Chapter Text
It hasn’t been long since their high school time started. As exciting as it was, it was just another school after all. The only new exciting thing for Souta was Inoue Miyako. The sweetest and cutest girl he had ever met…
If only it weren’t for Iseya Nao.
“Hey, Miyako.” Iseya visited their class once again. “You coming?” he asked her out to lunch.
“Ohhhhh.” Some random classmate, who was probably annoying Souta more than Iseya, teased the two. “Iseya-kun came to get his girlfriend.”
“We’re not a pair!” Inoue objected.
“Sure,” Random replied with a smirk.
“Stop teasing her,” Iseya said with a playful smile. “We’re not even going to have lunch alone. I’m just here to get her.” He put his hand on Inoue’s shoulder. “Let’s go, the others are waiting.”
“On my way.” She got the things she needed and left.
Before Iseya left after her, his eyes met Souta’s. Which would be a normal thing to happen, but the way he immediately looked away as if he did not want to see him at all pissed Souta off. And to make it worse, it wasn’t the first time.
Not long after, Keisuke and Souta went to get something to eat.
“Who does he think he is?” Souta complained, stuffing his food into his mouth.
“Who knows, maybe he didn’t even see you.” Keisuke tried to calm Souta down.
“No! I’m telling you. He looked directly at me and then immediately away. It’s not even the first time this has happened. It happens every time!”
“To be fair, you probably were looking at him as if you wanted to murder his whole family.”
“Why would I?”
“You tell me.”
“He’s annoying. I don’t know why everyone loves Mister Perfect.”
Keisuke raised an eyebrow at Souta’s statement. “You know. Iseya-kun doesn’t seem like a bad guy.” Souta’s face started deforming. “You two could be friends.”
It was annoying. What was so special about that Iseya guy that everyone loved so much? Sure, he had a bright personality, a bright smile, was smart, and good at sports. He could play the guitar, and when people found out he could also sing, it was over.
He got along with everyone, and even if he did something wrong, it was… not wrong. Just a silly mistake they would laugh off.
“I’m not jealous!” Souta declared out of the blue.
“I never said that…”
As much as Iseya annoyed Souta, as long as he didn’t see him, everything would be fine. For a few days now, Souta hadn’t seen him, which gave him a peaceful time to think about other, more important matters.
“Today I’m going to do it.” Souta built up his courage walking towards the entrance of the school. “I’m going to ask if Inoue-chan wants to go to the summer festival with me.”
“Good luck.”
“You could be more motivating.”
“No time, there she is.” Keisuke turned Souta towards where Inoue was walking.
“Let’s do this.” Souta clenched his fists and went on his way. “Hey, Inoue-chan.”
“Oh, Ueshima-kun. Good morning.”
“Good morning…” Souta paused a bit too long.
“Is something wrong?” Inoue looked at him, a bit confused.
“I- I wanted to ask if you would like to join me for the summer festival…”
“Just you?”
“Yeeee- No, of course not, haha.” Souta panicked and pointed at Keisuke. “I meant with Keisuke and all,” he explained, with the idea that the others could say they sadly couldn’t attend last second. There was still a chance.
“Sounds fun! I’m in.”
“Then I’ll text you about the details later.”
“Sure… Oh. Can I invite others too?”
“Of course…” Souta’s plans were all ruined.
Having done what he tried to do, Souta walked back towards Keisuke.
“So, you panicked?” Keisuke asked knowingly.
“Yes, I panicked,” Souta confirmed, letting his shoulders fall.
***
The day finally came, and Souta had decided to just go with the situation. It was still a way to get closer to Inoue, and he still had the chance to be alone with her somehow. Even if it was just a moment. He was high-spirited and was waiting with Keisuke for her. But his high spirit was soon to be crushed by Keisuke.
“You know,” Keisuke started. “I wonder how you are okay with this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, wouldn’t she bring Iseya-kun along?”
“…”
“It would make sense that he is one of the people she wanted to invite, don’t you think?”
“…”
“You didn’t think of that, did you?”
Souta’s sour face said it all.
“And I was wondering why you didn’t complain till now.” Keisuke chuckled.
