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Shinobu walked back to the dorms, his mind racing after the day’s events. He thought back to what Oogami had said to him.
“You seemed like one o’ those kids who could relate to ‘im a lot. But because o’ that, I guess he feels a bit betrayed.”
“B-Betrayed!?” Shinobu looked down at his hands, his vision beginning to cloud. Did that mean he was at fault for what happened? Did he push Yuta too far?
“N-Not that it’s your fault!” Oogami quickly amended. “’S just that… he wants to be understood. When even his best friend can’t give that to ‘im…” He sighed. “We’ve all felt like that, I’m sure of it. Yuta, Sakuma-senpai, and even me… we’ve all had that feelin’ of not bein’ understood. We want someone who can sympathize and reach us. Despite that, despite knowin’, I still failed to reach ‘im. I failed Yuta. I failed Sakuma-senpai.” Oogami clenched his fists, keeping his eyes trained on the screen. “He woulda known what t' do.”
Shinobu thought about how Yuta treated him. Yuta tried pushing Shinobu away unless Shinobu would help him, and when that fell through, Yuta stayed his friend and did everything to avoid the issue. Shinobu figured that he was only compromising, but thinking about it again, he concluded that Yuta was probably only trying to prevent himself from getting hurt. “It isn’t your fault, Oogami-dono.”
Oogami turned to him and chuckled, “Thanks, but I know I’ve been a pretty shitty senior.” He shot Shinobu a self-deprecating grin.
Shinobu braced himself before standing up and shouting, “NO!” Seeing Oogami’s face painted with shock, he continued, “You… you’re wrong, Oogami-dono. You haven’t failed anyone. Like you said before, you aren’t Sakuma-dono. You can’t hold yourself up to the same type of standards, not because you aren’t as good, but because you aren’t the same person. You tried to help in your own way, and I think giving the CD to Hinata-kun was a great idea.
“Even if you and I can’t completely understand Yuta-kun, we know what it’s like to be misunderstood, so we realized something was wrong. And because of that, you were able to find someone who could understand him. You did everything you could, just like I did, and all we can hope for now is that we were able to reach him. Yuta-kun is a good person, and I know neither he nor Sakuma-dono would think any less of you!” Shinobu let out a shuddering gasp as his lack of air caught up to him.
Catching his breath, he glanced at Oogami’s face, only to see Oogami fixing him with an indiscernible look. Shinobu’s anxiety started to kick in, and he began to shake. “Ah, uh, I-I mean, you are my senior, so of course I’m sure you d-don’t need me to, um, so, what I meant was…” Had he really been so idiotic to yell like that!?
Before Shinobu could fumble any further, Oogami began to laugh. But upon seeing Shinobu’s distressed face, he quickly calmed himself down, a smile still gracing his face. “You’re a tougher kid than I thought, darin' to talk to your senior like that~”
Shinobu spluttered, “I-I’m sorry, I, well—”
“But… you’re right,” Oogami interrupted. “Yuta and Hinata are stronger than a lot give credit for. We can look out for ‘em, but we can’t baby ‘em. We can only support ‘em, and they have to overcome their own difficulties… Heh, does that sound like something Sakuma-senpai would say?” Oogami gave Shinobu a wolfish grin.
Shinobu nerves slowly calmed down. “T-Thank you, Oogami-dono. I still think I should work on my attitude towards my seniors, de gozaru.”
Oogami gently ruffled Shinobu’s hair. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, kid.”
Despite what Oogami said to him, he couldn’t stop those doubts that slowly festered from his anxiety. At first, it seemed that Yuta still presented himself physically as “Aoi Byakuya,” so had he gone through with his original plan? But “Volcano Island” still seemed to go according to plan, so had Yuta’s plan gone right? If it had, was Shinobu wrong for meddling?
He shook his head. As a member of RYUSEITAI, a hero of justice, he had done the right thing, he was sure. Maybe I should take the advice I gave to Oogami-dono, de gozaru… He promised himself to confront Yuta about the events that took place prior to the show airing.
Shinobu laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The sounds of Kanzaki’s soft breathing and Tsukasa’s light snoring did nothing to fight against the white noise filling his ears. He knew he needed to maintain a better sleep schedule for RYUSEITAI’s heavy workload, but he also knew that the moon shone during his most active hours. A ninja would take advantage of the darkness.
