Chapter Text
Aren knew he didn’t fit in. He knew the second he stepped into PK Academy, he was doomed when the first person he made eye contact with smiled shyly at him when they were swapping out shoes at the shoe cubby, even though they had no idea of who or what he was. It sent prickles up his spine, even though all it took was a swift kick to the gut to keel them over, to assert himself as someone you should not even think about fucking with.
And yet, he returned that shy smile with a similar one, because he knew this person meant no real harm. It was a passing interaction. Aren knew he had to at least try to be a goody-goody. For the sake of his family, and quite frankly, himself.
Aren couldn’t help but reminisce over what was once his life of bloody bats and police chases at 2am, the constant hyper vigilance. But he knew that life wasn’t sustainable. If he wanted to fulfill his dream of living a long and prosperous life, he needed to turn over a new leaf before it was too late. And too late almost knocked on his door.
The cops almost found him out.
They couldn’t convict him of anything or arrest him because they didn’t have enough evidence. He had an airtight alibi, and that was the end of that. That was the closest they’ve ever gotten. His parents actually sat down with him that night and declared this would end or there’s no telling what could happen. It was the first time he saw genuine concern and disappointment in his parent’s eyes, and he was certain he vowed he would never do anything to see those looks on their faces again.
It was time to leave it all behind. Within two months, they landed here. Thank fuck his grandmother passed down the house to his father before she died.
He made a promise to himself, to live a prosperous life and to ease the concerns of his parents, and he was going to see it through.
Simple enough, only it wasn’t.
His peers did not fear him, a couple were pretty welcoming (like that Jet Black Wings kid and that Angel on Earth), but for the most part they ignored him. He was used to being ignored, or perhaps avoided, but that was because he was established. His peers at his old school knew to get the fuck out of the way whenever he and his long blond mullet grazed the hallways, lest they wanted their shoulder dislocated. Some kid here brushed shoulders with him and he almost killed him. And for what? Being clumsy?
He didn’t realize how much he was going to have to unlearn, but he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
—
Someone’s following him.
They’re not doing a great job at being subtle, though.
Shun Kaidou has somehow turned up on every corner he rounds, Aren was privy to think he was teleporting. It should bother him more, or rather it should be setting off his threat radar, but Aren determined he is the least threatening person in this entire school about a week ago when he saw his performance in gym class. It is getting kind of annoying, but he doesn’t necessarily care to put him in his place, nor does he want to. Kaidou is not hurting anyone (not like he could), and he’s not bothering anyone (with his stalker-like tendencies at least, his tangents about Dark Reunion however…) so he just deals with it.
Besides, if he were to, say, expose him for being a past delinquent, Aren highly doubts anyone would believe Kaidou. That’s pretty depressing to think about.
At the very least, Kaidou was willing to talk to him after he spent a week at PK Academy. Even if the chuunibyou rumors are true, he didn’t seem spooked by him or repulsed (looking at that pink haired goody-two-shoes). He just talked to him like he was his friend already, and considering the pitiful number of failed interactions he had that day, Kaidou was like a breath of fresh air on a clear blue day in the meadows. He was even able to slide in his group during the culture festival (though that was short lived when kids from an opposing school wanted to cause a mess he felt inclined to straighten out). He felt like he could grit his teeth a little less and drop his tensed shoulders just a little bit. He could get used to this new routine.
At least that’s what he thought until some gang, if you could even call it that, cornered him on his way to school. They were students from another school and were acting all macho. Aren promised he wouldn’t get violent. So he tried to keep walking.
And then he heard, “And where do you think you’re going?”
Then those three imbeciles came around and blocked his path, and suddenly he knew where it was going. “School? Like you should be?”
“Oh, we have ourselves a studious motherfucker.” The kid with the blond pompadour stepped forward. “I think you have something we want.”
“And what is that?” He knew where this was going and it pricked up his spine like a ripple and shot down his arms to his knuckles. It was a shame how this would end up.
Then a hand went to grab him.
Next thing he knew there was blood on his fists and three imbeciles on the ground.
Normally, this would give him a high that only he and his buddies could understand. Something about the way his fist connects to flesh sends adrenaline through his veins. The more he punches, the more damage he inflicts, the stronger it gets.
It no longer felt like it used to. The adrenaline rush he felt was quickly replaced by guilt. Even if they got what was coming for them, he still could’ve been the bigger man. He could’ve walked away, informed someone, but he made his bed and lied in it.
He immediately B-lined it towards the school, disregarding the other presence he felt. It wasn’t the time to be picking another fight.
The school was familiar territory. No one here cared to pick a fight with him. Or maybe no one dared to. He doesn’t know anymore. After he exchanged his shoes at the cubby he ran to the bathroom to wash the blood off his knuckles.
