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“That’s it. You’re doing well.” The physio therapist encouraged Fujio.
The teen grunted in exertion, unable to form words with his body aching badly. The doctor had warned him that it’ll take a long time for his body to regain its strength, especially his lungs where he was shot. But he didn’t think it would be this hard. He couldn’t do the simplest of things without getting out of breath, his chest ached badly some days and worst of all, he couldn’t do anything without relying on his mom, Tsukasa or his friends.
The only reprieve he had was that Murayama was currently working to protect Oya when he couldn’t. Their former leader was now keeping a strict eye on the part timers and making them fight off the gangs. Tsukasa on the other hand was a great leader for the full timers as he had led them on a handful of occasions to deal with schools that tried to take advantage of Fujio’s absence.
It stung and relieved him that Oya was doing well without him.
“Let’s end our session here for today.”
“Eh? But we still have fifteen minutes.” Fujio pointed out.
“Something is on your mind. I’m afraid that you won’t be able to focus. And you clearly need a break.” His therapist explained calmly. She handed him a bottle of water which he gratefully drowned.
“So? What are you thinking about?” She asked as she sat down next to him.
Fujio turned the bottle in his hands blankly. “It feels like everyone’s moving on without me. I’m stuck being weak while everyone’s doing their best.”
“It’s natural to feel like that while recovering. But, keep the chin up. With your progress, it’s not going to be forever.” She looked up and smiled. “Tsukasa-kun is here.”
Fujio broke into a small smile when he spotted his best friend waiting for him on the other side of the window and waved. Tsukasa returned it with his own smile and nod.
“I’m envious of you two. When Tsukasa-kun was doing his physio here, you were always here by his side. And now it’s Tsukasa-kun's turn to look after you. I wish I had a friend who was as close as you two are.”
“Ah...we’re childhood rivals turned friends.” Fujio explained sheepishly.
“I see. Well, I see you next week, Fujio-kun.”
“Thank you, sensei.” Fujio bowed at her as he left the room.
“How was the session?” Tsukasa got his answer in the form of Fujio’s tired groan and leaning against him. Rolling his eyes, he gently nudged Fujio. “Come on, we can get some ice cream.”
That got Fujio to look up with an eager look. “Your treat?”
“Get your own.” Tsukasa playfully shoveled him. As they headed out, he caught his friend up on the happenings at Oya. “Things are settling after the Glave incident. We only had one school challenge us, but it was Utsuka High and they have like, thirty people only.”
Fujio wrinkled his nose. “And they still wanted to challenge us-you guys?”
Tsukasa tilted his head at him. “They thought they would only be facing our men. But Yasushi decided to tag along. So we took care of them.”
Fujio hung his head at that. If he was around, Yasushi didn’t have to join in and take care of Utsuka for him. But those thoughts were literally hit out of his head by his friend. “Don’t look like that. Yasushi would have joined it whether you were with us or not.” He softened and squeezed his shoulder. “You don’t have to worry too much. We’re all waiting for you to recover. Better that you get better before you start fighting again over getting hospitalized again.”
“I know. But it’s just...” Fujio struggled to describe how he was feeling without sounding ungrateful of the effort his friend put into his duties. But Tsukasa wasn’t his friend for years without understanding him.
“Fujio.” He came to a stop, grabbing his friend’s arm. Instead of being upset, his eyes were warm and hopeful. “You didn’t give up on me when I was struggling after Senomon. I’m not going to give up on you now. I’ll be waiting for you to come back.”
Fujio swallowed heavily. “Thanks Tsukasa. That means a lot.”
Satisfied with his friend no longer being moody, Tsukasa tugged on his arm. “I'll treat you to ice cream this time.”
That did the trick of cheering Fujio up. “Really?!”
“Yeah, but you’re treating the next time.”
After getting their ice cream, they made their way to the park to rest a bit before Tsukasa brought Fujio home. He learned the hard way to let his friend rest after an intense session after Fujio passed out from exhaustion on their way home from his first physio session. Luckily, Yamato happened to be around and brought them to Itokan to wait for Fujio’s mother to pick them up.
