heartstrings, semi eita

iii

semi came up behind you to take a look. he crinkled his nose, "delayed. it's coming tomorrow; saturday."

"damn it," you breathed, tossing your phone on your pillow. semi watched you get up and begin to pace the room as you chewed on your lips. "i'll have to—" you sighed, begrudged, "you can sleep in my bed tonight, i'll take the floor."

he frowned. "huh? i didn't actually mean it when i—"

"well, for one: my mom would kill me if i made you sleep on the floor. besides, she's already tried to give up her room for you once, so if she finds out about this, i won't be able to convince her a second time."

"really?" semi asked. "why would she do that?"

"because that's just the kind of person she is," you said it with irritation at first, but then smiled warmly.

semi was quiet for a moment, running a hand through his hair before he spoke again. "i'm sorry."

the phrase made your brows furrow. you turned your head to look at him from your spot against the dresser. "what for?"

"this," he gestured around him, a sheepish hand on the nape of his neck. "my intrusion will probably cause a lot of issues for you guys, but i'm forever grateful to you and mom."

"psh, whatever," you grumbled. "no point in beating yourself up over it. its weird when you're all... considerate and serious."

semi was an adult now, with an adult body and... adult language. if he began acting like an adult, you might actually have to believe that these last five years have helped him develop a sense of morality, common sense, and maybe even some decency.

back in japan, he'd have taken any chance to put you below him. even if that meant putting you down in order to keep himself up.

he was always so competitive, naming you his rival even when you were nowhere near his level of intellect. the action itself forced you to accept the challenge. it may have been the worst decision of your life because just like that, you bought yourself a one way ticket to the land of insecurities. sure, it made you work harder, and your grades got better because you were so determined to prove yourself. you even graduated second in your class in middle school. just second.

but the thing is: those few years made you so dependent on academic validation that you soon neglected everything else. once your body tired of the validation, you became burnt out; you lost friends, lost sleep, and you'd lost your smile, but there was thing you never lost. that one person who you couldn't seem to be rid of: semi.

its not that you guys were so inseparable that you couldn't be pulled apart, but that he was always one step ahead of you.

you never did beat him, and you hated him for it. because even now, he found some way to rub his success in your face, even if it was unintentional. because even now, the fire inside you still ebbed and dwindled, constantly threatened by another crashing wave of inferiority.

semi snorted, his shoulders shrugging. "see? you're warming up to me already." his voice brought you back to earth, your head descending from the clouds.

scoffing, you smirked. "you wish. it's because i'm the only one that can make you feel like shit. if anybody else does it, it's simply no fun."

his jaw went slack and he raised an eyebrow. then his lips smoothed over into a smile, making you even more suspicious.

"so, what you're saying is: nobody can degrade me but you?"

"yes—no! that's not what i meant—"

"wooow," semi said, his eyes small and bright as he laughed. "how do you keep putting yourself in these situations? you have to be doing this on purpose."

"i don't put myself in 'these situations,' " you defended, scowling at him. "you create these false realities with your delusional mind."

" 'false realities' are usually nothing but a misconception of time. sure, it's not a reality now, but it can very well be in the near future," he said smugly. "or, in some other universe. if anything, it could be happening right this moment."

staring at him, you felt your brain melt with the anger of being bested. it was nothing you hadn't felt before, but being suddenly hit with it after five years was not easy to accept.

"my god, just shut your face," you growled. he was so annoying that instead of pummeling him, you wanted to roll into a ball in cry.

instead of paying him any more mind, you walked out into the hallway and came back in with a futon, ignoring the smugness that seemed to roll off him like radioactive waves.

while you set up your new, amazing, super comfortable bed, semi watched you. it wasn't long until you got tired of it and turned your head to glare at him. "can you stop staring?"

"no," he answered blatantly. no hesitation, just pure and absolute abominable energy.

you grit your teeth before you walked over to him and snatched the pillows from under his big head—the ones he had moved to lay on just a few minutes ago.

"hey!" he cried indignantly, scrunching his nose at the small, impish smile you gave him in return. "what am i supposed to lay my head on?"

"figure it out. my bed, my rules," you pointed a finger at him, to which he made biting motions with his mouth, barring his straight white teeth.

he made an irritated groaning sound before petulantly turning away, giving you the silent treatment. his back was now the only visible part of his body.

it had already gone dark outside. even though he got here in the evening, it still felt as though there should've been more time left to the day. the fact that the rest of the day had gone by and you hadn't noticed meant that semi occupied your attention just that much.

sighing, you lowered yourself onto the futon. it wasn't too uncomfortable, but you could tell that the cushion, less than 3 inches thick, could only take so many hours of being crushed by your body weight before it gave out. it wouldn't be long before you'd feel like you were laying on cement.

nonetheless, with all that you'd had piled onto you in one day, you had no trouble falling asleep. in under 5 minutes, both you and semi had dozed off into a deep sleep, dreaming of peaceful days, the blossoming of new friendships, and success.

who dreamed of what was unclear.

♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫

ketsu <3