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Chapter Text

Oh yes, here it is again, this thing called talent. Let me ask you if you know a person with talent - it can be a friend, a family member, a famous star, or even a fictional character. Surely, all of you can think of at least someone.

Now let me ask you in what this person is talented in. Something artistic, maybe? Or is it perhaps mathematics? Or a sports activity?

Last but not least, how do you even define this thing, "talent", in first place? Is it something that people were born with, like a gift? Or is it more like a compliment to express how great a person really is?

Then, let me tell you the story of a young man , a proclaimed prodigy and in possession of this thing called talent.

The boy's name was Chigiri Hyouma. He was born with facial traits that would rather be assigned to a female, with long pinkish-red hair, well-kempt and eye-catching. Speaking of eye-catching, it was not just only his looks, but also his play. Chigiri loved playing soccer, it was one of his greatest passions (besides his haircare), and was great at it; but it was not just simple greatness that made him outstanding, no, it was his incredible weapon.

Thanks to his body's build and his long and dedicated trainings, he had created an ultimate talent; his speed. And once Chigiri realized that, he made good use of it, and through the countless games he played it got more and more obvious that  he was a perfectly suited striker who was able to break through all the defense lines by simply his rough speed.

So it was no wonder that soon, the boy had gotten a lot of attention and recognition. People were swarming around him, telling him how amazing he was and how much talent he possessed. They praised him, they cheered for him, they searched for his closeness. And Chigiri would have lied if he said that he hadn't enjoyed all of this. At least past Chigiri would have said that.

But as his environment changed, it was inevitable that he himself changed as well.

"Talented". "Prodigy". "The Future of the Japanese Soccer". He heard things like these every day and was motivated by them; they helped him to get even more competitive, they fueled his ambition to get better, to eventually become one of Japan's top strikers. But that was until he simply couldn't find an opponent with skills that could keep up with his anymore.

Or in other words, an opponent with such a talent like he had.

Chigiri's beliefs that someday, someone would show up and live up to his ideas of how to define a rival, were threatened to be crushed as he started to challenge one after another in despair, going up against anyone possible, anyone he thought could be somewhat challenging. He even played against whole teams, but without realizing, all of these matches had made him even stronger, left his opponents ashamed and destroyed, and he himself, through the sour taste of victory — it used to be sweet — felt even lonelier than before.

The first crack in striker prodigy Chigiri Hyouma’s façade.

It was too late when he realized what he had turned into. As a result from his won challenges and the steadily growing feeling of loneliness and despair in his heart, he had started to look down on people, feeling this whimsical and dreaded superiority towards others whenever he saw the people he had crushed in the matches.

At first, it didn't affect him. Because after all, it was reality; Chigiri was superior to these boring, ordinary people, he was better than them, and none of them were worth wasting his time on. He kept pushing his doubts away, but when slowly but surely, his friends began to distance themselves from him until they had completely cut ties with each other, he began to realize that this just wasn't right.

Talent was bittersweet. Sweet on the outside, but incredibly bitter on the inside, so bitter that Chigiri felt like throwing up at the simple thought of it, and this urge didn't go back when he came to the conclusion that his talent was nothing but crap.

Talent had made him a bad person. Talent had separated him from the others; talent had nurtured the envy and disgust towards him. Chigiri tried to set his pride aside and to be more modest, he tried to reach out for other people, but the "friends" he had made seemed no better than fakes; he heard all sorts of offensive nicknames thrown at him everywhere. He pretended to not hear them; he didn't care about what people thought of him. He didn't mind. And overall, no one was able to keep up with him anyway.

He didn't mind. He didn't mind, right?

One day, Chigiri decided to skip a lesson, or perhaps two. He wasn't in the mood at all to return to the place which consisted of everything he despised — learning nothing that would help him with his soccer career, being exposed to the comments from his used-to-be friends, and having people eyeing him weirdly. So he hid behind one of the sports halls, his MP3-player in his hands; he had gotten fond of loud music, shutting out his thoughts and made him forget, at least for a while, at least for this small time.

So he sat there, the music playing, the class having lessons. He looked up to the sky; it was bright blue and not a single cloud dimmed the sunlight.

The strange thought of the sun laughing at his loneliness crossed his mind.

Paying more attention to his surroundings now, Chigiri's glance shifted to the spot next to him, and he suddenly flinched as he saw the familiar black and white ball he had played with so often right next by his side.

Seconds passed.

"Go to hell, you bastard!"

When Chigiri thought about this incident afterwards, he wasn't sure why he had snapped. He wasn't sure to who he had directed his curse at, but all the anger and frustration he had felt had its origin in this stupid talent, the thing that had separated him from everyone else, the thing that had made him such an arrogant brat, and he saw that he was confronted with hate towards something that was part of himself and his identity, something that could never be separated from him. His hands were clenched to fists as he got up and looked down on the ball, impulses bringing him to get into position, swing back his leg and to kick it, shattering his own façade.

Chigiri didn't know where the ball had gone, and he couldn't care less. He broke down, hugging his legs with his arms, burying his face in his knees. The MP3-player fell on the ground along with his headphones, a dry laugh escaped his throat, followed by a series of sobs, which he tried to contain as much as possible, but without success. He felt his eyes burn, but no tears came, much to his displeasure; how much more until he could feel the relief of washing his pain away? He started to wish for a normal, happy life together with these ordinary, happy people; with these talentless people who hadn't been granted with this luck when they were born, wished that he had never touched a ball at all, never had contact with this soccer world in first place.

Suddenly, he felt a touch on his shoulder and flinched once again, immediately slapping the thing that had touched him without even looking.

"Ouch... that hurt-"

The hand he just had slapped was no other than yours. You massaged it, grimacing, and then realized that the redhead didn't even take notice from you.

"Chigiri... kun?"

"Go away, damnit. Leave me alone."

What a horrible timing. You had found him at the exact moment where he had broken down, and were now facing parts of his vulnerability that you had never seen before. Was he crying? It made you confused and you searched for words, only to find out that you couldn't talk, that it wasn't the right moment; you had eyed him more closely and it seemed like he had shut himself down again. He was upset, and most likely ashamed to be confronted with someone at his current state. Two logical assumptions that lead to Chigiri wanting to be alone.

You shook your head. Either way, you had to bring him back to class. You had to. But you couldn't bring him back like this.

You glanced on the wired headphones and took them, tidily rolling up the wire around the player. Then you sat down next to him, laying the player between the two of you, leaning back and looking at the bright sky.

"Why are you here?"

You turned towards him and saw that he had tilted his head to the sky as well. No reddened eyes. He didn't cry after all.

"I'm here because the teachers are looking for you. As the class representative, I have no choice but to bring you back." You made a small break. "Please come back when you've calmed down. Otherwise, we have to inform your parents."

A small snort. Chigiri couldn't care less.

You got up and stretched your arms, then left without saying a word.

—

The following day, Chigiri didn't appear at school in first place.

As the bell ringed, everyone immediately started packing and rushed out of the classroom, discussing their afternoon activities and planning hangouts and such. You waved a few classmates goodbye, stuffed books and pencil case in your bag and briefly glanced at Chigiri's seat. You let out a small sigh and then made your way to the teacher, who still hadn't left.

"Sensei, have you heard from Chigiri-kun?"

The teacher hesitated before speaking. "We contacted his mother. She told us that he locked himself in his room... it seems like he refuses to come out and to speak to anyone."

What a behavior.

"Ah, (Y/N). Could you perhaps bring him the material for tomorrow?" You nodded and the teacher handed you a bunch of papers. "Thank you very much."

You bowed and said goodbye, stuffing the papers in your bag while leaving the classroom.

A few minutes later, you were walking home alone, trying to read the map. You nodded as you found the address and began to follow the way that would bring you to Hyouma Chigiri's house.

—

A shiver ran down the redhead's spine.

Said boy was sitting on his bed, a blanket wrapped around him, and staring at his laptop. The curtains were closed and the dimmed light of the device was the only source of light in the room. Headphones covered his ears; he was watching some series, groaning as he came to the realization that this was not going to distract him in any way.

Why did he just shiver? Was this a prediction? He shook his head; he didn't believe in that stuff. Halfheartedly, he skipped though the episodes, not really taking notice of what the plot.

"Chigiri-kun, please come out. I'm here to bring you the homework."

So the shiver from before had really been a warning. Someone was calling him right now and — from what he could tell — impatiently knocking on his door. Did his mom sent them upstairs? She really was desperate to bring him out of his room.

"Go away," he said, his voice hoarse from not speaking all day.

"It's me, (Y/N). Open the door."

Them again? Chigiri didn't want to interact with anyone right now. He wanted to be left alone.

... was this what he really wanted?

You were standing in front of the door, impatiently waiting for the male to open it. A wave of relief hit you as you heard the sound of a key unlocking a lock, and you got to see a small bit of a darkened room.

Before Chigiri could close the door again, you grabbed it and forced it open. Ignoring his curses, you walked past him without any hesitation and opened the curtains as well as the windows, making the male flinch at the sudden amount of light in his room.

You didn't think much about the mess on his bead but instead focused on Chigiri himself, decided to not comment his even messier appearance and his furious facial expressions.

"What are you thinking, barging into my room like that?" He accused you. "That's a violation of my privacy."

"Your mother gave me the permission to, as long as I'd get through to you. And," a small grin appeared on your face, "Looks like I succeeded, didn't I?"

Chigiri cursed. "You're the worst."

"Look, I've got something for us,” you said, pretending to not have heard his words, and held up a paper bag. “You must be starving, having nothing but breakfast all day."

A few minutes later (and after closing the windows again), you were both sitting on Chigiri's bed, eating some of the snacks you had bought him. The silence was somehow awkward; both of you were aware of it but both of you had chosen to ignore it for first.

Surprisingly, it was Chigiri who broke the silence.

"Thanks for the food."

You grimaced. "Don't think that I'll continue doing this. You better pay me back later." Another thought crossed your mind. "But you did eat something for breakfast, didn't you?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Chigiri leaned back against the wall, glancing to you. Maybe it had been the right decision to let you in after all. The food had made him feel better, as well as the drinks you had bought. And overall, being alone — even if he didn't want to admit it — had sucked.

