This is actually getting longer than I thought, so...

[kriszeth]

you know, when i thought "i'm writing a monster" i never thought the chapters will be like little monsters too. i haven't finished step tewo, but it's already 8 pages long. i thought that if anyway i was gonna have to split it i may as well do it now, so here it is:

Title: How to let go
Genre: ... a lot, actually
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't I wish they were mine?


Step two. Stand up

 

 

Akira gleefully enters the store, almost crashing into the sliding glass doors that try with all their might to open up before customer-san collides with them. He would probably break them, too.

Shuuji sighs, looking longingly at his bike from outside. Along of what has been his first day at the new school and after his blank phase had passed (in which he could only ask himself 'Is he really here?' or 'What is he doing here?' and 'How did he get here before me?') and he begins to warm up at the idea of having one of his best friends with him, Shuuji thinks just how glad he is about Akira following him.

He is not so glad about having to follow him inside, though. He is wet, cold, hungry and tired from worrying too much about his first day at Seishun High school – which is the reason why he couldn't eat anything in the first place. To top it all off, he could feel a headache coming on and if this keeps going on, he is sure that by tomorrow, he's going to be sick.

Just perfect, really. Sick on the second day at school. Just his luck.

All in all, Shuuji isn't exactly in the mood to get stared at, which is unavoidable when hanging out with Akira - or maybe is because Akira tends to hang from him. Someday, Shuuji thinks, someone will have to teach that boy the meaning of personal boundaries.

It probably will have to be him, too.

He spies the field day Akira's having inside, trying to look at all the merchandise in the show cases at once. Shuuji sighs again, this time long suffering and resigned to his fate, so he enters the store. The sales woman at the counter glares at him when his shoes make squeaking sounds with every step he takes. Shuuji ducks his head embarrassed, his cheeks taking on a pink hue and decides then and there he's going to take Akira and get them out of here before the staff do it... only that Akira is nowhere to be seen.

Shuuji blinks. The store is not that big for him to lose sight of the other boy, in fact, the store is just a big room with shelves in the walls and three glass cases strategically placed to display better the... cell phones?

Why would Akira want another cell phone for? The one he already owns is of the newest models out in the market in Tokyo. He would know, since Akira dragged him and Nobuta to Shibuya for a shopping trip just before Christmas after staring with shiny eyes at one of the giant billboards displaying some new DoCoMo models in hands of one of those Jhonny's guys the girls in the classroom didn't stop gushing about.

(Nobuta, Shuuji remembers, had looked longinly at one shiny black model that seemed to be the perfect partner for Akira's new cellphone and then recoilled when hearing the price. She wouldn't even let Akira buy it for her, not even as a present for Christmas, which was why they had decided to give each other something meanigful instead of expensive material things they do not have the money to buy – except Akira, of course, but he is a rich bastard and therefore doesn't count)

He looks around wondering how he could have missed his friend if he decided to get out the store when he was standing right in front of the only door the establisment has. Maybe he is more tired than he had previously thought, which just leaves open the breach to unpleasant thoughts, like: Did Akira really enter the store? Or: Was I really with Akira all this time?

Since Shuuji saw the figure of Akira, hair dyed back to its original color, at the back of the classroom, everything has felt like a dream, a delusion. Because, obviously, he has been seeing things, delluding himself with the prospect of having someone by his side with whom he can be himself... but, if all this had been a dellusion, why didn't he imagine Nobuta there too?

Shuuji's headache evolves into a migrain and he needs to lie down. In his bed, preferably, though for that to happen he needs to reach his house first. Maybe he is sick already? He hasn't been feeling well since leaving Tokyo after all. There are this butterflies in his stomach everytime he thinks of Nobuta and Mariko looking like having fun in the hallway of his old school, chatting and almost-but-not-quite smiling and this weird prickling sensation in his chest and behind his eyelids when he remembers all 2B seeing him off. Frankly, is getting annoying.

"Shuuuuuu~ji-kun" hot breath tickles his ear and he shudders involuntarily.

"Oi!" Shuuji protest by rote, putting much needed distance between them, a hand covering his ear less his friend tries anything else, his other hand out to stop any advance on Akira's part and Shuuji pomptly forgets all he had been thinking about just now. Akira laughs dorkily, loud and obnoxious and just like him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shuuji asks in an irritated voice, but he's sure he is blushing and the pointed stares of other costumers don't help his situation any.