It wasn’t much blood, and he’d like to say he went easy on them, but he slipped up. He slipped up and he knew it. He splashed his face with cold water, took a good look at himself and kicked himself in gear. He cannot resort to violence at every inconvenience. He can do better. He can get through the rest of his high school career without any stupid mishaps.
Kaidou is at least a reminder that he is at least approachable without the implication of a fight. That he can be perceived as a human and not some monster. Maybe they can even become friends.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“K-Kuboyasu..!” Kaidou jumps ten feet back at the sound of his voice.
Okay, perhaps they won’t be friends.
He’s not sure what suddenly caused Kaidou to be so apprehensive towards him, but Aren touched his shoulder and he jumped another ten feet back. Aren hates to admit it to himself but that stung. Just last week he was being friendly, and now he’s hiding behind Nendou…like he’s any less frightening.
He wonders if he knows.
He’s done so well at hiding his past, or so he thought. It’s not like that fight earlier today was off of a beaten path, it was the same path he and other students took to school every day.
So, if Kaidou saw what transpired this morning, well, who could he blame but himself?
—
It was just his luck (or maybe he just has a sixth sense for them) he would be walking home from school to come across yet another compromising situation.
A shakedown.
Same stupid ass delinquents, same stupid ass scenario, only his position in this scenario is replaced by none other than Shun Kaidou himself.
“What’s going on here?” He asks. He looks towards Saiki, who just gives him an unreadable expression, almost expecting him to do something.
A beat passes.
Then, “Kuboyasu! Get out of here!” Kaidou pleads, shocking Aren. “Please, save yourself! I can handle these guys?”
He wants him to leave? After being a bare witness? And let him just deal with these lowlifes on his own?
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
And yeah, Shun Kaidou is not a fighter. He knew just from looking at him. He knew he would get pummeled by these idiots just because they could, because Shun Kaidou is not a fighter. Which means he has the pleasure of taking these punks down by his own bare hands yet again, and this time he doesn’t offer any remorse or any guilt. If they didn’t learn their lesson by now, Aren was more than welcome to be their teacher.
“Sorry, Kaidou…” Aren apologized. There was no turning back after this. No denying his past, no putting up a front. One of the groupies was approaching.
“What, you thought we were going to let you g—” Aren didn’t care to let him finish his sentence as his fist connected to the guy’s cheek. The feeling of a body hitting the ground after a successful knockout ripples through him.
“Listen,” Aren started. “I was a delinquent too. After moving here, I thought I could commit to a quiet, peaceful life, but unfortunately—” Another guy approaches, another punch is thrown, another guy down. “It’s hard to hold back when someone picks a fight, whether that be with me—”
Aren approaches the last goon like a predator advancing on his prey, smiling to himself as he watches him let go of Kaidou in favor of haphazardly covering his face. Smart move, he thinks, but it won’t help.
He lets this last punch drive his point home.
“Or my friends!”
The last body hits the ground with a heavy thud.
He lets himself catch his breath, which doesn’t take much time.
“Kaidou, Saiki, are you guys alright?” He turns to Saiki, who just gives him a thumbs up. He then turns back to Kaidou.
Kaidou double checks that his wallet is on him, before he approaches Aren. “I could’ve handled them myself, you know, if I unleashed my powers. You didn’t have to step in and save me. But thank you, anyway. I really appreciate it.”
Kaidou could definitely not handle the situation, but Aren lets him have it anyway.
“It’s no problem.” Aren turns to leave.
“Wait!”
“Yeah?”
He turns to face Kaidou, who is looking down, playing with the hem of his school uniform jacket.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry I treated you so badly today! I saw what happened earlier today.”
Ah, so he did see that.
“I know that wasn’t a great impression of me,” Aren lamented. “And I understand if you want to avoid me because of that. Truthfully, I am trying to be a changed man. I want the strength to be a better person, not just for fighting.”
He doesn’t see how leaving a trail of bodies in his wake is a suitable second impression either. Any normal person would absolutely flee the scene and avoid Aren. Aren isn’t a normal teenager, and he’s accepted that.
“No, no! See this is great, you can be my right hand man when Dark Reunion finally takes over this town! The more muscle power, the better!”
But Kaidou wasn’t even close to normal either.
He appreciated that.
—
A couple of weeks have gone by since that fight and things have fallen back into what is now becoming his new, totally normal routine.
Except now he has a friend.
Kaidou went from avoiding him to being at his side every chance he got. Not like he’s complaining, Kaidou is good company.
