Work Text:
“Yo, Guren!”
Guren, who was signing a stack of documents, glanced at him briefly and then continued.
“What?” he replied indifferently.
“Having hats like theirs seems cool.”
“Who are they?”
“The lower-ranking soldiers! They have cool kepi hats! Why don't we, the officers, have them?”
“Hats?” This time, the lieutenant colonel looked up, becoming interested in Goshi's conversation.
It was true, they had never made special hats for officers. Only the uniforms were elite, but there were no head coverings. What was this injustice?
“So what do you want now?” He moved to stretch his sore arms and shoulders for a moment, seemingly still reluctant to leave his work even though he was also curious about the hat.
“I want to ask you to design a hat together!”
There was silence after that.
“......”
“No.”
“Well...”
“I mean, is it okay? We have to talk to Kureto about this first, right?” Guren interjected.
“That's why I asked you to come with me, so we can talk to him!” Goshi explained, still sounding enthusiastic.
So that was his plan... Guren grumbled to himself.
Goshi never dared to talk directly to Hiiragi.
Seeing that Guren was once again indifferent because he had fallen for his trick, Goshi finally whispered something in his ear.
“Earlier, that kid Yuu said that he was cooler than you because he had a hat.”
“What?!” Guren immediately slammed the table, suddenly feeling furious. Goshi moved away, giggling, his plan to persuade Guren had succeeded.
Immediately, Guren put down his pen and walked past Goshi. When he reached the door of his office, he looked at Goshi one more time.
“Come on!” he said.
“Let's go to Kureto's office!”
In his heart, Goshi shouted with joy.
“It's up to you.” That was Kureto's response when the proposal was presented.
“But I'm leaving the design to this military tailor. You guys just wait.”
“Ehh...” Guren wanted to protest, but Goshi, who was hiding behind him, immediately stopped him.
“Never mind, let's just follow his orders.”
The lieutenant colonel's eyes flashed with anger. He immediately hit Goshi on the head.
“You were the one who said you wanted us to do the design!”
Goshi rubbed his sore head and quickly turned his face away to avoid Guren's sharp gaze.
“Ou... well, I didn't expect this.”
“Then just don't do it!”
“Ah, Guren...”
Suddenly, a sword came between them. It was in Hiiragi's hand.
“Enough. Don't argue in my office.” He dismissed them.
The two of them were forced to leave the office and now stood in front of the door. Guren crossed his arms, refusing to speak, while Goshi became confused.
Guren wanted a hat, yes, he wanted a cool hat to wear. More specifically, the hat he had in mind was a peaked cap commonly worn by officers in general. Hearing that the design was left to the tailor without any input made him worry that it would not meet his expectations.
“Hmm, we can only wait,” Goshi muttered, trying to strike up a conversation but failing.
Guren was still angry, and Yuuichiro's words upon hearing the news that hats would be made for the officers made him even more furious.
“Wahahaha, Guren must be jealous of me so he wants a hat too! Like a brat!” he teased and immediately ran away when the person he teased chased after him with his sword.
“Shut up! You're the brat!”
The incident happened about a week later. They were chasing each other in the corridor and almost bumped into Shinoa. The girl protested, but they didn't listen.
Finally, when they arrived at the Hiragi office corridor, Yuu slipped on the red carpet and fell, and Guren managed to catch up with him.
The lieutenant colonel pulled his ear in annoyance until Goshi came out of Kureto's office, apparently after delivering something. In his hands were stacks of black and red items, which Guren immediately recognized.
He let go of his ear as Yuu was still being lifted up, causing the young man to fall down, then shout angrily. Unfortunately, his superior had already left him without apologizing, approaching Goshi with his attention focused on the items.
“What is that?”
“Hats! They're done!” he replied.
Huh?
That was his reaction when he looked closer.
The hat was not a peaked cap, just a regular kepi hat like the soldiers wore, but the accents were changed to red.
“What the hell, Goshi?! This is not the design I wanted!” he protested.
Goshi shrugged. “Don't blame me. The tailor here is the one who designed it!”
“Ugh... but,”
Suddenly, Yuu's head popped up between the two of them. He was curious and immediately took one of the models, observing it for a moment, then his cheeks puffed up, apparently holding back laughter.
He finally couldn't hold back his laughter and laughed out loud on the floor while pointing at Guren, whose face had turned red.
“Buahahahahahah! Poor you! That hat doesn't suit your head at all!”
“Brat—” His teeth gritted in anger.
Before he could punch Yuu's head, something caught his attention.
An officer, just returning from his mission in Ikebukuro, walked past them gracefully despite his body being dirty and covered in wounds. His outer jacket fluttered, contrasting with the uniform underneath and above it...
He wore a peaked cap. It wasn't exactly what Guren wanted, but the design was really attractive. It was red and black with a strap across the base of the brim and tassels on both sides. Curiously, there was a small ribbon attached to the top center of the hat, whether it signified an organization or was simply decoration.
Unusually, he did not greet Guren and simply walked past him. He seemed eager to clean himself up, judging by the amount of sweat that must have been making him uncomfortable.
But for some reason, Guren's feet moved and he immediately stopped in his tracks. The officer was a little surprised and looked at the lieutenant colonel, who was also staring at... his head.
“Ah,” he realized and immediately brushed his arm away.
“Tch, how did you get such a nice hat?” he grumbled.
Shinya blinked in confusion at the sudden question. His right hand moved up to touch his hat.
“This? From the station.”
“The station?”
“Ah, yes,” Shinya chuckled, as if he didn't want to tell everything. “I mean, someone at the station gave it to me.”
Was there really someone living at the station? Guren was sure Shinya was playing with him again.
“Stop lying to me. Tell me the truth!”
“I'm not lying,” Shinya insisted.
Guren folded his arms, unsure of how to respond. Shinya tended to be nosy, but his expression this time seemed genuinely honest.
He ended up sighing. “Hah... well then,” his hand reached out to take Shinya's hat. “Can I try it on—”
Unexpectedly, Shinya pushed his hand away and immediately stepped back. He grinned.
“Sorry, I can't. This is a precious hat, the only one in the world.”
“What? Hey!” Guren gasped as Shinya turned and ran away. He intended to chase after him but couldn't and could only put his hands on his hips, tired of all the problems he was experiencing.
Goshi and Yuu followed him.
“What was that? I saw Shinya-sama wearing a very nice hat,” said Goshi.
“Right! It's so cool! Unlike Guren's!” added Yuu.
Guren turned to them with his characteristic scowl.
“Yeah, that's right. And he got cocky.”
Then he immediately took one of the hats Goshi was carrying and put it on, deliberately pulling it down tightly over his head.
“Just you wait.”