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Lately, Kaoru had become a total shoujo manga addict.
Believe it or not, no struggle faced by an average Shounen Jump juvenile could compare to adversities like new rival at school (who apparently has a thing towards your crush) or dealing with long-distance relationships.
Grueling training to defeat evil? Watching sunset with your buddies? Things like that could barely surprise Kaoru anymore, let alone feel compassionate towards it. Blame it on stratospheric levels of testosterone he had to endure every single day since he joined Phantom busters along with three other guys.
Sure, hunting earthbound spirits was fun. Mogari, Koreshiki, and Tamon—they were Kaoru’s first friends. Besties, even. Still, at times he felt like something was missing. Something that would have made his already delightful school life even more fulfilling.
Was he becoming too greedy?
Kaoru turned the page and ran his eyes over speech bubbles containing a touching monologue. The main character he was rooting for finally confessed her love to her classmate.
Love. Kaoru sometimes wondered what it felt like. Upon entering high school everyone around him seemingly started dating like programmed NPCs while he was wasting his life reading comics and watching anime. Not that he was ashamed of it—not at all—but...
Chair legs creaked beside him; a warm presence followed suit.
Kaoru turned halfway and removed an earphone. “Wanna read?” he asked. “I’m almost finished.”
Tamon rested his arms atop of a chair he placed back-to-front. Leaning forward slightly, he pressed his nose to a black-and-white page.
“What’s this? ‘Naruto’?”
“It’s not ‘Naruto’,” Kaoru placed his thumb between the pages to keep track of where he stopped reading and turned the manga cover facing up. The paper itself was a bit worn—scuffs on the edges and faded glossy sheen gave it a certain charm. Kaoru had stumbled upon full stack of manga volumes by chance in a vintage shop and couldn’t resist buying all of them.
“Is it interesting?” Tamon asked and received a half-hearted shrug. He glanced at the cover, where main character of a story was featured.
Kaoru admitted—her naivety was working against her at first. It took a bit of effort and more reading for her character to finally start to grow on him. He even saw himself in her sometimes. Perhaps this was what psychologists cleverly called ‘projection’.
Kaoru concluded that Tamon probably didn't share his interest and resumed reading. Oh well, he did have peculiar taste not everybody could understand.
He caught himself wanting to settle on Tamon's shoulder, since it was so conveniently close anyway. But if he rested his head there, he wouldn't be far off from falling asleep... He dismissed the thought.
Having nothing better to do, Tamon occupied himself by scrolling through social media on his phone. They remained seated close to each other, almost at the edge of the table.
Kaoru slammed the comic book shut with delight after reaching the last page with author's commentary. The chapter ended with the main character rising on her toes to kiss the boy she had feelings for—not like Kaoru was anticipating it for sixty chapters. The ending was exactly what he expected, but the emotional struggles during reading had been ultimately worth it. At last, his hunger could be satisfied now.
Of course, something like that was unheard of in real life. Romance only worked in fiction—which was precisely why people wanted to recreate it.
Maybe Kaoru just wasn't mature enough for it yet. Boys his age were starting to be interested in relationships, right? While girls generally avoided him, Kaoru himself wasn't eager to interact with them. Perhaps the fact that he had sister made him practically impervious to the opposite sex. No thrill in his heart at the sight of them and all that.
Come to think of it, he'd never kissed anyone either, never even held hands. Kindergarten didn't count—once a girl who liked him found out about his ‘strange’ abilities, she cried for hours that she hated him and called him a liar.
He'd gotten over it now, though, the bad taste lingered in his mouth.
“Wanna go to Class A during recess?” Tamon suggested the next day.
Kaoru stretched with a yawn. He had just dozed off remarkably during literature class.
“Should we continue our staring practice?” he ascertained, rubbing his drooping eyes.
“You guessed it,” Tamon nodded, clasping his head with his hands intently, as if trying to establish connection with aliens. “It just seems that I’m doing better there than anywhere else for some reason. Like that classroom’s enchanted or something.”
“Sure.”
No one in class A was even surprised to see them at this point. Half the desks were empty, and those who remained for recess had scattered throughout the classroom. Some were drawing squiggles on the board, while others had pushed their desks to eat lunch together.
