Episode 22. Friendships
“Momoi-kun, could we maybe have a chat?” Itou looked away. He looked bothered again. Maybe that was how he expressed embarrassment.
“Anytime. Now? During lunch? After school? Wanna come over?”
Itou looked surprised. “Uh... I guess I can come over?”
Tomo got his phone out of his hoodie pocket. “Wanna have dinner with us?”
“What? No. I don’t need to be that much trouble.”
“Momoi, have him eat with your family. Our Sakuya is shy, just like you.”
“Kazu, you’re being a bother to Momoi-kun!”
“No, I asked. I’ll just let Ichirou know not to have Shouji over and that you might eat with us.”
“Not have Shou-? I’m definitely bothering your family!”
“I think you’d actually do them a favour. Shouji comes over every day to eat despite living an hour away by train. You must be tired of your father, Momocchi.”
Tomo laughed awkwardly. “A bit. I’m used to seeing him like seven times a year, not seven times a week. And recently he’s been asking when he’ll have grandkids. I keep telling him to ask Chika, because she’ll probably get married sooner than I am.”
“What about your other sister?” Yuu asked.
“Chiyo? She was over during the weekend and got so offended when he said she should start making grandkids for him, she told Shouji to die. Turns out she’s not interested in men, so she was planning on adopting, if she could, when she found a willing partner. Now she plans on getting a dog and train it to chew on Shouji’s shoes and socks.”
“Eh... Does your father know who your partner is?”
“Hm? Of course he does. He was rooting for it. Why?”
“No, it was nothing.” Itou looked bothered again. Tomo studied the boy who looked away, frowning further.
“Hey, Yuu, could you say Itou’s name?” Tomo asked.
“Itou?”
“Full name.”
“Itou Sakuya.”
“Just his given name.”
“Sakuya. Seriously, what is that about?”
Tomo watched Itou, who looked confused at first and then looked more and more bothered, before he looked a little more angry.
“No, I just tried to figure out why Itou look like someone is bothering him.”
“What? Then I bothered him just now!”
“Itou.”
Itou looked away.
“Itou Sakuya.”
Itou looked even more bothered by that.
“Sakuya.”
“Could you stop that already, Momoi-kun?”
“But you were happy just now, weren't you?”
“No, I wasn’t!”
“You were trying not to smile when Yuu and I called you Sakuya.”
“I was not!”
“Momo, stop teasing Itou just because you haven’t gotten your fix of making life hell for senpai,” Tatsumi said as he sat down in his seat. “Class is starting soon, and I saw Handa-sensei coming.”
#
“Sakuya.” Tomo waited. “Saaaaakuuuuuyaaaaa.” No response. “Sakuya-kun.”
“I think Momocchi likes Itou.”
“Sakuya-sama.”
“I have no clue what happened after we had gone to the station, but it must be something,” Susumu said.
“Sakuya-chan!”
“Don’t say my name like that!”
“Sakuya-chan it is.”
“No! What? No! Don’t call me that!”
“What is it, Sakuya-chan?”
Itou looked annoyed.
“Tomoki-chan!” he retaliated.
He flinched. He wasn’t fond of that, but seeing Itou look happy… was not the right word, but yet it was the closest… Seeing Itou happy when he was called by his given name, made him think perhaps it wasn’t so bad, depending on who said it. Regardless, his expression got more tense whenever he heard his name. There was always a twitch at the corners of his mouth, as if he was holding back a smile.
He had said Miyake had trouble keeping friends, but perhaps Itou had problems making them.
He studied the freckled boy for a moment before he nodded. “I guess I can live with that.”
“Momocchi, you forbid me to use that.”
“Yuusuke-chan doesn’t sound as cute though,” Tomo said. “Sakuya-chan is as bad as Tomoki-chan.”
“Isn’t it annoying when your name sounds like a girl’s name?” Itou sighed.
“At least Itou-chan isn’t so bad. Momo-chan and Momoi-chan totally sound like girls’ names,” Tomo said.
“I guess that’s true...” Itou said in thought. “No, that’s not it! Don’t call me Sakuya-chan!”
Tomo smiled. “Sakuya-kun.”
Itou pursed his lips.
“Sakuya.”
“Could you stop already? We’re not that close!”
“Aren’t we sharing secrets? We’re totally best friends.”
Tomo could understand why Ken enjoyed teasing him. It was amusing to make Itou almost smile. Especially since the boy seldom looked anything but annoyed, if not right out furious. He always remained fairly calm. Except now.
“I’ve shared no secrets with you! You’re so annoying, Tomoki!”
“I think you should stop teasing him, Tomoki-chan,” Tatsumi said.
“You’re not allowed to say that Tatsumi,” Tomo pouted and ate an egg roll from his lunch.
#
“Isn’t Seki pretty nice?”
“He’s kinda cute. You think he’d be friends with us?”
“He’s really friendly. He actually responds to my messages!” Ririi said to her friends.
