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“Uh—uhm, we’ll be going up against Suwa and Kakizaki squads next,” Rokuta says. She drums her fingers against the tablet, glancing at Urushima like he might bite her head off if she says the wrong word. “This our—I mean, this is our third match, so they’re probably going to have a lot of, a lot of— lot of methods, techniques, against us. What’s your plan, Urushima-san?” She lets out a heavy sigh as soon as she gets through the sentence.
“I still have plenty of cards up my sleeve,” he says. “And stop calling me Urushima-san. Urushima’s fine.” He knew what he was getting into when he picked the operator who can’t look strangers in the eye for his squad. Still, he hadn’t expected her anxious attitude to be this bad. It’s already their third match, and she still doesn’t get any closer than half a foot to him.
She jerks her head up and nods so hard she drops the tablet, sending it crashing to the laminated floor below. “Eek! I—I’m so sorry!” She yelps, grabbing the tablet again. Urushima thanks whatever gods there are that Border tablets are designed to withstand force. “I—I understand, Urushima-sa—” she hesitates, her eyes turning downwards “Urushima.”
It’s not much, but he’ll take it.
-
“Yo!” Wataru!” His brother half-says, half-shouts into the phone. “How’s your Border thing going? Meet any cute chicks yet? Or dudes, if you’re into that. I won’t tell mom or dad!”
The one thing that grates on Urushima’s nerves more than opening his wallet to find out it’s empty is his brother and his permanent case of “dropped on the head as a baby”. “No, I didn’t. And I’m not interested in dudes. You’ve asked me a million times.” He rubs his forehead. Why’d he even call his brother in the first place? Then again, it’s not like he has any other family to call. “I was able to get a decent amount of points in my recent match, but I ended up in second place.”
A hearty laugh explodes from the phone’s speaker and he grimaces. “Well, second place is still great!” Not when there’s a three-point difference. Rokuta had lost track of Sasamori, who took him out before he could do much. “You know, I’m glad to see my little—”
CRASH.
Urushima almost drops his phone at the noise. “Huh? What was that?” His brother’s voice rings out. He sighs. There’s not much it could be, except for—
Rokuta sticks her head into the room, her eyes wide and lip trembling. Dirt and terracotta shards decorate the floor at her feet. “I—I’m sorry, Urushima-san! I was trying to water my plant, but I slipped and sent it to the ground. Is there a broom I could use?”
For some reason, he can’t bring himself to be annoyed. “It’s fine,” he says. “It was an accident. There's some in a supply closet not far from here.”
“Thank you!” Despite her relief, she still looks like she expects him to yell at her any second. I’ll get going—”
“Wait. I’ll go with you.” Urushima doesn’t trust her to not hurt herself or get lost.
“Oh, okay.” Somehow this makes her expression sour even more.
From his phone speaker, he can hear his brother whistling. “Never knew you had moves, Wataru!”
‘Shut up,” he grumbles. “I’ll call you later.” He hangs up without waiting for a response.
Rokuta wrings her hands the entire walk, glancing around the hallway as if someone is about to jump out at her. Once the supply closet is in view, he can make out two figures standing in front of it. At the sight, Rokuta lets out a small squeak.
As they get closer, Urushima recognizes Suwa and Kako. Great. Suwa’s considerate enough, but Kako loves teasing people, something he unfortunately learned firsthand. Plus, the two of them appear to be arguing. He takes the lead, praying the two of them don’t give them any trouble.
“This is the millionth time you’ve poisoned Tsutsumi,” Suwa groans, sticking his head out of the closet. “You’ve got to let up on him, Kako.”
Kako, looking anything but remorseful, shrugs. “Hey, he’s the one who keeps offering to try my food.” She giggles, covering her mouth with a manicured hand. “Or are you jealous?”
Suwa snorts. “I’m his captain, idiot. He’s done more extreme stuff in my name. What if you actually poison him one day?”
“Please, I would never do that,” Kako says, eyes twinkling, “I do my research on what fried rice combos can result in accidental poisoning.” That doesn’t reassure Urushima at all, and judging by the face Suwa makes, he feels the same way.
“Oh?” She turns to him and Rokuta. “What’re you two doing here?”
Rokuta gulps and takes a step closer to Urushima. He says, “Looking for a broom and dustpan.”
“Suwa!” She calls. “Can you get a broom and dustpan?”
“No need to yell, jeez. This closet isn’t that big.” A loud clatter, then a broom flies out of the storage room door, followed by a dustpan, both missing Kako by a hair’s width. He emerges, holding a bottle of stomach medicine. “Huh? It’s the mysterious Urushima squad.”