“Shit.”
“Well, too late now. There they come.”
As Keisuke had predicted, Iseya was one of the people who came with her. The other one was Arima.
“Ueshima-kun!” Inoue waved at them.
“Gotta go through with it, I guess…” Souta tried accepting defeat as they got closer.
“Hey.” Souta greeted the group with his focus on Inoue.
“Hi.” Keisuke followed.
From Arima, they got a nod with a short and quick “Hi.”
“H-Hello.” Iseya finally joined the greeting with his eyes focusing on Souta. It felt like he was greeting Souta especially.
“Hi?” Souta replied, confused, feeling addressed.
“It’s so nice here,” Inoue said. “It was a good idea to come. Though I thought you would bring more people.”
“Yeah. Thanks. And Takeo was going to come too, but he couldn’t last minute.”
“You didn’t even ask him.” Keisuke whispered to Souta. “Did you asks?”
“No, now shush.”
Keisuke chuckled.
“Have you looked around yet?” she asked with sparkling eyes, wandering from one stand to the other.
“No, not yet,” Keisuke answered.
“Then what are we waiting for. Let’s go.”
They spent a lot of time going from one stand to another. It was nice to hang out like that, only that every time Souta somehow tried to get closer to Inoue, Iseya would be there too. It felt like a curse. He couldn't get rid of him.
“Why is he everywhere?” Souta complained to Keisuke in private while the others were playing a game.
“Don’t you think at this point it’s time just to have fun?” Keisuke replied. “You’ve been focusing on the two so much that you failed to eat your ice cream on time.”
Souta sighed. “I guess.”
“You’ll get your chance.”
On their stroll, Souta stopped at a shooting game that had a Dogonaut figure as its grand prize. He did well, but sadly not well enough.
“I missed,” Souta cried, looking at his nearly empty wallet.
Inoue tried to cheer him up and suggested Iseya should try.
“Nao is good at that. Right, Nao?”
“Of course he is,” Souta mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes.
“What?” Iseya interjected. “I mean. Maybe?”
“Just try it.” She pulled Iseya to the front.
“Sure-”
If Souta did well in the game, Iseya failed miserably, which made Souta laugh.
“So, Mister Perfect can fail too, huh?” To Souta, it felt like a win, but there was a hint of a different feeling he couldn’t quite grasp. Maybe it was the fact that Iseya seemed more human.
“Sorry.” Iseya sulked and seemed embarrassed. There was also a hint of frustration.
“It’s okay.” Souta leaned on Iseya’s shoulder. “It wasn’t my money anyway.”
“But you seemed to want the figure.”
“To be honest, tThis was worth not getting it.” Souta laughed, which made Iseya join him. It was probably the first time Souta didn’t harbor any negative feelings towards Iseya.
After that, it didn’t take long for them to split up and call it a day.
At home, Souta immediately let himself fall onto his bed. He reminisced about everything that had happened. While remembering how Iseya was always there when he tried to get closer to Inoue, he also remembered how Iseya had failed miserably at the shooting game. He had to laugh a bit and pictured Iseya’s sulking face.
A little “Cute” escaped Souta’s smiling lips, followed by a sour “What the fuck.”
As if he called it, the doorbell rang, and he went to open the door, wondering who it could be.
“Hey…” Iseya was standing outside the door.
“What are you doing here?” Souta immediately asked, not quite pleased with who was standing there.
“You forgot your phone. Miyako got your address from Himura-kun, so I came over.”
“Oh…” Souta took his phone. “Thank you,” he said genuinely. “Is that it?”
“Yeah.”
Before any awkward situation could occur, Souta’s mother came to the door immediately.
“Souta!” She scolded him for being rude, then turned to Iseya, apologizing. “Won’t you come inside? We were about to have dinner.”
“Mom, we’re not even that close, don’t make him uncomfortable.”
“I'd love to!” Iseya replied excitedly and with a bright smile.
“Aren’t you a little sunshine?” Souta’s mother pinched his cheeks.
The two walked inside, leaving Souta at the door, completely flabbergasted.
