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It really needed to be studied how Akito always seemed to land himself in these bullshit situations.
That day, he'd been strolling through the hall on his free period – not much else to do when Toya had library duty – when he noticed the Real Game Club was hosting another event. Not that he was interested by any means, seeing as participating in the game they held on Valentine's Day was already three different levels of humiliating…
Apparently, though, a peaceful hour to himself was way too much to ask for, as the club president deigned to pop his head out of the door right when Akito thought to move on.
“...Oh, Shinonome-kun!” The student perked up as soon as he realized the familiar face standing outside. “Were you thinking of joining our latest game?”
“Huh…?” Akito blinked in shock. “N-no, sorry-”
“C'mon, don't be shy!”
“H-hey, get offa me…!”
And that was how Akito winded up getting abducted, the door locking behind him once he was sufficiently yanked inside. He already knew the school was breathing down their necks with the looming threat of a shutdown, but this was ridiculous…
“Since you're a veteran, I don't have to explain how Kamishiro-senpai's invention works, right?” said the president, lifting up Akito's arm to fit the device upon his wrist as the ginger's fight was finally drained out of him.
“Guess not…” Akito mumbled listlessly, flicking his wrist as the fastened watch switched on with the emergence of a heart symbol on its screen. “But how come the layout looks the same as it did on Valentine's Day…? It's been 6 months.”
“Well, we weren't really sure how to make big modifications to Kamishiro-senpai's code…” the president chuckled out awkwardly. “So we decided to make the theming similar to last time! Oh, but we did manage to change one thing.”
“Hm…?” Akito raised a brow as he was navigated to his list of moves, only to immediately flush red when he saw the new ability's name – Romance.
“What the hell is this?!”
“It's great, isn't it?” the president huffed with misplaced pride. “Instead of fighting your enemies, your goal is to persuade them to your side with the power of love!”
“There's no fucking way I'm doing that.” Akito immediately sought to complain with a deep scowl, though his escape plans were foiled when his wrist was caught in place through the president's sudden pleading.
“I think you'd do great, Akito.” Toya chimed in from his spot beside the younger. “You're already very handsome and considerate, so I'm sure lots of people will fall for you instantly even if it's just for show.”
“That ain't the issue, though…” Akito grumbled, his cheeks turning ever redder at his partner's words. “...Wait, Toya?! What the hell are you doin’ here?!”
“Evidently, the library was forced into an unexpected closure today…” Toya explained with an awkward chuckle. “I came this way to find you when the Real Game Club requested my assistance. Something about needing a ‘very handsome man’ to fill an important role.”
“Requested, huh?” Akito huffed, a sudden darkness in his eyes finally forcing the president to back off. Somehow, Toya getting forced into this made his blood boil more than getting dragged in himself…
“It's not like I mind. I had quite a lot of fun last time we played together.” Toya continued, lips outstretched in a more genuine smile. “Are you going to participate with me, Akito?”
“Wh…”
“Please, Shinonome-kun?!” the president dropped to his knees with all the speed and grace of a cartoon character. “You were in it for the chocolate last time, right?! I can get you as many sweets as you want if you do it!”
Well, this was a pickle… Between the president's obnoxious pleading, the lingering promise of free sweets, and – most importantly – the hopeful look on Toya's innocent face, Akito had run fresh out of hooks to salvage his ego with.
“...Alright...” He finally relented, Toya's tiny relieved ‘Phew’ barely a background noise behind the president's victory cry.
“Perfect! I really owe you for this, Shinonome-kun!” The president took hold of Toya before either of them could change their minds, though the sight of his touch nearly made Akito reconsider the whole thing. “As for you, Aoyagi-kun, let's get you to your post in the gymnasium!”
“O-oh. Alright.” Toya muttered as he was pushed along. After fiddling with the lock for a moment, the two disappeared down the hallway, leaving Akito with nothing but his much-needed moment to soak in all the ridiculousness that just sped into him like a crashing car. On top of having to do this ridiculous roleplay crap again, he'd have to pretend to flirt with the enemy. In front of Toya. Was keeling over and dying a reasonable alternative?
“Ugh…” Akito groaned aloud, looking back to his provided watch as his first message ran across it. “I guess I've gotta go to this classroom, then…? He could've explained the damn game better.”
