That night is a toss and turn filled with half-formed dreams that leave him bleary-eyed when dawn comes. Despite ungluing his eyelids, the nightmares won't fully dispel themselves; It's the whirlwind argument with Shinji at the hospital, that mental picture of the restaurant with the laughing overlaying it, the bag of suppressants... It still floats at the back of his mind when he ties his shoes too, and Akihiko hesitates to go downstairs for once.
Don't be a moron, you wanted this all week.
It will do him a world of good to run to his limits and free himself of the rattling tension in his limbs, he came back too late last night to box his frustration out. He also misses her desperately. There's nothing quite like that ritual they share to feel content with his existence and start the day with a smile, too, and yet he doesn't want to burden her with his bad mood.
Akihiko jitters in indecision, but eventually sneaks downstairs in silence to find Minako next to the lamppost in front of the dorm. The playful little embers in her eyes melt to guarded concern by the time she fully turns around to face him and he finds himself too tongue-tied to answer her unspoken question. She stares a few seconds in silence, clearly pondering his badly masked distress.
She's going to ask me what happened, how come I'm being weird, and…
"Race me?"
Her lips curl into a smirk and she winks at him before dashing off, watching him pick up the pace over her shoulder until he overtakes her lead. Chuckling, she follows the tempo he sets as best she can, and they breeze through the mostly empty streets for the next hour. It's once he hops on the bar at her side that he finally starts to feel more composed and clear-headed, also dipping inward like her to breathe in and out deeply.
I needed that and she knew.
Minako eventually opens her tired red eyes to the world and runs her nails in his palm until he strokes them with his thumb, waking back to reality as well. She blinks slowly a few times before asking a question.
"Are you going back to the hospital tonight?"
"No, Mitsuru finally decided to let Junpei take over, he's the only one Chidori will talk to. She hates us."
Her cheeks dimple with a slight smile at his answer and she sounds almost relieved.
"Maybe he'll finally stop being a nuisance, he was fretting about her all week. To say he drove Yukari and Min insane would be putting it lightly. He already gave her nicknames and they're a bit ridiculous."
"Knowing him, I'm not surprised, he can be very… dramatic."
Minako chuckles at that one, probably because it's true. Iori tends to take a lot of space when he's feeling any kind of emotion, but he's entertaining… most of the time. Thinking of him even fleetingly brings the day before at the forefront by association and his wry smile falls very flat suddenly.
She turns to him, biting her lip and worry dancing in her eyes, her fingers tightening on his.
"Whatever happened… you don't have to avoid it or pretend."
He can still hear Shinji's words and see his expression, all grim and distant at the accusations he screamed at him. Akihiko can't get that altercation out of his mind; the nightmare's echoes take too much space and it's probably all over his face.
"I'm never going to judge you."
His eyes focus on her. They're both sweaty, and tired, it's all in the clamminess of their skin and the drooping eyelids from so much hard running. Her hair is frazzled from the humidity, red irises just sparkling stars in the rising sunlight and his thumb unsticks a few copper tresses from her cheek to fly free.
Minako's gaze melts to burning sunsets under his scrutiny and she delicately brushes his cheek with her lips.
"It's okay to lean on me, too."
Why are you so… I'm the one supposed to look out for you.
And the sum of her words, this simple affirmation of tender understanding, does more to chase his torment than anything else. He's used to protecting others, not laying his own crippling weaknesses bare, and yet with her he's allowing himself to do so. She knows the map of him by now and she's still here despite it all. More than just here, to be fair, and perhaps she'll never truly know the extend to which she's burned her way inside all of him.
She's never looked more beautiful, a soothing presence that cauterizes the anguish and leaves only the ashes of it to blow in the wind. Akihiko leans his head until his nose touches hers, murmuring against the corner of her mouth.
"I really missed you."
There's a fleetingness to the cradling of his face in her palm when she softly molds her lips to his. It lingers until he closes his eyes, and she imprints the whole of her hand to him as he slowly presses his mouth on hers to relish the warmth she offers. Seconds and minutes become as seamless as that unbroken touch of dancing lips. It's just the delicate feel of her joined to him, undemanding, a languid solace that tempers the brittleness.
Until the phone alarm rings for the fourth time, nothing else matters.
Schoolwork, coaching at the boxing club and training also help keep his mind free of more nagging worries afterward, and the promise of Tartarus keeps it this way. For once he's at the front with Minato and Mitsuru when they make their way through the streets bathed in green moonlight, nonchalantly eavesdropping on the procession following him. Almost brooding, Shinjiro seems surrounded by noise tonight, in the form of an affirmative Fuuka and a bubbly Minako.
