Physics class again. Ms. Badgiruel was giving them a lecture about vector quantities which was getting more boring as every second ticks away but Kira was very attentive to the lecture opposed to what Athrun was doing at that moment.
Kira noticed that Athrun has been writing something on his notebook since class started. Every time he tried to take a look at what he was writing, Athrun would cover it with his hand or pretend that he was solving one of the problems their teacher gave them. In some instances, he would even crumple the paper and feign of throwing it inside the drawer of their desk. Not five minutes would pass by and Athrun would retrieve it again and continue writing. Whatever he was writing, he seemed to be very secretive about it. Lucky for him, "Ms. B" was being kept busy by his watchful seatmate by bombarding her with questions pertaining or "not" to the subject.
"Ms. Badgiruel, do you think that the four fundamental forces, the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, gravity, and electromagnetism, can be unified to explain all the physical phenomena around us?"
"Your question is obviously out of the discussion Mr. Yamato. but it is quite interesting." Ms. Badgiruel, despite the unusual kindness, replied. The whole class immediately stopped talking and listened to the explanation the teacher gave them as a reply to Kira's question.
"What you are talking about Mr. Yamato is the so called TOE or theory of everything. It raised publicity during the 1960s but it died down eventually. Then it was revived again by physicists in the turn of the last century but they couldn't arrive to experimental quantities. If a TOE is proven it will accurately answer the grand questions that have baffled humanity since time immemorial such as: How many dimensions of time and space are there? or simply...it can answer all our questions. Even the question "Is there really a God?" Personally, I'm not in favor of the TOE."
"But why?" asked a student who was eagerly listening.
"Because...it would kill all the faiths that have been the pillars of human civilization. TOE is what separates us from GOD. The Bible says that we are created by a higher being. And we, as beings, shouldn't know everything. There will be no thrill in living a life where every question has an answer."
"Because, again, the word "mystery" will be erased from the dictionary. It's my favorite word. Mystery."
The whole class, including Kira, just sat there...dazed.
Class ended mercifully for both of them. Kira got tired of distracting Ms. B with his questions and Athrun, whatever he was writing, was done with it.
"May I know what you wrote on that piece of paper?" Kira asked while they were walking towards nowhere in particular. He was eyeing the paper obsessively so that he can take a look on what was written on it.
"Oh...oh…no you don't!" Athrun was swift with his hand as ever. He placed the controversial piece of paper inside his portfolio rendering Kira's plan of taking a glimpse of his written piece a complete failure.
"Can I take a look at it? Please? Can I? Can I?" Kira pleaded Athrun like a little kid asking his mother for candy, eyes twinkling. He was even thinking of flashing his killer smile for added effectiveness but refrained from doing so. He thought that smiles like those need not be abused just to get anything you want from a person. Other ways. He needed to find out other ways to get that piece of paper.
Much to his surprise, he didn't need to find other ways of acquiring that piece of data he was longing for. Athrun willingly offered to show it to him only after they have eaten their lunch together. True enough, Athrun can't resist the other boy's plea.
"What do you have in mind to eat?" Kira asked Athrun when they both entered the canteen. He scanned the menu artfully written on a rectangular piece of illustration board mounted on a worn-out easel. Maybe to attract attention and possibly attract customers.
"Anything edible, I suppose," Athrun replied lazily.
Kira gave Athrun a questioning look after he heard Athrun's reply just to give his brain to process what Athrun meant for "anything edible". When he finally got Athrun's point, he proceeded to order something edible for both of them. All his processing was done in less than a few nanoseconds anyway. It always has been for him that way.
Athrun walked over to a table beside the glass windows. He preferred sitting beside windows every time he was with Kira. He always chooses the place next to the windows so that the sunlight would have a chance to mingle with Kira's immaculate countenance. The image-intermingling-with-sunlight scene has captivated him the first time they met. And perhaps Kira always will.
"That Kira…" he said unto himself "…extremely unpredictable but always cute,"
Unpredictable yes. Athrun was extremely shaken when he saw the object of his thoughts carrying what seemed like a mountain of sandwiches on a tray. Seeing Kira having a difficult time balancing the tray, he quickly rose from his seat and helped Kira with it.
