KUNI

Chapter 5

"Kazuha! Scaramouche!"

Today was the first day of high school after a long break. The platinum blonde haired boy heard his name being called out. So, he turned his gaze towards the source of the voice before shyly waving. His best friend beside him however, did not stop at just waving. In fact, he grasped Kazuha's hand and dragged him along towards the voice.

"Childe," the purple haired boy beside him greeted.

The ginger gasped grinning. "OH EM GEE YOU REMEMBER MY NAME" he gasped as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world. To which, the purple haired male simply scoffed. The platinum blonde haired boy on the other hand? He chuckled softly, bringing his hand to his mouth to conceal his laughter.

Goodness, his friends were great.

"Come on! I saw the PDA to the max couple just now, let's go look for them!" The ginger bounced up and down like a puppy. Kazuha could not help but find that adorable. He bet, if his friend had a tail, it would be wagging non-stop at this very moment. Childe had always been like this he supposed. A bright ray of sunshine. He shone so bright no matter what happened to him. Precious.

"Yeah okay idiot let's go," Kunikuzushi spoke up from beside the Kaedehara boy.

Kazuha saw the smile on Childe's face as his blue eyes lit up, dashing into the school complex. Anyone would have found it weird that he was not having a negative response to being called an "idiot" after all he was the farthest from. However, both he and Kazuha knew that that was just how Kunikuzushi was. The ever prickly pre-teen whose love language was or rather is hate speech.

The trio then entered the school building.

The atmosphere inside of the building was vastly different from the one outside it. The hallways were lined with students, all chattering loudly. Phrases like:

"Hey check out this new game!"
"My mother got me a cat!"

Could be heard over other incessant chatter. All in all, it was rather unimportant stuff. That doesn't stop it all from being overwhelming for Kazuha. It wasn't that he wasn't used to it or that he couldn't function alongside it, it was just that after such a long break with extended periods of solitude he had to readjust to the chaos of normal school life. That includes the unnecessarily loud chatter of his schoolmates.

"YOUR MOM WAS PHENOMENAL LA..."
Kazuha tuned out the rest of that sentence.

Ah, the wonders of school.

"I'll be off!" He heard Childe's voice above the sea of noise and waved a 'goodbye' to him. The ginger boy then darted off to somewhere that the platinum blonde haired boy did not see.

Kazuha conveniently switched his phone on at this moment to check if he had gotten any messages from his parents. Unsurprisingly, there were none. He sighed.

Kunikuzushi saw this and peeked at Kazuha's phone in concern. Before he could understand what Kazuha was distressed about, his eyes focused on the time displayed on the phone screen. The blonde boy could have sworn he heard Kunikuzushi swear under his breath.

"Sorry Kazuha, I have to go, class things," the purple haired boy blurted out in panic before running towards the direction of his class. The books he had clamped between his arm and torso threatened to fall onto the ground as he did so.

Kazuha sighed. His friends were so busy.

He then began making his way to his own class. His lessons don't technically start for an hour but hey, better early by an hour than late even by a microsecond. Right? Besides, his friends have all run off to do their own things. He might as well. He hadn't anywhere else to go.

Kazuha made his way towards class, eager to get out of the pre-lesson crowd near the entrance of the school. The closer he got to his class, the more secluded the building was. It was 5 hallways away that the building was truly empty. He breathed out a sigh of relief at the solace. The boy then walked close to the lockers. His fingertips tracing the smooth metal of the locker doors.

A small smile graced his lips, he enjoyed the quiet. The serene atmosphere the abandoned parts of the school gave him. He closed his eyes, continuing the path towards class with his eyes closed. Step by step, he felt himself grew more giddy. Drunk from solitude. Kazuha continued moving forward, unaware of his surroundings. He then bumped into another male, his build seemed to be a lot bigger than Kazuha's. He seemed to be a lot more built that Kazuha in general.

Opening his eyes to apologize, Kazuha saw a tall blonde male with captivating violet eyes. Kuni had purple eyes too but his were darker by a shade or two. Kazuha bowed, apologising. The male on the other hand stared at Kazuha stunned. "It's okay, really!"

"Ah, it is basic courtesy to apologise, no matter if you find it unnecessary." Kazuha clarified.

"Tomo."

Kazuha looked at him confused, his head tilted toward his left, his red eyes looked at the taller male wide.

"My name." The boy said again.

"Oh." Kazuha's confusion has yet to be satiated. He blinked a couple of times before excusing himself for class.

Then on, the platinum blonde would bump (not literally) into the blonde haired boy over and over. Naturally, they formed a close friendship after encountering each other so many times.

"Kaz!" Tomo waved, his smile big and bright as he made his way towards Kazuha. The boy was standing alone outside a classroom, presumably waiting for someone inside. When he noticed, Kazuha turned to give Tomo a wave and a smile too. They stood outside the classroom and talked for a while before the class was dismissed and Kazuha spotted the person he was waiting for. He then waved a goodbye to Tomo before making his way towards a purple haired male.

"He's wonderful." Tomo thought to himself before walking away.

"Let's go!" Kazuha smiled as he grasped his best friend's hand, pulling him along as they exited the school. This brought back memories. It used to be Kuni who dragged the two everywhere. To parks, around school, everywhere. Now it was Kazuha's turn.

The two went to the park where they met when they were 8. The park has changed a lot since they were 8 but it was still the same park. The same grass, the same trees. There were just additions of a water fountain with more pavilions.

"Come on," Kazuha's soft voice tickled Scaramouche's ears as the boy ran towards the water fountain, hand still in his. The purple haired boy ran after his best friend as he made his way to the fountain.

Kazuha stared into the water, his reflection could not be seen due to the water rippling. Kazuha dipped his hand into the water before splashing Kunikuzushi with it. His scandalized look was worth it for the hell that would rain down on Kazuha shortly after.

Kazuha was splashed with a— wait was that a cup?

"WA—" too late. Kunikuzushi already splashed the platinum blonde haired boy with a generous amount of fountain water.

This then escalated to the two boys frolicking around the fountain, having a water fight. Screeching and running around the perimeter of the fountain. The fight went on for about an hour before the two got tired.

They laid down on the paved path laughing, their back against the ground and their faces turned to face one another. Kazuha sat up, prompting Kunikuzushi to do the same. The purple haired male stared into Kazuha's eyes as he took a hand up to brush Kazuha's fringe aside, tucking them behind his ears. Kazuha stared back. Not sure what to say.

Kunikuzushi smiled a soft smile to Kazuha before standing up and pulling the boy up with him. "Come on, let's go home."

The purple haired boy then walked the platinum blonde haired boy back home. Watching him enter his house before departing towards his own.

That night, Scaramouche lay in his bed grinning. Smiling like an idiot. Which garnered a "why are you smiling like that?" from his older sister Ei when she came to call him for dinner.

Unsurprisingly, Ei being as emotionally immature as she was, did not know what to keep to herself so she told their oldest sister Makoto who teased him endlessly over the course of dinner. It made Scaramouche's face heat up. Kazuha is his best friend, not his crush. He was adamant on it. There is no way he'd ever fall for him.