[EDIT 30/05 — Hi all! This was originally posted on April 27th/28th depending on your time zone! I'm just reuploading because FFN email notifications were still down, and I wanna make sure no one's confused when I get the new update out haha! I also wanna put in a note that the page for secondary characters is complete on the blog, including little blurbs about them and their relationships to their respective main cast characters. Finally, bear with me after the next update, as I have a combination of legal stuff over the next couple of months that will take up a lot of writing time and an event in the SYOT Verses server running from June to the end of August! After that, though, I can split my focus again on Existing and my other long-form fics.]
New chapter! We've got little over half of our main cast introduced in their own daily life settings, and next chapter will be the last five members of the cast introduced! For those keeping track (which should be easy since, Sane's POV has the date written down), zombies appear on April 13th, so we'll be jumping very quickly into the fray once introductions are done.
Slight warning for the start of Ari's POV in this chapter. Given what we know about the things she deals with, it should be enough of a summary to say she deals with a creep at the start of her POV. If you want to skip all of that, look for the first mention of Hello Kitty in that POV if you're on mobile or CTRL F to search for it on desktop. Everything after that is smooth sailing, though.
Hopefully next chapter won't take so long! I mean, really, who gets a cold during submissions, moves house, and then gets another cold as soon as they start unpacking? Apparently me! Fingers crossed it won't be three for three.
02
Received: 2010/01/02 5:51PM
To: Me
From: Y. Akeharu
Subject: (no subject)
To Higashiyama-san
I hope this email finds you well
lololololololol can you imagine? me? being all fancy and shit?
i heard about the tournament! look at you, superstar! silver medal? doesn't that make you like famous in your school now? that has to be enough to make everyone think you're a big shot now right!?
congrats congrats! we gotta go out somewhere and treat you to some good eats, maybe even bring your family along! i told you you could do it!
since you're a big superstar now you should totally let me flex on everyone at my school about being your best friend, right? who doesn't want a best friend who's so cool!? anyway now our next step is getting you all confident and junk… oh! maybe we can capitlise on the gap moe you exude! a skilled naginatajutsuka who's all shy and skittish instead of confident and regal… yeah, i totally see it! like a popular cute girl who doubles as a gag character in a manga! that'll make you popular for sure!
hey hey when i come to the shooting range this weekend, let's test out that idea! we'll still study and junk obviously, but i really think this is a great thing for you! never forget how proud we all are of you! you got that?!
anyway uhhh something something sincerely
your bff akeharu
"Higashiyama, I heard the news!" Miyamoto Rei smiled down at Kowaita with an infectiously bright demeanour. "Congratulations!"
Ah?
Ah…?
Kowaita began shaking on the spot. What was Rei doing, coming all the way to Kowaita's class like this? They'd never had any noteworthy conversations before now… Was she coming to threaten Kowaita to give up the sport? Only one girl in Fujimi Academy could be skilled with a spear? B—But sojutsu and naginatajutsu were different! Sojutsu was with polearms in general! Naginatajutsu was just a naginata! Rei had a super big advantage in terms of popularity over Kowaita!
Oh God, wait… What if this was the opposite? What if Rei thought she and Kowaita were friends, and Kowaita didn't pick up on it? They didn't hang out, hardly ever spoke, but she did remember Rei asking her a few times to join the sojutsu club… Was that enough to consider someone a friend? Argh, she couldn't even remember how she and Akeharu had become friends! This was agonising!
Now Rei was going to think she was snubbing her, when it truly wasn't the case! Kowaita wasn't a bad person! She was a good girl who did all her chores and studied hard and never once skipped classes—
"Higashiyama?" Rei asked. Kowaita was startled out of her thoughts with a squeak.
"A—Ah, um, y—yes?" Kowaita stammered. And then she realised she was already being rude to begin with. Rei had congratulated her just now, and Kowaita had started freaking out like a gerbil stuck in a ball! "Th—Thank you, Miyamoto-s—senpai…"
The classroom was a bit quieter thanks to most of the students joining their friends in other classes for lunch, but it was hard to relax and eat her lunch at all today. It was bad enough that she had to sit in front of that brute, Kyousuke, but to have attention on her? Oh, the conniption Kowaita would experience if that happened!
Thankfully, though, the attention that classmates like Miku would throw her way wasn't a threat for now. Miku had already left to have lunch with Tsunoda on the roof, like always, and her friends from the track and field club were all right behind her and gushing about how Miku's lunches were always so fancy. It had made Kowaita almost a little self-conscious, the way Miku had bragged about having a personal chef cook their meals for them each day, but when she glanced at her lunch box and wondered when Rei would leave, something in her gut told her that she didn't need to be envious. Cooking shows were a small pleasure in Kowaita's life, and she was usually the one who prepared all the meals in her house each day. Being able to make the things she could, all from her own little kitchen, felt like a small point of pride that she couldn't quite allow anyone to make her feel terrible for. Who cared if it felt lower-class to make your own lunch? Or that your mother was too lazy to make it for you? Kowaita liked making lunch for herself and her siblings, and that was the end of it.
Maybe it was a small blessing none of the girls in her class had taken an interest in the kind of food a scaredy-cat ate each day. They probably thought she was so mousy that she lived on cheese.
The more she thought about what was in her lunch box, though, the more Kowaita wished Rei would leave so she could eat in peace. She didn't want to share the special treat she'd worked hard to make this morning, even if she was guilt tripped into it…
"Ah, you don't have to call me senpai anymore, Higashiyama," Rei said, nervous. Kowaita shifted in her seat and tucked a hand under her thigh, looking away from Rei as she did so. Right… Held back a year… How unfair for Rei, she thought. She always saw her in the top ten of exam scores last year, so it made no sense why she was held back. "Anyway, I just wanted to come and congratulate you. It feels like forever ago since I last asked you to join the sojutsu club! Are you sure you still don't wanna…?"
If Kowaita joined the sojutsu club, she would have less time to help her sick mother and pick up her younger siblings from their own schools. In a rare moment of resoluteness, Kowaita puffed out her chest and declared, "I have enough on my plate already, sen— I mean— Miyamoto-san."
Rei seemed genuinely surprised by the declaration, but not in a bad way. She just giggled, nodded once, and seemed to back off on the subject. Kowaita tried not to breathe her sigh of relief too loudly. She definitely wouldn't have lasted if Rei had put pressure on her.
"That's fair, I guess," Rei relented. She gave Kowaita a cheerful wave and turned on her heel. "I'll let you enjoy your lunch, at least. See you around, Higashiyama!"
She was in and out of the classroom faster than Kowaita had realised. Kowaita relaxed a little, patting her cheeks with a whimper, and she feebly rose from her chair to finally open her bag and grab her lunch from the back lockers in the room. Small cubicles more than anything, barely large enough to be called lockers, but they were perfectly fine for storing the bags everyone carried to and from school each day. The small wooden lunch box inside her bag was a bit higher than she remembered setting it when she'd packed her bag that morning, but Kowaita only paused to consider when she'd opened the bag each time today. After homeroom for a spare pencil… She had to fish through it for a pad during the breaks between classes, too… Oh, she did recall moving the lunch box a bit higher to hide the painkillers for her cramps, too! She would've been in massive trouble if Shido had seen her take them.
Kowaita moved back to her desk and set her lunch box down just as Miku and her friends walked through the door. They were back earlier than expected, and it seemed like they weren't looking to eat with Tsunoda on the roof. No, they'd brought food from the lunch lady's shop back with them, small snacks to split between them alongside their own lunches.
When Miku gave Kowaita a mischievous smile, Kowaita felt her stomach drop to the floor. Her eyes dropped to her lunch, and Miku's smile seemed to widen as she motioned for her friends to be quiet.
They wouldn't, right? It was one thing to draw obscene pictures in Kowaita's textbooks and stick glue to her seat in between classes, but to tamper with her lunch? Did they eat it all? Kowaita shook like a leaf as she stared at the lunch box, at the wooden lid with her name embossed into the corner. Did they throw the lunch she'd worked hard to make in the trash? Her pineapple tanghulu that she'd made as a treat…?
Kokori and Koutarou would be asking her with excitement and glee what fruit Kowaita had used for her tanghulu, and if it had tasted as nice as theirs. And if Miku and her friends had done something to it… Kowaita didn't have it in her to lie to her little siblings. Not when Koutarou and Kokori were so good at picking up when their sister was getting burnt out.
Her breath was shaky as she reached for the lunch box. Her fingers trembled so much that they were blurry. Miku was snickering as her friends asked her what was going on, and Kowaita felt a lump starting to grow in her throat. From behind her, Kyousuke was grumbling to himself about how annoying Miku was, especially when she decided to pick on the "basketcase" in front of him.
It wasn't like Kowaita asked to be picked on. She couldn't stand bullies, and she was always the first one to show up at Koutarou's school whenever she heard one of his classmates stole his lunch money or made him do their homework. She always, always stood up for what was right for her brother and sister. But when the bullies turned their gazes to Kowaita… It was a lot harder to defend herself and be confident when they came at her from all sides. She hated it so much—she'd even dare to say she almost hated Miku herself!—but what was the use in making a big fuss when her siblings wouldn't be around to see it inside the walls of Fujimi Academy? And when she was out and about, Akeharu would keep bullies away from her.
Maybe she really was the useless blob that Miku thought she was…
Kowaita was tearing up from the anticipation as she finally grabbed the lid and opened the lunch box. At first she didn't register what was wrong, because her lunch and tanghulu were still where she'd left them. But then it clicked what the final topping resting over her rice was, and it wasn't pickled plum or sakura denbu.
The grey and brown thing on her rice stared up at her, and Kowaita's heart stopped beating as she processed what she was looking it. It wasn't horrifically large, but it was still far too big for her liking. Her stomach dropped as it moved just a little bit, its back legs shifting, and Kowaita could only scream at the top of her lungs as the white-bearded jumping spider leapt from her lunch box and right onto her chest.
