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“Rei-kun, what are you doing there? You’re disturbing other passengers, you know.” Rei raises his head, looking away from the floor to meet his eyes with the embodiment of the sun. Ah, the way he can hear the smile in his voice before he even sees the expression on Hiyori’s face still never fails to make his old heart beat.
“Hiyori-kun…. How rare it is to find you in a place like this at this time.” Rei looks at his watch and is surprised to see that it’s already 3 am. It felt like he had only been here for an hour. “A youthful boy such as yourself, hanging around in an illegal club such as this? Trouble will soon find you. Pray tell whether or not the times you’ve spent in Shuuetsu has corrupted your once so delightful and innocent self.” He says in his mournful voice.
Hiyori lets out a disgusted noise at the older man’s implications, the smile that was once on his face is now replaced with a grimace. “Are you suggesting I am no longer the Hiyori you once loved? What a bad day! I am just getting brighter and brighter each day passing by. In fact, you could also get in trouble for being here so don’t go around treating me like a child when I’m already an adult.”
“Kukuku, of course I’m aware of it. The Hiyori-kun I used to know in Yumenosaki had been gone long ago. It is in human’s nature to continuously evolve until the day God decides to make them pay for their own sins with their death. It would certainly be concerning if you hadn’t changed at all.” Rei raises his right hand weakly and yawns. “Now, will you help me to get off this filthy floor? I am starting to believe that I am dying and my body is about to decay.”
Hiyori grabs Rei’s hand and pulls him, ignoring the harshness of the cold coming from the other’s skin and how it made him feel like he had never been truly alive until now. “Oh god, Rei-kun, don't tell me you did drugs.”
Rei, for once, laughs like an actual human being despite the lingering feeling of sickness that’s slowly growing inside of him. The glaring lights in the room are making him want to vomit and the amount of people in it aren’t helping him at all. Having spent the past 4 years sleeping in a coffin, you’d think he has no claustrophobia whatsoever, but today might be proving otherwise. He leans his head weakly on Hiyori’s shoulder, searching for support.
Hiyori holds his body and starts rambling in panic. “Are you awake? Oh god I don’t know how to treat someone who just did drugs! Is Rei-kun going to die? Someone please help- ! ”
Rei shakes his head vigorously as he grabs Hiyori’s arms tightly. “Hiyori-kun, when did I even say that I did drugs….. Also please do not yell near this old man’s ear, I am merely tired and in dire need of sleep……”
“I thought you vampires are nocturnals? I knew it. Rei-kun is a liar who pretends to be a vampire to gain profits off of it.” Hiyori accuses him in a sing-song voice, an indication to Rei that he is merely joking, which calms him down a little. When Hiyori feels the grip on his arms slowly become softer, he slowly strokes Rei’s back as an act of comfort.
“I’m just gonna….. get you out of this place?” Hiyori asks, feeling unsure of what to do but the way Rei’s body slowly goes soft in his hold upon hearing his suggestion confirms to him what needs to be done.
Hiyori holds Rei’s hand as he leads him out of the place. Rei quickly leans on the wall with his back on it as he sits down on the floor once they have gone out of the building. “Uhm… Rei-kun... Do you need a drink? Do you know how to get home? Does anyone know you are here?”
Rei grins upon hearing the questions the younger man had asked in a trembling voice. “Ah, to think you are so worried about my wellbeing although it is perfectly clear that this is a normal occurrence for an old man such as myself.”
A loud whine comes out of Hiyori’s mouth. “Please stop with the old man talk and answer my questions! I can smell beer coming from you, it is definitely concerning!”
Rei pulls Hiyori’s hand, making the man sit beside him. Hiyori yelps at the surprising actions. “Hiyori-kun, what if I told you I was faking it the entire time?” Hiyori’s body goes still beside him, and Rei lets out a chuckle, observing Hiyori’s expression as he slowly takes in the revelation that Rei had made.
“You are a devil.” The glare that Hiyori had directed towards him may be out of anger, but his puffy cheeks can’t make Rei take him seriously at all. Rei presses a kiss on the other’s forehead and laughs some more when Hiyori responds to it by lightly hitting his chest a few times. “Rei-kun, do you know how worried I was?! That’s it! Next time you’re crawling on the floor with blood coming out of your mouth while repeatedly saying “Hiyori-chan help me” I’m just going to ignore it!”