"Hey, Chigiri-kun..."

"Just call me Chigiri."

You grinned and nodded. "That's fine by me. Let's leave away the appendixes, then." You hesitated. "I assume that you don't feel like doing any schoolwork right now."

Chigiri shifted his weight to the other side.

"Obviously."

"Alright. Look, I was supposed to help you with that stuff, but I can't obligate you to do something you don't want to do. But still..."

Your voice trailed off, and the last part of your sentence went unspoken, you still had to do it. Looking for a possible solution, your gaze fell on the laptop next to you. "Uh... You wanna watch a movie? Or something that brightens your mood."

"You have the time to?"

"I told my parents."

"And are they fine with it?"

"They will be, as long as I do my schoolwork."

You let the male choose a movie and proceeded to close the curtains. Then, you sat down next to him again. Chigiri hesitated before offering his blanket to you, but you declined.

"It's your blanket, so use it."

The redhead nodded and started the movie.

What the heck were you doing? Even if you had to fulfill your purpose, to make him do his homework, you didn't have to hang out with him, didn't you?

But the sight of the rare peacefulness on his face was enough to you forget about these thoughts again. Chigiri seemed to feel a bit better now. His hair was still a mess (you resisted a snicker) but overall, he looked just fine.

You didn't move away when your shoulders touched.

For Chigiri himself, this sudden craving for closeness was unexplainable, yet you were radiating this comfort that he, somehow, deep down in his heart and secretly, had longed for. Although you were the class representative, for Chigiri, if he thought back to earlier days, you had always seemed like an unapproachable person. All of your interactions with other classmates had somehow intimidated him; you were getting along with nearly anyone and socialized pretty well. But he had noticed that although you were nearly popular and liked by all people, there hadn't been a single person who had come closer to you than the others had done; it was like a polite distance you kept from them, and he didn't understand why. That was partially a reason why he had never interacted with you anyway, plus for a person like Chigiri, who highly disliked socializing, you with your socializing skills were nearly scary, so he had carefully avoided you.

But now, it seemed like it was the opposite. Any invisible barriers, lines or unspoken restrictions that had held you apart from each other were blurring now in the dim light of his room.

You were almost through the movie when you said, without shifting away from him, "Chigiri, are you coming back to school tomorrow?"

You meant to feel his momentary hesitation.

"No way."

"Do you wanna tell me what bothers you, then?" You offered.

"Are you my counselor, or what?"

"If you keep staying in this state, I will personally arrange one."

Chigiri huffed. "There's no need to. That'd make my parents worry even more."

"Tell me how they shouldn't be worried after you've locked yourself into your room for a whole day, skipping school."

"Fair point."

The two of you were silent again as you patiently waited for him to mentally prepare.

"I-"

"Oi, Hyou-chan, what happened?" Suddenly, the door was opened, and a certain female barged into the room. A loose towel was hanging from her shoulders, indicating that she had just taken a shower, and in her hands, she held a tablet with onigiri and tea. "I was worried about... oh."

The female's facial expressions dropped as her gaze fell on you two, comfortably sitting next to each other. Silence filled the room as she sweatdropped.

"Sorry for interrupting. Mom made these for you." She put the tablet on the floor, and with a short look at the closed curtains, she walked across the room, opening them again.

"Your date, Hyou-chan?"

Chigiri's face reddened as he jumped up and hastily shoved her to the door. "You're jumping to conclusions, nee-san! And should start knocking on doors, seriously—"

"Will do. Thanks for checking on him, by the way." She winked to you before almost tripping at how hard Chigiri had shoved her.

The male abruptly shut the door behind her, leaving the two of you alone again.

"Don't mind her. Uh, right." Chigiri cleared his throat and looked away, the slightest bit of a blush on his cheeks. He picked up the tablet with the food, putting the tea on his nightstand and the onigiri between him and you. "Help yourself, take as many as you want."

You acted like it wasn't a big deal, nodded a thanks and took one of the rice snacks, waiting for him to continue.

Chigiri took a deep breath and his grip around the cup tightened. His expressions didn't go unnoticed by you, they were now calmer and more serious.

"(Y/N), how would you define talent?"

You nodded for yourself. So this was the direction you were going towards to, and somewhere inside of you, you felt warmth and gratefulness for his attempt to open up. You did guess that his problems laid somewhere in this field, after all, it was not like you hadn't paid attention to your classmates' insults.

"Maybe... you could define it as a double-edged sword," you spoke, choosing your words carefully. "And if you aren't careful enough, you'll end up hurting others along with yourself."

Chigiri wrapped his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees, his hair covering his eyes.

"Pretty accurate." He hesitated. "It's probably scary to use it."

"And that's because its advantages bring the risk of hurting and being hurt with it."

The boy nodded and glanced at you, noticing your stern but gentle expression, and momentarily thought of leaving this double talk aside and opening up to you, but that desire was buried the second it had crossed his mind.

It didn't stop him from talking with you, though.

"If you possessed it, would you still use it?"

You leaned back, your gaze drifting to the ceiling, thinking about his question.

"Would you?" You asked him instead.

"I think that's clear." Chigiri then hesitated as he realized how his thoughts suddenly began to falter. "I think so."

You nodded for yourself, collecting your thoughts.

"In my opinion, talent is indeed something precious, and something that has to be used carefully," you stated. "It's true that talent brings risks and bad luck in some ways, and you maybe even have to sacrifice things. But if you take these risks and sacrifices and succeed, you'll end up even stronger."

"Sacrifices? What sort of sadistic moral is that?"

"It's true that people don't approve of this way of thinking. It isn't laying in what we know as common sense." You made a small break before continuing. "But by having this talent, one is already different from others, aren't they? I don't think that they should hesitate to leave behind things that hold them back from unlocking their full potential."

"That sounds awfully egoistic, (Y/N)."

You huffed. "It kind of is. But building up on things we can rely on is far more secure than to try and cover up things that we don't even know about."

Silence filled the room once again and you proceeded to take a bite from the onigiri, and as you tasted the rice on your tongue, your face lit up. "That's really good! Your mother must be an amazing cook."

Chigiri smiled a bit at the look of your face, but quickly realized it and looked away.

"Ha! You smiled!"

"I didn't!"

"I saw it clearly, Hyou-chan. You can't hide it."

"Don't call me that!"

At that time, Chigiri hadn't fully understood your words, and none of you had thought that your words would have such a big effect on Chigiri himself.

Perhaps it were your words that had kept him going even after his knee injury, maybe it was you that had given him the support he needed during that time, maybe it was because of you why he even got an invite to the "Blue Lock" project. And the moment the irritating man, Jinpachi Ego had finished his speech, Chigiri thought that he finally understood what you really meant to say.

Perhaps it was because of his longing and desire to unleash his talent he had decided to make his way through the wide gates. Perhaps it were your words that had kept the fire inside him burning.

And Chigiri was thankful for that.

Because thanks to you, he had been able to use his talent, the same talent which had made him feel disgusted and depressed, without fear, only looking forward to be the best, looking forward to be reunited with you and to come back from the Blue Lock project, prideful and victorious, the lingering feeing of gratefulness not having disappeared yet.

———

You smiled and closed your phone. Victory against the national Japanese U-20 team, huh?

The two of you had to celebrate that.

Chapter Text

The raven haired male had been standing in front of the shop for a while now. He had put his hands into the pockets of his jacket and his nose was slightly reddened, as the result of the cold weather. His deep blue eyes were looking around nervously as he pretended to take a closer look at the plants behind the shop windows, his gaze trailing to the silhouette of the person inside every now and then.

You had noticed him some while ago and couldn't help but think of him as suspicious. What did he want? You haven't opened the shop yet, and it there was still some time before you'd open it, but yet he was standing there, examining the shop.

You sighed and put the large box in your arms aside, carefully to not damage any plants nearby. You then stepped over some garden hoses, your eyes constantly fixated on the stranger as you went to the door and opened it.

A cold wind caught you off-guard and made you shiver, but you quickly focused on the stranger again. The male flinched and turned around to you, his eyes widened and his mouth slightly opened.

"Can I help you?"

The male looked away, his cheeks slightly pink.

"I'm... not sure."

What's that supposed to mean? Sighing once again, you put on a smile, stepping out of the shop and holding the door open.

"Come in, I'll help you," you said, and the stranger looked at you again, doubtfully.

"But isn't it after your hours of operation?"

You snorted and made a small gesture, inviting him to step inside. "Don't make a fuss and come inside, it's cold. Oh, by the way, what's your name?"

"... Isagi. Isagi Yoichi."

"I'm (y/n), nice to meet you!"

Isagi nodded as he went past you, deciding to not mention the fact that your name was visible on the name tag on your shirt, while you watched the raven stepping into the shop, a small smile on your face as you saw his eyes widening in surprise at the amount of all sorts of plants in the room.

Even if Isagi had seen parts of the interior from the outside already, he felt like he had entered an entire different place - even if it was winter, it was warm inside here, almost muggy, just like in one of these fairytales where you suddenly step into an unknown world. He regarded his surroundings in awe; the bit of sunshine fell on the carpets of green, creating a mysterious, yet cozy atmosphere, and here and there, he spotted some varying touches of color, which, as he looked closer, turned out to be flowers of all sorts. The sweet, intense aroma crawled up Isagi's nose and unexpectedly, he had to let out a sneeze, making you snicker.

"Bless you! Yeah, there's probably a lot of pollen in here... you need a tissue?"

"It's fine, thanks," Isagi said, embarrassed.

"Let me take your jacket, it's pretty warm inside here."

"Thank you."

You hung up the jacket just at the entrance and turned around again, smiling at the male's awe.

"Alright, then, Yo-kun." You went past him, stopping where you had put down the box from earlier. Lifting it up, you looked back to Isagi, wondering what his wish was. "What do you need?"

The raven scratched the back of his head. "I..."

"Oh, is it for Valentine's Day?" You grinned. "No need to be so shy. Perhaps you'd like... roses?"

"I'm not sure-"

"Or do you want something more... personalized?" You asked, putting the box beneath one of the nearby desks and pointing to another spot in the room. "Either way, the flowers are over there, follow me."

"... thank you."

"No need to be so polite!" You smiled and a thought came on your mind. "So, just out of curiosity, do you have a date?"

