Ryota Echizen

Ryoma, Meet Yunoto

Ryota's POV

Grabbing a shopping cart, I turn towards to Ryoma.

"Onii-chan, do you have the list?" I ask him.

Nodding, he holds up the grocery list and starts walking with me.

"Yeah, Nanako gave it to me this morning before we left."

Since Onii-chan promised that he would help me with my errands yesterday, I decided to hold him to it. I had woken him up and begged him to come with me, using the guilt trip the whole time. He agreed since he couldn't say no to me when I tugged on his arm with big eyes full of tears while saying "Please, Onii-chan? Don't you love me?".

Man I love my life.

"Here, take the list for a bit, I have to go to the bathroom real quick." Ryoma says while handing it to me.

Taking it, I nod. "Kay, I'll meet you at the Butcher station."

Walking around the store, I make it to the Butcher's station and snag a ticket.

"Ryota?"

Turning, I was both shocked and pleased to see Yunoto standing there.

"Akashi! Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask, giving him a smile.

Returning my smile he walks over to my side. "My parents are out of town right now so I'm staying with my uncle in the meantime. He asked me to drop some things off for him and I decided to explore a bit."

It was weird seeing him without our school's uniform. He's wearing black jeans with red converse, a white t-shirt with a black robot on it, and a red plaid shirt on top. Overall, pretty good looking.

"What are you doing today? Wanna hang out a bit?" He offers while grinning.

Smiling, I nod. "Sure! That would be great, I'm just waiting for- Wait! No, um, sorry, I can't hang out right now!" I rush out. I had forgotten about Onii-chan being here and didn't want him to scare my friend away.

He gives me a perplexed look. "Alright, everything ok? You look like you've seen a ghost or something"

Trying my best to give him a reassuring smile, I nod. "Yeah, just realized I need to, um, go and do some things." Reaching up, I put my hands on his shoulders and start pushing him.

"Well it's been great seeing you, but you probably have to do something else than talk to me." I explain, feeling nervous.

He glances back at me and rolls his eyes. Digging his feet into the floor, he stops moving and turns towards me with a raised eyebrow. "Ryota, what's gotten into you? Do you need my help with something?" He asks.

Feeling guilty for pushing him away, I sigh and let my arms drop down. "Everything's fine, it's just-"

"Ryota? Who's this?"

'Dammit!'

Sighing, I turn to see Ryoma standing a few feet away and inspecting Akashi.

"Um, this is my friend from school, Yunoto Akashi." Turning to Yunoto, I gesture to Onii-chan with a smile. "Yunoto, Meet my older brother, Ryoma."

Nodding his head, Yunoto gives Ryoma a smile. "Nice to meet you."

Giving him a smile of his own, Onii-chan nods as well. "Likewise."

Tapping my foot impatiently, I try to smile. "Yeah, um, you know we shouldn't keep Akashi. You probably have a lot of things to-"

"Not really" he interupts.

"Really? Then do you want to hang out with us then?" Ryoma offers. "If you want, you can join us for dinner too."

Smiling, Akashi nods. "That would be great, thanks Echizen"

Smiling himself, he just shakes his head. "Not a problem, just call me Ryoma. I grew up in America so I'm used to people calling me by my first name."

"Then call me Akashi, it's only fair" he offers.

Throughout the whole conversation, waves of shock washes over me. Onii-chan never got along this well with strangers, let alone my friends.

"Um, well, I'll just, um, go grab the meat and then we'll just be on our way then...."

Walking away, I shake my head and place my order. 'What the hell just happened?'

Grabbing the food, I make my way back and the three of us pay and make our way back home.

"So what do you like to do for fun, Ryoma?" Akashi asks.

Shrugging, Ryoma just looks over at him. "I like to play tennis."

I scoff at that. "You like to play tennis? More like you live to play tennis." I tease.

"Whatever, you like tennis too" he teases back.

Rolling my eyes, I give him a bland look. "At least I'm not obssessed with it."

Akashi gave me an amused look. "I didn't know you like tennis."

Nodding, I give him a smile. "Yeah, I beat Onii-chan all the time."

Pouting, Ryoma gives me a look. "You didn't need to tell him."

Akashi stares at him for a bit and blushes lightly. Curious, I elbow him and raise an eyebrow. He blushes even more and looks away.

Glancing at Ryoma, I can tell that he doesn't notice our little exchange but keeps sneaking glances at Akashi.

'Oh, I'm gonna to enjoy this'