Chapter Text
Koko is smart. He had always been smart. No one in Toman would argue against that. Throughout their teenage years, Koko had always been the brain that ends up saving so many people’s asses from being beat by another gang. He could always logically predict an outcome (except for the times where Mikey and Takemichi would just have these strangely accurate intuition). Therefore, he was also not surprised when he received a wedding invitation from Akane, his childhood crush.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that Akane never reciprocated his feelings. Perhaps she felt bad for him, she never directly rejected Koko. Instead, she always says: “You should only do that to the person you love.” Thinking back, it makes perfect sense. She was five years older than Koko, and Koko was just a primary school kid. It should not have been surprising when Akane made a boyfriend in high school, couple of them in fact. And now, she is getting married to one.
Koko stared at the beautifully printed wedding invitation in his hand, flipping it back and forth. There was a strange feeling coiling inside him. Many years have passed. Koko had seen Akane hang out with various guys. At first, he would try to threaten them, but that only made Akane angry, so he stopped. The last time they met was a dinner party, where Akane and his fiancé invited all their friends to announce their engagement. Inupi was there too. Everyone was happy and congratulated them, including Koko. In that moment, he was sure that he had let go of his childish crush on his best friend’s sister, but there was an unexplainable pit in his stomach. The feeling came when Inupi was congratulating his sister, to which she replied with a cheerful tease: “You’re next, Seishu. Make sure to invite me to your wedding!”
This simple wish of goodwill made Koko go rigid. However, what really made his heart drop was the blush that tinted Inupi’s face as he tried to make excuses.
So Inupi does want to get married, and he probably has someone in mind.
There was a part of Koko that was hopeful. Even though the two of them had never been in an official relationship, there was something between them. They’ve slept together, bathed together, fought together, lived together even at one point…and at times, they would steal glances of each other. Sometimes, when Inupi is asleep, Koko would stare. Their faces were so close that Koko could count the eyelashes on Inupi’s closed eyelids. Even when Inupi catches him staring, he never says anything or voice any disdain. If anything, he seemed to welcome it. Perhaps that was where Koko was wrong.
Inupi is kind and open-minded. Perhaps Koko had mistaken his kindness to be some form of interest towards him. Otherwise why else would Koko find him chatting to a girl he had never met before, after the dinner party? Why else would Koko see that same girl hanging out with Inupi every time they meet? Why else would Inupi excuse himself from the room whenever he answers the phone from that girl? Why else would he start hiding his phone from Koko, when he used to let Koko use his phone whenever he pleases?
Koko leaned back on the couch of his apartment and sighed out loud. He’s been having so much trouble focusing lately because of his stupid thoughts. This isn’t like him. Ever since that girl entered the frame, Inupi had been busier than before. It has almost been 3 months since they last spend time together properly, and that was with that girl in the room as well. Come to think of it, what was her name? Yayoi? Probably Yayoi. It’s a stupidly beautiful name befitting of a pretty girl like her. Koko had barely spoken to her and he already doesn’t like her, despite there not being a single fault that he can find about Yayoi. The fact that she’s pretty and perfect was probably what frustrated him.
It was a peaceful Sunday with nice weather. Koko looked out the window from his high-rise apartment. He stared at the cloudless blue sky for a minute before deciding to get ready to head out. The whole reason he had been looking at the wedding invitation in the first place, was because he had planned to get Akane a wedding gift today.
***
Koko must have been walking around the department store for hours, struggling to decide on a suitable gift. He could easily have given Akane large sum of money, which he is already planning to do, but on top of that he also wanted to give her something meaningful. Regardless of their past relationships, she had always been an important figure in his life. She was also part of the reason he strived to become a successful businessman he is now. Maybe it’d be best to ask someone else closer to her for some ideas. That person obviously being Inupi. Koko pulled out his phone and tapped on Inupi’s contact. Just as he was about to push the call button, he caught something from the corner of his eye. Looking up, he saw a tall man with shoulder-length blonde hair and striking blue eyes. It was none other than Inupi.
What a coincidence. Koko had thought. Inupi was standing on the other side of the mall, across busy groups of people, blocking their view. Just as Koko was about to call out to him the crowd cleared momentarily, and that was when he saw his company – Yayoi. They were standing in front of a jewellery store, and they were looking at each other. Yayoi seemed to be pointing at something in the glass case that Koko can’t make out thanks to his poor eyesight. However, what Koko can see, was Inupi’s blushing face full of embarrassment while smiling fondly.
His voice died in his throat. Koko stood there frozen with his arm half-raised, before he slowly lowered it and took a few steps back. He watched in the distance for a while longer, watching as Yayoi laugh and Inupi smiles. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it’s probably better that he couldn’t hear. His heart sat at the pit of his stomach as he turned on his heel and head towards the car park.
