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“Stop it,” Souta said after Takeo teased him a bit.
“Aww, but Souta, you’ll always be our Genki no matter how good your grades get,” Takeo teased him again with one arm around Souta's shoulder and the other messing with Souta's hair.
“I said stop it,” Souta snapped at him and pushed Takeo away, making him fall and hit his back on a chair.
“Dude, what the fuck.” He stood up, pissed with the shock that Souta had pushed him and the pain that was messing with his head. “No need to push me like that. Chill out.”
“You could have just stopped,” Souta replied, annoyed.
“You could have told me.”
“I FUCKING TOLD YOU!"
“NOT LIKE THAT.”
“DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT STOP MEANS?”
“BRO, IT’S BEEN LIKE THIS SINCE ALWAYS. HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW YOU ACTUALLY MEAN IT?”
“I ALWAYS MEANT IT, YOU MORON.”
“What did you just call me?”
“I ALWAYS FUCKING MEANT IT AND HATED IT. I FUCKING HATED YOU.”
Souta stopped in shock and stared at Takeo, who stared back at him…
“Fuck this.” Takeo grabbed his stuff and left. He just heard a “Takeo, wait!” behind him, but there was no use in going back.
Well, now there he was out of school and no way he’d go home and get a beating by his mother…
“I guess I’ll go visit Grandpa Roi.” He went on his way to an old neighborhood where not only the buildings were old but also its people.
“Takeo.”
He heard voices calling for him. Turning towards the voices, he saw five older ladies sitting at the entry of one's home together.
He walked over to the gate and saw them playing cards.
“What are you doing here, dear. Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“Uhhhhm, something happened, so no school today.”
“Why don’t you join us then?” one of the ladies asked him.
“And lose all my money to you like Granny Aiko? No thanks.”
“Oh, come on,” Aiko complained while the others laughed. “You didn’t have to bring that up again, you rascal.” She threw her shoe at him.
“HEY!” Takeo complained. “Why are you even here? Didn’t you have a playing ban because of that?”
“Look at him talk.” She threw her other shoe at him. “I’m not even playing!”
“Oh, so you’re here for the tea,” Takeo remarked.
“We’re not having tea, though,” another one replied, confused.
“Darling.” Granny Aiko tapped her. “He means gossip. Tea is some youth slang gossip.”
“Ohhh, you’re up to date, I see.”
“Of course.” She held her shoulders high. “What did you expect?”
“Nothing else. You’re as youthful as ever.”
“Wait, I know one too,” Granny Mayu replied.
“What is it, Grandma Mayu?”
“Snail,” she said.
“Snail?”
“Yeah, you say that when someone did something good,” Granny Mayu explained proudly.
“Granny. That’s Slay.”
“Yeah, Snail.”
“No SLAY.”
“Yeah. Snail,” she repeated.
“… Whatever.”
“Hey!” Nanami pointed at Granny Aina. “I saw you switch your cards.”
“Damn it,” Granny Aina cursed, switching the cards back.
They bickered around, and ignoring them, Granny Emiri asked Takeo, “What are you doing here?
“I thought I’d use the free time to visit Gramps Roi.”
“Hurry up. He should still be at home, but I don’t know for how long.”
“Why? Where is he going?”
“I don’t quite remember, but he had said something about wood.”
“HUH!? What is that old man up to now?” He started to run.
Reaching the house, he saw an old man ready to leave.
“You old geezer, wait right there!” Takeo yelled at the old man. “I’ve told you so many times not to go without me.”
“What do you want me to do, you little brat?” He hit Takeo on the head. “Freeze in the cold waiting for you!?”
“You’re just one person in that tiny house! How do you use up all the wood we get for the chimney?”
“Chiyo’s grandson left last week, and how could I let a lady go get her own wood? I shared mine with her.”
“Chiyo, huh?” Takeo had a big smirk on his face.
“You brat.” He got hit again.
“STOP THAT!”
“YOU WISH.” He got hit again.
Takeo took big steps away. “What now, huh?”
“I’m not as weak as you think I am, you dumbass.” Roi threw the bag with tools at Takeo.
Takeo caught the bag.
“Now move.”
