On the back foot

It had been a month since the starry night that we began our journey, since the beginning of the pact… and not a single step forward had been made.

Miyamura tried his best to study, but he had some difficult matches along the way. The qualification match up against Keiya Institute was soul destroying, a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes, and a further stalemate in the first half of extra time. That was until Kyo heard the words of his friends, and remembered what was at stake. He moved like a shadow, slipping past defenders like he wasn’t even there. Step past the first and a cutback to draw the left leg so that he could drop the shoulder, and the defender. The keeper stood tall and ran to him, making the net behind him look smaller and smaller. It didn’t matter, he swung his leg like he would shoot but rolled it over the ball, when the keeper thought he read it, he pushed it back, leaving them in the dust… and the winning goal was scored with seconds left to play.

Sengoku had initially pumped himself up, almost like he was going to confess to the singer immediately. But as the days melded together he found himself clutching to what he was fond of, and what made him feel at ease. His club application for the computing club was successful, and he made such a good impression with his skills, he became the club leader in just an hour.

Natsuki continued on his nighttime adventures. He fell back into the same routine, partying with friends from his class and sleeping through lessons, seemingly forgetting the pact.

Usui, however, still yearned for success. Every day he looked around the school for the girl he knew, yet nothing changed. He did, however, become a part of the Student Council, meaning his free time was a luxury he didn’t often experience.

He was finally done with paperwork. Leaving with a wave to his council comrades, it was time for the end of the day…

“Oh, Usui!” …Or so he thought. He popped his head back around.

It was the council president, “Sorry, I meant to ask you this earlier. You’re in class C right?”

“I am…”

“Good. Sorry to ask this of you so late. Fueguchi-sensei asked for someone to give homework to a girl in your class called Wakaba Yuri. She hasn’t shown up since the start of the year. I was hoping you could accompany me to her home”

“No one else can take it?”

“Sorry, sensei said she asked around but no one would do it. (He clapped his hands together) I’d do it by myself but I’ve heard the gangs around that area are pretty bad. I’ll go grab the address. Thanks Usui!” Prez shot off down the corridor.

“…I didn’t say yes…” Usui grumbled.

*-*-*

Usui followed the traffic and down the side streets in the dark. When they got lost, he pulled up his phone, checked the map that prez had haphazardly sent him, and warmed his hands.

He saw something in the corner of his eye, a girl in Hosokai uniform, rushing through puddles… her. He turned quickly, it was just another student. There was a pain rushing through his heart, and he clutched at it.

“C’mon Usui, I want to get out of here sharpish.”

*-*-*

Finally, he reached the house. The doorbell didn't work, naturally. But before he could knock, the door swung open, into his face. Out walked an older woman, it was only after she had taken a step out that she noticed him.

He was shown inside and sat at their table.

Yuri’s mother returned with an ice pack and passed it to him, he swiftly placed it on the bump. “Sorry about that, that door gets stuck, a good kick and it almost flies off its hinges”

“No worries” the pack muffled his voice.

She sat beside Usui, placing a warm coffee for him and one in her hands. “You are from my daughter’s school, I’m sorry she isn’t in currently at home”

“No matter, ma’am.” Prez said, Usui forgot he was here. “We are simply here to drop off some homework is all.”

“Ah. I’ll make sure she gets it. When she gets back I’ll hassle her to get it done.”

“That would be perfect! However, If you wouldn’t mind, ma’am, I was hoping you may be able to talk her into coming back to school. It isn’t good to skip for such a long length of time, and we have a big event coming that she won’t want to miss.” He handed her a pamphlet of the Rose Ball. “Please do let her know of this, we would love to see her back at Hosokai!”

She twitched slightly, and her smiling facade chipped, prez didn’t notice it but Usui certainly did. “Oh, yes absolutely. I’ll pass it on.”

They were out as quick as they arrived. Prez was already halfway down the street, waving like an idiot as Usui thanked the mother for her hospitality. But as she was shutting the door, he found a question.

