Chapter Text
Third day and things already got weird.
Harumi was really close to exploding. His mind was scattered as it replayed the same moment again and again, he could feel the follicles of his hair getting weaker from the stress.
What had happened? The sudden clinging and then the silent treatment.
Throughout that night, right after their awkward conversation, Akihiko had just ignored him. Hell, he even grew some balls to play cards with the others just to not talk to Harumi. He knew Aki was avoiding his piercing stare.
Pretty pathetic, if you asked him.
He tried talking to him a bit later. He’d approached Aki’s bed, kicking him lightly. Akihiko forced a giggle and asked what happened, if he needed something. Harumi just wanted to talk again.
“I’m tired… We can talk tomorrow!” He ushered out, and turned back around. Yeah. A thousand times Harumi told him he doesn’t buy into his fake smile crap, and he still dares to do it to his face. He wanted to drag him out of bed and shout some sense into him.
But instead of being petty about it, which was his first option, he decided to just get some fresh air.
Fresh damp air.
It was still drizzling outside, much less than before, but still drizzling.
He stayed under the roof as he just watched people walk around and avoid the teachers’ shouting to get them inside. He technically wasn't out in the rain so he concluded that it wasn’t his problem.
He took out his phone to picture the rain-clouded sky when someone mumbled his name.
“Kurose-kun?”
A girl with glasses and pigtails called out. She was somewhat familiar.
“Uh… what?”
“Oho! You’re reliving your past life while sightseeing the rain as a solitary and somber ice prince, I see…” she giggled, her shoulders slightly shaking. He couldn’t figure out if it was because of the cold or more repressed laughter. Still, he was more confused by the absolute bullshit she spewed.
“Wha—What are you talking about??”
His brain was fried enough.
“Mhm! I’m Ueno Mari! Here to investigate the sad face you’re making right now! What’s on your mind, Kurose-kun, the famous ice prince…?”
What.
“Holdon—” he held his hands up slightly, “aren’t you that one crazy gossip Suisha girl? Aren’t you supposed to hate me or something?”
If it wasn’t already clear, he had dropped the façade hours ago, in the middle of the forest. Right now Harumi just wanted to make sense of the girl beside him, covering from the rain like him.
“Yup! Though today I decided to take a break for the rest of the trip. During these two days, there were a lot of gossips that turned out to be misunderstandings or dumb fights, and it made me reflect a bit. In fact that’s what I was kinda doing now, haha…”
She lowered her gaze, embarrassed of the way she was just babbling. But continued on, “and well, you were looking pretty pensive yourself, so I got curious!”
Harumi frowned. “It’s nothing.”
“Yeah sure.”
“I’m telling you it’s nothing.”
“Well, I’m told I give pretty good advice…”
“Says who?”
“Me— WELL, my boyfriend Ryouhei is really good at that so I try to say what he’d say! He’s— oh wait you’re roommates with him.”
“Huh? Wait, Yamamoto-san?”
She nodded excitedly. Harumi thought about it for a second. Yamamoto had been a really chill guy and all, so maybe she’s cool too. Still, he won’t just tell her everything.
“Uhm…” He started. Her eyes shone expectantly. “A friend is avoiding me. I think. At least now he is.”
Ueno placed a hand under her chin, gently tapping. She hummed and asked for more information.
“Well, did you do something wrong?”
“…I don’t think so?”
She gave a suspicious expression, as if she was listening to an excuse.
“Ugh— like, we were just talking and it got weird out of nowhere! He started clinging to me and the next moment he just stormed off! He always does that— He just leaves me guessing!”
At that point Harumi was just venting. He stopped thinking whether talking to her was a good idea or not.
“Oh…” she mumbled, “well, I think the best choice is just to confront him… Don’t let him just pretend nothing happened, you know? I mean— some space is also okay! But it’s not good to drag it too long either… ah, am I making sense???” She worried. Harumi was relieved that she was genuinely trying her best.
“Yeah… I got you. It just gets— frustrating.” He sighed and looked up to the sky again. It was starting to clear up. “Thanks for listening, Ueno-san.”
“Oh it’s my pleasure! It is very satisfying to know that the ice prince has normal problems.”
At that, Harumi glared.
“Ah!! Don’t worry, I told you I’m taking a break. I won’t gossip… Uhm,” she hurriedly tried to think of something nice to say, “you tried your best yesterday! You know— in the sports games…” She smiled awkwardly.
Pretty backhanded, but whatever. He hid his bandaged hands behind his back.
Harumi broke out a small laugh, making Mari more joyful and curious.
They fell into idle chitchat, and Harumi went back to his room with a lighter feeling in his chest.
“If Ryouhei is mean to you, tell me, I’ll make sure to give him an earful!” She greeted goodbye with.
Even if their conversation had helped, right now, his hair follicles were still weak, threatening to fall off at any moment.
It was already past breakfast, the students were preparing for the morning activities, and, surprise surprise, Harumi and Akihiko had not had a single normal conversation yet. At this point in any of the other days, they had chatted and thrown a couple of jokes here and there.
Today, though, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Harumi had tried but Aki kept avoiding him.
And it gets to a point.
Kobayashi and Yamamoto were already outside, having prepared much faster. Harumi was in the room’s bathroom while Akihiko rummaged through his bag.
He got out and walked towards the brunette, standing in front of him.
“Aki. I need help with the bandaids.”
He looked down at Aki’s crouched figure, daringly.
He knew Aki wouldn’t deny him help. He was too kind for that.
“Ah… Okay…”
The sun, now revealing slowly from its clouded curtains, softly enhanced Akihiko’s features. His nervous and fickle gaze.
And as much as Harumi tried to deny it, he was impatient.