Despite knowing it would be worse to go back on his promise, Nagisa couldn't help but feel guilty about invading his friends' privacy. Higashi, right next to him, seemed to have little of that guilt. She had been certain, though, that her intelligence was correct. Supposedly, Kita and Nishi would be on a date somewhere around the area, and based on her knowledge of Kita's choice of favourite drink, they were staking out the entrance of a coffee shop. Why was he doing this, again?
"Oh my god," she said loudly, clapping a hand over her mouth. "There they are."
Nagisa peered around the corner. Sure enough, she wasn't lying. However, they weren't really doing anything coupley, and he wasn't convinced. Just because they weren't the same gender didn't mean that their close friendship had to signify something romantic… But he supposed that they could easily be together too. Nagisa's stomach turned, at the realisation he was getting sucked in.
"Damn," Higashi muttered. "I can't see them anymore. Let's get a better view."
"Wait!" Nagisa's instincts came roaring in. "They'll see you if you move like that."
Okay, he was totally in this. Nagisa sighed, and forced himself to detach from the situation. If he needed to watch somebody, where would he go? They were out of Kunugigaoka, so Nagisa didn't know the area as well as home, and would have to rely on his immediate senses. They couldn't just run out in front of the café, he knew for a fact there were pretty large windows, and they could easily be seen. He needed to find a better position.
Nagisa raised himself up a little, still using the wall for cover, as he tugged on the building's drain pipe. Satisfied it would be able to support his weight, Nagisa found his footing. A voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like Karasuma warned him that he really shouldn't be doing this kind of thing in public, but he justified that it wasn't really free running. As long as he kept himself low and out of sight, he wasn't putting anybody in any danger.
Higashi cleared her throat, looking up at him with a kind of awe. "What are you doing?"
Half way up the wall at that point, Nagisa hung off to look at her. "Spot checking."
Easily enough, he pulled himself up and onto the roof, keeping his body flat, so he finally had a good view of the street. Surveying his options, he judged that a small crepe cart would be the best place. It was better to hide in plain sight, amongst a small crowd, rather than behind a tree or something that would seem more suspicious. It was big enough to conceal them, in a good position, and not something you'd pay great attention to. Perfect.
Maybe it had been a while, and Nagisa was taking this far too seriously, but Nagisa pointed the location out, like he was giving some kind of command. Higashi seemed to get it at least, and impressively didn't make herself that noticeable as she crept over to the location. To save time, Nagisa took the high drop from the roof, breaking his fall with a roll and dusting himself off, before he joined her too.
"Okay," Higashi said, once they were in position. "Once this is over you're telling me how you learnt to do that."
"It's-" He scratched the back of his head. "A long story."
She flicked around. "You're not helping yourself with the whole Yakuza thing."
Nagisa laughed awkwardly, brushing it off. What was more important was his eyes falling on his target. Wait, target?! He was definitely far too into this. At the same time, though, it wasn't like they were doing anything incriminating. From his now better position, they really were just ordering a drink.
"I'm not sure what we're gaining from this," Nagisa commented.
Higashi looked at him like it was obvious. "Obviously so we can be happy for them and support their relationship."
"But they-"
"Just wait," she cut him off. "They're in a public place, so even if they do something, it's going to be really subtle. You might not believe me Nagisa kun, but I don't want to expose them or anything, I just… don't like there being secrets."
Nagisa swallowed. "You know you could just… ask them? Like you could have just asked me about the Yakuza thing. Nishi would probably tell you at least. You don't actually have to sneak around to make accusations."
"It's not as simple as th-"
"Nagisa kun? And, uh… Was it Higashi san?"
Immediately, the both of them turned away from their stake out. Nagisa relaxed, when he saw that it was only Rin, though Higashi still looked like she'd seen a ghost. Well, at least what they were doing probably wasn't too obvious, especially to Rin with his limited context. The two of them had never really had a long conversation about his classmates, only ever mentioned in passing.
Nagisa smiled awkwardly. "H-hi, Rin kun."
He approached them casually, like they weren't up to anything. "How's everything going?"
"Great!" Higashi said. "Hey, did you know that Nagisa's actually a ninja?"
