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Swiftly opening the door to the Dojo, Kaoru registered the sounds of fighting coming from across the room and headed to the sitting side, making sure to not disturb the practice.
Contrary to his expectations, he spotted a head of mint green hair already sitting on one of the cushions, eyes directed downward to frown slightly at the phone they were holding.
As he got closer, Kaoru finally recognised the face of the person just as they looked up upon hearing Kaoru’s approach.
“Yahoo, Kazehaya-kun ♪”
“Ah, Hakaze-san. Good morning.”
Kaoru lowered himself on the cushion next to him, feeling satisfied when he noticed it was the same he usually sat at whenever he paid the Dojo a visit, and smiled back when he received a gentle smile in greeting.
“This is the first time I see you here, Kazehaya-kun,” Kaoru said curiously. “It’s also not the kind of place I would have thought you’d frequent.”
“Haha, I guess I can see why you’d think that.”
“Do you come here often?”
Kaoru guessed that made sense, since the younger Amagi was a club member of Shin. He didn’t know much about the man next to him, but he’d heard enough stories from Oogami to know how caring he tended to be, even with people outside of his own unit. Taking a look at the few bags around him, he deduced he might have brought something for his unit leader and was currently waiting for him to finish practice.
Kazehaya hummed, glancing at the other side of the room where the five men were busy with their own training. He saw Morisawa landing a kick on the black leather cushion Kiryuu held in front of him, while Mikejima was currently supervising Nagumo and the younger Amagi’s match. “I have only been coming for the past few times, so that’s probably why we had yet to meet.”
Ah, that explained it, then.
“Moricchi was too busy with his work to come to practice until recently so that must be why,” he agreed, looking at his friend as he landed more hits on the cushion.
“‘Moricchi’?”
He turned back to look at the other, who had his head slightly tilted to the side in confusion.
“Haha, that’d be Morisawa. Sorry, I forget people outside of Yumenosaki wouldn’t know who I’m talking about.”
“Ah, please don’t worry. It’s a really sweet nickname.” Probably deciding he would rather continue the conversation than go back to whatever he’d been doing before his arrival, Kazehaya turned off his phone and put it in one of the few bags by his side before looking back at Kaoru with a smile. “So I take it you’re here for Morisawa-san?”
Kaoru hummed in affirmation. “If I have the time I always come before practice ends so that we can have lunch together after. He’s always busy, so the few times we can hang out are rare outside of days like this. Although I must admit, coming to collect him at practice is also a past habit from our Yumenosaki days ♪”
Kazehaya nodded in understanding, his polite smile never fading.
“I see. It’s certainly important to maintain old friendships despite busy schedules. I’m glad to see that even in ES people can keep that kind of relationship.”
Kaoru got somewhat taken aback. Mostly due to feeling the sheer sincerity behind those words.
Had it come from anyone else, he wasn’t sure he would have felt happy about being told something like that.
He sheepishly laughed — volume not rising more than the semi-whisper they’d been talking with this whole time as to not disturb the club’s practice — awkwardly scratching his chin and looking to the side, avoiding that earnest gaze.
“Haha, it’s kind of you to say that.”
He laid his eyes on the group once again, and it seemed like the match between Nagumo and the younger Amagi had ended in a tie. Mikejima was helping both boys back on their feet, and messed up their hair with a rather proud smirk, despite the boys’ protests.
He heard Kazehaya giggle softly, and found him wearing a fond expression as he turned back to him.
“What about you?” he asked in return. “Do you come here to support your leader?”
At that, Kazehaya was the one to laugh in slight embarrassment, surprising Kaoru.
“Something like that, too.”
“Mh? Too?”
Despite knowing and seeing first hand some of the guy’s kind personality, Kaoru doubted he took it as far as being his unit leader’s personal bag holder and slave. Unless the bags he had with him really held that kind of purpose?!
Kazehaya folded his arms on his chest and nodded. He didn’t miss the way a faint blush appeared on his fair skin, but for both their sake decided to ignore it.
“I’m mostly here for Madara-san.”
Huh?
“For Mikejima-kun?”
Kaoru must have heard wrong. Not because Mikejima didn’t have any friends or something like that, it just — Kaoru lacked the necessary information to link the two together and make it make sense. And he kind of wasn’t expecting to hear that Mikejima of all people would have the famous Saint of ES waiting for him.
The few times someone did come for Mikejima it was usually Oukawa, or Tenma. There had also been that one time where after an evening practice that Kaoru hadn’t come to, he saw Hibiki, Harukawa and Akehoshi drag him away as he’d passed by, but other than that? He definitely wasn’t expecting Kazehaya to be added to the list.
