Negative Cohesion [One-shot]
Yamada sprinted to the school gates, out of breath and panting heavily. He checked his watch; the bell would ring in 15 minutes.
“Safe” he muttered. He made his way to his classroom and as soon as he opened the door, he was met with a hysterical Kamiki.
“Yamada! Yamada! Yamada!” Kamiki shouted into his ear.
“What? What? What?” Yamada shouted right back.
At this point, both boys finally noticed that the class had fallen silent, staring at their strange exchange.
“Err… Come with me for a sec” whispered Kamiki.
“Okay…” said Yamada, puzzled at his friend’s strange behavior.
Kamiki dragged Yamada into an empty broom closet.
“It’s about… Mirai” Kamiki admitted.
Yamada narrowed his eyes. “What about her?”
This was typical of them. Ever since Tantei Gakuen Q, both boys had become good friends, but whenever it came to Mirai, they would become fierce rivals, both determined to outdo each other and win her heart.
“Whoa, not trying to pick a fight here man” said Kamiki nervously. “It’s just that this morning, she started talking to Yuto.”
“So?” asked Yamada, confused.
“Well, now that I think about it… I guess it was stupid dragging you into a broom closet because two classmates are talking to each other” mumbled Kamiki
“Idiot” said Yamada, smacking Kamiki on the up-side of his head. “Now let’s get back to class before the teacher marks us late.”
They made their way back to class, right before their homeroom teacher arrived.
“Good morning teacher” the students bowed and greeted.
“Good morning students. Now Nakajima-kun, who’s absent today?”
It was one of Yuto’s jobs as a prefect to check the attendance of his classmates for the day.
He stood up. “Ohgo Suzuka-san, Sir. It seems that she’s sick with the flu.”
“Very well.”
And with that, classes started and ran by smoothly.
Yamada was about to go into his usual habit of putting his textbook upright and secretly taking a nap behind it, when something caught his eye; a note being passed from Mirai to Yuto. He watched Yuto scribble down a reply on the note and pass it back.
Yamada thought to himself, “Hmm, what are they passing notes about? Wait, it’s just a note, it doesn’t mean anything. Anyways, Yuto’s like a brother to me. He wouldn’t… right? Plus, I’m pretty sure he likes Suzuka…” But in his heart, he was starting to feel uneasy.
At lunch, he glared at the scene in front of him. Mirai and Yuto were sitting together, eating their lunches, deep in conversation and focusing only on each other. This time he couldn’t take it. He searched around for Kamiki. He found him kicking a nearby vending machine for eating his coins.
Yamada grabbed Kamiki by the sleeves and dragged him to the rooftop.
“Bu- but, Yamada! My money!” protested Kamiki. Yamada ignored him until they reached the rooftop.
“Hmph, you owe me a drink” huffed Kamiki.
“Listen, this is important. There is a mole. A traitor. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. And he is none other than my sworn brother, Nakajima Yuto.”
“I told you-“
“We’re lucky that I was able to sniff out his game early. Any later and maybe the both of us would have been doomed”
“But-”
“Don’t interrupt me. Now, he’s after the one thing we both have been striving so long for, Mirai. We must stop the enemy before he succeeds. It’s going to take both our efforts to be able to defeat the infiltrator, as he’s a clever, sly and handsome one, with strong connections all over. For that, I’m willing to make a compromise with you, soldier. An armistice of sorts. What do you think?”
Kamiki blinked. Once. Twice.
10 seconds passed and still his face remained O.O
“Good. Now here’s the plan: After school, we corner the enemy and force him to spill his motives. Clear?” asked Yamada.
“Great. You are dismissed.” And with that, Yamada marched down the stairs, leaving behind a very perplexed Kamiki, whose face stayed O.O
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, Yamada watching the notes being passed between Mirai and Yuto with seething anger. His jealousy built up to a point that when he wanted to take notes; he found that he couldn’t as he had unconsciously snapped his pen into two.
Soon enough, it was the end of the day, when everyone packed up their things, ready to go home, to their studios, their photo shoots, or wherever it was that they needed to go.
