Chapter Text
It started off as an itchiness in the back of his throat.
Renzou thought he was getting sick so he took a few vitamins and went on with the rest of his day, wearing a mask when he was out in public. But after a few weeks, the itchiness didn’t go away and Renzou decided that it was all in his head. After all, he was in his third year and with the stress everyone around him was in, he was likely feeling some of those stress vibes himself.
He took off his mask and tried to forget about it.
Life continued as Ryuuji and Konekomaru stressed over university exams. Konekomaru was going into computer science and software development, trying to finetune his technological accessibility advancements for exorcists everywhere while Ryuuji was getting into History.
Over the years, his time at True Cross had mellowed his gung ho attitude somewhat, but his determination hadn’t waned whatsoever. And so, while he still wanted to bring the Myou Dha to greater heights and restore the temple, he knew that he had time. Studying and learning to make sure his attempt at leadership was more than successful was what he wanted more than anything.
As they all studied, Renzou focused on himself.
He already had a steady career in spying and had no intention of leaving that behind. With his exorcist certification under his belt, he saw no reason to go to university on top of that.
Still, every time Ryuuji insisted on Renzou trying to find some way to join him, the itchiness in the back of his throat got worse.
“Jeez, Bon, I’m fine,” Renzou muttered, waving his hand from his bed. He’d been lying back, reading some manga. “My future’s all set! I don’t need to kill myself over exams right now when I’ve got a lifetime job all set up for me!”
Ryuuji, of course, wasn’t happy with that decision, though he didn’t quite have a comeback for it. Still, his growl made Renzou glance over, if anything just to make sure that his friend wasn’t going to stand up and physically haul him from the bed.
Their gazes connected and Renzou was exposed to the burning flames of Ryuuji’s determination that shone brightly in his eyes.
Renzou began to cough.
He turned away, coughing into the crook of his arm.
The tension evaporated at once as Konekomaru stood up.
“Oh no, are you actually coming down with something?” he asked, well aware of Renzou’s initial worry.
Renzou tried to answer, tried to end the coughing fit, but couldn’t. The coughing just got worse. He nearly tossed the manga to the side as he curled up, turning away from his friends as his brain ran a mile a minute.
How humiliating. They were going to be way too concerned about him if he didn’t stop coughing soon. Renzou tried. He tried to breathe, but it only resulted in half-second wheezes that caught against something in his airways and made the fit begin anew. He was coughing something up.
“Renzou?”
Ryuuji’s voice. He was standing up.
No, no, no.
Renzou turned himself over onto all fours, the muscles in his trunk tensing and heaving as each cough rattled his frame. He covered his mouth with his palm and felt something splatter over his tongue and into his hand.
As Ryuuji’s hand touched Renzou’s shoulder, he was finally able to breathe again. Renzou hurriedly closed his hand around whatever he’d just coughed up, not wanting them to see as he looked up at them with teary eyes.
“Haha, wow, sorry!” He forced his voice into that easy, carefree tone. “I think I just breathed in wrong. I’m gonna go get some water!”
Renzou shook his shoulder out from under Ryuuji’s touch and dodged his friend’s hand as he attempted to grab his wrist and stop him, interrogate him.
“I’ll be right back!” Renzou insisted as they both opened their mouths to protest and he retreated as fast as he could.
Renzou rushed down the stairs, hopping them two at a time until he was out of the dormitory entirely, not wanting anyone to see.
It was only then that he opened his hand.
Lying there in the middle of his palm was something… yellow.
Wet from his saliva, gloopy from the lubricating mucus his body had used to try and ease its path up, but it was yellow and solid, thin and… definitely not fleshy.
“What the hell?” Renzou murmured under his breath. He grimaced and rubbed his finger over the clump, trying to spread it and figure out what he was dealing with.
But it was hard to tell. Whatever it was was far too delicate and broke apart under Renzou’s inspection.
He had no choice but to go to the nearest bathroom, wash it away, and hope it didn’t happen again.
Ryuuji had never stopped receiving love letters throughout the entirety of his high school career. It wasn't as if his shoebox was stuffed full of them at all times, but he received a steady stream of them, month after month, year after year. Renzou could have easily lost track of how many girls had attempted to capture Ryuuji's unobtainable heart, but it was much more fun to keep count.
His lips were curved into an endlessly amused smile as he watched Ryuuji shove today's offending letter into his school bag with a fierce scowl.
