no mader how strong the wind blows

chapter 13

Chapter 13: Concern

Summary:

When something happens to Eiji on his very first club meeting, a certain purple-haired boy immediately comes to the rescue.

Notes:

For everyone's guidance, Ash is 12 and Eiji is 14.
Anyways, enjoy the update!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

A week passed since classes started. Thanks to Trixie, Ash was eventually accepted as part of the school newspaper, which made the blonde-haired boy elated because it also meant that he would be able to spend more time with the girl he liked.
On the other hand, because of his good standing in the pole vaulting club in Middle School, Eiji was easily accepted into the school's Sports Club. And while being a member of the High School Sports Club sometimes had its privileges, it also meant that there would be days in which they would have training after school.
However, today was an exemption, as it was the first official meeting of the Sports Club.
"Ashu, today's the first meeting of the school's Sports Club," Eiji said. "Are we still gonna walk home together or you'll go ahead home?"
Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I don't mind staying out a bit." There was a slight pause before he realized something. "Well, actually, you go on ahead. I suddenly remembered that the school paper has a meeting today so I need to go back. Catch up with you later, I guess?"
Eiji smiled. "It's okay, Ashu. I'll be in the gym if you need me."
Upon arriving at the school's gymnasium, Eiji spotted a group of students on one side of the bleachers. Some of them were seated while others were already in their sportswear and already playing different kinds of sports, so he figured out that those were the other members of the club.
Bringing out his phone, he called his best friend.
(Hello?) he heard Ash answer on the other line.
"I'm here at the gym now. Do you know how to get there?"
(No worries, Ei-chan. I'll just ask a bunch of students along the way.)
"Oh, alright then."
(See you later, Ei-chan. We'll be heading there now.)
And with that, Eiji's smile faded. "Huh? We? Who's coming with you?"
He heard Ash chuckle. (You'll find out later. See you later.)
"Okay, bye."
When the call ended, Eiji placed a hand over his chest as his heart suddenly began to pound hard, and not in the good kind of way. Why did he suddenly feel tense when Ash mentioned that somebody was coming with him to the gym?
C'mon, Eiji, don't be so paranoid, he scolded himself. Maybe he's with one of his friends from school.
"Sports Club, gather up!" a man suddenly called out, obviously the club adviser, making Eiji snap out of his thoughts and run over to the bleachers as the other students stopped playing and sat down as well.
The adviser was already beginning his introductory speech when Eiji arrived, so he decided to sit down at the back in order to avoid being noticed for coming in late.
"So guys, this year's leader of the Sports Club is Nadia Wong. Nadia?" the adviser continued, then turned his head towards a girl sitting nearby, gesturing her to stand up.
Understanding what the adviser meant, the girl named Nadia stood up without any hesitations and went in front of the other club members. She was a tall Chinese girl with short black hair and small, dark brown eyes.
"Hi, guys," she said, smiling as she waved her hand. "Since we've been together for a long time, I assume that you already know me. I'm Nadia Wong, 11th Grade, and obviously the leader of the Sports Club for this year." She chuckled. "Well, my job is to basically lead you guys with the best of my abilities, so if you need any help, feel free to approach me. Don't be hesitant, I am an easy person to talk to."
Then she turned to the coach. "Well, that's all I can say. Back to you!" She grinned at him before returning to her seat.
"Thank you, Nadia. By the way, guys, we have a new student here," the adviser told the other students. "He's the only freshman here so be nice to him, okay? Don't try to scare him." He added the last remark with a chuckle.
Eiji gulped and smiled nervously, giving a shy wave when the other students looked over at where he was seated. The reason why he chose to sit at the back was because he really didn't like having a lot of attention, he easily got flustered and nervous whenever things like these happened.
"Mr. Chang," Nadia suddenly said. "Is he the pole vaulting guy you told us about?"
The adviser, Mr. Chang, nodded his head. "Yes. He was a really good pole vaulter when he was in Middle School, so I didn't hesitate to accept him as a member of the club." Then he looked at Eiji, giving him an encouraging smile. "Come on over, Eiji. Why don't you introduce yourself to your new friends?"
At first Eiji was hesitant, but seeing the eager looks on the other students' faces, he had no choice but to come up front, standing next to Mr. Chang.
