Main Pairing: Itoshi Reina x Isagi Yoichi, Original Female Character x Isagi Yoichi (Blue Lock). Background pairings: Nagi x Reo
Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters nor plot of Blue Lock.
Warnings: cursing, references to bulling, references to racism, Yoichi having teenage boy thoughts
A/N: I forgot 17 year old's would not be able to buy real sake in Japan, and I didn't want to re-write anything, so I'm officially changing Japan's legal drinking age to 16 (like some European countries) for the purpose of this fic.
BIG
HUGE
GINORMOUS
THANK YOU
TO MY BETA:
Alchazar
Who edited this chapter even though they were in the middle of exams 3
AND TO MY REVIEWERS:
Guest, ErlanggSIOC, OliviaStone, 102602, Sp8cefluff, Isagi loves thighs, Anon
Thank you for motivating me to keep posting! I have detailed responses at the end of the chapter!
Onikko
{鬼っ子}
chapter 5 – how to burn water
She grabs him before he can even say hello.
"I'm paying this time," Reina hauls him towards the cash register as soon as he steps into the café.
Yoichi rolls his eyes. "You're so impatient." The striker glances down to where she latches onto him, finding himself oddly disappointed that she chose to grab his sleeve instead of his hand.
"I can't believe you've made greeting me with insults an actual thing." She pouts, with narrowed eyes and puffed-up cheeks. "It's been five days."
While she continues to ramble about manners and pesters him for his apparent lack of them, Yoichi considers her words. 'Five days…' He almost doesn't believe it. 'Has it really been just that?' The striker observes the unruly girl standing at his side. 'She feels more familiar than five days.'
The pair reach the front of the short line quickly. Other than the man paying ahead of them, only two other patrons occupy seats in the café. 'The place's vacancy is hardly surprising. Coffee isn't as popular at four fifteen in the afternoon.' Reina had texted him last night, asking him to not reach the café prior to that time since she'd be running late. So he arrived as instructed, and yet… 'seems she's already been waiting long enough to start making a mess.' He glances at the cluttered clearly-hers table in his peripheral vision. Atop all the mess, sits her laptop, spotted with a few new anime stickers. 'All still from that same show though, the one about a hero academy.' The series has been on his own 'anime to watch' list for months. 'Not like that list has gotten any shorter since starting Blue Lock. There just isn't time for that kind of useless stuff anymore. Not if I want to be the best.'
"A venti salted caramel cappuccino with half oat milk, and half almond milk base, and with two extra shots of espresso." Reina's voice draws him back to her. "Also, an extra pump of toasted vanilla, and extra foam with cinnamon sprinkled on top, please."
"No chocolate drizzle on top?" The barista asks.
The younger girl shakes her head. "Not this time, Yo-kun brought me a treat!"
Yoichi would congratulate Reina on abstaining from the unnecessary topping, if he wasn't preoccupied with fighting down the blush that sprung up his neck when Megumi-san raised an amused brow at him. "Oh really? Well, isn't that kind of him."
Reina totally misses the barista's entertained look, and the math genius turns to him with a worried frown. "You didn't forget it, did you?"
"No," he answers simply, ignoring his heated cheeks.
"Anything for you today, Isagi-san?" The barista asks, more nicely than she's ever asked for his order before.
The striker's surprised; he genuinely figured that her lack of animosity during their last interaction was a one-off. 'And here I thought she would return to hating my guts.' For once, he was happy to be proven wrong. "Just a glass of water is fine," he orders.
"No, it's not okay." Reina turns to him. "I'm buying and I already owe you a few times over."
"I'm really okay with just water, Reina."
"Get something or else I'll just order my drink for you."
Yoichi grimaces. "No thanks," he quickly responds.
"If you're worried about the sugar," Megumi-san mediates, "we have some protein powder based smoothies? Another repeat customer is also an athlete. He usually goes for the coconut berry green smoothie, without the berries and with an added creatine booster. It's kale, spinach, and whey protein powder blended with iced coconut milk." The older girl shrugs. "The creatine is apparently good for workouts."
Yoichi recalls his run and then gym workout this morning, as well as his sprints and jumping practice after lunch - the meal that he had cut short upon hearing his mom's footsteps start coming down the stairs. (He has not so subtly been steering clear of her since she started prodding about his 'new little friend.')
Yoichi nods. "That sounds good. Thanks Megumi-san."
"You're the best, Megumi-senpai!" Reina chirps from his side.
When the duo arrives at Hurricane Reina's table, the girl places her mug into Yoichi's already waiting free hand, so she can tidy up her notes.
He squints at the mess, unimpressed. Then Yoichi remembers she had mentioned something about preparing for a test yesterday, when they were leaving the YCA. "Still studying for your quiz?"
"Nope, that was this morning," she hums, while packing away her papers and books.
"I didn't know you had class this morning?" He sips a bit of his smoothie. Pleasantly surprised by the taste, he takes another, larger mouthful.
"Oh, no. It was online. Mechanics is one of my self-study courses at TU." Reina finally zips her now stuffed bag, and leaves just her open laptop and one notebook remaining atop the table.
Yoichi thinks of what she told Kaminari-kun about needing to study, and worries a bit about how he (and Reo) had eaten up a good chunk of time with her yesterday. 'Did she stay up late to make up for it?' He muses, glancing at her overly large hoodie and well-worn jeans. But, he doesn't notice any red tinge to her eyes, this time. "Did your test go okay?"
"I think so! I was ready for it like a week ago." Reina smiles at him as she slides into the seat closer to the window. "I just really don't like karaoke, so I had absolutely no desire to go along with the rest of them. I figured they'd let me be if I said I had school stuff."
He sits next to her rather than across. Yoichi's mouth quirks up. "Not much of a singer?"
"I'm about as euphonious as a dying cat." Reina shakes her head as she clicks a few computer keys to wake up her laptop, and then pops open a new internet tab. "So, what reels did you want to go over again?"
"I was reviewing some of the Ligue 1 games. It's the professional league in France. There's one player, Loki Julien. I noticed that his playmaking seems almost like an extension of your brother's. From what I can tell, he's using diamonds instead of just triangles. I wanted to get your eyes on his play style and then run some of my positioning ideas by you."
"Extending on my brother's playstyle, huh?" She sips her overly sweet drink. "This Loki guy sounds like an interesting player. To be honest, I haven't watched many professional games since Sae-niisan left for Spain, so I can't promise I'll be especially useful with this. But, I'll try my best!" She takes another large gulp before placing her drink on the tissue coaster (that he forced her to use). "Let's pull it up!"
They've just finished going over Loki's second game when Yoichi's phone rings.
The striker reads the caller ID, surprised to see his dad's name flashing on the screen. His parents don't typically call him when he's out. 'Maybe he needs me to grab something on the way back home?'
He clicks connect. "Tousan?"
"Yocchan!" His mom's voice responds instead. "What are you up to?"
'Better question: what are you up to with this, Kaasan?' Yoichi tenses. "Nothing much. Did you need me to grab something for you on the way home?"
"Don't make me sound so cold! Can't I just call my son with no hidden agenda?!"
'You always have an agenda when you're in a meddlesome phase, and you've been in one for days.' Yoichi holds back a weary sigh. "Of course, Kaasan."
There's a momentary pause before his mom speaks. "Sooo," she draws out the syllable. "What time will you be home today?"
He eyes the clock on the corner of Reina's screen; it's already been over an hour since he arrived. "I'll be back in maybe an hour or two from now." He looks over to Reina as he says this and watches her nod her head along. "Why?" Yoichi asks back. "Did you need me to do something?"
"No, no. I just wanted to time dinner so it'll still be warm for when you come back, that's all."
Yoichi immediately frowns, concerned. "You are the one cooking dinner?"
