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The reddish glow of the lights strung up around the gym make it a little difficult for Yugamu to pick Sumino out amidst their classmates. The red hair usually makes him stick right out in any room, but he blends in well in this atmosphere. Still, being an assassin, Yugamu has a special talent when it comes to identifying his target in a crowd, and is eventually able to pinpoint Sumino’s location where he’s apparently taken up a spot at the very edge of the gym. He’s between stalls, hands tucked into his pockets, a wistful little smile on his face as he takes in the sights and the sounds, eyes darting back and forth as if tracking the different interactions happening all over the gym.
Yugamu slinks his way over, sure to rustle the fabric of his clothes so that Sumino won’t be surprised by his arrival. “Struck with indecision, leader?”
“Ah, hey, Omokage.” Sumino shoots him a brief, cute smile, rubbing at the shell of one of his ears before he shakes his head. “Nothing like that… I’m just kind of taking it all in, you know?”
That much is obvious. Yugamu’s not opposed to enjoying the festival that way himself, so he settles into place with his hands tucked into his sleeves, leaning slightly against one of the stalls that they’re sandwiched between. These are sort of flimsy, being that they were made to be used for a makeshift festival for a single day and then taken down and never used again, so Yugamu doesn’t support his full weight on it, but it at least works to prop him up while he surveys their surroundings… and, with more active attention, Sumino himself.
Yugamu finds himself passing the time that way often. Not just during group activities like this but during the more mundane times as well, when they’re sharing meals in the cafeteria, whenever a significant number of them are spending time in a common location—the courtyard, the rec room—and Sumino is there to watch at work. He’s far from an ‘impersonal’ person, despite the fact that he jumped back in time. You would expect someone like that to be somewhat… nebulous, larger-than-life, caught up on versions of people that he knew once who aren’t necessarily around anymore, but Sumino has never come off that way. He spends a generous amount of personal time with Yugamu, even outside of their weekly scheduled appointments so Yugamu can give him testosterone, and in it, he’s always fully down-to-Earth. Sharp and bright, quick on the uptake, ready to match Yugamu’s jokes with a quip or a sigh, listening with rapt attention if Yugamu happens to divert the subject to something more personal.
It’s obvious that Sumino is fond of all of them though, that everything he went through in the previous hundred days made him soft on them and eager to see them at their best. Sometimes Yugamu shares an anecdote and Sumino recalls hearing it before and Yugamu is struck with the realisation that Sumino had been listening to him the ‘first’ time he told it… Not just listening passively, but remembering well enough to finish the story where Yugamu left off. That’s not the mark of somebody who is detached from a friendship. That’s the mark of a person who really cares with everything in him.
It is curious, then, that Sumino seems to take so much less of an active role whenever the whole group is together—or even when six or seven of them are convening in an area, Sumino always seems to… fade into the background. Again, not that he doesn’t seem to be paying attention at all. He’s clearly following every part of the conversation, it’s just that he doesn’t speak until he’s addressed directly, or until it falls to him to command the group… During defensive battles, Sumino will be silent over the comms unless he’s giving advice or an order, never particularly joining in on any of the banter they like to get up to as a group.
For Sumino to be somebody who does frequently seem to get roped up in bullshit—or at least, somebody who always rolls his eyes when Yugamu comes onto him—it’s a jarring characteristic. You would expect a guy like that to always be involved… Even if he isn’t really that ‘quirky’ as compared to the rest of his teammate, Yugamu would think that he would have something to contribute. Especially when he really does seem to care about them all so much, who obviously does have opinions on their antics…
It’s a little bit funny, actually. And again: curious. Yugamu can’t help but want to watch him while he’s standing here, to wait for him to realise that he is indeed at a festival with his classmates and could participate actively if he felt so inclined. Even if that just means grabbing a stick of takoyaki from a stand or something, it would be a shame for all this effort to go to waste, right?
Although, it does occur to Yugamu…
“You’ve seen all of this before, haven’t you?” Yugamu asks, tilting his head to the side.
“Huh?” Sumino looks back over at him, eyebrows raising in surprise. It always strikes Yugamu as weird how easily Sumino lowers his guard around him… Like there isn’t a trained assassin and self-admitted pervert standing at his elbow, Sumino has no compunctions about turning his attention elsewhere and letting Yugamu’s presence fade into background noise. If he thinks about it for too long… his stomach starts to feel funny, so Yugamu tables the thought for further examination another time. “What, the festival?”
“Right. Didn’t we throw one in your first hundred days?”
Sumino scratches at his cheek with that awkward and silly smile he gives sometimes. “Well… yeah, I have. We did. All the stands were pretty much the same… It makes sense considering that it was Maruko who threw it both times, I can’t see why he’d come up with something different now unless I was overseeing every choice he made in planning this…”
Yugamu thinks Sumino could’ve overseen just a little bit of the planning process and spared them all Maruko’s dreadful taste in music, but he keeps that little bit of commentary to himself too, clearing his throat.
“You must be bored, then.”
“Huh? Not at all!” Sumino insists, waving his hands. He smiles, looking forward. “Everyone is so happy… Kako’s getting to experience this for the first time, and this time she has Ima around to enjoy it with… Everybody works so hard and I know that we all have to for humanity’s sake, but…” He trails off, his fingers curling over the overlong edges of his jacket. “...Still, it’s nice to see them all let loose for once. I couldn’t be bored.”