"Um, hi, guys," Eiji timidly said. "My name's Eiji, Eiji Okumura. I'm fourteen years old, and I'm in my 9th Grade. I'm glad to be a member of this club, I hope we could all be friends." Then he smiled sheepishly, which were responded by warm smiles from the other members.
A few minutes after he briefed the club on what their activities would be for the school year, Mr. Chang let the students resume what they were doing earlier before the meeting started.
Moments later, Eiji decided to sit down on a bench to rest after a few rounds of pole vaulting, chugging down on the water bottle he brought with him.
"Hey there, Eiji," a familiar voice suddenly greeted. The Japanese boy looked up to see that it was Nadia, the club leader.
"Oh, hey, Nadia," Eiji answered, setting down his water bottle. "What brings you here?"
"How long have you been pole vaulting?" Nadia asked, sitting next to Eiji. "I've been watching you do a few rounds awhile ago, and I have to say, you're really good at this."
"Really? Thank you so much. It means a lot coming from the leader of the club," Eiji answered, proceeding to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead. "Well, I've been doing pole vaulting since I started Middle School, so you could say that I've developed this skill over time."
"That's good," Nadia said. "By the way Eiji, you look kinda familiar to me, and I think I heard your name somewhere. Your last name's Okumura, right? Eiji Okumura?"
"Huh? Ah, yes," Eiji replied. "Why do you ask?"
Nadia paused for a moment, looking as if she was trying to remember something. "Ah, I remember now! You're the one Shorter's been telling me about."
"Huh? Who's Shorter?" Eiji asked.
"Shorter's my little brother, he's about your age," Nadia answered. "He went to the same school as you when you were in Middle School. No wonder you look familiar to me, it was because I saw you on your graduation day."
"What's your last name again? I'm sorry, there were a lot of students in our batch so I don't really remember all of them." Eiji smiled sheepishly.
"Nah, it's alright. It's understandable, since you never became classmates back then." Nadia placed a hand on Eiji's shoulder. "It's Wong, so my brother's name is Shorter Wong."
"Ah, I remember it now," said Eiji, realizing that the name did sound a bit familiar to him. "Yeah, I do remember a certain Shorter Wong from Middle School. Wow, I never knew he's your brother. Such a small world."
"Small world, indeed," one of the members suddenly butted in, passing by the two. "By the way, Nadia, why was your brother mentioning Eiji to you?" She paused before letting out a gasp. "Oh my gosh, I think your brother has a crush on him! Am I right?"
Nadia grinned. "Exactly."
And in that instant, Eiji's face flushed all the way to the tip of his ears, making Nadia and the other club members who witnessed the scene tease him mercilessly.
Is she serious? Her younger brother has a crush on me? But I don't even know him that much! This is insane!
"Um, uh, I---" Eiji was about to say something when he suddenly saw Ash sitting on the bleachers at the other side of the gym.
And his eyes widened in a mixture of pain and shock when he saw that Trixie was with him.
"Eiji, are you alright?" Nadia suddenly asked. "You're spacing out."
"Oh, really?" Eiji flatly answered, still not taking his eyes off the two. "Sorry."
"Hey Nadia," he heard another member say. "I heard that your brother's gonna join the Martial Arts Club. Is that true?"
"Yup! And obviously, he's inspired."
While Nadia and the other member talked, Eiji no longer paid attention to them as he suddenly felt numb all over. He noticed another male enter the gym, but he didn't care, as he was still looking at Ash and Trixie. He's never seen Ash look so happy before, and just the mere thought of it was enough to break his heart. Again.
"Yup, the boy's inspired, alright. He keeps on stealing glances at Eiji here," the member said, prompting the others to tease him again, much to the raven-haired boy's chagrin.
"Eiji, is there something wrong?" Nadia suddenly asked, snapping Eiji back into reality.
"H-Huh? No, i-it's nothing," Eiji replied, shaking his head.
"What are you looking at, anyway?" Nadia turned her head towards the direction where Eiji was looking at. "Oh, I see. You're looking at the handsome blonde boy over there, right? The one sitting next to the girl?" She grinned at him. "Let me guess, you have a crush on him?"
"No, it's nothing like that," Eiji answered. "He's my best friend, actually."
He's my best friend, but at the same time he's also the one I love.
A deep sigh was all he could let out after that.
***
Earlier, Ash was already on his way out after their meeting ended when Trixie suddenly asked him where he was heading to. When Ash answered that he was going to Eiji's school to wait for his best friend, she asked him if she could tag along with him, much to the blonde-haired boy's surprise. Of course Ash couldn't say no to the girl he liked, so they went to Eiji's school together.
