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‘ Leave things as they are ’ was never a philosophy Yashiro Nene subscribed to.
No.
In fact, Nene believed in quite the opposite. From a young age, she knew first-hand the inherent inequality of the world when she was endowed with stubby daikon legs in place of the beautiful slender ones she’d seen on her barbies and kids magazines. A cruel lesson for a toddler to internalize but an imperative one indeed. It was also through endless preening and pestering that she got her parents to finally relent and buy her her now beloved hamster Black Canyon-chan, so Nene knew a thing or two about the importance of irreverent intervention.
That’s why when 6 year old Nene (who had been busy tending to a tattered flowerbed) saw a bunch of young schoolyard bullies roughing up some poor defenseless kid, she didn’t hesitate springing into action.
Picking up a way-too-big gardening shovel (one that was probably meant for older kids), Nene flipped it once in her tiny hand to gauge its the weight like she’d seen in movies, before breaking out into a sprint — she also may or may not have given her embarrassing rendition of a warcry — before giving those mean bullies a nice conk on the head each.
The up-to-no-good rascals only doubled down in a fleeting moment of pain after impact before they whipped around, fists clenched and teeth gritted, no doubt ready to change targets and teach the intervener a good lesson or two, but upon getting a good look at her, probably looking crazy with her hair askew, fight in her eyes and shovel at the ready, those cowards scurried away like cockroaches, yelling something about a daikon monster wreaking havoc on the playground.
Nene had half a mind to chase them down with her trusty shovel when a hand reached up to tug at her sleeve, effectively grounding her.
Shifting her sight downward, she met the gaze of a timid boy with messy black hair and golden eyes. Just like that, things were set into motion. This was when she met Yugi Amane. And even then, a part of her knew without knowing that this was the beginning of something. Yes, in that moment, with him looking up at her almost in awe, dirt on his cheeks — slight blush on his face, and scratches donning the entire length of his arm, Nene felt something click into place. Like their meeting was an inevitability, predetermined by fate.
And maybe it was.
But given the circumstances, she didn’t have much time to dwell on that in the moment. Giving him a quick scan for further injuries, she knelt in front of him, taking his hand in hers
“Are you okay?”
The boy nodded mutely, still staring up at her wide-eyed. There was no fight in his stance, no fire or resentment present on his countenance, just timid acceptance in hunched over shoulders, this made Nene all the more angry at those nameless bullies. Picking on the weak was a coward’s game.
“What’s your name?”
“Amane.”
Upon hearing his name her grip unintentionally tightened on his hands before she leaned in even closer to him.
“You’re safe now, Amane-kun, Onee-san will protect you!”
Looking back, Nene will admit it was rather shameless of her to give such a bold declaration when they knew absolutely nothing about each other at this stage — not to mention, rude of her to assume his age just because of his small stature (though she did turn out to be a year older to her credit, and his later dismay). That might explain why as soon as those words left her mouth, Amane’s already wide eyes grew to the size of saucers. Not just his eyes, but his mouth also hung agape and his cheeks were tinted pink.
He moved his lips as if about to form words when suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere, a flurry of black and gold came at them like a hurricane, limbs flying and smile manic, landing right on top of Amane and knocking him onto his back.
“Amane, Amane!”
Frankly, Nene had no idea what she was looking at.
It was quite a sight, two identical boys wrestling — no hugging — no wrestling, squirming on the ground like worms. Well, almost identical, not-so-Amane would’ve looked indistinguishable from actual Amane if not for the animated way he carried himself and the chaos he seemed to radiate. Also, despite Amane being the one caught up in the earlier altercation, this other boy somehow managed to look even more disheveled, which was impressive.
“Tsukasa, ow-ow-ow...okay!” Amane attempted to push the other boy (Tsukasa?) off of him, but his twin only reverberated back like a magnet, nuzzling his cheek against his brother persistently, as if eager to have his affection acknowledged.
“Amane! I know you told me to stay inside but I was worried so I came back!”
Fangs peered out of Tsukasa’s open mouth as he spoke, and despite him literally purring while rubbing himself against Amane, Nene could sense a charged energy radiating from him — an uninhibited ferocity. Something that made her think this boy could have accomplished what she did with her shovel with just his bare hands.
But whatever sentiment was reflected in her eyes, Amane clearly did not reciprocate it, as he sat up, petting Tsukasa’s head with more authority that he was probably entitled to since he had been on the receiving end of the earlier beating.
