#pyrachan

Ryuu admired Io’s knack for managing money. He really did, but today he couldn’t help but be a little annoyed at Io. While couples got in at a discount, groups of four or more got in at half-price each. Io obviously wanted to get the better deal. Naturally this wouldn’t have been a big deal if Yumoto, En and Atsushi were here, but Yumoto was helping Gora with the hot springs while En and Atsushi were doing some family thing at En’s house.

“Five hundred yen. Five hundred yen. Is saving five hundred yen really worth spending an afternoon with Gero and these two chucklenuts?”

“Chucklenuts?” 

“Couldn’t you at least have picked a more glamorous insult?” 

“Five hundred yen each,” Io said, as if that justified things. He ignored Ryuu’s second glare. “They’re our friends now, Ryuu. You said we could have a couple of friends tag on.” 

“Friends isn’t is exactly the words I’d use,” Akoya muttered. 

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with you, Gero,” Ryuu said. While they were certainly now on good terms with both the Student Council and the Beppu brothers, Ryuu definitely thought they weren’t good enough friends to comfortably tag on a date. The twins laughed together and Akihiko gave a smile.

“I’d say we’re friends,” Akihiko said. “Though… please do not worry about us crashing on your date. We won’t be intrusive.”

“When have we ever been intrusive anyway?” Haruhiko grinned. Ryuu wisely bit his tongue. “If you want to go and do ‘this and that’ together, that’s fine. It’s Valentine’s Day after all. We’ll be checking the marine life. Apparently Earth has some super weird stuff.”

“This and-” Ryuu spluttered. Ryuu turned to Io- who was also blushing a hotly as he was- and gestured to the group in a way that said ‘see? See? This is what I mean!’

“Don’t lump me in with any of you,” Akoya huffed. “As soon as I get in, I’m going off on my own. If I didn’t want to look at the exhibits, I wouldn’t be here.”

“And not because Io asked you?” Haruhiko asked, a small smirk on his face.

Ryuu immediately clung onto Io. “You’re not stealing my man.”

“I’m not some floozy who goes around stealing other people’s boyfriends!” 

“So what are you? A hopeless romantic? A pining princess?” The twins grinned, turning on Akoya with identical Cheshire Cat grins. 

“N-neither! Hey!”

“Pining princess works. He’s very pretty after all.”

“So much prettier than our apes.”

“O-of course I’m prettier than the rest of those plebeians at school,” Akoya said, his face tinted pink. 

With Akoya distracted by the onslaught of playful teasing of the Beppu brothers, Io wrapped his arm around Ryuu’s hip. He squeezed him gently.

“Sorry,” Io murmured quietly. “It’s just good business ethic to get the best deals no matter what.”

“We can all pay the full admission with the change in our wallets. They didn’t have to come and you didn’t have to invite them,” Ryuu whispered back, still marginally miffed. Io kissed Ryuu’s knuckles.

“I’m sorry, Ryuu. I really am. …Let’s just go in and have a good time. Akoya’s right, we’ll probably split up once we get in. And if we don’t… I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”

Ryuu sighed. He was still annoyed Io got these three to tag along on their date, but he see that Io was making an honest effort to be more mindful his feelings. It wasn’t Io’s fault that he had the empathy of a shallow pool. Wanting to have a good Valentines’, Ryuu squeezed Io’s hand gently and gave him a smile.

“Fine, I’ll forgive you.” He did like the idea of alone time. “Just make sure you never say those words again.”

“‘I’ll make it up to you’?”

“No. ‘Akoya’s right.’”

Io laughed and the two boys let go of each other’s hand, knowing that they’d soon be reunited. Io handed the tickets out to the five and lead the way to the aquarium entrance. The twins quickly trotted after him, leaving Akoya to drag the rear of the group with Ryuu.

“This is gonna be interesting,” Akoya muttered under his breath, though there was a smirk on his face.

“Yeah…” Ryuu nodded in agreement. “Bet you’re gonna be scared of the sharks. All those crooked, ugly teeth probably will be too much for you.”

“Oh please. I look at you guys every day at school. I can handle it.” Akoya laughed. “Just make sure those idols don’t drive me crazy.”

“Tell Io that, not me.”

“Your boyfriend’s crazy for you. I expect no help with wrangling those two.”

Toward his Student Council senpai, of course, Akoya showed nothing but respect and affection.

Out of the whole group, En and Atsushi were the ones who could claim less familiarity with the beautiful, long-haired Akoya, and between the two of them, En was the one who never thought the second year would ever take him into consideration.

Atsushi was the ever gentle, sweet yet authoritative senpai, no one could ever not get along with. And he was Kinshiro’s lost and found again best friend, a fact that alone had to gain Akoya’s respect, if not true sympathy. 

En, on the other hand, was the lazy, listless boy, who was essentially everything the old Caerula Adamas had fought against. 

It was all in the past, now, but En had never thought that the well-educated Akoya would ever show him anything behind the respect and politeness due to an older student.

The idea that he and Akoya would never be anything more than schoolmates had, in a sense, been comforting. En had already enough kouhai to take care of.