“But that actually happened, didn’t it?” Rei wipes his eyes, as though there are tears forming at the edge of it. Hiyori is certain he is just messing around with him. “Oh, how I was so deeply in trouble and you were there when no one else was, ready to lend me your helping hand, as though the world is implying you’re the salvation I had sought for since the day I learnt the kind of monster I had been born into. And today is exactly like that.”
“No, it’s nothing like that time! you were faking it!” Hiyori retorts, ignoring how Rei’s flirtatious words are making his heart race faster. However, the annoyance that’s quelling inside him slowly dies down when Rei laces their fingers together. His hands are quite rough, and it reminds Hiyori of the old times when he had bought the self proclaimed vampire a lot of hand cream with his favourite smell, peach. He expected the action to be seen as insulting by his former upperclassman, as how most people would perceive him as, but the amused chuckle that came out of him before he ruffled Hiyori’s head proved him otherwise.
Rei had been one of the few people who had never viewed him as the spoilt brat that people often thought of him as. Hiyori notes to himself to buy packages of hand cream later for Rei.
“You could get in trouble if you were caught hanging around in that kind of place.”
“And you’re saying you won’t?” Hiyori narrows his eyes. “What were you even doing in there? I had been so sure that you were no longer the delinquent you used to be.”
“Wouldn’t you like that, though?” Rei leans in, their faces are only a few centimetres apart and he smirks upon seeing a small blush forming on Hiyori’s cheeks. “You used to be such a cute underclassman…. Always greeted me whenever I had gone back from overseas and humour me with your topics on the new trending stuff that you were currently into. It was as if you wouldn’t want me to miss out on anything at all. I could only assume that you have a thing for bad boys, especially with how proper your upbringing is.”
Hiyori quickly turns his face away, breaking the eye contact they previously made out of embarrassment. “You’re changing the topics……. And stop wording it like that! you make it sound like I was obsessed with you! As if the second son of Tomoe would ever be entranced by a delinquent who had to repeat a year in school because of his poor attendance record.”
“Ah? Does Hiyori-kun want us to pretend the relationship we previously had never happened? I was not aware of it, especially with the way you’re acting right now.” Rei whispers in his sultry voice, as though he is trying to cast a spell on the poor, poor man whose heart is beating so loudly in his ribcage. Hiyori prays that Rei can’t hear it at all. “Kukuku, it is good to know you are still a tsundere. You’re too cute.”
Rei moves away from the green haired man and ignores the exhale coming from him. Hiyori doesn’t even realise he was holding in breath till the moment he releases it. When no one says anything, Rei decides to break the silence. “I was there because of a business.”
The surprised look on Hiyori tells him that he had probably worded it badly. Rei continues before he can say anything about it. “It’s nothing sketchy, do not worry. I am aware that a business at a place like that is often illegal and could bring not only my name but also Undead’s name as a whole down into the drain, erasing years of hard work we had put into, but it is nothing like that. I would never intentionally bring sully Undead’s name.”
Hiyori fiddles with the hem of his sweater and sighs in relief. “Well, Rei-kun is a good leader, so I believe you.”
“Oh?” Rei blinks at the surprising compliment. “You think I am?”
“How is that so surprising?” Hiyori tilts his head in confusion but a huge grin quickly forms on his face when he realises the implication behind the question. “Have you been told otherwise by your unitmates?”
“Well, more or less….” Rei sniffs comically. “I will not elaborate for private purposes.”
“Ahaha, what a nice information! I shall ask them how you really are next time we meet.”
“Please don’t.”
Loud laughter comes from Hiyori and Rei smiles upon hearing it, as though the green haired man in front of him is an angel with wings tucked under his beige sweater and an invisible halo floating on his head, ready to pop up and surprise the old man to the point where he gets a heart attack.
Honestly, the fact that he met Hiyori at a place unbefitting for a noble like him is already a huge surprise to him. A few moments ago, he really did feel like he was about to faint but the prince-like boy is making him feel slightly better.
“Now it’s your turn to tell me your reason.” Rei reminds him, just to get the conversation on track again. As much as he likes joking around with the green haired man, he is indeed clouded by curiousity as to why his former underclassman was there in the first place.
Hiyori mutters something under his breath as he looks away from him.
“Pardon me, but my ears are far too ancient to hear what you just said.”
“...... Well, I-”
A loud ringing noise appears out of nowhere. Hiyori reaches into his front pocket and takes out his smartphone. Rei notices that it’s a brand new phone that just got released last month, because that was the one Kaoru had been talking about wanting to buy. Ah, rich kids.
Hiyori swipes the screen to pick up the call and Rei analyses the way Hiyori’s expression lights up when someone from the other line says something. The sound is too unintelligible for Rei to pick up on what they are saying.