“Don’t worry Tsu, I took care of it. So you don’t have to fight anymore, okay?”
A sunny smile split across Tsukasa’s face, and he leaned into his brother’s touch, grinning as if he was being praised.
“Okay~”
Amane smiled softly at this as well, and Nene noted the way he held his brother’s face in his hands. It was so gentle, practically oozing with care and brotherly affection that she felt like she was intruding on something intimate. It made her heart clench with a mix of relief and envy. The loneliness she felt from watching that scene play out was hard to describe, but pervasive nonetheless.
She didn’t have time to dwell on the feeling for long though, as Amane soon turned his attention back towards her with his face flooded crimson looking like a deer caught in headlights. He began frantically stuttering out apologies mixed in with exclamations of gratitude (he even slipped in a comment about how she didn’t look like a Daikon monster as those bullies had been calling her, but instead a Daikon princess — which was absolutely unnecessary and did not accomplish what he probably thought it did) while Tsukasa looked on, gaze hyper-fixated on her, mouth shaped into a perfect o as if sizing her up, weighing her significance to his brother.
But Nene did not falter under Tsukasa’s gaze, for she had made up her mind. A decision that marked clearly when exactly the trajectory of her life took a radical turn.
So Amane wanted to protect his younger brother. That was fine. But someone needed to protect Amane-kun too! And Nene decided at that moment that she would be the one to do so. That no schoolyard bullies would dare trample over him if she could help it.
It was a promise she made with herself, and one she intended to keep.
-
And so — Nene, Amane and Tsukasa became a cohesive unit. That one moment of capricious courage on the playground sparked into a beautiful, crazy (somewhat codependent) friendship. She’d like to say they fell into each other the way fireworks fall on to the fourth of July, but that would be untruthful since she definitely had to kick, scratch and mold a shape for herself into their life at first, as Tsukasa was not keen to share his beloved Amane with a random stranger with disproportionate ankles. And Amane himself was initially too shy to even say more than a couple of words to her.
But as she persisted — buttoning up their coats for them, tagging along their stupid excursions, nearly getting herself killed climbing over a large fence with them only to land on her head and knock herself unconscious — they melded together like fine metals over an open fire. The three of them walked home from school together, the twins helped her with her gardening (well Tsukasa mostly ran around digging random holes, but she supposed it was the thought that counts), they played together afterschool, stargazed until they fell asleep, and then got scolded by their parents for staying out too late.
The calculated reverence Tsukasa originally regarded her with gradually simmered into tolerance, which then evolved into being clingy and overbearingly affectionate. The younger Yugi twin often draped himself over her like a heavy cloak, playing childish games like guess who while covering her eyes from behind, not even stopping when Amane tried his best to pry them apart.
In Amane’s case, he also opened up to her more, but it was more than that. He was sweet and thoughtful, and always told Tsukasa that she should have first pick when they tried to decide what game to play, because “you need to treat girls nicely.” He lent her his beloved telescope — the one he was adamant no one besides him could ever touch, he picked her flowers, taught her astronomy.
And as the years went on, and they grew older, it was this softness about him that never faltered. It was always constant, and probably the thing about him Nene liked the most. She liked that he was a good brother to Tsukasa, that he was endearingly earnest — so much so it was hard not to tease him all the time. She liked the little things — the joy in his eyes when his birthday came and he got be the same age as her for two months out of an entire year (which hardly made any sense considering he was still a grade below her in school, and at least two inches shorter back then), the reluctant smile and brows dipping downward in something curiously akin to sadness each time she told him of a new crush and he offered to help her out.
But Amane could be a real pain in the ass at times too. Like the time he insisted she take his umbrella during a rainstorm, even lying and saying he had an extra one in his backpack. To the surprise of nobody, he ran home in the rain only to catch a cold the very next day (she made sure to give him a super hard time about it when she was over nursing him back to health). Or the fact that he never did stop getting into fights even after they entered middle school.
Seriously, Nene had come to the conclusion that Amane was just a trouble magnet. That was the only explanation for the constant cuts and lacerations that still decorated his face and forearms on the daily.
“Amane-kun, I told you to stop moving around so much!”
“Argh — It’s no big deal, it’s just a couple of scratches.”
“If we don’t clean you off properly it’s gonna get infected.”
