𝟶𝟷𝟸: 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢. 𝚙𝚝. 𝟸 🧸

I did a little practicing on Saturday, even though I'm stage crew. I'm also good at memorizing stuff. I have a lot of free time. I adore people on stage, but I can't seem to get on it... But I'm practically the only person around here, except everyone staring at me, so I go to the back.

"Watcha doin'?" Otori's head pops up from the tree. I get startled, and fall back. What is she doing here? Actually- what is she doing in a tree..? "Wah! I didn't mean to scare you, sorry!" Otori helps me up.

"It's okay. I was just try to mutter some of the lines to myself.." I brush the dust off of my notebook.

"Practicing the lines, huh? Well, I suppose it should be a requirement for the stage crew, in case someone ends up sick or ditches. ... We might need it. Good job!" She smiles, and I nod. "Have you memorized... All... The lines..?" She asks as we walk back to the front, and I nod again. Otori seems impressed.

"Rui is in a very bad mood.. we told him today about what happened.. and... You'll see.." She seems frightened, and I tilt my head.

"TOYA!! HELP!!" She cries, and I see Akito running after her with a knife. Is he.. always carrying that? An goes behind me, and I protect her, even though I'm super scared.

"Toya, please step aside. She had this coming." His glare looks scary, more people start to crowd. We're going to get banned from this shop.

"Woah, Shinononome, calm down!" Otori holds him back, and An bursts out laughing. Is she even worth protecting at this point?

"It's Shi-no-no-me. No extra 'no'. We've been in theater club since the 7th week of school." He rolls his eyes. That long?! And he never told me?

"Li'l bro!" What sounds like Akiyama shouts, running.

"Wait up!"

We turn around, and see Ena with Akiyama. Akiyama immediately drops down to their knees, and Ena looks away, with her hand on her face.

"The one time I didn't bring my camera! You knew this would happen, didn't you?!" They shook Ena, who pushed them away. "LET ME GET A SAMPLE OF YOUR HAI-" Ena smacked their head, and Akiyama cleared their throat. That sounds like An, though.

"I'm sorry. I'll see you soon. Have a good day." They walked away. Soon-?

"Sorry about that. I'll see you later, you three! Oh, and you, Ed Sheeran." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he glare at her. They left, and he tried to attack An again.

"Time out!!" She cried, gripping onto me. I stop Akito by grabbing his arm while making a pathetic attempt to squeeze it, but my arm gets tired immediately. I should try getting exercise..

This reminds me of whenever my piano lessons ended with a ruler mark on my hand, my mother would make cookies to cheer me up and stay in my room until I slept while making me smile by playing the piano badly. I have a scar on my arm, so I don't wear short sleeves out of the house.

"I'm innocent!"

"No, you-.. Whatever, I'm heading home for the day. Let's go, Toya." Akito sighs, dropping the knife. So it wasn't his..?

"I'll just go sneak in Kohane's house, then. I'll see you later, guys!" An waves, walking away.

"Bye-bye!!" Otori waves, already so far from us.

"I think you'll be fine doing stage crew. You just change the set up in the background, and the lights will be off. Are you excited for it?" Akito asks, and I think about it. Am I? I'm really not looking forward to lighting the kiss scene.

"I heard Kamishiro is having a crisis right now. What was the news anyway?" Akito grumbles, and we're home already.

"Toya! Welcome home!" My mother says, running up to me and hugging me tightly. She's been waiting outside for me, which is odd, because she doesn't like when it rains in winter. "Hello, Akito~!"

"Hi, Ms. Aoyagi."

"Thank you for bringing my pumpkin back! Uh- You really should get going. It's cold, and-"

"Why didn't you tell me he was back?" My.. Father comes out. What is he doing here?! He was supposed to be out for another week! My mother groans, and Akito and him make eye contact. Oh no.

"Oh, brother."

"Who is this, Toya?" He asks, like he looks disgusted.

"He's his friend. Don't even try to scare him off." My mother rolls her eyes at him.

"I wasn't asking you, I was asking Toya."

She rolls her eyes, and stomps to stand next to him, still glaring. "I've seriously had enough of this for today."

"Pardon me. I'm Akito Shinonome, a friend of Toya's. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Aoyagi." He holds his hand out, but my father doesn't shake it. "Alright, then." He seems unfazed.