Isagi stiffened. "Actually... not yet." He hesitated before asking, "What about you?"

"Me neither," you replied, taking a closer look at the flowers. "Oh, not yet? So you're gonna ask them out today?"

"Probably."

"I'm rooting for you, then! Although, if it goes wrong, would you take me out on a date instead?"

A bright flush made its way on Isagi's face as he held his hands in front of him, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I- I just- I actually-," he blurted out, quickly looking aside, which made you chuckle.

"Calm down, Yo-kun, I was joking. Besides, who would turn down such a nice guy like you?"

To your surprise, the raven didn't reply, and you felt obligated to clear your throat to draw his attention to you again, hoping to somehow skip this awkward silence like that.

"Can you give me a more detailed description of the person, then? Makes it easier to specify what flowers I'd recommend."

Isagi hesitated again. "Actually, I haven't known them for very long, but... they're pretty... energetic. And very willing to help."

"Hmm, would something more lively do it, then? How does a colorful bouquet of roses sound?" You suggested.

"I'm not sure..."

"Or would red roses will make it after all- oh look, here we are!" You had stopped in front of a smaller bucket of roses of different colors, standing out between the green of the plants nearby. "Roses were really popular this year. Honestly, they've gotten real classy... but regardless... what do you think?"

The male seemed as uncomfortable as he felt. He couldn't believe you; how did you just directly assume that he wanted to buy flowers for Valentine's Day? And how did you behave as if you were that close, like actual friends and not just two strangers who (partly) met by coincidence?

What had he gotten himself into?

"Yo-kun? Do you have a question?"

"Yeah, (y/n)-san," he said, quickly snapping out of his thoughts. "You seem to be around my age. Is this your part time job? Are you allowed to do that?"

You looked up, surprised at his question, and then shrugged.

"It's my family's business, and my parents are out for Valentine's Day, so I volunteered to take care of the store."

"I see."

"It's actually my first time, running the whole store and everything," you admitted with an embarrassed laugh. "I may not be as good as my parents, but I'm doing my best!"

Isagi let out a small chuckle. "That's a great mindset," he said and returned your smile. "So I'm your last customer for today, then?"

"Yeah, seems like it."

"And... you're free after?"

"Yeah!" You responded immediately and without a thought, before realizing the full meaning of the raven's words. "I — I mean, why are you asking?"

Isagi shifted nervously and a bright blush crept onto his face as he stuttered, "I... I was just wondering, nothing else."

You watched him closely, noticed how he avoided eye contact with you, noticed his tenseness and the embarrassment written in his face. Then, a flash of memories came up to your mind; how the boy had gazed through the display windows of your shop, how he had tensed whenever you had brought up the whole Valentine's Day subject.

And suddenly, your brain clicked, and all of Isagi Yoichi's seemingly aimless actions started to make sense.

"Ah, I get it now!" You exclaimed, pointing right at the boy in front of you. "If you really wanted to invite me to a date so badly, why didn't you just ask?"

The look on your face was almost triumphant when Isagi's already flushed face reddened even more at your words.

Earlier that day, Isagi had been on his way home from practice, when he had passed by your flower shop. With minor interest, he had stopped to regard it, noticing the amount of people that were entering and leaving it and deciding to take a look from the display windows.

That was when his gaze had landed on you. You had been talking to a customer, a delightful look on your face, radiating eagerness and friendliness, and had caught Isagi's interest. He had seen a name tag on your shirt and the gloves you were wearing, which he had used to identify you as the caretaker of this flower shop. But for such a job, you seemed a tad to young; you looked more like you were around his own age.

Isagi snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed a couple coming towards him; he suddenly realized how strange he must've looked, staring at the windows with his gaze locked on that mysterious young florist on the inside. So he quickly continued his way, taking a note to come and see you again.

And there he was, in the flower shop that belonged to said mysterious young florist's parents, making a fool of himself because he had let you cut him off every time he had tried to get up the courage to ask you out on a date.

... he really didn't know how to explain it to you.

Sighing, Isagi shook his head, attempting to shake off his confused state, and resigned. He then looked up, locking his gaze with yours, and gave you a smile, a smile that made your mouth slightly widen at its pure sincerity.

"Then I'll ask you now. Would you be my Valentine?"

You let out a soft laugh and returned the smile.

"I'd love to."

Chapter Text

Itoshi Rin had never thought that he'd ever experience this "love at first sight" thing - it was surreal, didn't make sense, and was dangerous. As a cool-headed, more distant type of person, he had taken great care of keeping himself away from stuff like this, and he had been successful - right until now.

Did he fell in love at first sight anyway? Well, it was not like he had a choice- regardless of having just begun, this party was crowded as hell, the bass-boosted music was loud and rumbling in his head, and everything Rin wanted at the moment was simply to return home. He had spent his evening standing around, a lost expression on his face, dodging wild fangirls, getting some snacks, hiding from his wild fangirls, drinking one or two drinks (although he wasn't supposed to consume alcohol, but a little bit couldn't ruin his entire career, right?), and avoiding the fangirls again. Short, an absolute horrific start into this party.

Rin was fed up, watching the people around him having fun, and his irritation only grew when he saw his teammates amongst the crowd, laughing and enjoying themselves. He then sent a message to his manager, had pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against, a bit light-headed from the champagne (he was everything but a drinker) and sent himself to leave, when it had happened - he had bumped into a certain person.

Said person had instantly apologized and Rin had nodded, brushing the apology off. After all, it was inevitable to remain untouched in a crowd like this one, and he couldn’t bring the energy to get mad at anyone for doing this action anymore. He had sighed instead, taking a closer look on his counterpart with the slightest bit of curiosity, and they did the same; and as their gazed met, suddenly, it seemed like their surroundings were slowing down until time had stopped.

It was a rare phenomenon that happened, or so would Rin describe it. In that instant of a second, he had captured the smile the stranger had given him, and he had believed to see something unique in them, something that he wasn't quite able to put into thoughts, like a word you search for, so clearly on the tip of your tongue, but not being able to put your finger on it.

The encounter struck Rin, gave him goosebumps, he didn’t dare to move; it was an entirely new experience, with such a mesmerizing force, and he was stunned. Disoriented. Almost scared. But as the shock had finally subsided, it had been too late; the mysterious person had disappeared.

Confusion overwhelmed Itoshi Rin like huge waves, struck him, left him overthinking.

What had just happened?

How did an absolute random sequence of absolute random events turn out this way?

What was this what he felt? A feeling so intense, burning inside him, impatiently tugging on his insides. Butterflies in his stomach and a racing heartbeat.

He was feeling. The rational person he had been until now had been utterly destroyed by this one interaction.

That was the start of Itoshi Rin's desire to get to know you.

”Rin-san, I finally found you!” The voice of his manager threw him out of his thoughts. “You want to leave? Should I inform Ego-san?”

Rin looked at the masses around him, his gaze wandering from one person to another.

”Never mind. I’ll take another look around,” he spoke, disappearing within the people and leaving his manager alone.

He made his way through the people, groups and couples dancing and laughing, staggering when a group of drunk teenagers almost ran him over, followed by a furious senior man, but aside from that, his gaze never stopped scanning his surroundings, looking for the smile that had left such an impression on him. He shook his head, the thought occurring to him that he should’ve asked his manager if they happened to know someone matching the stranger’s description.

And then he heard a hearty laugher and spun around, spotting you, amongst the come-and-go of the strangers around him, the same intimate smile showing on your face when you talked with a group of people, Rin assumed they were a few friends of yours. He then took a breath and walked towards you, helplessly being drawn into this unknown warm feeling.

—

The ravenette approached you and your friends noticed, excusing themselves not without a few tactless snickers to let the two of you alone.

A small moment of silence settled over the two of you. It was strangely intimate despite the loudness of the party booming behind you, and there was a mutual understanding exchanged when your looks crossed.

The two of you regarded each other, curiously, cautiously, carefully. You suppressed a grin when you noticed his uncertainty, and decided that it was time to give him a small push.

"Oh, it’s the gentleman from before! You have beautiful lashes," you commented with a unfazed smile.

You saw him blushing and hesitating and resisted the urge to giggle. He seemed a bit lost.

"… your smile… it’s cute."

Rin brought a hand up to his face the moment the words had left his mouth and looked aside in embarrassment, but all the thoughts left him when he heard your chuckle.

"Haha, thank you! You’re a nice guy.” You smiled and nodded to the direction where he came from. Then you asked, innocently, “Do you need something from me?”

”Can I have your number?”

”Hmm, depends.” You held out a hand to him, searching for eye contact. “Want to take me to a dance first?"

How could Rin ever decline this amazing opportunity? He took your hand, eyes locked with yours, something as astonishment brimming within them.

Soon, the two of you were standing on the dance floor, slow dancing, and as he let himself guide through the few easy steps, the raven thought himself lucky to have caught a song as calm as this one.

"Hey, I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves yet,” you commented with a laugh. “Let’s start again! I’m (y/n), nice to meet you.”

And as you looked at him in anticipation, your body so close to his, fully exposed to your attentive gaze and way closer than he was comfortable with, Rin found himself wishing for skills he didn’t possess. This was one of the rare, painful moments where he realized his weaknesses; he lacked experience and skill at approaching people and communicating with them. Until now, Rin had been just fine without this skill in particular since he had always lacked interest in others, but the situation he was currently in required his social senses.

"I'm Rin... Itoshi Rin."

"Oh, you’re that one soccer player!" You remembered the media going crazy about this unknown team coming out of nowhere and defeating Japan's national U20. "Why are you here? Not worried about your fans?"

"I'm not interested..."

"You say?" You grinned. "Not interested in people, Rin-chan?"

The way you accentuated Rin-chan let a slight blush appear on Rin's cheeks as realized his mistake, and he looked aside and searched for the right words, trying to keep his cool. "… but you’re interesting, (y/n)-san."

You just chuckled at the boy's insecurity. "I was joking, loose up. And you’re an interesting person too, you know."

Rin didn't reply but focused more on the steps instead.

The two of you continued to dance until the song was over and the two of you came to a halt. You looked to your linked hands and smiled, pointing to the bar with your free hand.

"Let's get a drink, alright, Rin-chan?"