Amane’s head hung low in justified shame as Nene dabbed at his wounds with saline water. It was sad how familiar she was with the whole routine at this point, and even sadder how well acquainted she was with the school infirmary with having to return every other week to patch up her stupid friend. Not to mention frustrating beyond belief. She had made a promise to herself to stop him from getting hurt, but in the end all she could really do was help with the aftercare.
It was exhausting having to worry about him day in and day out, wondering what kind of trouble he might be getting into or if he was taking care of himself properly. She had her own problems to worry about for god’s sake! Her daikon ankles! The fact that she was now in her last year of middle school and still had no prospects for a boyfriend! Without meaning to, she tightened the gauze she had been wrapping around his arm.
“Ow, you’re pressing too hard!”
“Well it’s your fault for getting hurt,” she chastises, still fuming to herself. “Sheesh, what would you even do if I wasn’t around?”
His eyes flickered at this, and an unreadable look swept over his countenance as he wordlessly traced a finger over the bandages she wrapped. A beat of silence enveloped the two of them before he looked back up at her.
“Say...Yashiro…”
Nene blinked back at him, somewhat surprised by his suddenly serious demeanor.
“What is it?”
He stared harder, but ultimately falters, a blush coloring his cheeks.
“...It’s nothing.”
Part of her wanted to press on for more details, but every time Amane flashed her his signature carefree grin she found herself unable to argue. The smile faltered only slightly from his lips before he shifted his gaze out the window.
It was only half past five and the sun was just beginning to rear its way back under the horizon — not nearly dark enough for the moon and stars to be visible.
Amane loved the moon.
Both twins did. Nene knew they would huddle over the small window in their shared room for hours waiting for nightfall.
But for Amane it was more than that. The idea of space animated him. Lit him up from the inside out. He could talk for hours on end about constellations and distant planets, and even in moments like right now, when the skies were still painted orange, she could tell his mind was already elsewhere. Those glassy eyes were already looking far far away, tracing constellations, mapping galaxies, envisioning entire universes she’d never be able to witness.
And before Nene had thought maybe — maybe if Amane was more like Tsukasa, rougher, tougher, more feral and less dreamy-eyed, he’d have more of a fighting chance. He wouldn’t get picked on as much and could come more out of his shell in class.
Because even though Amane and Tsukasa were twins, the difference between the two of them were astounding at times.
Tsukasa was a hurricane with incredible speed and velocity, forceful enough to destroy buildings, flip over cars. He was wine-colored knuckles, fists meeting broken ribs, and teeth tearing tendon.
Amane on the other hand — Amane was a freshly-mowed lawn, hot coffee on lazy sunday mornings, the first stretch after an afternoon nap, and fresh air flooding lungs when you stop to catch your breath. He was a grounded astronaut, a dopey-eyed dreamer with premature wings.
It was precisely at times like this Nene understood exactly why Tsukasa was so possessive over his brother.
The wave of protectiveness that washed over her when she saw him like this was indescribable. If only she could hold onto those distant stars for him. For keepsake. Make sure no bullies or mean teachers would ever be able to dull that shine in his eyes, or snuff out the flame in his spirit. Maybe then she could return those stars to him once he was older and finally able to take flight.
A wave of unease settled in the pit of her stomach, and her entire chest constricted at the idea of him leaving (even though a part of her had known for some time it was probably inevitable).
Yes, Nene might not have had brute strength like Tsukasa did, but she had sticks and stones, and her trusty gardening shovel — and she’d been able to cling onto his life with sheer determination alone, but even then she knew she couldn’t stay by his side forever.
A sad smile twinged her lips. Without thinking about it, she leaned in closer and patted him on the head.
Amane’s gaze snapped back over to her, his face crimson.
“Eh? What are you doing? I’m not a kid anymore.”
“Shhhh, it’s okay, Amane-kun. It’s alright.”
So he was probably gonna take off without her one day — that didn’t mean she wasn’t gonna put up a hell of a fight when that time came.
-
And then Senior year happened.
With it, it brought forth many new changes. For starters, her hair was longer now (reaching the curve of her hips), she became head of the gardening club — she’d also somehow managed to befriend the Queen of the entire school, the kind and popular, perfect girl: Akane Aoi.
Oh that’s right, and the Yugi twins were both fairly popular now in their Junior year. Who would’ve guessed.
It was rather hilarious the way public perception swayed in adolescence. Nene guessed it had less to do with maturing as thoughtful, open minded individuals and more to do with teenage hormones and the fact that the twins had somehow shot up in height seemingly overnight.
