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“And the final team… Queen and Knight!”
And when Toya looks over, he feels his mood instantly drop. Shimizu-san and Kobayashi.
“Aoyagi-kun, you and Shinonome-kun are here too?” Shimizu-san asks.
“Hah! You’re not going to beat us!” Kobayashi cuts in, before Toya can respond.
“Ah, Shimizu-san. Yes, we are.” Toya says, and Akito tosses an amused glance his way.
“Shimizu, didn’t realize you liked arcade games.”
“Oh, I really don’t play very often, but Chi-chan adores them! So I’m really just here for her.” Shimizu-san giggles.
“Well, here’s to a good competition.” Akito says, reaching his hand out to her.
Shimizu-san takes it gently, shaking it before turning to Kobayashi.
“Chi-chan, why did you select that name, anyway?”
“Because you’re my queen and I’m your loyal knight!” Kobayashi says, without missing a beat.
“Oh, I wish you’d stop calling yourself that.” She groans. “But that leads me to my next question… Aoyagi-kun, your team name is Yanagi tō Kumo, right? Where did that come from? I’d have assumed you would have just gone with BAD DOGS.”
Toya feels his eye starting to twitch.
“I’d never use my singing group’s name for a gaming competition, they’re two seperate things.”
Akito gently wraps an arm around Toya before pulling him back a bit.
“I’m sorry, he’s being weird about it for some reason.”
“I’m not being weird!” Toya insists, but the look in Shimizu’s eyes says she agrees with Akito.
“Eh, it doesn’t matter. I like this name too.” Akito says. “Pretty smart, using characters from our names.”
Toya can’t keep the smile off his face at the compliment, and his shoulders finally relax.
But in a second he’s stunned again, because Otori laughs and practically tackles Shimizu-san.
“Fuyu-senpai! Let’s have a lot of fun, okay?”
“Of course, Emu-chan!” Shimizu-san replies, hugging her tightly.
~
Round 1 is over and done with, with Kusanagi and Otori taking the first win on Print Stickers. It’s Akito and Toya up against Kusanagi and Otori in Puyo Puyo, and Toya finds himself getting lost in the game. The moment he takes his hands off the controls, he knows he’s won. Sweet. Literally. Lemres brings out a lollipop on the victory screen.
But he’s pulled away from his victory by someone from the other side letting out a scream of pain.
Kobayashi’s being gently led away from the three-person match between We’re The Best, Muscles Are Everything, and Queen and Knight by Shimizu-san, who’s pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around Kobayashi’s hands.
“You son of a bitch! You did that on purpose!” Kobayashi cries, and that’s when Toya realizes that her hands and arms are covered in red hives.
“Kobayashi, are you alright?!” Toya asks, and Shimizu-san shakes her head.
“Chi-chan’s allergic to citrus! One of the We’re The Best members spilled his lemonade on her!”
“That was obviously on purpose!” One of the Muscles Are Everything guys says. “Those two should be disqualified! Look what they did to her!”
“You’re damn right about that!” Kobayashi says, and the owner quickly rushes over.
“Are you alright?! Do you need an ambulance?!”
Kobayashi shakes her head.
“I don’t. I’m not deathly allergic. They’ll clear up on their own.”
“Chi-chan, are you sure? ” Shimizu-san asks. “They might have some antihistamines there that can get rid of them faster.”
“No, no! I’m fine! I don’t need a doctor, I promise!”
Shimizu-san just nods before walking over to the bar and grabbing some ice and a napkin.
“Here. This should help a little.”
“Thank you, Shimizu-sama.” Kobayashi says, uncharacteristically quiet. “…What about those guys? You saw it, right? So did the Muscles are Everything guys. That was on purpose.”
“I know. I’ll handle it.” Shimizu-san says.
The owner looks… strange.
“Is something wrong?” Toya asks, and the owner shakes his head.
“The camera didn’t catch the incident. I’m sorry, but…”
“But what?! They did this to me and they’re not getting fucking disqualified?!” Kobayashi yells.
The owner looks genuinely apologetic that he can’t do anything, and Shimizu-san seems to see that.
“It’s alright. We’ll just make sure they don’t win.” She says.
“How? Look at my hands, Shimizu-sama! I can’t play like this!”
