Chapter Text
Shinonome Akito did not want Rui to be his tutor as a substitute to Toya, who is unavailable for the rest of the day. But then again, Rui is the least annoying out of everyone else he could have asked. He has a test coming up tomorrow. To nobody's surprise, he hasn't studied at all. In a desperate attempt to save his grade, Akito asks Rui to tutor him. Now he is waiting for the older boy in front of the gate. Speaking of which, where the hell is he?
“Shinonome-kun!”
A certain familiar voice rung in his ear. It was no other than Kamishiro Rui himself. "Finally..." The younger spat. “Let's go, my house isn't too far.” “Ah? Why the rush? Is Shinonome-kun a diligent student now?” He placed his clenched fist on his chin. Insufferable, Akito thought whilst walking away. Rui wiped his nonexistent tear, yelling about how mean Akito was jokingly as he caught up to him.
The sunset is beautiful and bright. Too bright, the sun was burning Akito's eyes. Rui noticed and offered to take another route that doesn't directly face the sun, but Akito declined. It was the quicker way home, he said. Rui opened his mouth, but nothing was there to say. They continued walking side by side, their eyes directly meeting the bright orange sun. The one that is actively harming Akito's eyes. It fucking burns. Eventually, Akito finally gave in and agreed to take another route, which Rui of course teased him about.
-
They’re in front of the Shinonome household. It isn’t too dark, thankfully. Akito opened the door, revealing a quiet household. It’s not a surprise. His parents are out of town, leaving his sister, Ena to be the only person left for most of the time. Speaking of which, Ena slowly descended down from the staircase, a faint creak follows every step. “Akito! It’s about time, I’m hungry for cheesecake.” She yelled, her expression changing as she looked up from her phone.
“Ah, Kamishiro is here as well…?” Ena gave a little teasing smirk towards Akito. “Fuck off. Also, when did you even ask me to buy cheesecake?” “I literally texted you earlier? I sent it like 15 minutes ago.” He took out his phone from his pocket, a notification of Ena’s text asking him to get cheesecake flashed on his screen. “Hm. Guess you did. We’re going to my room.” “Hey, wait! You can’t just leave!” Her voice faded as the two boys entered his room.
Akito’s room was somewhat clean. A few dirty clothes on the floor and some empty cups on his desk. They sat in the middle of the room, where there was a table, a couch and a floor cushion. Both boys settled on the floor opposite of each other, silence around them before Rui spoke up.
“So, Shinonome-kun… What exactly do you need help with…?” Akito thought for a moment, flipping through his mostly empty notes. “Ummm oh- yea. Writing. Poems, specifically.” “Can I see your notes?” The shorter looked away, hands scratching his neck. “Uhm- well see, I didn’t think there would be a test on it, so…” He paused for a brief moment, his hands began searching for his phone. His finger then landed on Toya’s contact number. “…I asked Toya for his. Here.” Akito handed his phone over to Rui, who began studying the notes.
“Ah, of course you did.” Rui sighed. The two boys sat in silence for a while as Rui skimmed over Toya’s notes. Akito’s eyes drifted over to. He’s sitting up straight, both hands holding Akito’s phone. Both of their backpacks are placed next to the door, leaning against the wall. Akito fidgeted with his pen, flinching (which he was teased for) as Rui spoke up. He began explaining how the material is mostly memorization, and that it shouldn’t be too hard for him.
“So… that means I have to memorize everything, then you’ll quiz me?” “Well, yes, but you also need to understand the material.” Rui answered him, head leaning against his hand. “Alright, let’s try this. I’ll give you twenty minutes to read Aoyagi’s notes. Once twenty minutes are up, you’ll teach everything you have learned to me.” Akito groaned at the thought of it, but he complied anyway.
-
“Finally, uh… figure of speech. It’s a word or phrase that isn’t the um… literate meaning, used to beautify a poem.” Akito continued, “The most common type being metaphors. A… comparison without using “like” or “as”. For example, um… The sun is a blinding technology… or something…” Rui couldn’t help but chuckle, hearing the example Akito decided to provide. “Out of all the examples, this is what you’ve come up with?” He continued. “Oh, fuck off. I’m bad at making poems.” The shorter hugged his legs, chin on his knee.
“Ah, sorry…” He giggled, “But really, I think you understand the material, and that’s the important part right now.” Akito’s face shifted. “You’re just saying that cause you feel bad.” “No, not at all.” Rui interrupted, his voice comforting. “You’ve managed to explain poems, and it shows that you understand it well enough to be able to explain it to someone else, Shinonome-Kun.” He smiled softly, making that cat-like face which Akito hates. “Stop smiling like that… And just call me by my name.” He exclaimed, flustered.
“Alright then, Akito-Kun…” He emphasized on his name. “Moving on. Since you understand the base material, you can observe a poem and explain it!” “W-what? Are we still not done?” He groaned, laying his head down onto the table. Of course they aren’t done yet, it’s only been 40 minutes, and there’s still a lot more to go over. Rui giggled, pulling out a poem he found on the internet from his phone. “I’ll give you 10 minutes. Then after this, I’ll quiz you so you can actually remember until tomorrow.” Akito sighed in defeat as he grabbed Rui’s phone.
“Kamishiro-Senpai?” Rui looked up. “Call me by my first name, it isn’t fair if I call you yours and you call me my family name.” “Fine. Rui-Senpai…?” Their eyes met for a few seconds. “Thank you.” Silence fall inbetween them.
“You’re welcome, Akito.”