• our fading futures • akitoya • REWRITE BEGINNING SOON

• outside •

{POV: Toya}

{One week after the unfortunate passing of Saki Tenma}

It'd been a week since Saki had left us. I'd used the excuse 'I'm taking care of Tsukasa-senpai' to get out of the presence of my father. Thank goodness he'd nodded silently. I thought he'd kill me or something.
The house seemed hollow without her. There was no joy there. Yesterday, her friends from her band... Leo/Need, their name was, looked through her room with misty eyes. And then they paid their respects, and left.
And Tsukasa... Poor Tsukasa. He didn't look like the star he once was. If he was still a star, his light would have dimmed. I'd tried my best to console him, to no avail. I'd been considering sending him to a proper therapist.
It was morning. My new bed was on the sofa, and I'd put a few blankets on it. Enough to sustain me. I checked my phone. Akito had been spamming me again. Since 7. "It seems like I'm not allowed a sleep in here." I mumbled, sighed, and texted him, 'Just woke up. Haven't talked to Tsukasa-senpai yet, but I'll try to get him eating a bit more. I miss you.'
I pondered over that last sentence, but hey. I was testing out the Akito-has-a-crush-on-me theory. I walked into the kitchen, checking the time. 7:14. I decided to make some toast for my patient, and bring it up to him. Maybe he'll eat two slices today. We were almost running out of food, so I'd need to go grab some tonight.
Once the toast was ready, I put jam on the dual slices. Saki's favourite. I sighed and prayed Tsukasa-senpai wouldn't get said again. I put them on a plain white plate, and walked up to my charge's room.
"Tsukasa-senpai?" I mumbled, knocking on the door. "I have breakfast." There was a few seconds of silence, and then a very raspy voice murmured. "Come in." I swung the door open slightly, and stepped in.
Tsukasa didn't look like the normal Tsukasa. He looked all tired and sad. I sighed to myself, and sat on the bed. "How are you feeling?" I asked. He looked at me through tired, narrow eyes. "Not good. Still sad." I frowned ever so slightly. "Have something to eat. Here, I made you toast. With jam."
He tentatively grabbed the top right piece of toast, and took a small bite of it. I watched in silence as he munched on the bread. He finished it slowly, and I asked, "Want some more?" With a slight nod, he took the top left piece.
He finally finished both slices, and I was surprised. "Great job!" I said, with a slight smile. I was glad to know he was healing his heart. He slightly smiled back at me.
"Toya... You know you can leave any time you want to. You don't have to take care of me." He said with a wobbly smile. "Hm?" I said, confused. "No, it's fine. Plus, it's more time away from my father, so you're kind of doing me a favour." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Can I... Can I have a hug?" My charge asked weakly. "You know you don't have to ask that. You can just hug me if you feel like it." I smiled. "But I'm not the best hugger. Just a forewarning." He smiled slightly more, and put his hands around me in a hug. He was still in his pajamas.
It was probably the best hug I'd had in my life. Especially coming from someone as great as him. I put my arms around him too in exchange, and to my surprise, Tsukasa started sobbing. "I miss her so much, Toya... Every day is harder and harder without her..."
He cuddled more into my chest, and soon I was holding him like he was a child. "It's okay, Tsukasa." I mumbled. "It's okay to cry." I said, patting his head gently. "Mhm." He sniffled. He'd buried his head into my chest, and I gently put my hand on his hair. It was just as fluffy as I'd imagined.
"I'm glad you're eating more too. Saki would be proud of you." I said in a whisper. His sobs got heavier with the mention of his sister. "I-I guess she would..." He sniffled between tears. His tears were running down my white shirt, but I didn't mind.
"Hey, maybe you wanna try getting out of the house today?" I suggested in a soft whisper. "Mmm... Maybe." He mumbled. "Well, first, you need to change." He nodded ever so slightly, and drew away from me.
"I might need a new shirt as well. I have a gray one in my bag, so I'll change into that soon." He nodded and I said, "I'll leave you here to change, okay?" I shut his room door without waiting for a response. Once I got to my sofa-bed, I checked my phone. A text from guess who was on my screen. 'I miss you more than you know', it read.
Typical Akito. I assumed he was nervously sweating the whole time he was writing that. I chuckled to myself, grabbing my shirt and going to the bathroom to change quickly. Once I'd done, I texted Akito back.
'What's that supposed to mean? Are you suddenly a fan of sappy stuff?' I sent, with a little /:; emoticon at the end. Emoticons were the best thing to happen to me, ever.
I put down the phone and headed over to outside the door, putting my shoes on over my socks. Tsukasa came a few minutes later, while I was messaging me, An and Kohane's groupchat.
"Are you ready?" I asked him. He nodded tentatively. "I'm thinking we go out to get icecream as a reward. Sounds good?" I smiled. "Sure. I haven't had icecream in ages." He said, a faint smile on his lips, seemingly mimicking me.
