Archive of Our Own

The next afternoon, Jiro and Jyushi go shopping. Jyushi was excited about checking out the makeup store, both for him and to see if there was anything Jiro would look good with. The plan was to hit the makeup store first before going to the place where Jiro got all his flannels, to expand on Jyushi’s collection.

When Jiro walks inside the makeup store, he feels out of place. He has no clue what he’s looking at, so he just continues to follow Jyushi through the aisles. Jyushi stops at frequent places and swatches everything he finds interesting. Jiro’s eyes widen at the sight of Jyushi’s arm at one point, all the stripes of makeup going almost all the way up to Jyushi’s elbow.

But even though he tries all sorts of makeup, Jyushi doesn’t seem satisfied. “Hmmmm….” he ends up thinking aloud.

“Was there something in particular you wanted?” Jiro asks. Jyushi shakes his head. “Not really. I was just trying to figure out what would look good on you……”

“Eh? Me?” Jyushi looks at him with this fierce determination. “Somehow for you I could see using my products on you, but at the same time… something soft like a neutral look would probably bring out your eyes more….”

Jiro is almost positive that makeup wouldn’t look good on him the way it does on Jyushi, but maybe if it's Jyushi who believes in this…. “I’ll trust you.”

Jyushi nods nervously as he picks out foundation and concealers that seem close to Jiro’s skin tone, then drags Jiro all the way to the mascaras and lipsticks section. It’s almost like an information overload for Jiro when he sees too many brands advertising different things. But Jyushi knows what he’s looking for, and swiftly picking up two tubes of mascara later, he sidesteps towards the lipsticks. 

“Between a red or a pink, what would you prefer?”

Jiro shakes his head. “Hell if I know. Maybe something like a neutral color?”

Jyushi mutters under his breath as his mind runs full speed. “Certainly Jiro would probably look nice with a neutral look in total. My colors are most likely too bold for him…..” Jyushi picks up the light pink lipstick and goes back to the eyeshadow palettes. Nervously taking the neutrals palette he takes it all to the cash register. And when they finally leave, Jyushi feels like he’s accomplished something.

“You didn’t have to only buy things for me y’know? Actually, why did you only buy things for me? I surely can’t work the same magic you can with makeup.” Jyushi slides the makeup inside his crossbody next to Amanda and strokes their head in the meanwhile. “It’s always been a dream of mine I guess… To find someone who knows and accepts me and the things I do. And then when I found them, I wanted to do everything to them, even if it was once. Jiro is the one I want to give a makeover… so….”

Jiro grins at the thought. “Well, don’t blame me if it looks horrid. Not like your skills are bad… just makeup might not work on me.” Jyushi affectionately nudges Jiro’s side. “Don’t say that Jiro. You haven’t even seen yourself with makeup on.”

The two laugh while they walk down the busy street, making their way to the clothing store. When Jyushi sees the rows of flannels on the wall, he stands shocked. All the flannels here looks uncannily like the ones in Jiro’s closet.

“Yo Jiro!!” The staff member gives Jiro a high five and Jyushi ends up standing in the midst of flannels. His hand immediately reaches out to grab the black and white one he’s gotten used to having. And then he reaches for a black, white and purple one. And then a red and black one. And while he thinks about getting more, he draws the line here.

Jyushi watches from far away how Jiro casually chats with the staff member, how whatever they’re talking about brings Jiro’s bright smile. Everything makes Jyushi squeeze the flannels in his hands, and he continues to ask if he’s…. really here. Everything he’s experienced while he’s stayed in Ikebukuro is nothing short of a miracle. He’s seen so much of Jiro's life here, but there’s still so much to see. Just how much more is there to uncover…?

Amanda pops their head out of the bag. “Are you… jealous?”

Jyushi shakes his head. “It’s not jealousy Amanda…. Almost like…. regret I guess. Regret that I can’t always see him like this. Regret that I’ve only met him a few months ago. Regret that… I can’t learn everything about him in a few short days.”

Jyushi looks down at the floor, hoping to merge with the flannels and erase his presence a little while Jiro chats with the staff member.

But when he continues to look down, a familiar pair of shoes come into view and he’s crushed into a hug. “Sorry about that. He’s a buddy of mine from school. He was talking about how fortunate he was that he didn’t have to do remedial classes, since he wanted to save money to take his girlfriend out for somewhere nice over the summer.”

Hearing this makes Jyushi relax. Jiro’s calm and comforting words always manage to do that to him. “That does sound nice… Should I take you somewhere nice while I’m here?”

Jiro laughs, and the way it reverberates from his chest envelops Jyushi even more in this comfort. “This is my home, Jyushi. I should be taking you somewhere nice.”

“There’s no way I could make you do that Jiro. I’m the one out of us that’s working!”

Jiro gives Jyushi an, “and what does that matter?” expression for a few seconds before breaking out in another grin. “Then how about this. You take me somewhere nice when I stay in Nagoya. And then I’ll take you somewhere nice while you’re still here.”

Jyushi brushes Jiro’s bangs to the side and nods. “Deal.”

Jiro looks down at the selection of flannels in Jyushi’s hands and grins. “Is this what you’ll pick out?”

Jyushi nods. “I thought at least for now…”

With a comforting warmth, Jiro pulls Jyushi towards the cash register and promptly pulls out the cash to pay for the flannels. Jyushi continues to fret. “J-Jiro?! I was gonna buy them myself!!”

“But you bought that makeup for me right? This is something I wanna do for you too, so let's just leave it at that, okay?”

With a small pout, Jyushi relents and puts his money back in his wallet. Jiro’s friend looks at the both of them before he breaks a smile of his own. “There was rumor goin’ around that you landed yourself a partner. I guess it was this guy, huh?”

Jiro only laughs it off before turning round and sighing. “Was I that obvious at school…?!” Jyushi ends up smiling fondly, saying nothing until he receives his shopping bag filled with new flannels. Jiro waves at his friend before they both walk out of the store and Jiro can yell at the sky.

“I never realized I was that obvious!! I mean sure, I always felt hella happy to receive your texts but to the point the entire school knew?!” Jyushi takes the new information with a fond look in his eyes.  

As Jiro is trying to not worry about the situation he’ll face when he goes back to school for the fall term, Jyushi grabs his hand and takes him down the street until they find an abandoned alleyway. When Jiro’s back is pressed against the wall, he blinks in confusion. “What’s up, Jyushi?”

Jyushi responds with a tight hug, followed by a kiss. It was the first kiss they shared today, as they try to keep their PDA inside the house to a minimum (unless they’d like to hear Saburo’s complaints all day). Jiro’s arms wrap around Jyushi’s back, tightening their hug. The innocent sliding of their lips continue to express tales of appreciation and love, while their ever tightening embrace expresses the embracing of what little time they have together like this.

When Jyushi pulls away from the kiss, there’s an amused smirk on his face. “Maybe when I see Jiro’s friends tomorrow, I should ask them about these so-called rumors.”

Jiro smirks back. “Knowing them, they could have possibly been the ones to start the rumors. Not in a bad way though, ya know?”

And yes, Jyushi does know. He chatted with them for hours, and he could tell that while they do enjoy teasing Jiro to no end, they do it because they care for him.

After another embrace, Jyushi lets Jiro’s hands fall from his back, only to hold them in his hands. “Without a doubt, your friends really do cherish you. I’m glad for that.”

Jiro lets his thumbs run across Jyushi’s knuckles, the feeling of Jyushi’s rings somehow a comforting feeling. When he smiles at their connection, Jyushi tightens their connection some more, the bustle of the afternoon becoming a comforting sort of background noise to them. 

“So, where should we go next?” Jiro asks. Jyushi makes a noise as if he really thinks about what they should be doing, but it falls short. “Doing nothing is nice.”

Jiro makes a sound that’s half in between a laugh and a snort, but it was adorable regardless. “But it would also be a waste, don’t you think?”

Jyushi shakes his head. “I’m not here to go to all the nice places in Ikebukuro. I’m only here to enjoy this time I have with Jiro. Whether we do things, or not do things, it only matters if I’m doing whatever it is with Jiro. And even if we did nothing but laze around at the park or whatnot, that isn’t something that could ever be considered wasteful. Since I’m spending that time with Jiro.”

Jiro lets it all sink in with an ever growing smile. The glowing smile just seemed to get brighter and brighter, and this sight alone makes Jyushi believe in the bright moonlight’s embrace, akin to the warmth of the sun. Or maybe it is just that Jiro has become a sun that has lit up Jyushi’s dark world? Jiro has indeed made drastic changes to Jyushi’s world, some almost unbelievable to Jyushi. But now he smiles a lot more for random reasons, and his thoughts are always accompanied by casual thoughts of Jiro. His lyrics are compassionate, fueled by his memories of Jiro, and now he almost feels like he won’t cry as much as he does. Only a few days physically together, and a couple months of phoning and texting each other made him feel like this.

“You’ve… really changed me, Jiro. I perhaps could be called stupid for Jiro, at this point…” Jyushi mutters.

Jiro presses their noses together, unwilling to let go of Jyushi’s hands. “Ah, is that so? Then I’m even more of an idiot, since I’m stupid in love too. Love that I thought didn’t exist outside of the family I hold close… I’m glad I was wrong. Because if I never got to feel these things with Jyushi, I don’t know how my life would be right now. Maybe I’d be bored outta my mind, spending the days arguing with Saburo or playing soccer on my own. Maybe I’d be complaining about not having a person to date since it’s summer and all that… Highly doubt that one but still….”

“Stupid in love, huh…. Somehow I think I understand that.” Jyushi says softly.

“Ya know, Jyushi. Sometimes, ya just know when that someone is the one ya wanna be with. You just end up doing weird stupid shit that makes ya wanna scream or whatever. But the important thing is that ya do that weird stupid shit with them. Because that, Jyushi, is love.”

Jyushi closes his eyes and lets the recollection empower him. “Kuko-san….”

“So Jyushi, since we’ve apparently agreed that we’re stupid for each other, what should we do now?” Jyushi opens his eyes again and looks at Jiro for a long time.

