Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Do you think he’s alright, Suo-san?”

“I’m sure there’s a reason for his absence.”

Nirei shakily returned Suo’s encouraging smile, grateful that the other boy was even trying to help ease his nerves. Regrettably, the attempt had fallen short of being as effective as intended and it was all thanks to Nirei’s adeptness in observing others. Beneath the silky words and reassuring expression, Suo was just as concerned as Nirei was for the well-being of their friend. Neither of them knew what they would find when they reached Sakura’s apartment. They weren’t even sure they’d find him there in the first place, but it was as good a place as any to start their search. With their patrol route swiftly approaching their destination, whatever circumstances they were about to uncover would surely answer (at least a few of) their endless questions soon enough. Whether or not it would ease their worries was yet to be seen.

It had been earlier that morning when they’d first noticed something was amiss. Nirei had met up with Suo at Café Pothos — a ritual they’d begun after learning that was where Sakura started all of his mornings — where Kotoha had informed them that Sakura hadn’t come in yet. That was fine, Suo had said, Sakura was likely running late. They waited for him inside for as long as they could. Kotoha joined both boys as they spent that time sending him a few texts to inquire about his estimated arrival time. None of them had received a response by the time they needed to leave to make it to school on time. As they made their way to the exit, Kotoha had assured them that she would keep an eye out for him and text them if she saw him passing by. Suo had suggested that perhaps Sakura had chosen to skip breakfast and would be waiting for them in the classroom. Desperate for peace of mind, Nirei had deemed the logic sound and, therefore, hadn’t panicked.

Upon entering the classroom, their classmates immediately adopted their increasing concern. No one among them had seen or heard from Sakura by then either, and Umemiya’s morning announcement was due to be bursting their eardrums any minute. It wouldn’t be the first time Sakura had arrived late or missed school entirely. However, they had all assumed he would have already let someone know whether or not he’d be showing up. Everyone knew Sakura was still adjusting to having people worry about him. Still, that knowledge had done nothing to lessen their collective anxieties. Despite Suo’s repeated attempts to ease everyone’s edginess, no one managed to pay attention to much else that morning.

When lunch rolled around and afternoon patrols were about to kick off, Suo and Nirei hadn’t wasted any time approaching Hiragi as volunteers despite their names not being on the schedule. Hiragi had hesitated for only a moment, looking between his two distressed kohai, his expression displaying how much he already knew and his assumptions about how they’d be spending their patrol. Thankfully, he’d allowed them to go, so long as they promised to take their patrol duties seriously as they searched out their grade captain.

Arriving at the rundown apartment building where Sakura lived, Nirei swallowed his nerves with a loud gulp and took a shuddering breath. Standing there and staring up at the apartment number, he couldn’t help but recall the last time Suo and he had visited. While he had only been sick that time, Suo had jokingly insinuated that Sakura could be dead; ever since then, Nirei hadn’t been able to stop picturing the worst possibilities whenever he was out of their sight. Sakura had at least answered his phone last time. According to the Class 1-1 group chat, there had still been no answers to anyone’s attempts to contact their grade captain that morning. Nirei’s anxiety was at an all-time high — and, for him, that was saying something.

Standing beside him, Suo gently elbowed him in the side and offered another reassuring smile when Nirei looked up at him. “Just remember... If you pass out, you’ll make Sakura-kun worry.”

A nervous laugh burst from Nirei’s lips in appreciation for his friend’s continued attempt to ease his nerves. While still plagued by his anxieties, Suo’s dry humor successfully shocked his system back into functioning order. No matter what they'd find inside the apartment, he only hoped Sakura was okay.

He would be okay...

He would.

Nirei took another deep breath before raising his fist to knock on the front door. No answer came from within.

“Sakura-san?” He called out, loud enough for his voice to carry into the apartment but not so loud that it would disturb the building’s other residents if they were home. “Are you in there?”

Once again, there was no answer.

“Sh-Should we try the door?” Nirei suggested, staring down at the doorknob like it would bite him if he reached for it. “Like last time?”

Without preface, Suo reached out and twisted the knob, tugging open the door as he called out, “Sorry for the intrusion!” and stepped inside. Nirei hesitantly echoed the expression as he, too, stepped inside. Both teenagers removed their shoes as they took in the now-familiar lack of interior just inside the silent apartment. The quiet was broken only by the sounds of their breathing and the steady drip, drip, drip of the leaky faucet over the empty sink. Nirei tried to convince himself that the sole resident of the apartment hadn’t already shown himself because he was currently in a very deep sleep in the other room.

