falling [asanoya/ennotana] 🌦

ennoshita is Done with the bs

i was about to complain again, but i heard kinoshita quietly complaining to narita, "why does it feel like we're being left out of something here?"

i turned to them and clapped my hands.

"alright, lemme explain the sitch. basically, i brought up a... i guess sensitive topic? to ryū a couple days ago. and it was just a suggestion for him to think about something, and then i said if he wanted to talk about it, i would give him advice, but then i forgot cuz i'm a shitty friend and i've been to distracted with asahi recently."

they glanced at each other then back at me.

"that does not sound ideal, but-" started narita, but i got distracted by a movement from the classroom door.

i spluttered slightly then turned back to narita.

"shh, he's here, don't let him know we've been talking about him."

he smiled slightly and nodded.

"alright."

ennoshita quickly changed the subject and managed to sound completely natural, and it was almost scary how easy it was for him, but i decided to just go with it and pretend to be listening and understanding what was going on.

"so anyway, i couldn't believe they still hired her! i mean, after what happened in 2017, you would think, since they claim to do thorough background checks, that-"

at that moment tanaka sat down, avoiding looking at any of us (but mostly me).

"hi, ryū, how was your morning?" chikara asked brightly.

i did a slight double take.

since when did chikara call him ryū? usually i was the only one who called him that! (not that i was jealous or anything).

"it was okay," he said quietly. "you can keep telling your story if you want."

"oh, i actually don't remember what i was gonna say now. anyway, y'all won't believe the craziest thing that happened in my dream a couple nights ago, i can't believe i forgot to tell you guys sooner. i was at school, but it also wasn't school, if that makes sense..."

for most of lunch, ennoshita, kinoshita, and narita were mainly keeping up conversation, while ryū and i awkwardly sat in silence and ate.

as soon as ryū was done, and politely sat until a couple minutes before the bell, he rushed out to go back to his classroom.

i sighed.

why couldn't this all be over?

kinoshita patted my shoulder.

"hey, this will all be okay before you know it. i may not have all the details, but if ennoshita says he talked to him and thinks everything will be okay, i'm sure it will be. have a little faith in the guy, yeah?"

i looked at ennoshita who was blushing slightly, and agreed.

soon enough, lunch was over, and it was back to class.

///

afternoon practice was almost over and i couldn't be happier.

it was so awful not talking to ryū, and not talking much in general, and i just wanted to go home.

unfortunately, before the going home could happen, a moment of reckoning happened instead.

shōyō was begging me to teach him rolling thunder again, so i figured i might as well, to distract myself.

unfortunately, since i was trying to show him the exact movements, i was going a bit slower than usual, and my muscle memory didn't quite kick in as much as i would've liked, so my roll was a bit off.

normally, this would not have been a problem.

today, it was.

it just so happened that ryū and chikara were walking across the path of my mislead roll.

"ouch!" ryū exclaimed as i crashed into him.

i quickly jumped to my feet.

"sorry! i was, uh... just trying to show shōyō r-rolling... erm... well, i got a little messed up, and uh..."

"god, i can't take this!" chikara fumed.

we both looked at him in stunned silence.

"you guys are best friends! i don't care if you had a fight, it doesn't matter, okay?! why can't you just apologize and talk about it like civilized human beings instead of suffering with this awkwardness?! you know you don't have to wait a certain amount of time before talking! i know you want to let things cool down, but jesus christ, i can't stand this anymore! this isn't how you guys are, so just talk to each other for crying out loud!"

ryū and i looked at each other sheepishly.

"so..." i started.

"i'm sorry that i yelled at you. we probably shouldn't talk about everything here, but how about when we leave?"

"okay, that sounds good."

i held up my hand for a high-five and was glad when he took the offer.

i was about to walk away again, when i felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see daichi.

"so i heard your little outburst," he said to ennoshita.

"i wasn't necessarily being quiet," he agreed.

he chuckled.

"yeah. noya, tanaka, we only have fifteen minutes left and these practices aren't required anyway, so how about i let you go early?"

we looked at each other and shrugged.

"i guess that would be fine," i said.

"yeah, sounds good to me," ryū agreed.

"alright, just don't cause too much trouble out there. see you tomorrow."

"see ya, daichi-san."

"see you tomorrow."

with that, we left the gym side by side, not speaking a word until we had changed and begun walking home.