Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters nor plot of Blue Lock.
Warnings: cursing, lethally embarrassing mothers.
BIG HUGE GINORMOUS THANK YOU TO MY BETA:
*ALCHAZAR*
AND TO MY REVIEWERS:
R-EWF, uzu i-sa, ErlanggSIOC, 102602, Hanasaku22, OliviaStone, Nilenium, Darth Traya, Isagi loves thighs, AnythingForGiorno, Sp8cefluff, Thisisaguiltypleasure, Schizosagi, finavilatwis.
Thank you all for powering me through this chapter. Detailed responses below : )
Also, for those who haven't seen it already, new image (Reina & Nagi) posted for chapter 4 part one!
Onikko
{鬼っ子}
chapter 9 part one – manacle
Something scratches his nose. 'Urgh, annoying.'
Yoichi blearily blinks open his eyes, and easily spots the culprit: a messy-haired hurricane resting on his chest. He lifts his head up slightly, and a lazy smile tugs at his lips when he hears her let out a sleepy little snort in protest. 'Cute.'
The striker raises his hand, the one that had drifted from her thigh to her waist sometime last night, and brushes down a wayward curl. The action causes her to stir, and he keeps his hand just beneath her jawline. "Morning genius," he whispers in a voice thick with sleep. "Time to wake up."
"No, s'early," she mumbles sleepily as she burrows her face further into his chest, rejecting the hour. "M'tired. G'night."
He huffs out half a laugh, mouth curving into a fond smirk. He wants to thread his fingers through her hair, but isn't sure his hand will survive the chaotic strands, so instead he moves to stroke the top of her head. He feels her exhale deeply and relax further into his arms. "Fine," he breathes out, not entirely put off by the idea. "But just for a bit longer." He tightens his grip on her and lowers his face back into her hair. He's just about to close his eyes once more, but then:
"Ohhh, that was just the MOST adorable thing I have EVER seen!"
Dread instantly fills his stomach. 'God no.' But this time his mom's voice isn't in his head, because he feels Reina tense at the words too. The striker redirects his gaze with a sinking feeling. To his immediate horror and fury, he finds his mom sitting on the other couch, with her phone out and pointing at them.
"Are you seriously taking photos right now!?" he hisses out, over Reina's head, instinctively keeping the girl's face pressed into his shoulder.
"Of course not, silly." His mom grins evilly from behind the device. "I'm filming."
"Kaasan!" He yells, reflexively holding Reina even closer, as if to protect her from the camera. "What the hell?! Are you insane?!"
The woman shrugs, finally putting her phone away. "Now, now. Don't be so grumpy, Yocchan. I just had to preserve the cuteness! No choice in the matter, actually." She places a palm over her chest in faux patriotism. "It's my utmost duty to document these moments… so that I can show them to my darling grandchildren when they ask how their parents met!"
Yoichi's so furiously embarrassed right now that he can't even form words.
"Wellll," his mom drawls, "and I also wanted to show the girls at my book club next week, so we could all coo over how cute you both are together. First I took a picture, but it just didn't capture all of the adorableness, you know? So, I flicked a crumpled tissue at your nose, and voila! Cuteness galore! I can't wait to show off the pair of you, Himiko will be so jealous! I'm glad I cut the video off just before you started swearing though." His mom shakes her head. "Really, Yoichi? Using such foul language in front of your girlfriend and mother? I should make you wash your mouth out with soap. He doesn't always speak so poorly in front of you, does he Reina-chan?"
Reina, who hasn't so much as moved a muscle since Kaasan started speaking, slowly turns her head.
His mom has the gall to cheerfully wave at her.
The girl in his arms looks horrified as she jumps away from him. "I-I'm so sorry Iyo-san!" She squeaks out, entirely flustered and standing up just so she can start bowing, her forehead so low it may as well be touching the floor.
Yoichi immediately stands after her and pulls her up. "You're not the one who needs to apologize." He gives a pointed look to the demon wearing his mom's face.
Reina completely ignores him, eyes on the ground and breathing quicker than normal. "I'm s-so sorry! It w-was an accident! We just fell asleep! I didn't mean to d-disrespect you or Issei-san, I'm so sorry!" And she literally goes to bow again so Yoichi has to grab her shoulders with both arms to stop her.
His mom, entirely unbothered by the anarchy she stirred up, just smiles and waves off the younger girl. "Oh, Reina-chan, don't look so stressed! I just wish I had known you were staying; I would have offered you Yocchan's bed!"
"K-K-Kaasan?!" Yoichi chokes out, eyes wide.
