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The bell atop the WEEKEND GARAGE doorway rung out, adding to the pre-existing ruckus in the building.
“Ah- Shinonome-kun!” Kohane exclaimed, with a slight hint of desperation.
“Oh, Kohane. Toya’s here, right?” Akito stopped, as the whining sound from within the cafe met his ears, much to his dismay. He glanced over beyond the counter. “What is it now…”
Behind the sleek wooden desktop and past the soda pumps, was An talking to her dad in what looked to be pure frenzy.
“Yeah…” Kohane sighed, and begun to explain. “An-chan called us here for a surprise announcement, but…” She glanced over at the red-faced girl arguing her point like the second coming of Pheonix Wright. “...She’s having a bit of difficulty getting Ken-san on board.”
Akito gave Kohane a bewildered glare, clearly thrown off by the situation.
“Well… An wants us to go camping again! But Ken is busy, and… Well, we can’t really drive his van by ourselves…” She trailed off, glancing at the floor.
“Mkay. I’ll sort her out.”
“T-Thank you, Shinonome-kun!!.. W-Wait, when you say it like that…”
Akito looked towards Toya sitting at the counter with earphones in, working on some schoolwork. He sat on his left, and slumped down on the table. He took an earbud out of Toya’s left ear, and placed it in his right, to which he didn’t seem to care much.
“Oi, dipshit.” Akito beckoned towards An, without even feigning interest in sugar coating his words.
An could recognise that rugged voice anywhere, and glanced towards him, having not even realised him entering the building. A flame ignited in her eyes, and she practically sprinted towards the orange haired boy, and proceeded to slam her fists on the table in front of him.
“What’s the issue, shithead!?” She exclaimed.
“Quiet. You’ll disturb Toya. What’s this all about?”
An took a moment to compose herself, and explained, “So, since the last time we went was so much fun, I was thinking w-”
“Mkay, cut it out. I’m not going. Even if I were, if Ken says no, then what can you do?”
“Well!..” She paused, looking stumped. “...W-Well I haven’t figured that one out yet, but come on! It’s not like we have any events lined up anyway, tell me - what’s the harm in having a little fun?”
“We could get lost, our equipment could blow away, Toya could get stuck up a tree again, we could be attacked b-”
“Okay shut up!! Rhetorical question, Akito. But I promise! I can find a way…”
“Mm, I’m sure of it…”
An dragged herself back to her dad to try and reach some agreement, her mood clearly dampened. Akito buried his head between his arms on the mahogany slab, watching Toya’s nimble fingers spinning a pencil, clearly stumped on some sort of equation. He’d offer to lend a hand but… Yeah, that’s not happening. Not before long, Akito got a buzz in his hoodie pocket. He grabbed his phone and flipped it upright. It was a text from the world future star himself, Tsukasa. Akito groaned internally. He opened up the message.
My cute kouhai, Akito!! It is my honour to announce that you are personally invited by none other than myself, the great Tsukasa Tenma, to attend a party for Kamiyama students at the Tenma household this weekend!! I’ve already invited Ena due to little Saki’s request, so please! Consider my invitation, Akito!!.. Pretty please?
He ended his disastrous text with a puppy dog eyes emoji, and approximately eleven thousand stars and hearts. Gross. He knows Tsukasa talks like this to everyone he knows, but it still makes him want to smash something whenever he has to read one of his texts. But, as much as he wished otherwise, he couldn’t just blatantly lie to him when he’s acting so innocent like this… He typed in:
cant
event this weekend
thx tho
“Oi, An, get back here.” Akito called out, and threw on his best totally-convincing pleasant attitude. “Something, uh… got cancelled. I’ll join your little camping trip. Let’s plan it right now, as soon as possible, without any delay, alright?”
And with that, An excitedly leapt back in front of Akito, and called Kohane over too.
“So…” Akito swept his fingers through his hair and leaned back. “Since the van is out of service, where can we go? Last campsite’s off the table.”
Toya perked up and interjected, determined, “There’s another campground I saw while researching for the last time. It’s less wooded, but it’s accessible by train. It’s rather unpopular; people think it's too developed to classify as proper camping.”
“Bunch of BS, if you ask me…” Akito groaned. “You’re still sleeping outdoors right?”
Toya responded with an affirming hum, and Akito began looking up the campground on his phone.
“‘Come settle down and experience the true outdoors, here at-’ blah blah blah… Get to the point…” He impatiently scrolled down faster. “‘Plenty of activities to partake in and strengthen bonds between each other...'”
“Ooh!” An interrupted. “I wonder what kinda stuff they have there? My archery game is A+!”
