Chapter Text
“This sucks,” Kokichi whined, perusing the paper Kirumi handed him with pouty lips. “Why is it me that has to analyse the figures of sound?” He continued and waved his paper around in protest. He glanced at Shuichi who was busy scanning his own paper and tapped his shoulder. Realising that his attempt in gaining his attention had failed, Kokichi groaned and jabbed him on the rib. "Tell them to give me something simple!"
Shuichi winced, taking the paper out of Kokichi’s hands. He skimmed through the text before he placed it back on the table with a sigh. "It’s not that hard."
"But," Kokichi pressed, his eyes all wide and pleadly as his lashes fluttered against his cheekbones. "I don’t wanna do it, Saihara-chaaan."
“What a fuckin’ loser. Why don’t you just agree so we can leave early? You know, I have important stuff to do.”
"Ehh, but you’re only doing the theme of the poem."
“So?"
“So you don’t have a say in this.”
Shuichi retrieved the paper from Kokichi’s hand again and faced Kirumi with an apologetic stare. "Is it okay if Ouma-kun works with me?"
Kirumi sighed, staring at Kokichi, who in return gave her a cheeky wink. She ignored it. "Okay fine, but please finish your work in two weeks. This is almost worth half our grade."
They both nodded and turned their attention back to the extract to analyse and discuss their findings; or it was fairer to say the one who was doing that was Shuichi. But at least, for once, Kokichi tried to attentively listen by looking and adding a comment every once in a while. Comments that were actually useful.
"Akamatsu-san," Kirumi waved her hand in front of Kaede, and Kaede finally teared her eyes away from the other two. Once she’d noticed she was paying attention, Kirumi passed her the paper, nonchalant. "Here, you can do this one instead."
Kaede scanned the group to see they already sat in pairs, slowly taking it from her. “You’re doing it with Miu-chan and Ouma-kun is paired up with Saihara-kun. So that leaves me to do it by myself, right?"
“Aren’t you doing it with Amami-kun?” Kirumi casually asked, slipping her paper into a plastic file before she inserted it inside her folder. “He called me this morning to ask if there was a vacant spot in our group. I thought he would have told you by now.”
Confused, Kaede asked, "aren’t each groups supposed to have five members? Wasn’t there a group that needed another one?"
"All groups already have five students and sir clarified that it was okay for him to join us.” She said. “And since you’re neighbours, can you let him know as soon as you get home that you’ve been paired up? It’s best if you start early. This project is more complex than I had first imagined."
Kaede agreed and returned back to her seat as her fingers fished inside her back pocket to pull out her phone, swiftly unlocking it with her index finger. Looking at the notification bar, she saw there weren’t any new messages, but then quickly remembered she left Rantarou on read because he sent her one early in the morning when she was still half asleep. She merely skimmed through it but hadn’t bothered responding.
Mentally chastising herself for letting sleep overtake her, she navigated through her messages to open it once more.
[3:30] Amaa-chan: I can't sleep, how about u? Btw, don’t forget to let me know if I end up missing something important tomorrow in class. Can't afford to fall behind u haha.
Kaede’s fingers hovered above the keys for a while, nibbling on her bottom lip. Guilt piled up inside her the more time had ticked. She couldn’t deny she was slow when she had to reply back to others, and that was something she genuinely wanted to improve on. But it was also a known fact that Rantarou was just as bad as her; sometimes even taking two days to reply back to simple questions that even Asahi wouldn't struggle with. Something like, 'what is the answer to one plus one' could take him a decade.
[16:05] Kaede: And since when were you in front of me? You haven’t missed much though, don't worry!! Ah and Tojo-san said we have to work together on the project.
After having pressed the 'send' button, she assumed he would take a while to say anything and opted to check her phone once she arrived home; in case she got lucky enough to receive something by then. But to her surprise, she felt her phone vibrate against her desk. Her screen lit up a second after she'd locked it.
He must have been really bored to have replied back this quickly, she mused, and hurried herself to open it, which didn’t happen all that often either.
[16:06] Amaa-chan : I am just going to assume u didn’t look at the date at all today to be this clueless. but since u tend to be like that, im not surprised lol. I'll be home tomorrow morning and because it’s a saturday come over around 9am so we can start.
-x-
Her fingers curled around her blanket, and she huddled her shoulders together as much as she could to gather up some warmth to lull herself back asleep. But the sounds of Asahi banging his little fists against her door left her without much of a choice but to force herself up. Kaede had initially planned to stay engraved in her bed for the entirety of the morning until the afternoon to replenish her energy. But she knew best to fight against her urges. And also because she knew Rantarou would wake her up if she didn't show up.
