Chapter Text
The final bell had rung and the sound of footsteps quickly flooded the halls. The torture of cycling the six periods was done for the day, but there was still work waiting for me at home. Not that I was one to complain about that, though.
I stepped out of the building and let the new gentle fall breeze grace my face. The yellow and brown leaves scattered within the gust and decorated the ground below. It always amazed me how quick the leaves were to break off from their branches despite the new season having barely begun. The new decorations to the ground were still pretty, and I enjoyed the satisfying crunch beneath my feet.
I felt myself get lost in the calming wind and almost synchronized sound of flattened leaves by students who walked past me and let my eyes close as I walked. A breath of fresh air is the perfect remedy after a long stressful day.
"Kou!" The sound of Mitsuba’s voice called from behind as he ran out of the building panting. My eyes jolted open and I turned around, slowing my pace to let him catch up.
His pink hair glowed and blew along with the autumn wind, somehow staying fixed in front of his right eye. He had his pink cardigan, which he almost never went anywhere without unless it horribly clashed with an outfit, tied around his waist, and he wore a pink turtleneck underneath his school uniform. Oh, and he of course had his camera slung over his shoulder, which bounced on his hip as he ran towards me.
"Were you gonna leave me? You know I hate walking home by myself!" He breathlessly whined, leaning on his knees to catch his breath, which was probably for dramatics but I played along anyways.
I sternly put my hand on my hip as he "died" in front of me. He always says that as if I've ever left him to walk alone before. It could be some kind of paranoia for all I know, though, so it might set him off if I seriously said anything about it.
"You've just gotta be faster! You know how my brother is with getting home on time." I gently patted his back until he was able to collect himself. Mitsuba is the type of person to get tired after running a few inches or climbing one flight of stairs. His excuse is that his cute little body can't handle it, but I'm pretty sure he just refuses to get in shape.
"Come on, don't you want to spend time with me? Teru can hold the fort without you for a few hours." It was quite unusual for him to ask to hang out right after school, but he begged in his overly cute tone that I did not feel like arguing with. Not that I was going to anyway.
"Hmmm…" I hummed contemplatively. I did have some things to get done at home, chores, homework . Ugh. Nothing to look forward to.
"Come on~ It's an honor to get an invitation from me!"
"I don't know about that." I mumbled, which he very much heard and began pummeling me over and over again.
"Hey- ow- okay, okay, fine. But I've gotta be home by five."
Mitsuba happily cheered, and grabbed my wrist, practically dragging me along with him. He can be energetic when he wants to, mostly when it comes to bugging the hell out of me. I smiled and let out a huff as occasional leaves aggressively hit my face on our way off campus.
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Mitsuba has been my best friend ever for a few years now. I remember meeting him on the first day— sweet, calm and collected kid.
Now that I know him though, he's almost completely the opposite- which is fine of course; I'm glad he can show his true self around me!
***
"Hello!" I looked up from my desk as a hand appeared. In front of me was a boy with pink tinted hair timidly smiled as he waited for me to return the gesture.
I had been sitting zoned out at my desk, the anxiety of starting a new school and leaving so many memories and people that probably didn't miss me was getting to my head to the point I wasn't aware of anyone around me, and I jumped at the sudden greeting.
With slight hesitation I grasped his hand for the first time that day and introduced myself, hoping a good introduction would distract from my slightly sweaty palms. "I-I'm Minamoto Kou! I love playing guitar and making donuts!" I proudly gave him my planned introduction speech. I remember having Teru and Tiara sit through an hour of me repeating it to perfect the evening prior; that was one thing I was half prepared for.
"I-I'm Mitsuba Sousuke! Looks like I'm gonna be sitting in front of you, so I hope we can be friends!" He grinned after letting go of my hand. Back then I could still see both of his shimmering pink eyes. As his hair grew out, he adapted it to his current emo style.
I wouldn't say we became best friends immediately, but something back then really made us click. Even though he moved classes halfway through the year I felt compelled to stay in touch with him. It was surprising as I slowly unwrapped the persona he showed to the world, and got to know the person he had buried underneath for so long.
