Akasaka Festival

"What's going on?" your friend asks, looking around.

"We'd better get out of here!" another friend says, a scared look on her face.

"Y/n, come on!" the third friend says, grabbing your hand.

You look around, trying to figure out where the shouts are coming from. A minute ago this was a lively festival at your hometown shrine. Now it's a scene of panic. Some obnoxious boys were pushing people, stealing food, generally wreaking havoc at what should've been a safe community celebration.

And then you see them. The center of the chaos but calm as fuck, walking around like they own the place, judging everyone with bored expressions on their faces. The Haitanis. A big smile spreads across your face as you once again see the boy you've been in love with since the third grade.

You release your friend's hand and tell them all to wait at a nearby tree, that everything's going to be okay. You walk towards the edge of the walkway, trying to look casual but making sure to stand right in their path. It's been years since you've seen him so your heart races with excitement at the upcoming confrontation.

They keep walking, nodding in approval to the other boys causing problems, laughing at the reactions of the crowd, but keeping their own hands clean. As they walk right past you, you shout, "How 'bout you stop your boys from ruining everyone's fun?"

"How about you shut the fuck uuuhhhh..."

Ran smirks, amused by the softening of his brother's expression when he realizes it's you.

"Hey," Rindou says, as he comically drops the hand he was about to punch you with.

"Hey Haitani. Still causing trouble wherever you go?"

A half-smile forms on his face. "You know me so well." He tilts his head, eyes looking you over.

"Why don't you ditch those guys and come hang out with me and my friends?"

"I'll call them off if you promise to make it interesting."

"Yeah, only if you earn it. I wanna hear what you've been up to, you missed like, most of high school."

"'s hard to go back after juvie, you know?"

"Totally, after the last time I got out it was so hard to go back to normal life," you say, your voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ran Haitani" his brother jumps in, extending his hand. "I don't think we've met before?"

"Y/n. Rindou and I were usually in class together."

"I remember you... you always let him cheat off your tests. You've um, grown," he says, eyeing you uncomfortably.

"Late bloomer, I guess," you reply while Rindou exclaims, "Not all the time!"

Laughing because you've never seen Rindou flustered before, you tell Ran, "I only showed him my tests every now and then, when he needed help. I heard sometimes his brother would keep him out late and he wouldn't be able to do his schoolwork. Was that you, Ran?"

Ran smiled at the casual use of his first name. He took you by the arm and answered. "Yes. I'm definitely the bad influence. Are you hungry? Can I get you a drink?"

Rindou immediately tsks and says, "Fuck off Ran, she asked me to hang out."

Sensing the rivalry, you slip Ran's hand off of you, making Rindou smile. You give him a small smile back then call your friends over.

You make all the introductions and start walking around the shrine together. In truth the girls seem frightened of the brothers but you're too excited to care. Ran is super sweet and is very much the gentleman towards them and it's not like you haven't sacrificed your nights to hang out with their boyfriends' boring-ass friends. You deserve to be a little selfish.