Chapter 5: Feelings

Ichiro's phone alarm went off, causing him to turn over in his sleep and turn it off. He grabbed his phone and woke up to stretch. As he was getting ready, he heard another sound going off and checked his phone to see if he got a text.

Good morning

Jyushi!

That was sort of quick. He decided to text him back as he was getting ready for the day.

Morning

you're up pretty early this morning

Yeah I guess so

So you got training today after all, huh? Or you just couldn't wait to talk to me?3

Hehe I guess both3

Meanwhile, Jyushi was actually at the Temple, albeit pretty early. Kuko just decided to drag him out of bed earlier for an early morning training session for some god forsaken reason. He noticed Jyushi was on his phone and punched him in the stomach, causing the goth to cry out a bit in tears. "Hng~!"

"This is a training Temple! Why the fuck did you bring your phone!?" The Monk asked, seeming kind of agitated this morning.

"I-uh…" Jyushi sobbed.

"STOP CRYING OR I'LL GIVE YA A WORSE BEATING THAN BEFORE!" Kuko screamed.

"Um, I was, I was just texting someone!" Jyushi tried to explain through tears, forcibly wiping them away.

Kuko sighed. "You can text that bastard Lawyer or whoever later. We gotta do your training."

"Um...But I'm not texting Hitoya." Jyushi got another text from Ichiro.

Haha, that's great. If you're done training we can talk some more a bit later

I gotta eat breakfast rn, But I'll probably call you later, K? xx

Jyushi smiled a bit when Ichiro added the little acronyms. It seemed to cheer him up.

The goth was startled and jumped a bit when Kuko suddenly grabbed his phone out of his hands.

"Aah! Kuko-San! Please I won't bring my phone again, I promise!" Jyushi begged, trying to reach his phone from the Monk. He didn't want Kuko looking at the texts between him and Ichiro. "You can have it back when we're done here. Huh?" Kuko looked above the messages to see someone's name, or at least a nickname, "Ichi3". With the little heart acronym.

It couldn't be who he thought it was, was it? Nah, he was probably just seeing things and that it was just a coincidence, He thought. There were many People with the name "Ichi" in their names, or at least a variation of it. Just like how there's a lot of Yamadas like He, Jyushi and Hitoya were talking about-

No. Forget it. Jyushi was probably out of his league anyways, Kuko thought. "Come on, We'll take this outside."

"Um, ok." Jyushi said.

Ikebukuro

"You seem pretty cheerful than usual, Nii-Chan." Saburo said to Ichiro, who was clearly smiling to himself as if he was melting away at the thought of the person he loved who texted him this morning, as the three brothers were eating breakfast. "Ah. Of course some clumsy dumb ass like you left the pancakes a bit burnt." The youngest said to Jiro. It seems like it was his turn to make breakfast.

"Well damn, who hurt you this morning?" Jiro complained. "Anyways, Nii-Chan, let me guess, Jyushi called?" Jiro said, wanting in on the details too, as if he and Saburo were two school girls dying to hear the latest gossip.

"Well, um, yeah. How did you-?" Ichiro said, surprised and blushing.

"Oh it's just that you looked pretty happier than usual looking at your phone, so he probably texted you." Saburo said, since he detected his older brother laughing a bit and smiling at his phone lovingly earlier. "Did you finally manage to like, yknow, ask him out or something?" Jiro asked.

"No…" Ichiro answered, a little ashamed. "Again, it's just not that simple." Ichiro said as he walked out of the kitchen and into the office with Jiro and Saburo following beside him. "Plus he lives in Nagoya."

"So? It's not far from here like you said. Are you nervous or something?" Jiro asked.

"N-No, I'm not!" Ichiro said, hesistant and embarrassed. "besides, even if I was, I don't know how to like, say that I love him and that he's like the light of my life!" Ichiro said as he was frantically paced, rushing to getting ready in the mirror and combing his hair, even though he had nothing planned. "Oh God, what am I doing?" He said as he dropped down on his desk, overwhelmed and sulking a bit.

"You could try maybe, I dunno, not being a coward and like, confessing already if you want him so bad." Jiro said, trying to giving advice.

Ichiro took a deep breath. "You guys are right. I don't know what I'm worrying about." He said as he got up and walked over to his brothers. "I'll probably call him to confess. I don't have anything for today."

"Then call him?" Saburo suggested.

"I can't. He has training right now." Ichiro said, sighing. "I can't running from this forever...I don't what time his session ends but, should I…?"

Jiro and Saburo just glanced at each other awkwardly. "Um, I mean, if you really want to. But what about the money we were supposed to pay the band back for what we did at the concert?" Saburo asked.

Oh shit, that's right. He and his brothers worked extra hard as usual to earn more money, But it could probably take maybe a year to even try to pay for damages with that kind of money. Well, they've been famous since the division rap battle, so maybe the extra money will cover. "Ah. Right." Ichiro said, rubbing the back of his head. "But if you see him or any of his band members, you'll apologize for what happened a few weeks ago, got it?"