"And why do you look so eager, hmm? You would have had the futon in the living room. No cute grandkids for me yet." Kaasan waves her finger at him. "You're lucky all she's missing is her obi, or else we'd all be having a talk."
He can tell his mom's having a blast, infuriating him, since Reina's starting to shake in his arms, radiating palpable terror.
"I'm waiting until marriage!" Reina blurts out "I'm not like… we d-didn't…. I'm not a… I didn't… I'm n-not..." She's so anxious, her eyes have even taken a teary shine, and she literally looks like she's going to have a panic attack.
Guilt and fury roil in Yoichi's chest as he turns from the trembling girl to glare at his mom, who's already looking plenty regretful. "Oh honey. I'm just teasing you guys, I promise. It's okay, it's okay. I know you two just fell asleep." His mom approaches the duo, patting Reina's arm. "Come now, how about you get changed? I'll help you learn how to get out of that kimono and then we can all have some breakfast, hmm?"
Reina nods quickly and choppily, clearly still overwhelmingly stressed and unnecessarily ashamed. She grips the fabric at her thighs so tightly that her knuckles blanch.
His mom barrels on, deftly pulling the girl away from her son. "You can use the shower in mine and Issei's room. Do you have anything to change into?"
"I umm, I s-suppose I could wear my d-dress that I was initially going to wear to the festival?" He watches as Reina carefully picks up the hair pins from yesterday, hands still twitching. "But s-since I'm heading to my otousama's h-house afterwards, I was just going to w-wear what I came here in t-"
"Oh, that won't do," his mom interrupts, shaking her head. "Those aren't washed. I suppose the jeans will be fine but…" The older woman turns to give a pointed look to Yoichi, who gives a confused, what could you possibly want now, look back. His mom rolls her eyes. "Surely you have a shirt and a sweater you could spare her, my foul-mouthed child."
'Meddlesome demon.'
"Sure," Yoichi grits out. He reaches for Reina's arm, itching to pull her back from his mother's claws. "Come on Reina. You can pick something from my closet-"
His mom bats his hand away, and starts marching Reina towards the stairs while clicking her tongue. "Inviting a girl into his room with him so casually, honestly! And in front of his own mother? What did I raise, a heathen?" The woman turns over her shoulder as she guides Reina up the stairs. "Bring her something clean to wear. You can leave it outside the door. I repeat, outside the door. "
Yoichi flushes at her instructions. 'Did she have to make it sound like that?!'
"Kaasan! You can't just-!"
"And stop yelling, would you, Yocchan? I'm still dreadfully hungover."
'And whose fault is that!?' Yoichi scowls as he stomps up to his room. He roughly inserts his very dead phone into the wall charger, before wrenching open his closet, unable to fully process what just happened downstairs.
"Kaasan," he growls aloud, ready to pull his hair out. He's furious and so, so, so embarrassed. 'At some point before I leave for Blue Lock, I'll need to grab her phone and delete that video.' He glares at the contents of his closet. 'Who knows what she'll do with it, otherwise.'
The striker heaves an exasperated sigh before turning his attention to review the options he has for Reina. Assessing the clothes lined up in front of him, there's one obvious anomaly.
Since childhood, he's gravitated towards cooler colours: blue, green, grey, black. No grand reason, really. He just preferred them. The one irregularity in his closet is the bright red soccer sweater from his final year in middle school. The school colours had been blue and white, but the club manager accidentally checked off red on the order form. No one wanted to shell out another 6000 yen for a different colour, so they'd just stuck with it. It was comfy despite being the wrong colour, and it ended up being his go-to sweater for that entire year until he outgrew the arms. He'd worn it so often that his name, the number 11 stamped on the back, as well as his school logo on the chest, had all started to fade from the repeated washes.
'Reina likes red, I think?' She's already worn the loud colour three times since he's met her. 'She looks good in red…'
Yoichi immediately shakes the stray thought out of his head, grabs the hoodie off the hanger, and pulls a random shirt off the shelf. He heads to the door of his parent's room. He knocks, and when no one answers, he slowly pushes it open. He hears their shower running, and drops the hoodie and shirt outside of their bathroom door. He would fold the clothes as a basic courtesy, typically, but he doesn't want to risk his mom coming in to check on something, only to catch him hovering by his parents' bathroom.
