Disclaimer: I do not ony Ryu and sadly I also don't own Hayato; but that doesn't meen I can't have fun with them.
BETWEEN FRIENDS
Chapter 1
"Andō-kun! Odagiri-kun! Stop it right know!"
Eihi Siina struggled to pull the two squabbling boys apart.
"He started it!" cried Andō and pointed an accusing finger at Odagiri.
Odagiri glared at Andō, but said nothing to defend himself.
"Is that so, Odagiri-kun?" Eihi asked.
The boy ignored her question and just continued to glare coldly at his classmate. Andō obviously started to think the others behaviour increasingly disconcerting and tried to hide behind Eihi.
Eihi sighed; no matter how often she tried, it seemed she would never get through to Odagiri and get him to trust her. She turned towards Andō: "What was this fight about?"
"He wouldn't give me the book."
Andō's eyes skittered towards a colourful picture book that was lying on the floor between the two kindergartners.
"Was Odagiri-kun just reading this book?" Eihi asked with suspicion.
Andō avoided her eyes, confirming Eihi's hunch, that the only reason Andō would suddenly develop an interest in books was the fact that someone else was reading it.
Eihi knelt down in front of Andō and held onto both his shoulders, forcing eye-contact and said in her best stern-teacher-voice: "Andō-kun. We have lots of books here. It's really not necessary to demand exactly the one copy that your classmate is reading.
Now, I want you to go over to the book-box, pick out one book and then sit down in the reading corner quietly for the next fifteen minutes. Understood?"
Andō squirmed, but when she put slight pressure into her hold he nodded obediently.
Eihi released him and watched Andō trudging sullenly towards the paper-box, where the kindergarten class's book collection was stored.
Eihi had enough experience with children to know that this was the most effective punishment for Andō. Consequences for actions worked far better than scolding. And what could be a worse punishment for an energetic four-year old, than to sit still and read a book, which said four-year hadn't planned to do from the beginning?
Leaving Andō to his self-inflicted misery, she turned to the second boy: "Odagiri-kun. I understand that you did not want to give Andō-kun your book, but there is no need to hit him. Hitting never solves any problems. It just gets you a different sort of trouble."
Odagiri nodded mutely and Eihi told him to run along and watched how the scrawny boy picked up the maltreated picture-book, sat down as far away from Andō as possible and started to read once more.
Eihi shook her head. In her ten years as kindergarten teacher, she had never encountered a child quite like Odagiri before. She could count the occasions, on which he had spoken up on her fingers, he didn't play with the other children and the only activities he enjoyed were solitary ones like looking through the books and drawing.
At first, some of the other children in her class had thought that his curious behaviour meant that he was an easy target for mockery. But despite his closed-off manner Odagiri was not meek. If he was provoked past his endurance, he was more than ready to stand up for himself.
Could a four year old be called aloof? Eihi wondered, but then had to laugh about herself. No, she was sure that in truth Odagiri was just a terribly shy, lonely boy.
***
"Excuse me ..."
"Just a moment." Eihi said, biting her tongue in concentration, as she fumbled with the stubborn buttons of a girl's bib overall, who urgently needed to go to the loo. Eihi was sure that whoever invented bib-overalls had no children of their own. Or maybe they had and were just especially cruel people.
When she finally succeeded and had sent the girl on her way she looked up and found herself face to face with the loveliest women she had ever seen.
The women smiled kindly, as Eihi scrambled to get up from her knees, feeling stupid.
"You must be Shiina-sensei." The women said softly.
Eihi nodded and bowed politely.
"I'm Reiko Yabuki. We've spoken on the phone."
"Oh, right." Eihi said "Our new arrival."
The women smiled and gently pushed a boy forward: "This is my son, Hayato Yabuki." She bowed "Please take good care of him."
Eihi was gobsmacked; the boy certainly matched his mother's good looks. She had worked with many children in her time as kindergarten-teacher, but never had she encountered a child that looked so ... perfect.
His skin had a nearly porcelain glow, his eyes were bright and big, though still almond-shaped.
His mouth was like that of a doll.
His hair just touched his shoulders and looked healthy. And though it made him different from all the other young boys his age, which customarily had simple pot-haircuts, he wore it with pride and style.
And while most children at that age look somewhat awkward, either too scrawny or still padded with their baby fat, the boy's complexion was flawless.