The younger brothers sighed and lowered their heads in shame, "Yes…"

"Good. Alright, now do you guys mind clearing the table? I'm uh...a little busy…" Ichiro asked. "Ok Nii-chan, whatever you say…" Saburo said awkwardly as he and Jiro left the room to the kitchen, once again leaving their older brother with his thoughts.

Ichiro just took out his phone and sighed.

He didn't know if this was the right time and whether or not he should do this.

Should he?

Nagoya

Jyushi was sore almost all over his body during training today, but at least he got his phone back. He couldn't wait to call Ichiro, so he took out his phone as he was walking away from the temple.

Hitoya was standing around, supposedly waiting for Jyushi. Jyushi just happened to find him by the temple. "Oh, hello, Hitoya-san!" Jyushi said. "Is something the matter?" "Well, not that it really concerns me, but a certain video clip of one of your concerts came up on the internet." Hitoya replied. Jyushi froze a bit in panic and some certain thoughts were coming to mind. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble if that's what you're thinking. However, I think you might want to see this. Actually, I think I'll just show you at my office."

"you could've just sent the video link to me through text, Hitoya-san. That's how people send videos now." Jyushi said. "Ah, ok…" Hitoya replied, a little embarrassed now, seeming a bit behind on the times. "Look, just meet me in my office, I'll drive ya there." Hitoya said as he and Jyushi both walked to his car and drove off.

Amaguni Law Offices

"W-what are you wanting to show me, Hitoya-san?" Jyushi asked as they both arrived to his office. "Let me see if I can look it up real quick, hold on…" Hitoya said as he tried to pull up a popular video site. "It was kinda popular a few weeks ago for some reason-ah, here it is." Hitoya muttered. Jyushi looked over his shoulder to watch the video.

It seemed to depict two young boys no younger than their teen years fighting on stage, during what was seemingly Jyushi's band's concert. Jyushi instantly recognized them as Jiro and Saburo somewhat, but for Hitoya's sake, he kept watching anyways. It seemed that an audience member must've filmed that fiasco during the concert and posted it on the internet, he was quite too embarrassed to even say anything, considering what happened.

It was then Ichiro got up on the stage to stop the fight, but not before security guards came to show them out, but Hitoya then paused the video at the moment before where Ichiro put an end to his brothers' fight. "That young man looks awfully familiar. Don't ya think Jyushi?" Hitoya asked, scrunging his eyes to have a better look, considering the video's sort of shoddy quality. "Um…" Jyushi was a bit nervous to say anything.

"Hm? Jyushi? You know him?" Hitoya asked. Jyushi sighed out of defeat. "He's the boy I told you I had feelings for. I met him during one my concerts. We talked for a while after and He's actually really sweet, and we had something special together." Jyushi explained to Hitoya. "Hng...He's been on my mind for weeks now and I think I might have feelings for him!"

"So? This is a guy you've only met once during one of your stupid concerts weeks ago. What makes you think this is special to you?" Hitoya said, tired and not wanting to deal with the goth's problems right now.

"Uh...actually…" Jyushi said. He then told Hitoya about Ichiro and how he was actually the guy who saved him from being beaten up by a random thug during one of his part time jobs months ago, and that was also because he had a family business he created where he and his brothers do random jobs for others, called Yamada Odd Jobs.

Hitoya then came to a realization. "Wait so, the Yamada guy who saved me from that asshole was…?" Jyushi nodded. "Ah. Well, I guess we'll have to tell Kuko then-" Hitoya tried to walk out of his office, but was interrupted by a panicked Jyushi. "NO!" Jyushi said, stopping the lawyer by grabbing him on the shoulder.

"Kuko-san will be angry if I tell him about Ichiro! You saw how he was when we talked about him in the temple during my training." Jyushi said in worry. Hitoya was a bit startled from that but listened anyhow, even if he didn't fully understand either situation.

"Alright, if it makes you feel better, I'll only tell him about my encounter with him. You don't have to tell him about who really saved you back there." Hitoya reassured. "Th-Thank you so much Hitoya!" Jyushi beamed in relief and hugged him. "Honestly, I don't really know why you're coming to me for this romance nonsense. It's not like I'm an expert just because I was with someone for a few years." the lawyer sighed. "But I'm happy to help, I guess." He chuckled a bit at the young Goth. "Now get out of my office." Hitoya said, sighing again. gently breaking away from the hug.

A few hours later…

Jyushi took a deep breath.

"Ichiro-kun...there's been something I've just been wanting to tell you for a while now. Since that concert tour me and my band held a few weeks back, You've been all I've been thinking about. And I've never really enjoyed being with someone who makes me this happy and makes me feel like this before. I love you…"

"No, that sounds too desperate." Jyushi sighed out of second hand emberrassment, as he was practicing his confession in the mirror in his room. "Oh!" Jyushi said as he cleared his throat.