"I can cook!" She replies defensively. (He remembers the katsu curry she made after the Prefecture Finals, with chalk-dry chicken, and strongly disagrees with her assertion.) "But, even though I can cook, your Tousan is in charge once again tonight."
'Thank god.'
"Hanii*?" His mom calls out to his dad, much to Yoichi's embarrassment. His parents are so weirdly cheesy sometimes. His mom puts her end on speaker. "Yocchan's wondering what's for dinner?"
'I didn't ask.'
"I'm making some hambagu tonight, with some nasu dengaku on the side. Oh, and probably some spinach ohitashi," his dad responds. Yoichi hears some dicing in the background, and figures his old man is already chopping up ingredients.
"Did you need me to grab something?" Yoichi asks again, starting to get annoyed. He loves his parents, but he and Reina are smack in the middle of analyzing one of Loki's best plays in his second match.
"Nope. All good here, champ." His dad replies. "So, what are you up to? Not every day we get a midday phone call from our oh-so independent son."
'I didn't call.'
"Noth-"
"Nothing much is not an appropriate way to answer your father, Yocchan," his mom lightly chastises.
Yoichi pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm reviewing plays."
"And you had to leave home for that?" His mom asks, incredulous. "How is it that you're home for two weeks and it feels like I see you less now than when you were at Blue Lock!?"
'That makes no sense, Kaasan.' He heaves a long-suffering sigh. "Sorry, Kaasan. But, can we talk when I get back? I'm busy reviewing plays with a friend and I don't want to keep her waitin-"
"Her?!" His mom squeals.
'Shit.'
"Are you with your girlfriend right now?! Is that who you've been spending so much time with this afternoon?"
Yoichi doesn't respond. His mom continues. "Well, that's just perfect. Invite her over for dinner tonight."
"My friend is in the bathroom," Yoichi lies, feeling Reina stiffen beside him.
"How dare you not tell the truth to me, Isagi Yoichi! Ask her, I know she's there! I bet she's even sitting right next to you!"
'She's seriously psychic or something.'
The striker begrudgingly covers the speaker with his fingers and holds the device away from his ear as he slowly, ruefully turns towards Reina. "My parents want you to come over for dinner."
Her eyes widen in what he assumes is hesitation. Yoichi backtracks promptly. "You don't have to, obviously." Being subject to his mom's teasing in the presence of Reina seems like a special type of hell.
Immediately, he hears indecipherable yelling coming from the phone. He presses the device back against his ear in time to catch the tail end of his mom's condemning tirade. "- lost all your manners at that place, asking a girl so rudely! You let me talk to her-"
"What?! No way," Yoichi scowls. "You can't talk to her."
More yelling ensues.
"Put her on the line!"
"Hard no," Yoichi counters resolutely.
"Now, Isagi Yoichi. Or, so help me, I will retract my signature from your Blue Lock form so fast that-"
"Fine." Yoichi growls out. "For literally a second." Clearly not trusting his mom, he roughly presses the speaker phone icon, and then turns down the volume so it doesn't disturb the few other café patrons a couple of tables away. Yoichi warily positions his cell phone between him and Reina on the table.
His mom wastes no time in proving every one of his misgivings valid. "Hello? Is this my little Yocchan's girlfriend?!"
Yoichi slams his face into his hands, utterly mortified.
"Hello, Isagi-san." Reina greets pleasantly, seemingly unflustered. "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Itoshi Reina, and I'm a friend of Yoichi-kun's."
"Oh, you just sound so darling! Doesn't she just sound absolutely darling, Anata? No wonder Yocchan asked his dad for advice about you!"
'What the fuck?!'
"Tousan!" Yoichi glares at the phone and feels like yanking out his hair. 'You swore you wouldn't tell her.'
"Sorry, champ. She shook it out of me. In my defense, you were the one who brought home a girl's coat and spent an hour handwashing it, and then kept grinning and blushing at your phone in viewing distance of your mom's hawk eyes. Blame's not on me for your lack of tact, kiddo." The man chuckles. "If anything, blame your mom's investigative talents." Tousan pauses, "And your irresistible charm, of course, Iyo-chan."
His mom giggles.
'For fuck's sake, they're flirting now?' If someone asked Yoichi to score his current level of mortification on a scale, there wouldn't be a number high enough to reflect just how badly he'd appreciate a rock to hide under right now.
"I'm so excited to meet the girl my baby boy's so enamoured with! You're his very first girlfriend, you know?" His mom continues, to the striker's palpable horror. "You absolutely must come over for dinner tonight!"
"O-oh…" Reina stumbles, clearly unsure what to do in the presence of his mom's overwhelming meddlesomeness. ('Can't fucking blame her.') The messy-haired genius avoids his mom's incorrect labeling of their relationship entirely. "Isagi-san you're too kind," Reina tries to placate Kaasan. "But I wouldn't want to impose on your family's evening together."
Kaasan is not placated.
"Nonsense," his mom scoffs. "Do you have any allergies, Reina-chan? It's okay if I call you that, right?"
"Yes, I mean, no allergies, Isagi-san. And yes, Reina-chan is fine." Reina pulls at the string of her hoodie. "But I truly wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
"Kaasan, you can't just force peop-"
But his mom bulldozes on, as if he hadn't spoken up at all. "We've even already started making an extra serving of hambagu just for you, Reina-chan!" His mom persists. "It'd be rude for you to not join us now, dear. Food will be ready in 30 minutes!"
"An hour," he dad gently corrects, completely unhelpfully.
"Thanks for the assist, Tousan." Yoichi sarcastically mutters towards the phone.
"Anytime, champ!"
Yoichi can hear his dad's grin. 'That turncoat… He's enjoying this.'
"Both of you better be standing at our front door in an hour!" His mom instructs. "I'm not letting you inside our house without her, Yocchan."
Before Yoichi or Reina can formulate a response, the line abruptly goes dead.
'Did you seriously just hang up after that, Kaasan?'
The girl at his side stares down at the phone, her expression some sort of mix between confused amusement and hesitant excitement. "Guess I'm coming over for dinner?" She bites her lip. "Sorry, I tried to talk her out of it."
"It's fine." Yoichi mumbles, turning away. He can't bring himself to meet her eyes. 'How fucking embarrassing.' His cheeks burn. 'I'm never speaking to Kaasan again, ever. Tousan either.'
"Come along now, Yocchan," Reina teases gently, brushing a hand on his arm. "Let's finish this play."
He looks back to her and nods, glad for the distraction.
(The voice snarls. "Did you just call soccer a-")
"Oh, and then we should leave right after." Reina interrupts his inner dialogue. "So that we have enough time to head to my place," she adds. "I need to change my clothes."
The striker shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. You can wear what you have on. My family's pretty casual."
Reina's eyes widen dramatically. Her mouth even gapes for a moment. "Are you insane? No way am I meeting your parents in a hoodie and jeans. I'd die from embarrassment." She points a determined finger at him. "We're going to my place so that I can change. There will be no objections, soccer star."
Yoichi rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine. Let's just get back to the game, yeah? My parents already ate up enough of our time."
After the duo finish analyzing Loki's play, they start packing up and getting ready to leave the café. In his peripheral vision, he sees movement. Turning, he sees Reina with eager eyes, making a 'gimme, gimme' motion with her hands. The striker rolls his eyes before he unzips the smaller front pocket of his backpack. He pulls out the packaged coffee caramel treat from last night, and passes it to an excited Reina. He's about to close up his bag when Yoichi remembers the bigger pocket has the plastic bag containing her folded coat. He pauses halfway through opening the larger zipper, then shakes his head. 'Don't be an idiot,' he chastises himself, feeling stupid over his weird hesitation to return the garment to her. 'It's not like she was just sticking around for the coat.'