“I know. Don’t worry. Aoyagi-kun, you’re really good at Puyo Puyo, right?”
Toya nods, and Shimizu gets an uncharacteristically manic smirk.
“Take them down. I’ll record everything. If they try to get you, I’ll have video evidence.”
“Yeah, good idea. I’ll run interference so they can’t actually hurt you.” Akito adds. “Don’t worry, partner. I’ve got you.”
~
Fuyune is upset.
No, not upset. She’s fucking pissed.
How dare those bastards throw their lemonade on Chi-chan!
And for once in her life, she actually finds that she hates someone more than Toya Aoyagi.
So she’s actually going to defend him from them. Because she’s not going to let them get away with hurting her dear Chi-chan.
She turns on the camera and starts live-streaming on the Miyajou Newspaper YouTube channel. She watches the number of viewers tick up, and she actually notices Kohane making a comment that’s simply “Go Toya-kun!” People are absolutely thrilled, and then Aki leaps in between the We’re The Best member and Aoyagi. Idiot was clearly about to try and run into him.
Aki blocks any attempt that the idiot makes to get to Aoyagi, and then…
A clearly intentional throwing of an orange soda on Aoyagi. Good thing for him he’s not allergic like Chi-chan.
He doesn’t even flinch.
“It’s alright, Akito! It’ll be over soon!”
And Aoyagi pulls off a gigantic chain. Crown Garbage Puyo. We’re The Best gets absolutely annihilated by Yanagi tō Kumo.
And Fuyune and most of Miyajou just witnessed obvious sabotage.
Fuyune stalks over to the We’re The Best member and smiles at him, holding up her phone.
“Smile, you’re on camera! I and half of Miyajou just witnessed that! Still want to say that what you did to Chi-chan was just an accident?”
“And so did I.” The owner says, glaring at him. “That was obvious, blatant cheating.”
“I-It was an accident, I swear!” The little bitch says, but Aoyagi shakes his head.
“It wasn’t an accident, but I don’t care. I still managed to win, so let’s continue.”
“T-Toya…?!” Aki says, and Aoyagi shakes his head.
“Only because I don’t want the tournament to be ruined in such a manner.”
Fuyune’s about to open her mouth and object, but Chi-chan cuts her off.
“He’s right.” She says. “Since he won, don’t disqualify them yet. But if they cheat again and actually win, I’ll take so many pictures and the Miyajou student newspaper will ruin your reputation across Tokyo!”
“She’s right. No more second chances.” Aoyagi says, putting on his best menacing voice before turning around and stalking away.
Aki flashes a glare at We’re The Best before following after him, and they disappear into the shadows.
~
“Okay, here.” Akito says, pulling the flannel hoodie from around his waist. “Put this on. It’s gotta be better than that.”
Toya feels himself start to frown.
“I really like this jacket, I hope the soda will come out.”
“I know a good trick for that, don’t worry.”
Toya shrugs his denim jacket off, and that’s when they both realize that his shirt is also completely soaked in soda.
“Ah, shit. Come on.” Akito says, dragging Toya to the bathroom, and…
“What are you doing?” Toya asks, and Akito doesn’t respond until he’s shrugged off his jacket and pulled off his hoodie, leaving him in a white cotton shirt.
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m giving you my shirt.” He says, pulling off his shirt and…
And Toya has completely forgotten what he was doing while being faced with a shirtless Akito.
Akito lets out a laugh, smirking at Toya.
“Like what you see?”
Toya stumbles over his words, ripping his eyes away from Akito and taking the shirt from his hands, slipping his own shirt off and throwing on Akito’s shirt and flannel.
By the time Toya’s fully dressed, Akito’s also thrown his hoodie and jacket back on, and Toya’s slightly disappointed that he didn’t get another look.
“What, wanna see me shirtless again that badly?” Akito teases, and Toya shoots him a glare before turning around and walking out of the bathroom.
~
Don’t kill him, don’t kill him, don’t kill him—
Oh, god. It’s so damn hard for Fuyune to restrain herself from killing Aoyagi after she sees him walk out of the bathroom with his soda-soaked clothes bundled up in his hands and dressed in Aki’s clothes. That’s his shirt too, so that means that Aoyagi probably got to see Aki shirtless and that just makes her want to kill him harder.