“What the…”
He stood there fuming for a bit, then finally decided to follow them. His mother told him to take Iseya to his room while they waited.
Iseya refused at first. “I can help out—”
“No. You’re our guest. Just go, I’ll call you two.”
“But—”
“Just move.” Souta grabbed Iseya’s wrist. “There’s no point in arguing with her.”
“Oh, okay.” Iseya followed Souta with a chuckle.
“This funny or something?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“What is it then?”
“Nothing.” Iseya turned his head away from Souta’s gaze and pulled his shirt forward, covering the back of his neck.
Reaching his room, Souta let go of Iseya and opened the door. Walking in, he saw a little monster sitting on the floor staring into his soul.
“How long have you been in this room?” Souta stared back at the cat, who gave him a nonchalant meow without looking like he was planning to move.
Souta turned to Iseya and told him to stay there while he got a snack for the cat. “But be careful and don’t come too close to PonPon. He’s dangerous.” Souta side-eyed PonPon.
“Sure?” Iseya replied with a confused smile.
When Souta came back, though, he got a surprise view. Iseya was sitting on the floor with PonPon peacefully chilling on his lap.
“Traitor.” Souta looked at the cat, betrayed. He kneeled to give the ugly creature the treat anyway, but got hissed at. Iseya tried his best not to laugh; however, he failed to hide it.
“You think this is funny?” Souta glared at Iseya. “You give him that, then.” He tossed him the treat.
Catching it, Iseya started feeding PonPon, who peacefully accepted the offer.
“Unbelievable.” Souta watched his cat cheating on him. “Ugly on the inside and out.”
“I think he’s cute,” Iseya replied. “Just like his owner.” He looked at Souta… who didn’t realize.
“That’s insulting.”
Iseya picked up the cat and looked him dead in his eyes. “It’s your fault. If only you were pretty,” he whispered for Souta not to hear.
With a sassy meow PonPon left the two alone. Iseya smiled while watching the cat leave. He checked out the room until his eyes landed on the ceiling. “Are those glow-in-the-dark stars?”
“Oh yeah, those are pretty old,” Souta explained. “I never really took them down.”
“Can I see?” Iseya looked at Souta with sparkling eyes. “Please.”
“I mean, sure.” Souta switched off the lights.
In another universe, they might have watched the stars from the bed. Not here, though. Iseya lay down on the floor, looking at the stars. Souta was still standing where the switch was, and with the barely left sunlight that was lighting the room, Souta could see Iseya. He saw the dreamy look in his shining eyes. It was kind of beautiful.
“They’re beautiful,” Iseya said calmly and looked over to Souta with a smile.
Souta’s eyes never left Iseya's when he replied in a hypnotized state. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “They are.”
A knock on the door knocked the two out of their states. “Dinner’s ready.” Souta’s mother opened the door. “Why are the lights off?” She turned them on and Iseya jumped up.
“Nothing,” he replied, clearly embarrassed. “Uh, yeah, nothing.”
“Iseya wanted to see the stars.”
“Oh.” Souta’s mother chuckled. “No need to be embarrassed about that, Iseya-kun.”
“Yeah…”
“Anyways, let’s go eat.” Souta rushed down, running away, and the other two followed.
At the table were four people. Souta’s parents, Iseya, and himself. Which was weird because it should have been six.
“Where are Iori and Riku?” Souta asked, wondering why they didn’t even get their own plates.
“Siblings?” Iseya asked from the side.
With a short “Yeah,” Souta answered and continued focusing on his parents.
“Sleepovers,” his dad replied, which shocked Souta.
“Sleepover?” He turned to his mother. “You? Said yes to a sleepover? Am I dreaming?”
“Don’t start getting rude.”
“Hey, it’s not me who normally says no to sleepovers. I was just surprised you said yes. To both of them at that.”
“Iori is at Miku's birthday sleepover, and her parents invited Riku too, for her little brother.”
“So, they’re both there now?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, okay, two buildings next to ours. Now, it makes sense.”
“Stop it already.”
“Fine.”
“If you’re jealous,” Iseya said, “you can sleep over at my place.”
“Stop joking.”