This did nothing to reign in the images that flooded his mind of Sakura, dead in the next room.

While the continuous drip of the faucet was familiar, Nirei was relieved to note that the previously barren cupboards now held several non-perishable food items. It was easy to deduce that most, if not all, of the food Sakura had obtained likely came from the thankful citizens of Makochi. Still, seeing such a positive change in his friend’s living situation — however small it was — brought a lightness to Nirei’s heart. He’d been so worried about Sakura having proper meals available at home and, while the things he could see would never create a balanced meal on their own, it was leagues better than the cupboards remaining completely empty.

“That reminds me!” Nirei announced to no one in particular, despite not having voiced his preceding thoughts aloud.

On their way from the school to Sakura’s apartment, the two of them had stopped by Café Pothos to ask if Kotoha wouldn’t mind making something for them to bring Sakura if he was sick again. She’d reminded them that she doesn’t do takeout, even as she’d gathered the ingredients necessary to make the dish she knew was Sakura’s favorite: omurice.

The bag Nirei had been using to carry the takeout container in (borrowed from a restaurant that was actually prepared to offer takeout) crinkled as he set it on the short stretch of counter. Shuffling his feet to release some of his anxiety, he removed the container from the bag, flattened the bag on the counter, and set the container down on top so that Sakura would be able to interpret it as takeout. As he did this, Suo slid past behind him and walked to stand before the door separating Sakura’s bedroom — if one could even call it that — from the rest of the apartment. Finished with his task, Nirei scurried to stand just behind him as Suo raised his hand to knock against the surface.

By this point, Nirei expected the silence that hung heavily throughout the apartment to remain. His fears that they were about to open the door and uncover the scene of their friend dead at home (alone, so unbearably alone) spiked with each sharp rap of Suo’s knuckles against the cheap wood. When there was still no answer, Nirei could have sworn he was watching in slow motion as Suo reached out to, once again, tug the door open. But, then...

“If you know what’s good for ya, you’ll get outta here! I ain’t afraid of a fight!”

Suo’s reach halted on its way to the door’s handle.

Suo looked back at Nirei; Nirei looked up at Suo.

Neither of them were sure what they were about to find inside. The mischievous glint in Suo’s eye told Nirei that he, at least, was excited to find out.

Suo tugged the door open.

Chapter Text

“Oi! Who do you think you are, barging in like that?!”

Nirei’s jaw had gone slack with shock, his wide eyes unblinking as he tried to comprehend the sight they’d just revealed by opening the door. Beside him, Suo grinned from ear to ear like...like he’d just discovered his classmate and friend miraculously turned into a child version of himself. It was fitting since Sakura stood with his back pressed against the far wall, except he didn’t look like the same Sakura they’d said goodbye to the day before.

Sakura stood before them as Nirei imagined he must have looked when he was a child. If he had to guess, Nirei would place his bets on the Sakura he saw now being about four years old. Standing at least half a meter shorter than the teenage version of his friend that he was used to, Sakura looked the same otherwise. Down to the same injuries teenage Sakura had been sporting on his face and knuckles the day before. To Suo’s apparent amusement, given the other boy’s poorly concealed chuckle, the clothes Sakura had last been wearing were now making him appear even smaller than he already was at this new height. His navy blue shorts acted more like baggy pants with the string in the waistband pulled and tied in several (poorly tied) knots around his waist; the white t-shirt fell just below his knees, hanging precariously off of his shoulders. If Nirei didn’t know any better, he would have assumed that this child was Sakura’s miraculously identical, significantly younger brother and they’d just caught him raiding the closet of his teenage counterpart, playing dress-up.

But he did know better.

Nirei wasn’t sure how or why but the child standing before them, appearing ten years younger than they’d been expecting, was undeniably Sakura Haruka.

And he was the cutest child Nirei had ever seen in his entire life!

“Don’t ignore me!” Sakura barked. “Who the hell are you?! What’re you doing here?!”

Pointing between Suo and himself, eyes growing impossibly wider with his increasing concern, Nirei asked, “Do you not know who we are?”