"A 'friend'? I find that hard to believe. Toya, this is a bad influence. I can tell just by looking at him." He looks at me, with disapproval. I look at the ground, clenching my jaw. I've learned to keep my tears in.

"Woah, what did you just say about me? I'm sorry, but I'm actually doing pretty well in school, thank you very much. It's also my style, and I will not be taking criticism over it." Akito's face quickly changed.

"Unbelievable. I knew this would happen when I stopped homeschooling Toya. First, he can't even look people in the eye without seeming like a murderer, refuses to speak, and now he's hanging out with people like this? You are all just corrupting him."

"Oh my god, just shut up." My mother groans loudly, putting her palms on her face. It begins to rain, as I look at my father's eyes with horror. She storms inside.

"People born into this world can feel joy, sadness, rage and other emotions so strongly they tremble. But that's all a mystery to you isn't it? Toya, you're nothing but an empty shell. It's quite comical, it's becoming pathetic. Are you really my son?" As he says that, I felt my oxygen feels like it's run out. I just want to disappear. I dragged Akito into this, I'm sorry, Akito. But I see him trembling.

Why is he doing this to me? Why is he home now? Why does this happen all the time he comes home??

"The rain is getting stronger. Let's go, Toya--" My father tries grabbing my arm, but Akito smacks his hand away. "What the hell-?!"

"No, I should be saying that! Is that how you treat your own son?! You've got to be kidding me. 'On the streets', that's a whole joke! You're just trying to drag him back to prison! Toya is fine the way he is! He's actually working on his communication disorder! He's your son, not a fucking puppet!" Akito shouts at him, trembling with anger. Akito..!

"Watch your mouth! I told you you're just a bad influence! If anyone should be speaking, it should be Toya! Everyone can't be doing it for him!." My father yells back, and my mother goes in front of him, gently grabbing my shoulders, putting a bag in my hand.

"Good grief, are you done!?" She shouts at him, and he goes silent. "Toya, I'm sorry, but I can't let you in the house today. Not that you did anything wrong, I just need to give you two some space." She mumbles, and I freeze. What? What's this??

"I'd be glad to take him to my place. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I knew I dropped him off and he'd stay home with the likes of him." Akito grumbles, and my father just stares at my mother in disbelief.

"Okay Toya, I've packed your uniform in your bag and other things you might need, just come back whenever you're ready. It's going to be okay, I promise. I love you." She hugs me tightly, and Akito grabs my arm, storming off. I watch her wave as my father goes inside. What... Just happened.

*With Toya's parents*

"We're all wet. Go shower right now." Ms. Aoyagi orders him, pointing to his room, refusing to face him.

"What was that?! You don't know if that delinquent will do something to him!! He's much safer here!" Mr. Aoyagi shouts at her, and she turns around with tears forming in her eyes.

"Stop being so hard on your youngest son! Two of your children have already been successful, isn't that enough?! Toya isn't perfect, but I love him for who he is!!" She cries, and his anger melts away.

"Do you know how hard that was to have him stay away for a night?! I'm worried about him, too! But I trust Akito, and you shouldn't assume the worst about good people!!" She screams, and they both stay go silent. Mr. Aoyagi sighs, and goes to his room to take a shower.

"I'll see you in the morning." He says, and she grumbles, crossing her arms.

Ms. Aoyagi sighs, flopping on the couch next to smudge. She wipes her eyes, and smiles to herself.

"Well, looks like it's just me and you now. Let's go eat ice cream and then take a shower because I am soaked!!" She picks him up, marching to the kitchen. He bit her.

*-*-*

"We're at my place.. make yourself comfortable." Akito whispers, closing the door. I sit on the couch with the bag, looking down. "Are you.. okay?-"

I look up at him, with tears in my eyes. Akito gets startled, and hugs me. That's weird.. I don't cry that often...

"It's going to be okay. I think you and your mother will be fine.." He reassures me and let's go of me. "There, there. Your face is too pretty for tears." Akito smiles, and for a second I stop and blush. That stunned me enough to get me to stop crying, I guess.

After a few minutes, I calm down fully. He wipes my eyes, which are all puffy from crying so much.

