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“Thank you again for letting us come over, Ken-san,” Toya said as he toed off his shoes in the doorway of the Shiraishi residence.
“Of course, it’s no problem at all. But, uh,” Ken hesitated, “what’s with that huge dog?”
“Hm?” Toya glanced at the massive Pochacco plush he had won at the arcade earlier. It was white with black, floppy ears, and two beady black eyes.
“Ah…I go to the arcade sometimes. I just won this Pochacco plushie earlier. I think I got one for Shiraishi and Azusawa, and Akito got one on his own,” he said thoughtfully, effortlessly holding the entire Pochacco with one arm.
“…I see. Well, An should be upstairs in her room already, if you want to head up there.” Ken seemingly gave up on trying to decipher why Aoyagi Toya of all people would wander into his house with a colossal plushie of a dog.
“Alright. Thank you, Ken-san.”
“There’s really no need to be so formal… it’s been like, two years,” Ken muttered as Toya walked up the stairs, albeit cautiously due to the Pochacco.
*
Toya twisted the doorknob to An’s room.
“Toya! You’re here!” An exclaimed, running to give him a hug.
Instead of running into Toya, she hit something much softer, yet tougher, which turned out to be a big, Pochacco plushie. Toya looked at her sheepishly. “I apologize, Shiraishi, I didn’t mean for you to run into the plushie…”
An shook her head. “No, you’re all good Toya, but how did you even get such a large….” she analyzed the stuffed animal in his hands, “is that Pochacco?”
Toya smiled, his eyes lighting up, “Yes it is, and that reminds me,” he set the plush on the floor, fishing out a Lloromannic plushie from his bag and handing it to An, “I saw this and I thought you would like it.”
An smiled widely. “Awww, you’re so sweet, Toya!” She took the Lloromannic plushie. She saw that Toya was no longer holding the Pochacco plushie, and took the opportunity to hug him properly as a “thank you.” Though Toya was shocked, he still happily hugged her back.
“Here, I’ll put these plushies on the bed for now,” said An as she hauled both the Lloromannic and the Pochacco to her bed.
After deciding that the plushies were in a good (cute) enough position, she continued, “So, my bed has a pull-out bed underneath it, and I was thinking that me and Kohane could sleep on one bed, and you and Akita on the other, kinda like when we went camping.”
Toya nodded. “Yes, I agree. That would be the most appropriate setup.” He thought for a moment. “You and Azusawa should take your bed, and me and Akito will take the pull-out.”
An hummed in agreement. “Okay!”
*
An and Toya had talked for while, eventually running out of stories and interesting things to talk about, the room settling into a comfortable silence.
“Akito and Kohane should be here any minute now…” An muttered, growing impatient.
With comedic timing, Kohane opened the door around a minute later, with Akito right behind her.
“An-chan! Aoyagi-kun! Good evening!” She smiled brightly, walking through the doorway.
Akito smiled gently, “Yeah, good evening.”
An stood up from sitting next to Toya on her bed and shook Kohane by the shoulders, then Akito.
“What took you guys so long to get here?” She asked frustratedly, shaking Akito by the shoulders repeatedly.
“Hey, calm down, crazy,” Akito grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her. “There was a lot of people in the streets, and they were all slow walkers too,” he said, remembering the irritating experience. “I ran into Kohane and made sure we stuck together.”
“Oh. Okay,” A released his shoulders, innocently tucking her hands behind her back.
“Akito,” Toya spoke up, “you have your Badtz-Maru with you, right?”
“Ah, you mean the little plushie I got from the arcade? Yeah, I have him,” he said, pulling out the Badtz-Maru from his side-bag.
“And, Azusawa, I got this for you,” Toya stood up and gave Kohane a small Corocorokuririn plushie. “It reminded me of you, since we gave you the nickname, ‘Hamster.’”
Kohane gently took it from his hands but squeezed it in excitement the moment it was in her possession. She gasped. “He’s so cute! Thank you so much, Aoyagi-kun!” Kohane exclaimed, hugging Toya.
“Eh,” Toya coughed out of surprise. He hugged her back and laughed slightly. “That’s the second ‘thank you’ hug I’ve gotten today.”