Thus began Akito's journey to complete and utter humiliation. Every step he took across the hallway felt far more suspenseful than it should have, though it certainly wasn't for any reason the club organizers intended. Seriously, if people were barely interested in playing a regular battle campaign, who the hell was going to go for this pseudo-dating sim bullshit?
“Ohhhhhhohohohoho!” An especially haughty rendition of a mortifyingly familiar voice sent a shiver down Akito's spine as he pushed open the door. “I see another mortal has come begging to lay claim to my heart!”
“...Wait, Li'l Bro?!”
“Akiyama?!”
…Actually, he wasn't sure why he was surprised. This was totally up her alley.
“...Ahem! I see now!” Mizuki popped back into character, putting on the type of voice heard from the trying-way-too-hard-to-be-sexy villainess you'd find in every old anime. “A clueless mortal like you must have gotten your guts splattered across the road by a truck, and reincarnated into this world where demons run rampant!”
What the hell kind of lazy ass exposition was that?!
“Let's just get this over with…” Akito grumbled, a healthy shade of red already deigning to scribble itself into his cheeks. “I'm supposed to call out names for my attacks or whatever, right?”
“Ohhhh~ So you intend to romance the demon princess?” Mizuki spoke as loud as her voice could be carried, the teasing laid on pretty damn thick even for her. “I should warn you, nobody's walked away from me the same due to my special skill – Thundering Jewel Blossom Seduction!”
“And why are you tellin’ it to me…?” Akito asked despite his exceedingly obvious bemusement. “Aren't we s'posed to be enemies?”
“Obviously, my technique gets stronger once I reveal how it works!”
“You totally stole that from a manga!”
“Well, anyway~” Mizuki hummed, completely ignoring Akito's petty accusation. “I'm supposed to be the tutorial boss, so you can't progress until you convince me to your side! Gotta warn you though, nobody's been able to succeed so far-”
“We can split the sweets 50/50.”
“Ding~ Demon Princess Amia has joined your party!”
Well, it was reasonable to suppose there was more than one way to earn somebody's love… Last time, the rules stated that you could progress so long as the actor was satisfied with your performance, so he'd take what he could get. With the spring in his step completely deflated compared to his pink-haired companion, the two of them made their way to the rooftop to pursue what was apparently their second objective.
“So I'm supposed to stop the ‘Great Demon King’ by hooking up with him…?” Akito repeated back the lore drop Mizuki had provided him with a thoroughly annoyed cringe. “This feels like some lame B-list isekai.”
“That's what drew me in, though!” Mizuki hummed, the sound of her clicking heels echoing across the stairwell. “It reminds me of all the shows I used to stay home and binge watch instead of going to school~”
“And you wonder why you need to take so many remedial courses…” Akito sighed, despite the fact that he was teetering mere paces away from the red zone himself. But whatever – right now, he was less occupied with his academic habits than he was with getting this the hell over with. Whatever weird lore the club drummed up, he had no choice but to keep progressing.
Come to think of it, Toya was supposed to have a role in all this too, wasn't he…? With any luck, maybe his partner would be waiting for him on the other side of the door. At least then, this ordeal had a shot at being tolerable – hell, he might even end up enjoying himself.
“HAHAHAHAHA! If it isn't the so-called hero of the realm!”
Genuinely what did he do in his past life that warranted this much divine punishment?
“Tsukasa-senpai…” Akito grumbled in extremely reluctant acknowledgement. Out of the hundreds of students he could've run into, somehow this loser kept repeatedly smashing into his path. If Toya didn't completely adore him, he was sure he'd have throttled the dude months ago.
“While this ‘Tsukasa’ you speak of sounds like a very handsome, benevolent, talented and humble future star, I assure you I am not he!” The blonde completely disappeared into his character – also speaking in a tone you'd usually only hear in retro anime – as he addressed his underclassmen. Admittedly, for all his obnoxiousness, he definitely had better acting chops than any official club member.
“I… am the Great Demon General!” Tsukasa announced with a dramatic swish of the cape upon his back. “Try as you might, foolish mortal! You will never be able to sway me with your powers of flirtatiousness!”