Eihi was sure that she had seen that particular child in the last Meiji-biscuit advertising campaign.
She was a bit flustered when she returned the women's bow and assured her that she would do her best, all the while gleefully imagining the envy of her colleagues, when she would tell them that she had a celebrity in her kindergarten group.
Chapter 2
"Yabuki!!!!" Eihi screamed horrified and sprinted across the room, but she was too late.
The boy spread his arms, flashed a cocky grin and jumped.
Jumped down the intermediate ceiling; with a railing that the architect had assured her no kindergartner could climb.
Eihi was going to kill the man when she next saw him.
Yabuki's impact on the floor seemed hard, but he stood back up right away and grinned victoriously. He made "give" motions towards Andō, who handed over a chocolate bar with a disgruntled face.
At last Eihi had reached Yabuki. One hand over her heart, the other on the boy's shoulder she panted: "Yabuki! Don't. Do. That. Again."
Yabuki looked at her innocently, trying to reassure her: "Why? That was easy. I have jumped from higher places than that."
Eihi looked around in panic. You didn't have to be a genius to know what effect Yabuki's words and actions would have on her impressionable pupils. Most of them were looking at Yabuki with adoration and hero-worship, while some of the bolder boys eyed the platform speculatively.
She would have to close down the building-blocks area, which was housed upstairs.
Eihi sighed.
The boy was going to be the death of her. Yabuki had been in her group only three days and this morning she had found the first grey hairs on her head.
The boy may look angelic, but he sure was a little spitfire and Eihi wondered how his mother had been able to deliver the boy without bruises and scratches.
She really needed a break from Yabuki's attempts on a heroic death. So she looked around the room, trying to spot something harmless to do for Yabuki.
She considered the drawing table, but dismissed the idea again right away.
Yabuki and pencil sharpeners were a potentially fatal combination.
In the end her eyes settled on the lone figure that huddled in the book-corner. Eihi smiled; it might be not entirely fair on Odagiri, but the book-corner seemed a relatively safe option, even for a child with Yabuki's talent to find trouble.
She ordered Yabuki to join Odagiri in the corner to look at books and keep quiet, while she was going to cut her losses and attempt to explain to her other charges that Yabuki-kun's exploits were everything but "cool".
She knew that she was probably fighting a loosing battle, but it was a teacher's job, to at least try and make pupils see reason.
Eihi had just succeeded in distracting her class with some games from Yabuki's latest stunt, when an enraged shout from the direction of the book-corner made everyone freeze.
"Motherfucker!!!"
Yabuki was sucking on his right index finger and glaring at an offending book.
Eihi thought she could practically see the hearts sprouting over the heads of her innocent little kindergarteners as they gazed starry eyed at the foul-mouthed Yabuki.
Eihi groaned in anticipation of the many parent-teacher talks that would be the result of this particular episode.
Maybe, if she admonished Yabuki now in front of everyone, she could contain the use of the word to a minimum. One could hope, right?
She stalked towards the book-corner, ready for a scolding, but stopped short when she noticed something unprecedented.
Odagiri smiled.
He tried to hide it behind his hand, but he smiled.
Dumbfounded she stared for a bit longer and therefore missed the crucial moment to act. Behind her she could already hear whispered repeats of Yabuki's curse-word.
A tiny girl plucked on her trouser leg, staring up at her with her thump in her mouth: "Shiina-sensei, what's a 'Motherfucker'?"
Oh yes, Eihi had many, many parent-teacher talks to look forward to.
Chapter 3
The days went by and the time of the cherry blossoms arrived.
As Eihi had expected, Yabuki Hayato had by then completely taken over Shirokin Ahiru-kindergarten.
The other children followed his lead without question, the cleaning ladies were charmed by his looks and secretly slipped him sweets and none of the kindergarten-teachers managed to be cross with him for long when faced with his perfected pout.
Not long after Yabuki had enrolled in Ahiru kindergarten the teachers had started to call him affectionately "The Prince", because somehow he managed to get away with everything. He was the favourite subject of talk in the staff room and Eihi found herself increasingly popular in association.
She rather liked the way how everyone in the staff room scrambled to attention when she entered, in hopes she would tell another entertaining episode of the misadventures of their "Prince". It was nearly worth the increasing numbers of grey hairs.
