I need you | akahina

your

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Akaashi Keiji

The day of our first practice arrived, and as I made my way to stage 4, which is tucked away behind the library, I took in the peace and tranquility of the fresh summer afternoon.

The breeze felt nice against my skin- I tucked the sleeves of my button-up to my elbows to feel it better- and the quiet murmur of students far-off and the chirping of birds felt nice after the long lecture I just endured.

Everything was peaceful until someone decided to nearly run me over with their bike.

"Keiji!" Shouyou exclaims excitedly, the screech of his brakes on his bike (standing a mere few inches in front of me) still echoing in my ears.

"Are you ready for practice? I already got your mic set up, and I scheduled you a bit earlier than the others 'cause I wanted to try and match a set with your singing- Oh, hey, look!"

He pedals over to the brick wall of the library and reaches down. I see something scurry along the wall before he jumps off his bike and hops after it. When I guess it's in his hand, he lifts his bike up one-handedly and comes back over to me.

"Lizard," he chuckles manically.

"You were saying..?"

"Huh? Oh, I stayed up all night to make this- Like, you totally inspired me, Keiji! Your voice is just so- Ugh~ I don't know if you noticed, but I have a thing for deep voices, and I'm not gonna lie- A lot of people from the audition had the voice, but they didn't have the melody, you know? You're like- The whole package! I'm so excited to work with you!"

"Thank you for choosing me, then, Shouyou. I'm also excited to work with you."

There's a guy I don't recognize walking and scrolling on his phone and Shouyou snickers.

He sets his bike down and creeps up on him before letting the lizard crawl onto his arm. The unrecognizable man sees it all too late and lets out a screech.

With a frown of annoyance, he carefully takes the lizard off his forearm and places it in the grass, and he slaps Shouyou's arm while he laughs and snorts.

"Shouyou, I'll get you back for that!"

"Hey- Hey! You already did! That's revenge for the grasshopper!"

"How'd you even know I was here?!"

"I can smell you- You smell like trash." Shouyou kicks the man's backpack jokingly, "Go shower and clean that pigstye of a dorm you got."

"Fuck you- Oh, hey, can you come over tomorrow evening and give me a hand with something?"

Shouyou's laughing has died down, and I carefully decide to pick up his bike from the ground and hold it at my side. I was debating on leaving them to have their conversation in private, but when I took a step, Shouyou held a finger up to me, telling me to hold my place.

"With what?"

"I'm packing up my stuff today for my gap year. It's next month, you know? I'll treat you to dinner if you help me carry it down the stairs."