“Uh-oh, here comes another boss fight…” Mizuki spoke as if there was any real tension in this situation. Regardless, Akito's face began to heat up like a tea kettle upon a flame, as such an encounter would entail having to actually use the Romance command.
“...Can't we just kill him?”
“Come on, it can't be that bad!” Mizuki insisted as she pushed Akito toward the blonde. “Tsukasa-senpai's kinda handsome after all, isn't he?”
“Why aren't you doing it, then?!” Akito fired back, swatting away Mizuki's hands to stop her progress in its tracks.
“W-well, that's, um…” Mizuki stammered in an attempt to escape from the corner she'd just backed herself into. “...because you're the protagonist, obviously! Only you have the power to properly defeat him!”
That was the laziest excuse Akito had ever heard, but he wasn't dumb enough not to recognize when his breath was being wasted… On one side, his supposed party member was refusing to help, and on the other, their enemy was cycling through pose after pose as he waited to be wooed.
Seriously, why did he have to do everything himself?! Screw this stupid battle system!
Actually… Come to think of it, if his ultimate goal was to romance the Demon King, why would he pick up a bunch of side pieces on the way? That seemed pretty redundant. If anything, it made more sense to turn down everyone else's advancements until they got to the final boss.
“...Oh.” said Akito alongside his epiphany, a shockingly favorable solution to a problem that was about to make him consider hurling himself off the roof hitting all at once.
“Did you think of something, Li'l Bro?” queried Mizuki, watching as Akito willingly strode over to confront the thin sheet of demon's skin draped over their upperclassman's form.
“Oi. Demon.” Akito spat out his words no more benevolently than his ordinary self would have done. “Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not into you at all. I'm only after the heart of your king.”
“Hm…” Tsukasa stroked his chin for a moment, as if internally surveying the satisfactoriness of Akito's answer. For a moment, his silence made the younger second guess if he'd cracked open the case as wide as he was hoping – which would most definitely be his most embarrassing feat of the day, seeing as this was the one time he chose to take the game seriously.
“Hahaha! An excellent answer, my friend! You've passed my test!” Tsukasa dissuaded Akito's worries with a loud proclamation, prompting a sigh of relief from the latter. “You see, His Majesty the Great Demon King is my younger brother! When we were little, both of our parents died in a car crash during their wedding ceremony, so I simply must look out for his poor, fragile heart!”
“Where the hell are you guys comin’ up with these backstories…?” Akito mumbled to the room at large, unsure if he had been desensitized to the bullshit or if it was just physically impossible to get more annoyed than he was feeling right now.
“Ehe… Something tells me Tsukasa-senpai's making it up as he goes…”
With that, Akito's party gained a third member. As they ventured back down the stairs, Tsukasa explained that he deemed Akito a worthy life partner for his brother, and that he'd help him travel to the Demon King's castle so he could confess – however unnecessary it was for him to remain in character.
Finally, he could get this stupid shit over with. This was decidedly a huge waste of his free period, and he wanted nothing more than to find Toya, drag him out of here and spend whatever remaining minutes they had together. Luckily, he only had one hurdle left to humiliate himself through before sanctuary could be claimed.
“We're almost to the castle! Remember to be careful in the presence of the king.” Tsukasa announced as they turned a corner, eventually bringing them to the doors Akito recognized as leading to the school gymnasium.
Wait… The gym? Isn't that where the club president took-
As if tuned perfectly to Akito's thoughts, Tsukasa chose that moment to throw open the doors, revealing the mock throne room getup they'd put together inside. It was obvious at a glance that they reused so many props from their Valentine's Day stint that it bordered on lazy – but more importantly, as Akito's eyes combed the length of the set, he found a familiar blue-haired boy leering down at him from the throne.
“Toya…?!”
“Your Majesty!” Tsukasa spoke loud enough to cause a thunderous echo, both him and Mizuki making a team effort to push him inside. “I've brought to you the great hero of which the legends speak!”
“Akito…” Toya murmured with equal awe, as though it were somehow just as much a surprise to see his partner here as it was vice versa. Granted, neither of them really knew what the hell they were supposed to be doing until after they were thrown into the thick of it, but their earlier conversation should've served to make this encounter less awkward on at least one of their parts.