“I—” Iseya seemed to want to correct something, but then decided not to. One day he would. Not today.
“Do you also talk back to your parents like this?” Souta’s mother complained about Souta.
“No, but my older sister does it a lot.” He laughed.
“I bet she knows how I feel. Being the oldest isn’t easy,” Souta whined with a joking tone.
“I’m sure you’re doing an amazing job as a brother.” Iseya nodded.
“Of course I do.”
“Why won’t you be an older brother to your friend then?” Souta's mother asked.
“Absolutely not,” Iseya immediately, seriously objected before Souta could get a word in. It was obviously an idea he did not support at all. Not in the slightest. The smallest thought on that was horrifying.
“Hey!” Souta replied, feeling insulted.
“Huh?” Iseya realized what had just happened. “No, wait.” He panicked. “That’s not what I meant. I'm sure to have a brother like you would be amazing. Awesome even. Couldn’t be better. Just I- Uhhh-”
“Enough.” Souta’s dad wanted to eat his food in peace.
“Yes.” Iseya started digging into the [specific food].
“Is something wrong?” Souta's mother looked concerned.
Iseya ignored her question. Instead, he said, “This is delicious! I'd love to have the recipe for it.”
“You cook?” Souta asked.
“Yeah, sometimes... actually, most of the time I make dinner at home when I can. Just helping out my parents.”
“Of course you do,” Souta mumbled to himself once again and rolled his eyes.
With that, a dinner went by where Iseya was mostly having a conversation with Souta’s mother. In the end, he was able to convince her, and the two cleaned up everything.
“You should come by again.” Souta’s mother said her goodbye.
“Sure. It was fun.”
“Why don’t you just stay here forever. Seems like mom likes you more than me. Just become her son.”
“Trying,” Iseya mumbled, and Souta thought he had heard wrong. Must have been the wind.
“See ya,” Souta said, and Iseya left.
The next Monday, everything went on as it normally did. Except for one thing. When Iseya came to get Inoue for lunch, he didn’t just stare at Souta and turn his head away as if he couldn’t stand his sight. He walked up to him and started talking.
“Do you want to join us?” he asked Souta, who looked at him with a blank expression.
Since when were they this close? Sure, they spent time together at the festival, and Iseya ate dinner with his parents, but this all just happened to be. Was this a good enough reason? Why would Iseya ask him to join them… Couldn’t it have been Inoue? Well, he surely wasn’t asking for Souta only, so.
“I’ll ask Keisuke.”
“Keisuke?”
“Yeah? Himura Keisuke?”
“Oh yeah… of course. Himura-kun, who was with us at the festival, whom I’m obviously asking about, too. Yeah of course… yeah…” He stood there a second too long in silence. “Well, I'll be waiting at the door.”
“Sure…”
What a weirdo.
Souta got Keisuke, and they went to eat lunch with the group. While they were just walking to the cafeteria with Iseya, it felt like Souta was in a different world. So many people greeted Iseya, and some talked for a short time, asking him about exams, how they went, if he was free at the weekend. There were also many girls greeting him. Some of them just casually, others obviously into him. One even gave him a letter in the middle of the hallway and ran away.
All this while Souta watched from the side.
“It’s always like this,” Inoue said, chuckling, walking next to Souta. With a pitying sigh, she continued, “Only up for heartbreak.”
“I didn’t expect anything else from Mister Perfect. Poor girls.”
“Or more like poor people.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well…” She got closer to him and whispered. “Last week, he got a letter from a boy.” [ That was a lie.]
“WHAT!?” Souta exclaimed.
Inoue shushed him.
“Is something wrong?” Keisuke asked from the side.
“No… nothing.” He brushed Keisuke off, turning to Inoue again. “And what did he do?” he asked, losing himself in the drama.
“What else. He rejected him like the others.”
“And like. Did it not bother him?”
“Why would it?”
“I mean, since you know…”
“Would it bother you if a boy confessed to you?”
“Huh?” Souta thought for a moment and looked at Iseya. “I guess not.” He imagined a boy confessing to himself. He seemed very calm about it. But the fact that anyone would confess to him made him blush a little.
