Chapter Text
Toya stood in the bathroom, wiping away the tears in his eyes. He looked at himself. Pathetic. His father was by no means a good man, but he wasn’t evil to an extent. His fingers had bandages on them. All ten of his fingers. Bloodied and bruised. He couldn’t help but sob.
He sobbed until he realized he needed to get back to class. Shit. His teacher was picking partners when he suddenly interrupted her, asking to go to the bathroom. Now he doesn’t know who his partner is.
He rushed over back to class, smiling as if he wasn’t just a mess. The teacher look at him and smiled. Students were scattered around the room, working in pairs. “Toya, while you were away I had called your partners name, he’s sitting over there,” she pointed to the man with bright ginger hair. Toya’s cheeks blushed.
”Him? But we don’t even know each other- I- I can’t even talk to him I get so nervous thinking I’ll mess something up- I mean I'm glad I’m partnered up with him and all-“ he stopped himself, only shrinking.
”He’s a bright student, and you are to. Put your heads together and you’ll finish this project in no time,” she eased him a little, noticing how nervous he got. He started shaking slightly.
Akito Shinonome. The popular kid, everyone loved him. He was perfect. At least, perfect in Toya’s eyes. He usually just quietly observed him. Taking in every detail. Was he in love? Or just stalking him? He always posed this question to himself. This was creepy, but something about him, it made Toya’s heart beat slightly faster.
He hobbled his way over to the man sitting on a chair, resting his head against his arms. He blinked before noticing Toya. He smiled. “Yo, you must be my partner right, Toya I remembered your name when she called it,” he positioned himself upright.
”I’m glad to be working with you Akito,” his mouth curved into an awkward smile. He sat down beside him, looking at the blank poster paper. “So, what country do you want to do?” He nervously asked, his voice wavered and cracked.
”We can compare the culture of… how about Russia to Japan? That’s easy and there’s not many similarities so we can talk only about the differences,” Akito smiled, his smile could light up a room.
”Alright… that’s easy enough,” he placed his hands on the table before quickly retracting them back into his pockets. He had forgotten about the bandages. Yet, it seemed like Akito hadn’t noticed and was more preoccupied with writing on the poster. He sighed. This was gonna take a while.
The bell rung, it was finally lunch. Toya managed to get through class without freezing up too badly beside his little boy crush. Except for when he was invited to sit with him. He practically blue screened the moment Akito said it, which only prompted him to laugh.
”Oi, Toya if you ever wanna, come sit with me during lunch I’m sure my friends wouldn’t mind an extra,” he patted him on the back. Was this gods way of saying ‘you deserve happiness for once’ because he was more than happy. He nodded, knowing he doesn’t have the courage to do that just yet.
He walked out after Akito, placing his things away and meeting up with Kohane. Another shy student. They seemed to click one day, and became wonderful friends. They usually shared lunch together, every day. They didn’t have many friends, and nobody knew them. They sat outside on a bench under a tree. It was warm.
”How was class today Kohane?” He asked, grabbing a small lettuce wrap with his chopsticks. Kohane softly smiled.
”It was great, I was worried initially, since one of Akito’s friends was paired up with me today, but she was really funny and nice… everyone told me she was loud and mean, but she was sweet to me,” she lowered her voice slightly, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.
”Ah, so do you like her? You never talk about people this fondly, all you say is ‘they were silent to me,’ or ‘we didn’t interact much,’” Toya took another bite of his lunch as Kohane jumped.
”I would never admit that, I like her as a friend, she asked if I wanted to go shopping after school, and I blindly said yes, so I’m sorry Toya, but I won’t be able to ride the train home with you,” she sighed, looking down slightly.
”It’s alright, I don’t mind going alone, it’s quiet anyways,” he looked down at his fingers before wincing in annoyance and pain.
”Would you like me to re-wrap your bandages? I noticed they were starting to peel,” she grabbed his hand as he nodded. She unwrapped each finger, looking at it for a moment. They were still bruised, but no longer bloody. “They’re no longer bloody, that’s good I was worried,”
Toya only nodded, watching her put on new bandages. They looked wonderful. He smiled. “Thank you Kohane, I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow,”
Lunch had finally ended.
Toya stood at the train station, it was a soft orange hue outside as he patiently waited for the train. He normally waited with Kohane, but she wasn’t here this time. He was all alone. He stood there, playing on his phone. That was until the train had come into the station, stopping where it normally does. He held onto his ticket.
As he walked through the doors, he saw the two open seats he always took with Kohane. Now only one empty seat stood there. The woman that usually sat next to Kohane smiled at Toya and waved at him. She was kind and pretty. The doors shut and he placed his bag in his lap.
The ride home was boring to say the least. The woman on his side who he’d grown acquainted with just stared at her phone the entire time. He truly had nobody to text on this ride home. He tried to text Kohane, but she never responded. He didn’t want to text his father. So, he slept.
The train stopped at his destination, his station. He got up and off, leaving the underground station. His neighborhood was beautiful to look at. Yet he dreaded coming home every day. He walked a short distance before reaching his fathers home. He unlocked the door, and closed it. Silence. Perhaps he isn’t home.
Another day. Done.