Toya looked… regal; Akito supposed that was the word for it. Despite the last-minute casting decision, it seemed like the budget for his costume far exceeded that of the other characters. His slender, elegant frame was hugged flawlessly by the black and red suit he was wearing, and the furred cape – probably meant to match with Tsukasa's – sat upon his broad shoulders like a perfect velvety backdrop for his body.
Of course, there was also the shining crown which classily pushed back his bangs and its attached caprine horns, but what really caught Akito's eye was Toya's makeup. It was obvious at a glance that he'd been caked in it – though not in the way you'd typically think. On the contrary, it served to make him look more masculine than usual, highlighting the sharpness of his features with a damningly effective illusion. He looked handsome from head to toe.
“Psst!” called a figure beside Toya – whose presence Akito had no interest in pretending he'd sensed until now – to remind their wide-eyed colleague that they had a show to put on.
“Ah. Right.” Toya scrambled to gather up his demeanor, eyes narrowing as he readied himself to address the party. “Ahem… Greetings, blasphemous mortal. Tis I – god among men, pioneer of the path of natural beauty, the Great Demon King who exterminates evil.”
“No no, Aoyagi-kun…” The club member next to Toya leaned in to harshly whisper against his ear. “The line is ‘the great Demon King who spreads evil across the land’!”
“Oh… Really?” Toya looked to his co-star with a puzzled expression, the speed at which his entire face squished back into his usual doe-eyed self almost magical. “But if I want the hero to fall in love with me, doesn't it make more sense for our goals to align?”
“That's the point!” The club member continued their explanation. “The two of you were together in your past life, so you each want the other to change ideologies for the sake of love! It's a battle of wills!”
“Way to spoil the whole plot…” Akito thought to himself as Toya was given the extra rundown. Given that he had less than an hour to practice, it made sense that Toya would fumble with grasping the inner workings of the story, but isn't feeding your actors the context of their script while they're onstage crazy unprofessional…? No wonder the school kept threatening to cut their funding.
“Alright then, mortal hero… or shall I say my lover from another life?” Toya began to monologue as if the whole room didn't literally just hear that bit of exposition, his voice steering Akito's train of thought back into reality's station. “Will you continue on your hollow path to heroism… or shall you join me in my beautiful conquest across the realm?”
Gulping down an anxious breath, Akito began to contemplate his most difficult ultimatum yet. In front of him was a beautiful and exceedingly rich demon king who certainly intended to treat him like a prince… and behind him were two doofuses who did nothing but shout and annoy him all day. Yeah, never mind, this was an extremely easy choice, actually.
“I'll join you.” Akito said with way less hesitation than he probably should have, various sounds of pure shock occurring from even Toya in response.
“Nononononononononononono!” Tsukasa immediately interjected – though at that point, it occurred to Akito that he had genuinely zero clue which side he was meant to be on. “Akito, you mustn't be fooled! Surely he plans to lock you in his dungeon for all eternity!”
“No I don't.” Toya spoke a little more candidly than what made sense for his characterization. “As my partner, he'll sleep in the same bed as me and enjoy all the same privileges as his king. Including all the free pancakes he could desire.”
“Sold.”
“W-wait, Li'l Bro!” Mizuki spoke up this time. “If you fall for his trap, you'll lose the game!”
...Shit. That was right. Technically, Toya was still an enemy which required defeating. Even if this whole ordeal was easily the dumbest thing he'd ever experienced in his going-on-18 years, he still didn't want to lose.
“Seriously…” Akito kissed his teeth, once again flickering back and forth between his two choices. He could either take the L and earn a beautiful boy as his consolation prize, or reject Toya's offer and run the risk of walking away with nothing but that pair of morons’ company…
Dammit, this game sucked!
“I can see that you have no intention of surrendering.” Toya spoke in his best attempt at a smooth, deepened voice, though he was audibly less polished than Tsukasa. “Not to worry. I have other ways of persuading you.”
“Eh?” Akito let out a tiny, unintelligible noise. He wasn't sure when Toya had descended from the throne to waltz right into his personal space, much less lift up his chin to force eye contact between them.
“Hm…” Toya licked up the sight of Akito in his grasp as though he intended to possess him. All of sudden, the ginger felt ten times smaller than he was, but in a way he – strangely enough, or perhaps not at all – struggled to pretend wasn't tantalizing.