Yup. Tsukasa’s previously off-putting chaotic energy had now started to read as more of a boyish charm. His athleticism and unpredictable nature made him quite desirable to teenage girls apparently. And Amane. Gone were the scratches that marred Amane’s countenance on the daily. Her dopey dreamer took on a new persona once entering high school. He was a midfielder on the soccer team, an active member of the astronomy club.
Not only that, but he was flirtier these days, handsier — less reserved and much more smug (which may be somewhat justified considering she knew for a fact both twins had gotten many invites to the Christmas party happening at their school next week, but irritating nonetheless).
“Hey Daikon!”
Speak of the devil.
Tossing her mittens in her shoe cubby, Nene slammed the locker shut before turning to face the older Yugi twin, giving him the best glare she could muster. He only grinned at her in response, and despite all the changes he’d gone through, when he grinned at her like that, all she could see is that dumb kid on the playground all those years ago. Same dirty, scruffy hair, same amber eyes, that same smile (though it was more wolfish nowadays).
Amane leaned forward, reaching over to ruffle her hair. To casual bystanders the gesture might’ve been misconstrued as affectionate, but Nene could see it for what it really was — revenge for all the years she’d done it to him when he was shorter.
“Don’t call me a Daikon,” she replied dispassionately, swatting his hands away. “What do you want?”
“Oof. So cold.”
Nene gave him a look that told him she wasn’t in the mood for his shenanigans, and to her surprise, a splash of pink colored his cheeks. He scratched his head almost bashfully before shoving both hands in his pockets.
“I wanted to ask you something,”
“Okay,” she said, her tone casual. But then, taking a closer look at him, she hesitated.
Wait a second — awkward stance, flitting gaze, restless foot tapping — he was nervous .
But for what?
And then it’d hit her. Ever since becoming best friends with Aoi, guys had started approaching her on the regular. Not because they were interested in her , but because it was far less intimidating talking to her than a literal angel. So it happened that bishounen after bishounen would call her out to courtyard via a letter in her shoe cubby or a tap on the shoulder after class, and each time she would think maybe this would be her chance to have a full blown, shoujo manga-esque high school romance, only to then wind up disappointed when they asked her if Aoi was single, and whether she had a type or not.
So Amane had gotten to that point where he wanted a girlfriend, huh? As his childhood friend, she supposed she should help him out in this department. It’d be the right thing to do. Though she couldn’t quite explain the twinge in her chest at the revelation. Still, she put on her best smile for him, reaching out to squeeze his arm in what she hoped was an encouraging manner.
“Are you hoping I help set you up with a certain someone?” Nene asked.
Amane’s head tilted to the side for a microsecond before confusion swept across his features.
“By someone you mean…?”
“Aoi, right?” Ah there it was again. That awful feeling travelling from the lump in her throat to the pit of her stomach. Squeezing that aside, she pressed on. “Akane-kun would be angry if he knew, but what are friends for?”
A beat of silence.
Then, just like that, Amane’s entire countenance grimmed. His smile waned, his brows furrowed, and all the confidence he’d mustered up from earlier was wiped clean in an instant. Was he embarrassed by how transparent his motives were?
She blinked at him.
“Amane-kun?”
“You know what, I forgot there’s something I had to do for Tsuchigomori-sensei before class,” he said, turning away from her so his eyes were obscured. “I’ll see you later, Yashiro.”
Nene watched puzzled as his back disappeared into a sea of students. What was that about?
She’d barely had time to search her brain for an answer however, because not even thirty seconds after Amane’s departure, the other half of the Yugi twins manifested, draping himself over her, as if rushing to fill the void his brother left behind. He hugged her from behind, leaning in to rest his chin on the top of her head.
“Nene-chan~”
“Tsukasa-kun,” Nene noted, peering up, still bewildered by Amane’s strange behaviour. “What’s wrong with your brother?”
“Who knows?” Tsukasa said, but he was smirking.
“We were talking and then he just took off.”
“Don’t worry about him, he’s probably going through his rebellious phase.” Nene wanted to argue that everything Tsukasa did could be construed as him going through the same, but wisely decided to leave that observation unspoken, as his grip tightened around her. “More importantly, the Christmas party is coming up! Do you have a date yet?”
Her face grimmed at the reminder.
“I don’t.”