The meeting was over when they arrived at the gym, so they decided to sit down on the other side of the gym to watch the club members play. Ash couldn't help but smile when he saw Eiji being teased by his co-members. He had to admit, his best friend looked so adorable looking all flustered like that.
"So Eiji's a member of the High School Sports Club, huh?" Trixie asked.
Ash nodded his head. "Yeah. Ever since we were in Middle School, he's always been interested in pole vaulting."
"I see." Trixie nodded her head. "Let me ask you, how close are you and Eiji?"
"Let's just say that Ei-chan and I have been together our whole lives," Ash answered, his lips slowly curling into a fond smile as he looked at Eiji. "We've been together since we were kids, we grew up together, and I guess that explains why we're inseparable."
"Oh, that's cute," Trixie answered.
Was it just him, or did she sound a little sarcastic back there?
"I honestly don't know what my life would be like without Ei-chan by my side," Ash continued. "In fact, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be as close as we are now."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Trixie asked.
"Ei-chan helped my change myself, looks and all," Ash replied. "He helped me turn into the Ash Callenreese I am today."
"Wow, looks like you really owe a lot to him then, huh?"
"Yup." Ash's smile slowly widened. "I'm so glad I have someone like Ei-chan."
Just then, from the corner of his eye, Ash saw a familiar purple-haired boy sit next to them. Turning around, he immediately recognized him as Shorter Wong, a guy who went to the same Middle School as he, Eiji and Trixie did. He noticed that there was a fond smile on Shorter's lips as he looked towards a certain direction, and his eyebrows furrowed when he followed the purple-haired boy's gentle gaze and saw that he was looking at Eiji.
Why the heck is Shorter looking at Eiji like that? Don't tell me he has a crush on my best friend? Ash thought to himself.
He didn't know why, but the thought of it suddenly made him feel...pissed?
This can't be.
"Hey Shorter," he said, tapping the Chinese boy's shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, Ash. Fancy meeting you here," Shorter responded, looking briefly at Ash before returning his gaze to where the Sports Club members were playing.
"Who are you looking at, Shorter?" Ash asked, turning his head towards the direction were Shorter was looking. "It seems like you're looking at Ei-chan, huh?"
"Huh?" Shorter looked at Ash again. "Who's Ei-chan?"
"Oh, I mean Eiji, my best friend," Ash answered, realizing that he was the only one who called Eiji by his nickname Ei-chan. "Tell me, are you looking at him?"
Shorter's eyes widened in surprise as he let out a gasp. Why did he suddenly look all flustered?
"H-Huh? No, I'm not!" he stuttered.
"Well, who are you looking at, then?" Ash asked, folding his arms.
"Um, uh," Shorter answered, his eyes darting back and forth. "I'm looking at...my sister! Yeah, my sister. She's over there, see?" He pointed his arm to where Nadia was sitting.
"Oh, I see." Ash nodded his head. "I heard you're joining the Martial Arts Club. Is it true?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Shorter replied. "Um, my sister inspired me to join the Martial Arts Club. She's a good fighter that's why I got interested. Yup, she's my inspiration. Hehe." He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
Ash just stared at him in disbelief, wondering why he was stuttering and acting all flustered like that. Was it that difficult to admit that your sibling's your inspiration to do things?
"EIJI, LOOK OUT!"
A few screams were heard, and the next thing they knew, they saw all the members of the Sports Club huddled into a circle.
"Shit," Ash heard Shorter mutter under his breath before he ran towards where the Sports Club members were. What's going on?
"Hold on, Trixie, I'll be right back," he told his companion before following Shorter down the bleachers, gently pushing his way into the middle of the commotion.
"Don't worry, guys. I got this," he heard Shorter say before carrying someone in his arms bridal-style, and his eyes went wide in shock when he saw a familiar mop of raven-black hair.
It was Eiji.
"Shorter, wait," Ash said, holding out his arms in an attempt to get Eiji from Shorter. "Let me bring Ei-chan to the clinic. He's my responsibili---"
Shorter smirked at him. "Sorry, Ash. You're too late."
"Shorter, come on. Let's bring Eiji to the clinic now," Nadia told her younger brother.
Unable to do anything else, Ash just stood there and watched as the two siblings immediately left the gym, bringing Eiji along with them.
He just didn't understand, why did Shorter care so much about Eiji?
And why did he suddenly feel uneasy about it?
***
"What happened?" the school nurse asked when the Wong siblings arrived with Eiji at the clinic.