“Ready?” Koreshiki asked, his finger hovering over the stopwatch on his phone.
Kaoru nodded and folded his arms across his chest.
Tamon tensed, vein bulging on his temple. “I have a feeling I can hold out for longer than five minutes today,” he said.
Five minutes was their limit till now. Tamon was making progress with their staring practices. Kaoru, however, wasn't quick to praise him. He knew how it worked—once you praised someone, their flow was lost forever—and he wasn't exactly dying to see Tamon throwing up today.
A sparkle of girlish laughter reached his ears. Small group of classmates standing next to opened windows were in the middle of a heated discussion. Love affairs, Kaoru had guessed.
“He stole my first kiss!” one of them chirped. “Do you know how much it hurts?”
“Oh my God, it’s obvious he was just playing with you.”
“Ryuko! A little support, please?!”
“I was against your relationship from the start,” the other girl stuck out her tongue. “You’re the one who went just for his looks.”
“Well, how was it anyway? Kissing someone so handsome?” the third one inquired. “Must’ve felt nice?”
“To be fair, I thought all this talk about your legs giving way was just a lie.”
They were three minutes in and he was getting bored. Without meaning to, Kaoru started eavesdropping.
He leaned forward and rested his head on his arm, while Tamon kept straining whatever optic nerves he had left. It was almost endearing how hard he tried. He was even pursing his lips.
“Does it really taste like apple pie?”
“No way. I heard it’s more like lemon?”
“It didn’t taste like anything in particular. Maybe like a mouthwash? It’s a matter of technique anyway, you know?”
If Tamon ever started dating a girl, first things first he would need to stop looking so constipated in efforts to maintain eye contact. Also, she had to be real, not dead. Someone from their class maybe? Or someone who’d share his interest in music? Tamon was a decent guy. He certainly wouldn't toy with anyone's feelings.
“...just don't drool too much,” one of the girls suggested. “Also, guys like it when you moan a little.”
What kind of discussion were they having in the middle of class?!
“Ugh, I'm jealous,” one of the girls sighed. “Seems like everyone around me is getting into relationships. I wanna know what it's like to kiss someone!”
Kaoru clicked his tongue as his innermost thoughts seemed to be spoken out loud.
The problem was—the mere thought of kissing someone made him feel nauseous. He didn't even want to imagine how much drool or bacteria could potentially be in one's mouth. But this want, akin to curiosity, wouldn't leave him.
“I wanna try it,” he said one day.
“Hm?” Tamon blinked at him, confused.
Ever since the AC in the club room was fixed, spending time here had become much more pleasant—especially during hot weather. Yokemaru hadn't shown up lately, and with no one to cuddle and no one to give them any work to do, reading manga was the only cure for boredom.
Until it wasn’t, because Kaoru couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation he overheard.
There’s no way kissing could taste like apple pie, he caught himself thinking during PE class today. Apple pie was to eat and enjoy. Kissing was… revolting. It was a physiological thing. A neurochemical exchange—or so they said. How could it be sweet? This didn’t make any sense.
He wasn’t about to question Hikaru about kissing—he definitely wasn’t eager to know more about her private life, but no one aside from her was as experienced on such delicate topics. No manga he’d read before mentioned something about apples or pies.
He needed to make sure it wasn’t true.
He sat up straight in his chair. Looked Tamon in the eye very seriously. Then he said, “Practice.”
“You mean like eye contact? We did that today already, didn’t we?”
“Not that,” Kaoru shook his head.
Oh god. He was really going for it, huh?
“I wanna practice. K-ki-”
“Ki?”
“Kissing.”
“Kissing…” Tamon considered. “But shouldn’t you do it with someone you like?”
Kaoru crossed his arms, brooding. “Not necessarily?”
At this point, anyone disgusted with the idea of kissing a boy would’ve refused him. The thing with Tamon, though, was that he never said no. At least not to Kaoru.
He wasn’t meek per se—rather, didn’t see a reason not to. Same when Kaoru refunded his train ticket and declared Tamon to be his own dedicated chauffeur. Or when Kaoru complained that something was heavy and tossed it without any care into Tamon’s backpack. Or when they went to that okonomiyaki place nearby, and Kaoru didn’t even bother with spatulas or cooking whatsoever since everything was taken care of for him.
