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Teru had come to expect the unexpected at all times. It was how he had stayed alive for so long when his job was as dangerous as it was. And after the past few days, he didn’t think anything could surprise him anymore. The supernaturals and school mysteries he had known and seen everyday for the entire time he attended Kamome academy had disappeared without a trace. One of his underclassmen had vanished as well with no one aside from three people even remembering her existence. Nothing could shock him at this point.
But somehow Akane managed to anyway.
The boy had a way of doing that a lot. He was perhaps the only person who had seen the real him. Akane didn’t easily bend to his will and didn’t particularly like him unlike everyone else in the school. He saw right through his mask and didn’t bother trying to hide how he really felt about Teru. This strained relationship was precisely why Teru was at a loss for words when Akane showed up at his doorstep.
He was drenched from the rain outside and leaning against the doorframe like he was about to fall over. As soon as Teru opened the door, Akane slumped to his knees. Teru instinctively went to grab his forearms and hold him upright. The first thing he noticed was how limp Akane’s body was. It was almost like he was unconscious but his eyes were still open. Though he was definitely still awake, he wasn’t aware.
Teru tried but failed to hold the other boy upright so he settled for gently guiding him to the ground and kneeling next to him. “What are you doing here, Aoi? It’s the middle of the night. Did you walk all the way here?”
Teru could feel Akane’s whole body stiffen and go rigid, seemingly snapping out of his daze abruptly. Tension ran through him and he couldn’t even look up at Teru. “I… I didn’t know who else to go to.”
Teru just stared for a few moments before letting go of Akane’s arms and standing up. This was new. He wasn’t entirely sure on what to do. There wasn’t exactly a manual on how to help someone who just randomly shows up on your doorstep in the middle of the night. He had never been particularly good with feelings either. “Come on, Aoi. Let’s go inside before you get hypothermia or something.”
Akane’s eyes widened as he finally looked at Teru like he was just now realizing he was there. He didn’t move at all and instead just stared like he was shell shocked. He was trembling slightly although Teru wasn’t sure if it was from emotion or from the cold.
He sighed and held out one hand to Akane. Despite all his previous hostility, he was worried about his underclassman. It wasn’t safe for him to be walking alone at night in the cold and rain especially when he was as dense as a brick right now. “Don’t make me drag you into the house.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Akane took Teru’s hand and followed him inside. He was absolutely soaked and dripping water everywhere which annoyed Teru since he knew he’d have to clean it up later.
“You’re a mess,” Teru said, immediately feeling like slapping himself as soon as the words left his lips. Probably not the best thing to say and not exactly tactful either.
“I know,” Akane glared which he supposed was better than crying, “Thanks, asshat.”
“The trains probably aren’t running at this hour,” Teru said, changing the subject, “and even I’m not cruel enough to make you walk home in this weather.” Akane scoffed slightly at that but didn’t comment. “You’re freezing. Go warm up in the shower.”
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions. Yes, I’m sure.”
Teru led Akane to his room and then gestured to the attached bathroom. While he waited, he picked out some clothing that he thought would probably fit Akane. They would be slightly big on him but it was better than wearing his sopping wet clothing. After a few minutes where he still didn’t hear the water come on, Akane walked out of the bathroom, looking somewhat sheepish. Teru raised an eyebrow at him.
“Ugh… this is so stupid,” he muttered under his breath, “How does your shower work?”
“Are the faucets too confusing for you, Mr. Honor Student?” Teru said with a smirk.
“Shut up!” Akane said, his tone abrasive although he lacked the fire in his eyes when he was truly angry. “It’s not my fault that you have a Rube Goldberg machine for a shower.”
Teru got up, setting the pile of clothes on the bathroom counter. “You can wear these when you get out. Just make sure you give them back in the morning. I’ll put yours in the washer.”
“Thank you…” Akane said quietly, still somewhat red with embarrassment. This entire situation was uncomfortable for him. He wasn’t used to relying on others. Usually it was others that relied on him.
He then turned to the shower, turning the faucets until the water was warm. Just to be sure, he stuck his hand into the water stream, making sure that it wasn’t too hot or too cold. “See, that wasn’t so complicated, was it?”
“You’re not going to let me live that one down, are you?” Akane said, the ghost of a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. The sight made Teru feel a little better. He couldn’t be that shaken up if he was making jokes, right?
“I’ll let you live just this once because I’m just so nice,” Teru said, closing the bathroom door behind him.
With Akane in the other room, Teru was left alone in his dark bedroom. There was nothing else he could do but think with nothing else to distract him from his thoughts. So far, he’d managed to always find himself something to do to keep him busy. He’d cleaned every inch of his family home until it was practically sparkling. He sorted and resorted all of the student council records (three times). He even resorted to trying to cook dinner for everyone. It did not end well.
