Archive of Our Own

Yukako was pissed. It had been days since she’s had a one-on-one with her darling Koichi and again that bitch of a man, Rohan, was here to ruin it. Yukako was going to lose it.

“Oh! Rohan-sensei!” Koichi exclaimed, turning his attention away from her to look at that buffoon. Yukako loved Koichi but he could be oblivious at times, especially went it came to Rohan.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see you here Kochi-kun!” Rohan stated in false surprise. He knew the café was Koichi’s favorite spot in town to go to after school. He wanted to ignore the black mass of hair seated across from him but didn’t want to seem as rude as he was trying to be, so he gave a quick and pointed “you too, Yukako-san. Anyways, Koichi, I wanted to see if you could- “

“He’s busy.” Yukako interrupts. She wanted Rohan to cut the bullshit and leave. This was her time with Koichi.

Rohan crossed his arms and finally turned towards Yukako, she met his gaze with her eyes narrowed and brow set. She wasn’t about to lose this one.

“If looks could kill, Yukako-san! I was only inquiring- “

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Like your job, for one?” At the corner of Yukako’s eye she could see Koichi’s mouth widen in shock at her comment. To anyone else she would have hesitated in delivering a blow like that but this was Rohan and Yukako was annoyed and he had stolen Koichi away from her for long enough.

“Well, if you insist on knowing, Yukako-san,” Rohan spat, “I was just heading to the supply store so I can further my work.” He was starting to turn away, signaling he was done talking to her. Yes! Yukako knew she was winning, but she was determined to hold in any cheer until he really left.

“Well you should get going then.”

Yukako and Rohan held each other’s glares for who knows how long until Koichi intervened.

“S-sorry, Rohan-Sensei,” Koichi truly looked apologetic. “I am busy at the moment, but I’ll gladly come with you another time!”

Rohan smiled at this. Ugh, Koichi was already planning another get together with Rohan, but Yukako had won this time so she’ll take what she can get.

“I’ll be looking forward to it. Goodbye, Koichi-kun.” Rohan left without saying a word to Yukako, which was for the best because if he did, Yukako probably wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from throwing her 400 yen iced tea at him. Or worse.

Now that the hitch in their date was gone, Yukako turned back to Koichi with her most charming smile. Koichi blushed and looked down at the table before meeting her eyes again. Yukako was filled with pride that Koichi’s undivided attention was finally on her once more, they could now continue their date without any problems.

“Now what were you saying, Koichi-kun?”

-

Yukako sighed as she caught a glimpse of herself in a window of a shop. It was Saturday, the weather was perfect, and she looked as good as ever, but she was alone. She wished Koichi was with her, and that they could go through the town sharing snacks and enjoying each other’s company, but Koichi was busy today so she was all on her lonesome.

That was okay though, there was a few things that she had been wanting to do by herself, and they do say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. She was having a pretty good day already, she got to visit a new boutique that had just opened up and she had run into Josuke and Okuyasu. She was actually growing quite fond of the duo.

She was so content with her how well her day was going, that when she saw a familiar head of white styled hair as she was turning a street corner, she forgot that this was her life and nothing good lasts forever.

“Koichi-Kun!” Yukako’s heart was bursting. How lucky was she to run into her one and only on such a good day. She was truly blessed. It wasn’t until she fully rounded the corner that she saw her angel with the devil himself, Rohan.

“Ah, Yukako-san!” Koichi’s bright smile was almost overshadowed by the smirk of the demon. Yukako looked over both of them and saw that Rohan was holding a hefty bag that had the art supply store’s name on it. Yukako held herself back from clicking her tongue. Looks like Koichi kept his promise.

“Oh hello, Yukako-san.” Yukako wanted to wipe that smug look off Rohan’s face. “What are you doing by yourself on this fine day?”

Yukako clenched her fists at her sides, her manicured nails digging into her palm hard enough to bleed.

“Oh, you know. Just some things I’ve wanted to get done.” Yukako retorted through clenched teeth. She had to calm down. She didn’t want Koichi to see her lash out at Rohan, someone that he somewhat considered a friend and respected. She turned away from him.

“And how was your day, Koichi-kun?” she questioned softly, bending down slightly to look at him. Even though she knew he had probably been with that man all day, she still wanted to know.

