So so sorry for the late update! It's taking me a little longer since I changed the style. Do let me know if third-person is working better, or if I should change it back to first-person.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving (if you celebrate)!
Chapter 6:
"What are you two doing?"
Although the urge to keep his eyes closed was strong, Ren forced them open the moment Kazemaru's body heat disappeared, leaving the raven-haired boy cold. Irritated, Ren pushed himself to his tiptoes to peer over Kazemaru's shoulder to see how had arrived. Gouenji's spiky blond hair stood out from the group, with Endou and the others behind him, staring at the two almost pointedly… except for Endou, who was blissfully unaware of what the situation looked like.
Kazemaru–his face slowly becoming more red with each passing second–began to stammer, trying to explain himself while Ren stood camly to the side watching the situation unfold. "We… er… I was just… um!" Kazemaru stumbled, his tongue tripping over his words. After a couple of moments, the raven-haired boy took pity on his friend and stepped in.
"Kazemaru-kun wasn't convinced that I was okay after my mishap this morning so he was just checking up on me again," Ren explained (lied), "I fell backwards after being startled and he tried to catch me."
"If you say so… oh here!" Endou shouted, turning around to grab something from Gouenji. "You and Kazemaru left your lunches in the classroom." He handed over the bento boxes and pushed everyone to the door, eager to eat lunch. To Ren's relief, Max and Handa were sitting against the fence and looked like they were just talking. The two waved when they spotted their friends and shouted for the group to hurry up.
Once they were sitting in a circle and Endou was chatting loudly to whoever would listen to him, Ren opened his bento. It looked quite mangled–from his hectic morning–but there weren't any weird smell or odd colors; just some regular-old meatballs, a small salad, white rice, tamagoyaki and a side of dried cherries.
"Should you be eating that Masa-masa?" Max piped up, worryingly looking at the bento in Ren's hands. He wasn't the only one looking at the food either. Kazemaru's hand twitched towards the raven-haired boy, looking like he was about to grab the box and chuck it over the fence.
"I made my own lunch last night, so it… should taste fine." Ren tried to assure them, hugging the bento box close, "And what's up with the nickname?" It wasn't the worst nickname he's ever gotten, but still found it quite odd.
"Really? Let me try!" The cat-hat boy shouted, stealing a meatball from his bento. Not that Ren minded, but was miffed Max ignored the other question "This tastes amazing!" Max complimented, "You're a good cook!"
Bowing his head bashfully, Ren's face slowly grew warm. All he did was follow the instructions from a book, which most people could do. Ren was gonna say as much when he felt Kazemaru shift beside him and glanced over towards that boy instead… doing a double-take seeing the blue-haired boy glaring at Max of all people.
"Would you like to try?" Ren cut in after an awkward moment, holding up a piece of his tamagoyaki. He hoped to distract Kazemaru from trying to light Max on fire with his heated stare. To the boy's relief, it worked and Kazemaru stopped glaring at Max and turned to stare at the tamagoyaki held towards him. Ren held the egg roll closer to the other boy's mouth after he shyly nodded and Kazemaru's face flushed a bright red, but ate the egg roll–his teeth barely scraping the chopsticks.
Watching the other chew slowly, Ren nervously tapped his chopsticks against the bento box. Kazemaru's face lit up in surprise. "This is really good Masamune-kun." He said, much to Ren's relief. He had made the food to his tastes after all.
"I'm happy you think so." He said after a moment, "It's a relief I didn't inherit my parent's cooking skill… or lack thereof." Ren's classmates hummed in agreement with a few of them shivering in fear, remembering what happened the day before. Except Max, who was smirking mischievously at Ren.
"Masa-masa, I didn't think you could be so bold." He said, lightly punching the boy's shoulder. Bewildered, Ren asked Max what he meant as the boy's implication flew over his head. Max's smirk faltered, "Ah.. well… typically only people who are dating feed each other like that… ya know?"
Ren hadn't known about such a thing, however, he also didn't quite trust what Max was saying. Still, he turned to Kazemaru, "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable." Ren apologized, trying to explain that it was something he did with his old friends. Kazemaru, still flushed, laughed and waved it off, saying it didn't bother him much. However, it didn't stop the others from teasing the blue-haired boy and making his blush worse.
Seeing his friend becoming uncomfortable with the attention he was gaining, Ren tried to change the subject. Before Max had used a silly nickname for the raven-haired boy that used his surname. Thus Ren brought it up. "About that nickname Max came up with..." He trailed off, wondering how to continue and waiting for everyone to turn towards him. "I'd prefer if you used my given name instead of my surname." He requested quietly. The group sat there quietly for a moment, with Ren fidgeting a little, as they pondered the request.
"Of course." Endou agreed happily, "Any reason though?" It was a valid question for Ren. From what he has seen, most people didn't use another's first names unless they were close friends or family. Although in Ren's case, most of his extended family call him Masamune-sama or, much to his horror, young master.
"Ah, well…" Ren paused since he wasn't sure if he should explain his family's circumstances. Not that it was a secret, but it was complicated. "My family is really big on formalities and it gets a little tiresome being addressed so formally. Ren is faster to say too, no?" he finishes, going with a simpler version of the story.
"Formalities huh," Max spoke up, another smirk growing on his face, "Are you a young master or something?" Ren knew the cat-hat boy was teasing, but it still irked him.
"Call me that again and I will throw you over the fence." Ren threatened, jabbing his thumb to the fence beside him. Max laughs nervously and slowly scoots over to hide behind Handa. The other agreed quickly, smartly avoiding making the same mistake as the cat-hat boy.
"So Masa—I mean, Ren-san, have you decided on a club yet?" Kazemaru asked, changing the subject, whilst stumbling over the change in name. He was still being a little formal, adding that particular honorific to the end of Ren's name, but the raven-haired boy understood his request was a little abrupt.