The striker returns to his room and undresses as soon as he steps into his own bathroom. He tosses his yukata into the hamper, jumps into the shower, and sighs in contentment under the hot water. His muscles immediately relax as he washes away the grimy layer lingering from the festival, which had remained stuck on him since he hadn't showered before bed. 'Wait…' He pauses mid-scrub, slowly realizing that no shower last night also means he didn't brush his teeth. 'Oh no...' There's a weird taste in his mouth, which means he definitely has morning breath, but he already talked to Reina, and god, did he really blow his smelly morning breath all over her face-
He smacks his forehead against the cool tiles, attempting to control the embarrassed flush spreading over his face. But now there's an even bigger problem: he made the mistake of thinking about Reina. He roughly shakes his head, determined to not think about her right now. He in fact tries very, very hard to not focus on how she is showering just next door. But attempting not to think about her makes him think about her. Even worse, it guides his thoughts towards what people wear in showers, and her current state of undress, and how she felt lying across him, and how her curves felt pressed into him, and that moan she made last night when she was licking the choco-banana… And the next thing he knows, he's slamming the shower handle to ice cold.
Ten minutes later and he's towel-drying his hair with one hand and reaching for his phone with the other. Yoichi turns it on, and the device slowly wakes up after having run out of battery overnight.
10:04 AM
'Shit.' She had to be back at her family's house in Tokyo in just under an hour. He wasn't even sure how far into Tokyo the Itoshi residence was.
The striker skips down the stairs two at a time, before sliding into the kitchen.
"Morning champ!" His father greets over his shoulder from the table, where he sits nursing a tea and browsing the news on his phone. "What did you guys want for breakfast?"
"Morning Tousan," Yoichi replies. "Something quick. Reina has to be at her family's place in Tokyo by eleven. When she gets down here, we probably won't have any time to eat at the table and will just head out." The striker bites back the sudden urge to yawn. He definitely stayed up too late last night with her. But he doesn't have the luxury of being drowsy right now, not when he's within a mile of his conniving mother, who could make another attempt at his sanity at any moment. Yoichi tunes back into his conversation with his dad. "I'll just grab something simple for Reina now, and then I'll eat properly when I get back." The striker goes to the cupboards to dig up something edible for her to eat on the go. He spots a few options lining the shelves, and is quietly browsing them when his dad speaks up again.
"So how was your night?" He asks lightly, smiling 'innocently.'
"Better than my morning," Yoichi grumbles. The younger Isagi doesn't believe the older man to be 'innocent' at all. In fact, the striker would bet his career that Tousan was calmly drinking his tea and reading the news in the kitchen, smirking as his wife wreaked havoc on the other side of the wall just thirty minutes ago. His grip on the cupboard door tightens. "She was filming us dad! That's so not okay!"
His dad chuckles. "Oh, just leave her to her fun, Yocchan. It's harmless."
Yoichi's about to explain how Reina was borderline hysterical, so no it wasn't harmless, but he hears fast steps coming down the stairs.
"Ah, good-morning, Reina-chan!" his dad happily greets. "By chance is my lovely wife trailing behind you?"
"Good morning Issei-san! Iyo-san said she was going to take another aspirin for her headache and then rest for a bit before she made her way down." Yoichi hears Reina reply, his body still turned away from her and towards the cupboards. He takes a few breaths to prepare. 'How do I even face her after what Kaasan did this morning?' His neck burns.
His dad chuckles. "Ahh, you'll have to forgive her. She usually doesn't drink that much, but her and our neighbour Toga-san have an odd sort of rivalry that comes out in rather entertaining ways for the rest of us, especially at festivals."
'Entertaining?' Yoichi snorts derisively. 'For you, maybe.' The striker grabs a granola bar box. It has chocolate chips in it, which Reina will like. But more than that, it's his mother's favourite flavour, and there's only one bar left. 'Perfect choice,' he thinks, with probably more vindictiveness than necessary. He folds the now empty box and puts it in the mini-recycling bin on the bottom shelf. Then he tries to see if there's something else he can grab for Reina. 'A granola bar isn't much.'
"The one who should be apologizing is me." Yoichi doesn't need to turn to know she's bowing, the overly formal weirdo. "I am so sorry for spending the night. It was a complete accident. I didn't mean to disrespect you or-"
His dad, thankfully, interrupts her needless apology. "You certainly don't need to apolo-is that a bruise? What happened to your face, Reina-chan?"
Yoichi immediately turns around and, oh, yeah, there's the bruise that he caused. Now that his attention isn't consumed by his mother's antics, the mark is obvious. A small bluish-purple patch blooms on her cheek, in the same spot his chin had smacked yesterday. But, also the same side that he had pressed into his chest earlier this morning.
Guilt swirls in his gut.