"Is this that Yakuza thing again?" Rin scratched his neck. "That's an old rumour."
"Why is it a rumour at all!?"
The vendor of the crepe stall cleared his throat. "If you kids are just going to stand there and talk about the Yakuza I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Wait no," Higashi said, "I'm going to buy something, promise… Uhm, how much is the chocolate and banana one?"
He glared. "Two hundred yen if you move somewhere else."
"Okay!"
Whist he began to prepare her crepe, Nagisa considered going back to the task at hand, but he wasn't sure Rin would understand why they were stalking their friends. It wouldn't be odd, at least, for he and Higashi to just be hanging out. They had a decent cover there already and Nagisa was going to rely on it. Even when Rin raised an eyebrow at him, showing his suspicion, he turned away.
"Oh hey! Fancy seeing you guys here!"
At that point, all three of them jumped in surprise, with Higashi nearly dropping her crepe, though she dove dramatically to rescue it. Looking straight at them was Nishi and Kita, take away drinks in hands. True to his mission, Nagisa observed them. There was no sign of couple behaviour, but they were stood close together and looked comfortable doing it.
Kita, though, looked a little more suspicious. "I thought you said you were going to be busy today, Haia chan."
"Not at all!" She waved her arms rapidly. "I was running some errands, but I'm all done now, yep!"
She raised an eyebrow, turning to Nagisa and Rin. "And you two?"
"They're on a date!" Higashi quickly fired, before they had a chance to say anything.
Nagisa's mouth went bone dry, so much so that he couldn't force the words of denial out of his throat. And of course, at such an accusation, it was only natural for his cheeks to flair up pink. Instantly, he realised that only looked more incriminating. It wasn't that he had a problem with Rin, but the idea of him dating anybody?
Eyes darting between them, Nishi seemed a little confused. "Really? I didn't know about that."
Once again, Nagisa startled, when Rin grabbed his hand. "It's new," he said, not missing a beat.
"How about you?" Higashi asked, realising her chance.
"Oh," Nishi laughed. "The same, I guess."
Though she covered half her face with the cup she was drinking from, Kita worse a slight blush. "Anyway."
Satisfied she'd finally got her answer, Higashi nodded. "Is that the time, well, I have to go! See you guys back at school!"
Well, that was over fast. Nagisa watched, as she sped away at top velocity, muttering something to herself. He wasn't entirely sure what she was planning to do with this newfound information, but a part of him didn't even want to know. Hopefully, it really was just knowing for the sake of knowing, rather than anything bad.
"Yeah," Rin nodded, "we'll leave you to it."
Nagisa allowed himself to be pulled along in Rin's direction. That had gone about as well as it could have, if you didn't count accidentally being caught twice because of lack of spacial awareness. Even if it did mean he had to pretend to be on a date with Rin, at least they had the answer.
"So," he said, when they were far enough away. "Are you going to tell me what you guys were doing?"
He wasn't entirely sure how to explain it. "Higashi just really wanted to know if they were actually a couple or not."
"I see," he said lightly. "Well, you're a good friend for going along with it. Do you want me to walk you back to the train station, now that your, uh, accomplice has gone."
"A-are you sure that's not too much trouble?"
Rin just hummed in response, and then changed the subject. All in all, it was actually kind of nice to hang out during the school break. Nagisa really had been meaning to, at some point, but he was always so busy with Daichi and everything else. The only reason he had agreed to this was he already promised, kind of. Otherwise, it just didn't feel right, leaving him when he didn't have to. He tried to forget it, at least, and actually exist in the moment.
"Uhm," Nagisa realised after clearing his mind, there was still a weight in his hand. "Y-you're holding my hand."
Rin looked down at where they were joined. "Eh, sorry about that," he said, without letting him go. "I wanted to make it convincing."
"I don't mind!" Nagisa said quickly, not wanting him to feel bad. "Thanks for that."
"This has been kind of fun," he shrugged. "You know, we should do this for real sometime. More… alone, though."
"E-eggh-" Whatever Nagisa was about to say was cut off by his own fall. Normally, he would have just tripped, but the time he had to catch himself was shortened since he had to drop Rin's hand first. He had less than a second realistically to figure out what to do. Working mostly on instinct, Nagisa managed to propel himself, rolling over and using the momentum to launch back onto his feet.