For today, the headmistress had scheduled a staff meeting concerning the traditional "Hanami", the festivity to celebrate the bloom of the cherry trees.
The general shape of the event did not vary greatly from year to year, but there were still many things to resolve and organize.
Like how to bribe parents to make food contributions, what kind of paper lanterns the teachers would make with their pupils, which class would perform which song or play and which child would have the honour to recite the Sakura poem.
At least the last point of discussion was quickly dealt with. The staff voted, with only one dissenting vote from Eihi, for "the Prince" as the best choice.
The other points on the agenda required a bit more attention, but where finally approved by all and Eihi was thankful that this year the cup had passed her. She was spared the hard chore of getting her pupils to sing or make them concentrate long enough to rehearse a play.
Dealing with twenty-five kindergartner's armed with crayons and glue (she would never let them anywhere near scissors) to make paper lanterns was enough of a nightmare.
Only that Yabuki would have to recite the poem troubled her a bit. After the vote had settled on "the Prince" she had asked herself in horror how she was supposed to a) catch Yabuki, b) make him hold still for more than five minutes and c) get him to memorize a poem.
Thankfully Mrs. Yabuki, who was now visibly expecting but still as lovely and glowing as the very first time Eihi met her, gladly agreed to learn the Sakura poem with her son at home, when Eihi told her that her son had been chosen for this high honour.
And really, only two days later Mrs. Yabuki proudly made her son recite the poem in front of Eihi, when she dropped him off at the kindergarten. Miraculously he managed it without a single slip and Eihi was duly impressed by Mrs. Yabuki's tutoring skills.
***
Eventually the day of the traditional Shirokin Ahiru-kindergarten Sakura festival arrived.
The courtyard of the kindergarten building boasted four beautiful cherry trees, which delighted staff and pupils alike every year with a great many delicate pink blossoms.
For this special occasion, the caretaker had put up a garland from tree to tree on which the five kindergarten-groups had hung their self-made paper-lanterns.
In the middle of the courtyard he had build a low wooden podium and around it the teachers had arranged lots of chequered picnic-blankets for their guests.
Up against the house-wall they had arranged tables, with paper-dishcloths for the buffet, which would hopefully be filled by the contributions of the kindergartners' parents.
Most of Eihi's colleagues were awfully nervous, fretting over the upcoming performances of their pupils. Thank-god all her own pupils, expect for Yabuki, had to do was to attend the festival and to enjoy themselves. And in regards to Yabuki she now fully trusted his mother's skills to keep the boy in line and up for his performance.
Therefore she had the leisure to enjoy the lovingly decorated courtyard of Ahiru-kindergarten until the families arrived one by one.
Eihi made sure to greet every child of her class and their families personally and took the time to have a few words with each of them. It was important that parents trusted her to take care of their children. If they did, incidents like the "bad-word affair" were more easily forgiven by the parents.
The arrival of Odagiri and his company dampened her spirits for a time and she felt very sorry for the boy.
The PA of Odagiri's father politely excused the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Odagiri due to an important, short-notice function they had to attend, before he placed a tray with bought Sushi on the buffet-tables and ushered Odagiri to one of the blankets on the offside.
Not long after that Yagi, a teacher in her first year at Ahiru-kindergarten, who had been put in charge of distributing name tags and ticking of the attendance list, announced that everyone had arrived.
The headmistress opened the festival with a short speech, welcoming everyone and introducing the program, before giving over the stage to the kindergartners.
All in all the show went rather well. After all some off-key notes were expected from kindergartner-choirs and as long as the actors are no older than five, forgetting ones lines and putting ones finger up the nose was still considered cute.
The cherry-blossom poem was traditionally the high-light of the program and the last contribution before the buffet was opened.
As the play-acting children cleared the stage, Yabuki climbed the podium confidently.
Mrs. Yabuki had dressed him in a smart white sailor-suit (by some sort of miracle not yet stained by anything) and had given him a twig with cherry blossoms to hold in his hands.
Yabuki looked absolutely adorable and more than one women in the courtyard exclaimed over him.
With a bright, clear voice he recited:
sakura, sakura,
in the fields, hills and villages
as far as the eyes see
like mist, like clouds
fragrant and glowing in the raising sun
sakura, sakura
the bloom.
sakura, sakura,
in the spring sky
as far as the eyes see
like mist, like clouds
the scent and the colours
let's go, let's go
to enjoy the sight.
