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Saturday April 9th
What would Tokyo be like?
Moving away from home isn’t something that’s easy for everyone, and Akira Kurusu isn’t an exception. He heard many stories of what it would be like, the kinds of people he would see, all the fashion that would be in Tokyo. And as such, he decided that his first bold move was to try and put on his best attire for the train ride to the city. Or, at least he’d try anyway. In the end, he had settled with a white button down shirt with a black v-neck underneath, and a tight but comfortable pair of blue jeans. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
But even so, he isn't quite sure he’s prepared to move so far away from his country-side home. Not forcibly anyway. As his train pulls into the station, Akira grips his bag tightly in his hand, nervous of what’s to come next as the train pulls into the station. Starting over wouldn’t be easy, but at least people here wouldn’t know about what happened back home. He could start fresh.
Akira steps off the train’s platform then looks down at his phone. He’d been to Tokyo only for school trips, but never on his own like this before. However... he wasn't quite sure what to expect when it came to big city life. There are signs and arrows pointing all different ways, and as he looks around for his connecting train, his head spins. Akira is suddenly overwhelmed with the anxiety he had been trying to keep at bay as he tries to focus on his objective. The people around him casually walk and scan their commuter passes. Some obvious tourists pass by and seem to be doing better than he is.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. He could do this.
Currently, he knew he was in Shibuya and that his new home wasn’t too far away, somewhere in Yongen-Jaya, but he needs to find his connecting train in order to make it there. Despite it being a Saturday, the station is still alive with the hustle and bustle of city life. Akira wanders around the station, trying to cool his nerves until he finds himself outside, staring at the wide new world of Shibuya.
He feels like an outcast, like he stands out, an outsider looking in, and everyone would know that he wasn’t supposed to be here. That he wouldn’t be wanted in Tokyo either. He catches the time at the corner of his phone, still a few hours earlier than he had expected to arrive at the Shibuya station. His parents had told him to make sure he arrived at the Sakura residence as soon as he could, and he had purposely left his countryside home early just in case he might get lost. It was a good thing he did too, because wow he sure had no idea where he was right now.
But since he’s lost with a few hours to kill, why not see the sights a little? It is Shibuya afterall. And it wasn’t like his new caretaker probably had the highest of hopes for him anyway. Not like anyone did. If he didn’t end up showing up on time, no one would blame him.
Akira wanders around the station square and is nearly blown away by the sheer amount of people he sees as it is nothing like he is used to back in his hometown. When he reaches the famous Shibuya crossing his jaw nearly drops when everyone begins crossing the road all at the same time from every angle. He goes to take a step forward, but his nerves prevent him from moving forward, anxious that he was doing something wrong. That he was making some sort of mistake crossing now, despite all the people around him doing the same.
He takes a quick step back instead, his back slamming directly into another person. A pair of strong hands grip his shoulders, holding him steady, and as he turns his head to apologize when he’s met with two dark red eyes staring worriedly back at him. The duffle bag that he had been carrying drops from his shoulder at the impact, landing at their feet. Akira studies the boy’s face, brows pushed together as his eyes look him up and down quickly, his hands hold tightly onto his shoulders, the only thing keeping him in place as he’s smitten by the handsome boy keeping his gaze. He swears that he loses all the breath that he had been holding as he quickly gets to his feet, the light now red and keeping them there.
As he regains his composure, Akira takes note of the black school jacket and checkered pants that matched the ones he currently had for his own school uniform. Adorned on his lapel, a shiny pin indicates that he is a third year and Akira realises that his boy must have been on his way home from school.
“My apologies, are you alright?” the boy asks.
Akira nods, still trying to get his bearings after that embarrassing mistake “Y-yes. Sorry, just a bit…” he tries to keep his eyes trained at the boy’s face, but he can’t help looking over his figure one last time . Shit, he’s definitely really cute, “...just a bit overwhelmed is all.”
The boy bends down and picks up his duffle bag “Ah, I see. You must be new to Shibuya, yes? I was quite blown away the first time I came here as well.”
