Title: Mitsukaru High
Author/Artist: snooperj & Bloodysamurai
Series/Pairing(s): TeniMyu; Mainly Takigawa Eiji x Kimeru & Shirota Yuu x Aiba Hiroki
Notes: An alternative universe type of fanfiction, my partner and I take you to how the two couples began during their days in Senior High, with Takigawa and Kimeru in their 2nd year, and Shirota and Aiba in their 1st. This fanfiction will run from that setting until Shirota and Aiba's graduation from Senior High two years later. Most of the information here are either altered, made-up or real altogether. Hints of other pairings shall also be introduced, therefore expect to be seeing other members of the TeniMyu cast to show up in this Mitsukaru Senior High setting. This is meant to serve as a prequel to our fanfiction 'Anything for You'.
Here is the 6th chapter entitled A Night at Shirota's Place. This chapter details Aiba staying over at Shirota's house, where we are introduced to Shirota's family. The few hours spent in the abode of the Student Council Secretary reveal a few things that both Shirota and Aiba realize about the feelings they hold for one another.
**ALSO! None of the authors of this roleplay/fanfic own TeniMyu or the actors, but are mere fangirls of the musical series and corresponding actors we write about. Everything that progresses in the story is the creation of our witty imaginations.
Early the next day, Shirota had woken up early and quietly got ready for school. He showered and fixed the bed before heading downstairs with his bag and prepared breakfast for himself. It wasn't long before he left Takigawa's house for the school.
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Aiba sighed; this time around there was no Kimeru-senpai to wait for. Actually, he was a bit worried about where the older one had gone to. He knew that the field trip was only an overnight affair, but Kimeru didn't go back to the dorms. He frowned as he entered the classroom, as usual seeing no one inside, and headed to his seat.
"No matter how early I wake up you always beat me to be the first one here, huh?" Shirota teased as he stepped lazily into the room a few seconds later. A soft chuckle escaped him before he moved to set his things down by his desk. "Kimeru-senpai slept over in Takigawa-senpai's house last night," he stated as he looked over to Aiba. "I just thought you should know."
"So that's where he went..." Aiba muttered as he turned his attention to his bag. "...And here I thought he fell off a cliff or something."
"Don't think things like that..." Shirota muttered darkly as he moved to the window, pocketing his hands. "Takigawa-senpai was with him, after all..."
"...I thought he was partnered with Abe-senpai...so how did he end up with Takigawa-senpai?" he asked.
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Takigawa woke up that morning feeling the same way he did the morning before. He paused at the very same thing - hearing a soft breathing beside him. Shuddering, he turned to see Kimeru asleep beside him. "Gahhh!!" he screamed out in surprise, feeling his heat beating faster than usual as he sat up and inched away momentarily, bringing a hand to his chest and tried to calm down. 'It's Kimeru-kun... It's Kimeru-kun... It's Kimeru...' he told himself firmly.
Kimeru was jolted awake when he heard someone yell. He was sat up and saw Takigawa. "What happened?!" he asked in a panic before looking around. His hand, as it was feeling around, felt the bed behind him. He looked around and examined it for a minute. His eyes widened in realization. "Oh...." he said. "Gomen, Takigawa-kun...it's a bad habit of mine to always go left..." he explained embarrassedly.
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Shirota shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have the exact details..." he admitted. "We didn't really get to talk about the trip much since we had to go to bed early..." he looked over to Aiba. "Maybe Ueshima-sensei knows something."
Aiba shrugged. "Maybe...Ueshima-sensei was with them after all," he said.
"Indeed I was!" Ueshima said from the door.
"Ueshima-sensei?! What are you doing here at 7:45?" Aiba asked.
Ueshima smiled. "I just wanted to see who comes to class early. I heard that you two were consistent; especially you, Aiba-kun."
Aiba looked away. "I just wake up early, that's all..." he said.
