Work Text:
September 17, 2016
"Oh, Kasahara-kun, there you are!" Mr. Suzubishi smiled and pulled open the apartment door. "We were starting to get a little worried."
I stepped inside and set my overstuffed backpack and duffel bag on the floor, then bent to untie my sneakers. "Sorry, I ended up missing the bus because I forgot my bag. Even sprinting, there was no way I could get to the dorm and back to the bus stop in time."
Professor Ito twisted around on the couch to peer at me. "Wow, that's a lot of stuff, Kasahara-kun."
My face got warm. "Um, well, I thought it was time to start moving a few things in over here. I'd rather not wear my uniform all the time on the weekends, and I wanted to have a couple of changes of workout clothes... and it's always nice to have a favorite pillow..."
The professor giggled. "So that huge bag is for a pillow?"
I set my sneakers aside and picked up my bags again. "Two pillows, actually... and some extra books I've been meaning to read. Sorry, I know it's a lot of stuff."
"Not at all," Mr. Suzubishi countered. "That room is yours now, you should make yourself comfortable. Two bags of personal things aren't going to fill up an entire room. As long as it stays reasonably clean, we don't care what you do with the space."
"R, right..."
That was the problem; I wasn't exactly known for keeping my room clean. But maybe if I limited the amount of stuff I brought in, it would be easier to maintain an acceptable level of cleanliness. After all, I'd had to keep things pretty neat at the orphanage, since there were multiple kids in each room. Then again, none of us really had any personal belongings aside from clothes, so it wasn't like there was much of anything to keep organized...
Professor Ito laughed again. "Just watch out for the yarn that's taking up half the closet. We're still trying to find a way to store that neatly in our room."
I swear Mr. Suzubishi actually blushed. "It's not that much yarn, Keita."
"Um, I don't mind. I don't need the entire closet right now, I don't have all that much." I nodded toward the bags. "I'll go put these things away, so excuse me for a little bit..."
"Yeah, we'll call you when dinner's ready." Professor Ito waved me on. "Kazuki hasn't even started cooking yet, so you have plenty of time to get things set up the way you like them. If you need help with something, you can always come get me."
"Ah, no, I think I can manage."
I hated seeing the professor deflate any time I refused help or hid away in my room instead of hanging out with him and Mr. Suzubishi, but I couldn't always force myself to deal with the awkward atmosphere. We saw each other all week during school, but an informal setting was completely different, especially with Mr. Suzubishi around. Since he was only around on weekends, and not even every weekend, I felt like I could relax a lot more around the professor than my actual legal guardian.
It was kind of sad, really. Mr. Suzubishi made a real effort to talk to me whenever he was around, but it never really got beyond asking about my studies or how things were going at the school. After years of living with a couple that didn't care about my interests or activities outside of programming, I found it difficult to volunteer any real information about myself. There had been so many times that I'd been shot down or told that I was wasting my time and needed to study more. I guess my brain hadn't been able to let go of those experiences yet.
Sorry, I'm just not ready yet, I mentally apologized as I hurried to the room. My room. The last time I'd visited had been two weeks ago, and the space had changed dramatically since then. A large shelving unit full of craft books and baskets of yarn had been replaced by a small dresser topped with wide mirror. The short stack of neatly labeled boxes in the corner was gone, and in its place was a simple but expensive-looking desk and chair. The top of the desk was decorated with a set of matching accessories: pencil cup, an inbox tray, and file organizer, all filled with an array of coordinated office supplies. Even the lamp was part of the matching set. The bed looked different too, with a new comforter and sheet set that coordinated with the furniture, plus some accent pillows. And once I got close and dumped my bags on the bed, I noticed a small blue bear nestled between the pillows.
"Heh, that's cute," I murmured, reaching out to pick it up. It was made of a fuzzy material that was soft against my fingers, and I turned it over to look at all sides, still unable to believe that it had been made by hand. If I had known that during the Bell One, I never would have let Sagimori-san and Joker-san change one of them into that stupid panda.
