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Hikaru felt like his feet were going to light on fire if he wasn’t excused to leave soon. He could feel Sai’s eyes watching his erratic movements as he jumped from one foot to the other.
“You know,” Sai started up. “You would not be so anxious to leave if you hadn’t gotten yourself in such trouble.”
Hikaru could practically feel the huffy tone coming from the ghost. The voice in his head drowned out the lecturing teacher in front of him. ‘It wasn’t like I asked for this.’
Sai crossed his arms. “You might as well have with the grade you came up with. Honestly, Hikaru, and with all the help I give you.”
Hikaru had to bite his tongue to keep from howling his indignance at the spirit out loud. He didn’t want to give his teacher even more reasons to keep him behind. He had already missed his club sessions from his detention and didn’t want to be kept longer than he already had been. Maybe if he was lucky, his grandfather would play him. At least to make up for what he’d missed.
“And I hope you understand now how important your work is,” his teacher said, finally wrapping up the long-winded ramble. He sat down with a sigh. “I understand your mind must be preoccupied with so many things your age, but you want to make sure that you are also thinking about your future and how your days here affect it.”
Hikaru gave the teacher a swift nod. “Yeah, uhuh.”
The teacher frowned, clearly noticing how his words went in one ear and out the other. He sighed and gave a wave of his hand. “You are free to go just—”
Hikaru didn’t hear the end of the sentence, as he was already sprinting out the door. He could feel Sai’s disappointment as he flew behind him. “Whatever you wanna say,” Hikaru huffed out as he made it to his cubby to grab his shoes. “Keep it to yourself.”
Sai huffed at the comment.
“I’m already peeved enough. I don’t need you dragging me while I’m already down,” came the explanation. He pulled his shoes on and got to the front door. When he opened it, a loud CRASH of thunder sounded out. The light from the lightning flickering the world around him.
Hikaru couldn’t help but flinch at the suddenness. He knew it was raining outside; it had been raining practically all day, but he didn’t realize it had gotten this hard. He wondered if he could call someone to come pick him up… though he really doubted it.
He was about to close the door when he heard sniffling. He poked his head out and saw Akira standing as much out of the rain as possible next to the door. His arms holding himself as he shivered, drenched and most likely chilled to the bone.
Akira turned towards the door, and his eyes lit up like the waking sun. “Shindo-a-achoo!”
Hikaru, without giving it much thought, grabbed Akira and yanked him into the building. “What’s your problem?!” Hikaru hissed out at him. His hand still gripping his soaked shoulder.
Akira looked down at his hand before going back to Hikaru’s face. His own face was bright red, and a dazed look over took his eyes. “I want you to play me.”
Hikaru blinked at the boy. Once. Twice. A third time for good measure. “Are you serious?!” he yelled out in surprise. Even Sai flinched at his outburst. “It’s pouring outside, and you stuck around that long to play Go?!” Hikaru almost couldn’t believe it. Half expecting Akira to laugh and yell out what a big joke it all was.
But it wasn’t a joke. Akira stayed quiet, staring at Hikaru with soft eyes. Full of exhaustion and what Hikaru could only really describe as vulnerability. But he wasn’t sure what that meant or how that added to the whole situation. It only drove home how serious Akira was. And, even then, how seriously sick he was. Akira never exclaimed a want to play without that familiar determination in his eyes burning bright like a fire.
Even then, Hikaru understood how serious Akira was about Go. Probably as serious as Sai was, if he was honest. It was almost annoying to deal with both of them at once.
“I happen to know another boy who has fallen for the game’s lure,” chuckled Sai.
Hikaru frowned. ‘What did I say about my head being my head?’ He could feel the way Sai backed off, but there was still a clear humor to his actions. It only irritated Hikaru more.
Akira shook with another series of sneezes, pulling Hikaru from his internal dialogues. Finally, giving him a good look, he could see that Akira was still shivering in his own hold. Even after they had been inside for a few minutes. Had he really been out there that long…
Detention had been about two hours, and as far as Hikaru knew, the rain hadn’t let up all day. In fact, he felt it was safe to assume that it had only gotten worse as the day went on. Hikaru frowned. If Akira had been standing in that kind of weather for two hours…
“You made yourself sick,” Hikaru mumbled, letting his hand drop from the boy. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that Akira almost looked mournful over the loss. Hikaru knew his parents wouldn’t be able to come get them. He also knew that Akira lived farther out and that coming to his school was out of his way. Hikaru never did understand why Akira kept this up. Always going so far out of his way just to chase him down. It didn’t make sense.
“Maybe you had more of an impact on him than you believed,” Sai suggested from somewhere unseen.
Hikaru had to hold back his scoff. ‘Doubtful. It was all you playing those games, remember?’
