a/n: quarantine. writes frantically.

Hikari knew something was off the moment she arrived at school. Whispers and furtive glances followed her as she wheeled her bike into the racks.

"Ohayo, Ran-chan!" She did her best to ignore it. She wasn't a stranger to it, but it seemed worse this morning.

"Hi-chaaan," Ran sang, throwing her arms around her neck. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Is it just me, or is that worse today?"

"Hmm, level 3?"

They passed through the front door. A couple of boys leaning by the door jumped as if burned and averted their eyes.

"A 3," Ran nodded, and Hikari couldn't help but smile.

A 3 wasn't so bad, according to Ran's (official) Hikari gossip meter. She had one for every one of her friends, and they ended up being quite useful, seeing as their friend group was rather popular. Each one was tailored towards the standard amount of attention/gossip one was subject to on a daily basis and then scaled upwards from there. She had always been thorough.

"It's a lie!"

The door to a first year classroom slid open with a bang. Devastated footsteps came pounding down the hall, turning heads, and a first year with bouncy curls swept straight into Hikari and Ran as they rounded the corner. Hikari stumbled and fell to her knees.

"Hi-chan!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Hikari reached out to the shaking first year, who had also lost her balance.

The girl took one look at her, burst into tears, and went wailing out the front door straight into the schoolyard.

"What in the world?" Ran murmured.

"Wait, Kotoha-chan!" Another first year, presumably her friend, came running out of the same classroom. She shot a fierce glare at the two surprised second years as she passed. "Kotoha-chan!"

Ran turned to a stunned Hikari. "I think we need to up that to a Level 5."

Hikari bit her lip. "...Do you think we should go see if she's okay?"

They could still hear her wails from outside.

"I think that might do more harm than good," Ran said dryly.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor and parted ways to go to class. The whispering didn't seem nearly as bad in the second year hallway, so Ran could deduce that it had something to do with the first years. Perhaps that girl from earlier had a boyfriend who had feelings for Hikari? It had happened before. Indignant first years stomping up the stairs to accuse her of stealing their boyfriends. And going away dumbfounded because Hikari would immediately bow her head and give a sincere apology despite the entire situation being nowhere near her fault. When you go into a confrontation expecting a fight and don't get one, all of your anger kind of evaporates.

Ran sighed. Her seat was in the front right corner of the classroom, which suited her well because she was on the smaller side. It also meant that she was two seats away from Takeru, who had just arrived.

"Ah, Takaishi-kun! Mornin!"

"Yo, Takaishi."

"Ohayo, Kawashima-san," he greeted cheerily, setting his schoolbag down by his chair.

"Morning," she replied. He looked unfazed, hard to read as always. "Hey, Takeru-kun—"

"Takaishi!" Suzuki and Yamanaka descended like seagulls, interrupting.

He turned to them. "Oh, morning. What are you still doing here, Suzuki? You know class is about to start."

"What the heck, why didn't you tell us, man?" Yamanaka said.

"Seriously, I'm hurt," Suzuki bemoaned dramatically. "I mean, I know we were rivals, and I still can't believe you beat me to it, but I thought I was your friend."

"What? What? What's going on?" Andou chirped from across the room, looking up from her conversation with Ogawa. Before Ran knew it, the four of them were crowding around Takeru's desk like a whole flock.

Clearly, they knew something she didn't. She listened in, absentmindedly spinning her pencil.

"What are you talking about?" Takeru apparently didn't know either.

Suzuki and Yamanaka exchanged glances.

Yamanaka brought out his phone and made a few swipes before sliding it towards Takeru. "Uhh… maybe you should see this."

Ran craned her head. Futile. It was Andou who was in the way, and at 173 centimeters, she was easily the tallest girl in their grade.

Ogawa gasped. "Wait, what is this? Is this… Takaishi-kun? And Yagami-san?"

"Isn't this Oedo onsen?" Andou followed. The two looked at each other in shock before falling silent.

"This has been going around the first years' LINE groups since Saturday, apparently," Yamanaka explained. "You aren't…?"