It wasn't entirely foreign for Akito to receive such scrutiny from his partner. They were dating, after all – in fact, this was precisely why Akito's heart began to pound as Toya leaned forward with that particular glimmer swimming through his eyes. He always looked like that when they were about to-
“Mmph.” Akito's eyes widened in shock as he was abruptly kissed. Judging from the collection of tiny gasps at the action's suddenness, this definitely wasn't part of the script – or at least, Akito hoped so.
All prior notions ceased to matter when Toya's lips began to move. At first, Akito thought it only natural to respond. They were in public, after all, so surely a few moments of chaste affection would be enough. But surely enough, the longer they provided each other with this push and pull, the less innocent their kiss became, open mouths messily clashing as they devoured each other's every breath.
“Bwuh…” Akito made another involuntary sound when his back hit the wall, their lips separating as the need for oxygen finally hit. Toya planted both hands beside Akito's head as they bumbled into the cold surface, effectively pinning him in place as they toyed with how closely they could hover in and out of kissing distance.
“...Feeling a little more motivated now?” asked Toya, voice heavy from lost breath. Akito had less trouble than he was comfortable with admitting that this was probably the hottest his partner had ever looked – hair and makeup tousled from their makeout session, face flushed from the potent hit of dopamine, eyes hooded and jaw slackened as he panted with exertion…
“...Not quite.” Akito offered a challenging smirk, slipping his arms around Toya's neck as if daring him to do his worst. It was a pathetically obvious ploy to get those lips on his again – one that Toya bit down upon hook line and sinker, barely offering Akito enough time to take in enough air before they resumed their heated game of tonsil hockey.
“Um…” Mizuki commented awkwardly from where she stood on the sidelines. “You don't think Toya-kun was planning on doing that to every player, do you?”
“I have a feeling this script is meant to be between him and Akito alone.” Tsukasa chuckled along just as awkwardly – and what a feat it was to manufacture a scenario where Tsukasa felt like a third wheel.
Meanwhile, Toya pounced upon the opportunity to slip his tongue into Akito's mouth, humming pleasantly when the motion gained enough reciprocity to allow him to suck. If Akito hadn't already melted before, that certainly did the trick. Toya could feel his partner turn to jelly where he was trapped between the older's own body and the cold gymnasium wall.
“How easy can I be…?” mused the singular rational brain cell left functioning in Akito's stupid little gay head. Aside from how quickly he folded for Toya's kiss, the only reason he was even participating in this game to begin with was because of Toya.
Just like when he wanted to do Print Stickers, or when Rui needed a wedding choreographer, or when Tsukasa's birthday party needed help setting up, or that time he entered a dog disc competition – hell, even the last time he interacted with the Real Game Club was partially due to Toya. Toya, Toya, Toya and more Toya.
It was like he forgot how to think about anything else sometimes – only his wonderful partner and how willingly he'd burn down the world to preserve his happiness. He couldn't decide if it was completely stupid or objectively appropriate to have the thought run through his head while the dude's tongue was jammed down his throat, but it was honestly insane how vastly his capacity for love expanded when it came to Toya.
So, in reality, perhaps this little roleplay they'd been dragged into wasn't too inaccurate after all. No matter what, he really would choose Toya's happiness over everything else in a heartbeat.
…Oh, right. They were in the middle of a game right now. It probably wasn't a good idea to run his hands up Toya's shirt while they swapped spit, then.
“Hah…” Akito pushed Toya off this time, tongue partially hung out like an overheated dog as his lungs ran their asses to recover. Toya, on the other hand, just stared at him like a confused kitten – apparently bewildered that he'd pull back for any reason apart from physical necessity.
“Dude...” Akito finally found it in him to be embarrassed when Mizuki started bursting out laughing. “I can't believe you did that in front of people.”
“I was surprised you let me.” Toya shrugged back, his shame visibly nonexistent in comparison. With a defeated groan, Akito allowed himself to be helped to his feet, shuddering from the bloom of a striking ache upon his back that he hadn't noticed until now.
“Well… Um…” The presiding club member seemed completely astonished for some mysterious reason. “I take it that means you lost then, Shinonome-kun…?”
