#{taichiro

“I bet you can’t catch me!” Ichiro yelled out as he was being chased by his friend, who was currently ‘it.’ He was confident in his running skills, so getting away should be a pinch. As the small boy ran past the slide, he collided with Yuusuke; the token class bully. The two of them hit the ground. “Ow…” Ichiro winced at the sudden impact. “Sorry about tha-” His voice disappeared when he got a good look at Yuusuke. “Watch it Dougo! What if I had hit my head?!” Yuusuke snapped as he stood up.

All the confidence Ichiro had from before had disappeared. While most people in his kindergarten were friendly and welcoming, it was clear to everyone that Yuusuke wanted nothing to do with this. That boy wasn’t afraid to hurt anyone to get his way. Honestly, it just made him comes off as a bit of a jerk. “Y-Yuusuke, I said sorry!” Small tears poked at the corner of Ichiro’s eyes, but he was using all of his might to make sure they didn’t fall.

“You have too much energy! That’s annoying, just like you!” Yuusuke hissed while he ignored Ichiro’s apologizes.

While this was all going on, another boy looked up from his in-progress sandcastle. The green haired boy noticed Ichiro trying to get away without getting hurt, but Yuusuke clearly wasn’t having it. With a shaky fist by his side, he decided that someone had to put an end to this chaos.

“Hey!” The green haired boy called out. Yuusuke removed his eyes from Ichiro and looked up to where the voice was coming from. “Stay out of this Manza! Dougo needs to apologize for how badly he hurt me!” Ichiro also looked over at that voice. “Taishi?” He mumbled.

Even though they were in the same class, they hadn’t talked that much. Ichiro is more outgoing while Taishi is more reserved, so they usually ended up doing different things during times like recess.

Taishi got closer to the scene to get a better look at Yuusuke. “You don’t seem hurt, so just let this go. Or are you gonna go cry to your mommy?” He smirked. Yuusuke hesitated, but then decided to leave the area. “Hmph! I’ve got better ways to spend my recess then to be stuck with you losers.” With that, Yuusuke was gone.

Ichiro stood up and grabbed onto Taishi’s shirt sleeve. “Thank you.” He said quietly. A faint pink dusting coated Taishi’s cheeks; he had never seen Ichiro this quiet or this vulnerable before. “It was nothing… Someone has to stand up to bullies like them!” Taishi said with a splash of confidence in his voice. Ichiro chuckled. “You were shaking!” Taishi couldn’t deny that.

Taishi took a step forward. “Do you wanna come play in the sandbox with me?” A huge smile reappeared on Ichiro’s face. “Sure!”

“And Taishi?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna be friends?”