He’s even started dragging Aren to their regular after school ramen trips, courtesy of Nendou. Saiki was usually dragged along as well, in a more literal sense. Aren had no real idea what it was like to be in a group that wasn’t gang affiliated before this. They do a whole lot of talking (except Saiki) about everything and nothing all at once. Sometimes they diverge from ramen and go to a park and just…hang out.
He’s never just hung out at a park before. It was either loitering according to the cops or picking a fight according to other rival gangs. You know, sometimes he did just want to hang out.
“Kuboyasu.”
Aren snapped out of his thoughts. “Yeah?”
Kaidou was sitting on the swings, staring up at him with crimson eyes. “If you were an animal, what would you be?”
He pondered for a second. “A cat.”
“But what kind of cat?”
“A black cat.”
“Like a panther?”
“No, a house cat. Raised by a good family.”
“But that’s so boring,” Kaidou groaned. “I would be a griffin.”
“Like the ones in mythology?”
“Yes! They’re so cool!” Kaidou’s eyes lit up. “At least you know what they are unlike someone here.” He whipped his head toward Nendou, giving him a glare not even babies would be intimidated by.
Nendou didn’t even look the least bit offended. “But they’re not even real.”
“That’s not the—you know what, nevermind.”
“Didn’t that one Toritsuka guy say you were a chihuahua tho?” Nendou teased.
“Uh–n-no, he was lying, I–ugh,” Kaidou sputtered, burying his burning face in his hands.
Aren wasn’t catching on. “Wait, who the hell we talking about?”
“Toritsuka is that purple haired spirits person, he’s not in our class he’s, like, right across from us I think,” Nendou explains.
Oh, him. “The perv, got it.”
Saiki perked up at that.
Aren rested his hand on Kaidou’s shoulder. “Don’t listen to that idiot, Kaidou.”
Kaidou looked up from his hands. “Which one, Toritsuka or Nendou?”
Aren couldn’t help the snort that suddenly came out of him.
“Good point.” Aren continued. “But I’m talking about Toritsuka here. He’s probably not even a real spirit medium. Take his words with a grain of salt, and I wouldn’t even hold his words to that much worth.”
Kaidou sighs. “You’re right. What does he matter anyway?”
They didn’t spend that much longer at the park before Kaidou’s mother gave him a call stating he better be home in 30 minutes or else. Aren was pretty baffled to look up at the sky and see it was nearing sun down. Did he really spend all that time with them?
Kaidou, not wanting to think of what could even be the ‘or else’, wisely finished his conversation and took off running towards home.
Aren turned to the other two and bid his goodbye as well. It’s not like his parents cared, but in the past he would only stay out late to cause trouble.
Now, there was no need for that.
—
That following Tuesday, Aren gets his first test back.
“Fuck.”
He got a 67. That’s not necessarily a failing grade, but it’s way below what he was expecting. His mood sours, he might’ve toned down the delinquency but he was not off to a good start at his new school academically.
During their free period, Kaidou approaches him.
“Kuboyasu, what did you get on your test?”
Aren shows him the disgraceful paper. He sees Kaidou grimace and mirrors his expression.
“What did you end up getting?” Aren asks.
“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Kaidou tries to act humble, but Aren already glanced at his test paper earlier. He got a 91.
“Dude, do you need help?” It’s a sincere question, but Aren feels like he’s being pitied. He’s never been great at school but he actually did put the effort into studying, even if it was all for naught.
Kaidou continues. “You can always come over and do homework with me, or we can be study buddies!”
Aren thinks it over. He’s always been so independent, he’s never relied on anyone like that before. Ever. He’s almost inclined to say no and move on. It’s not like he cared about school in the past anyways.
But he is trying to be a better person, do better for himself. He wants to be a teacher when he graduates. You can’t get into university with poor grades.
So he decides. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”
Seeing Kaidou’s eyes light up with happiness is something that Aren could get used to seeing.
He listens and chimes in as they plan a study date together Saturday, after school lets out for the afternoon. They’ll go over to Kaidou’s and study for their next test, which is on Tuesday of next week.
Aren finds himself looking forward to it.
—
Saturday comes quicker than expected, and Aren finds himself a bit nervous, even though he finds being nervous about going to a new friend’s house stupid.
He would go to new friend’s places all the time. Though, going to a friend’s house could’ve meant a myriad of things back then. It could mean, going to the park when they weren’t supposed to, or going to an abandoned warehouse when they weren’t supposed to, or he would be at someone’s place—having a party when they weren’t supposed to.
Maybe it’s because of how different Kaidou is from his previous friends. Kaidou is quite literally the definition of straight and narrow, as far as he’s aware. He gets good grades, he is obedient, and Kaidou’s household seems to be run on a tight ship, at least that’s what he figured when he witnessed Kaidou’s frantic look when his mother called him while they were at the park.