Saying that, Inoue started smiling at Souta. He didn’t know why, but it was cute, so he hoped she would never stop.
“What did you guys talk about?” Keisuke asked Souta while they were getting food.
“Nothing special.”
“Really?” Keisuke asked.
“Yeah… why?”
“Oh, it’s just… never mind.”
“Sure,” Souta replied.
Keisuke let it go, and they moved to the table. Inoue and the others were already waiting there.
Two empty seats. One next to Iseya. One next to Inoue. It was obvious which seat Souta wanted to take, but couldn’t. Before he could sit next to her, she got up and took Keisuke's arm.
“I don’t think we talked at all.” Souta watched as Keisuke got dragged to the seat next to her, against his will.
He cried inside about the missed opportunity, but also saw it as a lovely gesture, taking care of everyone.
With no other seat left, he sat down next to Iseya. The mood was a bit awkward. Apart from the day they spent at the festival, they didn’t really know each other that well. They were all in their first year, and most of the people who were close knew each other from before high school. Inoue was trying her best to get them to talk.
She started talking about the cafeteria food. How it’s a gamble sometimes. It seemed to help since it was something all of them could relate to after all. Except for Iseya. Iseya had gotten his own self-made bento.
Nothing else to expect from Mister Perfect. It wasn’t something unusual to do, but whatever Iseya did always kinda got on Souta's nerves. He didn’t have to be this perfect. Though Souta had to admit the sausage octopus was smiling at him in a way. At that moment, he was more jealous than annoyed. He heard them say to him: “Eat me.” He thought he was going crazy.
“Want some?” A voice took him out of his hallucination.
“What?” He nervously looked back at his food, realizing he was drooling over Iseya’s bento. “No, thank you. I’m good.”
While focusing on his meal, he saw a little octopus entering his vision from the side and landing on his plate.
He stared at it for a moment. “Thanks.” Souta decided to accept it. Just this once. It was already on his plate.
Arima started to complain. “When I ask you for some, you always say no!”
“Stop acting like I never share.”
“But most of the time we have to beg you,” Inoue added.
“Seems like Iseya-kun is a good cook,” Keisuke noted.
“I just cook a lot, and if I do it anyway, might as well try to make it taste good.”
“Oh.” Souta seemed to remember something and reached into his pocket. “Here.” He gave Nao the recipe for the [specific food], he had asked for.
“Thanks.”
“What’s that?” Inoue asked, curious.
“It’s the recipe for the food I ate at his place.”
“YOU WHAT?” Inoue jumped up. Realizing everyone was now staring at her, she got embarrassed and sat back down. “Whoops. Sorry… Anyways. I didn’t know you two were this close.” She gave Iseya a look, but Souta couldn't figure out what it meant.
After that, the mood got a little lighter. They finally started talking on their own, and Inoue was freed from the awkwardness. At some point, the topic fell on soccer.
“You two play soccer?” Arima asked.
“Yeah. We also joined the club,” Souta replied proudly.
“Nao also plays,” she replied.
“You do?” For the first time, Souta seemed genuinely interested in Iseya.
“Yeah…”
“Why didn’t you join?”
“I just… Don’t have much time.” He looked a little troubled. “Maybe next year.”
“Aren't we required to join clubs, though?”
“I'm just a fill-in member for some random club. I can't even remember what it was for.”
“We should play sometime,” Souta said, leaving Iseya surprised.
“Sure.” He smiled.
“I’ll show you my amazing skills! Don’t be sad when you fail to catch up.” [I must say I got second-hand embarrassment writing that]
“Be careful, Ueshima,” Arima warned him. “Nao was one of the top players on his team, and they got to the finals.”
“Of course he did,” Souta sighed, rolling his eyes. Was there anything this guy wasn’t good at? [Sadly, he moved on too fast from Nao failing to get Dogonaut.]
Souta and Keisuke (and later Takeo joined them too) ended up always hanging out with the others. Souta had no idea why but he hated it and yet he stayed. Every time his anger towards Iseya was about fade a little some new extra he’d never seen before came up to Iseya and greeted him. Asked him how he was doing, if he’d maybe wanna hang out or help with schoolwork. How could someone be this popular? Especially as first years. It hadn’t been long since they started school.