“Oh! It was great, the art store is so neat, it was really cool seeing Rohan-sensei in his element.” Koichi began to tell Yukako the rest of his day up to that point. In the middle of it, Yukako felt a disturbing presence and looked away for just a moment to meet the eyes of a scowling Rohan. She had almost forgotten he was there.

“Oh would you look at that! The stoplight has changed!” Rohan loudly interrupts. Yukako and Koichi both look up to see that the stoplight had indeed changed and it was their turn to cross the street.

“I’m afraid it’s time to go, Koichi and I still have some errands to run. You’re going that way right, Yukako-san?” Rohan points the opposite way from where they were going.

“Right.”

“Then we’ll be seeing you. Goodbye, Yukako-san.” Rohan had already stepped into the crosswalk at this point and Koichi hurries to follow, but not before saying bye to Yukako.

“Goodbye, Yukako! I’ll call you tonight and you can tell me about your day too!”

Yukako waves them off, and when they’re out of sight her hands falls back at her side. Her heart was fluttering at the thought of Koichi calling her tonight, but now she was absolutely enraged.

Yukako stomped home. Damn that Rohan. He had ruined her perfect day again. That night, Koichi had kept his promise and called her, of course, but this didn’t change the fact that he was with Rohan all day. He had won this time, but next time, Yukako was the one who was going to be victorious.

-

It had once again been another long week of not being able to go on dates with Koichi. Her class had suddenly given her a flush of assignments, and Koichi had been absent for most of the week along with Josuke and Okuyasu. It was the weekend again, and Yukako thought it would be a good idea to visit Koichi’s house, just to pop in for a short while. Maybe they could have lunch together.

Yukako nearly skipped to Koichi’s house, excited about seeing him again. She had two bento boxes in hand. If anything, she just could deliver it to him if he was busy. Just seeing his face would suffice. She was coming up to the yard when something stopped her dead in her tracks. It was Rohan.

Koichi’s house stood forgotten as Rohan and Yukako came up to each other and stood face to face. The air was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

“What are you doing here, Rohan.” Yukako wanted to get right to the point. She had had enough of Rohan and his meddlesome existence. All she wanted was one day with Koichi without seeing Rohan, and she couldn’t even get that even if she was just going to drop off his lunch. She was done.

“I could ask you the same,” Rohan quipped, “but I think I can take a guess.”

“Is that so.” Yukako and Rohan glared at each other for an indefinite amount of time. Yukako was sure that her eyebrows were going to be stuck in an arch after this but she didn’t care. Only one of them was going to make it out of this alive, and she was going to give Koichi his lunch even if it killed her.

At the same time, Rohan and Yukako both took a step toward the house, then stopped and resumed staring each other down. Yukako was snapping.

“Don’t you have a life, Rohan?”

“I absolutely do. I’m a published artist. I own a mansion. What do you have, Yukako-san?” Rohan’s words dripped with venom. If he wanted to take it there then two can play.

“Then I’d assume you’d be busy.” Yukako spat. “I hear you release a manga chapter every week, Rohan-sensei,” Yukako mockingly drawled out the honorific. “So I really wouldn’t expect that a grown man like you would have the time to be hanging around a first year in high school.” She knew she hit a nerve, Rohan shoulders were starting to tense.

“Koichi learns a lot from me,” Rohan’s voice was now low and he looked her dead in the eye. “He enjoys it. Do you really think he would enjoy having someone as temperamental as you hang off him all the time, Yukako-san?” Yukako felt her left eye twitch. She was getting worked up to the point of no return. One more word out of Rohan’s mouth and she wouldn’t hold herself back anymore.

“Plus, who’s the one coming up to Koichi’s house unannounced?”

Actually it was both of them, but Yukako didn’t care about that at the moment. All she heard was Rohan’s words echo in her brain. She couldn’t stop her eye from twitching even if she wanted to. An angry red flush spread across her face and she felt white hot rage burn through her stomach.

That was it.

Yukako saw red. She threw down the lunches she was carrying and put her fists up. Yukako didn’t need her stand to fight this time, she’ll do it herself.

“How dare you say that to me, Rohan!” She screamed, hardening her fists. “You’ve gone unchecked for far too long and I’m ending this now!”

“So we’re really going one on one? You’re going to regret this, Yukako. Not even Koichi could beat me!” Rohan got into position, “Heaven’s Door-” He began to yell, but Yukako was faster.