"Rin’s enough, (y/n)-san."

”Rin-chan, Rin-chan~”

Without waiting for a reaction, you started walking, pulling Rin with you. He quickly recovered from his surprise and followed you, stunned by your presence, stunned by how warm your hand was, stunned by the security it gave him, stunned of how safe he felt.

Was it simple affection? Love, even? After all, this love was so present in the media nowadays; of course Rin had read at least one love story, seen one romance movie or series, and heard others talk about this love, this absurd, irrational thing in this rational world.

Then again, it was all hormones, explainable with simple biology, and teenagers just tended to have an especially lot of the emotion triggering ones, but how could he stop it? Irrationality in rationality. Was that the reason why Rin couldn't help but feel drawn to you? Except that liking, wanting to love you was wrong- after all, an irrationality in rationality was just another irrationality...

Another question crossed his mind; what exactly defined such an irrationality like like, like love? Was this the reason why people talked about "love at first sight" and all of that?

No, he was simply overthinking. Love comes and goes. End mark. But…

"Mister, you’re staring."

Rin snapped out of his thoughts. Crap, he was too absent-minded. This wasn't like him at all- he had been acting a lot out of character today.

"Sorry. I zoned out.” The raven looked around, spotting two free seats. “Let me invite you."

You smiled, “I’d love to!"

Rin ordered a drink along with a simple water, addressing the drink from the bartender to you. You accepted it gratefully before eyeing him with interest.

"Why didn't you take one?"

”Athlete’s nutrition duty."

"Aw, I understand." You took a sip and eyed Rin curiously. It took you a bit to understand how he worked, his facial expressions wouldn’t give away much, but you had eventually come to the decision that Rin’s interest in you was genuine and he was simply struggling to express it. Maybe it was time to pace things up.

"So, you’re a soccer player. Is it fun?"

Rin shrugged. “Mhm.”

You simply waited for him to continue, and as Rin noticed it, his cheeks reddened, and he spoke, “I used to play soccer with my brother. It’s grown on me.” He stopped, hesitating. “And what do you… like to do?"

Your eyes sparkled with delight as you heard this question and you answered willingly, and something in you softened as you noticed how Rin hung onto your lips, his eyes on you, bits of a smile ghosting around his lips every now and then when you smiled or made a joke.

Rin eventually called the bartender, paying for the drink, and had just put back his wallet when you slowly reached out, your fingers lingering over the raven’s hand, and Rin, as attentive as ever, took it carefully. There was a hesitation in his moves, but you noticed gratefully that it was getting better and better throughout the conversation.

”Rin-chan, why won’t you smiiiile?” You complained jokingly, entwining your fingers. “I’d sell a fortune to see a smile on this pretty face.”

”… don’t force me, (y/n)-san.” After a pause, he asked: “Can I have your phone number now?”

A mischievous grin appeared on your face.

”I know! Let’s trade, Rin-Rin, a smile for a phone number! What do you say?”

”I-“ Rin grimaced and set down his glass. “…fine, but...”

"Hey, Rin, we gotta go!"

A raven waved over to the two of you, standing next to a small group of other boys, and you guessed that they were Rin’s teammates, waving back with a weary smile. Guess this was where your ways parted.

For the first time in his life, Rin was annoyed that he had to leave the party at such an early time. He thought about dismissing his team, then hesitated, his gaze fell back on you and he let out a small sigh, accepting his fate. Ego-san would be more than displeased with him. "Guess we'll see us around", he said, giving you a short nod and unlocking your hands before getting up and adjusting his shirt. "It was nice with you, (y/n)-chan."

You could swear that in that small moment, you had seen a small smile on Rin's face, genuine but still strained. Bittersweet. And that nickname...

You got up. He couldn’t just go yet.

"Hey, Rin-chan- wait, you've forgotten something."

He stopped and looked back hesitantly. You smiled a bit and made a small break before speaking.

"I haven't given you my phone number yet."

And Rin looked into your face, caressed gently in the colorful lights, and your hand, reaching out uneasily, hesitantly. He smiled just so slightly, watching as your eyes widened in surprise, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He unlocked it, adding a new contact, and held out his phone to you.

“Please, go ahead.”

You took the phone out of his hands and entered your number before giving it back.

"Thank you-" Rin stopped as you didn’t let go of his phone, slowly meeting your eyes. You smiled, then stepped closer, softly kissing his cheek.

”See you, Rin-chan.”

You stepped back, waving him goodbye, grinning at his flustered expression.

He’s so beautiful.

It seemed like this irrationality hadn't only occurred to Rin.

Chapter Text

Sharing a small flat with your boyfriend really was nice, and one of the things you appreciated the most about living together with him were the mornings.

Beginning with the tranquil atmosphere. The sky outside was still dark, but a small glimmer already announced the beginning of the sunrise and eventually grew, painting the sky with pastel colors. A warm greeting, inviting you to start the day. The sun rays fell through the curtains and if you were awake, you'd see the light dancing on the features of your boyfriend's features, giving him an almost angelic look.

And when you were awake, you'd smile, sitting up and taking a moment to watch his beauty. There was no need to wake him up; as the rays reached his eyes, he'd wake up by himself, opening his eyes and yawning, stretching his back. You'd kiss him goodmorning, or the other way around, and sometimes, you'd lay around for a few more minutes, you laying in his arms and the both of you rolled up under the blanket, saying no words but just enjoying the peace.

When Ryousuke woke up first, he'd let you sleep, gently standing up and tip-toeing to the bathroom, trying his best to not disturb you. These were the mornings where you'd wake up with the smell of food in your nose. And as you can imagine, there's nothing better than to wake up and be greeted with food, especially when it was your boyfriend who cooked - his cooking skills were surprisingly good. You'd enjoy everything he cooked, everything would taste amazing, and the male would watch you eating, smiling at your enthusiasm.

And if you didn't have to work on these days, the two of you would spend the time together, doing either relaxing or exciting activities. Sometimes, you'd take Ryousuke to an arcade or a bowling center. And sometimes, Ryousuke would take you on a one- or two-day trip.

Overall, the both of you were really busy with your jobs, sometimes even only seeing each other at dinner. But that, as well, was part of why you appreciated the good times you had together so much.

There were times where you were scared of this idyllic peace; although you loved him and he loved you and you were able to spend all these beautiful moments together, it still felt so fragile, so unreal that you were absolutely horrified by the idea of something destroying that atmosphere. There were times where you'd get incredibly insecure about doing something wrong. And it was also inevitable that not all the mornings were like this.

In fact, you could remember a huge fight you once had. You weren't sure what it was about, but you remembered pretty well how you had felt then; you had panicked and started to throw a tantrum before crying...

Oh, that was right, it was an argument about your well-being.

You leaned back into your seat, closing your eyes for a second as you recalled these past events, not minding the gazes of your coworkers.

Ryousuke had noticed the tension you kept with you, and on a certain day, he had confronted you, seemingly out of the blue. But afterwards, as you asked him, he claimed his worry as obvious.

But that was another story. Let's get back to the argument.

You could still remember how you felt as the male had spoken these words - it was overwhelming, threatening the idyllic relationship you had built up, and the realization of its fragility had struck you, finally bringing the whole construction to fall. No longer able to hold back and hide your worries, the words had come out of your mouth, and you had told him everything you had felt.

He had remained silent, and the moment where he had taken a step forward to pull you into a tight hug was the moment when you realized how vulnerable you really were.

Tears had streamed down your cheeks and had fallen on Ryousuke's shirt as you had felt the familiar warmth of his body embracing you, filling you with comfort and the feeling of safety.

The familiar smell and feeling of home.

The male had patted your back, patiently waiting for you to calm down. He then had apologized for the pressure he had given you, and as you protested, he had only smiled and cut you off with a small peck on the lips. He had continued; this idea of a perfect relationship was indeed the ideal one, but perfection was an exhausting and demanding thing as well as a dangerous wish.

He then had asked you what you wanted to have in an ideal relationship.

The two of you had sat down in the kitchen, and Ryousuke had made some tea while you had opened a package of biscuits. He had given you some time to think about his question while he prepared the tea, pouring some of it into two mugs and handing one of them to you.

You then had answered and admitted that you didn't exactly know, but if there had been something you really wanted then it was for the two of you to feel safe and comfortable around each other. Your boyfriend had listened to you, paying close attention to your words, and over the whole time, he had been holding your hand, slightly squeezing it every now and then to reassure you that he was caring about you.

And you had really appreciated that small gesture.

You smiled at the thought and opened your eyes, slowly sitting up straight and suppressing a yawn. Your gaze wandered back to the work in front of you and you sighed, but the thought of being able to see Ryousuke soon was enough motivation for you.

You had agreed on getting more aware of each other's true feelings and stopping to pretend and overplay things when feeling down, and now, years later, when you thought about your past self, you couldn't help but smile at these small, intimate moments that had made you to what you were now.

Ryousuke had sounded really pensive back then, almost nostalgic, as if he had remembered a life lesson he had learned the hard way.

Of course, at the start, things hadn't worked out as smoothly as you wanted, but it wasn't easy to lay down any hesitation and show each other your different sides, your true selves. Sometimes, you would still have discussions that made you feel nervous and insecure, but as time passed, you were finally able to open up more, getting a greater understanding of your actions, thoughts and feelings.

Though you were sure that being able to tearing down these walls of fear was one of the main factors of the new perfect relationship you had. You looked at the ring on your hand; it caught the dim light that fell on it, reflecting it, and the smile on your face was even brighter as you touched the ring, feeling its cool surface underneath your fingers.

Later, you left your workplace, taking the metro to get home. You made your way to your home, exhausted from work, but looking forward to your safe space, where you could just relax for a while.

You opened the door, and the familiar smell of fried rice crawled up your nose. Smiling, you entered the building, quickly getting out of your shoes and entering the kitchen, spotting the man that was so special to you, the man that you loved infinitely, the man that you were married to.

Ryousuke turned around, a delighted look in his face, and you stepped up next to him, giving him a small kiss on the lips.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back."

Every day with Ryousuke Kira was a perfect day, and you loved it.

Chapter Text

"Hm? Who's this? Nagi Seishiro?"

