Chapter Text
"So I just have to drag others away from the roof if they try to come up." Kaji repeated slowly, as if to fully process the orders that he'd been given. Hiragi nodded in response. They weren't really 'orders', persay. They were just some safety meassures to ensure that Haruka was not going to get spotted by everyone else. Kaji had already stumbled upon him by accident. Who else would do that? Nirei? Suo? Maybe Sakura himself? They could not have this situation repeating again. They already fucked it up. They could not fuck it up again.
"I know it's not a lot, but Umemiya insisted we shouldn't let Haruka get spotted without him wanting to reveal himself. Sugishita comes up to the roof a lot, so we have to keep him out of here especially." he explained, watching the second year nod in understanding. At least, it was easy in theory. In practice, however, he didn’t know how it would work. Would they just have to hope and pray or something? He hoped not.
Hiragi glanced over at Haruka, seeing Tsubaki finishing his work on the heterochromatic third-year's nails. Tsubaki was practically beaming, and Haruka was looking at his nails with such big, sparkly eyes that Hiragi couldn't help but mistake him for a tiny cat looking at something he adores.
Almost immediately, he slapped himself, startling the second-year. Kaji looked at him, concerned, because the sudden slap was not something he expected. "Are you-"
"Don't. Just- Don't ask." Hiragi sighed, bringing a hand to his face. He did not need to imagine Haruka as a cat, or the first-year version of Haruka as a cat. It might be too adorable for him to handle. Annnnd, his stomach is starting to act up again. Great. He needed his medicine right now.
"Perfect." Momose smiled, and that was when the Tamon team's King remembered that Momose actually wanted to draw Haruka. The taller leaned closer after popping two pills of Gaskun-10 into his mouth, peering into the boy's sketchbook. Only to deadpan the moment he saw the most adorable, cartoonish-looking black and white cat with the biggest sparkly eyes, staring right at him. Hiragi felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. This was not really helping at all.
"You know," he began, and Momose turned to look at him "when you said you were going to draw him, this was not what I was expecting." he commented. The Zojo King just smiled brightly.
"He's got the cat energy." he merely said, flipping the page on his sketchbook to a clear one, beginning to draw again. Hiragi just sighed, resigning to the fate that the Tamon team's kouhais were basically... cats. Or cat-like. Was that why Sakura was assigned to his team? Because of his cat-like tendencies? Did Umemiya just have that power of foresight, or something?
"...I think you're right." Hiragi sweatdropped. Momose just beamed in response as he began to draw a non-cat version of Haruka.
"Are they fully dry already?" Haruka asked for the third time in a few minutes, practically bouncing on his seat from having been sitting down for so long. Tsubaki couldn't help but chuckle at this behaviour, finding it cute. He looked absolutely restless, like he couldn't sit down on the seat for much longer before he'd go up and look for trouble, just like Sakura.
"Yep! They're now fully dry!" Tsubaki nodded once he inspected the nails. The future leader of Bofurin let out a happy sigh, beginning to flick his wrists, probably from soreness. But he was smiling, looking at the nails with such a softness in his eyes that was so unlike Sakura. But it was very pretty to see. The long-haired boy smiled. Haruka looked happier.
"You know, Haruka, you look really happy compared to you in your first year at Furin." he began. The boy blinked, surprised by the sentence and the topic.
"Huh?"
"Like, happier than current you here is. You're happier, you're smiling more. And it makes me happy." Tsubaki smiled softly. Haruka blinked again, eyes widening slightly. But then his shoulders sagged, and he relaxed.
"Yeah, I guess so." he said quietly, looking down at his nails with a look that just screamed melancholic "Makochi's just a better place than my old town." Tsubaki's gaze softened. He was glad about that. Seeing the boy happy made Tsubaki happy. He reached out a hand, patting Haruka's head softly. He immediately leaned into it, like a cat, and Tsubaki bit his lower lip to avoid squealing too loud. He was so cute. It was so unfair! He was absolutely adorable! Tsubaki wanted to adopt him so badly! He's so cat-built, it's insane!
"YOU'RE SO CUTEEEE!!"
"AUGH-" Haruka let out when Tsubaki launched himself at him and trapped him in a tight bear hug "T-TSUBAKI-SENPAI-"
"Tsubaki, you'll kill him!" Hiragi exclaimed, while Ume laughed brightly. Tsubaki let him go after a few seconds, watching how Haruka deflated, soul escaping his body. The Jikoku king quickly grabbed it and slapped it back into his body, watching Haruka flinch and hiss, like a cat.
"Please don't crush his spine..."
"I didn't mean to!"
"The hole is gone." Hayato crossed his arms, a frown on his face, and his smile gone, completely vanished. He was taking this situation seriously. Akihiko frowned, hands laced together. They stood in front of the warehouse, the supposed location of the fight between Tamon and the gang.
"I've practically scoured the entire area. No sight of the hole." Hayato continued, sounding both annoyed and exhausted.
"For fuck's sake..." Akihiko murmured under his breath, feeling his hand twitch "Just- What kind of hole appears and just- Just sucks people into the past?!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air.
"Like a fucked up urban legend." Mitsuki added with a frown on his face, tugging up his Furin jacket so it wasn't hanging off of his shoulders. He felt cold. So did Akihiko, who was way too stressed to function properly right now. Haruka was in danger! Well, not literally, since he's with the past Furin. But he's still in a very bad situation!
"Yeah, an urban legend that just fucking sucks people in," Akihiko sucked in a breath as he uttered the sentence through clenched teeth "and now our leader is in the fucking past and shit could hit the fan!" his voice continued to raise until it cracked, the stress of the situation getting to him. The past could change! The Furin Umemiya built, and the Furin that Haruka has struggled so hard to keep from being changed could change! Anything could happen! What if Haruka accidentally changes something?!
"Aki-chan, deep breaths, okay?" Mitsuki told him, hands holding one of the brunet's. Akihiko let out a shaky exhale, blinking. He hadn't even realized that he was not breathing right. He nodded, taking long, prolonged breaths to steady himself.
"Sorry."
"It's fine." Hayato shook his head "This situation is rather stressful. I don't blame you for being worried." Akihiko nodded. Everyone was stressed. They wanted the leader back.
"Let's focus on finding the hole before it causes more damage." Akihiko exhaled "Call your respective advisors and tell them about the hole and the situation. It's better if they know, too, but we can't let all of Furin know right now." he dug out his phone "I'm going to call the senpais."