Yukako was in front of Rohan in an instant and punched him in the face with the force of all her pent-up fury. Rohan immediately collapsed to the ground as soon as her fist had connected. She couldn’t see anything other than all the times Rohan had interrupted her dates with Koichi, all the times she had seen them in town together. She had never been so angry in her life. So angry that she didn’t notice Heaven’s Door touching one of her ankles. Her leg turned into newspaper scraps and she found herself on the ground a few feet away from Rohan.

She heard Rohan groan and roll over. He was holding his face but she could see a fist sized bruise begin to form on his cheek. She was proud of herself momentarily, the asshole got what he deserved. Her victory was short-lived though, Rohan pounced off the ground screaming and lunged at her with his pen in his hand. In one fluid motion, she rolled around and swung her normal leg up, striking him in the stomach. Rohan fell right next to her with a wheeze, his pen catching her cheek and leaving a long gash.

Yukako shrieked and brought her hand to her bloodied cheek. It hurt a lot but she was more shocked than anything. “You rat!” She screamed at Rohan, who flipped her off while hacking up a lung, she had got him good. Yukako’s adrenaline was at 100% now, she tried to stand so she could throw herself top of him and beat the shit out of him, but she fell back to the ground because of her scrapped leg. She felt her knees beginning to bruise from the impact.

Rohan clutched onto his fountain pen like it was a knife, slowly regaining his breath. He rolled onto his stomach and began to crawl towards her, recalling his stand. “You think you can beat me without a stand,” he rasped, “then lets go!”

“What the hell?”

Rohan and Yukako freeze and look up towards Koichi’s house. The front door is open and Koichi, Josuke, and Okuyasu are coming out towards them. Right, Koichi.

“Yukako-san!” Koichi ran over to her, “What happened?!” He holds her face in his hands as he inspects her cheek with a worried look. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Josuke and Okuyasu help Rohan up. Even though her face was sliced open and bleeding, her knees bruised, and her ankle was currently newspaper shreds, she knew she won. Koichi came over to her first. She shuddered in silent victory.

“What the hell happened here,” Josuke whirled around to look at her. Shining diamond was fixing up Rohan first, but it was nice to be in Koichi’s arms.

Rohan and Yukako both looked at each other in this moment. They didn’t know if they should tell him that they were fighting in such an obscure way for such a reason, especially in front of Koichi. In her mind, Yukako decided that Rohan got what he deserved, and for the first time, Yukako felt merciful toward him.

“We both were coming to deliver lunch to Koichi-kun,” Yukako gestured towards the two lunches that were splattered on the ground. “But we both tripped over each other and fell.”

“But your face? Rohan’s face?” Poor Koichi looked so confused. Josuke wasn’t buying it at all, but this wasn’t his problem so he didn’t say anything.

“I hit the ground really hard,” Rohan added in. “And my pen flew out of my hand and scratched Yukako when we were falling.” He winked at Yukako. She shuddered.

“But what about all the screaming?” Okuyasu piped up, he actually believed their story.

“It hurt.” They both said at the same time.

“O-Oh, well,” Koichi looked between the two of them, not knowing what to make of the situation. “Why don’t you both come in and have lunch then? You both looked wiped and my mom just cooked.” He asked hopefully. She could still see undertones of worry in his face, he knew that Yukako ad Rohan didn’t get along.

Oh, that’s right, thought Yukako. Of course Koichi’s mom would make him lunch on the weekend. Plus, the lunches she had brought were already ruined, and Koichi was already busy, she thought, looking between Josuke and Okuyasu. It was all for nothing.

Well, not for nothing. She wasn’t sure how long this dispute with Rohan would have went on for if it wasn’t for today. She still didn’t like him, and neither of them had actually physically won, but she felt a weight disappear from her shoulders. She glanced at Rohan, seeing that he looked just as skeptical to go in as she felt.

“We’ll come in.” she smiled at Koichi. Koichi’s eyes widened in shock before quickly falling into a smile. Yukako may have been the one to start all this, but she’ll be the bigger person for Koichi.

That’s why it took all of her pride and every last drop of willpower in her body to turn to Rohan and say, “shall we?” It was even a bigger shock to everyone when she even waited for him to walk with her into the house.

She’d put anything behind her, even for just a day, if it meant making Koichi smile.