Akira just grins brightly, aiming to look innocent, but just pulling out wicked. Shuuji clears his troath embarrased and he frowns, contemplative look on place and arms crossed; then he rolls his eyes when Akira waves childishly at him.

"Where were you at?" Shuuji asks, but before Akira can attempt to answer, a prettly sales lady appears behind him, purchase bag in one hand and a recepit in the other.

"Here's you purchase, Kusano-san" and extends the bag for the boy to take. "Thank you for your purchase and, please, do come back if you have any problems"

"Thank you" Akira's voice sounds cool and suave as he regards the young woman with a charming smile, making her blush. Shuuji's jaw is tempted to fall to the floor, but Akira prevents it by taking his hand and dragging him out before he can even think about protesting. Akira is skipping ahead, looking for all intents and purposes like a kid that just got out of the candy store and managed to fill his bag with sweet treats that'll give him cavities, just that he is too busy being a child and therefore does not care about it.

The next thing Shuuji knows is that they're back at the seaside again. The sky is all pastel colours when they step into the shore, their shoes sinking into warm sand, the sound of the waves crashing endlessly filling their silence.

"Why are we here again?" Shuuji asks eventhough he doesn't expect an answer. Akira never gives a straight one anyway, but usually he could kind of read him, just that his excentricities today make that nearly imposible and Shuuji is too worn out by emotions he doesn't even want to feel in the first place, to try and understand him, so he just lets it go. He resings himself to follow in his friend's scheme. He just hopes it's no something along the lines of 'Let's produce Nobuta!' again, beacuse all know how that ended, though it didn't, really.

Akira plops down onto the sand, sitting cross-legged and busying himself in opening his purchase. Shuuji stares at his childlike glee for a moment, his own lips twitching in amusement at the sight. He can only shake his head and wait, so he takes a relaxed stance, hands in pockets. The fabric of his trousers is still wet and clings uncomfortably to his legs in weird places.

A gust of wind hits him full on and Shuuji shudders, promptly sneezing. He grunts by principle when he feels his nose runny. It's getting a little chilly, but the last rays of the sun are warm on his face, so he closes his eyes, enjoying the moment before he has to drag Akira away, even though he doesn't really want to go back himself just yet. He wonders if he can imprint the sunset into his eyelids.

Maybe it's because you can't usually see this on the city, but Shuuji thinks this is a sight he won't be getting tired of anytime soon. It almost compensates the sadness of leaving everything in his old city. Except the presence of Akira, all their memories with Nobuta. Those are worth too much and he cares for both of them too deeply, to change them for anything or anyone else. Even so, even when he sighs longingly, a small smile moseys on his lips.

There's what sounds like a click and Shuuji opens his eyes, blinking owlishly until focusing on Akira, who's watching intently the LCD screen of his new cell, a pout on his lips.

"I'm jealous" he announces and tosses the little device at Shuuji, who catches it just before it falls into wet sand.

"Careful" he warns, but still looks critically at the picture Akira just took of him. "Why are you taking photos of me now?"

"Shuuji looked cool" Akira shrugs nochalantly, but there's still a glum quality to his voice.

Shuuji smirks. "Yeah, I know that already, but why?"

Akira has the grace to look sheepish and gets up, a pink hue to his cheeks while he stomps towards his friend to snatch the cell from his hands. Shuuji laughs joyously; Akira's lack of sense in shame usually makes him forget how easy is to ruffle his feathers sometimes.

"It's not for me!" he says indignant, saving Shuuji's photo into the memory, then returns the item into his friend's hands. "Now take one of me"

He skips to the sea until he is waist deep into salt water, splashing childishly. Shuuji rolls his eyes, but still complies, taking more than just one, because Akira's dorky posses are always funny to look at. They spent the last of the sunset rays in taking silly photos of each other and laughing. There are more photos of Akira, but Shuuji does not mind.

"It's for Nobuta, isn't it?" Shuuji asks out of the blue when they're sprawled on their backs, looking at the first stars in the sky. It takes Akira a while to answer, his expression a kind of desolation that makes Shuuji guilty for asking and for Akira following him, leaving Nobuta alone, though that was Akira's own choice.