I moved the little bear to the nightstand so it wouldn't get buried, and dumped out the contents of my backpack and duffel bag. The first thing that had to happen was replacing the pillows; yeah, the decorative pillows were nice, and maybe I'd put them back on the bed when I wasn't using it, but the sleep pillows were really uncomfortable. Sure, they were probably high-quality, expensive pillows, but I was used to sleeping on hard surfaces and cheap pillows. Luxury wasn't my style.
I pulled open the closet, intending to stuff the unwanted pillows into the empty space that had been promised to me, and heaved a sigh.
Professor Ito wasn't kidding when he said half the closet was stuffed with yarn...
The closet wasn't all that big to begin with, and with the yarn taking up the bulk of the usable space, and now the pillows filling up the bottom, there wasn't really enough room for anything else. Well, it didn't really matter, since I had the new dresser, but what was I gonna do if I needed to hang up my uniform or something? I was pretty sure Mr. Suzubishi wouldn't appreciate me dumping it on the floor or hiding it under the bed.
"Ugh, who needs this much yarn anyway?" I grumbled, pushing on the edge of a pile that had taken over a shelf. Maybe I could compress it a little more and squeeze the pillows onto a shelf so there would be some room for hanging clothes? But no, the yarn was packed in so tight that it was impossible to squish it down much more than it already was. Just how much was there, anyway?!
"I'll just forget about the closet, then..." At least the pillows fit in there.
As I stepped back to close the door, my foot bumped against something, and there was the hollow sound of plastic skittering over the floor. I looked down, startled. There was a small black rectangle at my feet, and I bent to pick it up. It took me a second to realize that it was a tiny remote control, but with just two unmarked triangle-shaped buttons on the front and no manufacturer's logo, I had no idea what kind of device it belonged to.
Probably some weird yarn contraption, since it was in the closet...
I shrugged and pressed one of the buttons, but nothing happened. I tried the other one, but still nothing. Well, I had no idea what to expect anyway, so it was pointless to mess with it. The device it went to was clearly not in the yarn-stuffed closet, and the rest of the room had been redecorated too, so it had to be somewhere else in the apartment.
I stepped out into the hallway, intending to hand it over to Professor Ito, and paused. Was it just me, or was there a faint buzzing noise coming from somewhere? I pressed one of the buttons on the remote, and it stopped. Two presses of the other button, and the noise was back, louder than before, and I realized that it was coming from the linen closet. Curious, I pulled open the door, quickly realizing that the sound was coming from overhead.
My face colored as I remembered the incident from a few weeks earlier, when one of the cloth bins had fallen on my head, dumping willy warmers everywhere.
The buzzing noise was coming from the other bin on the top shelf.
I fumbled with the remote, silencing the ominous humming sound. A prickly sweat broke out on the back of my neck as I stared down at the small control in my hand. I didn't want to be touching something that was part of a god-knows-what that buzzed on demand, but what was I gonna do now, take down the bin and put it back in there? I had no desire to find out what was actually in that container. Maybe I could just leave it on the shelf? But then it might get lost again...
I closed the closet door, swearing under my breath. The right thing to do was to hand it over to its rightful owner, but then they'd know I'd found it.
But they wouldn't know that I figured out what it's for, right? I can just say it was in with the yarn so I thought it went with a knitting gadget. Yeah. That should work.
Professor Ito looked up as soon as I walked into the living room. "That was fast, Kasahara-kun. Do you want to watch some TV while you wait for dinner?" He motioned toward the couch.
"Uh, no thank you... I'm not finished yet, actually." I held up the remote. "Um, I think maybe you left something in the closet when you were redoing the room? This was in with the yarn..."
I'd seen the professor blush before, but the way his face went from normal to completely red in an instant was almost scary. "O, oh... I see... haha..." He reached up to rub the back of his head, his usual nervous gesture, as he hopped up off the couch. "S, sorry about that... I'll take it."