As they ate their ice cream, Fujio caught his friend up on the news he heard while on house rest. “Sachio and Rao’s fight ended with Rao winning again.”
“I’m not surprised. Sachio’s good, but Rao has more control despite his strength, if you know what I mean.”
“I get it.” Fujio nodded. “And Doka’s torn between giving up her clarinet or not.”
“Because of Ishii-san?” Tsukasa asked shrewdly.
“Yeah.” Fujio sighed. He gave Tsukasa a small frown. “Before Rocky-san handed him to the police, he called my mom to apologize. But kaa-san wouldn’t have it and gave him a tremendous scolding before she shouted at Rocky-san and told him to not let Ishii-san contact us or Doka’s family again.”
“…That explains why he was nervous around you when he brought us to the party.”
Fujio nodded gravely. “Anyway, Shinya’s encouraging Doka to do what she wants. Her mother is trying to make her stop completely, but I know that’ll only encourage her not to give up on it.”
“It’ll very much be like her to do the opposite of what people want of her.” Tsukasa snorted. He let out a small sigh. “I wish you’ll come back soon.”
“Me too.” Fujio murmured as he fingered his wood pendant.
“Things are under control, but it’s boring without you.”
“You’re not going to get all depressed and moody again without me around, are you?” Fujio tried to joke.
“No.” Tsukasa shook his head firmly. He reached out with his free hand to cup Fujio’s face. Staring intently in his eyes, he said, “I will protect Oya until you come back because I want you to not worry for us. I want you to be able to come back and enjoy life with us again. We nearly lost you…I nearly lost you.” Tsukasa’s voice broke at the end.
“Tsukasa…” Fujio reached out and squeezed the hand on his face. He smiled wetly. “But you didn’t. I survived.”
Tsukasa stared at him. The desire to kiss him was too strong. The cool, rational side of him said it was a bad idea. Fujio was his best friend whom he had been crushing on since they were children who didn’t understand what love was. He could risk destroying their relationship and he’ll lose Fujio for good this time.
But the wild side of him was screaming at him, telling him that if he held back, he’ll regret it if something takes Fujio away again, this time permanently.
So without letting the rational side have a chance to retort, he pulled Fujio closer to press his lips on his.
It was a chaste kiss. Tsukasa pulled away just as quickly as he kissed him. His eyes were drawn to the ground, too afraid to look up and see the disgust in Fujio’s eyes. “Fujio…I’m sorry. But I can’t hold it back anymore. I nearly lost you and I don’t want to have any regrets anymore.” The words tumbled out of Tsukasa’s mouth before he could stop them.
Fingers gently grabbed his chin and lifted his head, forcing him to face Fujio. Instead of the repulse he feared, Fujio only had a soft, adoring gaze.
“Tsukasa…I’m sorry too.”
There it was. Tsukasa squeezed his eyes shut as tears pricked his eyes. His heart was thumping painfully with Fujio’s rejection.
“I’m sorry I didn’t kiss you when you got out of the hospital after Amagai put you in there.”
…What?
Tsukasa slowly opened his eyes to see Fujio’s lowered eyes which were full of guilt. “I felt the same when you were in the coma. I wanted to tell you how much I love you just as much as I wanted to kiss you. But I chickened out after you woke up ‘cause…” Fujio trailed off, unable to say the words.
“You were afraid of losing me?” Tsukasa gently prompted him.
Fujio slowly nodded. He looked away with a forced smile. “It’s pathetic, isn’t it? Me? Chickening out ‘cause I’m a coward? You’re braver than I was.”
Tsukasa slowly shook his head. The hand that was on his face moved to hold Fujio’s. “I’m brave because I’m more fearful of losing you. It took me 13 years and your near death to work up the courage to kiss you.”
Fujio’s eyes widened. “13 years!? But we were just kids then!”
“Yeah.” Tsukasa averted his eyes as a blush adorned his cheeks. “When did you…?”