Reina positively beams when he brings it out. She immediately throws on the washed coat, and somehow manages to fit the thinner one she was previously wearing into her already bulging backpack. "I can't believe how well you got the stain out!"
"My mom helped," he admits. As she silently admires the sleeve, a question he didn't realize was bugging him forces itself out of his mouth. "So, what's the story behind the sentiment?"
Reina gives him a confused look in response. "What do you mean?"
"The other day," he clarifies, while wrapping his favourite scarf around his neck. "When we were texting, you said the coat had sentimental value." The material and design looked expensive. "Was it a gift from someone?"
'Did Reo buy it for you?' The unpleasant thought makes Yoichi taste bile. ("I'd say we're quite close." Reo's words replay, again and again.) Yoichi roughly smothers the memory of Reina laughing next to the young heir on the bench, especially focusing on forcing down the memory of seeing her hand on him, and the kind smile the rich boy gave her.
Reina, however, looks even more confused by Yoichi's words. Until suddenly her eyes suddenly widen in some sort of delayed realization. She shakes her head, chuckling, before she gazes down at her sleeve again with a shy smile. "It's a secret." Then she grabs his hand, palm against palm, this time. "Now come along Isa-ichi, we have to motor our way to the Academy to stay on time!"
The pair are only two steps past the café exit when Reina freezes in the middle of the street. Yoichi turns when she stops moving with him, and frowns at her new, troubled expression. 'What's with that look?'
"Hey, umm. Yoichi-kun." Her lack of tacky moniker surprises him. "Did you…. Did you, umm-ah!" Another pedestrian roughly bumps into her shoulder, sending her flying into the striker's chest. Yoichi determinedly ignores the jolt in his spine at her closeness, in favour of scolding the culprit. "Hey, watch it!" He yells at a suited man who's entirely unaffected by Yoichi's angry words (the older and shorter business guy just continues yelling rapidly and irately into his cell phone). "Asshole," the striker mumbles under his breath, one hand tightening around Reina's own, and the other arm still draped around her upper back after having reflexively caught the girl.
The suddenly silent girl.
A still quiet but evidently nervous Reina pulls herself and Yoichi aside. Now they're huddled inside the corner of the alley: a strip of concrete slotted between their usual café and its neighboring shop. She hasn't looked up since she crashed into him, and continues to stare unblinkingly at her feet. "Did you tell your parents about… well, I guess I haven't outright told you, so you, you don't really know..."
'That's weird,' Yoichi realizes, identifying the tilt of her head. 'She actually isn't looking at her feet.' She's staring down at where his hand still holds hers. The striker wonders why her expression turns so… sad. When her grip on his left hand loosens, he doesn't let her go. Instead, his fingers tighten around her palm. "What's wrong?'"
"My mother…" Reina takes a deep breath, suddenly turning up to face him. "She isn't married to my father."
There's an awkward pause until Yoichi realizes that she's waiting for a response. "Okay." He replies, a bit confused as to why her parents' marital status matters at this exact moment, but glad that she's telling him more about herself.
("Only the parts that Reo already knows," the voice whispers in the background. "Don't feel too special.")
"And when they were… together…" Reina's voice stumbles. It's a novel sight for Yoichi, seeing the eloquent girl struggle to find words. "He… my father was already married to Sae-niisan's mother… who was pregnant with Rin-nissan."
"Okay." Yoichi responds again. 'That explains how they're the same age and not twins, but still siblings.'
Reina seems absolutely baffled, as if she braced herself for some sort of reaction she isn't getting. "And that's… okay with you?
"Should it not be?" Yoichi's the one who's confused now.
Some of the tension dissipates from her frame, but she looks down again at where his hand maintains his tight hold on her limp one. "Then are you… is it still okay if I come over?"
He realizes then, why she's asking him, as well as why she's so tentative while telling him this stuff. And honestly, he's a bit upset. Not at the circumstances of her birth, but at the fact that this has clearly been an issue with dinner invitations before.
"Of course it's okay." The striker squeezes the girl's hand again, his grip just as steady as before they detoured into this alleyway.
Reina shakes her head, not meeting his gaze. "No, I mean... your parents… you can call them back and tell them, and ask if it's still okay for me to come over." Her voice cracks. "I-if it's not okay, it's fine... It's just better for me to know now rather than… than at their door, you know?"
'Holy fuck.'
"Have people actually turned you away at their door because of this?!"
She doesn't respond verbally, and she still fails to meet his eyes. Those signals as well as the way her shoulders curl in, as if shrinking herself, convey enough of an answer. Yoichi glances at her messy locks, barely contained to her nape with a loose half ponytail. He brings his free hand up slowly, then abruptly yanks on a handful of her hair.
"Ow, stop!" She immediately looks up to avert his tugging. "That hurts!"
"My parents aren't like that," he reassures her. His right hand relaxes its grip now that she's finally meeting his eyes again. "They'll like you." He gently untangles his fingers from her wavy strands, but lets his forearm stay resting atop her shoulder. "To be honest," Yoichi snorts. "My mom will probably like you better than me. When I was younger, she kept holding out hope I'd be better at school." That was before his mom realized that her son wasn't ever going to be more than a low-average student, only ever doing enough to meet the threshold for playing on the nearest soccer team. The striker doesn't tell Reina that part though. ("Afraid she'll think you're too stupid to even be temporary?" His mind taunts with Reo's voice, this time.) Yoichi shoves the harsh words away, focusing on the girl loosely trapped in his arms. "Kaasan will love the fact that you're a little math prodigy."
"I definitely wouldn't use the term prodigy." She offers him a self-deprecating smile. "More like a desperate brainiac… or maybe even a polymath of circumstance."
"What do you mean?" He prods.
She sighs. "I was six when I… moved here. I didn't speak any Japanese. But math, math was the same. It was familiar." She pauses. "I had to learn at least some of the language before my father would let me attend school. By the time I had the basics of reading, writing, and speaking down, I was turning seven. I was… so excited. I wanted to make friends more than anything; it had been such a lonely few months. Then, on my very first day of school, I learned a whole new type of Japanese." Her head lowers. "Gaijin, busu, kakushigo, aho, manuke*; just a few of the creative names my classmates had for the new girl. I mean, not sure if you've noticed," she snorts. "But I don't look Japanese, and kids can be cruel." Her voice quiets further, and Yoichi leans in even closer to hear her speak. "I didn't know a single word of Japanese before arriving in Tokyo, so even though I had half a year's worth of practice, it was so hard to understand the other students' slang. I couldn't even follow the teachers during class because they spoke so fast, instead of catering to my slower pace like the tutors my father hired had been doing. So, I didn't understand anything anyone was saying. I couldn't read worksheets or quizzes fast enough to even finish before the time limits were up. And I was used to an alphabet with simple letters – so I would always confuse different hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Understanding, speaking, reading, writing; I struggled with all of it. I was at the bottom of the year, failing any class that wasn't Math or English. I didn't have any friends, even Rin-niisan just ignored me in class." Her voice lowers into a just barely audible murmur. "My new family wished I didn't exist. My mother abandoned me years before that. My grandmother, the only person who had ever wanted anything to do with me, had just died. Back then, I… I cried a lot."
'Fuck.' Yoichi doesn't know what to say to all that. 'Sounds shitty,' seems wildly inappropriate. "I'm sorry," he offers, unable to come up with anything more thoughtful. 'Idiot. You couldn't think of anything more profound or emotional or something?'
No, he couldn't. Because he wasn't Itoshi Reina, who knew what fancy words like polymath meant and could use them effortlessly in casual conversation.
She shakes her head, blinking frequently. "You know, it was actually Sae-niisan who kicked me into gear. I couldn't do anything about my mother or my looks, but I could get smarter so they couldn't call me stupid anymore. No one wanted to play with the little bastard girl, courtesy of their parents, so I had a lot of time to study." She pauses, giving him a half smile with sad eyes. "So not a prodigy. I just worked at it, I guess."
