Chapter XXXVI - The Weight of Promises We Make (V)

I turned to find Takami Sosuke standing right next to Midou Rintarou, having a casual stance despite being able to catch Midou's hand before he punched me. Rain dampened his auburn hair, but he seemed unbothered by it, as if the weather was merely a condition to be observed rather than experienced.

"Three against one in the rain, not very sporting, is it?" Sosuke commented mildly.

"Screw off. This is between me and Kagami."

"Actually," Sosuke replied, stepping closer, "I think it's between you and your ego. Kagami's just a convenient target."

Takami Sosuke—tennis prodigy, academic star, recipient of scouting attention from universities across Japan—was intervening on my behalf. The same Sosuke who had drifted away from Akise and me in junior high, chosen athletic glory over our friendship, and had barely spoken ten words to me since we began high school.

Midou jerked his arm free with a vicious twist and let go of my collar at the same time.

"You've changed, Takami. You used to know which side your bread was buttered on."

"Maybe I just got tired of the smell of rancid butter," Sosuke answered, one corner of his mouth lifting in a apparition of a smile.

Midou's face darkened, but before he could answer with his signature roundhouse kick, a sharp voice cut through the tension.

The confrontation would have escalated further had Sawabe-sensei not emerged from the main building at that precise moment, giving a thunderous look as he took in the tableau before him.

"What's going on here?" he demanded with an umbrella clutched in a white-knuckled grip.

Midou's posture immediately shifted, the aggression draining from his stance as he turned to face the teacher with a bland, innocent smile.

"Nothing, Sensei," he replied smoothly. "Just saying goodbye to my friends."

"Didn't look like talking to me." Sawabe-sensei's gaze narrowed suspiciously. "Midou, Honda, Takagi—indoor shoes after school hours? That's detention tomorrow. Also, if I see anything that resembles fighting on school grounds, it will be grounds for suspension. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sensei," the three chorused.

With a final venomous glance at Sosuke and me, Midou retreated toward the main building, as his brainless lackeys trailed after him like an ominous wake.

Sawabe-sensei watched them go, then turned his attention to us.

"Takami, Kagami... are you two all right?"

"Yes, sensei. Just a misunderstanding." Sosuke smoothly replied before I spoke.

"Get home before this rain gets worse. And Kagami—that bandage needs changing. Visit the nurse tomorrow." Sawabe-sensei curtly "advised."

Advice from him was more times than not a demand.

With a nod, he followed Midou's group back into the building, leaving Sosuke and me standing alone in the drizzle.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The rain continued to fall, gentle but persistent, beading on our uniforms and hair. In the distance, began to rumble. It was a half-hearted prelude for what was about to come.

"Thanks," I said eventually.

Sosuke shrugged, the gesture elegant despite its casualness.

"Midou's always been an ass."

"Still, you didn't have to get involved."

He studied me for a moment, his expression unreadable.

"You look like shit, Shouma. What happened to your face?"

The use of my first name, so natural despite the years of distance between us, made my chest ache with a nostalgia I hadn't anticipated.

"Just... home stuff."

"Your dad again?"

The direct question caught me off guard. I'd forgotten how blunt Sosuke could be.

"Yeah," I admitted, too tired to maintain the lie. "My dad."

Sosuke shrugged, accepting this without the outrage or pity others might have offered. "Some things really don't change." He gestured toward the gate. "Come on. I'll walk with you to the station."

I fell into step beside him, questions crowding my mind. Why was he here? Why had he intervened? After years of distance, why now?

As if reading my thoughts, he ultimately spoke up.

"Kanzaki found me after the last bell. Said you might need backup at the east gate."

"Kanzaki?" I frowned. "How does he know you?"

"He doesn't, not really. But he knows I know you. Seems like an observant guy."

Kanzaki Minato... just who are you?

How much have you planned up until now?

We walked in silence for several minutes as the typical route to the train station stretched before us. The rain intensified slightly, but neither of us quickened our pace.

"I heard about the Four Symbols Club," Sosuke said suddenly. "About how Arisato's trying to shut it down."

I glanced at him, surprised.

"How did you—"

"People talk... especially about things that matter to them."

He looked at me earnestly, brown meeting green.

"Is it true you're fighting to save it?"

"Yeah... Akise and I... we're trying."

A small smile curved his lips.

"Never thought I'd see the day. Kagami Shouma, taking a stand once again."

A reminder of the person I once was, and the person I'd become.

"Things change," I said quietly.

"Do they? Maybe they just come full circle. The Big Three of Isao, together again."

The Big Three—Akise with his boundless imagination, Sosuke with his effortless athleticism, and me, the one who somehow balanced between them, translating Akise's flights of fancy into terms Sosuke could appreciate.

It was a long time since I thought of us that way. A lifetime ago, it seemed.

The covered platform offered respite from the rain as we reached the train station. It was still raining incessantly, so a lot of communters hurried past us and umbrellas jostled for space. The evening rush had already begun.

"Listen," Sosuke said as my train approached, "Akise's been texting me about the club, and your plan for the Cultural Festival."

"Has he?" My eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Yeah. For the past week, actually." Sosuke ran a hand through his damp hair. "I've been ignoring him. It seemed easier. But then I saw you today, standing up to Midou, and I thought... maybe things really are changing."

Hope—fragile and hesitant—bloomed in my chest.

"Does that mean—"

"I'm having lunch with you two tomorrow. Akise says noon, at the club room. I'll be there," he declared utterly and without pretense.

It wasn't quite a commitment to rejoin the Four Symbols Club, and to reclaim his role as Byakko, but it was a step—a significant one.

I simply smiled at that.

"We'll be there."

"Just don't let him go overboard with the mythology, all right? I've forgotten which beast I'm supposed to be."

"White Tiger," I supplied automatically. "Byakko, Guardian of the West."

Sosuke's eyes crinkled at the corners.

"Some things really don't change, do they?"

My train arrived with a rush of displaced air, doors sliding open to admit passengers. I stepped toward it, paused, then turned back to Sosuke.

"Thank you," I said again, meaning far more than just his intervention with Midou.

He waved back.

"See ya, Shouma."

As the train pulled away from the platform, I caught a final glimpse of him through the rain-streaked window—tall and steady, a fixed point in a world of constant motion. The past and present seemed to overlap in that moment, the boy he had been and the young man he had become coexisting in a single frame.

Everything would converge soon.

The Four Symbols Club would be complete once more.