Reina smiles. "Oh, nothing worth noting. Like I was telling Iyo-san, I was trying to pop open a ramune bottle and slammed it into my cheek instead." She brings a hand to scratch the back of her nape as she gives a light laugh. "Just me being clumsy! Yoichi did tell me he'd open it for me, but I just didn't listen!"
Yoichi's struck by two things: first, how easily the lie comes from her. Second, how good she looks in his sweater.
"Ahh, I see." Her dad nods. "Might be a bit late, but do you need some ice?"
She shakes her head. "No thank you. Iyo-san already offered. And I am so sorry to be rude and rushed, but I told my otousama that I would be back at his house by eleven, so I really need to get going to make it back in time."
"Please don't apologize." The older man stands, bringing his empty cup to the sink. "I'm the one feeling guilty we're sending you off without a proper breakfast." He smiles. "Rain check?"
Reina blinks, seeming surprised, before she absolutely beams. "O-of course! I would really like that!"
Yoichi grabs her bag from her back.
"Oh, Yo-kun, you really don't have to-"
"I know. It's fine." He hands her the granola bar. "Come on, you can eat that as we walk to the station."
"You even found me a chocolate one?!" She smiles appreciatively with bright eyes. "Thanks Isacchi!"
He feels his cheeks turn the same colour as her sweater, and he averts his gaze. But the kitchen is small, so when he tries to look away from her, he ends up meeting his dad's eyes. Huge mistake. Tousan is definitely laughing at him as the older man dries his hands.
'I need new parents.' Yoichi narrows his eyes at his dad, before grabbing Reina by the back of her sweater and guiding her towards the foyer. Reina resists, just momentarily, so she can once more thank and bow to his Tousan because she's fucking extra. "You don't always have to keep bowing to them, it's weird." He tugs her straight again.
"I'm being polite." She huffs.
His dad chuckles. "Give my son a refresher course on the subject, will you Reina-chan? He seems to have entirely forgotten his manners while he was at Blue Rock."
"Will do!" Reina chimes as Yoichi finally tugs her out of the kitchen.
"It's Blue Lock, Tousan." Yoichi corrects over his shoulder, even though he's like fifty percent certain his dad intentionally mispronounced it to just to badger him.
The pair reach the front door. "I've already said my thanks and goodbye to your mother, so I'm good to go!" Reina's comment is entirely unprompted. And honestly, even if she hadn't already said her farewell, Yoichi had no plans on letting her linger here long enough for his mom to come down and sink her demon claws into the girl again.
As Reina slides on her shoes, it takes a monstrous amount of effort to not let his gaze linger on how her jeans stretch while she bends. His gaze bounces around, until he notices her damp strands leaving patches of darkness on his sweater.
"Your hair's still wet." He observes.
She shrugs. "I dried it as best as I could, given that we have to get going." She nods to the window as she finishes tying her laces. "Besides, it doesn't look too cold outside at all."
He opens the door and she's right. It's still unseasonably warm, just like it was yesterday. Only, there's some autumn wind today. So he closes the door, reaches over her shoulder, and pulls the red hood over her head. Then he grabs his favourite scarf from the coat rack and wraps the red fabric around her neck. Maybe his hands hover around her shoulders a bit longer than they have to, but whatever.
"Oh, umm, thank you." She says quietly, smiling warmly at him.
His cheeks heat up again and his heart spasms. "I j-just don't want you to blame me when you catch a cold." He looks away from her only to see his dad a few feet away, leaning against the wall next to the kitchen, watching the entire thing with an amused smirk and a glass of water that's probably meant for his mom.
"You know, it's actually an old-wives' tale that you get sick from going outside with wet hair? It was debunked when-" Miss Forever Oblivious hasn't noticed his dad in the periphery, watching them with a stupid entertained expression. And Yoichi will actually explode if his mom comes down and starts hounding them again too. So before Reina can finish her sentence, he all but shoves her out the door with him.
"Tell me the rest on our way," he instructs as he closes the house door, while resolutely ignoring his dad's playful wave and knowing smile. "You're getting late."
Reina munches away happily on her granola bar in between chattering. They're a few minutes into their walk, and she's just finished telling him about germs in space. (Don't ask him how she got on that topic, he's been here the entire conversation and he still doesn't know the answer to that. She's like an unending motor when she starts going. It's honestly hilarious.)
"…and that's how four new strains of bacteria, totally unknown to science before, were discovered on the International Space Station! And so next they…"
The striker hears a bicyclist coming up from behind them. Yoichi uses their joined hands to immediately pull her closer and let the cyclist pass.
