Blue-Black Chapter 9

It was the middle of September. Both sports day and the student council elections were over and preparations for the school festival had begun. Shouri and Kazusa were visiting Tokyo on a Saturday, a rare day that did not have any club activities. They woke up at five in the morning and caught the express bus for a little over thirty minutes. They weren’t even halfway to Tokyo when Kazusa fell asleep. 

“Ahh!” Shouri shouted as he caught the phone which was falling out of Kazusa’s hands, before putting it in his bag. Unusually, Shouri wasn’t bored as he spent the whole ride staring at Kazusa’s sleeping face with a smile. Shouri was gazing at his long eyelashes when Kazusa straightened up. 

“Nnggghh-” A soft groan escaped Kazusa’s lips, which slowly turned into a frown. But in the end, he stayed asleep. Instead, Kazusa rolled over and his head rested on Shouri’s shoulder. Shouri stared at him for a while, before also falling asleep with his head resting on Kazusa’s. 

§

And so they arrived at Tokyo Station.

As soon as they stepped off the air-conditioned bus, they were enveloped in the city’s signature suffocating heat. 

“Ugh, it’s so hottttt.” Kazusa whined as he took off the hoodie he initially wore for warmth. 

“Yeah, it’s kinda dizzying…”

They decided to have breakfast before they started exploring the city. As Tokyo cafes were all crowded, they decided to buy food to eat on the train. Shouri gazed into the distance as he joined the queue for a coffee shop.

“Huh? Is that Kazusa?”

Shouri turned at the unfamiliar voice, as Kazusa did the same before his face lit up in happiness.

“Wow, long time no see!” Kazusa exclaimed.

“Yeah, it really is Kazusa.” A girl in pigtails smiled. She was the same age as Shouri and was surrounded by her friends. Even though it was Saturday, she was in her school uniform. 

“Friends?” Shouri whispered.

“Yeah, a girl from my old school, I didn’t expect to see her here~” Kazusa nodded. The said girl clawed her way through the crowd, her smile unfaltering. 

“I’m surprised to see you here. You decided to transfer out of the blue, without even a farewell party.”

“It couldn’t be helped, I wasn’t the one who made the decision…” Kazusa sighed.

The girl laughed when she heard that and turned to Shouri.

“You know how he is, but please take care of our Kazusa ok?” Shouri nodded in embarrassment before Kazusa started laughing uncontrollably. 

“Stop it Yoshiko, you’re acting like my mum.” Kazusa wheezed between his breaths. 

So her name was Yoshiko. It’s a somewhat old-fashioned and Japanese name, but it suited her well. In fact, Yoshiko was quite an attractive girl, with slanted eyes and a high nose bridge, that gave her the impression of being a Yamato Nadeshiko. Incidentally, she also had large breasts

TN: A Yamato Nadeshiko is Japanese term meaning the “personification of an idealized Japanese woman”, or “the epitome of pure, feminine beauty”, similar to a Mary Sue but in a good way. 

“Well,  you better take care of yourself then.” Yoshiko sighed. Shouri was about to let his imagination run wild at the sight of the pair getting along so well together, but his thoughts were interrupted with a short yelp.

“Ah crap!” The way Yoshiko looked at him was like a mother to a son, or an older sister to a brother. 

“I have to go now.” Yoshiko sighed, as she looked at her watch.

“Where are you going?”

“Mock exams.”

“Ah, good luck then…”

“Bye Kazusa~”

“Bye!” After waving at Yoshiko, Shouri sighed.

“Mock test? What are those, Kazusa?” It was the first time that he heard about someone taking one.

“Come to think about it, those exist…” Kazusa muttered. “Yoshiko is pretty smart, I wonder if she’s going to Tokyo university or Waseda in the future…” Seeing Kazusa deep in thought, Shouri couldn’t help but smile.

“Someone’s popular~”

Kazusa pouted in response. 

§

The pair had decided on going to Tokyo, but not what to do there, hence they wandered around with no plan at all. They bought the bus ticket for the return trip before somehow ending up on a train to Shibuya. 

“This is fun, just going with the flow with no plan at all.” Kazusa laughed as he rubbed against the crowd in the weakly air-conditioned carriage. Shouri, on the other hand, scowled at the harsh smell of perfume and make-up, but Kazusa didn’t seem to mind at all. 

“It’s surprisingly easy to do. It’s a relief to have someone who knows the city with me.”

“Haha not really, I live downtown.”

In Kazusa’s mind, it seemed like the house in the country was his uncles, and the house in Tokyo was his. Shouri felt a little frustrated because he left like he implied he would be returning to the city eventually.

“Are we going to your house?” Shouri asked. Kazusa looked surprised for a moment before he smiled at the ground. 

“My parents work together, I don’t think anyone would be home if I returned out of the blue. And plus, I don’t even have my keys with me.”

Shouri nodded vaguely. Co-workers were something Shouri did not understand. His mother was a cashier at the supermarket and worked separate hours from his dad at the beach. Sometimes his dad was away for days on end, but his grandmother was always home. The only time he came home to find no one there was when his grandfather was rushed to the hospital seven years ago. 

“You’ve been through a lot, Kazusa.”

“It’s pretty normal.” Kazusa chuckled as the train swung widely. Shouri quickly supported Kazusa as he lost his grip on the metro handle. A dozen people got off and a few more got on, but the train was still as crowded as always. 

“How many more stations do we have to go?”

Kazusa looked at the monitor above the door. 

“Two, we’re almost there.”

“Doors closing. Please stand clear.” At the monotone announcer’s announcement, the doors of the carriage started closing. 

“I have to buy a souvenir for Hiromi.”

“Oh that’s perfect, Shibuya will definitely have something.”

Kazusa and Shouri’s sister, Hiromi, were good friends. Hiromi missed the gentle Kazusa alot and didn’t seem to hide it. Shouri once told Kazusa that he should marry her, jokingly. Kazusa had laughed, saying that he would rather not have Shouri as his brother-in-law, but HIromi had turned red and retreated to her room. Shouri sighed, looking at the weather forecast that was being broadcasted on the train.

“It’s supposed to be cloudy this afternoon…” Shouri muttered, hands scratching the fabric of his pocket. “Hey Kazusa, when is your birthday?”

“Twelfth of September.”

“Ah, I remember” Shouri turned around suddenly, elbowing a woman next to him. He bowed his head in apology when she twisted her face in annoyance, but quickly looked away as if she had lost interest.

“So, what do you want?” Shouri regained his composure and asked. Perhaps anticipating this question from Shouri, Kazusa looked out the window.

“Hmm…. If it’s from you then anything would be fine~” Kazusa giggled. “Maybe you could spend the whole day with me or something, I saw a similar story on Twitter. The time we spend together is a gift, was what it was called.”

I’ll just get stationary or something..

“Wait you like Godzilla, right?” Shouri asked, relying on his memory from a month ago, to which Kazusa noded dutifully.

“There’s some kind of shop right, in Tokyo, that sells those?”

Kazusa nodded again.

“Then let’s go there after Shibuya!”

Kazusa nodded once more, this time smiling.

TN: I’m sorry this chapter is a week late, I spent all my time playing Genshin Impact instead of translating TT

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Rei

XINGQIU COME HOMEEEE

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