She could feel his smile widen against the crown of her head before he pulled away to face her, grinning. Seeing her borderline crestfallen expression, he palmed her cheeks with both hands as if to smush her frown into a smile.
“I don’t either. Why don’t we go together?”
“The two of us?”
An excited nod.
Nene deliberated. Tsukasa-kun definitely had other options. She knew a junior girl had whipped up a batch of donuts the other day with the sole intention of asking him to the party — which probably meant that this was a pity invite. An invite to show for their years of friendship and nothing else.
She was planning on going stag with Aoi, but knowing how quickly her friend would get swarmed by adoring admirers (and a very violent Akane), maybe having a date of her own was better than the alternative.
“Okay, let’s go together.”
“Yaaaay~!” Tsukasa cheered, bouncing up and down in delight as threw his arms tight around her once more. Nene clawed feebly against his grasp.
“Tsukasa-kun, stop! I can’t breathe when you do that!”
Oh well. Whatever the deal with Amane was, she could just interrogate him on their walk home from school together.
-
But as it turned out, Amane was nowhere to be found on their walk home from school that afternoon. He wasn’t waiting by their usual spot behind the practice garden, he wasn’t in his classroom, and even his shoes were gone from his designated cubby. He had straight up vanished like a cloud of smoke from that chilly winter day.
Pursing her lips, Nene turned to face the younger Yugi sibling, careful to avoid the mounds of snow on the ground as she stepped closer to him.
“Did he say anything to you?”
An absolutely wicked grin twisted the corners of Tsukasa’s lip upward (though that was just the standard Tsukasa smile). “Not a word. All I did was tell him we were going to the christmas party together,” he said innocently.
“So weird,” Nene mumbled, completely missing the devious look on her friend’s face once her head was turned.
From that point on, Amane became as elusive as her escape artist hamster. He was mobile, always on the move. He’d be too busy with soccer practice to eat lunch with her one day, and too occupied with the astronomy club to walk home with her on other days. And when she did manage to corner him, he always had an excuse. Lemon needed tutoring help, Tsuchigomori sensei had him running errands.
It wasn’t until a week later that Nene came to the realization that he was totally, totally avoiding her. In hindsight this revelation was rather obvious, but it had taken Nene such a copious amount of time because she really just couldn’t believe it. Amane. Her Amane. Her playground playmate, her stable shoulder, her friend since before she could even remember. Ignoring her. For years her friendship with the twins had been the only constant in her life.
And now?
Something corrosive spread through her the way rust spread through sunken ships. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the moment she always knew was coming. The day he outgrew her. The day she went from being chapter headers in his life to footnotes at the end. She’d been so preoccupied worrying about him chasing the moon, she didn’t even realize he’d grown into the sun shining in someone else’s sky.
Without her meaning to, she had balled up her hands into fists.
It wasn’t fair for her to be mad at him. She knew this. He didn’t need to hang out with her if he didn’t wait to. Clawing and kicking her way into his life might’ve been acceptable at age six, but it certainly wasn’t at seventeen. She was gonna graduate at the end of the year anyway. It was about time they started to drift apart. This was normal. Inevitable.
Still — the pain she felt in her chest spoke volumes. It tightened in her lungs, simmered in her belly, magnified with every beat of her restless heart. Even when she had been getting rejected by cool guys like Daisuke-kun or Fuji-kun, it had hurt, but it had been a predictable kind of hurt. One she almost expected, and knew how to nurse. Before, when guys had been nice to her solely under the guise of getting to know Aoi better, she’d been devastated and self-conscious sure, but she also at least knew what they were doing was reprehensible, there was always that comfort in knowing she at least had the moral high ground. She also knew she could talk it out with Amane afterward. (She could also tell Tsukasa, but the last time she did that, Tsukasa shoved the perpetrator headfirst into a pile of gravel, so she tried not to let it escalate to that level ever again.)
That’s right, when she told Amane about her heartbreaks, he’d give her that look, the one she could see so clearly in her mind, it burned. Then he would cup her face gently, so tender, the touch still lingered in the deep recesses of her mind.
A single tear streamed down her face. Nene didn’t notice she was close to crying until she was hastily wiping away the tears with the sleeve of her shirt. What the hell. Why was she so sad? He wasn’t even her type for god’s sake.
Stupid Amane.
Just because he was a little bit cool now, he thought he could just avoid her and Tsukasa.
More frustratingly, Tsukasa didn’t seem to care! In fact, he’d seemed giddily nonchalant by this turn of events for some unexplained reason.
