No One's POV
Tsutomu enveloped his childhood best friend in a tight hug. He was so happy to his the copper-haired but at the same time he knew something wasn't ok.
"Sorry for the short notice, I just-" Kenjiro begun to speak as his eyes kept looking at the floor.
"Are you kidding me?! I'm just happy you're here! Come inside, come inside!" Tsutomu grabbed the suitcase as they both made their way inside.
Tsutomu proceeded to show Kenjiro to his guest room. The bowl-cut left the other to get settled in as he went into the kitchen to make some coffee. Once the copperhead was settled into the cozy room he left to find his friend.
"So, you gonna tell me why you're here? No offense but you're not the type to take a 7 hour flight just say hi." Tsutomu said once he handed the cup of coffee to the shorter. Kenjiro then went on about the video, the many, many messages he was getting, how he needed to get away from everything.
"7 hour flight later and here I am." Kenjiro finished telling his best friend everything.
"You can't avoid your problems forever, Kenji." Tsutomu replied, knowing if it was up to Kenjiro he'd never deal with the Taichi scandal.
"I know, I know, but for now I just need some space from everything." Kenjiro responded, putting his head in his hands.
"Well, since you plan to stay a bit, you should reply to everyone who's blowing up your phone. Especially this Semi guy, he sounds nice." Tsutomu gave Kenjiro a heartwarming smile as he got up to wash the mugs.
"I will, eventually." Kenjiro muttered the last part. "Enough about me, how's everything going here?"
"Noya's still running the Recreation Center with Asahi. Kiyoko sometimes drops by there to help out. Aone's coffee shop is doing well. Yachi upgraded from a tiny book shop to a bigger one. Everyone's doing great." Tsutomu spoke, as he recalled the last time he hung out with all of them. In response, Kenjiro smiled, happy to hear his friends are doing ok.
After a bit more conversation and laughter, they both decided it was getting late. Kenjiro said goodnight to Tsutomu as he walked into the room he was staying in. After the day he had, he was exhausted. He fell back on the bed, it took a few minutes of just staring at the ceiling before he decided to postpone telling his friends about his whereabouts.
———
The Next Day
———
Kenjiro had woken up, feeling better than he did the day before. He started to reach for his phone, but then all the memories of yesterday came rushing back and he decided against it. After he had gotten ready, he left to the kitchen.
"Hey Kenjiro!" Tsutomu exclaimed once he saw his friend.
"What time is it?" Kenjiro asked with a slightly scowl on his face.
"8 AM." The taller male answered with a bright smile.
"Exactly, 8 AM. Its too fucking early for your smiles and energetic tone." Kenjiro took a seat and rested his head on the table while Tsutomu laughed at the others's fowl mood. After Kenjiro had eaten breakfast and said goodbye to Tsutomu he left the house to go visit someone.
After a walk down a few blocks, he arrived at the house he had so many memories in. The house he grew up in. He raised his hand and rung the doorbell, waiting a few seconds for the door to open. Once the door opened it revealed a tall women with the same copper like hair as Kenjiro. Her hair was in a messy ponytail while she wore blue jeans with a white tank-top.
"Hi Mom." Kenjiro said with a smile as he saw his mom for the first time in months. His mother had a shocked face but soon overcame it and hugged her son.
"Kenjiro! Wait- why are you here? You're not running from the cops are you?" Kenjiro's mom, Rin, asked as she peaked her head out the door to see if anyone was chasing her son.
"What? No! Can't a son just visit her mom?" Kenjiro exclaimed obviously struggling to come up with an excuse for the sudden visit.
"Okkk." She responded looking Kenjiro in the eyes with a skeptical face and a matching tone. "Well, nice seeing you kiddo." And with that she slammed the door in his face. She knew if her son had something he was hiding, slamming the door would do just the trick. Rin started counting down in her head and as if on cue when she got to 1 Kenjiro spoke.
"Fine! I'll tell you why I'm here, just don't lock me outside its like 100°!" Kenjiro called out hoping it would let him inside.
"Come on in kiddo!" Rin opened the door back up, letting her son inside. Kenjiro took a seat on the couch right next to his mom. "So, tell me what made you take a 7 hour flight back home!" Just like he did with Tsutomu, he went over every detail that lead up to this point.
"The end." Kenjiro said doing a little 'jazz hands' like it was some great performance he just finished.
"I hate to say 'I told you so' but I told you so." Rin replied, wrapping an arm around her son to give him some comfort. Kenjiro let out a small chuckle as he agreed with his mom. "It'll be alright kiddo."
"I just wish I had never met him." Kenjiro sighed getting a hum in response from his mom.
———
1:00 PM
———
Kenjiro had just waved goodbye to his mom and then made his way down the street. After walking a bit more, he ended up in front of the Recreation Center. He opened the glass double door to be met with the wonderful feeling of air conditioning. Not even taking 5 steps into the building when he got the wind knocked out of him when someone jumped on him. After regaining his breath, he looked at person who had caused him to fall. Not much to his surprise, Noya was there sitting on him with a giant smile.
"SHIRABU, I MISSED YOU!" Noya said giving the male hug.
"Noya, please your crushing him." Asahi pleaded from behind the counter.
"HEY, IS THAT SHIRABU?!" Tanaka yelled as he too jumped on Shirabu.
"Get off him you two, you're gonna kill him." Kiyoko spoke as the two jumped off their friend.
"Sorry Kiyoko!" The two said in unison while giving her a bow. Kiyoko gave a hand to Shirabu to help him get up. "Welcome back, Shira."