"My dearest betrothed, Ichiro Yamada, you have been beckoning in my memory for many moons as of late ever since our last encounter during one of my serenades...we are like two lovers destined to be together from the moment our eyes met on that night…"

"hnng...I can't do it!" Jyushi whined as he rested his head on the mirror.

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Ichiro calling. Of course.

Jyushi picked up and answered anyways. "Hello…?"

"Oh hey, Jyushi! Sorry I didn't call you again sooner, a request came up at the last minute. It was nothing big though." Ichiro called, as he was a bit tired from today. "Anyways, I've missed you~" he said, flirting.

Jyushi blushed. "I've missed you too, Ichi…" He said, melting at Ichiro's voice through the phone. "Anyways, what have you been up to?" Ichiro asked. "Oh, uh...I was just busy today too, that's all." The goth said, referring to what he was just doing in the mirror.

"Ah, that's good." Ichiro replied. "Hey, so, I was just thinking, since we haven't been able to talk much and spend time together since that concert, maybe one of us could come to one of our hometowns to visit in the morning, since we live in different cities, Ya know...just to make up for lost time and stuff…" Ichiro said, blushing. He knew exactly what he meant, given that he hasn't been able to confess to Jyushi. "When neither of us are busy, of course!"

"O-oh, that sounds great!" Jyushi said, also blushing. It was clear that both of them were nervous. "Mmm...Nagoya has really nice temples and stuff, It's very aesthetically pleasing, Though, I think I'd really like to visit Ikebukuro again to see you." Jyushi said as he was basically melting now that Ichiro's here. The eldest Yamada smiled back sweetly.

"Yeah, Nagoya does seem like a pretty nice place, though I think it'll have to wait for next time." Ichiro said. "It'll probably be more comfortable for you to come down and visit, Just to get used to things around there."

"I was just thinking two days from now, if neither of us are busy. I don't have any plans so…" Jyushi said. "Well, I don't have anything planned either." Ichiro said, mentally checking his schedule. "I was thinking we could plan to sight see and eat somewhere. A-and like you said, we could catch up on some stuff!" Jyushi said, stuttering a bit, still nervous now that his crush is talking to him on the phone again, though he doesn't think it's a crush anymore at this point.

"So like...a date?" Ichiro asked. "N-not that it has to be, We're just catching up on stuff, but I mean if you want to also…" Ichiro stuttered a little as well, blushing.

"Maybe...?" The goth was also now just as flustered but teased Ichiro a bit. "I mean, I guess...I don't know."

"Then it's settled. Seeya on Saturday! I'll be waiting for you at the train station." Ichiro said. "Ok! I'll see you Saturday!" Jyushi said, relieved. "Sooo...you wanna hang up or should I~?" Jyushi flirted. Ichiro chuckled a bit. "I don't know what do you think~?" "Hmmm, we can hang up together if you want~" Ichiro giggled. "Alright. Bye." Ichiro said as he hung up, just as Jyushi did aswell.

Jyushi sighed, His feelings being a mixed bag. A bit nervous but at the same time, exited to actually see Ichiro face to face again after what seemed like a few weeks. Sure, he and Ichiro wanted to keep things formal for this meeting, but it was obvious that the chuuni was deeply in love with him, but didn't know how to confess in more than a simple "I love you". He hugged Amanda as he sat beside his bedside on the floor, hardly waiting to meet Ichiro and deep in thought.

Meanwhile, it was the same for Ichiro since he has feelings for him as well, but again, he also didn't know how to confess his feelings for the Visual Kei Musician. Kisses will have to wait as well. He did his usual checking for new Anime and watching the newest anime seasons, and trying put a stop to whatever banter his two younger brothers were having.

Two days later…

The alarm Jyushi set on his phone went off, but Jyushi ignored it at first as he was in a deep sleep, cuddling Amanda as well. After hitting the snooze button two or three times, he woke up and panicked as he realized it was a little later than when he was supposed to wake up for today.

Well, he didn't have any training for today, and nothing about his band thankfully, but he had to have a quick breakfast and finish packing what little things he was bringing for his visit and put Amanda in his bag just in case. It was a good thing he packed two days before, Though he had to be at the train station on time in three hours, so he rushed out the door to get to his destination, even if it tired him out a few times on the way.

Ichiro had announced he was going to the train station to go see Jyushi and catch up on stuff since he's visiting Ikebukuro to Jiro and Saburo as he was leaving out the door, although both the brothers knew what this actually was about as they looked at each other, but chose not say anything.

As Jyushi got on the train to Ikebukuro, he took a deep breath, trying to muster up a confession for when he sees Ichiro as the train had already left Nagoya by now. Ichiro was waiting back at the train station, also trying muster up the courage to confess to Jyushi.

They both had to wait for now in anticipation.