Ren took a second to think about Kazemaru's question. Obviously, he didn't want to join the kendo club, or any martial arts club for that matter. His life already revolved around it. An art club or anything similar was out of the question because… he had no skill when it came to that type of activity. His handwriting was decent, but his drawing skills? Horrible. Swimming club was also out of the question since there was no way Ren was going near a pool. There were always tennis, baseball or the track-and-field clubs. However, the club he really wanted to join was...
"I'm thinking about the soccer club," Ren answered, turning towards Endou, "If that's okay. I don't know how many members you have or if there is a limit, but if you have room..." Most of them seemed excited at the prospect of gaining another member and smiled widely. Except for Megane–who didn't look up from his game–and Someoka, but Ren was sure the grumpy boy didn't know how to smile.
"Of course it's okay!" Endou yelled, once again vibrating in excitement. "We're always looking for new members!" The rest of them agreed with him, excluding a pouting Someoka. It was worrying that Someoka was so opposed to him, but all Ren could do was shrug it off. As long as the others were okay with him joining, then he was happy.
Soon the bell rang to signal the end of lunch and they headed back to their respective stepping into 2-A, Endou pulled Ren aside and told him to wait for them when school ended so that they could walk to the clubhouse together. The raven-haired boy was excited by the prospect and couldn't wait till the end of the day.
The bell rang loudly and Inuoka-sensei, the science teacher, finally dismissed his students. Ren grabbed his school bag and sword case, slinging them over his shoulder before walking over to the door with Kazemaru. Gouenji was already waiting by the door, leaning against the frame in all his bad-boy fashion. Ren could see how the bad-boy type was appealing, but it wasn't his cup of tea.
The raven-haired boy glanced back towards Endou, who was struggling to stuff his homework into his bag. Ren wasn't sure how the soccer captain could find anything in his desk, with how messy it was. He was also sure there was a school policy about it too. Endou, his book-bag bursting at the seams, finally joins them at the door, but… a familiar duo blocked their way.
Marui and Sakurai stood in the doorway, trying to squeeze by Gouenji–who wasn't letting them by. They gave up after a moment, choosing to stand outside the classroom. "So Masamune," Marui started, crossing his arms and trying to look intimidating. "Are you going to join the kendo club?" Ren glanced over to Kazemaru, who shared a similar look of disbelief as him.
"No…" Ren muttered after a moment, "I'm joining the soccer team." and with that, he pushed past them and grabbed Gouenji's sleeve to pull him along. Kazemaru and Endou were on their heels. "Now, please excuse us." A small part of Ren hoped they got the hint and took his refusal seriously this time. However, that wasn't the case as Sakurai grabbed his forearm and stopped Ren from walking away.
"Wait, the soccer team?" The pink haired boy squealed in disbelief, "With those guys?" He pointed in the direction of Endou, Gouenji and Kazemaru–who looked less than pleased. It was incredibly rude of Sakurai to refer to them in such a manner. Especially since Ren was sure Endou was friends with the kendo duo.
In lieu of a response, Ren roughly pulled his arm from Sakurai's grip and moved his arm to his sword case. A nonverbal threat. Fortunately, Sakurai had enough sense to actually let go and back away.
The boy turned to Marui and they shared a look that Ren wasn't able to discern before the Kendo duo turned and ran down the hall. Confused, Ren looked over to others–hoping they could explain what happened–but they were as confused as him.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the building:
'Where are those two idiots?" A boy with a gruff exterior grumbled. He was pacing in a circle next to a girl with bright green hair and black opaque glasses. She sighed at her friend's antics, but continued to read her book. The "two idiots" he was referring to had only been gone for a couple of minutes, after all.
"They'll be here soon" She said, hearing echoing loud footsteps rushing towards them. The owners of said footsteps slowed down to a jog as they neared the boy and girl. When they stopped to catch their breath, the gruff-looking boy looked them over.
"Marui! Sakurai!" The boy bellowed, "Did you get him to join?" The boys in question winced from his loud voice. The girl sighed again, and didn't bother to look up. She was used to this, having known the loud boy since elementary.
"No Captain!" Marui shouted, giving the boy a mock salute, "He said he's joining the soccer team!" Sakurai also gave a mock salute before plopping next to the girl.
"Why do you even want a stubborn brat like him, Genda?" The pink-haired boy asked, missing the fierce glare the girl gave him, "I know he's related to Masamune Date and to our dear Momo here, but what's special about him?" Sakurai paused a second and then snarkily mumbled "besides all the typical things that make him a Masamune."
"What's special about him? Haven't you heard of the prodigy who won that big kendo competition three years ago?" The boy, Genda, bellowed–causing the duo to wince again. Marui and Sakurai nodded. Of course they heard about that kid. It was all Genda ever talked about since elementary school. To the point they would joke that the mysterious kid was Genda's first love. Other than that, they didn't know anything. "That prodigy was Masamune Ren!" Genda continued shouting, "He emerged from the shadows and beat every single participant! Including me! That day he became my fated rival!"
"Seriously?" Marui and Sakurai shouted in unison, shocked that they didn't put two-and-two together. Now it made sense to them why Genda insisted that Ren joined their club. Along with being part of the Masamune family, the raven-haired boy was Masamune Date's, a man many kendo practitioners worship, only child.
But winning a competition like that, without experience? That's too unreal! Even for someone from that family!
"Yeah, so… he told you he was joining the soccer team, right?" Genda asked his teammates. Both of them nodded their heads, already not liking where this was going. "Well, I guess it's time to visit the prodigy." He said, walking towards the stairwell, The other three tagged behind him. The boys followed out of loyalty for their friend and captain. The girl, Momo, followed to prevent her stupid counterpart from causing too much trouble.