Yoichi doesn't have the words to respond, feeling embarrassingly inarticulate. He realizes then that him saying 'prodigy' to her probably felt like when Tada-kun said 'luck' to him…
"Don't pity me too much, Isa-kun." Reina's lips slowly curve into an unforgiving smirk. "I got fucking smart, and beat all those little assholes by miles on our final middle school exams. Seeing all their faces when they saw my name on the top of the school scoreboard… seeing their stuck-up parents' shocked expressions at our final assembly when the principal announced that it was me who scored the highest in our school, and that I got the highest score in the entire country in a bunch of subjects…" Her eyes ignite, a hungry maelstrom as they stare right into him. "I bet it was the same high you felt scoring that final goal."
His heart hammers in his chest.
"Satisfying, but oh so addictive." She bites her lip, and continues to murmur. "I loved how good it felt atop that stage, standing high above everyone who used to torment me, or dismiss me, or look down on me. Watching them all below me, squabbling like ants and having to stare up at me… I don't think I've ever felt so invincible."
He finally registers how close she's drawn him in. He can count each of her long eyelashes.
("Temporary." The voice tries to remind him, but the word of warning seems so quiet and far away this time.)
Yoichi doesn't pull back. He has to swallow a few times before he trusts himself to speak. "I think," he starts, throat still dry, "that's the first time I've ever heard you swear." He'd feel stupid over lacking anything more substantial to contribute, but all he can focus on is her mouth. "I didn't even know you knew how to."
She turns her head at a bit of an angle, and a light chuckle breaks through her lips. The action sends mini puffs of air against his neck.
'Fuck, you can do that again.' But she doesn't.
Instead, like the wind, she breezes by. "There's a lot you don't know about me, striker." She spins out from under his right arm, now only remaining attached to him by his left hand. "Come on, Isa-kun." She pulls him back towards the street. "Let's head to my dorm."
The guards side-eye him the entire time until Reina returns, seeming to go out of their way to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible.
She finally exits the Shibuya Academy gates twenty minutes later, wearing her coat. It's the one with the faintest stain still visible on her sleeve. And while the familiar fabric covers most of her, a skirt-like material escapes from under the coat. The navy-blue fabric dances around her ankles, and he notes that she's switched her fall boots for a pair of very impractical flats.
"Your feet will freeze," he warns.
"Good thing I have you to keep me warm then, eh, Yosagi?" She lightly pats his chest with her hand, her fingers grazing over the edge of Bastard Munchen shield sewn into his scarf.
Heat rushes up the striker's neck at her casual gesture. Yoichi distracts himself from her stupid nickname and his blushing by swiftly grabbing her raised hand and dragging her down the street.
"So, what are your parents like?" She asks, slowing their pace and gently interlocking their fingers.
"My dad's a chef and my mom's a seamstress. They're usually normal, but sometimes my mom gets into troublesome phases. My dad will occasionally throw me a life raft when she starts meddling, but mostly he just lets her do as she pleases and gets a good laugh from the sidelines any time she embarrasses me." He explains, utterly dismayed. "Do me a favour and try not to laugh at their stupid jokes? In fact, don't even smile." He frowns. "It'll only encourage them."
Reina only partially bites down her amusement. "Your mom sounds a lot like Mina-senpai," she says warmly.
"Trust me," Yoichi scowls. "My mom's a hundred times worse."
Reina giggles, leaning in closer to him.
"Laugh it up, chuckles." He half-heartedly mumbles. 'I'm not the only one facing their crazy tonight.'
"I can't believe people who seem as relaxed and open as them, produced someone as disciplined and self-restrained as you."
Yoichi raises a brow. "You think I'm disciplined?" She's met her own brother, right?
"Not even the apocalypse could pull me out of bed before seven am. Whereas you woke up hours early yesterday to make time for training. Definitely disciplined. But maybe self-restrained isn't the right word." She brings a finger to her chin in contemplation. "Not sure how to put it into words... But, well, you keep a lot of your thoughts in your head, I've noticed." She nods to herself before smiling at him. "It's a good thing you're so easy to read, otherwise I don't think I'd ever understand what you're thinking."
(Yoichi recalls when Tada-kun called him aloof. His old teammate hadn't been the first classmate or teammate to use that word. Actually, he's pretty sure he's even had a teacher or two use the word on his report cards.)
"So yeah," she concludes. "I'm surprised someone as… serious?" She still doesn't seem entirely satisfied with her word choice. "…comes from people who seem as laid-back as them."
Yoichi snorts. "If I didn't have my dad's eyes, I wouldn't believe it either."
A pause sets in. The wind rustles the leaves scattered on the ground between them.
"I like your eyes," she murmurs, looking off to the side.
Yoichi smiles into his scarf, squeezing her hand tighter in his.
He remembers her eyes in the alley.
'I like yours too,' he doesn't say.
"The word she couldn't place is ambitious," the voice whispers approvingly. "How convenient; she understands our greed. You won't have any trouble leaving her."
She makes them stop at a souvenir shop next to the station, apparently to get his parents a gift.
"Both are unnecessary." He replies, when Reina worriedly asks if she should go with the bundle of flowers or the box of pastries.
She frowns. "We only have eighteen minutes to catch the next train, otherwise we won't reach Saitama on time." Her eyes dart nervously between the items in her hands. "I want to make a good first impression."
"I gathered that," he plucks the flowers and sweets from her arms to place back on the rack. "And I'm telling you, you're doing too much. They'll like you just fine as you are."
'I did,' he doesn't add.
"Please, Yoichi." she implores, with pleading wide eyes and a soft voice. "I need your help." One of her hands lightly skims the back of his wrist.
'Well, fuck. How do I say no to that?'
The devious little tilt to her lips means she's probably thinking the same.
"You're so troublesome." He pinches the bridge of his nose, then nudges her into the beverage aisle. "My dad likes tea, and my mom – true to form – likes sake."
Reina carries an overly fancy Mugicha tea box to his left.
("I don't get it," she suspiciously eyes the 'caffeine-free' label, seeming utterly befuddled as they browse the aisle.)
Yoichi's left hand clutches hers, while his right begrudgingly carries a gift bag containing an unreasonably expensive bottle of sake.
("Don't you dare put that in your backpack, Isa-ichi!" She demands, all huffy-like, when they're about to leave the store. "What if it scratches the label!")
"You spent too much money," The striker chastises her, a few blocks after they exit Saitama station. He'd revealed his parents' favourite types after her relentless pestering in the store. He assumed she would just grab one of the items. But instead, she proceeded to purchase the most costly size option for each. He eyes the second filigreed box peeking out in the bag in her other hand, from its place under the tea box. "I can't believe you even bought the sweets too."
Her eyebrows lower in consternation. "Well, it's weird to just bring drinks when meeting someone's family, isn't it?"
"No, it isn't. This," he lifts the bag with the ¥7000 bottle of Dassai 23, "on its own is already way more than you should have done."
She chooses to ignore his admonishment. "How far are we from your place?"
"It's just around the next corner."
"Already?!" She abruptly releases his hand, then pushes her bag containing the tea and sweets boxes into his newly empty palm. Next, the chaotic idiot brings out her phone, and puts it on selfie mode. He's weirded out by the fact that she suddenly wants to take a photo, until he realizes that she's just using the screen as a mirror to fix her hair. Reina moves around a few clips by her temple, locking in strands that loosened from the wind.
He has a moment where he remembers how soft her hair had felt between his fingers in the alley. He almost regrets that her current style forces her locks to remain mostly tamed in a side-braid.
'She looks...'
Reina grabs her gift bag back from him with a bright grin, "ready!"
"Unnecessary, again." His free hand latches back onto hers. "You look fine."
