Chapter Text
It was raining.
A horribly heavy suitcase in your hand, you strolled around Makochi in your summer attire while holding your umbrella, quite a contrast with the current weather. A stylish shirt paired with a comfortable pair of shorts, you adjust the sunglasses that were sitting on your nose. Arriving near your neighborhood, a chummy smile makes its way on your lips as you're already thinking of how you’re going to make your grandiose entrance and surprise your friends that haven’t seen you in over three weeks. You keep on walking for a few more minutes, waving to the many residents that you adore so, as the sky slowly turns orange, while you’re now standing in front of Photos, looking like a complete tourist.
You swing the door open, the café’s bell ringing, as you strike a silly pose at the entrance, shouting in an even sillier tone ‘hello’ in Hawaiian.
“Aloha~ !”
Pure silence.
“Okay, I know you guys didn’t miss me but still-” Before you finish your sentence, your hurt expression gets replaced by one full of confusion, as there right before you, sits a bunch of teenagers that look like they got briefly patched up after a very intense fight. One of them, that you recognize as Sugishita holding a chair up in the air, ready to smack it in the face of another boy that you don’t recognize. In the mix you recognize some other faces, but before you could react appropriately, a familiar white haired boy comes at you, arms wide open and ready to embrace you. “[Y/N]-chan !” He swoons over to you, face bruised with dried blood on it.
As you were about to dodge him out of habit, you stood your ground for once and grabbed the white haired boy by clapping your hands on his cheeks, as he slouches because of the height difference. Panic takes over your brain as you examine his appearance, noticing the many bruises and cuts on his being.
“What the hell happened to you Ume ?!” You ask in a worried tone, inspecting his body in a quite comical way for anyone that isn’t familiar with you. Said man just chuckles at your actions. Frowning, you look at him seriously, clearly not amused.
“Nothing happened [Y/N]-chan ! I swear ! Just a little talk !” He says in a lighthearted tone, clearly not looking like a simple ‘talk’ as you look at the other boys sitting down in front of you. You push Umemiya away quite violently ( for you, not him ), and jog up to Hiragi.
Before speaking, you stare at him for a few seconds, checking if he’s going to go down Umemiya’s carefree route or actually explain to you what happened. The boy can however feel your pierceful gaze as he looks away with a guilt plastered all over his features. As you were about to open your mouth, the blonde boy spoke up, his hand already popping out one of his Gas-kun10 pills. “Uhm… [Y/N]-chan… it’s nice to finally see you again…We just had…” he gulps down his medicine mid sentence. “A conversation … with Shishitoren.”
He finishes his sentence (all colors draining from his face), clearly avoiding your gaze as you sigh, exasperated. Feeling the confused looks of the other people sitting there, you turn to give them a smile, before heading towards the counter, as you hear the door opening. Recognizing the familiar silhouette, you rush over and tightly hug Kotoha after not seeing her for what felt like years. “Kotoha !” You say her name lovingly, arms around her shoulders as you rest your head in the crook of her neck, nuzzling into her. You feel her freeze for a second before she hugs you back and ruffles your hair.
“[Y/N] ! You came back today and you didn’t tell me ?!” She says, a gleeful smile gracing her face. It looks like she was coming back from running a few quick errands as you didn't see her around the café on your way there.
You respond back, softly breaking apart from the hug. “Wanted to surprise you.” You grin back, before quickly snapping back into reality and remembering what you were going to do. “Oh, right, one sec Kotoha.” You mumble, voice and face back to how they were before, your frown growing even deeper.
While you stroll behind the counter to find something, Kotoha sees the confused looks that a few of the boys are harboring, as she beams at them. “You guys didn’t get to meet her before since she was away for a few weeks.” Walking closer to the boys with Umemiya right behind her, she starts explaining the situation to the lost teens as she sits down next to them.
“Her name is [L/N] [Y/N], she’s 16, like us, and is a dear friend of Bofurin.” Her smile never leaves her face as she goes on. “She knows me and Umemiya from the orphanage. She joined us there a few years ago, therefore she also met Hiragi-kun and Sugishita-kun through Umemiya. She’s very kindhearted, meaning that she’ll worry about the slightest scratch you get on your face.” She giggles softly, remembering the old days where those situations happened countless times, resulting in a lot of silly arguments.
The bi-colored haired boy looks at Kotoha as she explains, then sees the soft smiles gracing Umemiya’s and Hiragi’s lips, as they seem to reminisce about those times as well. Before he can ask questions, he’s cut off by the object of said wonders. “Alright. None of you are leaving until I’m done.” You say in a huff, holding what looked like a first aid emergency kit in your hand.
“Looks like you’re already patched up, but let me take care of the bruises at least.” A sigh leaves your lips as you sit down in front of Umemiya to start off. Pulling out a few cotton pads and some rubbing alcohol, you look once again at the unknown faces. “Ah !” You blush slightly out of embarrassment, remembering the scene you just caused without even introducing yourself. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t introduce myself !” Scratching the back of your head, you tilt it as you pour some alcohol on a cotton pad. “I heard Kotoha doing it for me though, so yeah…” you chuckle awkwardly.
“Nice to meet you guys ! You can just call me [Y/N] !” smiling, you focus your attention back to Umemiya to press the cotton pad on the tiny cuts visible on his face quickly, ignoring his frown and whining from the stinging sensation, as you roll your eyes and look back on the boys. “I know about Nirei-kun, since I saw him a few times in the café, even though we didn’t really chat before,” looking at the bright blond haired boy and giving him a soft smile, not seeing the blush creeping on his own cheeks, you turn to the other three boys. “But what about you guys ?”