Ueshime chuckled. "I see... so anyway… To answer your inquiry about Abe-kun, Takigawa-kun and Kimeru-kun: Yes, Kimeru-kun was partnered up with Abe-kun but the next morning of the trip, Abe-kun had approached us to request that Kimeru-kun be partnered to Takigawa-kun instead and we agreed."
"But why would he do that?" Aiba asked.
"You'll understand someday, Aiba-kun," Ueshima said with a smile.
"I'm thinking something happened in the middle of the night..." Shirota supplied, turning to Ueshima.
Ueshima simply grinned. 'Smart boy...' he thought to himself. "Saa, I'll be starting homeroom when the bell rings! Let's see who else comes to school early...." he said, skipping off to the teacher's table.
It was only a few minutes later when the rest of the class came in.
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The day went by smoothly, and by lunch time, Aiba remembered that he was supposed to ask something.
"Ne, Shirota-kun…can you give me your address? I'll be coming from the dorms later to get my things," Aiba said.
Shirota nodded as he took out a piece of paper and wrote the address down before holding the paper out to Aiba. "Hai."
Aiba looked at it for a while and nodded. "Thanks," he said. "Oh yeah...since Kimeru-senpai is at Takigawa's place..." he said as he pulled out his phone.
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Kimeru heard his phone go off and searched for it. He took it out of his bag and saw that it was a message from Aiba. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT THERE'S NO ELECTRICITY AT THE DORMS UNTIL TOMORROW AFTERNOON?!" he exclaimed; he had obviously regained his energy over the night. "And he won't be sleeping there?!" He cursed under his breath for a few moments before managing to calm down. He took a deep breath before turning around to face Takigawa. "Sorry about that...and...I was just wondering if...." he started.
Takigawa managed to compose himself before he got to his feet, checked the time and was already heading out of the room when he replied, "Feel free to stay here another night. I'll go and make us some lunch!"
"Hai~ Arigatou!" Kimeru called out after him. He stood up and stretched. "Hmm...I better fix this..." he said as he looked around before proceeding to fix the sheets. He chuckled as he retrieved one of the pillows that fell from the bed. "That's the second time I woke up beside him..." he mused.
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"I'll set things up later when I get home..." Shirota stated.
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After classes, Aiba went straight to the dorms. He noticed that a few things were fixed and concluded that Kimeru came earlier to get some things. 'He's most probably going to sleep over at Takigawa-senpai's place again...' he thought as he changed into casual wear. "Those two are so married..." he muttered as he took the bag he packed the day before and headed to Shirota's place.
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Once Aiba located the house, thanks to the address that Shirota gave him, he rang the doorbell...only to realize that he didn't ask him one vital question... Aiba didn't know Shirota's first name. He hadn't been really listening during the first day of classes and he always called him "Shirota-kun".
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When Shirota had gone home, he was half-surprised to see that Maria was already starting on dinner in the kitchen while Dai and Jun were in the living room watching TV. Shirota moved to prepare everything in his room and was on the way down before the doorbell rang. "I'll get--"
"NO YOU DON'T!!" Jun declared, pushing Shirota into a dining chair he pulled out from the table and loosely tied him down with a jump rope from the closet. Jun patted him on the head. "I want to be the first to meet your friend, Yuu-kun~!" he chimed before slipping towards the front door.
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Aiba mentally hit himself. "Stupid...you can't just look for Shirota-kun! They're all Shirota-kun in there!" he muttered. It was already too late to turn back when he saw the door open and a moment later someone -who Aiba assumed was Shirota's brother- looked outside.
Jun pulled the door open. "Hai?" he called, blinking to see a boy with the large head of what appeared to be a panda plushie sticking out of his bag.
"A-Ano....I'm looking for..." he started.
Shirota struggled from the hold of the rope and managed to get free as he stammered to the door. "Aiba-kun!" he cried, catching his breath as he leaned against the wall.
"You!" Aiba exclaimed suddenly as he saw Shirota behind Jun.
"Hai?" Shirota inquired, blinking a few times.
