Chapter 34

The boys waited in line, still with Sora and Riku talking amongst themselves at first, but eventually Sora turned to face the other two boys. "Hey, you should join the conversation."

"No thanks," Yata replied.

"But we could talk about something all four of us enjoy," Sora replied.

Saru shrugs, pulling out his phone to play a game.

"What game are you even playing?" Yata asked, after seeing Saruhiko pull out his phone instead of conversing each time.

"Dissidia Final Kingdom: Fantasy Hearts."

"Wait… that's the game your playing?" Yata shouted in exasperation.

"I play that game as well!" Sora interjected. "How long have you played for?"

"Since game launch." Saru commented, not looking up from his phone.

"Same here," Riku said a second later.

"Whoa! That's awesome! It's changes quite a lot huh," Sora commented. "It's cool that we all play. What Kingdom are you guys in?"

"Blue," Saruhiko comment.

"Gold," Riku replied. "You guys?"

"Red, both of us," Sora replied. "Same Clan too. It's odd though, I thought you two would be in the same Clan and Kingdom."

Riku shrugged. "We just had different interests. Plus," he turned to his brother. "I don't think you cared to be in Clan with your brothers, let along Kingdom."

"I was placed in Blue by the induction sorting quiz on day one. Didn't feel like spending the gems to switch Kingdoms."

"Makes sense since you started since the beginning, not that they have that quiz element anymore," Yata commented. "Guess you play it often?"

"Very."

"How good are your clans?" Sora asked.

It looked like Riku was about to answer, but before he could, they had made it to the front of the line. The attendant told them to go to their boat shortly after they gave their party number.

Sora sat in the front section of the boat and Riku ended up sitting behind him. Saru sat in the back against the seat back. Yata stood there for the briefest moment, looking at the only spot that was left open with enough room. With a deep breath he stepped in and sat down in front of Saruhiko.

"If you want to… you know be weird and just hold on to me like you did before… um… you can…" Yata whispered back to Saruhiko, hoping only he could hear him.

Saru hesitantly wrapped his arms around Yata, a happy, but scared glint in his eyes. Yata tensed up slightly at first, but unlike the other times, he felt far less uncomfortable by it. It was like the odd feeling he had when Saruhiko went to holding his hand. The odd feeling he didn't quite understand. Yata relaxed after that as the boat was being pulled up the lift. With Yata comfortably leaning against Saru, the taller boy started gently nuzzling his face into the crook of Yata's neck.

"Hey! I said you could hold me! I didn't think you'd go further with it."

"You said I could be weird and hold you," Saru answered, but didn't stop with the nuzzling.

"I didn't mean like that kind of weird!"

"You need to be more specific then."

Yata sighed. "I don't know, okay? You're just being weird… and it's just… you know weird!"

Yata didn't hear a response, instead he felt the movement of Saruhiko shrugging. With nothing more to go on or say, Yata tried his best to enjoy the remainder of the ride. This time it felt much better and no longer was there that awkward feeling in the air.

The ride had ended and was much more soaking than the last. All of the boys seemed to enjoy it after getting, though Yata and Saruhiko didn't actively state that. It was Sora who was the one stating most of the things out of everyone.

But once that was over, the group surprisingly all agreed to head over to the next and last water ride of the theme park. This was not a flume ride like the other two but instead a river rapids ride. This one was for sure to get them far more soaked than the last ones.

When they got in line to wait, Sora turned and faced the group. "So where we last talking on Dissidia Final Kingdom: Fantasy Hearts?"

"I think you had asked us about our clans," Riku replied.

"Oh yeah! So are they like a competitive clan or are you guys just more casual players?"

"Well I'm in a fairly small clan with my eldest brother Zack, his boyfriend Cloud, and one of Zack's friends. We've been in the top rankings a few times. If you've seen a clan from the Gold Kingdom called 'Wolf Pack' then that is the one I'm in."