“Why did your daughter stop coming to school? I’m pretty new to Hosokai so I’ll be honest, I don’t really know your daughter even though I’m in her class. Must be something serious to keep her away for so long.”

The mother’s facade broke more, she clutched her hands nervously.

“Uh… sorry, if I’ve said something wrong I-“ he was cut off.

“No no, it's fine.” Her face saddened, she put on a brave smile. “She used to be such a bright girl. But she didn’t fit the puzzle, and she was pushed out and damaged.”

“It was bullying?” He asked.

She simply nodded

“Girls at her age are volatile, and she was the easy target. Sooner or later the rumours started and she refused to go back.”

“Rumours? Could you-“

Prez had ran back and practically tackled Usui. “Stop pestering the lady Usui, we need to get back.”

“But I-“

“Come now, it’s getting late and we must be going.”

Prez was almost dragging Usui away, then they heard the gate behind them. On further inspection, it was her.

“Welcome home, Yuri. Good timing, these boys are from your school.”

Usui got a good look at her. Sharp blue eyes, piercing into his soul. A veil of dark red hair fading to black and dark clothing to match. She screamed Yankee, but her eyes seemed more sad than menacing.

“Ah, you must be Wakaba Yuri! It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Hosokai’s school president.” The prez bowed, expecting some form of return.

“Why are you here?” She finally responded.

“I’m sorry?”

“People like you come to see me to try and make me go back there. You want to bring me back and tie my hands, parade me around that school like a prize without even asking why I stopped going.”

Prez was stunned for a mere second before he approached Yuri, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“No need for the hostilities” His touch on her shoulder sent a shiver down her spine

“I merely-“

without a wasted motion she circled around and took the leg from under him, keeping hold of his wrist and wrenching it behind his back, placing her knee on his nape. Prez shouted out his pain with the initial wrench. Usui didn’t know what to do, save the Prez? Leave him be? Run and get help?

“Don’t you dare touch me. You’re all the same, you use and you throw away, not even thinking of who you hurt! Playing your little games, what will it take for you all to just leave me alone?! Tell me, Student President, would it stop if I moved away?! How about if I had one of those rebirths?! Will it all go on until you’re satisfied and I’m hanging from a rope?!”

“YURI!”

Her eyes darted to her mother, almost in tears.

“That’s enough…”

The high school girl released her victim, and walked past her mother without a word.

Prez dragged Usui away, scurrying down the street like a rat. But Usui kept his eye on the mother, who bowed courteously and watched them go.

*-*-*

Miyamura’s training had finished once again, something seemed a little different this time around, not like anyone else noticed. But it was enough for him to have in the back of his mind.

The others had gotten changed and set out for home, but he was still sat against his locker with his towel around his neck. When no one was around he turned his leg slightly, and felt a little numbness in his ankle turn to a dull pain. Managing to get to his feet, he hobbled over to the nurse to grab an ice pack for it.

Luckily, the group had made the decision to switch the teams for going home, to better accommodate their school lives. Sengoku was always the first to leave as he could continue his passions at their dorm, and Natsuki didn’t like wasting away in a classroom. Meanwhile, Miyamura and Usui both had to stay late, so they had partnered up.

He was already aware of Usui’s trip; Usui would come back to the school so that they could go home together. Miyamura took a little tour of the school, it was strange being there when it was dark, almost scary. That, plus the pain in his leg made him seek light, he found it in the library, and the worry of his bad grades hit him again.

He decided to give it a go, “I’ll have a seat at least” he thought. It was empty, he thought as much, as most students did their studies at their dorms and took books with them. His bag and books lay on the table, and he had wandered to the shelves to look for something to assist his studies. Didn't take long for him to find the sports section, his eyes wandered and before he knew it he was drawn in, reading about the next big world tournament and the odds on favourites.

That was when he remembered the pact, and he slapped the book closed. He went back to the section he needed… but it was still there… a little closer… closer…

A loud crash and shriek broke him free of his trance.

The sound had come a few isles down, the librarian had stretched out too far and knocked her ladder to the ground, she hung on to one of the shelves, a sturdy one luckily enough.

Miyamura rushed over

“Hey, you okay?!”

