#akuronuma

ＴＯ：Boss

ＳＵＢＪＥＣＴ：Food?

ＭＥＳＳＡＧＥ：Boss, are you at home right now? Do you want to go eat somewhere?

        No, that wasn’t a good start. Una wrung her hands. This was awkward. Did a situation like this call for formalities, or was it expected for her to be casual? It was hard to tell where their friendship stood. She wouldn’t say she was uncomfortable around him, not at all, but when occasions like this popped up, it was hard to decide rules and boundaries when they had no precedent. What if it turned out that they were only close enough for something small and simple like a cell phone charm? That would be obnoxious.

        Debating with herself, she eventually pulled from her bag a parcel wrapped in multicoloured paper and thrust it toward him. “Your birthday has not escaped my attention. Although I desired to surprise you, I would not have liked to interfere with any prior plans by taking you out on any impromptu activities. So, er. These are for you.”

        If he were to open the package, inside would be a pair of sweaters. Or rather, she thought them a pair even though they had nothing in common aside from, perhaps, the cut. The darker of the two was a deep blue, nearly black, and covered in stars and planets. It was casual and subtle and maybe even classy. The lighter of the two was more ostentatious: with a shark, a strip of white space at the top, and a swimmer, it featured the iconic graphics from the movie Jaws, complete with red lettering. The fit of each one was relaxed, just a tad too big for him, but the slouchy fit was intentional. She was going to recruit everyone into her sweater army.

        “Oh, but that’s not all, Aoba.” Okay, that was a mistake. Way too intimate. They were not close enough to drop honorifics. She knew that much. Her face grew warm. “This is a special, special gift, alright? Please don’t take it lightly, because I don’t give these out freely.” And then she handed him a small slip of paper, holding it from the corners politely as though she were giving him her business card. The paper wasn’t printed on, but had a handwritten message and small drawing denoting it as a coupon good for one free favor. No expiration date. For someone who kept such fastidious records of debts and payments, to issue something like this was a big deal. She bowed her head. “Please use it wisely. And lastly...” 

    Ryuu glanced at his phone, “It’s six,” he quickly made his way down the stairs and onto the sidewalk that led up up Raira Academy. As he approached the front gate, the green-eyed boy slowed down to gather his breath. ..relax, you do this every year. “..Aoba should be done with his class duties by now.”

    Ryuu stuffed one hand in his pocket and held his messenger bag in place with the other. “It’s Aoba’s birthday, so I wonder if he already has dinner plans..” He might even be home by now.

    In an impatient attempt to drag the young Blue Squares leader out, he was tempted to go inside the school grounds, but considering the fact that it was a private school..

    He furrowed his brows and huffed, “I’d rather not deal with the faculty today.”

    The sun was still high, but not for long. Ryuu whipped out his cell phone and sent a quick text.

TO: Boss

SUBJECT: Hey

 “I did. “How kind of you to notice. –♪”

Send me ┼ for my muse’s reaction to walking in on your muse

4. Being Attacked

Maybe it was the fear that held Mikado in place when he stepped into the warehouse only to find his kouhai being attacked. Maybe it was the shock that some nobody had found their hideout. 

What could not be explained was the fact that Mikado stood still, just watching, for a few minutes. Unblinking the older boy watched unmoved as Aoba was clearly losing the fight. Neither party seemed to notice that he had walked in and it did not slip his thoughts that he could walk right back out. 

He had never seen Aoba lose a fight he started, which made Mikado ever more curious. Who was this person who seemed to hold such anger towards his kouhai? 

A smile broke out across Mikado’s face. 

         Who didn’t hold such anger towards his kouhai?

              The real question was who had the young shark actually managed to miscalculate? 

The thought dropped from the gang leader’s mind. The smile vanished. He was still unnoticed, so there was still little reason to rush. 

                   C r a c k. 

     The man attacking Aoba fell to the ground, Mikado clutching a long piece of wood with both his hands stood over the other man opposite Aoba. The older boy had waited till he had a clear shot of the assailant’s back. Another moment passed and without a sign of hesitation Mikado hit him again with all the strength he could muster. 

Send me ‘I want the K’ and I’ll generate a number

5: Firm Kiss (which is actually 13 in disguise)

If there was one big mistake one could make around Una, it would be to let their guard down. She had no malicious intent–she wasn’t that kind of person. Despite that, there was danger in growing too complacent. It was something Una recognized well and fought hard to avoid. 

        “What are you reading again?” 

An innocent question, and a stupid one: all it took was a glance at the cover to giver her an answer. But that wasn’t why she asked it. It would be too suspicious to approach him out of the blue. She needed a pretense, no matter how flimsy. The summer heat had the both of them laying on the floor in front of the fan; it was the first time in a while that either of them had spoken up.

        “Is it actually any good?” 

A more open-ended answer, just to lull him into a false sense of mundanity. Whether or not he was aware of it, Aoba’s shirt had inched up a fraction, just enough to reveal a thin strip of pale flesh. It was all the invitation Una needed. She rolled over toward him slowly, so as not to alarm him. If he thought she wanted to take a peek at the book’s pages, that was good enough for her. Then, when she had closed the distance, she struck. 

In one fluid motion, she hooked her hand under the edge of his shirt, pushed it up, and firmly pressed her lips to his navel. Then she blew. Vigorously.