spray painted stars - akikasa

chapter 3

Akito sat on the secluded bench silently on his phone, the yellow jacket folded up on his lap. He had intended to ask Toya for Tsukasa's number to tell him to come back to where they were yesterday in order to give him back his jacket, but it had completely slipped his mind during practice yesterday. That's why he was texting him now, though he wasn't expecting a response anytime soon since Toya was in the library again.

He sighed and rested his head on his hand as he scrolled through his social media apps, attempting to pass time. Seeing at least three of his sister's posts in one minute, he rolled his eyes. Does she seriously need to post her every move? Regardless, he gave them a like anyways.

However, one post caught his eye; she was hanging out with Akiyama at... Phoenix Wonderland? Right now? Ignoring the fact Akiyama skipped to go to such a horrible place, he looked at the tags and noticed that it wasn't only Akiyama that was tagged, but also the theme park itself.

That interested Akito, as he didn't know the park had its own page. He clicked on its profile and saw a surprising amount of posts with the Wonder Stage and Tsukasa-senpai's troupe. Clicking on one of the posts with the group bowing, probably at the end of a show, he noticed they also had an account. Thinking about how weird it is that he's going so deep into this rabbit hole just from one of Ena's posts, he clicked on the account to see what kinds of things they post. He went to go look at their followers to see just how many of his friends follow up with the strange group when Toya finally texted him back.

Toybox: Oh, of course! It's xxx-xxx-xxx. I'm so glad you're trying to get along with Tsukasa!

The text startled him, and since his thumb was close to the screen, he ended up accidentally following the account. "Gah!... Oh no.. I didn't mean to do that..." He muttered under his breath, regret laced in his voice. He felt anxious now, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, they already got the notification.

Akito put his head in his hands and groaned in annoyance, they're probably going to think he likes the group, and everyone that follows him is going to know he's following them! Staring down at the yellow jacket still on his lap, he's reminded of why he texted Toya in the first place, and begrudgingly adds Tsukasa's number to his contacts so he can get this stupid interaction over with.

Akito: yo its akito, u left ur jacket w me yesterday if u didnt know. come to the place i was at yesterday if u want it back

This was humiliating. Akito couldn't believe that another person knows about his special hiding place now, especially somebody like Tsukasa, and he can't believe he just texted him to meet up with him. Surely he was going mad, why couldn't he just give it to Toya to hand over to Tsukasa?

Unknown Number: Already on my way! ^-^

Oh, that was fast. Akito went back to scrolling through his socials, and he pointedly ignored the fact that he now follows the Wonder Stage account. He texted Toya back a 'thanks' and decided to not respond to the last part of his message. Hearing rustling in the bushes, he looked up from his phone and saw Tsukasa beaming at him with that way too bright and happy smile of his, however this time, it seemed genuine. He was wearing a cardigan of a similar color to the jacket, but the cardigan seemed to have custom patches sewn onto it.

"Greetings, my wonderful junior! Thank you so much for keeping my jacket safe, I truly cannot thank you enough!" He put his hands together and gazed at Akito with such genuine appreciation it freaked him out.

"Ah, yeah, It's alright. Thanks for lending it to me, I guess..." He handed the folded up jacket to Tsukasa, not bothering to return the smile.

Putting the jacket in his backpack, Tsukasa took a seat next to Akito, startling him. What was he doing sitting next to him? "As a token of my appreciation, I'll let you have anything you want out of my luncheon!" Pulling out the lunchbox, he opened it to Akito and his eyes immediately were drawn to the slice of cheesecake in the corner. "As long as it isn't the ginger fried pork, haha!" He chuckled with a shy smile.