Akito continued, “‘You can’t be closer to the wildlife! Woodland animals inhabit every inch of our forest...’”
“Oh!” Kohane interrupted. “I-I’ll bring my polaroid! I’d love to practice some animal photography…”
Akito, once again continued, “‘Our campground has the densest population of fireflies in all of Japan, come witness their epic night time displays...'”
He didn’t say anything, but Akito noticed Toya’s expression perk up in the far corner of his eye. That look of his alone was enough to sway him, but as if he needed more convincing, he continued reading.
“‘Relax with on-site refreshments, with confectionaries like cupcakes, cookies, pancak-’...”
Akito trailed off, very deep in thought, and his cheeks started to burn a warm pink hue. He was brought back to reality by the sound of his teammates snickering infiltrating his ears.
“W-What!?..” He placed his phone face down on the table and rubbed the back of his neck.
“You’re that excited to meet your true love?~” An teased.
“Sh-Shaddup… If we’re to surpass RAD WEEKEND, we should be acquainted with every venue we could perform at - a-and their refreshments. Is all I’m sayin’...”
“Hehe. Whatever helps you sleep at night, dummy. But it’s a plan then! Let’s meet at the train station tomorrow at… 10am, ‘kay?”
The 3 others nodded with equal enthusiasm, and returned to business as usual.
—--------—--------—--------
Let me fall in love with you, please.
Come pick me up, come pick me up, please.
Akito sat against the window, fist against his head, headphones muffling the droning sound of conversations on the train. He was listening to a new album Toya recommended to him, by his favourite artist. He’s always had an ear for good music, so he went and took a listen. Immersed, he gazed outside the train window. Splotches of chartreuse blurred past his view, adorning the vibrant blue, cloudless sky outside. Faint rushes of air blew in from the window atop him, and gently rustled his soft hair. He shut his eyes. His mind went free to draw in his views itself: a void detailed with red and blue flowers, a night sky lit up by warm fluttering lights, and flowers growing through the cracks of concrete on a dreary day. The suns set, all three flaring a deep crimson, and he was thrust on to the swing set of a desolated park. The ground was wet, but it wasn’t raining. Sakura petals floated down in a magnificent ballet, flying past his curious face. Upon reaching the top of his pendulum motion, an urge to leap off swelled inside him, and without any consideration, he flung himself from the apex of the swing, down on to and through the ground. The faintly pink sky in front of him shifted into a blood red sea as far as his eyes could see. Some sort of vine grappled on to his leg, tightening around his ankles as his limbs fell limp. He wished to scream, but his throat constricted around his windpipe until it felt like it was about to burst. Ichor descended drop by drop from the ceiling of his hellish prison, staining his pure white hoodie, and his vision grew hazy. He could feel his entire body beginning to become numb, and as so, the red abyss before him grew into a grey, and then total blackness. It suffocated him, squeezing him like a fromager draining curds with a cheesecloth, and began to shake him. He was violently rocked from side to side, as if trying to snap the vine keeping him from falling into the completely empty darkn-
“Akito!”
The soft yet direct, unmistakable voice jolted him awake.
“Akito, are you okay? You’ve been out for quite some time. And…”
Toya raised his hand towards Akito’s face, and cupped it in his hand. He traced his thumb along the trail of a teardrop falling from his distant, bloodshot, olive eyes. Those eyes failed to make contact with Toya’s, and were busy staring directly in front of him.
Toya sighed. “...Bad dream?”
Akito jittered a little to wake himself up, and gave a sorrowful nod.
“Akito…” Toya whispered, his voice quivering with concern. He scooted closer to Akito, planted a soft kiss atop his head, and promptly petted him, ruffling his hair between his fingers. “The others have already left. Let’s get off quickly, Akito. You can rest later.”
Akito didn’t respond, but affirmatively groaned, and attempted to pick himself up off the chair. He was still tired, so it became a bit of an ordeal. Noticing this, Toya locked an arm around his shoulder, and helped carry him on to the station platform.
—--------—--------—--------
“Aaghh…” An groaned and leant back. “I’m spent…”
“Really? It’s just 10pm. You a lightweight?” Akito smirked. Granted, it’s getting close to his usual bedtime, but it’s physically impossible for him to pass up an opportunity to dig at An.
“W-Well! I’d just like to accompany Kohane, is all!” With that, An pouted and dragged herself off to her and Kohane’s tent.
“Akito. We should be going too.” The words left Toya’s mouth intermittently between yawns, and Akito responded with a quiet hum.