Yoichi could loosen his grip once more, but he likes her just fine where she is, with her shoulder pressed against his arm. Yoichi feels like she'll question him for keeping her so close, so he creates an excuse. His free hand comes up to brush away some non-existent crumbs from the scarf around her neck. "Don't get crumbs over my stuff," the striker mutters, cheeks flushed.
"Ah, sorry!" Reina says sheepishly. She doesn't move away from him. It's mostly nice, except now that she's closer, he gets a better view of the bruise.
"I'm the one that's sorry," He admits, guilt swirling in his gut.
"For what?" She blinks with genuine confusion.
He looks pointedly at the mark on her face.
"Oh, that?" She shrugs. "It's totally okay. You didn't mean to."
("For someone who never means to," the voice whispers, "you sure hurt her a lot, don't you?")
"Besides, I've already accepted this," she brings up the granola bar wrapper, "as your apology."
He chuckles. "I thought I wasn't allowed to use sweets to bribe you anymore, remember?"
"Nope, I don't know what you're talking about," she replies loftily, before pointing a stern finger at him. "Which by the way, you still owe me coffee and a cookie, mister. I haven't forgotten that part."
He raises a brow, "Nope, I don't know what you're talking about," he echoes playfully, plucking the wrapper from her fingers and depositing it in the street bin they pass.
"I could have done it," Reina whines. "I'm not so messy I'd litter, Isa-chin." Then she pouts. "And you totally remember your promise, you liar."
"Well, calling me names sure isn't going to jog my memory," he teases. He means for it to come out more sternly, but he's powerless against her puffed up cheeks. "So… when are you free this weekend to grab that cookie and coffee that I maybe remember promising you?" His neck flushes at his boldness. The striker glances away from her nervously, and offhandedly notes that they're entering the neighborhood surrounding the station. More people flow around them now, moving in and out of the local shops.
Reina seems like she's about to respond when she suddenly stumbles over a crack in the sidewalk. She stops herself from falling pretty easily by tightening her hold on him, but he notices the flicker of discomfort on her face.
"How are your feet?" He asks, just now remembering how messed up they looked last night.
"So much better now that I'm back in my good old reliable sneakers! Your mom also gave me bandages and medical cream to use after my shower. She's so nice; even though I told her she didn't have to, she put some in my bag too." Reina's smile turns into confusion. "Speaking of, where's your practice bag? I thought you were planning to go to the field today?"
("Excellent question, Miss Distraction," the voice growls. "Where is your gym bag, hmm? How will you become the best in the world if you Don't. Fucking. Practice.")
"I figured I'd drop you off first, head back to eat breakfast at home, and then go to the gym for a bit."
She frowns. "You really don't have to keep walking me back. I know it's really out of your way."
("Louder for the idiots in the back, please.")
"It's fine. I like walking you back." He responds without thinking, and then immediately feels awkward over saying something so sappy. He quickly backtracks. "I mean, you know, not just because of just you, or whatever, or anything, I mean." He swears he was better at talking to girls before he met this one. "I just, you know, I like walking around and stuff. I guess…"*
She giggles lightly, squeezing his hand tighter and leaning her head more on his shoulder. "Where do you usually walk around?"
"Ahh, umm. Nowhere exciting." He eyes the kintsuba in one of the shop displays, failing to control his flaming cheeks. "Just like around my school and parks and… umm, and stuff?"*
He feels like such a bumbling idiot beside her sometimes, honestly.
"And what does your brain get up to while you're aimlessly traipsing around?"
"Just… stuff, I guess."
"Come on," she whines. "Let me in on the groundbreaking internal contemplations of Yoichi Isagi as he strolls around his school and parks and stuff." Her voice becomes intentionally low and gruff with her last few words.
He raises an unimpressed eyebrow at her terrible imitation. She responds with a mischievous grin.
"You're so annoying, and I definitely don't sound like that." He chuckles despite himself. "I don't know…" he ponders on how to answer her question. "I don't think about anything too exciting," he shrugs. "I just like to, well, wander around."
Reina giggles into his scarf. "How simple."
"Are you calling me stupid?" He teases, turning more towards her. He tugs her hood over her eyes with his free hand.
She shakes her head to cast off his hand and settles the hood back at her hairline. "Of course not, dummy." She tightens her grip on his other hand, the one still clasped with hers between them. "I just mean you're… humble." She nods. "I feel like you're the kind of person who… who…" Her eyes widen when they see a tea shop to her side. "Ahh, that's it." She pauses her stride, and turns them both to face the display. "Like if the world was ending all of a sudden one day," she motions towards the shop, "you'd be perfectly content with just spending your last day drinking tea and eating kintsuba."*
He eyes the various tea options advertised on the window and shrugs. "Sounds like a good way to spend my last hours, if you ask me."