"It's weird", he confides. "Trying to call her house and asking for her, because nobody apart from us know who Nobuta is"

The notion of no one else knowing who Nobuta really is seems to be depressing for his friend and Shuuji wonders, once again, if Akira really gave up on her as he said he would, because sometimes there's this aura on his countenance that tends to differ. Shuuji would never say it outloud, but there's a part of him that was glad of having to go away, because no matter how perfect the three of them together felt, Shuuji always felt that a great part of the reasons why Akira didn't try to confess to Nobuta was him; but then, the idiot went and followed him and just were did that leave Nobuta?

He doesn't really want to think about it.

"School uniforms" Shuuji says the first thing that comes to mind.

Akira looks at the jackets they discarded a while ago drying in the warm sand. "What about them?"

"Think Nobuta would like a photo of us in uniforms? So she can see them"

Akira snaps his fingers. "Brilliant!" he says in English. "Shuuji-kun always has the best ideas"

The hyper boy glomps the other with a laugh and Shuuji protest by rote with an "Oi!" but stays still as Akira looks for a good angle to shoot the photo. Shuuji thinks that maybe it's all right for now, like this. To not think or question what was selflessly given to him, because even if Akira had followed him, it was at Nobuta's request and he also wants to give her something back, however little it may be.

"One plus one?"

So he tries for his best real smile.

"Ni!"

Because, way beyond the sky, Nobuta's there. Always.

*****

When Akira got enough of the seaside ('Finally!') and shouted in English "Let's go!", Shuuji didn't think he meant his home (and it felt weird to call it that, when that word brings to mind the old department, a little cramped, but warm and cosy and home). He hadn't even thought Akira would know where he lived, much less lead him there when he himself wasn't really sure about getting to the new house without getting himself lost first.

"Eh? Then what did you think I meant?" Akira asks while Shuuji busies himself with opening the door.

Shuuji sighs tiredly. "I don't know. The place you will be staying at, maybe", he answers and before he can give a proper 'Tadaima', promptly trips over the assortment of boxes that are blocking the entrance, which is ridiculous because yesterday night they unpacked the last ones.

"Well..." Akira begins and Shuuji glares at him, first suspiciously and then coldly.

"Do not say it", he hisses slowly and irritated and Akira fidgets. "Don't say it. Don't even think that you just can -"

"Stay here with us!" Shuuji's father appears at that exact moment, all boisterous smiles while Koji peeks curiously behind him. "Ne, Shuuji, did you know about it? I just received a call from his father asking if Kusano-kun could stay. Say, I didn't know you were the son of Kusano-chachou. Now I know why you looked familiar"

"Kusano-chachou?" Koji asks.

"Un. Kusano-kun's father is my boss. Japan is very small, ne?" there's a laugh as loud and obnoxious as Akira's that makes Shuuji and Koji wince at the sound.

"Wait, what?" Shuuji asks. If things keep going this way, he thinks, he'll end up dying from a heart attack.

"Isn't it such a great coincidence Kusano-kun had to transfer, too? Now Shuuji won't feel lonely!" Kiritani-papa flails and looks for all intents and purposes like an eager puppy. Shuuji wonders if he's been drinking. After all, hadn't been today his welcome party from the new office?

"Suuure", he can't help but drag out his words, kick one of the boxes out of his way when he gets up, only to feel guilty about it when he sees the expression in Akira's face. Shuuji sighs. "Help me take this to your room"

Akira's expression brightens considerably and Shuuji almost smiles again, but it becomes a frown instead "Wait. Where is he going to sleep?" he asks his father, who only blinks owlishly back. There are only three rooms in the house and all are already occupied.

"He is Nii-chan's friend, ne" says Koji sensibly, a small smile on his lips. Akira nods eagerly. Shuuji rolls his eyes. "Then, he can sleep in his room"

Shuuji wonders why he didn't see that one coming, but before he can object, Akira cheers loudly, glomping his friend. "I'll be Shuuji-kun's roommate!"

"Aren't you happy?" his father asks with a smile as Koji rolls his eyes and goes back to the kitchen, where dinner is getting colder by the minute, so everyone foregoes menial task for food. That is, until someone decides to intrude by knocking at the door.

"I'll go" says Akira and without waiting for acknowlegment, gets up, taking with him the bag with Nobuta's present. Shuuji looks after him, chopsticks at his lips, a frown on his face, wondering who could it be.

"Shuuji, ne" the aforementioned startles at his father's voice, letting the chopsticks fall. The man chuckles and continues with a fond look. "Shuuji must be really important for Akira-kun to have chosen to come here all by himself"

Shuuji decides to be articulate with an "Ah?!" and then "It's not like that!", he declares, upsetting the chair in his haste when getting up. His father laughs.