“You know what? Let’s just do all those things people do when they’re stupid in love!” Jiro stares blankly for a few seconds before he cracks one of the largest smiles ever.

“So we’re not gonna cringe at how sappy it will be?”

Jyushi pulls Jiro out towards the bustling streets and Jiro follows, lost in the bright radiance that comes from Jyushi and the sunlight. “Why would we even do such a thing! We’ll probably have fun like we have been doing these past few days!” Jyushi has a beautiful smile, bright blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight and the faintest of blushes dusting his cheeks.

Jiro takes in the scenery for a few seconds before he fumbles around to get his smartphone. Jyushi stops pulling Jiro towards the streets, momentarily confused as to why Jiro was aiming the phone towards him. But the confusion melts and the bright smile comes back when Jiro gives a sheepish smile and a wink. “I couldn’t help it. You looked stunning right there, and I just wanted to… capture that moment.”

Jyushi digs into his crossbody and pulls out both Amanda and his phone. “Amanda, wanna take some pictures with us?”

Amanda’s ears perk up. “Pictures?! I wanna see pictures of Jyushi and Jiro together!!”

Jiro snorts as he puts a hand on Amanda’s back. “We’ll take a bunch of pictures Amanda. At least, that is what we aim to do.”

Jyushi tries to find the best angle without being blinded by the sun and they all smile as they take a few selfies. After that, Jyushi pulls away and jumps as he aims his camera towards Jiro and Amanda. “Jiro and Amanda, cheese!!”

Jiro is caught in a weird pose, holding on to Amanda while trying to pocket his phone and giving Jyushi a funky grin. Amanda ends up laughing. “Somehow, I feel like that turned out terrible!!”

“Oi! I don’t wanna hear that from a stuffed pig that has the perfect expression and pose! Since you’re a stuffed pig!!” Jiro yells. A child passes them by with his mother and points at Jiro.

“That mister is talking to stuffed animals!” He says. His mother tugs at his hand. “Don’t be like that! That’s rude!!”

Jiro slaps his free hand across his face and groans. Soon after, he ends up smiling at Amanda with a look of resignation. “Well, it's not like anyone would believe us if we said you could talk to us.”

Amanda lifts two of their stuffed appendages and does their best interpretation of a shrug. “As long as Jyushi and Jiro know, that’s fine with me.”

Jyushi shoots a couple of the good pictures of all three of them to his group chat for Argo Kishii Gakudan and almost instantaneously his phone buzzes. Jyushi walks back towards Jiro and Amanda, and they retreat away from the bustle of the main streets to stay in the shade and solitude of the alleyway. 

“I think my bandmates want to meet you, Jiro.” Jyushi says with a smile. 

Jiro blinks rapidly before pointing a finger towards himself. “Eh? Me?”

Jyushi receives the video chat and ensures the selfie mode was on before supporting his phone against a flat surface. When he gets it all adjusted, and everyone is on screen, Jyushi can see his three bandmates fighting for screen space, but the way they scream and yell things only makes him laugh.

“Hey guys.”

The other three calm down and finally manage to say the same thing at the same time. “Jyushiiiiiiii!!!”

Jiro doesn’t really know if he needs to say anything, or even be here in the chat, but Jyushi’s hand tightly grasps his own, not letting him leave the area one bit.

“Jyushi you lucky bastard! You look like you’re enjoying yourself over there in Ikebukuro!!”

“I’ve never seen you smile so much in my life man *sobs* I’m happy for you!!”

“Ah!! Jyushi!! I thought we told you to leave the recording for when you came back home!! Why did you leave Nagoya and give us your vocal track already, huh?!”

Jyushi shakes his head. “I might be staying here longer than I planned… I mean, I will return in time for us to practice our set list for the live, but…”

Jyushi’s bandmates let it sink in before they change their focus from Jyushi to Jiro.

“So, you did it for Boyfriend-kun, huh?”

“I mean, with the way he makes Jyushi smile, even when they’re far from each other, it kinda is understandable.”

“I’m still jealous of you, dammit! But if he makes you happy, that’s all we can wish for.”

Jyushi pulls Jiro a little closer, and Jiro almost loses his footing, but the way he is hugged makes it all not matter. “I am.”

Jyushi looks down to Jiro and Amanda, and the fondest smile is on his face. “I really am happy right now. Being with Jiro and Amanda like this, spending time with some of my closest people… it’s the best.”

Jyushi’s bandmates make a ruckus before Jyushi gives them a look. “Of course, it should be more enjoyable when Jiro meets you all in person.”

“When would I do that though? Aren’t you gonna be busy doing lives soon?” Jiro asks Jyushi. Jyushi shakes his head. “It’s only a few scattered over the summer weeks. Unless we decide to do more, we’ve got a relatively easy schedule.”

Jiro looks at them all for a long time before a smile ends up spreading on his face. “I really can’t believe it to be honest. That you’re here and not there.”

Jyushi tears up a little, but he smiles regardless. “I’m happy I came though.”

Before the two can do anything else, Jyushi’s teammates protest.

“Oi! Don’t forget we’re still here!!”

“As much as we’re happy for you Jyushi, I don’t think we’re into watching your PDA.”

“And to believe we thought you weren’t the type to do such things in public… How wrong we were I guess.”

Amanda can’t help but snort, but their reaction goes unnoticed by the members of Argo Kishii Gakudan. Jyushi is about to say something about it before Jiro takes a stand. “I’m gonna do all the sappy shit I wanna do with Jyushi while he’s here!!” As he says that though, the fact that he’s boldly saying that to Jyushi’s friends and bandmates makes him feel a tad bit uneasy. And embarrassed. These guys aren’t his friends, who understand him pretty much for what he is.

Oh boy… did he possibly ruin his good faith with the members of Argo Kishii Gakudan?

Then, one of them bursts out laughing. “Oh, so he can stand his ground huh? I like that!”

“We were only joking, of course. We know the amount of time you two can spend together is quite short, so by all means, do everything you wanna do together.”

“We knew just how much Boyfriend-kun treated Jyushi with this love and care that hasn’t been seen before. We just wanted the opportunity to finally meet the guy in person. Or, at least, on a video chat.”

The three of them smile at the way Jiro holds Amanda, and the way Jyushi holds Jiro and Amanda.

“You’re really happy, aren’t you, Jyushi.”

Jyushi nods, the faintest tear sliding down his cheek. “I am happy… very happy.”

The three members can only smile larger at that response. “Then that’s good.”

The three of them hurry to end the video chat, but then one of them stops right before they end the call. “Oh yeah…”

“...?” Jiro tilts his head slightly.

The Argo Kishii Gakudan band member grins. “I’ll be looking forward to the day we get to meet you in person, Yamada Jiro-kun.”

“...” Jiro blinks dumbly before realizing he didn’t even introduce himself to the members! “H-How do you know my name?!”

He doesn’t realize he’s asking that to a blank screen.

Jyushi stares for a long time before he puts his phone away. “I’m glad you got to talk to them, even if it was only for a few minutes.”

Jiro pulls Jyushi in for a hug, sandwiching Amanda in between them. “I guess it’s like yesterday.” Jiro says. Jyushi’s shoulders shake, but he nods as well. “I’m happy Jiro. I can’t wait for you to see them all in person too.”

Jiro smiles at that. “I’m looking forward to that as well.”

Jyushi was excited for what would entail at the amusement park. He was so excited, he got up earlier because of the excitement. But because of that, he was able to see sleeping Jiro’s face, finally . 

Jyushi and Amanda ingrain the sight into their memory, the way Jiro’s lashes look against his lightly tanned skin, the way Jiro’s nose scrunches at random moments, the way Jiro’s hair looks like a total disaster against the pillow…..

But it’s all Jiro. Jyushi loves it all.

And then Jyushi gently holds Jiro’s hand in his own, adoring the way the black polish shines against the morning sun.

“I was right, wasn’t I Amanda? Jiro does look good with nail polish on.”

Amanda nods. “Jiro has nice nails. I’m not sure if there’s any more I can say. Although… It reminds me of the time you and Kuko-san ganged up on Hitoya-san to paint his nails.”

Jyushi lets out a snort at the memory. “At least it wasn’t that difficult with Jiro.”

“Say Jiro…. I wanna…. paint your nails.” Jyushi says after finishing his night skin and hair routine. Jiro looks at Jyushi with a questioning arch of his eyebrow just as he flings some dirt from the bottom of his nails. “Paint my nails?”

Jyushi turns around from his seat and nods. “I told you “total makeover,” right? Painting your nails was part of the package… U-Unless you don’t want me to!”

“I mean, it’s fine. We don’t have that kinda stuff in the house though-“

Jyushi pulls out many bottles of nail polish from his cosmetics bag with a bright smile. Jiro ends up smiling one of those “should've known you had that” smiles as he stands up from the couch to take a seat by the counter. When Jiro places his hands on top of the counter, Jyushi can’t help but cradle them in his own hands, admiring the shape of Jiro’s nails.

“Have you ever had broken nails, Jiro?” Jiro shrugs. “I haven’t really noticed. Saburo though, that kid can get so engrossed in his computer work, let me tell you…”

Just at that moment, Saburo comes out of the shower and Jyushi flies to him. “S-Saburo-kun! Do you frequently break your nails?!”

Saburo takes a step backwards out of shock. “W-What are you randomly talking about, Jyushi?!”

“Jiro told me you frequently break your nails while you’re in the middle of doing computer work! Is it true?!”

Saburo shoots Jiro a “what the hell?!” expression, and Jiro just shrugs. “I’m gonna get a manicure soon. I think Jyushi would be willing to paint all our nails to be honest…”

Saburo keeps looking back between his older brother and Jyushi, and Jyushi’s expression filled with worry makes Saburo crumble.

Saburo plays with the towel that hangs around his neck and blushes softly. “I guess they do… I’ve tried to keep them short for that exact reason, but even that doesn’t help.”

Jyushi nods before taking Saburo’s hand and taking him towards the counter as well. “It’s just your nails are weaker than Jiro’s. There’s ways to strengthen and protect your nails, let’s see here…..”

