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7:40 A.M.
“Crap,” Kashuu mutters under his breath as he scrambles off his bed and runs straight to his bathroom. It’s the first word he says for the day, like usual.
He’s most likely late for class, like usual.
His housemate, Yasusada, doesn’t fail to hear his pounding of feet and the slamming of closet and vanity in his haste. Kashuu slams the door open, and while Yasusada thinks he looks presentable enough, in Kashuu standards, he probably looks like a mess.
“You look awful,” Yasusada says instead, and Kashuu makes a face, goes straight to the kitchen where Yasusada is, and, upon approaching the stove where Yasusada’s breakfast is left broiling, takes out a piece of his food and eats it.
“H-Hey! Don’t eat it!”
“It’s aw—ful,” Kashuu says, and he looks pointedly at Yasusada, from head to toe. “Why are you still in your pyjamas?”
“I’m not running late for class!” Yasusada replies, suddenly conscious of his polka-dotted blue pyjamas, and he plucks the chopsticks Kashuu used out of his hand. “I don’t have classes until ten.”
“What?!”
“And you’re running late! What are you doing eating my breakfast?” He pushes Kashuu out of the kitchen and to their apartment’s entranceway before shoving something onto Kashuu's hands: a bento. “It’s made with love,” Yasusada says with a grin, and while he wants to laugh at Kashuu’s face, he knows it’s not the time. “Now shoo, go! I’ll kill you if you turn up late to your class.”
“What are you: my mum?”
“If Horikawa can do it, why can’t I?”
A pause, then Kashuu sticks out his tongue at Yasusada as he opens the door. “Because it’s Ho-ri-ka-wa,” is what he says before leaving their apartment.
--
“Isn’t this your third absent in this class?”
“Isn’t this, like, your third time being a third year in college?”
Kanesada puts a hand on his face as Nagasone incredulously looks at Kashuu. The oldest of the three deadpans as he says, “Low blow, Kashuu.”
Kanesada bursts out laughing, and so does Kashuu.
“Sorry, sorry,” Kashuu manages to say in between laughs. Kanesada is laughing so hard, he’s already pressed his face on the desk to muffle his laughter. It’s the class’s ten minute break before resuming lecture, and while Kashuu really should worry about arriving in class during said break, he doesn’t seem to mind too much. “That was, like, a joke! I know you’re really not a repeater.”
“Kashuu, I’m serious,” Nagasone says as he puts his hand under the desk and pinches Kanesada’s thigh. Hard. The youngest of the three yelps and swats Nagasone’s hand away from him. “You’re one hour late. That’s considered as an absent.”
“As always,” Kanesada helpfully adds, and Kashuu rolls his eyes.
“Not ‘as always,’” Kashuu says, and he yawns, looking bored. “Geez, stop getting on my case. I woke up late, that’s all!”
“You’ve been waking up late for a while now,” Nagasone notes, and Kashuu scoffs.
“Yes, I’ve been busy!”
“Yeah, okay,” Nagasone says as he leans into his seat. “Just remember: five absences, and it’s an FA.”
“Yes, dad.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not that old.”
“Sure, dad.”
And Kanesada snorts, only to get pinched by Nagasone again.
--
Yoshiyuki makes fun of the bento Yasusada made for Kashuu, much to the latter’s annoyance. Everyone is gathered for practise for their play, choosing the auditorium for practise venue, and Kashuu had taken the chance to eat the bento Yasusada made him (he skipped breakfast; he skipped lunch. Kashuu is starving). There shouldn’t be that much of a big deal, bringing a bento to practise, but Yoshiyuki is making fun of the fact that the bento is practically made for a kindergartener, with all its cute shapes and bright colours.
‘Made with love’ my ass.
Kashuu will get back at Yasusada for this.
“If you won’t shut up, I swear I’m shoving this whole thing down your throat,” Kashuu warns, and Yoshiyuki raises both hands in mock surrender. They’re both at the front row near the stage, with Kashuu sitting in one of the seats and Yoshiyuki standing just in front of Kashuu, blocking his view of the main actor sitting cross-legged in the stage with Nagasone. More reason to shove this thing down his throat.
“Gahahaha, okay, okay, I’ll stop!” Yoshiyuki says, but there’s still a cheeky smile on his face. “Hahaha, it’s really cute, though. Lookin’ like somethin’ Kunihiro will make ya. Just sayin’.”