"I know, I know" he says amused, trying to placate his reddening son, who sits again. "I meant, I'm glad, that you have found such a friend like him. Akira-kun, he really has changed, ne?"

"... What do you mean with changing?" Koji asks curious.

"Mmm, well, I suppose Koji was too young to remember, but you remember, don't you, Shuuji? About the incident with my company? You were 13, I think " Satoru looks over at a blinking Shuuji, who shakes his head in response.

Satoru blinks back, a frown appearing on his brow. "You don't remember?"

Another shake of the head. Satoru opens his mouth but closes it again when Akira comes back to the table, bringing with him a lively mood and all serious talk is forgotten, but Shuuji can only push his food around the plate, trying to remember.

*****

"Couldn't you have brougth your own futon at least?" asks Shuuji grumpily while taking the space next to Akira in the bed.

"Sorry" comes the contrited answer and Shuuji sighs exhausted, resigned and with a tug on the covers, he closes his eyes, his back towards Akira while his mind begins assesing the room. They need to change his newly acquired twin large sized bed for two singles, but if they move some furniture, he's sure they can squeeze them in the room and still have some space left free. Maybe they can even get two twins. They'll have to share the closet, though, so he hopes Akira didn't bring a lot of clothes.

"Is Shuuji mad at Akira?" comes the question in a whisper.

"... No" Shuuji says, but doesn't bother to open his eyes. "Why'd you think so?"

"You were frowning at dinner"

"Was I? I didn't notice"

Akira doesn't say more, but Shuuji knows he's waiting for him to continue. Shuuji debates with himself, he really haven't noticed just how tired he felt until he laid on his bed and if they begin to talk there won't be any sleep for a while; but ultimately, he's curious.

"My father said something about you changing after an incident that happened in the company a while ago. I was trying to remember"

"... Oh" Akira says and then laughs, but is a mirthless kind of laugh. Shuuji rolls over to look at his friend weirdly.

"Yappari... Yappari, Shuuji doesn't remember me" Akira finally sighs, looking at the ceiling almost sadly. "Though is not weird, I've really changed since then"

Shuuji opens his mouth with a question on the tip of his tongue, but Akira continues, voice serious and pointedly not looking at his friend.

"I've never really had any friends, you know, before you and Nobuta. All the people around me paid me attention because of who was my father, not who was Akira, so all they ever intended with getting close to me was to be favored for the great Kusano-chachou", Akira narrates almost bitterly, a rueful smile on his lips. "So I always kept to mysel as a child, though I wasn't really lonely. I had my father and my mother and I was going to be a big brother" and here, Akira stops to swallow, taking a deep, long sigh as if the hard part was just beggining. "My father is the owner of a multi-millionaire business that makes deals with the biggest Japanese Corporations and that attracts a lot of people; most often than not, those attracted are not good people. I learnt that the hard way"

Shuuji frowns. He knew Akira was rich, though he didn't know just how much. Baka, Shuuji chides himself, of course his father must be millionaire since he is the president of that enormous building on Tokyo, remember? But sometimes it was easy to forget that Akira had at his disposition things like power and richness, even when he acted the part on ocasion (an helicopter ride anyone?). Even so, to Shuji, Akira was just another spoiled brat with too much time on his hands and too little common sense...

The young heir blinks, his eyes suddenly unfocused, as if he is looking at something very far away, but continues before Shuuji can think to say something, voice devoid of any kind of emotion. "When I entered junior high my mother got pregnant. Her body had always been a little on the weak side, but we were hopeful when the first three moths passed without consecuence. Then, one day while my father was away on a bussiness trip, people got into our house, tried to kidnap us"

Shuuji gasps, eyes widening. Akira closes his eyes, bits his lips. Breath in. Out. And continues.

"At that time, I had just reached black belt on karate and thought myself strong. I was cocky and a stupid brat and I thought I could protect us, but I was a fool" Akira trembles, hands balled into fist and Shuuji wants to tell him to stop, to forget it, he doesn't want to know anymore, but his lips are sealed shut while his friend strugles to calm himself. "In the end, it was my Mother who protected me..."