She knocked her lunch box to the floor as she flailed about, and she could hear Miku laughing loudly, matching Kowaita's screams at every decibel. She heard the chair of the desk behind her scrape against the floor, and then thundering footsteps before a textbook was slammed against her chest with great force. Kowaita felt the air leave her lungs, her chest burning from the pain, and she doubled over into a coughing fit as the dead spider remained splattered against Kyousuke's textbook.
Tears fell from her eyes freely as Kowaita alternated between hiccups and coughs, and she lost all the strength in her legs as she finally saw her precious lunch, splattered all over the floor and in a right mess. There was no picking up the scraps and eating them to salvage it—none of her lunch was wrapped in anything, just neatly packed together so Kowaita could dig right in.
When she dared to look up, she could see the hulking form of Kyousuke standing over her. He was shaking, almost from the rage he seemed to feel, and he was staring at the splattered spider on his textbook with wide, unblinking eyes. She'd never seen him so angry before, and it just made Kowaita cry even harder. Her chest hurt, her lunch was ruined, and now the meanie who sat behind her was going to yell at her. Kowaita just wanted this day to end.
A hand grabbed at her arm, and Kowaita whimpered as she was dragged back up to her feet. Kyousuke shoved her past him, past her fallen lunch, and he was clearly livid as he pushed her towards the door and hissed, "Go to the fucking nurse."
Kowaita struggled to even walk to the door, her legs still made of jelly, and she heard Kyousuke stomp over towards Miku with his textbook in hand. Miku was quick to stop her laughing, sputtering that she'd scream and get even more people to look at them—Kowaita hadn't even noticed people staring through the classroom window, oh God—but Kyousuke ignored her as he stomped closer and closer.
In one swift whack of his textbook, the splattered spider remains were smeared on Miku's face. Miku's scream was far louder than Kowaita's had been.
"It's in my mouth!" she screeched. Yoko tried to calm her down and reassure her that the spider was dead, but Miku wasn't hearing it. She sprinted out of the room at full speed, bowling over some of her friends in the process, and Kowaita could hear Yoko calling after Miku in a panic.
Kyousuke was back by her side and grabbing her arm again, his grip painful, as he dragged her out of the other door of the classroom.
"I said go to the fucking nurse," he growled.
"I c—" Kowaita whimpered, and she was hyperventilating. "I— I— Can't—"
He gave her another shove, and she crashed into the door with a squeak. She hadn't realised he'd pushed her so close to it, and now she was more aware of the people peering in from the windows and doors. Some of them even hurried away without a second glance, not wanting to be caught in Kyousuke's war path.
"Someone take her to the fucking nurse!" he bellowed at the windows. A couple of students ran off, spooked, but one of them stayed behind and seemed to stare at the duo with bored, appraising eyes. Kowaita didn't quite recognise him yet, but when her stomach lurched, she had a feeling as to why she couldn't focus. She was going to hurl chunks any second now. She could feel it.
Finally, the student who lingered entered the room and gently wrapped an arm around Kowaita. She was ushered out of the room at a gentle pace, a far cry from Kyousuke's treatment just now, and Kowaita let herself cry even more as her empty stomach began to flip and fumble.
She threw up all over the poor upperclassman who'd helped her to the nurse's office, right as the nurse came over to help her. Kowaita was sobbing and apologising over and over, and she couldn't bear to look at her sore chest as the nurse helped her peel off her dirty uniform and examine it. It was probably redder than a cooked lobster right now, and she was bound to have one hell of a bruise by tonight.
"Oh, poor thing," Shizuka cooed at her. She cleaned some of the vomit from Kowaita's face with a wet towel. From the other side of the curtain, she heard a boy's voice call to the nurse and ask for a spare uniform. "Ah, hold on a moment, Tobishima! I'll be right there!"
Was that his name? Tobishima? Now she felt so terrible.
"Is she alright?" he asked. Kowaita hiccuped and rubbed at her puffy eyes. She was most definitely not alright.
"We're just gonna put a bit of ointment on you and you'll be all better, okay?" Shizuka cooed again. "It must've hurt so bad, right? That's a lot of swelling starting to show."
Oh God, and her chest was swollen now!? Kowaita began to wail anew, and Tobishima seemed to be surprised by the outburst. He nervously shuffled out towards the door, hurriedly telling Shizuka he'd ask the administration office for a uniform instead, and the door to the nurse's office was shut in quick order.
"Oh, there, there…" Shizuka wiped at Kowaita's eyes and pulled her into a gentle hug. Kowaita, despite being a teenager who always tried to put on a brave face for her family, couldn't help leaning into the hug and sobbing even more. "It'll be okay, sweetie… Why don't you lay down here with me for the rest of the day instead of going back to class, hm? You must've been so shocked and afraid."
She was. Kowaita was so scared. And she hated it.
"I'm so pathetic," Kowaita sobbed.
"I'll hear none of that, missy!" Shizuka scolded her. She pushed Kowaita back, making sure the girl would look her in the eye, and for the first time, Kowaita noticed just how gentle the nurse was. She always was afraid she'd be sadistic like those nurses in scary movies were, or that she wouldn't care as long as she got her paycheck. But Marikawa Shizuka was going above and beyond to comfort Kowaita while still making sure she didn't put herself down. "Everyone has a really, really, really bad day every once in a while that makes them feel like crap. But it's not going to always be like that, no siree! Some days you just have to sit there and say to yourself—pardon my French—'This shit stinks!' And then you pick yourself up at the end of the day and you decide tomorrow won't be as terrible! We can't control when we have bad days, but we can control how much we fight back against them, y'know?"
Kowaita sniffled and nodded her head once. It was similar to the stuff Akeharu would tell her about seizing the day and all that. Maybe he was right when he'd say that it was all about perspective. Maybe Kowaita just needed to buck up and take it like a champ.
But it was so hard… It was so daunting, standing up to people and deciding that she wouldn't have a bad day. What if they started to hate her because they couldn't make fun of her? What if Kowaita standing up for herself othered her from her peers?
She just hiccupped again and mumbled to Shizuka, "I'm sorry…"
Shizuka patted her back and helped her apply the ointment to her chest. There was no scolding in her voice anymore, and she was very gentle as she helped Kowaita lay down onto the bed in a fresh uniform. She pulled the curtain around Kowaita's bed, making sure no one could bother her while she rested, and Kowaita smothered her face in the pillow as soon as she was able to.
Please just let this day end soon. Please.
OGINO: You've put in a lot of work for this week's match. What motivated you?
AJA KONG: I would say the desire to beat my opponent, but something really inspirational happened this week that just got me all fired up for the match. There was a signing event and a meet and greet, and one of my fans just resonated with me, right?
OGINO: A fan motivated you this time?
AJA KONG: Sure, you could say that. She was this big girl, a whole foot taller than me—almost two metres, I think. And she told me I was a big inspiration to her and all that. Used to be overweight and bullied for it, and she didn't have a passion in life, and big girls like me have been there, right? It's horrible. It feels like the whole world is kicking you while you're down.
OGINO: It's truly unfortunate. What did she say to you?
AJA KONG: She told me that she wanted to be a pro wrestler who could stand in the ring with me and do tag team matches. Can you imagine that? Me, someone a kid looks up to? She was the sweetest thing, and I wish nothing but the best for her. I hope she does well for herself. She mentioned something about struggling with reading and writing, and I just felt for her, y'know? Poor kid got dealt a rough hand, but she's making the most of it.
OGINO: It sounds like you saw a lot of yourself in her.
AJA KONG: I dunno. I just really wanna root for the girl. So if you're watching, Kana-chan, and I know you are, you better give it your all if you wanna step into the ring with me! No half-assing it or anything! Don't make me regret cheering for you!
OGINO: Well, you heard it here, folks. Kana-chan, wherever you are, we'll be waiting for you to join us on the program when you're older! Don't let your idol down, now!
Stop the presses, was it really happening?!
Kana beamed down at the blonde in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her in a hopeful pose as the other girl shifted on her feet sheepishly.
"You'll join?" Kana gushed. "Really, really join?"
Ichinomiya Kina, who'd been someone without a club since the first day of school two years ago, was finally asking to join the fitness club? Kana couldn't believe her ears or eyes. Sure, she'd gotten a few members to join already in the two years she'd been running the club, but it wasn't as big as the others—the kyudo club had easily three times as many members, and the track and field team had twice the amount the fitness club did.
"Are there no spots left?" Kina asked softly. Kana shook her head and ran over to the club room's small bookshelf, where application forms were ready to be signed.
"Not at all! Come on in! Oh! I didn't prepare any snacks, since we usually just bring snacks of our own, but maybe I should've had some in a box somewhere," Kana rambled. "Definitely could've gotten more members if they knew we had flan cups or something in here! But hey, you still showed up! That has to count for something!"
Kana browsed through the files on the bookshelf with glee. She heard Kina take a seat near the clubroom's snack table, and her heart was pounding in her chest from the excitement. Someone actually decided to join the fitness club right at the start of the school year! How often did this happen? Most students had other clubs they were interested in, and it was hard to come across girls Kina's size who wanted to bulk up!
She was so excited that she briefly forgot which forms were what based on appearance alone. Kana faltered, brows pinched together, and she glared at each folder's top paperwork in concentration. She recognised the kanji for her own name on one, so that had to be the weekly roster… Yeah, now it was coming back to her! Wakako said she put a purple sticker on the weekly rosters! Then she put a red one on stuff that had to be handed back to the teachers… And the green was for new members to sign up! Kinda like a traffic light!
Kana pulled an empty slip from the folder with the green sticker and smiled brightly as she handed it to Kina. Kina gave it a glance, still smiling, but she was awkward as she asked, "A… field trip application?"
Oh! Damn it, that was what the green for go was meant to be—out of school trips to gyms and parks! Kana hurriedly took it and laughed loudly.
"Look at me, all over the place!" she boomed. "Lemme get the right one for you!"
If it wasn't the green one… The blue sticker? She took a peek inside, her head starting to hurt as the kanji blended together and began to blur, but Kana finally made out one of the kanji with great effort: "Registration".
That was the one! Kana breathed out a quiet sigh of relief and hurried back to Kina.