I waited for Tsukasa to put his shoes on, and we walked out of the house. Neither of us could or wanted to drive, so we walked, since the shops weren't that far away. We made small talk along the way, and it was clear that the both of us felt really embarrassed about our hug, and didn't want to talk about Saki.
Once we got there, we'd decided to pick out outfits for eachother, just for fun. We went into a clothes store, and started looking around. "This would suit you." Tsukasa mumbled. I looked at the shirt he was holding up. "How about the new rule is to not show eachother our outfits?" I said with a laugh. The shirt had little dinosaurs on it. "Alright. Challenge starts... Now!" Tsukasa said with a large smile.
Oh, he was smiling. I guess my plan might be working after all. I dashed off, over to the clothes racks in the corner of the room. Discount stuff, but usually the best stuff was in there.
I decided to grab Tsukasa some flared jeans, and saw a shirt with a picture of a Ferris wheel on it I thought he'd like that ended up being two sizes too big for him.
I hunted around the store, seeing the top of Tsukasa's head above the racks a few aisles away. I eventually found a shirt with navy and white stripes on it hidden near the female aisle. I grabbed it, checked it looked good with the faded jeans, and went on my way to find a jacket.
It didn't take me long to find a black jacket that looked warm and padded enough to survive a snowstorm. I compared it with the outfit I had and decided not to buy it.
I decided to look for jewelry because there were no good jackets. There were small embroidered silver necklaces, and I found one that said 'Tsukasa' on it. It fit with the outfit so I decided to go for one bracelet and then finish up. A silver one nearby that was made from a strand of chains stood out to me, so I got that as well.
I walked over to Tsukasa, my hands full of clothing. "Are you ready?" I ask. He nods and smiles. "Course I am!" He snatches the clothes I chose for him off me, and replaces it with the one he chose for me. We meander into the change rooms, talking a bit more.
As I shut the change room door, I realise what he'd chosen for me. A black tshirt with dark gray baggy jeans, and mirrored sunglasses. This wasn't bad. I changed into the outfit, and it felt quite comfortable. "Ready when you are." I yelled over the wall of the change room.
I stepped outside and waited for him. As Tsukasa stepped out, I realized I'd actually done a good job creating an outfit. Usually Akito would create outfits and stuff for me, but I guess I'd picked up some of his keen eye for design. And so had Tsukasa, apparently.
"Tsukasa-senpai... You look amazing!" He smiled widely, and hit a pose with both his arms limply extended. "As my number two fan should think! You don't look half bad as well, thanks to my styling skill!" I giggled. "Thank you Tsukasa-senpai. That means a lot." I smiled widely as well. "I kind of want to buy this." My friend said, looking down at his outfit. "Same! Your styling skills are amazing." I said with the smile that was starting to fade come back. "Alright! We'll buy these and then get some icecream!" Tsukasa yelled, which made a few people in the store stare at him, but he obviously didn't care. To have that confidence...
We went to the cashier to purchase them. "A split bill please." I requested quietly. "Well, if you guys aren't a sun and moon, I don't know who would be!" I tilted my head slightly. "What do you mean by that?" I asked politely. "Hehe. Are you guys close at all?" Tsukasa smiled. "Hehe, course we are! Toya here saved my life! He's always there for me in my darkest times!" He yelled, again. "So you two are dating?" My face went slightly red. "Nope... We're just childhood friends." I laughed awkwardly. "Oh, my apologies." The lady at the counter murmured. "Do you need a bag for 25 cents?" She offered. "No thank you!" Tsukasa said loudly, grabbing his stuff quickly once he had paid. "Thanks for coming!" The lady waved goodbye to us.
We walked out of the store in the direction of the icecream place. "It was odd she thought we were dating." I said, putting my card back in my wallet. "Well... We do look like a couple, I guess. I could see us being one." Tsukasa said softer than usual. "Oh yeah! You seem way happier now. Good for you!" I say with a smile.
"Hm? Oh yeah! I have cheered up a bit. You knew it, Toya! It's crazy how well you know me." Tsukasa smiled. The icecream store was to the left of us, so we turned into it. We decided to order quickly. I just ordered plain vanilla, whereas Tsukasa ordered bubblegum. "That seems like a very you thing to do." I commented. "Hm?" He asked. "Order bubblegum icecream." Tsukasa shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it's my favourite flavour! A lot of people dislike it but I don't." He said happily. I stared off into the distance. Looked like the weather had finally dried up. "Hey, the weathers gotten way better! Maybe it's a sign?" I asked. "Maybe! Hopefully things get better from now." Tsukasa mumbled, and I found myself staring at the clouds. I started thinking of what the old lady said. If Tsukasa was my sun, what would Akito be? Come to think of it, he hadn't responded to my message yet. Hmm... He usually responds quickly.
I hope he's okay...

‹Word count: 2002›