As usual, Yuto was the last to go, it being his responsibility to inspect the classroom one last time before leaving. He faced the classroom from the doorway.
“Everything seems fine” he thought. He turned around, ready to leave, and almost jumped out of his skin as he immediately came face-to-face with an incensed Yamada. Kamiki stood behind, looking annoyed too, but not half as mad as Yamada.
“Err… Yama-chan, is everything alright?” Yuto asked nervously, a bit anxious at his best friend’s infuriated expression.
“Cut the chit-chat and let’s get down to the important stuff” growled Yamada.
“You have some nerve, Nakajima… I can’t believe you’d go after the one thing your best friend has wanted for so long, right in front of his eyes!”
All Yuto could muster was a baffled “Ha?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, mister. I saw how you were acting all lovey-dovey with Mirai, playing your dirty tricks on her. So spill! You like her too, don’t you? How could you?!”
Suddenly, Yamada felt a sharp pain on his head, like someone had just smacked him on the up-side of his head.
“The question is, my dear Yamada Ryosuke, is how could YOU? Accusing your best friend like that with no solid proof and jumping to conclusions like that without even asking what was going on? Shame on you”
Yamada turned around, trying to see who had the guts to smack him and butt into the conversation. He stood flabbergasted as he came face-to-face with an annoyed Mirai, hands on her hips and a scowl playing on her face.
“Mi-Mirai” stuttered Yamada.
“Seriously, do you think Yuto-kun is the type of person who would betray his best friend like that?”
“Hmm, no…” mumbled Yamada, sounding like a little kid who just got scolded by his mother.
“Now you owe him an apology” said Mirai sternly.
“Sorry Yuto. BUT IT WAS ALL KAMIKI’S IDEA!!” cried Yamada. “He dragged me into this!”
“WHAT?!?”
“It’s okay guys,” said Yuto with a gentle smile. “But I guess I should explain what’s going on here…” he continued.
“Since Suzuka is sick today, I wanted to go over to her house today and pass her today’s notes and assignment. At the same time, I wanted to cheer her up and help her get better, so I asked Mirai to recommend me some things that might make her feel better. What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I don’t try and lift her spirits while she’s sick?”
“Hmm, I guess- wait, WHAT?!?!?! YOU GUYS ALREADY GOT TOGETHER???” Yamada was shocked.
“Um… yeah, several weeks ago…” said Yuto.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’m supposed to be your best friend!!”
“I did. The very next day, I told both you and Chii at lunch… were you not paying attention? Oh right, you were too busy staring at Mirai at the next table…” teased Yuto.
“Shut up” said Yamada and Mirai in unison.
“Ah!” cried Kamiki suddenly, jolting everyone else in the room. They forgot he was still there.
“I just remembered, I overheard these two young ladies talking the other day and one of them was saying that when she had a cold, her boyfriend helped her to sweat it off… I’m not quite sure what she meant though…”
“Me neither…” said the other boys.
Mirai however, had developed an evil smirk on her face as she immediately understood the advice and tugged Yuto’s tie so that she could whisper something in his ear.
Yuto’s eyes widened, a deep blush formed on his face and he loosened his tie to cool down his body which had started to heat suddenly. He mumbled a thanks to Kamiki for the advice and with that, sprinted out of the school building.
“What was THAT about?” asked Yamada and Kamiki.
“Nothing…” chuckled Mirai. Then, she giggled.
“What?” asked the boys.
“It’s just that, I can’t believe you both actually got jealous today…”
The boys suddenly found the floor very interesting to look at.
“But,” continued Mirai, “I’m sort of happy you did”
And with that, Mirai walked out of the building, a small smile on her face.
Something clicked in both the boys’ minds as they finally figured out what her last sentence meant. They sprinted out after her.
“Wait, Mirai!”
“Mirai! Does that mean-”
~Owari~
Omake: The gang sat at their usual place on the grassy field.
“So Suzuka, how did you recover from your flu so fast?” asked Umika.
“With absolute bliss and satisfaction” Suzuka replied, sending Yuto a wink.
The rest of the gang was left wondering what to make of Suzuka’s weird reply as Yuto mouthed a thanks to Mirai.