“I’m slipping!” She cried.

“Alright, alright I’m here. Drop down on three and I’ll catch you!”

“Drop down?!”

“Trust me.”

She took a second

“Ok, ok… one, two..-.”

Her finger slipped. Miyamura caught her, just about. But he felt the same pain in his ankle and he lost his footing.

She clutched the back of her head and winced. When she opened her eyes, she was lying on him, face to face. They looked into each other’s eyes for only a moment, but it felt more like an eternity to her. She snapped back into reality and shot up to her feet.

“Are you okay? Sorry, I dropped you a little there.” he smiled like an idiot.

She held her hands close to her chest, beet red faced. He took another look at her. She was his age, maybe a year younger. Timid and quiet. Small, like a field mouse. When he got a bit closer she backed away.

Miyamura noticed the ladder to his side, and put it in place for her, making sure that it was stable. He grabbed a few books that had fallen and headed up the ladder to put them back in place. She wanted to tell him she could do it, but she hesitated, the words stopped at her lips. In fact, all words did, she wanted to say so many things but they rejected her. She gathered all her courage and pushed through her own barrier.

“Th-thank you…”

Miyamura turned and smiled at her, almost falling as she did, but he managed to steady himself by flailing his arms.

Miyamura stayed in the library until Usui returned to walk with him. All the while, he struggled to keep his eyes away from the sports section… and she struggled to keep hers from him. No matter what she did, she was magnetised to him.

When he did leave, she dropped to her knees and sighed, she was exhausted. Only a whisper left her lips

“Why’d it have to be him?” She whimpered.

*-*-*

The living room of their apartment was a sight for sore eyes after a long day. Sengoku was beckoned by his custom made pc he called The Raven due to its black chassis, its red backlights and its ungodly speed. Currently sat playing a game, drawn into its world.

Natsuki had already fallen asleep, although he had some new face paint courtesy of Sengoku.

The remaining two stumbled back in. Miyamura instantly launched his keys at the desk near Natsuki, startling him awake. Usui and the others were so used to it they didn’t even react.

After a good hour of trying to help Miyamura out with his studies and also doing their own, it was time to silence their aching stomachs

Usui took a seat and just lay there.

“Who’s turn is it to cook?”

“Sengoku. But that guy burns cereal” Miyamura commented.

“I did it once…”

“Wanna just go out? I really can’t be dealing with that again.”

“Donnie’s?” Usui suggested.

“Works for me.” Miyamura replied. When he got up he unplugged the tv. “Oi!” Sengoku didn’t appreciate that.

*-*-*

Sengoku was downing his shake as fast as he could. The others were just waiting, Natsuki was in between consciousness and completely out of it, Usui was lying back with his arms crossed. Miyamura held his head in his palm, looking out at the black streets.

The pizza in the centre of the table was picked at, a few slices left that Sengoku happily wolfed down.

“How is it the one that was against going out looks the most content?”

“Food’s food, I’m not going to fuss over it. Especially when it’s our go to.”

“We really need to try some other places.” Natsuki added.

“If it ain’t broke…”

“Uah, I hate that saying.”

…

“When I made that huge speech about wasting our high school lives and living to our potential. I was expecting a bit more than the same old complaining at the same old restaurant…” Usui complained.

“Well, you spend your life sharpening the same sword, you’ll end up with a mighty fine sharp stick.”

“…I’m not even going to go into how dumb that sounded. But I think I get the gist. We’ve not been doing anything differently. You can’t expect the world if we keep sitting in here.”

“It’s not exactly easy. I mean, what do we even start with? Miyamura can’t go 5 minutes without referencing some obscure match, Sengoku chose the most popular idol in Japan to fall for, and we’re looking for a needle in a needle-stack for you Usui.”

“Suppose we could always start with locking Miyamura in a room with nothing but textbooks and tests…”

“Hah, he’d scrunch em up and make a ball out of ‘em.”