Akira takes the bag and slings it back over his shoulder “Yeah, I am.”
“If that’s the case, do you need someone to show you around? I actually have some free time before I head to work. And, it can be an apology for oh so rudely bumping into me,” he winks, a sweet, pleasant smile never leaving his lips.
This boy was...interesting...to say the least. Chestnut brown hair that frames his face, piercing red eyes, but a soft, beautiful smile that spreads from ear to ear and not a single blemish on his skin. Were all boys in Tokyo this freaking attractive? If they were, he was going to have a Hell of a time getting used to such a place. “Yes? Yes. I have time, yes,” Akira stumbles over his words, speaking a bit too fast for his liking, meanwhile the other boy snickers at him, covering his mouth as he does so. He’s ? Adorable?
“Alright, follow me. How do you feel about crepes?” The light turns green and the boy, who’s name he’s really wondering what it is now, takes a gentle hold of his elbow to guide him across the street.
“Truthfully? I’ve actually never had one before,” Akira replies lamely.
A shocked gasp comes from his new companion “Never? Okay, well I hope you’re hungry because that’s going to be our first stop on our grand tour.” Once they’ve made their way across the street, he’s led down a smaller side street and up to a small stand. “I highly recommend the crepes with the cheesecake in the middle, it really adds to the flavor. They also have some where there's ice cream in the middle instead. Those are good too.”
“A fan of sweets, huh?” Akira replies, trying to relax around this new person. He looks over the menu for a moment. Matcha cheese cake filling? Strawberry cheese cake filling? Then there seemed to be a million ice cream fillings as well. All the different flavors overwhelm him, much like how everything in Tokyo just seemed to be bigger, more fancy, and just incribleable. Slowly behind him, a line begins to form and he starts to panic even more now and ends up going with the first one he sees, “I-I’ll go with the kiwi strawberry!”
His face heats up, and it feels like everyone is staring at him. Reaching for his wallet, Akira goes to pay for them both. However, by the time he’s looking up, his new friend is already paying for him instead. He turns to look at Akira “ My treat, to celebrate your first day in Tokyo.” Akira nods as they’re then handed their food, stepping to the side to eat them.
Akira’s hands shake, despite holding tightly onto his crepe. Next to him, there is a ‘click’ of a camera and he looks to see that the boy is taking a selfie with his crepe. Was this? Normal Tokyo behaviour? When it’s noticed that Akira is staring, the boy smiles at him “ Oh, is it strange? I like to post photos like this one to my blog.”
Akira feels his shoulders relax and he breathes out, not realising he had even been holding his breath “You run a blog?”
“Yes, that’s correct. It’s not very popular, but it’s just for fun after all,” he takes a few steps closer “Do you mind taking a photo with me?” Akira nods, then an arm is placed around his waist and he mimics the same pose the boy does. Once the picture is snapped, they both look it over together “you look good.”
Did? A cute? Tokyo boy? Just say? He looked good?
He must be dreaming.
Akira nearly faints, this day definitely being one bombshell after another, “Th-thanks. By the way, my name’s-…” he pauses for a moment as he goes to say his name. Should he tell him the truth? He hesitates, the last few weeks running though his head as he remembers each time his name has been used, had been hissed at him.
Being handcuffed and forced into a police car.
His attorney telling him to take a plea deal.
His parents on their knees, apologizing to the man he had ‘assaulted’ and begging him not to sue.
Instead, Akira holds off on his name. Seeming to realize his hesitation, the other introduces himself first, “My name is Goro.” Just his first name? Strange, but he could deal with that.
“Akira. My name’s Akira,” he tries to calm himself from panicking anymore. Goro was just an average person, nothing to be hesitant of “I’m glad I could meet someone on my first day.”
“Oh, but the pleasure is mine, Akira,” Goro responds with another one of those sickeningly sweet smiles.
Either Goro was just very forward or he did not realise the kind of reaction he had on people. Before he could get anymore flustered, Akira takes a bite of his crepe, and his eyes widen because holy shit it was really good. He finds himself nearly swallowing the entire thing, not realising how hungry he had been.