Yoichi motions to put the sake bag on the porch (so he can grab the house keys from his satchel). But Reina, melodramatic as ever, whisper-yells to let her hold the sake instead. ("What if the bottom gets dirty?!") He rolls his eyes because 'That's what the bag is preventing, you silly girl.' But still, he passes her the gift bag so he can dig through his satchel.
There's no need, though. Because like a predator smelling fresh meat, his mom bursts open the front door.
"Hello, Reina-chan!" The diabolic woman greets boisterously.
"Hello, Isagi-san." Reina's voice goes up a pitch, clearly nervous. "Thank you so much for welcoming me into your home." She bows low and then hurriedly offers up the gifts.
"Oh, dear! So much? Thank you, but you really didn't have to do all this, Reina-chan! Come in, come in." His mom grabs the two boxes from Reina, recognizing her husband's favourite tea and eyes widening when she sees the name on the sake bottle sticking out from the bag still in the younger girl's other hand. Or at least, that's what Yoichi assumed caused her disbelieving expression, until she speaks. "Isagi Yoichi, you made her carry all this stuff? And all the way back here from the station?!"
Yoichi sighs, toeing off his shoes. "Of course I didn-"
"Issei-kun, your son made his poor girlfriend lug heavy gifts for us all the way here from Shibuya!"
"Oh, he carried them too, Isagi-san!" Reina waves her hands in front of her face, flustered. "I just grabbed them all momentarily so he could pull out his keys."
Reina doesn't correct his mom about her just being his friend, so he doesn't either. ("She's just temporary, remember?" The voice sneers. "It doesn't matter what your mom calls her.")
"Just call me Iyo, dear." She smiles warmly. "Now, let me take your coat."
Reina looks absolutely amazed and overjoyed by his mom, confusing Yoichi for a moment. Until he remembers what she told him in his arms while they were in the alley. The striker wonders if this is her first time being greeted so warmly. His gut churns at the thought, before it becomes distracted by something else. Specifically, the way her coat removal unveils how Reina's outfit drapes over her body. Yoichi realizes then that he's only ever seen her in oversized shirts, hoodies, sweats, and lounge wear. As far as attire goes, her current clothes are still typically conservative: beige sleeved shirt buttoned up to her collar and skirt nearly reaching her ankles. But the shirt fits in a way that tempts his eyes to trace the swells of her chest. And, because the skirt starts at her waist, the draping material emphasizes the curve of her hip. Then comes the most paralyzing part. When she bends to switch her shoes, the motion lures Yoichi's gaze down past the contour of her spine, until his eyes greedily fixate on how the blue fabric tightens just enough to accentuate her-
"I'm so glad to meet you!" His mom's voice yanks Yoichi from his shameless appraisal of their guest. "I can't remember the last time Yocchan even brought a friend over, so him bringing you here is just so wonderful! I was honestly starting to wonder if he even had any true friends!"
"Kaasan," Yoichi hisses, already regretting letting Reina through the door.
But the woman just waves her hand at him as if he's the one being a pest. "All I ever see nowadays is him running out the door to go practice with his teammates, or him on his lonesome just kicking around a soccer ba-"
"Hello, kids." His dad thankfully steps out of the kitchen and into the front entryway. "It's nice to meet you, Reina-chan," he smiles.
The girl smiles radiantly, immediately bowing low again with her hands clasped in front of her. "It's nice to meet you as well, Isagi-san." She's being unnecessarily formal. Yoichi almost tells her there's no need to bow so deeply. But, instead, he maybe sneaks another glance at how her skirt stretches when she bends. (He's thankful his parents are hyperfocused on her, so much so that they didn't seem to notice his wayward gaze.)
"Thank you so much for welcoming me into your home," Reina chirps, finally rising.
"Oh, aren't you just so polite and precious!" His mom squeals. "Anata, isn't she just so polite and precious!
His dad nods, chuckling. "Issei-san is fine, Reina-chan. No need to be so formal."
"Oh Hanii, you should have seen how cute they both looked walking up the street and holding hands!"
"So you knew I didn't make her carry all the bags!" Yoichi accuses, opting not to focus on his mom's more incriminating comment that sends heat racing up his neck. In his peripheral vision, he notices Reina's eyes widen guiltily as she apprehensively grips the flowy fabric of her long skirt.
'You didn't do anything wrong,' he wants to reassure her. 'Why are you so nervous?'
"How about we go to the kitchen?" His dad intercedes. "I'm sure you're both hungry; I know I am."
They settle around the table, the older pair across from the younger. Yoichi tries to arrange it so that his mom sits across from him, but the crafty woman somehow worms her way to sitting opposite of Reina. Four simultaneous itadakimasu's later, and Yoichi immediately jumps into his dad's dish. Firstly, for the taste; the hambagu looks delicious. But, also because he hopes a full mouth will exempt him from his parents' upcoming interrogation.
Reina doesn't get the memo, as she daintily cuts her meat into small pieces. She sits with her back ramrod straight, Yoichi notes. It's a distinct contrast to her typical relaxed posture in the café.
"Yocchan's been so secretive about you, Reina-chan." His mom tosses the youngest Isagi a dissatisfied look that he ignores in favour of the food. "Tell me about yourself!"
"Well, I'm a second-year student at Shibuya Academy."
Yoichi quirks a brow at his spinach ohitashi. 'I didn't know she had skipped an entire year, too.' Though that isn't exactly surprising, is it? None of Reo's questions last night had involved math, and she got them all right.
"So you're the same age as Yocchan? Isn't that perfect!"
"Oh no, I'm only 16." She waves a hand in front of herself, sheepish. "I just really like math, so they tried to accommodate that."
"She's being modest." Yoichi blows on a steaming piece of nasu dengaku. "She's so smart she takes classes at Tokyo U in her free time."
"Really?!" His mom's eyes widen before looking at her husband and hitting his shoulder. "Oh, Issei, she's smart too! She's smart too!"
"That's very impressive Reina-chan," his dad compliments kindly.
Yoichi smirks at Reina's obvious embarrassment. It's almost kind of funny, seeing someone else get flustered by his parents' (more specifically, his mom's) overbearing antics.
"She just got a research position there as well," Yoichi adds, before slotting another large piece of grilled eggplant into his mouth.
"Congratulations, Reina-chan!"
"Well done. That must have been difficult to get." His dad smiles. "What are you researching?"
"Oh, well, I mean, I just got the position, actually. I have to finish my safety course first before I get to officially start." Her smile widens. "But we've been discussing options over e-mail and there's two projects they wanted me to help out with when I'm done with all the red tape! One's about exploring mechanical and thermal properties of phase change processes with different asterogenic metals in zero gravity versus microgravity, and the other is about using axisymmetric Crank–Nicolson modeling to extrapolate aerodynamic and acoustic projections of launch vehicles.*"
His parents' eyes glaze over at her words, their smiles turning a bit confused. Yoichi's familiar with their matching expressions of polite puzzlement, having encountered the same blank looks for his entire life when he tried to discuss soccer to any depth.
"That sounds very exciting!" His mom attempts, to her credit. "I think I saw an ad mentioning those generic metal things!"
Reina just smiles back, and graciously leaves his mom's obvious blunder uncorrected.
"School and your research must keep you pretty busy, then." His mom continues. "Do you have any hobbies?"
"I suppose I'm not very exciting." Reina tries to play it off. "I mostly study. Though, I do have dance classes a few times a month, and I'm part of a YCA youth group."
"The Tokyo YCA?" His dad asks, and she nods. "Some of my co-workers at the previous restaurant I worked at actually had young kids who attended. I remember hearing good things, granted it's been more than a few years since I worked in the capital. What kind of activities do you volunteer with when you're there?"