Of course, I ended up blushing in response to his embarrassment. Stupid body, always betraying me at the worst possible moment. "Y, yeah, here you go." I dropped the remote in his outstretched hand.
"Haha, thanks... haha..."
"Hm, what's going on out here?" Mr. Suzubishi appeared from nowhere, wearing his usual cute apron, and we both jumped. Hell, Professor Ito even squeaked a little, almost dropping the remote.
"N, nothing!" the professor said, moving to hide the remote in his pocket, but he was too slow.
"Oh, I was wondering where that went! Keita, where did you find it, I've looked everywhere!"
"Shut up, Kazuki!" Professor Ito wailed, looking like he would die at any moment.
"O, oh, Kasahara-kun, I didn't realize you were there," Mr. Suzubishi sputtered, eyes wide as he stared at me. He unconsciously reached up to scratch at his cheek in his familiar anxious pose. "S, sorry about leaving that in your room..."
I tried to keep my tone light and cheery as I replied, "Um, don't worry about it, I found it in the closet with the yarn. Maybe it's lucky that I found it. It would be a problem if you were missing the remote to a yarn thing, right?" I forced a laugh; it ended up sounding worse than Professor Ito's nervous giggle. "I didn't even know there were remote controlled yarn machines or whatever. You learn something new every day, I guess."
Good god, I need to shut up. Babbling on and on like this, I sound like Professor Ito!
"R, right," Mr. Suzubishi nodded, "like the automatic ball winder. That has a remote."
My eye twitched. Automatic ball winder did not sound like something I wanted to ask about.
Professor Ito must have noticed my hesitation, because he quickly added, "It winds up the yarn into a ball that's easy to use. You can't knit with it until you do that, and with all the yarn Kazuki has, having to do it manually is a bit scary."
I seized upon the opportunity to change the subject. "Uh, yeah, I noticed that there was still a lot in the closet. Is that going to stay there forever?"
"Well, no, but it's going to take a little time to pack it up and put it in storage." Mr. Suzubishi was quite willing to go along with the change of topic. "Do you need more room right away, Kasahara-kun? I thought we left about half of the closet free."
"Mm, it's fine for now. I kind of wanted to put the extra pillows in there..."
"I told you Kasahara-kun wouldn't want all those pillows," Professor Ito noted smugly.
From there, the conversation turned to the usual teasing, and I excused myself from their flirting to go finish sorting out the rest of my stuff.
~~~
"And that's why I went running for three hours in the middle of the weekend heat wave." Ugh, just remembering how sweaty I'd gotten was making me tired.
Yuki blinked, speechless for several seconds. When he recovered, he offered a weak laugh and a halfhearted, "Well, it wasn't as bad as last time, right? At least you didn't find out what was buzzing in the closet..."
"Yeah, seriously." I peered up at him, not bothering to pick my head up off the desk. "I think I'm just gonna stay away from the closet from now on. There might be sex toys tucked in between the bath towels or something."
"N, no way..." Yuki blushed. "I bet they moved their stuff as soon as you went out for that run."
"I dunno, they seem kinda derp about the whole thing," I sighed, closing my eyes again. Maybe, just maybe, I could forget the weekend if I tried hard enough. And the first step to success would be falling asleep in homeroom.
But my peace didn't last long, and I was stirred from my doze by a loud buzzing. I straightened in my seat, bolt upright in less than a second. "Whaaa?!"
"S, sorry! It's my phone!" Yuki reached into his pocket, face completely red.
"O... oh... of course it's just your phone, haha... I thought it was something else... haha..."
Somehow, once I started laughing, I couldn't stop, and before long Yuki joined in, banging on the desk with tears streaming from his eyes.
And then stars exploded in front of my eyes. "Ow!" Yuki and I cried in unison, glaring up at the front of the classroom.
Professor Sakaki scowled at us, brandishing two more sticks of chalk. "Quit disrupting homeroom! You had all weekend to goof off!"
For some reason, Yuki blushed and giggled, but I just felt tired and annoyed. "Yes, sir..."
~ end ~