If he was going to go over to Kaidou’s place, they were going to study like they were supposed to.
That’s what’s making him nervous. Yes.
The final bell rings for the day.
He packs his things slowly. He’d rather Kaidou come to him.
Sure enough, he approaches him, albeit a bit hazardously. Aren stands up from his seat and meets him halfway.
“You ready?” Kaidou asks him.
“Let’s do it.”
It was one of the warmer fall days of the year, so they took their sweet time getting to Kaidou’s place. The sun shined bright and illuminated their path, letting the tree’s shadows coat the ground, little circles of light shining through. Aren takes a minute to take it all in. He’s not had a chance to really explore Hidariwakibara yet, but from what he can see, it’s peaceful.
Kaidou then lets out a very unpeaceful groan.
“It’s so hot out here. Why is the sun so annoying?” Kaidou complains, which Aren finds quite childish. He chuckles at that.
“What did the sun do to you?”
“Be annoying.”
“Then go destroy it. Then you’ll be public enemy number one.”
“See, I could if I unleashed my power, but sadly I cannot do that, lest you want to disintegrate.”
One thing about Kaidou that Aren likes is how creative he can get with his responses. It’s rare that he doesn’t have a comeback for something, even if it plays into his chuunibyou behavior. He should really put his imagination into writing. He’d probably make a great story teller one day.
Aren finds himself playing along with his antics more with each interaction just to see how he would respond. “I would be no match to your raw strength, Jet Black Wings.”
“You’re lucky I have these bandages on my wrists.” Kaidou smiles up at Aren, and Aren returns the smile back.
“Ah, so they do have a purpose. I thought they were just cool looking.”
Suddenly, Kaidou turns away a bit, hiding his face. “Y-Yeah, you could also say that.” His thumbs pad over his bandages. Aren finds it interesting how flustered he can get. “Anyways, we’re here.”
Aren looks up and sure enough, they’ve arrived at Kaidou’s place. It’s a two story building that's fairly large. His parents must have money.
They kick their shoes off at the door and Kaidou offers him a spare set of house slippers. While Aren appreciates the gesture, they are much too small for him. He puts them on anyway.
“Mama!” Kaidou shouts into the house. He waits for a few to receive a response, but he only receives silence instead.
“She must be out somewhere…” Kaidou mutters. “I’ll text her later to let her know you’re here, so she’s not surprised by the extra shoes.”
“Got it.” So his suspicions were correct. Strict mom.
“We’ll be upstairs in my room,” Kaidou starts up the stairs, looking back to see if Aren was following him. Aren shoves his hands in his pockets and treks up the stairs behind him.
Stepping into Kaidou’s room was like stepping into a hotel room. Everything was neatly tucked away, there were no posters on the wall, it almost felt like he didn’t even live here. Though, what surprised Aren was how big it was. Kaidou’s room is nearly double the size of Aren’s.
“Where would you like to sit?” Kaidou asks him.
“Um, anywhere is fine with me.”
“Alright, well, um, I have this table over here. We can sit there.”
“Lead the way.”
“Affirmative.”
They make their way over to the table, where they set their things down. How does he have an entire table in this room?
“So…” Kaidou draws out the ‘o’ while flipping to the desired page in his notebook, a blank one. “What would you like help with?”
Aren thinks for a moment. “Everything.”
He watches as Kaidou’s face falls. Damn.
“You need to be more specific.”
“That was specific!”
“Okay, but we need a starting point! What do you need help with the most?”
“Everything.”
“Ugh!”
Aren’s just messing with him at this point, but it’s still true. He’s struggling in every subject right now. PK academy’s curriculum is a bit more ahead than his last school’s. He’s missed quite a few important lessons and he can’t seem to get caught up.
“Okay, let’s start with your easiest subject then,” Kaidou looks at him expectantly. Alright, he’ll stop messing around.
“Well, my easiest subject is art…”
Kaidou pinches the middle of his eyebrows, like Aren is giving him a headache or something. He can’t help but laugh.
“Alright, I’m done, I swear, seriously I’ll be studious now.” Aren promised. “My easiest core subject would probably be history. I’m kind of a nerd, actually. But I haven’t had a chance, or I haven’t given myself a chance to get caught up yet.”
“Okay, we can start with that. What I like to do is spend an hour on each subject, so we can spend the first hour on this and then move on to the next subject the next hour.”
“Wait, you study that much?”
Kaidou gives him a look like that was the most normal thing in the world. “You don’t?”
“No? Even when I was getting good grades, I maybe studied an hour total.”
