Yuki's day in school was just as dull as Ren's. Teachers came and went. Chatters between classes remained loud but empty. Break times flew past them like the bullet train.
They also made it through yet another boring hiruyasumi, spending half the time digging into their bento, hoping to find chunks of dishes other than tamagoyaki and yasai that weren't there while quietly eavesdropping on gossip-laden group chats echoing from every direction.
It was all the same. Nothing worth telling at the dinner table, which explains Ren's eagerness to dash out. He was so bored and agitated he'd fast-forward time if he could. And after possibly the longest six hours of his life, the bell finally rang.
Ren stood up and rushed through the door like a launched torpedo. Almost everyone downstairs could feel the ceiling shake with his every stride.
His father's plane was arriving in three hours. He needed to get home before four. Niigata Airport was just a little over an hour's drive from Kashiwazaki.
If they traveled by car, they could be home before 9:00 PM, provided they minimized their stopovers.
Shizu, Ren's sister living in Niigata, mentioned that she would head directly to the airport, so there was no need for them to pick her up from her apartment and potentially get caught in traffic.
At school, Yuki was getting ready to leave. It wasn't the first time he had had to walk home alone. In fact, he was never completely alone. Others heading eastward took the same route.
After gathering his belongings, he stood up and made his way to the door. To his surprise, Kazuki was waiting in the corridor, casually leaning against the railing, gazing out the window with his elbows propped up and his head turned to the side. He didn't see Yuki come out.
"What's up, Kazuki? Are you waiting for someone?" Yuki calmly asked.
Kazuki turned his head forward and stared at him for a few seconds before pushing himself away from the railing and standing upright.
"Who else do you think I come down here to see?" Kazuki haughtily replied.
"I don't know. Your girlfriend, maybe?"
Yuki pretended that he had no idea that Kazuki's girlfriend was far away. He was trying to crack a joke, insinuating that Kazuki was cheating, but for some reason, Kazuki didn't catch on.
"Baka! You know she's in Tokyo. I've come to pick you up," Kazuki countered, sounding quite annoyed.
But he wasn't really annoyed. He just couldn't be bothered to engage in a pointless argument.
"And why would you want to pick me up?"
Yuki could only think of one reason. He'd be right, but he was embarrassed to just accept it as if it were natural.
"Ren told me to, and I don't have plans later anyway, so we can go home together."
This wasn't the first time Ren had asked Kazuki to fulfill his assumed duty to Yuki, and Kazuki seemed fine with it.
"Yappari," Yuki mumbled, slightly hunching. He wasn't really complaining. If anything, he was exhilarated. But he kept a straight face to avoid raising eyebrows.
He couldn't let his guard down around Kazuki. The guy was perceptive, capable of noticing things others might dismiss as trivial. One odd response, and he'd be in trouble.
YOU ARE READING
Killing Yuki
Horror...fully exposing his well-sculpted physique. The fine hair near the bulging bicep creates a stark contrast with the smooth, radish-white armpit. The bright light in the room failed to obscure the fine groove dividing his well-defined chest in half...
