vermilion | chifuyu matsuno

five

later that night, inside chifuyu and baji's dorm room, chifuyu was doing a paper that he needed to pass, while keisuke was just furiously typing on his cellphone.

chifuyu continued typing on his laptop, clearly absorbed, when he suddenly made a spelling error, causing the word that he was typing have a red line underneath it.

upon seeing the color of the line, chifuyu instantly remembered what happened at the cafeteria earlier. not only did he embarrassed himself, but he also acted horrible to aki. he was sure that it would be the last time that aki will talk to him, knowing what he has done to her.

chifuyu groaned, and run his hand over his hair.

of all the times that he can remember the scene earlier, why now? why now that he needed to finish a paper?

while chifuyu was busy getting frustrated, someone knocked on their door, making him halt from what he was doing.

"i'll get it," keisuke offered before standing up to open the door.

chifuyu just nodded before looking at his screen again. the ideas that he was about to write down earlier were no longer present, making him sigh in exasperation.

"the party is here!"

chifuyu looked at where the voice came from and there he saw takemichi, mikey, draken, haruki, ryohei, nahoya, souta and his other friends, carrying plastic bags that contained food.

"why are you guys here?"

"you think we'll let you go after seeing what happened earlier?" draken smirked.

"not so fast, chifu, not so fast," takashi playfully shook his head while clicking his tongue.

"now come on, that paper can wait!" keisuke exclaimed and pulled chifuyu towards the center.

chifuyu, knowing that his friends won't stop pestering him until they get what they want, just let out a sigh before finally telling them everything.

"oh my god, you're like in a fanfiction chifuyu!" mikey exclaimed before he started shoving chips in his mouth again.

"i agree with mikey! meeting her twice isn't just coincidence, that's destiny! destiny!" takemichi followed mikey, spitting some of his saliva infront of nahoya who looks like he's about to choke takemichi.

"now, let's talk about what happened earlier," draken started, "why did you acted like that?"

"yeah! you looked like you were about to shit your pants earlier, chifu! you looked so uncomfortable, like you didn't wanted to be in that situation."

"do you like her chifu?" takashi asked him, making him gulp.

chifuyu couldn't help but ponder about the question that mitsuya asked him.

during the few moments that he had with her, chifuyu discovered that despite being known throughout their campus, aki was down to earth. aside from being down to earth, aki was passionate, she was passionate about art, in addition to those, chifuyu learned about her problems a few nights ago, but throughout the conversation that they had, chifuyu also discovered that aki wasn't the type of person to easily give up about the things that she loved, but apart from everything that chifuyu found out about her, there was one favorite of his, and it was how aki is a genuine person.

of course, chifuyu would be lying if aki's looks didn't attracted him, but her gorgeous vermilion-colored hair, and her chubby cheeks for him were just a bonus of how wonderful aki was as a person.

"i think seeing him get spaced out is an obvious answer for us," kazutora said, making chifuyu snap back to reality, and blush.

"oh my god he's blushing!" souta screamed before everyone started teasing chifuyu.

"so, chifu, why did you acted like that earlier? you know, when you left, aki looked hurt," draken asked him.

"well, i panicked upon seeing that everyone was watching us. it wasn't like i was afraid to be seen with her, i'm afraid of what people will think if they see aki talk to me. because who am i? i'm nobody. i'm just a struggling student. i work at a theater. my dream is only to own a pet shop one day, while aki – she's gonna be so much more. she's like a star, she's so out of my league, she deserves someone much better than me," chifuyu spoke as he looked down and played with his fingers.

"man, your mindset sucks," mikey said, and opened himself a soda.

"the chifuyu that i know is cooler than this!" takemichi yelled and the kawata twins nodded in agreement.

"chifu," takashi called chifuyu and chifuyu raised his head to look at him, "first of all, yeah, your way of thinking sucks. second, don't compare your dream to others because having a dream is much better than having nothing at all. plus, your dream about owning a pet shop is really cool. third, if you think that aki deserves someone better, then become that someone. if you like her that much, then don't wait for someone better to come and get her, become that person instead."

"yeah, plus we're here to help you chifuyu," draken patted his shoulder.

"draken's right! you know you will always have us," baji said and gave him the half of the yakisoba that he was eating.

chifuyu couldn't help but smile at his friends. what did he do during his past life to deserve people like them? did he save a country? did he discover an important artifact? whatever the reason may be, he's really thankful because he was able to meet them during this timeline. he honestly wouldn't survive if he didn't have them in his life.

he looked at the people inside his dorm once again, these people were his second family, his brothers by heart, his light.

"thank you guys."

they all turned to him and gave him a smile.

"always, chifuyu."