"Thanks," Kina chirped. "You must've been really excited about me wanting to join. It's a really smart system, using stickers on each folder to remember which is which! I'd save a lot of time sorting through my folder between classes if I had something like that."
Kana nodded once. She pulled out a chair and plopped herself down on it—but she still dwarfed Kina even from this height.
"Wakako-chan came up with it!" she boasted. "She's gotta be the most organised VP I've ever met! I didn't even know we were allowed to appoint vice presidents for clubs, too! She walked me through it super clearly, and now she handles the paperwork side of things while I make fitness plans!"
Kina listened with interest as she filled out her form. Kana tried to read along, but it was hard to make out much more than the class Kina listed as her homeroom. She was in the same class as Busujima Saeko, someone Kana had tried hard to recruit but sadly lost her to the kendo club. Oh well! As long as Saeko was having fun with the kendo club, Kana didn't mind missing a diamond in the rough! There were tons of students at Fujimi Academy she could reach out to!
She heard Kina hum, and the blonde asked, "Do you guys do diet plans, too? Like one of those gyms that cuts out bad food?"
Kana waved a hand quickly. "No way, no way! We'd get in big trouble if we told people they weren't allowed to eat something! Save that for the personal trainers! We just focus on doing fitness activities together and having fun, y'know? And if we bulk up at the same time—what's the saying? Something about a bird and two stones?"
"Two birds with one stone?" Kina giggled.
"That's the one!" Kana beamed at her. "Sometimes we go out during school hours to a pool or to a park, and we do a lot of volunteer work, too! Old people gotta stay in shape like the rest of us, and having teens who can help them and spot for them is a blessing! We're helping ourselves and helping others!"
That hadn't been the goal when the fitness club had started out, admittedly. Kana's transformation from the portly girl who was made fun of in middle school to the confident, muscular young woman who actively supported her peers with her newfound strength had taken some time, and during her first year at Fujimi, it was hard to say how many people would join her in her goals. At first she'd wanted to start a women's wrestling club, if only to emulate her heroes like Aja Kong and Bull Nakano, but not a lot of girls attending Fujimi had the same interests. They wanted traditional sports, but even when Kana offered up sumo wrestling for girls instead, suddenly it was about not wanting to put on too much weight. Kana couldn't find a middle ground with her peers, but she didn't let it get her down.
All the girls who wanted to do pro wrestling like Kana—with the performative personas and the off-the-wall props—just didn't go to the same school as her.
But then Wakako—lovely, beautiful Wakako—had approached Kana after classes with a form to register a club.
"You really are a meathead," Wakako had told Kana while Kana was squeezing a hand grip at her desk. "Start a fitness club and gradually work what you really want into it. Everyone wants to get into shape at our age and shed a few pounds."
And she'd been right! No sooner had the fitness club started and Wakako advised Kana to do club trials for new members, letting them dip their toes in the water, all manner of students joined! Overweight girls in their first year like Kana were lacking in confidence and yearning for their crushes to notice them, and Kana soon realised she didn't need to make a wrestling club anymore. Why should she, when all her new friends joined the fitness club and everyone cheered each other on?
And now, in their third year, Wakako had managed to get in touch with the local retirement village and ask if they wanted the fitness club to help their residents. Kana never would've come up with that on her own, or even come up with the right words for it!
"I see…" Kina noted. She was smiling, though, so Kana assumed she was pleased with her answer. "You guys are like a self improvement club. I'm glad I decided to give you guys a shot!"
She was? Oh, Kana was over the moon! Kina totally understood what her club stood for and its values, and now Kana was even more excited to have Kina join them! She burst out of her chair with stars in her eyes, and Kina stared up at her like a deer caught in the headlights. Kana was so full of energy that she couldn't just sit still and do nothing—she had to show Kina the things they got up to during the week!
"You're gonna love the club!" Kana insisted. She hurried over to the storage closet in the room, where they kept the smaller exercise equipment, and she began pulling them out one by one and placing them on the club room desk. "We've got stuff we use in the club room itself when the gym isn't free—things like your smaller dumbbells, yoga mats to do yoga, resistance bands, some gym balls, real basic stuff. Nothing that would hurt us if we decided to use them here—oh! I found the hand grips! How high is your grip strength? We can adjust it to whichever on these ones. No jump rope, since we need a bigger space for them, but the good news is that the club has permission to use the gym and the track field for more, uh, what do you call it? Wide-berthy stuff? Wakako-chan used a word for it, but I can't remember. Anyway! We're allowed to use the track field on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, and the gym on Monday afternoons! It took a lot of convincing Shido-sensei and the gym teacher to let us use them on their off days, but we got it thanks to Wakako-chan! The gym's where we store our bigger machines, like the treadmill and the benches, but we don't do super heavy stuff and we always have to make sure we go to the gym in pairs so one can spot the other. Do you know what spotting is? I can show you next Monday, if you don't!"
When she looked at the desk of equipment, Kana picked up the heavier equipment and gave it a casual flex.
"Oh, we also don't usually keep the super heavy stuff in here, like the bigger kettlebells and dumbbells, but something like two pounds is way too light for me to even get a bit of exercise in, so I like to sneak my heavier stuff in here when Wakako-chan is busy. She hardly ever checks, and as long as I'm safe with them, it should be fine!" She picked up one of her kettlebells from the closet and held it out to Kina with one hand. "Here! Give this a try!"
Kina stood up from her chair, looking a little confused from Kana's rambling but definitely still interested, and she went to reach for the kettlebell—only to pause and look at it with eyes as wide as saucers.
"Onibo-san, this is thirty pounds," she deadpanned.
"Yep! Oh—did you want to start smaller? It'd be no good if I threw out your back before you even became a club member… Hold on a sec!" Kana sat the kettlebell on the table, and it made a loud thump! when it landed. Kina was sweating a little as she tried to keep her smile on her face.
Thirty pounds was definitely way too heavy, now that Kana thought about it. How many years did it take for her to build up the muscle to carry it with one hand? Yeah, no, she should've used her head for that one… How heavy did she start out when she started exercising? Kana looked back at Kina, giving her a once-over. She was cute in a petite sort of way, no taller than 5'3 and looking every part the cute girl-next-door type she radiated. She didn't seem the type to be able to lift anything heavier than maybe six pounds, so maybe Kana should start at five for her?
She sifted through the weights before finding the five pound kettlebell at the back of the closet. It was a pretty sky blue colour, not unlike Kina's eyes, and Kana grinned as she pulled it out casually.
"This one might be more your speed, Ichinomiya-chan!" she chirped. She set the kettlebell on the floor, and before Kina could bend down to grab it—knees perfectly straight, to Kana's horror—Kana stopped her and added, "Ah, remember, kettlebells need to be lifted with the knees, not the back! You'll slip a disc and give yourself chronic back pain!"
She brought the thirty pound kettlebell next to Kina's, and as Kina watched Kana with an expression of someone eager to learn, Kana walked her through her stance and how she should properly lift a kettlebell. It gave her nostalgia for the first few weeks of running the club, when the permanent members had to ask Kana to show them how to use some of the equipment over and over. One boy actually had thrown out his back because he wanted to show off, and Kana had to carry him to the nurse to make sure he was alright. Wakako had insisted she carry him bridal-style, but that felt too unnecessary—putting more pressure on his back would be bad for him!
"You position your legs at shoulder width like this," Kana instructed, and Kina copied her stance. "You don't wanna hit your ankles and shins with these cuz you'll end up shattering them. And then when you grab the kettlebell you squat just a little—not a full squat, but more of a half-squat like this."
Kina had a determined look on her face as she gripped the kettlebell's handle in her hands. Kana was giddy to see how well she did on her first try.
"This'll give both your arms and your glutes a good workout," Kana advised her. "When you stand back up with the kettlebell, you're gonna straighten your knees and push your hips out a little, and you lift the kettlebell to about chest-height as you do it. And then you go back into the squat when you swing it back down. Let's give one swing a try."
"Right!" Kina chirped. The determination on her face seemed to include a bit of excitement as well, and Kana hoped whatever result came of this try, it didn't make Kina decide against joining the club. A lot of the upperclassmen who were in the club last year graduated, and they had to make up numbers for the old folks' home!
On the count of three, both of them swung their kettlebells up to their chest height. Kina was visibly struggling, her arms shaking a little, and when they both squatted back down again to set down the kettlebells, Kina wiped a beading of sweat from her brow.
"And you can do a thirty pound set like it's nothing?" Kina asked her, shocked.
"It took me a few years, but yeah! No one starts out like an Olympian, y'know!"
Very quietly, under her breath, Kana barely heard Kina mutter to herself about how someone named Seitaro had worked hard if he'd done exercises similar to that one.
Kana's interest was piqued. Was she joining because of a friend? Someone she had a crush on? Or did she want to join someone in their own exercise routine, but didn't want them to scale it back just for her? Gosh, the more Kana thought about it, the more excited she was for Kina to join as an official member.
"We have easier stuff to do as well, if the kettlebells aren't your style!" Kana reminded her. "The jump ropes in the gym, the yoga classes that Wakako-chan helps with, the hand grips… If you wanna start somewhere small, I'd recommend the yoga techniques to build up flexibility and to help you remember to stretch before sets, if only to prevent cramping. It'll still happen, but it won't happen as often if you know how to limber up! Now, it's a bit finicky when we'll be going to the pool for the water aerobics, but those are a lot easier on the limbs if you ever experience joint pain! And the stuff we do with the elderly is a lot more slow-paced so that we can make sure they don't get hurt, but if that's not your style—"
"I'd love to help the elderly with their exercise!" Kina cut in. She was looking at the equipment with a newfound determination, like she was already planning her road to becoming fitter on the spot. "They probably have a lot of fun with your club visiting them and keeping them company, and it's a great quality of life for them. Onibo-san, you've really sold me on the club! I wish more people could join and see what a great program you're running!"
Kana felt electricity run from the tips of her toes, all the way up to the fine hairs on her head. Kina understood—really understood—the heart behind Kana's club and what she wanted to aim for with her programs! No one else but Wakako had been able to sum it up so perfectly, and Wakako had been the one to put it into words for Kana in their first year!