Sakura must have been caught off guard by the question, by the insinuation that he should know them and didn’t because his mouth fell open, releasing a few unintelligible sounds — Nirei wasn’t sure if he’d spoken too softly for them to hear, or if he was at a loss for words — before his teeth clicked with the action of snapping his mouth closed. Suo and Nirei both watched patiently for him to find his words as he repeated this process twice more. His words never came, however. Instead, his eyes glazed over, traveling somewhere far, far away from the apartment around them. In an instant, Sakura’s presence in the room had deflated like a hot air balloon — the change imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t watching with a sharp eye — the raging inferno of his personality dwindling into little more than a spark.

Although he couldn’t articulate why, the scene drove a spear deep into Nirei’s heart as the muscle skipped a beat.

“I don’t think he does remember us, Nire-kun.”

Before Nirei had a chance to contemplate the ramifications of this revelation, Suo took a step further into the room, the movement snapping Sakura out of whatever daze he’d fallen into. Now crystal clear and hyper-focused on the teenagers blocking his exit, Sakura’s mismatched eyes pierced them with a ferocity equally matched by the white-knuckled fists that flew up in front of his face, like he was preparing to face off against a formidable foe. It was a practiced pose not unfamiliar to his vice-captains, yet...

The spear twisted Nirei’s heart into a tight knot, eliciting a soft, sad gasp from his lips. Suo froze in place like he’d been turned to stone, not daring to take another step.

Instead, making his movements as slow and obvious as he could, Suo sank to the floor and sat seiza. From his new perspective from above, Nirei saw the smile Suo directed across the room and, not for the first time, he was amazed by the things his friend could convey with nothing more than his expression. In the case, he was radiating so much safety and warmth that Nirei was positive that, if Umemiya had been here with them to see it for himself, he would have been beyond proud of his kohai.

For a whole minute, none of them moved.

Then, like he’d been waiting for them to break into a guffaw and reveal that Suo’s kindness had been nothing more than a trick at his expense, Sakura slowly and hesitantly lowered his fists back down to his sides. Both fists remained clenched, each knuckle white as a sheet, but Nirei sensed precisely how important it was that he’d lowered his guard at all — especially since he had no idea who they were.

Deciding to follow Suo’s lead, Nirei took a single step inside the room and meticulously lowered himself to sit beside him. Through his peripheral vision, he double-checked that he sat in a spot that left plenty of room for Sakura to feel like he could safely make a run for the exit if he happened to feel the need to do so. At the same time, he desperately hoped the situation wouldn’t unfold that way. Although, it was probably a good sign that Sakura hadn’t taken his actions as another threat. Now seated beside his fellow vice-captain, Nirei followed his lead once more and offered Sakura another reassuring smile, hoping his poor imitation of Suo’s practiced expression wouldn’t come across as anything other than friendly, if not a little nervous.

Sakura’s cautious gaze flickered between the two teenagers, still apprehensive. “You still haven’t answered my question,” he grumbled with a huff of irritation.

“You’ve asked a few questions since we got here, Sakura-chan.” Suo quipped, his smile melting into something more teasing. “Which one, exactly, are you referring to?”

Sakura’s cheeks flooded with a familiar rosy tint. Pointing an accusatory finger in Suo’s direction, he barked, “How do you know my name?! And— And don’t act so familiar when you don’t even know me!”

“Well, that’s a new question, but I’ll happily answer it all the same.” Suo’s eye slid closed as his signature smile took the place of its predecessor. “We’re your friends, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura stilled and Nirei heard from across that room as his breath hitched as though in disbelief. No one but Sakura had a good understanding— any understanding, really, of what lay in his past, but it wasn’t hard to guess that whatever skeletons were hiding in his closet weren’t very pretty. Admittedly, Nirei had never given it more than a passing thought before, but now he wondered if Sakura had ever had any friends before arriving in Makochi, before coming to Furin. It felt like an incredibly rude suspicion to have about his friend, but... It would explain a lot if that was true. The signs Sakura was displaying to them now — the fragile tautness of his shoulders, the way his eyes had begun to water, the glowing ray of childlike hope that radiated from him for a single moment — told Nirei that the chances of him being wrong were slim to none.

The spear plowed deeper into Nirei’s aching heart. Poor Sakura...

Then, in the blink of an eye, all the signs evaporated.

