affinity. takashi mitsuya.

TWO

july 4th, 2005

takashi's loud laughter and hitoka's quiet giggle echoed along the river bank. tiredly plopping down on the soft grass and inhaling the humid air, hitoka felt all tension leave her body. with takashi next to her side, she looked at the river's calm surface. the comfortable silence was soon broken by takashi.

"my mom is going to kill me," followed by a snort from hitoka and a mischievous look, "it's okay 'kashi. i'll tell her you were in good hands, don't you worry about it."

after a few moments of silence, hitoka spoke again, "can i have your number?"

she refused to meet his eyes and hugged her knees close to her body, trying to warm herself up. a phone was pushed into her hands. hitoka smiled at takashi and put her number in, texting herself so she could save it later.

hitoka slowly got up, getting ready to finally go home. takashi reached out his hand, silently telling her to help him up. she took it and he stood up, but he didn't let go of her hand. hitoka looked at him in question.

"your hand is cold," is all takashi said, "let's get you home."

reaching her front door, hitoka took her keys out of her pocket. shaky hands tried to unlock the door, failing multiple times to put the key in. takashi laughed while watching her struggle, and hitoka gave him a glare.

her eyes softened, and she shuffled over to wrap her arms around his waist, "thank you for today."

pulling away, she got inside in a hurry, not seeing the way takashi's cheeks glowed red for the first time.

"there is something you should know, toka-chan. i am in a gang," takashi said, hoping hitoka wouldn't get scared and never want to see him again.

"yeah, i figured," she softly hummed, "your jacket gave it away."

she started rambling again, a habit takashi picked on. he didn't mind. he liked listening to her speak, and it was ridiculously cute, "that's actually so cool. i bet it's like a brotherhood. do you take girls in? it would do me some good to learn how to protect myself," she continued, "do you beat up the bad guys? i can totally see you doing that since you are so cool, takashi-kun."

takashi laughed at her antics, "actually, i made most of those jackets myself. for the founding members anyway. you met one of them earlier, baji. i know he looks scary but he is a softie," he grinned and continued talking about the gang's members.

to hitoka, it sounded like a huge family gathering. something she craved, "those guys are lucky to have an amazing member such as yourself. tell me more about them," she said, smiling up at him.

-

"...and there was this one time we found baji in his room, eating cat food because he was hungry and he didn't want to make his mother sad by setting another car on fire."

hitoka was laughing so hard, her eyes were watering, and her laughter became silent. takashi was looking at her smiling, happy that he got that kind of a reaction out of her.

"they sound fun. hopefully, i get to meet them once."

"don't worry toka-chan. i'll make sure to introduce you to them sometime," takashi said, "what about you? any interesting stories you want to share?"

hitoka's face fell slightly, "not really takashi-kun, i am mostly by myself and taking care of our house."

"well, then we have to change that, don't we?" after those words came out of takashi's mouth, hitoka was back to her old bubbly self.

lightly tracking the steps she memorized to avoid creaking, hitoka was soon in the safe space of her room. she decided to sleep in and skip school. she knew she would get punished for it when her father found out, but she couldn't find it in her to care right now.

after successfully avoiding kai, hitoka sent a message to her dear junior, takemichi, that she wasn't going to attend school that day. knowing he would most likely start panicking, she decided to warn him before he came to her house to knock down her door.

hitoka sank into her bed and covered herself with a soft blanket. recalling the moments she shared with takashi, for the first time in a while, hitoka went to bed with a smile.

author's note – august 4th

another chapter is done! i don't know if i should try writing longer chapters. my usual is around 1k words, but this one is a little shorter. let me know if you think the story is moving too fast and whether you are enjoying it. :D

i lowkey feel like i am going to delete this soon but we don't talk about that.