She swept Kina up into a big hug, and the girl giggled as her feet kicked out into the air. Kana could cry right now—but then she'd have to take off her sports goggles and clean them, so she had to put a pin in that for now. When she put Kina back down, Kina immediately finished filling out her application form while Kana packed the equipment back into the closet again.
"I think a lot of people didn't want to join the club because they thought we'd force a strict diet," Kana explained. "A lot of people like that saying—y'know the one, where they say a girl has a second stomach for appetisers or something—"
"Desserts," Kina supplied.
"Yeah, that! So they stay away, thinking I'll make them eat protein bars all the time and force them to drink protein shakes. A large intake of those aren't even good for you! You need a balanced diet, and fatty foods count as being balanced! It's moderation that you have to make sure you worry about—even gym bros who gatekeep exercise forget they can't live off of high amounts of protein and fibre alone! That's how you get people accidentally overdosing on caffeine powder before workouts!"
"So when you guys have snacks here…?"
"Whatever goodies we bring in that day! I once brought in a whole tray of cookies that my cousin made, and we gorged ourselves on them after a good workout!" Kana nodded sagely as she shut the closet door. "Just because you need to burn calories to drop some pounds doesn't mean you should cut out calories from your diet entirely. I eat a lot more than most people because I'm so big! But Wakako-chan grazes rather than has full meals, so she eats a little at a time every couple of hours. I think they call it a Hobbit diet? But she says it's the way some country in Europe eats. I don't know anything about Europe, so I take her word for it!"
Kina nodded along with everything Kana said. She brought a hand to her chin, thoughtful, and she asked Kana, "So if I make a bunch of flan during home ec before coming to club activities, you guys will be okay with it?"
"You can make flan!?" Kana boomed. "Oh! Momonosuke-kun will adore you! Oh, that reminds me, Ichinomiya-chan—can I call you Kina-chan? We're like a super big family here, so we just treat each other real casual-like!"
That made the blonde smile even wider. "Of course! Do you mind if I call you Kana-chan?"
"Oh! Everyone usually calls me Oni-chan, if you wanna!" Kana hurried over to the table and sat back down with Kina, waiting for the girl to finish the last sections of her application. "We'd be matching a little, otherwise! Kina and Kana—our names are almost the same!"
Most people would take issue with this, wanting to be differentiated from Kana in some way—she once knew a Kanako that insisted people call her Nako, just so people would confuse the two of them when they were in a room together. It was why Kana was so thankful in high school that people had begun to associate the image of an oni with Kana, though to a kinder degree than oni traditionally appeared in legends. She really was big and broad, and Kana couldn't think of a better nickname to suit her—especially when she already had "oni" in her surname anyway!
"Oni-chan sounds so cute…" Kina mused. "Okay, gotcha! Who's the club adviser for the fitness club, Oni-chan?"
And she used it so quickly! Kana was on cloud nine!
"Our advisor is Okuma-sensei, the first-year math teacher," she told her. "You'll find him in his office after school, if you have time to visit him! Or you can come back here and hand it to him then—he always comes to check on us to make sure we haven't had an accident or broken anything."
It was enough information for Kina to feel satisfied. She nodded and stood up from her seat, smiling with some restraint, and she thanked Kana for her time and told her she'd be back this afternoon with her application ready for the advisor to approve.
As soon as the door shut, Kana fist-pumped and dropped into a power pose. Another member, and in the first week of school, to boot! Her third year was looking up! First she got to attend the convention where she got to shake hands with Aja Kong—the Aja Kong!—and now she was cultivating her fitness club to survive after she graduated! Everything was turning up Kana!
Received: 2009/11/21 10:41AM
From: Unknown number
New instructions from up top. Need information regarding events from 2001/01/01 to 2001/05/01 for current client.
Pay is doubled for the extra work. Same base instructions.
Remember to factory reset once you read this message.
Stay safe kiddo.
"Tanager, what happened!?" Sane screamed.
She watched as Kuni winced and pressed his hands to his ears, face scrunched up like a pug's. She couldn't help the shout she'd let out, though; she could smell vomit all over him, and while he looked squeaky clean right now, she knew that shirt wasn't his under the uniform. Her Tanager didn't wear thirty-thousand yen shirts to school! That was a spare shirt from the office!
Something happened.
Kuni let out a slow breath and relaxed a little. He blinked at her, looking almost helpless as Sane clung to his desk, and he finally sighed once more as he actually explained himself. Not that he needed to—Sane had heard all about how Higashiyama Kowaita had hurled chunks all over Kuni after Yuuki Miku was slapped in the face with a spider corpse from Daizen, who was in the class with them. She could gather what had happened from rumours if she'd wanted to, but she liked to hear the details from her birds herself. Less chance of gratuitous detail being thrown in and higher chances of downplaying being issued.
"One of the underclassmen had a scare at lunch," he told her. That checked out, Sane thought. It was the small window between fifth and sixth period now, and her initial check up on Ari had turned into a checkup on both her concerning birds in 3-B. "A spider got into her lunch box, I think. She must've been squeamish."
Sane glared at him, her sage green and pink eyes narrowing into slits. Kuni squirmed a little under her gaze, but he didn't add anything extra or correct himself.
Alright. She could accept that. It matched what Daizen said anyway, though with less awareness that what had happened to Kowaita had been deliberate.
"My poor Tanager," she whined. "Vomit stink is sooooo hard to get out of clothing… You'll just have to come by my place tonight and wash your shirt so you don't worry your poor mother."
"I'm not cooking dinner for you and your siblings," Kuni said immediately.
Sane huffed. She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest. A perfect excuse, and he still wouldn't do it. Koji was dying for Kuni to come over and feed him, and he was getting at an age where he was being fussy if he didn't get his way. Koji was a good boy and always listened to Sane, but he was in his fearsome fours. That boy had a vernacular to rival most poets now!
She heard crinkling behind her, and when Sane looked back over her shoulder, she saw Kuni opening a small KitKat bar for himself. It was matcha flavoured, and when he glanced up from it, Sane's eyes were glistening with hope as she gave him the most pitiful look he could muster.
Kuni squinted at her, and pointedly called out, "Ari-san, you want something?"
From the other side of the classroom, Ari got out of her chair and hurried over to his desk. "What'd you bring today?"
"I got strawberry shortcake, matcha, orange, and I think a plain one too."
"I'll take the strawberry shortcake."
Kuni handed it to her without another word.
Sane's puppy dog eyes intensified, and she was basically sprawled over his desk as she leaned closer to make Kuni look at her. Damn it, she wanted some chocolate too! Why was he bullying her like this? She only bugged him because she cared!
"Oh, strawberry shortcake tastes nice," Ari deadpanned.
"Aneki likes that one the most," Kuni deadpanned back.
Both of them looked positively bored as they chewed on their chocolates and avoided looking at Sane.
Sane slapped her hands against the desk and whined out loud.
"I went through all the trouble of being all concerned for my birds!" she sobbed. "And now I'm being bullied! Me! I want chocolate too!"
Kuni made a mildly interested sound. "Then use your words, Silkie," he fired back.
"Yeah, Silkie, use your words," Ari deadpanned.
"Our bond goes beyond words," Sane sniffled. "You two can't even hold a conversation without grunting for a whole sentence, and Jackdaw prefers to listen instead of talk, so I have to fill in a lot of space unless you all suddenly develop telepathy! I like to think our friendship is so profound that we can understand each others' needs without using words!"
Both Ari and Kuni let out dubious sounds.
"You're both so mean!" Sane scolded them. She leaned back up from the desk and steadied herself on her feet. Despite her whining, though, Sane didn't fully mean it when she said they were being mean. Mean was them giving her a bird nickname that didn't fit her to begin with, like Pidgeon. This was more a case of their very fresh friendship and strange situation rearing its head. After all, it was only seven months ago that she'd approached Kuni to peek at his phone in order to check how deep Yomi's bullying against Ari ran among the student body, and it'd been five months since she'd stormed Ari's house with KFC and the boys in tow in order to drag the girl into their circle by force. "I wanted something lemon flavoured…"
Wordlessly, but with a heavy sigh, Kuni reached into his desk and pulled out another KitKat—this one lemon and salt flavoured.
Sane let out an excited gasp and snatched it from his hands. As she tore it open and chomped down on the small chocolate, both Kuni and Ari snorted softly and tried their best to not laugh at the sight of Sane fumbling over chocolate in order to gobble it all down in one go.
With all the pleasantries out of the way, though, Sane gave a cursory glance towards the classroom door and made sure no one was entering from another class.
Recently, a certain dickhead was making himself into a very noticeable nuisance. Kuni had reported it to Sane yesterday, during lunch, but Ari had remained quiet on the matter like usual. Wasn't it too early in the school year for Tsunoda Ryuuji to be bothering Ari? Wasn't he busy enough bothering Daizen and that guy from the basketball team in his class? Wasn't Yuuki Miku busy trying to catch his attention?
Today was no different. Sane made a point to hurry to Ari's side, wrapping her arms around Ari's own, and she cozied up to her with a satisfied hum as she swallowed her chocolate. Ryuuji stared at them through the window of the classroom, glaring daggers at Sane, and Sane just sneered back at him behind her delightful mask. Even between class periods, this idiot wouldn't give it a rest. What was he planning to do anyway? Make her skip class? Or was he really so premature that he could fit a quickie in two minutes?
He stomped away from the window, back towards his classroom, and Sane puffed her chest out with pride. When she glanced back at Kuni, he seemed to give her a knowing glance—but didn't speak up to Ryuuji being outside the window. Ari's focus was more on the clock at the other end of the room, the redhead concerned for Sane's time constraints to make it back to her own class.
"Even if you don't cook dinner tonight," Sane cooed at Kuni, "can you still come over? Koji's been asking about you a lot more lately. He misses his big guy."
A small dusting of pink glossed over Kuni's cheeks. He turned away from Sane, awkward as he covered his mouth with his sleeve, and he tried to look anywhere but at Sane.
