𝗢𝗢𝗚𝗢𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗────── k. aren x original character

𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰?

if you think kusuo would trust kuboyasu—an ex-delinquent with a reputation that preceeds him—around kotoe, then you are dead wrong.

he and kuusuke might be polar opposite—nemesis, if you will—but the one thing that they had in common was their sense of protectiveness over kotoe.

kusuo thinks his need to look over his younger, twin sister comes naturally. and beside, he never interfered too much with whatever she was going through. he understood that she's an independent girl.

kuusuke on the other hand, tends to give everything to kotoe on a silver platter. like their grandfather, but a little more over the top.

but enough about kuusuke.

kusuo sat atop of the gym, a few metres right above where kuboyasu was squatting down on both his knees.

today was about kotoe.

he could hear her footsteps turn around the corner as kuboyasu took a small box from his pocket. kusuo slanted his eyes.

"ahem—" kotoe cleared her throat. "kuboyasu-kun?"

kuboyasu, in a frantic manner, turned to slip the small box inside of his pockets again before turning his head up, not moving at all from his position, at kotoe.

"sa—saiki-san?"

she approached him with her signature warm smile, going to crouch just next to him, "you can call me kotoe, that's okay. people confuse me with kusuo when using that name."

"ah?" he visibly relaxed his shoulders at the inviting tone of the girl. he scratched the back of his head—other than his racing heart, the sign of someone getting shy or embarrassed—before tilting his head. "kotoe-san, then?"

kotoe blinked up at him.

"well," she started with a giggle. "kotoe-san is fine. but a lot of people also call me kotoe-chan, whichever floats your boat, kuboyasu-kun."

a smile appeared on kuboyasu's lips, saiki could hear the beat of his heart slowing down.

"i'll call you kotoe-san for now. . . will that be okay?"

kotoe nodded with a grin. "of course!"

her face turned dark for a moment, eyes scanning him up and down. kusuo supposed she was recalling about how he mentioned about something happening to kuboyasu, causing him to lose his mood.

which is, technically, true. he was still having a tough time adjusting to a normal student life. the littlest thing can set off his anger. it's a little scary, maybe that's why kusuo felt the need to watch over their conversation.

"are you okay, kuboyasu-kun?" kotoe asked after what it seemed like a moment of staring at each other. kuboyasu's heartbeat quickened as blood rushes to his cheeks.

"m—me?" he stammered, pointing to himself. "of course, but why do you ask?"

it was kotoe's turn to turn pink, like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn't be doing.

"it's nothing!" she used one hand to wave around. "you just look gloom, that is all. are you having trouble with finding new friends?" a hint of concern was shown on kotoe's question.

"well, that's not necessarily it. . ." he muttered. "ah—nevermind that! what brought you here, kotoe-san?"

kotoe still didn't look convinced. a small pout lingered on her lips, but she took the yellow folder in her arms anyway to show kuboyasu.

"we got 'economy' for our topic." she scooted over closer to kuboyasu and opened the folder, revealing the prompt of their essay and a few reading material they could refer to. "the economy growth of japan in the edo period."

kuboyasu's face fell.

"err. . ." he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "i—well, did the teacher say five thousand words?"

kotoe grimaced at the reminder.

"five thousand," she solemnly nodded. "i don't know how we're supposed to do that, just the two of us."

they scanned the paper in the topic, and kuboyasu was the first to break their tense, saddened silence.

"i'm going to be honest with you, kotoe-san," he said, looking away. "studying isn't my forte. . . i'm not particularly very academically talented."

with that, a small giggle bursted out of kotoe. she placed her palm against her mouth to suppress the sound of laughter, and at that, kuboyasu smiled despite not knowing why she laughed.

'huh. . .' kusuo could hear his mind mumble as he studied kotoe's face without her knowledge as her eyes were hiding behind the moons of her face. 'she's so cute.'

if kusuo had a dime for every time someone said that about kotoe, he might be able to get surgery on his psychic power.

"i'm sorry to tell you, kuboyasu-kun," as her giggles died down, kotoe wiped a tear that had formed on the corner of her eyes. "but we have the same case. i'm not very academical smart either."

the edge of kuboyasu's lips was tugged upwards.

"guess that makes the two of us. sucks that it's only the two of us."

"well," she said. "kokomi's stuck with takahashi-kun, so i'm glad that you get to be my partner."

"kokomi?" kuboyasu tilted his head.

"teruhashi kokomi?" kotoe did the same thing that he did, looking at him with her head a little tipped. "blue hair? she has this sparkly aura around her—if you squint hard enough, you can see feathered wings on her back."

"feathered wings?" kuboyasu threw his head back to laugh, chortling freely as if his life depended on it. it was the first time kusou had seen a person ignore teruhashi that way.

"does she really have wings, kotoe-san?" he asked again and kotoe puffed her cheeks up.

"it's a joke!" she whined, slapping his shoulder playfully. "she's just really pretty you know—people say that she's an actual angel."

kuboyasu raised an eyebrow. "well, i don't know how an angel would look like so i can't comment on that."

'but it feels like i'm looking at one.'

kusuo wanted to vomit.

he sighed, lifting himself to stand on top of the roof. maybe spying on his sister isn't a good idea—not if kuboyasu would continue going on with that. . . cringey thoughts of his.

"enough about kokomi," kotoe finally spoke. "when are you free to work on this project? what about tomorrow?"

"tomorrow, huh?"

"yeah," kotoe said sheepishly. "i have tennis today. . . but i can schedule my training for tomorrow for another day. but we'll have to make the most of it!"

kuboyasu gave a low whistle. "wow—you're busy aren't you, kotoe-san?"

kotoe smiled, "well, i make myself busy."

kusuo sighed, she didn't need him after all.