"Yeah, he's a very famous gamer at the arcade here, also nicknamed the Emperor," someone in the small crowd around you explained. "Rumors say that he's unbeaten!"

"But do you think he could beat Kitsune as well?", another person said, doubtfully.

"I once played against him," someone else added in. "It felt like I've been crushed, for real. There is a reason why he's called the Emperor."

"Didn't you get crushed by Kitsune some time ago as well?"

"Well—"

"Honestly, I don't think Nagi stands a chance against (y/n)..."

As more and more people around you started to debate whether you were capable of winning against this Nagi Seishiro person, a smirk made its way on your face. Pretending to not hear the discussion, you quickly finished the ongoing game with one last final strike, leaving the small crowd around you stunned and cheering and your opponent groaning in frustration.

Unbeatable? Perfect. This sounded like a challenge, and after all these tiring lame games you'd played against these tiring lame players around here, you really needed something more exciting. Your fingers were already itching at the thought of the thrilling feeling of an intense game...

So it would feel even better to crush him.

Spending your summer holidays somewhere far away from the town you lived in in order to visit your relatives again, you had spent countless time by yourself, bored by the strict family rules, the ancient traditions, your relatives criticizing you - how were you still supposed to show respect to them under conditions like these, as your parents always ordered you to?

Goddamn family hierarchies.

To escape further rules, further pressure and further boredom, you had begun to spend more and more time downtown, where no family members could possibly disturb your actions and keep telling you off. And that was how you had found this lovely place, the arcade - a place where you could let off as much steam as you needed. Games were surprisingly suited to move your mind elsewhere, and ironically, you had enough money to spend it on them  — one of the ironic advantages of growing up in a traditional family as this one.

But even that had eventually bored you. The discovery of your talent for gaming had been a big surprise, and you would be lying if you claimed that you hadn't been enjoying the sweet taste of victory (and with that, the steadily growing amount of attention that even lead to you getting a nickname). But as time passed, playing games had become nothing more than a repetitive, monotonous action to do; the more you succeeded, your skill evolved, which lead to even bigger differences between you and your opponents until the skill gap had become so big that people started to see you as a player far superior to them.

That was when your freshly discovered hobby became more and more meaningless, leaving you irritated and upset. In fact, you had started to accept that there was simply no one who was better in gaming than yourself.

So hearing of the unbeaten player of this arcade in the middle of Shibuya was almost like the jackpot served on a plate. An amazing opportunity was in sight, and you were as good as sure that Nagi was a challenging opponent.

"Maybe I could challenge him," you said out loud, still halfway in your thoughts. "But how do I get into contact?"

"That's easy. He comes here on a regular basis—"

Another person in the crowd suddenly cut them off, pointing at their wristwatch. "Wait! Isn't this the time where he usually shows up?"

Just as they said that, the doors to the arcade opened and a small group of people entered, catching your eye.

The first person to enter was an energetic person with a haircut that resembled something between a wolf and a bowl cut, dragging a rather inconspicuous boy with themselves. They were followed by two other tall males, a buff one with spiky orange hair and one with long crimson hair. But your attention laid on the last two arrivers, a tall boy with purple hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing expensive looking clothes, who, strangely, was carrying another boy on his back.

"That's him! That's the Emperor!" Someone around you whisper-exclaimed, pointing at the group.

"Speak of the devil," you muttered to yourself, and your grin grew wider as you heard the people around you starting to chatter excitedly. Quickly, you got on your feet, trying to get a better view on the newcomers. "Which one?"

"The one with the white hair. The one who's being carried right now."

"I see." You chuckled. "The Emperor, huh? Looks a bit exaggerated for such a figure..."

You stopped mid sentence when suddenly, the white-haired male, Nagi, got off the other male, walking towards you. With growing interest, you realized that now he was standing, you could see that he was unusually tall, not just for his age, but also for an average person.

What a strange kid.

"Hey, you! Emperor guy!" You exclaimed. You noticed how your voice rose in excitement and quickly took a deep breath, recollected yourself, and tried to establish eye contact. "Hey, come and play against me, will you?"

That was when he walked past you, not even giving you a look, and let you remain frozen in the same challenging position.

What?

You couldn't believe it. How dared he, treating you just like air when you had openly challenged him in front of a whole crowd of people? And even worse, how could he just ignore a challenge of no other than you, out of all people? You spun around, irritation and a glimpse of anger letting your shock paralysis wither.

"Oi! Nagi Seishiro, I'm talking to you!" You exclaimed, taking a step forward.

Finally, the white-haired male seemed to take notice of your presence, slightly turning his head towards your direction and eyeing you with just the tiniest bit of interest.

"So what?"

His words came out without any emotion, almost as if he was nonchalant about all of this, and it bothered you. It really did.

"So what?" You spat, crossing your arms and lifting your chin just the slightest bit. "I'm challenging you, obviously. You gonna accept?"

The crowd around you gathered in an ellipse, you and Nagi standing in the middle of it, and unconsciously got closer to get a better look at the two of you. The chattering ebbed down as everyone waited for Nagi to reply, the atmosphere getting more and more tense and you felt it, momentarily wondering if you weren't just making a fool out of yourself, but then the male blinked, obviously unimpressed, and opened his mouth.

"No," Nagi mumbled. And to one's surprise, his answer came as casually as if he didn't realize in what situation he was in. "Look for someone else."

"But what if I already did?" You replied before a smile made its way on your face, sugared in pity and empathy. "Oh, I see. Too scared of losing your face?"

"As if he'd ever be intimidated by someone like you!" The purple haired guy next to Nagi said in a dismissive tone. His eyes scanned you up and down in doubt and he furrowed his eyebrows at your confident posture. "Think you're capable of winning against Sei just because you won against them—" He made a gesture with his hand, referring to the crowd around you. "—because Sei is on a whole different level. Dream on—"

"Wait a sec, Reo. I've heard of them." The muscular orange haired guy from earlier stepped up to him and eyed you too, but with less intensity and mistrust, and you appreciated it. "(Y/n), or Kitsune, was it? You're quite popular, as far I've heard."

Reo doubtfully lifted an eyebrow, replying before you got the chance to, "They might be famous," he commented, "but they're up against Sei here, muscles. This is—"

"'s enough, Reo. I'm gonna accept."

Nagi went past his friends and stepped up in front of you. Whispers grew loud and the crowds around the two of you were quick to exchange their opinions, and a few saw an opportunity in your showdown and instantly started to place bets.

"But," Reo protested now, quick to collect himself and pointing at you. "This— shrimp—"

"I said 's fine, Reo," Nagi repeated with the same monotone voice, but there was something more underlying to it, something that only Reo as his closest friend could detect. He regarded your eyes, locking his gaze with yours, and spoke, "One match will shut them up."

Reo nodded halfheartedly before glaring daggers in your direction. "Yo, Kitsune. Lemme give you a warning; bore him and I'll end you."

And despite the intimidating situation you found yourself in, a grin appeared on your face and you stepped forward as well, just as unfazed by the closeness as your opponent and pleased with the turn of events. This was where you wanted things to develop into.

"Just sit back and watch, rich kid," you said without breaking eye contact with the arcade's infamous Emperor. "Now what are we waiting for? I'll be generous and let you choose what we're gonna play."

———

You were not pleased with the turn of events at all.

It had begun with a simple rhythm game which you had won, but much to your worries, Nagi had looked like he was about to fall asleep during that game, his eyes barely open when he had performed, which confused and angered you — because nonetheless, his scores were too close to yours for the minimal effort he had put into the game. You had confronted him, wanting a rematch, and Nagi had (although reluctantly) agreed, suggesting a video game.

This time, he had not held back, and had knocked you out within seconds. Nothing had helped; yelling, concentrating, aggressively tugging on the control buttons, and cursing the male. And that was why you were now at your third match, the final one and the one to determine the winner.

You were currently playing a redemption game, some shoot down with plastic guns, testing your aim and durability, and you were, well, losing. Losing really bad, at least in your own eyes — you knew well enough that your scores were not only bad in comparison to Nagi's, but also to your usual ones. Letting out a curse, you pointed your fake gun towards the screen, eventually eliminating your target. Sweat began to form on your forehead; you were aware of the spectators, of their cheering and booing, and aware of the catastrophic situation you were in; your reputation stood on the line, the attention was no longer lying on you, but on your opponent, your proclaimed rival, and your pride was hurt from the numerous losses you had experienced. The pressure was weighting you down and made your breath come faster; you glanced to Nagi, watched his coolness, his ever so nonchalant expressions as if it this task was no more difficult than a walk to the next grocery store.

This match was taking too long, you thought.

Maybe you weren't made to play these generic games after all. Maybe you were more generic amongst the generic than you had thought...

But you refused, refused to see it, refused to accept it, refuse to take it for reality.

Damn you. I'll prove all of you wrong.

———

Tack.

You took the soda drink out of the automat and opened the can with a loud noise, hurriedly taking a few sips, and let out a heavy sigh afterwards.

The air was cool and now, in the late afternoon, stronger winds were blowing, making you shiver. You looked up to the sky, the blue color softly fading into a more reddish one, and considered going back to your warm house. Then you thought of what your parents were possibly going to confront you with, and suddenly this choice didn't seem as tempting as before.

What should you do? There was no way you could go back to the arcade for now. Maybe you could visit the boba store at the end of the street, or spend the rest of the time in the malls...

A sudden movement right next to you startled you, and you were more than surprised to see Nagi alone, his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants and his hair slightly moving in the wind.

You stared at him. He stared back.

Then he opened his mouth and pointed to the automat. "Sorry."

You understood, stepped aside, and watched him with distrust as Nagi tried to find the money in his pockets, sweatdropping when he didn't succeed doing so. He mumbled something unclear and was just about to turn around when you took a step forward, "wait."

Nagi waited.

You got your purse, a gift from your grandparents and printed with small foxes, and took some coins out of it, throwing it into the machine. "Here you go," you said, making an inviting gesture towards it. "Help yourself." As the male didn't move a centimeter, you put your purse back into your jacket pocket again and crossed your arms. "Hurry up. See it as a repay for the match."

"Why repay when you were the one to lose?"

You bit your lip. "It was a close one, admit it. Now choose already, asshole."