"W—Well, if the little man's asking for me…" Kuni mumbled. "I guess it can't be helped."
What a tsundere. She was gonna melt this boy's heart into a beautiful lake in no time.
"Hey, hey, Rosefinch, what about you?" Sane asked Ari. Ari looked away from the clock, blinking once, and she tilted her head.
"Do I have to cook?" she asked.
"Sheesh, why do neither of you wanna help me cook a big feast!? I have a ton of mouths to feed when you guys come over!"
"Then stop inviting us over every day," Kuni reminded her.
"Well that's no fun." Sane stuck her tongue out at him. "We can order something in, I guess."
Ari waved a hand gently. "Oh, no, I was asking because there's a place where I get discounts on ramen," she said. "A guy I used to go to middle school with—he works there, and since Yomi never got to him, he still acts a little decent. Plus, the ramen is genuinely nice."
"Do they do donburi as well?" Kuni asked.
"Oh, yeah. You like them spicy, right? They have a challenge donburi with a ton of chilli mixed into the breading of the katsu and the curry itself."
Kuni seemed interested now. He sat up higher in his seat, determined to find out more details, and Sane could sense a plan forming in her mind.
Everything was working out pretty well with their setup so far. Kuni being put in the same class as Ari this year really worked its magic, especially since he was on the same page as Sane about keeping creeps away from Ari. It only ever really got difficult if Ari had to go to the bathroom, or if she had to visit the nurse—the ones skipping class always found their ways to her, somehow, and Kuni could do little else than text Ari, and then Sane, asking where she was. Daizen was surprisingly on board with Sane's idea for him to stash medication for Ari at his place, especially once he'd heard about what Yomi and her mother had done with Ari's last prescription.
Sane, on the other hand, was probably the most flexible. Even if she skipped classes, her grades never suffered for it, so when the whims took her, she could find her Rosefinch in times of dire need. Leaning on the effects of her Ehlers Danlos Syndrome to get free passes to the nurse came in handy, as well. All she had to do was dislocate one of her limbs—easy peasy—and then make a scene of needing to see the nurse. And then as soon as Shizuka sent her back to class, Sane would go anywhere but.
And where Sane would fail? Well, she and Daizen had that covered, too. She had plenty of people she could blackmail into playing guard for a few days, and there were a ton of people who wanted "help" with their exam prep and homework in exchange for some physical labour. And what better physical labour than starting fights with someone like, say, Ryuuji, in order to prevent him from fucking around and finding out?
Still, though. If only the track and field team practised near the kyudo club. Daizen could cause a ton of "accidents" and save them the trouble with a simple arrow.
As soon as they graduated from this school, Sane was gonna go nuclear. She just had to wait for Daizen to leave the school as well, just in case anyone retaliated against him for what they'd expose to the public. While Sane would have the protection of the triads and her uncle after graduation, Daizen wasn't as lucky. He was the sole protector of his own family and peace of mind; Sane had to make sure he was back on his way to Sapporo, even if temporarily, before doing anything drastic.
Fujimi Academy was a cesspool of scandal, and most of it wasn't even the students. No wonder so many politicians sent their kids here to network.
"Then it's decided," Sane chirped. She rubbed her face against Ari's arm, almost as though scenting her like a cat would. "We'll go to this ramen place tonight, and I'll wash Tanager's shirt while we eat! I could get Koji a plate of gyoza—or maybe some bao buns, if they sell them! He's really into how pillowy they are right now."
Ari reached up and patted her head, ruffling some of Sane's white and green hair through her fingers, and she gave Sane a light push to the shoulder so as not to hurt her. "Alright, plans made. Now get back to your class before you get in trouble."
"I only have a class with Shido-sensei next," Sane whined. "I can afford to miss him for five, ten, maybe sixty minutes."
"You're not skipping class, Sane-san," Kuni deadpanned.
She huffed her cheeks out into a pout. The elasticity in her skin made her look positively squirrelly.
"What's he gonna do, fail me like he did Miyamoto-san? I bet he doesn't have the cajones."
Both of them looked at each other awkwardly. Ari shifted on her feet with a soft clear of her throat.
"Is she… doing okay?" she asked Sane, quiet.
Ah, right. Ari was in Rei's class last year. She'd been just as shocked as everyone else that Rei had been held back, especially since Rei would occasionally study with her between classes or share notes when Ari was sick. Compared to most people in the school, Rei seemed to be genuinely understanding of Ari's struggles with her schizophrenia. Sane heard that one time, someone had tried to gaslight Ari into thinking she'd agreed to help them with something when she hadn't—and that Rei had been the one to stand up and call them out for it.
Real shame that adult business got in the way of that girl's future. Being held back a year was a stain on your permanent record.
"Jackdaw says he sees her every so often," Sane said. It was true, too. Sometimes Daizen would give updates at the end of the day to let her know what Rei got up to, which made him as reliable as ever. As soon as he knew when Sane was looking into something—or someone—he was on the scene keeping an eye on the flow of social interactions. "She got a boyfriend. Igou Hisashi, his name is. I'm not surprised she didn't get with that guy who was following her around like a puppy in his first year, though. He always seemed like such an asshole, treating everyone like they were a chore to deal with."
"Ah, Komuro," Ari mused. "I think he walked in on—" She paused, realising who she was talking to, and cleared her throat again. "Anyway. He kinda just ignored it and left. Not really someone I'd call helpful, even if I hadn't asked for it."
Oh? Sane peered at Ari with a frown. So he was an asshole and useless? Well, now she felt bad for Rei having to deal with him following her around and bothering her. Good for her, dating someone else and getting away from his ass.
Kuni held his hands up, brows pinched, and he groaned softly. "No more depressing talk. We still have one more period to get through, alright? I'd like to go one day without a reminder that the majority of our classmates are trash."
"Then you shouldn't have gone to school at the dump, Tanager," Sane chirped. She let go of Ari and winked at him. "Maybe the university you go to will be an improvement. Hard to top a school like Fujimi for unbearableness."
Amen to that. Despite her polite demeanour to everyone, being a friendly presence in her class, there was a special kind of hatred she had for the student body. A service to blackmail your fellow students should not be as successful as it was in Fujimi, yet Sane had clients in every class without fail. A school that prided itself on not allowing bullying or relationships did jack and shit to curb either behaviour in its students, preferring to favour the more socially popular ones and the richer ones over the genuine victims. A classroom of people laughing and giggling about their hobbies and lives were so filled with humble bragging and competition that it was obvious most of these kids never saw each other as friends, only competitors. Unless you were childhood friends or, rare as they were, genuinely wanted to get along with your peers, you were constantly having to watch for which of the several knives at your back would plunge first.
Not even Sane was immune to such petty comparisons. Her mobility issues made her easy to downplay compared to the other girls in her class, even if she was one of the prettier ones. She was damaged goods, so she wasn't a threat to their social lives—and so they treated her like a friend, because she was harmless to them.
Harmless, her left asscheek.
"I guess I'll go back to class," Sane drawled. "But not cuz you told me to! I'm gonna ignore Shido-sensei the whole time and then piss him off by getting everything right, because I'm a genius like that."
"I'm sure Shido-sensei appreciates his brightest student flexing on him with such disrespect," Ari joked.
"He better. I'm a delight to have in a class."
Both of them let out dubious sounds again. Sane huffed at them as she walked back to the door, and she gave a final shout of, "Unloved!" as she left the room entirely.
As soon as they couldn't see her, Sane pulled her phone from her bra and sent a rapidfire text to Daizen. She had to be prepared for today. If Ryuuji had already come by between fifth and sixth period, he was going to try again after school. Probably wait until Ari had to leave Kuni's side or something.
Sent: 2010/04/12 1:49PM
To: Jackdaw
Chicken Head stopped by the classroom. Keep an eye out.
Also we're getting ramen for dinner! [heart]
It didn't take long for Daizen's reply to come in. Like Sane, he was probably confident enough in his next class to afford a lapse in attention.
Received: 2010/04/12 1:50PM
From: Jackdaw
Great. You should pay me in ramen for the work I'm doing.
Sent: 2010/04/12 1:50PM
To: Jackdaw
I pay you with love! That's priceless, y'know!
Received: 2010/04/12 1:51PM
From: Jackdaw
Priceless doesn't pay the bills and keep me fed.
Sent: 2010/04/12 1:51PM
To: Jackdaw
Boo! Unloved!
Really, she was unloved on all fronts. And Sane was so loveable! Her birds didn't know how good they had it with her.
As soon as she walked into her classroom, all eyes were on her. Some were appraising, checking to see if she was leaning on her cane today, while others were indifferent, hoping to see someone else enter the room.
With a bright smile, waving to her classmates, Sane limped into the classroom on her cane and made her way to her seat. Playing the part of pitiful, fragile classmate once again to appease their fragile egos.
XX XXXXX XXXX
London
W1U 5RB
UK
To Mr. Arthur Lambert
I am writing to you once again to implore you to consider my offer to have my daughter visit England and her siblings for the summer break. She misses her brother terribly, and I'm sure he and their sister miss her too.
I know you have reservations about Ari's existence and the betrayal I helped Miranda commit against you. I understand it. I truly do. I have broken my own home just as I have broken yours. But it's not fair to punish our children for my mistakes. Ari may not be your daughter, but she was your wife's daughter, and I know your son played a huge part in raising her until you sent her to my doorstep. I'm not calling you a terrible father, Mr. Lambert. I'm stating facts to show how unreasonable it is to keep siblings separated in such a cruel way.
Does your daughter even know she has a sister? She must. I'm sure your son told her every chance he got. Do you even keep pictures of Ari in the house? Does she know what Ari looks like? She's the spitting image of Miranda, Mr. Lambert. It's uncanny. Please, Mr. Lambert, I'll even make the trip with her and we can stay in a hotel somewhere. You don't have to house her, you just need to let her see her brother and sister. She's suffering.
You should know a father can only do so much for his children before he reaches a wall. I'm at that wall, Mr. Lambert, and the wall is you. Please, I'm begging you, open the door for the little girl you once raised as your own. You had enough sense to not throw her to the foster system. Have some sense to let her speak to her family.