Probably deducing his confusion from his expression, the man next to him chuckled and proceeded to explain. “Our units have been having many joint practices lately. Aira-san and Kohaku-san wanted to spend more time together since the schedules of both us ALKALOID and Double Face are getting tighter, so we’re all kind of closer now. Though I’m not supposed to know about that, hehe.”
Kaoru stared at his warm gaze with barely kept curiosity. “So you’re close with Mikejima-kun?”
“Oh. I realize that was very presumptuous of me. I apologize,” Kazehaya said guiltily, glancing down at his knees. “I don’t really know whether I can call us close, not in the way you probably imagine, but I do genuinely enjoy his company. After this many joint practices I have gotten quite used to spending time together even outside of training.”
Kaoru nodded, pensive but understanding.
He smiled radiantly in the other’s direction, a move half calculated yet half genuine. “That’s good to hear. That guy could really use more people to rely on, I’m glad to see he got himself a good friend.”
If he subtly lingered on the word ‘friend’, and if he saw another light blush spread on the man’s cheeks, well, neither of them were any the wiser.
“Hehe, thank you but I wouldn’t know about that yet. I’m merely trying to get to know him better. It’s…” he trailed off, a troubled gaze fixated ahead. “Sometimes I feel inadequate to be called his friend. I wish there was more I could do for him.”
A few seconds of pondering silence passed between them, before Kazehaya recomposed himself.
“Ah — I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to vent. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m actually really glad I get to call Madara-san a friend and stay by his side.”
Kaoru stared at him for a few moments before he made a dismissive gesture with his hand, expression pained like he knew what the other was talking about. And he did — he’d known Mikejima for years now.
“That guy isn’t an easy feat to handle. He doesn’t let people in, never has. I think even people like Kiryuu-kun and Tsukinaga-kun took him many years before he actually got closer to them, without that…peculiar mask of his.”
Kaoru knew he was being kind of a hypocrite right now, but he also knew the difference between himself and Mikejima. He had many male friends now, and thanks to them he’d gotten better at letting people in and learning to leave his past behind. With that guy — to Kaoru it always felt like Mikejima was stuck.
He wasn’t blind. He knew what purpose Double Face was created for. He had even discussed it with Rei at one point, and he was close to Kanata, so he wasn’t exactly behind with the news.
Having that kind of past and responsibility, that kind of burden, he could get the struggle of not wanting people to see those other sides of yourself, of never wanting the ones you care for to touch the dark side even with just a gaze. So he couldn’t fully blame him for it. He’d always kind of respected what Mikejima always put himself through for others, despite the choice of keeping such an obnoxious mask on.
They instinctively glanced back at the group, and surely enough like any other time by the end of the practice, Mikejima and Kiryuu were now exchanging blows.
He felt more than saw Kazehaya’s flinch at a particularly rough punch that Mikejima barely avoided.
“Still,” he kept on, watching as the brunet recoiled quickly and delivered a just as rough kick on Kiryuu’s side, “I think you’d be good for him. He needs that kind of light in his life.”
To be completely honest, he didn’t know much. Kaoru was only aware of what most people were, maybe a little more thanks to being an ex classmate of his and also close with Rei, who Mikejima respected a great deal and was on his own Mikejima’s friend. But he did know enough to know that the kind of life that guy was made to go through and live, even until that moment, was not the same as his. Kaoru had his own struggles in life and had his own shadows from the past, but his hands weren’t dirty. He wasn’t forced to be someone’s weapon. He didn’t keep everyone at arm’s length — not anymore — for fear of hurting and getting hurt.
For being an idol who was supposed to be always surrounded by people and fans, Mikejima felt incredibly lonely.
Kaoru wasn’t that close to him, but he wasn’t heartless. If Kazehaya truly cared about him, then Kaoru hoped that could be a turn for the guy. Not that he didn't already have friends that cared about him, but Mikejima tended to have a reputation for annoying even the friendliest of people, like Anzu.
The ALKALOID member didn’t seem like the person to get easily annoyed, though.
If he was seeing things right from Kazehaya’s side, something more could even bloom at some point. And well, not that they needed it, but if it ever happened they already had Kaoru’s blessing.
He cringed in his own head, but forced it down as to not let it show on his face.
He noticed then that Kazehaya was looking at him with genuine surprise in his eyes, mouth slightly open in wonder.
After a few seconds of holding eye contact, whatever spell was affecting him lifted, and his expression assumed those same pure, gentle features that Kaoru guessed were his signatures, framed only by a joyful blush.
“It makes me really happy to hear you think so.” He glanced back at the man they had been talking about, blush deepening slightly. “I don’t know what path God has chosen for me in his life, but… I’ll willingly keep walking until I find out,” he murmured, so softly that accompanied by the echoing sounds of fighting in the large room he almost struggled to catch it.
Silently admiring the fond look he was wearing so openingly, Kaoru realized then just how deep this guy had actually already fallen.
