Chapter Text
6:40 am...
It was after the day of the Autumn troupe’s finale of Strangers, written by Tsuzuru Minagi. In the living room, the normal bustle of men gathered around the coffee table. All chattered up and lively from the result of the last play.
“Listen up, normies. Today we’ll be having a troupe meeting regarding the next play at 1:30, you better be on time.” Sakyo was the first to speak in between the indistinct chatter.
“Who are you calling normies? I’m the one who actually led the play.” Banri asserted.
A formidable man stood up from his seat, still devouring the small kame bun down his mouth. “You think you’re the one who led the whole play?” he muffled. “That’s really funny. You weren't even the main lead.”
Banri swiftly tucked his silky, blonde hair behind his ear before he began, “Well, c’mon I think the difference in skill is pretty obvious, Juza.” He takes his seat and starts munching on the vegetable curry set on the table, decorated with scattered pieces of nutmeg on top. “Curry again?” Banri mumbled. His appetite was jaded after having curry every single day.
Omi in the back of the kitchen was handling breakfast. Normally, he would make chicken curry, but today he wanted to have more variation in his dishes. It is official that (Y/N)’s curry addiction is replenished every day, therefore curry is mostly served for the dorm’s free meals. “It’s different this time, Banri. Besides, if you don’t eat it, you won’t get the energy or strength for morning practice.” Omi advised.
You could smell the savory taste of his cooking drifting in the air. Another blonde starts wandering in, enticed by the now pasta-smelling aroma.
“What are you cooking there, Omimi?” Kazunari swings his arms around the giant's neck.
He swatted Kazunari's arm. "Chicken Alfredo, I thought it would be nice to use the spare chicken we had.”
"Ah, it smells so good! I bet Taichi would want some of this!" he exclaimed, sniffing once again. The aroma was even stronger now.
"Taichi?" Omi swivels around, checking if Taichi is in the living room. His bright red hair would naturally attract your eyes right to him, but he wasn’t there. Where is he?
Kazunari notices Omi’s puzzled response and asks, “Uh, was Taichi with you this morning?”
“Well,” he started, “I thought he would be awake by now. Is he still in his room?”
“He might still be. I haven’t seen him come out yet.”
Omi places his skillet down, along with a large, wooden spoon on top of it. He turns the heating knob off and hurries to his dorm.
“W-Wait!” Kazunari hollered.
By the time Kazunari called out to Omi, he was already at the door. He opens the door and bursts into the room. “Taichi? Are you here?” he rushes to Taichi’s bedside.
There beside him is a limp, listless Taichi. Omi lifts the blanket away from Taichi’s head and pats him softly on the back, “Are you okay, Taichi?”
“Omi, what’re you doing?” the redhead peered over his shoulder to observe him. He rubbed his eye with his left hand, while using his other hand to support his weight. Carefully lowering his left foot, he flops his body over to face Omi directly.
Omi leans his head against his hand. “Taichi, please don’t worry me like that.”
He gave a lazy smile. “Heh, sorry. I guess I was drifting off again.” Below his droopy eyes, dark circles had appeared along his lower eyelid.
“Why are you still here? It’s already breakfast.” He was a bit skeptical of his behavior. His intuition told him that something wasn’t right. Taichi was staying up late more than usual and he never noticed. What was keeping him up so late?
“There’s no need to keep it a secret, is there?” Taichi whispered to himself. He gathers up all his courage and shouts proudly. “I finally found a girl that likes me!”
Omi jumped back, slightly surprised. Behind him was a wild Kazunari peeping through the door left ajar.
Kazunari is now smiling, more than he should. He edges closer to the blushing mess, that is Taichi, until he is close enough to poke at the small pup. “So, who’s the lucky girl?” he questioned teasingly. His brow was raised, while his green orbs stared sharply at the redhead’s dawning eyes.
“Well, I was at this skateboarding park on the weekend and I saw this girl riding near the beginner obstacles.”
Kazunari shifts behind him, patting him lightly on the shoulder, urging him to continue on.
“She was stumbling and tripping off her board, so out of instinct, I thought I could help her…” he stumbled on his words a bit, while fumbling through his fingers.
Omi stands up and saunters over to Taichi. “Hey, you okay?”
He answers softly, “Yeah, I just really never shared this with anybody before. This is the one time where it was actually real. Not some little kindergarten girl who told me that she likes me just because I played with her.” he chuckles a little at his own joke.
“What happens next?” Kazunari interjects between the two.
“So, I walked up to her and asked her if she needed any help. She told me if she knew me and I said no, but she kept persisting in the thought that she’d seen me somewhere.” he took a deep breath and continued. “She asked me if I go to Ouka High, so I said yes. Then, out of nowhere she asks me for my phone number. I asked her why, and she said she wanted me to help out with her skateboard practice.”
“Wah, I guess those skateboarding skills of yours are useful for catching the ladies!” the blonde beamed.
“Haha! I guess so!” the redhead giggled.
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt! A muffled urgent-sounding vibration rings from beneath Taichi’s thick, blue blanket. He slides right over, kicking up his leg while dragging himself forward towards his bed using his arms. Picking up his phone, his eyes light up, sparkling with euphoria. He slumps against his bed, his thumbs busying themselves typing deftly. His eyes were concentrated on the incoming texts, coming at full speed back and forth. Amid his thoughts, a loud voice from behind him disrupted his deep focus.
“Hmmm, it’s her, isn’t it?” Kazunari hummed in amusement.
“Huh? Yeah, it is.” Taichi stared dreamily at his phone.
Kazunari scoots closer to Taichi, reading the messages that are already sent. He noticed that Taichi’s texts were packed with words. Could Taichi really have a crush on this girl? Well, that’s one guy down from the ‘(Y/N) lover’ list, he thought. He points to one of the texts the girl sent. “Ehhh? You have a school festival?”
“Yeah, the school’s planning to have it this week!” he grinned.
Omi sits quietly as he recalls something he thought of in his head. “That reminds me, Autumn troupe is mostly going to be free this week.”
“Ah, no fair! You get to go to a school festival while I’m here working my butt off!” Kazunari pouts childishly.
“Yup, and I’m going to enjoy it! Maybe even go on a date with that girl!” he exclaims, raising a fist determinedly.
Kazunari joins in, also raising a fist high and proud. They both chatter incoherent words and chants while laughing it off like school girls.