Chapter Text
“Aoyagi-kun!” A chirpy voice caught his attention from behind as a familiar figure entered Weekend Garage.
He turned around and smiled softly. “Ah, Azusawa, good afternoon. Akito and Shiraishi are still at Kamikou. Their clubs needed them.”
“Oh, okay!” She smiled brightly at him before continuing, “do you want to get an early start on practice, then?”
“Sure.”
They cycled through songs, occasionally getting applause.
“You sounded great, K—Azusawa,” Toya smiled, though internally winced at his near-mistake. For some reason, the name, “Azusawa” felt forbidden, as if some sort of barrier wanted him to stop saying it. That didn’t explain why he almost called Kohane by her first name, though.
“You sounded amazing, too, T—Aoyagi-kun,” she grinned back at him, but he could tell that she nearly made the same mistake for some reason.
A few more songs were played, as well as “Azusawa”s and “Aoyagi-kun”s. They took a break, sitting at the barstools of Weekend Garage while Ken served customers nearby.
“Aoyagi-kun—“ she began, and Toya noticed how distancing the name sounded in her mouth. His last name used with an honorific? Ouch. Even he noticed how formal it was.
“—please call me Toya,” in a very uncharacteristic manner, he interrupted Kohane, unable to bear the extreme formality any longer.
“Did you—huh?” Her eyes widened, and her face contorted with flustered shock. Realizing what he had said—and seeing Kohane’s cute expression—Toya’s face mirrored hers, his cheeks flushed and his eyes widened.
“Ah—um, never—“ he began to sputter.
“It’s really okay if I call you Toya?”
He froze mid-sentence. Hearing Kohane call him by his first name for the first time, ever— considering she had never even said his full name—practically paralyzed him. He was aware of the extremely hot sensation in his cheeks that went down his neck as his eyes widened further.
“I—uh—hm…” Toya gave up on trying to speak. His mouth just wasn’t cooperating with his brain. Not that his brain was working well, either.
“Ao—Toya! Are you okay?” Toya didn’t couldn’t register the question, only that his name was said by Kohane again, and it sounded like a blessing from her mouth.
She said my name. She said my name. She said my name. She said my name. She said my name—oh God—
“I’m fine,” he mustered weakly after a few moments. “Don’t worry about me, Azu—“
“If I’m going to call you Toya, then you can call me Kohane,” she smiled brightly at him, and Toya thought he was going to spontaneously combust.
“Understood, Kohane.”
She giggled, making Toya’s heart skip a beat. “I’m glad, Toya.”