She groaned, ignoring the annoying and presisting feeling inside her chest and peeled herself away from her cushions. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes and unlocked her phone, blinking to the light to adjust them to it. The clock read 8:40, and she breathed in relief once she saw that she’d enough time to get ready, departing from her bed with a leap. As soon as she was finished and collected her stuff, she went downstairs to be greeted by Asahi, who was already sitting at the table as he shot her a cheeky grin; as if what he’d done played in his favour. And just beside him, next to the stove, stood her mother.
"You’re finally awake, sister."
"Well, you did do me a favour by waking me up early. Good thing you didn’t leave yet." Kaede replied, patting him on the head as thanks. He gave her a dissatisfied grunt in return, of course, disappointed with the reaction he received after the trouble he made himself go through.
"Where are you going this early in the morning?" Her mother asked and flipped the pancake. She then grabbed a plate, handing Kaede her share of food.
"Rantarou’s house," she answered, snatching the syrup from the table. "We have a project to work on. It needs a lot of time so we thought we would start early."
“Ah, that reminds me. He went to his mother’s birthday party, right?” She continued, dropping sugar into her cup of tea. “Are you going to see her as well?”
Kaede sighed, still disappointed in herself for forgetting. “No. She didn’t come this year because she was busy." She said. "I forgot about it myself so I didn’t get her a present.”
“Strange,” her mother mused, intently staring at Kaede behind the brim of her cup. “You never forget. And even if you did, Rantarou-chan always reminded you. I wonder what gives?”
Kaede sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know? Maybe they just wanted to have some family time.”
“But you are their family Kaede.” Her mother replied. “Just like Rantarou is for us as well.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She waved it off.
Her mother blinked. It seemed as though she wanted to say more on the matter but then shifted the topic. Thank God. Kaede let out a breath. "So you’re going to work on a project, is it?"
She merely hummed, mouth too stuffed to formulate an answer.
"Can’t you…search the poem on the internet and find the answers on there?" Her mother casually asked and turned off the stove. She took a seat on the table alongside Kaede and Asahi. Kaede huffed.
"I would much rather do the analysing on my own. Besides, if I really wanted to search it on the internet, it would be impossible. Our teacher made sure to choose the least known ones, so even if we were to search it, we wouldn’t find anything."
"That’s a bummer."
"Mum," she laughed. "Do you want me to cheat my way through?"
"No, of course not," she shook her head, leisurely taking a sip from her cup of tea to savour its piquancy. "I just thought scanning some results would make it easier for you guys. I know my daughter is capable of anything. Rantarou-kun, too."
Kaede half smiled before she finished her last piece and hurriedly left with a stacked folder she figured they might find useful once they started working. She knew she was running 10 minutes late the second she had stepped out of the door, which for once, she thought would be fine. Rantarou sometimes woke up late himself, especially when he travelled back from his mother’s house.
"Tarou?" She called after she'd opened the door and slowly closed it behind her, trying to not make a sound in case he was still asleep.
She immediately took note of the emptiness and quietness of the house, when it normally felt so warm and welcoming. But then again, it didn’t surprise her at all.There were times his sisters didn’t come home so they could spend more time with their mother; their father was strict and the times he’d permitted them to travel to their mother were incredibly sparse — so it only made sense they wanted to expand it a little more. How long they’d stayed didn’t matter to him, so long they made it back for school on time.
His sisters always got along with their mother, always receiving gifts of all sorts, as well as her affection; they understood each other on an amazing level, a lot more than Rantarou did with her, in fact.
And sometimes, that upset Kaede, she would be damned if she had said it hadn’t. Especially when he took her with him and she saw with her own eyes how he was more quiet and reserved than he typically was around her. Or in any other situation really.
Kaede placed her folder on the table, and before she could sit down, Rantarou peeked his head through the door. His toothbrush hang lowly from his slightly ajar mouth, and his hair hadn’t been brushed yet, resembling a bird’s nest as they fell in a messy pile across his forehead.
She could barely make the outline of his eyes, but she could tell he was faintly smiling through them. "Fashionably late as always." He said, his voice muffled because of the obstruction his toothbrush created. For someone that wasn't much of a morning person, his tone was happy and chirpy. It was a surprise, but she welcomed it.
“And same with you, constantly appearing out of nowhere.” She replied and Rantarou shook his head with a smile.
Kaede stared at him for a moment to take a better look at the mess atop his head. As messy as Rantarou’s hair could be at times; this type of hairstyle suited him, too. And slowly, she let her eyes travel down to involuntarily trail on his left collarbone that was revealed because of the stretched outline of his shirt.
Rantarou caught his toothbrush between his hand and continued to brush, all the while he stared back at her funny, as if he wanted to say something, but whatever that was, it didn’t come out.
"By now, you should’ve gotten used to that." He finally said. “With the way I appear without making any sounds.”
She raised a brow. “Don’t worry. I have.”