I'm gone a week and the whole team dynamic changed.
"Promise you'll teach me again senpai, please!"
Contrasting with her usual meekness, Fuuka sounds adamant in her request. Aragaki growls and rolls his eyes when he nods in the affirmative, turning to Minako.
"That's your fault you know, apparently I don't even get a say anymore."
Their leader just laughs and bites back mockingly.
"Come on now, I'm not the one who barged in the kitchen all offended."
Fuuka holds their leader's hand and smiles brightly at him too.
"I really appreciate the lessons senpai, you make it look so easy and it was delicious… Minako-chan even ate two bowls so I'm sure she agrees. I'm just sorry you scrapped your plans for me, you really didn't have to."
He gave Fuuka cooking lessons?
Quizzically, Akihiko eyes his two companions for explanations since he came back to the dorm very late, and Minato is happy to oblige with a deadpan low comment.
"He saved us from another kitchen disaster. Be thankful you didn't smell the first attempt."
He would certainly know, being on the blunt end of the Yamagishi culinary experiments at the dorm while his sister handles that at school through their club. Mitsuru looks pensively over her shoulder for a second.
"I don't remember Aragaki cooking much for any of us before, much less teaching. I wonder what brought this on."
She's not wrong, I can't even meal prep with him around without it turning into a fight.
He looks backward too and that little barely-a-smile is on Shinji's face again when Minako compliments him, making Akihiko's ears whine like a radio feed for half a second. He ruffles his hair to chase it away and readjusts his gauntlet strap absently.
I'm being stupid again. He's just smiling and they're getting along.
The rest of their escapade to Tartarus goes splendidly despite his momentary irritation. Minako keeps pushing them hard enough there's no time to talk and he wonders if she's doing it on purpose because fighting clears his mind.
She kept eying us both with measuring glances since we stepped in here too.
It helps rekindle the camaraderie with Shinji that was marred by the hospital event though, and his friend grumbles in appreciation when they sync their attacks to devastating effect, just like old times. He only calls him a dumbass thrice too, which is an improvement. All in all, Akihiko forgets about his temporary annoyance earlier that night.
Aragaki always kept to himself since he dropped out of school and fled SEES after the incident. They would see each other here and there, mostly over ramen, and the game would always play the same. Akihiko would try to bring him back with no success, they would fight, throw insults back and forth, and sometimes come to blows.
Shinji never made any friends during that time, his interactions with the alley punks were limited to kicking their ass or grumbling in annoyance. He doesn't go out of his way to interact with people, not anymore.
Now, Mitsuru pesters him about returning to school with no success, Fuuka asks him for help cooking, Koromaru sits at his feet all the time and Shinji flees the dorm often to be by himself with annoyance all over his face. He's rarely in when Akihiko comes back from club and he doesn't make a big deal of it, he's always been somewhat an antisocial loner with a bad mood, but his constant absences take a different flavor later that week.
It's late when he comes back from playing team captain to drop his school bag in his room. It's still pretty warm for September and he's parched, so Akihiko takes some change for the vending machine and steps out to grab something when voices from the girl's floor float to his ears.
"I can't believe you didn't want to go shopping with me Minako. They have this amazing sale on jewelry, and you don't accessorize enough."
"I needed to practice my stitches for a little personal project and Bebe is not always free to teach me. You don't understand how perfect it has to be. Also, this is way more fun but it's tricky to lace correctly, help me out, will you?"
What are they doing?
From the sound of it, Minako and Yukari are hanging out upstairs, a bit loudly, and the conversation sounds mysterious enough to pique his interest.
"But all you wear are those hairpins! The trends this season are all up your alley with red, it would really bring out your eyes!"
"Jewelry for me is like a promise you wear close, those pins were my mother's. There, all done and this looks amazing, now it's your turn."
It's true that she never wears any. Not that she needs it.
"Come on Minako, I couldn't stomach it down. I can't believe the Archery club is forcing me to do this! A maid café, really?"
He vaguely recalls the excitement at the boxing club at the mention of that activity for the Culture Festival. It's so silly, really, how the idea of seeing girl in frilly uniforms can make his club mates turn into complete idiots.
"It's how you wear it, be fearless, it's not worse than the bikinis we wore at Yakushima and the whole beach crowd saw you. You're not scared of Junpei's comments, are you? Worst case I'll slug him good."