"Oh! And I bet you'd probably go out of your way to see your mom and dad wherever they were, no matter the pending apocalypse..." She gives him a tender look that sets his neck on fire. "You're just kind and considerate like that."
("Tell her what you almost did to her last night." The voice taunts. "See if she calls you kind then.")
Yoichi's lungs tighten. 'That wasn't me, that was you.'
("But we're the same, aren't we? Better remember lover boy," the voice slithers into his ears. "As long as you're near her… I will be too.")
To his surprise, she guides him off the train at Shibuya station. He gives her a questioning glance.
"I need to head to the Academy first. I, umm, forgot something," she explains as they reach one of the above-ground exits. "You really don't need to come along. I feel guilty dragging you everywhere when you're so busy." Despite her words, she tenses as she speaks, which only makes Yoichi more concerned and determined to walk her back.
When they reach the gates of her school, his gaze follows her through the iron-wrought gates until her back's no longer visible. Then he turns to lean against the wall as he waits, the large brick one that extends over what he assumes is the entire campus. He tries (futilely) to avoid the suspicious stares of the guards. Each time he accidentally glances their way he notices their disapproving glares. The third time it happens, he turns his gaze towards the Shibuya skyline.
A few minutes later, Reina suddenly pops in front of him. To his disappointment, she's no longer in his sweater, and she's offering him back his scarf. Yoichi catalogs what she's switched into. It's one of those expensive-looking, woven, and oversized cardigans that he's seen on the covers of some of his female classmates' magazines.* 'Looks itchy,' he judges. 'You probably would have been comfier if you had just stayed in my sweater. You looked just fine in it.'
"Here you go, here you go!" She sing-songs while pushing the Bastard München merchandise closer to his chest.
The striker hesitates before taking the red material back. He only keeps it momentarily, before wrapping it back around her neck once more. Her lips part, but he interrupts whatever she plans to say. "Y-your hair's still damp." He abruptly offers as an explanation. He quickly grabs her hand and hastily turns to head back towards the station. "And I've got a good sense of your crazy now." He says while refusing to meet her eyes. "Don't bother dry cleaning that old sweater, or even waste time washing it. It's too short for my arms; I don't even wear it anymore."
"Really?" She asks. "That's a shame, it's so comfy."
'Don't do it,' he warns himself, palms starting to sweat. 'Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. How awkward will it be if she says no?' His brain warns, but like the dummy she thinks he is, his mouth moves. "If you like it, you can, umm, have it," he mumbles bashfully, still looking away from her. "My, umm, shirt too. If you want, or whatever." His chest twists with apprehension. And he grows more and more nervous when she doesn't immediately respond. 'Too much.' His stomach lurches. 'I'm being too much and she's going to say no.' He glances back her way to see how put off she is by his offer, and readies himself to begin some damage control.
But his attention finally seems to spur her response. "Oh, umm, okay, I'd like, I mean, If you don't wear it, umm, I can, umm, since, well… reusing is good for the environment, you know? Actually, there was even this study that one of the lab's older members was involved with that showed it!" She starts to speak faster. "It focused on the impact on greenhouse gasses, like methane and nitrous oxide, based on the carbon footprints of countries that have bigger recycling cultures versus reusing cultures and…"
'You're so oblivious.' Yoichi exhales in relief as she continues rambling. 'Does she really think I'm giving her my clothes for the good of the planet?'
("What other reason could you have?" The voice mocks. "Surely you don't think she'll keep them as fond little mementos after you leave her? She'll probably set them on fire.")
Yoichi ignores the voice and instead checks back in with the girl next to him. Reina's now talking about some scientific sounding things ("direct air capture technology") in some other countries ("originated in Switzerland but there's a micro version at NIT, which is this really amazing school in America. Oh gosh, I'd do anything to be accepted there!") He's about to interject, and redirect their conversation to literally anything more interesting. Like maybe they could talk about soccer tactics again? But before he can interrupt her, her phone does.
"Oh, already?" She pauses at the loud beeping, pulling out her cell phone to turn off the sound. She gives him a strained smile. "Give me one minute before we go any further, Yo-kun." Then she pulls them both into a little recess in the outer brick wall, which annoys him because they were almost clear of the intimidating structure.
Reina uses one arm to swing her bag from her back to in front of her. (Oh, whoops. He forgot to take it from her when she came back out). Then she starts digging through the backpack's front pocket with her other arm.