“Rinne-senpai?” Hiyori says and Rei straightens his back automatically upon hearing that name. “What’s wrong?”
This time, Rei can hear perfectly what Rinne is saying because he is practically screaming off the top of his lungs. “Hiyori-chan, yer so in trouble, ya know! Viper-kun tracked down yer phone cuz ya went AWOL and he said yer at the shitty place I always went to? And now I’m the one who was lectured for like hours! Something about me being the one who influenced ya with awful stuff? I don’t even know!”
“Ahaha, Ibara is so cute in that aspect. He’s just so worried about his dearest highness being exposed to possible dangers.” Hiyori sighs happily, as though he hadn’t just been told that he’ll be faced with a possible punishment for his misbehaviour. “Also you used AWOL incorrectly, you know? Using that implies that I left my duty unannounced even though my schedule is free.”
“Argghhh! As if I care!” A loud thud rings loud from the phone. Rei reaches his arm around Hiyori’s shoulders and brings him closer. Hiyori’s back is now practically resting on Rei’s chest. “Oho, is Rinne-kun okay? It sounds rather hectic.”
Hiyori flashes him a glare, a sign for him to keep quiet. Rei nods apologetically, because he knows it’s too late for that. The unusual absence of feedback from Rinne suggests that he is now aware of an uninvited presence in their conversation.
“........Well,” Rinne quietly says after a while. “It seems that yer on a lovely date with the Sakuma Rei, so should I assume that was supposed to be a secret and not tell Viper-kun or-”
“It’s not a date.” Hiyori cuts him off sharply. To say that it doesn’t hurt Rei’s feelings in the slightest might be a lie. “The poor vampire was close to losing his consciousness in the horrid club, and I, his destined saviour, found him and decided to bless him with my kindness! That is all.” Rei snorts at the dramatic explanation. “Well, knowing how Ibara is, he must’ve bugged this phone call or something….. So I guess the cat’s out of the bag..!”
“Kukuku,” is the only warning Hiyori gets before he suddenly feels two fingers hover below his chin and lifts it up, forcing Hiyori to make an eye contact with Rei, whose lips are so close to his own that he can practically feel his breath hitting his face.
“Well, as a thank you for your heroic act just now, would you let this old man bring you back to his house? I will protect you from the viper as a thank you.”
Rei’s eyes gleam in the darkness and although Hiyori hasn’t forgotten that the man has red eyes (How could he? It is one of the many things that defines Sakuma Rei himself) he has definitely forgotten how looking into his eyes makes him feel like he’s right in front of the devil itself, not ready to give into his own temptations and offer his soul yet once he hear the devil whisper one word, he’ll come crawling into the darkness and let himself be taken away by the evil being until he’s left with nothing.
Hiyori brings his free hand into the curly, black hair and pulls the devil into a short, yet intimate kiss. He pulls away and grins cheekily. “As if an old man such as you could ever outsmart my Ibara.”
Rei smirks, and Hiyori can’t help but let his eyes trace the sharp fangs that peek out of his mouth, like an unsheathed sword, ready to prove its own worth as a deadly weapon. Hiyori shudders when the man brings his cold hand towards his cheek and tucks his hair behind his ear, with the coldness faintly leaving trails on his skin. “I will try for you. You know that, Hiyori-chan.”
Arms are wrapping around his waist as Rei demands for more, and who is Hiyori to refuse the devil itself?
“Are yer sure this isn’t a date-”
“I’ll talk to you later, Rinne-senpai.” Hiyori quickly hangs up. Rei chuckles as the green haired man shoves his phone into his pocket and then places his hands on both of his shoulders.
“Are you sure this isn’t a date?” Rei playfully repeats the question that Rinne asked a few moments ago and Hiyori rolls his eyes. He climbs onto Rei’s lap and feels the arms around his waist pushing against his back, as if trying to pull him as close as possible.
One of his hands lightly tugs Rei’s hair as the vampire captures his lips with his own. A whine escapes him, feeling Rei’s fangs nipping on his bottom lip before he inserts his tongue into his mouth. It’s a cold night, but all Hiyori can describe at that moment was heat, and so much of it. Even as Rei’s often cold hands travel under his sweater, placing them on his bare back, Hiyori can’t help but feel sweat running down his body and he is sure that Rei is sweating as well.