Rin blinked. "Woah, Higashi san wasn't kidding."
"Oh," Nagisa refused to meet his eyes. "It's nothing, really."
He looked excited, though. "No seriously! How did you learn that?"
"Parkour," he thought fast. "I used to do it a lot for fun!"
Yeah, that was a nice excuse. Even though Nagisa was a little (more like a lot) rusty, and his technique wasn't particularly refined due to the last few months of pregnancy and doctor's orders to not take any risks, it made him feel almost fresh again. He knew Karasuma had taken great care to get them to promise not use their training in public, but he figured small things like that were okay.
"Maybe you could show me?" Rin said, words becoming a slight staccato with nerve. "Or, I mean, I don't think I could do anything cool like that, but I'd love to see it."
Nagisa paused. "T-that wouldn't be boring for you?"
"Not at all!" Rin shook his head vigorously.
"I'd like that then."
With little else to say to each other, now that arrangement was in place, and they were near the train station anyway. When he was actually on the train, the scenery speeding out his vision, Nagisa couldn't stop possibly overthinking it. Was that a date? Of course, it probably wasn't, because nobody would ask him on a date in the first place… But with the context it sounded like it. It couldn't be, because you only asked people on dates if you liked them like that, and there was no way Rin could. They were just hanging out. He was satisfied with that.
But for some reason, he couldn't let it go. Once the train pulled into Kunugigaoka, Nagisa felt his nerves spike up, like he'd done something wrong. He knew, of course, that he hadn't – it wasn't even a date! Even if it was, that wouldn't be bad, exactly. Logically, Nagisa knew it was a bad idea to overthink this as much as he currently was. All it did was set him on edge, as he got home.
"Welcome back," Karma called from the living room. "Have fun?"
"Y-yeah!" Nagisa said far too quickly. "Uh, you?"
If Karma was going to answer, he didn't get the chance, because suddenly there was a small weight barrelling into him. Considering he'd only just started the walking thing a week or so ago, Daichi was slowly getting it, for short distances, before he gave up and flung himself at the nearest object. Honestly though, it wasn't the worst thing.
"Dada," Daichi squealed, hanging off his trouser leg.
It just reminded Nagisa that he didn't have time for dates or not dates or whatever it was. Sure, spending time with his friends was okay, Nagisa had accepted that, every now and then. But he already didn't really get to spend all that much time with Daichi, considering that nursery tended to wear him out. The time he did get, he wanted to use soaking as much of it up as possible.
"Hi," Nagisa greeted softly, and bent down to pick him up. As always, Daichi wrapped his arms around his neck once he was up there, clinging on. He kind of hoped he wouldn't grow out of it, at least any time soon. It freaked him out that he would have his first birthday soon enough, like an entire year had gone by with the blink of an eye. Having a one year old son… Definitely terrifying.
From where he was sat, cross legged with what looked like math homework, Karma looked up. "You know you were only gone for, hmm, three hours?"
Nagisa sighed. "It always feels like longer."
He laughed lightly. "You need to get out more or something."
"U-uhm, actually!" It spilled out of him, before he could stop himself. "I said I would see Rin at some point."
Like a blur, Karma was suddenly on his feet, so close to Nagisa there was barely room to breathe. "Who's that?"
Nagisa gulped. "My friend from school. He asked me to go out with him."
"Oh, so it's a date, huh?" Karma said, teasingly.
"No! It's not like that," he practically begged. "It isn't!"
For a moment, Karma's eyes widened, like he was going through several emotions at once, none of which Nagisa could really pin down. "It is a date," he said, though the teasing was gone, and then let a humourless life. "You don't have to lie."
"I'm not!" Nagisa continued to protest.
Karma brushed him off. "Doesn't matter. Why, it's not like you have to ask my permission."
"B-but, Daichi…"
He shrugged. "We have fun, don't we, Daichan?"
Daichi just gurgled a little, apparently not in the mood for a conversation.
"Hey, Daichan," Karma continued. "Remember what I taught you. Show me a fist."
