The Cat and the Crow

Can You Pass The Test?

"I'm home, and I have your gift in my hands."

Tetsuro was already sitting at his desk in his room, the gift Kei had given him still unopened. He took a quick selfie, holding up his promise ring.

"Okay. We'll open our gifts together. Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Do it."

"Tetsu... I love it." Kei's voice was soft, happy. Tetsuro knew he'd love what he gave him.

"Put it on, take a pic and send it to me, okay?"

"Okay. What about your gift? What do you think?"

"A flashdrive? Did you download a new anime or something?" he asked, plugging it into his laptop and waiting for it to become accessible. Once that happened, he clicked on the only file that appeared, entitled 'The Cat and the Crow.' He clicked on that, and the visual playlist Kei made started playing.

It started with single photos of them, and with creative edits set to the music they both loved, pictures of them both, and even a few with the squad, flowed on screen perfectly in sync.

"My new favorite movie," he finally responded, his voice carrying the same tones Kei's had earlier. "I think you'll need to be in charge of all our pictures from now on. This is really good. I love it! Thank you!"

His phone chimed with a notification, and he quickly checked it. Kei had taken his selfie; he was smiling tenderly, holding up his promise ring necklace. He'd attached the little half-heart charm so that it hung 'inside' the ring.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you, lately?" he asked, somewhat rhetorically, as he sent his picture to Kei. "I took that just after you called."

"It's almost like a mirror-image," Kei said quietly. And then he yawned. "Sorry," he said sleepily. "I slept most of the way on the train."

Tetsuro chuckled. "We both need to get some sleep. School doesn't start any later." He heard Kei grumble, and he laughed out loud. "Good night, love. Sleep well."

"I'll try. Good night. I love you."

"I love you too."

They hung up and Tetsuro put his phone down. He wasn't even remotely tired, so he played their video again. And again.

It wasn't until halfway through the third (or maybe fifth) viewing that he realized Kenma was watching him. He'd come over while they were gone to see Kei off, and stayed after Akaashi and Bokuto left to go home. Tetsuro was glad for the company, even if all Kenma was doing was playing his games.

"Why are you still awake?" his best friend asked, coming in to look at the video. He didn't wait for an answer. "That's really good. I can't see any jump cuts or flash frames. It's all seamless."

"It'd still be perfect, even if it was a hot mess," Tetsuro said, his eyes never straying from the screen. "Did you finally beat your game?"

"Yeah, and yours, too. Tsukishima picked out a good one. Got stuck on a few levels. You'll like it."

When he didn't get a reply, he looked at Kuro, who'd paused the video on one particular picture. It wasn't a selfie, that much he could tell, so either it was taken by Bokuto or Akaashi. Probably the latter, but that was beside the point. It was at one of the practice camps, and obviously during some sort of break. Tsukishima was resting his head on Kuro's shoulder, his eyes closed. Kuro had leaned against Tsukishima, and was half-awake, holding his water bottle. There wasn't anything too special about the pic that he could tell, but clearly, it held some sort of significance for Kuro to have stopped on it in particular.