The three of them look at each other skeptically, deciding which one was going to go first, but before they seem to settle on one representative, the one with the short black hair with a bandage on his cheek speaks up, a sort of anxious look on his face.
“I…I’m Naohiro Sasaki !” He says, a bit louder than you expected a soft looking kid like him to sound like. “I’m… from San Middle School. I’m the one that made Furin get involved in the fight. I’m very… sorry…” He mumbles, his eyes staring at his feet and not budging. His fists are clenching while resting on top of his knees as he bites his lips. Even after being told that it was okay by the members of said team, he still felt a slight tug of guilt. “I’m–”
Thump.
The younger boy is cut off by a soft feeling on top of his head. Your fist is resting on top of his head, after bumping him slightly to make him stop rambling. “Hey. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Ruffling his hair, his eyes look back up to stare into yours, as you offer him a kind smile. “Bofurin is here for one sole reason, and it’s to help the people of the town, dummy.” Letting go, you step away and go sit back down on your own seat, this time turning to Hiragi after being done making sure Umemiya was okay. The man lets you obediently, as he even closes his eyes, not flinching at the contact of alcohol.
“But it’s nice to meet you, Sasaki-kun.” You say, your smile never leaving your face. Since you’re not facing him, you can’t see his expression softening at your kind and reassuring words, putting him at ease back again, all traces of guilt disappearing slowly.
“I’m Hayato Suo. It’s nice to meet you, [Y/N]-san.” Your focused look dissipates after one of the unknown boys talks to you once again. This time, it was the elegant boy wearing an eye-patch and pretty tassel earrings. You beam at him, seeing his face isn’t injured. “Wow ! Nice to meet you, Suo-kun ! I’m so glad to see another person than Nirei-kun with sense that didn’t fight ! You don’t even have a scratch on you !” The excited tone that leaves your mouth takes the boy aback as he looks stunned for a few seconds before laughing along with you. But before he speaks again, his mouth is shut by the monochrome haired boy.
“Why do you think we have no sense if we fight ? Do you think what we just did was stupid ?” He says, his attitude feeling rather fierce as he glares at you with those eyes, his arms staying crossed and resting on his chest. The room falls silent for a few seconds, as you finish dabbing a cotton pad against a bruise on Hiragi’s forehead. You quickly glance over Sugishita, seeing he doesn't need your help, before facing the badly bruised boy. Scooting closer, he seems taken aback as he backs away to the wall, his expression twisting to confusion and cheeks heating up at the sudden proximity as you’re now sitting right next to him.
“And what’s your name, if I can ask ?” You question him, taking another cotton pad that you soak in rubbing alcohol, as you slightly press it on his cheek before he could escape you. His cheeks darken in a deeper shade of pink but he tries to stay calm as he averts his eyes from the intense stare you hold onto his features. “S-Sakura. Haruka Sakura.” He introduces himself, as you nod and wear a small smile.
“Sakura-kun. I don’t think you don’t have any sense, or think that it was stupid.” You respond to his earlier question, now softly dabbing on another bruise on his face, as you feel his face relax under your touch ever so slightly. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite, it’s admirable.” You mumble loud enough for them to hear. “And I’m very glad that such people are here to protect the town.” You start dabbing another spot, noticing the worst injury on his face, the cut above his eye, making you frown for a second. “But I’m also scared.” You end up saying, a sigh that you didn’t know you had been keeping in for so long finally leaves your lips.
“Why ? We’re strong, so–” You cut Sakura off.
“That’s exactly why, Sakura-kun. You’re new here, so I never said this to you guys, but they ” you point to the friends you’ve known for years now, “they heard this before. Because you are strong, you don’t care about yourselves as much as you care about others during those fights. It’s the whole reason you guys fight, right ? ” Crossing your arms, you lean back into your chair. “I just want you guys to be okay, I don’t want to patch up corpses.” You chuckle, taking some wound healing ointment from your kit, applying a small amount on top of the deepest bruises on the monochrome haired boy’s face.
He thinks back to the words that Bofurin's leader said before you came into the café, as he glared around to see the rest of the group all throwing smiles and small grins at him (at the exception of Sugishita). He feels the blush painting on his face and ears, as his eyes fall back onto yours,watching you step away and stand back up. “All done !” Your voice echoes through the room, as you clasp your hands together.
“I’m starving !” You say, stomach grumbling at the exact same time, only proving your words, while you blush slightly, remembering that you just came back from a 10 hour long trip back from Honolulu to Tokyo, as well as the train from the capital to Makochi. Kotoha stands up from her own seat, her mood way brighter than earlier as she walks back behind the counter. “I’ll cook your favorite, [Y/N] !” She says, tying her apron back behind her back. You celebrate while everyone goes back to their chatter.
Noticing how Sakura stays quiet, still looking quite starstruck, you remember that you forgot to mention something. You approach him once more, and lean down to his level. Not fully recovered, he stutters at your sudden proximity. “W-What ?” He asks so quietly you barely hear him.
“About your eyes and hair.” You say, an unreadable look sitting on your face.
The boy seems to immediately ‘sober’ up, as his eyes turn back to how fierce they were just moments ago.
Seconds pass as you study him, before breaking into a fit of chuckles. “They’re pretty.” You tell him, smiling softly. “I like them.” Quickly, you disappear as fast as you came, leaving to sit at the counter to tell Kotoha about all the stories and adventures you had in Hawaii, leaving a blushing mess behind you.