I know you throw away the letters she sends to your house. Be better, Mr. Lambert. Ari is not the one who broke your family. Miranda and I are.
Wishing you well and praying for a safe new year for your family.
Yuujiro Tsukishima
月島右二郎
Some people really did not know when to leave well enough alone…
Ari knew better than to get her hopes up during the course of the day. She really did. It was a habit by this point to keep her expectations rock bottom. But making plans with Sane not even an hour ago was something that had gotten her excited, and while there was quite a bit of time before dinner, she and Kuni had made the decision to go to kenjutsu class early and meet Enten there—also an early student—while Sane got the rest of her siblings and Daizen wrapped up kyudo practice. Ari had been eager to show them the ramen place she'd found, to show them someone decent she knew in passing from middle school. The more Sane pried and pressed her for details, the more Ari felt guilty that there wasn't anything good to report to her.
She'd seen how Daizen had looked at her this morning. He'd been trying to get some details that Ari wasn't comfortable sharing. And more than anything, he'd probably figured out on his own what Ari's stance on her situation was. Who wanted to hang out with someone who acted the way Ari did? Somehow these three did, and it was endlessly perplexing to Ari why they even enjoyed being around her.
She thought it was pity at first. That Kuni wasn't willing, same with Daizen. But it was obvious there was more to it. Sane hadn't pitied her when she'd given Ari's stolen phone back to her and reported what Yomi had tried to do. She'd called it "pro-bono work" and decided to serve as a roadblock for Ari. Kuni had been in her kenjutsu class for a while, longer than they'd talked and been friends at school, at least. She could see genuine admiration in his eyes during exhibitions, but Ari couldn't figure out why that admiration continued outside of the dojo and in their school lives. And Daizen… She supposed he was along for the ride, but he took this sudden friendship as seriously as Sane did. He probably nagged Ari more than Sane did, too. It felt less like pity on his end and more like exasperation, like he had the means to resolve a situation but something wasn't letting him.
As always, that something was Ari herself. She didn't have it in her for this friendship she'd finally managed to muster up to fizzle out because of a misstep or an abuse of her friends' power.
She wasn't worth tanking their reputations—nor other people's.
This reservation to let herself get excited for things served a purpose. Yomi had been thorough in destroying what little friendships Ari had last year, and Ari was about ninety percent positive that Yomi was the one who started the rumour that Ari was a far less unobtainable conquest compared to her sister. Yomi was likely the reason why teachers favoured Ari less and less over the course of her second year, and she'd be willing to bet Yomi was trying her damndest to isolate Ari from her new friends. It wasn't that Ari thought so little of her friends, that she'd believe they'd abandon her if Yomi spun a believable enough tale; it was that she knew Yomi would lash out in dire ways if she didn't get her way, and Ari was experiencing that lashing out right now.
She'd gone to the bathroom after leaving her class with Kuni, and she'd insisted she'd be fine if she waited and made sure no one was standing outside the bathroom while he called their teacher to let him know they'd be early today. Ari's plan had been to call her dad and let him know she'd be home late again, but when she'd stepped out into the silence of the hallway, walking towards the exit, she hadn't banked on hands grabbing her from within a classroom and yanking her inside.
Tsunoda Ryuuji was a persistent bastard. He slammed the door shut behind them and threw Ari towards one of the desks, and she stumbled to a stop against it as her heart thrummed in her chest. She did her best not to let it slip today that she'd noticed him lingering near her classroom, but it was hard to ignore him now. According to the other guys she'd interacted with, Ryuuji had been desperate to get a taste of Ari ever since his friends told him about her—all the way back at the final month of her second year, Ryuuji's first year of high school—and it seemed the vacation and exams he'd taken hadn't done anything to deter him from pursuing her.
"Fucking finally," he grumbled. He all but crowded Ari at the desk, folding her over it eagerly. "Do you know how hard it is to get some alone time with you nowadays?"
"I have plans—" Ari started.
"You never have plans," he snapped. "Don't lie to me. You're not above sleeping with me."
Right. If she'd slept with half the school by now, she really wasn't above sleeping with Ryuuji too. He probably wouldn't even care that she was a dead lay, or even that she only went along with the other guys because they wouldn't listen if she'd said no. He was already deciding she couldn't go find Kuni and leave the school. He only cared about what he got out of this.
She was not worth a whole day of stalking and skulking about. Why couldn't he just settle for the girls who actually liked him?
Like every song and dance before, Ari mentally checked herself out and looked away from him. He didn't seem to care—just like the rest of them—and Ari pushed her focus to the clock on the other side of the room instead. Every second felt like it moved too slowly, the hands of the clock barely moving at all, and part of her hoped that the batteries hadn't died in it yet. She just needed to focus on it and wait for Ryuuji to be finished. Then she could apologise to her teacher for being late, and for ditching Kuni.
She could hear, in the back of her mind, the voices of Sane and Daizen screaming that she should just shove him off and run, or call for them so they could cut in and chase him away. But the louder part of her—the part that her medication always made sure to suppress to the best of its ability—stomped all over the image of her friends and reminded her that this was more than what she'd deserve. Ari led him on. Ari welcomed this behaviour. Ari deserved to be treated this way.
The least she could do to make up for being born was let people use her as they saw fit.
A loud thud against the window of the classroom brought her back to the present, and she was far too aware of the hands on her thigh and breast. Ari's heart stopped, and so did Ryuuji's movements. Both of them looked in the direction of the window, and a wave of shame and relief washed over Ari all at once.
Daizen was peering into the classroom with a murderous expression on his face. As soon as Ryuuji locked eyes with him, he raised one arm—decorated with Hello Kitty safety alarms, four of them—and his other hand moved to the triggers at the bottom of all four of them.
They were the high quality ones, a hundred and twenty decibels each. Ari quickly brought her hands up to her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the assault on her ears that was about to come.
The safety alarms were louder than she'd anticipated, and she was impressed that Daizen didn't double over in pain from being so close to them. They practically shook the windows and wall of the classroom entrance, and Tsunoda was screaming as he clamped his hands over his ears and stumbled away from Ari. She could hardly hear what he was saying to Daizen, but when Ari opened her eyes to check, to read his lips, she saw Daizen mockingly pointing to his ears with his free hand and gesturing that he couldn't hear Ryuuji.
Ryuuji practically sprinted out of the classroom just as two teachers ran towards the classroom, screaming at Daizen to shut the alarms off. It took some time, but the boy finally slid each trigger back into the alarms, silencing them, and when the last one stopped, Ari finally pulled her hands from her ears. A high ringing still lingered, and everything was still muffled. Definitely a bad case of tinnitus.
By the time she could focus again, the teachers were gone and the alarms were confiscated. Daizen made his way into the classroom in a hurry, and he hovered over Ari as Ari calmed herself through the ringing in her ears. She still couldn't hear him, but she could see him pull the ear plugs and cotton from his ears and tuck them into his pockets.
She was able to catch what he was saying by reading his lips, and she focused on his lip piercing as she tried to calm herself down. Jesus, she never came out of dissociating in the middle of— Fuck. She forgot how much it made her panic. How much she hated it.
"Ari-senpai, are you okay?" she saw him say.
"No," she said, and she knew her voice was too loud. "Hurts."
"Sorry. I tried to hurry, but I lost track of him while I went to get the alarms."
She waved a hand and scrunched up her face. The ringing was easing up just the tiniest bits, but she wished she'd had ear plugs like he did. There was no way Ari could go to the dojo if her hearing was suffering. She'd be too unbalanced.
As though proving herself right, the moment she tried to stand up from the desk, Ari stumbled forward into the one across from it.
Compared to the treatment she'd just gotten from Ryuuji, Daizen's helpful shoulder to lean on as they walked out of the classroom was a Godsend. They walked at a slow pace as Ari's hearing and balance ever so slowly came back, and by the time they made it to the front gates, where Kuni was waiting and clearly had the number for the police open on his phone—or rather, Jitsuno Sho's number, their quickest way to get police help involved thanks to Sane's dad doting on her friends and offering to move heaven and earth to help his daughter's friends, however much help that would be. When he saw Ari and Daizen approaching, Kuni let out a sigh of relief and hurried over.
"I already told Katagami-sensei we're not coming," Kuni informed Ari. He looked at Daizen, and frowned. "How many of those did you set off? I heard them loud and clear from here."
"Four," Daizen reported nonchalantly. "I wanted five, but I couldn't get one of the same quality."
Really? He couldn't get another one that was a hundred and twenty decibels? Or did he not have enough matching ones to make it more jarring for Ryuuji?
Ari winced and said, louder than she intended, "Hello Kitty."
Kuni looked at Daizen pointedly.
"Sane-senpai bought them for me to send to my sister," Daizen said quickly. "Don't make it weird."
The blond sighed, seeming a little satisfied with the answer, and he hurried to stand on Ari's other side as he took her bag for her. "Well, we still have time to kill before dinner," Kuni said. "C'mon. I know a clinic that does walk-in appointments for quick check overs. Let's get your ears looked at."
That was the best news she'd heard all day. And the chocolate offer was ranking pretty high up there.
The only thing to dampen the news was the fact that the clinic would call her family house phone if something was actually wrong with her hearing. And if Satsuki found out Ari's hearing was damaged because of alarms going off at school, it was absolutely going to turn into a whole ordeal about how Ari was trying to sabotage Yomi by deafening her. As if Ari was the one who went out and bought four Hello Kitty safety alarms and let loose a combined total of four hundred and eighty decibels at once.
Best not to think about it, she told herself.
By the time they were in and out of the clinic—no permanent hearing loss, but definitely some inflammation that Ari was given some painkillers for when the tinnitus wore off—they met up with Sane outside the clinic doors with almost all of her siblings in tow. She crashed into Ari and wailed against her, sobbing that she should've sent Daizen to pick up the kids while she followed Ari out of the school, but the issue was set aside rather quickly when Ema—the eight-year-old sister of Sane—coughed into the face mask she was wearing and tugged on Sane's sleeve.