"We help out the kids with their homework and we run different events for them like game days, craft days, and sports days. Then for the center itself, to keep the activities free for the kids, we organize fundraisers. We do some for the community too, like food drives and used clothing markets."
His dad's lip quirks up, and the older man directs a pointed look to Yoichi. "Food drives, huh?"
Reina nods excitedly. "We actually just had one that ended yesterday. I wasn't on the team that counted the cans this time, but I got a text this morning on our group chat announcing that we were able to get 25% more than our goal! A bunch of parents at our sports day yesterday ended up bringing a bunch of donations when they picked up their kids." She turns to Yoichi. "Oh, that reminds me. Torino-san texted me to let me know you forgot your confirmation letter for your volunteer hours at the front desk. Did you want him to fax it right to your school?"
"Oh, Yocchan doesn't need that." His mom waves a hand, not noticing Yoichi's very wide-eyed stop now please expression. "He finished all his mandatory hours in his first month of high school so he could 'focus all his attention' on making the first swing for his soccer team."
"First string, Kaasan," Yoichi corrects, fighting down his blush and focusing on his rice. He doesn't want to see Reina's reaction.
"How interesting," his dad hums, with an audible smirk. "You aren't one to normally volunteer an afternoon so willingly for those sorts of things, Yocchan."
"It was a sports day," Yoichi justifies to his spinach.
Reina seems to sense his discomfort, but clearly misunderstands why. "Yoichi-kun was really helpful at our soccer station, and the kids really loved him!"
"Not all of them," Yoichi corrects grumpily, shivering when he remembers Mei's beady eyes and evil grin.
"Now, now, don't pout." Reina teases. "Mei-chan warmed up to you near the end."
"After she soaked my shoes, drew on me, and used me as a target for shooting practice – for both her kicks, and her juice."
Reina giggles into her hand at his words. Yoichi feels a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as the striker continues. "You were just blissfully unaware of the havoc your little minion was causing on the shooting side with me, while you worked with the other half on their dribbling."
"Do you play soccer as well, Reina-chan?"
The girl at his side shakes her head. "No, Issei-san. I just know quite a bit about the game since I happened to grow up around it."
"Oh? Does someone in your family play?"
Her face remains placid, but Yoichi feels her tense at his side. So he answers for her, before courtesy obligates her to respond. "Her brothers play." He could stop there, but the words keep coming. "One was the captain of my team, and the other is part of the New Generation World 11."
Reina's posture doesn't relax at all, and he wonders if maybe she didn't want his parents to know that. 'She doesn't want to talk about Sae or Rin?' No, it's more than that. 'She's afraid,' he realizes. 'She thinks talking about them will lead Kaasan and Tousan to ask more about her family, and then that they won't react well to what she told me.'
"Well, that sounds exciting!" His mom smiles. "I don't really understand much about soccer, but they must be very good players to have such fancy titles!" His mom looks like she's about to continue, but Reina speaks up before the older woman can.
"They're amazing; it was always fun watching them play. This dinner is also amazing," Reina redirects quickly. "My compliments to the chef, this is honestly the tastiest hambagu I've ever had."
"You're too kind, Reina-chan," his dad replies humbly, but clearly pleased with her opinion. "I'm happy to share the recipe."
"Do you cook at all, dear?"
"Kaasan," Yoichi frowns. "Stop interrogating her."
"No, no, it's fine," Reina reassures Yoichi before turning back to his mom. "I like to think I'm an acceptable baker as long as I have instructions to follow." She smiles. (Yoichi's totally unsurprised by this, given her sweet tooth). "But, with real food, I usually struggle with anything more complex than an omelet." She seems to catch herself, and rushes to add, "but I'm told that I make a passable katsu curry and oyakodon!"
"That's better than Yocchan," his mom needlessly supplies. "He's the type who could find a way to set cereal on fire." His mom directs an unimpressed gaze his way. Yoichi has the distinct feeling that this attack is her response to his earlier reaction regarding her own cooking.
His dad chuckles. "Neh, Iyo-chan. Remember that time he tried to make a 'Noel Noah Soccer Super Smoothie' when he was ten?"
Yoichi scowls, crossing his arms. "I still think that blender was possessed, and we should have looked into exorcism."
His dad grins. "The only explanation that's otherworldly is how you can't even manage toast at seventeen."
He feels Reina trembling with silent laughter at his side. His cheeks burn.
"I'm not that bad," Yoichi sulks.
His mom brightens, which does not bode well for Yoichi. "Anata, anata! Remember that time Yocchan managed to burn water!"
Yoichi's eyes turn upwards, searching for some higher power to put a lid on his mom.
Reina looks at Yoichi, dumbfounded. "But… water evaporates?"
His mom snorts. "Tell that to the scorched pot I nearly threw my back out trying to salvage."
Tousan turns to a befuddled Reina to clarify. "He boiled water, put in salt and oil, but then forgot to put in the pasta. And that's not all. He then decided the soccer game on TV was far more exciting than cooking, so he forgot about his dinner all together… including the fact that he left the stove on."
Reina's eyes widen. "Oh no."
"I was twelve." Yoichi interrupts. "Don't you have any new material, Tousan?"
But his dad goes on, unhindered. "And the best part?"
"There's more?" Reina asks eagerly, leaning forward and entirely too invested for Yoichi's liking.
"He tried to hide the evidence by burying the entire pot in our front yard."
"No!" Reina laughs.
"Oh, yes." His dad continues. "But one of our neighbours was out and stopped him."
"And of course it was Himiko, that harpy." She narrows her eyes at her son. "You just had to do it while that migraine was on her walk."
"Toga-san was a lot kinder about it than you," Yoichi mumbles. Must his parents bring up the burned pot incident on a daily basis? He was twelve.
"Where did we go wrong?" His dad asks lightly. (Clearly pandering to his mom in Yoichi's opinion, considering his lack of culinary skills obviously came from her.)
"Too many soccer balls to the head, if you ask me."
So… his mom still hasn't forgiven him for insulting her cooking, then.
"Ha, ha, ha," Yoichi grumbles.
"You really tried to bury the pot?" Reina giggles again. "I'm surprised you chose the option involving dirt, Mr. Clean."
His dad finally offers him some reprieve. "You know, Yocchan's never been great at cooking, but he was always tidy. Continuously kept a clean room, and gosh, you even started doing your own laundry from when you were like ten."
"Well actually," his mom tags in, stage-whispering across the table to Reina. "He would accuse me of not cleaning his uniform thoroughly enough, so he decided he'd rather do it himself." His mom playfully rolls her eyes. "What working mom has the time to clean every single grass stain off a kid's uniform, especially a uniform that was due to get the same stains again every other day?"
"None, I'd imagine." Reina nods along.
"Exactly!" His mom beams at their guest. "So, Reina-chan, tell us. What were you like as a chil-"
"Kaasan," Yoichi interrupts. Reina had again leaned forward towards his mom, and Yoichi realizes she's so focused on responding to his parents that she's barely had a chance to eat. He pulls the girl back by her shoulder, and lightly reprimands his mom. "Can you give her a bit of a break from answering your questions, so she can actually eat dinner?"
"Well, well, well." His mom croons towards him, as Reina uses the reprieve to take a sip of her water. Yoichi, on the other hand, recognizes the zeal in his mom's eyes and immediately regrets speaking. "Aren't you just a considerate little husband-to-be, Yocchan!"
Reina chokes.
'Fucking. Hell.'
"Kaasan!"
'Fucking kill me. I knew this dinner was a bad idea!'
His dad, the traitor, does a piss-poor job holding back his loud laugh behind a closed fist, letting more than a few entertained snorts escape.
Yoichi groans, unsure how much more of this evening he can endure before he actually explodes.
Perhaps his mom senses his building distress, or maybe she finally finds some remnant of mercy in her soul. "Oh, speaking of laundry. That stain is still lingering on your coat, isn't it Reina-chan?"