A few moments later, Hiyori pulls back and places his forehead against Rei’s and purrs. “A devil has decided to come and steal the prince away from his kingdom. Of course, everyone tried to protect the prince but no one would’ve thought that the prince would willingly become his captive.” Hiyori nuzzles his face at the crook of his neck and leaves kisses on his jaw. “If that sounds like a date to you, then sure.”
“You are so good with your words as usual.” Rei lovingly sighs as he plays with Hiyori’s hair. “You want to kiss me so bad it’s embarrassing.” He singsongly announces.
Hiyori giggles and stops attacking the older man with kisses to look up at him. “So what if I do?”
“If you really do,” Rei takes Hiyori’s hand in his, then proceeds to leave a kiss at the back of it. “You need to do it correctly.”
“Show me how, then.” Hiyori taunts him. “Even a horrible upperclassman like you can at least teach me that. Isn’t that right, Rei-senpai?”
A look of surprise flashes through Rei’s expression before it slowly fades to the red eyed man staring quietly at Hiyori with a lack of emotion in his eyes, as though he is analysing Hiyori at the moment. “You haven’t called me that…. Ever since….”
“And the same goes to you. Yet you called me Hiyori-chan just now.” Hiyori smartly replies.
Rei starts smiling again. “I suppose I did. Still, it is quite troublesome to know the way both of us used to address each other is now how you and Rinne do too.”
“Ehehe, are you jealous? That’s so unlike you.” Hiyori teases him. “Well, now we both are just Hiyori-kun and Rei-kun, and I quite like it.”
“..... You do?”
Hiyori nods and happily claims, “Well, I had promised a long time ago that we’d be equals someday and now we finally are!”
“Kukuku. You did, did you not?” Rei notes quietly. Hiyori can’t tell if Rei resents the very thought of the old days or if he still treasure it despite the story not being the fully heartwarming fairy tale that his maid used to tell him every night before he went to bed when he was a child.
Hiyori often avoids thinking about it. He wants to focus on the bright parts of his life instead, yet Rei is a symbolism of his past that he never got to fully move on from. He is walking side by side with him now, their hands intertwining like long lost lovers, and Hiyori is distinctly reminded of how he used to do this with him too during the time he spent in Yumenosaki. Before he actually brought misfortune and despair by just by standing on the grand stage, before he had stained his old white fine uniform in hypothetical red liquid resembling blood that came from his victims. Because that’s exactly how he felt, standing on the stage as he and his former unit members committed execution in the name of public good. In the name of love.
It was as though he had committed murder in broad daylight and faced no consequences of it.
Rei, who has noticed Hiyori’s unusual silence, decides to speak up. “Hiyori-kun? Are you okay? Do you want this old man to carry you?”
“Why’d you have to carry me?” Hiyori sounds offended by the offer, although Rei can tell the words hold no real anger. “You’re the sick one here, grandpa. Don’t you think you can fool me with your “it was just a prank”.”
“Well, I do admit that I was, for the lack of better word, ‘fooling you’,” Hiyori’s thoughts are trailing off to the days where Rei’s mannerism were the clear opposite to his current self and he can’t help but wonder if the war really did broke him apart. “However, I am indeed feeling better now. You, on the other hand, don't seem so good.”
Rei observes the way the headlight near them flickers a few times and how it reflects in Hiyori’s amethyst eyes, a trick of the light that somehow lets him appear heavenly despite the poorly cleaned alleyway that they’re walking on right now.
He looks miserable, actually. But then again, who’s to say that heaven isn’t just a hell in disguise?
Hiyori opens his mouth but then the words hang at the edge of it, not allowing him to say anything further. The light in his eyes, gone. His shoulders are sunken, no longer acting as a support. Hiyor would never show the world this version of him. He always carries himself confidently and brightly, the love stored inside his body is far too much to be kept to himself that he must share it to everyone through his brilliance.
“Hiyori-kun,” Rei whispers softly like he’s talking to a child as he extends his hands and holds Hiyori’s hands in his. Hiyori hates how good the older man is at dealing with him, but he succumbs in his hold nevertheless, so desperate for comfort.
He feels the arms wrapping firmly around his body, a clear reassurance that whenever he falls, the owner of the pair of arms will be ready to catch him and pull him out of the dark, murky water that he always feels like he’s drowning in when the curse of his past catches up to him yet again.
“You’ve had it rough, haven't you?” The calming voice sounds understanding. Hiyori hates it. He really does.
Hiyori buries his head further into Rei’s hold, not desiring the man to see his current shameful state. “Stop acting like you know everything.” He grits out in frustration with a tone so uncharacteristically like his usual one.
