Every Moment Spent 【 KageHina 】

Chapter Two

It had been almost a week since the odd incident; these consecutive days were consisted of taking from one route to another that leads him to his class which was difficult, but it is often the nights considered the worst as Shoyo found himself frequently turning over in his bed, and it reached to the point where he ended up lacking a rest he may deserve.

The day of the deadline of his project finally approached, and the redhead managed to turn it in with a pair of hands more calloused than ever. The amount of effort he put in by the end managed to pay off quite well, he'd say, but of course, there was a slight churn of disappointment settling at the pit of his stomach when he received the results later on; his eyes droop upon knowing that the marks he had gotten were lower than he usually did.

Given the circumstances back then however, Shoyo supposes that it should have been expected. Expected, but that doesn't always mean the thought is pleasant.

"You tried." Yamaguchi consoled him in the mid of the day, a hand on his back with a smile too stretchedー too brightー but the glaze of his eyes contradicted to what he said as they were almost filled to the brim by pity.

A nod could only be given as he bit on the inside of his cheeks. The sting of his eyes went ignored, but he refused to think it was due to the sense of dejection. Instead, he puts the blames onto the cold that was starting to get to him. "Hngー but if only I tried harder." The last statement was said barely above a whisper, but that was fine. It was mostly directed at himself.

Yet Yamaguchi smiled bitterly, not knowing what else to say but it was understandable. Unlike a certain friend of theirs, an act of consolation never did lie in their forte, so when he decided to chip it off with a brush of his shoulders, Shoyo paid no mind to it at all. Or well, he tried not to pay mind to it. "You look dead," Yamaguchi commented before continuing, and Shoyo felt his nose twitch because there was no requirement for the obvious to be stated.

"You should be able to take it easy from now on. There aren't any more assignments until the end of this semester."

He sniffs, not responding for a while, and he thinks that the other must be concerned when he received no reply from him. Then again, this has been going on for a while. It was unlike of him to act in such a way; for him to be like this for days when he was one to be loud and vibrate with an air of radiance, smiling without any care in the world- it's a no wonder why it made others concerned. Even he admits it himself that this uncharacteristic side to his own doesn't suit him in the slightest.

Even then, he tried to laugh it off. The laughter was awkward and quite haughty, therefore, it is most likely not enough to convince the other and his theory was proven when he caught Yamaguchi eyeing him once more. Fortunately, the laughter was short-lived but on the other hand, the only reason why it was cut short was due to an abrupt fit of coughs that he finds himself being thrown into.

"You're right," He starts, his coughs dying down after few seconds and he alas finds a bit more of energy to smile again. "I should probably take a day off!"

Yamaguchi returns the smile, genuine this time, at him. "Not probably. You definitely should."

"But-" He tried to protest, but Yamaguchi cuts him off before he could say anything further.

"No buts."

"Yama-"

"I said, no buts."

"Yamaguchi." Shoyo whined again for the umpteenth time. He swears, Yamaguchi is growing to become more and more like Sugawara recently as he begins to reprimand and give he along with the others a lecture on few thing. One had to be honest; it didn't occur to him that Yamaguchi might become the person he is today, and then the next thing before they'd even know about it, it isn't going to take a while until Yamaguchi becomes their next mother.