The question that was on everyone's minds died on his lips. Takeru became uncharacteristically prickly when it came to this particular subject, so no one dared ask.

Takeru was still gazing at the phone, his expression unreadable. Even though it was blurry and taken from far away, she was beautiful, like a princess straight out of a historical tale with her fair skin and purple yukata. He could still feel her warmth in his arms.

"We're not," he answered evenly, and everyone let out the breaths they'd been holding. "Hikari-chan lost her sandals, so I was helping her get back."

Ran pouted. Tch, so they weren't dating. Yet.

"But you were there together?" Suzuki was incredulous.

"Nah, it was like a family thing. With our brothers and their group of friends."

"Kya, Yamato-san?"

"Yamato-san in a yukata…" Andou said dreamily.

"Anyway, Yagami-san's a lot craftier than she looks. To think she's got that innocent damsel-in-distress sort of thing going on… I guess there's more to one than what meets the eye." Ogawa perched on the desk between Takeru's and Ran's.

Ran frowned. Hikari was not like that.

"What do you mean?" As usual, Suzuki needed an explanation.

Takeru was silent. His sea green eyes, usually bright and warm, were stone hard, but none of them noticed.

"Ya know, pretending like she 'lost her sandals' to get Takaishi-kun to help her," Andou clarified.

"Yeah! Takaishi-kun's nice, and she obvs took advantage of that."

Too far. Ran opened her mouth to protest, but there was a loud bam as textbooks slammed down on the desk Ogawa was sitting at.

"This is my desk," a deep voice said coldly. "And Yagami isn't like that. Right, Takaishi?"

"A-aren-kun!" Ogawa immediately jumped up and shrank back to let the modelesque boy take his seat, but he was busy staring at Takeru.

Somehow, Aren knew, and it was one of the reasons why he couldn't bring himself to hate the other boy. Takeru was mad.

But he spoke calmly, diplomatically. "Yeah. She didn't even consider asking me for help. Never does. I decided to myself."

They all fell silent, Ogawa and Andou looking somewhat contrite.

Finally. Ran stood from her seat. "You guys have a lot of nerve, saying unfounded stuff about Hi-chan with us around," she said bitingly, though there was a smirk on her face.

"Oh, come on, you know that's not what we meant, Kawa-chan," Andou shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ran said, joining them at Takeru's desk.

"Geez!" She said, finally getting a glimpse of Yamanaka's phone. "That's been going around?"

Pure gold. Any TakeHika shipper's heart would flutter like Ran's did. She secretly hoped someone would send her said photo.

"First year LINE group, apparently," Ogawa recounted, as if to apologize for her words from earlier. Ogawa and Andou weren't exactly on bad terms with Ran. It was something between friendly classmates and frenemies, a generally peaceful relationship.

"My sister sent it to me this morning saying I should let Takaishi know. Apparently it came around to her," Yamanaka said, grabbing his phone again.

"Oh yeah, she's a first year, huh?" Suzuki piped up.

"Yeah, and on the school newspaper staff with Yagami-chan. I asked if this was the latest news scoop, and she was pretty mad, saying this was an invasion of privacy. She said this isn't respectable journalism."

"And she's right." Aren was settled down in his seat, flipping through the previous day's math assignment.

"No wonder Hi-chan's been bombarded with gossip," Ran realized, and they all turned to her. "This morning a first year girl completely bulldozed her over and started crying hysterically when she tried to help. Went running and crying all the way out the door without even apologizing, bless her little heart."

"Uhh, well, Takaishi-kun being Takaishi-kun, there are probably a loooot of angry, heartbroken girls around…" Ogawa said. She was certainly not looking forward to telling Kikuchi about this whole fiasco.

"Damn you, Takaishi," Suzuki muttered. "Always getting the ladies."

Andou elbowed him swiftly.

"Ow!"

Takeru sighed and smiled a tired, reluctant smile. Tired, not of the rumor itself, but when considering how this would affect her. "Well, nothing more to it than to keep telling the truth and let it die down."