*
All of Vivid Bad Squad had gotten ready for bed, and Toya and Akito had helped A pull out the extra bed from underneath An’s bed.
Toya had a sleepily loose grip on the Pochacco, sleep hazing over his brain.
He was just about to fall asleep when Akito spoke up, “Are you guys asleep?”
“Almost,” Toya replied in a rough, sleep tainted voice, the sound muffled in the massive plush.
“Nope!” An livelily whispered in the darkness.
“Mm…” Kohane weakly answered.
“Why, what’s up, Akito?” An asked.
“Oh, nothing, just wondering…” he trailed off.
Toya heard (felt) the sheets rustle beside him, and a couple of different noises from inside and outside the house, from random creaks in the house to the sound of different animals outside.
But, why would Akito be asking if they were all asleep? He should be the one falling asleep first, due to his habit of overworking…
“Hey, Akito?” Toya called sleepily.
“Yeah?”
“Are you afraid of the dark?”
“What?” He whisper-shouted, “no! No way!”
A dog barked in the distance outside of An’s window, and Toya turned on his side to see Akito curled up in a fetal position.
“…You’re afraid of the dog barking outside my window,” An deadpanned.
“No! I’m not scared, guys, geez…”
Toya’s mouth quirked up in an unusual, teasing smirk, “yeah, you are.”
“What the hell, Toya?” Akito said, surprised at Toya’s unusual behavior, “no!”
An chuckled, deciding to tease him as well. “I dunno, Akito, seems like you aren’t all that comfortable with the dog barking outside.”
Akito whisper-groaned. “Why?” He drawled.
“Shinonome-kun,” Kohane drowsily interrupted, “put on some rain sounds to drown out the dog’s voice. If that’s okay with An-chan and Aoyagi-kun.”
An seemed to have given up her teasing behavior. “Fine by me,” she shrugged.
“Okay,” said Toya, “as long as I can finally sleep,” he remarked tiredly.
“Guys, I told you I’m not afraid of the dog—“
Won won! Was heard in the distance.
Akito sighed and pulled up his phone, and Toya could see him type in the words, “ rain sounds 10 hours for sleep no ads. ”
Toya giggled. “You know, Akito,” he began, “it’s okay to admit you’re scared.”
“Just lay off it already,” Akito gave an annoyed voice, but Toya and A could hear the fondness.
An laughed. “Oh, come on, Akito! You know that you could never be mad at us!”
“Yeah, yeah, I guess.”
An grinned in victory. “I won!”
“Won what?”
“Our little argument match.”
“That wasn’t a serious argument!”
The bickering between the two slowly became calming white noise instead of fiery discussions to Toya, and it lulled him to sleep with a smile on his face at the heartwarming sounds of his friends’ voices.
*
Toya stared upwards at the ceiling, eyes dry and tired from being awoken in the middle of the night.
He really wished he knew that Akito snored.
He had tried everything; burying his head in the pillow, cover his ears with his hands, attempting to convince himself to ignore it, and yet to no avail.
It was very unlike Toya to be annoyed, but there seemed to be no other emotion available to feel when he was half-asleep in the middle of the night, exhausted, and not able to go back to sleep if he wanted to.
He heard rustling from the bed above him, and eventually he saw a vague figure sit up with medium-length hair, clutching a Corocorokuririn to her chest.
“Azusawa?” Toya whispered. “Are you awake?”
Kohane rubbed her eyes, nodding slowly. “How long have you been up, Aoyagi-kun?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I know I would’ve been awake for a shorter amount of time if Akito wasn’t becoming a lawnmower in the middle of the night.” He replied, unusual sarcasm tinting his voice.
Kohane chuckled, covering her mouth with her hands to muffle the noise. “You’re kinda funny when you’re sleepy and delirious, Aoyagi-kun.”
“Eh?”
“Well—it’s just that—“ she laughed, “when you’re sleep deprived, you become more… bold? Sarcastic? I don’t have the best word.”
Toya nodded, determined to remember that and think about it in the morning. Sarcastic and bold, huh?
Soon, An turned her head and was looking at Toya hazily, directly above him.
She stared at him for a few moments. “So it’s Akito that’s snoring like a damn construction site?”
Toya nodded.
