#here comes spring

"I've got club activities in the morning, but I'm pretty free after that." 

Ieyasu grumbled under his breath. Masamune flirting with other girls was one thing, but having Misuzaki Mai fall under his clutches was something he couldn't allow. Mai worked under his committee in the student council, the Health Committee, and there was no way any of his members were slacking off to go on dates with Masamune of all people.

At least, this is the reason Ieyasu told himself when he found himself stalking over to where Masamune and Mai stood.

"We have a committee meeting on Saturday," he said unceremoniously, not even bothering with pleasantries. 

Mai had the decency to looked ashamed. "You're right! I completely forgot!" She bowed towards Masamune. "I'm so sorry, Masamune-senpai! It seems I can't go with you to the poetry event after all."

Masamune didn't even look the least bit bothered; he spared a grin Ieyasu's way before shrugging. "Well, there's always next time. Or you could ditch Ieyasu's meeting and come with instea—"

"Mai, weren't we going to inventory the remaining medicines in the clinic today?" 

Ieyasu spoke over Masamune so quickly that Mai almost didn't hear him.

Her eyebrows shot up in confusion. “We were?" 

“You were the one who brought up the issue of expired medicines...”

“Yes, but that was my agenda for Saturday.” 

Ieyasu scoffed. “It’s a pressing issue. We should act on it quickly. If we wait ‘til then you’ll have numerous things to bring up on Saturday and it’ll take too long to listen to them all.” 

Mai seemed to be considering. “Well, I do have time today...”

Masamune seemed to be holding back a laugh. He placed his hand on Ieyasu's shoulder and nodded. Without any context, he said, "I see. So that's how it is."

Ieyasu scowled. "That's how what is?"

"Oh, nothing," and without any warning, Masamune suddenly brought his face closer to Mai's and winked. "You better go help Yasu, Mai-chan. He can be very impatient about things."

Mai turned a nice shade of red. She was about to back away, but Ieyasu quickly pulled her towards himself.

"Stop harassing my committee members," the blonde grumbled. He didn't let go of Mai's hand and hoped profusely that Masamune wouldn't say anything about it. Slowly, he pulled her towards the school corridor, presumably heading towards the health clinic. "Let's go, Misuzaki."

Mai was flushed until her ears. Her mouth was open, as if she wanted to say something; Ieyasu could hear her stutter—which he found odd, as she was usually very articulate and confident, but something was distracting her. 

"Tokugawa-san," she began, "My hand..."

Ieyasu looked like he got shot by lightning. He abruptly let go.

"Don't read into that," he started, and already regretted the words as he said them. He turned towards Mai and saw her face change from embarrassed to... sad? Why in the world would she make that face?

Still, it didn't make him stop.

"You're so clumsy I thought you would forget where the health office is, so I had to lead you there." 

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Masamune watched the scene, thinking that this would be a good moment for them to act cutely awkward with each other. Maybe Ieyasu would finally show an adorable side, after all. 

But of course, Ieyasu was Ieyasu, so instead he scoffed and said something dumb like "Don't read into that." 

Mai looked deflated. "Of course," she mumbled, withdrawing her hand and closing it tight. The flush on her face receded. "Thank you." 

Masamune wanted to hit Ieyasu on the head. The boy is hopeless.

"Oy, Yasu," he called out. Might was well distract the two so Mai could compose herself. "Do you know you're still wearing your outside shoes? Better change before Hideyoshi catches you!"

Ieyasu's momentary look of panic was priceless.

"How troublesome," he muttered, but proceeded to take off his sneakers. "You go ahead to the clinic, Misuzaki. I'll meet you there."

Mai, who, Masamune noticed, had her composure back, smiled brightly at him. "Sure! See you!"

As she was running off, Masamune looked at Ieyasu. His face was red as a tomato, and he pinched his nose in irritation. 

Masamune smirked. "Finally regretting your words, huh?" 

Ieyasu kept his head down.

"Shut up."

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Sasuke saw Mai running towards the clinic. Her face looked impassively neutral, and that's how he knew something was wrong.

He opened the door of the clinic and saw her beginning to re-arrange the boxes in the cabinets. Her face was still a blank page, and she didn't even notice him come in.

"Mai?" 

She startled. "Sasuke-kun!" It was only then she gave him a small smile. "What brings you here?"

"I was wondering if you needed help." 

"Well, I was just going to look for expired medicines and store them. We might send them back to the pharmacy for proper disposal."

Sasuke adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I see. Is this health committee work?"

Mai nodded. "This was supposed to be my agenda for Saturday's meeting, but..." 

Whatever her reasons were for moving up the agenda, Sasuke did not hear. As Mai trailed off, the door to the clinic opened again, revealing a beaten up soccer player with a few scrapes on his face and legs.

Mai bristled. "Yukimura!" 

The said boy flinched. "Geez, you don't have to be so loud," he mumbled, but didn't argue when Mai ran over to him to check his wounds. "Woah there, slow down, boar woman. I don't need new injuries."