Aiba looked at Shirota's expression when something clicked in his mind. 'Shirota Yuu....his name is.....argh!!' he wanted to slap himself but decided against it because it would look pretty strange if he did it in front of Shirota's brother.
'Which reminds me...' he faced Jun and smiled. "Ano...I'm Aiba Hiroki…Shi-- I mean Yuu-kun's classmate," he introduced.
Jun smirked and stepped back so that he could come inside. "Please to meet you. Name's Shirota Jun, Yuu's older brother. I'm attending Hiraku High just a year ahead of you two," he replied, nodding to him.
Dai and Maria stepped out from the living room and kitchen respectively to introduce themselves.
Maria bowed. "I'm Shirota Maria, Yuu's older sister."
Dai adjusted his glasses. "And I'm Shirota Dai, reluctantly the eldest of these guys."
Aiba stepped inside and bowed respectfully to the rest of Shirota's family after they introduced themselves.
Shirota pointed to the panda plushie. "Ah, you brought that along!" he cried out.
Jun sniggered as he closed the door behind Aiba. "So does this plushie have anything to do with that Mukona one attached to your bag, Yuu?"
Aiba blushed a bit when he heard this but managed to keep it under control.
Dai and Maria looked at one another as they chuckled before Dai returned to watching TV.
"Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes, Yuu-kun. Aiba-kun, please do make yourself at home," Maria stated before returning to the kitchen.
"Ahh! My show's back on! Turn to channel 24, Dai-ani!!" Jun exclaimed, running into the living room.
"Hai, Maria-neesan!" Shirota called before taking Aiba's bag in one hand and grabbing hold of Aiba's hand in the other. "Hurry, let's go upstairs before Jun-ani starts asking any more questions!" he hissed before running up the stairs two steps at a time before they reached the second landing. The headed down the hall and entered the last room on the right before Shirota breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Aiba inside and closed the door behind them.
Aiba lost conrtol of himself and blushed when Shirota took his hand and led him upstairs. 'Notgoodnotgoodnotgood,' he thought as he looked at their hands. When they reached the room Aiba sighed. "Ano..Shirota-kun...you could release my hand now..." he said quietly.
"Hmm?" Shirota turned to Aiba and saw that he was indeed still holding his hand as he hastily loosened his grip. "Gomen..." he muttered as he moved to his desk out of distraction.
Aiba looked at his hand for a while before he placed his bag by the door. "Thanks for letting me stay over, Shirota-kun..." he said as he pulled out his laptop from his bag. "Can I start on my paper?" he asked. "My laptop sort of lost all its reserve battery."
Shirota cleared his desk and pulled the seat out, offering it to Aiba. "Go ahead... My computer's on, so you can use it to print when you're done..." he explained as he pulled his bag with him to his bed, turned on his bedside lamp and started doing his homework.
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It wasn't long before Maria called the two down for dinner did Shirota write down the last part of his essay before he got up, turned off the lamp and headed to the door. "Ikuyo, Aiba-kun," he called, opening to the door and heading back downstairs.
"Hai...let me just...save..." Aiba muttered as he saved the file. "Done! O-re? Shirota-kun? Oi! Matte!" he called out as he followed Shirota downstairs.
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Downstairs, the three older siblings had settled themselves around the dinner table, waiting for Yuu and Aiba. Shirota had waited for Aiba halfway down the stairs before leading them to the dining area and gestured to the seat beside him as they both sat down to complete the table.
"Itadakimasu!!" they all said before digging in.
Aiba, remembering his own family at meal times, kept quiet as they ate.
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Dinner came and went pretty quickly. When everybody was finished, Maria and Dai offered to do the dishes as Shirota and Aiba headed back up to Shirota's room; Jun watching them from the dining table before grinning to himself.
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Once they had reached Shirota's room, Shirota turned to Aiba. "You're done with it already?" he inquired.
"Aa," Aiba said with a smile. "Just need to print it now," he said as he connected the laptop to the printer. "There we go..." he said as he clicked a few commands before the printer started printing his paper. "It'll eat up a lot of your ink...I'll replace it though," he assured him.