“You can think of it as practice. Same as staring.”
“But why kissing exactly?”
It seems like everyone is enjoying it these days and I wanna try, too. He definitely couldn’t say that.
The truth was, Tamon was the only club member Kaoru would prefer to do this with.
Mogari was out of the question, obviously. The thought of that sleazy tongue being mere centimeters away from Kaoru immediately made him sick.
He considered Koreshiki as well—surely a guy from abroad had experience of some sort. He then tried to imagine asking him for a kiss and immediately changed his mind. He just wasn’t ready to get on the certain individual’s bad side yet.
“In the long run, what if there’s a girl you would wanna go out with? You wouldn’t want to puke into her mouth when it comes to that.”
“I…cannot even imagine myself holding hands with anyone. Let alone kissing. Also, you sound like a salesperson.”
“You couldn’t look me in the eye the first time we met either. Isn't this the same?”
Was it?
Tamon scratched his head, defeated. “I mean, I guess?..”
Kaoru couldn't shake the feeling that he was leading someone gullible by the nose.
Maybe it was exactly that. Maybe he just wanted to use his friend to satisfy this curiosity.
“Have you ever kissed someone?” Tamon asked.
“In the kindergarten. Don’t ask me how it was,” he added immediately after he saw Tamon’s curious gaze, “because I don’t remember.”
Tamon nodded, more to himself. “Um. So. How should we?..”
“Come here,” Kaoru commanded softly.
He moved forward with no objections. “Okay. I think we’re close enough.”
“Uh-huh,” Kaoru swallowed, awaiting the inevitable.
Were they really going to do this? Well, what the hell, sure.
Kaoru averted his gaze to stare at Tamon’s headphones wrapped around the neck. This whole thing was nerve-wracking. It was too late to backtrack now, but was it okay to let Tamon take the lead, since it had been Kaoru’s idea to begin with?
Between them, the distance shortened to less than a phalanx. It felt as if Kaoru were about to touch a plasma lamp.
Tamon squinted and went for a peck.
“So. How was it?” he asked apprehensively.
Kaoru propped his chin on his hand. He was no judge to how good the kiss should be. Moreover, the one that happened so fast.
“Didn't feel like anything in particular,” he concluded intellectually. “In manga, it’s usually like…”
He drew an indistinct figure in the air, thinking of swirling cherry blossom petals. Or butterflies in the stomach. Or when the main character in shoujo manga feels her legs give way.
That kind of thing. Yet, Kaoru felt nothing.
“So they were lying,” he said, mostly to himself.
“Maybe we can try to hold it a little longer? Like this?”
Tamon leaned forward and pressed his lips stiffly to Kaoru’s again.
The softness of his lips caught him off guard. Tamon was breathing through his nose, hot air fanning Kaoru’s face. Unable to raise his eyes higher, Kaoru stared at Cupid's bow covered in peach fuzz. It wasn't as unpleasant as he'd assumed it would be. Weird, yes. But not unpleasant at all.
The chair creaked. Tamon pulled away.
“Well? How about now?..”
It almost made Kaoru laugh. The idea of kissing like shoujo manga characters belonged to him entirely, but Tamon looked like he was the one who forced Kaoru into it.
“Nothing,” Kaoru shrugged instead. “You?”
“Same,” Tamon admitted, placing hand on his neck. A faint blush bloomed on his cheeks.
“We're probably doing something wrong.”
“Guess so,” Tamon agreed. Then, he asked, “You don't think that?..”
He stammered. Kaoru stared at him patiently.
“When it’s two guys…” he muttered. “Isn’t it—”
“What? No. Why would I think that?”
“But I didn’t finish the sentence?”
Kaoru swallowed, feeling embarrassed. “You wanted to ask if I think it's weird, right? The answer is no.”
Tamon relaxed his shoulders. For no reason in particular.
“Wanna try again?”
Tamon looked up, digressing from ‘My Hero Academia’ volume—twenty-nineth, one of Kaoru's favorites.
“Hm? What exactly?”