“Well…I wouldn’t say I’m horrible at schoolwork but I can’t say I’m great either. School doesn’t click for me the same way it does for other people.” Kaidou then goes quiet, hanging his head down.
Aren fears he may have hit a sore spot. “Well, I would say if that works for you then it shouldn’t matter right?”
“Yeah, I guess…” Kaidou mutters. Suddenly he’s perked up again. “Anyways, let’s get started with history then. What was the last thing you remember learning?”
“The last thing I remember learning was…” Aren wracks his brain for way too long to try to remember what on earth he was learning before he had to jump ship and move. “I believe we were learning about The Tale of Genji.”
“Oh, we got done learning about the Heian period about the time you transferred. Right now we’ve moved onto the Feudal period.”
“Ah, makes sense.”
They spent that next two hours getting Aren caught up to what they were learning now. Kaidou was surprisingly good at explaining concepts and getting him to understand what they were learning.
Aren wasn’t bad at school, at one point he was actually quite good at it. But when he started getting more involved with delinquency, school stopped mattering as much. The first ever time he got arrested was in middle school, first year. He should’ve been at a true juvenile detention center with the crimes he was committing. He didn’t know what magical being in the air was looking out for him, but his sentence was lightened and all he had to do was attend a correctional facility a couple days a week for a whole year.
It was miserable.
He saw for himself how good he actually had it, and vowed that he would not step foot into this place again if he had anything to do with it. The chaos of it all would have driven him to pure madness if it wasn’t for his teacher.
Mr. Watanabe was kind even when the kids were ruthless. He entered the classroom each day with a light smile on his face and would go the extra mile to help Aren and the others. Aren couldn’t understand why this one teacher would go out of his way to help these students that didn’t give a single shit about him or themselves.
So Aren asked him one day.
Turns out he was just like them at some point. He was once a kid with behavioral issues, a kid who had absent parents and too much free time to do with, so he turned to the streets. He was once in the same predicament as Aren was. Standing right where he was, asking his teacher the same thing. That conversation put a lot of things into perspective.
He should’ve been better.
He should’ve never taken that job. He should’ve never led the police to his door. He should’ve been better for his teacher, better for his parents, and better for himself.
Hopefully, this new life he’s embraced will be enough.
He then realizes he’s probably been lost in thought for far too long now, so he turns his attention back to Kaidou. Though, Kaidou does not look much better.
“You good?” Aren casually asks, which seemed to knock Kaidou violently out of his daydream.
“Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking.” Kaidou then lifts his hands straight above his head and bends himself backwards until his hands touch the ground again. A sliver of his pale stomach gets exposed in the process and Aren is suddenly very intrigued. As quickly as he bends backwards, Kaidou suddenly pops up and Aren finds something more interesting to stare at instead–his lap.
“I’m getting thirsty. Do you want anything to drink? We have water, tea, we rarely have soda, sorry if you wanted soda,” Kaidou offers.
“I’ll just take some water for now, thank you.”
“Alright, I’ll be back in a few.”
Aren watches as Kaidou gets up from his position, kind of teeters on his feet before finding his balance, and then rounds the corner out of his room. He can hear the padding of his footsteps as they make their way down the kitchen, probably.
Now he feels a bit strange. He decides against his better judgment to look around the room. He has a pretty big TV in his room, big enough to have his own media cabinet. He wonders what Kaidou likes to watch. He assumes someone with that big of an imagination would be really into fantasy and the like.
He takes one look behind him before he quietly opens up the cabinet.
Neatly lined rows of movies and video games line the bottom shelf, carefully assorted by color. Kingdom Hearts catches his eye, of course that’s something Kaidou would like. He’s a big fan of the Final Fantasy series in general. Aren smiles to himself. He looks a bit further. He has an assortment of consoles on him. Playstation, Nintendo Wii, and a couple of DSs sit on the far right that haven’t been touched in ages judging by the amount of dust collected on top.
Aren’s family couldn’t afford to buy him new games, let alone new consoles. He ended up getting a GameCube as a present one year for doing really well in school, but he abandoned it pretty quickly in favor of tomfoolery. Maybe he should dig it back out again, blow the dust off of it. He still has a couple of games on it that he could take the time to finish.
He keeps peaking around, suddenly very intrigued by games and what Kaidou likes to play. There’s Kirby, Mario, and…The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, on the 3DS…
Wait, what the fuck—
“What are you doing?”
Aren nearly jumps out of his skin at the voice. He probably should’ve known that a task to grab a couple of drinks for a housemate and guest would only take maybe a couple of minutes tops, but he was not expecting Kaidou to return so soon.