Nirei blinked stupidly and wondered if he’d somehow hallucinated the emotions onto his friend’s young face. He was quick, though, to decide that no , he hadn’t been hallucinating; Sakura had merely managed to masterfully lock them away before anyone could point out what he perceived to be a weakness. Bearing witness as his friend’s open expression had hardened suddenly into a mask far too mature for someone with such a young face, Nirei wasn’t sure how much more his heart could take.

“I don’t have any friends,” Sakura declared firmly, his words reigning as an undisputed truth (from his own, limited perspective). However, Nirei heard something in the way his voice shook, like a residual of his emotions leaking out of whatever box he’d tried to shove them into. “I don’t need them. I’ll become strong all by myself.”

“Oh, you’re gonna become strong, are you?” Suo singsonged, blatantly observing the physique of Sakura’s child self with a critical eye. “Well, you certainly have a lot of work ahead of you with those noodle arms of yours!”

“Who’re you calling Noodle Arms, Eyepatch?!”

Chapter Text

“There’s no need to be so cruel, Sakura-chan.”

“You’re the one who said I have noodle arms!” Sakura’s expression was pinched into a scowl, leaving Nirei torn between jumping in to defer the situation before he inevitably tried to start a fight with Suo and cooing over how adorable he looked as he neared that eventuality. He settled on the latter. Besides, there was no way Sakura would try to start a fight with someone twice his size, right?

...

Right?

Nirei wasn’t convinced.

He felt vindicated in his conclusion as Sakura looked Suo up and down, appraising him for whatever factor he was searching for to determine his chances of winning. His scowl dissolved as he seemed to discover satisfactory results. With a nod of finality, he stated, “You look like you’re pretty strong, Eyepatch.”

“Oh?” Suo perked up, a self-satisfied grin sliding into place. “What makes you say that?”

“I can just tell,” was the only answer Sakura provided. The phrase rang through Nirei’s memories with a sense of familiarity, having witnessed on multiple occasions when he’d merely surveyed his opponent and, based on whatever he found, determined how their strength compared to his. To his dismay, the déjà vu didn’t end there. Sakura, fists still clenched tight, dropped into a fighting stance with a look of determination which he focused solely on Suo, disregarding Nirei’s presence entirely. “Now, come at me with your full strength! Don’t hold back!”

Nirei couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Look at him, Suo-san,” he gushed, turning to face his fellow vice-captain, “he’s so cute!”

Across the room, a red-faced Sakura dropped the fighting stance in favor of stomping his little socked foot and pointing an accusing finger in Nirei’s direction. “I’m not cute!” He insisted fervently. Nirei would beg to differ.

“Now, now, Sakura-chan,” Suo chided good-naturedly, “Nire-kun has a point. You are undeniably adorable.”

Nirei swiveled his gaze back to Sakura, nodding enthusiastically. “It’s not an insult, Sakura-san, I promise. You’re usually just—,” He yelped as Suo drove his elbow into his ribs. Rubbing the area tenderly, Nirei could guess why he’d just been assaulted; this whole situation was completely unprecedented, so it would be best for them to proceed with caution.

“You two,” Sakura observed intelligently, “are weird.”

“Wh-What makes you say that!”

“You’re just weird,” he repeated with a shrug, leaning against the wall at his back and studying them further. Nirei felt like he was a specimen beneath a microscope with Sakura’s critical gaze boring into him. It made him squirm.

Nirei opened his mouth to ask a question, but the thought slipped quickly from his mind at the sound of his phone pinging in his pocket with a notification. He quickly pulled the device out and read over the message he’d received, noting in the back of his mind how Sakura had bristled like a cat at the sudden chime tone. “It’s Hiragi-san,” he explained to Suo, aware that Sakura likely wouldn’t know who that was. “He wants to know if we’ve found Sakura-san yet.” Nirei’s words trailed off as he slowly lifted his gaze to the teenager-turned-child in question, swallowing nervously as he met curious eyes.

“We certainly have,” Suo chuckled, pulling Nirei’s attention away from Sakura.

“Should I tell Hiragi-san...how we found him?” He asked, thumbs already fidgeting over the keyboard of his phone.

Suo tapped his chin, contemplating his answer for far too long. Nirei was ready to cry from the stress.

“Why were you looking for me?” Sakura asked, his voice softly ringing through the silence, full of caution and uncertainty. It was clear, then, that the amnesia that came with this miraculous transformation would make him feel discombobulated every step of the way until they could figure out how to reverse it. Additionally, there was no way of knowing whether or not Sakura would retain his memories of the time he spent as a child once the effects were reversed. That was why they needed to proceed with caution, and why they had to treat the situation with the utmost care.