If looks could add to injury, Yukimura would definitely be knocked out cold by now. Mai rolled her eyes and dragged him to a seat. "What on earth happened to you?" 

Yukimura shrugged. "Sports accident. It happens all the time."

Mai put her hands on her hips. "You're telling me you got all of this cause of a soccer ball?"

"Not because of the ball per se, dummy. I fell while trying to protect the ball from Uesugi."

Sasuke heard Mai 'tsk' before she started moving around the room, gathering materials to patch the scrapes. When she set them all on the table, she took a forceps and clipped cotton on it before moving closer to Yukimura's face. 

Sasuke did not miss the moment when Yukimura flushed red at Mai's closeness. 

"What the— that stings!" 

"Hold still, you baby," Mai chided, meticulously patting the wounds with disinfectant. "If we don't clean this now, you'll have a huge abscess on your face, and it will rot your teeth."

The soccer player flinched. "That can't be true." He glanced at Sasuke for help. "Sasuke, tell me it's not true."

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm not health committee."

Yukimura looked like he was going to protest in panic, but his words were cut off by the sound of the door opening again. 

Ieyasu stood at the entrance, taking in the scene before him. Sasuke couldn't read him, but he could tell his expression was more stoic than usual. For a moment, however, some emotion flickered on his face when he glanced at Mai, but he couldn't be certain if it was just a play of the afternoon light. 

"I thought you were sorting out the medicines," the blonde said, walking towards them with a sharpness Sasuke could not fathom. It was like finding a sharp knife after it was ground against a whetstone. 

Mai, for the most part, seemed oblivious. "I'll just finish tending to my dummy of a patient," she said, half-smiling. "Yuki here got into a soccer accident."

This was usually Yukimura's cue to quip back, but surprisingly, the boy was just glaring at Ieyasu. 

"Why are you even here?" 

Ieyasu scoffed. "I'm head of the health committee."

"Didn't I see you heading out a while ago?"

"Didn't I see you get hopelessly crushed by a cage of soccer balls?"

Mai gasped. "So it was because of soccer balls?!"

Yukimura sputtered. "T-that's not the point!" 

Ieyasu sighed, and with the grace of someone used to handling medical instruments, took the forceps from Mai and sat on the chair next to Yukimura.

"Misuzaki, continue fixing the medicines. I'll take care of this idiot here." He then proceeded to put more disinfectant on the cotton, and without a word of warning, began to clean Yukimura's face.

This, of course, was faced with a lot of resistance by the other boy. "I don't want to be treated by you!"

"Stay put. If we don't clean this now, you'll have a huge abscess on your face, and it will rot your teeth." 

"So that was true?!" 

Sasuke watched the entire exchange with amusement. When Mai began to move back to sort out the expired medicines, he saw her glance at Ieyasu with uncertainty.

When she looked away, Ieyasu glanced back. The small moment of distraction caused him to poke Yukimura's nose. 

"Oy, watch it!"

"It's because you're an idiot." 

But after a while, Ieyasu glanced at Mai again.

Sasuke pushed up his glasses.

Interesting.

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While walking home, Yukimura fiddled with his bandages. He hated to say it, but Tokugawa was very meticulous when it came to wound cleaning. He'd be surprised if he grew an abscess or if his teeth started to rot after all that fuss.

Sasuke seemed to be in deep thought next to him, which was standard fare, so he did what he would usually do: talk about the first thing that came to his mind.

"Tokugawa's awfully overprotective of Mai, isn't he?" 

This seemed to catch Sasuke's attention.

"Why would you think that?" He asked, doing that habit of his where he adjusted his glasses to look smart. 

Yukimura put his bag over his shoulder and shrugged. "I don't know. He always seems to show up where she is." Looking up, he realized some things didn't make sense, however. "But he’s stiff around her. It's like he's pretending he doesn't have a soft spot for her, sometimes. But it kinda shows."

Sasuke nodded. "This analysis is unprecedented for someone like you."

"...Why do I feel like you just insulted me?"

The question was ignored. "It figures you would understand his feelings. Tokugawa-san is, after all, a tsundere, much like you, Yukimura."

Yukimura frowned. "I already told you, I don't understand pop culture references."

Sasuke once again let the comment pass by. Instead he asked, "Why do you think he's that way to Mai?" 

Surprisingly, Yukimura found he didn't need to think about it a lot. Casually, while fiddling again with the bandages on his face, he concluded, "He probably likes her."

He and Sasuke walked in silence for a while after that statement. 

Then, Yukimura stopped. His face contorted into a look of discomfort. Somehow, something coiled within him, a heat he could not name. "Y'know, it feels uncomfortable to know that."

Sasuke did a small nod. 

"As expected, your perceptiveness does not extend to yourself."

He then walked ahead, leaving Yukimura standing alone, as confused as ever.

"Oy! What's that supposed to mean?!"

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つづく