bet || m. tokito

10 • origami

"where'd those dark clouds come from all of a sudden?"

you were walking back to the site where everyone ate with yuichiro. you two were left on clean up duty after eating, so you both had to collect the trash and walk slightly down the mountain to dispose of the waste. once making it back to where the other students were, you saw that mr. uzui was leading them in a paper folding origami craft. you glanced at yuichiro, smiling as you recalled a faint memory.

flashback (first year in junior high)
you sat at your desk, half asleep. it was lunch time. you usually go out to eat with nezuko, but you decided that you needed a break for yourself today. finally lifting your head up upon hearing the bell ring for the end of lunch, you blinked a few times to clear your vision.

'a bird? wait...a crane!' in front of you sitting on your desk was an origami paper crane. you examined it carefully, wondering who could have left it on your desk. you lifted one of the crane's wings. written on the underside of the wing were a few words: "cheer up, y/n." you smiled upon reading the message.

for the next few days, you would come back into the classroom after lunch to see paper origami figures on your desk every day. you didn't know who was leaving them on your desk, but you felt happy nonetheless. on one particular day, however, you decided to go back to class early so that you could catch a glimpse of who was leaving the origami pieces for you with short messages.

upon arriving to the classroom, you saw a boy with long black hair with colored ends leaving the classroom. it looked like the classmate whom you recently befriended who went by yuichiro tokito, so you called out to them. "hey, tokito!" the boy turned around, slightly startled. he stared at you for a few moments before turning back around and walking towards the bathroom. 'maybe he's embarrassed that i caught him?'

after finding out the culprit, you decided not to confront yuichiro about it, and you both continued hanging out as good friends. however, after your encounter with him that one day at lunch, the origami messages stopped coming. 'he must be upset that i found out...'
end

you slightly ran to where the rest of your friends were sitting, dragging yuichiro with you so that you guys could also participate in the origami activity that mr. uzui was leading. you looked up after a long period of concentration. mr. uzui wasn't done with his explanation yet, as he kept going on about how flamboyantly you must crease the paper.

when you looked up, you were met with a blank muichiro, staring at the rest of you. you looked down at his origami paper. he had already finished folding the origami ninja star that mr. uzui was teaching you guys how to make. not only that, but he also had a ton of other origami figures done; a paper crane, a dragon, and some other figures.

your eyes widened upon seeing his skill. your gaze shifted to yuichiro. his paper was not folded correctly, and it was clear that he was struggling with understanding mr. uzui's explanations. "yuichiro? i thought you were good at this! didn't you used to..." your voice trailed off as the realization hit you, 'the origami messenger wasn't yuichiro...so then it was...'

you looked back at muichiro. he gave you a light smile after seeing your impressed expression from seeing his origami work.

yuichiro sighed, "no way, this is not my thing. however, my brother's got some talent with paper crafts and stuff." you were still in disbelief when aoi tapped you on the shoulder, "hey, mr. uzui's going to explain the next part."

you looked up, slightly growing impatient at how long the craft was taking. muichiro sensed your annoyance. he placed his hand on yours, gently lifting it so that he could grab the paper from underneath. tugging on your fingers lightly, he started to guide you on the rest of the folds. "after you fold this then bring the corners together...like this..."

you felt his hands on yours as you continued to follow his guidance, feeling heat rush to your face.

beside you, nezuko let out a sigh, "is it just me or is it getting really humid?" you nodded in agreement, "right! it is very humid i agree!" you agreed, trying to get rid of your nerves.

as if on que, you felt a raindrop fall onto the tip of your nose. mr. uzui must've felt it too, as he began to pack up the class materials, "alright everyone, the weather isn't looking very flamboyant, so i need you all to pack up your stuff and head over to the shaded bench area over there."

muichiro let go of your hands, turning to collect all his origami figures along with his other belongings, "we can continue later," he said, glancing at you with a subtle smile. you were a little disappointed that your origami moment wad cut short, but smiled back at him nonetheless, "ah...okay!"

once you all got to the shaded area, muichiro handed you one of his paper cranes before being dragged to talk with tanjiro and the other boys. nezuko examined the crane you held, recalling a memory from a couple years ago.

"hey, didn't that boy you had a crush on back in our first year used to leave those on your desk?" you felt a surge of embarrassment at what she had said, "i- well...i did kind of have a TINY crush on him...that is, until i found out that it was just yuichiro...or at least, i thought it was yuichiro until recently..."

nezuko nodded her head as she listened to your explanation before coming to a realization. "wait! so that boy was actually mui-"

you cut her off before she could say anything more embarrassing, "that's enough! let's go find aoi and kanao, okay?"