He needed air to think. He quickly shifted into a sitting position, dropping off the bed and soundlessly landing on the ground. Quietly, he crossed the room, shrugged on his winter coat, opened the door, and after taking one last look at his roommates, shut it behind him.
Shinobu deeply inhaled the night’s fresh air. Even from inside Seisou Hall, the cool crispness in the air was evident, and he felt a small smile creep onto his lips. But before he could decide on where to go, his phone vibrated. How strange, de gozaru. Only his closest contacts were allowed to notify him during such late hours, so it was probably important.
Opening his messages, Shinobu was surprised to see the notification was from Yuta. His phone vibrated again as Yuta sent another message. The first message said, “you awake?” and the second, “if you’re not, or just trying to sleep, feel free reply to me in the morning!”
Shinobu sent back, “Yes, I am awake.” It felt a bit formal, but Shinobu was still on edge regarding his relationship with Yuta.
Yuta replied, “YAYyyyyy! wanna go out? :)”
Shinobu frowned down at his phone. Where was there even to hang out at such a late hour? “Where do you want to go?”
“MmMmM, what do you think?”
Shinobu sighed. He supposed Yuta not having a plan should’ve been expected. Despite his eagerness to confront Yuta, he wasn’t sure if he had the energy to possibly start an argument with him after such a long day. He stared hard at his phone before coming to a decision. “We can meet at the Sky Garden.”
As Shinobu quickly climbed the stairs, he wondered where Yuta was. He hadn’t seen any sign of him on his way to the main ES building, nor when he first opened the staircase. Maybe he wasn’t in Seisou Hall when he texted me, de gozaru. It was possible Yuta had already long since arrived at the Sky Garden. The thought of keeping Yuta waiting made him uncomfortable.
As if on cue, he could suddenly hear someone giggling. He decided to peer down the stairwell to find the source.
“Heya, Shinobu-kun!” Yuta skillfully trapezed the banister while maintaining his breath, which was reserved for his laughs. “Gotta keep up!” Yuta continued to catch up to Shinobu at an impressive rate, his acrobatics seeming as easy as breathing.
Shinobu involuntarily grinned. This challenge felt like just another one of ASOBI’s activities, one he was more than willing to indulge. He pressed a hand and foot against the wall, leaping off it to the opposite wall. Shinobu continued to leap off the adjacent walls, gaining momentum, rising just as quickly as Yuta as their laughs echoed throughout the stairwell.
After a minute of leaping and laughing, Shinobu finally made it to the top, and breaking open the door, he gave a small cheer, “Yeaaahhh!” He looked across the expanse of the sky garden, the cool night air soothing his burning skin.
Shortly after his victory, Yuta tumbled through the open door, not stopping his somersaults until he landed in an open patch of grass and snow, where he laid spread-eagled. He giggled and sat up, smiling at Shinobu. “Agh, that was a really close one, but I’ll get you next time for sure~!”
Shinobu smiled back at him. “We’ll see about that, de…” He trailed off self-consciously.
“Shinobu-kun?” Yuta’s face scrunched in confusion before a realization swept upon him. “Oh, it’s okay to say “de gozaru” y’know?”
“Really…?” Shinobu’s feet shuffled slightly, and he saw Yuta’s eyes dart toward the movement.
“Hey…” Yuta started softly, “How about you take a seat next to me?”
Shinobu brow creased in worry. “Um, isn’t that against the rules?”
“We were told not to damage any of the plants. As you can cleaaarly see, I’m sitting on the nice and fluffy grass.” Yuta smiled playfully, sticking his tongue out. Seeing Shinobu stand stationary, his expression fell into something more somber. “Please?” Yuta asked even quieter, almost a whisper. “I promise you’re not breaking any rules.”
Another moment of silence passed before Shinobu finally moved forward. He supposed that he wasn’t technically breaking any rules, but the thought of stretching them was enough to make him uncomfortable. Still, Yuta needed him right now, and if it didn’t involve doing anything immoral, Shinobu would do anything for him. He gently placed himself on the grass to Yuta’s right, keeping a couple feet of distance between them. He pointedly ignored Yuta’s disappointed look. “So…?” He probed.
“Soooo,” Yuta parroted. He lightly kicked his outstretched legs up and down on the snowy grass. “What’s up?”
Shinobu’s hidden eye twitched in irritation. “W-What’s up!?”
