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Chiaki- contrary to popular belief- was not a calm person. He tried so hard to keep up that persona. He was the leader. Leaders were calm, collected, and always prepared.
Chiaki was none of these things.
He hated it.
Chiaki stared blankly at the door of the storage closet in front of him, doing his best to ignore how small the area felt. He’s not even sure how he ended up in here. All he knew was that one minute he was going to fetch some bandages for Shinobu, (he had accidently tripped during practice- while he seemed embarrassed, Chiaki was just happy he wasn’t more injured) the next moment there was a creak of a door behind him and he was engulfed in almost complete darkness. The only reason he could see anything at all was the small window above some shelves, not even big enough to fit his arm through.
Small enough that it didn’t help the space feel any less tight.
Chiaki had banged on the door for a moment, but the embarrassment of being trapped in here in the first place had overtaken him. He couldn’t bear to imagine the face of anyone opening that door and seeing him, ES’ Hero, sitting in some storage closet on the verge of tears.
So he waited.
He wasn’t exactly sure what he was waiting for. But he waited nonetheless, doing his best to ignore the way he felt the walls close in around him.
He couldn’t even fetch a simple bandaid for his team without messing up somehow. Some leader he was. They probably were just glad he was gone. He never deserved to be leader anyways. Maybe those Senpai during his first year at ES were right. He was working so hard and he couldn’t even improve himself. What a let down.
Chiaki felt like he couldn’t breathe. His vision was fuzzy, everything felt cold and he wanted to cry. He couldn’t breathe. He could barely even think of anything besides the faces of the other RYUSEITAI members staring at him, disappointment in their eyes.
Shinobu would never look up to him again. Midori would give up on being an idol. Tetora would join a different unit- he was always spending time with Kiryu. Kanata…
Kanata must hate him. His dearest friend. Maybe Kanata wished he had never met him. He did sort of uproot Kanata’s entire life when they met.
They must all hate him.
Chiaki couldn’t breathe. He knew he was crying, but all he could do was desperately try to wipe away the tears with shaking hands.
He really was useless. Useless. Useless. Use-
There was a sharp pull on the door in front of him. He heard voices, but he couldn’t get his own voice to respond. (Useless. Again)
Another sharp pull. The sound of arguing. Then the door was snapped open, a broken lock falling to the ground.
He saw faces. The faces of his family.
Shinobu was on the verge of tears. Midori and Tetora’s faces were contorted in worry. And Kanata…
Kanata looked scared.
He stared back at them for a brief moment, his breathing still quick, before Shinobu rushed forward, pulling him into a warm hug.
He stared, still. They… didn’t hate him..?
Why..?
He felt Shinobu’s warm arms around him, and slowly melted into his arms, returning the hug. Midori was the first to break the silence.
“Someone locked you in.” He spoke simply, Chiaki could see a faint anger in his eyes, but… not at him?
“T- they said that you were a bad leader..! A- and that we wouldn’t be able to find you…” Shinobu mumbled into Chiaki’s shoulder. Before Chiaki could say anything, (Maybe that they were right) Tetora spoke.
“And they were wrong! Why would they even say that-! You’re the best leader! Better than anyone else! I made sure he understood that when we caught him! You-” Tetora’s ramblings were cut off by Midori’s hand on his shoulder. Chiaki felt Shinobu reluctantly pull away from him. (Chiaki did his best to mask his disappointment, scared he would feel the cold seep back in.)
He heard Kanata move forward and felt him grab his hands to pull him off the closest ground. Chiaki was almost scared to look up. What if there was still a chance Kanata was mad? What if he hated him? What if-
Kanata hugged him.
Kanata hugged him and Chiaki wanted to cry again. He felt warm as he wrapped his arms around Kanata, feeling the others join in on the hug. After a few moments of just standing, everyone reluctantly pulled away. Chiaki knew he probably looked like a mess, he was sure there were tear tracks on his face and he was sure his hair was all messed up.
He couldn’t bring himself to care.
He was happy. He was okay. He almost felt embarrassed, now, for freaking out over being locked in a storage closet. But before he could begin to apologize, Midori spoke.
“I.. I get the same way. In small spaces like that…” He said, avoiding eye contact when everyone turned toward him. “I- I’m just saying that your reaction was valid…” He added.
Chiaki really was a fool. A fool for thinking his friends- his family- would ever be disappointed in him.
Kanata let out a laugh, his eyes still holding some indiscernible emotion. “We should keep you “two” away from “tight” spaces then.” He said
Midori nodded, sighing. “I’m sure we’d both appreciate that…”
“Well then, let’s head “back”.” Kanata said, leading Chiaki by the arm, the others following close behind.
Chiaki sighed, relieved, letting Kanata lead him as he felt the tension bleed out from his body. He was safe, and his friends weren’t disappointed in him. They never truly would be.
And that was all that mattered.