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Souji had been thinking about the sudden phone call that he received from Yosuke on the way to school in the morning.
Hey man. Meet me at the floodplains after school today.
Souji didn’t have a chance to get a single word in. He couldn’t even manage as much as a hello or goodbye, as Yosuke hastily spoke as soon as Souji picked up the call. It was strange behavior, even for someone well known for having his own quirks. He was usually glued to Souji’s side every morning walking to school, evening hopping off of his bike to walk the rest of the way there and chat with him. Oddly enough, Souji didn’t even spot him rushing past at top speeds this morning under the assumption that he was running late.
Did he choose to not attend today? It would be quite unusual, as despite his mediocre test scores and rather poor study habits, Yosuke still made an effort to attend school every day.
However, much to Souji’s surprise, he was sitting in his usual seat, having arrived to the classroom much earlier than anyone else. Chie or Yukiko had not yet made their way to the classroom either, meaning that he couldn’t have arrived for the sole purpose of early morning tomfoolery. At first glance, he seemed to be studying. He was staring at blank piece of paper, nonetheless, but for someone of his nature, it was the thought that counts.
He didn’t even look up from his blank notebook to give Souji as much as an early morning greeting. Something must’ve been weighing heavy on his mind to distract him from who was most likely his favorite person in the building. Souji was unsure of the extent of his troubles, so he decided against inquiring him on the matter.
Lectures would begin shortly into the morning. Still no response from Yosuke. Souji would occasionally turn his head around to catch a glimpse of what Yosuke was up to. He was awfully focused on the chalkboard in front of him, not even bothering to sneak a peek at Souji or surrounding classmates. It was almost as if he was focused on forcing himself to push some thoughts out of his mind.
Souji just had to think that hopefully, he would have the answer as to what had been troubling his dear partner so deeply all of a sudden.
When the final bell dismissing normal classes for the day rang, Yosuke was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t waiting at the entrance to the school to walk home with Souji, or furiously running across the property attempting to catch up to him.
Souji briefly considering looking around the school to try and catch him before taking his leave, but attempting to find him would be rather pointless with the fog that was beginning to settle over Inaba.
Yosuke couldn’t be stressing about a potential murder victim. If that was the case, then he would’ve desperately called the team together first thing in the morning and start formulating a plan. In fact, the Midnight Channel had been awfully quiet ever since Kanji was rescued.
If it wasn’t about the murders, then what could Yosuke possibly be so desperate to discuss with Souji?
Forgetting to bid farewell with the rest of the group for the day, Souji made straight for the Inaba floodplains. The fog hadn’t become agonizingly thick quite yet, and he was able to make out Yosuke’s rickety bike standing by the stone stairs down leading to the river. He walked down, and surely enough, Yosuke was sitting on the stone platform that Souji frequented for his fishing outings. He was sitting cross-legged and staring at the small fish that were occasionally reaching their mouths out of the water begging for food. Out of what could be boredom or nervousness, Yosuke would poke his finger at a fish reaching its mouth out at him.
“The fish are going to mistake you for a giant bread crumb, you know,” Souji said, poking at him.
Before his finger could break the surface of the water, Yosuke froze in place, then slowly turned his head to face Souji still standing on the steps.
“Oh, so you still bothered to see me after all. Sorry for ignoring you like that all day, man,” he said.
“All’s well. I assumed that something was weighing heavy on your mind, so I left you be.”
“Uh…well…you aren’t wrong, unfortunately,” he said, standing up from the fishing spot.
“No one is here to listen in on us,” Souji said once he had reached the bottom of the stairs. “You’re free to tell me whatever it is.”
Yosuke took a look at his surroundings to confirm Souji’s claims, then breathed a sigh of relief seeing that the flood plains were vacant with the exception of the two of them. The fog was gradually beginning to obstruct their view of the landscape, but he was comfortable that no one was around to overhear them. Yosuke carefully walked off of the stone platform, and once he had regained his balance on the grass, he charged up to Souji and put his hands on his shoulders.
The sudden impact of his body threw Souji somewhat off balance. It felt as if Yosuke pulled him closer in order to make up for this force, but he could have been caught up in the moment. Souji lifted his hands as if to grab Yosuke’s torso to sturdy himself, but he stopped himself before doing so.
With a look of desperation in his eyes, Yosuke struggled to find his words. He appeared quite frustrated with himself to the point of nearing tears, yet he forced himself to keep it together and stare directly into Souji’s eyes.
“I…I need you to punch me!” he finally spat out.
“To…punch you?” Souji replied in confusion.
