Karasuno's Managers: Little Ukai and The Vulnerable

32: A Seijoh Tradition

Though it was the middle of January, the weather was particularly tolerable for that day. Emiko stood at the foot of the hill, her hands resting in the front of the oversized sweater. She pushed herself off the tree and squinted at the tall figure trudging down towards her.

"Why?" she deadpanned.

Kindaichi jogged towards her. "Hello to you too, Emiko."

"Why are you here on time?"

"Why are you here early?"

"Hey! I'm the one asking questions. And the most important question is where are Mirae and Kunimi?"

He slipped his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. "No new messages from him. He did say they wouldn't be too long though."

"Wait, wait, wait, Mirae and Kunimi are walking here together?"

"Yeah."

She stomped her foot. "How come I'm the last to hear about this?"

"You and me both." His voice came out cold, dejected. His eyes remained glued to his phone screen.

"You sound sad." She pointed out the obvious. "Okay, who hurt little Yuutaro's feelings. I know I'm not your greatest fan but I'll annihilate anyone who tries to mess with you."

"That's nice to hear, but no one's messing with me."

"Then how come you look so sad?"

"I guess I've been feeling," he paused, "like you. Excluded."

"Not possible. Mirae is my best friend so when she replaces me with someone else it hurt ten times more. Not to mention Kunimi avoids me. And when he does talk to me he's speaking in tongues and as much as my Uncle Keishin likes to think that I'm into the occult and should be able to speak in gibberish, I can't!"

"It might not be the same but it still hurts the same." He shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned away. At the prodding questions, he sighed. "Kunimi's my best friend, the person who I could talk to about anything on my mind. But as of recently, I get this feeling that I'm just bothering him. We haven't had a proper talk in weeks. And as for Mirae, well, I don't know if you know but I have feelings for her. We used to text each other all the time and talk on the phone at least twice a week. Whether it was about our favourite songs or our favourite t.v. shows. I know she's busy but she makes time for Kunimi. I feel hurt too."

"Damn." Emiko blinked, relaying his words over in her head. She always knew that Kindaichi was a bit more on the emotional side, but she never expected him to be so forward with his feelings.

"Yeah."

"You do know she and Tsukishima have a thing going on, right?"

"I did not." He frowned.

"Hey, don't look so glum. All I'm saying is that if you're into her, make your move. Because if you're going to take baby steps and let everything unfold naturally, well, sorry my dude but you might want to back off altogether. Tsukki's real serious about liking her and not to shoot you in the back or anything, but I ship them."

Kindaichi paused, trying to process what he had just heard. When he had first found out that Tsukishima had gotten closer to Mirae, he pretended that everything was fine. Even after Kunimi warned him that it wasn't. But now, he didn't know what to make of it. He wanted to confide in Emiko, someone who he considered to be one of the few close friends he had. But hearing that she wanted Mirae to be with Tsukishima, Kindaichi felt betrayed. He knew Emiko didn't owe him anything, but when she said that, he was hurt.