He scrambles up to his feet at record speed. “Uh…”
Kaidou comes over and hands him his water, which he graciously takes. “Do you play video games, Kuboyasu?”
“Y-Yeah, I was just thinking about the GameCube I need to dig out of my moving box. Sorry for snooping around.”
“That’s okay. Honestly, I kinda need a break. I’m not in the mood to study right now. Wanna play some video games?”
“Hell yes.”
A smile blooms across Kaidou’s face and Aren finds himself mirroring it.
The TV gets turned on. “What would you like to play?”
“Honestly? I’m thinking Super Smash Bros.”
“Excellent answer.”
Kaidou gets the Wii plugged in with Aren’s aid, and then they pop in the disk. Aren couldn’t help but notice he only had two controllers for his Wii, and only one controller for the others. He chose not to bring it up. If anything, it was perfect.
Aren learned that Kaidou is a Marth main, and he learned that Meta Knight is the best character ever. Every time they told themselves one more game, something funny would happen that would cause one of them to lose, and neither could accept that. It was a fierce battle.
Not like anyone was keeping score or anything, but they ended up tied after ten rounds.
While this was fun, they both knew they needed to get back to studying. So:
“This final round will determine the true victor, the almighty,” Kaidou dramatically spews, raising his fist and shaking it like they were truly at the final destination. He turned to Aren with a devious smile. “Kuboyasu, are you ready?”
Aren returned that smile with an equally sinister one. “Game on.”
He used every attack he knew at rapid speed. Aren was determined to win this round, even if his life depended on it. He was Aren the Demon Slayer. He was the top dog. He was the overlord–
But Kaidou? Kaidou had a fan.
And his victory was gone before he knew it.
“We’re banning that fan next time.”
“Next time, yes, if you happen to not forget. But perhaps this one time I’ll use my powers and make you forget.” Kaidou relishes his victory. He sticks his hand out towards Aren. “Good game, though?”
Aren looks at the hand and then looks at Kaidou and squints. He clasps hands with Kaidou and does a light squeeze, just enough for Kaidou to fold but not enough to really hurt him. “Good game, but we’re banning that fan.”
“Okay fine, we’re banning the fa—”
The sound of the front door opening and closing startled them out of their conversation, and sent Kaidou into a sudden panic.
“Oh crap! I completely forgot to text her,” Kaidou frets. “I completely forgot and you’re in the house and she does not know you–”
“Hey, hey, no need to worry–”
“Shun-baby–”
A few things happen in a matter of seconds. One, the door clicks and opens. Two, Kaidou, bless his heart, somehow manages to trip over his own two feet in his panic and proceeds to fall in slow motion. Three, Aren uses quick thinking skills and quickly swoops from behind to save his friend from an untimely fate. Too bad he doesn’t have enough foresight to think about what wrapping his arm around Kaidou’s waist would look like to someone without any context.
The result: two boys in a compromising position and a mother who bears witness to it.
A moment passes where nothing is said.
And then Kaidou’s mother breaks the silence. “Shun, sweetie, who is this?”
“Uh M-Mama, this–this is my friend Kuboyasu.” Aren steadies Kaidou before he fully lets go. “Kuboyasu, this is my mother.”
“It’s nice to meet you ma’am.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Kuboyasu…” She draws out the last part as a question.
“Aren.” He answers.
“Ah, Aren. How old are you?”
“Seventeen, ma’am.”
“Are you in Shun's class?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hm, alright. Shun, I need to see you real quick.”
“Okay.” Kaidou shuffles out the room quickly, shooting a quick look to Aren, a mixture between an apology and a plea. Aren returns a grimace.
The door stays open and despite their whispering, Aren has a full earshot of their conversation.
“Shun, you know I don’t like it when you don’t inform me about surprise guests.”
“I know…”
“What is he doing here anyways?”
“We were studying…”
“Funny, I don’t remember video games counting as studying. Do they?”
“No…”
“Listen, I know you’ve been making more friends lately but you can’t abandon your studies. You know that as much as I do. You wouldn’t want to stop seeing your friends now, would you?”
“We were studying though, Mama, I swear…”
“Well then you can study for another hour, both of you. I will be making dinner here shortly. Is Aren staying for dinner?”
“I don’t know.”
Aren has rarely had dinner over at a friend’s house. Not in the traditional sense at least, and especially not with their family. Is this what living a more passive life is about?
“Well, let’s go ask him.”
They make their way back to Kaidou’s room, seemingly unaware that Aren has heard their whole conversation. Mrs. Kaidou pops her head in while Shun maneuvers past her back into his bedroom.
“Aren, sweetie, are you staying for dinner?” she asks.