Since they now had to collect wood for two people, they took longer than usual to finish the work. Before going home, they stopped at Chiyo’s home, and while Roi and Chiyo had a nice chat, Takeo arranged the wood into their place.
“Why don’t you two stay for dinner?” she asked. “I made too much.”
“Thank you, but we should leave now,” Roi replied and got ready to leave. Takeo followed him.
Before they left, she packed the food for them as a thank you, and they prepared the table at Roi's home.
“Why didn’t we just stay there?” Takeo asked, confused. “Was it because of me?” Takeo hinted that Roi might have wanted to be alone with her.
“Yes,” he replied simply.
“Ohhhh.”
“Not like that, you idiot.” He looked at Takeo in a rather serious way. “Now talk.”
“Talk?”
“You think I’m an idiot like you? I know you lied.”
“Uhm…”
“Say. Why are you here?”
“It’s…. nothing.” Takeo started playing with his food rather than eating it.
“Child. Talk before I make you.”
With a deep breath, Takeo explained to Gramps Roi everything that had happened in the morning. Roi just listened the whole time while Takeo let his heart out. In the end, there was just one thing for him to say.
“You’re seriously the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.”
“SERIOUSLY!? I’m here explaining everything to you, and that’s your reaction?”
“It’s the only right reaction.”
“Tsk.”
“You’re mad at your friend for getting mad at you for annoying him.”
“That’s not why I’m mad! He could have told me seriously instead of while I was joking around. Also, my back still hurts. He didn’t even say sorry!”
“Did you?”
“What?”
“Did you at least say sorry?”
“I mean…”
“Also, does he know that you’re not mad at him for wanting you to stop, but the way he said it. Did you tell him?”
“YES! I think… I wanted to at least.”
“He was right in calling you a moron.”
“WHATEVER. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway. He said he hated me, so why the fuck would I still care about that?”
“Keep lying to yourself, child. As if you can throw away a close friendship like that because of that.”
“I can.”
“I know there are people who can. You aren’t one of them.”
“It’s just. Was it that hard to talk to me?”
“Did he not?”
“I MEAN PROPERLY, AND YOU KNOW THAT.” He jumped up from his seat. “He could have very much pulled me aside and told me that he didn’t like that!”
“I get it now.”
“What?”
“I must say you’re more sentimental than I thought.” Roi kept eating his food. “Didn’t think you’d feel hurt about not being trusted. Although it does fit you after all.”
“Whatever…” Takeo stopped the conversation, sat down, and continued eating. His food was a little salty.
After they finished cleaning up, Takeo wanted to leave, but Gramps made him stay the night since it was already dark outside.
The next day, Takeo joined the grannies of the town for brunch. They always had brunch together on Fridays, and he was the only boy allowed. Missing another day at school wouldn’t make a difference.
“Oh, sweetheart, you're here too?” Buru-san asked Takeo, who walked into the café where they always meet up.
“Yeah. I stayed the night at Gramps Roi.”
“Ladies!” she yelled into the room. “Look who's here.”
Everyone turned to the door and greeted Takeo. He was now back to this one problem that occurred every time.
“Come here, sit next to me.”
“No, no, come here.”
“Why don’t you join me today?”
“Come, come.”
They all wanted the young boy to sit with them, though they wouldn’t get mad if he didn’t choose them. He just randomly took the actual first free seat he could, and that was it.
He sat next to Aoki and Chiyo.
“So you brat still couldn’t get yourself a girlfriend, huh?” Aoki complained.
“Oh, come on!”
“What are you going to do on Christmas? Hang out with friends again?”
“No…” Takeo said in a rather sad tone.
“Oh dear. Did something happen?” Chiyo patted his back.
“I mean, yeah, but either way, Keisuke is going on a date with Miyako-chan, and Souta is hanging out with Nao…”
“Why don’t you join us?” Mayu asked from the other side.
“Yeah!” the others agreed.
“The town is organizing a Christmas event. Everyone will be there.”
“Be our date!”
Takeo let out a chuckle. “I got nothing better to do anyway, I guess.” He sighed, defeated, remembering again that he had no girlfriend. Even Keisuke got one before him, who’d never looked like he wanted one. “But only if you bring your special honey biscuits.”
“Oh, sweetheart. Of course I will. Whom do you think you’re talking to?”