Jyushi finds his hidden bottle of nail strengthening base coat and sets it aside for Saburo. And then pushing the bag aside, takes his nail filer and shapes Jiro’s nails. “I’ll work with Jiro’s nails first, since I want to add color to his nails. Saburo-kun can have color if he wants, but at the very least, let me put something on to protect your nails.”

Saburo stays quiet as Jyushi focuses on Jiro’s nails. When he finishes, he starts by putting on a base coat on Jiro’s nails.

“Why is this one different from the one that’s by Saburo?” Jiro asks. Jyushi doesn’t even spare the time to look up at Jiro as he dips the brush into the bottle again and expertly paints the nails on Jiro’s right hand. “What I’m putting on Jiro is a normal base coat. There’s nothing special in it, because Jiro’s nails don’t exactly need it. But because Saburo-kun’s nails are weak, I couldn't exactly use this one on his nails. There would basically be no point to doing his nails if that was the case.”

“Heeeh… seems complicated.” Jiro says. Jyushi smiles. “Only if you don’t really know what you’re looking for.”

After putting on the base coat, Jyushi retreats from Jiro’s hands. “Let that dry. No moving allowed, got it!” Amanda gives Jiro an “I’m watching you” glare from where they sit by the couch and Jiro can only offer a cheesy smile. “Alright, alright. No moving.”

Jyushi turns around and carefully inspects Saburo’s nails. Trimming and filing away broken and uneven areas, Jyushi looks up to Saburo, a combination of horrified and shocked. “How have you managed all this time without causing major damage! I mean-you could’ve broken a nail easily! And I mean in the taking weeks to heal kinda way!”

Saburo shrugs. “I’ve just dealt with it like everything else I guess. I’m pretty sure, Jiro told you about our family situation…” Jyushi nods at that as he looks back down to finish shaping Saburo’s nails.

“After all that happened at the orphanage, Ichi-nii began raising us all by himself. I didn’t want to be a burden to him even more than I had been… so this kinda stuff meant nothing to me. I didn’t think much about my nails, even though I knew they were weak.”

Jyushi prepares the bottle of base coat and lays Saburo’s hands flat on the surface. “People cope in ways others wouldn’t dream of. But that’s always fascinated me about the world. How some people think is different from others.” Taking great care, Jyushi continues putting the base coat over Saburo’s nails. “I do hope that Saburo-kun takes care of his nails now though. I wouldn’t want anything bad happening to your nails while you’re doing your important work.”

After putting the rest of the base coat on, Ichiro comes out of the bath and is momentarily surprised at what’s going on. “Oooh! What’s this now?”

Jyushi brightens up. “A manicure party!!”

Jiro laughs. “Oi. It’s nothing like that.”

“I-It isn’t?” Jyushi blinks rapidly and Saburo shoots his older brother a look. Jiro leans against the counter a little more with a sigh. “What I mean to say is… why would it be considered a party when we’re just letting someone we trust take care of our nails, I guess?”

“Oh, I see!” Jyushi blinks away the tears that almost threatened to come down his cheeks. Ichiro takes a seat next to Jiro as Jyushi pulls out the very similar looking bottles of black nail polish from the mass of bottles from his bag.

“So, Jiro! Which color would you like?”

Jiro lets out another laugh. “Aren’t they all black?”

Jyushi furiously shakes his head. “No! This one is just black. And then this one is black with a faint shimmer underneath… and this one is…”

“Whichever one you think looks nice I guess.” Jyushi brightens up at the response and chooses the bottle that he put on his own nails mere days before.

“It was fun..” Jyushi says softly and Amanda jumps. “Are you gonna wake Jiro up? Do you wanna rest a little longer? The alarms haven’t gone off yet…”

Jyushi carefully places Jiro’s hand back down on the bed and slides out. “Let Jiro sleep. I’ll just get a head start.”

Carefully, Jyushi slides out of Jiro’s room, waving at Amanda before closing the door. When Jyushi leaves, Amanda turns around and sits back down on the bed. They can’t help but love Jiro’s sleeping face. He’s not like Jyushi, but Amanda recognizes these emotions they have towards Jiro is similar to what they feel for Jyushi. When they hear Jyushi’s alarm go off, they push their stuffed appendage to Jiro’s cheek. “Jiro? It’s time to get up.”

Jiro groans, but slowly rolls towards the bedside table to turn off the offending alarm. But when he finally opens his eyes, and sees the picture they took mere days ago… he breaks out into another smile. “Good morning, Amanda.”

“Good morning, Jiro. Jyushi has gotten a head start, but you might catch him in a new look if you get up now.”

After giving Amanda an affectionate rub on their head, Jiro practically jumps out of his bed and runs out of his room. The smell of breakfast immediately hits him and he can’t help the sound his stomach makes in response. But he didn’t expect to see Jyushi wearing an apron helping his older brother out in the kitchen!

At this moment, Saburo comes out of his room, fully dressed for the day and he catches Jiro’s dumbfounded face. He has the most smug expression on his face as he passes his older brother. “Ah, my idiot older brother has so much more to learn about Jyushi. Time’s ticking, you know?”

Jiro blinks twice and makes an angry face at Saburo soon after. “Oh yeah?!”

When Jyushi hears Jiro’s voice, he almost drops the fish he was in the middle of frying. After a lot of flailing, Jyushi manages to keep the fish inside the pan and he makes a sound of relief. He chances a look back and gives Jiro a pleasant smile. “Good morning, Jiro.”

Jiro leans against the counter and gives Jyushi a smile of his own. “‘Morning, Jyushi.”

Ichiro finishes the tamagoyaki and grins. “‘Morning, Jiro! There’s still a little bit left to do before breakfast is ready, so go get ready.”

With a nod, Jiro heads off towards the bathroom. Saburo takes a seat at the table after setting the placements and then spends an unnaturally long time staring at his black colored nails. The perfectly painted nails shine under the light that is overhead. It’s barely even been half a day since the nail polish has been on his nails and yet there’s something mysterious about how the nail polish has helped him with his weak nails already.

“It really is interesting… I never expected nail care to come in the form of nail polish.” Saburo says distantly, as if he didn’t expect anyone to respond to it. Whether he expected it or not though, Jyushi does provide an answer to that statement.

“If you’re worried about nail care, Saburo-kun… you don’t have to use nail polish. You could take health supplements that contain collagen in them as well. But honestly I think you look really nice with nail polish on, so it would make me happy if you wore it more often. I could direct you to some of my favorite brands and formulas if you’d like.” Jyushi says after shakily plating all the fish and bringing them to the table.

Jyushi is fully expecting Saburo to say no, but he is very much surprised when a light blush, followed by a “maybe… I’ll think about it…” falls out of Saburo’s lips.

“Oh yeah Jyushi! Thanks for doing this for us yesterday.” Ichiro grins as he waves his own black colored nails. Jyushi claps his hands together. “No, I should be the one thanking you all! I really only intended on painting Jiro’s nails, but you and Saburo-kun let me do your nails too… I was very happy about that! It has always been a dream of mine to do things like this to my friends and loved ones after all…”

After a short moment of silence, Jiro rushes out of the hallways and takes his free seat next to Saburo. They all say their prayers and enjoy their breakfast. Jiro quickly finishes his food and patiently waits for Jyushi to finish. “So Jyushi, are you gonna be doing your makeup soon?”

Jyushi nods after he finishes his food. “I should. We do need to head out to meet your friends.”

“Show me how you do it!”

Saburo snorts. “What, do you hope to suddenly gain Jyushi’s skill in makeup?”

Jiro glares at Saburo. “No. I just wanna see how Jyushi does it every day.”

Jyushi gives Jiro the most innocent smile. “I’m glad you are so interested in seeing the process, even if you won’t be applying the makeup on yourself. But if that means you think you wanna try that makeup today, we should get started right away!!”

Jiro flushes. “N-No, I don’t think it would look all that great on me still…”

Jyushi places his hands on the table and stands up. “You won’t know unless you try it Jiro! Come on!”

Ichiro and Saburo watch amusedly as Jyushi drags Jiro back to his own room and promptly slams the door behind them.

“I seriously have to wonder what Jyushi sees in my idiot older brother. I can’t even think about how makeup would look on him…” Ichiro lets out a hearty laugh. “Now now, Saburo. We’ll never know until it happens, right? Besides, it looks like Jyushi knows what he’s doing. The only thing we can do is wait until Jyushi is finished.”

“Yeah well, Jyushi isn’t the type to pull pranks on Jiro, so I guess it should turn out better than I imagine…” Saburo gets up from the table and assists Ichiro in cleaning the dishes.

Ichiro can only hum in agreement as the two of them do their own thing to pass the time.

Jyushi does things that Jiro can’t keep up with. The only thing he understood was Jyushi pinning Jiro’s bangs away from his face. After the clang of makeup clatters against Jiro’s desk, Jiro couldn’t really keep up with anything. He ended up following Jyushi’s orders as best as he could. He closed his eyes for the most part, and even when things were wet and uncomfortable against his skin, he followed Jyushi’s instructions to not touch any of it.

After what feels like a long while, Jiro can open his eyes and stare right into Jyushi’s shimmering eyes. “As I thought Jiro…. You really do look nice with makeup on.”

Jyushi turns the mirror towards Jiro’s face and he has to stare at his reflection for a long while. When he blinked, the reflection blinked back. When he went to pull the pin from his hair, the reflection did the same thing. As much as Jiro wanted to pinch and prod his face, it would ruin whatever was on his skin.

The only thing he could do at this point was accept the fact that this was… him in the mirror.

“In the end, I couldn’t help myself and used some red in the corner… But I think it all works out…” Jyushi puts the mirror down and gives Jiro a satisfied smile. Jiro can’t really help but just kiss Jyushi, makeup be damned.

“You really are something, Jyushi.” Jiro tries to get used to the somewhat moist and heavy feeling of mascara covering his lashes as he blinks, but the smile that he gives Jyushi is ecstatic.

Jiro ends up scooting behind Jyushi and watching him as he gets through his own makeup routine. After giving an endearing smile to Jyushi’s Amanda themed hairpin, Jiro finally sees the mostly covered eye as Jyushi prepares his entire face. Jiro doesn’t say anything, but just watches as Jyushi knows what he’s doing and seems to even do it faster on his face than when he did Jiro’s.