“Hmm…” An hummed in thought, before wordlessly grabbing her water bottle and standing up.
She carefully and lightly stepped on the pull-out bed that Toya and Akito were sleeping on, and walked around it, kneeling beside Akito.
An uncapped the water bottle and held Akito’s forehead in place, and poured water right into his eyes.
She retracted the bottle quickly, making sure to not get any water on the actual bed.
“What the hell?” Akito groaned hoarsely, dragging his hand across his (wet) face.
“You idiot, what the hell were you snoring so damn loud for at four in the morning?” An whisper-shouted.
Akito sleepily opened his eyes to find A staring (glaring) down at him, which was terrifying. He glanced up at the window and concluded that it was, indeed, pitch black outside.
“Are Toya and Kohane up too?” He asked.
“Yes. You woke everybody up. You probably woke up the neighbors too.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t really control it, you know, ‘cause I’m asleep? Unconscious?”
“Don’t give me that attitude! Just breathe with your mouth shut when you sleep!”
Toya and Kohane shared a glance with each other, laughing to themselves as An and Akito kept arguing.
“How am I supposed to know I’m snoring?”
“I don’t know, but you gotta get your tonsils removed or something. You snore louder than my dad!”
“Why would I put myself through a surgery just to stop snoring? Are you crazy?”
“I’ll probably look crazy! I’ll have dark eye bags and I’m gonna be sleep deprived in the morning!”
Akito sighed and gave up, the sleepiness winning. “Fine, fine. I’m sorry, everyone.”
An laughed victoriously. “Ha! I got you to apologize to me! ”
“Shut up,” he remarked, no bite in his voice.
Toya shut his eyes and smiled, finally being able to get a good night’s rest.
Or so he thought.
As he was drifting off, he was vaguely aware of A getting back onto her bed.
This, of course, wouldn’t have meant anything of importance.
If two plushies hadn’t rained down simultaneously on his head, followed by a phone smacking him right on the forehead.
He opened his eyes, fully awake once again, to see A with an apologetic and guilty look on her face.
“I’m so sorry, Toya! I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m so sorry!”
He laughed lightly. “It’s alright, Shiraishi. No worries. It was an accident, right?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t do that on purpose!” An exclaimed.
Toya—in his sleepy and hazy state—tried to throw the Lloromannic plushies back up to An, but he threw the plushies a little too hard. And inaccurately.
The plushies disappeared from Toya’s view as he tossed them back up, only a soft “Oof” being heard a moment later.
“Hm? Azusawa was that you?” Toya asked worriedly.
“Yeah,” she replied. “The plushies hit me right on the nose…”
“I’m so sorry, Azusawa.”
Kohane laughed. “It’s really alright, Aoyagi-kun, it didn’t hurt.”
After that incident, Toya gently held up An’s phone to her, to which she gratefully took.
“Are you guys gonna go back to sleep? Now I’m the one being kept awake,” Akito muttered bitterly.
Toya laughed lightly. “Yes, sorry, Akito.”
“Stop apologizing all the time,” Akito and A said in unison, making Toya laugh even harder.
*
“Am I looking at Vivid Bad Squad or the beginning of a zombie apocalypse?” Ken asked as the four teenagers made their way downstairs.
Kohane had uncharacteristically dark eye bags, and the rest of the group did as well.
An and Akito looked like grumpy wet cats, while Toya and Kohane simply looked exhausted.
“I think you’re looking at both, Ken-san,” Akito answered.
“Yeah, because Akito wouldn’t shut up! He snores louder than you, dad?”
Ken, amused, raised an eyebrow. “Really now?”
“I didn’t even know I was snoring! I was unconscious!” Akito protested, voice thick with sleep-deprivation. “That doesn’t mean you had to pour water on my face!”
“I had too, or else none of us were getting sleep!” An fired back.
“An, you dropped your phone on Toya’s face,” Kohane interjected.
“That was an accident! Right, Toya? You’ll back me up, right?”
Toya smiled. “Yes, I believe it was an accident. Don’t worry about it, Shiraishi.”
As Akito and A bickered as they usually did, Toya and Kohane simply got to sit back and watch with amused glints in their eyes.
Ken shook his head, smiling to himself. “They’ve gotten a lot closer, now, huh…”