As the graduation ceremony came closer, he grew more and more convinced that he was happy with the thought of retiring from his duties as a high school senpai (duties which he mostly neglected anyway). 

It was much to his surprise, then, that, on the day of their graduation, Akoya bumped against him when they all were converging to the big room of the ceremony.

It was unexpected enough that Akoya would walk into someone when he usually moved with grace and kept a fair distance from everyone else, but En didn’t have neither the time or energy to give it much thought.

The fight against the buttons monster had just ended, and all of them had their minds still struggling to focus on what laid ahead, behind the doors of the hall.

Akoya himself seemed caught off guard by his close encounter with En, but he effortlessly regained his composure. He shot the taller boy a disdainful glance.

“You could have worn your tie, even if just for today’s ceremony, Yufuin-san,” he reproached him, eyes fixed on the undone collar of En’s shirt.

The older boy shrugged. That kind of remark, at least, was not unusual.

“One should live their last day as a high school student the same way he’s lived the rest of his high school life. I’m a huge fan of coherence.”

 Akoya turned his head away, as if annoyed, but En didn’t miss his snort.

“As you say. Still, I’d button up this jacket at least,” the younger said, and then proceeded to do it for him.

Akoya’s hands were fine and swift, and En ended up with his jacket done before he could even begin to protest. After that, Akoya turned and preceded him inside and En lost him in the crowd.

The rest of the day proceeded quickly, and En lost track of time after Kinshiro’s speech, Wombat’s sudden disappearance, and what followed after.

It was only later that night—after they had tried to figure out where Wombat was, bought the curry for him, gathered at Kurotama to wash away the sweat and the sadness of the day—that he came home and discovered that one of the buttons of his jacket had gone lost.

How ironical, he thought, losing a button after the monster they had just fought that day. He looked at the floor in his room, down the stairs and then in the entrance, but there was no sign of the small object. 

For a moment, he even wondered if it was the monster that had stolen it instead.

Ah well, he told himself, it’s really just a button. Starting from tomorrow, I won’t even need this jacket anymore.

He draped it carefully on the hanger and then tugged at one of the sleeves. Still, it was a pity to lose it after three years of faithful company.

It was En’ first day out of high school and his original plan had involved sleeping until past noon and then perhaps meeting up with Atsushi for a walk downtown. 

Instead, he found himself pacing carefully through Binan High’s garden and yard, retracing his movements from the day before.

 As he walked in front of the entrance, where they had fought the monster, he recalled Akoya fixing his jacket before the ceremony began. Fastidious as he was, the younger boy would have surely noticed a missing button and let him know—probably even scolded him for being so careless to lose it.

To think I wouldn’t have given a single thought about a missing button until twenty-four hours ago, he told himself sourly. Yet, he kept searching.

It was around noon when Akoya found him, lying down on the grass. At first, he thought En was asleep.

A cherry blossom slowly floated down and landed on his nose, and En sneezed himself awake.

Akoya graciously covered his mouth as to not openly laugh at him.

“Of all the third years I know, I thought you were the most unlikely to return here out of nostalgia. Right on the day after your graduation, nonetheless.”

En looked up at Akoya from his supine position. The early spring sun shone through his long, silky hair, and his face was shadowed by his soft locks. Despite that, he could see the hint of a smirk on the boy’s fine features.

“Or perhaps you were too tired to return home last night, and decided this patch of grass would be just as good as your bed.”

En sat up and shook his head, then ran a hand through his hair, disentangling a few petals from the strands.

“You give me too much credit if you think I could really spend the night here. I love sleeping comfortably.”

Akoya knelt down beside him. “I bet you could still manage.”

En shrugged, and the other boy tilted his head on one side.

“So? Don’t tell me you really are too nostalgic to just stay home.”

“I’m just taking a break from what I was doing. Elderly people need to rest often,” he replied stretching his back and arms with a grimace.

“Elderly people should not rest on wet grass, it’s bad for their bones,” Akoya objected, eyebrows raised.

En massaged the low part of his back, then cautiously proceeded to stand.

“Well, perhaps a young man like you would like to help an oldie in his search, then.”

Akoya looked up. “Search?” 

Suddenly, En felt kind of stupid. “Yes, well, I lost one of my jacket’s buttons yesterday. Remember how you fixed it right before the ceremony? It must have fallen off after that, but I can’t seem to find it anymore.”

Akoya’s head lowered as if he was already looking through the grass.

“It might have fallen inside the building, or on the way to Kurotama’s. I already texted Yumoto but he hasn’t found it while cleaning, so I wonder…”

“Of course, you’re aware of the fact that—”

That I won’t wear my Binan High uniform ever again in my life? I’m quite aware of that, yes, En phrased for him in his own mind.

“—it is going to be difficult to find it, after yesterday’s ceremony. The whole school was gathered here.”

“I know. I have time to spare for the task, though.”

Akoya raised an eyebrow at him. It was probably the first time he had heard En speak like that.

In fact, En himself was surprised at his own words.

He expected some kind of sharp remark from the younger student. Instead, Akoya stood up. 

“Let’s keep searching then. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”

Together, they kept scanning the yard all the way to the stairs that led downward to Kurotama’s. 