"If you were neater," Yoichi chastises, looking at the odds and ends sticking out of the open pocket that she doesn't close before moving on to the larger one behind it. "It wouldn't take you so long to find your shit when you need it."
(Was that a broken hair brush wrapped in a phone charger? Dear god.)
"Your unsolicited commentary is both unnecessary and aggravating, mister strik-Hey!" He pulls her backpack from her, and holds it out so she can better look for whatever she needs with both hands. She smirks as she returns full-force to her excavation. "Ahh, so you can be useful, Yo-tan." She pulls out metal pen (?) and sticks it in her mouth, then continues to dig through her bag.
His eyebrow twitches at her needling. "What was that you said? Oh, you want me to drop your backpack? Are you sure?"
"Hwa, hwa, hwa, ywou're swo fwunny," she snarks around the pen.
'A pen that was probably just at the bottom of your messy bag. Urgh, that's fucking disgusting, Reina.'
"Awh hwah!" She plucks the pen from her lips and quickly turns before he can see the second thing she just found. "You keep holding my bag, 'kay Yocchan?!"
He's sure his expression conveys exactly how unimpressed with this situation he is. Growing impatient after just a few moments, the striker steps closer to her back, looking over her shoulder. He's curious to see what she's huddled over (and very unsubtly trying to hide.) 'Is that a…' He raises a brow. 'Yup, it is.' She has a mini screwdriver in her right hand. She holds the pen (which he now realizes isn't a pen at all, but a thin wrench) so that its shaft is braced by two fingers of her left hand and its head presses down on part of her… bracelet?
Her itchy-looking cardigan was long-sleeved, so he hadn't realized until now that the bracelet he had given her last night had a new neighbor. An expensive looking one…
The striker watches as she fiddles with the silver bracelet using her makeshift tools.
"What's that?" Yoichi asks. He doesn't know much about jewelry, but he's pretty sure most people don't use screwdrivers on them.
"…A manacle," she mutters under her breath.
"A what?" He asks again, because even though he heard her, there's no way he heard her correctly, right?
"I said a bangle." She replies louder, eyes still focused on her wrist. "Give me a minute, 'kay Isacchi? I need to focus for a second."
While she continues to tinker with her tools, he can't help but… compare. Because screwdriver required or not, the intricate 'bangle' looks a lot nicer than the one he gave her. ("Maybe Reo bought it for her?" The voice jeers. "It looks like the fancy kind of thing a billionaire like him could afford to give their girlfriend. With something as nice as that, why would she even bother with that crappy piece of plastic you put on her?")
Despite the fact that she's supposedly 'focusing', she seems to sense his unvoiced thoughts. "Add a one and then times it by a million, Yocchan." She says quietly. "That's how much more I like the one you gave me."
'Weird phrase. But weird girl, so it fits,' he supposes. He forgets her manacle comment, entirely distracted by the giddy bubbling in his gut. 'She likes mine better.'
"But Otousama…" She continues. "He told me to wear it, so…" she shrugs.
'Oh, good.' He feels the tension leave his shoulders. 'It wasn't from Reo.'
("But if it was," the voice whispers, "she'd probably pick his gift over yours." Any previously dissipated tension creeps back up his neck ten-fold. "You remember how she smiled at him, right? And how close she was to him on the bench, and how she put her hand on his arm and leaned into him…")
"Let's get going!" Reina suddenly chirps, zipping up the pocket of her backpack (that's still in his arms) after having already dumped her tools back in while Yoichi was lost in his thoughts. "We only have about twenty minutes to make it to Otousama's house." Yoichi pulls her bag onto his back while she talks. "And it's fifteen minutes away if we speed walk and catch the first train!"
And the striker would ask more about the bracelet, except, holy shit. She's clinging to his arm again, but not like before. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. His cheeks blaze. This time both her hands hold his one hand, and she pushes herself against him, so that his arm is cushioned right between her soft bre-
'Don't be a creep, don't be a creep!'
"Where was I?" She muses, thankfully ignorant of the direction of his thoughts. Which, even though he tries really hard to avoid 'perf' thoughts, they'e unrelenting now: how much he likes holding her, how soft she is, how pretty she is, how smooth her skin is, and how much he wants to touch her.
"Oh, yeah! NIT's direct air capture project. It's totally not my area of expertise at all, but Nezu-sensei was saying that when he did his third fellowship there. Well, before he worked for JAXA, obviously. He…"
Yoichi's palms sweat and his neck burns and his heart pounds as she keeps chattering in the background.
