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It was at the start of their second year when Chizuru realized that sometimes, it was good to have boundaries between friends.
Even really, really close friends like her and Ryu.
(Especially her and Ryu.)
It was a Sunday afternoon and she was procrastinating her homework for as long as she could, and paying Ryu a visit was the perfect excuse to put off her assignments for later. She walked the familiar path to his house, slipped in the back entrance of the Sanada’s ramen shop, and made her way upstairs to his room, knowing he’d probably be sleeping or playing games before his normal evening workout routine. But as well as she knew her childhood friend, she couldn't account for everything he did.
Such as taking a bath in the middle of the afternoon, apparently.
She slid open his door, a cheerful greeting waiting on the tip of her tongue when the words abruptly caught in her throat.
Ryu was standing by his closet, wearing nothing but a small bath towel hanging loosely around his hips. It wasn't the most scandalous thing she could've walked in on by far, but the sudden sight of so much bare skin was making her dizzy with apprehension.
Ryu turned at the sound of his door opening and promptly froze, his muscles tensing at her sudden intrusion.
“Ch-Chizuru…?” He stuttered, eyes wide.
He seemed rather flustered—much more than he normally was whenever she’d seen him without a shirt.
(Probably due to the fact that Chizuru wouldn't stop staring.)
She figured it must’ve been literal seconds since he got out of the bath due to the water droplets still clinging to his skin. She was hardly conscious of her gaze traveling down his body, from his broad shoulders to his toned stomach to the defined v-cut shape of his abdomen, leading down to—
She swallowed heavily, and wondered for the first time in her life what lay below the towel covering his hips.
“Chizuru?” Ryu tried again. He hadn’t moved from his spot, but his face was sporting an unusual shade of red that she’d never seen before. Actually, she was pretty sure she’d never seen him even blush before, at least not to that extent.
His uncharacteristic reaction was what finally snapped her back to the present, and she quickly clapped a hand over her eyes, her own cheeks heating in embarrassment.
“S-Sorry!” She practically shouted the apology at him and tried to back out of the room, but ended up tripping over her own feet and falling backwards out into the hallway.
“Ow.” She winced in pain, trying to sit up while still keeping her eyes closed, but then she felt a hand grab her arm and her eyes snapped open.
Ryu was right there, still dripping wet, and still practically naked. The red tint in his cheeks remained, but the embarrassment in his face had been replaced with concern.
“I was afraid you were going to fall down the stairs,” he said, tugging her to her feet.
She tried not to notice the way his biceps flexed as he pulled at her arm, or the way the water from his hair was trickling down his neck and forming rivulets across his muscled chest.
Or the fact that his towel had slipped just a little bit lower as he moved, allowing her the sight of a small trail of dark hair leading further down his abdomen.
“Aah—I—uh—,” Chizuru stammered, letting him lead her back into his bedroom. It was as if her mind had been wiped completely blank of everything except for Ryu, Ryu, Ryu.
He slid his door closed and then took her by her shoulders, turning her until she faced the wall. “Don’t turn around. I’m going to change.”
Chizuru remained as still as possible, but couldn’t erase the sudden, slightly alarming urge to turn and look, especially when she heard the sound of his towel hitting the bedroom floor. She held her breath, focusing on her furiously beating heart and trying to force herself to calm down and be normal about all of this.
It wasn’t that weird of a situation. She’d just walked in on her best friend almost naked and promptly freaked out because of it. It was a totally normal thing that could happen to anyone, right?
Right?
“Done.” Ryu tapped her shoulder, and his touch sent her jumping a foot into the air. She whipped around and saw him clad in his normal gray and white cargo pants and black hoodie.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come over. So, sorry about all that.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked off to the side.
Chizuru swallowed. She needed to say something, to reassure him that it was fine and that she was totally normal and chill about everything that’d just happened. It wasn't exactly his fault, after all. She opened her mouth to say this, but then his eyes met hers and her mind went completely blank again.
“You have abs,” she said, like an idiot.
Ryu blinked. A strange expression passed over his face, and Chizuru was willing to give up an entire month’s worth of ramen if she could just disappear right there on the spot.
(Well, maybe not a month’s worth. A week, probably.)
“You just now noticed?” Ryu replied. The blush on his cheeks was back, but his voice remained as calm and steady as ever.
She flushed and glared at his chest. He was kind of right though—why hadn’t she noticed until now? It wasn't like they'd just appeared overnight.
Is it because you’re finally over Toru?
The thought wormed its way to the front of her mind before she promptly squashed it down. “Whatever, g-good to see you’re working hard,” she grit out, before trying to sidestep him and leave the room. “I’m gonna go now.”
Ryu caught her wrist before she made it to the door. He observed her quietly for a moment before saying, “We can hang out and play games tomorrow if you want. That’s why you came over, right?”
Chizuru nodded. Just as she could read Ryu better than anyone else, he could do the same for her.
He released her wrist and nodded in return. “Alright. See you tomorrow then.”
“Yeah. See ya.” Chizuru didn’t glance back at him as she promptly raced down the stairs and out the back door, and it wasn’t until she made it back to her front porch that she felt like she could actually breathe again.
Idiot. I’m an idiot! She berated herself. She sat on the front step and tugged at her hair, trying and failing to figure out why she’d reacted so strongly to seeing Ryu like that. It was just an accident, and if she was being honest she was surprised nothing like that had ever happened before. She could've played it off with some casual teasing, but instead she had to go and make it weird by ogling him like a piece of meat and then running away like a coward.
“Idiot,” she mumbled aloud, and brought her hands up to her still burning cheeks.
She knew Ryu, and it certainly wasn't the first time she'd seen him undressed over the years. But it was the first time that she looked at him and instead of her seeing her childhood best friend, she saw a man.
An attractive man, at that.
Wait, what am I thinking?
Chizuru wanted to reach into her mind and scoop out all the unnatural thoughts before they marinated too long in her head. She felt a sudden urge to call Ayane, to ask whether it was okay to acknowledge that your best friend was, well, hot, but she wasn't quite ready to recap the incident so soon after it happened.
Besides, she already knew what Ayane would say. She'd tell her to just start dating him or something equally disconcerting, just as she had done before.
Chizuru blew out a breath as the realization settled over her. It wasn't that long ago that she, Ayane, and Sawako had been talking about dating and boyfriends and such, and the idea of dating Ryu (as suggested by Ayane) had left her panicked and jittery. What happened today must've just been some sort of subconscious reaction because of that conversation. Her feelings for Ryu hadn't changed—she was just confused due to all the talk about relationships and love lately.
Yeah, that must be it, Chizuru decided, and began to relax significantly. Her reaction had nothing to do with underlying feelings or anything strange like that. Her and Ryu were friends, and they'd be friends forever. Maybe they'd even laugh about this whole situation in due time.
Tomorrow she would go to his house and hang out like they always did and things would feel normal again. She'd make sure of it.
Nothing was going to change.
(Well, except for remembering to knock first.)