Shuuji pales considerably, understanding what that sentece means even without any elaboration. And he remembers. He remembers the boy, thinner than even himself, face blank and lifeless eyes, wet clothes clinging to a malnourished body as the rain pelted unforgivingly into the earth. The funeral house full of dark suites, the dull enviroment of grieving and the incomprehensible term of death to baby Koji, who only wanted to go out into the garden and play in the puddles.

"Even now, I'm not exactly sure what happened that night" Akira whispers, knuckles becoming white as he makes fist on the bedspread. "I lost conciousness when a squad team came to rescue us and when I woke up it was over, I was alone in a private room in the hospital. I panicked and created a lot of trouble to the staff until they took me where my father was, outside the ICU waiting for news on my Mother's condition"

Akira is annoying. Has always been. He invades your personal space, is touchy-feely and doesn't get embarrased when it counts, but gets embarrased over inane things most people would consider normal. Akira has been by his side even when Nobuta felt torn, ready with a half-hug or just any kind of physical reasurance showing that he was just there, never really far, but now, looking at him, he feels so far away, enclosed in his memories and unaproachable. Shuuji doesn't know what to do. If he can do anything at all. So he looks at the ceiling, letting his friend relive his past and he listens.

"My father has always been a strong man, but back then he looked so helpless and alone. I'm not even sure he noticed I was there... Mother lost the baby. She also lost any oppotunity to ever get pregnant again"

Shuuji closes his eyes and hears the guilt in Akira's voice, the reproach, the self-hate and he understands why the boy he met once looked nothing like the Akira he now knows. And he could say things like I'm sorry or It wasn't your fault, but Shuuji stays silent, because Akira must have heard them before and were of no use then; they wouldn't be of any use now.

"But not my mother nor my father blamed me. Ever"

They stay silent for a long moment, almost able to hear the sound of the sea in the distance, the ghosts of days long gone.

"We met two months after, at the funeral house" Akira whispers then, consideringly, calm just by the simple fact the two of them had met prior to being classmates, a small smile on his lips.

"... Un" Shuuji consents and tries to remember if they talked then and, if so, what they talked about, but nothing comes to mind.

Akira rolls over, resting on his side and Shuuji looks at him wonderingly, waiting for Akira to relate their first encounter, but Akira does not.

"I also met Maruyama-san there. It was then that he invited me to go live with him, but it wasn't until a year later that I moved away from home, when I entered highschool and met Shuuji again", Akira yawns and blinks back sleep.

"That's why..." Shuuji mutters consideringly looking at the ceiling, he remembers how Akira kept following him even from day one, thinking he wasn't noticed. "Were you stalking me or something?" he asks like a joke, but he's a little freaked out. Things make more sense now and even if he is glad now, once upon a time that was the reason why he couldn't stand Akira. It's just not normal to follow people like that.

Akira shakes his head, and answers in a sleepy voice, his eyes closing all the way. "I was... always trying to get closer to Shuuji-kun, but Shuuji-kun never let anyone get close to him"

"And then Nobuta came and closed the brigde. That's why, if I am with Shuuji and Nobuta... I..." his voice fades into even breathing and by the time Shuuji looks at him, Akira is asleep. Shuuji sighs, a little annoyed, but most of all fondly. He wonders how after a story like that, Akira can fall asleep with a smile just remembering him and Nobuta.

Shuuji puts his hands behind his head, stares at the ceiling some more, feeling suddenly awake with thoughts of what Akira just told him keeping sleep away. He should be annoyed at his friend, but right now he can't bring himself to. He has always wondered how Akira could be so carefree, but now... now he wonders just how much of that laid-back attitude is truth and how much is made-believe.

The hinges of the door make a squeaking noise as it is pushed open and a head pokes in. "Nii-chan, are you asleep?"

"Koji?" Shuuji gets up, minding Akira. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Koji answers too fast for that to be true. Shuuji sighs and moves to the middle of the bed, lifting up the covers as invitation. Koji enters the room, diving for the bed gratefully. Akira mumbles something or the other before rolling over to accomodate himself better. It's a thight fit, but they somehow manage, Shuuji cuddling Koji and combing stray locks with his fingers.

"Soon, this will be too awkward, you know?" Shuuji whispers and Koji looks up to him with a yawn.

"Even if it becomes awkward, Nii-chan is the kind of person who'll let me stay in his bed. If you weren't, you wouldn't let him sleep here" Koji answers with a smile, both of them looking over Shuuji's shoulder to Akira, who is giggling in his sleep.

"Yeah, I suppose" concedes Shuuji with a resigned sigh.