Poor thing must've had a cold, Ari thought. Sane took Ema inside and left the rest of her siblings—ten-year-old Kaede and four-year-old Koji—in the care of the teens. Koji clung to Kuni with a satisfied look on his face, extremely pleased to see his favourite person again, and Kaede tugged on Ari's sleeve to get her attention.
Ari wasn't the best at sign language yet, but she could understand what Kaede was asking her. Are you hurt?
Ari quickly pulled out her phone and typed a reply, but she knew Kaede could read her lips as well and understand what was wrong. "I was too close to something loud, so my ears are still ringing. I'm okay, though!"
Kaede's eyes were beady and watery as she gave Ari a tight hug. She was just like her older sister, freaking out if anything ever happened to Sane's friends. Ari wondered if it was Kaede genuinely adoring them as much as Sane did, or if it was more Kaede emulating her older sister and showing an excessive amount of worry because it was what Sane would do.
Either way, when Kaede reached up to turn off her hearing aids and declared she and Ari could be deaf together today, it felt very sweet of her.
Her hearing was returning enough for her to hear Koji's chatter with Kuni, and with every demand of, "Tanjer, Tanjer!" Ari could feel her smile returning ever so slightly.
By the time they made it to Neko Ramen GO!, the place Ari wanted to take everyone, she could hear enough to tell what everyone was saying to her when they spoke loudly enough. It was a humble ramen establishment that did deliveries on the go, and the mascot was a white cat wielding chopsticks in its outstretched paw. Apparently the mascot's name was Go, but Ari didn't know enough about the lore of the restaurant to refute or confirm it. It was a homely place, small enough to not be considered a big chain restaurant, but big enough to fit whole families who wanted to have ramen together. They didn't have a lot of workers, but the ones they did have worked fast.
One such worker was Akada Kazuyuki. A white-haired boy who went to the same middle school as Ari, once upon a time, but didn't make it into Fujimi like she had. She barely knew much about him beyond the small acts of kindness he'd send her way during middle school—many times, she'd find him offering a can of extra coffee he had on hand or asking if she wanted to share some sweets his younger siblings gave him—but they weren't what she'd consider friends. More friendly acquaintances, and their separation after middle school didn't dampen the generosity that Kazuyuki showed her. Some nights, when his boss wasn't looking, he'd apply his employee discount for Ari's meal and share it with her on his break so his boss never suspected a thing.
She liked to think it was just something he did for the sake of being nice, rather than for an ulterior motive, because who played the long game of six years just to get in someone's pants? Ah, no, terrible question. Ari could think of quite a few examples people she used to talk to had given her, and she went online often enough to see dating horror stories and news articles of people scamming their significant others over the course of several years.
The point was that he seemed decent, and if he got the seal of approval from her three bodyguards, Ari could breathe a little easier about coming to Neko Ramen GO! for dinner some nights.
"Oh, Koji, they have chicken gyoza!" Sane pointed out to Koji. The boy wriggled on her lap and peered at the menu, trying to look like he knew what everything said. "And they have appy juice."
"It's apple, nee-chan!" Koji said, pouting. "I'm a big boy."
"Oh, my mistake." Sane ruffled his hair and pointed to the menu. "Does the big boy want his apple juice?"
Koji nodded once, looking like the matter of drinking his apple juice was life or death.
"Ari-san, which one do you recommend?" Kuni asked her. He was leaning over the table to show her his menu, and he pointed to the super spicy donburi bowl. "I know I said I wanted to give the spicy donburi a try, but it looks like they have a nice shoyu ramen collection, too."
"They have a gochujang chilli ramen bowl," Ari told him. She grabbed his menu and turned it around, pointing to the fusion section. "The broth's thicker than it normally should be, but that's only because they use a gochujang paste. They serve it with udon instead of regular ramen noodles, so it's like that one Korean snack I hear a lot about."
As soon as she said it, Kuni's eyes brightened and he muttered, "Ah, tteokbokki…" with an almost nostalgic tone. From the way he looked, Ari could confidently say that Kuni would eat that one.
They hadn't ordered by the time Enten had arrived, but they had gotten some appetisers to start with—nothing too heavy to fill Koji's stomach right away, but they did split a couple of okonomiyaki plates between themselves. When Enten approached the table and saw them finish off the last of the okonomiyaki, a look of betrayal crossed his face and he hurried over to the counter to ask for one more. He slid in beside Daizen, finally filling the table to full capacity, and he peered at the menu Daizen was holding with a frown.
"The honey sesame fried chicken sounds nice," Daizen mused. "Might get it with steamed rice…"
"Why get rice when you're at a ramen place?" Enten asked, puzzled.
"I need something a little less heavy on the stomach after the day I've had." Daizen sounded as exhausted as he looked when he said it.
Ari wrote everyone's orders down and hurried to the counter to let the chef know what they wanted. The boss brought out Enten's okonomiyaki, which he proceeded to fight his younger siblings to eat the entirety of, and Kazuyuki himself approached the other side of the counter to take Ari's order.
He didn't recognise her at first, but that was always a common thing with him. He saw a lot of people with bright hair colours and out-of-the-norm appearances, but he always clicked into place that it was Ari when he saw the Fujimi uniform.
"Oh, Ranbato-san," he said in greeting. "You brought a lot of people today."
"Yeah, I really didn't wanna cook for everyone tonight. Neither did Kuni-san," she joked.
"Well, you've come to the right place for lazy dinner service!" he chirped. Kazuyuki motioned to the napkin she'd written the order on, and he took it from her to read it over. "One of the chicken and rice bowls… The number two special… Kids' serving of miso soup and rice… More gyoza… Oh, the gochujang ramen? Whoever ordered that is in for a fun time. And then we got a number five special… Did you want a drink as well?"
"We'll just have a jug of water. Have you got a cup for a toddler to drink out of?"
As though performing a magic trick, Kazuyuki reached under the register and pulled the spill-proof cup—and its lid—free from the darkness of the cupboard it was stored in. He held it up like a trophy, and he even let slip a playful, "Ta-da!"
He sent Ari back with the jug of water and followed suit with enough cups for everyone to drink from. He even brought a courtesy box of apple juice for Koji, his boss apparently already telling him to grab one after delivering the okonomiyaki out earlier. As Ari settled into her seat and sipped at her water, she couldn't help feeling relaxed and at ease.
She didn't like to get her hopes up, but sometimes a gathering like this was worth looking forward to. A nice break from the reality that waited for her back home, and a pleasant way to forget that things were dangerously close to being in the gutter.
Normal.
OBITUARY
Shimizu Ikumo (45) has passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer on May 28th, 2009. She spent her final moments surrounded by loved ones in her Tokonosu home. Her children, Shingen, Haruki and Kazuyuki, carry on her will and continue to support each other through trying times. The orphanage that Shimizu-san worked at is holding a public memorial for her on June 2nd, 2009 at 5PM in Tokonosu's Harunomichi Park, where Shimizu-san spent much time with her family.
If you or a friend are interested in donating to Kumo Orphanage to help support the children Shimizu-san cared for, you can contact Kumo Zaima at XXX-XXXX-XXXX.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Shimizu-san's family and friends in these trying times.
He supposed it was a good thing that she'd found some friends to bring with her to the shop.
It wasn't like Kazuyuki had expected Ranbato Ari to remain friendless in her life. He'd actually sympathised with her, in a way that was unique to himself, when he considered how similar their situations were. Kazuyuki was consistently stomped upon by his peers at the orphanage, while Ari was always made out to be some harlot and snake among her peers at school. He'd never believed it, always seeing the small moments where she'd break down and let her stress out, and he'd come to realise they were one in the same.
He was just surprised she'd been able to find people to trust on her own after everything she'd been through the past six years.
The group had left a while ago, the time close to nine o'clock, and he'd watched as Ari carried the small girl with the mask on her face and the blond boy carried the toddler in his arms, both dozing off against the teens. It was a peaceful sight, definitely a refreshing one, but Kazuyuki was just, like usual, neutral to it all.
It wasn't terrible. It wasn't fantastic. He supposed he should think it was, but he was just neutral. More power to Ari, his mind said, and he'd be wishing for the friendship's longevity whenever he saw her again.
He scrubbed the dishes in the kitchen as his boss handled the customers filtering in with alcohol on their breaths. It was harder to understand tipsy customers, he found, and on more than one occasion they'd gotten annoyed by Kazuyuki asking them to repeat themselves. It was easier for his boss, who spoke Drunkenese, to handle the situation and just pass the orders back to Kazuyuki. Most of them wanted fried chicken or tempura vegetables to go with their beer, and anyone could cook that after a month or so in Neko Ramen GO!'s kitchen. Kazuyuki could hear laughter, and one man out in the dining area slurred his boss's name—clueing him in to the fact that they knew each other, which was even more of a reason for his boss to handle them instead of Kazuyuki himself. He set aside some of the bowls, scrubbed clean the glasses that had been used, and he took extra care since he'd noticed the young girl with Ari's group seemed to be sick. The last thing he needed was to let a cold spread through the restaurant, he thought. He'd even disinfected the table and chairs after the group had left to be certain.
Another worker came into the kitchen, immediately moving to the big tonkotsu broth pot simmering away on the stove, and Kazuyuki sucked in a steeling breath. Alright, some of them wanted ramen. He supposed that was fine too.
The order ticket was put up near the heat lamp, and his coworker, Yamauchi Mina, wrapped an apron around herself as she loaded ramen into a basket and dunked it into the hot water pot to boil.
"Kazu, can you prep some chicken thighs for karaage?" she asked him. "I'll handle the frying, since they want the tempura ramen."
Oh? Well, that was a load off of Kazuyuki, but he didn't feel right leaving it all to Mina. "I'll prep the veggies, too. Did they want anything left out?"
"Only the zucchini. And they want extra sweet potatoes!"
He waved back to her in understanding as he entered the fridge and loaded some ingredients into a basket.