The girl shakes her head, having just recovered from her mini-coughing fit. "It's barely there at all! Not even noticeable! Thank you so much for getting it out."
His mom shakes her head. "No, no. It's still too visible, I saw the sleeve when you came in. You know, I'm pretty handy with a needle. I bet I can fix it up for you by covering it with some material on both sides. I'll make it look even better than before!"
"Oh, no, Iyo-san, that's too much! I couldn't ask you t-"
"Nonsense," The matriarch waves Reina's concerns away. "It's too lovely of a coat to leave tarnished. Besides, I finished all my festival orders a few days early and have been bored since. This will give me something to do, since my son refuses to spend time with me." ('Real subtle, Kaasan.') "We can explore some options after dinner."
Unable to do much in the face of his overassertive mom, Reina just nods in acceptance and thanks the older woman. Then their guest finally gets the chance to eat something as Yoichi takes over answering his parent's questions regarding what they did on the YCA Sports Day, as well as giving them a slightly abridged version of how they met. (He keeps the crash and coffee spill, but leaves out his unintentional insults and the temperamental barista.)
"Well, now that you're all finished, Reina-chan," his mom glances at their guest's empty plate and crossed utensils. "Come upstairs and look at some colour swatches with me." The woman tosses a dismissive wave at her son. "Yocchan, go help your dad with something."
"Ab-" Absolutely not, I'm not leaving her alone with you. It's what Yoichi's a breath into saying, before his dad chimes in.
"Actually, Yocchan. I could really use your help with the dishes."
'Right now?!' The frustrated part of him wants to retort. But it's his dad, and as much as his parents can drive him up a wall, he does love them enough to have a hard time refusing them any reasonable request. 'Fine,' he thinks begrudgingly, painfully aware of the victorious gleam lighting up his mom's eyes.
He signs in defeat. "Okay, Tousan." The striker replies before he turns back to give his mom a suspicious glare. "Don't say anything weird to her."
"Of course, Yocchan! I'd never do such a thing!"
'Yeah right.' He turns to Reina. "If she starts being weird, just leave."
'If I can't escape, at least you should.'
Reina awkwardly nods, while his mom turns to his dad. "He's so suspicious. I blame your side of the family, Issei."
"Yes dear," her dad kisses her forehead before rising from his seat. "Come on now Yocchan, help me clear the table."
"If you need help clearing the table, I'm happy to-" but Reina's interrupted by his mom physically grabbing her wrist and dragging her towards their staircase.
Yoichi wonders if this is what old people mean when they say they can feel their blood pressure rising.
His dad chuckles at the departing duo, patting his son on the shoulder. "Don't look so stressed, she'll be fine without you. Your mom isn't so scary."
'I'd strongly disagree on that point,' Yoichi thinks.
"I almost forgot! We were shopping in the mall today, and you'll never believe it, but we actually saw the T.V. in the electronics store replay your game!" His dad smiles proudly, and Yoichi feels his neck flush. "Soccer really is getting popular in Japan nowadays, huh? I feel like I barely heard much about it before. It was always baseball back in my day."
"Pretty sure baseball's still more popular here, even in my age group." Yoichi responds. Normally he'd stop there, but he doesn't want to field more questions about Reina (especially since his answers will apparently just be reported back to his meddlesome mom), so he asks his dad a question instead. "What were you guys shopping for?"
His dad looks surprised that Yoichi's voluntarily carrying on the conversation, which tugs at the striker's chest a bit. He thinks of Reina, who doesn't have a mom and whose own family despises her being near them so much that they shipped her to a boarding program, despite living in the same city. (Reina didn't explicitly provide that explanation for her lodgings, but he can read between the lines.) He guiltily wonders if maybe he should start to try a bit harder with his own parents.
"We were looking for some refills on your mom's supplies, and a new desk for her sewing machine. Actually, now that you mention it, since it looks like the girls will be sifting through fabrics upstairs for a while, I'd appreciate your help bringing the desk in." His dad gives a self-deprecating chuckle. "The employee at the store helped me heave it all into our trunk, but I'm not as strong as I used to be."
Yoichi nods easily. "Sure, Tousan. I don't mind at all."
A few minutes later, Yoichi regrets his words. After they pop open the trunk, they realize with simultaneous grimaces that the box containing all the sewing supplies had somehow exploded in the car, underneath the huge box with the disassembled parts of the desk. Bringing in the heavy desk pieces ends up being the easy part. After that, the striker and his dad get stuck outside for at least thirty minutes trying to salvage very tiny buttons, pins, bobbins, and sewing needles out of a very dark drunk.
Yoichi sighs, turning the light off his phone and bending out of the trunk. "I don't see anything else. I think we finally found all the pieces."
His dad pats his shoulder with one hand, the other holding the bag they had used to put all the pieces into. "Sorry about that. I can always check in the morning too before work."
Yoichi nods as they start to head back inside.
The thing about the Isagi household is that it isn't very big at all. The door opens to a staircase that leads upstairs just a few meters in front of the entrance, with the living room on the left, and a kitchen and dining area on the right. To afford some privacy, there's two walls part way between the adjacent rooms and the foyer.
I.e., Before Yoichi sees what's going on in the living room, he hears it.
There's cooing.
'No. She didn't… Even she wouldn't…'
Yoichi shucks off his shoes in a rush, racing into the living room to face an unobstructed view of the situation.
"That one's adorable!" Reina giggles. "Look at his cheeks!"
"If you think these are cute, wait until you see the ones where elementary Yocchan was my model for some dresses I was hired to make. He was so grumpy, complaining about how 'boys can't be princesses.' Which obviously they can, since he made such a cute one!"
'Oh. My. God.'
His mom and Reina are sitting on the couch, looking at his old photos.
"Oh, and there's some absolutely precious photos from when we were potty training him, he would get so teary any time his dad made him go alone to the bath-"
'What the fuck!?'
"Reina," he interrupts his mom, voice cold. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home." He's seething and the younger girl flinches at his icy tone. He'd feel a bit guilty for that, if he wasn't so furious. He can't even remember the last time he was ever this angry at his mom. 'She has literally spent the entire night going out of her way to embarrass me.'
The older woman seems entirely unaffected by the fact that she's crossed a line.
"Oh Yocchan, don't be such a spoilsport. Come join us, we haven't even gotten to any of the good stuff yet." The older woman offers a conspiratorial wink towards a now guilty-looking Reina. "Look at this one!" His mom excitedly points to a photo of six-year-old him nearly smushing his face against a TV screen, dazedly watching a game with a soccer ball tightly clasped in his lap. "I don't even know how Yocchan became so obsessed. Did you know, every Christmas he would write Santa asking for the World Cup trophy? And one Christmas - oh, Reina-chan, you'll just die from this. One Christmas, when Yocchan was six, he asked the Mall Santa -in front of the entire crowd- if he could please," his mom's already tearing up trying to hold back her laughter at this point, "if Santa could please make his little leg into a big leg like his other two, so he could kick balls with it too!"
"His little leg?" Reina tilts her head, confused. And for the love of all that is holy his mom looks ready to explain.
"Tousan, please." Yoichi implores the man that's just come up behind him. The striker's beyond desperate, now that his anger has proven ineffective at stopping his mom's madness. 'I won't be able to show my face around Reina ever again.'
"Neh, neh, Iyo." His dad steps into the living room. "Let's let them end their evening, yeah? I know you're having fun, but I'm sure Reina-chan's family is missing her."
Reina's smile stays put, but her fingers dig into the fabric covering her thighs. Yoichi only notices because he honed his gaze onto her the moment his dad mentioned her family. It's not the first time he's seen how she tempers her response physically, and he wonders if anyone else knows her tells.