"You'd think they would have given up by now," Ryuuji muttered viciously.
"I can't even be jealous about it anymore, Bon. You treat all those lovely letters so harshly that it's hard to want to be in your position!" Renzou complained, letting out a heavy, put upon sigh. "Aren't you a fan of hard work? Think of all the hard work and emotional investment those girls put in trying to get you to loosen up a little!"
"I didn't ask for any of it!" If Ryuuji hadn't been raised with impeccable good manners, it would have been easy to imagine him ripping out the next letter that he saw in a fit of apoplectic anger. But Ryuuji's frustration stemmed from those same good manners; they were what made him adhere like a stickler to unwritten rules of this particular social situation.
As much as he would rather avoid having to come face to face with another girl bursting into tears when he rejected her, Renzou knew that Ryuuji would show up to hear them out properly before gently, politely turning them down.
Despite how much he hated the situation, Ryuuji was patient and kind. It was no wonder he was pined after.
The feeling returned so suddenly that Renzou was almost unable to cover his mouth in time. Still, he managed to clap his hand over the coughs before they broke through his closed lips.
No one at the school entrance stopped entirely, but they all paused once to look at the ruckus as Renzou coughed hard.
Stop it, stop it, he begged his body, trying to gulp in deep breaths in an attempt to stifle his lungs with air, but everything in his body was intent on pushing whatever it was out of him.
As much as Renzou whined and bothered, this was not the kind of spotlight he enjoyed. He hurried out of the school and turned as soon as he exited the doors, trying to get over his coughing fit in a corner. His body was automatically curling him down, his ribs clenching with the effort of coughing and coughing and coughing.
“Renzou!”
Ryuuji’s hurrying footsteps had been deafened by all the noise Renzou was making, but he keenly registered the moment his long fingers brushed against his back. The palm of his hand pressed in and Renzou found Ryuuji’s touch warm, steadying. Asphyxiating.
He wished he had the strength to smack his hand away.
But every bit of his body's energy was being used up to force wrenching coughs from the center of his chest that vibrated through his very lungs. Renzou was paralyzed, a tight knot of tension that gripped and released with each cough until he couldn't breathe, and then finally—
Renzou felt the wet heavy feeling of something in his palm and a powdery texture in his mouth that made him want to gag. But more importantly, he was able to breathe again. He did, gasping desperately to fill his lungs once more. He didn't feel like he could fill it enough, but there was no time to worry about that.
"I'm fine," Renzou wheezed, immediately hating himself for not taking the time to make his voice sound stronger first.
“Like hell you are!”
The all-encompassing sensation of Ryuuji's near vice-like grip on his arm left a feverish imprint in its wake. Renzou tried to pull away from it, but Ryuuji didn’t let him, as if sensing his intent to run away again. Stubbornly, he helped Renzou straighten up and then pinned him in place with a scrutinizing gaze.
"You really are sick," he concluded as if that wasn't obvious enough. "Have you gotten a check up since last time? Is it something serious?" There was an accusation behind that last question, as if he couldn't put it past Renzou to hide something of that kind of magnitude.
"It's not serious, Bon! I really am fine." Renzou felt his entire body roil and rock with the horrid vulnerable feeling of being stuck under Ryuuji's eye. He clenched his free hand behind his back, the one with the mysterious substance he'd just finished coughing up, hoping that Ryuuji wouldn't notice as he continued.
He forced his voice to work, forced his expression to relax. "You're so on edge right now. I'm not sick. I don't got a temperature, I'm not stuffed up. I literally just breathed wrong and choked on some saliva. It's totally lame and you don't have to rub it in with your mama bear routine, okay? Why don't you show your suitor the same love and care you're showing me and take some time off of studying?"
The leer and the implication behind his words were all that it took for Ryuuji to recoil, just as Renzou had intended. He watched Ryuuji's cheeks burst with color, frustration intermingling with the embarrassment that he tried to pretend he was above feeling when it came to things like this.
"If you don't want people to worry, then stop making a routine of choking on your own breath," Ryuuji snapped.
"Booonnn! You're being so mean to me! It's not like I did it on purpose!" Renzou whined, leaning closer which caused his friend to jolt further away. "If you're gonna be this cold, I'll meet you for lunch. I'm gonna go get something to drink because my poor throat is all parched!" Renzou felt satisfied when he pulled away and Ryuuji didn't chase him this time, properly scared off.
