Exhaustion of studying had caught up to him, hitting like a truck. Akito’s mind remains blank, as he lays unconscious on the steps of the school, but his friends then exit the school, seeing him sleeping.

  Takuma shakes Akito awake and asks “Are you okay?”

  Akito rubs his eyes, being completely confused at what his friend is asking

  “We left you for like 10 minutes, so you decided to take a nap on the ground?” Ryu jokingly asks Akito

  “We already planned a funeral for you. Why’d you have to ruin it?” Kenji quickly adds on, Akito still being slightly confused and seemingly out of reality.

  “Hopefully they can reimburse you for the costs” Akito replies, yawning directly after. Takuma and Kenji laugh at this, then Takuma helps Akito up off the ground, Kenji picking up his bag and handing it to him.

  “We should get going now” Ryu tells the group, Kenji and Takuma beginning to walk toward the gates…yet Akito remains standing on the steps.

  Who exactly was that?

  Akito looks up to see his friends walking without him, quickly jogging to catch up to them, yet the thought still lingers. The walk home was silent, that was, silent for him. Ryu, Kenji and Takuma were all laughing and joking around, Akito not paying attention to any of it as his interest lies somewhere else…with someone else.

  The group gets a bridge over a smaller stream, Akito and Kenji parting ways with Ryu and Takuma, with Ryu heading back the way they came, and Takuma crossing the bridge with them but going a separate direction. They all wave goodbye, when they split, with Kenji and Akito being the last to do so.

  “You sure you can get there okay?” Kenji asks Akito, worrying about his walking ability from the lack of sleep

  Akito turns to see the door of his house, saying back to Kenji in a soft and thankful tone “I should be fine. Thanks for walking me home too, I know it’s a bit out of the way-”

  “Anytime.” Kenji cuts off Akito mid-sentence, both of them exchanging a look of understanding, then both smiling at this. Akito makes his way toward the door, Kenji making sure he gets there, then walks toward his own house.

  Akito walks in and takes his shoes off, then looks up to see Shoya, wearing an apron and greeting him with a smile. Even through the exhaustion of the day, the mental toll that the late-night studying had on him, he manages to give a nice smile back to his brother.

  The effort was for him, anyway.

  After taking his shoes off, he sits down at the dinner table with his brother to eat, Shoya making a massive meal for the celebration of the midterm completion. Akito is grateful for this action, eating his brother’s cooking with great joy.

  Dinner finishes, with He going to wash the dishes for him and his brother, but Shoya stops him from doing this

  “I think you’ve worked hard enough today. You can take the night off.” Shoya says to his little brother in a calm yet warm tone.

  Akito looks up to his brother, and with his last ounce of energy replies back “Thanks”

  They both smile, Akito then sliding his way up to his room and immediately passing out on the bed, still in his school uniform.

  The next morning comes, Akito being fully recharged from burnout and eager to start the day. He brushes his teeth, then heads downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a bento box out of the fridge and putting it into his bag. He makes his way to the doorway of the kitchen, pausing himself. He’d forgotten to take his pills.

  He heads back upstairs, fetching the bottle from his nightstand, taking 2 in his hand and heading to the bathroom, swiftly taking a sip of water to wash them down.

  Akito heads to the front door, passing Shoya, who’s in the living room watching the news. His cup of coffee is on the table in front of him, but he’s fast asleep, snoring as loud as can be.

  Akito chuckles to himself for a second, taking out his phone and snapping a picture of this moment; Shoya would never live this down. Akito puts his shoes on, then heads out for school.

  He arrives at school before any of his friends do, switching his shoes to the indoor pair, and heads up to first period.

  On his way to the classroom, he notices the hallways are empty. The morning sun peeks into the hallway, reflecting off the newly cleaned floors and lockers.

  The Sun’s Bright Today

  He glances across the courtyard to the other side of the school, the hallway over there being completely empty too, then Akito looks toward the sun as it begins rising above the clouds obscuring his view slightly. He raises his hand to block this light, but the sun seeps through the gaps of his fingers.

  Akito chuckles to himself slightly, then turns to head into the classroom, but something catches the corner of his eye as he turns: A glistening pink strand of hair.

  He rubs his eyes, the sunlight still having an effect on his vision, then looks to where he thinks he saw something, yet nothing is there.

  He finally walks into the class, people having small talk around desks while waiting for class to begin. He glances at the board, remembering he’s on class duty today and lets out a disappointed sigh.