After snapping the blush compact closed, Jyushi unclips his bangs and Jiro has to say goodbye to the second stunning eye. But he enjoys the look of the black and purple against Jyushi’s stunning blue eyes. 

“So, this is how you turn into your stunning self, huh? Prepared to face the outside world?”

Jyushi laughs as he gently nudges Jiro’s side with his elbow. “We don’t even have lipstick on Jiro. We’re not exactly ready!”

Jiro laughs. “True. Guess we should get changed then.” He casually makes his way to his closet and prepares to pull out his normal shirt and jeans. Tugging off his T-shirt and shorts, he gets changed right there, figuring Jyushi would be fine with it considering they’re both guys.

Jyushi has to kill the scream that threatens to rise up his throat as he turns around to see Jiro’s lean form. Jyushi immediately turns to Amanda with his flaming hot face and Amanda just raises the layered shirt in their hands.

Amanda would usually say something to Jyushi at times like these. But now, Jiro can also hear what they’re saying, so Amanda is stuck saying nothing and just helping Jyushi with his clothes.

Jyushi squeezes his eyes shut to get the embarrassment out of his system and his fingers run through the buttons on his shirt fairly easily. The material falls from his shoulders and gratefully he accepts Amanda’s help with his clothes. Amanda chose the shirt with an open back, something Jyushi likes but doesn't really show it off. Accompanied with the flowy material was a tank top with thin straps.

Little does he know Jiro turns around to ask him something just as he slips the shirt on. Jiro gets a few solid seconds of Jyushi’s pale, naked back. A multitude of emotions run through the teenager’s brain, but unlike things like desire, it was more towards the direction of extreme innocent embarrassment. He’d be lying if he didn’t say some sort of desire was running hot underneath said embarrassment though.

Jyushi turns around right at that moment and Jiro scrambles to try and not act like he just stood there like a dumb idiot over bare skin. But when his eyes lock on to Jyushi’s, he can see the blush that blossoms on his skin.

Jiro knows for sure Jyushi can see his blush. When Jyushi nervously bites his lip, Jiro drops the flannels in his hand and walks towards Jyushi. Step by thundering step, he’s caging Jyushi towards the bed. But Jyushi doesn’t move. Instead, his arms reach out towards Jiro when he gets close enough to touch him. 

Jyushi has his hands sliding under Jiro’s loose shirt, the feeling of his hands touching such a place was that much more charged with something indescribable. But Jiro does something similar, sliding his hands underneath the thin material and slipping it off his shoulders.. The sheer feeling of skin touching skin makes them shudder, and if Amanda could blush… they probably would.

Amanda knows they’re teenagers. And things like this happen as part of the joys of youth. But somehow, they can’t help the feeling of just simply wanting to HIDE out of embarrassment.

It starts with a short and sweet kiss. Then another one. The next thing they know, Jyushi is pushed against the bed, mere inches away from Amanda’s form. The way they chase each other’s lips is sensual, like they haven’t done anything like this before. The rapid glide of hands sliding over skin becomes intoxicating, and it makes them want more. 

Jyushi hooks his legs around Jiro’s waist, effectively keeping the younger teen where he is. The surprise becomes evident as Jiro pulls away from the kiss.

“Just…. just what the hell are we even doing…” Jiro asks. Jyushi laments the fact he’ll have to touch up both of their foundations for about two seconds before it gets thrown out the window. “I don’t know myself…”

He pulls Jiro back down, and his boyfriend gets a spectacular view of blonde and black hair messily spread out on top of the sheets, almost acting like some strange angelic aura surrounding him. He even gets a glimpse of the mostly covered eye, the beautiful bright blue sparkling in its own addicting way. And Jiro feels his heart race as he sees what Jyushi says in an almost real life slow motion.

“But I don’t want to stop.”

Jiro rushes forward for another kiss, and Jyushi accepts it, giving more to Jiro’s action. Amanda can’t watch anymore. The embarrassment is so potent they can’t even think about anything. The only good thing is that they’re made of cotton, so they will never know the sensation of having a flushed body out of embarrassment, or from the natural heat of summer or the everyday bath. But even if they turn around, they still hear the smacking of lips, and the occasional moan that accompanies said kisses…

Amanda loves Jyushi. But this is something they cannot be around to witness. It’s an invasion of privacy, and Amanda can’t act like their soul left their body in such situations!

Thankfully, it all ends when Jiro’s door is forced open by none other than…

“Uwa… Just… what are you guys doing right now, like, seriously? I’m pretty positive you two are late.” Saburo says before turning around and leaving the door open.

“Ichi-nii! I caught Jiro and his boyfriend making out like weirdos!”

That makes the initial shock of Saburo’s abrupt entrance wither away and Jyushi unhooks his legs from Jiro’s waist and hides behind his hands.

Jiro backs away from Jyushi a few steps and turns away, feeling the fiery blush heat his cheeks and ears.

Jyushi slowly sits up after a long, long while and a few fat tears slide down his cheeks. “That… was… embarrassing…!” Jyushi frantically tugs on his hair and clothes, readjusting the clothing over his shoulders and he finds the thin dark purple coat that went with his eyeshadow for the day. Nobody says anything much for a long while and Jyushi literally tugs everything to death as a way to get the embarrassment out of his system. Pulling the belt across his stomach was a bit painful, but it managed to dispel some of that embarrassment from his body. 

After getting his entire look ready, he nervously turns around to face Jiro, who settled on his red and blue flannel to go over his black shirt. The blush for the most part seems to have dissipated, but the look of uncertainty still remains. Jyushi settles on touching Jiro’s foundation in silence. After the reapplication, he has the guts to look Jiro in the eye. A few seconds later and they both erupt in laughter. 

“Boy, what the hell was that!” Jiro laughs and Jyushi laughs alongside him. “It… might just be something we’ll have to get past?”

Jiro likes that answer. He knows that further along the line, he’ll know whether he’s comfortable with how the events will lead their relationship or not. But he would be damned if he had to forget what just happened.

There’s no way in hell he’ll forget what happened. The sensations, the sights, none of it.

“Are we ready then?” Jiro asks and Jyushi jumps. “No! Your lipstick!!”

Jiro blinks in confusion before Jyushi produces a light pink tube of lipstick. “It won’t be much. While I think you would look amazing in bold colors, your friends are gonna be walking with us and stuff, so I thought…”

“I trust Jyushi’s decision. No matter what it may be. It’s at least good to experience things at least once, right?” Jiro gives Jyushi a confident wink. “And knowing your skill, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Jyushi flushes a light pink at the compliment as he applies the lipstick. When he’s done with Jiro, he touches up his own makeup and settles for his trusted black lipstick.

When he’s done, he places all the makeup inside a travel bag and picks up Amanda. Jyushi gives them a tight hug. “I’m sorry about that Amanda….” he whispers. Amanda just taps Jyushi’s arm.

“I wouldn't be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised. But I know that it is a facet of youth and relationships. Just…. make sure I’m not around if you are going to… go any further.”

Jyushi’s ears burn at the implication.

Jiro hears the entire conversation and he runs out with a red face.

“It’s too soon for us, Amanda. I think we just wanna enjoy this time together, without any of those implications and whatnot.” Jyushi safely packs Amanda inside his crossbody and Amanda lifts a stuffed appendage. ‘You never know, Jyushi. One second you may think about hugs and fluff and the next, you might want to embrace in the hot fiery throes of sexual desire!”

“Amanda!!” Jyushi’s face reddens at the statement and Amanda just laughs. “You two know what you want to do. It’s not my place to say what is right or what is wrong. As long as you two are comfortable with how it turns out, then that’s all that matters.”

Jyushi looks at his best friend for a long while before smiling in defeat. “You’re right Amanda. Eventually, we’ll figure it out… whether or not we’d like to go farther. But right now, we like where we are, so let's leave it at that and look forward to the amusement park, okay?”

Amanda nods. “I’m looking forward to it!!”

Jyushi’s smile widens. “I am too, Amanda.”

Jyushi feels very accomplished with the day already as he scrolls through the multitudes of selfies he took with all the Yamada brothers. They all did a bunch of poses to highlight their shiny black nails. But one that stood out the most was the one all the Yamada brothers did like it was second nature. “Say, Jiro… What is this?”

Jiro looks at the picture when they wait for the light to change and grins. “Ah, that? That’s our hand sign.”

Jyushi tilts his head innocently. “Is it important?”

Jiro thinks about it for a long while before shrugging with a bright smile. “I would think so. We just do it, and it kinda feels like there’s this unity between all of us?”

Jiro puts his hand up, bending his index and thumb like he was doing an “okay” sign, and Jyushi puts his own up. As he looks at Jiro’s, it looks like a “B” first and foremost. But when he brings his “B” shaped hand sign next to Jiro’s, there’s something that seems to tighten up around Jyushi’s hand that stubbornly tries to stay close to Jiro. 

“It’s really like unity in the most physical sense.” Jyushi softly laughs and Jiro just grins. “You felt that too then?” Jyushi nods and the light changes. Fellow pedestrians begin crossing the street and the two drop their hand signs. Immediately, they tangle their hands together and can only grin at each other with adoration in their eyes.

Somehow, even if it was short, they got a little closer then. Jiro thinks even though he’s going to have to be conscious about his makeup and things for the day, today will be one of the best days ever.

Jiro expected his friends to laugh at him for having makeup on. They were the types of guys that laughed at guys who had to crossdress for the school festivals and all that, so he was more than prepared for the possible bout of utter embarrassment he would get from them. 

But instead of them laughing, they just stand shellshocked at the sight. They all have their phones out, snapping dozens and dozens of pictures and it somewhat gives Jiro the creeps.

“Wah… it… really shows today…” Takahashi mutters first. The guy to his left nods. “It really does… Just how lucky Jiro got.”

Jiro looks at Jyushi with a questioning glance, and Jyushi furrows his eyebrows worriedly. “I-is there something wrong? Is it because I wanted to give Jiro a makeover-“

“No it’s not wrong, it just feels like Jiro really came here today as the proud boyfriend to one of the greatest vocalists in the country right now…” Another one of Jiro’s friends says and everyone nods in agreement.

