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Another exhausting day as an idol, and the worst of all, without a girl in sight for the whole day. Not that it mattered that much anymore like before, but the blonde teen still longed for a female’s touch. Maybe he should go for a walk in the city, but ah, what will he do once he gets there? Flirt with some pretty random girl and have his ways with her. No. If the public found out, his career as an idol would be over.
Anyhow, Kaoru leisurely dragged his feet across the corridors of the academy and opened the door to his shared room. As expected, the silver-haired male quietly sat on his bed eyeing his collections of stones under a magnifying glass, not noticing his roommate's entrance. The blonde didn’t really mind since he wasn’t expecting the eden’s leader's attention, the long silence they always held between them has grown normal and none really dared to really speak to the other without a specific reason.
Well, there was one time they watched a documentary together and afterwards even went for a walk on the beach. The soothing sound of the waves hitting against the shore and the sunset’s reflection dazzling against the clear water’s surface. Next to all, long wavy silver hair soaring in the ocean’s mild breeze and the gentle smile spread across the pale lips of an enchanting young man… Kaoru immediately shook his head as he slowly laid himself down on his own bed, eyes locked with the ceiling. Why was his roommate suddenly in his mind as he pictured the serene scenery of the beach? Worst of all, how could he remember it in such detail?
His muddled mind soon cleared up as soon brown eyes met red ones. Those ruby red eyes belonging to none other than his roommate, Nagisa, who was now standing besides his bed and looking down at the blonde as if he was another pretty rock in his collection. “...Kaoru-kun…” Nagisa slowly started, his voice sweeping and soft. He straight away caught the undead’s idol's attention.
“Y-yes? Do you need something, Ran-kun?” Kaoru bashfully asked, quickly sitting up, covering the fact that he was just thinking about the person that approached him. He noticed a conch shell in the silverhead’s hands; it was the blond’s gift to the other male during their time on the beach. The way those red eyes shone with a hint of a child-like curiosity when they were told that the shell could reproduce the sound of the ocean was an adorable sight. Ah, but didn’t Nagisa give him a scientific lecture right after? Not that it mattered.
The stutter in Kaoru’s voice went overlooked and he continued to speak. “…When will you show me this place you talked to me about?” He tilted his head to the side as he asked and showed the conch shell closer to his roommate, hoping that it would suffice to make the blonde remember their conversation on the beach.
‘Place you talked about?... what place?’ It took the undead’s members some time to understand what the gray haired was talking about. Lips spread into a faint smile as soon his brown gaze returned to the conch. He remembers now. "Oh! Do you mean the Aquarium?"
"...Aquarium… yes." deliberately repeated the other, his face inexpressive as ever. Ran felt a slight sense of relief when he noticed the blond’s eyes on the conch shell. “...You gave me this shell during our stroll on the beach. I believe you remember.”
Of course Kaoru remembers, it was the only thing that was revolving his mind as soon he saw the item. He nodded. “Of course I remember. I’m glad you still keep it with you.” Knowing that the eden’s leader has this peculiar hobby of collecting rocks, it was nearly surprising that a simple conch had found its place in his precious collection. “Do you like it?”
“...Yes.” Ran almost immediately answered, he loved it. “...When I hold it close to my ear, I can still hear the ocean…” he said and simultaneously did so as he speaked. The blonde swore he could catch a brief glimpse of the siverhead’s lips smile before it shortly turned into its usual thin line. “...Are you perhaps busy at the moment? Should we go another time?”
Kaoru shook his head and stood up. It would be rude to refuse his roommate. He planned to go out anyway, maybe he’ll find a pretty girl on his way. “Let’s go, whenever you’re ready.”
Both got quickly changed and made their way out of the building. They received a few curious gazes from the other idols, wondering where that odd pair was going. It’s not an everyday occurance to see the Eden leader and an Undead member walk side by side like this, nor did anyone expect that to ever happen.
Not much was discussed during their walk to the Aquarium, it wasn’t that far, but the silence was still slightly unbearable. Unbearable for Kaoru at least. Ran’s mind was wandering in the clouds as they walked, not noticing how the blonde longed to have a chat over irrelevant topics to pass the time. “Say… Ran-kun. Did you ever have a crush?”