Shirota nodded apprehensively, glancing at his printer for a moment.
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Maria slipped into the living room to watch her Spanish soap operas that ran from 8 to 10 that evening as Dai settled into the dining table with Jun.
"So Yuu took Aiba-kun to the carnival last week?" Dai inquired as Jun nodded in reply.
"Aa. I'm guessing that's where the panda plushie came from as well..." Jun said carefully, his gaze averting to the stairs. "There's more, as well..." Jun began telling Dai about some of his suspicions, as well as some of the things Shirota had done that directly concerned Aiba, like the yakiniku dinner.
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"I'll just go down and get some water... Be right back," Shirota announced, heading downstairs. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he spotted his two brothers in the dining table talking about something as he shrugged and moved to get a water bottle from the fridge.
The two nodded in agreement with each other before they stood. Shirota emerged from the kitchen and was just about to head back upstairs before Dai opened the hall closet door as Jun grinned and playfully pushed Shirota inside. Dai quickly closed the door and locked it from the outside.
"OI! LET ME OUT!" Shirota shouted, banging on the door.
"We just wanted to have a little chat with Aiba-kun, Yuu! Be a good boy and wait for us here, okay?" Jun called as he and Dai proceeded upstairs to Yuu's room.
Shirota groaned, banging on the door a few more times before sighing, sliding down to the floor and looked at the water bottle in his hand before he proceeded to open it and took a swig of water.
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Jun knocked on the door. "S'cuse us!" he chimed as he entered Yuu's room with Dai just behind him.
Aiba was looking at the last page of his paper when he heard Jun enter. He looked around and saw that Dai was with him. 'For some reason...I'm scared...' he thought as he smiled at the two. "Jun-san, Dai-san...is there something you need?" he asked politely.
Dai settled on the swivel chair as Jun proceeded to pull out the giant of a panda plushie and settled himself on the futon Shirota had laid out as the younger of the two began playing with it.
"So where did this come from?" Jun inquired, having the panda do random actions with its arms.
Aiba felt his cheeks heat up and prayed to the high heavens that he wasn't blushing. "A-no...that came from the carnival, Jun-san...Yuu-kun won it in one of the games and gave it to me…" he said.
Dai smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "Yuu's rather skilled at those carnival games..." he explained.
Jun nodded excitedly. "Aa," he agreed turning to Dai. "Ne, remember the last time we went to the carnival, Dai-ani? Yuu beat us in every single game we tried! He ended up giving most of the plushies he won to Rina, though..." he stated, having the panda act out a shrug.
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Shirota leaned against the wall with his legs propped up. He was playing with his spare basketball and tipping his finger over it to let it roll back and forth as he waited in silence and semi-darkness. The closet light shorted out the day before and he had not gone around to replacing it, so he was left to settle with the slits peeking out to the hallway of the staircase to provide him with some light.
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Aiba smiled as he remembered that Shirota had beaten him in every game as well...not that he was much of a competition though. "He also won a brown bear that's a bit smaller than that one. And the only thing I got for him was a small Mokona plushie," he said. This thought reminded him about the boy in question. "Er...Not to be rude and all but...where's Yuu-kun? He seems to be taking a long time to get some water..." he said.
Jun and Dai stopped and looked over to Aiba. Knowing full well that Yuu was still in the closet downstairs, Jun waved a hand in front of him. "He's probably been pulled into the living room by Maria-neesan. She's watching her usual Spanish soap operas, you see," Jun explained. "So, did anything else happen during the carnival we should know about?" he asked, starting to play with the panda plushie again.
Aiba thought for a moment before a grin made its way to his lips. "He did get drenched at one point," he said, remembering that moment.
Dai's glasses slipped down his nose. "Pardon?"
Jun had the panda prod Aiba. "Tell us, tell us, tell us what happened!" he pleaded.
