How We Began

Part Nine

Once back in Tokyo, they had a hard time letting go. They wouldn't know when they'd see each other again, and that was what they hated most of all. Texts were one thing, at least they'd still have that connection. Calls were only in case of dire emergencies, although, if they were honest, just hearing the voice of their lover was an emergency in itself. They had to promise each other not to use that excuse too much.

So, they passed the time walking slowly through the station, visiting shops and just being with each other. If they did separate, it wasn't for long. Tetsu bought the phones they were going to use, going in to buy them himself. At a coffee shop, Kei went in with Tetsu's laptop and set up a single email address for them both to use, and programmed the phones so that they had each other's new number in their contacts, and could read text codes without any random emojis or symbols to screw up messages. While he did that, Tetsu ran an errand of his own, and went to a nearby fast food place to buy them lunch.

They didn't even have to coordinate; they were a team.

"Kei, eat something," Tetsu urged quietly, holding a ham and cheese croquette out for him to take. "You barely ate breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," Kei replied, taking the food anyway, but putting it down. "I don't think I could eat it anyway."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah, sort of. I'll be fine once I get moving, but I can't stand not knowing..."

"Stay. Just a little while longer?"

"Tetsu, I really can't take the chance."

"I hate this."

"I hate it, too, but we really have no choice."

"Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you. The less you know, the less you can tell them if the worst happens and they use you to get to me. It's already way too risky to have our phones and shared email address, but I want to at least try to stay in touch."

They were silent for a time, just sitting at the picnic table they'd commandeered, staring at each other, and holding hands. Two pairs of eyes, golden brown and gray, flitted over features, memorizing everything, burning them into their brains.

"I think I told you I travel part time for my job," Tetsu said suddenly. "I give motivational speeches to middle and high school volleyball teams all over the country."

"You did," Kei replied fondly. "I think it's amazing what you do. I almost wish you'd have come to Karasuno when I was a student."

"I might have if I hadn't been in school, and university, myself," Tetsu reminded him, smiling gently. "But hear me out," he got back to what he was saying. "Do you think we could arrange meetings when I'm sent out to speak?"

Kei shrugged. "We might be able to make it work," he gave it some thought. "But depending on where we both are, travel could be difficult. Time might also work against us, especially if we're on opposite ends of the country."

"You think you'll be moving around that much?"

"If Grandmother is putting in more effort to find me, yeah."

"I don't think I can go without being able to see you or touch you for too long."

"Yeah. Same."

"Surely one of those travel apps makes it easy to send tickets," Tetsu muttered thoughtfully. "Once I find out where I'm going, I can send you an email or link or something for the ticket."

"That's too expensive."

"I'm not worried about the expense, Moonshine. I just want to know you're safe and unhurt."