Archive of Our Own

Somehow, on a cold December day, Kaiser ended up in the streets of Japan.

It was a decision he made when he was cooped up in his room, frustrated and hunched up in bed over a book that was really nothing more than that day’s last-minute choice of distraction. His duvet cover was slightly misaligned with its filling, leaving a pocket of empty sheets that crumpled up and grazed his skin in the most annoying way, but every lazy attempt to readjust it without putting down his book turned out fruitless and only mounted onto his growing frustration. On top of that, it was freezing cold in Germany, and the horrible December chill wasn’t something his heater—no matter how good—could dispel, leaving his skin exposed, and gradually developing rough goosebumps.

Giving up, Kaiser flung his book at the wall and dove under the duvet, flopping onto his side.

The more he laid there, the more the room felt unbearable to be in—impossibly stuffy, claustrophobic, and migraine-inducing under the dull flicker of the artificial light which illuminated his room for most hours of this gloomy winter month. Speaking of, whose horrible idea was it to make the sun set so early, the weather so dreadful, and the air so piercingly chilly that each draw of breath felt like torture against his nasal cavity?

Kaiser hated winter.

It was all Ness’ fault. It always was.

This all started with him running off to their coach and tattling about Kaiser’s unstable emotional state. But maybe it wasn't entirely his fault, because it was something like an open secret at that point that losing to Isagi Yoichi a second time during that fateful U-20 world cup game completely destroyed him, and that loss consumed his every waking minute ever since. He had kept up an unshakeable facade of normalcy in front of the public eye, playing as he usually did and maintaining a reasonable score across the various leagues his team were participating in that season. But in the privacy of the Bastard München training grounds, he was violent, irritable and more aggressive than ever, and the words ‘fucking’ ‘destroy’ and ‘Isagi Yoichi’ seemingly took over his whole vocabulary, especially when he was staring at said guy through 3 monitors in the AV room.

He originally thought Ness was past the point of being outwardly concerned about him, but apparently not. The moment their last game in the European youth league ended, Ness seemed to have thought it would be a good idea to run off to their coach and beg him to let Kaiser have an early break, and also ban him from entering the training grounds. ‘Please! Make this Christmas miracle happen, for Kaiser!’ he probably pleaded like the pathetic bitch he is. Well, at least in Kaiser’s mind, that’s what happened. Anyway, when he first heard about it, he just laughed dumbfoundedly, and defeatedly flung a hand onto his forehead because what the fuck. What did that stupid puppy dog think he was doing, getting all twisted in Kaiser’s personal affairs? What right did he have to overstep so badly?

He seriously couldn’t wrap his mind around it, so all he could do was explode at Ness and hurl insults at his face. He had no time to lose, no time to be faffing about or laying in bed waiting for that shitty Isagi Yoichi to surpass and overtake him, and he certainly had no mind to ‘go on a mental health break’ when so much was at stake. And yet, Ness did not budge. What started off as an unassuming, insignificant flicker of defiance at the end of their time in Japan had blossomed into full-blown audacity as Ness doubled down on his decision and insisted that it wasn’t his intention to get Kaiser fully suspended, but that Kaiser objectively needed this because “you’ve been playing like a deflated balloon!” Kaiser was completely flabbergasted when he heard that, but despite all his fury, he found himself with nothing to say back at him because Ness was, for once, somewhat kind of partially maybe just a little bit… correct. He could only mutter profanities under his breath and push past the boy to make it known how incredibly pissed off he was.

Back to the present, Kaiser was obsessively scrolling on his smartphone, perusing through his twitter timeline to see the live updates of their match against Berserk Dortmund. A sick, shriveled part of himself was shamelessly hoping that Ness was struggling without him, but the contents of the posts whacked him like a bucket of ice water (bucket included). Ness didn't need him. Bastard Munchen didn't need him. Fuck, he didn't even need to be in this shithole country. If his shitty contract had just ended last season, he would've immediately transferred to Re Al like he wanted, and he would've been relaxing in Spain right now instead of rotting in this stuffy room. But instead, he had to wait, and more catastrophically, he recently received news that his one and only rival Isagi Yoichi would actually be fucking signing on to Bastard Munchen in the coming January.

Just one more season, just one more season, and then he’d be out. But as things were, he couldn’t bear to stay a second more.

He slammed a fist into his pillow.

Things never went right for him starting from his cursed beginning, to the day the rubber band snapped and his mother never returned, to the beatings he took at home from before he could even comprehend why, to the betrayal he faced from the other street dwellers despite them being the only people like him, to this shitty team, to Noel Noa, then to Isagi Yoichi—someone who should’ve been a small fry, literal dirt beneath his foot—and then even Ness–!

It was a moment of hot, white madness—numbing yet raw, composed yet savage, still yet tempestuous. It was an implosion pointlessly contained in the crushing walls of his room, even though there was no one outside to hear it during those lonely training hours.

All he could later recall was that in that lapse of sanity, one sentence kept repeating in his mind like a mantra: “I have to get out of here.” Exactly where ‘here’ is, he didn't know. He only knew he couldn't stay any longer.

In a trance-like state, he tapped his phone with rapid, autopilot motions until he landed on a page for airline tickets.

Saitama, Japan. This will do.

A day later, he was on the flight, staring out the first-class cabin window with nothing but his identity documents and his phone tucked into his coat pockets.

And thus, a journey to resolve his unraveling problems would then begin.

Kaiser was somewhat glad that he didn’t completely neglect his winter clothing when he was recklessly packing things into his suitcase during a chaotic and perhaps slightly drunken last-minute packing session. But he still greatly underestimated how dreadful the Japanese winter would be, and it was a lesson he was learning first-hand as a chill crept into his core through his thin coat. The last time he stepped foot into Japan, it was mid-February, so it was sort of breezy, but a considerable margin warmer than it was now. It threw him off, but he only had himself to blame.

It was probably the worst way that this trip could start. He abhorred himself for his sudden impulse trip planning, and he abhorred himself more for escaping one shitty cold country to go to another one. But it was a bit too late for regrets. He just needed to find a damn store that sells a jacket…

One thing that immediately struck him as soon as he stepped foot into the urban area was that everyone was staring. He couldn’t tell whether it was because he had some remnant popularity from the widely televised and beloved Blue Lock project, or just because he was white. Either way, he could tell some old ladies were obviously gushing and whispering to each other about him right to his face, even if it was in a foreign language.

‘Fucking idiot, you couldn’t have remembered to bring the translator buds that the trust fund kid’s daddy handed out to everyone??’ he mentally cursed to himself. The weight of his reckless decisions were piling on him with every passing second. Trip to Japan? Simple, he’s been there before, or so he thought. Without his manager and without a translator, he was hardly more confident than a lost child.

“あなたは Mi-hya-eru Kai-zaですか?” a daring young lady with a determined expression came up to ask him, though he could only partially make out his own transliterated name. He shook his head, no, a universal gesture for denial which he could only hope would get through to her. But apparently, the behaviour of fangirls was universal too. Not only did she completely ignore his response, but she also excitedly turned around to beckon her friends over.

Great, just great. Getting recognised was exactly what he needed at this moment.

Soon, whether people really knew him or not, they crowded around him either to see the fabled Michael Kaiser or check out what everyone else was ogling at.

Wiggling his way out was no longer an option. His second option was to wrestle his way out MMA style by attacking everyone, though it wasn’t really an option; getting arrested in a foreign country was probably the second worst thing he could start this trip doing. He had seen those articles, obnoxious white GAIJIN streamer gets arrested in Japan for unruly conduct or something along those lines, he couldn’t remember, it was just a passing headline. But either way, he couldn’t afford that. Actually, a more bone-chilling thought crossed his mind: he couldn’t be caught dead visiting Japan by the media. Surely, then that slimy Isagi Yoichi would hear about it and who knew what he would think?

Just as he was at his wits end, he felt a little push, and then confused noises rippling through the crowd. He almost lost his footing because of the sudden movement, but quickly steadied himself on a few people around him.

When the source of the disruption got close enough, Kaiser could begin to make out that it was a person, and they were weaving through the circle with polite formalities and something that probably meant ‘excuse me!’

Before he could even register why, a sense of dread began settling into Kaiser’s bones.

It was that voice… Surely not… surely not… right? It had to be some sick coincidence. But thinking back on it, the city Saitama sounded oddly familiar. It was something he could have heard, let’s say, well, you know… when he was shamefully ‘hate-reading’ articles about someone who he really extremely despised…

Ah. He truly fucked up this time.

In the blink of an eye, just as he had suspected, Isagi Yoichi was in front of him, staring up at him with puzzled eyes.

He didn’t have time to dispute or even explain himself. Isagi swiftly grabbed him by the wrist, and began dragging him out, dispelling the crowd with some words and worming his way past people again exactly the same way he had come in.

Whatever he was doing, it was working, and it didn’t take long for them to pull out and lose the crowd. The moment they turned the first corner, Isagi immediately grabbed him by the collar and reeled him in with a violent jerk.

“お前、マスクをつけることも考えなかったの？” Isagi scolded him in a recognisably accusatory and annoyed tone.

Kaiser could only scoff in response. “Piece of shit, does it look like I speak Japanese?”

Isagi twisted his head in confusion, eyebrows knitted, then lit up when he realized that Kaiser didn’t have his translator buds with him. It would seem that unlike him, Isagi—organised and prepared as he always is—came into this interaction with his pair tucked snugly into his reddish, slightly frostnipped ears. He must have been confused as to why Kaiser would go to a foreign country without it, but without pondering it any further, he reached for one of his own and then forcibly jammed it into Kaiser’s ear without asking, making Kaiser hiss and flinch away.