“O-Oi, I thought we all promised to not talk about Jyushi’s career.” Jiro counters, even if something blooms in his heart at the implication of being someone that truly was worthy of being Jyushi’s boyfriend.

“And we aren’t, you idiot.” Takahashi awkwardly clears his throat before grinning. “We’re just happy to see you two together like this.”

Jyushi squeezes Jiro’s hand a little tighter before the brightest grin spreads on his face. “W-Well, I’m happy I get to spend the day with Jiro and his friends.”

Jiro’s friends are stunned momentarily before they all grin back. “Well, we’re gonna have one hell of a day today. Come on!!”

After handing the two their tickets, they all get ready to enter the amusement park. “It’s my first time at an amusement park, to be honest…” Jyushi mutters softly and Jiro’s taken aback. 

“You never have been to one before?”

Jyushi shakes his head. But he doesn’t look sad in the slightest. “I wasn’t ever in a place in my life where I was interested in amusement parks. But I am today. I’m looking forward to seeing all these new sights with Jiro.”

Jiro looks around before placing a soft kiss to Jyushi’s cheek. Belatedly, he remembers the pink lipstick smeared on his lips, but Jyushi ends up smiling brightly at the action, a happy pink blush spreading to his face. “We’ll have a great day here, Jyushi.”

They step into the amusement park and Jyushi feels it.

Today will indeed… be a great day. 

The group stops in front of a large venue with a large line coming out of the front door. “Now, Jiro, Jyushi, this was what we were here for!!” Takahashi calls out and Jyushi blinks at the sign displayed.

“The Explosive Life Game Tournament…?” They read out loud and Jiro’s friends all nod sagely.

“Basically! It’s a human sized version of the Life Game! And whoever wins gets a free special edition box of the Life Game’s newest release!”

“Heeeh? Sounds kinda fun.” Jiro looks over to Jyushi who ponders for a long time. “I… I’m not sure…”

Then, a staff member begins letting the line inside the venue. “Please form groups of two or three before you come to sign up!” That makes Jyushi blink and Jiro links arms with Jyushi at this moment. “There, Jyushi. Groups of two or three. If I play with you, do you think you’ll be able to play?”

Almost immediately after, Jyushi nods, even if the nervous pursing of his lips is still prevalent. “If I play with Jiro… it will be okay I think…”

“Then it's decided! You and Jiro will be on one team, and we’ll be in the other team.” Takahashi points to his other teammates and they flash competitive smiles. “Let’s see who wins, Jiro.”

Jiro gives a smirk of his own. “We definitely won’t lose.”

Jyushi can’t say the same with the same amount of confidence. Regardless, they get ready to enter the venue and while they wait in line, Jiro plays with Jyushi’s hand. The comfortable and familiar feeling of Jiro’s thumb running across the back of his hand was enough to release the tension in his shoulders. “We don’t know what it will be like in there Jyushi. So just have fun. I’ll be right next to you too, you know.”

Jyushi nods. “I know that Jiro… I just can’t help but worry about things.”

“Well, I can kinda understand why you’re worried. But it should be enjoyable at the very least?” Jiro ponders on that for a little while before shrugging. “Eh, I don’t even know anymore. Just imagine that it’s a super large version of the board game you played with us the other day. The fundamental rules will be the same. It’s just the cards, situations, and money and whatnot will be different? Maybe?”

The more Jiro rambles, the less it makes any sense in his head, and as he gets caught up in circles in his own head, Jyushi smiles, now completely void of nervousness. He leans into Jiro’s side a little bit. “Thank you for that, Jiro. I’m okay now.”

Jiro grins. “That’s good. We’re about to sign in anyways.”

They enter the venue and come to the sign up table. They enter under the team name “Fated Partners Underneath the Elegant Moonlight,” thanks to Jyushi’s burst of inspiration.

As they go into the large meeting hall, Jiro blushes slightly at the recollection of the team name. “That was some team name, Jyushi.”

Jyushi blushes and grins. “It was just something that came over me at the moment. I don’t think it’s really… incorrect either. What does Jiro think?”

Jiro doesn’t get a chance to answer when his friends walk past them and they make a strange symphony of noises towards the couple. “Get ready to lose, lovebirds!!”

Jiro clicks his tongue and in the most discreet way flips them off. “Like hell are we gonna lose!!”

They all convene at the large meeting area that’s already almost completely filled. Jiro and Jyushi are towards the back, but still can see the slideshow projected on the wall. When the lights dim for easier access to the slideshow, Jiro gently nudges Jyushi with his elbow.

The moment Jyushi looks at him, Jiro flashes his bright smile before leaning in for a kiss.

“I don’t think it’s wrong either, Jyushi.” Even without context, Jyushi knows what Jiro is referring to. With the way they hold each other while half-listening to the staff member explaining the rules, the people around them could tell they were one couple happily in love.

The explanation of the rules kinda go over their head, but they’re comfortable with that. They didn’t necessarily come and sign up to play for the win. It may be something that would be a pleasant addition, but it wasn’t a requirement at the moment. All the teams get split up and guided to a large maze-like arena. All the lights are a dull white until the control panel they’re directed to asks them for their team colors.

They look at each other and with a shrug they select whatever colors they like.

The small area surrounding them turns from a dull white to a vibrant hot pink and blue, and cool looking displays also lit up at their sides. After the loading screen, the displays proudly displayed their team name, alongside the other fifteen to twenty teams that were playing with them.

There’s an announcer that officially begins the game, and after rolling the virtual dice, everyone has their designated turn.

“Team “Fated Partners Underneath The Elegant Moonlight,” it is now your turn.” The hot pink display informs them of their turn. The blue display shows them where they are on the board.

Jiro presses the control panel and gets a six. Their avatar moves six spaces on the blue display and their control panel displays something.

“Eh? A card?” Jiro leans in to read the description of the card.

“Attack card: Gust of Fate?”

Jyushi leans down to read it as well. “All other teams besides the user of this card will randomly be selected to undergo a Gust of Fate. If the selected teams are unsuccessful, 20-75% of currently held funds will go to the user of this card…? Eh? This isn’t like the Life Game I played with Jiro?”

“W-Well, this is our first turn, so we should hold on to this for a little while, shouldn’t we?” Jyushi nods nervously and they end their turn.

The game was for the most part… similar to what Jyushi remembered when he played the Life Game with the Yamada brothers. If you don’t account for the random virtual explosions and screams of anguish as virtual money gets taken from people’s hands. 

Jiro and Jyushi’s current Life situation was… strange. They were subjected to some casino event thanks to some other team’s attack card, and apparently they turned into gamblers before either of them were legally adults. Since their games were somewhat merciful(?) on them, they amassed about 20 million yen from their little excursion. 

But even though they amassed this money, they couldn’t really use it for much. They didn’t get married. And that really bummed Jyushi out.

He really enjoyed the concept of the Life Game to see how it would be like if they followed the routes to this Life Game. Last time, they were married and adopted a child. Their child grew up to go into medical school of all things, but still seemed to be successful on their own.

Somehow, that was something that Jyushi could imagine. But the harsh reality of this Life Game was saying that marriage is out of the picture for some brats who haven’t even been together long enough to know if these feelings of love will last.

With an adorable grumble, Jyushi jams his finger against the control panel and end their turn. That makes Jiro look away from the displays to look at his frustrated boyfriend. With a warm and gentle embrace, Jiro coaxes Jyushi into relaxing. “What’s wrong, Jyushi?”

Jyushi puts his hands on top of Jiro’s and sighs. “Nothing much. Just that… I was bummed we didn’t land on the marriage spot I guess?”

Hearing that makes Jiro’s ears burn. But he doesn’t let himself think about the implications that may or may not hold. “Hey, don’t worry about that kinda stuff. I mean, believe it or not, but sometimes the divorce spot packs one hell of a punch.”

Jyushi’s eyes widen. “There’s a divorce spot?”

Jiro nods. “In some of the newer boards, there is. Sometimes the spot puts you in a real bind. Or maybe it’s just me. Who knows. I mean, this one time I was saving a lot of money. But I had like two kids or something. I landed on the divorce spot, and apparently my “wife” got custody of the children, and took like 100 million yen on top of that! I was almost broke after that spot!”

Jyushi’s heart crumbles. “I wouldn’t want to divorce Jiro though!”

An awkward moment of silence as they both register those words.

Jyushi holds his hands in front of his face for a long while. “W-what am I saying… we’re not even married yet—“

Jiro’s face gradually gets redder alongside Jyushi’s as he fumbles with his words. He has to look away to try and dispel some of his embarrassment, and to not register the meaning behind those words.

After a long moment of silence, Jiro asks Jyushi something without risking another blushing fest. “I know we’re still too young to be thinking about something heavy like the future… hell we haven’t even been dating that long. But y-you’d really…”

Jyushi’s uncovered blue eye gazes fondly at Jiro when he chances a look back at him. “It’s something I’m certain of, Jiro. I think this feeling I have right now will only grow. This… affection. This… desire to stay by your side. This… I don’t know… I just know I feel like being by Jiro’s side is the right thing for me. Like, this was fated to turn out for the best relationship for me. Don’t you feel something too?”

“Team “Fated Partners Underneath the Elegant Moonlight,” it is now your turn.”

Jiro takes one step. One step closer to Jyushi, and the control panel. He doesn't care what they land on. The wedding bells ring and the two look at their displays. They just got married.

“Well, not everyone marries when they’re young brats.” Jiro says and Jyushi looks satisfied. They end their turn after getting their payday and Jiro nervously chances a look at Jyushi once more. Hooking their pinky fingers together gets Jyushi’s attention. He looks down at their black painted nails as Jiro tightens his hold on Jyushi’s finger.

“I feel something here and here.” Jyushi’s eyes trail upwards, where Jiro jams his thumb against his chest. “Something, I don’t know what it is though… I just know something brings us together. It’s not a bad thing though. It was never a bad thing when I first met you, and it sure as hell isn’t a bad thing now. So, if this is fate just tellin’ us we should be those brats that marry young, then we should just follow the whims fate decides to give us.”

