Chapter Text
“Remember to walk [Name] home after practice. It gets dangerous at night.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you later.” He shuts the door and locks it behind him.
You’re waiting for him at the sidewalk, a habit you had recently developed after your parents met his parents at work, who insisted their son start walking you to school and to make a new friend due to his fixation on soccer and lack of social connection.
He walks down his steps and joins you with his shoulder bag slung on his shoulder.
“Good morning.” You greet him.
“Good morning.”
“What time does practice end today?”
“Five. But I might stay a little longer.”
“To practice your curves?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll stay then.”
It’s a silent walk to school. You’ve been used to it.
Rin was not a social person and you weren’t going to force him to be one.
“I’ll see you later.” You say as you arrive outside school.
“See you later.”
You head to class.
“[Name], you’re so lucky to have the Rin Itoshi walk you to school everyday.”
“It’s not that deep.”
“Do you know what the girls in our school are willing to do to be in your position?”
“Our parents happened to be work colleagues and he lives the way I walk to school.” You brush it off passively.
“Have you ever considered him as an option?”
“What?” You say in disbelief.
“Have you?”
“No.” You shake your head. “No. That’s weird.”
“Nagi get off my seat.”
“Meh.” He is focused on his game as he sat in your usual seat on the bleachers, where you waited for Rin before his practice started.
“You know I always sit there.”
“Meh.”
“Why are you here so early?”
“Meh.”
You roll your eyes with a sigh and settle next to him, placing your bag beside you.
Rin walks onto the practice field a couple minutes later, in his training attire of a thermal shirt under a t-shirt and jacket and shorts carrying his sports duffel bag.
He sets his belongings next to yours and takes off his windbreaker, putting it next to you.
Then, he leaves to start his pre-practice warm ups.
He always arrived thirty minutes earlier than the starting time to get his own workouts in.
Slowly, little by little, the members of the soccer team start showing up. They set their things down near you and Reo pulls Nagi away from his game.
You watch the boys warm up, practice dribbling, passing and game plays.
The sun starts to set and the sky darkens. The field lights turn on.
At the first water break, Rin jogs over. You look up, seeing him sweating and breathless.
“I forgot my water bottle.” He states as he stops by you doing your work.
“It’s by your bag.”
“I know.” He picks it up and takes a sip. “Are you cold?”
“Just a breeze.”
“Take my jacket.” He says as he runs back to practice.
You look at his windbreaker resting on the bleacher next to you.
The only time you really watch Rin practice is when he is alone after practice ends.
He is always working on something to improve, to perfect.
You watch him for an hour as he continuously sends soccer balls into the net with a precisely calculated curve to each of them.
It all seems perfect to you, but in his eyes something is always wrong.
He is far away on the field but his jacket on you says otherwise.
“Chigiri and Aryu told me their hair routines. I think I’ll try them out.”
“I’d be careful if I were you.”
“Oh.” You touch your hair. “Alright.”
“I wouldn’t listen to Aryu.” He stops outside your door.
“Oh. Okay. Good night, Rin.”
“Good night.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
You see him off from your door as his tall figure recedes down the block.
He is getting further but his jacket on you says otherwise.
“Oh. His windbreaker.”
“I forgot to return your jacket.”
“Oh.” He takes it from your outstretched hand.
“I washed it.”
“Okay.”
“What time does practice end today?”
“Five.”
“And you’re staying after?”
“No. Not today.”
“Are you going home then?”
“Yeah.”
[5:43 pm]
Bzzt.
Nagi Seishiro: i hope you know he’s still here. where have you gone?
Nagi Seishiro: [View Photo]
Didn’t he say he wouldn’t be staying after?
Did he go back to the field after walking you home?
Nagi Seishiro
Nagi Seishiro: i hope you know he’s still here. where have you gone?
Nagi Seishiro: [View Photo]
[Name]: what?
Calling Rin Itoshi…
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Sure.”
“What?”
“You didn’t need to walk me home and go back to practice.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You know, I really don’t mind staying and waiting for you after practice.”
“Who told you?”
“I’m by the field.”
“Where?” You hear movements of him looking around. “It’s dark and cold. Go home.”
“Not if you don’t.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m not there.”
He sighs. “[Name].”
“I got tipped off. You should go home. Next time don’t do that to me.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I am not.”
Nagi Seishiro: he’s packing up. what did you do?
[Name]: nothing. keep an eye on him
for me and tell me what happens
Nagi Seishiro: he’s leaving
“Get home safe.”
“Yeah.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
[Name]: i saw isagi at the mall today
Rin Itoshi: Okay.
[Name]: i saw bachira with isagi
Rin Itoshi: Okay.
[Name]: i saw aryu too
Rin Itoshi: Okay.
[Name]: i saw chigiri with aryu
Rin Itoshi: Okay.
[Name]: i saw nagi at the arcade
Rin Itoshi: Okay.
[Name]: i saw reo with nagi
Rin Itoshi: If you saw the entire team, just say it.
[Name]: i didn’t see gagamaru
Rin Itoshi: He lives in the wild.
[Name]: i didn’t see you
Rin Itoshi: I’m out.
[Name]: what a rare sighting of rin
itoshi reconnecting with nature
that is not soccer related
Rin Itoshi: [View Photo]
[Name]: even better, he’s sun
tanning on the beach
Rin Itoshi: I can assure you, I am not.
[Name]: a bird landed outside my window
Rin Itoshi: It’ll fly away.
[Name]: it’s been ten minutes
Rin Itoshi: It’ll fly away soon.
[ Thirty minutes later ]
[Name]: it’s a long tailed tit
Rin Itoshi: How long did that take you to figure out?