Kaoru put the latest issue of Jump away. Mogari and Koreshiki went to fetch some chips from the nearest konbini and were expected back soon. He figured they had around ten minutes or so. Plenty of time.
The other day it suddenly dawned on Kaoru. Hikaru's boyfriend had recently come over to spend the night, and when he left for work, Hikaru had reached out on her tiptoes to hug him. Before kissing though, she tilted her head to the side.
That’s when it clicked.
How could he overlook something so obvious? It was all a matter of angle. He must have felt nothing because they were doing it wrong. Kaoru was practically bursting with excitement at his own guess.
“A kiss?” Tamon asked, blushing. “Y-you wanna do it again?”
Kaoru placed his hands on either side of him, caging Tamon decisively.
“I won’t do it if you don’t wanna,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“N-not that I— uh.”
Kaoru leaned a little lower and aimed his lips at Tamon's perfectly, tilting his head to imitate Hikaru. Did Tamon care about dedicating his first kiss to someone he liked? Did it make Kaoru someone who stole it? Well, he guessed the same could be said about him. If this pathetic excuse for a kiss could even be considered one.
He pressed his lips to Tamon’s and lingered a few seconds longer before pulling away. This really did make a difference. At least there was no chance of them bumping noses or foreheads like this.
Tamon's lips were soft and warm like the last time. The urge to make sure he wasn't imagining things took over.
“What lip balm do you use?” Kaoru asked.
“Huh?” Tamon blinked. “Just a regular one.”
Kaoru's gaze never left his lips. He watched them stretch or purse conversely to form certain words. He licked his own lips unconsciously.
“Me too,” he said, as if in daze. “Need to moisturize…”
He felt Tamon’s hands over his thin forearms.
Tamon looked like he was pondering something. Or realizing. Something important or extremely trivial—Kaoru would never know. Something akin to gravity pulled them together—and they kissed, again. Damp with saliva, the touch was no less warm and just as satisfyingly weird. It lasted no longer than a second.
When they pulled away, a quiet smacking sound followed.
“I feel like we're still doing something wrong.”
Tamon grabbed his wrist as delicately as possible and stroked his skin up to his elbow, making Kaoru ticklish.
“Is it because we're both guys?”
Tamon shook his head. “I don't know. I've no experience. I've never— with anyone.”
“Me too,” Kaoru mumbled to the side.
Kaoru closed his eyes routinely.
The roof was closed for renovations, so they sat on the highest step by the robust door. At least they didn’t have to worry about being caught.
They bumped their knees against each other by accident and stayed like this, bottoms of their school pants hiked up to their ankles. Tamon’s arms wrapped around Kaoru's shoulders. Lips were pressed against lips—only more relaxed, unlike before. Surely the third time was a charm?
The brief pecks sent tickles to his brain. Kaoru hadn’t decided if he liked it yet, but knew that he couldn’t stop. Like that feeling of momentum where you just couldn’t preclude yourself from running.
He silently peered at Tamon from beneath his lashes when he wished for them to keep going. They moved on from short kisses to those that lasted longer. Those kind of kisses perpetually took Kaoru’s breath away. They felt like falling upwards, and for that reason he kept his eyes half-closed.
When Tamon pulled back, his lips were glistening pink. It must be because Kaoru had licked his lips before they started.
They lasted almost five seconds this time. In this brief moment of proximity Kaoru was counting eyelashes framing Tamon's eyes. He noticed the spot under his eye that looked like a faintest mole or a freckle.
He smelled nice. A calm scent akin to freshly made bed or powder.
Tamon stroked his cheek, causing Kaoru to squint, as if he was being pet.
“Hey, Zaki. I wanted to ask. If I can—”
He paused, gaze focused on Kaoru's face. His round irises darted from side to side, as if he were trying to look into both of Kaoru's eyes simultaneously.
“What's the matter?” Kaoru tilted his head. “Something on my face?”
“Actually— Nevermind.”
“You guys are spending way too much time together,” Mogari noticed, slouching on his desk.
Tamon choked on a potato chip. “H-huh? W-what?”
“Isn’t it the same as always?” Kaoru replied indifferently—legs on the table, manga on his knees. A faintest pricking that tasted of Tamon lingered on his mouth.