“There,” he huffed, and then sighed deeply, expression mellowing. “Why are you here, Kaiser? I seriously thought I was seeing things at first, you know?”

‘Oh fuck,’ Kaiser grimaced upon hearing him speak. It was the darned translation earbuds. He never asked himself what it would sound like only wearing it on one side, but now that it was happening to him, it felt like his ears were being assaulted by a barrage of both Japanese and German gushing in through each ear. He rubbed his nose bridge and shut his eyes as tight as possible, trying to shut out the incoherent slurry of words that were coming in like a mess of alphabet soup.

Isagi did not care.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? What is it? Like, almost half a year? Could’ve sworn you would’ve been in Germany for the leagues. I thought they were joking or some fan was cosplaying as you when I caught wind of some tall European bloke with ombre blue hair. Who knew it would actually be you!” Isagi continued rambling, completely failing to notice Kaiser’s painfully creased face. In fact, he seemingly got more and more fired up in his passionate recount of prior events, gesturing around wildly in all directions without even looking at him. “Actually, you know, people have been doing that a lot these days—cosplay, dyeing their hair to be like yours, even printing photocards and keeping them in their wallet. Heck, I’ve even seen your likeness on a host club ad, you’re freaking everywhere, you freak! It's like I can't escape you wherever I go. It's freaking annoying!”

“Quiet,” Kaiser groaned with a pained expression. “This is super disorienting, you know?”

Upon hearing it for himself, shock crossed his face and he instantly recoiled, dramatically shrinking his head back into his neck like a turtle. “You’re right, this is so weird,” he muttered to himself in wonder, rubbing the back of his ear.

Seeing this, Kaiser just couldn’t help it. He had lost his composure a little, but something about Isagi’s pitiful and idiotic existence gave him the energy to get it together, even if just to bully him a little. Kaiser sucked in a breath, and then it was show time; dark, mocking laughter began to rumble out of his throat as he pulled his lips into a menacing smirk. This startled Isagi, and the boy froze and frowned at Kaiser with cautiously widened eyes just like a deer in headlights—his signature expression when he was confused—ready to be hunted. Ah, how much he had missed this. It was truly delightful.

“Yoichi,” he rasped in an exaggerated dark, sultry voice that he knew sent chills down Isagi’s spine. With one disgusting, wriggling finger, he gently lifted Isagi’s chin, making the boy back away uncomfortably, but Kaiser kept pushing it and inching closer and closer until their noses were almost touching, just like the day they first met. “I’m glad to hear you couldn’t stop thinking about me, so much so that you couldn’t stop seeing me everywhere. Has anyone ever told you that you're really needy?”

“God– Get off! You're gross!” Isagi spat, finally reacting and swatting Kaiser’s hand away once he got too close. “Fuck off, screw you. Get your cold-ass dead zombie fingers off of me!” he seethed, frantically brushing off the places Kaiser had laid his hands on as if they were permanently contaminated.

Kaiser simply laughed at his rival’s misery. “You’re so easy to mess with.”

Isagi ignored him, mouthing something under his breath before exhaling and recomposing himself. “Are you on your own?” he questioned suspiciously, eyes darting around the area to check for other members of the team, but he found nothing. He narrowed his eyes further. “What are you up to?”

“I’m…” Kaiser paused. In all truth, he was currently lost and walking around aimlessly, and after being swarmed by tons of strangers, his patience was wearing thin. “I’m… exploring.”

Isagi wasn’t having any of it. He carefully scrutinised Kaiser’s avoidant gaze, directing a carefully crafted suspicious and disbelieving look at him, making Kaiser inch back subconsciously. But finally, he must've decided that there was no threat and asked: “Do you even have any idea where you are?”

Kaiser considered his options. He really should’ve told Isagi to buzz off and leave him alone, and he would normally do it without hesitation, but… Maybe it was the cursed winter coldness that numbed his senses, patted down his prickly edges, and slowly lulled his mind into a sleepy, fuzzy sense of safety. Surely, it was that.

So with slouched shoulders, he quietly grunted: “No…” like a guilty child getting caught in a lie.

Isagi tutted, playfully shaking his head in mock disappointment. “You’re not lost, are you? Do you have anything planned? Have you had anything to eat yet?”

Kaiser’s scowl was instinctive. “I’m not going to have lunch with you, what the hell?”

“How defensive of someone who’s lost, and also freezing his balls off,” Isagi retorted. He pointedly stared at Kaiser’s coat pockets where his bare, reddened hands were deeply burrowed inside. Isagi slipped off his gloves and held it out towards Kaiser. “Look. I’m not so evil that I’d ignore an acquaintance in need. I’m only offering once, Mr Frostbite.”

“I’m not wearing those.” Kaiser stared at the fluffy, mint green mittens and then at Isagi, narrowing his eyes with a mixture of contempt and disbelief that the other would even suggest he wear something so detestably cutesy.

“Your loss,” Isagi said with a sarcastic, showy shrug. He threw his hands up, turned around and began to walk away at an infuriatingly show pace. “I suppose I’ll just leave you to die.”

Kaiser grit his teeth. He truly would have punched Isagi if he weren’t in this situation, but he felt too cold, exhausted and irritated to argue.

Blame it on the weather.

“Fine,” he gruffed. “Where are we going?”

After a short ride on the railway, and a much needed hounding session from Isagi about the absolute necessity of carrying cash in Japan, the two arrived at a secluded little residential neighborhood.

The houses were short, a big change in scenery from the high rises of the city center, and a quiet peace blanketed the neighborhood, only interrupted occasionally by the sporadic natural noises of winter birds chirping and rustling through the evergreens to find small, cozy cavities to call home for the season. Each house had their own nameplate, some older and some newer, some with sleek typography whereas others had a more artistic interpretation, each carrying their own history and personality.

Absentmindedly, Kaiser’s thoughts drifted off to his own home back in Germany, if he could even call it that—run down and decrepit from the lack of love, with overgrown weeds and spilled trash bags littering the front lawn. Or that soulless dormitory in Munich, which he ironically once regarded as a safe haven away from a worse life in a repressed, irrational corner of his heart that had now all but flickered out. When he last faced the front gate with his suitcase in tow earlier this morning, nothing remained of that irrational hope, and he only wished with a dread-filled heart that he would never have to look back.

He was brought back to reality when Isagi abruptly stopped in his tracks. Kaiser followed suit, and found himself facing a cherry coloured door. Next to it was a simple wooden nameplate engraved with a number and a Japanese character Kaiser could vaguely recognise as the other boy’s last name.

“This is my house,” Isagi added, awkwardly late.

“If it wasn’t already clear,” Kaiser said back sarcastically.

Isagi ignored him again. He lifted his right hand to ring the door bell, clearing his throat. “I’m home,” he announced loudly.

A light pitter-patter of feathery footsteps sounded out on the other side, and soon enough, the door was pushed open.

“Welcome home, dear!”

It was Isagi’s mother. Kaiser had briefly seen her before, when Isagi rushed to the bleachers to wave in their direction in the reserved seating area. She was a gentle-natured woman who never seemed to fret, and steadily supported Isagi from behind. It was the first time Kaiser got to see her up close. She had Isagi’s big, round eyes.

“Oh my, did you bring a friend?” Isagi's mother asked with a delighted smile. “Hm, wait… This is..?”

“Honey, wait, isn't this that shitty clown guy?” came a deeper, male voice.

Kaiser looked towards Isagi, who had turned red with embarrassment almost immediately. He hurriedly pushed past Kaiser and barged inside the house through the gap in the doorway, frantically waving his hands about with an alarmed expression. “Dad, stop! He can understand you!”

Quietly, Kaiser snickered at his rival’s patheticness, but only quietly. He knew that if he laughed any louder, it would just risk himself getting hit with karma. After all, Isagi wasn’t the only one who fixated on those words. Having replayed that scene a thousand times while he was hunched over a laptop in a dimly lit room, it was safe to say that he would have recognised the words in Isagi’s native tongue anyway. He absolutely could not let Isagi know that, so he played it safe.

A short discussion transpired between Isagi and his parents which Kaiser mentally tuned out of, and then shortly after, the boy led Kaiser inside, touring him around.

“...and there’s the kitchen, and that’s the bathroom if you need to go,” he gestured in various directions.

It wasn’t a big house by any means, but it was reasonably sized and cozy, padded with wooden floors and cream wallpaper. In the living room, family photos decorated the walls and shelves alongside an evidently well-upkept assortment of potted greenery and flowers. All in all, it was the image of normalcy as far as Kaiser could tell.

“My parents are making you a fried egg and some soup, by the way,” Isagi added as an afterthought. “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?”

Kaiser shook his head, and then a long silence settled between them. After a while, Kaiser became conscious of the fact that maybe he was supposed to say thank you at that point, but the moment had already passed, and it wasn’t like he would do it anyway. Isagi seemingly paid it no mind and kept walking him through the house.

“This is my room.”

Isagi’s room was a bit different. It was cleaner and tidier than some of the more prototypic teenage boy rooms he’d seen at his team, but still carried the slightly unkempt, all-over-the-place vibe suited for a boy of his age. Just with one look, it was obvious that he was obsessed with football, with a mini collection of figurines of world famous players, dozens of messily stacked football magazines, an open book with what looked like tactics and formations scribbled inside, and more little traces of his interests scattered around. In the corner of the room, Kaiser even chanced upon what seemed like rolled up posters of Noel Noa discarded in a cardboard box, and he snickered thinking about why that might be. How petty. He wondered what would happen when Isagi officially signed on.

On the other hand, Isagi had begun digging through his closet for something, haphazardly throwing things onto a pile on his bed. After emptying nearly half the closet, he suddenly stopped, pulling something out below the remaining items. Without warning, he flung a shirt at Kaiser. “Take this.”

