Will I ever // Naegami

Chapter 15 // Everyone, meet... Tokami

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Today was the day. Makoto was happy to be able to introduce Byakuya to the rest of his friends. Well, the friends that Makoto was close with at his school.

Makoto grabbed his wallet, bag and said goodbye to his mother before leaving.

Makoto was dressed casual as he usually would.

It was the middle of his second school semester already. Time was flying by faster than he'd realised. Before Makoto would know it, it'd be the New Year soon too.

Makoto smiled to himself as he approached the train station. Not to his surprise, Byakuya was also there. "Hey Byakuya." Makoto waved to the taller boy. "I'm excited to introduce you to my friends." Makoto looked up at the boy who was smiling back down at him.

Byakuya was dressed formally, but Makoto could tell that the taller boy tried to keep it as casual as possible. Byakuya was wearing a grey knit sweater with black jeans, then paired with leather shoes. Byakuya didn't carry a bag with him. Byakuya still wore the same glasses and combed his hair the same. "You look pretty." Makoto complimented. "You do too." Byakuya accidentally blurted out. If Byakuya could see himself, he'd be even more embarrassed than he already was.

"The train's here. Let's go." Byakuya grabbed Makoto by the wrist and softly dragged the shorter boy behind him.

The train was very crowded, the two boys squished together. Makoto was pushed into Byakuya as they stood in a corner of the train. "Sorry." Makoto whispered. Byakuya's face flushed, his face turning a darker pink than it already was. Makoto started to lose his balance, occasionally bumping into Byakuya.

The tension between the two was awkward. Makoto would always apologize after bumping Byakuya a bit, although the taller boy barely moved at all.

At last the boys finally made it to their stop. "We all agreed to meet in the this park, so let's head over there." Makoto pointed on the map on his phone.

It was actually a pretty short walk, although it looked as if it'd take forever. "Are you worried about meeting them? You seem tense." Makoto looked up at Byakuya. The blonde sighed, slowing his pace. "I'm not worried. It's just... what if your other friends don't like me? W-well, it's not like I care about what commoners think of me anyway." Byakuya folded his arms, looking down at the concrete paving as he continued to walk. "Don't worry, even if they don't like you I still do. And that's their problem, okay?" Makoto hesitantly held onto Byakuya's arm, trying to be reassuring.

Once the two had made their way over to the meeting point, Makoto ran forward to greet Asahina. "Hey, Asahina-san!" Naegi waved to the girl. "Hey Naegi-kun!" Asahina jumped up and down happily. Behind her was the pop idol sensation Maizono Sayaka. "Hey Maizono-san. Are Ishimaru and Owada here yet?" Makoto looked in ever direction. "Not yet. It's still a shame Ogami couldn't make it..." Maizono sighed with a small frown on her face. "Oh—and who is this, Naegi-kun?" Maizono met eyes with the tall blonde. "Everyone, meet—" Makoto paused, pretending to get lost in thought.

A name... what was a name? A name for Byakuya...

"Everyone, meet... Tokami." Byakuya introduced himself to everyone. "Hey Tokami! You seem pretty cool, 'hope ya like the busy city!" Asahina swayed from side to side, accidentally bumping shoulders with a passerby. "Owada-san and Ishimaru-san should be here soon, let's just wait here for now." Asahina patted seats next to her for everyone else to sit at as she was already seated. "Okay."

———

Eventually Ishimaru and Owada had met up with the group. The whole day they had spent traveling place to place, eating a lot of food and doing some light shopping.

☆

Byakuya hadn't done a whole lot. Most of the time he would just follow behind Makoto, being jealous of his friends. Usually all of Makoto's time was focused in him and Byakuya didn't find it odd this wasn't the case today, but it almost felt like he was being ignored. Maybe it was just his imagination... yeah.

At least that's what he hoped.

———

Asahina, Maizono, Owada and Ishimaru were heading home now as Byakuya and Makoto were on the train back home.

The ride was silent. No words were exchanged between the two of them, only silence being shared as what replaced the awkward tension, or at least seemed to somehow make things better.

"...Were you ignoring me?" Byakuya looked over at Makoto. Makoto's gaze averted away from Byakuya's. Makoto still stayed silent as well. "I-it's mot important. It doesn't really matter, don't worry about me." Makoto nervously laughed, looking back down at the ground.

Byakuya analyzed the boy's behavior. Makoto was more fidgety than usual, as well as his body's centre of gravity had slightly shifted.

Was he sick, perhaps? No, that wasn't right. Byakuya couldn't seem to read the boy as easily as he usually could, trying to force himself to think about something else. "The weather has been pleasant recently." Byakuya brought up as the new topic of conversation. "Y-yeah, it's been pretty nice weather. It is Fall as well, so it's usually not too warm and not too cold." Makoto smiled a small bit.

Byakuya continued to try and understand Makoto, but right now he was at a loss for conclusions. Well, nearly at a loss. The last conclusion was one Byakuya didn't want to consider; if Makoto hated him.

Was he distancing more from Byakuya because he didn't want to hang out with him anymore? Byakuya didn't want to think about the possibility, as he would hate himself for making Makoto hate him somehow. To be fair, he was probably just overthinking things again.

But how could he be so sure?

☆

"Bye Byakuya!" Makoto waved to the blonde as they parted ways, Makoto to the west as Byakuya went to the east.

When Makoto got home, he closed to door quietly behind him, sinking down to the ground as he leaned against the front door.

What was he going to do?

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