They practiced in between classes, and again in the club room when it was just the two of them—and every time it made Kaoru’s breath hitch, as if giving way to an invisible nameless magic born under his eyelids. They kissed almost as many times as there were fingers on his hands by now. They kissed just enough for Kaoru to learn he liked to nuzzle their noses together.
So yeah, sue him for not wanting to tell Mogari.
Mogari squinted. He just missed a deerstalker and a smoking pipe to complete his detective facade.
“I feel like there’s a secret you guys are not telling me.”
To that, Kaoru just smirked. “Don’t overthink it.”
Hikaru warned she'd be out until evening.
On weekends, they usually visited each other, and today was Kaoru’s turn. They settled in the living room—Tamon next to him on a beanbag chair, Kaoru on the other one, almost slumped down to the floor. Volumes of ‘Noragami’ were scattered nearby so he could easily reach out for the next one.
Cool air was blowing out of the AC unit mounted under the ceiling. Glasses of orange juice sat on the coffee table, condensation rolling down in droplets onto the surface. Murmur of the weather forecast on TV was practically the only source of sound here.
Kaoru casted a thoughtful glance at Tamon.
“I wanna kiss.”
Before the other could reply, he hovered over Tamon, who was focused on playing Nintendo Switch. Surprised, Tamon sank back into the plush chair.
Kaoru tilted his head to the side. “Don’t you want to?” he asked innocently.
There was something about their poor attempts that made Kaoru want to try again, only better, as if in pursuit of turning it into something more enjoyable. The greediness they talked about in the bible.
“Do I want to?” Tamon managed to choke out, swallowing.
He watched as his Adam's apple bounced up and down. If it weren't for rosy cheeks, you'd think Kaoru was about to eat him alive. Which wasn't far from the truth, if he thought about it.
It was a matter of perspective. They were all friends, but objectively speaking and not counting club activities, Kaoru spent far more time with Tamon. Take, for example, those get-togethers they had. Or simply the fact that they were in the same class. And when Tamon obligingly gave him bike rides to the station. Or when, most recently, he started feeding Kaoru food he cooked himself. He didn't have to do it. Yet, Tamon did anyway.
Perhaps this was going to be the first time he would say no?
“Okay,” Kaoru whispered, looking away. “Nevermind about that—”
Tamon grabbed his arm as he backtracked.
“Uh, wait, that's not what I meant!” he demurred. “It's just— Up until now, we only did it at school. I didn't expect you’d want it. Again.”
He sat Kaoru down on his lap. His hands rested just above Kaoru's hips.
“We’re just practicing, right? I've always wondered too… what it's like. Or why does everyone enjoy it so much.”
As he spoke, Kaoru leaned over and kissed him on the lips. He was met with hesitation, so he tried again, touch lingering a few seconds longer.
He stared at Tamon's lips. How could he make them moist again?
After a moment's consideration, he stuck his tongue out and ran it along Tamon's lower lip, causing the other to flinch and let out a sound—somewhere between plaintive groan and surprised gasp.
Kaoru looked down, noticing something pressing against him right between his legs.
“Zaki—”
He looked back up to see his face flushed. Tamon was breathing heavily, peering at Kaoru from under fluttering eyelashes. His hand reached out. He cupped Kaoru’s cheeks to keep him from fidgeting. When he ran his tongue along his lower lip, Kaoru couldn't help but whimper brokenly. Goosebumps ran along his torso. He felt warmth pooling low and moved his hips helplessly.
“Good,” he whispered. “Feels good…”
Tamon stroked his cheek.
“Hey,” he said hoarsely. “I've been… thinking. Can I kiss your scars?”
Kaoru closed his eyes obediently instead of replying. A pad of thumb hovered over the eyelid. Then it was lips on Kaoru’s scars.
They looked unsightly. Echoes of pity in Hikaru's or his mother's eyes were still fresh in his memories—like a payback for what he did to himself. Bypassers turned to look at him when he walked and whispered behind his back. Children stared mouth agape, asking their parents what was wrong with him. Why was he so disfigured?
Kaoru blinked, staring at Tamon. “Why?”
“Why—?”
“Isn’t it painful to look at?” Kaoru touched cross-shaped scars on his skin unconsciously. Although they healed, for a while, he couldn't look at himself in the mirror. “Don’t force yourself.”