“Hah? No way.” Once again, Akito's mood changed in a flip, punctuating his disdain with an attention-grabbing bap upon Toya's shoulders. “Oi, Demon King. You'll turn good and become my partner, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“See?” Akito smirked the same way he did earlier, only without the ulterior motive of baiting out a tongue wrestling match. Toya merely giggled at the display, having always found his partner's competitive side to be adorable.
“Uh… I guess you completed the campaign, then.” sighed the club member, tired of these people playing in their face at this point. “You'll have to talk to the president if you want your prize.”
“Congratulations, Li'l Bro~”
“Excellent work! Precisely as expected of my juniors!”
“Yeah yeah, let's just get outta here…” Akito mumbled, the pink flush of embarrassment upon his cheeks growing brighter when Toya joined in on their praise by lightly clapping.
Well, that was certainly an… interesting day, to say the very least. It always felt like the world was out to get Akito – like if all he wanted was to have a normal, peaceful day, the entire world would choose that moment to start blowing up in every which way. Still, it was occasionally worth it when the end result was finally getting some quality time with the boy he loved most.
Akito took comfort in how exceedingly ordinary the rest of the day was. They returned to class, stopping in between periods to chat about whatever came to mind until finally the school day came to an end. After cleaning duty was over, the squad reconvened to squeeze in some practice – during which An got in a good laugh as Toya recounted today's escapade – until finally the top of the hourglass drew light.
“Akito.” said Toya as soon as they reached the usual spot in which they parted on the walk home, gently swirling his iced coffee and watching the mini-vortex it formed within its can.
“...What's up, dude?” Akito asked after a pause to gulp down the mouthful of soda he'd just swigged from his own can. Toya was giving him that look again – adoration so saccharine that even Akito's boundless sweet tooth barely stood a chance against it.
“I just thought I should tell you the true reason I took up the role of the Great Demon King.”
Akito nearly choked, having almost succeeded in forgetting about that total humiliation… After clearing his throat, he took a second glance at Toya, and it was then that he really recognized the look on Toya's face. It was affection, yes, but it was also mischief – subtle enough that you'd hardly know it was there and exclusive enough that only Akito could provide evidence of its existence.
“O…oh yeah?” Akito ended up muttering out like a complete idiot, his partner's unbroken smile somehow making him feel like even more of a stupid dumb idiot loser for it.
“To be honest, I had no interest in pretending to be someone else's lover… My heart's reserved for you, after all.” Toya hummed out those words so casually that it pushed Akito to the verge of going crazy. “So I only agreed to help once the club president promised to recruit you alone as the hero.”
…Oh. That was certainly unexpected. And here Akito was thinking his partner had only gone through with this out of the kindness of his heart.
“Hehe… You should really see your face right now.” Toya spoke with such endearment that it was no wonder Akito remained in his lulled hypnotic state. He closed the ginger's dropped-open mouth for him, delivering an affectionate peck upon his now-pursed lips.
“You spend too much time around that weird- Tsukasa-senpai.” Akito began to grumble, his last-second correction earning him an extra kiss to the cheek as Toya pulled away. “I know I didn't teach you how to be that dramatic, anyway…”
“Ehe. I suppose not.” Toya's smile remained as wide as his cheeks could handle, the suddenly nonexistent distance between them allowing him to study Akito's every feature unabashed – even if it was wildly inappropriate to do so at a public crossing.
“So…” Toya trailed off, eyes fluttering down either path of the fork until they landed back on his partner. “Can I come over tonight?”
“Where the heck did that come from?” Akito scoffed, playfully pushing himself into Toya as the light turned and they began making their way through the crossing.
“I'd like to continue what we started back in the gymnasium.” Toya spoke candidly, fingering rapping upon his coffee can in quiet repetition as they walked. “That's alright, isn't it?”
“You know it is, dummy.” Akito huffed, throwing a casual-yet-loving arm around Toya's shoulder. Honestly, the thought of rejecting his partner never even crossed his mind. In fact, today's events rendered him way more at peace with his willingness to spoil Toya than ever. There'd never be anything he loved more than caring for his partner.
“Wonderful…” Toya sighed. “It's also been rather hot today, so I'm sure we could stand to take a shower.”
Looks like his divine punishment was finally coming to an end.