("Reo probably does," the voice taunts. "They've known each other since they were children. You are merely five days to her.")
His mom pouts, grabbing Reina's arm. "But I wanted more time with her! One night simply isn't enough." Then the woman brightens. "Oh, I have an idea!"
'No! No more ideas from you.'
"Come on, Reina," Yoichi instructs, walking closer to the couch. Reina's head swivels between the two of them, very clearly caught between how to not be rude to his mom, but also not piss him off further. At least Reina's considering his feelings - unlike his mom, who pays absolutely no mind to her son's curdling mood, and continues her plotting, uninhibited.
"The Momoji festival started this afternoon. We've gone every year since forever, but Yocchan refused to go last year because of some soccer tournament and he's refusing to go again!" The older woman grabs Reina's hands in hers. "How about you come to the festival tomorrow, and convince my wayward son to come too, Reina-chan? It'll be so much fun, and the photos we could take! I bet you can persuade my stingy son. Yocchan seems so much more pliable with yo-"
"Good night, Kaasan." Yoichi interrupts, finally having enough of the insanity. "I want to practice after, and I still need to walk her back to her place."
His mom tosses him an unimpressed look before smiling brightly when she turns back to Reina. "A preliminary version of your coat will be ready when you come tomorrow evening at six!"
Reina's eyes dart to Yoichi nervously, before she redirects her gaze to the woman in front of her. The girl smiles and nods at his mom. "O-Okay, Iyo-san."
After some more pointless back and forth, the striker finally corrals his guest to the door (his mom acts like a proverbial anchor, latching at Reina's ankle and dragging her back every time Yoichi tries to pull her forward).
Finally, finally, finally, he opens the door. The immediate chill reminds them all that it's November. He eyes her coat (a spare one of his that she's wearing because his mom commandeered hers.)
Yoichi grabs a familiar red scarf from the coat hanger.
"Thank you so much again for having me!" Reina bows low to his parents again, before he's finally able to haul her outside.
His mom practically swoons as she waves to them. "Any time, Reina-chan! See you tomorrow!"
The duo walk a full block in tense silence, more than just a few inches between them. Yoichi can't even speak, he's so embarrassed.
They cross the second block and Yoichi looks back, confirming that he's unable to see the shape of his house anymore. 'We should be out of my mom's line of sight.'
The striker pauses his stride long enough to tie his scarf around her neck. His fingers burn when they accidentally skim her cold, soft skin. He distracts himself from the sensation by grabbing her hand in his.
"I told you, you'd freeze," he mumbles, looking away from her. "Sorry about… all that."
"Yocchan, are you… embarrassed… by your parents?" She sounds genuinely confused, shocking him.
'Is she dense? What else could he be?' He turns to her, scowling with burning cheeks. "What do you think?" He says, more sharply than intended.
"Don't be." Her eyes soften. "You have nothing to be self-conscious about. Your parents were so nice. It was really fun."
"Nice is hardly the word that comes to mind when I think of my mother right now," he growls. 'More like diabolical.'
She squeezes his hand. "Don't be too upset with your mom? It's clear she really loves you."
With a touch, a smile, and a simple sentence, she defuses his anger. It's not the first time, he realizes, that her mere presence has settled him. (Though sometimes it's the exact opposite, isn't it? Sometimes he's near her and instead of feeling calm, it's like his every nerve alights, tingling and burning and wanting something he can't quite name.)
"This is going to sound selfish, but I'm actually a bit jealous." She continues, obvious longing threaded between her words.
"I won't pry." Yoichi pauses. "But, if you ever wanted to talk more… well about what you and I talked about earlier…"
She shakes her head. "It's the past, and the past has passed." She offers him a polite smile with her silly pun. "No use dwelling on it, you know?"
He nods, hesitatingly. Her smile seems off. "My offer stands."
"Thanks, Yo-kun," her eyes soften, and then her voice brightens. "Also, please don't feel obligated to walk me all the way back to the Academy. It's so out of your way, and I know you wanted to practice for a bit still," she nods towards the sports bag slung over on his back.
"Ditch her," the voice in his head commands. "Dump her at the station and then leave for the park. It'll be a waste of your time babysitting her until she gets to her place. Time that could be better spent elsewhere. The field only stays lit until 10:30."
"I'd rather walk you back," he ignores the voice.
"Don't worry Isagi-oji," Reina teases. "I'm a big girl, I can get back on my own."
"Are you sure?" Something in his gut twists.
"Yeah!" She smiles brightly.
An ugly sense of foreboding hovers behind his neck.
"Don't look so guilty, striker. Tokyo's the capital of the safest country in the world! What could possibly happen to me?"
(The voice in his head smiles cruelly.)
"Okay." Yoichi agrees to let her go when they reach the station, even though something in his chest revolts at his choice. The striker tightens his grip on her hand. "You'll text me when you get to the Academy?"
"Of course." She nods. "And don't worry so much, soccer star; you'll get wrinkles!" She smiles brightly. "I'll be just fine!"
The voice grins. "Bye bye, distraction."
Asterisk Notes
*Hanii – means "honey" but is very intimate/cutesy, so Yoichi is embarrassed that his mom called his dad that in front of him. "It can be a bit embarrassing to use in public, even for husbands and wives. It's a bit like PDA to call someone hanii around others!" – - Japanese Terms Of Endearment: Cute Nicknames For Lovers And Friends! July 18, 2022 by Thea Ongchua
* Gaijin=Outsider/barbarian/foreigner, Busu = ugly girl, aho = moron/idiot, manuke = clueless/loser – as per google/Wikipedia
*This is all nonsense. I rearranged a bunch of words from the titles of some recent articles in The Journal of Aerospace Engineering, and slotted in some words I vaguely remembered from high school science/physics. Science/Math def not my area of expertise.
Yoichi Pet Name Vote:
Yo-kun: 1
Isa-ichi: 1
Isa-chi: 1
Yo-tan: 1
Yosagi: 1
Yocchan: 1
We need some tiebreakers, ladies and gentleman lol
Hehehe what do you think of his parents? ;)
Responses to Reviews
Guest – tysm for taking the time to comment on every chapter, you have no idea how much that means! Ty for the coffee info, I totally didn't know! Ngl I also initially thought that Yoichi would end up as CAM (but I also thought that about another very popular soccer anime, and was very wrong lol). I LOVE the -chi ! I didn't know that existed! I'm definitely adding it into future chaps!
ErlanggSIOC – tysm for your review! Dw I have plans to continue into NEL (as long as I can keep myself motivated, lol!) Hmm getting her involved in BL actually isn't something I initially considered at all, but I'll def consider it now!
OliviaStone – an extra-long almost 30 page on Microsoft Word chapter just for you ;)
Linara & 102602 – tysm for your readership and review :)
Sp8cefluff - glad you gave it a chance and are enjoying it so far! I totally would but there's a character count on the A/N section and my rambles are a bit longer than that *sweatdrop* If your ctrl-F onikko or chapter it should take you directly to the beginning of the chapter though! Also your pfp is SO CUTE omdg! I did move the review responses to the bottom though, so hopefully that helps!
Isagi loves thighs - I'm glad you liked the Reo part/Reina's opinion of him and Nagi ! Isagi and Reina's physical development will be filled with lots of awkwardness and "teenageryness", dw ;) a PANCAKE omg I died so hard laughing at that. hehehe my lips are sealed
Anon - me too, honestly. But it's BL and MHA I'm waiting for each week lol ;P I totally squealed while I was writing their hand holding ngl. As long as I can keep myself motivated and not get distracted by another fandom/show, I'm going to try to keep writing until NEL! And regarding the preview, my lips are sealed ;)
PREVIEW
The boy prays and prays, so the gods bring his best friend back to life.
End of Chapter 5
Please leave a review if you can : )