A brief silence hung over them.
“I used to scrape my knees a lot as a kid,” Tamon said carefully. “Mom used to say you should kiss the injury better. Of course, I couldn’t see her. Only in photos. But her words always helped me. So I wanted to do the same. Oh, did I make you uncomfortable—?”
Kaoru clutched the collar of his shirt lightly.
“You only kissed one,” he demanded.
“What? Ah. Let me fix it.”
Tamon kissed his other eye hastily. The smile never left his lips while he stroked Kaoru’s face with his thumb, avoiding the scars gently. He never looked at him pitifully or with disgust. Rather, his gaze was filled with… admiration?
“Can I kiss you?”
“Huh? Aren’t we kissing already?”
“Not like that,” Kaoru shook his head. “I want to try. With tongue.”
Obviously, neither of them knew how to French kiss, but wasn’t that the sole reason they were practicing?
Kaoru opened his mouth and pressed himself impossibly close. He entwined their tongues as slowly as he could, unsure of how to proceed.
The clumsy wet muscle wrapped around his own kept twitching. The sensation was unfamiliar. He nudged the inside of Tamon’s mouth with the tip of his tongue, as if teasing. What if he tried to swirl it around in circular motion? What if Tamon did the same? What if he tried to suck it, like a lollipop?
His mouth felt so hot. Tight. Stuck together. There was so much saliva—half of it probably belonged to Kaoru. Was he supposed to swallow? He caught himself belatedly as drool dribbled out the corner of his mouth. Translucent drop trickled down his skin and disappeared into his collar. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
Strange. His head was spinning. He needed to breathe. He couldn't stop.
He shifted and pushed into his groin where it tickled the most.
“Zaki…” Tamon whispered between kisses. Kaoru only pressed closer and ran his tongue along the top row of his teeth. The fabric of Tamon’s T-shirt wrinkled under his fingers.
“Mmph—”
A couple of quick, clumsy movements undid him and Kaoru shuddered long and hard, coming. His underwear and sweatpants instantly became sticky, soiled with wetness.
Tamon broke the kiss and stared between them, mesmerized. Kaoru caught his own breath and followed Tamon’s line of sight. “You haven't?..”
“Just a bit more… Help me a little,” the other boy half-whispered.
He took Kaoru's limp hand and put it against the visible tent in his pants. Dazed, Kaoru pressed lightly and rubbed it through his clothes. Tamon came with a suppressed groan that sounded more like a sharp exhalation through his nose. His eyebrows drew together. The face he made as he came was delectable.
“Felt good.”
He wanted to kiss and be kissed again.
He leaned closer.
“So where are we going from here?”
Mogari slouched in his chair.
“You said you saw a ghost. And they looked like, what? Tanaka Ken? We’ve checked the bathrooms on the third floor of the abandoned school wing. Three times.”
Their club leader sounded annoyed, but most importantly he was getting bored. Kaoru could sense that even without looking at Mogari.
On rainy days, they usually didn’t have that many visitors. At times people who turned to their services simply wanted to be a part of something supernatural. Which meant that not everything they said was necessarily true.
He could hear drizzling outside the window, raindrops tapping rhythmically against the windowsill. It reminded Kaoru of Tamon, who would sometimes get carried away and start drumming his fingers on the desk. He could come up with a simple rhythm at any moment, even during class.
Tamon was leaning against the chair, back turned to today’s visitor, Aoki-kun from parallel class. He was staring at the wall, but at the same time was holding onto Kaoru with one hand for emotional support. Koreshiki was noting everything down on his fancy laptop. Mogari was… Mogari.
“Some useless toilet-bound spirit. Hanako-kun, was it? You saw Hanako-kun?”
“Isn’t it ‘Hanako-san’?” Tamon barged in.
“I should pick up reading it,” Kaoru said, stretching out vowels. “I think I stopped on volume 7 or something.”
“Can you guys be more serious?” Aoki-kun asked indignantly.
Mogari picked his nose. Koreshiki started typing intently. Tamon grabbed his cap to prevent from puking. Kaoru slouched in his chair.
“I didn’t even know this school had an abandoned wing,” Koreshiki said.