It couldn't matter less to Takeru what everyone thought. He and Hikari knew where they stood, and that was really all that mattered. How she interpreted their relationship, how she felt about their distance and their actions. And seeing that, he would carefully come alongside her, taking care not to cross any boundaries to make sure she felt safe. He knew she probably didn't care about the gossip either, but that wouldn't stop the accusations and the over-the-top jealousy. Sometimes he liked girls and their feelings and impulses. Other times, he couldn't stand them.

Ran studied his face carefully. Worry, and protectiveness. Those two things were always there when it came to her.

The bell rang. "Okay, everyone, at your seats! Suzuki, this ain't your class!"

They dispersed back to their own desks as Suzuki went scuttling out the door amid laughter.

"Yamanaka," Takeru called suddenly.

He turned. "Sup?"

Takeru glanced around. Ran and Aren were busy talking amongst themselves about what had happened. He grinned and pointed to his phone. "Send me that photo later."

Lunch brought the angry mob. They were there, all around the classroom, peering in through the windows with sullen faces. All first years. It was certain that the rumor had spread to the second and third years by then, but they evidently had enough self-respect to refrain from the stalk-glaring. Besides that, many of them knew Hikari well, and those that did liked and respected her.

"Hika-chan, want to go to the roof?" Mami asked cheerfully. "Let's get out of here."

The roof was unspoken second and third year territory. When it was nice out, everyone competed for space, which pretty much meant all first years got booted out as the bottommost year.

"Okay!" Hikari snapped out of her daze and picked up her lunch box. She turned. "You coming, Satoshi-kun?"

Sano stretched, yawning, and stood. "Yeah. Maybe they'll stay away if there are more of us."

By now, they all knew. Yamanaka's sister, Hikari's underclassman on the newspaper staff, had sent the picture her way as well. And there it was, sitting and waiting for her on her phone after the bell rang for lunch.

"We're not dating," she said once to Mami, and again to Sano, and both of them believed her right away.

"Okay, Hika-chan. Anyway, that's for you and Takeru-kun to decide," Mami nodded, ever the mature one of the group.

"Got it," said Sano briefly. No further questions, no doubting.

Quality friends.

They stood up to leave together right as some of the angry mob crept in. The braver few, a handful of first years with clenched teeth and flushed cheeks who could stomach barging into a classroom full of upperclassmen for a confrontation.

They marched right up to her, chests thrust out in indignation, too caught up in their mission to notice the other second years who snickered at them.

"Yagami-senpai! We'd like to talk to you about something," the one in the middle announced.

"Clearly," Mami said under her breath.

"We've honestly had it with these ambiguous signs and how you're always with Takaishi-senpai."

"Ooh, look, firsties! Terrifying~" one of the guys in their class laughed.

"Aw, leave Yagami alone!" Another called.

The girl faltered slightly, but continued. "And this, this picture. You spent the weekend with him at Oedo. We all saw."

Hikari listened patiently to their spiel, eyes gentle.

"Are you or are you not dating Takaishi-senpai? Give us an answer, now! And if you're not, please stay away from him!"

"Yeah!" Another chimed in on the strength of her friend's declaration. "If you aren't dating it's not fair that you rub it in all of our faces how close you are!"

"Don't walk home with him if you aren't even dating!"

Silence, slight panting. They were all out of breath.

Hikari waited for a moment, then spoke, the expression on her face showing she was tired, but not angry. "Would it solve your problems if I said that we were dating?"

The first girl looked incensed at this. "We won't accept it! You must have tricked him into it—"

"I think that's enough."

A soft voice, but it was louder than usual. Louder than they'd ever heard before.

Fujioka stood there, a book in his hand. "I'm reading, and you're being kind of annoying."

He continued before they could protest. "What business is it of yours whether or not they're dating? They're free to do as they want. And why do you think you have the right to dictate what they do around each other? You don't know them, nor do you know their relationship."

"Fujioka-kun," Hikari murmured in surprise.

"Yeah, tell them, Fujioka-kun!" One of the second year girls cheered.

"If you really liked Takaishi, you would know how important Yagami-san is to him. You wouldn't be attacking someone that he cares about."

