Chapter Text
Shit, shit, shit.
His mum was going to murder him.
Takahiro was already running his way home, but he ran even faster when the shop came into his view. Almost there.
He nearly kissed the floor when he suddenly stopped running altogether to enter the shop. Luckily, he quickly found his balance again and walked into the tiny shop that sold many common things from other continents, Takahiro's favourite sweets among the products.
The old woman running the shop already knew him from his frequent visits. She used to run the shop with her husband, but he died three years ago. Since then, she's been alone here. Takahiro sometimes helped her out on the weekends when he was bored.
Even though Takahiro wasn't running anymore, his steps were still fast-paced and rushed. He went to the shelf that usually contained his beloved Skittles, but when he got there, he could not find them. He kneeled down, to check if they were just in a lower row or something, but nothing.
So, he got up and headed for the counter at which he knew he'd find Nozomi. When he arrived, a boy around his age with dark curls was leaving. "Kobanwa, Nozumi-san," he greeted the woman and bowed down a bit. Her gray hair was tied to a neat bun as always.
"Kobanwa, Takahiro-kun. Are you here for the Skittles? I'm afraid, this young man before you just bought the last ones. The next order will be here on Monday," Nozomi explained with a nod to the boy walking away from the shop.
Takahiro groaned. His stock of Skittles was already empty and Monday was still three days away. And the next store that sold Skittles was located in Tokyo. Great, just great. "Fine. I've got to go now, my mum's waiting for me. Have a good night, Nozomi-san."
Nozomi nodded towards the boy. "Thank you, you too."
Then Takahiro turned on his heels and left, picking back up his fast pace from earlier. When he was out of the shop, he started running again and almost ran straight into the Skittles-thief, who was also heading that direction, just way more slowly. "Idiot," Takahiro mumbled to himself and changed his way, deciding to take the other route home.
Before he ran around the corner, he threw one last annoyed glance at the guy, who didn't even seem to notice him.
Just a week later, it was time for him to move his stuff into his school's dorms. Takahiro was excited about it, because he hoped high school would be what people always said. The best time of his life.
Maybe he would even find some friends that actually lasted, friends for life, because in neither primary school nor junior high he had friends that stayed with him even after they didn't go to the same class - or volleyball club - anymore. It was like they'd deleted him out of their lives as soon as they left the building for the last time.
"Do you have the key?"
Takahiro was ripped out of his thoughts by his father behind him. They just found the door to his room. Excitement bubbled up in his chest, his finger itching for the new era ahead of him. After he placed the big cardboard box with his stuff on the floor, he shoved his hand in his right pocket. Nope, no key. He checked the left pocket.
"Bingo," Takahiro mumbled, taking the key out and fumbling to put it in the locket. Before he turned it around, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Alright, he was ready.
With a nod, he turned around the key in the lock, making the door spring open, the small room revealing itself to the two Hanamakis.
On the opposite side of the door was a big window. Underneath it, the night stands from the beds on each side.
Takahiro slowly picked up the box he'd carried all the way from the car to this room and walked inside, now finally taking in the room as a whole.
Left and right next to the door were big wardrobes, probably one for each student. Takahiro put the box on the empty bed on the right side, which went up to his waist. It was a mattress lying on what seemed like a big dresser for the students to put more of their stuff in. There was a small ladder by the end of the bed, and on the short side, there was a desk for homework and studying and all that stuff.
While Takahiro turned around to examine his roommate's side of the room, his father placed the box he was holding om the floor, looking at the space that now belonged to his son. As soon as Takahiro noticed the big posters above his dormmate's bed, he couldn't stop the "Fuck yeah!" from slipping out.
"What is it?" Hanamaki Akira turned around to look at whatever Takahiro was looking at. On the wall, there were two big posters. One of them being from "Fall Out Boy", while the other showed "My Chemical Romance". He was immediately excited. "Hell yes! Congrats!" Akira held up his hand, to which Takahiro responded with a high five soon after.
"This is gonna be awesome," Takahiro foretold, removing his rucksack off his back and placing it on his night stand.
Like two thirds of the backbag were filled with Skittles, since he'd managed to convince his dad to go with him to Tokyo, so that he had enough of his favourite sweets for the move into the Aoba Johsai dorms.
They spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking Takahiro's things and decorating his side of the room, preparing it for his first day of school.
In the evening, they got a visit from Takahiro's mum and 11 year old sister, who wanted to follow her brother's footsteps and also go to Aoba Johsai when she was old enough. They looked at the work the Hanamaki family's men did that day, then they left to go home together and have dinner.
Now Takahiro was even more ready for high school and whatever it held for him to come.