"Don't make it worse by getting one of your ridiculously over the top monstrous coffees! And don't you dare use this as an excuse to skip the rest of our classes either!" Ryuuji called across the already widening distance.
So kind. So caring. So nosy. What a busybody.
Renzou couldn't trust himself to respond as he felt his chest clenching. Instead he stuck his tongue out at Ryuuji and promptly ran off, quickly making his way to one of the darker corners of the campus. It was much too early for the serial skippers to populate the spot and the first PE class wasn't even close to starting.
So Renzou found a spot alone, trying to stifle the insistent coughs as he peered at his palm.
Yellow, again.
This time, he was more gentle with his prodding. The thin, delicate thing still broke under his touch, but he was still careful enough that he was able to keep the parts together.
It was like a pale yellow tissue paper, but not paper at all. What the hell was he coughing up?
The fit took over and he began coughing again, though this fit was much more quickly resolved with another bundle of now multiple yellow somethings splattered onto the floor in front of him. Renzou crouched down, drool dripping from his lips as he struggled to breathe and stared at the mess he'd made.
A pungent floral scent hit his nostrils and he almost gagged again. He rushed off to the nearby sinks, hoping he could wash this away before his friends saw him at lunch.
He definitely needed to see a doctor of some kind, but if he went to the nurse, or worse, to a hospital, Ryuuji and Konekomaru would notice and kick up an even bigger fuss.
There was only one doctor he could go to that would understand his need for secrecy. Luckily, he was pretty sure that he was open after school.
Renzou had been able to avoid Ryuuji’s fussing for the rest of the day by keeping the focus on his love letter. As soon as school was over and Ryuuji was off to go meet with the unfortunate girl, Renzou escaped from Konekomaru with a hurried, vague excuse and made his way directly to the old boy’s dorm.
Both Okumura twins were exorcists now, so it was often a coin flip as to whether or not anyone would be home as both of them were highly sought after for emergency missions. But Renzou was fairly sure that Yukio, at least, was home. After all, Ryuuji had mentioned him during lunch, stating that even he didn’t have too much advice for him regarding the letter.
“Please be alone, please be alone, please be alone,” Renzou murmured under his breath as he nudged open the door to the dorms.
“Heeyy, Yuuuuuuuki-chaaaan~” Renzou called obnoxiously into the hall. “Come out, come out, wherever you are~”
His voice drew in some movement, but when Renzou glanced at the staircase that led to the second floor, he found himself locking eyes with Kuro, who had the tail end of a shrimp hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
Renzou smirked a little as his eyebrow quirked upwards. He closed the door behind him.
“Hey, Kuro,” he greeted as he ascended the steps halfway. He knew the cat sidhe could understand him, even if he couldn’t understand him back. “Is that something you snuck away from someone’s dinner or is that yours?”
Kuro immediately puffed up his chest. He let out a yowl as if to scold him for making such an accusation. The shrimp almost fell out of his mouth in the process, which made Kuro bite down on it quickly to rescue it.
Then, the sound of hurrying footsteps began to descend the staircase and Kuro bolted past Renzou, protests forgotten.
It didn't take long for Renzou to make a decision.
Sorry, Kuro. But I need to be on his good side today.
Renzou dropped his bag and intercepted the cat demon with lightning fast reflexes. He almost called on Yamantaka for help, but luckily the surprise of a second unexpected adversary was enough for Renzou to grab Kuro by the scruff and hold him out, dodging the reactionary swipes of his claws. Once he realized his situation, the cat sidhe gave him a thoroughly betrayed look.
Yukio did not look amused by the pitiful sight Kuro made, hanging in the air. He spared Renzou a single acknowledging and grateful glance when he finished making it down the stairs, and then he turned the full brunt of his disapproval on the cat sidhe.
"Kuro, you know you're not supposed to have snacks outside of dinner time. I'll be sure to tell Rin about this, so don't think you'll manage to convince him to sneak you any treats until tomorrow."
Renzou clicked his tongue as Yukio pulled the shrimp from his mouth.
“For shame, Kuro,” Renzou said as he lowered him and put him down. Kuro meowed loudly, complaining surely, before running off to sulk somewhere.
Renzou didn’t miss his lucky break, though, and gave Yukio a bright grin. “So, having a tough time dealing with Kuro on your own?”