But today it was a different kind of annoying. For some reason he and Iseya ended up alone for a short while. It was short but long enough to tick Souta off. There were people again greeting Iseya and everything. But they didn’t even glance at Souta. Of course they didn’t know him so he didn’t except to talk, but he felt like a useless shadow next to Iseya.
“How do you know so many people?” Souta finally asked. Though he wished he hadn’t.
“I don’t.” Iseya chuckled. Maybe if Souta wasn’t already feeling shit for being ignored he might have laughed too. But now the reasoning he had for himself that the people simply ignored him because they didn’t know him was crumbling apart since they also didn’t know Iseya.
“Of course.” Souta rolled his eyes and just left.
“Wait where are you going?”
“To the bathroom.” Souta walked away. Not towards the bathroom. He went outside for a bit. Again, he wished he didn’t.
A cute girl stopped him “Hey. Aren’t you Ueshima-kun?” she asked shyly.
“I- Yeah.” He got a little shy too not knowing why this cute girl was talking to him.
“I wanted to ask if you could give this to Iseya-kun.” She held him a letter. Obviously a love letter.
Souta felt his heart race for no positive reasons.
“No,” he replied and continued walking, leaving her behind and hearing a “rude" from her.
This bad mood carried Souta to class where he got back an exam. He barely passed. It continued towards soccer training. Where got yelled at. And last but not least at home.
“If you don’t improve your grades you’ll have to stop going to soccer training. You’re in your first year and you’re already behind.”
It wasn’t a surprise that with all this Souta’s mood wasn’t better the next day.
When the cafeteria food was shit that day he suggested to play soccer outside instead and just get snacks. Playing for fun surely would lighten his mood. Even if Iseya was there too.
Sure. After all this time Souta didn’t hate Iseya anymore. But the existence of Mister Perfect was still annoying him. So this was finally his chance to beat him for once. Keisuke and Souta formed a team while Takeo and Iseya formed another.
They weren’t joking when they said he made it to finals. Iseya wasn’t just fast. His game sense was amazing and the way he handled the ball was perfect in Sout’as eyes. He sure was good at ball control.
Though it pissed Souta off. His mood definitely got worse than it already was after losing the game and Takeo taunting him.
“Let’s always form a team, Iseya.” Takeo put his arm around Iseya.
He knew that it wasn’t Iseya’s fault but it really annoyed Souta that the guy who’d had a huge break was still able to beat him this bad. “I’ll go get something to drink,” he said in a low mood and left the field.
“Did something happen?” Inoue came towards them, concerned. “He looked… not happy.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Keisuke replied. “I’ll go—” Iseya was already on his way to Souta.
“Hey.” Souta heard Iseya call for him. He ignored it though and kept walking towards the vending machine.
“Wait.” He still didn’t stop.
“Souta.”
“Souta?” Souta repeated to himself, stopping.
“Finally.” Iseya stopped in front of Souta. “Did something happen?”
“No,” Souta replied.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t wanna talk about it and walked past Iseya, whograbbed him by his hand to stop him.
“Are you okay?”
Souta turned around, with glassy eyes. “No, I am not fine.” He broke down. “Why would I be fine. School has just started and somehow I’m already failing. Not only that but I fucked up at soccer training. And on top of all that because of my grades I might not be able to play soccer anymore at all. And then I lose towards someone who hasn’t played for years.”
“What if I helped you?”
“What?”
“I could teach you if you want.”
For a moment Souta felt like the universe was playing with him. It felt like a joke that the reason for his bad mood, was the person offering him help. He was right. In this case the universe was lill author and I was definitely playing him. Though the last weeks had changed something. Normally Souta would have never accepted. But he was desperate and didn’t hate Iseya 120% anymore, just a measly 100%.
“With what?” he asked.
“School. Soccer. Whatever you want. Just let me help you.”
“Why are you so eager to help me out?”
“Just ’cause.”
Souta sighed. He must have been crazy for saying this but— “Sure,” he replied.