"I've seen it," Yata said. "You guys are just a clan of four, but you still can make top rankings. It's pretty impressive."

"Well I think it's mainly Zack and Cloud who pull the most for the clan," Riku replied.

"And what about you?" Yata asked, turning to look at Saruhiko.

"What about me?" Saru repeated back the question in a semi-bored, semi-taunting tone.

Yata rolled his eyes. "Sora asked what clans you and Riku were in, or are you just not paying attention?"

"Sora didn't ask what clans, Riku just decided to tell that."

"So… you're not going to tell?" Yata asked.

"If it interests you that much, I'm part of Scepter 4."

Sora and Yata's eyes widened, both of them caught clear in shock. Yata tried to recover himself before continuing the conversation. "Scepter 4?"

"Isn't that like the highest and one of the most efficient clans even when compared to every Kingdom?" Sora added.

Saru's response was just to shrug before pulling out his phone to open up the game.

"I think it is," Yata replied. "How did you even get into a clan like that?"

"It's invite only by the leader. There's a minimum stat requirement to even be considered."

"So you're actually that good at the game?" Yata asked, sounding more curious than before.

"How about you stop asking me questions about a prestigious clan, and talk about the clan you and Sora are in?" Saru asked, redirecting the conversation.

Yata blinked, not expecting such a long sentence all in one breath. He shook his head a second later, trying to brush away the instal confusion. "Ah yeah… Sora and I are in the same clan. We're in Homra."

Saru quirked an eyebrow at Yata's answer. "You're in Homra and asking how I'm in Scepter 4."

"Yeah? So?" Yata retorted. "I can be allowed to wonder, right? Scepter 4 is vastly different than Homra."

"Plus they are in two entirely different Kingdoms and each Kingdom has their own way of playing," Sora interected.

Yata rolled his eyes. "Yes, we all know that." He then turned his attention back to Saruhiko. But that means we are both in top ranking clans. Now I am really curious just how well your group does."

"Well when the update comes for PvP mode, then you guys can go and test that out," Riku suggested.

Yata chuckled. "Yeah! And then we can see who is really better!"

"Depending on how they decide to design the PvP, it wouldn't exactly be a fair fight."

"Huh? Oh yeah… I forgot about the new classes update. I uh… I don't remember what I picked off hand."

"I've chosen to dual class physical support and offensive magic."

"Well, I'll have to check later what roles I have," Yata said as he glanced to the line to see that they were almost at the front of it. Not only that, but Riku and Sora had walked a little further ahead of them to catch up to the front of the line. "But I am sure I could still beat you either way."

"Why do you think I said it might not be fair? If it's one on one I highly doubt I could currently beat anyone who's a single class focus."

Yata sighed heavily. "Whatever. It will still be fun to try and battle against each other when that update releases."

"If you really want me, Misaki, we could always go blow off some steam."

Yata's eyes stretched wider, but before he could comment, Riku turned around, giving his brother his usual strike glare. "Saru, don't even start."

"Tsk. You always ruin my fun."

"I'm trying to make sure that your 'fun' doesn't cause you to get kicked out of the park," Riku said as the group headed over to the eight person circular raft. Sora when first followed by Riku then Saru and Yata. They all sat down and buckled themselves after that.

Without much more time to talk, the ride began and the raft was sent out onto the river pathway. The raft bump and jerked back and forth each time it hit part of the railing along the side. Soon enough they came around a couple of bends and eventually they could see a small booth off on the land where there was a worker. They stood there for a moment before pressing something on a control in front of them.

Water canons went off from behind and rained over the group, drenching them in water. After that it was only the waves from the river that caused the boys to become even more soaked. By the end of it, they got out and started walking towards the edit line. But when they got to the end of it Yata noticed something about the group.

"Wait! Saruhiko how in the world are you not soaked!?"

All of the boys were now looking at him, and it was true. He didn't even look the slightly bit wet.

Saru just shrugged before smirking at Yata and speaking. "If you really want to see me soaked, Misaki, you could always put in the effort to get me wet yourself."