“Yes! P-please! Hit me as hard as you can! Knock me out cold!”
“Calm down, Yosuke. What has gotten into you all of a sudden?”
Yosuke released Souji from his grasp, pushing him away.
“You don’t get it, do you? I…need you to knock some sense into me…”
“I don’t even know what’s going on here. What do you mean ‘knock some sense into you?’”
“What I mean is that I can’t be feeling this way! Not this soon after Senpai’s death!”
“Feeling what way? I can’t help if I don’t know what exactly is bothering you!”
Yosuke put his head into his hands out of absolute frustration. He was acting as if Souji had the potential to magically guess what he was thinking and give him the answer that he was looking for. In truth, Souji had a guess as to what Yosuke was getting at, but assumed that it would be inappropriate to jump to conclusions regarding such a serious subject matter.
Souji took a closer look at Yosuke to see that he was failing to hold back his tears. He put his arm around his shoulders and gently pried one of his hands away from his face. Yosuke looked at Souji’s gentle gaze, relaxing a little after being pulled in so close to his beloved partner’s comforting presense. In an attempt to further comfort him, Souji gently grabbed one of Yosuke’s hands and squeezed it lightly, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.
“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Souji asked, quietly.
Yosuke completely succumbed to Souji’s embrace, resting his head on his shoulder. He sighed deeply in utter defeat, unable to avoid his troubles any further.
“Do you remember all that I had said to you? About…yknow, being special to me and all of that crap.”
“Mhmm.”
“The truth is…I probably shoulda told you on the spot, but I chickened out like the idiot I am. With this whole mess going on between the killer still on the loose and Senpai not yet avenged, I worried that I was moving on too quickly.”
Souji did not say anything. Rather, he gently pulled Yosuke ever so slightly closer to him.
“You kinda made me realize that I didn’t need someone like her in my life anyways. I’d rather have a true partner rather than a girl who was merely faking it because of my status in the community.”
It seems as if Yosuke was going to bring up exactly what Souji was curious about after all.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that…I…I like you.”
He need not say any more, as Souji wrapped both of his arms around Yosuke’s body, pulling him in for a tight hug. Yosuke was shocked by his response, as he was somewhat expecting to be thrown into the river to fulfill his destiny of becoming fish food.
“You absolute dumbass…” Yosuke said, “this shit is for girls, you know?”
Yosuke was trying to stand tall and be the bigger person, in a sense. However, he was unable to help himself from absolutely melting into Souji’s arms, going as far as practically falling limp into his body. He shoved his head into his shoulder, no longer bothering to fight the tears that he was holding back. With a tight grip still on his body, Souji managed to slide his hand up Yosuke’s back and gently stroke his hair.
“It’s about time you spoke up,” Souji said. “At times, it was almost like you weren’t even bothering to remain lowkey about your feelings. No worries, though, as I have always liked you. From the very start, I have found your antics to be quite endearing, and you have managed to win over my heart with ease.”
“You sure this fog ain’t clouding up your judgement?” Yosuke said, somewhat muffled by Souji’s shirt.
“I am positive. If I wore Teddie’s glasses here, the only thing that it could change is the clarity of my literal vision.”
“Man…are you crazy, or are you telling the truth here?”
“I don’t even need some strange bear-crafted glasses to see the adorable idiot that I can now call mine.”
“Aaagh, you’re so embarrassing sometimes…” Yosuke said, lightly punching Souji’s back.
Neither of them could see the change in the sky through the fog, but clouds were rolling in throughout their time at the floodplains. Small raindrops began to fall, directing their attention away from each other for a moment. It wasn’t enough to drench them, but it was foretelling of the potential of a great storm moving in.
“It’s going to pour soon,” Souji said, finally releasing Yosuke from his grasp. “I would hope that you thought ahead enough to consider bringing an umbrella…”
“Ahaha, well…” Yosuke looked away in utter embarrassment. “That’s one thing I kinda didn’t account for today.”
“Now who’s the idiot? Come with me. I’m sure my uncle wouldn’t mind if you wait out the storm at my place.”
“At-at your place?”
“Don’t worry, my futon has enough room for two.”
“Huh? Why would it need to fit two people?”
“Don’t you want to wait out the storm with me, sleeping through the sound of the rain beating off of my windows together?”
“Ahh…aaaarrghh! You really are a big dumbass!” Yosuke said, once more trying to hide his embarrassed face in his hands.
Souji took this opportunity to link his arm around his, causing Yosuke to flinch in surprise.
“The fog’s already becoming too bad for you to safely bike home. I’ll walk you back to my place so that we may spend the evening together, my dear.”