An Onigiri's Rock Collector (Bo x Masao)

Chapter 1 | What are Rocks to Me Now?

The sea in Shirahama beach seemed vast. It felt like if he stared outwards too much the sand below him would crumble, then every rock hiding in the dunes would cease to exist. He didn't care much about that; he was now in high school and lost the spark he had for rock collecting.

"Rocks no longer interest me anymore." He said out into the waves, his long hair getting caught in the wind. "I have to find a new passion now. For the sake of the future."

He dropped his head, eyeing the sand with his eyebrows furrowed. "But what will it be...?"

He was uncertain about what he wanted to do after he graduated and he was sad that his friends had already found their passions and the focus of their ambitions. Kazama wanted to be a rich businessman, Nene began taking vocal and dance classes because was determined to be a famous pop-star. Shinnosuke just wanted to be himself and live everyday leniently.
He felt like if he were silent enough he could hear his friends talking and laughing during a school field trip again. Recently they had all been to the zoo to study different animals and their behavior, but the whole time he couldn't exactly figure out why they had to be in such enclosed spaces instead of living freely with their families. They were just as important as people, he thought that day.

Deep in his mind, the only person who could make him come back to reality was Masao, who had been next to him the entire trip. They were still together at the koala exhibit.

His smiling face remained as he said to Shinnosuke, "You're dis-Koala-fied, Shin-chan! You have to try harder! Ha! Just kidding! You get it though, right?"

Masao was able to laugh as his own joke, thinking it was incredibly clever, but everyone ignored him and went on to the next animal exhibit. Masao was sad and undeniably embarrassed.

With a hefty laugh, his friend next to him said, "That's funny, Masao-kun."

Masao smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you like my joke, Bo-chan, unlike our classmates. I was really confident when I thought of it, you know."

Bo nodded and understood. He noticed the clipboard held in Masao's arms. They were given to every high schooler to take notes on their research. "What did you observe, Masao-kun?" Bo asked as he pointed to it. He didn't expect Masao to get defensive: "It's...I wrote a lot! But you can't copy off my work!"

"I didn't see you write anything down at the koala exhibit though."

Masao blushed. "Fine, you got me, but please don't tell Sensei, okay?" He hesitantly showed Bo what he put on his research papers.

There wasn't any research, just pictures on pictures of the different animals they had already passed by at the zoo, some drawings were overlapping one another.

"Masao-kun...you drew all this?" Bo asked, looking intently at it.

"Yes! Only because I was bored! I just wanted to practice, because all of the animals looked so cool."

"Practice?"

"Yeah. When I graduate, I'm going to become a mangaka with a lot of bestselling mangas!"

"Everyone here knows that by now, Masao-kun. You talk about it a lot to our classmates."

"I can't help myself. It's my dream."

Bo had heard Masao blabber on multiple times about how good his mangas were going to be, usually before their first period began, but he just couldn't talk down on his friends' dreams because they were so passionate about it. Especially not to Masao, because they were friends, and he could get a bit sensitive when it came to any types of criticism. Even if they were already in high school, the last thing Bo wanted was to make Masao cry.