“All you message us about is nails and makeup and clothes...”
“I send him the same things though?”
“What kind of replies do you get? ‘Pick the one you think looks better’?”
Tomo picked up his phone.
Ririi. Tell them I hear them and that you actually have pretty good style. All you want is an opinion because you like so many things and it’s actually fun helping you choose. And everything is really cute.
Ririi looked at her phone as it lit up.
“Momo-kyun writes that he hears you and that I have a pretty good style. I just want an opinion because it’s difficult to choose, and he thinks it’s fun and everything is cute.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I actually wrote that,” Tomo called out to them. “So try to gossip in a more quiet voice. I’m trying to study back here.”
Yuu and Susumu laughed.
“You’re just making plans to annoy Itou, though,” Tatsumi said with a laugh.
“And I write them in English. It counts.”
#
“Momoi, are you stuck in math?”
“Eguchi? Yeah... I don’t understand this formula...”
Eguchi turned to look at what Tomo was doing while helping Shibata in front of him.
“Renge has difficulties with math, too. Renge, can we put his and yours desks together so I can help you both?”
Eguchi got up, and Shibata moved her desk and the chairs.
“I would normally ask Ken, but he’s been pretty busy... He’s trying to make up for his poor results during the mid-term because he isn’t allowed to work if his grades are too poor.”
“But he placed well in the midterms, didn’t he? In the top thirty.”
“Wasn’t it top twenty? I thought he ranked seventeenth?”
“Kouta looks at the score compared to old ones. He allowed me to work because I didn’t do the midterm exams, but if my grades slip, he won’t let me work next term.” Tomo pouted. “But he only treats me and Ken like that. He uses his position as a brotherly figure whenever it suits him.”
“Kouta?”
“That’s the owner of the place I work. He’s Ken’s older brother. He came by during the festival.”
Shibata shook her head, and Eguchi shrugged.
“Hmm... I don’t think I have any good pictures of him.”
Because in all of them Ken and Tomo are unnaturally close.
“Well, we get that both of you need to do well this exam,” Eguchi said.
#
Ken. Good luck on your exams tomorrow.
Thanks. Do your best, Tomo.
#
“Tomo, how did you do?”
“Ken!” Tomo had to hold back from running to him, but Itou pushed Tomo really hard, making him stumble forward. It surprised him enough to tip him over, actually.
“Stop calling me Sakuya-chan!” he said out of nowhere.
Tomo stumbled through the hall, and Ken took his hand to help him keep his balance.
“Sakuya-chan is an idiot!” He glared at the freckled boy.
“Tomoki-chan is the idiot!”
Ken looked amused and squeezed Tomo’s hand
“Tomoki-chan, shall I help you back to your friend over there so you two can make up. ‘Girls’ shouldn’t fight.”
“I’m not a girl,” both Tomo and Itou muttered.
“I came down to ask if you have any plans for the winter break. I talked with Shouji-nii and he’d talk with gramps if we could go somewhere as a group.”
“I have to say,” Susumu said, “that it’s really weird to know you’re talking about Momo’s father and great-grandfather and you call them -nii and gramps.”
“Meanwhile, Momo just says Shouji when it’s about his father.”
“Did you mention I’d have to talk with Ichirou?”
“He said: ‘I’ll talk to Kazuo about it. Don’t worry.’”
“Then it’s fine for me. Do you have any come from your class?”
“Sayocchi wants to, but only if there are girls coming. Chika said she refuses to go with a bunch of teenage guys.”
“Well, Chika probably wants to spend time with... Dai-san.” Tomo barely stopped himself before he said ‘Handa’.
Ken nodded. “I think so too.” He looked fidgety.
“Senpai. It’s completely normal to hug your best friend after not seeing him for a few weeks,” Yuu said.
“Yes, it’s very normal. Especially if you’ve been best friends your whole lives,” Tatsumi added.
“I’m surprised you haven’t hugged Momo yet.” Susumu shook his head.
“And here I tried to help them get that over with,” Itou said, which Tomo noticed made Yuu, Tatsumi and Susumu glanced at him. They didn’t know the boy also knew of Tomo’s relationship with Ken.
“If you say so...” Ken said and held Tomo close but gently.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered in Tomo’s ear, as Tomo hugged him back. “My sapphire. My love. My everything.”
“What’s this?” Tomo heard Ririi ask.
“Those two are like the bestest friends, but because they were studying so hard they didn’t see each other at all,” Airi said.
“And that is not Ai-chan saying they’re the type of best friends she enjoys reading about,” Sakura added.
“Well, we see senpai in our class a lot, so they seem to spend a lot of time together,” Eguchi said.
“They grew up together. From when Tomo-chan was born. So they’re like family.”
“I want senpai to hold me like that…” Shibata said.
Ken released Tomo. “You want to be one of my girls, Renge-chan? Do you know the rules?”
Renge looked surprised. “Rules? No.”
“Then you can’t be one.”
Nakata laughed. “Four. If you think I owe you anything, you’re out.”