"Well..." Aiba started. "It was during the time he got me the panda...some kids were playing with a water-balloon nearby and passed us. Yuu-kun managed to get out of the way by side stepping them, but he was directly beside the dunking booth and someone was playing... before we knew it he was drenched in water from the tank," he said as he tried to hold back his laughter.
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Shirota found a tennis ball in the ball box and started throwing it towards the door as it bounced back to him as he caught it and proceeded to do this in a repetitive process.
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Outside, Maria passed by during the commercial and heard the sound and unlocked the closet. "What's---Yuu?! What are you doing in there?"
Shirota caught the ball as the door opened. He took the half-finished water bottle and got up. "Sankyu, nee-san!" he called as he gently moved past her and headed upstairs, bolting towards his room. As soon as he burst inside, the sight of his two brothers - the younger playing with Aiba's panda plushie - and Aiba laughing. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" he demanded.
Dai turned to the door and composed himself, pushing his glasses back up. "Commercial break, huh?" he inquired. "We were just talking about the carnival, Yuu," he began.
Jun turned to Yuu and grinned, having the panda act out being drenched. "Nice blooper there, lil' brother," he teased.
Aiba smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry, Yuu-kun…" he said. "It just slipped out."
Shirota flushed in embarrassment before he took hold of the wrists of his brothers. "Out, out, out!" he whined, pulling them to leave the room. He plucked the plushie from Jun's hands. "If you wanted to talk to Aibacchin, you didn't have to lock me in the hall closet!" he stated heatedly before closing the door and moved to the futon, handing the plushie to Aiba. "I'm sorry for my brothers' behavior..." he muttered.
"It's okay...they're fun to be with, actually," Aiba said with a smile. He then paused and backtracked what Shirota just said. "What....did you just call me?" he asked.
Shirota blinked. "What did I--" He paused when he realized what he said and shook his head. "It was nothing..." he said, taking the panda and ended up having it act out waving a hand in front of its face to shrug it off.
Aiba looked at the panda before grinning again. "It sounds nice...I like it," he said. "I wouldn't mind if you want to call me that," he said.
Shirota lowered the plushie and blushed, scratching his cheek before moving to his bed to stuff his finished homework in his bag and clipped it closed. "Sorry for snapping in front of you like that..." he muttered as he chucked his bag to the corner before lying down on the bed on his side facing the wall. "I'm just not fond of dark places..."
Aiba frowned. "They locked you in a hall closet...it's expected that you snap at them," he said as he sat on the bed. "At least you got out," he said as he placed a hand on Shirota's arm. '...Why am I reacting like this? It's normal that he's in a bad mood...but why am I caring?' he thought but decided to think about it.
"If you failed to check the time I've been in a closet for at least a half hour..." Shirota stated in annoyance.
Aiba looked at the clock on Shirota's desk and realized that it was around half an hour since Shirota left the room. He sighed as he took the plushie. "I'm sure they meant no harm..." he said as he made the plushie placed its head on Shirota's shoulder. "If I knew about it I would have gone downstairs to let you out," he said as he made the panda do some gestures of opening a door.
Shirota shifted his head to look over to the plushie. "Oi..." he moved to sit up before pointing to the panda. "Are you trying to represent yourself with that? That's just silly," he stated, putting on a straight face as he said so, even though he himself had done it just moments ago.
Aiba grinned as he made the panda point a paw at Shirota. "So are you saying that I can't be silly?" he said as he poked Shirota on the chest using the plushie. "Even if I'm serious most of the time doesn't seem that I," he paused to make the panda point at itself. "Have no sense of humor or have no idea how to be silly," he said. "And I don't like to see you so serious...you look much better when you're smiling," he blurted out. Realizing what he said he clamped his mouth shut with his hands, letting the plushie drop on the bed. 'That was stupid Hiroki!!' he thought.
Shirota's eyes widened, all fake seriousness swept off his face as he began to feel the same way he did when Aiba had grabbed him by the hand as Takigawa's words from before came to him.