"Pff-" Akito snickers, and I frown at him. Is this how An felt? "No, I'm not laughing at you, it's just your face is so funny it's adora-.." He stops himself, and gets flustered. "I- I didn't say that you're just- you're hallucinating from all the crying."

I laugh, and Akito gets up. "My parents aren't home this weekend, so Ena is supposed to be 'babysitting' me, but I'm pretty sure she's out. I'll try to find something to eat, so-" he slips on a drawing book, falling onto me.

I blush, and his face is red all over. His face is so close!! Akito panics, and realizes he hasn't gotten up yet. As he's about to, we both freeze once a door opens. Oh, it's Ena.

She stands there, as two tomatoes are staring at her. She takes her phone out, with the flash on.

"Haha, blackmail." She laughs. Akito dashes to her, leaving me stunned. They begin to argue, and he tries taking the phone from her.

"Hello, Toya! Make yourself at home, even though I don't know why you came but I'm glad you did! I have night school, so I'm off now. Have fun! Oh, and you too, Akito." She rolls her eyes, and he glares at her, still red. "But not too much fun~!" She giggles, sticking her finger up at Akito, then shutting the door.

"I'm practically the CEO of giving people the wrong ideas, aren't I?" He groans, sitting next to me. Wait, but how will my mother be doing without me? They do ignore each other a lot, and stopped sharing a room ever since my oldest brother moved out. I hope she's okay without me, knowing her, she'd flood the house with tears. Before getting distracted.

"Wait, first, you'll have to change. Come on, go shower and I'll hand over some of my clean clothes. I'm going to wash your other clothes, and your mom already packed your uniform." Akito smiles, pushing me into the bathroom, then closing the door.

I'm getting Deja vu.

-*-*-

After I finished showering, I looked out to see my wet clothes gone. When did he..? Whatever, I'll go find the clothes he was talking about. Man, what a way to spend the year already. Who would have guessed my brother's performance got cancelled.

When I step out, I find Akito putting the clothes in the dryer. This shirt's sleeves are a little too long... I'd actually like to see him wearing sleeves covering his hands.

I stare at the ceiling as I wait for him to finish showering, and once he does, he goes to the kitchen with the towel still around his neck.

"Looks like Ena made pancakes before going out. It's the only thing she knows how to make, huh... You're okay with this, right?" Akito asks, and I nod. I prefer cookies though, since my mother made them for special occasions, like my birthday. .. I'm homesick.

He took two plates, giving me one with just a few. I thank him, and he flips on the couch. After drying his hair fully, of course.

"Anything you wanna watch?" He grabs the remote, halfway through his pancakes. Woah. I shake my head, as he looks through all the channels. I never really watched anything besides the news, and apparently it's not fun for everyone.

Once he finds something, it starts to get cold. I know I'm named after winter, but I feel the cold just as much as you do... Akito notices because of all the trembling, and hands me a sweater. He once told me he found it funny when I tremble because my face is just neutral when I do.

"I'm also washing the blankets, so this is the only warm thing I have with me. I-.. If you're okay with wearing it.." He offers, looking to the ground, shy. He is so cute.

I put it on, and go close to him just for the extra heat. He clears his throat, and speaks hesitantly.

"U-Uh.. Toya, about your.. dad.. is he always like this? Also, sorry for making you run away from home like this- god, he's right, I'm such a bad influence.." He sighs, and I stare at the wall. Is he always like this? Come to think of it, probably.

I shrug, stuffing a pancake in my mouth. "Even if you don't want to answer, all those things he said.. that's not okay! Do you seriously have to live like that?"

"Basically, yeah.. he wasn't the nicest teacher while I was learning the piano.." I mumble, and he looks at me with a worried expression.

"Well he'll be having a black eye soon enough, I'll beat him to a pulp." He punches the air, and I laugh.

-*-*-

Once it's time for bed, I decided I was never going to push Akito to sleep on the same bed as me, since Ena might take a picture.

"Um... Toya.." Akito says, preparing my pillow and blanket on his bed. Well, I guess I got too lost in thought there.

I tilt my head, waiting for his question.

"Remember when.. your mom said if you liked anyone..?" He mumbles, and I nod, avoiding eye contact. "Was it.." Oh, no. I pray that he doesn't say anything.