He didn’t end up buying any gifts that day.
***
The drive home was a blur. Koko finds himself staring at a blank excel spreadsheet back in his apartment. It’s almost dark outside and he should start preparing for dinner, but for some odd reason he didn’t feel like eating at all. To anyone who knows him, they’d probably think the sky is about to fall if they heard Koko is refusing to eat, when food was one of the few things that made him happy. Koko shrugged it off. Skipping a meal every once in a while can’t be too bad, right?
Koko looked over to the empty cup next to his laptop and considered for a second if he should make some coffee, but he quickly distinguished that thought. Nothing had been added onto the opened document for the past 30 minutes, he doubt it would be any different even if he stayed up all night. He tried pulling up some emails, but again, nothing was processing. He must’ve read the same sentence seven times, yet he still didn’t understand what the sender was trying to say. Sometimes he really wishes people can just be straight forward with their messages rather than writing paragraphs on formalities.
Eventually, he gave up. He closed the laptop and took a shower before getting ready for bed. It was 10pm, which was way too early compare to when he usually sleeps. Nothing wrong with getting 8 hours of sleep every now and then though, Koko thinks to himself. That said, sleep somehow doesn’t come easy to him either. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Inupi’s gentle smile next to Yayoi’s toothy grin. It’s sickening, and it make his heart drop. After tossing and turning for 2 hours, Koko reached for his phone and opened Inupi’s contact again. Koko had never been afraid to ask Inupi something. Well, except now. His finger hovered above the call button as he rehearsed the question he would ask in his head.
‘Sorry to call you this late. I happened to see you hanging out with Yayoi today. What were you guys doing?’
No, that felt weirdly formal and guilty. Maybe a bit more casual?
‘Hey Inupi, what’s your relationship with Yayoi?’
That sounds like an interrogation.
‘Inupi, I’ve just been wondering…are you dating Yayoi?’
That’s probably too straight forward. Besides, it’s an odd question to ask in the middle of the night. What if Inupi’s already sleeping? He has some early shifts where he’d open the shop at 7am, so there’s a good chance that he had already gone to bed. Granted, 12am was also too late to call anyone about anything unless its urgent. Right, Inupi might think there’s an emergency even if he is awake. It’s better not to call him after all.
***
Going back to work on Monday morning has never been this painful. Koko neither slept nor worked ahead at home like he usually does. So now he has a greater workload in the office on top of sleep deprivation. Great. The week passes by both too fast and too slow. Koko was not working through projects as fast as he usually does. He wasn’t necessarily behind on schedules, but each process just seemed to have become infinitely more tedious and annoying.
Koko glanced at the coffee placed on his table and muttered a ‘Thanks’ under his breath as he typed away on his computer. He’s not sure what he had typed down, but he was simply not in the mood to deal with anything other than work. On a normal day, he’d smile and thank the employee, usually Miss Saito, who brings him the coffee. But now that his brain is hardly cooperating with him, distraction will only make his mood even worse. It’s better to give a curt ‘thanks’ than to snap at his poor assistant. Koko sighed again as he made a mental note to make it up to Miss Saito at some point in the future. His typing stopped momentarily as he brought the coffee to his mouth and took a sip, only to be appalled by the overwhelming sweetness. Only then, did he looked up from his computer screen and noticed that the person who placed the coffee on his table never left, nor are they Miss Saito to begin with.
“You are even more out of it than I thought.” Kisaki commented.
Koko grimaced at the president of this company as he placed the coffee back onto the table, “Did you made this crap?”
Kisaki raised an eyebrow, “I thought you liked your coffee sweet? I could’ve sworn your assistant always put some sugar into yours.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t put ten cubes of it!” Koko snapped before quickly regretting raising his voice. He massaged the bridge of his nose before muttering out a quiet, “Sorry…”
Fortunately, Kisaki was unbothered by it and shrugged it off. After all, they were both in Toman at one point. They practically hear people yell in their face every second day.
“So? What is it? Did that stupid client of ours changed his mind last second again?” Kisaki asked.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…some personal matter…” Koko sighed yet again as he took another sip from the overly sweet coffee, forgetting the reason he stopped drinking it in the first place.
“Ah, so this is about that Inui guy then.”
Koko choked. One, because the coffee was too sweet, and he took a large gulp by accident. Two, because Kisaki was correct.
“N-no,” Koko coughed through his lie, but one look at Kisaki and he knows that there is no fooling this man.
“Yeah right, I don’t know anyone or anything else that could bother you this much that the whole damn office could tell you’re going through some shit.” Kisaki retorted. “So, what is it really? Did you fuck up something? Not that I can imagine Inui resenting you even if you did.”