Anything to keep himself from thinking about what had transpired this week. He became very aware of all of the scars that lined his body. Some were long and jagged, some were smaller and straight. There wouldn’t be any more of those. He could finally be a normal kid… His little siblings would never have to make the same sacrifices he did. They would never be forced to grow up early. He should be happy, right? He could have the life he always dreamed of but knew would never come to fruition.
He rolled up his sleeve, tracing a particularly noticeable scar that ran down his forearm. He could still remember vividly the supernatural that had caused that scar. It was one of the few injuries he had to go to a hospital for. It needed 10 stitches. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to give up his profession when it had already cost him so much. He lost his childhood to being an exorcist. How could he go back to just being a normal teenager after that? It was all he knew.
Teru quickly rolled up his sleeve when Akane opened the door. He hadn’t even noticed the shower being turned off. He had been too caught up in his own thoughts. To his credit, Akane didn’t mention anything about the scar even though he clearly saw it. The two of them had an unspoken agreement about that.
Teru’s clothing had been more than ‘slightly big’ on Akane. The pineapple-patterned hoodie reached Akane’s knees and the sleeves went way past his wrists. He didn’t look very pleased with the choice of outfit either.
“I’m convinced you picked out the ugliest outfit in your closet,” Akane said, sulking slightly as he leaned against the bathroom door.
“Just for you, Aoi,” Teru said, chuckling slightly, “It’s better than wet clothes though.”
“Just barely.” Akane stood there, his gaze planted firmly on the floor. “Uh.”
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
He sighed, still not taking his eyes off the floor. “I don’t suppose you have any leftovers. I… haven’t really eaten anything these past few days.”
“Move in then, why don’t you?” Teru said sarcastically although he led Akane to their kitchen all the same.
“You didn’t have to open the door, you know?” Akane said, bitterness lacing his voice, “I wasn’t sure if you would at first.”
Teru chose to ignore that comment and instead opened the fridge, pulling a small bento from the top shelf. He set the box on the table in front of Akane before taking a seat himself. “This was supposed to be my lunch tomorrow.”
Akane pushed the box back to Teru. “You really don’t have to if it’s a big issue.”
“Scared of my cooking, Aoi?” Teru said, sliding the bento back to Akane, “Come on, eat. You’re already skin and bones as is.”
Akane looked at the box for a moment before hesitantly removing the lid. “Yeah, I’ve heard all about your attempts at cooking from your brother.”
“I didn’t know you two were close,” Teru didn’t really want to think about that at the moment.
To Akane’s relief the bento was relatively normal looking. He cut a piece of tamagoyaki with his chopsticks and slowly brought it to his lips. Thankfully, it didn’t taste like he would get food poisoning from it. This bento must have been made by Kou then, not Teru. “We’re not. Not really anyway. He’s my underclassman so we don’t talk all that much or see each other for that matter. We only speak on occasion.”
“About me?” Teru asked. Good things he hoped.
“He thinks the world of you, you know?” Akane said quietly.
“Yeah… I know.”
They sat in awkward silence for the rest of the time Akane ate. Afterwards, Teru let Akane sleep in his bed while he took the couch in the living room. He was more or less used to sleeping anywhere, having trained himself to get shuteye whenever he could so it didn’t bother him all that much.
—-
Akane couldn’t sleep. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t. His whole body was heavy with exhaustion as he sank into the nice, warm bed and wrapped himself in the comforter. His mind was too busy, too frenzied. He thought of Aoi. She was all alone in the far shore. He wondered if she thought he abandoned her. If he knew…! If Teru had told him she couldn’t come back with him, he would have stayed with her! Even if it meant dying himself, he would have stayed. Anger flared through his veins and he clutched the sheets tightly in his fists.
His anger quickly turned to sorrow however. He couldn’t save her and he only had himself to blame for that. What if he had told her that he knew the real her before? He didn’t want her to hate herself but he never knew how to bring it up. He waited too long and now she was dead because of him. She had wanted to die and he never knew. He didn’t see how bad it was getting until it was far too late. Could he ever forgive himself for being so blind?
Grabbing one of Teru’s pillows (god, this man had so many of them), he shoved his face into it, holding onto it for dear life. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. His face burned with shame. This was so pathetic. Here he was, sobbing into a pillow at 3am in the house of someone he told himself over and over again that he hated.
Eventually, Akane got up. Surely, he just needed a glass of water or milk then he would be able to sleep. That’s what he always did at home afterall. He did his best to navigate the unfamiliar house in the dark. He walked slowly, both his arms outstretched to ensure he didn’t bump into anything. It didn’t entirely work, however, as he stubbed his toe on their coffee table. He silently cursed to himself but continued making his way to the kitchen.