“To an extent,” Sai seemed to verbally nod in agreement. “But it was still you in his eyes. And you really shouldn’t cut yourself short like that, Hikaru.”
Hikaru didn’t want to keep listening to the ghost. Not when he had a soggy, sickly Akira practically about to fall over in front of him. He gave an annoyed sigh. “We’re gonna have to walk to my house.”
Akira looked up at him with a confused eye. “What?”
“I live closer and you can borrow some of my clothes until your dad or whoever can pick you up,” Hikaru explained as he adjusted his bookbag up onto his back. He grabbed his umbrella in one hand and Akira’s wrist in the other. “The longer you stay in that wet uniform, the sicker you’ll get. Now let’s go.”
With just a tug, the two were off. Out the building and squished under one umbrella as they walked to Hikaru’s house. He kept his grip on Akira’s wrist, partly just to make sure that he could keep walking and wasn’t actually about to fall on his face. However, Hikaru couldn’t help but notice that every time he spared a glance, Akira was staring down at their hands. As if they were the most challenging life and death puzzle he’d ever seen on a goban.
The walk really wasn’t that far, but the wind and rain didn’t lend any help. By the time they had found their way to his doorstep, even Hikaru’s clothes were soaked. He led Akira into the house and to his bedroom, quickly throwing out some shirts and pants for both of them to get into.
When Hikaru handed the dry clothes to Akira, the raven haired boy could only stare at the articles with yet another vacant gaze.
The sight made Hikaru frown. Akira really wasn’t all in at the moment. How sick was he? “You need to get outta your wet clothes,” he explained, giving the clothes a light shove into Akira’s chest. “You can change in the hall bathroom. But if you stay in your uniform, you’re just gonna make yourself worse.”
Akira looked to Hikaru’s face, he almost looked like he was searching him. Even when he was in a haze, he still somehow knew how to put Hikaru on the hot seat with nothing but a glance. When he did finally take the clothes, he pulled them to his chest before taking wobbly steps out to the bathroom as Hikaru directed.
By the time Akira came back, Hikaru had pulled on his own clean set and found his way on his bed, already pulled out his homework to get started after a bit of nagging from Sai.
Hikaru looked up and couldn’t help but notice how the sleeves of the borrowed shirt engulfed his arms and to the palms of his hands. It almost made him want to laugh, especially since that shirt had started to get smaller on himself as it was.
Akira must have noticed Hikaru staring at it because he, too, followed the gaze down to the fabric. He lightly tugged on one of the sleeves. “It’s the shirt I met you in,” came the mumble that broke the silence like a bang.
Hikaru blinked at that, not really expecting the comment. He supposed Akira was probably right. It was one he’d had since he was in fifth grade, so it made sense if he was wearing it that fateful day. “It’s not gonna fit me for much longer,” Hikaru said with a shrug. “You can keep it, if you want.”
When he looked back up from the shirt, he wasn’t expecting the haze in Akira’s eyes to be accompanied by what he could only describe as sparkles. Akira grabbed the chest of the shirt with a fist and looked back down at it with his hazy wonderment.
“Right,” Hikaru mumbled with a clear of his throat. “Did you already call your parents? The phone is in the other room.”
Akira nodded, still not taking his hand out of the shirt. “I will need to use it, please.”
Hikaru jumped off the bed and led him into the main room. He pointed him towards the phone before walking into the kitchen.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him in such a state,” Sai mumbled with worry. He made himself seen and floated into Hikaru’s vision. Most likely to show his concerned expression and add to his words.
‘He’s sick, Sai,’ Hikaru thought back, attempting to add the sigh in his mental conversation that he felt welling up in his chest. ‘He probably has a million degree fever, or somethin’.’ He watched Sai flutter over to take another look at Akira on the phone. ‘If you’re that worried, just go keep an eye on him for a second.’
Hikaru barely had time to finish his sentence before Sai was out of sight. He’d think the ghost had never seen someone sick before. Though… if Hikaru was honest with himself, it was almost unnerving to see Akira in such a state. Red faced, sneezy, practically completely out of it. And all in his shirt that fit Akira just enough for him to wear. He was kinda cute in it.
‘What.’
“Hm?”
Hikaru dropped the cup he was holding and jumped when it fell to the floor with a CLANG. Thankfully, it was plastic. Unthankfully, he found himself stuck staring at it for another solid minute before he was able to shake himself back to full consciousness and pick it back up.
He poured some water into the cup and rummaged the cabinet for a thermometer. When he was equipped with both, he walked back to Akira and Sai. The ghost was hovering over Akira with a worried expression.
Sai reached down and pressed a transparent hand against Akira’s flustered forehead.
Akira reacted, much to Hikaru’s surprise, with a shiver at the touch. Hikaru wasn’t really sure if the shiver was from the cold or from Sai himself. The ghost in question seemed to have a similar thought as he gave a look of confused surprise to Hikaru.