(old Japanese folk song, source: – German, translated to English by me)
Eihi had held her breath during the whole recitation, silently mouthing the words along with Yabuki, in the end a bit nervous despite herself. Though there had been absolutely no need to worry. Yabuki had something about his bearing and in his voice that made people listen to him and he recited the poem without a single fault.
The applause he received for his performance was even bigger than the one that the headmistress got moments later, when she announced the buffet to be opened.
Eihi was very touched when she observed how Yabuki, after a perfect bow to the audience, jumped down from the podium and into his proud father's arms, laughing in delight as his father swirled him around and how the beautiful Mrs. Yabuki then kissed first her son's then her husband's cheek.
However she soon tore her gaze away from the happy family scene and made her way to the buffet, before it was completely looted.
After eating, Eihi made her rounds chatting with parents while the children were off playing "Tag", "Hide-and-Seek" or "The Daruma Doll fell down".
After some time Eihi got caught up with Andō's mother, who prattled on and on about her son's musical genius. She listened only with half an ear, agreeing politely whenever Andō's mother stopped to take a breath, while her gaze wandered around and finally focused on Odagiri.
Her heart squeezed tight as she saw the boy sitting unnaturally still and quiet next to his father's PA, who managed the near impossible feat of looking like he'd swallowed a poker while sitting under a blooming cherry tree in the grass.
Just as she thought of excusing herself to Mrs. Andō to go and look after Odagiri, she saw Yabuki approaching the boy.
She was too far away to hear what Yabuki was saying, but she noticed one of Odagiri's rare smiles stealing on the boys face.
In contrast the PA looked scandalized, which probably meant that Yabuki had once again drawn from his surprisingly substantial and colourful swearword vocabulary.
Yabuki said something else and reached for Odagiri's hand, tugging him to his feet and then dragging him along towards his parents.
Now the two children were in Eihi's earshot and she had to suppress a laugh, to avoid offending Mrs. Andō, who was now raving about her son's exemplary good behaviour. It was just extremely funny to hear Yabuki explaining earnestly to his father, that this was Ryu, his smart friend who read books all the time and that it was extremely unfair that Ryu had to sit next to a Dodo-party pooper during the festival, just because his parents hadn't been able to come.
Mr. Yabuki sternly reprimanded his son for the "Dodo", but conceded, after a glance in the direction the two boys had come from, that the party-pooper part was fitting. Meanwhile Mrs. Yabuki had already started to feed Odagiri chocolate-chip cookies.
Odagiri actually seemed to enjoy the attention he got from the whole Yabuki family, though he didn't talk to any of them. Eihi was glad that he finally had some fun, but she also felt a bit sorry for herself. Now she had to find another plausible excuse to escape Mrs. Andō's clutches.
Chapter 4
Ever since the cherry blossom festival, Yabuki and Odagiri had become fast friends.
Yabuki was still always in the middle of the action and Odagiri continued to prefer the book-corner to other activities. But Yabuki made sure that he spent at least half an hour of every day with Odagiri. Most of the time the two of them seemed to simply sit next to each other in companionable silence, but they both appeared content with it.
From time to time Yabuki even succeeded in talking Odagiri into, if not to participate, to at least sit next the other children when they played a game, instead of hiding away in the far corner. And every so often Yabuki managed to draw his friend into a game in the heat of the moment before Odagiri realized it.
Eihi was surprised and touched that a spoilt child, with the power to wrap everyone he wished around his little finger would bother to befriend a painfully withdrawn child like Odagiri.
Then, one day, Mrs. Yabuki did not come to pick up her son from the kindergarten.
Eihi was bewildered.
Unlike some other parents Mrs. Yabuki had never failed to pick up her son precisely on time ever since he had started to attend Ahiru-kindergarten.
Yabuki was as baffled as she was by his mother's failure to appear. He sat forlorn on the bench in the changing room and stared at the floor. From time to time he angrily scrubbed his eyes.
Most of the other children had already left, when the headmistress appeared in the door and waved her over.
Eihi quickly followed the headmistress's summons. As she and the headmistress stepped outside into the corridor, Eihi noticed from the corner of her eye how Odagiri turned back from the door and went to sit down next to his friend.
"Siina-san." The headmistress whispered urgently. "I just received a phone call from Yabuki-kun's father.