"But… but…" The first girl was on the verge of tears.

Hikari gave her a small smile. "It's alright. Thank you for being honest. I'm sorry for causing a misunderstanding. Takeru-kun and I aren't dating."

"Y-you're not?" she sniffed.

"Mhmm," Hikari nodded, pushing a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "We're not. That was a family trip we took with our older brothers and their friends, and Takeru-kun is kind, so he helped me."

They fell silent, shooting glances at each other.

Hikari continued. "We're not, but…"

"But? But what? What but?" Sano muttered, and Mami shushed him loudly.

The first years giggled and seemed to relax a bit at this.

Hikari almost laughed as well, but composed herself. "We're not, but I've known Takeru-kun for a long time now, and our relationship is something that is very precious to me. Regardless of whether or not we…"

Regardless of whether or not we date. Was she letting that be a possibility? Dating Takeru? Was it a possibility? She shut off that thought like a faucet.

"Regardless," she finished. "It would be great if you could understand that. Would that be alright?"

Her smile, radiant and warm, seemed to shake them awake from their anger.

"... We understand. And we're sorry for suddenly bringing it up like this…" the girl who spoke second murmured.

"We'll make sure that no one else misunderstands. The photo, too." Another promised.

Hikari's cheeks turned pink. "Hehe, yeah… that would be great. Honestly, that photo's a bit embarrassing. Although, looking at it now, I think I made the right choice going with a purple yukata."

The girl who had kicked off the confrontation now smiled, albeit shyly. "I like purple, too."

The three of them bowed and went as quickly as they came. The entire class erupted in brazen conversation about what had just occurred, and Fujioka got the sense that Hikari had just acquired three new admirers. This subtle reaching out on her part always stunned him. He had seen it multiple times now, having been in the same class and in her vicinity for several years now, but it never ceased to amaze him. How people came to her as enemies and left as friends. And it wasn't that she was the most extroverted or charismatic person, or a peacemaker with a way with words—that was Takeru. She simply believed in people.

And clearly Takeru, as well. Because he's kind, she had said. She didn't suspect for a moment that there may have been more than just kindness and childhood friendship behind his actions. But she was wrong. Fujioka wasn't sure why, but it rubbed him the wrong way.

"Well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the entire school's seen it. The photo," he pointed out to her lightly.

"Oh well!" She stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "It's nothing weird, anyway. Just Takeru-kun being Takeru-kun."

He frowned. "Actually, I'm not surprised that they misunderstood."

"Hmm?"

He stared at her from beneath his glasses, slate black eyes fixed as if to a target. "Yagami-san, Takaishi is a guy, you know. Sometimes you can be quite naive. When a guy does something, it usually means more than you realize. I hardly doubt Takaishi is the exception, despite what you seem convinced of. And other people could misinterpret what you do, too. Like today."

Her eyes grew wide at his words, words that threatened to upset the fragile balance of her relationship with the boy with the green hat.

"Hey, Fujioka," Sano stepped in.

"It's okay, Satoshi-kun." She let out a small, wavering breath. "Takeru-kun… is the same Takeru-kun that I've always known. Maybe we do the things we do because that's what we're used to. I guess it's true that we don't think about if—or how—our feelings might have changed."

"I think that's something Hika-chan should consider on her own," Mami said. "Not that you're wrong, Fujioka-kun."

"Of course," he retracted. "Ahh.. sorry for being nosy. So much for minding my own business, huh?"

Hikari smiled.

"She doesn't forgive you," Sano joked, bumping him with his rather muscular shoulder. "Now can we eat? Roof? You too, Fujioka."

"Yes, let's go!"

"Right. I'm taking my book, though."

"What else is new?"

Takeru had just finished his homework and was flopped over on his bed, staring at his phone, when the doorbell rang. The doorbell?

He sat up. It was nearly dark out, the last vestiges of sunlight passing beneath the horizon and sinking into the ocean. 7:32, said the clock on his bedside table.

He went padding out towards the front door.