It would be rude to say no, wouldn’t it? The last thing he would want to do is leave another bad impression. “Yeah, I would love to.” He wasn’t sure that was the right answer.
“Alright, it’ll be ready in about an hour.” She then gives Kaidou a pointed look before leaving the door ajar.
Once they know she’s fully down the stairs, Aren sees Kaidou visibly deflate. Even Aren lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“My mom, she’s…”
“Intense?”
“Yeah. Listen, we should probably get back to studying.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.” As much as he’d love to waste time, he does not need to deal with the second-hand embarrassment if Kaidou’s mother catches them in any other position again. Or her ripping him a new one.
They continued where they left off, and Kaidou managed to get Aren caught up with their current history lesson within the hour. He couldn’t be more grateful for someone willing to help him out for free.
There’s a shout from downstairs. “Dinner’s ready!”
The boys make their way downstairs, and immediately Aren gets a whiff of something delicious.
“I tried to make a new dish today, I got inspired by a cooking show earlier today, which is why I was out. It’s spicy, but I set aside a non-spicy portion for you, Shun-baby. Aren, do you eat spicy food?”
“Yes, ma’am. I love spicy food, actually.”
Mrs. Kaidou hands him a bowl. “Take as much as you’d like, I have a big family so I have to cook for a lot of people.”
“Yeah, where’s Toki and Sora?”
“Toki is with your father today, there was a thing at work that he thought Toki would like to be involved in, so he brought him with. Sora is studying at a friend’s house right now. She’ll be back pretty soon.”
Big family, Aren thinks to himself. It’s always just been him and his parents.
Aren waits until Kaidou takes a seat at the table before he sits down next to him.
Kaidou’s mother then joins them, carrying her own plate. They say a quick prayer before they dig in.
Aren can say today was a day for learning. He learned a lot about history, he learned that Kaidou likes to cheat in video games, and he learned that his mother makes a mean dish. He can’t remember the last time he had a home cooked meal. His parents are always out at work, usually coming back with takeout. He can cook and loves to do it, but he hasn’t given himself the time lately, with him adjusting to his new surroundings and lifestyle and hanging out after school with Kaidou and the others.
The clanking of chopsticks and ceramic fill the silence while they eat. Aren didn’t know if they were this quiet because he was here or if they’re usually this quiet. It’s a bit unnerving. He and his parents love to yap.
His prayers are then answered in a roundabout way when Kaidou’s mother speaks up, addressing him. “Aren, tell me about yourself.”
“Uh…” Aren stammers a bit. “I just moved here from up north, My grandma recently passed away and we were willed over the house. My dad then got a job down here,” He explains, very intentionally leaving out other important information.
“Oh, what does your dad do?”
“He runs a motorcycle studio.”
Mrs. Kaidou looks as if she’s dissecting that information, picking it apart and putting all the pieces together like there’s a deeper meaning to it. Aren is uncomfortable. “And what does your mom do?”
“She cuts hair.”
“Oh, alright.”
She doesn’t say anything more after that, and continues to eat her food. Aren is scared of her.
He stares down at his finished bowl, a little bit nervous to move or make a sound. Every now and then he glances over to Kaidou to see the progress on his plate. He is a really slow eater.
“What were you guys studying today?” Mrs. Kaidou speaks up again.
“We were studying history, mostly. I didn’t realize it but I’m a few lessons behind from where I previously went to school at, and Kaidou offered to help me get caught up.”
“Oh!” Mrs. Kaidou suddenly perks up. “Well I’m glad he’s tutoring you it seems. That’s very sweet of you Kaidou.”
“T-Thank you…” Aren looks over and Kaidou has half of his face hidden in his dish. He gets flustered so easily.
There’s a click at the front door, then the sound of a door opening and shutting. Aren can make out two voices, one that’s deeper and another that’s high pitched. Then, an average sized looking man with dark blue hair waltzes in, followed by a small figure. The smaller figure, a young boy with tealish hair quickly B-lines it towards Kaidou. “Shun!”
“Oh, honey, you’re back.” By deductive reasoning, Aren correctly assumes that’s Mr. Kaidou, if not for the way they exchange a soft kiss between each other as a greeting. “How was work with Toki today?”
“It was interesting, Toki, sweetie, did you have fun today?”
Toki beams. “I did!”
Mr. Kaidou then makes a long inhale, letting out a breath of contentment. “Something smells good.”
“That’s dinner, honey.”
“I’ll go grab some then. Toki, come. You need to eat.”
“Who are you?” Toki directs that question towards Aren, staring at him like he’s trying to burn a hole in the middle of his head. Kids are funny.
“That’s Kuboyasu, he’s my friend,” Kaidou answered for him.