Jyushi looks somewhat defeated when he smiles at Jiro. “I never knew Jiro was into fate.”

“I’m not. I still believe it will be our decision, not the whim of fate that leads us wherever in this relationship. But if the thing that ties us together here and here is telling us something, shouldn’t we listen to it?”

Jyushi tightens his hold on Jiro’s pinky. “But… it could tell us we should break up in the future as well…”

“There’s no way I’d let that happen.” Jiro says with such assurance, Jyushi almost believes him. But almost.

“Y-You never know, Jiro…” Jyushi stutters out.

“Why do you think that? Would you break up with me?” Jiro’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. Jyushi furiously shakes his head. “No, I would never! It’s just… after desiring something like this for so long… and to finally get it… I can’t help but think it’s a joke of some sorts….”

“That fate put you through?”

Jyushi can only look at the ground and nod. That’s when Amanda moves about in Jyushi’s bag to open it. “You’re wrong about that, Jyushi!!”

“Amanda?!” Jyushi’s eyes widen in shock.

“I know this isn’t a joke. After all, technically I was the one to tie you two together. All my life, I’ve known people that have gotten close to you, Jyushi, and never in my life have I ever seen a string like this that binds you two together! You, who never believed anyone would love you… who was going to try and live a life without love when you’re brimming with it… This was the first time I had seen something that could have led somewhere!”

Amanda touches their intertwined pinkies. “I had seen Jiro with the string tied to his finger. I had seen this one, and it was the only one. I know it might sound strange, but even if you have friends you hold dear, it doesn’t mean that they’re able to give you the thing you’re so desperate to have. Jiro was that one that embodied everything you desired… I think. And haven’t you felt it all these weeks you have phoned and messaged each other?”

Jyushi nods. “Of course I have, but-“

“No buts, Jyushi. I won’t allow it!” Amanda says firmly. “Jiro is your fated partner. The one that will give you the happiness you deserve. The one who will embrace all of you, and love you for who you are. There’s nothing else to say beyond that… normal relationship obstacles are of course, going to happen. But This isn’t something the gods are doing to play tricks on you. They’re giving you a chance at happiness when all you’ve experienced in years past was hurt, betrayal, and loss. So be thankful for that, and just continue being with Jiro as you desire.”

“Team “Fated Partners Underneath the Elegant Moonlight,” it is now your turn.”

Jyushi presses the button and they watch as their avatar lands into a space of fate itself. “You enter the lottery on a whim and win the jackpot? Gain 200 billion yen?!” 

“See Jyushi? I think even the game is trying to tell you something.” Jiro says. He pulls their connection and pulls Jyushi into his arms in the form of a secure hug. “What I think Amanda is saying is that there was a reason why we had clicked so easily, call it fate or whatever. This connection though, it ain’t weakening. It’s only getting stronger, and that’s something I’m more than aware of. Even if you worry about the future, I won’t. Like you had trust in our relationship the other day, I have trust in our relationship too. So don’t ever think that we’ll somehow reach an unhappy ending, okay?”

Jyushi clings to the flannel covering Jiro’s back and can’t help the shuddering sobs that escape him. “I-I try not to, but sometimes it just happens, and then-“

“And then you come to me. Or Amanda. Or both of us. Whenever you feel like this, don’t bottle it inside yourself. We’ll take those insecurities and crush the hell outta them, so then you don’t have to worry about a thing while you’re with us.”

“Because that Jyushi… that’s love too, you know.” Amanda says. 

“So we’re not just gonna suddenly fight and break up? You won’t just wake up one day and think I’m not good enough?” Jyushi hides his face as the tears well up and fall on Jiro’s flannel.

Jiro doesn’t want to hear the broken hearted Jyushi ever again. Hearing it like this is harsh enough. He knows about Jyushi’s hardships… and that means he knows Jyushi’s reasons aren’t groundless. But just merely thinking that Jyushi fully believes that they won’t have a happy ending irks Jiro. He wants to dive into Jyushi’s past and pummel all those bullies to the ground. “It won’t happen, Jyushi. I may not be good with words at times like this, but I know I won’t do something like that to Jyushi. As long as we talk things out, and properly sort out all our problems the best we can… we’ll be alright. None of those “break up scenarios” will ever happen. I love you too much to hurt you, ya know…”

Jyushi hugs Jiro tighter.

“... Thank you for saying that, Jiro…”

Jiro continues to hold Jyushi close to him. “I don’t know if it helped any… but I’m always gonna be there for you.”

The stiff nod he gets in response is enough for Jiro.

Jiro and Jyushi continued to enjoy their Life Game… until someone almost robbed them of their money. Thanks to Jyushi’s lucky choice, they maintained their money. But that ticked Jiro off and he used their attack card from the beginning of the game as payback. 

Jiro looks awfully proud of all the money they received in turn, something close to 10 billion yen.

“Say Jyushi… what would you do with 10 billion yen?”

Jyushi shrugs. “Maybe I’d buy a house of my own?”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

“Where else, silly? Ikebukuro of course! Then, I’d turn the apartment I’m living in into my work studio, and then have a place I can call home that houses the one that I love the most, with all the memories I cherish with him… and my closest friend, of course.”

Jiro can’t help the grin that spreads across his face, but then the realization dawns on him. “But you’d still be traveling like crazy!”

“But you love Ikebukuro the way I love Nagoya, Jiro. There’s just no way I’d force you away from the place you called home for me. Not to mention your brothers…” Jyushi shakes his head, a gentle smile on his face. “I don’t mind traveling a few hours by train if it means I get that kind of life.”

Jiro sighs as he leans against the table where their control panel lies. “This sounds like adult talk to be honest. It’s all complicated when we think about long distance relationships and the places we call “home…” How did we even manage in the first place?!”

Amanda pops their head out of Jyushi’s crossbody and waves their stuffed appendages. “Lots of communication Jiro. I’m not even sure if the level of your communication amounted to normal relationships to be honest. But your messages made Jyushi happy. I’m happy about that.”

“Amanda…” Jyushi says softly and Amanda does their best to shrug. “It’s not like it would be some gravely kept secret or something, Jyushi. I know Jiro’s messages made you happy, and you always looked forward to them, even more than those messages from your close friends. And even though you may have desired to just jump on every single train heading to Ikebukuro, you waited until Jiro was off for summer vacation. I don’t know about you, but I think that sort of consideration and pure hearted thoughts towards Jiro amounted to much more than you two ever realize.”

Amanda looks up at the ceiling with a fondness in their voice. “It’s understandable that this is your first relationship, so you want to do things without messing anything up. But do realize that even if we say the gods were in play to bring you two together, it was you two who solidified that opportunity and forged it into what it has become today. So these messages and phone calls, the comfort the other brings, the actions you two do… it isn’t “fate.” It’s simply you two being infatuated with each other.”

“Team “Fated Partners Underneath the Eternal Moonlight,” it is now your turn.”

Jyushi presses the virtual dice and Amanda looks at Jiro. They reach out until Jiro grabs their stuffed appendage. Amanda then takes Jyushi’s hand in their other stuffed limb and slowly brings them together with a smile. “All you two have done… it’s based on the affection you two hold for each other. And I want you two to keep that in mind forever as you progress through life with this relationship by your side. Being an adult will have its struggles. But this relationship should never be one of those struggles. You two have tons of time to ponder about the future, or whether or not fate made you do things that brought you two together. But for now, just enjoy what you two have. If you don’t enjoy the joys of youth while you can, what’s the point of having this youth, you know?”

“What is this Amanda? You're telling us to act stupid?” Jiro teased and Amanda laughs. “I don’t think you two would do anything stupid per say… but do let loose and have fun while you can.”

“But I think we’re already having more than enough fun as it is Amanda.” Jyushi says back and Amanda shakes their head. “It’s not enough, Jyushi!! More and more! Act more like the teenager you still are, Jyushi!!!”

After the cute staring contest between Jyushi and his stuffed best friend, they end up laughing and calling it a draw. Jiro tightens his hold on Jyushi’s hand and grins. “So, last turn we ended up getting some funky attack card. Wanna try it out before the game ends?”

Jyushi reads the description of the attack card and laughs. “After all the money we saved, you wanna leave it up to chance?”

“Why not? I mean, my luck landed me a wonderfully talented musician boyfriend who’s one of the hottest vocalists of the country. Shouldn’t that amount to something at the very least?”

“But don’t you think there’s a difference between real life luck and game luck?” Jyushi counters and after a long time, Jiro shrugs. “Is my game luck shitty then?”

“We might never know… Maybe Saburo-kun’s luck is just too good it makes yours pale in comparison.”

Jiro shuts one eye and shoots Jyushi one of his grins that makes Jyushi’s heart flip in a good way. “Okay then. What about you? How’s your luck?”

“You shouldn’t ask me that Jiro. I don’t really play games, so I wouldn’t know. I do have a bad feeling that we would lose if we activated that card though.” Jyushi grabs Jiro’s hands in his own. “If we lost all our savings, I wouldn’t be able to take Jiro out on a wonderful vacation as a retirement present.”

Jiro’s smile falters for a moment before the grin spreads even further.  “Oh yeah? And where would you take me with all this cash?”

“Wherever Jiro wants to go.” Jyushi lists off places, even casually mentioning a trip around the world which makes Jiro laugh. The game ends in the middle of their conversation and they don’t even realize that they were the ones to have won the limited edition board until Amanda breaks them from their retirement fantasy. But even when they go to receive their prize, they banter about how they would spend their retirement money, and it keeps them going until they’ve long left the venue… without Jiro’s friends.

“Oi! Wait up bastards!!” Jiro’s friends frantically chase after them and the two turn around, somewhat surprised. “Eh? Takahashi-kun?”

Takahashi crosses his arms across his chest. “Don’t Eh? me! You were so engrossed in your conversation with each other you aren’t reveling in your victory! Or hear us on that matter!!”