Before Shinobu could continue, Yuta hurriedly apologized, “Sorry! I’m just… nervous…” He twiddled his fingers for a couple seconds. “I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.”
“You’re… sorry?” Shinobu tilted his head in question.
“Yeah, I… um, can you let me talk for a bit? I’ll tell you when I’m done.” Seeing Shinobu nod his head, Yuta then took a deep breath. “So… I know you probably couldn’t tell, but I did go through with my plan… I fully prepared to present myself to the Producer as Aoi Byakuya.”
Shinobu breathed in sharply.
“B-But! I didn’t even get the chance to. He recognized me as Yuta with a different hairstyle without even a second glance.” Yuta looked down at the grass between his legs, smiling to himself. “I underestimated him, that’s for sure. Oogami-senpai gave Aniki a CD—”
“Oogami-do— Oogami-senpai told me that part himself,” Shinobu interrupted. When Yuta raised an eyebrow at him, Shinobu grinned apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t want you to waste your time telling me stuff I already knew, de… Anyway, that Producer… he understood you, right?”
Yuta looked back down, fiddling with the blades of grades. “That’s right. He understood us, 2wink. He understood me, Yuta. In a way… I suppose my plan did work. I found out what the Producer was really like. But that’s still no excuse for what I did. I wanted to apologize to you, Shinobu-kun. I… haven’t been fair to you, not in the way a best friend should be. I told you that you should’ve been willing to get hurt and dirty along with me, like you haven’t already been doing that for me. You’ve even put yourself between me and a blade that could have easily killed you!
“I haven’t appreciated you enough as my best friend… More than that, I’ve disrespected you and your seniors, saying what they taught you was foolish, and assuming you didn’t want anything to do with them. I asked you to give up your own morals, your own beliefs, for me, when you weren’t even doing anything wrong. It would be one thing if I was asking you to quit some bad habit, but I was practically asking you to give up your role as a hero of justice. That would be like if you asked me to give being one of the twins in 2wink. A-And then, I just acted like nothing happened…”
Yuta let out a shaky breath, his watery eyes focused on the now-dewed grass. “Before I came here, I was talking to Oogami-senpai. I had to thank him for being such a reliable senior. But instead of brushing me off… when I told him, he hugged me. I never thought Oogami-senpai was even capable of showing affection,” he joked with a strained laugh.
Shinobu shifted close enough to place a hand on Yuta’s shoulder for comfort, but he was shaken off with a smile.
“Oogami-senpai told me beforehand that he talked with you. He didn’t say what it was about, exactly… but he told me what you said about him, and what you seemed to feel about me. He told me to talk to you as soon as I could. I was scared, but Aniki took my phone and made the decision for me… Hah, he meddles too much for his own good…
“In the end, you were right. I ended up finding my own path as my own person, but not because of my plan to humiliate the Producer. I should probably thank him for what he did for 2wink too, huh? There’s no reason to hate him, there’s no reason to hurt him. I… I’m tired of always finding something wrong with the way things are, looking for a guarantee to make things turn out okay. I’m tired of worrying my friends and family because they can’t understand what’s wrong as I keep complaining. I’m tired of hurting the people I care about because I refuse to try to move past my own weaknesses…
“I know I haven’t been the best friend to you, no, I’ve been a bad friend, especially recently. And I know this is a lot to ask for, but…” Yuta took a longer pause as he choked back a sob. “Will you give me another chance? Another chance for us to be real friends again?”
Shinobu stared at Yuta. That… was a lot, de gozaru… He was still a bit wary of Yuta, it was true. He hated having their friendship being put in danger like that. A year ago, they had promised to be best friends forever, and it almost ended, just like that. He realized that such promises were naïve. That, like Yuta said, there was no guarantee everything would work out. But even so…
“Hm?” Yuta looked at Shinobu in confusion.
“P-Pinky promise me.” Shinobu felt a bit juvenile, and his ears were definitely burning, but he hoped his expression would let Yuta know he was serious.
Yuta looked down at Shinobu’s outstretched pinky and softly laughed. “Of course, Shinobu-kun.” He wiped his eyes and outstretched his pinky, linking it firmly with Shinobu’s. “Friends?”
“Friends.”
When Hinata found them lying in the grass cuddled together the next morning, he smiled and ran off to grab a few blankets, but not before kissing his little brother on the forehead, whispering, “I’m proud of you, Yuta-kun.”