Despite his earlier resolution to find the lost button, En’s attention was divided between the ground and his unexpected adjuvant.

Akoya’s eyes carefully scanned the path as they went on. Engrossed as he was in his task, he kept curling a strand of his hair around his index finger, absentmindedly.

He looked like he was taking it more seriously than En.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Yufuin-san,” Akoya turned to catch En as he was staring at him. Akoya swirled away quickly, pretending to check the steps that led down from the school. “Why are you so concerned about your button? I can’t recall you caring about them before. In fact, your uniform could as well be buttonless for all the use you made of them.”

En looked down the staircase. The spring breeze felt fresh against his skin. It brought promises of new beginnings, and also of a very pleasant nap under a tree. Yet he could not give up his search.

“I still had it with me though. It’s simply disappointing that it didn’t make it out of school together with me, I guess.” 

He shrugged, eyes still set to the stairs. It went straight down, among shops and cherry trees. Somewhere below was the entrance to Kurotama’s. 

He stepped down.

“When I’ll look at my uniform in ten years or so, it will still be missing a button, and it won’t be because it was given to a younger student, but simply because it fell down. It’s a waste.”

Under his feet, the stones were already paved with pink petals. If his button was anywhere around there, it was probably covered with them now. 

“You know, it probably has something do to with—” ah, it was awkward to say that out loud “—with not wanting to let go of my uniform just yet. Not that the uniform in itself is important, just, you know.” 

It wasn’t about the uniform, it was about napping in the club room, and scolding Yumoto over eating too much at lunch, and reading manga while Atsushi read books, and hearing Io and Ryuu bickering from above the screens of their phones.

It was about the new friendships they’d made. 

It was about the friends he hadn’t made yet.

Akoya was silent behind him, but En could hear the soft steps as he moved, still searching.

There was a particularly thick pile of petals close to the tips of En’s right shoe, so he knelt down next to it to disperse it with his fingers. A couple of cherry flowers were still whole, and he picked one up.

“Would that be better if one of your younger club-mates were to have it instead?”

En stood up and turned.

Akoya was holding out one hand toward him, the white button resting on his palm.

En blinked. He was positive he had checked that bit of stairs just now. 

“You found it.”

Akoya smirked, looking down at him from above.

In a flash, En replayed the moments before the ceremony in his mind. The crowd of students converging into the room, Akoya walking into him, his quick hands buttoning up his jacket. Could it be….?

“Of course I did. I have an eye for details.” Akoya shrugged and threw his hair back. “So?” He huffed impatiently. 

It was unfair and even a bit presumptuous for En to think a Student Council member would steal a button from his jacket. Even now, the boy was most likely helping him just so he didn’t have someone uselessly lazying around the schoolyard. 

En looked at him. Akoya was glancing sideways as if trying to ignore him. En walked up the steps and suddenly it was him who was looking at Akoya from above. The latter’s eyes darted up and his hand forward, as to prevent En from coming closer.

“I assume you won’t be sewing this back on your uniform, but I believe one of your club-mates would be happy to keep it.”

En picked it up and weighed it up in the palm of his hand, then carefully intertwined the fallen cherry blossom’s stem into the small holes of the button.

“Yumoto, Ryuu, or Io don’t really need this,” he decided. Not after a whole year of fighting weird monsters and green pet aliens. Not after all the afternoons spent in the club room and the evenings at the Kurotama’s. Besides, he had no intention of giving the latter up in the near future.

“But,” he added as he held the intertwined button and flower against Akoya’s hair. The soft pink of the petals really matched the color of his locks. En was certain that they must share the same consistency. “You can keep it as a token of the one time Yufuin made an effort with his uniform, if you please.”

He parodied a small curtsy, raising his hand to offer the gift.

Moments passed, long enough to make En realize he was acting like a complete fool.

Then, with an ill-concealed snort, fresh fingers brushed against his palm and the button was gone. 

He expected to hear it roll down the stairs. Instead, he rose his head in time to see Akoya patting his pocket. The same pink of the petals had appeared on his cheeks now, too.

“It will be duly noted in the annals of the school. The one time Yufuin spent a day looking for a button he would never use, only to give it away to the first person he encountered.”

En combed his hair back and sighed.

“It wasn’t how it went. Yufuin gave it to whom he wanted. There’s a difference.”

As if mirroring him, Akoya curled one strand of hair around his finger.

“Perhaps.”

They stood there in silence for a few more moments. The breeze grew chiller.

En glanced down the stairs, then gestured at Akoya.

“Kurotama’s?”

The boy turned to look at the school as if considering whether his duties there could be postponed until later that evening or not. Eventually, he turned to En with a curt nod of approval, locks of hair half hiding the blooming redness on his cheeks.

“Not a bad proposal.” He brought a hand to caress his face with a dramatic grimace. “My skin is getting all dry in this wind.” And he walked down without waiting for En.

It was not only the first time En and Akoya went to the Kurotama’s on their own but the first time they did something alone together at all.

In fact, En wouldn’t have minded spending some more time outside with him, letting the spring breeze play with their hair, and renewing its promises of new beginnings.