“Hey, Goro?” Akira questions with his mouth overflowing with strawberries and kiwis. Goro looks towards him, his attention all on Akira. “What made you wanna get crepes?” He finishes off the last of his crepe, placing the paper wrapper into a nearby waste bin.
Goro shrugs and stares into the open space in front of them for a moment before answering “It just felt right.”
“Right?”
“Yes. Like something inside me saying I should ask,” Goror pauses, then tenses up, not looking back to Akira “I-I’m sorry...that must sound strange coming from a total stranger.”
But Akira quickly shakes his head “No! No, not at all. Honestly? I think I needed it. Thank you. I was really on edge, and you helped me relax.” A strange silence fills the space between them, not quite awkward, but not quite comfortable either, as if the other didn’t know how to continue the conversation now. However, it doesn’t last long, as Goro shyly begins talking to him again. Asking him questions about where he’s from and what it was like there. Asking about his plans for his stay in Tokyo and if he had any particular sights he had wanted to see. And of course, how long he was planning on staying. All relatively safe questions.
Then, Akira turns the questions back to Goro himself, but instead of the generic ‘who, what, where, when, and why’ he had been asking, Akira opts for a different route instead. Because, why not? If he was going to get to know Goro, he was going to all in.
And he finds out a lot of cute things about his new friend.
Such as, he enjoyed riding his bike around town to get to the train station. Or, how he liked to read up on new recipes and practice them with his mother (because according to her, he’s a disaster with cooking and someone needed to teach him the difference between a flambé and setting the kitchen on fire.) He even shyly admitted to be a secret Featherman fan. And when Goro brings it up, Akira sees his posture go from one of confidence, to folding into himself. Clearly, he isn’t a person used to being vulnerable. But, if that was the case, why was he so comfortable with sharing so much with him now?
This...Goro person sure could talk up a storm, couldn’t he? Akira didn’t mind though, he felt more at ease talking with him idly. It calms him and distracts him from the past several weeks that he had endured. When some time has gone by, Akira looks at his phone to see that it’s nearing evenin and that he should hurry to meet up with his new caretaker.
“I’m sorry, but I have to get going. It was really nice meeting you, Goro,” Akira says and adjusts the bag on his shoulder “We should hang out again sometime, maybe you could show me around some more?”
“I would like that.”
Akira nods, and hurries off back to the station square to look for his transfer train. He barely makes it in time to catch the train that had just arrived moments before he got to the platform. As he boards, he realises that he never asked for Goro’s number. Fucking a. Well, Goro had been wearing the same uniform as his, so they must go to the same school. Simple, he’d just find him at the school on Monday.
Monday April 11th
Goro Akechi would be a liar if he said he hadn’t spent the rest of his weekend pinning after the cute boy, Akira, he had met in Shibuya on his way to work. Did he spend his entire shift with fake smiles and silently hoping and not hoping that stupid cute boy would wander into the shop and order a Comet Burger, just so he could see the stupid look on his face when he has to grasp the sure stupidity of the damn thing. Maybe he would call Goro over to help him feast on it? Stupid thoughts as the such lived rent free in his mind for the rest of the weekend.
How many times could he think the word stupid before it became too much? Goro growns as more flashes of Akira fill his head.
They may not have spent much time together, but Saturday had been great with Akira. Normally, he had trouble bonding with people his age. Mostly because a large amount of the student body wasn’t very fond of him due to him always attempting to enforce the school’s rules and having to also discipline most of his peers when the teachers refused to do so. As Vice President of the student council, it always fell onto him to split certain duties with the president and also help make sure his fellow peers were following school guidelines.
With much of the student body not giving a rat’s ass about anything he said or did, it wasn’t as if he had many people to talk to. And Akira? He listened to every word Goro had to say. He didn’t intend to talk to him so much, but Akira gave off a kind of vibe that was easy to get along with, that he was easy to talk with. Goro couldn’t help but accidentally overshare when it came to their discussion.