"Oyasumi" Koji bids before closing his eyes, letting sleep take him.

"Oyasumi" Shuuji mumbles, before closing his eyes too.

The next morning, Shuuji's head feels like is about to explod, his sinuses are clogged and his throath is so dry it feels like he has sandpaper instead of a tongue inside his mouth. They have to call in sick at school, since not only is Shuuji and Akira ill, but Koji also got infected. His father frets over the three of them like a headless chicken, while Akira is delirious with a fever (which is actually not really different from his usual self) and Koji has this whiny voice he seems to have learned from his friend.

It does not help Shuuji's headache.

*****

The wind is still crisp and cold, the last traces of winter the cruelest ashore than in the city and Shuuji supreses his shivers while he rides his bike to school. It's Monday, the beggining of his second week (though this is only his second day attending. Colds are evil, or so Akira said) at the new school and he is alone.

His pace is reluctant as his frown deepens. He wonders if Akira will really be on shool as he promised Saturday morning before leaving the house for a 'special training' and no, he does not know what that means, nor did Akira explain it to him. Who'd thought the boy could keep silent when he tended to use a megaphone to talk to people?

But no matter his dread, the school looms over him as he drags himself inside. Once outside the door of his classroom and with some minutes to spare before homeroom begins, Shuuji takes a deep, deep, deep breath and peeks inside. And there is Akira, at Shuuji's desk, totally engrosed in front of a laptop. The air woshes out of him and it's only then Shuuji feels the dread abate and he shouldn't depend so much on Akira, but he can't help it. He's sure that in time and once he begins interacting with his new classmates this need to cling to Akira will fade, but for now, is ok to be a little selfish and rely on friends. So, just for now, just for a little while.

Shuuji crosses his arms and prepares himself to demand an exxplanation when the dark bags under Akira's eyes stop him. Now that he looks at him, doesn't Akira look a little thinner than before leaving Tokyo? Just what has that baka been doing?, he wonders, and as an after-thought, Shuuji blinks. He didn't know Akira had a laptop. Of course, he could just have bought it at wherever he went to pass the weekend. Shuuji does not notice the stares of all in the classrom, but the lack of acknwonlegment his friend pays him as he muses about it.

"SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~JI-KUN!" Akira shouts, waving his arms as if Shuuji couldn't be able to see him otherwise. Shuuji winces, wonders if he can act as if he doesn't know him, but Akira is sitting on his desk and there's no other Shuuji that he knows of in the classroom, so with a resigned sigh he approaches him. Once in front of him, Shuuji crosses his arms, stares pointedly at his desk and then at his friend, who only smiles guilessly.

"What?", he asks curiusly, his head tilting to a side.

Shuuji's head hungs defeated. "Nothing", he answers, pulling off his scarf and leaning on a nearby desk. "What are you doing?"

As an answer, Akira angles the laptop so Shuuji catches the image on the screen and all semblance of breath is taken away from him, his stomach clenching at the sight of Nobuta and Mariko smiling. There is something decidedly candid about the two of them together like this, smiling at each other for something as simple as baloons. It's a far shot of the first time he saw them together, Nobuta frozen in her place, eyes cast on the floor while Mariko gave a victory sign, her maddona smile adorning her face. Both of them having come a long way from the girls they were before, both of them making him so proud.

Shuuji's eyes mist, his chest filling up with pure undiluted warm and he has never fallen in love before, but he thinks he may be able to fall in love with those smiles.

"Shuuji... kun?" Akira asks tentatively and Shuuji blinks.

"I'm fine", he says and the frown lines on Akira's face smooth over, his eyes look softer. Shuuji smiles, but then a thought enters his mind.

"Wait, is this why you were away for the weekend?" his tone accusing, a dissparoving look. "Are you stalking them now?"

There's a panicked expression on Akir¿as face, but before he can deny it, a passing classmate catches a look of the laptop screen "Kusano, who're the hot babes, man?" and mayhem ensues.

Boys will always be boys will always be boys, so at any tiny mention of 'hot babes', as his classmate so eloquently put it, there's a furry of activity where all male students present try to catch a glimpse at the laptop. Shuuji thinks he should be offended on behalf of Mariko and Nobuta, but Akira does a better job of it anyway, bellowing "NOBUTA'S SMILE IS MINE. NONE OF YOU CAN SEE IT!". Which is received with a confused "... Who?" and then "Who cares? I just want to see the hot babes" and Akira splutters indignantly, Shuuji can only laugh.