“We just need to focus. Miyamura’s scores should go up if we all put in some effort. I’m sure we can find some sort of situation to put Saki and Sengoku together… course we’ll need to work out a strategy on how to get him speaking to her…”

“And how about your mystery girl?” Sengoku asked. “Want me to call the FBI?”

“That, I still don’t know. There’s so much I don’t know… not her name, not her age… she could even have been a third year then, I wouldn’t know.”

…

“Wait… That’s it! I can’t believe I forgot about it!” Usui revealed a pendant on his wrist. Originally meant to be worn as a necklace, it was now used as a bracelet after the chain weakened and was replaced.

The scene played in his head. When they sat beside each other, out of the rain, she gave him one half of a full charm.

“I meant to give this to a friend of mine, but I don’t think she’ll mind.”

Usui looked at her blankly.

“You keep this half, I’ll keep this one. When the two are complete again, we can smile together.” She handed him the half he wore to this day.

Natsuki took a glance then back out the window. “Sweet bracelet, they make ‘em for men too?”

Usui looked at Natsuki with venom. “Funny. But this is a clue, she has the other half of this charm!”

“Usui, yes it's better than nothing. But it’s hardly an upgrade. What if she threw it away, or lost it? We can’t just go up to every girl in school asking them if they have the other half.”

“If this means as much to her as it does to me… she still has it. And seeing me with it will bring back that night.”

“I dunno, Sounds like a long shot to me, Usui. But we ain’t got much choice do we?”

The trio hang their heads and sigh collectively while Sengoku continues to demolish his pizza.

“Umm….” Miyamura looked up, the girl from the library was at their table.

“Umm… Miyamura… please, please…” She struggled to continue, until she gathered her courage and thrust a basket to him, bowing her head, partly to be respectful, mostly to hide her face that was so red she felt like fainting.

Took a second for Miyamura to sit up and accept the gift “…For me?” He pointed at himself like an idiot.

She nodded. He looked at the others who were either as confused as he was or smirking at him. He took it from her hand and took a look. Inside was a plethora of sweet treats, baked to perfection. Miyamura could smell every note: ginger, cinamon, some with a touch of spice, some baked with fruit, others coated in chocolates. His mouth watered instantly.

“Holy… Are you sure?”

She nodded again, slower but more certain this time.

When she did look up, he already held a snack and wolfed it down. Miyamura’s eyes glistened, as the Librarian started to think of all the bad outcomes. What if he didn’t like them? Was it weird to just outright give them to him? I didn’t put in salt instead of sugar, right? He’s going to hate them! I just know he will…

“Did you make these?”

She didn’t want to answer, certain he would laugh and call them disgusting. Her head sank further and she nodded slowly, ready to cry.

“They’re amazing!”

She snapped her head up, her heart skipped a beat.

“You gotta sell these, you’d be rich! I’m really happy to take them, but, why give them to me?”

“I, I needed to thank you, for earlier on. I had some leftover ingredients, so I thought, you might like them…” She felt a little lightheaded, that was when he pulled another treat and wolfed it down, it was so good it almost made him cry. She didn’t know how to process these feelings, fluttering like butterflies, it welled up, so much that if she didn’t do anything she felt like she would explode.

Leaving them with a bow she rushed out as fast as she could run, overblown with emotions that she just couldn’t handle.

Miyamura was a little dazed. “Was it something I said?”

Natsuki, Usui & Sengoku were in unison, “Dense.”

*-*-*

The meal was complete, and it was time to head home, ready for school in the morning. The streets were still cold, Winter was still here, but Spring was around the corner.

“Usui and Sengoku zero, Miyamura, one.” Natsuki smirked.

Miyamura was still munching away, unaware of his surroundings. “Hm?”

“It was a bit unusual. She’s normally really quiet.” Usui remarked.

“You know her, Usui?”

“Oh, yeah she’s in class C, same as me. Her name is Kannagi Aida. Doesn’t usually speak much to anyone beside her best friend Honda. Everytime she does speak to others, she stutters and trips over her words.”

“So she’s shy. You better thank her for those, Kyo.”

Kyo was too busy munching to respond.

“I really do wish I was as lucky as you.”

