#mudakyo

Shiki had been gone for a while. Where? Who knew. Jin certainly didn’t. And he didn’t care either. All that meant was that he finally had some peace and quiet in his tiny dorm room, and he was more than glad about that. 

Well. He had peace and quiet, until knocks sounded against the door. A few seconds passed. He was about to choose to ignore whoever was outside, when a voice called out his name. 

“Kougasaki? Are you in here?”

Mudano. Jin rolled his eyes. Great, now he couldn’t ignore whoever was outside. He sat up and walked to the door, grabbing his face mask from his bedside table and pulling it on - it was a useless gesture by now, really, everyone knew about his scars, especially Mudano, but it made him feel more comfortable. 

His teacher stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, his facial expression barely twitching as the door opened and the blond appeared in front of him. A silent tilt of the head, as Jin wondered what had brought Mudano over to his room. 

“Do you have time to speak? This isn’t related to school, or anything. I just have something to tell you.”

Jin frowned. Sure. Wasn’t worrisome at all. He shrugged and moved out of the way, inviting Mudano into the room. A second later and he was closing the door again, sitting on his bed as the teacher sat on the desk chair closest to him. 

Jin sat there in silence, waiting for Mudano to speak. It was unusual to see Mudano short for words - yet the ever so mysterious teacher was staring at the ground and seemingly in deep thought, playing with that ring on his hand. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke up. 

“I’m just gonna cut straight to the chase. You like Ichinose, don’t you? Romantically.”

Jin almost choked on air. He coughed several times to adjust himself, and could feel his face heating up - oh god, he must be turning pink. 

Mudano waited in silence for Jin to come back to a composed state of self. As the blond took a few deep breaths, he looked back at his teacher and answered. 

“Maybe. Yes. What about it?”

Jin cringed at himself. This was the first time he’d admitted it out loud, so it made sense for him to be embarrassed about it; still, that didn’t make it any less humiliating. Mudano kept the silence going for a little while. 

“What I’m about to tell you, I say from experience. Don’t give up on him while you still have a chance.”

Jin’s eyebrows furrowed. Where was this coming from?? Was Mudano, his teacher , seriously giving him love advice? About Ichinose Shiki of all people? He must have been dreaming. 

He pinched himself. No, very much awake. Somehow that didn’t comfort him in the slightest. 

His confusion must’ve been visible, for Mudano decided to go on without waiting for a verbal answer. 

“I know you might think that it’s not worth it, or that you still have time to make up your mind. But that’s unfortunately not true. I’m not… implying that either of you will die, even though that’s a very real possibility, but in general. You may not have the same dreams. You may not follow the same paths. Kougasaki, what I’m telling you is to make sure that even if Ichinose isn’t part of your life anymore, you won’t have any regrets.”

Perhaps the dream option wasn’t so far off after all. 

Jin blinked. Twice. Thrice. He processed Mudano’s words. Realistically, he had a point - he might regret not ever confessing to Shiki. It had been a recurring plot point in all those shoujo manga Byobugaura liked to read. 

Still, Jin wasn’t really a romantic guy. Nor was he really a fan of anything related to emotions, really - which is why Shiki got on his nerves so often. He kept causing Jin to have so many feelings all the time and it made him sick. 

At some point, he realized he was still staring at Mudano in silence. He shook his head to clear his mind, and responded. 

“Assuming I agree with that - wouldn’t that possibly cause more problems? In case Shiki doesn’t feel the same, wouldn’t cohabitation with him become awkward?”

Jin voiced what he thought to be purely logical and coherent thoughts, and yet was only met by Mudano’s deadpan stare and a raised eyebrow. 

“That kid’s head over heels for you. It’s honestly a surprise he hasn’t confessed yet, but I assume that’s just because he doesn’t even realize he’s into you.”

Jin’s eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open, surprise etching his features. He figured Shiki would rather be the type to be visibly obvious when in love; but perhaps he simply didn’t notice, being the subject of his affections. 

He heard Mudano sigh, a sign that he was about to speak again. 

“Seriously, though. Like I said, I’m speaking from experience. I also thought I didn’t need to confess, and kept making excuses not to, until I almost lost him.”

He probably meant Oiranzaka, Jin thought. Mudano waved the back of his left hand at him, the shiny wedding band catching the light of the room. 

“It felt awful. I regretted not keeping him closer for years. And I see my younger self in you, at least in this case. Don’t make the mistakes I did.”

At some point, the chair Mudano was sitting in had moved close enough for the teacher to only be at an arm’s reach from Jin. The student felt a hand on his head - a gentle caress, tender and caring, accompanied with a rare smile from his teacher. Jin almost teared up. This felt closer to paternal love than he had ever received from his actual father. 

“Got it?”

Jin nodded. 

“I’ve got it. I’ll think about it.”

Mudano hummed in approval, standing back up - and Jin would almost complain at the loss of the affectionate touch. Still, he tried not to think about it too much. 

Mudano soon left the room, and left Jin to stare at the bottom of the top bunk in deep thought.