Rei doesn’t mention anything about the tremble in his voice that he tries so hard to hide despite knowing nothing can get past his keen hearing. He doesn’t point out the shaking shoulders that he’s currently holding onto tightly, as though the man in front of him will disappear out of nowhere again if he lets him go. He chooses to not hear the faint cries coming from the green haired man, a clear contrast to the dead silence of the night by the alley.
They will pretend that none of this happened once the sun rises like usual. The darkness often swallows the unsightly, after all.
“Rei-kun, where are we going?”
Rei turns his head towards him and tries to not focus on Hiyori’s eyes that look faintly red from the crying that he just did out of nowhere a few moments ago. He fixes a few strands of hair that weirdly sticks out on Hiyori’s head and smiles, showcasing his perfectly lined up teeth. “Have you forgotten that this old man wishes to bring you back to his house? You’re still so young, you shouldn’t be so forgetful.”
Hiyori grumpily crosses his arms and leans his back on the seat of the taxi. “What a bad day. I had originally thought you meant your dorm room.”
“Kukuku. Did I not explicitly say my house, though? Or were you too entranced by my eyes that you didn’t catch a single thing I said? You’ve always had a weakness against them.”
Rei enjoys the look on Hiyori’s face as he blushes. Ah, so this part of him hasn’t changed. Even though the person he’s sitting beside right now is all grown up to be a refined and wonderful person, in the end there are still some things that remain the same. He can’t help but wonder whether in Hiyori’s eyes he is still the same Rei-senpai that he had always used to chase after or not.
“..... Not that it’d be true though. So many things have changed.” Rei leans his head against the window and mumbles.
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing, my dearest.” He turns his head and smiles, deciding to not point out the light blush on Hiyori’s face upon hearing what he just called him. “It’s been a while since we've been together, and yet being with you right now makes me feel just like how I felt all those years before our last battle.” My last defeat is left unsaid, but the word rings in the air regardless.
Hiyori blinks and his mouth closes into a thin line, and Rei can sense the boy trying to filter out the words in his head to find what is best to say because he has too much to say to the man. He’s aware of it. Of course he is. Rei has so much to say to him as well, after all - and isn’t their love for each other resonating in their soul like a cliche love story?
“I can’t seem to tell whether that’s a good thing.” is what he decides to reply with.
Rei chuckles under his breath, a normal one that isn’t his usual kukuku. “Would it help if I tell you what I feel right now?”
He leans in without waiting for an answer and intertwines his hand with Hiyori’s, their eyes meeting each other and then he confesses with a hint of sorrow in his voice that Hiyori can’t seem to decipher the reasoning of, “I missed you. I have missed you so much for years that now even with you within my reach, I still feel incomplete. You have ruined me, and I think I will always remain less than whole.”
Hiyori’s eyes widen for a moment before a smile appears on his face. “You idiot. You big foolish idiot.”
“Mhm. I am.” He agrees easily.
“Your idiocy has always been the same since the first day we met.”
“Ouch, now that’s a bit harsh.”
“Could’ve used an easier wording to convey that.” Hiyori continues. “Something that won’t make me feel guilty for leaving.”
“This place hasn’t changed at all, hasn’t it?” Hiyori looks around the mansion, his feet slowly walking up the stairs. The obnoxious paintings on the wall, the chandelier hanging in the middle of the building - demanding attention from everyone who walks into the place for the first time. There is no sign of anyone else in it either, which reminds him of the days when he had the privilege of barging into the Sakuma household whenever he pleases and sitting in Rei’s room after school hours even when the owner itself is somewhere out there travelling.
He can’t seem to recall when he stopped doing that, because he stopped way before the Oddballs had a horrible defeat and Tenshouin Eichi claimed his triumph.
He wonders when everything truly changed. When Hiyori stopped chasing after Rei and became someone who was on the other side of the man he had looked up to. When Rei’s eyes on him that used to always contain interest in whatever he has to say suddenly turned into nothing but an adult pretending to be interested in a child’s conversation for the sake of not making the child cry.
“Would you like to go to see my room?” Rei’s hand lightly brushes against his, and Hiyori tries to suppress his shiver. “Sure! I haven’t been there in the longest time!”
The first thing that Hiyori does when he walks into the room is point at a casket that’s standing at the corner of the room, screams out of fear, “Your family has successfully changed you into a proper vampire!” and then throws himself onto the bed shamelessly.
“Kukuku, I’ve always been a vampire, though?” Rei turns on the lights and sits at the edge of the bed. “Though I suppose I understand what you mean.”