Then, Akira had to go and ask why Goro had suddenly asked him, a complete stranger, out on an impromptu run to get crepes. Because Hell if he even knew why he asked. Truthfully? He had seen Akira leaving the station, going the same way as he was when he exited at the same time. At first, he saw him and thought he was cute. Then, as he was trying to cross the street, Akira was a complete fool when it came to basic traffic signals. But, it was kinda cute.
However, it was coming face to face with the most beautiful man that he lost all sense of what was a good idea and a bad idea, and his mouth just shit out the words like:
Hey, what if we asked this cute boy on a date? Right now?
Goro mentally kicks himself for being so ridiculous. He rolls over in his bed, grabbing his pillow and whines loudly into it. StupidStupidStupidStupid. And he feels his face heating up at how he had even forgotten to get Akira’s number, how the fuck was he supposed to find a single Goddamn boy in all of Tokyo again? He’s rolling over again, ending his lamenting to finally get up and get ready for class.
Quickly, he walks around his apartment, careful not to wake his sleeping mother on the couch. As he passes her, he pulls the blanket she has wrapped around her over her shoulder where it had slipped in her sleep. He’s not sure when she arrived home from work the previous night, but it must have been late in the evening. She stirs slightly and opens her eyes “Morning, Goro,” she mumbles.
“Good Morning, Mom. Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”
She smiles warmly at him, closing her eyes again as she adjusts herself on the couch. She reaches an arm out to pull him close and kisses the first spot her lips touch, “S’okay. I love you.”
He lets her until her arm pulls away and she’s falling back asleep again “Love you too,” he whispers back.
This was pretty normal for them. They shared the apartment together, although it was mostly provided by his god-forsaken sperm donor, it was a modest two bedroom apartment in Kichijoji. His mother, a kind woman who could barely stand up for herself, refused to ask for anything more than what she had been given by him. Goro is very aware of the bastard’s name, though for his mother’s sake he had never gone public about being the son of a famous politician less he cut the funding for their home and child support.
Goro looks around the apartment for a quick breakfast, then he sees a pack of dorayaki and opens it, taking out one for now and shoves a second one into his bag for later. Just in case. Goro checks his phone and sees that he’s nearly 10 minutes past when he had wanted to leave and quickly sets out. With a quick wallet-phone-keys pocket check, Goro steps outside and hops onto his bike and pedals faster than he normally would to make up the lost time, taking it all the way until he gets to the train, leaving it at the station and descending down toward his the platform.
He takes the train to Shibuya, then makes the transfer at the Ginza line. After he exits the train, he sees that he somehow arrived just at the time he had been planning to get to school. Small miracles do happen.
“Morning, Akechi-Kun,” a familiar voice calls out, and he turns to see Makoto walking beside him.
“Ah,” He turns to her with a bright smile “good morning, how are you this morning?” He asks, walking past the school gates with her and turning the corner as they exchange pleasantries. Their classes were still yet to start for another hour and a half, but they had agreed to meet at the school earlier to discuss the club budgets for the year. They turn the corner together and walk towards the coffee shop at the end of the block. Normally, it would be busy and bustling with students from the school, but being as they were among the first to arrive for the day, it was nearly empty, only having a few businessmen ordering their daily fix.
As they approach the cashier, Makoto pulls out her wallet, a cute Buchimaru style she had informed him that her sister had found and given to her as a gift. It did suit her though, Goro muses. “My treat today, since you paid last time.”
“If you insist~” he teases as they order their coffees. Since Makoto was treating, why not indulge just a little? He looks over the menu and sees that they still have their Sakura collection of drinks available for the season. “I think I’ll try their Sakura latte before it falls off for the season.” he says to her.
“For your blog, I assume?” She teases.
“Perhaps.”
They order their drinks, sit in the cafe and chat for some time about the budget before they have to head back to the school. Goro yawns as he takes another sip of his coffee that was slowly growing cooler. He should really invest in one of those metal cups one of these days to keep it from growing cold.