Mrs. Yabuki has been admitted to the hospital and is unable to pick up Yabuki-kun. The hospital has only just now called to inform him that his wife is being treated. Unfortunately Mr. Yabuki is presently as far away as Nagoya, because of his job."
Eihi was aghast: "My God! What will happen to Yabuki-kun?"
"Mr. Yabuki has phoned a neighbour, who agreed to take care of the boy until he returns back to Tokyo. She's coming over now to pick up Yabuki-kun form kindergarten. However, because everything was on such short notice, she will only manage to be here in about half an hour.
Is it possible that you'll wait here with Yabuki-kun until Mrs. Yusufe gets here and then close up the building?"
Eihi nodded: "Of course."
The headmistress sighed in relief and handed the keys of the building to Eihi: "Thank you, Siina-san. I appreciate your effort and commitment."
Eihi bowed politely and then slowly went back into the changing room, thinking about the best way to break the news to the poor boy.
Eihi crouched in front of Yabuki, so she was on the boy's eyelevel and gently explained to him that his mother would not be at home for some time and that Mrs. Yusufe would look after him until his father could come back to Tokyo.
For a moment it looked as if Yabuki would start to cry, but Odagiri saved the day by declaring that he would wait with Hayato until this Yusufe-women came to pick him up.
Then, in total contrast to his usual shy manner he glared challenging at the Odagiris' newly acquired au pair from Spain, daring her to contradict his decision. The young women just shrugged carelessly and let Odagiri-kun have his way.
Yabuki was too depressed to care for his usual wild games, but Odagiri found the solution and went to fetch one of his favourite books.
Then he sat back down next to Yabuki and read the story out loud to his friend, while Yabuki leaned against him to get a better look at the pictures.
Eihi watched, charmed by how incredibly cute those two could be with each other, while the au pair was filing her nails as they waited.
***
The next day, a Friday, Yabuki-kun seemed back to his normal, outgoing and exhausting self.
Apparently Mrs. Yusufe did not share the Yabukis' strict views about TV and sweets and therefore had risen highly in Yabuki's esteem.
However, over the week-end something must have changed. When his father delivered Yabuki to the kindergarten on Monday morning, the boys mood was pitch black.
Eihi was fairly disturbed to find Yabuki not only sulking in a corner, but also hitting other children, when they dared to approach him.
Andō-kun came away with a bleeding nose and Yabuki even tossed a toy car in the direction of Odagiri's head.
Up till then Eihi had never noticed any violent tendencies in the boy.
When all her attempts to talk to Yabuki failed, she decided to just leave him be, as long as he did not attack any more of her pupils.
The atmosphere in her group was severely affected by this, as the other children struggled to understand the sudden change of their bight hero into an angry, aggressive classmate.
When Mr. Yabuki came to collect his son in the late after-noon Eihi tried to talk to him, but he was in a hurry and she had no time to address Yabuki's behaviour.
If the next two days showed any alteration in Yabuki's new attitude, it was only for the worse. He was withdrawn, rude and aggressive in his dealings with everyone around him.
Something was seriously wrong, but Eihi had not enough time to get to the heart of the problem. To do that, she would have to sit down with Yabuki with enough time to coax him out of his anger and into talking about the things that bothered him.
And this proofed impossible as the other children needed even more attention than usual. They were at a loss on what to do, now that their leader had abandoned them to their own devices.
It was astounding how fast they have come to depend on Yabuki to tell them what to do with their time. Now it was once again Eihi who had to suggest things to occupy them.
The unhappy tension in her class was nearly tangible. Everyone was frustrated and did not understand what was going on. The logical result was that squabbles and fights broke out everywhere, which Eihi had to reconcile.
Therefore when she heard yet another cry of pain she turned to its source on edge and ready to pounce on the culprits.
But the reprimand to 'stop already', got stuck in her throat.
She hadn't expected to see Yabuki sitting on the ground, holding his left cheek, while Odagiri was standing over him with a raised fist and glaring furiously down at him.
After Yabuki had just barely missed him with the toy car missile Odagiri had reverted to his old self, retreating to the book corner and avoiding all other children. It had hurt Eihi to see Odagiri's tentative steps to leave his isolation so cruelly crushed.
Apparently she had underestimated Odagiri.
It seemed the boy's retreat to reclusion had been only his way to gather his courage to confront Yabuki.
