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Day 10: Scarf

After the drama with Tanaka ―he finally stopped choking―it was the boys' turn to give the man the present that they got for him. Kazunari dashed up the staircase and within no time, he returned a box, neatly wrapped in emerald green paper with a red bow on the cover. This box was one of those pre-wrapped ones, where people didn't have to go through the stresses of wrapping one from scratch.

"Merry Christmas!" they all chirped, when Kazunari handed the gift to Tanaka.

The man took the cover off the box and what he saw left him conflicted. It was a scarf, but as he took it up and opened it out, he held his face down. He didn't want to hurt his boys' feelings but the scarf was bad ―it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't nice either.

But he couldn't tell them that.

"It's…" Tanaka trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe it. "I like the colour." He finally said. It was a rich purple colour, one that's used to signify royalty.

"Oh…"

Tanaka caught their faces and felt bad.

For the past couple days, Tanaka had known that something was strange with his eight boys. It started at the beginning of the week, when all of them left the house saying that they were going to buy something. When he had asked them if they wanted a lift, they hastily declined, something that they never do.

Upon returning, Tanaka noticed that they were starting to behave secretive. Their sentences were vague, and most times, when Tanaka asked them, all they uttered out was:

"It's nothing to worry about."

Naturally, the man's suspicions would rise after hearing that.

What was more, the boys would stay away from him for most of the day. Usually, at least one of them would be around him, asking for advice, pestering him do something ―it varied on which boy asked―but in essence, Tanaka was never alone at any given time of the day. But this week was different.

And it had scared him.

He had started to wonder if there was something bothering the boys which they didn't know how to talk about it. He thought long and hard about the various things that may trouble a teenage male and found it hard to come to a conclusion.

All Tanaka could think of was the lack of streetball competitions to get their blood pumping.

He knew it couldn't have been homesickness because it was just two weeks ago that the boys returned to their families and spent some time before coming back. But the man decided to give up. When they wanted to talk to him, he knew they'll spill their guts.

But now, he wished that they had just asked him for help.

"Look boys," Tanaka started, "I know that this isn't the best scarf in the world," he saw them wince at that. "But knowing how much time and effort you put into this, is enough to make it the best gift in the universe."

Immediately, their faces brightened.

"Really?!" they shrieked.

"Yes, really. Now come and let's take a picture."

"I call dibs on the left arm rest!"

"I want the right!"

"You bastards, you're already tall, go stand at the back and leave the rests for someone else!"

"It sucks to be you but I'm not moving!"

Tanaka sighed. The bickering has begun once again.

Thanks for reading~!