Nagi finally crouched down in front of the automat, and you watched as he pressed one of the buttons and took a can out of the machine afterwards. He opened it with one hand and looked around, his gaze landing on the parking lot behind the vending machine and the walls surrounding it. They were covered with graffitis, some more outstanding than others, some showing anime characters and signatures, and he looked back to you, noticing the slight frown on your face.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, whereas the corner of your mouth twitched.

"I'm waiting for a thank you."

Nagi huffed, "... thanks, then."

"Don't say things you don't even mean."

Silence settled over the two of you and you glanced to your companion. Nagi took a small sip from his drink only, and a thought came to your mind, something you had been wondering about for a while already. No longer able to resist, you pointed at the can, and asked:

"How did you open it with one hand only?"

"What?"

"How did you," you repeated, your finger still pointing at the can in Nagi's hand, "open the can, using one hand only?"

"Ah." The male blankly stared at his drink; it was a skill he had adapted quickly after Reo had shown him, and something that came to him so naturally he didn't even realize. "It's not that hard."

"Of course it isn't. Yeah, it shouldn't be that hard."

Nagi glanced to you. Seeing how you struggled to keep yourself together, he took a decision and pointed to the parking lot. "Standing is tiring," he then said. "Let's sit down."

Silence. Then, a laugh. It began as a mere giggle, until you couldn't hold it back anymore and you were holding your stomach from laughing, trying to keep standing on your feet, while Nagi looked confused, "Why are you laughing?"

"What do you mean, why shouldn't I laugh?"

"Aren't you frustrated?"

"I mean, of course I am." You took a deep breath and reduced your laugh to a snicker. "I did want to win. That's why I went up against you in first place. But right now," you smiled and looked up to the sky, "I can't bring myself to be mad… I even forgot why this match mattered so much to me anyway. I guess I’m just glad I got to meet you this way."

A small silence. Then,

"Sappy," the response came.

"Shut up!"

Nagi made a sound, an unfamiliar one, and it took you a while to understand that it was a chuckle.

Nagi "The Arcade's Emperor" Seishiro just chuckled?

"You just laughed!" You exclaimed and turned to him, hoping to see the curl of his lips that you had suspected to never witness. But much to your dislike, Nagi was quick to let his smile disappear, his expressions returning to his usual, bored look.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't act like you don't know! This is my personal win, I made you smile!"

"Do you have to make a competition out of this?" Nagi murmured, already walking towards the parking lot. "Calm down. Seriously."

"My bad," you said, quickly following him, and gave him a smile, not the faintest bit apologetic.

Soon, the two of you sat in comfortable silence on one of the graffitied walls and looked up to the now bright pink sky, before much to your surprise, Nagi initiated a conversation. He shifted his weight and began to fiddle with his soda can, "... say, I was wondering... why do they call you the Kitsune?"

"Oh, that!" You thought about the question. "I guess it's because of my family. Everything's about tradition and religion there, and as you know, Kitsunes play a big role in it, so therefore... this nickname just established itself in some way."

Nagi nodded. It made sense to him.

"And what about you?" You asked back. "How come they chose the title Emperor for you?"

"My friends gave it to me, actually. The others adapted it." Nagis gaze trailed off while saying so, and you watched him curiously, wondering if he had anything more to say, but the male remained silent and you shrugged and leaned back to watch the sky.

A cool wind blew, ruffling your hair, and you closed your eyes, enjoying the fuzzy feeling in your stomach.

Little did you know that Nagi was silently watching you. He was stunned by how beautiful you looked at that exact moment, a moment that he'd remember forever, with the sunset tinting your face in warm hues, expressing deep relaxation and calmness, and your loose hair moving with the cool winds. It was, once again, a side of you that he hadn't experienced yet, and it sent chills down his spine as you slowly opened your eyes, turning your head into his direction, locking your gaze with his.

Nagi decided to deny the small beat his heart had skipped.

Then the moment was gone as you looked past him, noticing something else — "Oh, damnit!" You exclaimed, regarding the parking lot's clock with wide eyes, slight panic rising inside you, "It's this late already?"

"You gotta leave this early?" Nagi asked, and you turned around in irritation before realizing that it had been a honest question without any bad intentions behind it.  You sighed and smiled apologetically.

"Of course it's an early time for you."

"No, that's early even for an ordinary person."

"Gotta thank my parents for that one at dinner," you mumbled, getting off the wall. "Oh right. Gran's gonna come too... maybe she'll bring some gifts?"

Nagi jumped off the wall as well, landing ever so gracefully, and regarded you closely until you turned to him, your hands in your pockets.

"Was nice meeting you. Get home safely," you said with a grin, and saw the male hesitate.

"... wait, Kitsune… no, (y/n)-"

"Yeah, what's it?"

Nagi looked aside, his ears reddened.

"Thanks. It was... fun today."

Your grin softened to a smile.

"Then let's have a rematch sometime, Emperor."

Chapter Text

You were the farthest thing from what people described as a morning person.

Mornings were awful, or so you considered them to be. In your eyes, it was always the same: getting up too early for your liking, being thrown out of your bed by the loud shrill noise of the countless alarms you had installed. Leaving the warmth your bed held, getting for work, stressing over your outfit; repeating the same old routine you followed everyday. Running to catch the bus because you would tend to oversleep, and as a result from being short on time, you could never get a proper breakfast, barely having time to snatch a caffeine-containing drink before arriving at your workplace.

Which was where the final mood killer awaited you; the sight of your annoying coworkers could never fail to wash away your last bit of motivation. Short, your burnt out ass absolutely hated mornings, but in conclusion, you loved evenings even more.

Evenings were the time where you could do whatever you desired to, where you were able to finally lean back and relax. There was no one who could bring you to do anything else besides partying, going out or staying home, watching the tv and doing absolutely nothing, or at least nothing that (positively) contributed to society. On evenings, you could unfold yourself to your fullest and be able to feel the momentary spark of joy inside you, you could immerse yourself in your preferred environments, enjoy yourself and not hold back anymore. Evenings were where limits blurred out and you could find the tiny bit of fulfillment in your monotonous life.

Definitely not the ideal lifestyle, but hey, you weren't bothering anyone with it, weren't you?

On a specific Friday night after an extra draining day, you had decided to spend the rest of the time at a nearby bar. You headed to the place, enjoying the carelessness you were walking with, humming a melody to yourself, and looking forward to the bit of fun you could have, to live and forget, even if it was just for a night - able to forget everything in your life, able to forget the problems that the world held for you.

You entered the bar, greeting the barista, ordering "the usual" and sitting at the table. You sighed as you put your arms onto the wood, burying your face in it, and closing your eyes for just a moment.

And soon, the familiar liquid-filled glass was put in front of you. The smell of alcohol crawled up your nose as you lifted it to your lips, and your excitement grew as you let in, chugging the drink down, slowly feeling the poison setting in. Hell, it burned, but it was familiar and relished your senses.

You'd have to be extra careful with your tolerance level today.

The barista watched you with mild interest as they cleaned some utensils. "A bit early, don't you think?"

You set down the glass and slowly shook your head. Did you care?

You originally hadn't planned on getting very drunk, though. You just needed the alcohol to untie the knot in your tongue for some conversations with strangers for later, when the disco had started. At least that had been your original intention; as time passed, you threw this idea away and stupidly ordered one more drink, then one more again, craving the taste of the heavy liquid, causing your memories to mix up and spin around, dulling your consciousness, until somewhere deep down within you, your senses reached you, telling you that you were within thin boundaries, risking to go blackout drunk, and you set down your current glass, sighing and watching the ice melting in it. It was half empty.

The glass hit the wood with a loud thunk.

Somewhere at the very edge of your consciousness, you noticed how the bar began to fill up with people of all sorts; it was around nine or ten o'clock now, meaning that the atmosphere in the bar was about to hit its climax. Some of the newcomers were loners, just like you, trying to kill time and looking for a distraction at this place, and some came in huge groups, already holding bottles of beer in their hands and staggering their way through the room in a typical pre-drunk manner. The music in the background was loud, the bass pounded in your ears in an almost painful way and eventually lead the bar to turn into a vivid, loud and stuffy place, making you shift away from the crowds in order to avoid them.

It had been a draining day, and you didn't feel like socializing anymore tonight.

That was when you suddenly noticed a movement next to you; someone had sat down on the chair on your left.

Orange-ish hair, auburn eyes, and on top of that, a lot of muscles. You were sure that you had seen them before, but you couldn't remember where or when you had the encounter.

But if they were familiar to you, you weren't supposed to ignore them, right? You decided to greet the stranger with a small "hi". The stranger greeted back, curiously eyeing you for a moment, and then went on with ordering a cappuccino.

A damn cappuccino, without a shot or anything. In a bar, in the late evening, a damn coffee. Did he have sleeping problems or...?

You blinked in disbelief before looking away from him again, examining the remaining liquid in your glass. You tilted the object, watching the content swirl and flicker in the flashing lights of the disco in the background without real interest, and all of a sudden, you were stuck with a wave of sentimentality. You were reminded of past events, the good- no, the better times, where you hadn't quite understood how the world worked, what glued it together, what it needed to function. The times before you had moved out, before you were confronted with what you thought laid within your expectations, but weren’t ready for.

Taxes-work-electricity-water-bills-money-work-money-calls-management-work-money-money-money-

Twenty was hard, it was worrisome, and you meant to understand why lots of young adults preferred to stay by their parents after coming of age.

Less independency, but a healthier lifestyle.

This is a lonely life, huh?

The alcohol was definitely fulfilling its function.

"Hey, you okay?"

The stranger next to you had noticed your tears first. The liquid was running down your cheeks and dripping on the table - and it didn't want to stop. You instantly wiped away your tears at the stranger's question, panicking as even more tears followed. Your movements, as sloppy and uncoordinated they were, had something desperate, as you, through the fog of dizziness and unclear thoughts, didn't want to let them see you crying. But you were too tired to struggle, you couldn’t care less, so you gave up and buried your face in your arms, weeping like a child.

When was the last time that someone had asked you if you were okay?

"Do you want to talk?"

You gulped and, between sobs, stammered a few words, almost choking on them.

"Can I… have a hug?"

The stranger showed a small smile of empathy and turned to you, nodding.