Everyone in the school talks. Rumor spread like wildfires, and throughout the morning he hears hushed whispers of a new student. For the last few days, they had been spreading. But this was the apparent first day this new student was to arrive. So far, Goro’s heard that he’s over 200 centimeters, he’s not even high-school aged and is really in his 30’s and has killed a man. There was also the one about how he has a deathly glare and was head of the local mafia. If this new student was as bad as people were saying, he probably wouldn’t even make his way to the school anyway.
One less student for him to deal with and one less student to hate him.
With all the stories Goro would hear throughout the morning, he knew they must have been at least slightly overly exaggerated. As his thoughts keep drifting off to what kind of person this new student must be like, Makoto is then waving her hand in front of his face, “Earth to Akechi-Kun. Are you feeling alright today? You've been spacing.” In that moment, something, or rather someone, catches his eye as a group of students suddenly begin backing up and talking in hushed tones. A boy, barely taller than his peers, walks with one of the second year teachers, Miss Kawakami was it? Goro can barely see through the mob of students, and he briefly wonders what’s going on.
“Who’s that?” Goro asks.
Makoto looks in the direction, moving her head only slightly to view the passing stranger. “The new transfer student- you know, the delinquent,” Makoto responds. Ah, so he had decided to show up after all, huh? Hopefully he wouldn’t be making Goro’s days here even worse than they normally were.
Goro examines him from head to toe, messy black hair, yet his uniform was neat and tidy. Could he be trying to make a good first impression? Surely, it would fall on both he and Makoto to make sure this little shit didn’t get into any trouble, less their letters of recommendations be damned. Then, it’s as if the boy had realised he was being watched as he suddenly turns and catches Goro’s eye. However, now the boy’s whole face is visible. Goro feels his heart stop for a moment, and he can’t believe what he’s seeing; that, couldn’t be Akira? What the Hell?
He turns, his eyes sad as he looks at all the staring students watching him, whispering about him as he’s escorted by his teacher, now opening a door to what must be his new class, 2-D, huh? Was their not a better class for him?
From across the hall, those soul-searching grey eyes meet his own and out of nowhere, there is a lump in Goro’s chest. Because crap Akira is looking directly at him. A million thoughts run through his head in an instant. Should he say something? What would he even say? A wave maybe? Would it be weird that he already knew this new student? No no, he could just play it off as being friendly. Though, when did everyone ever think of him as being friendly? Screw it. He would just simply walk over there and-
Wait….wait what was Akira doing?
The cute fool flashes a cocky grin followed by a snap of a quick finger gun as he winks in Goro’s direction. The look lingers for just a moment, a small lapse in time only for the two of them. The moment passes, and it’s over just as quickly as it had happened. What feels like a jolt of lightning run down his spine causes him to tense his entire body, hand clutching tightly onto the paper coffee cup in his hand. He didn’t just imagine that? Akira had really just openly winked? At him? He can feel his entire face heat up and his breath seizes in his chest. Makoto is saying something to him, but he could barely hear her over the frantic thoughts running through his head.
“...rusu-Kun is supposed to be in class 2-....” Goro tries hard to focus on her words, but at the same time cool his rapidly heating cheeks. Her words come in and out of focus over the pounding of his heart. Surely he could not be blushing though the ungodly amount of foundation and concealer he currently had on, right? Would she notice? Fuck she was still saying something “...was arrested for assault.”
Oh no. Now she’s pausing, why is she pausing? Makoto said something about assault? What? What was it? He panics, unsure of what to say with a million thoughts buzzing through his brain. And only flashes of Akira doing that damn wink flashing on repeat.
“Akechi-Kun, are you sure you’re okay?” she asks, eyeing him up and down, stopping to stare down at his fist.
Goro does the same, and he realises what she’s now looking at. Apparently, he had gripped his coffee a bit too hard, causing the liquid inside to splatter onto his jacket and onto the floor as well. Fuck. He clears his throat in an attempt to change the subject. He needed to get the attention away from what was currently going on and onto something that was not his currently rising embarrassment.