“Trust me, this is him being tame,” Yukio muttered before shaking his head to move on from the topic. “I wasn’t expecting company today. What brings you by?”
Straight to it, then.
“Well, I came by because I wanted a sweet checkup from the cutest doctor on campus!” Renzou chirped, clasping his hands and batting his eyelashes as he leaned towards Yukio. “You’re not too busy, are you?”
Yukio's brow furrowed a little.
"I'm not," he said slowly as his eyes flicked across Renzou with an immediate sharpness. "Has something happened?"
"Well, uh." Renzou's facade faltered a little. He had to say it now. He had to say it out loud.
That there was something wrong with him.
His smile turned a little strained and his voice lost its playful tone even though he tried very hard to keep it, like he was stumbling, white-knuckling a crutch. "I've been coughing, recently. But like, really bad coughing. And every time, something weird comes out of me. It's like, small and yellow."
The unusual seriousness in Renzou's voice concerned Yukio as much as the details of his symptoms. His eyes widened a little, caught off guard, but they just as soon narrowed with purpose.
"Come upstairs," he said, pivoting around to head back up to his room. "I'll examine you there."
Renzou followed him, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he went. A little nervousness pickled at him at the base of his neck. He knew if anyone could solve the mystery, it would be Yukio. He was smart as hell and twice as determined. If he didn’t know already, he didn’t doubt that kind, steadfast Yukio would stop at nothing until he unraveled the mystery of what was going on.
He only hoped it didn’t take too long. Renzou didn’t like this exposed feeling, this open hole in his defenses. He wanted things to go back to normal.
Once he walked in, Yukio pulled out a chair from his desk and motioned towards it. Renzou took the silent request and sat down.
“When did your symptoms start? And have you taken notice of anything that might be triggering these fits?”
Yukio spoke in a cool and clinical voice that made it easier to detach from the situation, but there was an underlying level of care in the gentle way he went through the routine motions of giving Renzou a check up.
“Um.” He thought back on both incidents. “Not really. I wasn’t even eating anything. Didn’t have anything in my mouth to choke on. Wasn’t even in the same position. The first time it happened, I was laying in bed while Bon and Koneko-san were studying. The second time was this morning. Bon found a letter in his shoebox.” Renzou shrugged nonchalantly even as the anxiety was starting to twist his stomach.
"Hmm." Yukio pulled a tongue depressor from a jar inside his medical bag. "Say ah."
Renzou didn't do so immediately, choosing to wiggle his eyebrows a bit before opening his mouth. "Ah~"
He was satisfied when Yukio's eyes rolled a little, the clinical ice mask breaking for a moment into an amused smirk before it slipped right back on and he placed the depressor on his tongue.
"Hmmm." Yukio hummed as he shone his penlight into Renzou's mouth, peering at the back of his throat. "I see some irritation, but that could just be caused by the coughing. You said your last one was this morning?" he asked as he took the depressor out and threw it away.
"Yep." Renzou leaned back as Yukio returned to his bag.
"Let me listen to your breathing." Yukio put on a stethoscope. "Sit up straight."
Renzou sat right back up as Yukio put the metal disc on his chest. Yukio began to instruct him to breathe in and out, slow deep breaths. Renzou watched as Yukio's eyebrows furrowed slightly, shifting the disc between each breath on his chest, then his back, listening to his lungs. It caused Renzou to focus a little more on what he was feeling.
He felt like... he couldn't really get a full breath in, like his lungs weren't expanding to their complete capacity. It wasn't debilitating and he hadn't noticed it until now, when he focused. He had even completed his PE class with little difficulty. Was it just in his head? Was he overly conscious about something that wasn’t really there just because he was under Yukio’s care?
Yukio pulled the stethoscope away and hung the ear pieces around his neck, frowning.
"You said you coughed something up. Can you describe what in more detail?"
“It was small, thin, and yellow and broke apart really easy.” Renzou winced. “Sorry, Yuki-chan, but I can’t really give you much more detail than that. Every time I tried to get a better look at it, it just broke.” An easy shrug shifted him backwards, slouching in the chair.
Anxiety still gripped at his chest, though he tried to ignore it. His eyes tracked Yukio’s expressions obsessively, but they didn’t reveal much.
"It's hard to say what it could be,” Yukio admitted. “But you wouldn't have come to see me if you felt this was a run-of-the-mill thing that you picked up somewhere." He gave Renzou another brief onceover, as if hoping to pick up more details from that one final gesture. Then, he uncoiled the stethoscope from his neck and began to put it away.
