Chapter Text
“WHAT?”
It was all Ryuu could say as he stared, shocked and wide eyed, at his arch enemy Gero Akoya.
His arch enemy who had just declared to have feelings for his best friend.
Yumoto, Atsushi, and En looked surprised as well, but their shock was overshadowed by a strange sort of concern and curiosity with which they looked at Ryuu.
How can they be so calm!? The pink haired battle lover cursed. He turned back to Akoya, a fist raised.
“You can’t be serious! You just can’t be!” The boy before him expected such a reaction. He tried maintaining calm and collected, but wasn’t able to fight a slightly smug grin.
“You heard me, did you not? I plan on romantically perusing your fellow club member Naruki Io.” Ryuu blushed at his words, immediately shaking his head.
“Th-that's no-! H-how di-!” The boy stuttered, stupidly, in Akoya's opinion. He sighed at the "obvious" sign of incompetence.
“I came here so you would all be aware of my intentions. I have nothing to hide and I have no intention of letting any of you get in my way.” His eyes narrowed at Ryuu, who almost gave a step back before remembering his outrage.
“Y-you don't even know Io! How can you possibly be saying that you have f-feelings for him!”
“Oh, I plan on getting to know him quite intimately.“ The blue eyed boy smirked venomously. Ryuu’s face was bright red and he scowled in anger, ready to slash out at the student council member.
“Y-you- agh!” Atsushi and En swooped at him and held him in place. Ryuu struggled against them for a second before Akoya’s laughter froze him.
“I’m glad you’re all taking this so well! I thought I might find a bit more of an opposition.” His eyes gleamed with something akin to malice. “But it looks like some people are just not ready to face their true feelings.” Ryuu looked away, confused and frightened by the inner turmoil of his mind and heart.“I’ll take my leave then! Good day, Boueibu.”
The door closed and they all stayed standing that way for a moment longer. Ryuu roughly pulled away from his friends’ grip.
“Let go.” He muttered. The anger was almost completely gone, in exchange for confusion, exhaustion, and dread. He set his head against the palm of his hand tiredly.
“Ryuu…” Atsushi began softly. He wanted to help his friend, but did not really know where he stood. Hell, not even Ryuu knew where he stood.
“Don’t.” The pink haired boy stated. He pulled his hand away from his face and into his pockets. “I’m going for a walk.” Without looking back, he exited the room.
It all made sense now, why he had gotten those weird vibes form Akoya since the first time they met. He never had a reason to dislike the boy, but something had felt wrong since the start and now it had come back to bite him.
He has feelings for Io.
Ryuu immediately felt a wave of nausea hit him as he held his head once more. This was affecting him way too much and he didn’t understand why.
Why can’t I stand the idea of it!? I can’t! I just can’t!
A part of Ryuu wanted to go find Io before Akoya did and make sure the student council member never laid eyes on him again, but a bigger stronger part of him felt defeated and hollow, and wished to hide from Io forevermore.
“I can’t listen to either of those…” Ryuu murmured, continuing his walk through the high school grounds. “I wish all these… stupid feelings… would just disappear…”
But what feelings? Ryuu didn’t even know, he just knew they were there and did nothing but hurt him. Frustrated, he found a spot under a tree and threw himself under its shade, staring up at its leaves. He laid there and thought of nothing until his whole body went numb.
Emotionlessly, he got to his feet an unknown period of time later and walked back to the Earth defense club. He entered the room to find everyone still there. They all looked at him but nervously stayed quiet, and Ryuu used this opportunity to take out his phone, which he had been uncharacteristically ignoring, to check the time. He had been out for an hour.
“Has Io been here?” He asked without thinking, immediately feeling his heart beat increase tenfold. Stop it!
“No.” Atsushi said carefully. In that moment though, the door opened to reveal that certain someone. He was quiet as he entered, and noticed the way everyone except for Ryuu turned to look at him. Immediately En and Atsushi stood up. “So, we’re going to go… Come, Yumoto!” They practically dragged the blonde out of the room, who dragged wombat, who dragged Mr. Tawarayama.
Somehow that messy exit had done nothing to relax the tension between the two members that were left. Ryuu was suddenly blushing terribly and he didn’t even now why. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Io.
“Ryuu.” The boy winced, forcing himself to snap out of it and look at his friend. They stayed staring at each other in silence, both knowing something was going on but unsure what to label it as. “I thought you’d want to know…” The green haired boy hesitated before continuing. “I’ve been asked out on a date by Gero Akoya.”
Ryuu felt a cold weight in his stomach but laughed it off suddenly, trying to pretend that he couldn't feel his own lip tremble in disagreement of his smile.
“Ahaha that Gero! So ridiculous! There's no way that would ever happen!” He said, clinging to denial with tooth and nail. Io watched him, reactionless.
“I said yes.”
Ryuu felt like he had been slapped. The entire world seemed to be spinning.
“W-what? W-why?!” His voice was shaky and he could see it affecting Io as he fought to remain emotionless.
“Why not?” He answered almost coldly, almost daringly. Ryuu stared at him like a deer in the headlights, feeling lost and unstable. Io’s frame seemed to slump lightly as he sighed and looked away. “If there is… anything… you need to say… you should.” Those words made no sense to Ryuu, but caused him great panic. He opened his mouth but it was dry unable to make a sound.
Io looked at him and gave him a sad smile, which suddenly made Ryuu want to cry. His friend shook his head and turned away.
“See you tomorrow.” And the door closed, leaving Ryuu alone.