Yata coughed abruptly, words tried to come out of his mouth but he only ended up choking over them. Sora on the other hand tried his hardest to repress a snort, but it was still clearly obvious for his reaction. Riku on the other hand sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I swear… Saru…" Riku paused while sighing deeply. "Make one more comment like that and I'll drag you home right now."

"Spoilsport."

Riku continued to stare, his gaze deepening to be more serious. Eventually he loosened up and shook his head. "Let's just dry off… well three of us dry off."

Riku made his way over to one of the nearby benches and sat down. Right away Sora sat down next to him, smiling kindly. "Is it all right if sit next to you?"

"Uh, yeah. That's fine," Riku said.

Yata on the other hand went to the bench that was a few feet to the side of the one that Riku and Sora sat at. He flopped down and breathed out slowly. Despite his wants and best efforts, all of Saruhiko's snarky lines were still in his mind. He couldn't seem to get over what he had said mainly for the fact of how absurdly out of nowhere they came from.

While in his thoughts that were all focused on pushing out Saruhiko's words, he walked over and sat down besides Yata. Due to how close he sat, their arms brushed up against one another, warnetning Yata to stare at him confused.

"Huh? Why are you even sitting? You don't need to dry off."

"Why should I stand around while everyone else is sitting?"

"Oh… um good point," Yata replied. "So… um anything you'd want to talk about?"

Saruhiko leaned back, looking over to the other bench that had Riku and Sora. He could see the two of them were caught up in conversation once again, neither of them even looking this way. They seemed to be lost in their own little world with whatever it was that they were talking about. With a shrug saruhiko turned back to face Yata.

"If you're that bored, we could always measure up against each other."

"Huh?! What the hell?"

"In combat, Misaki. Get your mind out of the gutter, you dense virgin."

Yata scrunched up his nose in annoyance, but he didn't try to retort back. "Okay… what do you want to talk about? Just combat or things more like magic?"

"Start with magic I guess. We can expand from there."

"Okay… um let's see… I started learning several years ago. One of my friends is friends with some brothers of a warlock family. When he knew my interest in magic, he introduced me and the eldest brother began to teach me."

Saruhiko listened closely, and much to Yata's surprise he didn't interrupt or even make any snide faces. "So mainly I've been learning fire magic, it's what comes easiest to me. So… what about you?"

"What about me did you want to know, Misaki?" Saru whispered, in an almost seductive tone.

Yata grumbled, trying not to let it get to him. He breathed in slowly before letting it all out in a rushed huff of air. "You wanted to talk about magic. So what's your deal with it?"

Saruhiko shifted his gaze. Only a couple seconds passed by and his entire compsore changed and the air between him and Yata felt distant. He closed his eyes before sighing. "It was my mother who taught me first…" His words were soft, barely able to be heard at all. "After that it was my two oldest brothers who taught me after that…"

Yata listened carefully, but he still couldn't understand Saruhiko's expression. The distance in his eyes and the loneliness was not what he had expected to see as he explained how he could use magic. Though Saruhiko stopped and looked back at Yata, still giving a stare that told that he was still lost in his own thoughts.

Many questions formed in Yata's head, trying to wrap around the situation he was trying to figure out. He could tell that there was something there, but when he opened his mouth to ask the words never came out. It was a strange feeling, but he kept having the thought that maybe it wasn't the best to ask.

Instead he cleared his throat and tried to say something else. "Ah… okay. So how much magic have you learned? I know you have a couple already."

"Fire, Thunder, Haste, Protect, Reflect, and currently working on learning Barrier."

"Six?! Seriously? How long have you been training for? Since you were five?" Yata scoffed in disbelief.

"Yes," Saruhiko deadpanned.

"That's… that's crazy… and well I guess also pretty impressive," Yata muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I've just basically got fire and that's it."

"Hmph," Saruhiko scoffed softly before closing his eyes.