"Come see me again if it happens, or text me if you need me to come see you. I'll look into if there's something that matches your current symptoms in the meantime."
Well, it would have been too easy any other way, he supposed. Couldn’t have that.
Renzou grinned brightly and popped up to his feet with a salute. “Will do! Thanks, Yuki-chan! I knew I could count on you and that big brain of yours!”
Yukio rolled his eyes. “Well, since your energy levels appear to still be in order, let me remind you that you do have an essay due tomorrow. I won’t accept you skipping out on turning it in if you’re looking to continue to ask me favors like this,” he said pointedly.
Renzou clutched at his chest and staggered backwards as if he’d been struck. “Yuki-chan, you wound me! You would send your precious patient and student to the depths of despair with an essay assignment?! Ain’t this bad bedside manner? For shame!”
“You wouldn’t need to despair if you had started to work on it in a timely manner. Don’t expect any leniency from me for your own carelessness,” Yukio said, unmoved.
Renzou had already finished it, but Yukio didn’t need to know that.
“Not even an ounce of tender loving care~?” Renzou whined, forlorn. “You’re such a harsh taskmaster, Yuki-chan-sensei! I’m here in your exam chair—dying!—and all you can think about is a little essay!” Renzou sauntered over to the door. “Truly the coldest doctor I’ve ever met. Maybe one day I’ll have the privilege of melting past that icy surface!”
Yukio’s lips twitched. “Perhaps if you were to put that same enthusiasm into your studies, you’ll get a little closer to that privilege,” he suggested airily.
Dramatically grasping both sides of the door frame, Renzou twisted around to look at Yukio with a leering grin. “I’ll take that promise and run with it~ See ya, Yuki-chan!” And before his young teacher had a chance to protest, Renzou jogged down the hall and out the door. He moved quickly, for he knew a little creeping cat was still somewhere on the ground floor.
For a while, nothing happened. Renzou hoped that whatever it was that his body was trying to get rid of was well and gone. In the meantime, he distracted himself with the mission he’d been assigned to.
It had been a long one, one that lasted a couple days and firmly put his essay deadline behind him. With it all done and finished, he was looking forward to weaseling an extension from his kind teacher just because he could.
Of course, there was a downside to all of this. Despite the fact that they had been separated for most of the mission, Ryuuji was partnered up with him.
They had been sent out to track and find a demon that had been menacing a country town on the edge of the Shizuoka prefecture that was close enough to Osaka’s jurisdiction that made Renzou and Ryuuji an easy choice for the mission.
It had taken a lot of tracking and unspoken teamwork to corner what ended up being a colony of goblins and hobgoblins and eradicate them all.
Two days of tracking and camping and, finally, eradicating. It was over. Renzou let Ryuuji take the lead in reporting their success to the town’s leader before they got on the bus that would take them to a train.
Renzou slumped heavily into the train’s seat, the cushion thumping underneath him as he let out a groan.
“Finally…” he whined. “I’m so tired…!”
"You can say that again," Ryuuji muttered as he settled down next to him. "That was brutal. The Order should have sent someone to tackle this much earlier instead of letting it get this bad." He sighed heavily. "But at least it's done."
“Wow, you must really be tired if you’re agreeing with me, Bon,” Renzou said with a grin. “Good to know you’re human after all.”
"Tch. Don't you start," Ryuuji groused, elbowing him. “If you have energy to poke fun at me, you can’t be all that tired.”
“You’ve got it all wrong. Poking fun at you is what gives me the energy to make it home.” He rubbed the spot where Ryuuji’s elbow connected. “But I hear ya, Bon. I’ll go easy on you.”
Ryuuji rolled his eyes. Renzou watched as he gave him a look and then leaned away from him. Ryuuji knew him, and he knew what he liked.
After taking a moment to ruffle through his travel bag, Ryuuji pulled a plastic bag filled with different food items. Rice balls, dango—and an assortment of sweet breads.
“Here. I picked up a few things after you ditched me. Figured we could both use the calories after all the running around we did.”
Renzou’s eyes sparkled and danced.
“Booonnn~~❤!” Renzou crooned as he snatched the bag and latched on to Ryuuji’s arm. “You’re so good to me! You actually care!”
“Do you have to say it like that?” Ryuuji groaned. “Just eat, dumbass,” he said, dislodging Renzou off his arm.
