𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽𝙰𝙶𝙴 𝙳𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙱𝙰𝙶 ,, high&low

chapter twenty - three | your girlfriend

twenty three

your girlfriend

It was just past two in the morning, and Murayama Yoshiki was lying on Midori Yamada's bed, the girl sleeping soundly with her head on his chest, his fingers absentmindedly brushing through her hair as he stared at the computer screen.

Following the disaster at the building site, the two young adults had retreated to the Yamada house and reheated all the leftovers they could find, setting up in Midori's room to watch twelve episodes of Sugarless.

Midori hadn't even made it halfway through the fifth episode before se had fallen asleep, choosing to use her new boyfriend as a pillow. It still felt weird to the two, using labels to describe each other, but Midori liked it, having someone who loved her and cared about her that she wasn't related to.

Murayama couldn't remember a time he'd felt this loved. Sure, there had been girls when he was in high school, and his brief love affair with Osheige from Ichigo Milk, but nothing like what he felt when he was with Midori.

Midori's room was the map of her teenage years, Murayama realized, untouched save for the substitutions of a few pictures for more recent ones since her return from the island. Her stay in Oya was never meant to be permanent.

Her phone was lying on the koi fish-patterned bedspread, and when he turned it on to check the time, he smiled. Set as the girl's lockscreen was the picture Tsukasa had taken the day Midori had fallen asleep at Oya.

The phone started ringing, startling the boy so much that he jumped, almost knocking two pastel Corningware dishes and the laptop off the side of the bed. He glanced at the caller id quickly, and when he saw who it was, he rushed to hang up, accidentally swiping the wrong button and activating a FaceTime call.

"You're not my daughter." Aldon Yamada frowned, looking through the camera at Murayama

The Oya leader cursed under his breath, turning to look at the older man. "Hello, sir. I'm Murayama Yoshiki, your daughter's boyfriend."

Aldon hummed "So you're the reason she's been so happy lately."

Murayama's face went slightly pink, and he hoped that Aldon wouldn't be able to tell. Ignoring the younger boy, Aldon continued.

"You're that punk who runs the yakuza school, aren't you?"

Murayama hummed "Well, we aren't a yakuza school anymore, if that's a consolation. I wasn't there when it was, I just got punched a few times and didn't die, so they decided to listen to me."

Midori's father was not impressed "I hope it's not a mistake to trust you with my baby girl."

"No sir." Murayama shook his head "No, she's incredible, I would never do anything to put her in harm's way, especially after her encounters with Doubt. She deserved better than that." The boy tried to keep his voice down so that Midori wouldn't wake, but the passion in his words made that harder

Smiling softly, Murayama angled the camera so that Aldon could see Midori sleeping soundly, her head on Murayama's chest. Aldon smiled, the sun streaming in from whatever European island the Yamada parents were at this time.

"She's asleep. Usually two is the witching hour, when her insomnia is at it's worst. That's why I called, actually. Because it's just her when she wakes up, and it can be really lonely." Aldon sighed, smiling at his daughter "Did she take anything? Turn on the diffuser?"

Confused, Murayama shrugged "I didn't see her take anything when we got home, and I don't know what a diffuser is. She was at a keg party we threw at Oya, so she's had a couple drinks, and then there was a mess at her construction site, so she's definitely had an interesting morning, to say the least."

"I hope you realize that there's no moving until she wakes up, so you'd better be comfortable, Yoshiki." Aldon chuckled, remembering the days his daughter had fallen asleep clinging on to him

"My leg is asleep, and her head is kind of heavy, but I've got like eight pillows behind me, I think I'm gonna be alright."

Aldon nodded. Murayama was growing on the man, and he was beginning to feel better about leaving his daughter in Oya while he and his wife went on a trip to Europe.  "I hope the only sleeping you're doing with my daughter is the kind where you're both wearing clothes and your hands are nowhere near where they shouldn't be."

Murayama coughed "Of course, sir."

"Do me a favour, don't tell her that I called. I'm sure the last thing that she wants is to know that you talked to me without her being present."

Aldon hung up, and Murayama let out a breath. This was not how he had expected to meet Midori's parents. Actually, he hadn't really expected to meet them at all, especially since she didn't have a very good relationship with her mother.

Shaking his head, he put her phone on the side table and tried to move her laptop and the Corningware dishes scattering the bed, before wrapping a plush blanket around both of them. Midori's phone started to ring again, vibrating angrily against the plexiglass top of the table. 

Frowning deeply, Murayama reached for the phone.

Tsukasa.

What did that blond prick want?

Eager to get some sleep for himself, Murayama turned on 'do not disturb', leaving the phone on the nightstand and pulling Midori closer as he closed his eyes.

___

Elsewhere, at the Hope Hills Apartment Complex, Tsukasa Takajo stood on his balcony, an unlikely assortment of people surrounding him as he cursed at his cell phone.

"She's still not answering." The boy frowned, turning back to the others.

"She looked upset when she left earlier." Nakagoshi pointed out. "Maybe she's still trying to deal with whatever it was."

"Or she's asleep." Fujio remarked "I have no idea why you guys are so worked up about this."

Yasushi huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just want to know if she's okay, is that too ridiculous?"

"Yes, considering that you kicked somebody off a roof the other day and almost killed my friend with a steel pipe!" Fujio shouted "Not to mention that you only smile when people are in pain. This is rare for you."

"He has a point." Nakagoshi hummed "Why do we all care so much?"

The full-time students let the question hang in the air, but the truth was plain and simple: they weren't used to having somebody care for them, who made sure they stayed relatively safe and made sure they ate something, never leaving the school on an empty stomach.

And they didn't want to lose that.

NOTES!

this chapter is a bit of a mess, but we got some soft doriyama hours and a very awkward conversation with midori's dad, as well as the fact that the full-timers are beginning to think of her as family, so i think it was a success.