Chapter Text
Kazuaki comes over, uninvited as usual, and Nageki lets him in even though Hitori isn’t home. He says as much to him as well.
“You know Hitori won’t be home for a while,” he says, picking up the book he’d been reading and returning to his position on the couch. Kazuaki is putting his book bag down next to the table and taking a seat in the arm chair.
“Uh…I didn’t know he wouldn’t be here…but I actually, um, hoped it’d be okay to ask you for help today anyway!” Kazuaki says, and he’s smiling although there appears to be some hesitation or fear on his face. Nageki peers at him over the top of the book he’s holding.
“Why? My brother’s the one who’s good at math. I won’t be able to help you with any college level math.”
“O-oh it’s not math, actually, it’s…well, you read a lot right Nageki?”
Nageki stares blankly at Kazuaki, hoping that his stare is emphasizing the book in his hands.
“I mean! O-of course you do!” Kazuaki quickly adds, nervously wringing his hands together, “I just…had some literature homework, it’s poetry analysis, and I…I thought it might be easier to do if I had someone to talk about it with. I-I’m not totally horrible at literature but…I don’t really have anyone in class to talk to about it…”
Closing the book Nageki sighs, and places it on the table.
“I don’t read as much poetry, but if you just want to read it and talk about it I can help.”
“R-really?? Thank you so much Nagekiiiii!” Kazuaki seems to brighten up, although it seems like there are still tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “I also wanted help because the poem was a little scary…it’s about death and I just can’t stand thinking about it alone…” Kazuaki pulls out his work, and they end up settling in on the floor by the table to go over the poetry and discuss it together.
“It’s not just about death,” Nageki points out, “It’s about how you shouldn’t be afraid to face it. And how you shouldn’t allow yourself to be paralyzed by thoughts before you actually do something, that you have to take action to be able to truly live, and to truly die.”
“Uwah…it’s still a little depressing,” Kazuaki mumbles, looking dejected. Nageki shrugs, and continues talking over the rest of the poem with Kazuaki. He’s actually not bad at analyzing poetry Nageki realizes, especially once he gets going and gets over his initial fright.
“Ah Nageki…you’re really good at this too!” Kazuaki says, beaming at him, “Are you thinking of going into literature when you get to college?”
“No,” Nageki replies without hesitation, and Kazuaki’s face drops but he continues speaking, “I like reading and literature, but I think I’m going to go into astronomy. I enjoy star gazing, after all.” Kazuaki at least doesn’t look so sad anymore, but maybe a little surprised.
“Oh! I never would have guessed!” he smiles then, “We should go star gazing together sometime!” The offer seems to come from out of nowhere, but Nageki finds himself smiling anyway.
“I would like that,” he replies, and then seeing the time realizes how many hours they’ve spent discussing poetry. “We could probably go now actually, since it’s nighttime.” Kazuaki starts at this, sitting upright and looking out the window.
“Ah I completely lost track of time! But…I guess I did get my work done with you anyway…s-so it should be okay,” Kazuaki says, before looking back at Nageki, “But um, what about Hitori?”
“He said he might not be home until much later,” Nageki shrugs, “I can leave a note and we can go find a place to star gaze. I can teach you the constellations if you like.”
They leave the house and find a small field to sit down in and view the stars. Nageki is pointing out constellations to Kazuaki, explaining their stories, but sometimes Kazuaki will beat him to it and mention the characters the stars represent, and stories that make allusions to them. It had always seemed like Kazuaki only came over to see Hitori, and didn’t have much interest in Nageki, yet it’s enjoyable talking like this and sharing their interests.
“Oh!” Kazuaki exclaims, and he wraps an arm around Nageki’s shoulder while pointing with the other, “A shooting star, make a wish Nageki!” It’s incredibly childish, but Nageki smiles, closes his eyes and makes a wish.