“I cannot feel his temperature,” Sai admitted sadly.
‘Don’t sweat it,’ Hikaru replied. He pulled the thermometer up to show Sai. ‘That’s what this is for.’ He knelt down to where Akira sat. “Hey, I got you some water. And we can check your fever.” He passed the cup and device over to Akira. He looked over to the hall where he knew the bathroom was. “I might have some fever medicine somewhere, too. You’d just have to give me a second to look.” He didn’t remember if his mother kept it in there or the kitchen. He’d have to double check…
He noticed that there was suddenly silence between them. Akira hadn’t even responded with a sound. Hikaru turned back to him with a confused brow. Akira was just staring at him. If it was anyone else, Hikaru might have thought it was super creepy. But it was the way Akira was staring at him that really caught him off guard.
Akira stared at Hikaru with the same hazed sparkles he had earlier with the shirt. It was intense but not like at a Go board. It was a different intensity that was somehow soft at the same time. Like being suffocated with fluffy pillows and plush toys. Warm, soft, overwhelming, all-encompassing.
Hikaru felt his cheeks warm. Was he getting sick too? He didn’t think he’d gotten that wet in the rain. And he’d dried off the moment he got home!
His thoughts were cut off by snickering, echoing in his mind. He flipped a glare over to Sai, who was giggling to himself over something right behind Akira. ‘What the heck are you laughing a-’
His thoughts suddenly halted completely at the feeling of something pressing against his lips. He could no longer see Sai, his vision overtaken by raven hair and eyes shut so tight it almost looked painful.
That was when Hikaru realized it was Akira’s lips pressed against his. And every thought left in his brain completely melted away. He wasn’t even able to discern what it felt like. He couldn’t figure out if Akira’s lips were soft like clouds, or chapped from the brisk air. He had no idea if the droplets of water dripping from Akira’s hair were tickling his nose or just dissipating from the heat of his own face the moment they landed. His mind completely blank and full of nothing but inaudible static. Not even Sai could be heard past the empty. Hikaru wasn’t even sure if Sai was even saying anything.
The kiss could have lasted for ages and Hikaru probably wouldn’t have been able to tell. By the time Akira was pulling away and looking up at him with those sparkling hazed over eyes, it felt like no more than seven seconds and no less than seven years had passed all at once.
Hikaru opened his mouth to speak. To say literally anything. But there was nothing. No words in his brain. None left in his throat, either. There was nothing.
Akira, still close enough that Hikaru could feel his breath, finally broke the silence. “Shindou…” came the mumbled voice.
Hikaru’s breath hitched, his mind trying so desperately to come back online, but all he could do was silently listen.
“I want to play Go with you.”
That snapped Hikaru back into reality. His head dropping into his hands with a loud, frustrated groan. “You’re delirious!” he shouted. He threw his head back up to look at Akira, ignoring his own bright and flustered face. “You’re insane!” His anger started to bubble into humor. He let himself fall onto his back and threw a hand back onto his face, rubbing hard against his cheeks and eyes as he laughed and hiccuped. When his laughter died down, he turned his head to see Akira again.
Akira only stared back. He was doing a lot of that. Though, that wasn’t really a new thing if Hikaru was honest. This time, Akira just looked confused. Still dazed from his fever but thoroughly baffled by Hikaru’s outburst.
Hikaru pushed himself back up. “I’m not gonna play you.”
Akira’s face dropped so suddenly and visually that Hikaru didn’t know whether to laugh at its animation or cry at how sad his words made Akira. Instead, he cleared his throat and added on: “Tonight. I’m not gonna play you tonight.”
Akira’s face once again changed in a matter of seconds, this time to hope.
Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re, like, dying over here. It wouldn’t be a fair game with how out of it you are. You’d probably choke before we even hit half way through. ‘N’ that’s no fun, anyway. So…” he frowned down at his lap. “So, when your parents pick you up, make sure to get better fast. ‘Cause- ‘cause when I play you, I want you at your A game!”
Akira blinked at him with the biggest eyes Hikaru had ever seen on a real person. It cut into his very soul. “Thank you,” he mumbled back. “Shindou. Thank you.”
He wasn’t sure what he was being thanked for, but Hikaru just gave a nod in reply. It wasn’t long after that a car pulled up to come get Akira. It seemed perfect timing, as the rain had stopped and, with the last drops of the dying day’s sun, spouted a rainbow in the sunset. The sight bowed across the sky as Hikaru watched the car drive off into the distance.
He felt Sai watching behind him, turning to confirm the feeling. He raised a brow, indicating the silent question.
Sai couldn’t even hide his smile behind his sleeve with how it reached to his eyes. “You two sure are something, Hikaru.”