“What, is that supposed to be a compliment to this embarrassing thing?” Kashuu asks, his eyebrows raised. “Yasusada’s trying so hard to be my mum, it’s actually working, because he’s so annoying.”
Kanesada raises his head from the thick pile of papers he’s busy reading. Memorising the lines of the play’s protagonist is a pain in the ass. “What, you’re just realising it now? We only met Yasusada just last year, but it’s already obvious he’s been doting on you like a mother would for years.”
“What,” Kashuu says, and Nagasone laughs. He sits on the stage with Kanesada, helping him with his lines, and his laugh echoes throughout the auditorium. Kanesada ends up shrinking a little in his place.
“What’s so funny?” Kashuu says, moving to the seat next to him to get a look at the two sitting in the stage. He looks irritated. Nagasone shakes his head, putting his hands behind him for support before looking at Kanesada.
“Takes one to know one, eh, Izumi?” Nagasone says, and Kanesada rolls his eyes while Yoshiyuki grins beside Kashuu.
“That was just my two cents,” Kanesada says.
“Based on first-hand experience,” Yoshiyuki adds, and Kanesada throws his pen at him which he easily catches. “What, Kunihiro doted on ya like a mother hen. It was amazing.”
“Was not.”
“Yeah, right, tell that to his copy of yer baby book that yer parents gave him.”
“What,” Nagasone and Kashuu say simultaneously, and Kashuu gives Yoshiyuki this look. Nagasone, on the other hand, looks at Kanesada, and the latter shakes his head and raises his hands defensively, pages of the script fluttering in one hand as he does so.
“I have no idea what this moron is talking about,” Kanesada says.
“Yeah, ya don’t,” Yoshiyuki says, “pretty sure Kunihiro would keep that a secret.”
Kashuu can’t believe what he’s hearing right now. “Why do you know that?” he asks. “Why do I not know that?”
“Dunno with ya,” Yoshiyuki says with a shrug, then he grins. “That was just a joke, by the way.”
Other members of the university’s theatre organisation did not expect the shrill shouting coming from the members by the stage.
--
“You gonna see him?”
Kashuu blinks, and he turns to look at Kanesada. Practise is long over, and members involved in the play are deserting the auditorium one by one. Yoshiyuki left almost an hour ago now, and Nagasone is outside waiting for Kanesada. It doesn’t take Kashuu a long time to answer his friend's inquiry.
“Horikawa? Yeah, of course.”
Kanesada slings his bag over his shoulder, and he nods. “Huh. Don’t take the whole night again. Last time you did, Yasusada did not stop ringing my phone until I picked up. At two A.M.” He looks at Kashuu, puzzled. “What the hell do you even do there?”
“Duh, talking to him. Some catching up, yeah?” Kashuu replies, and Kanesada just stares at him. “What? And that time I crashed at his brothers’ place, because I ran into them on the way. Yamabushi makes good pancakes. Yamanbagiri is too boring to be with, though.”
Kanesada snorts. “Pancakes at night. Alright.” He pauses, and there’s a short moment of silence. He sighs, scratching his head. “Would’ve been nice if he’s attending this university too. You won’t have to go there all the time.”
Kashuu laughs. “I’d be scared if he visits me.”
Kanesada smiles, and he chuckles. “Yeah, right," he says sarcastically. "You’d like that, though.”
And Kashuu's reply comes in a heartbeat. “Yeah, I really would.”
--
It’s already dark, and the dim lights aren’t cutting it.
Kashuu doesn’t really mind, though. He’s gotten used to it. He walks to his destination despite the dim streetlights, as if his body already knows exactly where to go, how many steps it would take, how many breaths he has to take until he reaches it. There’s a bouquet of flowers in one hand. A bouquet of lilies of the valley—Horikawa’s favourite. Kashuu looks up to the sky as he sighs, and he sees his own breath. It's cold.
Kashuu blinks, and he's disappointed with what he sees. It’s cloudy. There aren’t any stars tonight.
It’s quite unfortunate.
And Kashuu realises he had stopped walking, standing in front of a dull grey stone, among many others, with a far too familiar name etched on it. He kneels in front of it, takes the already dead flowers placed in front of it and replaces them with the new bouquet. Kashuu smiles.
“Hey, Horikawa. Looks like your brothers didn’t come today.” He shakes the dead flowers he's holding in his hand, as if for emphasis. "They didn't replace this, huh?"
Silence. All Kashuu could hear is the faint rustling of the wind. He continues anyway.
It's all he can do now, like usual.
“So, Yoshiyuki made this god-awful joke…”