“Fuck, couldn’t you have given me a heads up?” Kaiser scowled, giving him a jagged glare. “What even is this?”

“An insulative undershirt. It’ll keep you warm. These are a godsend,” Isagi responded casually without even acknowledging Kaiser’s aggression. He plopped himself down on the edge of his bed on top of his puffy bubble duvet, patting the spot beside him to invite Kaiser over. “Wanna sit?”

“I’m good,” Kaiser replied shortly.

Just then, Isagi’s father came inside to set down a tray of steaming hot food.

“Just let us know if you need anything. We’ll be outside,” he smiled warmly.

Something twisted in Kaiser’s abdomen.

It was strange, but for the first time in his life, he felt slightly conscious of his demeanor. Perhaps it was because these people kindly welcomed him inside and even prepared him food for seemingly no logical reason considering that their first impression of him was probably watching him insult and downright tyrannise their son live on national television. It also felt weirdly wrong to be rude to them even if he hated Isagi, especially when he was sitting under their roof. So he had to consciously hold the urge to get defensive, and reject their hospitality, and storm out of the house, and instead say something nice.

He was better than this. He was better than he was before. He could act normal too.

“Th..thanks,” he managed to choke out, though it sounded less like genuine gratitude and more like a last-ditch confession after being held at gunpoint.

Nevermind “normal.” What a shitty, non-human piece of trash he was…

“He says thanks,” Isagi chirped after him. “I’ll take the bowls back outside when we’re done later.”

 …and what a good, normal person Isagi was.

It was embarrassing. On the field, Kaiser could mask that he was deeply abnormal and assert his place among the average joes who had been raised up normally with hot meals and fluffy blankets. He could even control and subjugate those people as if they were below him, commanding respect and attention like some ruler. Yet in this normal household, he found himself uncomfortably out of place. It was unsightly.

Isagi’s dad soon left the room, leaving the two of them sitting in silence. Kaiser didn’t move, eying his food with a pensive expression as he got lost in thought. Kaiser could feel Isagi’s beady bug eyes staring a hole into him with a million unasked questions, but maybe Isagi chose to take pity on him. Then, after long thought, Kaiser finally picked up his fork—another minor accommodation Isagi’s parents had considered—and began to eat.

“So what are you doing in Japan?” Isagi asked as he noticed Kaiser finishing up.

“Nothing. I’m on a break,” Kaiser said dismissively. “It was a decision I made on a whim. I just bought the first ticket I saw on some website.”

It wasn’t completely a lie, but thinking back to it, maybe it was some subconscious calling. He was inexplicably drawn to Japan, and even though he had considered it some horrible stroke of luck that he had ended up in Isagi Yoichi’s hometown, he couldn’t deny that he had seen the name of the city show up in certain articles before.

“You sure it wasn’t because of me?” Isagi hummed knowingly in a teasing, sing-song voice and an irritatingly self-satisfied smile. There he was, that egotist, getting all annoyingly full of himself again after exchanging just two lines of polite dialogue. “You know, as far as I was aware, the German youth league is still going on, and Bastard Munchen was still due for a few more games before Christmas. What’s up with that?”

“What are you, some sort of super fan?” Kaiser retorted defensively, eyeing him from the side. Isagi Yoichi couldn’t get more annoying, snooping around in his business, uncovering his lies bit by bit, getting an inch and taking a mile.

Isagi scoffed at him, straightening his posture. “Don’t flatter yourself, Michael, you just happen to be on the same team as actually important people like Noel Noa. And unlike someone, I haven’t stalked anyone all the way back to their hometown.”

“Fuck you. Believe whatever you want.” Kaiser pressed all his fingers on his scalp. “The team can survive without a player or two. I’m allowed to go on breaks whenever I want.”

“For real? I don’t think I saw that clause in my contract.” Isagi placed a finger on his chin.

“Of course it’s not in your fucking contract, you small fry. Only the big shots get to negotiate.”

“But last I checked, I won against you twice, Kaiser, and you lost quite pathetically too, sitting on the pitch with your sorry bum stuck to the ground, head in your hands, maybe even shedding a few tears. So maybe you should watch who you call a small fry,” Isagi gloated happily. He even got off his bed to push himself right up into Kaiser’s face, grinning ear to ear and practically begging to be punched.

“Yoichi, I swear, the moment you step foot into Germany I will destroy you and wipe that smile off your face,” Kaiser growled, fisting the collar of Isagi’s black hoodie.

It seemed to have the opposite effect, only getting Isagi more excited. After all, there was nothing that he liked more than provoking Kaiser and getting under his skin, and Kaiser, in his current unravelled state, was continuously offering him golden opportunities for comebacks on a silver platter like it was an all-you-can-eat buffet. He smiled manically.

“I’ve noticed how you keep using future tense because I bested you the last two times you said this.” 

Fuck, “It will be different this time! Without your little henchmen, things won’t go so great for you anymore. You’ll go back to passing to my feet!”

“Then I hope you don’t spend too much time sightseeing in Japan, you super fan. Slack off any more and I’ll actually just surpass you in physique!” Isagi danced around him annoyingly. “That, or you can stop by a local temple and pray.”

Kaiser’s expression soured.

He didn’t know why he didn’t simply end this sooner. That football-obsessed idiot would surely only pester him with football-related blabber and eventually say something that got on Kaiser’s nerves. For example, he frankly could not stand to hear about practice right now. It was as if his brain wasn’t already constantly gnawing at itself enough for being complacent enough to allow stupid oversights (such as not bothering to maintain a decently sane image in front of his trainers and clubmates) get in the way of his career. Now, this stupidly football-obsessed fucker was talking about his stupid daily football grind and spreading his stupid affirmations that anyone who isn’t giving their every waking minute to the football gods is indeed a worthless loser. He should have really stopped this conversation before it got to this point.

In fact, he was making mistakes all along the way. Looking back on it with a clear mind, Isagi was obviously riling him up, and Kaiser was walking into every trap like an idiotic, fumbling clutz, giving that sadistic loser exactly what he wanted. He also shouldn’t have come to his house or even acknowledged him in the first place. It was a mistake. Drinking the soup and eating the egg was a mistake. This whole thing was a mistake.

This whole incident was unbecoming of him. He shouldn’t have let so many mistakes happen. He should have left immediately. But the past is the past. He should rectify this by leaving now.

So Kaiser got up, straightened his coat, and turned on his heels. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re as annoying as a fruit fly that just won’t fuck off? I’m leaving. Entertaining your silly antics was a mistake.” He spoke coldly as he swiftly gathered his belongings.

Because of this, Isagi, who had likely anticipated that Kaiser would keep bantering with him, grew confused. Seeing Kaiser uncharacteristically exiting a conversation before he had truly won, his brows furrowed, and his mouth hung slightly open with half-processed disbelief.

“Wait,” he called out. “Are you actually just leaving?”

“Leaving~ Fuck you~ Bye~” Kaiser responded pettily.

“No, wait!” Isagi yelled after him, chasing him into the hallway. As soon as he reached, his expression turned stern, demanding Kaiser’s attention. “Before you leave, I need to know… Why are you really here?”

Kaiser didn’t pay him any mind. “I told you, I took a break and I chose a random place to relax,” he said with intentional dismissiveness.

“I don’t believe that. You’re being weird,” he pressed, making Kaiser finally stop in his tracks. “The version of you that I know would be practicing and joining matches every chance you could get, even against the smaller German teams, because you would never let yourself get complacent,” Isagi declared—a firm assertion that he would even ply the truth out of Kaiser’s white knuckles. “Am I wrong?”

Kaiser could feel his blood begin to boil. How annoyingly self-important could someone be? What even was this? He was getting onto some serious Alexis Ness levels of overstepping.

Kaiser’s entire face twitched as he lifted his brows, closed his eyes and smiled incredulously, blowing out soft, hissing puffs of infuriated, disbelieving laughter through his tightly grit teeth. But still, he composed himself and turned around flamboyantly to address the boy.

“Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions,” he sang out with a close-eyed shrug and a displeased smile, looking down at Isagi through arrogant, half-lidded eyes. “May I remind you? You don’t know me, Yoichi. Has no one ever taught you to mind your own damn business?”

Isagi was taken aback.

“Well,” he grumbled back with a half-serious glare. “Have your parents never ever taught you not to be such an obnoxious ass hole?”

Ah.

It was precisely at that moment when Kaiser’s teasing smile really dropped.

This time, he couldn’t just hold in his anger. No, of course he couldn’t just do that. Not when Isagi had just made an error of that magnitude. How could he ask something like that? He had to lunge at him, push him down, and smash that shitty, privileged ignorance out of him. He needed to bust his jaw so he would keep those his audacious, egotistical lips shut, and he needed to beat him until the boy’s parents came in screaming and horrified, trying to push him off just for Kaiser to beat him even more.

But for some reason, he didn’t. For some reason, he felt like he couldn’t breathe again, just like how it was back in his dorm room, and his hands felt cold and clammy again despite the abundant indoor heating. They wouldn’t listen to him, and neither would his arms, or his legs. Fuck.

All he could do was close his eyes and let out a broken, choppy exhale, then breathe in again just as disjointedly, and then breathe out the same way again until his senses returned just enough for him to turn his face away and hide, driven by nothing but a broken, primal conviction to save the remnants of his crumbling pride. Whatever insults he wanted to say, they were stuck in his throat, burning himself instead.

Why was he losing control like this?

Maybe it was the cold.

Maybe it was because he didn’t get enough sunlight.

Maybe it was because he felt tired and clammy.

Winter was truly the worst.