"Thanks," Kira said after he sank to his seat, countenance shifting from plain to the Athrun-revered one.
"A sandwich or two would have been enough for the two of us," Athrun remarked. He was still shocked with the enormity of the "sandwich mountain" Kira bought him.
"Don't look at me like that. You're the one who said "something edible"," Kira said defensively for he read Athrun's expression correctly.
"Yes. But buying a "mountain" of it is out of my suggestion," Athrun replied hastily as he removed a stray lock of his sapphire-blue hair from his face. Then he moved the "sandwich mountain" a few inches to the right so that he could see Kira's face. His was even more shocked when Kira's countenance greeted him.
Kira was starting to get worried too. He even had to look around the "sandwich mountain" to properly talk with Athrun. And the people around them were starting to get suspicious mainly because of the "sandwich mountain". And at last, he found a way to address the problem.
"Well, I can return the other sandwiches and ask for a refund. I'm sure they won't mind. We can give it to the street children too," Kira said, voicing out his suggestion although he was shy with the refund part.
"You can ask for a refund, yes. But you can't give it to the street children,"
"But why?" the brunette asked.
"Simply because we have no street children here. They are taken care of by the social welfare agency,"
"Ahuh…In my country, you can't count the street children with your fingers. Budget from taxes intended for social welfare is terrorized by the politicians."
Kira sat up and left for the counter immediately for the refund. He returned to the table still holding a few more sandwiches.
"Don't tell me you are going to eat all of that." Athrun said as he received his cup of coffee from Kira.
"Of course I won't."
Kira was sure he saw Athrun spit out the coffee he gave him. It wasn't strong nor was it tasteless. It was boiling coffee and he was pretty sure that Athrun partially burned his tongue. 'Silly Athrun,' he thought.
"Now can we eat?" he asked Athrun finally. He gave Athrun some time to recover from the burn and regain his composure.
"Of course. Of course."
And they ate in silence, constantly stealing glances from each other.
"Where exactly are you taking me Kira?" Athrun asked impatiently while they were walking at an abnormal speed through the manmade forest, his right hand constantly receiving a light tug from Kira reminding him to catch up.
"We…" Kira said followed by a short gasp for air, "…are here." He rested onto a tree trunk and resumed in calming his erratic breathing. He got exhausted from dragging Athrun across the city just to get to…
"The lake?" Athrun said in an uninterested tone. "You dragged me up to here just to stand in front of this lake which, by the way, is manmade and full of…uninteresting things."
"Come one you'll like this," Kira said as he shoved a paper bag into Athrun's hands full of sandwiches. And he smiled to erase Athrun's sulky mood.
"What am I supposed to do with these?" Athrun asked as he opened the paper bag and took out a sandwich to eat. He got hungry again from all the walking.
"Don't…" Kira interrupted by pulling away the sandwich from Athrun's hand. Athrun was starting to get annoyed with Kira – for the first time. Kira's smile was having a little effect on him.
Kira sensed that Athrun was a little irritated. Who wouldn't be when you just finished your lunch and you get dragged for several kilometers on foot when riding a taxi or taking the train would have been very appropriate, only to stand beside a manmade lake full of duck-like fowls. Athrun's annoyance didn't have an effect on Kira at all. None at all.
"You're supposed to feed these to the waterfowls." Kira instructed as he got a sandwich and divided it into miniscule pieces.
"Watch this," Kira added. Then he sprinkled the sandwich bits into the throng of various waterfowls stupidly squawking at each other in the water. Their squawking turned into dining frenzy as they dived in and out of the surface of the water to get part of the free meal a human was offering them.
"What's the point in feeding them? They can always find food somewhere there in the lake," Athrun said as he plunged his hand into the paper bag to get a sandwich repeat the same process Kira did.
"These birds will be leaving us for a long time you know." Kira ignored Athrun's rudeness and he tossed more food into the water for the birds giving them extra nourishment that may heighten their chances to succeed in their southward journey.
"I know. They'll be heading south."
"I'll miss them." Kira's voice was sentimental.
"Why?"