And now the picture of that frilly pink two-piece is all over Akihiko's mind. He's surprised how clearly he remembers all the little details of it too, despite not paying much attention back then.
I paid a lot of attention to her. She looked absolutely amazing.
"Knowing him, it would probably go like sup, Yuka-tan? Hey, does that mean you need to call me Master? Ugh, please… Just thinking about it makes my flesh crawl."
It's the unexpected imitation of Iori's voice coming from Yukari that almost makes him betray his presence near the stairs, because Akihiko is having a hard time clamping down his laughter. He's not very proud of his deception, but this is too entertaining.
"Aww, you're no fun. Junpei's at the hospital anyways, try one of the spares and stroll downstairs with me, what's the worst that's gonna happen? Are you afraid Minato will see you?"
"Minako! Keep it down!"
Would you look at that.
"Okay never mind then, you coming or what? If I need to show you how to own this thing, better do it now, I need to study too and I don't have all night. Watch me roll!"
"You're so shameless sometimes… Ugh, fine."
For a second, he's very tempted to look at what she's wearing, especially if it makes Yukari so out of sorts as to avoid putting it on herself. Not that the whole thing makes much sense to him, it's just a uniform, they saw maids at the mansion at Yakushima and nobody batted an eye. Except Junpei, but he's hopeless.
My track record sucks, better not chance it.
Akihiko dives back into his room out of sight and empty-handed until the girls get to the lobby, then opens the door to listen again. There's sound coming from the staircase and Amada's little voice quips up.
"Oh Minako-senpai, what are you wearing? It's so cute on you!"
He doesn't seem to find anything strange. I don't know what I was afraid of.
"Thank you, it's for the Culture Festival, but Yukari's the one who…"
Said girl seems to shush their leader when the front door opens and shuts. Koromaru's paws click on the floor, and there's some footsteps.
"Oh, hey Min, senpai. Want me to drop that bag upstairs in your room? I need to go back to math soon anyways."
"Thanks… Mina what's the deal with that?"
Minato sounds irritated. And that's saying something, his usual delivery is mostly through glares, not tone of voice.
"I was just showing Yukari how she'll look amazing in it. Just think about it."
The silence is deafening, but there's a few girly giggles, and he can't hear anymore until the girls decide to stroll back upstairs again. Akihiko scrambles to return to his room before she sees him hovering. He keeps the door ajar a little bit to listen and Yukari whispers.
"Well, I'm never pestering you to go on group dates again. They got nothing on him."
"Not that I mind if you finally stop asking because the answer is forever no, but what brought this on?"
So maybe he smirks at that one.
"Minako, be serious! Have you seen Aragaki's expression? He's totally into you! Oh my god, that must be why he keeps finding excuses to come and see you at all your part-time jobs all the time! Whenever I drop by, he's hovering nearby."
WHAT?
"Don't be silly. You're reading this all wrong, I got a nice employee credit at the coffee shop and bookstore, and he needed to buy some things. That's all it is."
"You hang out with him a lot now that Junpei's preoccupied with Chidori, what are you really doing together?"
"It's a secret! I told Min I'd drop this off, wait for me upstairs. I'll need your help with those ribbons."
Akihiko is not annoyed, not really, he's just barely refraining from punching the drywall to bits and not sure what to even think of this illicitly obtained information.
What the hell is going on? That's so out of character for him.
Not that he can ask Minako questions, he wasn't supposed to hear any of this and now he can't stop jittering. Her unmistakable steps are coming to the boys' floor, and he dives away from the doorframe to hide his presence, peeking subtly when she passes in the corridor with a bag.
Oh… my god. Please never wear this in front of anyone ever again.
The way she looks will all those frills and ribbonned mid-thigh socks is making him somewhat reconsider his anger because anyone would freak out at the sight. Even her brother had a strangled voice and he's barely expressive.
If it wasn't for the fact that Takeba expects her to come back soon…
For lack of a better term that doesn't bubble to mind because she's very distracting; it's short, it's provocative, those little ribbons on her thighs are just begging to be toyed with, and he spends many long minutes trying to reassemble his thought process because his mind is going places.
Akihiko never manages to go through his homework that night, he barely makes a dent on math and he grumbles the whole time. He can accept the checking out even if he'd prefer to be the sole recipient of that sight for... reasons. She's often so painfully assertive in her affections that he has nothing to complain about on that end. But it doesn't excuse the rest of what he heard, and he can't stop thinking about it.