‘If only this month didn’t exist… then I…’

He pinched himself, hard.

‘How.. pathetic…’

Kaiser had no idea what expression he was making, but when he finally peeled his eyelids back open, he figured it must’ve been a pitiful one, seeing Isagi’s reaction. The boy had subconsciously moved backwards with cautiously widened eyes.

“...sorry…” Isagi said quickly. He probably had no idea what he was apologising for, but he must’ve understood at that moment that he overstepped somehow. He was always observant and had a keen eye for detail, often reading other people like some kind of psychic. He had probably felt that something was off since earlier, or maybe even from the moment he offered up unjustified kindness and invited Kaiser over.

“Look, I got suspended,” Kaiser finally blurted out before he could stop himself. The words he had swallowed down for so long simply burst out of him and occupied the dead air that they had created. And once it came out, he could no longer take it back or pretend it wasn’t intentional. He helplessly doubled down. “There, are you happy now? You’re being annoying so I’m just saying it. Shitty— shitting– fucker…”

Isagi finally shut up, and if Kaiser were in any mood, he would’ve made a mocking comment about it, because God, how ridiculously football-minded did one have to be to only take the hint when it was being spelled out in football terms? But he honestly didn’t have any right to criticise. It was because, to people like them, especially people like Kaiser, there was no news worse than being taken off the team. Both of them had put their everything into football—for Kaiser, mainly because it was an escape from his horrible circumstances, whereas Isagi evidently had different and less toxic motivations—but whatever reason it was, they both couldn’t afford to lose, lest they would lose themselves. Despite all their differences, this was something he felt only they could understand, and it was probably the only way they could understand each other.

“It’s temporary,” he added slightly later, uncomfortably averting his face from Isagi’s dauntingly heavy gaze. “It was Ness’ shitty idea… Did you really think they’d let me go? You are really stupid.”

“Is everything alright?” Isagi ventured to ask after a while, taking a step forward. But then, his eyes widened as he seemingly caught himself, and he took a step back, recoiling back into himself with one arm nervously crossed over his abdomen and fiddling with the loose skin on his elbow. “Look, I… don’t really know Ness that well so I guess I can’t say much, but, he seems to care about you, and he’s known you for much longer. If he thinks you need a break, maybe something is up and… maybe you need to recover?”

“Why would things not be fucking alright?” Kaiser snapped, turning around for added effect, but the aggression died out the moment his voice left his lips. He was simply tired. How tiring. In his carelessness, he had gotten himself into another mess, with his rival now trying to intrude on his personal life and actually trying to sympathise with him.

As if he ever could.

“I’m leaving. Don’t start to look down on me, clown.” Kaiser shook his head and nonchalantly waved Isagi off, resuming his path out of the house as though he had not been interrupted.

Kaiser had put some distance between them, but after a moment of contemplation, Isagi scurried after him, taking many small but quick steps until they were a few steps away from each other again. “Wait—Add me on Line,” he pestered him again.

Kaiser was at a loss for words. How could someone have so much audacity? How could someone be so irritatingly persistent? And why would he ask for Kaiser’s contact?

“Why the fuck would I have Line??? The answer is no.”

“Alright,” Isagi huffed, crossing his arms. “I’m taking my earbud back then.”

Kaiser stared at him with an expression of disbelief. His mood was almost improving due to how ridiculous Isagi was being. He weighed his options. Kaiser was proud, but he had just learned a lesson about getting around a country where nobody speaks your language. If he somehow got lost again and couldn’t communicate with anyone, and had to end up somehow begging Isagi for help again, it would truly be the end of him, so he defeatedly sighed and let Isagi take his phone, download the stupid app, set up an account and add himself as a contact.

“Text me when you leave. I only have one pair of these earbuds and I’m not letting you steal them, they're worth real money,” Isagi reminded him as he left through the front door.

As Kaiser left, he contemplated whether he should just reschedule his flight back to Germany for tomorrow.

He decided against it.

He never thought he would say this, but Germany was possibly worse than Isagi Yoichi.

Yes. Remembering his shitty dorm, remembering his team, remembering Ness, he suppressed the increasing urge to just ditch this country and make another impulse flight ticket purchase back home.

Japan was okay, Japan was good as long as he minded his own business and didn’t have any more run-ins with Isagi. Instead of being cooped up in his room reading books or scrolling on the internet, or practicing under a bridge in the icy weather while trying not to think about his ongoing suspension, he could at least go to the spa, eat food and work out at the gym, finally putting his insanely generous salary to use. Some people could recognise him, but if he pulled on a hoodie and a black mask, he would be left alone. He could live with this.

But of course, his day had to be ruined somehow. Today, it happened in the form of an unwanted text message.

Amazing and Great Isagi Yoichi

Hey

Kaiser

Do you have anything going on

Do you wanna practice playing with me?

Kaiser initially chose to turn off his phone and slam the screen flat onto the table, closing his eyes and pulling his lips taut into an unimpressed flat line. Of course Isagi Yoichi thought about the fact that Kaiser was free; he was always thinking about things and being up to no good. There was no better way to deal with him than to just ignore him.

He would have stuck to that decision if the contents of the text message weren’t constantly floating around in his head as he went about his day. First, he broke his bottom line by opening the app in the first place, but it was just to change that stupid clown’s nickname back to what it should’ve been from the start. Then after another few excruciating hours of uncontrolled thinking, he opened the app again to type out a response.

Piece of shit Yoichi

No

Why

Why are you inviting me?

Because I am so nice

We’ll be future teammates anyway. I need to observe your training regimen. I refuse to fall behind

No, you freak.

Aren’t you bored?? :/ You’re doing nothing anyway. Think of how productive we could be together.

You don't want to see what new tricks I've been working on?

Where

I knew you’d agree eventually

Do not test me Yoichi

📍[Location attached]

Meet me at the gate. Will sneak you in

K

Just like that, he disrupted his day of relaxation and headed over to who knows where.

Kaiser watched through the taxi window as he neared at a high school’s entrance. He had mentally prepared himself for the possibility that Isagi had actually invited him to his high school given the location he was sent, though not without doing a double take, but as they pulled closer, he couldn’t help but feel strange.

Kaiser didn’t go to school. The last time he stepped foot into a proper one must have been almost a decade ago. It was a weird, foreign feeling to be stepping foot into one now, and as an outsider, at that.

He straightened his jacket, chewed his lip and took a deep breath, and then got off the cab. The moment he locked eyes with Isagi, he wore his signature haughty, disdainful smile and nonchalantly raised one hand in a half-hearted wave.

“Hey, blind bat, I’m here,” he said through a breathy laugh.

With that start, whatever pleasantness Isagi had in him vanished immediately, and he pressed his lips into a tight, unimpressed smile.

“I know. I saw you,” Isagi replied with a similarly fake and threatening laugh. “Don’t make me regret this immediately.”

“It would be your loss. After all, all you do is copy from me, but you’re just the walmart version," Kaiser taunted. “So, is this your school?”

“Yeah,” Isagi said. “We’re not supposed to be here, but the guards left one of the gates open for me.”

It was something that Kaiser had already thought about on his way here. As far as he was aware from Ness’ recounts of his upbringing, winter breaks should’ve started by now, but it was still a pleasant surprise to hear the golden boy himself admit to his sneaky misdeeds.

Kaiser cocked his head sideways, amused. “Didn’t take you for the delinquent type, Yoichi.”

Isagi held up his palms in denial, feigning a shocked, almost even offended expression. “It’s not trespassing, it’s proactively making the most of school resources to further your career,” he drawled out every word with a shit-eating grin plastered to his face. “Besides, they technically know about it. Well, the guards do.”

“And this is who they call Japan’s sweetheart,” Kaiser shook his head disapprovingly.

“That’s just a label the media put on me, it’s not my fault they see it that way.”

They soon arrived at an empty court, and Kaiser threw his bag onto the ground.

“So,” Isagi demanded boldly. “You on?”

“What do you think?”

And so, a fiery training session began.

Training with Isagi was admittedly… alright.

Kaiser initially planned to just check out his rival’s activities as a one-off occasion, but at the end of the day when they were both sitting on the ground huffing after a rewarding session, all warmed up, Isagi casually offered. Kaiser, at the time, had responded “I’ll keep it in mind,” but as if it was as natural as breathing, he showed up the next day, and just as naturally, his rival didn’t question it either.

In his defense, it wasn’t really training with Isagi that he came back for. It was training that happened to involve Isagi, because Kaiser had nowhere else to go. He hated to admit it, but he was doing a poor job of handling his emotions during this unwanted ‘mental health break’ that he had basically been forced to go on. He was antsy, uneasy, and constantly on-edge, suddenly going from a packed schedule to doing nothing at all, but he couldn’t do anything about it, having left his equipment back in Germany. He also didn’t feel pathetic enough to buy new cleats and a new ball just to practice alone like some miserable loser. So his other option—coexisting with Isagi (and also stealing his pair of old, worn-out cleats)—was far more acceptable. And it wasn’t charity either, because he knew that Isagi was learning something from the experience, constantly keeping an eye on what Kaiser was doing, trying to figure out something, though no one would ever know what mysterious puzzle he was piecing together in his head. Either way, that was fine by Kaiser since he could conveniently rationalise the new arrangement as a comfortable symbiotic relationship where both parties were just using each other to get what they want. Nothing more, nothing less.

Over a few days, they had gotten into something of a routine. Isagi would text him the location without a word each day after lunch, and Kaiser would show up just as wordlessly, then they would practice together for a few hours until the night wind started becoming too bothersome and cold, then they’d call it a day.

It was on Christmas eve that a breakthrough finally came.