***
"Who's being the slow one now? Run any slower and I'll have to drag you!"
Mitsuba's voice quickly dragged me out of my thoughts. Yep, he definitely isn't all nice and shy now. I tugged my wrist out of his grasp and stopped to collect where exactly he had dragged us off to.
"I didn't even ask you to hold my hand! Where are we going anyways? It feels like we've been walking for thirty minutes!"
Mitsuba stopped and put a finger to his cheek to think.
"Well, I had a few places in mind—" Of course. Everytime we go out it just has to be a whole day trip; sometimes when Mitsuba invites me out he would even forget his money and I’d end up paying for whatever he wanted. He’s lucky he’s my best friend or he wouldn’t get out so scot-free.
"We aren't going on a field trip, bro! It's already almost four, we have time for one place."
Mitsuba made a pouting face at me, to which I rolled my eyes. Mitsuba claimed to be the cutest human of all time, which I won't deny, but that tactic does not work on me anymore.
"Ugh, fine Mr. Mom. Let's go get some boba and we can walk home together then!" He insisted on it more lightly and hugged his arms to himself.
This time Mitsuba had slowed down to match my pace. The rhythm of our feet hitting the sidewalk helped to fill the comfortable silence.
"So, um, how was your day?" He said in an attempt to make conversation. The question was uncharacteristically boring, and I almost asked if everything was okay. But a little change of pace didn't really hurt— but it wasn't like I had anything interesting to say.
"It was fine, typical boring classes. What about you?'
"Can you imagine a cutie like me putting my hands in all that dirt and soil?" He questioned out of the blue, pointing along the grassy patches of land next to the sidewalk, which caused me to laugh at the thought of Mitsuba freaking out at the slightest speck of dirt. His cheeks grew slightly pink as I laughed at his proposition.
"What’s with you asking that all of a sudden?" I asked through my laughs, and his eyes began to narrow in flustered annoyance before he was able to shrug the laughter off.
"A-anyways, Nene wanted me to check out the gardening club as a member; we're going to the next meeting together if you'd like to join us." He grinned cheekily when he finished the sentence, as he probably anticipated the reaction to come.
My heart practically skipped a few beats. I've been crushing on Nene since 7th grade. Even though I joined the high school division this year I haven't had many chances to talk to her. Just the thought of spending an afternoon with her made my ears burn.
It was now Mitsuba's turn to laugh at me.
"Haha! You should see your face! You're red just from thinking about her!" Mitsuba pointed and teased, which made me turn my head as I felt my blush turning brighter from embarrassment. Ugh, so that's probably why he wanted to hang out: to see my stupid blubbering reaction.
We both knew I was utterly hopeless when it came to talking to Nene. We were friends too, but more often than not I'd lose my cool around her. I really just couldn't help it sometimes! The way she laughs, the way she talks, just the way she did anything was just too cute!
Some days were better than others I guess… I don't really know; it's like my body just wants me to act like an idiot.
"S-Shut up. Of course I'll go with you guys." I finally said, mostly to shut Mitsuba up.
"Hahaha, alright! But you better get your act together or you'll just embarrass yourself!" He playfully poked at me as I finally calmed down and I bat his hands away.
"Whatever, we're at the stupid boba shop. Let's go inside so I can get home." I said as deadpan as possible. Mitsuba still giggled as he opened the door and I grumbled in annoyance.
Of course, I ended up paying.
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"That kid totally got a concussion, from something so stupid too! How embarrassing." Mitsuba laughed as he finished recounting a story from gym. I laughed with him as we slowly approached my house.
Mitsuba stopped at the driveway as I approached my front door. Strangely, in the four years we've been friends none of us have been inside the other's house. It became an unquestioning tradition to wait outside for anything.
"Well, I guess you better get going too. I'll see you at school tomorrow." I waved and made my way to open the door.
"I'll see you too! Oh yeah, by the way, the gardening club meeting is tomorrow." Mitsuba sneakily added before laughing as he ran away, leaving me to panic for the rest of the evening.