  The other name next to his is Takuma’s, with Akito’s face lighting up a small amount at this sight, then he turns and walks to his desk, sitting down and waiting for his friends to show up.

  The time gets closer and closer to starting class, with no sign of Kenji, Takuma, or Ryu yet. Akito sits at his desk, pen and paper out, ready to start class.

  Just as class is about to start, Kenji and Ryu enter the classroom around the same time, the teacher giving them a stern look for being late, but the boys don’t notice this.

  Kenji and Ryu walk to their desks then sit down, but neither of them grab anything out of their bags to write anything down.

  “On time today? Is it a special occasion?” Akito asks jokingly, with a big small smile on his face

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Just be happy I’ve blessed you with my presence” Kenji retorts in a sarcastic tone. There’s a slight pause, with Kenji’s fake smug face slowly cracking, then letting out a quiet laugh. Akito laughs at this too, and Ryu lets out a smile.

  Akito looks at the door, expecting Takuma to show up any minute…but that minute never arrives. After about 5 minutes, he gives up and accepts his fate of doing the class duty alone.

  The day fades away, Akito writing notes down for each class but Kenji and Ryu seem to space out, neither of them writing anything down or really paying attention to what’s going on.

  The final bell rings, and everyone gets up and is excited for what they have planned after school…that is, everyone except Akito. Ryu and Kenji get up to leave, grabbing their bags, but they notice Akito slumped over his desk.

  “Should we call an ambulance?” Kenji asks jokingly, with no response from Akito or Ryu.

  “Why’s he so down?”, Kenji questions, still confused at Akito’s mood, but Ryu then points to the classroom duty written on the board, with Takuma and Akito’s names written on it.

  “Probably has something to do with that” Ryu states, Kenji’s eyes being opened at this sight, then leaning down and placing his hand on Akito’s head.

  Kenji then apologetically says to Akito, “I’d help you if I weren’t already doing something after school”

  Kenji then glances at the clock on the wall, then speeding off in a hurry

  “Sorry! That thing…is…well…right now!” Kenji yells as he exits the classroom in a hurry

  Ryu lets a soft chuckle out at this, then walks out of the classroom, waving goodbye to Akito in the process, but he misses this since his face is still buried in the desk.

  A few more minutes pass, and the classroom finally clears out. Akito raises his head and finishes his self-pity party, and begins to clean up the classroom.

  He stacks the chairs, and for a brief moment peeks out the window to see people walking away from the school, presumably on their way home. His gaze fixates on a couple.

  They seem happy.

  He continues with the classroom duty, making his way up to the chalkboard at the front and wiping the board full of equations clean, getting to his and Takuma’s name still written on there for classroom duty.

  He pauses for a moment, then lets a light smile out and erases the names off the board.

  You probably have a good reason. It’s not like you did this intentionally.

  Akito gets to beating the erasers out the window, the clouds of chalk puffing up around his head in the process. Just when he’s about to be finished, the chalk cloud goes in his eyes and face, causing his eyes to water and him to start coughing uncontrollably.

  He drops the erasers on the floor, grabbing a sip of water to clear his mouth, then rubs his eyes to clear them. He picks the erasers up and puts them on the teacher’s desk, then looks upon the empty classroom in front of him.

  Feels different when you’re the only one around. Kinda spooky.

  Akito notices the chalk on the board is almost gone, and reaches into the teacher’s desk to fill it up. Akito grabs the smaller pieces of chalk and steps toward the trash can to throw them out, but after a single step pauses himself. He then looks back at the trash can, then at the chalk in his hand.

  I can definitely make this, right?

  Akito then shoots the chalk like a basketball, but completely misses all of them, with some fragments ending up in the hallway outside the classroom.

  This is why I don’t play basketball.

  A wave of embarrassment comes over him, but then he remembers nobody was here to see it. Just to make sure though, he glances around to make sure the classroom is empty.

  Akito exhales a sigh of relief then looks over to Takuma’s empty desk, smiling to himself

  You wouldn’t have made that shot either, idiot.

  Akito goes to clean up the chalk pieces he miserably missed before, then grabs the ones on the floor in the classroom first and throws them out.

  He then walks into the hallway and crouches down to grab the chalk fragments, when a pair of shoes enters his peripheral view.

  Akito jumps up, startled at seeing something unexpected, in the process headbutting the nose of the other person at an insane speed. They both fall backwards, ending up on the ground.

  Akito grabs his head in pain, his eyes wincing as he holds the point of impact.