And with time, she had. Something like this usually startled her and definitely used to when they were younger, to the point her heart would momentarily stop beating. Now, however, she’d become so accustomed of how little sounds he made it didn't faze her anymore. Kaede followed him to his bedroom once he'd ushered her upstairs and placed her stuff on the chabudai, settling down on the carpet. "So, when did you return back?"
"Last night," he replied and sat down beside her with a bag packed with snacks of all sorts. He pushed it towards her with a sly smile, knowing she must have been eagerly waiting for him to bring her some from his trip. "Around 9 at night."
"That’s late. Didn’t you normally come around 6 in the evening?"
"Yeah. The plan was to come home around 4, but my sisters insisted we stayed a bit more and my mother suggested we stayed for another day instead." He stretched his arms. “And they agreed.”
"And you didn’t?"
He shook his head. "I didn’t want to."
Kaede frowned, clearly not happy with his decision. "Why did you do that? Your relationship with her has been rocky lately. She might end up thinking you don’t like her anymore." She reasoned and threw him a candy.
He gave her a brief look from the side and swiftly caught the candy with his hand, tearing its packaging to pop it inside his mouth. "I don’t think so," he responded, and pulled at the muscles of the lower part of his face to force a smile. Or at least, that’s what she’d assumed. Probably was right as well. "She knows I have schoolwork to focus on and to be honest, I would much rather be here. It's more fun."
"But still..."
"You don’t have to worry about it, welp. I told you I was okay, and I am sure mum understands as well. I told her I had a lot of things I needed to take care of." He said, pulling at her cheeks; the pull causing the pout on her face to dissipate. "Enough talking about my trip though, can we start on the project?"
Kaede gave him a questioning gaze but didn’t say anything. She then grabbed the folder she’d prepared and passed it to him without objecting. "I don’t know how we will end up starting this though, there’s so much I would like to ask you."
He chuckled, scanning the instructions as he chewed on his lip. "It’s always the same stories and tales. Nothing fascinating," he replied and circled some lines that stood out to him. "Instead of telling you how my trip went, how about I give you a gift?" He offered her cheekily. "I got you one."
“A gift?”
He hummed.
"What is it?" Kaede asked, excited.
He smiled and his shoulders slightly dropped. He looked somewhat relieved once she'd asked, and left, shortly returning back with a huge, pristine envelope resting between his grip. He handed it to her, and sat down beside her with his legs crossed.
Her fingers carefully traced the flaps of the envelope before she tore it open, making sure to be delicate and gentle since the decor was so pleasing to look at. She then pulled out the content that was inside, which happened to be a bunch of images she couldn’t yet see since they faced the opposite direction. She swiftly turned it around with a flick of the wrist and then...her heart skipped a beat.
"They’re so pretty! How did you get these?!"
He rubbed his nose with a grin, rather proud of himself. "Remember when I told you my uncle was also into astronomy? I asked him if he could give me some pictures he’d taken since he had many stacked away in his storage." He explained. "He handpicked some of his favourites. I did as well, but only a few."
Kaede bit her lips, almost on the verge of tears as she adjacently placed an image after the next on the table to take a better look at them. She was beyond pleased with the gift she’d received, and if someone asked her to express her current feelings into words; she wouldn’t be able to do it even if she’d tried. No words would be able to help her express it.
She had gone through so much trouble to have her voice heard by her mother when she'd told her that her passion was astronomy; Rantarou was the only one that stood beside her. He was the one who respected her decisions and encouraged and supported her in his own ways when others wouldn’t listen to her.
She absentmindedly stared at the images and blinked a few times to readjust her vision. How could she be so blindly stupid?
"I am sorry." She apologised and Rantarou blanched, obviously not expecting such words to come out of her. Naturally, he would shrug off her apologies since she had this tendency to apologise even if she didn’t need to, but this time, he knew it wasn’t the same so his eyebrows came together.
"What’s the matter Kaede?" He finally asked, and placed a hand on her leg. She shook her head, ashamed.
It took a little while for her to answer, mainly because of the way her jaw trembled. But Rantarou seemed to understand and did not usher her to explain herself. He always understood.
Her fingers clenched and she heavily breathed before she finally managed to spew some words out of her system. “I should've never doubted you."
This only added up to Rantarou's confusion and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth. "Kaede, please try to elaborate. I won’t understand if you're not clear." He said, leaning a bit closer to search her face. His eyes darted from her eyes to her wobbling lips before it crawled back up. He sucked in a breath, "could it be that my gift wasn't good? Or could it be that something happened with your mother while I was gone and it made you remember?" He’d asked, genuinely trying to understand what could have morphed her emotions just like that; all within the snap of a finger.
But it wasn’t that. It was the fact that she'd doubted him that bothered her. What bothered her was that the thought dared to cross her mind, as if he would have the audacity to do something like that to her. After everything they'd gone through together, it felt like an insult to him.
