Boys For Hire!!

Chapter 22: Revelations

"Y... You and...?" Ichirou splutters. I swear, everyone else other than me is more flustered about Katsumi's 'gossip spill'.

"Katsumi...!" Akihiko looks like he's about to but a hole into Katsumi's head as I look at the small boy in surprise. "We're not... Chiseki and I aren't..."

"You must've seen something else Katsumi." I bite my inner cheek.  "Akihiko was trying to tuck me in when I wanted to get up and see you guys downstairs. He just got a bit close trying to wrangle me down, I'm quite the kicker."

"But you guys were kis-" Katsumi tries to reason himself till Akihiko pulls him towards his own chest silencing the small boy with his arm.

"No more of Chiseki's shoujo manga for you." Akihiko explains loudly so the other boys can hear. Oh boy, good thing Katsumi's the loli type, other wise I might've died from embarrassment. Akihiko spares me a thoughtful glance which I avoid. I've had enough drama for one day.

"It's getting late," Masashi's demanding voice cuts through the silent, confused tension. "We should all get going. Plus, it looks like it's going to storm soon."

"Soon?" Naoyuki looks up tot he sky, only to have a droplet of water collide with his open eyes. Rubbing it, he tsks.

"C'mon, everyone. Let's head for the skate park," Ichirou suggests. "Let's just wait for the rain to pass then go our merry way."

***

We all sit in a circle near one of the biggest dipping skate ramps in the skating centre. There's a long silence, as we listen to the pitter patter of rain outside. It makes me almost nostalgic, being around all of them in a group, and seeing the Boys For Hire together in one place.

It's Naoyuki who breaks the silence first. "So, I guess this is where we all light a campfire and sing coombyah?"

"So I guess this is where you realise that joke is completely over used and over rated?" Shintaro spites the second twin as he stands up to walk away, seemingly to observe the names on the walls.

"Jeez... What's up his ass?" Hotaka rolls his eyes at the huffing prince.

"He's just irritated because of the stuff in his eyes." Shiroi explains. "You know, the colour contacts. Like what we wore when we were cosplaying at the festival."

I perk up in bewilderment. "Shintaro wears contacts? I'd never noticed."

"Their really well blended, even from my point of view, I couldn't tell." Masashi inputs. "You can only see his real eye colour when you look up close since the colour of the contact fades into the iris for a natural effect. I thought you would've noticed, Chiseki."

I burn with embarrassment. "I... I just thought amber was his natural eye colour. No one told me otherwise."

Everyone engages in avid chatter, for once they were doing something with each other other than fighting. Katsumi and Shiroi cling to my sides, although bickering, they seemed to enjoy chatting about the 'wonders of cosplay'.

"So... You guys really wanted to be Boys For Hire's huh." Ichirou drags a knee to his chest, propping his chin up it. "A girl once told me that I had to broaden my perspective, you guys would've been in pretty shitty situations to choose to do this kinda gig I guess." He shrugs. "So it's not really your fault... You guys are assholes."

"Wow, nice sentiment." Haruo bumps him on the shoulder.

"Now that you mention it..." I chew the inside of my cheek and look over to Masashi who's enjoying a conversation about applicable mathematics with Akihiko, whatever that is. "Masashi... Is Shintaro really the son of the CEO of Boys For Hire Incorporated?"