His mom had the key, so she wouldn't ever ring the doorbell. No mailmen or packages at this hour. None of his school friends would show up without texting him first.

So then, maybe—he had visions of snow white skin and short brown hair.

He reached out to open the door, heart pounding, then gave a little sigh of disappointment.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Oh, were you hoping for someone else?" His older brother smirked at him, leaning languidly on the doorframe.

Takeru smiled broadly, unfazed. "Oh, no. I don't know what gave you that notion."

Yamato swept inside, pulling off his shoes. "Is mom home?"

"Do you have to ask? I can't remember a time she's been home earlier than 8." Takeru was at the refrigerator, letting the frigid air blast him in the face to cool his disappointment. "We have tea and juice."

"Apple?"

"Yep."

"I'll have that, then." Yamato settled himself down at the dining table and brought out a battered-looking spiral notebook from his bag.

"That notebook again?" His brother joined him, along with two glasses of juice.

"Thanks." Yamato drank deeply for a moment, as if possessed, then broke for air and slammed the almost empty glass down abruptly. "I'm stuck."

"What are you, an old business man? That's not beer, you know." Takeru draped an arm over the back of his own chair. "And?"

"What does a middle schooler like you know about beer?" Yamato said gruffly. He ran a hand through messy blonde locks, disconcerted, then opened the notebook. He slid it over to his brother, who glanced down at the relatively blank page. A single English phrase was etched there with a red circle drawn in a heavy hand around it.

"'Don't say goodbye,'" Takeru read. "Is this a song?"

"It's supposed to be. Only I haven't gotten anywhere." He rifled through the other pages, which were filled with scribbles and scrawled out lyrics. Most of them were crossed out, and a few pages had been torn out altogether, leaving messy scraps in the binding. "I can't seem to get anything that I'm satisfied with, to be exact."

"You mean, using this phrase? So, this is what you were working on back at Oedo onsen."

He nodded, then finished the remains of his juice. "You know everything that's been going on. I was thinking about it one day, and this phrase just popped into my head. Actually, I've got the melody for it, too, wait—"

He ran to the hallway and there was some rustling as he went through one of the storage closets.

"Is my other guitar still in here? The acoustic." He called. "Hey, I found your old green hat."

Takeru calmly sipped at his juice, staring at his phone again. There was a certain picture he hadn't stopped looking at since that morning. "The old one you always leave here? I think so."

"Here it is." Yamato was back so quickly that Takeru had to set his phone face down on the table.

"What was that?" He peered down at the phone suspiciously.

Takeru merely smiled again, then immediately swiped the phone out of his brother's reach as he lunged for it. "It's nothing. Anyway, we were talking about your song."

"Tche," Yamato said grumpily. He pulled his old acoustic guitar, slightly dusty and in desperate need of a tuning, out of its case. He twisted a few of the pegs to get it roughly in tune. "So this is the first line of the chorus, and it goes like this…

"Don't say good bye-" He sang, in his husky, low tones. The melody was long and drawn out, with an emotional tinge, but broke off suddenly, incomplete. He strummed a few more chords. "And then, I'm thinking of this chord progression for the rest of it. I just can't seem to figure out the lyrics."

Yamato turned to look at his younger brother, who appeared to be deep in thought, his elbows propped up on his knees.

"What is it that you want this song to say?" Takeru asked finally.

Yamato scratched his head with the pick. "I don't know, but… I feel like it has to do with what we're fighting for."

"Well, you're saying this to someone, right?" Takeru mused.

"Right. To everyone important."

"It's a choice. You choose to be with them. And you want them to choose to stay with you, which is why it's, 'Don't say goodbye.'"

"Yeah! That." Yamato raised an eyebrow. "You really got all that from that one line?"

"Pen," Takeru said suddenly, hand out, bending over the open notebook.

Yamato fished inside his bag, then his jeans pocket, but came up empty handed. "I didn't bring one."

"On that table over there."

One of their mother's extras from when she worked at home. Yamato grabbed it and tossed it to Takeru, who caught it without even looking up and began scrawling something down.