Nagisa's jaw dropped, when Daichi, after thinking about it for a moment, did just that. Sure, it wasn't that impressive that he could form a fist, but doing it on command was something different. He looked poised, too, purposeful. And immediately, his blood boiled. This was exactly why he shouldn't leave for too long!
"You taught our son how to throw punches?! On second thought-"
"Relax," Karma drawled. He formed his own fist in demonstration, and very lightly pounded it against Daichi's. Clearly knowing what to do, Daichi immediately released his fist and drew it back, letting out a sound to mimic the sound of an explosion. "See."
Nagisa let his tension drop. That was right, he was being too quick to judge. Karma would be absolutely fine, he knew that, he was probably better at looking after Daichi than he was, anyway. So he nodded, and let it drop, remembering to text Rin later to say he definitely could come hang out with him. Hang out, because it was not a date.
Yet, the next morning, he found himself worrying about what to wear. If they were going to do free running, he needed something definitely suitable. Nagisa didn't have a lot of that, except his gear from 3E. He was still surprised it hadn't been seized from them, to be honest. He supposed he could at least wear the trousers and undershirt, and one of his regular coats over the top… Nagisa realised he needed to take a moment to evaluate everything.
Everything else went like normal; get Daichi up, changed and fed, then entertainment, then breakfast, until whenever Karma chose to get up. At that point, as he did most of the time, Daichi decided to drop whatever he was doing and barrel into Karma. That gave Nagisa the time to clean up, and then go back into his bedroom to stare at his reflection for the twenty third time.
He cringed internally, when it really was time to go. "Do I look okay?"
Karma looked at him quizzically. "What kind of a question is that?"
Flushing from head to toe, Nagisa should have known that was a bad thing to ask. "D-don't worry."
"I mean, looking at me like a naked mole rat isn't helping."
"I'll see you later," Nagisa bit out, ready to slam the door behind him, but he calmed down enough to give Daichi a kiss on the head at least.
It wasn't a date. It was just two friends spending mutual time together alone. Nagisa kept telling himself that, the entire way, because the more he told himself that, the truer it became in his head. Unfortunately, he didn't have that long to convince himself, because they were actually meeting in Kunugigaoka. Keeping the lessons he learnt in 3E in mind, Nagisa didn't want to take any risks. Something dangerous like free running had to be done out of the public eye, and a place he knew well. So, they were staying in Kunugigaoka, the only place Nagisa had ever lived.
Nagisa himself hadn't really been there that much, but there was a small warehouse kind of close to Yoshida Motors, which he knew a few of his ex classmates had used for extra practise since it was abandoned. It seemed like a good enough place, other than their mountain. Nagisa didn't know why, exactly, but it felt kind of wrong to take an 'outsider' there.
He was the first one there, but Nagisa didn't think Rin was the type to cancel without letting him know. He'd texted him the directions, at least, but it could be pretty tough to find your way around a place you weren't familiar with. So, he waited, and wondered if this was a bad idea. Rin had said he was interested, but Nagisa wasn't sure how he felt about being watched.
"You know, asking me to meet you in a place like this isn't helping the Yakuza rumours."
Starling at the voice behind him, Nagisa turned, to see Rin standing casual. "I-I-"
Rin waved him off, though. "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you."
Nagisa forced himself to calm down. Maybe he should just learn to live with this. Sure, it wasn't the best impression to give people, but maybe being secretly tough was better than being weak and helpless… There was room for a moral debate on all of that, but at least for now, Nagisa would accept his fate and try to look less threatening.
"So!" Rin continued on. "Are you going to show me something cool or what?"
"Right," Nagisa remembered. "What did you want to see?"
He scratched the back of his head. "I don't really know how this kind of thing works. Can you do a circuit, or something?"
Nagisa mentally took in his surroundings and calculated a possible route. Since he knew his friends had used it, he deduced he could trust everything to hold his weight. And because he was meant to be demonstrating, the route he figured out would perhaps allow for some fancier, 'show off' moves. Once he'd analysed and taken everything in, he nodded, and then sped off.
It was easier than the mountain course, but then again Nagisa had been pregnant back then or, later, had just given birth, so of course it would seem that way. He definitely saw the appeal, though. Whilst you could get around the place with nothing more than a good sense of balance, the sheer amount of beams, pipes, and chains hanging from the ceiling meant you could use a large number of different skills.