More tears brimmed in her eyes, blurring her vision.
Argh no — snap out of it!
She had a party to go to tonight! And a date! Even if that date happened to share the same face as the very person she was mad at. But she’d be damned if she let Amane ruin a night she had been looking forward to ever since the cherry blossoms first withered to make way for winter. So pushing aside all her negative thoughts, Nene donned her best party dress — a turquoise, empire waist dress that came down to about her ankles, bespeckled with gemstones on the belt — brushing her hair into an elegant side braid that Aoi once told her looked good on her. And an hour later she had a smile plastered on her face and a good grip on Tsukasa’s right arm as they walked into the party happening at their school gymnasium.
Tsukasa, to his credit, did a rather good job cleaning himself up. Sure, his tie wasn’t knotted and was instead dangling loosely around his neck, maybe the suit he wore was a little crooked in places and probably (definitely) stolen from Amane’s side of the closet, but the fact that he was in a clean pressed suit at all was more than Nene could’ve hoped for.
When he had showed up at her door to pick her up for the party, he had taken one look at her in her dress, eyes trailing down to the ankles that she bravely chose to leave uncovered and smiled a toothy smile, exclaiming, “Wow, you really do look like a Daikon princess now!”
An innocent sentiment, and undoubtedly Tsukasa’s idea of a compliment, but it caused her insides to reverberate in grief at the memory regardless. A sadness she couldn’t quite squash even as she smiled up at him and looped their arms together.
Unsurprisingly, despite being her date, Tsukasa ditched her pretty early on to go pester Sakura over by the refreshment table. Nene could even make out him asking her what material her dress was, and whether or not he could touch it. Even more unsurprisingly, Amane did not tag along with Tsukasa to the dance, he instead showed up to the party fashionably late, arriving with Lemon in tow.
The two of them hung around at the sidelines, chatting and sipping from plastic cups, occasionally making small talk with classmates who went over to greet them. To further irritate her, Amane really did look dashing in his tux, all form-fitted in a laid back manner, neat dress-shirt underneath topped off with a polished windsor knot (the very knot she taught him how to tie in middle school), it was almost cruel.
Careful not to let her gaze linger, Nene took a rather large gulp of her own punch, averting her gaze to the beverage in hand. From the corner of her eye she could see Lemon whispering something in Amane’s ear, his head was also angled suspiciously in her direction as if he was discussing her. Amane however, was suddenly busy scrolling through his phone, as if making a deliberate point to not look at her.
Nene bristled internally. Frankly it was embarrassing how at the age of sixteen he was acting more immature than he did at age six, but whatever, it was fine. Two can play at that game. Sweeping around on the heel of her flats, Nene turned away from the scene and set out to enjoy the party.
And for a while she did. She really did.
She cheered on classmates performing Christmas carols on stage, she drank her body’s weight in slimy eggnog, and took festive selfies with Aoi with their tongues sticking out.
But after about an hour later, her feet were sore and she was a little worn out from the constant socializing (and from being swarmed by Aoi’s suitors — especially Akane who insisted on fighting every single competitor with brute force).
Nene was resting on one of the benches with Kou beside her, rambling about how stubborn Mitsuba was as she half-pretended to listen. “Seriously Senpai! What a handful that guy can be,” her friend said, leaning closer to her, so close their shoulders were touching. But she could hear the affection lingering in his voice and see the tenderness behind his eyes. The observation somehow made her feel lonely. The kind she used to feel before she became friends with the twins.
Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate from her inside her clutch, pulling her attention away from Kou. Her breath hitched when she read who the sender was. Amane-kun. His contact name marked with a star and moon emoji beside it. A name she had not seen in over a week.
It read only one word:
Outside .
Snapping her head up, Nene met his Amane’s gaze immediately from across the room. For the first time in weeks, he was looking straight at her. Not just that, but he looked furious with his jaw clenched, and eyes ablaze. The glare he was sending her was so intense, it seemed to shake the entire room. Suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious she adjusted the neck-line of her dress, watching as his eyes darkened. When she still made no attempt to get up, he glowered harder, raising an eyebrow as if saying ‘what are you waiting for?’
And just like that, fury flooded her veins, washing away her sadness and sending her in a white-hot rage. How dare he be angry at her? When he was the one who had been avoiding her all week with no explanation! From beside him she could see his classmate Saki-chan tugging on his sleeve as if to grab his attention, and this just made her even angrier.