"There," he said, finishing. He sat back and balanced his glass of juice on his knee. "How's that?"

"'It has to be you,'" Yamato read. He strummed a chord, then hummed the melody under his breath, trying to connect the two.

"'Don't say goodbye… kimi janakya dame nanda yo.'"

The two exchanged excited glances.

"I think that's pretty good!" Takeru commented.

"Nice," Yamato grinned. "I knew I should have just asked you from the beginning. Where did that come from?"

Takeru froze. For a few moments he was back in the baths at Oedo onsen with Taichi, the older boy's request heavy and precious as gold in his chest. He shrugged and said finally, "We all have people we want to protect."

Yamato stared at his little brother, who suddenly no longer seemed so little. Well, physically, he was getting frighteningly and infuriatingly tall (Yamato was of the belief, as are many others, that younger siblings should never outgrow their older siblings), but it wasn't just that. Takeru's eyes had seen a lot, weathered and softened at the edges with the wisdom that comes from responsibility. His shoulders, young, but well-built, were for shielding someone from harm. His hands were hands that had fought to protect and keep someone by his side.

"Takeru," he said, breaking the silence. "You should write this song."

"What?" Takeru eyed him incredulously.

"Onegai!" Yamato clapped his hands together. "Seriously. It's better off in your hands."

Now it was Takeru's turn to look disconcerted. "Isn't this your new single? It's important."

"Yes, but—" the older stood and went over to his brother, wrapping his arms around his neck in a playful way. "You've already done so much better than I could. Oh illustrious master of words, would you be so kind as to offer us your aid?"

Takeru sighed. "Fine," he said, voice muffled by his brother's arms. "But I expect compensation."

Later, after promises of new hats and ramen had been made and his brother had left, leaving the spiral notebook behind, Takeru found himself rummaging through the drawers of his desk. He could hardly remember when he had last written a song—blog/diary posts, yes, a memoir of their adventures, yes, and poems, yes (admittedly)—but not a song. In fact, the last full song he had written was—

He pulled it out of the back of his bottommost drawer, carefully kept in a file folder between several old letters and a few creased pictures.

Focus.

He had never shown it to anyone (except for his mom, but that had been more of an accidental—delightful for her, mortifying for him—discovery on her part). And as he read it over, he was glad he hadn't. How more blatantly obvious could he have been?

Before I realize it, I'm looking at you

Standing just behind you

Am I the focus of your heart?

In fifth grade, after their second adventure, he—being a boy faced with the same, secret mission as when he was seven, but now discovering whole new feelings within himself—had written this song. At the time, he hadn't had any names for his budding feelings, only questions.

It would have been better if I had never noticed

But I can't get you off my mind

He smiled. Nothing had changed.

The truth is, I have a lot of things I want to tell you, but

It won't come out right

We were the ones always being protected

But now the one I want to protect is...

"You," he murmured. He slid the old song back into its folder and shut it safely away, then buried a single sigh of longing into the crook of his elbow. After allowing himself a few moments of nostalgic contemplation, he turned his attention to the notebook his brother had left with him.

Don't say goodbye

It has to be you

Of course, he realized. Things had changed. Before, a mystified, enchanted fifth grader, unable to move forward because of questions and uncertainty. What are these feelings? And, more importantly, what are your feelings?

But the hastily scrawled words on the page before him now said something very different. It was no longer a question, but a choice. A declaration. But did he have the right to say such a thing? His thoughts turned to a certain spiky-haired leader, and he realized he had really big shoes to fill.

November.

"By the way, we want to introduce it at our yearly Christmas concert," his brother had said earlier, leaning down to fasten his shoelaces. "So, it would be cool to have something workable by November or so."

Takeru closed his eyes. If we can get through this alright, if I can protect you... if we can get through another summer and greet the fall again, together, then I'll finish this song.

Digiegg 10: Facts, Focus

If you haven't yet heard/read the lyrics for Takeru's character song 'Focus' (from Adventure 02), you should do so, now.

And then maybe also listen to Hikari's song 'Reflection.' And thank me later. ;)