"You don't understand it, right? Why that type of gesture made you feel strange?"
"Well, that's because you like him..."
He smirked, shaking his head before he burst out laughing.
Aiba frowned when Shirota started laughing, "Did I say something funny?" he thought out loud but then shrugged afterwards. "Oh well. At least you're not in a bad mood anymore," he said with a smile before moving to sit on the futon that was set up earlier for him. He held the panda close to him as he lied down. 'This feeling....it's.....no...it can't be...' he thought.
Shirota's laughter died down as he watched Aiba and smiled fondly to himself. 'You're right, Eiji-kun. And I acknowledge that wholeheartedly now... I fully understand why I'm feeling the way I do towards him...' he thought happily to himself. He got up and moved to the desk and grabbed the water bottle. "Do you want a drink?" Shirota inquired.
"Sure," Aiba said as he looked at Shirota after sitting up, the plushie still in his arms.
Shirota pouted and pointed to the panda. "You're going to have to let that go if you want to drink, you know," he stated bluntly.
"I-I know that!" Aiba said defensively as he let go of the plushie before taking the water bottle from Shirota's hand. He looked at it for a while before drinking from it. He placed it on the desk afterwards and grabbed the plushie again.
Shirota chuckled. "I forgot to ask why you bothered to bring it along when it would just inconvenience you with its size..." he stated as he capped the bottle, realizing that Aiba had just drank from the very same bottle he himself drank from earlier. A smile came across his features as he closed the lights and headed to his bed to turn on the bedside lamp before turning to Aiba.
"Oh...him?" He said as he looked at the panda. "I just feel more at ease when I'm with him," he said as he made the panda wave at Shirota. "Besides...it's kind of nice to hold something when I'm going to bed."
Shirota nodded in understanding. "I see..."
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Jun and Dai settled in Dai's room while Maria was finishing her soap opera downstairs.
"Looks like Yuu's found himself a little boyfriend," Jun concluded, chuckling.
"I wonder when he'll come to terms with that, though..." Dai said in thought.
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Aiba remembered something. "Shirota-kun... that homework you were finishing earlier... was that the one for Math?" he asked. "Can I borrow it for a while?"
"No, that was for Literature..." Shirota corrected, but moved to get his bag. "I did the Math homework earlier during the break," he explained, reaching out to grab his bag and pulled it up to his bed as he rummaged through it and pulled the requested homework out, handing it to Aiba. "Hai." He fixed his bag before he saw a slip of photo paper he swore wasn't there before as he took it out and saw the content. A furious blush appeared on his face as he hastily - but carefully - slipped it back into his bag. 'Where in the world did that come from?!' he thought to himself in alarm.
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"I wonder if Shirotan's found Aiba's picture in his bag yet..." Takigawa mused as he moved to close the lights of his room.
Kimeru chuckled. "I'm sure he did by now..." he said.
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"Ah, Sankyu." Aiba said as he browsed through the notebook. "I think we have the same answers..." he said as he handed to notebook back to Shirota. He yawned as he looked at the clock. "I think we better go to sleep...." he said.
Shirota chuckled, taking his notebook back and inserted it in his bag and set it on the floor. "It's the weekend tomorrow. No need to be hasty..." he reasoned before yawning himself. "On second thought, let's get to bed..." He moved to turn off the lamp before collapsing onto the pillow. "Oyasumi~"
The next day, Aiba woke up ahead of Shirota... he was a bit disoriented when he found himself in a room he did not recognize. 'Oh yeah...I slept over at Yuu's place...' he thought. 'Wait...since when did I start calling him that?!' he thought as he shook his head. He glanced at the other boy on the bed and smiled. 'Even when he's asleep....' he thought fondly as he moved a strand of hair from Shirota's face. "Kawaii..." he said quietly.
Shirota groaned, shifting slightly in his bed before the door opened.
"YUU-ANI!!!" a voice came as a little girl of about 2 years old ran into the room and pulled on Shirota's foot.