“I’ll eat it knowing that the love in your heart is filling my stomach, you lady killer~” Renzou grinned, pulling out two of the sweet breads.
“If you choke stuffing your own face, I won’t save you,” Ryuuji deadpanned.
“Like you could possibly go on without me,” Renzou quipped.
They continued bickering lightheartedly as Ryuuji mostly left the sweeter foods to Renzou. With a little scratch in his throat, Renzou noticed that the contents in the bag were mostly on the sweeter side.
He forced himself to ignore it, which wasn't too hard when his phone buzzed with a message from Konekomaru checking in on them. It was a welcome distraction and he entertained himself for some time exchanging cat memes with his absent friend.
It was when he hit send on a cat sleeping in a strange position that he felt a weight on his shoulder. Renzou glanced over. The top of Ryuuji’s head filled his vision.
Ryuuji was asleep. He had knocked out and slumped right on his shoulder. Renzou smiled a little wryly.
“Jeez, Bon,” he murmured, shifting his shoulder a little to keep Ryuuji’s head from sliding forward. “You really tired yourself out.”
Ryuuji’s head lolled backwards, half resting on Renzou’s shoulder, half leaning on the back of his chair.
His face was slack with exhaustion. The wrinkles that often suffused Ryuuji’s brow were gone. So was the serious frown, replaced by a smooth face and a half open mouth. Renzou found his eyes tracing the shapes and curves of Ryuuji’s face, following the pattern of his breath through his lips, following the way his weight got heavier and heavier as he fell into a deeper sleep.
Ryuuji leaned in a little closer to him, turning his head slightly into Renzou’s shoulder.
An itch flared in the back of his throat, all the way down into his chest. Renzou covered his mouth, keeping the arm connected to the shoulder that was Ryuuji’s pillow completely still.
Not here. Not now. I thought I was done with this…! Renzou tried to breathe, but his inhale caught on a clogging in his airwaves and dislodged it. An involuntary cough wracked up his chest, his muscles trembling with the strain of trying to keep it down.
Ryuuji never got any damn sleep and if Renzou woke him up now and activated his mama bear routine, it would be the absolute worst. He had to keep it down, or else find a way out without waking Ryuuji up.
Alternatively, if he kept trembling stiff in his chair, Ryuuji would be sure to wake up anyway.
Dammit…! Renzou fought off the waves of coughing that tried to struggle its way up his throat and stopped breathing. He held it, waiting for a break in the insistent push from his chest and tried smaller doses.
He cleared his throat, but threat of the cough came up again immediately, nearly exploding out of him. Renzou managed to keep it down into breathless, quiet coughs. He had no choice but to let a few of them through.
He felt it, bubbling up in the back of his throat.
Okay. Alright. Chill out.
Maybe if little coughs didn’t work, one big, controlled one would.
Renzou held his breath again, trying to fight down the urge to continue coughing even as it continued without his consent. He reached his free hand up, bracing his palm against Ryuuji’s forehead to lift it slightly off his shoulder and coughed once, hard.
Whatever it was in his airways shifted. Launched from its irritating spot in his chest, he felt it lodge into the middle of his throat.
He couldn’t breathe. If he attempted to breathe in, it would probably send it back down and send him into an uncontrollable coughing fit.
Renzou held his breath as he looked at Ryuuji. He was still asleep, but he could feel the way his forehead was furrowing under his palm.
His back curled as his body buckled under a wave of coughs that forced themselves out of him. Renzou wasn’t in control anymore. His body was gasping and wheezing and coughing, but luckily, it didn’t last long. The breathless convulsions pushed the foreign object onto the back of his tongue and Renzou immediately reached into his mouth.
Two fingers scraped the back of his mouth as he fought off his gag reflex. He pulled out a mucusy glob of yellow and gasped, tears rolling down his cheeks. Renzou wanted to scream. He wanted to let out a whining noise of anger and upset.
Instead, he gently let Ryuuji’s head back down on his shoulder.
Carefully, grabbing one of the discarded wrappers from his sweet bread, he wiped his fingers on the plastic, tucking away the mysterious yellow substance.
He hated this. Renzou shoved the wrapper into his pocket and wiped his fingers with a napkin. Then the dry half of it went to his face, quickly cleaning his face from tears.
What was going on with him? Why was this happening?
Hopefully Yukio could find out.