"He was knocked unconscious by a volleyball to the head, so we had to bring him here," Nadia answered.
"Oh, poor boy. Just bring him over to one of those beds there," the nurse replied, gesturing to a row of beds nearby. "I'll be back with some ice packs for him."
Without another word, Shorter immediately laid Eiji down on the bed. As the purple-haired boy gazed on him with a concerned look, he suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Ash earlier, when he asked him who he was looking at.
The truth was, he wasn't really looking at his sister Nadia, but at Eiji. He just couldn't bring himself to tell it to Ash because knowing that the two were best friends, Ash might end up telling it to Eiji. And he didn't want that. If he were to confess to Eiji, he would rather do it his way.
"Mmmmm...Ashu..." Eiji suddenly murmured, his forehead crumpling, looking as if he were to cry any second.
Ashu? Who's Ashu? Shorter thought before he eventually realized something. Ah, I get it now. If Ash's nickname for Eiji is Ei-chan, then Ashu must be Eiji's nickname for Ash.
He let out a deep sigh, realizing that Eiji was hurt because of Ash. Again.
Stupid Ash, he thought. How stupid of him to hurt someone like Eiji.
"Hey Shorter, do you intend to stare at him all day long? He's not gonna disappear if you look away, you know," Nadia suddenly said from behind him, surprising the purple-haired boy.
Shorter didn't say anything, he just rolled his eyes as Nadia sat next to her brother, handing him an ice pack she got from the nurse, after which he immediately pressed it to Eiji's temple. Noticing that the Eiji's forehead was still crumpled, Shorter gently rubbed a thumb over the raven-haired boy's forehead until his expression eventually softened, making the purple-haired boy smile.
"Gee, Shorter," Nadia said, noticing the way Shorter looked at Eiji. "You really care for Eiji, huh?"
Shorter nodded his head, his eyes still on Eiji. "Yeah."
Nadia grinned. "I guess you like him that much, then. When did you start liking him again? Was it during your 6th Grade? I remember you telling me about him before, you were blushing a lot and you were acting all flustered. Haha! That was so cute."
"Shut up, Nadia," he said in an annoyed tone, rolling his eyes.
"Aww, my little brother's not so little anymore," Nadia cooed, playfully pinching Shorter's cheek, much to the purple-haired boy's annoyance.
"Ow! Hey, that hurts!"
Nadia just laughed in response. "Don't worry, brother. I'm sure Eiji will eventually notice you. I could help you if you want."
Shorter chuckled. "Thanks, sister."
He looked back at Eiji, and a small smile formed on his lips when he saw how peaceful the raven-haired boy looked. He was now sleeping peacefully, making him sigh in relief.
He's so cute.
Suddenly sensing that someone else came to the clinic, he stood up, handing the ice pack over to Nadia.
"I'll be back," he said. "I have this feeling that someone else is here."
"Don't worry, Shorter. I'll take care of Eiji for you," Nadia answered, grinning at her brother.
After rolling his eyes at his sister, Shorter walked over to the door of the clinic, where he saw Ash. There was a worried look on his face as he stood at the doorway, Trixie standing behind him.
"Shorter, how's Ei-chan? What did the nurse say? Is there somethi---"
"Eiji's doing fine, Ash," Shorter answered, cutting off Ash's series of questions. "He's just asleep, that's all."
And with that, he turned to go back to Eiji when Ash suddenly spoke.
"Shorter...why do you care so much about Eiji?"
Unconsciously, Shorter's hands clenched into fists. Was he seriously asking why he cared so much about Eiji?
Do you really wanna know why I care about your best friend, Ash? It's because I love him.
"Because Eiji's been hurt," he answered, not looking back at Ash. "And until now he's still hurt."
Without waiting for Ash's answer, Shorter walked away.
Eiji's been hurt, and until now he's still hurt, because of you.
He had to admit, ever since they were in Middle School, he has been noticing Eiji from afar. He has seen how Eiji's eyes shone whenever he was around Ash, how happy Eiji looked whenever the two best friends were together. And when he saw how hurt he was on their graduation day, the day when Ash gave the teddy bear to Trixie, it was there where he realized that Eiji didn't see Ash as merely his best friend.
He never knew that he would cross paths with Eiji again when he reached High School, that's why he was surprised when he accidentally bumped into him on the first day of school. But seeing how Eiji cried that day, he realized that things didn't change at all since Middle School, that he was still hurting because of Ash being so insensitive.
And seeing how hurt Eiji was now, he realized that he had to do something before it would be too late. He just couldn't just sit there and watch Ash hurt the person he loved for so long over and over again.
No, he won't allow it anymore.