Jiro laughs it off and Jyushi looks somewhat sheepish about that. But… Jiro’s friends end up dropping it fairly quickly. After all, they are aware of the fact that Jiro and Jyushi can’t spend this kind of time together normally. “Well, I’m gonna take this from you two while you decide on how you’d spend your retirement funds.” Takahashi confiscates the box of the Life Game from them and walks away with it, Jiro’s other friends trailing close behind. While they ooh and aah the marvel of the special pieces and other special tidbits from the box, they look up for that split second to see the couple in action.

Jyushi presses a full on kiss to Jiro’s lips, somewhat a combination of stopping their debate on the usage of their retirement funds, and just because Jyushi wanted to do it. Jiro feels the trembling of Jyushi’s hands as he clings to Jiro’s own flannel, and as well as on his own lips. But even more than that, it almost seemed… special.

“Was there something special to that?” Jiro mutters softly as Jyushi’s smile is illuminated by the sunlight. The tears he sheds glisten in the sunlight and this time, Jiro knows they aren’t tears of sadness. “I’m just happy I got to experience something like this with Jiro.”

Jiro wipes the tears away gingerly, even going so far as swiping Jyushi’s perfectly set fringe to the side so he can wipe the tears from Jyushi’s covered eye as well. When he does, he gives Jyushi the brightest smile yet. “It’s simply the beginning of all the stuff we’ll get to do, right?”

With a nod, Jyushi lets himself be comforted by Jiro’s closeness until Jiro’s friends make their presence known again. “Hey lovebirds! If you keep forgetting about us, we’re just gonna take this from you!”

Jiro turns towards his friends and he wants to wipe those shirt-eating grins off of their faces. Before he can do that though, Jyushi holds him back. “That’s not good Jiro… We need to touch up your foundation and lipstick….” With a defeated groan, Jiro lets Jyushi touch up his makeup before chasing his friends. 

While those four have their own fun, Jyushi hides out in one of the shaded areas to do his own touch up. When the final strand of hair is set once again, he sees Jiro and his friends have picked up food to eat. Snapping the foundation container closed and placing all items back inside the cosmetics bag, Jyushi cleans up the table for everyone to sit at. 

They spent an enjoyable time laughing about moves they pulled in their Life Game. After they finished eating their late lunch, Jyushi is dragged by Jiro’s friends, leaving Jiro to deal with the trash.

“Wha- What about Jiro? Shouldn’t we wait for him?” Jyushi is almost like jelly compared to the strength of Jiro’s friends. It might be because they are more physically active than him. But even so… they were straying farther and farther away from Jiro and it almost worried Jyushi.

“We wanted to spend a minute with you alone, Jyushi.” After finding a place to stand underneath the shade, the three of them hug Jyushi. The action is so shocking to Jyushi that he can’t process what is actually happening for a few moments. “Eh? Um… Why are you guys suddenly hugging me?”

“We just wanna thank you, Jyushi!” Takahashi starts with.

“Thank me? For what…?”

“For loving Jiro, of course!”

“Almost everyone knows about the Yamada brothers… and people who don’t know them only have pity for them. Instead though… you have done something that’s been impossible all this time.”

Jyushi blinks distantly for a few moments. “Well… I don’t know if it was me per say… I think it was Jiro himself that was allowing himself this opportunity to love someone.” Jiro’s friends all step away a little to look at Jyushi with a lost expression.

Jyushi clasps his hands together. “Jiro once told me… that he thought love was some sort of fantasy. Love wasn’t real… at least, romantic love. Familial love was all he could rely on. I don’t know if I did anything special. But he had searched high and low for Amanda… my precious friend. And when he had returned… Amanda in hand… I had felt something there. He taught me a lot about his family situation right there… like it was natural to do. And just like it was easy to do that… I found that it was easy to just… kiss Jiro that day.” A smile spreads at the recollection of that memorable scene. “I’m just grateful that Jiro has opened himself up to this relationship… and I’m grateful that I found someone who would hurt or betray me. These past couple of months have been the best months I’ve had for a long, long while. Being able to communicate with Jiro even though we’re so far apart has been the best part of my day. And now that I get to see him in person for these special few days… it’s all I could ask for. I’ll take everything that I can get for these days. A-And I won’t demand him to leave the place he loves. Of course, I’d want to show him the allure of Nagoya but… right now I just want to indulge in this rare moment that we have together…..”

Jiro’s friends quickly rub their tears away. “JYUUUUUSHIIIIIIII!!!!” They’re all about to tackle Jyushi in another group hug when Jiro’s hot on their trail. “Oi!!! HANDS OFF MY BOYFRIEND!!”

Takahashi laughs as he drags Jyushi and the eldest of them finds himself trapped in a dragging competition of sorts. This chase happens throughout most of the amusement park until they spot the haunted house. Takahashi snickers. “This is the perfect place to hide!!”

Jyushi feels a cold sweat run down his back. “H-H-Haunted house? I-I… I’m not good with scary things…”

Takahashi points to the three of them, self proclaimed horror enthusiasts. “You won’t have anything to worry about, since we’re with you!”

Jiro’s friends continue to hold Jyushi hostage and the chilling breeze of the building’s air conditioner only makes Jyush’s heart sink to the bottom of his stomach.

The entryway is lightly lit with candles on both sides of the wall. It’s almost reminiscent of how Jyushi decorated his own apartment. But then everything changed the moment Jiro’s friends go left instead of right like Jyushi thought they should’ve gone.

A closet to their right bursts open as a staff member dressed in all white jumps out. Jiro’s friends all scream and drop Jyushi’s hands. The speed they hightailed it out of there is almost praise-worthy… if it weren’t for the fact that they left Jyushi on his own.

“W-W-What do I do Amanda…?!” Jyushi fumbles with the zipper on his bag and brings his friend out.

“Maybe the right side is a safer route?” Amanda asks. Jyushi nervously nods and retraces his steps towards the beginning split. The sounds of people screaming, and the chilling atmosphere make Jyushi tremble, and he squeezes the life out of Amanda. Luckily for Amanda, they don’t feel pain, only worry for Jyushi.

Fat tears form, but never fall with the way Jyushi refuses to close his eyes. It all changes the moment he hears a door creak open.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Jyushi’s legs fail him and he crashes to the floor. The sobs run through his body like never before, and the staff member almost seems lost when it seems like Jyushi could just faint there.

“Jyushi?!!” Jiro’s voice rings out and Jyushi looks around frantically. “J-Jiro?!!!” Jyushi tries to lay his weight on his legs but he can’t stand up yet. Luckily, Jiro turns the corner and spots him, if only by his blonde highlights lightly illuminated by the dark light. 

“Jyushi! There you are!!” Jiro crouches down and pulls him for a hug. “Where are my friends?”

Jyushi shakes his head as he catches his breath to will himself to stop crying. “T-They all ran off. I don’t know if they made it out or not though…”

“I should’ve figured they would have done something like this. They’re scared of horror things like I am too, and they still do stupid shit like this…”

Jiro slowly brings Jyushi to his feet, letting his boyfriend lean on him while his body remembers how it’s like to stand up. The staff member points farther down the hallway, which may have been their way of showing mercy to Jyushi who really looked like he needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Jiro takes a slow approach down the hallway, until Jyushi can walk faster. When he can, they speed down the hallway, despite the amount of obstacles in their way. Jiro screams when one of the closets burst open and he almost punches out the staff member in defense. Jyushi almost rips Jiro’s flannel with the way he clutches to the material. But while Jiro’s sweating like crazy, legs trembling and heart racing, Jyushi is crying nonstop. His slightly larger frame hides behind Jiro and while he warns Jiro against doing things that bring out staff members, he can’t do much when he’s just crying nonstop without much to stop it.

Jiro takes them around another corner, which seemed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a long hallway, and the bright daylight could be seen at the end. “L-Look Jyushi. I think that’s the exit.”

Jyushi’s sobs stop suddenly and he looks up. “Y-You’re right! S-Sunlight! Let’s go Jiro!!” Jyushi begins running towards the light and Jiro can’t help but feel something foreboding. “Wait Jyushi… I don’t think this is it…”

Before he can grab Jyushi though, a trap door from above them opens and a hanging mannequin dressed in bloodied white robes drops in front of Jyushi. From behind, a symphony of groans resound as the staff members all come out of their hiding spots.

Jyushi screams until he faints. Jiro is shocked at the sudden development and rushes to haul Jyushi out of the haunted house. Jiro runs out of the haunted house, bypassing a whole lot of people and running a good portion of the park to stop by a shaded area with benches.

Laying Jyushi down on the bench, Jiro slumps against the bench with a sigh. He gives himself as much time needed to purge the experience from his brain. Even though he learned Jyushi can’t handle horror, he didn’t need to learn it to the extent that Jyushi himself cried and screamed to the point of fainting. 

At least, they won’t have to argue about horror movies being a genre of choice for movie nights.

Slowly, Jyushi eventually regains consciousness and opens his eyes to see the blue open sky. “J-Jiro!!” Jyushi bolts upright as he looks back and forth frantically for his boyfriend.

“I’m here, Jyushi… I’m here…” Jiro takes Jyushi’s hand inside his own and tears well in those bright blue eyes again. “I-I thought we’d die in there…”

“Luckily, I managed to get us out.” Jiro manages to crack a smile, but it only prompts Jyushi to sob some more. “I-I’m sorry Jiro! A part of me is supposed to love horror, but truthfully? I can’t handle it at all! I-I’m older than you and yet I couldn’t even protect you!”

Jiro strokes Jyushi’s head, urging him closer so they can hug. “It’s okay Jyushi. I was too worried about you to worry too much about the scary shit happening to us, so I take that as a victory. But I don’t think age has a significance when it comes to handling horror.”

Jyushi sniffs before grabbing Jiro’s flannel tightly in his hands. “P-Promise me we won’t go there ever again. I can’t have ghosts taking you or Amanda away from me….”

“Nobody will take me! I can assure you of that much, Jyushi!” Amanda protests. Jiro can’t help but crack a helpless smile. “I’m glad you asked that. I’d rather not have to deal with that kinda scary shit again.” As they hug Jiro’s friends look relieved when they find the two, but it’s quite short lived.

Because Jiro spots them. 