“Wait a minute,” Mogari suddenly remembered. “Most importantly. What were you doing next to the girls' toilets?!”
To that, Aoki-kun averted his gaze. “Are you here to help or interrogate me?”
“If we were in manga, we’d have a courage test there,” Kaoru chimed in, sipping juice from a huge carton.
“A courage test,” Mogari repeated thoughtfully. His eyes suddenly lit up. “Hey, that’s actually a great idea!”
They decided to sneak into school late at night.
Call it being reckless—Mogari called it being young. They have nothing better to do anyway, he said. Kaoru would have argued there was a mountain of manga he wanted to read that was waiting for him at home.
The earth smelled of petrichor. Four of them gathered at the entrance as the night fell gently, coating the outlines of their school like a shroud. In the dark, they heard an owl hooting periodically as if calling them fools. They were wearing knee-length raincoats to keep from getting wet and held tiny black flashlights. Speak about looking like a cult—especially from afar.
Kaoru almost stepped into a puddle with his sneaker—fortunately, Tamon managed to grab him at the last moment.
“Okay, let’s not split up!” Koreshiki reminded them as they walked into the building.
They apparently had a thing to do exactly the opposite.
The hallway on the third floor seemed never-ending. Sometimes it curved like a labyrinth but straightened out as soon as you blinked—which was not a good omen at all. Even the air seemed somewhat freezing.
Tamon was walking a step ahead, his flashlight shining to lead the way. His presence was somewhat reassuring. Kaoru wasn’t scared of darkness, but if they met an evil spirit, none of them would be any match against it except Mogari—and the latter wasn’t even here in the first place.
“This is weird,” Kaoru mumbled. “We entered this building together. How on Earth have we separated?”
“You think it's an evil spirit’s deed?”
“If it’s an evil spirit, I don’t wanna think. I am running.”
Tamon hummed and continued walking. They had been at it for at least fifteen minutes now. Or was it longer? Who’s to say there wasn’t some supernatural force who wreaked havoc in the space-time continuum while they were checking off the list of Mogari’s insane whims?
School life is supposed to be fun, they said. We are young and free, they said.
Tamon stopped dead in his tracks. “I think I heard something.”
“One of the guys?”
“Nope, doesn’t sound like them,” he shook his head. “Hold on to me, okay?”
Tamon’s skin felt hot against his fingertips. “Take my hand,” Kaoru heard. He felt his hand being squeezed and followed obediently. He couldn’t deny it.
For some reason, touching had become the usual thing between them. Something that started as a necessity when ghosthunting gradually became a habit. Whether spontaneous or not, they were sticking around like magnets, always closeby, so when one reached out, the other would be there, as if waiting.
Kaoru wasn’t touchy. Not at all. Having no friends and picking fights just to feel something did irreparable damage to him. With Tamon though, it felt natural. Something he—at times—almost craved. Like when you feel a tickle and rub the skin with your fingernails.
That kind of thing.
“Hm… Shouldn’t girls’ bathrooms be somewhere here?”
He opened the door blindly. It occurred to Kaoru too late that maybe they shouldn't have gone there without Mogari.
Tamon tried to turn on the lights. “Switches aren’t working…”
Something rose from the ground ahead of them. Pitchblack miasmas spread out from the otherworldly shape. Behind it, a daunting vortex akin to a portal to another dimension, was unfolding.
“A spirit—!”
The first thing Tamon did was block Kaoru with his arm. Kaoru clung to his elbow to share his powers. Honestly, he would rather not see anything.
“How wonderful!” the entity bellowed. “One of you is going with me to hell today!”
“So it really is toilet-bound Hanako-kun?!”
“My name is ‘Hanako-san’!” the spirit roared.
When it pounced on them, baring its long, sharp claws, Kaoru clasped Tamon’s hand and took off as fast as he could.
“Where is Mogari?!”
A silhouette flashed before his eyes. Before he realised, it screamed, “Gimme your eyes, Zaki!”
And so he did.
The spirit immediately lunged at the attacker. Mogari was thrown backward by sheer force of the impact, landing with his back against the windows. He rubbed the back of his head, cursing. Under the moonlight streaming into the hallway, the spirit’s form became clearer—it was now obvious that she was wearing a dark sailor-fuku. Her black hair was long and straight, with dirty, matted strands falling into her eyes.