“Hey, Kaiser?” Isagi had said to him, weirdly earnest and serious. It wasn’t like the way he normally called Kaiser when he was asking for something or trying to catch his attention or just looking for an opportunity to annoy Kaiser.

Kaiser noticed, though he outwardly wore his usual nonchalance.

“What?” he responded casually.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

Kaiser instinctively frowned.

If he were any less confused, he might have immediately rolled his eyes.

“As always, I am?”

“Well,” Isagi started, then paused. Kaiser watched him suck his lips in, nibbling at them as he blinked a few times while concentrating on nothing in particular, dissociating into another dimension, presumably.

“What is it?” Kaiser huffed, rolling his eyes. “Just spit it out, Yoichi. Your wishy-washyness is annoying me.”

“Gee, would it kill you to be less mean?” Isagi protested with a glare. But he was always the bigger person between the two of them, so he let it pass naturally as if it were a faint breeze. “I was thinking, there’s a Christmas market that’s open and everyone’s going. Well, I was planning on going tomorrow. Wanna come with?”

At first, Kaiser was thrown off, but he quickly processed Isagi’s words, extracted the implications out of it, and then proceeded to deploy a full-body laugh.

“What is this? A date?” he chortled boisterously, leaning in towards Isagi just so he could viciously cackle right into his face, much to the other boy’s annoyance. “And you even got all shy before asking. Aww, how sweet. We’ve come so far since we first met.”

“Wha– I didn’t– that’s not—!” Isagi stumbled over his words helplessly, clenching his teeth back at Kaiser as he got caught in a flustered temper. Finally, he sighed loudly and restarted his engines. “I was not shy. It was because I knew you would act sarcastic and rude, and you proved me right.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Whatever you say,” Kaiser continued to laugh loudly, not caring at all for Isagi’s embarrassment.

“I was just offering, okay?” Isagi huffed with a small hint of a pout. “It’s Christmas tomorrow. You don’t seriously just plan on coming here and practicing all day, do you?”

Christmas?

It was strange. Since Kaiser arrived, he had stopped keeping track of time. He was vaguely aware that it was the month of Christmas, but he almost couldn’t believe that it was almost Christmas day already.

It was the time of year that his teammates would give each other gifts and ask each other about their plans and suggest getting drinks together like it was a ritual, or something like that. Kaiser didn’t really know. People had stopped asking him to go to such events after he got pissed enough to kick one of them in the stomach a few years back, which ended up in a pretty serious fight that escalated up to the management team. Over time, people stopped hanging out with him in general. His only company during this season was Ness, but maybe that didn’t count. The situation was complicated.

Ness wasn’t the same as him. Well, mostly. He was on more amicable terms with the rest, but after that stunt Kaiser pulled, Ness also stopped joining the Christmas gatherings, instead simply exchanging pleasantries with his teammates and waving them off for their end-of-year festivities. But that didn’t mean he was hanging out with Kaiser either. The first year, he offered to accompany Kaiser in his room, and was promptly rejected at the door because Kaiser wouldn’t even consider the idea of spending Christmas with Ness. Despite this, each year afterwards, he still chose to spend Christmas alone in the dorm along with Kaiser out of some messed up, irrational solidarity which Kaiser didn’t even know how to appreciate. He found it annoying, overbearing, irritating, a nuisance, and a complete waste of time. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Was it mockery? Pity? Or was he just stupidly stubborn?

It was just another reason to hate the holiday.

After a while without a response, Isagi sighed. “Well just to let you know, I’m not gonna come here tomorrow because I have plans for the whole day, and like, you can still come, but I won’t come. And I was thinking, you probably have nothing going on besides coming here to train with me, and that’s no way to spend Christmas.”

Kaiser reflexively scowled when he heard his explanation. “I told you not to pity me.”

It was just like Ness. He was just like Ness and every other person who tried to invite him out, or give him a gift, or save a seat for him at lunch. It was the same as the grown-ups who looked at him differently after learning about his situation. They looked down at a trampled rose lying under trash and filth, and felt sorry that it existed in spite of everything. He was sure of it.

“I don’t pity you,” Isagi said sternly, responding almost as quickly. His eyebrows were knitted with confusion and concern.

Kaiser blinked.

“I don’t know if you know about this, but it’s called doing nice things and not being a horrible person,” he sarcastically explained as if it were obvious, never dropping that deeply baffled frown of a person who was clearly raised in a better environment and couldn’t begin to understand Kaiser’s oddities. “But whatever. Take it or leave it. It’s nothing serious,” he threw his hands up defeatedly. “I just thought you’d be interested. Aren’t Christmas markets a German thing?”

Kaiser blinked again. And then he exhaled, eyes softening and lips tugging into something just short of a smile.

Isagi Yoichi was so interesting. He had thought about how Christmas markets are German, remembered that Michael Kaiser is also German, and linked the two things together ever so naturally. And not only did he make that frivolous and offensive elementary-level association, but he even had the guts to bring it up to Kaiser himself with utmost sincerity, not even considering how juvenile he sounded.

As if Isagi noticed Kaiser’s quiet amusement, he actually started feeling self conscious. “What? Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re right. I am aware of their existence,” Kaiser hummed nonchalantly, purposely mocking Isagi’s flustered state.

“Then don’t gaslight me,” he hissed angrily. After he muttered a few more curses under his breath, he finally stopped and turned to face Kaiser, crossing his arms at him seriously. “You haven’t answered me yet. Are you interested?”

Hm.

Coming to think of it, there was actually one other year when Ness approached Kaiser about hanging out on Christmas. It was a Christmas market then too. They were 16 years old that year. Ness said something about fun and holiday spirit, and proceeded to whine and whine about how Kaiser needed to leave his room.

Kaiser rejected him instantly and shut the door on him again.

But something about this time made Kaiser give it some thought. Perhaps it was Isagi’s candidness and the casual flow of the conversation that slowly lulled him into lowering his guard and entertaining this suggestion, even if just a little bit.

Still Kaiser didn’t have any reason to stick around with his rival, and he could have simply said no, but…

“Text me a place and a time,” he finally decided, but upon seeing Isagi immediately light up with excitement, he quickly added, “It’s only so I can know, just in case I’m really bored and need to see your face of despair to feel better.”

Isagi’s expression didn’t falter. After all, he was starting to get familiar with the sound of Kaiser’s prideful dishonesty, and he could begin to discern the moments when his ego was speaking over his heart. But fortunately, he chose not to give Kaiser too much trouble about it, unlike the way Kaiser held onto Isagi’s every flaw or slip-up and relentlessly bullied him about it. He was always the better person out of the pair, and Kaiser really had to thank him for it.

After exchanging a few more words, they called it for the day and headed off. Kaiser returned to his hotel feeling an inexplicable whirr in his chest and a fuzzy feeling he couldn’t put a finger on.

He went to sleep, not thinking about the feeling of his cold, uncomfortable bedsheets for the first time since arriving.

He finally decided he’d go.

This time, Kaiser would admit that he made the decision to entertain Isagi’s proposition consciously—no cold weather-induced shitty moods or vitamin deficiencies or drowsiness to blame. As he had predicted, it was mainly because he got bored and had nothing better to do. At least, if he hung out with Isagi, he could get opportunities to poke fun at the boy and knock him down a peg for his own sadistic enjoyment, surely.

He started to regret his decision, though, when he neared the address Isagi had texted him and saw an endless stream of people converging from different directions. At first, he was bewildered and slightly skeptical, believing that maybe it was just a popular area to hang out, but as he got closer and the crowd only got bigger, he could only accept that all these people were headed towards the same location he was.

Piece of shit Yoichi

I see you

Kaiser looked up, and sure enough, Isagi was standing a few meters away from him. He was dressed up and down in thick, fluffy winter clothing, and his slightly rounder, puffed-up figure gave away that several more layers were tucked underneath. On top of that, he was wrapped by a large checkered scarf and topped off by a beanie.

The boy noticed him returning eye contact and waved at him with big, expressive movements before entering a light jog, approaching him.

“Hey, you made it,” Isagi hummed. A small puff of air left his mouth and manifested into a half-translucent white cloud as he spoke.

“Yeah, I said I was gonna come.” Kaiser shrugged him off. Still, Isagi didn’t lose his warm, giddy smile.

Isagi started walking, occasionally sneaking expectant looks back at him to check he was still behind him.

“You know, I was slightly convinced you would just bail and maybe it was just another one of your sick pranks when you said you were actually here,” Isagi laughed to himself. “If you didn’t come, I really would’ve just gone alone. So I’m glad, Kaiser.”

Kaiser’s gait got muddled for a moment when he heard this. To be very honest, something in him stirred up in a weird way knowing that Isagi was being so candid and open about his thoughts, but at the same time, it wasn’t fully unwelcome either, so he just didn’t respond.

Isagi didn’t seem to mind. They continued walking in silence until they reached what seemed like the end of the line and stopped there, where they continued to stand silently.

As it dragged on, it started to irk Kaiser again, and it dawned on him that the two of them hardly ever spoke to each other unless it was about football, or unless they were at each other’s throats with death threats at the tip of their tongues, only held back by the panicking bystanders. Waiting in line to go to an attraction with his rival was not part of the normal protocol, so he suddenly found himself at a loss as to what to do. After debating it for a while, Kaiser finally decided to take out his phone and open social media to pass time. Isagi observed him from the side and mirrored him. Seeing this, Kaiser relaxed and started to zone out.

At some point, Isagi suddenly inched over and stuck his head out between Kaiser and his phone, confusing him.

Isagi turned back to him and squinted one eye questioningly. “You watch magical girl anime?”