“No…no I didn’t,” Koko mumbled, debating if he should tell Kisaki.
It’s rare for Kisaki to care enough to ask people about what happened. They had some sort of special relationship that started when they were in Toman, mostly because they were the smartest people among all their friends. It’s easy to communicate with people who have the same level of understanding as yourself. They even started this company together to support the rest of their friends on their careers.
Ah screw it. If there’s anyone who can communicate with Koko on an intellectual level, it’s Kisaki. With that thought in his head, he gathered up the courage and said:
“Well…Inupi got himself a girlfriend, and I’m not sure-”
“Wait,” Kisaki interrupted Koko before he can even formulate the rest of his sentence. “Are we talking about the same guy?”
“Um…do we know anyone else with that same name?”
“Like…blue eyes, blonde hair, works at S&S Motor…that guy? That ‘Inupi’?”
“Yes…who else could it be?” Koko asked, all confused as he frowned at Kisaki’s line of questioning.
In return, Kisaki gave him an incredulous look, “THAT ‘Inupi’? You’re telling me THAT Inui Seishu got a GIRLfriend?”
“Ouch,” Koko responded, “I feel bad for Inupi. Did you think with his looks and personality he couldn’t have gotten a girlfriend?”
“No! That’s not what I meant! Ugh!” Kisaki groaned in frustration before recollecting himself and stared Koko down. “No shot that man got a girlfriend. You misunderstood. And before you say anything: Yes, I know he’s good looking. Yes, I know he’s a great guy. BUT! If you’re telling me, Inui Seishu has a girlfriend, you’re tripping. My god you are dumber than I thought.”
Okay, that ticked him off a bit. “Excuse you. Why exactly do you think it’s impossible that Inupi has a girlfriend? Are you just jealous that he secured one before you did? Mr I-like-my-best-friend’s-wife?”
Well, that irritated Kisaki enough, “Hey now, you don’t want to start a fight with me here.”
Silence washed over them as they both took a deep breath to ease the tension that had somehow built up. After that, Kisaki checked his watch before turning around to leave the vice president’s office.
“It’s 6pm already, let’s call it a day.” Kisaki said as he made his way out. “and about Inui…just talk to the guy. I don’t need you bringing that mopey face to work next week. It gets everyone distracted.”
As the door clicked close, Koko was suddenly reminded that today was in fact Friday.
***
The moment Koko got into his car he got a notification from his phone. It was a text from Inupi – speak of the devil.
Inupi: Hey, you free to talk now?
There was a feeling of unease coursing through Koko as he read the message, but he brushed it off and replied.
Koko: Yeah, just clocked off. What’s up?
Inupi: Wanna call?
Koko hesitated momentarily. He hasn’t had a real conversation with Inupi for quite a while and he barely remember the last thing they even talked about. Could it be something serious? Is he about to tell him that he’s dating Yayoi? God, what if he’s asking Koko for relationship advice?
Koko’s finger hovered above his phone screen with dread. But since he had already read the message, he shouldn’t take any longer to respond.
Koko: Sure.
Immediately, Koko’s phone starts ringing. He answered the phone.
“Hey Inupi,” Koko said as casually as he could manage.
“Hi, Koko,” Inupi responded on the other side in his usual calm voice.
“So, what’s up? Did you wanna talk about something?”
There was a pause on the other side until Inupi started, “Not really, I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Koko took a deep breath to calm the sudden warmness that had risen to his face. He let out a soft chuckle, “Inupi, if you said that to anyone else they’d think you’re flirting.”
As soon as that sentence came out Koko regretted it. Now all he can think about is Inupi using this same voice and same sentence to Yayoi.
“Then I better start talking like this more often,” Inupi said. Koko could hear from his tone that he’s smiling on the other side. Somehow that pisses him off.
“Why? So that you can flirt with some girl?” Koko spat a little more aggressively than he intended.
“What girl?” Inupi asked with genuine confusion in his voice.
Oh, so maybe they haven’t start dating, but were just in the flirting stage.
Koko scratched his head and answered, “Never mind. Though I’m sure any girl would fall head over heels for you if you say that to them.”
He knows he must sound so bitter right now, but he cannot help himself. The thought of Inupi putting in efforts trying to woo a girl twists his guts, even though he had no right to be mad. The two of them are not dating, he didn’t have the right to be mad.
“Do you want to meet up, Koko?” Inupi asked.
“Yeah, sure. When do you wanna meet up?” Koko replied but regretted instantly. He sincerely hopes Yayoi wouldn’t be meeting up with them like last time. If she is going to be there then Koko may as well decline right now.
“Well…are you free for the night? I also just finished my shift.”
Koko blinked, “Right now?”
“Yup, your place or my place?”