For a moment, Yugamu considers being more direct. Pointing it out to Sumino so he realises: You almost never seem to join in when it comes to things like this. Standing on the side of the room with that fond but exhausted smile on his face, bags under his eyes, looking so fragile like a particularly strong breeze could knock him completely off his feet… Does Sumino know how it must come across to the others? When he pulls himself apart like this, it must strike them as so tragic, that he works so hard and barely ever benefits.
…But maybe it really doesn’t feel that way to him. Sumino does look exhausted, but the smile on his face is genuine. He sounded earnest just now, speaking about his joy at seeing everyone having a good time together. He really does work so hard all the time, if he doesn’t feel the pull to be particularly social today, is it really a problem if he gets a little bit of rest while still getting to enjoy everyone’s company?
Thinking it over, Yugamu slinks away to Yakushiji’s stand and collects a serving of takoyaki for himself. When he returns, Sumino is still standing exactly where Yugamu last saw him—and for a moment Yugamu thinks that Sumino hadn’t noticed his absence whatsoever, but then Sumino turns to him and smiles, raising an eyebrow.
“I was wondering where you headed off to. It’s good, right?” He nods to the food in Yugamu’s hands.
Yugamu offers a shrug in return. “I haven’t tried it.” He picks up the line of balls by the stick and bites a small hole into the first to vent the hot steam, then shoots Sumino a mischievous grin. After collecting a generous amount of sauce, he offers the stick to Sumino for a bite of his own.
It only takes a few seconds for Sumino’s face to turn very, very red. “E-Eh? C-Can’t I just get my own? Why am I sharing yours?”
“Sumino-kun, I went all that way to get us this takoyaki to share and you won’t even humour me?” Yugamu pouts. “Besides, maybe I really wanted to see you sink your teeth into one of my b—”
“Okay,” Sumino interjects. Yugamu flushes and shudders, almost more pleased by the interruption than he would’ve been if Sumino had just let him finish babbling. “...Man, you’re really something else.” The comment is muttered alongside a disbelieving scoff, but Sumino smiles despite the tinge of pink that’s come over his ears. He does oblige Yugamu by taking a bite, and wincing from the heat even though Yugamu had tried his best to make this a little more pleasant for him. Passing the little cardboard boat back over, Sumino holds his hand over his mouth and blows steam.
When he swallows, Yugamu beams at him. “Good?”
“I barely tasted anything,” Sumino complains, tongue sticking out.
“Alas… I guess you’ll just have to share this whole tray with me.”
Yugamu settles into place happily, ignoring the sidelong glance that Sumino gives him as he takes a massive bite out of the takoyaki—from the same place that Sumino bit into—and burns himself on purpose. (It really hurts so good.) Eventually, Sumino stops looking, so Yugamu finally chances a glance back over, smiling to himself when he sees that Sumino’s gaze has dropped to the floor. He has a wobbly little smile on his face, eyes crinkled at the corners, almost like he’s about to start crying.
Genuinely, Yugamu hopes he doesn’t. He doesn’t know what he’d do in that situation. But polishing off their shared food is easy, and after delivering the garbage to Ginzaki (with a word of thanks) Yugamu musters his courage and grabs Sumino’s arm, tugging at him.
As expected, Sumino turns to look at him in surprise. “What is it now?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Yugamu pouts. “I’ve never seen any of this before, man. It’s your job to show it all to me… After all, when will I get the chance to be a normal high schooler at a school festival again?”
Sumino’s mouth opens and closes. He turns red again and looks away, scratching at the side of his head with his free hand. “Well… I guess when you put it like that, I…” He narrows his eyes. “Didn’t you wander all the stalls before you came over to me though?”
Yugamu is once again struck with the realisation that Sumino had been paying attention to him without needing to be asked. He clears his throat and gives another pull. “What if I said please?”
“Well, that’d be—” Sumino huffs. “That’d be dirty!”
Suppressing his grin, Yugamu leans heavily into Sumino. He throws his head back and looks at him with a big eye, fluttering his eyelashes. “Sumino-kun, ple—”
“Alright alright!” Sumino yanks his arm away so hard that Yugamu nearly unbalances, then yelps and scrambles forward to catch him. Nearby, Hiruko gives them an irritated look out of the corner of her eye and quickens her pace to create some distance between them. It’s probably fair, but Yugamu isn’t looking at her; he’s staring Sumino square at the face while his heart races, mind hyperaware of the spot on his shoulder and the spot on his waist where Sumino is holding him. His hands are warm. Firm, to keep him upright, but weirdly noninvasive too. When he puts Yugamu upright again and takes his hands away, Yugamu can’t help letting out a whine.
He wraps his arms around himself and takes a breath to try and ground. “Th-Thanks.”
“Yeah, um, n-no problem.” Sumino awkwardly scratches his ear. “So, this stall over here…”
It’s funny watching a guy with the social finesse of an actual horse try and shrug off an awkward moment. Yugamu would be more aware of that fact if his face wasn’t so red. As-is, he sort of trails behind like a lost puppy, caught between embarrassed and giddy, contemplating falling over again so Sumino would catch him again. Of course, Yugamu isn’t really brave enough for a maneuver like that… but it’s almost like Sumino is able to read his mind, because as they pass from one stall to another, Sumino pauses to look at him. Then, turning so red he looks like a tomato that could rival Kurara’s mask, Sumino reaches down and intertwines their fingers.
The most ridiculous toothy grin spreads across Yugamu’s face. He might be drooling too. Forget getting Sumino to interact with the festival: if they end out the day with Yugamu managing to avoid passing out somehow, that will be a victory. But he’ll go out happily if it does happen. He’s quite sure of that as he squeezes Sumino’s hand against his own.