"Because they are the first creatures that greeted my arrival here. I lost my way to my dormitory and I ended up here," revealed Kira as he grabbed another sandwich and continued on feeding the avian creatures.
"Oh I see. Now I get your point. You should have told me earlier before we left. We could have taken a taxi because I really hate walking long distances," Athrun said apologetically although his reason was valid enough for him to not feel guilty.
"And I'm sorry for being rude," he added.
"Apology accepted. You're right; we should have taken a taxi. You're not the only one who got tired."
"You preferred to walk a thousand miles. It wasn't my idea," Athrun said defensively.
"Yes. I'd rather walk a thousand miles and get tired than to ride a pollution-contributing vehicle and not get tired at all."
"That's the real reason, no?" asked Athrun. He tried to unravel the real answer from Kira because he was not satisfied with the reasoning Kira gave him. Kira always has good justifications following all the questionable things he did.
Kira was cornered by Athrun and he had no way out of that very situation. His mind raced and thought of things to say but his heart told to him that he should tell Athrun the truth about him. It wasn't fair that he knew Athrun too well and Athrun knows exactly nothing about him except his status of being an orphan from the Philippines. Sometime in his life he heard someone say that in order for any kind of relationship to work out, trust should be forged first and foremost. Now, he's starting to believe what that person said. He'll tell Athrun everything. In time. In time. There is time for everything.
"They say that there are three kinds of people in life. Do you know that?" Kira said as he let out a deep sigh. He then walked over to the edge of the lake, sat down and folded his legs up to his chest. Athrun just blinked at him, confused at the sudden change of the subject. He just stood there.
"The first ones are those who simply come and go. The second ones are those who stay for a while but would eventually leave us drowning in tears. And the last ones are those who touch our hearts and choose to remain with us for the rest of eternity," he said in an extremely wistful tone that can make anyone teary-eyed.
"What do you mean by that Kira?" Inquisitive
"I'm trying to tell you that there are three kinds of people in life. Gosh Athrun, I didn't know you're that slow." Kira answered back eyes fixed on the birds that are slowly taking flight southwards one by one.
"No I'm not slow. What I'm trying to ask is what kind of person are you based from what you just said."
"Let time answer your question." Passive
"I don't have time to wait Kira!" Impatient
At that point, tension was rising in the air, building up ready to explode at any moment. Athrun was ready to start a fierce argument to squeeze the truth out of Kira.
"And have you heard that patience is a virtue?" Still composed
"If that is what you want, I'll gladly wait." Tension-breaker
With tension dissipating into nothingness the two of them sat side by side at the lake's edge waiting for the birds to completely disappear out of the horizon.
Kira didn't notice Athrun take a seat beside him. Maybe he just ignored the other person. He didn't want to stir the dust anymore than what just happened a minute ago. Concealed things should not be taken lightly much more revealed abruptly to a person whom you are still not sure to completely trust.
Athrun knew that he had crossed an important line Kira didn't want him to cross. And that is the boundary between being inquisitive and being a nagger. He knew this because Kira just fell silent and motionless. Then he pondered over Kira's words. Kira couldn't possibly be the come-and-go type of person. He knows how much Kira values his education; the boy will be his schoolmate (and a sit-in classmate in physics) for at least three more years.
'Maybe he's just fooling around when he said that. Kira's giving me the creeps. But he's still very cute. Kira is indeed cute on the physical level of perception. When the inward eye is used to view him, he's just as cute inside.' Athrun was smiling when he said this to himself.
Nudge. A nudge on Athrun's shoulder was a sign that Kira was finally making peace with him. No. He was wrong. Kira fell silently asleep by his side while he was busy thinking of the same person. When he moved a little to adjust his position Kira's arms wrapped around him in their own accord faster than a boomslang's stride. He tried to gently remove Kira's arms so that he could haul the other boy up but he failed. They only wrapped tighter around him with every movement he made. Athrun, with superior coordinator strength, hauled Kira up in that awkward position with one great upward tug.
"Why do I always have to carry him? This is getting unfair." Athrun said after he hauled Kira up with him. Kira wasn't heavy so he didn't encounter any difficulty in the task of carrying the boy. His bag was heavy though, and this served as a challenge for Athrun. A challenge that proved to be challenging enough because of the mysteriously heavy contents of the said bag.
