job, and you're surrounded by coffee."
Andre smacked his hand and whisked away the cup. "No, no, no cappuccino for you until you get some confidence like I saw back in the WC. I totally followed your every move, man, and I loved it, I lived it. There's stars in the sky what shines way brighter than other ones, an' even if you can't see it, you're one of them. I'm just one'o those man-made ones, a city light."
Tsubasa talked Andre into giving him breakfast, paid for it, and sat down at a high window table with a book. As he left a couple of hours later, he picked up a book for Hikaru too.
There's some stars in the sky what shine brighter than others, and whether ya know it or not, you're one of them. I'm just one'o those man-made city lights...
Andre was seeing things wrong.