Later, the homerrom teacher yells at them for being punks, only causing trouble, but Akira is too busy fending off perverts away from his laptop (Shuuji wonders why Akira doesn't just turn the thing off) to pay him any attention, so he has to stay after classes writing an apology letter... only that Akira is too busy sulking to write anything and Shuuji, who doesn't know how he got roped into staying behind to wait for his friend, has to finish it.

Shuuji grumbles all the way home while Akira whines about being thirsty and "Where can someone find mamechichi on a place like this?". They spend the better part of the evening in another one of Akira's pointless expeditions, trying to find a tofu-man.

Shuuji wonders if he can find a Maruyama look-alike that'll let his friend board at his place.

*****

It would be a lie if Shuuji said he planned to keep contact with the people he left behind in Tokyo. They parted on good terms, yes, but he's not anything but self-conscious of the past Kiritani Shuuji and he would feel really bad if they rejected him again or never answered back. But Akira is not anything if not stubborn and "A little distance shouldn't come between friendship", so he goes ahead and begins sending Nobuta little text messages, as random as the sender is. (Is Nobuta smiling now? Or I want soy-milk and I'm bored, Shuuji is paying attention in class and I don't have anything to do. What is Nobuta doing?), but what truly encourages Shuuji to want to keep contact with Nobuta are her little answers back (I'm trying or Yesterday Mariko and I went to the Tofu man's house and he told us he was going to send you some and Drawing little pigs over my notes).

Akira has sent a little over a thousand messages before he has to leave again for the weekend, because he would not have time to do it once his special training begins and "Shuuji should keep Nobuta company, that way he woudn't feel lonely while Akira is away!"

Shuuji huffs annoyed at remembering so as he sits on the beach. He does not feel lonely, nor does he miss that noisy baka. The sky is a little on the grey side and the shore is almost empty but for some college students surfing. Shuuji decides to take a photo of them for lack of nothing better to do, but the first thing he sees when opening the lid of his cell (a new model provided by Akira, thanks to whom his old cell drowned in sea water and Shuuji didn't notice until his friend had already bought him a new one) are the smiles of Nobuta and Mariko.

The sight leaves him feeling soothed and calm everytime he sees it and something inside him twists longlingly. He misses Nobuta.

Decided, Shuuji opens a new mail and stares at the pointer blinking on and off until he can't stand it anymore and shuts the lid. After all, what could he say that Akira hadn't mentioned yet? He doesn't want to try to talk to Nobuta just for the sake of boredoom and wouldn't she think like Akira? That only because the other boy is not around he'll try to chat with her not to feel lonely? That'll be rude to Nobuta. And it would make him appear clingy and starved for attention.

"Argh!" he groans, pulling his hair, exasperated with himself. Shuuji lets himself fall onto his back, staring up at the sky. "I didn't use to be this insecure" he confides it, but it has no answers for him.

Now that he looks at it, the sky is not grey as he previously thought, but a subtle baby-blue that reminds him of the stationary Akira made him buy yesterday because of an absurd thing or another.

Shuuji blinks. He considers the idea that just ocurred to him, plays with it and stands up before he changes his mind. He spents all morning writing, finishing just in time to go out and send it. He pauses outside the post office, worries his lip and goes in because the staff inside have begun to eyeing him weirdly. He blushes when the woman that receives the stripped envelope (another one of Akira's ill-advised purchases) raises a well manicured eyebrow.

A week later, Shuuji has almost forgotten all about it when his cell rings while he is trying to do some homework. He doesn't check the ID of the caller, since the only one who'd call him on a Saturday morning is his father (Akira has no access to his phone when training, his mother calls to the house phone and Koji is in his room playing videogames).

"Moshi, moshi?"

There's a quiet intake of breath at the other end, as if the caller is surprised Shuuji has picked up at all, followed by a long stretch of silence and then an almost inaudible "Shuuji"

"Nobuta?!" he thinks Nobuta could've gone deaf after that, but he receives a little "... Un" as an answer.

"I just got your letter yesterday night. I wanted to say thank you, but I thought it was too late" she explains. "Is it ok? For me to call like this"

"It's ok! It's more than ok!" Shuuji's heart swells with a bubbly emotion that makes him grin like Akira. Nobuta continues after a beat.

"G-genki?"