“Let’s wait until we get back,” Suo finally decided, shifting to stand. “Hiragi-san might not believe us unless he sees it for himself. The three of us can head there now. The whole class is probably still worrying about their captain, so we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer than we have to.”

“Wh-Where are we going?” Sakura spoke louder now. Alas, it wasn’t loud enough to break through either teen’s train of thought.

“But, Suo-san!” Nirei exclaimed, flapping his free hand to release some of the nerves building up in his system. He flicked his gaze up to Suo, down to his phone screen where Hiragi’s question remained unanswered, then back up to Suo again. “Think of Hiragi-san’s gut health!”

“It—,”

“Stop ignoring me!” Sakura cried, cutting short whatever Suo was about to say. The exclamation rang in their ears as both teenagers turned to face him. At the sudden return of their attention, Sakura’s face bloomed with red — as though he hadn’t been expecting them to listen to his request — and his scowl slipped, replaced by a shocked expression for one, two— three seconds before it twisted into a scowl once more. His frustration radiated from him in waves, but it felt small — which seemed fitting, considering how small Sakura had become. His fists were still clenched at his side. However, this time it wasn’t to defend himself or because he felt anxious. It wasn’t just that he was upset, either. Nirei struggled to put a word to what sort of emotion they were conveying until... “I hate it when people ignore me.”

The words came softly. It was clear Sakura hadn’t meant for them to hear, but they had. Nirei’s stomach sank to the floor with guilt at the realization. He’d just been considering how this situation must be affecting his friend and, somehow, with every question Sakura had asked so far, he’d been (unintentionally) brushed aside. It was the helplessness that came with others knowing more about one’s situation than oneself. While Nirei was sure that no kid would be happy about being ignored, there was undoubtedly a story behind why Sakura in particular felt that much more frustrated by it. He wasn’t going to pry though. Instead...

“We’re sorry, Sakura-san, it wasn’t kind of us to ignore you like that.” Nirei bowed his head with sincerity. Then, raising his head to look Sakura in the eye once more, he asked, “Could you repeat your question for us?”

The tips of Sakura’s ears tinted pink at the same time as his back shot ramrod straight. “I— I was saying, uhm, well...”

“It’s okay, Sakura-kun. Take your time.” Suo’s words were no longer laced with his usual teasing attitude, and Nirei hadn’t missed the fact that he’d changed the honorific he’d started using. Based on the surprise that took over his features, Sakura hadn’t missed that detail either. Sitting down beside Nirei, he continued, “We’ll answer all of your questions this time.”

Nirei, finding an opportunity in Suo’s phrasing, added, “If you’re okay with it, we’d like to ask you some questions, too. You don’t have to answer them if you don’t feel comfortable, and it’s okay if you don’t know the answers. We’ll still answer all of your questions to the best of our ability regardless.”

“If you want, we can even turn it into a game,” Suo suggested, the corners of his mouth tugging up into a playful grin. “You ask a question, then we’ll answer it and ask you a question that we have. Does that sound fun?”

Sakura’s small fingers moved to clutch the front of his shirt and fiddled absentmindedly with the material. His hesitation spoke volumes to how often he expected someone to be playing some kind of cruel trick on him. Nirei watched the gears turning in his head kick into double-time as he ran through who-knows-how-many outcomes for this scenario. Suo and Nirei sat in silence, waiting patiently for his answer to come.

“No tricks?” Sakura clarified after a few seconds had passed.

“No tricks,” Suo promised. Nirei nodded his agreement and echoed his fellow vice-captain for emphasis.

Sakura took a tentative step toward them. Nirei’s breath caught in his throat, sure that Sakura had found a hole in their honest words and was about to make a run for it. He took another step. Then another. Then a burst of energy as he darted forward, stopping directly in front of them with his arm pulled back, geared up to throw a punch at whoever flinched first. Suo sat unflinching beside Nirei, whose heart rate spiked dangerously as he, too, remained perfectly still. Sakura’s eyebrows pinched, creasing his forehead with his confusion.

Then, miraculously, he sat down in front of them, matching their posture.

“I get to ask the first question,” he declared, a look of determination replacing the confusion on his face.

“Naturally,” Suo responded with an easy smile.