"Just a lie to get her off of your back?" He says, and I stare at him. I nod rapidly, trying to calm myself down. Thank God he didn't guess. But he is kind of dense..

"Oh, that's good. I was scared you did.. and someone at that.." he sighs, and I go closer to him.

"Who?"

"... It's embarrassing to admit. Let's just go to bed." Akito mutters, turning the other direction. I smile, and poke him. "I'm sleeping." He fake snores.

I laugh, and keep poking him.

-*-*-

He's asleep, but I'm still wide awake. It must be around 12 or something. I don't know what to do. I can never seem to fall asleep easily, especially since he's right next to me. I miss smudge. I miss my mother.

I sigh, and stare at the ceiling. My first sleepover but for a bad reason. Why is my father like this?

It's probably going to be very awkward when he returns home.

Akito then turns around, putting his arm around me. Holy s-

-*-*-

It's the next day, and I'm falling asleep. But it'd be rude to do that while the teacher's talking... Why, Akito?! Why did you do that to me.. I was too flustered to sleep... but I wasn't anxious about returning home anymore.

I play with the bracelet Kusanagi gave me. I think she made it herself. I'd like to have a little sister like her.

"Toya... Are you okay?" Akito whispers, and I nod. "Just checking. You seem a bit tired."

"Akito!!" Ms. Hatsune shouts, and I jolt. "Quit talking while I'm teaching!" He rolls his eyes, and she hits his head with a chalk piece.

At lunch break, I put my head down. I feel bad, Akito made both of our lunches, he didn't even wake me up and let me sleep in...

"Toya? Are you okay?" An asks, genuinely worried." I nod, and sit up. "Well, we have rehearsal today, so turn that frown upside down! .. wait, shit- uh, eat your food before I do..."

"I look forward to it, but Rui is.. a mess..." Kusanagi says, as An is feeding her while she plays.

That reminds me of my mother. I kinda wanna skip rehearsal and go home right away. Oh, and our play is soon.

-*-*-

After school, we head over to the auditorium, and see a stack of scripts hit the wall besides us.

"Rui!!" Tsukasa says, restraining him. Kamishiro really is a mess.. "they're here, so calm down! Do you want me to explain to them for you? Here, go get some water." Tsukasa pushes Kamishiro out, and shuts the door.

"Uh.. wanna explain?" Akito scoffs, and Tsukasa sits us down. "So, as you know our princess and a few other crew members.."

"Yeah?"

"Have caught the flu or on extended vacation, or.. quit..." Tsukasa whispers, and we heard Kamishiro groan from the hallway. "And.. that may mean we either have to write our own play or.. cancel it."

We all gasp, and the actors begin complaining. Akito doesn't seem to care.

"I know, I know, I'm disappointed too, but Rui hasn't been in the best mood lately, so.. this might be our last meet u-" An shushes him, and steps in front of him.

"Never!! I'm not going down that easily! That won't stop us!! So what if our princess is sick, and.. people gave up on us, and we might be copyrighted one day but THATS NOT THE POINT!"

"..." Akito and I stare at her, with sour faces.

An awkwardly laughs in the silent crowd.

".. look, what I'm suggesting is that we make our own play. We can do it in time! I know we can. I also do have a few friends I'd like to introduce you all to, so who's with me?!"

Everyone surprisingly agreed. Her, Kusanagi, Otori, Tsukasa and a few others began brainstorming. An also called Mizuki and Ena which were always our make-up artists to design some outfits. They loved the idea. But Tsukasa remembered Kamishiro never returned, and ran out the door to find him.

I sigh, sitting behind the curtain, curled up. I'm tired. My head hurts. Akito sits next to me, and wraps his hand around me.

"I'm assuming you're ready to go home now. We're going soon anyways, but they're staying for extra time. I'll get your stuff from my house and then walk you home. How does that sound?" Akito asks, smiling.

I smile back, and look at the others. Yeah, I'll be fine. As long as you're by my side.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟸, '𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢. 𝚙𝚝. 𝟸': 𝙴𝚗𝚍.

-*-*-

Creator's note: this was a draft from a few months ago, so pls lmk if anything didn't make sense/any errors because I will correct it, I might make another chapter before going on hiatus before Valentine's day... Idk tho ☹️