𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍~ 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐉𝐈𝐑𝐎

♡Chapter-5♡

Your point of view.

"Why are you here, Baji?" I asked, not hiding my irritation.

"Just walking home." He replied, his tone light.

"Your house is on the other side."

"I know." He said with a smirk, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just thought I'd take the long way. Felt like seeing the stars tonight."

I rolled my eyes at his lame excuse, and he snickered at my reaction. A quiet minute passed between us as we walked, the night air cool against my skin. Baji gave me a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow when he noticed my silence.

"Something happen today? You look more zoned out than usual." He finally asked, his tone softer than I expected. I hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly, not bothering to meet his gaze. "Oh? What's up?" He asked, his curiosity evident.

I sighed, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets. "Let's grab some yakisoba first. I'll talk while we eat."

Baji's grin stretched wide, his mood instantly lifting. "Now we're talking! Let's go, Y/n!" He gave me an enthusiastic thumbs-up before leading the way, already rambling about how it'd been too long since our last late-night snack run.

.....

"This is so good." Keisuke spoke, his voice muffled slightly as he slurped up a mouthful of noodles. A few stray strands fell from his chopsticks, landing on his jacket, but he didn't seem to care, or notice.

I stared at him in disbelief, wrinkling my nose as he kept eating with absolutely no concern for how messy he was being. "Ugh, you're disgusting." I muttered, leaning back in my seat as I stabbed at my own food with my chopsticks.

"Whatever." He replied with a shrug, grinning as he set his container down for a moment. "Anyway, enough about me. Spill it. What happened?"

I let out a long sigh, glancing out the window for a second before answering. "I got in a fight. I was trying to help a friend, and things.. escalated pretty quickly." I paused, my grip tightening slightly on the chopsticks. "And then my idiot brother decided to kick me out of the house so he could have some alone time with his girlfriend."

Keisuke's grin widened into a smirk, and he leaned back against the chair with a smug look on his face. "Hah, sounds to me like your brother's just trying to get laid."

I passed him a disgusted look. "Keep your disgusting thoughts to yourself."

"What?" He said, feigning innocence as his shoulders shook with laughter. "You can't convince me it's anything else!" He shrugged. "Anyway, who's this friend you were talking about?"

"A junior." I replied vaguely, not meeting his eyes. "I met him a few days ago."

Baji raised an eyebrow, his curiosity clearly piqued. "Can he fight?"

I groaned, immediately recognizing the gleam in his eyes. "No." I said firmly. "You are not picking a fight with him."

"What? Come on!" He exclaimed, his tone halfway between playful and offended. "I just want to see what he's made of!"

"Absolutely not." I repeated, giving him a glare that left no room for argument.

"Fine." He grumbled, though the grin on his face suggested he wasn't entirely serious. He leaned forward again, resting his chin in his hand as he gave me an exaggeratedly innocent look. "So, that's it? Nothing else happened?"

"That's it." I lied smoothly, meeting his gaze without flinching.

He held my stare for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly as if he could see right through me. I knew Baji well enough to know that he probably didn't believe me, but to my relief, he let it slide. "Alright, if you say so." He stated, finally picking up his container again and shoveling more noodles into his mouth.