“The Jet Black Wings has subordinates?” He innocently asks, and Aren has to suppress a snicker that bubbles beneath the surface.
“Well, I, the Jet Black Wings, welcome allies such as Kuboyasu here. How else would I fight someone as powerful as Dark Reunion all by myself? Even those as special as me need friends,” Kaidou gently explains to his younger, like-minded brother.
“Oh…okay!” Then he turns to Aren. “My brother is very strong.”
Aren just nods, playing along. “Yes, he is.”
And apparently that was the end of the conversation, because he struts off towards his father, who is currently grabbing him a plate of dinner.
So it appears that the Jet Black Wings is not exclusive to just Kaidou after all.
After Kaidou finishes eating, they go back upstairs to finish some homework before Aren decides he’s overstaying his welcome.
“I should probably head out soon.” Aren suggests, and he swears he sees Kaidou visibly deflate.
“Yeah, it’s getting pretty late, isn’t it?” Kaidou habitually checks his phone for the time, which Aren does too. It’s only like 8:30pm.
“It is…” This isn’t even late in Aren time, but he doesn’t know what late is for goody-goodies. From what Aren has learned, it mostly depends.
“Alright, well I’m glad you got to come over, it was really nice having you,” Kaidou says, and Aren felt a bit sheepish at the admission.
Aren looks down at his lap. “It was nice of you to offer me help. I really appreciate it. I had fun today.”
Kaidou’s mouth splits into a grin so warm and appreciative Aren mirrors it.
Neither of them say anything for a bit or act on getting up and moving. Aren, truth be told, would like to stay for a bit longer and play video games or do something. He really did have fun spending his day with Kaidou. He doesn’t necessarily want to return home to his boring life.
His parents should be wondering where he is by now. Better go and ease their worries.
He rises to his feet slowly, followed by Kaidou, following Aren to the door like a good host. Aren hands over the house slippers Kaidou loaned to him while he puts on his shoes.
“Tell your mother I said thank you for the food. It was nice meeting her too.” He gives Kaidou one last wave before taking off.
The walk home took about 20 or so minutes; it’s nice to learn that he’s not far from a friend. He wonders where the others live too, if they’re not that far from him as well.
“I’m home,” He announces into the house as he walks through, kicking off his shoes and immediately seeking out the nearest resident.
His father sits in the kitchen, watching a movie on the TV they have set up in there. He’s eating what appears to be yesterday’s leftover takeout. “Aren,” he acknowledges. “You’re home early.”
“It seems pretty late to me.”
He gives him a pointed look. “Were you with someone?”
“Just a friend.”
“What’s their name?”
“Kaidou.”
“Is she nice?”
“He is cool.”
“Ah. Well I’m glad you’re making friends.” And that’s the end of that conversation.
He trips over a box as he retreats to his room for the night, almost kicking it as if the box meant any harm towards his poor foot. He shoves it over to a corner that is starting to get cramped. His room has a lot of clutter due to the moving process, a lot of it preventable as he still hasn’t taken the time to unpack all of his boxes, even though he’s been telling himself for a few weeks now that he’ll get it done during the weekend. That was three weekends ago. He really should unpack.
He feels antsy. He needs to be doing something, anything, not just sitting here. He almost wants to run back out, cause some mayhem maybe. Just because he’s bored. He forgot how much he enjoys hanging with friends and shooting the shit. Even just talking to someone right now would be nice.
He wishes he got Kaidou’s number or something. Would it be weird to just talk to him without much purpose, though? Talking just to talk?
He really should unpack. He decides to unpack. He can at least try to find that old GameCube.
After about 3 hours of unpacking, getting distracted by all the various knick-knacks and collectibles he has, or getting distracted by his thoughts, he finally finds it buried deep in a box full of miscellaneous items. With the way it was shoved in there (in a rush) he hopes and prays nothing is broken.
Only one way to find out.
He somehow manages to find all the plugs and cords and carefully plugs everything into his TV that has seen better days, and decides to test out the console by popping in his favorite game as a kid: Metal Gear Solid.
I wonder if Kaidou has played Metal Gear...He would like it I think...
When the GameCube powers on and displays that iconic intro without any notable hiccups, Aren breathes a sigh of relief. The GameCube works, his two controllers work, now all that's left to do is play the game.
He almost forgot how fun it was to just sit down and play video games after a long day, it brings him a certain level of joy he hasn't felt since he was a kid. The itch he had earlier fades until it's merely a thought, until it's the early hours of the morning and the night is quiet. His eyes sting from the constant strain staring at the TV screen, his blinks getting longer and longer.
Soon, his inevitable fate is realized, as sleep overtakes him.