“Surely you can’t be that intimidated by him though, Niijima-San, I’m sure if anything were to happen you could take him on with your Aikido skills,” he jokes and she rolls her eyes. “Speaking of physical exercise, would you care to join me for bouldering tonight?”
Makoto chuckles “Are you asking me on a date, Akechi-kun?”
“No offense, but you out of anyone,should know that is very far from what I would ever ask of you,” he chuckles as they turn into their classroom.
Makoto and he had been rivals since elementary school. Then of course, they had to attend the same middle school as well. And once he had finally thought he could avoid her, here they were, attending the same high school as well, always competing for top scores, on student council, and even during their sports days events. Although he knew her for nearly longer than he could remember, Goro didn’t quite find the girl to be his friend, but more of a trusted confidant he could confide in from time to time. She’s easy to get along with due to their similar circumstances. And, she didn’t hate him like the rest of the students.
With always being in a constant rivalry and in close proximity to one another, she had been sure to pick up on a few things. Such as his subtle glances at their male students, but never even so much as a glance at their female students. How he always seemed to avoid the question of dating or romance. There was the time she commented on how flustered he had become when one of their female classmates confessed to him in middle school, handing over a cutely decorated box of valentine chocolates, only for him to accidentally confess that he liked boys with an embarrassed flush.
She was also the one that always seemed to know what was going on in his life. The one that he trusted with vulnerable information. Someone who could hold his deepest secret hostage, bribe him and threaten to reveal it. But was also kind enough to never let it slip. If anyone were to ever find out about it, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to ever come to class again. He might even have to change schools and pray the rumor never followed him.
Because…
He doesn’t think about it much more than that.
They take their seats, side by side as per usual for their classes as she finally responds “ The same could be said for you as well. And as for your offer from before, I would be glad to join you tonight.”
“Alright, then it’s a date.”
“All right, please say something to the class,”
Have you seen the new kid?
I heard he killed a guy.
I heard that his last school expelled him.
Why do we have something like that here?
Someone told me he carries a knife with him…
He’s so scary…
Akira tries to block out all of their voices, it’s only his first day and yet nearly the entire school seemed to already know who he was. Why’s thist? He hadn’t told anyone, and the only person he’d talked to was Goro. And he was very sure the boy didn’t even know he was going to this school until today. All he wanted was to fit in, to blend in with all the other students until his year was up and he could just go back home. Maybe it wouldn’t be better back home, but at least it would be familiar.
“Good morning, my name is Akira Kurusu, I look forward to meeting you all,” did he really mean it? Not really, since they all already seemed to have some kinda vision in their heads of what he must already be like. Again, the chattering begins amongst his classmates as he’s told to take his new steat.
This was going to be a long year.
When class lets out for lunch, Akira watches as everyone separates and forms their little groups. And? Where was he supposed to go? Someone that everyone hated before they even got to know him? He wanders out of his class, then down stairs to the first floor to see if there's anything he could buy at the school store with the little bit of money he had. However, when he gets there, everyone is pushing and trying to buy something as well. There goes that idea. Instead, he wanders back up the stairs towards his classroom, then goes up the next set of stairs on impulse.
Maybe he could be like one of those high schoolers in anime that always went up to the school for lunch? Sure, he didn’t think to stop and buy some food on the way here and Sojiro hadn't prepared him anything, but at least he could be away from the side glances and whispers of his classmates. He tests the door, and to his surprise, it’s unlocked. He opens the door and again, he’s surprised again to see another person there as well. He turns to look at him, his face nearly hidden by the swooping bangs on either side of his face.
Oh...it’s Goro. They were just staring at one another. Akira wonders what he’s doing up here, by himself. As he stands, stuck and breathless, he takes note of the slightly puffy, red eyes and soft sniffle from the other. What was going on?
Well, this was weird.
“Uh, sorry.” Akira goes to shut the door and leave, when a curious look from the other catches him off guard.