There was a pause between the two, with neither of them finding the words to say. Eventually Sora came over and stood in front of them. "Hey, you guys ready yet? Well mainly you Yata, but you know what I mean either way."

Yata checked over his clothes and felt that they were fairly dry now. He stood up and nodded. "Yeah I'm ready."

Saruhio stood up a moment after, but didn't say anything.

"So, where to next?" Riku asked, looking mainly at Sora.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. But let's walk around the park and see what we could do!"

For the remainder of the day the boys went around to different rides in the park, riding on as many as they could. Their conversation had diverged into everything they could talk about for the mobile game that they played. From discussing gameplay mechanics to the story itself to other elements of the game that drew them in.

By the end of the day, with the park closing, the group made their way out of the park and into the parking lot. Sora smiled as he placed his hands behind his back. "So that was a lot of fun, right guys?"

"Yeah, it really was," Riku answered.

"Sure," Yata agreed.

Saruhiko only shrugged as the others expected him too.

Riku cleared his throat after that. "So… I guess we'll be going then."

"Oh yeah, but we gotta hang out more or at least chat and all. I mean I already have your number and stuff, but we can talk even more now!" Sora exclaimed.

"Sounds nice. We'll talk later then," Riku said as he turned to leave.

"W-Wait!" Sora shouted before running up closer to Riku.

"Huh?" Riku turned around, looking at Sora who wore a very concerned expression. "What is it?"

"I… I um…" Sora said, trying not to stammer over his words. "I wanted to know if we could hang out again. I mean! I know we already have recently and stuff… but I mean if we hang out again… I… can it just be you?"

Riku let out a small gasp. "What? Just me…?"

Sora nodded quickly. "Y-Yeah… you know… if maybe that's all right?"

Riku rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes. He could feel his heartbeat starting to pick up while he pondered Sora's question. "I… Ah…" the words became stuck in Riku's throat. He couldn't find what he wanted to say and it was beginning to drive him crazy.

Suddenly there was a slightly forceful shove from behind him. Riku turned back to see Saru looking at him, giving him a strange stare that he had never really seen on his brother before. Riku didn't try to figure it out, instead he turned to Sora and breathed in deeply. "Sure, we can do that. Just text me when you want to hangout. So you know… we can find out the details."

Sora grinned happily. "Cool! Well I guess I'll text you later then."

After that the group said their goodbyes and headed off in their own directions. On the walk back, once they were back in town, Yata spoke up. "Back there… did you just basically ask him out?"

Sora's face reddened slightly. "N-No! Not really. I just asked him to hangout, you know maybe come over to my place and we can play video games. Or something else."

"So… you still asked him out."

"Yeah so what!" So exclaimed. "I didn't see you asking Saruhiko out!"

"Eh? What does that have to do with anything?!"

"You should try and talk to him more," Sora stated. "It's obviously you guys have something."

Yata sneered before looking away, his walking coming to a halt. "I really don't care for him, I told you to stop that."

Sora stopped walking as well and looked over at his friend. "Yata… you know it's okay. You don't gotta keep denying it."

Yata sighed. He had never actually told Sora his feelings towards what he liked, but Sora always seemed to pick up on it even if it wasn't said. But even with that, the topic itself was still hard for him to even talk about. He already had an awkward talk before with Anna and Reno, but he had never talked to Sora about it.

"Yeah but… I don't know what to do…" Yata finally admitted.

"You just need to try and talk with him, and see where things go from there," Sora explained.

"But he just… he infuriates me sometimes. How smug he looks or what he does. I just ah… I can't explain it."

"Well I don't know what to say to that, but I believe you will find a way," Sora said before smiling.

Yata smiled back a little. Sora always did remain the positive cheery one no matter the situation. "Sure… I guess if you say so. But honestly I have no idea how that would even go."

"Well we will just have to wait and see!"

Riku here with the new chapter! We hope you guys like this new story, and if you want be sure to check out the other story on Hikari's page that we also updated today!