“What the fuck? No! That’s– Ness! He puts that shit on my feed all the time,” Kaiser spluttered, scrolling past quickly before hurriedly shutting his phone and yanking it out of Isagi’s sight, tucking it into his pocket for good measure. “Can you not peep at my screen?”

“I wasn’t trying to snoop. I’m practicing this new thing called off-the-field metavision.” Isagi had to hide his smile behind his mittens to pretend he wasn’t cracking up as he earnestly lied out of his ass, but his crinkled eye-smile revealed everything.

Kaiser elbowed him in the rib, throwing him off balance and earning a loud ‘oof’ from him, but Isagi just kept laughing. He got up and nudged Kaiser back with his whole body. Kaiser’s nostrils flared and he heatedly raised his hand to swat the boy away, only to be interrupted.

“Hey, hey, stop! We’re here.”

Kaiser frowned and stopped his motions, turning to see for himself. The ticketing gate was finally in sight, and the employees were staring at them weird for the commotion they were making.

“Took long enough.” He shrugged.

Isagi took over, going ahead to handle the tickets. The boy fluently navigated the whole interaction, happily engaging in small talk with the staff as he sifted through his wallet for cash. Holiday greetings were passed around the air like oxygen by each staff member he talked to, almost to a suffocating extent in Kaiser’s opinion, but Isagi naturally returned them and mirrored their excitement.

Finally, Isagi tapped him and gestured him forward, ushering him through a turnstile. “I’m with him,” he spoke to the staff member who nodded back at him. “You know, the wait wasn’t too bad, I guess. I remembered it was worse before. Last time I came, I think it was like, over 40 minutes? Pretty ridiculous, but that’s what happens when you come on Christmas day,” he blabbered as he walked ahead with Kaiser following closely behind again, only pausing when they arrived at the main entrance of the market.

Isagi stopped to take in the sight, marvelling in awe at just how bright and busy the market was. People were all over the place, taking selfies in front of every single decoration, laughing and chatting with their friends and family, trudging around with bags of holiday souvenirs. A group of excited children ran past them, closely followed by their worried parents with several plates of food in hand. It was the spitting image of Christmas down to its essence.

“This is it,” he commented with a fond smile. “Pretty neat, right?”

There was no response.

Come to think of it, this whole time, Isagi had just been chatting away by himself and immersing himself fully into the festive, jovial atmosphere without thinking much about his company, but he did now feel that Kaiser had been oddly quiet the whole time. Sensing that something was off, Isagi carefully glanced over at Kaiser, and almost immediately guffawed at what he saw.

Kaiser was gawking at everything with an expression that could only be described as complicated, a muddled midpoint somewhere between aghast, overwhelmed, confused and unimpressed. Isagi followed the direction of his gaze across the market, first landing on the mini dancing penguins and polar bears sitting atop a spinning carousel at the center of the market, then the fairy lights spanning across the entire sky in a tangling net, then the hyperrealistic reindeer and colorful banners and streamers covering each stall, and then– was that an animatronic Santa Claus figure waving at people??

He was visibly at a total loss for words, his face locked in a half grimace and his jaw hung open as he made a struggle-ridden attempt to understand the chaotic visual inputs.

“Um… welcome to the Saitama Christmas market, I guess,” Isagi deadpanned unconfidently through pursed lips, half-heartedly throwing up cheerful jazz hands that didn’t match his expression. Then, he let out a performatively loud sigh and gave Kaiser a pointed, exasperated look. “See, I warned you not to expect it to be exactly the same as home. I don’t know what you were thinking it would be, but this is what I grew up with, and actually? I think it’s great! This is great!”

Kaiser evidently did not share his sentiment at all. “God,” he muttered under his breath. “Is it always so… commercial?”

“Okay, care to enlighten everyone what’s it supposed to look like?”

“I don’t know!”

Isagi shot him a long, judgemental stare. “Well, well, well. Looks like the Christmas market police doesn’t even know what he’s talking about,” he sang sarcastically.

Kaiser ignored him.

He closed his eyes, shutting out the world around him as he peeled back layers of thoughts and memories until he landed on a specific scene from a wistfully distant memory, so old that he could only see it through blurred splashes of color and dancing flickers of lens flare. His senses dulled and the world seemingly slowed down.

“Muted colours,” he said abruptly, catching Isagi off guard and making him lose his joking defensiveness. Kaiser continued as the images flashed in his mind, paying Isagi no mind. “Warmer, more golds and browns, or darker, less vibrant greens and reds.”

His words revealed nothing, but his deeply pensive expression spoke a vague, unnamed melancholy which didn’t go unnoticed. Isagi listened attentively, subconsciously slowing down his breathing to match Kaiser’s rhythm.

“Hollies, ferns. Snow on the ground. Lively and bustling, but not as busy as it is here,” he added with an imperceptible hint of a smile. Then, he shook his head and shuddered as if to dust off the remnants of those fragmented memories. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time. I don’t really go to these things.”

Isagi tilted his head slightly, thinking to himself. “Well,” he started with a gentle, tender tone. “I suppose nothing will ever be the same as home, but we can enjoy the night if you’re still in. Wanna go in and take a stroll around?”

Kaiser’s prickly spikes and thorns gradually came back out, standing up out like a defensive stray cat’s fur. “Can I say no?” he retorted.

Isagi grinned. “Let’s go.”

“Is every stall seriously selling the same thing at the same price?” was Kaiser’s final conclusion after a quiet and uneventful walk around the vicinity. They had managed to loop around the whole market and ended up back where they had entered, standing in the exact same spot next to a massive glowing sign saying ‘Saitama 2020 Christmas Market’ which locals and tourists alike were lining up next to for photo taking.

“I suppose they have to make money somehow,” Isagi said. He had honestly not thought too much about this. The last time he had come to the Christmas market, he was much younger and didn’t have the mind to overthink the experience when there were far more distracting sparkly fairy lights all over the place. He only recalled that he liked it, though he was slightly overstimulated by the end of the night, just like what he felt about his first football game.

“This is so horrible and sad. And we even had to wait for twenty minutes to get in.” Kaiser shook his head pretentiously just for Isagi to see.

“Maybe if you brightened up instead of being a Negative Nancy and complaining about everything, you would be able to enjoy it a little.” Isagi grit his teeth in irritation, though it lacked any real bite to it. “Are you gonna find something to eat or would you rather starve?”

There was really no option, so Kaiser let Isagi decide. The other boy walked up to a random store of his liking, happily greeted the stall owner and exchanged a few words with him before handing over a few bills. Soon, he returned with a hot, steamy plate of food and set it down on the table, sitting across from Kaiser. He pushed it over so it was in the middle of the table and extended a wooden fork and knife to Kaiser.

“Thanks,” he responded absentmindedly. But he didn’t touch the food just yet, instead opting to inspect it carefully.

After a while, Isagi stopped and tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

Kaiser just chuckled and laid his head on his palm. “This is a pretty sorry excuse for a sausage,” he said while poking the poor sausage with his fork. It almost rolled off the flimsy paper plate, but Isagi quickly caught it with his own fork, and when Kaiser looked up, he was met with an unimpressed glare.

“Don’t play with your food. And also, food is food. Is it ever that bad?” he chided with a stern frown. “You don’t even have any idea what Ego was feeding to me in the early days of the project. You would have starved to death.”

Why wouldn’t Kaiser know what it was like eating whatever bullshit you could scrape together out of unwanted scraps? But the thought of the pampered Isagi Yoichi suffering from his idea of ‘prison food’ and trying to teach Michael Kaiser (of all people) gratefulness just made him laugh even more, thoroughly entertained by the whole situation. He wanted to push it further. “Oh Yoichi, you’ve never seen a real sausage in your life if you think this is edible,” he chimed as he popped a cleanly cut chunk into his mouth, happily musing at Isagi’s irritation. The sausage wasn’t even that bad—he’d had worse food in his life—but it wasn’t important anymore in the face of pure entertainment. “Next time, when you come over, I’ll show you real German food."

Upon hearing this, Isagi’s eyes darted towards him. The two made brief eye contact before the other boy averted his gaze back to his food and returned to eating as if nothing happened.

It didn’t take long for Kaiser to catch his own slip up too. Even though it wasn’t how he meant it, what he said was basically a direct offer to hang out again, and it was uncharacteristic of himself. But now that he had made the offer, it was too late to back out. He could only pridefully double down on the act and try his best to pretend his feathers weren’t ruffled by this mistake.

“What? You’re gonna come and join the team anyway. But if you’re thinking of quitting, by all means, be my guest. Your absence will be one less nuisance for me.”

It was abrasive—his staple response mechanism when he was flustered—and he was well aware of it the moment it came out. He was also aware that anyone else might have gotten sick of him eventually and stormed away, with the very rare exception of Ness who just quietly tolerated his insults. But for some strange reason, it was different with Isagi. Hearing Kaiser’s rude comment, Isagi had actually relaxed again.

Maybe it was because, at some point during this week unbeknownst to Kaiser, Isagi had stopped taking his insults seriously, and maybe Kaiser had stopped fully meaning them too. An outsider could call it messed up, but this casual banter had become their norm, something only they could understand.

“Fine, I’ll take up your offer, but you better take me to the good places. If you take me to some tourist trap, I’ll start each day doing my practice drills using your skull as a replacement for the ball.” Isagi leaned over the table, wearing an adventurous, provoking smirk.

“I’ll make sure to show you all the worst tourist traps ever and help them scam all the money out of you, then.”

“Screw you.” Laughter bubbled out of Isagi’s throat, and Kaiser unknowingly smiled too.

Then, Isagi finished the last piece of food and pushed the empty plate away.

“Wanna walk around again?”

Kaiser huffed with loud sarcasm. “It’s really your call. You’re the one who actually wants to be here.”