The rest of the order included edamame and, oddly enough, a serving of pork bao buns. Kazuyuki pulled the remaining buns from the steamer, setting them on a plate, and Mina passed him a bowl of beans to start boiling for the edamame. He carried the plate of bao buns out, met with cheers from the businessmen gathered at the booth, and Kazuyuki gleefully told them their dinner would be out soon.
A big bowl of edamame, a platter of karaage and four bowls of ramen later, the men were happily munching on their food and praising Kazuyuki's boss for getting such diligent workers. His boss patted him on the back, boasting that Kazuyuki was his most reliable and hardest worker, and Kazuyuki chuckled as he went along with the praise in front of the men.
It was how work usually went. His boss never had anything terrible to say about him, and the customers placed their orders and praised Kazuyuki and Mina's work ethic loudly. Despite only being a part-timer, Kazuyuki had definitely solidified himself as a proper worker for the company.
At half past nine, an order came in over the phone for someone craving a late night snack. The shop closed at ten, making the order one of the last deliveries that would be done for the night, and Kazuyuki loaded up the bike out back with the order by quarter to ten. He buckled on his helmet, company windbreaker shrugged on with ease, but his boss stopped him before he could leave.
"Akada, here," he said. His boss was holding out a paper bag that was steaming, and Kazuyuki tilted his head. "They're sweet egg dumplings. I ordered a new batch to store in the freezer whenever you wanna steam some for your break."
Oh? Oh? Kazuyuki was genuinely touched. He reached out and took the bag, checking the inside to make sure his boss wasn't lying—which was terrible, because his boss never lied once—and when he saw three dumplings waiting inside for him, he looked back up at his boss with a tearful smile.
"Boss, you're a really nice guy!" he cheered. "How'd you know I like sweet egg dumplings?"
"Yamauchi snitched on you," his boss laughed. "Now return the favour and find out what the hell she likes so I can keep a stash of snacks for her too. She's the only one on my staff without anything to cook on her break. Even Benimura had something to pick! All the guy eats is yoghurt!"
"Benimura loves his yoghurt," Kazuyuki agreed. He stuffed one of the dumplings into his mouth, letting out a delighted sound as he did so, and his mouth was full as he tried to ask his boss, "Do you need me to lock up after closing?"
His boss waved a hand and rubbed at his stubble. "Nah, Yamauchi and I have it covered. You take the bike home and open up tomorrow instead. We're not making any more deliveries tonight, anyway."
Kazuyuki swallowed the dumpling and, as he pedalled off into the street, shouted, "You're the best, boss!"
"And don't you forget it!" his boss shouted back at him.
The delivery was close by, all things considered, but it was definitely closing time by the time Kazuyuki wheeled the bike back out onto the street. He finished off the last two dumplings as he rode back to the apartment he called home, not quite piping hot but still delicious nonetheless. The night life of Tokonosu, what little of it existed, began to peek out from the large buildings and flashy storefronts. There were stores that Kazuyuki had a passing interest in, and izakayas located throughout the city that he would idly wonder if the twins would enjoy visiting. They'd have to wait until Shingen and Haruki were eighteen, but he supposed by then it would be okay for Kazuyuki to give the sake they served a try as well.
The small apartment they lived in wasn't exactly small when it came to the building it was part of. Tokonosu was a very rich city, rich like Tokyo, but it had its more lower-class areas that they compacted as many people into one spot as possible. The large five-storey building they lived in was on the smaller side compared to the wealthy buildings in Tokonosu, but the residents were lucky to have five rooms in each apartment—the large living, dining and cooking area combined into one, two bedrooms to one side of the apartment, and a bathroom and laundry to the other side of the apartment. Apparently the view from the balconies of the apartments was decent enough, but Kazuyuki didn't buy it. From where he would stand each morning, peering out the living room sliding door to his own tiny communal backyard, the only thing you could see under the fifth floor was the back wall of the insurance company they lived behind.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world. The worker whose office was directly in front of their apartment would occasionally open his window and chat with the twins and Kazuyuki about ways to save money on their facilities, and he'd even help the twins with their homework on occasion if Kazuyuki wasn't home. He worked overtime more often than not, and Kazuyuki wondered at times if he just had no one to go home to. If the twins and Kazuyuki were the only social interaction the man got outside of work—which, to be fair, he was doing it on company time—then that was kind of sad.
Oh well. Nothing someone like Kazuyuki would do. If the man kept talking to him, he'd keep responding. It was as simple as that.
He unlocked the front door and shoved himself and the bike inside with a grunt. Kazuyuki could smell pasta and a hint of tomato the minute he entered the kitchen, and he leaned the bike against the wall as he sniffed the air more and more. Was that a hint of cream he smelled too? Did someone make creamy tomato pasta?
He spotted the dishes in the sink, soaking in hot water, and a plate wrapped in plastic with Kazuyuki's name written on the sticky note stuck to it. He could hear chatter outside, the sliding door across the room slightly opened, and he spotted a tuft of blond hair moving about in the darkness. Only the light from the insurance company's building illuminated the backyard, and Kazuyuki finally managed to make out the figures of the twins sitting on milk crates near the window.
Kazuyuki reheated his pasta and hurried outside with a fork, and the twins immediately cheered quietly at the sight of him as he pulled up another crate and sat down with them.
"You're working late, Kanzaki-san," Kazuyuki chuckled. "How much overtime do you have now?"
"Not enough," the balding man in the office whimpered. He turned away from his computer, wheeling his chair to the window, and he was slurping up pasta from a plate that clearly came from Kazuyuki's apartment. The twins must've taken pity on him and made extra food for the man to eat with them. "What about you, Kazuyuki-kun? You got back late today."
"Ah, I had to take the bike home with me tonight after a delivery. I'm opening up tomorrow." Kazuyuki twirled some pasta on his fork and gave it a try. Ah, just a bit too much tomato. The cream tasted a little burnt, too. "You shoulda told me you were working late. I would've brought some food for you!"
The man let out another whimper and held his face in his hands. "I could've had ramen… Maybe even some fried chicken…"
He sounded like a kicked puppy who was too sore to move. It was a little annoying to hear a grown man whine over how demanding his job was. Kazuyuki worked in a kitchen, and some days he had to work every single night despite only being a part-timer. He'd kill for a desk job like what this guy had, even if it was overwhelming. At least Kazuyuki's feet wouldn't be so calloused at the end of each shift.
So to lighten the man's mood and get him to stop whining, Kazuyuki chirped, "Then I'll just bring some home tomorrow night! I have to open the shop at eleven, so I probably have to close at ten as well, since the boss gave me the bike. How's that sound, hm?"
The man lifted his head from his hands and looked at Kazuyuki like he was his saviour. It was weird, the way this balding, prematurely wrinkled man was regarding the teens who lived on the other side of his office. Couldn't he take care of himself properly instead of relying on them? Shingen and Haruki had homework to keep up with if they didn't want to lose their scholarships to Fujimi.
"You're a lifesaver, Kazuyuki-kun!" he sobbed. "How much does your job charge for a bowl?"
Kazuyuki slurped up some more pasta. "'Bout a thousand yen, if you don't get the specials."
The man winced. He pulled his wallet out from the bag under his desk and carded through the notes inside. "What about side dishes?"
"Side of karaage is usually six hundred yen. That's only if you get it with the ramen as a side dish, though."
"Oh, I see! Meal batches… Then, if I give you the money tonight and the order I want, you'll bring it tomorrow?"
Kazuyuki nodded fervently. "I'll make it right before closing time so it's not sitting for too long! Ah, but I can't buy the beer for you, if you're wanting beer. I'm underaged."
"Why would I drink at work—" The man paused, his initial confusion bleeding into something else entirely. He gawked at Kazuyuki, and then at the twins. Haruki was concerned as she tilted her head and hummed in question. "Kazuyuki-kun, you're underaged?"
Kazuyuki nodded once, but it was Shingen who spoke up, smirking as he did so. "Yukihana only just turned eighteen last December," he teased. "He still can't unwind after a long day of working with a cold one yet."
"But by the time I can, you two will be old enough to help me stumble back home after a session with my coworkers," Kazuyuki prodded back. Shingen scrunched up his face at Kazuyuki, handsome features now closer to that of a newborn baby's, and he shoved pasta into his mouth to escape the conversation.
"Did you think Yukihana was older, sir?" Haruki asked quietly.
The man cleared his throat and finished off his pasta. "Well… He's your guardian, so I assumed… Ah, wait, are you legally their guardian?"
That was always the big question when they found out Kazuyuki was only two years older than the twins. It didn't help that Kazuyuki was still only seventeen when their previous guardian passed away, but they found their workarounds with enough time and patience. Haruki was a smart girl, and Shingen knew how to stomp his feet on the ground just the right way to get what he wanted. They'd been integral in convincing the director of Kumo Orphanage that they had to be kept together.
"I am," Kazuyuki laughed. "It took a while, but they're mine on paper. We didn't want to be separated, and since I had a middle school diploma and was getting a stable income through my work, all three of us were still in the care of the government until I turned eighteen. Now I'm responsible for these troublemakers."
"I'm delightful," Shingen sulked through his pasta.
"I'm sure you're delightful to someone, buddy."
The man leaned forward, plate of pasta empty, and he furrowed his brows. He was starting to look like a pug again. "You don't attend Fujimi with your siblings?"
"Oh, no, not at all! I scored way too low on the entrance exam to get a scholarship. They said I could try again to transfer in for my second year, but it's not the end of the world to not have my high school diploma."
"Hm…" The man's expression changed from contemplative to sympathetic, and he let out a low sigh as he handed the plate through the window. Haruki took it and tucked it under her own plate, which was almost empty by now. "Such a shame. You could've been doing so much more than ramen deliveries if Fujimi had accepted you. You must be proud of the twins for making it in."
Kazuyuki couldn't help glancing at the twins. Haruki, who was fiddling with her long hair, smiled warmly back at him. Shingen, who had yet to notice the cream sauce on his chin, puffed out his chest proudly when he saw Kazuyuki's eyes flicker to him.
"Yeah," he said eventually, huffing a laugh. "Real proud of 'em."