Chapter 3: Hunting Season(ing) Part Two

[mp_npc]

God, was there some planet in retrograde right now? Everything was so…gray. Tome usually would have been able to cite a specific planet but she had been too oddly deflated all day to speculate.

At least she wasn’t the worst one off. No, not by far. That honor went to the pompadour’d thug who did nothing but sulk in the corner of their shared club space now. Her own club mates who were always too scared of him to even approach even tried to offer him one of their honey chip bags out of sheer pity. Tome, usually quite stingy with the resources (especially now they didn’t actually have funding anymore) didn’t even object. ‘How the mighty fall.’

Goda had spent some time trying to cheer Onigawara up. That boy was too nice for his own good. Him AND Kageyama. Tome didn’t know what Goda had been trying, exactly, since she was too engrossed in (or rather numbed by) her video game to listen but she could guess. The Body Improvement Club had one solution for every possible human ailment. It was exactly why she didn’t risk complaining today.

Tome glanced at the clock—it was getting to be that time, wasn’t it? The time where everyone finished their club activities up. Ah. Orwell was calling her name once again.

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[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Oh, I'm not interested in her." Had he given Teru that impression? Mob bit into his pizza.

[mp_simplyacommoner]

‘What?’

‘What!?’

“You said you wanted her to be your girlfriend.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob shook his head. "No, I meant Tsubomi. My childhood friend."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

“Oh.”

Teru was feeling light-headed.

The more that sunk in the weaker he felt. He hadn’t even finished chewing his next bite before he was falling forward off his own couch.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Are you okay?"

[mp_simplyacommoner]

Teru didn’t answer from where he was face down on his floor. His body was burning from head to toe with a burgeoning fever, as if it could kill off his sheer mortification like a virus.

‘This whole time…Kageyama-kun must really think I’m…’

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"It's okay," Mob insisted. Had Teru made a mistake? Was this why he'd insisted on doing something with Tome this afternoon? All this time, he thought maybe Teru was the one who liked Tome. "I still had a lot of fun with you and Kurata-san. And I got to spend the night at your apartment."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

Teru forced himself to swallow. His body shook with a pathetic but unmistakable hic.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Was Teru...

Was Teru crying?

Mob mentally flailed, trying frantically to get his mind in order enough to figure out how to react. He set the pizza down because it was the only thing that his mind felt he could do competently in the moment.

70%

Was he upset that he had gotten it wrong? It seemed like a pretty extreme reaction for just that, but Mob wasn't exactly the expert in determining whether or not someone was reacting to anything with the correct degree of appropriateness. If it wasn't that, was it maybe...

"You don't owe me anything," Mob reassured him once he managed to ready his own feelings. "You didn't owe me anything even before now."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

“Kageyama…”

Teru pushed himself up to face him, not even caring he was revealing his face—red with snot running down. He hastily rubbed at his nose as another cry threatened to lurch from his throat.

“I’m sorry. I thought if…” What did he think? “Tch…I really screwed up.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"You didn't screw up," Mob told him firmly.

[mp_simplyacommoner]

Teru shook his head. “How can you…? You can’t be just okay with this. With me!”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"It doesn't matter to me." It didn't. "Besides that, I hurt you, too."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

“That doesn’t make us even! It’s not the same. It’s not even close.”

It didn’t matter to him if Shigeo Kageyama was the kindness and most selfless person to ever walk the earth. He wasn’t some godly avatar here to cleanse the scum of the earth of their sins. He was still a middle school kid, just like him.

And Teru—he was just a kid stupid enough to think he could make it fair between them with a big enough gesture. After what he did. After everything he did. In the end he couldn’t even do that right.

“You don’t have to tell me that it’s okay or that it doesn’t matter. Just…let me do one thing.” He sniffed. “And if…if you say it’s okay after that then I’ll believe you.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I asked you to be my friend back when we first met and I meant it. I didn't need anything to be your friend then and I don't need anything to be your friend now."

Mob extended his hand. "Okay?"

[mp_simplyacommoner]

"Kageyama-kun..."

Teru took his hand and pulled himself up to stand. Then, he took Mob's hand in both of his own and bent at the waist as he so often did--into a deep bow.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for forcing you into that fight. I'm sorry for pushing you so far. I'm sorry for putting my hands on you. I'm sorry about exorcizing that spirit. And...I'm sorry for not letting you apologize earlier. I know you're not the type not to hurt anyone. I can only imagine much that must have hurt you...I'm sorry. If from now on we're friends...that would make me really happy."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

These were Teru's genuine feelings. He really was sorry. And Mob had his own things that he was apologetic for. Things he didn't think could be easily forgiven. After all, he'd shaved off Teruki's hair and stripped him down in front of his schoolmates. Mob didn't think most people would accept that apology. They'd probably just beat him up.

"As long as you can forgive me for taking it as far as I did in that fight, sure."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

Teru rose. His face, blotchy as it was, finally softened. He tightened his fingers around Mob’s. “Yeah. I can.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"That makes us friends, then." Mob put his free hand over Teru's.

[mp_simplyacommoner]

Sniffing again, Teru had to smirk a little. Kageyama had already gotten pretty confident with his hand-holding technique. Teru really was a miracle worker, wasn’t he? He hadn’t completely failed at everything he set out to do. But even if he had…Kageyama made the failures feel like successes.

“Kageyama-kun…um…it’s not about any of this but…you called me by my name earlier.” His nickname. No honorifics.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah." Mob couldn't help but feel embarrassed about it. Maybe he did offend Teru? That could be the only reason why he remembered it in the midst of that big fight. "I'm sorry about that. It just slipped out."

[mp_simplyacommoner]

“No, not at all!” Teru finally flopped back into his seat at Mob’s side. “It made me happy.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"So... you want me to call you Teru?"

[mp_simplyacommoner]

“Most people do.” Though usually they attached the appropriately reverent honorific to it if they knew what was good for them. “Ah, but you can call me whatever you like. I was just happy that you were worried about me.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"That spirit was pretty powerful," Mob said, as if it were natural to be worried about someone fighting a strong spirit. "I don't mean that I didn't think you could handle it. I was more worried you'd get badly hurt."