Isagi ignored him again. He pushed past Kaiser and scanned the market with squinted eyes, finally brightening up when he caught a glimpse of light in another area away from the main food market.

“Let’s go over there.” He pointed over excitedly.

“Sure.”

A short walk took them to a smaller, less busy street populated by little wooden huts, and Kaiser recognised it as the designated souvenir and decor area, which was pretty standard in Germany as well, as far as he knew. An array of small pop-up shops offered different options like handcrafted garlands and wreaths, dazzling ornaments, holiday-themed chocolates, teas and truffles, and even life-sized snowman and reindeer figures made of interweaving grapevines and LED lights.

Isagi immediately got carried away, drifting towards the different stores as if he were magnetized. Kaiser followed behind him with a mildly disapproving but fond gaze.

Just as he finally caught up, Isagi’s attention was sucked away by some other store.

“Wait, I want to look over there.” Isagi waved his whole mitten towards the direction of a shop that had signage reading ‘Christmas gifts and souvenirs’.

“Suit yourself,” Kaiser shrugged. He wasn’t exactly sure why Isagi was asking as if he needed his permission. He had forced him along all this way without a care anyway.

But Kaiser completely lost his nonchalant expression when he felt a warm, soft hand slip past the side of his waist and intertwine with his arm, followed by a light tug forward.

Startled and dumbstruck, Kaiser’s head snapped towards Isagi, staring at him as if he had grown a second head, and he stood completely frozen in place without budging at all, as if his shoes were nailed tight to the floor, which forced the other boy to get tugged backwards too.

Isagi stumbled at the unexpected force but quickly regained his balance. He clearly didn’t recover from his confusion, though, and looked back at Kaiser puzzledly. That was, until his mind finally processed the glaring issue, and he fiercely yanked his arm out of Kaiser’s with such embarrassment, it was as if he weren’t the one who had put it there in the first place.

It was probably Kaiser’s first time seeing Isagi so flustered. Sure, he regularly broke down the boy’s defenses and got on his nerves with his casanova charisma and shameless, bold-faced teasing (or as others would sometimes describe it: ‘flirting’), but the reactions he got out of Isagi from that were never on this level. Even though it was somewhat hard to discern through his natural cold-weather flush, Isagi was properly cherry red from mortification at his own careless, brazen actions, and he had even physically turned away in attempt to hide this fact, but his pink ears and the shameful awkwardness that radiated through every last bone of his body betrayed him mercilessly.

“Sorry,” he murmured breathlessly, refusing to meet Kaiser’s eyes.

It was strange. Despite it being the ultimate wet dream to wrangle this much despair out of Isagi, upon seeing it in real life, Kaiser instead felt an indescribable pity for him. He found it exceptionally weird that Isagi would link hands with him, but it didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

Besides, this was probably more normal for Isagi. He probably acted more like this—excited, touchy, bubbly—when he was around other people he associated with; for example, there was that dribbling bee boy who went off to the Spanish team during the project, who Kaiser had seen with Isagi a couple of times. It was likely the first time he had to interact with someone as abnormal as himself who seemingly despised humanity in its essence and was so evil and loveless that he wouldn’t even jump in for a victory hug with his teammates after an intense and hard-earned win.

It made sense. He could let this slip.

“It’s fine,” he replied awkwardly, though he tried his best to sound earnest in order to placate the other boy. “Anyway, let’s go take a look.”

“W..what?”

With the way Isagi was staring at him like a lost lamb, standing completely stiff and knitting his eyebrows subconsciously in all his embarrassment– Shit, it could only be described in one way: cute.

Kaiser physically held back the guffaw that would have escaped his lips had he not unprecedentedly found the conscience in him to be nice.

“At the shop, Yoichi. We can look at the shop—the one you wanted to look at?” he repeated.

“Oh. Right.”

But even then, Isagi didn’t stop standing there uselessly. Kaiser shook his head lightly and decided he would walk ahead first this time, letting Isagi cool off and grace Kaiser with his presence again when his vaporising soul finally decided to return to the mortal world.

Behind him, Isagi still hesitated for a moment, looking at Kaiser in contemplation, with slightly raised eyebrows and just-parted lips.

To be fair, it wasn’t all just Isagi being scatterbrained after humiliating himself. The unusual behaviour that Kaiser exhibited afterward really put the nail in the coffin and made his CPU short-circuit completely. It wasn’t that Isagi actually had any concrete information on how Kaiser would react if they were to make physical contact like they just did, but the only reason why he didn’t have that knowledge was because the concept of doing so was simply bizarre; there was no universe in which Kaiser didn’t violently throw him off, call him an annoying pest and tell him to get lost. In fact, in Isagi’s mind, Kaiser could have even tackled him to the ground and strangled him for good measure. And yet, there they were, brushing past this awkward mishap casually, like a pair of bashful high school lovers brushing hands for the first time.

Isagi ducked his chin into his scarf to conceal the upcurve of his lips and the soft rosiness on his cheeks before making a small jog to catch up.

Kaiser had already entered the store, so Isagi followed suit, treading softly on the wooden step at the front door and ducking through the doorway to get inside where the older boy was already waiting expectantly.

The shop was slightly dim but cozy, illuminated in warm golds. It was compact, but the store space was well-used, with hundreds of little trinkets and Christmas gifts scattered across the shelves, displays, and some even hung up.

“Anything you wanted?” Kaiser asked him.

“Not really, I just figured I could find something nice here since I'm behind on my Christmas shopping. I couldn't figure out what to get everyone,” Isagi lamented with a sigh. He picked up a small decorated pinecone off the first shelf they passed by and joyfully waved it in front of Kaiser. “This is the kind of stuff Bachira would get all cheesed about– Wait. Do you remember Bachira?” He stopped mid sentence to glance at Kaiser.

“Yellow streaks? Of course.” Kaiser rolled his eyes. “I’m not stupid.”

“Didn’t say that~” Isagi immediately bit back, with his eyebrows raised in annoyance.

It forced Kaiser to shut up.

He was… right. Kaiser had a bad habit of assuming the worst and getting defensive, especially when it was totally uncalled for.

Isagi brushed him off as he usually did and walked off into a different area of the shop on his own while Kaiser stood still, deep in thought.

Kaiser wondered why he did that, sometimes. His behaviour was usually left unchecked and allowed to run wild because normally, no one around him had the guts to stand up to him. But late at night, in the comfort of his own room and his fort of psychology books, he did occasionally reflect on himself and wonder why he got riled up over the smallest nothings, why he could never tame those unkempt frustrations that stuck out like flyaways in his otherwise perfectly groomed exterior.

He used to rationalise it to himself, explaining that everything that got on his nerves warranted that reaction, and his judgement was absolute. But he was wrong. He miscalculated.

Ness, it all came back to Ness. From Kaiser’s perspective, their relationship was founded on a transactional basis to begin with. But it was true that Ness was kind to him, and over the years, they did share some fond memories of youth. But like Isagi had told him, Kaiser marked Ness as special, in that he was specially worthless, and everything that came out of his mouth was a waste of time. It wasn’t always like that, but it had been that way for too long for him to remember, and past a certain point, he was no longer tactically manipulating him like he thought, but just emptying his bottomless fury onto him and carelessly dismissing his ideas. But Ness was capable of surprising him too. Sometimes, more often than Kaiser could admit, Ness was right.

On that topic, he knew Ness had been really upset at him after their last fight. It was the first time in all their years of knowing each other that Ness had ignored him for more than one day. At the time, Kaiser had blown up at him, stubbornly insisting that he didn’t need a break and he didn’t need Ness’ pity, and he didn’t listen to Ness’ explanations. Then, Ness had stopped talking to him or even acknowledging his presence. They played as usual on the field, but the moment Kaiser came up to him afterwards to talk about something, Ness turned away. Usually, he would forget to be angry and soon come running back to Kaiser, but he turned away at the cafeteria too, and then again when they bumped into each other going back to the dorm, and this continued on for a whole week up until the point Kaiser left the country. He also hadn’t texted or called to ask where he had gone off to, or how he was doing. For the first time, it really was complete radio silence from him.

Kaiser had to admit, it was unsettling. Something about the idea of losing control over Ness—the one unshakeable constant in his life—rattled him. Though he ideologically didn’t feel like Ness was truly all that important to himself (and really, everything they went through, he could have gone through with any other weak-minded target who happened to cross paths with him), the undoubted truth was that he now occupied an important space in Kaiser’s life, and Kaiser didn’t fully know what to make of his absence.

Kaiser absentmindedly picked up a snow globe with a snowman which was wearing a pointy little hat and striped scarf, and gave it a light shake. His eyes followed the falling mix of artificial snow and golden star-shaped glitter that frolicked and danced inside the dome like magic itself until it gradually settled down.

‘But maybe it was for the best. It was about time he started thinking for himself. I’m tired of telling him what to do all the time as well,’ he thought to himself pensively.

“Hey.” Isagi suddenly showed up behind him, startling him into letting the snow globe slip out of his hands, though he fortunately managed to catch it before it crashed into the floor. Isagi smiled apologetically before continuing. “I’m done shopping.” He held up an armful of festive red bags covered in holiday-themed designs. “Are you getting anything?”

Only then did Kaiser become conscious that it looked like he had taken an interest in that childish snowglobe and instinctively wanted to deny it, but by then, Isagi was already staring a hole into it, giving him no option. So he forced a sound of vague agreement out and dragged himself to the cashier, pulling out his wallet from his coat pocket. He didn’t really care; it was a small price to pay in exchange for not having to explain why he was holding it in the first place. He made the purchase swiftly, and turned back around to meet Isagi’s eyes again.

Isagi gave him a gentle nod, and they made their way towards the exit.