In a not so foreign yet sudden overprotective sense he found himself telepathically sending various and colorful threats to Mikejima.
He ignored the loud sneeze from across the room, followed by the distinctive sound of a punch hitting home.
“Oof — !”
“Oi, Mikejima. Don’t tell me yer catchin’ a cold.”
Seeing the man next to him flinching yet again, Kaoru decided to change the subject a bit.
“Kazehaya-kun, you said you’ve been coming here a few times already but it looks like you’re still not used to the violence.”
Kaoru knew the feeling though, he also hadn’t been used to it at all, at first. He only stopped flinching after a few months of witnessing their training.
“Tatsumi is fine,” he replied with a smile, before adding, “And yes, I’m still not quite…used to it, as you said. That’s why I was keeping myself distracted before, though I much prefer chatting like this ♪”
Kaoru flashed him with a smile, and remembered how he’d seen him intently staring — frowning, to be precise — at his phone when he had just got there.
“Tatsucchi, then~ And feel free to call me Kaoru as well.” He tilted his head, “Were you having troubles with someone? I think I saw you upset when I arrived.”
Unfazed if not slightly amused by the nickname, Tatsumi shook his head. “Nothing of the sort, don’t worry. Although I was trying to understand the mechanics of the new app on Hold-Hands, without avail.” He sighed, fishing his phone back out from the bag he had previously stored it into. “It seems like despite many years of possessing this phone I’m still quite unable to understand it properly. I’ll have to ask Aira-san to guide me through it.”
Kaoru would have offered to show him himself that moment, but it looked like Shin’s practice had finally come to an end.
Apparently, Kiryuu and Mikejima’s match had also ended in a tie, and Morisawa was patting both of their backs while they regained their breaths.
Nagumo and the younger Amagi were already walking in their direction with their respective bags and towels, and ALKALOID’s leader rushed forward as he got closer.
“Tatsumi-senpai!”
“Good morning, Hiiro-san ♪”
Amagi greeted Kaoru as well before turning towards the other man with curiosity. “Did you come to bring Madara-senpai out for lunch again?”
While Kaoru suppressed a chuckle at the boy’s boldness, Tatsumi’s giggle echoed in the large room before he replied with a wink. “I have.”
“Woah! Kazehaya-senpai is so manly,” Nagumo exclaimed, looking at the man in question with awe.
Tatsumi laughed lightly at his wording, though Kaoru could tell he didn’t get what Nagumo meant by it.
“Umu! Tatsumi-senpai is the best,” agreed the younger Amagi, but it looked like he didn’t get the implication either. Well, Kaoru wasn’t going to be the one to break it to them.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I agree!” Mikejima suddenly said with a big smile from behind him, appearing with Kiryuu and Morisawa in tow.
The already present and heavy smell of sweaty men increased tenfold, and Kaoru couldn’t help scrunching his nose at the wave that was invading his nostrils. On his side, Tatsumi didn’t look affected in the slightest.
“Ah uh, it’s nothing!” Nagumo countered, exchanging a look with Amagi. “I think I’ll be going first then. See ya next week, everyone! Good work!”
As everyone bid their goodbyes, the two intruders took the time to get back on their feet. He saw Tatsumi reach down to collect the bags before Mikejima stepped in to do just that.
“Madara-san, you just finished training and already have your bag with you, please let me handle this,” Tatsumi pleaded softly with a small frown.
Instead of the boisterous laugh Kaoru was already anticipating, Mikejima just…pouted, and faked disappointment as he replied with a sigh, “And here I was trying to be a Prince Charming. Seems like my advance got turned down. What a pity.”
Kiryuu let out a heavy sigh of his own. “Yer so dramatic.”
Apparently approving of his tactic — and Kaoru had to admit that despite not having expected it, he was positively impressed — Morisawa and the younger Amagi patted his back in a silent show of support.
After taking back most of the bags, making a genuine smile creep back on the brunet’s face, Tatsumi mirrored his expression and said, “I hope you don’t mind if I take you somewhere different today, Madara-san.”
Oh?
Kaoru had no clue where these two usually went for lunch, nor how often they went, but now he found himself extremely curious to know what Tatsumi had planned. After the conversation he just had with him, Kaoru felt involved enough to need to know.
“Oh?” Mikejima voiced out loud, head tilted to the side with a puzzled look. “I don’t mind, but can I ask where we’re going?”
Looking at him with a smile that gave nothing away, Tatsumi giggled again. “I had thought you would have already figured it out by now.”
Mikejima looked taken aback at that, but recoiled quickly. He glanced back and forth between all the bags they were holding and Tatsumi, until his eyes widened as an idea finally seemed to catch him.
“Oya? Are we having a picnic, Tatsumi-san?”