“Same, but life isn’t like that. You don’t get what you want out of nowhere like… is that Saki?”

The quartet focus their attention. Ahead of them is a suspicious girl, dressed casually, but wearing sunglasses and a face mask… it was dark. She tried moving a little closer to the wall, and bonked her head.

It looked like she was trying to look for something in the store. It was a place Sengoku knew well, he bought second hand parts from there quite often. But why was an idol like her snooping around a hardware store?

“You gonna go ask her, Sengoku?”

“Uhh… I don’t even know how I’d speak, never mind what to say”

She noticed the four, noticed a classmate and rushed over to them.

“Yeah? Well you better figure it out quick.”

“Oi! Miyamura!” She ran over waving.

“Oh dear god, it's happening.” He panicked.

“Yo, Saki. Fancy seeing you here… in such an interesting outfit…”

“Ah, yeah. If I go out and about normally these days, I get swarmed in 5 minutes. Always good to have a low profile.”

She noticed the others

“These your friends, Miyamura? Nice to meet you, I’m Sawamura Saki!”

“Yo…” Natsuki responded awkwardly.

Nice to finally meet you Saki, I’m Nakamura Usui!”

“Oh, I think I’ve heard of you, you’re the new member of the student council, right? I’ve got a few friends in there, prez doesn’t shut up about you. I think if you weren’t a third year he would’ve had you become president after him.”

“With all that paperwork? No thanks.”

Saki looked past Usui for a second and saw Sengoku, squirming in the back.

“What’s brought you out here anyway, Saki? Didn’t see you as the type to love night-time shopping.”

“Oh, about that. It’s my cousin’s birthday soon and I wanted to get him a pc. His parents aren’t doing too well at the moment, and he’s been hassling them for one for years.”

“Ah, thinking of buying him one?”

“Yeah, problem is, they’re expensive and I don’t know what I should be looking for. When I checked online, some people said the graphics card was the most important part, a lot more said it was the CPU.”

“Well, lucky you, we have a tech specialist with us currently.” Natsuki pushed Sengoku to the forefront. “Our Sengoku is part of the Computing club, and he built his own from scratch.”

“Oi” he whispered.

“Perfect! I was just going to buy whatever the clerk recommended. Could you help me buy one, Sengoku. Of course, if you can’t I completely understand!” Her hands together, as if praying to him.

He knew what to say, he saw it in his head. Promising a system better than his, so off the chart her cousin would burst into tears and tell her that she should marry whoever helped her get it. Of course, none of that was reality, it wouldn’t be that easy. Nor would getting the words out.

“I… I, wi…”

“Hm?”

This was it. He always had trouble talking to girls, words refused to leave and he would stand there silent like an idiot. They would laugh at him or call him a freak. That was just his experiences with random girls, what about the girl he loved? Could he handle it if SHE called him a freak? Absolutely not! Even thinking about it made him panic more and more

“Come on, Keima! Get the words out, even if you have to force them out!” He beseeched himself.

It was no good, they wouldn’t go! He lifted his head, hoping his lack of a response hadn’t irritated her… She was there, the smile beaming at him, the same one he was head over heels for. He saw his friend’s faces, he could hear them cheering him on in his head, and he remembered the words that spurred him on this far, and the courage finally arrived.

“If, If I can. Build one for you. The prebuilt stuff is good, but I can build one, top of the line for the same price… if that’s okay?”

Saki grasped his hands suddenly, turning his face red. “You’d do that?! Thank you so much Sengoku! I dunno what to say, I can just see his little face light up!”

He couldn’t say anything, not like he wanted to. In fact he couldn’t really hear anything anymore, other than bells in the distance, he was certain they were coming from the gates of heaven. She was over the moon, holding his hands in hers and saying his name. “Why can’t this moment last forever” lingered in his mind.

Contact information was exchanged and she set off; a call from her manager reminded her she had plans. She waved at them all on her way back up, smiling with glee. Naturally the four waved back, but when she had disappeared from their view, Sengoku dropped to his knees. He took a look at his new contact, with a dumb grin from ear to ear.

“I got her number…”