𝐏𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓. narumiya mei

Chapter Two: In Hindsight

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎:
In Hindsight

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The day after tomorrow is the seventeenth of November.

Two days ago, it was almost a year. Today, it marks the first anniversary of Ara's departure. Mei never thought that he would live to see the dawn on this day, he never thought that he had it in himself to live through hundreds of days without her. While Ara astonished him at times, he can say the same thing for himself.

The first thing that he does that evening, as soon as he unties the silk around his collar and the leather around his waist, is go to his phone and call Kazuya.

"Mei?"

His voice shows concern. It has been months since they last spoke to each other, they have led two very different lives, after all. Kazuya sounds different when compared to all the interviews he does on television, like a filter is put on every mic to hide the sombre in all times he pauses.

Mei closes his eyes. He finds a wall and presses his back against the cool surface, sliding down where he eventually places his arm on his knee.

"Happy birthday."

"Heh."

Kazuya sounds tired, and Mei recognizes the same exhaust in his own laugh. But Kazuya must not be grieving for Ara—why would he? He barely knew her, if even at all. It must be him mulling over a game or two. Perhaps he is considering early retirement.

And sorrow always comes at times like this. At times when Mei can see himself living the life that Kazuya leads. Regret doesn't come, as he stopped believing that one must write their own stories and instead trust in the invisible hands of God that Ara speaks so often about. But then again, a flicker of optimism had always reappeared. The memories will break free to rush him in a flurry; they will remind him about times that seemed like he was in control of his own life. And then he will wish that he could have kept that child-like ignorance. Everything was beautiful, you always realise in hindsight, even if at the time it didn't seem like it.

"Thanks," Mei hears shifting from Kazuya's side of the call. "Got any present for me?"

Mei scoffs. "Ask again when you remember to call me on my birthday."

"I posted on your Facebook wall," he tries to defend himself, sounding serious at first before breaking down to a snicker. "How are you doing?"

"Got a fucking presentation due tomorrow and I haven't started yet."

"Jesus, it's almost 9. What are you doing?"

"I'll take care of it," Mei waves his hand, as if Kazuya is able to assess his expression. "Ren's gonna start living with me for a bit, I'm more nervous about him than my boss."

"Ren?"

"Ara's boy."

"Ah, Maharani's?"

Maharani.

It's been a while since he heard someone use that name to call Ara. He's surrounded himself with people who know her by Ara, or Ara-chan, or Mama. The name Maharani is a lightning strike to him, it feels odd and sensationalised at the same time.

"Who was that teammate of yours?" Mei is suddenly reminded of their youth once again. A place where no regrets had come from. "The one that had a crush on Ara, called her Maharani-chan as he'd followed her around like a little puppy." When Kazuya makes a confused noise, he continues, "The one who made her those terrible lemon-honeys, the one who cut them into squares. What's his name again?"

Kazuya then laughs. Out loud. He laughs for a second, then two, before using his third one to catch his breath. "You mean Maezono?"

The name only brought clarity into his blurring memories. Ara was keen on rejecting his advances, but she still wanted to be friends with him. The concept of having friends outside the school you go to seemed cool to her back then, and so, this Maezono guy was really the only one from Seidou that she got to know in highschool.

"Maezono," Mei repeats while laughing softly on his own. "Wonder how he's doing, now."

"He was actually hired by my team as a physical therapist earlier this year."

Mei lets out a low whistle. "What a coincidence."

"Yeah," Kazuya responds, still trying to contain his giggles. "Now that you mentioned it, he really did use to be head over heels for her. He was insane."

"She wasn't interested in him at all," he finds himself mimicking Kazuya, now tittering softly to his fingers.

"I know. He was devastated as hell when she rejected him for the first time."

"How is he?"

"Maezono?" Mei hums. "He has a baby girl now, she was born in August. Shirasu and I went to see her. She was this small baby, born prematurely but survived the whole thing."

"She sounds strong."

"A brave little thing. Her name's Chinatsu."

"Chinatsu?" Mei furrows his eyebrows, almost bursting into another fit of laughter. When Kazuya confirms his suspicions, he lets out a loud laugh. "That was Ara's favourite dessert café in downton Shibuya. Goddamn."

Kazuya laughs. "What a fucking asshole."