“Hehe, yes. I hope the food will be of your liking. We should hurry before the sun becomes too hot, as well.”
The brunet’s green eyes held a bright light in them as he suddenly moved forward to grab the other by the hand and started dragging him — without using any of his actual strength — away.
“Let’s go then! What are we even waiting for?” he laughed, yet Kaoru didn’t think he’d ever heard him laughing like that. Mikejima looked back at them all and waved before disappearing out of the door. “Bye everyone, let’s keep up with the good work next week as well!”
“Ah — Madara-san, wait — bye, everyone!” Tatsumi managed to say before he also disappeared, a flustered blush visible even from a distance.
Kaoru stared at the door in amazement.
Well, he was happy for them. Albeit a bit jealous. Hopefully one day it would be his turn to also fall for someone like that. Hehe, he certainly wouldn’t mind the feeling.
Kiryuu sighed, scratching the back of his head as he shook it. “As Hasumi would say, that guy is simply incorrigible.”
Morisawa laughed, “Good for them!”
“Aira’s plan really worked again,” half mindedly spoke the younger Amagi, looking lost in his thoughts.
At that, Kaoru couldn’t keep the confusion from taking over his features, turning towards ALKALOID’s leader with an arched eyebrow. “‘Plan’?”
Tatsumi did mention something about Rei’s younger roommate scheming with Oukawa, something about making their units spend more time together, but he failed to see how that had any relevance at that moment.
“Oh, right,” said Kiryuu in his stead while Amagi took out his phone and composed a number, “ya wouldn't know about these kids’ plan, Hakaze. Tho I would’ve thought Sakuma knew, since he’s roommates with the kid.”
If that was the case and Rei didn’t tell him about this ‘plan’ of sorts, Kaoru was actually going to get offended.
“So what is it about?” he almost demanded, getting impatient.
Morisawa strided to his side and plopped an arm around his shoulders. “They’re trying to make them fall in love! I learned about this a bit ago myself, hahaha! They look like children with their single parents, little heroes indeed!”
Oh.
Kaoru guessed he should have already come to that conclusion by himself.
“So… they’re trying to get them together and hope they’ll keep having more joint practices because of it?”
Seeing as Amagi was busy with his phone call — with Shiratori to report the occurrence, by the sound of it — Kiryuu nodded and sighed in answer.
He couldn’t refrain from bursting out laughing, receiving confused looks by the two men.
“Well, plan or not, I’m on their side. Those two definitely already fit the role, don’t you think?”
Morisawa and Kiryuu exchanged a look. “What role?”
Kaoru huffed, amused. “Of lovers. They already look like a couple to me, at least.”
Morisawa flashed him a smile. “They do. I don’t know Kazehaya well but he seems like a good fit for Mikejima, doesn’t he?”
Kiryuu arched an eyebrow at Kaoru’s agreeing nod, looking at him curiously.
“It’s a good kind of surprise to hear ya say these things, Hakaze.”
He didn’t elaborate further, but he didn’t need to hear more to get what he’d meant by that. When the guy holding onto him nodded eagerly as well, he sighed lightly making a dismissive hand gesture.
“I’m an adult, Kiryuu-kun. Have some faith in me, will you.”
“Haha, I do, ’s just nice is all.”
And Kaoru guessed that was fair.
Shaking his head in defeat, he pinched Morisawa’s side and ignored his friend’s yelp as he headed towards the same exit those two had run through just a few minutes prior. “Will you join us for lunch, Kiryuu-kun?”
Morisawa forgot the betrayal at that, turning towards the redhead. “Yeah! It’s been a while since we chatted. Let’s take the time to catch up!”
Kaoru stopped at the door’s frame, keeping it open as he looked back in time to see Kiryuu's pensive expression before it gave space to a small smile. “I don’t see why not. It’d be nice to catch up. ‘N gossip.”
The three of them left the Dojo Room in shared laughter, heading towards the cafeteria together just like old times.
One thing earlier-Kaoru hadn't expected upon entering the Dojo, was to learn that something like a plan to make two idols fall in love with each other was currently happening within ES’ borders. And that it was closer than he would have thought, had he learned of it in any other way. But now that he was aware, and frankly, was involved, well — Kaoru was definitely going to ask for updates.
But first of all.
Rei had better not have known about all this and purposefully decided to keep it for himself.
For his tomato juice’s stock sake.
—
Sitting comfortably in the dorm’s common room, Rei was casually listening to Shiratori’s phone call with Amagi about their Cupid’s plan while sipping on a carton of tomato juice before he sneezed out of the blue, almost making some red spill on the sofa.
“Eh — Sakuma-senpai, did you catch a cold?”
As he got overtaken by chills, Rei hugged his clothes closer to his body, getting a great sense of danger for some unknown reason.
“Brr… What did I even do…”