The two walked back to their tent - nailed extra securely to the ground this time - and took turns climbing inside. They fumbled around inside the… cosy, interior, doffing their thick winter coats and changing into short-sleeved shirts and shorts, and they both laid down on their sleeping bags to rest.
Well, one of them did, at least.
Toya stared up at the roof of the tent, his eyes agonisingly awake, yet to no avail, as it was too dark to make out anything other than vague shapes. Apart from him, everything in the world seemed to be laying still; no noise, no wind, no sign of life other than the boy next to him, slowly bobbing up and down with each silent breath. He’d told Akito before, the dark was always a pertinent issue for him. For years, he’d never slept without a nightlight, at the very least. But he chose not to bring one for this trip, as he didn’t want to disturb Akito, but… even though he thought he could take it, he really couldn’t get a wink of sleep. He deeply sighed.
“...Toya.”
A whispering, yet somewhat grizzled, voice awoke from beside him.
“You’re awake.” Akito stated.
Toya’s face fell into an invisible frown, fearful he’d disappointed or angered his beloved partner.
“Do you want to..?”
Toya thought for a moment. “I-If you don’t mind, Akito…”
“I’m offering, stupid.” Akito growled. He had a habit of coming off too aggressive late at night. “‘Course I don’t mind.”
Akito rolled over on to his other side, and allowed Toya to crawl closer to him. Toya delicately wrapped his bare arms around Akito’s body, and pulled him in close. He rested his head gently upon Akito’s shoulder, and began tightening the grip with his hands around Akito’s stomach. Even through the shirt, it was still somewhat squishy, and the familiar feeling comforted Toya’s mind. He subconsciously matched his breathing to Akito’s, softly exhaling into his ear with each one. Clutching his body pillow like a child’s hand around the string of a balloon, he tried shutting his eyes.
Sigh.
It felt like forever had passed, and yet, he just couldn’t convince himself to sleep. Toya’s mind was swallowed with guilt, thinking of how he couldn’t even get himself to do something so simple even with all of Akito’s help. Regretfully, he slipped his arms out from under and above his partner’s body, and silently crept out of the tent, wandering off. Though he had made very little noise, his disappearance was not undetected by Akito. Not after long, the warmth that had embraced him had dissipated. It made him a little sad - until he realised what that meant. He looked behind him, and sure enough, Toya was gone. Panicking, he left his tent with none of the grace that his partner had, unzipping the tent in a frenzy. And, just like Toya’s was to Akito, Akito’s departure was not undetected by An. Thinking some sort of wild animal was out there, she grabbed Kohane’s polaroid, hoping to impress her with a picture.
The air was still not long ago, but the breeze had picked up, and cold air crept up Akito’s legs and the holes in his shirt. It stung him like a needle, but he kept searching the area in front of him. The sky cast a deep indigo down on the earth below, only faintly illuminated by the tiny specks of stars up in space. A path led up to a hill with some sort of structure up at the top, and he followed the trail, really wishing he would have thought to bring shoes to thread the bare stones. He bared the pain of small pebbles cutting into his feet to reach the top of the hill, where he found… a swing set. With certain someone gently swaying back and forth.
His knee jerk reaction was to yell at him to safely get off, but he stopped himself, realising why that would make him look weird. Instead, he chose to calmly walk up to him, and sit on the swing next to him.
Neither of them said a word. Toya stared at the ground, and Akito stared at Toya. An abyss of empty space surrounded the two. Until, Toya finally broke the silence.
“I’m sorry, Akito.”
Akito gulped. “N-No, it’s… okay. Toya, are you…”
His low voice trailed off, and his attention diverted away from the blue boy’s face. Toya turned to Akito for the first time to see what had caught his attention, and his face lit up with sudden glee. A speck of yellow-green light danced between the two boys, flashing off and on, with a chartreuse trail lagging behind it. The longer they stared, the more lights started flashing, and fluttering in the sky. They drifted away from them and off the cliff in front of them, and they followed to its edge. They swarmed around the pair of them, like a pale gold ribbon being tightened around a lavish present, illuminating their faces with a comforting green glow. A tear of happiness from Toya’s faced glistened in the magical light, and impulsed Akito to plant a kiss on his face where it shone. Toya’s smile spread like a contagious disease onto Akito’s face, and glowed brighter than the hundreds of fireflies entangling them. Akito pressed his body against Toya’s in a soft hug, as they observed the amazing view in front of them with starstruck awe. And the fireflies too, I suppose.
From not far away, An snapped a picture, and shook the printed image, forming a beautiful painting of her two teammates. She thought about placing this in Kohane’s photo album, but a warm, genuine smile found its way onto her face. Maybe she should say that the fireflies never came.