“Minoricchi still remembers them.”
“What, Minorin, you’re one of senpai’s girls?”
“There were too many rules. It’s easier to just find a decent boyfriend.”
Ken grinned. “Did you find one?”
“Fine, it’s harder to find a decent boyfriend, but it seems like less work.”
Ken laughed. “It’s not for everyone. Anyway, any of you wanna go on a trip during winter break? Tomo’s great-grandfather will make sure we can go somewhere. If any girls come, Sayocchi from my class will too. Sakkun, you don’t count though, according to Sayocchi.”
Sakura shrugged. “Well, she said I was her type, so I guess I’ll go as a guy and hook up with her then.”
Tomo chuckled. “But Saku-chan, that would ruin it for her. You’d probably have to go in a dress.”
“I have to ask my parents,” Airi said. “But I think it would be easier if Yuu also goes. Since you work with Makkun’s boyfriend, they’d pretty quickly be convinced.”
“I’m definitely going,” Yuu said.
“I wanna go on a trip! I can talk about clothes and makeup and nails with Momo-kyun all night!”
“I want to sleep during the night, so please do that during the day.”
“Somehow I really wanna listen to Momoi having girls’ talk, so I’m in.”
“Kazu? I don’t think they asked you!”
“Miyake-kun can come too, if Sakuya-chan joins.”
“I guess I must go,” Itou muttered. “Wait, I’m not Sakuya-chan!”
“I think my father won’t have a problem with it and my mother would love me to try to convince a Momoi to sell some land, so I’ll go.”
“It depends on when for me,” Susumu said. “But it seems like fun.”
“I’m going. Can I bring my—”
“NO!” Tomo and Ken said at the same time.
“It was worth a try, I guess,” Sakura said with a shrug.
“Renge, you’re going to see your relatives, right?” Eguchi asked.
“Yeah. You can go, Yayoi.”
“I’ll let Shouji-nii know, and we can decide before the winter break starts. Tomo, make sure Shouji pays for it. I’m not paying, you know.”
Tomo chuckled. “I know, Ken.”
#
“I want to stay in your bed forever, Tomo.”
“You realise we have the end of term assembly tomorrow?”
“Can’t I just skip that and stay in your bed?”
“I’ll go though.”
Ken was laying in Tomo’s bed while Tomo was writing a letter to his great-grandfather. If Shouji was asking Shinnosuke for a favour for Tomo (or Ken), it seemed just proper to send a letter.
“Do you think Shinnosuke-san will want to meet me?”
“I don’t know. It’s been years since he last did. But you kept your last name, so I guess he’d at least want to show his appreciation. Do you want to meet him?”
Tomo looked up and fixed his vision where the ceiling met the wall. That was a good question.
Momoi Shinnosuke had always told Tomo not to be ‘weak’. When Shinnosuke had heard about the bullying, he had told Tomo to use it to be stronger and be a good man. Everyone needed harsh experiences.
“I guess I don’t care either way. He’s Shouji’s grandfather and my grandma’s father, but I don’t feel very connected to him. He’s not family like you and Kouta are.”
“What kind of family am I? Not the same as Kouta, I hope.”
Tomo heard Ken get up from the bed and soon felt his arms around him.
“I guess you’d be my husband, Ken. Don’t feel threatened by Kouta. He’s more like Shouji’s weird younger brother who hired me at his café.”
“So I guess the café is a family business then.”
“The Fujita-Yamada-Momoi family business? I think Kouta would be sad if you called it that.”
“He can be sad, I’ll call it that. And I’m not threatened. I just don’t want to be just any family to you.”
Tomo felt Ken nuzzle his hair.
“I really don’t get why you like doing that, Ken. I’ve been wondering for years... Doesn’t it feel weird to get hair all over your face?”
“But your hair is so silky, Tomo.”
“How does that make it any better?”
“I don’t know.”
Tomo turned to say that wasn’t a reason then, but Ken kissed him while he had the chance.
“I have to finish the letter, Ken,” Tomo said once Ken their kiss was over.
“So I can kiss you afterwards?”
“You know Kouta is picking you up tonight so even if you try you can’t make me stay in my bed with you forever.”
“So let me be in it with you until niisan comes.”
Ken kissed Tomo again.
“No, Ken. Letter.”
“But it can wait.”
“Ken,” Tomo said firmly. “I will write this letter to my great-grandfather. Shouji is going to see him and I want him to give it to him.”
“While it makes me a little lonely, I like when Tomo is determined to do things, so I’ll just be in your bed and hope niisan never picks me up.”
Tomo chuckled. “You were the one who suggested the trip, Ken. Live with the consequences.”
“Booooo.”
“If you let me finish this, we might have time to cuddle a little afterward, so be a good boy, Ken.”
Ken went back to the bed and laid down.
“Why can’t you spoil me more, Tomo?”
“Because if I did, you’d be clinging to me all the time.”
“I already do.”
“I know.”