Then, he’s analysing everything about him. From the way his hair frames his face, to the way he sits atop one of empty desks with his feet propped up on the chair. Everything about him at that moment seemed to scream badass. Well, except the stuffy nose and teary eyes. But even that somehow made him look a bit cool.
“It seems we keep running into each other,” the boy says as he turns his body to fully face Akira, only pausing slightly to wipe at the tears that had been building up beneath rust colored eyes. Akira feels a shiver run down his spine at the icy look he’s given afterwards, a look that seems to look deep into his soul as he’s also being analyzed. This was not the same Goro he had met in Shibuya, yet at the same time it is. “I’m sure you’re aware the roof is off limits to students, so if I may ask, why are you here?”
“What about you? Aren’t you a student too?” Akira wants to ask him about why he was alone atop the school, but he’s also scared, nervous to provoke a man who’s stare alone was enough to paralyze his entire body.
“I am. But I’m also part of the student council,” Goro says, still eyeing him. “You know, when we met the other day, I wasn’t expecting to see you here of all places. You also don’t seem to fit the delinquent type.”
His fingers tremble, Goro heard those stupid rumors too? Of course the only friend he seems to have made already probably hates him. But he keeps it together nonetheless, “Think of me however you want. It’s not like anyone will believe me if I try to fight it anyway.” Akira sighs. At least the roof had less prying eyes on him. Less people to stare and gossip. He walks over to the fence and takes a seat on the ground.
Friendless.
Tired.
Hungry.
Well, at least he tried. Why was Goro supposed to be any different just cus he was cute?
Was this supposed to be his new big city life? Well, it certainly sucks. When Akira looks back up, Goro is walking over to him, his face neutral as he takes a seat opposite of him on the ground as well. They sit in silence for a moment until Akira’s stomach breaks beaks the awkward lull “...Did you not bring lunch?” Goro asks, his face going from his previous neutral expression to one now of slight worry, the same one Akira remembers from the incident at the crosswalk. Akira shakes his head and the boy pulls his school bag into his lap and looks inside and pulls out a Doriyaki. “It’s not much, but do you want it?”
Hesitantly, Akira reaches out and takes the package “I appreciate it.”
Subsequently, it's followed by another long, empty, and awkward silence. This time, it’s Goro that breaks it “The first day is usually the hardest. You don’t know anyone, you don’t know the rules or what to do…” His voice trails off as he looks away from Akira, his face now tinted a light shade of pink. “You know, I really did enjoy the other day.”
“Really?”
Goro nods, then laughs a bit, his smile now forced “It seems the school doesn’t think very highly of either of us. I...don’t really have friends.”
“Either of us?”
“That’s...right. I’m their Vice President, but most of them seem to be scared of me or just straight up hate me. I don’t really understand it.”
It’s silent again, then Akira says “ Do you, wanna be friends then?”
“...I would like that.” Goro replies as the bell rings, signalling they must return to class. Goro stands then looks back towards Akira, “...if you don’t have anyone to eat lunch with tomorrow. Would you care to join me in the student council room?”
Akira perks up “...you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with me?”
Goro rolls his eyes, but smiles as he does so “If I felt so, would I be inviting you? Now, let’s get back to class, shall we.” He holds out his hand to Akira to take. He does and he comes face to face with the other. Akira notices for the first time the slight height Goro has on him, it couldn’t have been more than just a few centimeters. He takes note of the soft smile that graces his face, maybe this year wouldn’t turn out to be so bad after all. “Besides, I could tutor you if you ever need the help. I bet getting number one in your year would really piss everyone off~”
“Oh...this is going to be an interesting year, Senpai.”
Goro chuckles as well, opening the roof door for them both and stepping though. “And Akira?” Goro’s smile reaches from ear to ear, just like it had been in Shibuya, full of light and cheer. “I think there's something wrong with my phone,” Goro says.
“What do you mean?” he asks.
He sends a wink Akira’s way and snaps his fingers in a matching finger gun to Akira’s from earlier that day just before their classes, pointing directly at him “It doesn’t have your phone number in it.”
Yep. This was going to be a very interesting year.