Athrun walked on a slow pace at first. Being a coordinator, his body immediately adjusted to the burden he was carrying and his walking speed went back to normal again. He walked a short distance from the park to the train station with great ease. Unease came when he arrived at the train station.
It was rush hour. People from work are all in a hurry to get home. It was Athrun's turn to buy tickets from the booth. With him carrying Kira and his bag, it was quite a difficult act to get his wallet from his pocket. He didn't want to put Kira down but he couldn't get his wallet because it was completely blocked by Kira's right thigh. It took him nearly ten minutes of struggle to get his wallet and finally buy the tickets which greatly annoyed the people behind him because of the delay they caused.
Athrun, along with the other passengers boarded the train that was already half full. The empty seats were quickly occupied by his co-passengers and because of this; Athrun remained standing through most of the journey. He actually found a seat and he had enough reasons to sit on it in comfort. But seeing an elderly man and his granddaughter stand in front of him was too much so he willingly offered the seat to them.
"Your old man can surely use a seat. Here, take mine," Athrun offered to the girl with long and cascading pink hair and her grandfather as he rose from his seat and hauled Kira up from his seat up with him.
"Oh thank you very much. My feet are actually aching and I'm tired of all the standing. Grandpa, here sit," the girl replied with no further ado to Athrun and motioned for her grandfather to sit.
"Sitting is a luxury here inside this train. We rarely use it but our driver didn't make it through the traffic jam. Those bombers surely know how to do their jobs," the girl continued.
"What traffic jam?" Athrun immediately asked.
"There was an explosion downtown. I suspect that it's the doing of Blue Cosmos. Their goals of eliminating every coordinator on Earth are getting more realistic each year. Last year's assassination of the Amarfi clan's patriarch sure stirred the dust. It's destabilization that they're planning to do I'm sure of it," the girl said, wincing her face in disgust even though her voice was gentle.
"You mean the Blue Cosmos is actually active again? The government should really do something about this. I come from a coordinator family so I'm very worried. The Blue Cosmos' hatred for coordinators is just inexhaustible. I don't understand why."
"Neither do I because I'm a coordinator too. And is that your little brother you are carrying?" the girl asked again pointing a finger at Kira who was still asleep cradled in Athrun's arms.
Upon the girl's question, Athrun quickly shifted his grip in Kira upwards and muttered cooing sounds as if trying to put a baby back to sleep.
"No, he's not my brother. He's my – "
"Friend?"
"Yeah, but more than just a friend."
"AHA! He's your boyfriend!"
Athrun turned scarlet hearing the word "boyfriend".
"No, you are mistaken. He's my best friend. That's what I meant for more than just a friend," Athrun said, face still blushing.
"Your best friend sure is a very lucky person to have you. Carrying him like that is a difficult thing."
"I'm kind of used to it. He's sick all the time but he wouldn't tell me when he's feeling sick or not. He doesn't want me to worry about him. Sometimes, he just loses his consciousness and wakes up completely recovered in the wee hours of the morning."
"A pretty unusual coordinator. Coordinators are always healthy and they are immune to almost all kinds of diseases." An ancient-sounding voice said. It turned out to be the girl's grandfather.
"He's a natural sir." Athrun proudly interjected. Based from hKira was a very talented and promising natural and he's very proud of it.
"Ow? I'm sorry. I thought he's a coordinator. Coordinators usually bond with fellow coordinators. You know, "birds of the same feather" culture?"
"I like to deviate from the norms," Athrun replied to the old man.
"Ah…Children nowadays are surely different from the previous ones."
Athrun stepped out of the train feeling a little odd. He just met and communed with a high profile person and his granddaughter. The person also happens to be his father's long-time colleague that he hadd already met several times before. The old man's granddaughter was very good-looking and very attractive too. A couple of interesting people. He hopes that they'll meet again some other time.