After kicking their asses Takahashi and the others apologize for leaving Jyushi inside the haunted house. “We seriously thought you were right behind us! But after we hightailed it out of there we only realized then you weren’t with us… A-And we didn’t have the guts to go back inside to search for you…. We’re sorry!!”

After wiping the tears away as carefully as possible, Jyushi smiles. “It’s okay. At least we all managed to get out…”

And after that, everything horror-related was banned. They rode attractions until the sun began to set and Takahashi pushes Jiro and Jyushi towards the line for the Ferris wheel. Jiro gives him a questioning glance, but after Takahashi puts something into his hand, he smiles. “Take it as my apology gift, alright?”

The line moves and before Jiro can even ask Takahashi about this, he and Jyushi are forced inside their compartment. As Jyushi contemplates sitting next to Jiro, or across from him, Jiro looks at what Takahashi stuffed into his hand.

“These are some coupons for that hella expensive hotel!” That makes Jyushi jump. Deciding to slide into a seat next to Jiro, he looks at the coupon. “Wow! This is a high-class hotel… how did Takahashi-kun even have these?”

Jiro shakes his head. “That guy… he does everything and anything for the sake of romance. At heart he’s a kind guy but… I guess it doesn’t always translate so his relationships never last long. He’s a dreamer though, and he won’t give up until he achieves his summer of love, and a lasting relationship.”

They slowly ascend to the top and Jyushi takes in the sights of Ikebukuro from a distance. “Ah, there’s Yorozuya Yamada!”

Jiro laughs. “What the hell, my schools over there!”

“And this is where I saw Jiro play soccer….”

“And that street, if you walk a bit further, is where you’ll see the arcade.”

Jyushi takes in the sights with a smile. “I’m glad I’m staying here for a little bit.”

Jiro takes that moment to hug his amazing boyfriend. “Is there somewhere you wanna go tomorrow?” Jyushi shakes his head. “To be honest… not really. I could be quite satisfied with just staying at your home…”

“Well, maybe Nii-chan has some simple requests to do around town. If you’re up to it, you’d get to see the residential areas that take care of us. All the aunties always give us fresh vegetables and snacks, it’s always nice to chat with them too sometimes.”

Jyushi shudders at the idea of conversation, but he also likes the idea of seeing a residential area that takes care of the Yamadas. Maybe if it’s for a couple of minutes… it will be okay for him. “If we don’t have long conversations with them… I’d like to at least meet the kind people who take care of you and Ichiro-san and Saburo-kun.”

Jiro takes that as a good enough answer and he tightens his grip on his boyfriend. Somehow, enjoying the sights like this with Jyushi was magical in its own charming way. Almost… “Picture perfect…” Jiro’s whisper doesn’t go unnoticed by Jyushi, who does snap a couple pictures of Ikebukuro from a little distance. But then he urges Jiro to look away from the sight and it’s almost comical how they try to get the camera angle just right while they’re ascending and not descending. But they get a good shot of them and Ikebukuro’s sunset shaded buildings behind them. It’s yet another memory in the collection of memories, but still appreciated all the same.

“I can’t believe I still have so many days left of my trip…” Jyushi takes Amanda out and they take this opportunity to stretch and stay out of the bag for a little while. “You’ll make a ton of memories though, Jyushi. Memories that will be cherished even more when you two have to part…”

“Amanda’s right about that.” Jiro laughs at the way that Amanda chases after Jyushi’s hand for some pats on their head, or elsewhere, but he also puts a couple fingers on Amanda and affectionately rubs their head while Jyushi stroked their back. “Today was kinda chaotic, but it was fun. And thanks to Takahashi, we can go to a high class restaurant some time before you leave.”

Jyushi shakes his head. “We don’t need to. I don’t need to enjoy something like that in order to have fun with Jiro. But if you don’t want Takahashi-san’s kindness to go to waste, we should definitely go then.”

They get engrossed in their own conversation of whether or not high-class hotels and restaurants are more satisfying in accordance to their price and don’t even realize they’re done with their cycle around the Ferris wheel until the doors open.

Jiro’s friends meet up with them and Takahashi nudges Jiro on the side. “Soooo… was it romantic?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jiro furrows his eyebrows and Takahashi gives him an “are you serious?!” expression. “I mean your ride on the Ferris wheel of course! Like? Did you guys enjoy the moment of privacy to, I don’t know… make out like crazy?! It looks like you guys were engrossed in a conversation over high-class and quality! Was that all you guys did?!”

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about? Just because we’re going out doesn’t mean that we take every spare minute we have together to make out!” Jiro hisses, and Jyushi tries his hardest to get engrossed in the other conversations Jiro’s friends are trying to bring him into to prevent his ears from burning even further.

Takahashi pouts. “Aww man. You guys aren’t fully embracing the soul of your relationship!”

Jiro deadpans. “And you might embrace yours too much. Not everyone likes kissing monsters you know.”

Takahashi shrugs. “One day, I’ll find my match. But enough about me… What about you? ”

“What?”

“Are you alright with how your relationship is going? You’ve been “dating” for two months. But you’ve only seen each other for less than a week. But despite the lack of physical contact, there’s something more underneath…. isn’t there?”

Jiro looks straight ahead at Jyushi, who looks at the back of his newly acquired Life Game box with fascination. With a small smile Jiro pulls the brim of his baseball cap down. “I think we’d rather not have to cross that line. Not now at least.”

Takahashi crosses his arms. “Well, stepping over the line is a serious thing. It might not seem important to some our age, but this relationship is considered an important first for both of you. I take it though… you two are aware of that spark of sexual tension that’s made itself known?”

A long moment of silence. “We’ve been victims to it…”

“And the decision you two have decided on is to not think about it right now?”

Jiro shrugs. “Kinda. I think what Jyushi prefers is that we continue with what we have already established while he’s here. I support that because there’s no way I want whatever happens because of these… developments to negatively affect how he enjoys his time here.”

“So what happens when that sexual tension makes itself known again?”

“We’ll just cross that bridge when it comes I guess.”

With a sigh, Takahashi gives Jiro a couple slaps to his back. “At the very least, know that this isn’t your fault. Things like this happen because you two are teenagers. The height of youth. But as long as you two have made a decision that you won’t regret, that’s all I can do.”

Jiro grins at his friend. “Thanks for that though, Takahashi.”

“Anything for my bud.”

When they all go their separate ways, Takahashi invites Jyushi out to check out the indoor mall that’s a little ways away from all their homes. Immediately thinking about gifts for his friends, he agrees. They make the day of meeting a couple days from then. Before Takahashi leaves them though, he gives Jyushi a mixed expression… like he wants to say something, but doesn’t think that it’s his place to do so. 

Instead, he smiles and gives a thumbs up. “Take some time and enjoy the sights a little, Jyushi!”

Jyushi waves them all off with a big smile of his own. “I will!”

As they begin their journey home, Jiro looks at the back of the Life Game they have won. “Oh, don’t you think this piece looks kinda like Amanda?”

“I was thinking the same thing! Like… maybe when I play this next, I’ll use that piece.”

Jiro gives Jyushi a charming smile, one Jyushi might have been attracted to from the beginning. “You’ll still be around when we play our round of whatever board game Saburo chooses. Maybe you can ask him to play the Life Game.”

“But Saburo-kun has a whole ton of board games, right? I’ve.. never really played games like this before so I think it would be better to try out a bunch of them while I can.”

Jiro ponders on it and then shrugs. “If that’s what you’ve decided on, then I’ll support it.”

At that moment, Amanda pops out of Jyushi’s bag, and their stuffed appearance seems to radiate something. “Jyushi! Look at this!”

“What is it, Amanda?” Jyushi is surprised when Amanda gives him his phone. But he’s even more surprised over the pictures that have suddenly appeared on his camera roll.

“Honestly, I didn’t know if any of my movements registered since you know… But while you two were enjoying the view you guys looked so… beautiful I couldn’t help myself! I had to try!!”

They were facing away from the camera, looking out towards the orange-hued scenery. Then with arms wrapped around Jyushi’s waist, Jiro rocks them back and forth. And Amanda just had to catch the most intimate moment of all… where their eyes lock and their foreheads touch.

“It’s beautiful Amanda… How did you even manage!!”

Amanda procures a stylus pen. “You carry this around, but more often than not, you forget about it… I’m glad you packed it though because I can do things like this!!”

Jiro’s face heats up at the unfiltered amount of intimacy that oozes out of the image, but after a while, he gives up. Being with Jyushi makes him act like a fool sometimes. But it is still an experience he wants to have, and he wouldn’t dare give this to anyone else in the world.

“Will you send it over to me?” Jyushi nods. “Of course I will…”

“And sent! You’re welcome Jiro.”

Jiro pokes Amanda with a grin. “You little pig. Thanks for everything.”

Amanda does their best shrug. “I didn’t do anything. I’m just supporting Jyushi on his journey of happiness. You two are doing all the hard work!”

“Ah Jiro!! How did you like wearing makeup today?” Jyushi asks as they swing their hands back and forth between them.

“Surprisingly, it almost feels like nothing’s on my skin. Weird huh?” Jiro scratches the side of his head. “Honestly, I won’t do this kinda stuff on my own. But if I’m doing this stuff with Jyushi, I think things will be alright.”

With a grin, Jyushi takes in the new information. “Then… would you be willing to try again a couple days from now?”

Jiro thinks about it for a moment before nodding. “I can’t see why not.”

Amanda sees the way Jyushi brightens up at Jiro’s open mind towards his interests and their heart soars.

Another day, and another time Amanda is proven to be right about Yamada Jiro. 

“Yeah Jyushi! You should try to give Jiro the stage look!”

Jyushi chuckles. “I didn’t pack my stage makeup Amanda! We can save it for when Jiro comes to us though.”

Jiro squints at the two, almost deathly afraid of what “stage makeup” entails, but doubt gives way to laughter.  Jovial laughs erupt from Jyushi and Jiro as Amanda livens up their conversations with quirky lines. How tomorrow will be, they do not know. But with hands held tight, and eyes looking straight ahead for tomorrow, nothing will go wrong.

Amanda is sure of that.