Unfortunately for her, she’s stuck working with him. Because he and Kusanagi are gigantic barriers between those two and their first place win, and since the last round is a shooter, she’s absolutely useless with her hand tremor.
God, if Aoyagi loses to them now she’s going to stab him right here, witnesses be damned!
And of course, they cheat again, and knock Aki and Emu-chan out of the running! Damn them!
But then Aoyagi and Kusanagi actually team up, and they manage to take out the last We’re The Best member together! Fuck yes!
Now, come on, Aoyagi. Show that you’re not just a weakling dragging Aki down.
Bang! Headshot!
And Kusanagi takes the victory, because of course Aoyagi can’t do anything right! Fucking pretentious prick!
She restrains the urge to scream as she walks up to them and congratulates them on a job well done, and Emu-chan makes a whole speech about how video games are supposed to be fun and they’re both such fucking assholes.
They seem to have learned their lesson, but Fuyune’s not going to let them off that damn easy.
~
“Shinonome-kun, Aoyagi-kun!” Shimizu says, running up to Akito and Toya. “Did you hear?!”
“Hear what?” Akito asks, and he turns to Toya, who just shrugs.
“Th-those We’re The Best guys! Apparently their brakes failed while they were driving and they got into a wreck!”
“Oh my, are they alright?” Toya asks.
“They’re severely injured, but according to the doctors, they should pull through and make a full recovery.”
“I guess they truly did learn their lesson, and karma decided to scare them but not kill them.” Toya adds. “Too bad she wasn’t so nice to Souma-san.”
“Yeah. Good for them. Thanks for telling us, Shimizu.” Akito says. “Why don’t we have a game one of these days, you and Kobayashi and me and Toya? We never actually got to compete except for in the Print Stickers category.”
Shimizu smiles and holds her hat in place as she gives a little bow, and Akito can feel Toya getting annoyed.
“I think Chi-chan would love that. I’ll ask her.”
“How is she, anyway? Did her hives clear up?” Toya asks, and Shimizu smiles even brighter.
“Yes, they did! She’s all better and she’s raring to go! I’ll text you about the details later then?”
“Yeah, sure. Later, Shimizu.” Akito says, and the moment she vanishes Toya practically flops onto Akito’s shoulder.
“…Oi, what’s up with you?” He asks, but Toya doesn’t respond. “Toya, come on. Get up.”
Toya still doesn’t respond, and Akito knows that he’s just trying to get Akito to carry him because he’s acting like a jealous bitch and wants Shimizu to know that Akito’s all his, so he rolls his eyes and pulls out his secret weapon.
“Oh, hey, is that Tsukasa-senpai over there?”
“Where?!” Toya yells, snapping his head up, and Akito laughs.
“Now that you’re conscious, mind actually walking to the arcade?”
Toya flashes Akito the cutest glare/pout he’s ever seen, and he can’t help but laugh again.
“Okay, fine. Get on my back.”
~
Great! Fuyune’s day just keeps getting worse! First, the We’re The Best guys actually survive after she cuts their brakes, and now she has to watch this bullshit! The moment Aoyagi thinks Fuyune isn’t watching, he turns into a demanding little bitch and insists Aki carry him to the arcade.
And of course, because Aki’s so nice, he just does it! God, he shouldn’t let Aoyagi win so much. He’s a spoiled attention whore who can’t stand her getting a drop of Aki’s attention!
“You know, you don’t have to worry about Shimizu. I’m your partner, not hers.” Aki says, the laughter evident in his voice.
“Then why does she get all your attention the moment she shows up?” Aoyagi bitches back. “You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to do that match!”
“Yeah, because I know you, and because I know you’d never pass up the opportunity to do a team match against Shimizu.”
Aoyagi freezes for a second and buries his face into Aki’s shoulder.
“…Shut up.”
Ugh, what a dick! Of course Aki knew what Aoyagi wanted, he’s so nice and sweet and knows everything about his partner.
…If she just had a gun, she could blow his head off right here and take Aki away.
Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t. So she just has to wait for the right time to set her plan in motion.
Hang on, Aki! Fuyune’s coming!