“....Crush what?” Ran slowly replied, unable to completely understand the other’s sudden question. He tilted his head and blinked. Crush in what sense? He didn’t want to be impolite and continued. “... I think I understand what you mean, Yes. I did crush my enemies in the past in an hellish but imperative manner. To restore…” He was cut off by his companion.
That wasn’t what he meant. “Nono, what I mean is… did you ever like a girl very much? You know, like love someone?”
Red eyes turned up to the sky, the gray-head rubbed his chin in a pensive manner, trying to find a specific girl he truly cared for. “...Do you mean in a romantic sense? If so… no, I do not believe I ever found myself attracted to anyone in such manner. Nor do I understand how I should identify such feelings.” He mumbled and rolled his eyes to the man beside him. “...Did you have a ‘crush’ before, Kaoru-kun?”
“Of course! I had many.” Kaoru somehow noticed the confusion in Nagisa’s inexpressive expression when the gray-head whispered ‘...many’ in a quiet puzzling voice. “Yes, many. I tried to impress many girls some years ago. I changed though.”
There was a word that popped up in Nagisa’s head as soon the blonde finished speaking. “...So you were a pervert, yes?” he smiled.
That sudden title Kaoru received caught him off guard. “W-What?!” He wasn’t expecting to hear such a vulgar word coming out from the always so righteous looking Ran Nagisa’s lips. It was a little amusing, just a little.
Kaoru’s loud reaction didn’t go unnoticed. “...uhm…did I say something wrong?” You could tell that the idol wasn’t meaning it in a bad way. “...Hiyori-kun told me that perverts are those kind of people that are a lot around different girls. But oh, maybe I didn’t phrase this right… sorry.” He simply couldn't tell if a word is bad or good sometimes.
“Haha, is that so? Don’t worry, I kind of figured you didn’t mean it that way.” He lied and laughed it off. Dropping the topic might be the wisest choice, it doesn’t seem like anything good might come out of it.
Anyhow, both now stood in the Aquarium’s entrance, a poster was hung up on the wall, mainly a big picture of a seahorse with blue letters saying: “We have Sea☆Horses now~” You could tell that whoever made that poster had no artistic skill or taste.
Ran subconsciously stared at said poster for a long time and of course, the blonde noticed. “...Seahorses. I do wonder why they are named like that. I cannot help but feel curious. Would it be too much to ask if we could see them?” small red peculiar orbs patiently observed the other expectantly as they waited for a response, they didn’t notice the amusement in the undead memeber’s expression.
“Sure let’s go see some seahorses then. Who knows, maybe we'll see Kanata or Souma-kun on our way there.” That’s what he hoped at least, he wanted to introduce his roommate to his fellow club members for a while now but never had the chance to.
Anyway, they didn’t linger around for too long and entered the building. The space was impregnated in a light blue hue and the sound of bubbles filled the quiet atmosphere. Barely reaching the fish tank with the seahorses, Nagisa was already asking all kinds of questions as if he’s on a trip with the kindergarten. “...Oh, a starfish... but one of its limbs is missing… There are only four. What might have happened to it? Did one of its predators take advantage of its feeble and immobile state and ingest it?”
“Sea star actually.” Kaoru corrected and continued. “Sea stars don’t have a brain nor blood like we humans do. That’s why you can’t see any blood coming out from where its leg went off, which also means that it never felt any pain, it probably didn’t even notice that the leg’s gone.” Nagisa now turned his full attention to the blonde and listened in silence. Having that kind of attention on himself gave Kaoru a hint of satisfaction. “But you're wondering where the leg went, right? I think it’s very unlikely that some predator ate it since they’re all separated into different tanks. Maybe its tank got too hot, sea stars tend to lose their legs when the temperature suddenly rises… But don’t worry too much about it, it’ll turn itself into another sea star.”