Urushima ignores him and picks the broom and dustpan up from the floor. They’re worn out and pathetic, but they’ll do. “Thanks,” he says.
“I must say, the two of you are quite cute.” Urushima freezes in his tracks. Kako continues, either unaware of his distress or ignoring it on purpose. “Didn’t take you for the type to have a girlfriend, Urushima-chan.”
Urushima, for what might be the first time in his life, can’t think of a single thing to say in retaliation.
“Shut up.” Suwa smacks her on the shoulder. He turns to them. “Ignore her, she’s usually delusional and can’t cook.” Urushima lets out a small sigh of relief. If it had just been Kako, he knows she would have ran circles around the two of them until Rokuta near-fainted.
He sighs. “We’re not dating. She’s my operator.” Rokuta nods so hard her head looks like it’ll fall off. “It’s none of your business regardless. We’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Spinning on his heel, he walks as fast as his legs can take him.
When they return to the scene of the accident, Rokuta can’t grab the broom and dustpan out of his hand fast enough. She throws herself at the ground, sweeping faster than anyone Urushima’s met in his entire life. He turns away.
Before he leaves, a small curiosity pops into his brain. It eats away at him until he turns back to look at his operator pushing dirt into little piles on the ground.
“Why’d you join Border?” He asks. She freezes. It doesn’t seem like she’ll say anything, so he keeps talking. “No offense, but it doesn’t seem like you’re suited to this sort of stuff.”
She doesn’t move a millimeter and he almost leaves. But just as he gives up on any response, she says, “My mom is sick.” Urushima halts. Her words root him to the spot as much as she is. Her voice trembles but she continues, still sweeping dirt. “It happened a couple years ago. I only have one parent. It’s always been hard for her, being a single mother here. She’d always work two jobs and late nights to provide for us. One day, the stress of taking care of me got to her. She collapsed at dinner.” She stops sweeping and puts the tools down to look at Urushima.
Despite the weight of her words, the anxious look on her face remains the same. “We were lucky enough that it wasn’t super serious, but she can barely work anymore. I have to pick up the slack. The medical fees will probably follow us forever.” She makes an attempt at her shrugs, her shoulders twitching. “I need the money. I’m not athletic enough to be a combatant, but I’m not smart enough to be an engineer of any kind. So operator was the only role left for me.”
They sit in silence for a long, arduous minute. Urushima wants to take back the last five minutes. Sure, he’s always blunt. But this makes him want to crawl out a window to never appear again. His brother always told him he needed to think a little more before he spoke.
“Sorry!” She exclaims, waving her hands in front of her face. “I’ve never made any friends to talk to about this, so I ended up rambling.” Her eyes flit across Urushima’s face. “Sorry.”
Friends, huh?
“It’s okay,” he says. His voice sounds softer than he’s ever heard it. He squats down so that they’re at eye level. He picks up the broom and dustpan again, sweeping up the last of the dirt. He forces his words out of his chest, eyes fixated on the dirt on the floor. “My parents died when I was too young to remember, so my brother always raised me. Even though he’s only a few years older than me. He’s practically sacrificed his life and childhood for mine. I know how you feel. We've never struggled a lot financially, but I know keeping us at that level takes so much work from him. I want to pay him back for all he's done for me." He takes a deep breath. The last time he told anyone this much about his family situation was…never.
Rokuta smiles. Even though it contains more sadness than anything, it’s genuine. One of few.
“We have more in common than we thought, huh?” She says.
He snorts. “Yeah.”
They clean up in silence. Once the last of the plant has been salvaged and every piece of dirt tossed away, he turns to her. “We’re a team now.”
She blinks. “Weren’t we always?”
He tries to tamper down the flush in his cheeks. His brother would never let him hear the end of it if he knew the words he wanted to say. “A team for real. I was thinking of getting one more member, but that’ll be another person to share profits with. I’ve always been more of a lone wolf anyway.” He sticks out his hand. “You help me, and I’ll help you.”
Rokuta stares at him like he has a third head. Finally, a beaming smile spreads across her face. “Okay, Urushima.” She gives his hand a light shake.
Despite himself, a small smile spreads across his face.
-
“Wait, so let me get this straight. My little loner Wataru told a girl, a pretty girl, sensitive and shy girl, that he wanted to be a team with her. An exclusive team. And he smiled. And let me mention again that this girl is really pretty. You’ve grown up so much, Wataru!”
“Please shut up. I’m embarrassed enough as is.”
“I’m proud of you, you know that?”
“...”
“Wataru?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
“Wait, is my emotionally unavailable and cold little brother crying ?”