"Un! Genki, genki" he nods, and somehow they end up talking the rest of the day, the topic shinfting at the blink of an eye. It's like their old days, which makes Akir'as absence the more poignant. They promise to catch up once he's present and the last another half hour trying to hung up, and that only because Koji is whinning in his best Akira voice for dinner.

When Akira learns about the new development, and after pouting all morning until Shuuji rolls his eyes and "Why don't you just call her?". Akira blinks and dials Nobuta's number... in the middle of Math class. Sensei's face turns progresively red while Akira flails excitedly at Nobuta (who is in the middle of free study, thank god) and Shuuji bangs his head on his desk, his knuckles as white as the chalk he holds over the board. By the time Akira begins to laugh maniacally (less than a minute), sensei has lost his patience and yells at the top of his lungs after confiscating Akira's cellphone.

Only that Akira is not really worried (angry, of course, because How could sensei! Can you believe it, Shuuji?), because once the class is over, Akira drags Shuuji to the store to have it replaced (But I have a study date in the library for a project! And so do you, by the way!).

"For emergencies only" Shuuji decides after dinner a month later, once the shouting match between Akira and his father ends. In Akira's typical fashion, he has called Nobuta to rant about it and in typical Nobuta fashion, she has decided to pay for her own phone bill with the pay she has earned at her part-time job at the temple. "Maybe I should find a job too" he suggest, but Akira only mutters sullenly at being deprived of Nobuta's voice while throwing random things on a duffel bag, preparing for his "training", of which he doesn't know anything yet.

Shuuji feels a little ashamed about never wondering for the amount of money Akira spent on Nobuta and him, of course his father would be furious. Akira though saunters to the door glaring, his usual drama about going away for the weekend forgotten in the face of his father's lecture. Shuuji sighs.

Saturday morning finds him walking along the beach near his house. It's become something like his heaven, a kind-of rooftop, though he hasn't shared this with anybody, not even Akira. It's not that he has kept it a secret purposely, just that he hasn't had the opportunity to tell him. Even so, keeping this place only for himself, even if it's for a little while, it feels good.

He closes his eyes, one hand on a pocket and the other holding his shoes so he can feel the warm of the arena between  his toes. The weather is getting warmer with the arrival of spring and the sweet breeze makes Shuuji smile... until some distant laughs snap him out of his daydream, reminding him that the beach is not empty. There's a group of college students that come every week to practice surf; there's also a little shack nearby that seems to sell equipment and is just a place for surfers to hang out.

"Are you interested in surf?" someone behind him asks.

Shuuji turns around, staring at the stranger (thirty, maybe thirty two years old), whose skin is really tanned, tall with a muscular body to match, long blond hair kept at bay by a rubber band, green eyes. The man is obviously a foreigner, but his japanese is perfect. Shuuji blinks. "... Not really"

"Is that so? My bad then" the man says, plopping onto the sand to watch the surfers. "I see you coming every weekend. I thought you came to watch them"

Shuuji doubts a little and then takes a seat beside him. "Well, my house is near, so..."

"That so, um"

"Yeah"

There's a long pause and then "Do you want to come work for me?"

"Uh?" Shuuji eloquently asks, putting a little distance between them.

"Don't look at me like that, kid. I'm no pervert" the man says jovially, making Shuuji blush. "The little shack over there? It's mine. I need help, but haven't found someone interested. Wanna give it a try?"

And so, Shuuji got his first job.

 

Comments

[neonism.livejournal.com]

This is just a freak out comment because i'm so glad you updated! My real comment will come after I calm down and actually read!

[neonism.livejournal.com]

I'm ba-ack! Anyways! This was nothing short of a spectacular follow up to the last chapter. You're writing is my crack right now.

How you can pull masterpieces like this together amazes me *_*

♥ Can't wait for the next!

[kriszeth.livejournal.com]

hahaha... ha
i actually don't know what to say. i'm accustomed to say things like that so to receive them is actualy awesome
thanks

[trivialaffair.livejournal.com]

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

(sorry for the useless comment)

It's long, but in my opinion, that's awesome! Keep writing XD

[kriszeth.livejournal.com]

no comment is useless!

it really is long and getting longer. when i began writing this i thought "oh, well. ten pages max for any chapter" but when i was writing this and i noticed i was just at the middle and i was past ten pages i got like uh-oh.

so i decided to post it

(there are useless answer though XP)