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Kyouichi and Tatsuma had not heard her coming in, but the opening of the door had enough of an effect to send the former in a rage.
On the other hand, Tatsuma only gave a mere look of surprise when their castles of cards toppled down. Kyouichi began to swear at his friend who simply collected the cards into a stack.
"Shit! Shit. I was way ahead of you this time. I swear, Tatsuma, next time I'll-"
The overblown ranting subdued the sound of footsteps. It was only when a shadow eclipsed the light from falling on some of the cards strewn on the floor, that Kyouichi and Tatsuma were finally forced to look at the short stature nearly hovering over them.
The two boys were caught between the walls of the not-so-abandoned kendo club and Sakurai Komaki.
A small grin crossed her face.
"I see, so this is where you guys hang out when you don't want anyone to find you," she said.
Kyouichi looked away and Komaki was pleased to see that she was right on the mark.
Contrary to popular belief, the Magami Academy did have a kendo club. Even less people knew that Kyouichi was the captain. That was the unfortunate part of the kendo club's history. It wasn't that he sucked at being a captain or a leader, in fact, he had proven himself to at least have some capability in that field during their nightly hunts even if Komaki didn't always agree with his methods. But no one in their right mind would join a club headed by the most notorious delinquent in the entire history of Magami Academy.
Unless, of course, their name was Hiyuu Tatsuma.
However, no one knew whether he was even officially registered as a member.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked.
Only Tatsuma replied, "We're building concentration."
"Concentration?"
Komaki looked at the scattered cards Tatsuma was picking up from the floor.
"Yes, concentration," he said.
She hummed in curiosity, but accidentally caught Kyouichi glaring at her through his eyelashes. He was drumming his fingers against his knees.
"What's with that face?" Komaki said.
“Heh, nothing,” he said with a little smirk.
Up until then she was pretty sure that she had been interrupting something, but apparently she was wrong.
"So, are you guys going to do anything at all? Like that homework assignment. The one all of us handed in two weeks ago, except for the two of you?"
Kyouichi glared at her again.
"Why don't you mind your own damn business?"
"Ah well... I wish I could, but someone bugged me about it this time."
"Who sent you? Maria-chan?"
"Um no? Inugami-sensei told me to," Komaki answered, then widened her eyes in realization, "Hey... wait, do you guys still need to submit that one report of one week ago? There's even more?"
Tatsuma nodded and started counting on his fingers.
"Yes. There's the biology assignment from Inugami-sensei, the English book report from Maria-sensei, and we still need to do the classical Japanese homewo-"
Komaki didn't look the least surprised when Kyouichi pushed Tatsuma's fingers down. Even Kyouichi had his limits of shame and called him out.
"For fuck's sake. She doesn't need to know!"
Tatsuma laughed softly. His laugh was a mixture of self-deprecation and out of honest amusement.
She couldn't believe those two. They were in the middle of graduating and these idiots were still playing around like it was nothing.
"Well! That's all I had to say... Unlike you guys I will now go home with my hands free of homework and..." Komaki said and trailed off when she saw Kyouichi's hand still over Tatsuma's fingers on the floor. "Uh."
Both boys stared at her.
"What?" Kyouichi said. His hand left Tatsuma's fingers, when he leaned back into his old position.
"At least I didn't see you two doing anything gross...." she added.
"What?" He repeated. "Gross? What's that all about?"
"Haven't you heard the rumors?"
"What rumors?"
Komaki snorted.
"Well, that you two are... Never mind. I can't get it across my lips."
"What about us?" Kyouichi said.
Tatsuma seemed to get it.
"Oh, that rumor!" he said with a cheery voice, "I accidentally overheard and they ran away when they saw me..."
She nodded violently. Yes, that rumor had been all over the school. It was perfect newspaper material, but for some reason Anko wouldn't even want to hear of it.
"Right, that one!" She said without even confirming that they were talking about the same thing.
Kyouichi had lost his patience.
"Just what the hell is it anyway!"
Tatsuma laughed wearily to himself.
"Well..."
"Since you caused it yourself, I don't think you want to know," Komaki said as she walked towards the door. "And if it's true... I wish you all the best."
The door closed.
His first instinct was to follow her out, but he stopped at the mention of his name.
"Kyouichi."
Kyouichi looked back to see Tatsuma smile.
Since it looked like his friend didn't want him to follow her, he said, "Seriously. What rumor?"
He waited, but no answer came.
"I'm not asking around if that's what you want..." Kyouichi said.
Tatsuma shrugged.
"Or is it that you don't want me to find out?"
"That's not it..."
There was an odd smile on Tatsuma's lips.
"Then tell me. You can tell me everything right?" Kyouichi said.
"I won't tell."
Tatsuma didn't flinch or fight back when Kyouichi grabbed the collar of his hoodie with his hands. He made enough of an effort for a strong grip, but it was weak enough to call it gentle.
"Hurry up or I'll beat it out of you."
Even if he said so, he knew Kyouichi wouldn't go through with it. Both knew he didn't want to fight. That's why Tatsuma slipped his own hands over Kyouichi's hands, and gently pulled them down.
"No."
"...Stubborn little shit."
Tatsuma waited long enough to feel Kyouichi's fingers curling into a fist.
"Well, if you want to find out... kiss me?"
Tatsuma kept a silly and innocent smile on his face when he said that. As if it was nothing.
"...Oh."
Kyouichi stared at him with a blank face and didn't come to his senses until Tatsuma's fingers were removed from his now unclenched fist. He didn't know who initiated the separation or what caused that sudden lapse in his mind.
Was it Tatsuma or him?
He'd rather not know.
Tatsuma didn't say anything. He picked up the stack of cards from the floor and stored it in the locker.
The walk back home was boring as ever. They didn't go eat ramen together or beat up monsters or madmen that night, but the urge to slap his friend on the back or thrown an arm over his shoulder was still there.
That night Kyouichi stared at the ceiling in his bedroom and wondered what he was like before he met Tatsuma. He certainly hadn't been touchy-feely with other people before and even now.
If that was enough to cause a rumor...
And if it was true....
"I wish you all the best."
He made a bitter smile.
Komaki would never know how much of a pain this was. She was lucky. Very lucky and dense. What did she know about him after all?
At the end of the day he was still a procrastinator.
Kyouichi didn't want to know what the future held. He loved taking risks, but he didn't want to gamble on the present day.
But maybe one day he knew he would have to stop putting off to cause a rumor to come true.