Shirota's eyes snapped open as he sat up, seeing Aiba awake and bid him a quick "Ohayou" before bending forward and taking the girl up onto the bed with him. "Rina, you shouldn't always do this when you come over... Especially since I have a guest..."
Rina hugged Shirota before turning to Aiba. "Who this?" she asked.
Shirota chuckled. "My classmate Aiba Hiroki," he introduced before looking over to Aiba. "This is my younger sister Rina."
"Nice to meet you Rina," Aiba said with a smile. He then looked at the watch. "I think I better get going, Shirota-kun…" he said as he stood up. "I shouldn't bother you and your family any longer."
Shirota grabbed Aiba's wrist. "Stay for breakfast, at least..." he muttered as Rina clapped her hands on Shirota's lap.
"Mama making choco pancakies," she stated happily.
Aiba considered this for a moment. 'Why must I be easily tempted by sweet things?!' he thought. "O...kay...but only for breakfast," Aiba said.
Shirota broke out into a grin as Rina cheered. "Let's head downstairs!" Shirota stated as he put Rina to sit on his shoulders as they headed out of the room as the pair cheered, "PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES!!"
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"Ohayou~!" Shirota greeted as they reached downstairs as he set Rina down. "And welcome back, kaa-san," he added, smiling over to his mother who was setting the food at the table. "This is my classmate Aiba Hiroki," he introduced.
Shirota Pepi pushed her long, blonde hair from her face and bowed. "It's a pleasure to finally meet one of Yuu's classmates."
"LET'S EAT ALREADY!" Jun whined from the table, Dai and Maria chuckling silently to themselves.
Aiba smiled as he joined them for breakfast, but as he had stated before, he left afterwards. He said his goodbyes before heading back to the dorms. He frowned as he went his way, thinking back about the things he did while in that house...and more importantly: The things he realized.
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Kimeru had also gone back to the dorms that same day, and he found it strange that the younger boy had this aura that should not be challenged.
Aiba's mood carried on until Monday; the rest of the class made conscious efforts not to provoke him while in this state.
By Tuesday, everyone was on their toes. Aiba did calm down a bit but the aura that told everyone to stay away was there. Only two people were unfazed by this: Shirota and Ueshima-sensei.
Ueshima was already planning to talk to the boy during lunch break and when they had talked, he finally understood. Aiba had told him everything: the reasons why he was in the dorms and why he was acting so strange since the day before. When classes resumed, Ueshima assured him that no one else would know of their conversation. Aiba thanked him and left to go back to the classroom. As soon as he got there he sat down on his seat and remained quiet.
Shirota leaned towards Aiba, poking his arm with the blunt end of a pencil. "Oi, Aibacchin..." he called before he held out a bag of cookies to the boy as a grin spread on his face.
Aiba smiled sadly at him. "Thanks…" he said as he took some and ate them.
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After classes, Aiba was quick to leave before anyone could talk to him. But as he passed Shirota he slipped him a note.
'Shirota-kun,
Sorry if I haven't been paying attention to you since yesterday, something just riled me up.
--Aiba
P.S. Check out the page six of the school paper that was distributed today...you'll find something interesting.'
Shirota read the note and watched Aiba leave, unable to say anything to the boy. Shrugging, he got to his feet and headed off to do some Council work, snatching a school paper off the stand along the corridor and opened it to the page Aiba had mentioned. He stopped in his tracks to look at the page properly. "This is..."
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Aiba smiled; the whole of page six was allotted for what he had done. It showed the entire coverage of what he had observed and watched when he was with the Soccer team. And as the header of the article he used Shirota's picture. He hummed to himself as he went through the school gates to head back to the dorms.
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Shirota's cheeks heated up as he folded the paper and hurried off to the Council room and proceeded to do his usual work before heading home with Takigawa since both had a break from their respective teams. As soon as they got to Takigawa's place, Shirota slumped down onto the couch to read the rest of the school paper while Takigawa went out to give Pearl a walk.