He felt around in the dark for their cabinets, trying to make as little noise as he could. It didn’t seem to work, though, as Teru turned on the kitchen light a couple minutes later. Akane winced, his eyes burning slightly from the sudden light. After a couple seconds of adjustment to the new brightness in the room, Akane looked to Teru.
He was rubbing the traces of sleep away from his vision blearily. “What are you doing up still, Aoi?”
“I…” Akane trailed off, laughing awkwardly. “Uh. I was just looking for the bathroom.”
Teru stared at him in confusion. “It’s literally in the same room you were in? I don’t think you’re that stupid or that you somehow have shortterm memory loss so what’s really going on?”
Akane swallowed hard. He felt the anger reawaken inside him. It felt like fire coursing through his veins. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, trying to find a way to calm down his rising fury. He saw red when he looked at Teru. All he knew in that moment was pure rage.
“I hate you,” Akane hissed, his words practically dripping with venom, “Why? Why did you bring only me back?”
“This again…” Teru said with a sigh, “I thought we were over this, Aoi.”
Akane staggered forward, his hands in a fist at his side. “Over it? I just lost my best friend and you expect me to be over it?”
Teru shook his head. “Over it was bad phrasing. I-”
Akane took a swing at Teru, the punch landing square in Teru’s jaw. It landed with a sickening crunch. Teru stumbled backwards, hitting the edge of the counter but managing to stay upright. He glared, wiping some blood from his lips.
“Stop it, Aoi. You’re acting like a child.”
Akane stared in disbelief at his fist which was smeared with red and then back at Teru. “You didn’t even try to save her…” he said blankly, “Why? Why did you bring me back without her? You should have let me stay with her.”
“You would have died!” Teru said, raising his voice slightly then hushing back to a whisper again when he remembered his siblings were still sleeping, “Aoi, you can’t be serious. If I hadn’t saved you, you would be dead right now!”
“But I would be happy! Ao-chan is all alone right now! At least…! At least if I had stayed, I could be there for her. I just wanted to make her happy for once…”
Teru advanced on Akane, grabbing the front of his shirt and shoving him roughly against the kitchen counter. He almost fell over but managed to hold onto the edge of the counter for balance. If he wanted to fight, they would fight but Teru would win. He grabbed him again, pinning him against the cabinets.
Akane started to shake violently, a mix of terrified and distraught. Teru waited for Akane to throw another punch or shove him or anything but he just stayed there. His breathing quickened until he was nearly hyperventilating.
“Aoi…” Teru said, stepping away and letting Akane slide down the cabinets until he was sitting on the floor, “Aoi! What’s wrong?”
Akane didn’t answer. He just shook his head, still trembling and hyperventilating. After a few seconds, he curled up into a ball, placing his head into his knees. He rocked himself back and forth slightly. Teru just watched, utterly confused on what he should do. There wasn’t exactly a “I’m sorry your best friend died and now no one besides you and I remember her” card he could give him.
“What can I do? Can I… help?” Teru asked finally, after another long moment. “Do you need anything?”
Akane clawed desperately at his hair as if he were trying to tear it from its roots. He had mumbled something but Teru couldn’t make out what he had said. Finally, he decided to get the boy a glass of water. He held it out to Akane which he slowly accepted and brought to his lips. After a few more minutes of silent panic, Akane seemed to calm down somewhat. His shaking stopped and his breathing returned to a more normal level but he didn’t get up from the floor.
“Are you alright?” Teru asked. A few months ago, hell, even a week ago he would never even consider doing this but he must have gone soft.
“Fuck!” Akane cried, clutching the glass so tightly his knuckles turned white and it shattered in his hand.
“Not the best reaction…” Teru said, deadpan, “but I guess I can’t blame you. Are you bleeding?”
Akane showed Teru his palms. Shards of broken glass stuck out of his hand and blood coated them. Teru gingerly took one of Akane’s hands into his own, examining it carefully. “I’ll get the first aid kit. Stay here and for the love of god, don’t break anything else.”
Teru returned with a first aid kit in hand. He first took a pair of tweezers and plucked the pieces of glass embedded in Akane’s hand out. He winced with every pull but it needed to be done. Thankfully, none of the shards were lodged very deep and came out quickly without much prodding.
“If I knew you would do that, I would have given you a plastic cup,” Teru said, trying to lighten the mood somewhat as he ran a damp washcloth over Akane’s now glass-free hand.
“I’m sorry,” Akane said almost inaudibly. “I’m sorry.”
Well, great, now he felt bad again. Akane always had a way of doing that it seemed. If it wasn’t making him question the morals he's been taught since he was a kid, it was this. Trying to push that aside, he cleared all the blood away before tossing the rag in the trash. He didn’t need Kou asking about it and worrying about if he was hurt or not. He’d made that mistake before.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you, you know that, right?” Teru asked, not sure if he would like the answer.
Akane hesitated for a moment before uttering a quiet “I know.”