[Name]: not long
Rin Itoshi: It’s been thirty minutes.
[Name]: i named it rindou
Rin Itoshi: You’re ridiculous.
“That was a good game.”
“Not good enough.”
Rin has a hint of a scowl on his face but he’s trying his best to hide it. He doesn’t want to show it to you.
“You guys won though, right? You scored the winning point.”
“I did.”
He walks with you from the local field to the town hall. You stop outside a convenience store that caught your attention.
“Hmm?” He looks over at you contemplating if you should enter.
You look over at him. “Ice cream? It’s on me.”
“Oh. Sure.”
He steps into the store with you. The doorbell rings and the clerk greets you from behind the counter.
He follows you into the back of the store where the freezers of ice cream are located. You stop in front of them and look at the wide variety.
“Which one do you like?” You ask him.
“Doesn’t matter.”
You slide open the door of the freezer tub and grab two popsicles before heading to the counter to pay for it. Outside the store, you hand him one.
“Here. You deserve it.”
And he doesn’t know why it infuriates him, he wants to knock it out of your hands.
Do you know?
Do you know that’s what his older brother used to always do to him?
Buy him popsicles and he would always get the winning prize while his brother lost.
He takes it.
You unwrap yours and bite into it. He watches as you shudder, your face scrunching up from the coldness. His eyes avert to the side and then down at the popsicle in his hand.
“Do you not like the flavor?”
“No.”
To prove his point, he unwraps it and puts it in his mouth. The icy coldness greets his mouth.
It’s the same flavor.
It’s almost nostalgic, it takes him back as he walks with you past the shops.
“I really liked that game.” You say as you lick away at the frozen treat. “It was an intense match.”
“It was mediocre.”
“I don’t think so. Ooh.” Your attention is drawn to the wooden stick. “It says something.”
You lick off the small piece covering the words.
You won!
“I won a prize.” You smile at the stick. “What about you?”
He looks at his popsicle stick.
You lose :(
And he wants to say:
“Who would waste their luck on something stupid like this?”
He would sound just like his brother. And he wants to be anything but his brother.
“I lost.”
“Aww.” You frown. “Well, these things don’t dictate anything. They’re only for fun.”
You stick the wooden tongue depressor in your mouth.
“I think you’re a winner.”
He glances over at you curiously.
Was he?
“I think you’re pretty cool, Rin.”
What a lie.
“You stand alone on that.”
“I know.”
And you don’t seem to mind that no one else would agree.
“I was at the cafe the other day.”
“Good to know.”
“I went up to pay for my drink but someone paid for mine already.”
“Nice.”
“Aren’t you going to ask who paid for my drink?”
“Who paid for your drink?”
“Uh…” You pause for a moment, trying to think.
“You don’t know him.” Rin states blandly.
“No, he plays soccer with you!” You retort defensively. “The guy that looks like a ninja with the green stripe of hair-”
“Otoya.”
“Yeah! Whoever that is! He paid for my drink.”
“Okay. And?”
“He asked for my number.”
“And?”
“I gave him my number.”
“Has he texted?”
“Yeah…”
“Good grief.”
“Oh, he’s texting.”
cafe guy: so what are you up to right now?
“What should I tell him?”
“Whatever you want.”
[Name]: i’m with a friend
cafe guy: oh
cafe guy: who?
[Name]: rin
cafe guy: …
cafe guy: forget i ever texted, i’m sorry
for even asking for your number, i’m sorry
for wasting your time, have a good life
[Name]: wait what
“What does that even mean?”
“Don’t ask me.”
[Name]: rindou came back
Rin Itoshi: Take your medicine.
[Name]: is this sarcasm from the rin itoshi?!?!
Rin Itoshi: Do your homework.
[Name]: not when rindou came to visit his mama
Rin Itoshi: Do your English homework.
[Name]: a mama’s gotta look after her babies
Rin Itoshi: 🤦
[Name]: [View Photo]
Rin Itoshi: [Liked a photo]
[Name]: awww you think rindou is cute!!
Rin Itoshi: [Disliked a message]
[Name]: rin
Rin Itoshi: Yes?
[Name]: what are you prioritizing right now
Rin Itoshi: ?
[Name]: like what is most important to you
Rin Itoshi: Soccer. Becoming the best striker.
[Name]: you aren’t looking for a relationship?
Rin Itoshi: What?
[Name]: like a girlfriend?
Rin Itoshi: What has gotten into you?
[Name]: would you mind if i set you
up with one of my friends
Rin Itoshi: Please don’t.
[Name]: rin
Rin Itoshi: Yes?
[Name]: do you ever feel overwhelmed from soccer?
Rin Itoshi: No. Not really.
[Name]: have you ever felt the pressure?
Rin Itoshi: I got used to it.
[Name]: what did you do to get over it?
Rin Itoshi: Nothing. Just endured it.
[Name]: oh okay
[ A Few Minutes Later ]
Rin Itoshi: Are you okay?
[Name]: yeah
Rin Itoshi: I go to the beach. It helps.
[Name]: oh thanks
Rin Itoshi: I’m about to go now.
[Name]: okay cool
Rin Itoshi: Come with me.
“Can you tutor me during lunch?”
“For what?”
“English.”
“I told you to do your homework for a reason.”
“Please?”
“As soon as the bell rings tomorrow, go to the library. Bring your own lunch.”
“Thanks, lifesaver.”
[Name]: i’m going to set you up with a girl
Rin Itoshi: Please don’t do that.
[Name]: trust me, it’ll be fun
Rin Itoshi: I don’t partake in such things.
[Name]: now you will :)
Rin Itoshi: No.