Hiyori groans and rolls on the bed, facing the ceiling. “Why am I here, Rei?”
He folds his legs together. “What do you mean why are you here? I’m merely helping you escape from the repercussions of your childish antics.”
“Childish - I suppose at the very end you still view me as immature, huh.”
“I never said that. I do acknowledge that you’ve greatly matured since the last day we were in each other’s presence.”
Hiyori laughs weakly at that. “You wanted to know why I was there?” There was no response coming from Rei, so he continued. “I’m not even sure myself. I am just.. Tired. With being a good second child of Tomoe. Tired of being insignificant to anything, to my family. It’s stupid. I know it is.”
“.... I understand where you’re coming from.” Rei reaches out and pats Hiyori’s knee as a comforting action. “Nothing you’re feeling right now is stupid.”
“Well, what I did was stupid.”
“Yeah.” Rei admits, though there’s no judging tone in it. “But such is human behaviour in general isn’t it?”
Hiyori tries to ignore just how familiar this feels. Him, being in Rei’s room. The ceiling is recogniseable even when it’s been years since he stepped foot in here. Rei’s presence calms him down further but he doesn’t want to succumb. He refuses to accept the warmth in his heart, the disturbing calmness in his nerves.
He has never been good at feeling anything negative. He knows how to run away from it, but he doesn’t want to stop for a moment and take a break because he’s endured too much and he knows if he stops for even a moment it’ll all catch up to him. Every flaws he owns, every mistakes he made along the way that he still couldn’t forgive himself for, the day he left a school painted as paradise disguised as the true hell, running away from the torture that is a part of his own making, the day he- he-
“You’ve become more human than the last time we met, haven’t you?” There is a hint of tiresome in his voice, and all Rei wants to do is bring the man into his hug and hold him, picking up all the broken parts of the green haired man with all the light and love he holds in his heart that is far too humane for someone like Rei to receive, but he had been the target of it before it all ended, hadn’t he? Rei was always the one who received things he never deserved.
“I suppose so.” He looks up to the expression on Hiyori's face, slightly curious of his reaction. Hiyori smiles, tears welling up in his eyes but the love in it doesn’t fade away even a slightest and Rei can feel his own heart dropping into a million pieces on the floor.
“Isn’t that great?” Hiyori exclaims happily, his voice cracking up slightly yet it’s like you can feel the love in his voice and suddenly Rei is in Yumenosaki again, hearing rambles of the underclassman about something seemingly meaningless yet now it’s nothing but a fleeting memory that he’ll always hold close in his heart.
“Yeah.” Rei smiles, but it feels painful to do so because now all he wants to do is cry. He’s not sure why. “It is.” I wish you were there with me when it happened. When I finally decided to descend to mortality and abandoned everything I was told to become since the day I was born. I wish you’d be able to do so as well - to abandon the roles you’ve set yourself out to be for the sake of your family. I wish you could be unapologetically happy.
“Are you… happy?” Rei asks, not knowing what to say after that but Hiyori knows what he meant.
He knows the underlying words in the question, because he was once the person who almost got to know the real Sakuma Rei after all. He used to be the person who was the closest to get to know it all. “I’ve never been happier. Never. Being in Eden was like…. Being in a home that I never had since I was a child.” Hiyori sits up and stares at his own hands as he plays with the hem of his clothing. “It feels weird to finally admit this out loud, and to you, no less.”
Rei chuckles. “I guess you’re right. Let’s take it slow, shall we? After all, we have all the time in the world right now, don’t we?”
“If you want my number then just say so.” Hiyori teasingly says. “But yeah, I’m not going to run away from you this time.” No more avoiding. No more wasting months of just walking around the school, pretending that he never knew Rei personally and treating him as a stranger whenever he’s around just because Hiyori was afraid of being hurt when it was time for him to leave, ignoring the fact that in the end he’d hurt Rei the most in the process. In the end, there were no winners in their perspective. There were just two people in love, turned into strangers.
In the silence that accompanies their time together, they both can’t hear each other’s unspoken words, but there’s a specific one that they both manage to notice and accept. A series of litannies of apologies and a “I forgive you. I have forgiven you long ago. From the moment I saw your back figure retreating from the stage of our last moment together, I knew I’d forgive you for anything that you did and will do to me later in the future.”
The sun slowly comes up, signalling it’s almost time for them to depart from each other again, but this time they know they’ll be okay. They know it won’t be the last time they look at each other in the eye and find solace in the past that they shared together.