Mogari stuck out his tongue while Kaoru and Tamon held on to him for dear life. The spirit let out an unbearable scream and vanished into his mouth. Finally, the miasma emanating from Hanako-san seemed to explode, shattering the windows.
“Careful!”
The shards flew off in all directions through the air, like sparks. Tamon spun around, managing to shield Kaoru in a hug.
“Alright,” Koreshiki sighed, as Mogari was chewing on Hanako-san’s remains. “No more courage tests for us.”
“Tastes exactly like school toilet,” Mogari bleurghed.
Kaoru almost questioned how on earth Mogari would know that but decided he wanted to sleep soundly today.
“How did you guys find us anyway?” he asked instead.
“Oh. Koreshiki knew the floor plan.”
Staying over at Tamon’s was nothing out of the ordinary.
Kaoru got his own pajamas (a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants a size too big he’d snagged from Tamon), his own toothbrush (Tamon had kindly lent it to him when Kaoru said he’d forgotten to bring his own), and even his own futon (Tamon had laid it out next to his bed and made sure it wasn’t too hard for Kaoru to sleep on). He ate as much of the delicious home-cooked food as he wanted and even didn't hesitate to ask for seconds.
At night though, Kaoru tossed and turned. Sleep wouldn’t come.
“Move over.”
Still half-asleep, Tamon just mumbled something akin to agreement in response. He didn’t object when he was pushed closer to the wall and merely pulled the blanket aside so Kaoru could dive under it. Before that, they’d been gaming until almost one in the morning and had only just passed out.
Kaoru crawled under the blanket and pulled it over himself like he owned the place.
“Cold…” Tamon muttered when Kaoru nudged him with his heel.
Grabbing Tamon’s pillow, he turned on his side, back to back. Now he was nice and cozy.
They didn’t kiss today at all, but frankly, Kaoru had other things on his mind—like stuffing his face or talking about new manga that was finally getting serialized, or just being here in Tamon’s room listening to a song he hadn’t shown to anyone yet. Even though Kaoru didn’t know the first thing about music.
“Hey,” he called, dozing off. His drowsy mind clung to the last thread of thought. “Does it taste like apple pie or like lemons?”
He heard the rustling of sheets behind him. “What?” Tamon asked sleepily. “You mean kissing?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Um,” he genuinely considered for a second. “It doesn’t taste like anything in particular. It just tastes like…you.”
“Oh.”
“Does it taste like apple pie to you?”
Kaoru could feel him smiling. “Haven’t decided yet.”
He was on the verge of falling asleep when he sensed movement behind him. The mattress sagged under Tamon’s weight, and, puzzled, Kaoru opened his eyes.
In the darkness, Tamon loomed over him. Kaoru rolled on his back and felt hands caging his cheeks.
“Say, Zaki. I just. I wanna make sure. It’s been bothering me a lot lately. Well, not like, in a bad way. I don’t know. In a very confusing kind of way?” he took a deep breath. “The thing that we’re doing. That thing. You think we could—”
Kaoru swallowed. His body felt weightless. “Do you?”
“I— I wouldn’t mind.“
Right. Because it was Tamon. Because he could never say no to anything Kaoru would offer.
To that, he replied, “So kiss me.”
“Something happened?” Koreshiki asked the other day.
Mogari woke up from his dream, his snot bubble bursting.
Kaoru peered from where they were sitting at the same desk. Tamon placed his phone in front of them so they could play a match against each other—some kind of rhythm game he’d found in the App Store. Under the table, their legs kept bumping into each other, as if they were playing footsie.
“What do you mean?” he asked, as if not quite following.
“Nothing. Just—” Koreshiki shrugged, “—you’ve been acting differently lately, is all I noticed.”
Tamon’s finger haltered, making him skip his turn, which ruined his perfect combo.
Mogari scoffed incriminatingly, “I knew that. They totally share some secret they don’t wanna tell!”
Kaoru leaned back in his chair and stretched as the words ‘You've won!’ appeared on the screen.
“Nah. We’re just practicing.”