“Kou-kun, sorry but there’s something I have to do,” she said, detaching herself from the orange-haired boy. But instead of making her way outside like he specified, she made a beeline for the girls bathroom in the old school building, where she was sure would be empty, heading straight into the third stall and leaning her head against the door in exhaustion.
And for a long time she just stood there, motionless, wondering what on earth was going on between them, and what was gonna happen from here?
She let out a ragged breath.
Her starry eye’d boy was just a stupid jock now. If she had been able to hold onto his stars for keepsake like she wanted all those years ago, this would be the part where she’d shove them down his throat. He could choke on those stars for all she cared.
A loud knock on the bathroom stall sent her stumbling away from the door, momentarily disoriented.
What the hell.
Nene was not in the mood for formalities. Swinging the door open, she put on her best glare.
“This stall is occu—”
Fingers curled around her wrist tightly, pulling her forward before she could react.
“First Tsukasa, now the Minamoto kid? Are you kidding me?”
Amane.
Tall, well-dressed Amane with ruffled hair and eyes the color of spilled liquor. The same eyes boring into her with unwavering, unjustified, malignant anger.
She breathed out.
“You know what, up yours! This is the girl’s bathroom, and—”
He tugged her even closer, grip tightening to an almost bruising force, and for a second the anger on his face slipped and he looked every bit as tired as she was.
“Are you with Tsukasa or are you with that Minamoto kid?”
Finally, the reason for his anger dawned on her. Did he think there was something going on between her and Kou-kun? Was he just looking out for his younger brother? Didn’t he know that Tsukasa was the one who ditched her? She bristled at the accusation.
“For your information, Kou-kun and I are just friends,” she stated plainly. The blaze in his eyes dimmed a little, but did not extinguish completely.
“And Tsukasa?”
“Tsukasa-kun is my friend too, unlike you who’s been—”
“If you’re just friends then why are you going to dance as his date?”
Wha-? She pulled back from him, blinking, astonished by the shallow nature of his questioning. The shock only lasted a second before anger flooded her face again.
“Because he asked!”
“I would’ve asked!” he bellowed then, voice reverberating off the walls of the bathroom. Nene couldn’t hide the shock from her face as she stared back at him, mouth hanging open. Amane’s eyes flitted to the ground, as if embarrassed by his own outburst. “I would’ve asked,” he said again quieter, dropping her hand. “I was going to. That day by your shoe locker.”
“Oh,” Nene replied, not quite sure how to respond. “Tsukasa-kun asked me about two minutes after that.”
“Bastard,” he muttered under his breath, turning away from her.
It felt a good ten degrees warmer in that bathroom then, as the two of them were enveloped in silence. Though it wasn’t a charged silence, rather it was one that was calm, steady, as if a distinct type of certainty lingered in the air between them, unspoken. For the first time in a week, Nene felt air flood into her lungs, felt a weight had been lifted off her chest. He didn’t hate her! He was even gonna ask her to the Christmas party!
However along with this relief, she was also suddenly feeling rather shy at the prospect of having to meet his eyes again, but eventually she relented, putting on her best reprimanding face.
“Well you should have communicated better with Tsukasa-kun! The three of us could’ve gone together.”
Amane turned to meet her gaze too, giving her an ‘are you stupid?’ look before grabbing her hand again, tangling their fingers together this time.
“Do you get it now, you idiot?”
Nene looked from his face, to their intertwined hands, and back up to his face again, a crimson blush slowly climbing up her countenance all the while. She drank in the way the moonlight streaming in from the window bounced off his soft features, the slant of his jaw as he held his breath — the way he looked at her, earnest , so unapologetically in-love standing in the third floor girl’s bathroom she kind of just wanted to laugh.
Instead, her mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ shape, and not for the first time that night, tears brimmed in her eyes as she tightened her grip on his hand, giving him a firm squeeze. She thought back to the boy she saved all those years ago on a playground. She thought then about the boy she patched up week after week, injury after injury in the infirmary after school. She thought about the man standing in front of her, amber eyes steady, stars, supernovas, entire galaxies swimming in his gaze, fringes sweeping across his face — looking so devastatingly similar to all those storybook princes who slipped from her reaches, it nursed an ache she forgot even existed.
He arched a brow at her; an unspoken reiteration of his question that really wasn’t necessary.
She smiled at him.
Yeah, Amane-kun.
She got it.
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