Fun fact
How Reina does math:
Zero x a million = Zero
(Zero + 1) x a million = A million
Please consider leaving a review/kudo/ vote if you're enjoying : ) Also, anyone else here totally love Iyo? Like I started the fic for Isagi and Reina, obviously, but his mom has won me over as my fav character now :'P
Asterisk Notes
*As per the official Egoist Bible, his hobby is to walk around in his free time and he'd spend his last day drinking tea and eating kintsuba
*oversized clothes are currently very fashionable/popular in Japan.
Preview for future chapters of Onikko
Yoichi immediately looks up to see the tall, imposing form of Ego Jinpachi …"I gave you the chance of a lifetime, but you squandered it…"
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He isn't quite sure how, but the next thing he knows, he's pressing her back against an alley wall…'If it's my last night with her, then I'm taking as much as I can.'
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Why does his chest feel hollow?
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"Abbi?! Abbi!" The six-year-old cries, clinging to her grandma's legs. "Was I bad? I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Reina sobs. "Please don't leave me! Please take me back!"
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Responses to Reviewers
(Thank you SO much you guys. You guys are literally the reason why I'm still motivated to post so TYSM!)
R-EWF- very good point! Remember, this isn't actually Ego though, it's what Yochi *thinks* Ego would say. We'll get to Ego's thoughts in NEL if I can make it there lol! : )
uzu i-sa - lol yes his inner voice is definitely going to keep bringing some angsty drama! I just wrote it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was unconsciously being remembered from somewhere else! Thank you for catching that! I went back and changed it :) Barou x Megumi will probably/hopefully/eventually end up in Onikko Outakes.
ErlanggSIOC - ahhh tysm - OMG LOL! Yes I totally agree the man is repressed :'P Don't give up on Rin and Sae yet! Especially Rin - he won't be perfect and him and Reina will definitely have their issues, but they'll have their cute sib moments too :) I WAS super curious re the authors choice to name it Bastard instead of Bayern - there are a lot of other B words they could have gone with lol. She'll be helping them eventually, just not in the analyst role, but she'll def be helping the BL boys out a few arcs into the future! Sae and Reina - I am SO excited to write them! I have flashes of scenes in my head and when I get their I'm gonna be having a blast lol. Omg no please ramble, I literally go back to reviews like yours all the time when I'm running out of gas ! I love reading (and re-reading) them!
Nelly23 - Omg I love the idea! It was actually one of my initial plot points to have one of the boys have a bit of an issue with Reina/ keep feeding Isagi's inner voice re: her being a distraction because they were actually jealous of her getting to be with him (it was initially going to be Bachira). But then I loved the idea of Bachira's friendship with her and Bachira and Chigiri giving him girl advice too much to let it go :P Ngl I totally lowkey ship Chigiri/Kunigami - I was ambivalent towards them initially, but man, reddit and fanart are convincing lol!
OliviaStone - omg ikr I'm having so much fun with his voice! I love that you caught the parallels - yes interesting decisions abound hehehe ;)
Nilenium - yay im so glad it feels organic! It's my first time writing an OC as a main character in a fic so I'm so glad it's translating well! The kiss is coming in the next few chapters, but we got some drama first! I went back and changed it, tysm for pointing it out!
Darth Traya - tysm! Idk how I didn't spot that, whoops! I went back and fixed it : D ! If you spot any others, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Isagi loves thighs - AHHH i'm so glad you liked it! Omg no NOT annoying at all, you're reviews literally breathe life into my motivation when I start getting unmotivated. Omg all the Itoshi's need therapy, which will be very evidence in their chaps D': Omg I was literally squealing myself when I wrote the obi scene :'P Rin and Reina will definitely have a...turbulent... dynamic ;P Okay I totally tried to look of his fav type and couldn't find it! Can you send me the link? He'll be coming up in a few chaps and that may be useful info lol Omg I can't wait for anime Kurona either :'D Love you loads too! Thanks so much for you reviews, as always!
AnythingForGiorno - totally on my to-read list, promise! You shall see by the end of ch9 part 2 where this boy's head's at. Family drama ~chapter 11-13ish, it's coming! Tysm for your review!
Sp8cefluff - omg i know I was writing and squealing at the same time lol. Rin and Reina will be… interesting, hopefully ;) Ty for your response, noted! I'll definitely work on pacing in future first chapters. I love feedback like this - I totally thought the issue was that I wasn't giving enough time/interactions to showcase Reina as a character so people weren't 'invested' enough in her to continue. Double spacing it is :D !
finavilatwis - ahhh I'm glad you think I'm doing him justice :')
102602, Hanasaku22, Thisisaguiltypleasurem, Schizosagi – TYSM : D