Some semblance of relief washed over Teru. Maybe now he could feel like he wasn’t a complete monster that beat up a grieving boy. He turned to the first aid kit again and took out a roll of bandages. He wrapped the bandage around Akane’s hand carefully, making sure it wasn’t too tight or too loose. Blood seeped through the dressing but he kept going. Once he was done, he slid the first aid kit aside. He would take care of that later.
“Do you mind if… I join you?” Teru asked, placing one hand on Akane’s shoulder in what he hoped would be a reassuring gesture. He flinched slightly but didn’t jerk away.
“Go ahead if you must.”
The two of them sat down next to each other on the floor in silence. Teru struggled to come up with anything to say. What could he even say? He didn’t want to accidentally set Akane off again so he just sat there quietly. His mind rushing with all sorts of thoughts, most of them not great.
“I miss when things were simple,” Akane said finally, moving his bandaged hand around in the light and studying it intently.
“When were they ever?” Teru asked, a humorless chuckle escaping him.
“Yeah, you’re right. Simpler I guess. You’ve always confused me.”
“Oh?” Teru asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why’s that?
“One minute you’re zapping me the next you’re asking if I’m alright. I never know where I stand with you.”
“Things have changed,” he said simply. They had changed. “You’re not a supernatural anymore.”
“Heh, why didn’t I guess it was something like that? And here I hoped that maybe you’d finally started to warm up to me. I guess it was stupid to get my hopes up, huh?” Akane said bitterly, forcing his gaze to the side where Teru couldn’t see his face.
“I don’t hate you, Aoi. I mean it.”
“Indifference then?”
“You’re a fine guy. Mild-mannered--for the most part anyway--, smart, hard-working, capable… If things had been different, we might have been friends.” We still could be , Teru wanted to add but kept it to himself.
He sighed and ran his hands down his face. “I had hoped this was all just a bad dream. I walked down the halls of the school all day this week without my glasses. It’s the first time I haven’t worn them all day since my first year of middle school. I… I just wanted to see something. One of those weird pink rabbit things or something. Anything. Just to know they were still there. I hated them but I guess I was just used to them. They were familiar and comfortable.”
Teru nodded. He wasn’t sure what to say in fear of messing up so he just let Akane speak.
“And you… I expected you to show up carrying around your stupid, stupid sword that I’m so surprised you’ve never gotten in trouble for having. I expected you to zap me with it or hang me from the ceiling or anything! Why are things so screwed up now?”
“No. 7,” Teru said simply, leaning back against the cabinet and stretching his arms out above him.
“I wasn’t really looking for an actual answer,” Akane said, narrowing his eyes, “but thank you for everything tonight.”
“I couldn’t just turn you away.”
“Oh, why not?”
“You looked like an abandoned puppy out in the rain.”
Akane blinked in surprise a few times. “Abandoned puppy? You’re such a dick.”
Teru smiled slightly, patting Akane on the shoulder. “I was joking. Anyway, I know it’s hard but you need to try to move on.”
“Move on? Do you know what I have to see every morning, president?” Akane asked, shrugging Teru’s hand off.
“No…”
“I have to look out my window and see Ao-chan’s apartment. I have to live knowing that I’ll most likely never see her again. I went to talk to her mom the day after it happened. She insisted she never had a daughter to begin with… What a cruel joke.” He dug his fingernails into his leg painfully.
“I’m sorry, Aoi. I really am.”
“You didn’t care about her,” Akane said, his tone accusing, “Not enough anyway. You were more than happy to pretend to be her friend when it suited you but you didn’t know anything about her.”
“That’s not true.”
“Name one thing about her. Name one thing she likes.”
Teru’s mouth suddenly dried as he tried to think of something but came up empty. He really didn’t know her at all.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Just because I wasn’t close to her doesn’t mean I don’t care that she’s gone,” Teru said defensively, “Do you think I like seeing you destroy yourself over her?”
“I guess not.”
“...”
“Fine, you’re not that sadistic but you’re still a bastard.”
“That’s a slight improvement,” Teru said, “I’ll take it. Why don’t you go back to bed, Aoi? You need to rest. We can talk in the morning.”
---
The next morning, Akane entered the living room, wearing his own clothes again. Tiara and Kou sat at the kitchen table but they didn’t mention anything about Akane’s presence. He was partially glad for that just in case they had heard any of what transpired last night.
“It’s summer vacation!” Tiara said excitedly, hopping up and down in her chair, “That means I get to spend all day with you two!!”
Teru smiled. “Not today unfortunately but we’ll go someplace super fun tomorrow to make it up to you, alright, princess?”
“Okay!”
Akane took a seat at the kitchen table as well. “What are you doing today?”
“We are going to see Yashiro-san. Don’t you think we have a lot to speak about with her?”