"What are you doing?" Yabuki shouted angrily and stood up.
Odagiri didn't flinch away and Yabuki punched him in retaliation.
Odagiri fell to the ground with a pained groan, but immediately pushed himself back up on his feet to face the bristling Yabuki head on.
"Are you feeling better now?" asked Odagiri.
Yabuki hit him again and Eihi really should have interfered by now, but the exceptional calm manner with which Odagiri conducted this "discussion" stopped her.
Yabuki prepared to land his next hit, but this time Odagiri side-stepped the blow and managed to get hold of Yabuki's arm.
Yabuki might have been stronger than Odagiri, but the boy hung onto the arm with his whole weight, making it impossible for Yabuki to shake him off.
Odagiri's voice was very low, but Eihi still caught the words when he said: "If it makes you feel better, I'll let you hit me, Hayato-chan."
Abruptly Yabuki's struggle ceased and he became very still, looking at Odagiri with big eyes.
"Would it make you feel better?" asked Odagiri quietly.
Yabuki shook his head.
Odagiri smiled shyly: "Then stop acting like a Dodo."
Yabuki nodded and Odagiri released his arm, turned around and headed straight to the book-corner. Yabuki followed him, looking dejected.
Eihi was not ashamed to admit that she was awfully curious about those two. Therefore she stealthily made her way over to the drawing tables, pretending to admire Andō's strange, black doodle, while in reality she eavesdropped on the two boys who had retreated to the privacy of the book-corner.
"So, why did you throw a car at my head?" Odagiri asked matter-of-factly.
"I don't know." Yabuki said, sneaking a glance at his friend, clearly feeling guilty. "I wasn't really mad at you."
"Then who were you mad at?"
"That stupid Taku!"
Odagiri looked equally confused as Eihi felt.
"The baby, that Mama had!" explained Yabuki.
"Oh." Eihi said; though luckily at the same time as Odagiri said it and so she wasn't overheard and found out.
"But he's a baby. What could he have done to make you mad?"
Yabuki looked at Odagiri as if he was stupid and elaborated: "He's annoying. All he does is sleeping, crying and eating. There's nothing you can do with him and still Mama and Papa think he's soooo great.
They are always talking to him and kissing him and can't stop looking at him. And if they don't do that they are talking about him."
Eihi had to bite her lips to not laugh out loud.
Odagiri looked calmly at his friend and said: "You're jealous."
"Am not!" protested Yabuki.
"Yes, you are." said Odagiri. "I just don't understand why. It's normal to get exited about something new and babies always look cute."
Yabuki snorted: "You should meet him, than you wouldn't say that. I know everyone tells Mama that Taku looks adorable, but they just want to be polite. I think he looks like a moon-cake!"
Odagri kept his cool: "One reason less to be jealous of your brother. If he really looks like a moon-cake he'll be bullied something awful when he grows older."
Yabuki scowled: "If someone tries, I'll kick them!"
"So you don't want people to bully him?"
"Of course not!" Yabuki cried indignantly "He's my little brother!" Then he realized what he just said and scowled.
"I always wanted a little brother." Odagiri said wistfully.
Yabuki looked doubtful: "What for?"
"I think it would be good not to be alone with one's parents. Then they have to divide their attention and that gives you a lot more freedom to do things. Besides if something gets broken or wrong there are two suspects. That makes it easier, no?"
Eihi could practically see devious plans forming behind Yabuki's angelic face.
Odagiri kept going: "And he'll not stay a baby forever. He'll grow up and then you always have someone to play with and you can teach him all kind of things, like how to climb a tree or how to get old ladies to give you sweets or things like that. Don't you think that would be fun?"
Yabuki carefully considered all of Odagiri's points which had been delivered in the longest speech that Eihi had ever heard of the boy.
When finally Yabuki grinned at Odagiri, Eihi had a sudden premonition that Taku Yabuki's first word would not be 'Mama' or 'Papa', but one of Yabuki-kun's choice expressions.
"You're right. Maybe it's not so bad to have a little brother."
"Ok. Can you now be less mean again?" asked Odagiri.
"Ok." Said Yabuki and then: "Did you really call me a Dodo, before?"
Odagiri smiled self-consciously.
Yabuki laughed and slapped his friends shoulder "Way to go, Ryu-chan!!!!"
And that was the first time ever that Eihi heard Odagiri laugh.
The End