“Ah…” Fujio racked his brains to try to recall when he started to love Tsukasa. When the answer hit him, he stilled. “Probably when you told me you wouldn’t be my partner unless I beat you.”
Tsukasa couldn’t help the chortle that came out. “Probably? And that made you like me?”
“I can’t explain it, but that was the moment that made me want you as my partner, and when I started crushing on you.” Fujio scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I mean, you were already so cool when we were kids, even though you were so fierce when we fought. But when you said that…it wasn’t out of coolness, it was so heated and sincere.”
“Oh.”
They sat there for a few more minutes in comfortable silence. They had been close for so long that they felt at ease with each other without the need to say anything.
“So…we’re dating?” Fujio suddenly asked.
Tsukasa gave him a fond, exasperated smile. “Of course.”
They leaned in for another kiss but broke apart when they felt something cool trickle on their hands. Belatedly, they remembered they had their ice creams.
Fujio stared at his half melted ice cream and broke into peels of giggles. Tsukasa snorted but smiled all the same. “I think it’s time we headed back.”
“Yeah.” Fujio scarfed down the remainder of his ice cream and extended his clean hand out for Tsukasa to take.
The blond eyed the white spot on his nose and smirked. Leaning forward, he kissed the patch of ice cream off Fujio’s nose. That made his friend blush furiously.
“T-tsukasa!”
“Yes?” His (boy)friend arched a perfect brow. “Got a problem with that?”
Fujio stared at him then grinned. “As a matter of fact, yes. It’s not a real kiss.” He tugged Tsukasa closer and kissed him sweetly.
Sachio wasn’t sure how he got back to Toaru City after witnessing that kiss. All he knew was that his heart was crushed from seeing the person he liked kiss someone else. But that’s the problem, isn’t it?
Maybe he knew all the while that Fujio and Tsukasa had something deeper than just being best friends. But he still wanted to try to ask Fujio out, even if it meant being rejected.
“Sachio?”
Pausing his steps, he turned around to find his other rival. “Rao.”
The Suzuran student was carrying some bags, having gone shopping. “Fancy seeing you here. You just went to see Fujio?”
“Yeah.” Sachio gave a small nod. He smiled thinly at him. “He and Tsukasa just got together.”
“I see.” Rao broke into a smile. “That’s good.” He then observed Sachio and frowned. “Is that bothering you?”
“No, it just caught me off guard.” The Housen leader huffed.
Rao nodded in understanding. It unnerved Sachio how Rao could see through him so easily.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he turned to walk away. But Rao was not going to let him go just like that.
“Wait, Sachio.” Rao hastened his steps to catch up with him.
“What?” Sachio glared at him.
“What will happen to your friendship with Fujio now that he doesn’t like you back?” Rao quietly asked.
“If you’re afraid that I’ll break off the House-Oya alliance, don’t be. I’m not that petty.” Sachio snapped back.
“That’s not what I was asking.” Rao replied calmly.
Sachio came to a halt and spun to glare at him. “What do you know? I knew from the start that Fujio would never go out with me because he loves Tsukasa! And some days, I can’t look at Fujio without being consumed by guilt for what happened to him. I was the one who was supposed to be at death’s door, not him!” He squeezed his eyes shut. “All I wanted was a chance. But it was never going to happen.”
Rao was silent as he let Sachio get it off his chest. Once he was done, he squeezed his rival’s shoulder. “Fujio will always be your friend, no matter what.”
“I know.” Sachio said quietly. He can never hate Fujio for not giving him the chance. He deserved better than that. He gazed at Rao with a depreciating smile. “I must be a mess for me to let you lecture me.”
“It’s not lecturing, it’s helping out a friend.” Rao corrected him.
“…are we really friends?”
“We can be rivals and friends at the same time, just as we are with Fujio.”
“…I’d like that.” Sachio mustered a smile. Maybe he cannot be with Fujio, but at least he’s still his friend. And now Rao’s. It’ll take time for him to get over it, but at least Fujio will be happy with Tsukasa.