Then you felt two strong, muscular arms wrapping around you, pulling you close to an equally muscular chest, and you would have blushed and made a remark if it weren’t for your current mood. You buried your face into the stranger's shoulder, crying your eyes out, too absorbed to notice how unsure the stranger was, feeling how they awkwardly patted your back.

"Shh, it's okay."

"No, it's not!" You cried. "I'm too young for this. It's too early. I'm not ready."

The stranger listened to your blurry rant, murmuring comforting things to you in a gentle, low voice, letting you cry onto their shoulder until his shirt was soaked with your tears. You screamed, cried, complained about everything until your eyes hurt and somewhere, through the numbness and long-held neglect for your feelings, a part of you made itself noticeable - perhaps something close to shame - catapulting you back into reality.

This was still a stranger. A stranger, and you had trusted them, letting your heart out, but they were still a stranger, and you had to be careful, didn’t you?

But the gentle and respectful way they were holding onto you, and they did it carefully, considerate, and even though the motives your decision-making were obviously not trustable at all, it made you hope that perhaps there was still good in this world, some of the innocence you had so longed for.

Guess you had gotten drunk anyway.

You slowly detached yourself from the stranger, turning away on your seat, your sobs ebbed away and your already red cheeks reddened even more when you came to a full understanding of the awkwardness lying in the air. Then you let out a laugh, surprised about how hopeless you felt.

"My bad. I’m kinda… drunk, huh…"

The stranger smiled a bit. "Haha, please don’t apologize. Pretend I didn’t notice.” His smile grew and you smiled back in return, thinking of how cute it was.

“Feel any better now?"

"Yeah, thank you...?"

The stranger understood the unspoken question and introduced themself.

"Kunigami Rensuke. And you?"

"(Y/n)." You hiccuped and blushed again, making him smile.

"Nice to meet you."

You nodded and watched as Kunigami took a sip from his coffee.

"Why... di’ you order coffee?" You asked in curiosity, and that gentle smile of his appeared once more.

"I'm an athlete. I'm pretty restricted when it comes to nutrition."

"I see." Your tongue was heavy from the alcohol, and you only noticed it now, wondering how you were able to let out such a long rant in a state like this. Another thought crossed your mind — that must've been why he seemed oddly familiar to you. "Hold on, you're tha’ soccer player on the… U20, righ’?”

Kunigami nodded, sipping from his coffee. "Yeah, I am.”

“Should’ve… guessed tha’, with your muscles ‘n all…”

A snicker. “Enjoyed the hug?"

"Yeah." Even you were laughing now, but your body still felt heavy as you raised an arm to box him playfully. "Sorry again... for the sudden rant."

"It's alright, really. Wanna tell me more about it?"

You rubbed your eyes and shook your head.

"I'd rather... focus on enjoyin’ this night, but than’ you, still."

"Then let's be young again."

Kunigami got up, stepping between you and the dance floor, and it occurred to you that maybe, it didn’t just seem, but really was hopeless. Maybe it wouldn’t bring other than more pain and devastation when you woke up the next day and were confronted with reality again. But right now, in this very moment, when you dared to look up and saw the male holding out a hand, waiting for you to take it, you dared to cling onto the smallest bit of light that shone right in front of you.

You reached out, eyes swollen, but new ambition inside you, your heart set ablaze, the burning sensation a completely different experience.

"Let's be young again, for this one night, alright?"

Please, let me hope, at least for this very moment.

Chapter Text

The winter days you normally preferred to spend inside, wrapping yourself in blankets and hoodies and comfortable clothing and accessories. There were more than enough activities to do inside; watching the TV, playing some games, reading a book, whatever activity you wanted to pick up. Nevertheless, you found yourself outdoors this New Year's Eve, fully exposed to the forces of the weather's icy winds and — unusually, snowfall.

Your breath formed white puffs in the cold air when you walked down the familiar stairs, now coated in a yet thin, soft snow blanket and reflecting the very last bits of sunlight falling on it, sparkling and squeaking underneath your boots. Old, cozy houses of the town surrounded you and grew in their number as you progressed, but there were barely any people you met on your way. You then stopped after noticing a movement by your side; a black cat rushed past you, hurrying down to where the stairs ended in a wide road. Its dark, fluffy fur was flecked with thick flakes of snow. You smiled at the cat and walked faster until you fell into a jog, following it.

"Wait for me! Hey, wait for me!" You exclaimed, forced to slow down when you almost slipped on a frozen part of the road that had laid hidden underneath the snow. But you kept your balance and went on, only coming to a halt when you lost sight of the animal.

"What a shame," you pouted, "I wanted to pet it."

You then shook your head over yourself, slightly leaning against a street lantern and waiting for your heartbeat to ebb down.Your breath came heavily, with the cold air piercing your throat whenever you took a breath, and you swallowed audibly before looking up to the scene in front of you.

Stretching itself from the harbor to the horizon lay the open sea, turbulent and troubled by the winds now during wintertime. The harbor itself was huge, ships of all sorts anchored here, the movement of their hulls making the masts sway to the occasional waves coming in, the snow on top of them threatening to fall onto the deck with every movement. You took a moment to absorb this view.

There was something melancholic about winter with its dull grey clouds curtaining this landscape, usually busy and filled with vividness and chattering, and you got more and more aware of it once you had gotten closer to it, crossing a street and heading down to the sea. The wind brought its familiar salty taste with itself and you closed your eyes, inhaling it. You listened to the sound of the waves clashing against the boardwalk as you went on, passing a row of tiny wooden huts. Persistently resting on their places against the raw moods of the sea, the wood planks were partially rotten and gave viewers the impression of a construct that was about to fall apart the next time a storm would come up.

But you knew better; these huts served an important purpose during summer. It was the place where the stands for festivals were stored before and after usage. And as fragile these trays looked like, they were steady and strong and had withstood for a good few decades already, according to what you've heard from a few fishermen some time ago.

A quick glance on your phone made you continue your path. The snowfall was getting stronger now, too, but you went on regardless, determined to reach your goal. And then,

... you spotted him, amidst the come and go of lone walkers, loose strands of yellowish hair moving in the wind along with the ends of the colorful scarf. A bouquet of red roses was resting in his arms, their color stood out in the monochromatic blue and grey of winter along with his scarf and hair and accentuated his being, wandering around in the harbor and attracting the attention of the few people around.

The same scenery. The same dim, dull sky as the day before, and the day before the day before, and the day before the day before the day before.

At first, you found it strange. You could not see the sense in giving out roses to random strangers who were often more than unpleasant to deal with, nor could you see the sense in this strange activity happening during a cold winter day. But you were curious to find out, so when you stood by the sea, pretending to not observe the deliverer, you'd come to see all sorts of expressions that came up with these delicate red roses. There were young people, old people, teenagers, adults, people of all sorts smiling brightly, laughing at him, shaking his hands, bowing, some threw the roses away shortly after, you remembered a girl breaking out in tears, even; and that was when you meant to get an idea of what the deliverer's motives were, which lead to you questioning the deliverer himself.

Who was he, delivering roses to lone people out on the streets at the coldest, hardest days of the year, bringing small happinesses to their hearts? Who was he, so young yet capable to talk to innumerable strangers and yet being this isolated in a shut-down solitude of interaction without long-term advantage? Because you were sure of his loneliness when you watched the gentleness with which he treated his flowers with, and the big, bright smile that appeared on his face whenever he greeted the receivers. And above all, what about his family? Didn't they worry about him? Didn't he want to spend time with them?

But whoever he was, your heart couldn't take it. It couldn't take the fuzzy, fluttering feeling of filling warmth the small, hostile gestures of this boy gave you while you watched him, although with it, the sadness that surrounded his being as he moved on seemed to grow, he gifted rose after rose, occasionally stopping and drinking a warm beverage before continuing his patrol, never quite stopping to bring smiles to people. This was why you had finally decided to make your move, today, now, when it was winter and the weather was cold and snowy and definitely one of the least welcoming day of the year.

You smiled in excitement and accelerated your steps, approaching him.

"Hey! You who delivers roses!"

Perhaps you could, somehow, make him feel a bit less lonelier too.

Chapter Text

"Hold on, hold on, I know you are rushing to get a good spot, but could you not run, seriously?"

The answer you got was a loud laugh and you muttered a curse under your breath, but regardless let Reo drag you with him. He was holding firmly onto your wrist as he made his way through the crowds - a rather difficult task regarding the large bag he was carrying at the same time, and it was inevitable that the grand object bumped not only into you, who was walking right behind him, but also into other people when he turned the slightest bit.

"Be careful, idiot," you exclaimed after he had almost crashed into a small child of four or five years, not like you'd expect anything in first place - a justified judgement as you saw Reo glancing back to you. He was sneering. "Tell the kid," he replied, his voice raised to make sure to be heard amongst the chattering of the bystanders. "I have meltable goods with me, and I'm in a hurry."

"Of course you are." But you still let him lead you through the crowds until an iron gate came into sight, marking the entrance to the park. Reo had noticed it as well, and he slightly squeezed your wrist, his excitement clear in his voice as he announced, "You know what, nevermind. We're almost there!"

Despite being in such a physically uncomfortable situation, you couldn't help but grin at his impatience. No wonder; it had been something that you had been looking forward to for weeks filled with monotonous schoolwork and studying enclosed in tight spaces and dry, hot air, whereas an outdoor activity like this was more than welcome.

It was a warm day in late spring and the sun had just passed its zenith; the perfect day to enjoy the blossoming and growth of the flora and fauna of the meadows on the outskirts. And how could one enjoy this season more than with a picnic amongst freshly sprouted flowers, together with their beloved partner?

Reo lead you through the gate and the two of you moved along the crowds for a moment, advancing forward down the path when he lightly squeezed your wrist again, turning left abruptly and tugging you out of the people towards a path so nondescript it was easy to overlook it. You noticed your surroundings changing; the short, neatly cut grass blended into longer blades, and trees began to seam the path, getting more and more condense until you were walking in a forest, and the background noises of the traffic and the chattering people faded to a comfortable tranquility, occasionally supplemented by the chirping and chirring of the forest's numerous inhabitants.