“...The leg? That’s possible? How?” tilting his head again like a confused puppy the grey-head asked. “...I know that some animals tend to lose some of their body parts without feeling a hint of pain, like lizards for example. But I wasn’t aware that it was possible for some to reproduce that way. It’s saddening that human beings aren't able to do such thing. But alas, god created us that way and we can’t do much about it. ”
“Yeah.” Kaoru simply agreed, he was actually trying to avoid the explanation about how the sea stars are capable of cloning themselves. Truth be told, he already explained all the information he remembers about sea stars. He felt slightly disappointed that he was unable to fully satisfy the other’s curiosity. For just a brief moment, he wished he could ask his deceased mother about sea stars again. The thought depressed him, but he kept his usual smile. “Let’s continue, the seahorses are right ahead.”
Just like the blonde said, the seahorses were right around the corner. There were sadly only two of them visible inside the tank, both being males and to Kaoru’s surprise, about to mate. *...What are they doing?” such a child-like question was voiced out by Ran. He must know what mating is, right? He couldn’t be that naive.
“They’re dancing.” Kaoru explained, it wasn’t a lie. He could tell by how Nagisa turned his attention from the sea creatures to him that he longed to learn more facts about the sea from his knowledgeable roommate. “Just like humans go on dates, Seahorses spend several days together. They even dance before mating….That’s what they’re doing right now. Surprisingly they're both males but that’s nothing new.”
“...I see. Seahorses are able to reproduce regardless of gender then? Or are they peharps simply fulfilling their sexual desires like humans tend to?” Maybe Nagisa wasn’t as naive as Kaoru thought.
“Haha, good question” The blonde laughed and shifted his gaze back to the creatures inside the tank, so did Nagisa. Both seahorses wrapped their tails around the other’s as they danced. It was a lovely sight. Kaoru chuckled. “Aww, Look, they’re holding hands.”
The silver-head couldn’t see what the other was referring to. “...But they don’t have hands, they have fins instead. Not that I ever read about other animals that also have hands like humans and monkeys do. They are holding onto each other with their tails though. Is this something perhaps of your imagination?”
“Haha, you make it almost sound like I’m high or something. But yeah, maybe it is something of my imagination, but it’s a pretty popular imagination.” Kaoru explained and continued as he felt red conflicted orbs fully trained on him. “For example, like you compared humans to sea stars, I compared seahorses to humans as well. Seahorses don’t have hands like we humans do to hold hands, neither are humans capable of creating new humans by cutting off their legs… I dunno if that clears up things for you, but I think you get what I mean.”
Nagisa slowly nodded his head and turned his eyes back to the fish tank. “... I think I understand what you mean.” He then turned to look back to the blonde who was looking back at him with anticipation. “...The way the seahorses’ tails are intertwined is like you holding my hands while dancing, yes?”
Kaoru couldn’t hide the soft blush colouring his cheeks and internally shook it off. “I mean… you’re not that far off. The only thing we should be doing is going on dates and we’d practically be like those two in the fishtank.” He joked. But did he really? He couldn’t tell anymore. Nothing was clear to the blonde anymore since he decided to take the other to the beach instead of a lovely girl. Maybe he wasn’t the straight man he believed himself to be? Or maybe he’s just confusing friendship with romance? Whatever the case, there must be something wrong with him. “Haha, just kidding! It’s not like you would go out with a guy.” What is he talking about?
The grey-head’s brow rose in disapproval. “...Why not? Gender does not concern that much like decades ago in this time and age. It shouldn’t be taboo for me to fall for a man as much as I talk about god.” He reached out for his roommate’s hand and held it in his’ before smiling softly. “...I wish to hold your hands many more times into the future. And that maybe we could perhaps dance together someday as well. I enjoy listening to your knowledge about the sea. And there are so many things I would like to talk about with you too.”
It felt too unreal to be true. Kaoru pushed back the few loose silvery strands of hair behind the silver-head’s ear while processing the things the other just said and mumbled, barely breathing in a low and serious tone. “Nagisa-kun… You almost sound like you have a thing for me.”
“...Kaoru-kun. I think I ‘crush’ on you.”