"Take care of things here while I'm gone, alright?" Takigawa stated before leaving.
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Kimeru was running down the street, he had forgotten about a test they were going to have tomorrow and he needed help. He turned at the upcoming corner and saw a house that he was very familiar with. He found that the door was unlocked so he just ran inside. "Takigawa! I need help with my---- A-re? You're not Takigawa..." he said as he stared at Shirota.
Shirota looked up from the paper. "Yes... and you're not him either..." he stated before folding up the paper in the awkward silence.
Kimeru chuckled. "Oh well...it's a good thing you're here, too," he said as he took something out from his bag. "Aiba asked me to buy this for you. It's an ink cartridge," he said as he handed a small box to Shirota. He then spotted the paper. "Ah...I see you found page six...he worked hard on that," he said with a grin. "You should be proud," he teased. "After all, it's not every day that Aiba writes about someone he considers special to him."
Shirota nodded his thanks as he took the box before he glanced to the paper and smiled. "I am..." he said quietly, clutching onto the box. "He was so serious the first time I met him... he even wanted to split the dinner bill with me when I took him out to dinner one time... But... I was glad I got him to laugh somehow during the carnival..."
Kimeru chuckled. "Ne... you do know that Aiba likes you too, right?" he asked quietly. "But something is still pulling him back..." he said as he sat on the couch beside Shirota. "But I think you can do the job to get him out of that spot." Kimeru grinned. "Now!" he said as he stood, so that Shirota couldn't respond immediately. "Let's see how Q is doing!" he then walked towards the cage and took out the rabbit.
Flustered for a moment, Shirota moved to stand before the front door opened, followed by a round of barking from Pearl. Takigawa came into view and raised his eyebrows. "This is a surprise..." he stated. "What are you doing here, Kimeru?" he inquired, bending down to undo the harness and leash from Pearl before she ran off.
Kimeru stood up with Q in his arms. "I need you to help me review for tomorrow's History test," he stated with a grin. He looked at Shirota and winked at him. "Don't worry, I won't take much time since I know that you want to talk to Takigawa about something," he added.
----------
As promised, Kimeru left right after Takigawa had reviewed him for his test, after a brief show of gratitude he left, waving at the two before closing the door behind him.
Shirota watched Kimeru leave as Takigawa eased himself into the couch with the younger boy. "So... did you want to talk about something?" he began.
Shirota shrugged and scratched his cheek. "For starters... you were the one who slipped Aiba's picture in my bag, weren't you?!" he declared.
Takigawa laughed and nodded, bringing both hands up in surrender. "Yes, it was me. It was originally from Kimeru, actually. He hopes you appreciate it."
Shirota turned away with a pout.
"Shirotan..."
"About Aibacchin..."
"Eh?"
Shirota turned to Takigawa. "Aiba... would you happen to know anything... About him and I..?" he muttered.
Takigawa smiled and patted Shirota on the shoulder. "Do you really want to know?" Shirota nodded firmly before he continued. "It's already quite obvious that he likes you..." he started, taking the paper and spotting Shirota's picture. "With these types of gestures...taking pictures of you...and spending time with you... But he's conflicted by something, even though he's aware of his feelings for you," Takigawa stated sadly.
"Kimeru-senpai said the same thing..." Shirota agreed.
"You were the first one to have Aiba laugh like he did..." Takigawa continued. "So I'm sure the only person who can break the boundaries Aiba's set up around himself is you, Shirotan."
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Kimeru made his way back to the dorms. When he got there he spotted Aiba tinkering with what seemed to be a video camera. "What's that for?" he asked.
Aiba looked up from taking a sample video around the room. "The school paper wants me to take videos this time for the mid-year presentations of the varsities...so this thing will be with me for the whole week," he explained. "And you're not allowed to touch it," he added before looking back at the camera.
Kimeru grinned. "Why would I want to lug around that mammoth of a camera, anyway?" he teased before settling onto his bed.
TBC
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