Reo and you were now walking next to each other, the male had let go of his grip around your wrist and entwined your hands instead. You smiled to yourself and looked up to the crowns above you.

"It's very peaceful here," you said quietly, lowering your voice because it seemed inappropriate to do anything that could interrupt this tranquility. Reo looked back and smiled softly.

"Yes. I really like this place."

There was a certain tone of melancholy underlying his words, for a moment so brief that you were questioning whether it had been in your imagination only. But you posed another question nevertheless.

"Do you come here often?"

"Kinda." Reo chuckled, looking forward again. "It's a good place to go when your thoughts are getting too loud, but I've also gotten used to passing by this path when jogging."

"Mhm, I can imagine that." You looked back to where you came from, barely making out the ragged shapes of the moving visitors, and another question occurred to you. "Also, I've been wondering, how come no one goes this way?"

Reo shrugged. "Dunno, because it's not as well-known or popular, I guess?"

"Simple reason."

"Makes sense, though."

"Mmh."

You fell into a comfortable silence again, not bothering to speak, and content with an occasional soft squeeze of your hand or a brush of your thumb against his soft skin. Stray dried leaves, small branches and gravel rustled under your steps, a rhythmic, steady sound, that eventually stopped as Reo came to a halt.

"Alright, we're close enough," he said, looking back from his surroundings to you and raising a hand, playfully poking your nose. "Now close your eyes."

"I'm good." You smiled and poked him back before following his instructions, allowing Reo to guide you, his warm hand holding onto yours firmly. At first, you were moving slowly and overly carefully, stifling whenever the ground became less even, threatening to fall every time you tripped over a loose root. But the male had caught you every time, never letting go of you, and so you started to relax, less cautious than before, but attentive nonetheless.

You soon felt the ground under your shoes getting smoother until it was soft, and then the familiar tickling sensation of sunshine on your skin. The chirping of the birds fell behind you and eventually faded away, being replaced with the chirping of crickets.

Something thin brushed against your leg and you instinctively slapped it, almost cried out before realizing that it had simply been a long blade of grass.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" You asked, growing impatient.

"We're right there. Okay, stop here - no, don't open your eyes yet! I still have to prepare something."

You grinned to yourself despite your curiosity and covered your eyes with your hands, signaling that you were not watching. Then you heard a thud, followed up by the sound of a Velcro fastener and a brief rustling.

The rustling stopped and you sensed how Reo stood in front of you. "Alright, I'm done. Open your eyes- I'm going to take your hands."

"I hope you dont mean that literally," you whined jokingly, immediately receiving a chuckle and a flick at your forehead. You felt how Reo's hands touched yours, slowly pulling them away from your eyes and clearing your field of vision.

You gasped. The two of you stood in the middle of a wild flower meadow, stretching across the gently rising and falling hills, seaming the forest's line of trees far away. Colorful flowers of all kinds were dotting the light green, blotches of yellow, red and blue covering wider spots of the landscape, and amidst it, in the shadows of a grand broadleaf tree, a checkered picnic cloth had been splayed.

"Do you like it?" Reo asked, smiling at the awe in your eyes.

"I..." You turned back from the view to him, squeezing his hands. Your voice almost failed you as you continued, returning the smile, "this is so beautiful."

Two glasses, plates and silverware had already been placed onto the picnic cloth, and there were a lot of snacks piling up next to it, and you were quick to lean towards your beloved boyfriend and give him a kiss, because you didn't know how else to express your gratitude and admiration for this astonishing moment he had prepared.

Reo didn't mind, and smiled a little, something you savored gladly, leaning deeper into the kiss.

"Hey, don't be hasty," you then heard him mumble, however, the words were slurred and drowsy as he was trying to articulate with his lips still pressed against yours. "Picnic first, thank me afterwards. We've only just arrived."

You pulled away, grinning without a trace of regret, and your grin grew even wider when you saw how Reo held a hand in front of his face, turning away slightly but not enough to hide the red that spread across his cheeks and ears.

"We've been dating for half a year already, and you still get flustered?" You couldn't help but tease him, giggling as Reo sighed and smiled ruefully.

"Nah... you caught me off-guarded. Also you seem more enthusiastic today, is there a reason?"

"Shoo, shoo, who wouldn't be happy about such a beautiful place? Must be the effect of mother nature. And now," you said, turning to the picnic spot excitedly and dragging Reo with you, "let's thank said mother nature for the food, I'm starving!"

Chapter Text

"Guten Morgen, (y/n)~ have you slept well? Are you awake enough to answer me a question? I'm curious, what's your favorite color?"

"What?" You reluctantly stored your earbuds away when you heard this familiar voice calling out. It was too early in the morning, you were hungry, having skipped breakfast, and you were definitely not in the mood for social interactions after long lectures - even less with this one specific person. You internally groaned and forced yourself to suppress a sigh. Guess my music has to wait.

"My favorite-"

"What's your favorite song?"

You interrupted him, surprised. "Huh? Where did that come from?"

"I'm the one asking questions here. Now, what's your favorite song? And your favorite snack?"

"Just what the hell are you planning?" You abruptly got up and glared down at the athletic, young man sitting on the edge of your desk. Said man had his legs crossed and was leaning forward to you, elbow on his knee and his chin planted on the hand of his supported arm, and together with his subtle, know-it-all, shit-eating grin that was starting to appear on his face, his image had a rather bothersome effect on you.

"Sit back," he replied in his usual arrogant manner, his German accent underlining the consonants as he spoke. He didn't even bother reacting to the judging looks which you were starting to get by your fellow students by now as he continued. "I'm just trying to have a nice chat with you. Some small talk to get to know you, the usual routine."

"We've known each other for a few good years, and you still want a get-to-know?" You challenged him. "Michael Kaiser."

Kaiser winked at you, unfazed. Then he picked up your initial conversation again, but in a lowered tone this time.

"I'm a curious man, and you happen do be an interesting individual," he commented, and straightened up to push himself off the desk in a fluent movement. A smile appeared on his lips as he leaned towards you, inevitably invading your personal space. You furrowed your eyebrows in irritation as you observed his advances and the hidden implication behind his words. "No, (y/n)?"

"Is this your way of asking me to tutor you again?"
You stared at him, holding his gaze without hesitation, and crossed your arms. "If it is, it's not working. I have other things to do."

Kaiser's smile widened in amusement as he took a step back. "Oh? Surely I'll be able to change your mind. Look, (y/n), I got you something." He held up a small paper bag. "Since you tend to skip breakfast, I figured you'd like something that bakery nearby. Tutoring sounds a lot better now, doesn't it?"

"As I said, I have things to do, and they're urgent-"

"Not more urgent than your breakfast," Kaiser immediately interrupted you, waving the paper bag in front of your face. "I know you have some spare time until your next class, so I condemn you to taking a break. Whatever you need to do can wait."

You huffed and shook your head, giving in. He was such a die-hard.

"I'm charging extra for the next tutoring session."

"Oh, is this an agreement? Wonderful. Now hurry up and pick your stuff up. I'll catch you at the exit."

———

The cinnamon rolls were delicious, Kaiser surely knew where to find a good bakery. Maybe you wouldn't mind having him bring you breakfast more often, from now on. Your stomach was filled again, your mood lightened up, and you went as far as to forgive Kaiser for his interruption of your morning peace.

As you snapped out of your thoughts, you noticed Kaiser was staring at you, his everlasting smirk playing on his lips as he did. He was twirling his pen in his hand, Caran d'Ache, the same blue as his eyes, eyes that laid upon you and scanned your face, your hand gestures, your whole appearance.

Perhaps you would've minded less if you weren't in the middle of a tutoring session. Kaiser's intent stare was distracting, to say the least, and it bothered you to the point where you stopped an explanation mid-sentence and stared right back at him.

"Earth to Michael."

"Aww, you know I hate being referred to my first name," Kaiser replied, his smirk never leaving his face. He moved his chair to sit a little closer to you, and the scent of his deodorant filled your nostrils. "Even so, you haven't answered my questions yet, so I shall ask again. What's your favorite song?"

You frowned lightly, contemplating whether to reply or not. At the end, you decided to play along, knowing Kaiser's stubbornness once he's set his mind onto something, and replied with your favorite song.

Kaiser nodded in contentment about your answer, then asked a follow-up question. "How about your favorite snack?"

"I'm fond of a lot of snacks. Oreos, fries, Pocky, sour gummy bears... I wonder why you're asking."

Kaiser's smile merely brightened. "Because I can. Now, for the last question. What's your favorite color, (y/n)?"

Your favorite color, was the question? You had to think for a good while there, running through possible options in your head, but none of the colors seemed to appeal to you specifically.

"I don't have a favorite color."

"Then just pick one." Kaiser gazed at you in expectation.

You decided to regard your surroundings for a good pick until your gaze landed back onto Kaiser's face. You let it shift from his face to his pen and back to his eyes, alluring blue ones, then down to the little bit of the blue rose tattoo on Kaiser's neck that the collar of his shirt didn't quite cover up.

Without thinking twice, you spoke, "Blue, then."

Kaiser's eyebrows rose in light surprise. "Blue? What shade of blue?"

You warily nodded to his pen, then met his eyes. A small pause passed before Kaiser laughed, intrigued by your statement. He slowly extended his hand, cupping your cheek with it, your skin soft against his palm. His thumb gently caressed your cheek in small, circular movements, warmly, slowly, and his gaze dropped from your eyes down to your lips.

With a pounding heart, you closed your eyes, and Kaiser leaned in to kiss you.

———

A bouquet stood on your table in Uni. The basket, woven with straw, had been covered in a light blue paint, black, white and blue ribbons decorating the handle, flowers in the same color scheme having been arranged for aesthetic purposes, pleasant to the eye.

The basket contained Oreos, Pocky, blue-dyed fries that had been placed into a small plastic bag, sour gummy bears of the same blue, and you meant to spot a ribboned CD of your favorite artist's. Drinks and various office supplies with the same colors filled the rest of the spaces. You stared at the bouquet in amazement.

It was Kaiser's work, no doubt. This was why he had asked you so many questions all along - a bouquet for your birthday. A small note on top of the bouquet confirmed your suspicions, and you unfolded it curiously. You couldn't help but smile as you read it.

"Your favorites, from your favorite."