The night grew long, and the two found themselves back at the benches near the food market, settled down over a cup of mulled wine and hot chocolate respectively.

“How is it?” Isagi asked.

Kaiser swirled the contents of the paper cup around disinterestedly, watching the dark red liquid slosh around inside. “It’s alright.”

“Don’t lie—it’s probably the most edible thing you’ve had all night, ‘cause at least it’s alcoholic, even if just barely,” Isagi joked, leaning sideways in amusement. 

Kaiser’s eyes briefly met Isagi’s before he looked back at his drink. “Not really. I don’t really drink,” he admitted offhandedly.

“For real? I thought people downed vodka like it’s water over there.”

“No, they do,” he said. “I just don’t like the taste of it.” Kaiser kept his eyes trained on the cup. A wistful solemnness emanated from him as he got lost in thought, tuning out the loud, colourful world around them.

Isagi nodded thoughtfully in mild understanding. He didn’t push the topic further.

They settled into quietness again, but this time, it was a cozy, comfortable silence. Kaiser finally stopped his trance and took a sip of his drink, then set it back down on the table, opting to rest his chin on his hand.

As his eyes dimmed while he took in his surroundings, the world seemed to slow around him. His eyes glossed over the cheesy, blazing tricolored flashing lights and shiny golden and silver ornaments adorning each branch of the Christmas tree at the center of the market. He observed as happy families and couples chattered away and sang out sounds of joy from every direction. Then, he narrowed his eyes and exhaled.

‘How stupid. It’s all stupid.’

He reverted his eyes to the cup in front of him.

‘This ridiculous, shitty market has brought together so many people and spread so much joy. These people don’t even know that they’re eating absolute dog shit that probably came out of a frozen packet, and for an inflated price, at that.’

It was all pointless to him. Everything was pointless.

‘They don’t know that Christmas isn’t even real and it's just an elaborate capitalist hoax, and these businesses are all just colluding to squeeze the absolute most money out of them by exploiting their stupidity.’

But suddenly, and extremely unexpectedly, his eyes softened with melancholy.

‘And yet, they’re happy.’

Another memory with Ness floated up from the depths of his mind. He remembered how Ness had said something about ‘seeing the magic’ in things, and how, at the time, Kaiser thought that was stupid too, just like how he thought this current scene was stupid.

But maybe, just maybe, it was the key to how all these regular families enjoyed each day without regrets.

‘And it’s what separates normal people from trash.’

An icy blast of cold wind blew past him. He bit his lip and gripped his delicate paper cup to prevent it from flying away.

“Crap, I’m getting kind of cold,” Isagi broke the silence, startling Kaiser. Then he yawned loudly, stretching out his arms in front of him. He smiled sheepishly. “This weather is making me sleepy.”.

“We can leave.” Kaiser began to stand up.

“..’re you done?” Isagi slurred, yawning again.

Kaiser hummed, no louder than a quiet buzz in the breeze.

“Let’s go, then.”

The two left through a small exit in a dim, inconspicuous corner behind one of the food stalls. They walked out back into the now-dark streets of Saitama, illuminated only by faint and spaced out amber street lamps, a stark difference from the dazzling, fantastical LEDs.

As they strolled wordlessly through the dim alley, Kaiser glanced backwards at the disappearing brightness behind him, and then at Isagi to his right.

“Where are we going?” he asked after a while.

Isagi turned on his phone to check the time. “It’s getting late, so maybe I’ll just call a cab for you. Don’t want you getting lost on the bus.”

“How thoughtful,” Kaiser sang sarcastically.

Isagi ignored it, though he made a point to throw a thoroughly unimpressed glare at Kaiser. He tapped away on his phone for a minute, then tucked it into his pocket.

“It’ll be 2 minutes,” he said, turning his face towards Kaiser. “So? How did you find the market?”

Kaiser pondered his response for a moment before answering: “It wasn’t completely intolerable.”

Isagi hummed defeatedly. “Well, at least you got to experience something new.”

“Yeah, I guess it was something new. It’s not every day you see a gigantic hyperrealistic santa figure waving like that,” Kaiser added, drawing laughter from Isagi’s throat.

“Alright, maybe that’s not exactly the norm everywhere. You know, the JFU were even about to erect a giant inflatable balloon of my head at some event—but, I thought it was super embarrassing, so I begged Anri-san and Ego-san to talk them out of it. And then they turned around and made it for Rin instead! And he was so pissed. They’ll make a jumbo figure out of anything.” His eyes crinkled as he giggled. Then, he settled down, and his eyes dimmed with a calm sense of content. “You know, now I really have to see what an authentic Christmas market looks like. You make it sound like it’s this whole other thing.”

“Obviously I was exaggerating, idiot,” Kaiser said. “But you can always see it for yourself next year. That is, if you don’t decide to fly back during the holidays.”

Isagi’s expression shifted from a mild, delighted surprise to playful smugness. “Is this another invitation? You know, I’m starting to think you actually enjoyed hanging out with me.” Isagi tilted his head and leaned in teasingly.

Kaiser rolled his eyes at him.

Unexpectedly, the two minutes had passed by in a breeze and the taxi arrived, swiftly pulling up in front of the lamppost they were standing by.

Kaiser glanced at him, gently nodded towards the car in acknowledgement, and then stepped forward to open the door and slip into the backseat, carefully tugging in his bag with him.

Just as he was about to close the door, Isagi wedged himself in between and propped it open with his elbow.

“Wait– Here.” He was holding out something—a light brown paper bag—with a stiff arm.

Kaiser stared at him, rigid in his dumbfoundedness. “What is this?”

“I got this for you. Take it.”

“Why?”

Isagi stared back at him for a while with an unreadable, contemplative expression for an uncomfortably long time that made Kaiser’s skin begin to prickle all over, itching with the urge to bite first, to insult, to defend—but alas, Isagi ducked his head away before he could act on it.

“I got something for everyone,” Isagi answered finally after long deliberation. Then, seeing Kaiser’s hesitance, he followed up shortly after. “Consider it my bribe. So spare me from the hazing when I come to Germany, alright?”

It was deceitful and Kaiser knew it. Isagi was purposely avoiding eye contact, and his explanation was impossibly flawless, stirring up an instinctive sense of wariness in Kaiser.

But some part of him, a deeper, mysterious and unknown part of himself which he didn’t have a good grasp on, inexplicably compelled his arm to reach out and grab the bag.

But not without struggle. He yanked the bag away sharply, similarly skittish and avoidant.

“I’m not promising anything,” he threatened feebly, shrinking back into the car.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Isagi grinned at him. Then he took a step away from the car door and looked off to the side. “I think we shouldn’t hold up the driver any longer.”

Kaiser awkwardly nodded, uncertain what to say.

It was okay. Isagi always spoke first, for him.

“Good night, Kaiser.”

And he was understanding even when Kaiser couldn’t find his words.

“Alright.”

The door shut, and he slowly watched Isagi’s figure disappear from the side windows as the taxi pulled away from the street. Only after he was completely out of sight did Kaiser slide back into his seat and slouch, paper bag still in hand.

His curiosity and boredom eventually got to him, so he tugged open the top of the bag and carefully peeked inside before pulling the whole thing out under the faint taxi light.

He scoffed out loud when he saw what it was.

‘Oh Isagi Yoichi.’

‘The shitty, conniving guy you are.’

It was a glass cup with a crystalline blue rose blooming from the base. One look and anyone could tell it wasn’t something that could’ve been planned last-minute.

More annoyingly, though, was an attached gift card with overly neat and carefully written words in a language more comfortable to him, in his native language.

Happy birthday - From Yoichi

‘Fuck you,’ he cursed in his head, looking out the window, hoping Isagi could hear his aggression from a mile away.

It wasn’t that his birthday particularly bothered him—he was past that point of weakness—but he tried not to think too much about it for the simple fact that it was irrelevant and unimportant, especially after one too many years without loving gifts or a warm meal, and just the same-old stench of alcohol and trash to accompany him. But evidently, Isagi came from a different, warmer world, so he earnestly took it upon himself to make it something meaningful and worthy of thought anyway.

If he had known, he would normally throw the gift right back at the sender’s face to smack the unwanted kindness out of them and teach them a lesson. But now that the boy was long gone and the item was sitting in his lap, he supposed it would be a bigger hassle to dispose of it or bring it back the next time he saw Isagi and tell him off for it, so he could consider accepting it. Of course, he would burn the cheesy card the first chance he got, though.

Finally, he relaxed in his seat and closed his eyes after a long night. He was exhausted from standing and walking around, and he felt the warm, tingly feeling of tipsy drowsiness from the mulled wine he had earlier starting to set in.

‘Maybe it’s alright to take a break once in a while…’ he thought to himself sleepily as he rested.

At last, it was time to return.

Indeed, it really was time to return. The next morning, at the crisp, early hour of 7am, he was seated in a plane again, gazing out the window. But this time, his mind was clearer and more at ease, no longer racing with unresolved, discordant anger.

He tossed around a sole earbud—his personal souvenir from this trip—in one hand, smirking knowingly as his phone buzzed with a flurry of incoming angry messages, presumably because Isagi had finally woken up and seen his earlier texts.

Lazily, he slid the phone into his hands and typed out a half-assed message: ‘Oh no! It looks like I'm gonna have to turn on airplane mode Yoichi ☹️ Good bye,’ then turned off his phone with a pleased smile.

And so, with a new, refreshed feeling of determination and anticipation for the future, he set off back to Munich, Germany where his journey would continue

All because of that stupid, ridiculous, but slightly tolerable Isagi Yoichi

And that stupid, ridiculous, but slightly tolerable Christmas market.