Furuya, Eijun, and Haruichi: Circle of Emotions

The Same Day - 8:59 AM

As the three of them made their way to the rooftop, Furuya's mind was racing with thoughts that he could barely keep up with.

After seeing Eijun in such an angered state minutes earlier, there was no telling what his rival could unleash on him. Not that he was afraid of being scolded, but of ruining the connection that the two of them had as both friendly rivals and classmates. He didn't want to lose that bond over Miyuki.

Haruichi kept his head down with each step he took, sensing the obvious tension between Eijun and Furuya. Ever since he accidentally found out about Furuya's pregnancy, which still managed to fill him with shock now and again, he had made it his mission to never get involved.

As Ryosuke had told him in the past, his input and opinions should be kept to himself unless it was directly asked for, and, although he was beginning to question it, he stuck by it throughout his entire life.

Finally, Eijun opened the door to the roof, walked to the center, and sat down. He made a motion for Haruichi and Furuya to sit in a circle.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you back there, Harucchi," he said as he folded his legs. "I had to get it out of my system."

"You had me scared there for a sec," Haruichi said, sitting down. "I thought you were gonna hit me, but it's fine. I had it coming. We shouldn't have kept this a secret from you. I feel terrible."

"So do I," Furuya chimed in as he completed the circle. "I've only recently learned that you and Miyuki-senpai were dating through Kuramochi-senpai, so I never considered you would be in the picture."

A defeated sigh escaped Eijun's lips. "So Mochi-senpai already knew, too? Wow. It feels like everyone knew except for me and I'm Kazuya's boyfriend. You would expect me to be one of the first people to know, right? Since I sleep with him and everything. I guess I'm too immature to handle the truth. Is that what it is?"

Haruichi shook his head in denial. "That's not the case and you don't have to sound so patronizing about it. Eijun-kun, we collectively made this decision because we felt that it would be the right thing to do until—"

"So you guys' intention was to keep me in the dark and make me look like a freaking idiot?!"

"Eijun-kun, calm down and let me finish! As I was saying, we kept the father's identity a secret from you because we felt that you wouldn't be able to…handle the situation with a level head."

Eijun cocked his head. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Furuya said, "that you're impulsive with your reactions and we didn't want anyone getting hurt. We knew that you would get upset and possibly throw a fit no matter when or where we decided to tell you.

"We never properly discussed this as a group, but I think it's fair to conclude that we all wanted to let the situation simmer down before letting you know. Believe us, we didn't want to do this. We understand if you feel betrayed."

Eijun rocked back and forth as he tightly gripped his calves, desperately trying to keep his emotions at bay. Every inch of him wanted to explode with anger, but he knew he would have to save it for later.

"I do feel betrayed," he said, his voice cracking. "And it hurts like hell. I feel like no one in here trusts me. I would never do this to you guys. If anyone else was in Furuya's shoes, I would be the first—the absolute first—one to tell the person who would be the most affected by it. Why? Because that's what friends are supposed to do."

Haruichi shifted uncomfortably in his spot as a harsh gust of wind spun by, accompanied by the ground-shaking roar of thunder.

"We are your friends," he countered. "All of us were taken aback when we found out Miyuki-senpai was the father. We never thought he would be involved in something like this since he was dating you. We weren't sure how to react, so hiding it from you was our main priority. You can't blame us for doing this, Eijun-kun. We had no choice."

"Now, before it starts raining, I'd like to explain my side of the story," Furuya said, his eyes focused on the ominously dark clouds that hovered above them. "First off, how did you find out, Sawamura?"

"Kazuya told me," Eijun muttered. "Spitz-senpai also joined the conversation."

"Huh? He knew, too?"

"Yeah. He said he always had a hunch. Go on."

"Oh…"

Furuya averted his eyes from the sky to the deeply pained look on Eijun's face. "I apologize for causing you any grief," he began. "Once again, I didn't know the two of you were in a relationship. I don't pay attention to those kinds of things. Anyway, since you know the manner in which my pregnancy happened, I hope you don't harbor any animosity towards me. It was completely out of my control.

"I was manipulated and taken advantage of in a way that I never imagined possible. After I discovered I was pregnant, I was consumed with despair. I didn't want to believe that Miyuki-senpai was the father because…well, I trusted him. Just like how you trusted him to be your boyfriend. However, when the memories of what occurred at the karaoke party resurfaced, I couldn't deny it any longer.

"I knew that it was my truth and I had to face it head-on. A few days ago, I revealed everything to Miyuki-senpai and he reacted poorly. Immaturely. Coldly. He told me to abort the child because it would ruin his career and that it was just an accident.

"His true colors showed through and that's what really disappointed me. I thought he would take responsibility, but he's been behaving like an absolute child. It takes two to make a baby, but it's fine. I can raise it on my own. I don't need him."

Eijun shuddered at the mental image of his beloved Kazuya forcing Furuya to drink multiple cans of beer and then forcing himself on him in a disturbingly sexual way. Did Miyuki simply act in such a distasteful manner due to his drunken state, or was it filled with genuine passion and lust that he wasn't aware of?

However, no matter how hard he tried to reason with himself that none of this was Furuya's fault, he still felt a twang of pain surge through his heart as he quickly glanced at his rival's stomach. Miyuki's child was already two months along, developing within the warm confines of his body.

Why couldn't that have been him? Why did it have to be Furuya? Why did it have to be his own boyfriend that was the epicenter of all this mess?

Shaking out of his thoughts, Eijun gave Furuya a faltering smile as a lone tear rolled down his face.

"I'm hurt. I'm hurting. Don't worry, though. I'm not mad at you. This is still a hard thing for me to process, but I hold nothing against you. Kazuya really is an asshole that I'll have to deal with on my own. You're brave for keeping the baby, but are you sure you want to?"

Furuya nodded. "I need to show Miyuki-senpai that I can raise it by myself since he won't participate. I know what I'm doing has caused the other team members and students to view me in a different light, but I don't care. Kuramochi-senpai is the only person I need right now. He's been helping me along the way and that's what I need to focus on at the moment."

'I'm so glad there was no hostility,' Haruichi thought, relieved.

A curtain of silence hung over the trio as a strike of lightning flashed in the distance, followed by another roar of thunder. The wind was feverishly blowing through the leaves as drops of rain began to fall from the mass of dark and heavy clouds.

Then, a sudden thought hit Furuya.

"How long have we been up here? We're missing class—"

The three of them looked at each other, horrified.

Kanemaru was going to destroy them.

Fearing for their lives, they jumped to their feet and scurried down the stairs back to class.

--

9:30 AM

As the second class of the day ended, Miyuki turned around in his seat. "So, when do you think Eijun and I should talk?"

Kuramochi gave him an incredulous look as he stopped his note-taking.

"That's a dumb ass question. I thought you were smarter than that. As soon as freaking possible, obviously! I wasn't there for him last night so I have no idea how he's doing right now. He could be a mess of emotions and you won't know unless you have a convo with him.

"Be a man for once. Tell him during lunch or something. I couldn't care less as long as you get it done fast. Now move your head so I can see the damn board."

Miyuki brooded over Kuramochi's advice.

'He is right, but what if Eijun doesn't want to talk to me? What if he's already done with me and gives me the silent treatment? Damn, I can't believe I didn't see any of this coming. How am I going to recover from this?'

He diverted his attention to the rain that pelted against the window panes, the sheer force causing the trees to hang their heads low as the lightning and thunder took turns amplifying the scene.

Ah, what perfect weather for the storm Eijun was about to unleash on Miyuki.