Darkness had already fallen when Athrun arrived at his house's doorstep. As soon as he stepped in, a familiar warm atmosphere welcomed him. He also felt an unfamiliar throbbing pain on his legs and on his back probably because of the burdens he's been carrying almost all afternoon. First, several kilometers of walking, then an hour or so of standing inside a train with a human his size and weight clutched in his arms, and a few more minutes of walking towards his house. Athrun didn't mind the pain; he did all those things for Kira.
"Athrun put me down now," a weak voice whimpered followed by a puff of warm air resulting from speech that tickled Athrun's ear.
"Okay." Kira was placed gently on the couch.
"You really should sit down too," Kira, in his still weak voice, told Athrun.
Without any further explanation, Kira made a swift kick on the base of Athrun's feet which made the other boy fall like a piece of timber. It was going to be a painful fall but Kira caught him with no problem at all. Kira placed him on the couch where he had been sitting a few seconds ago.
Athrun was a bit horrified at what Kira did. It was too quick, too accurate, and eerily soundless. He really thought he would fall and break his back on his very own floor in his very own house. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked up to meet Kira's eyes to tell him by facial expression that what he did to him was utterly dangerous. A little more shocked he was when he looked up. Kira was no longer there but already walking his way to the kitchen.
"Sit still Athrun while I'll prepare dinner. Let me see if I can fix something from your kitchen."
Emerald eyes gazed at the brunette as he walked comfortably across the room towards the kitchen.
'It's as if he has already lived in this house before. During the times that we're together I never failed in noticing his grace in everything that he does. How come he's so graceful in all his actions? And how come he's so talented and intelligent despite being a Natural. I can almost compare him to a coordinator. Sometimes it makes me think that he's not what I think he is because he can be very unpredictable at times. But he can't be a coordinator. Coordinators get sick sometimes but not like his. I know that he's very sick but he won't entertain the topic when I tell him that he should go get examined by the doctors. I hope nothing serious'll happen to him. A whole day won't pass without me getting worried about him."
"I don't know your fridge was this big Athrun. It's s huge!" Kira shouted from the kitchen.
'Yes. And he's a cooking buff but I never tasted any of his cooking. Up until now."
Thirty minutes passed by like a troubled Hermes.
Forty-five minutes came and an enticing aroma greeted Athrun's sense of smell a nice "Hello".
A complete hour came and Athrun was already sitting in front of the dining table with a plate placed in front if him, full of rice dotted with peas, carrot bits, corn kernel, more greens, and bits of meaty somethings. It looked like a ray of sunshine for Athrun. Aside from the fact that it was yellowish in color, Kira cooked it for him. Especially for him. Finally, he can now gauge Kira's cooking prowess. The dish smelled very nice and it made him even hungrier.
"What re you waiting for? Grab a bite!" Kira insisted as he shoved a spoon into Athrun's hand.
"But pray first. You should always thank God for the blessings," he added tapping Athrun's forehead several times before going back to his seat.
Prayer.
"I…umm…What's this called?" Athrun asked as he spooned up a heapful of the dish out of the plate examining it.
"It's called paella. It's the simplest dish I could come up with the use of immaculate kitchen. What impressed me was the variety of spices 'that' cupboard holds. May kasubha pa nga akong nakita eh. Akala ko wala ka nun dito." I even found saffron. I thought you don't have it here.
While Kira was talking about the kitchen, Athrun had already began eating down the chow. It was nothing he ever tasted before. It was sumptuously flavored beyond compare. He chowed down the paella within minutes.
"You really can cook! What's this made of?"
"Leftovers I guess. The turkey was still good so I added it. Most of the veggies are fresh. Ummm…And the bacon bits I got from the sandwiches we bought at the canteen earlier this afternoon. The rest was provided mostly by your fridge. Speaking of your fridge, it's so huge. If I were to add all my belongings and place it in there, it still wouldn't fill it up."
He couldn't believe that something so good-tasting can be made of leftovers but Athrun, instead of losing his appetite, still kept on eating the paella. Something he can add to his Kira encyclopedia was the paella: A yellowish rice dish that originated from Spain.
"Now I know you're not hungry at all. But be reminded to chew the food correctly or you'll end up dead because of choking."
"Is dessert coming up?"
"No dessert Athrun. No dessert."
Both boys let out a hearty chuckle and then went on with eating."