“Nice!”
Before he finally went on his way home, he visited Gramps to say goodbye.
“Next time you come here, it'd better be with your friends, or I’ll beat you up.”
“Wow, how motivating.”
“Get out.” Roi threw Takeo out, who then went on his way home.
Though he didn’t reach his home.
“Takeo?” Keisuke called for Takeo to spot him behind the entrance of the school.
Souta was with him, looking at Takeo a bit troubled. He couldn’t look Souta in the eye.
“I-” Takeo took a deep breath and started talking, scared and hesitant. “I’m so-” He stopped for a moment, looked up, and decided that wasn’t it. He took all his energy and swung into a deep bow, screaming for the whole school to hear. “I'M SORRY.” If he were a gymnast, he would have probably hit his head on the floor. “I’m sorry that I never realized that you actually meant it.”
“What the heck, dude?” Souta didn’t know how to react. “Get up.” He was embarrassed.
“No, I want you to know that I am tru-”
“YEAH YEAH.” It was horribly embarrassing. He grabbed Takeo and pulled him to the side, and let out a big sigh.
“Seriously, are you crazy?”
“Don’t worry, I will not bother you anymore,” Takeo said, and wanted to leave, but Souta stopped him.
“Wait. Are you not going to hear what I have to say?”
“What more is there to say? You said you hated me.”
“I-” Souta paused for a long moment. Takeo was holding back hard to not say something. Though the longer the moment went on, the more he properly looked at Souta. He seemed troubled. Wanting to talk, but something holding him back. “I didn’t mean it like that. I never hated you.”
“But you said so.”
“I wasn’t able to say that I hated myself.”
It was probably then that Takeo finally fully understood what had been going on. The apology he gave was sincere, but only now did he see why he truly deserved to be called a moron by Gramps Roi.
He didn’t want to make it about himself right after he apologized, but this was probably the moment they had to talk things through, so…
“Why did you never pull me aside and tell me?” he asked, broken but probably not as broken as his hopefully still friend. To lighten the mood, he did what he did best, and rather than being broken, he started being straightforward. “Was I that shit of a friend?”
“No, I just. I was scared, I guess. I just couldn’t,” Souta explained.
“So I was that shit of a friend,” he replied.
“I didn’t say that!” Souta got defensive, but Takeo had decided.
“Dude. I don’t care about what you said, though.”
Souta was dumbfounded. Wasn’t this all because he cared? “Huh?”
“If you thought you couldn’t trust me and properly tell me that I'm being annoying, I failed somewhere.”
“Seriously. What happened to you? It’s only been like 24 hours.”
“I went on an adventure and came back as a better man!” he joked.
It helped: Souta visibly relaxed. Though a short silence fell over them.
“Well, I’ll get going then. I'm sure my mother is going to kill me.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks… Uhm. Yeah. See ya.”
“Takeo.”
“Yeah.”
“How about we hang out tomorrow?”
He tried holding back, but this made him finally start crying.
He started to keep repeating how sorry he was and how much of a friend Souta was to him, and that he never actually meant it, and how he wished that Souta had told him sooner, and how much he was scared that this was over and that he was scared Souta actually hated him and that it would start being awkward from now on and…
With that, Souta joined and started to cry too. He also apologized for never actually telling Takeo to stop and for how he should have trusted his longest friend.
“Next time something”—Takeo wiped his tears that kept flowing—“something like this happens.” It was difficult to get the words out. “And you don’t tell me." He wiped away his close-to-last tears. “I'm going to punch you."
“What the fuck.” Souta laughed and cried and was lost at the same time.
“Promise me you will tell me.”
“I promise.” Souta also wiped his last tears.
“So we’re still friends?”
“Yeah.”
“And we’re good?”
“Yeah.”
“And I'm still allowed to joke around?”
“It wouldn’t be you if you stopped.”
“Okay.” Takeo composed himself. “Then I should really go now.” He was about to go but turned around one last time, hugged Souta tight, and ran away.
“Seems like everything worked out in the end.” Keisuke walked around the corner towards Souta.
“Yeah.”
“Made a fun picture.” Keisuke showed Souta a picture of Takeo and him both crying.
“Delete that!”
“Nah.”