"No it’s just," she paused, blinking at the ground. Her nails dug deep into her skin and Rantarou probably noticed, because a second later, his hand was on top of hers and squeezed it in support. As if he didn’t want her to hurt herself as she’d tried to explain herself. "You know the confession letter in my locker … That was you, wasn’t it?"
He nodded, a little bit reluctant though, as if he didn’t understand what this had to do with anything. "Yeah, of course. Why would you ask that out of the blue?"
"It’s just," she stopped for a second and gulped; loud enough she thought if he’d strained his ears a little he would’ve been able to hear it.
"I just— I thought that, well, it wasn’t for serious."
“Huh?”
“I said,” Kaede paused for a second. “I didn’t think it was serious.”
"What do you mean you thought it wasn’t serious?" Rantarou asked, his voice as blank and inscrutable as it could get. "You thought … I was just joking? Like pulling a prank?"
Kaede opted on staying quiet; which efficiently managed to answer the question he’d asked because slowly, she felt Rantarou shift, and his hand was no longer holding her own. She winced.
Sure, she felt terrible once she could no longer feel his warmth anymore. But it didn't hurt her as hard as she thought it would, because she definitely saw this happening the second she told him the truth. After all, she did say she thought it was some sort of joke. Of course that would hurt him. At least that much she’d known.
"Why would you think that?"
"Remember the time I told you I would love to have someone confess to me through writing?" He nodded, attentively listening to her. "Well, I just… remembered how you once told me you would never like me that way so...” She paused. God, she was ridiculous. “We tend to prank each other a lot. you know? that’s why I thought..." Her words trailed off. "I shouldn’t have but I…. I wasn’t thinking clearly, I just..."
"And you thought I would do something like that to you?" He finished for her in her stead, his lips tilting.
"No it’s just..."
"I know that’s not what you meant." Rantarou commented once he noticed Kaede’s shoulders tense up. "But I would never do that, so I am bit disappointed you thought of me that way. I am not going to lie." He continued and wiped the tears that streamed down her cheeks with his thumb in a swift swipe. "Trust me. I would never do something like that to you. Ever."
"Yeah, sorry."
He nodded, returning the hand that was on her cheek back to the side once he’d realised it lingered on there for a little too long. Kaede frowned, but knew he did it with her in his mind. Somewhere in his thoughts, he probably wondered if that had made her feel uncomfortable.
Determined, she moved forward to grab his hand and gave it a squeeze between her two hands. He ceased to rub the back of his neck and his eyes flitted open, surprised.
"Does that mean I can still give you an answer, Rantarou?" She asked, squeezing his hand a little more.
He blinked.
"If you’re willing to give me an answer, I will listen." He mumbled, looking at their hands as if he was still processing the event. Then, Rantarou elevated his head, returning the gaze and looked more serious than he did before. And a little flustered as well, but just a little. Anyone that hadn’t known him as well as she did would probably miss it.
"But, don’t you think it would be more appropriate to give you an answer using a piece of paper? Since you sent me a letter?"
Rantarou frowned. "I think it’s the same either way. It’s easier to just do it right now, don’t you think so as well?" He wondered and dropped his head when he didn’t receive an answer and looked at her with a lopsided smile. His smile curled into a smirk. He got her. "You look a bit nervous though, so I can see why you would propose this." He added teasingly and shifted back, staring her in the eye. "I will make this easier for you.” He trailed. “Do you want us together?"
Kaede pressed her lips into a thin line. But then she smiled, unable to fight it back and nodded her head.
"See? Better than grabbing a paper and pencil, wasn’t it?"
she had meant to come up with a retort but decided against it. That could wait. "You’re right," she admitted. "I never thought you would end up liking me though..."
Rantarou didn’t say anything to that so she decided to continue, her fingers prespirating.
"I mean we went from childhood friends to this. It’s kind of strange." Kaede laughed, rubbing her sweaty palms together. "I have always watched shows where childhood friends were in a relationship once they grew up. I never once thought that would be us one day."
“Who said we were a couple though?”
“Are we not?” Kaede’s head shot up.
Rantarou smiled, his eyes twinkling and sneakily slipped a hand around her waist. Kaede could feel his chest firmly press onto her back, her heart starting to beat like a jungle drum.
“I was just joking,” he laughed. "To be honest, I didn’t see us becoming a possibility either. Although I had hoped for it." Rantarou replied and Kaede could feel his warm breath against her neck as he spoke. He was more warm then she’d imagined he was.
“Since when did you…?”
“You’re just dense.” He replied back. “You’re incredibly, incredibly dense.”
She pouted.
"Don’t you think we should start working on the project now?" Rantarou asked.
"Maybe but later."
“I knew we wouldn’t get anything done if we’ve got partnered up.”