  What the hell are they doing here? Who else would be staying this la-

  Across from him is a girl, holding her nose in pain, her eyes closed but still angrily talking to Akito, blaming him for what just happened.

  “What was that for?! I was just trying to help you clean this up and you decide that headbutting’s the best course of action? You could’ve given me a concussio-”

  The girl’s eyes open finally to meet the gaze of Akito, his hands no longer holding his head, his eyes fixated on her’s

  Silence fills the hallway, the two of them sitting face to face with each other.

  “It's…you.”

  “It's…you.”

  They both ask the same question to each other, the girl’s hands falling from her face in disbelief.

  The silence returns, only for it to be broken as Akito notices the girl’s nose is bleeding

  “Your nose is bleeding. Let me get you a tissue”

  They both head into the class, with the girl sitting at Takuma's desk as Akito retrieves the tissues from his bag, then handing them over to the girl.

  As they sit in desks, an awkward silence overcomes the room, neither of them knowing where to start, or if they should even start it.

  “You’re…from the other day, right? A-At the front of the school?” The girl asks Akito, her hands fidgeting in her hair, her eyes refusing to make contact with him.

  “Y-Yeah…” Akito replies shyly, a nervous smile emerging to try and lighten the mood in the room.

  Akito apologizes, saying “Also, sorry about your nose…that was completely my fault” then bowing his head to her.

  “N-No…I’m to blame for this as well. I should’ve just let you do your thing” the girl replies regretfully, almost as if she’s blaming herself for his actions

  It’s not her fault. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t missed so badly this would never have happened.

  Akito then extends his hand and offers a compromise

  “How about both of us are responsible?” Akito offers lightheartedly, a light smile on his face.

  The girl extends her hard to grab Akito’s, then they shake on this conclusion.

  “It's only fair” the girl happily says back, a heartwarming smile appearing on her face.

  After a while of them lingering in the classroom, the girl’s nose stops bleeding, and so they get up and head for the door. They exit the room, closing it then about to head separate ways. Akito gives a light wave, the girl responding with a small wave of her own, and they begin walking.

  If this was some romance manga she would be running back and yelling something like “Wait! I Love you!”.

  Akito glances over his shoulder, seeing the girl still walking away. He looks forward again, slightly disappointed his fantasy didn’t come true. He then clutches his hand hard, then looks up to the ceiling.

  “So listen….”

  Akito turns around to face the girl. The girl turns around at the sound of his voice.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever said this in my life before, but…”

  The girl looks Akito in the face, her eyes widen in anticipation of what he has to say. Akito’s face tenses up, and his eyes close from nervousness.

  “...would it be okay if…we talked more?”

  A brief silence follows Akito’s question. His eyes remain closed, but the nerves haven’t calmed down at all.

  The silence is broken by the sound of footsteps, walking closer to him, with Akito opening his eyes to see the girl closer to him than ever. The sight of her so close makes him blush. The girl then speaks up, asking Akito another question

  “You mean right now? I have things I have to do lat-”

  “Not now, if you’re busy…I just meant it as…uhh…” Akito stammers his words after interrupting the girl, then formulates his sentence.

  “I meant in the future! I want to…I want to know you better!”

  The girl’s eyes glisten at the sound of this statement, her face turns a bright red. Akito meets her gaze with his eyes, and they both begin blushing even harder.

  This is a first. Not just for me, but it seems like it is for her, too.

  The girl’s watch begins ringing, like an alarm she set was finally going off. She looks down at her wrist and inhales sharply.

  “Sorry! I really have to go this time!” the girl says in a panic, then turning tail and running the opposite direction.

  Akito looks at her running down the hall and begins asking in a quiet tone

  “name…WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

  The girl looks back while still moving forward, then smiles

  “Akari….Akari K-”

  She’d gone too far for Akito to hear her.

  Akari What?

  His stare lingers in the hallway, looking to where she just was. Nothing had ever gone this way since…ever. At least for him. He nervously swallows the spit in his mouth, then looks down at his open palm.

  He raises his fist to the ceiling, posing as if he’d won a massive victory. Akito then heads toward the lockers of the school, switching his shoes out for his outdoor pair, then exits the building.

  The breeze, the sunset, the clouds. They didn’t seem fake today. The world changes regardless if you do or not…but today, today I changed with it. I took a step, for the first time I took the first step toward something I wanted to do. No matter the size, no matter the meaning, no matter the end goal…I moved forward.