Maybe I should just tell him I changed my mind, though he'll probably be mad he won't have his laugh for tomorrow. I leaned my head against the cool wooden door to try and calm my face that was still warm from the buzzing possibilities of tomorrow. Nene's cute smile, her saying she's been wanting to see me and even hang out more. Her proudly showing off what the club has been growing in the garden and her asking me if we can harvest them together when the time comes. Gaah, and that was just the surface of any innocent thing that could happen, and it made me scream inside.
But I couldn't stay in my own fantasies forever. I sighed and opened the door.
"Kou-onii chan!" My little sister dropped her Mokke doll and tackled me as soon as I opened the door. Tiara always helped me forget about my problems, even if that isn't her intention. I lifted her up in the air which earned me an excited squeal.
As I put her down she pointed to the kitchen "Teru-onii chan's gonna burn kitchen down." She chirped. I promptly threw my bag down and rushed to the kitchen to find Teru's pitiful attempt to make a meal.
"Teru-nii! Didn't I tell you I do the cooking around here?" I moved the smoking mess of who knows what off the stove as he scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Little princess here said she was hungry so I thought I could try whipping something together." He awkwardly mumbled, and we both broke out in laughter.
"The microwave is for you; leave the fire stuff to me. I'll have something ready in thirty minutes." I shooed him and a giggly Tiara out of the kitchen and got to work.
I've always done a majority of the cooking and chores ever since Mom died and Dad's always busy with work; I love doing it though. I'd do anything just to see a smile on my siblings' faces, and this is one way of fulfilling that.
"Dinner's almost ready so come to the table!" I called to Teru and Tiara, who were playing in the living room.
I dished three plates of salmon and made my way to the kitchen.
"Tiara loves salmon!" Tiara exclaimed, reaching out for her plate.
"Now wait a minute; let me get you a fork. No eating with your hands!" Tiara pouted as I pushed the plate out of reach and went to get forks.
Finally I sat down to join them after distributing the proper utensils. It was a relatively quiet meal, with a few yums coming from Tiara every now and then. Though the table was quiet, my mind was racing; how am I gonna impress Nene? I don't even know anything about gardening!
"Everything alright, Kou?" Teru asked with a tinge of worry.
"Huh?"
"You were mumbling to yourself- did something happen?" He asked again, and I clenched my teeth in embarrassment. Was I really?
"Oh, I was just thinking... about stuff. You don't gotta worry about it." I smiled and got up to wash everyone's plate to avoid further questioning.
As I scrubbed various thoughts continued to tear through my head. After putting the last dish away I rushed to my room and grabbed my guitar; I think best when I'm tuning it.
I plopped myself on the floor and pulled it up next to me. Sometimes it only served purely as decoration. It was hard to be motivated to play when you barely had pulled yourself out of being in the literal trash zone. But the turning of the tuning pegs was almost effortless, and every string came to tune at almost my very will. I was good at it. And yeah, yeah, it was a simple thing that most anyone could do, but I still enjoyed it.
Whilst turning the pegs and strumming the strings I listed all the things a girl could possibly like: flowers, hugs, nice smells, clothes, attention- gosh, my head is spinning. When the final string was in tune I at long last had at least one thing in order.
Firstly, clothes. I got my freshest washed button-down and t-shirt and laid them on my bed. That should be good enough. With all my current hobbies, it isn’t uncommon for my clothes to smell like sweat or some variation of a pastry.
Secondly, what the hell am I gonna say to her? All I know she likes to talk about is boys and.. Well that's kind of it. How am I supposed to talk about boys to a girl? Not to mention the girl I like!
Wait, I've got it. We're going to gardening club, so she'll want to talk about flowers and crap! God, I am seriously a dumbass. Luckily I know a bunch of stuff since I hang out with Mitsuba all the time. He brings his camera almost everywhere to take pictures of flowers and stuff so I know a few names.
Maybe I can borrow Mitsuba's camera and take a few photos that'll impress her! That surely wasn't the worst idea I could've come up with, right?
Whatever, what's most important is I finally have somewhat of a plan together, which means operation charm Nene can begin!