He decided the best way would be start at the top beams, and work his way down. Getting up there was no problem, he mostly made use of the existing ladders where he could, transferring to convenient bricks and pieces of metal to get to the beams closest to the roof. He paused for a moment, collecting himself and calculating his route one more time, before breaking out into a run.
Though it was true he was a little rusty, since he hadn't done anything like this for a year, it was all engrained in his muscle memory. He ran from beam to beam, finding a good place to flip off, landing with just a tiny wobble a little lower. Maybe he should have been worried about that, but it only shot familiar adrenaline through his veins. He continued on, swinging and flipping his way down. At the lowest level of beams, he decided to show off a little more, since he wouldn't injure himself if he did fall.
In the end, Nagisa backflipped off some of the low beams, landing securely with slight flourish. He panted, his body finally catching up with more exercise than it was used to. Somehow, it felt almost cathartic, to be doing this kind of stuff again. Though, he wasn't sure why he missed it so much. Nagisa almost wanted to climb up again, and have another shot.
"Woah," Rin called, "that was amazing!"
"I-it was nothing really." Nagisa approached him again, unsure. He'd almost forgotten that Rin was watching him.
He shook his head. "Honestly, Nagisa kun, you're amazing."
Nagisa couldn't help but flush.
"Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you."
A pit formed in Nagisa's stomach. "Is something wrong?"
Rin took a deep breath. "I like you a lot, Nagisa kun."
"I like you too," he softened. Friends were supposed to like each other.
"No, I mean, I really like you. Like, I want to see you more like this, and hold hands like yesterday. And, if you let me, I'd like to call you my boyfriend."
Nagisa's brain essentially blue screened. Rin… Liked him? Wanted them to date? He was almost tempted to look around for hidden cameras, because why would somebody like Rin have feelings for him? Why would anybody? He could tell, though, from Rin's demeanour that he was probably being genuine. So the appropriate thing to do would be to reply, rather than just
He hadn't even considered Rin in that way. Nagisa tried to picture it, but he didn't really have anything to base it from. Though, he knew feelings could be developed over time, and he did get along with Rin… Dating him wouldn't be so bad. For some reason, the idea made him feel funny, an emotion he couldn't quite pin down. Though, even though it shouldn't have stuck out, he couldn't help but remember what Karma had told him.
And then his brain switched back on again. He shouldn't even be considering this! It was the very reason why he couldn't be with Karma, he had Daichi to worry about. He didn't have the time for a boyfriend. Nagisa already felt awful about going out two days in a row, trying to maintain a relationship with that limitation wasn't fair, on anybody. But Rin was being direct with him, and he at least deserved that returned.
"Rin kun," he started shakily. "There's… Some things you don't know about me."
He blinked. "Don't tell me you're actually involved in crime."
"No! No," Nagisa looked away. "It's not that. I… I have a baby. Well, he's not really much of a baby anymore, but-" Rin's eyes were glazed over, he noticed. "Are you okay?"
Because his mouth was hanging open, Rin choked on his breath. "You have a what? B-but-"
"I was in my last year of junior high," Nagisa begun. It hadn't necessarily been his intention, but once he started explaining, he didn't really stop. He left out a lot of the gory details, especially the assassination training, but there was enough to get the jist. Nagisa had just made a mistake, which he didn't even remember, and it had turned into the best part of his world. "I love him more than anything else," he explained. "Which is why I can't do this. I wouldn't put anything else first."
For a long time, Rin was silent. "It doesn't change anything?"
"H-huh?"
His shoulders slumped. "I can't say this isn't going to… take me a while to wrap my head around, but- Look, maybe I'm being dumb here, but my feelings haven't changed. And I wouldn't expect anything like that out of you. I promise, I can handle it."
Internally, Nagisa felt like he was standing in quicksand. He knew it was a bad idea, knew it down to his bones, but Nagisa didn't want to hurt him. Part of him just wanted to run, but that wouldn't solve anything. If it was like quicksand, another part of him said, then he would take the hand outstretched to help him, wouldn't he?
"Okay."
