"Hey," Someone held her shaking hand as they gently removed the pottery shard away from her palm. "Y/n, are you alright?"
Once the fog from her mind cleared her vision, she saw Souta. She stammered as she tried to explain what had happened.
"I-" She paused. "I broke it," Y/n finally said with a strained voice.
Souta did his best to calm her. "It's okay, we'll clean it up," He then assisted her as they went inside the house.
All the while Haruchiyo stood out their gate with a worried look on his face. He was walking back from taking the trash out when he heard a pot get thrown, and when he tried to check, Souta was comforting Y/n.
He stared at the broken pieces of the flower pot for a moment before brushing the scene off his mind. It was none of his business to pry as to what happened.
"Did you hear the noise?" Senju asked curiously as Haruchiyo walked in.
Haruchiyo only shrugged. "Probably a stray cat knocking down something," He answered, not wanting to worry his sister over it.
"Oh! You think so?" Senju beamed. "I haven't seen many stray cats in this area,"
"What, you want to take in a stray now?" Haru asked as he washed his hands by the kitchen sink. "You can't even clean up your own mess,"
"Whatever," Senju rolled her eyes before going back up to her room.
When Haruchiyo went back up to his room, he walked past their home office and noticed that the blinds from Y/n's home office were closed.
It was a bit odd to him since he had never seen it closed, but then again, he's new to the neighborhood, he can't say things are out of place just yet.
.
.
.
A few days passed, and the Akashi family became used to the neighborhood, in other words, Haruchiyo could finally go home without getting lost in a random street.
He was more than glad no more of those awkward lost situations would be on his future bucket list.
Haruchiyo can still recall one of the times he got lost and Y/n found him sitting beside a light post looking like a stray kitten, as Y/n worded it.
"What are you chuckling for?" Takeomi raised a brow at his brother.
Senju then looked as well. "What'd you do this time." She deadpanned. "Takeomi, check the toilet-"
"I did nothing!" Haruchiyo quickly defended.
"Then why were you laughing?" Senju pried.
"Nothing, I just remembered something," He shrugged before taking the last bite of his breakfast and returning to their home office.
Senju and Takeomi looked at each other. They knew exactly it wasn't 'nothing', after all, Sanzu only smiled like that if he remembered a really good memory.
While the two were continuing to eat their breakfast, Sanzu was sat on his chair and was replying to some emails.
Maybe a few minutes had passed, he wasn't sure, but he saw Y/n also sitting by her desk, looking rather stressed.
He suddenly had an idea to get up and try to greet the girl, hoping to check up on her. But his plan was quickly shut down when her assistant came to view.
Her stressed look quickly faded into a relieved look, and Souta approached her with a warm smile as he handed her a cup.
Sanzu turned his attention back to his monitor since it seemed like Y/n was fine, so he saw no need to try and cheer the girl up.
Unknowingly, Takeomi saw his little attempt, and from his perspective, it looked like something else. As the oldest sibling, Takeomi decided to check up on him.
"Hey," Takeomi knocked on the door frame before entering.
Sanzu looked at him with an expectant look. "Yeah? What's up"
Takeomi pulled another one of the gaming chairs and sat in front of his younger brother, he was preparing himself for 'the talk' that mind you, was not needed. Bless him tho.
Takeomi smiled at him as if Sanzu had just been diagnosed with some incurable disease, and patted his knee, consoling him.
Sanzu raised a brow at him. "What are you doing?" He then lifted Takeomi's wrist with his two fingers and threw it aside. "I told you, I did nothing,"
"No, brother," Takeomi started.
"Brother?" Sanzu repeated with a more confused look on his face.
"You know, in life..." The eldest hummed. "You won't always win," He paused. "Especially in love, it's a tough battle and- what are you doing?"
Sanzu was now facing his computer once again and was typing in a very fast-paced. "Did another relationship issue come up with my name on it?" He asked annoyed. "Honestly, why is it every week...?"
"Wait, wait, calm down," Takeomi pulled him. "I think you misunderstood me here,"
"Okay?" The younger male looked at him skeptically. "What exactly am I misunderstanding here?"
"I'm talking about you, Souta, an-"
"Wait who?" Sanzu cut him off.
"Let me finish!" Takeomi then breathed. "You, Souta, and Y/n,"
"I'm getting more and more confused...? What the fuck are we talking about here?" Sanzu was genuinely confused.
And Takeomi finally saw that. "Oh..."
"Man, you're weird," Sanzu scoffed. "If this is some prank video you and Senju are working on, it ain't working,"
"Uhh, yeah, you know what... forget I ever mentioned anything," Takeomi then stood with a huff, he glanced at the window where he saw Y/n in the other house still busy, before leaving the room.
"Please close the door-!" Sanzu reminded but it was unheard. "Close the damn door!"
He then got up on his own and closed the door himself, by the time he was sitting back down, he heard a familiar voice from the neighbor's window.
"I guess it's stressful to have siblings huh," It was Y/n, her window was open and she was leaning by its frame.
Sanzu's lips curved into a silly smile before approaching his window and pushing it further. "I'm pretty sure they're the sole reason why being stressed is invented," He joked.
Y/n shrugged and chuckled before changing the subject. "What're you working on?"
"Just answering emails," He answered. "How 'bout you?"
"Also answering emails," She slumped. "It sounds simple and yet why is it so draining?"
A minute of silence flew by before Sanzu finally spoke. "You know what sounds good right now?" He started making Y/n perk up. "Ice cream,"
"Yes-!" Y/n beamed.
"Meet you down in 10," Sanzu smiled which Y/n mirrored before they both closed their windows and got ready.
"Someone's in a good mood," Souta teased as he watched her hop by.
"Clear my afternoon, I'm going out," Y/n said happily.
Souta smiled at how happy she looked. "Will do," He stood outside her bedroom door, leaning back beside her door. "Where exactly are you going?"
"Dunno, I just know I'm going to eat ice cream," Y/n answered as she shuffled to get ready.
"And who are you going with?" Souta asked knowingly.
She opened her door, now ready and dressed. "With a friend," Y/n answered with a smile before quickly exiting the door.
Souta then entered her home office and looked out the window to see Y/n and Haruchiyo greet each other with a smile.
He chuckled and rolled his eyes with endearment. "A friend, alright,"
Souta's gaze was then caught by two figures on the neighbor's window, it was Haruchiyo's siblings spying on him with shocked looks on their faces.
He can't help but laugh.
.
.
.
"Do you really need to wear all that?" Y/n asked about his get-up.
"It's a necessity so I won't be swarmed," He scrunched his nose. "Some subscribers can be intense,"
"Oh, you won't have to worry about that," She scoffed. "I have security,"
"Security?" Sanzu tried to look around and now that Y/n had mentioned it, he noticed a few people with civilian clothing that definitely looked out of place.
"We're safe," She assured with a smile before pointing at an ice cream parlor. "Now we go to the pearly gates!"
"The pearly what?" He chuckled.
"Race you!" She gave him no other warning and just bolted.
"Hey! That's unfair!" Sanzu then ran after her.
"The order said to keep an eye on and protect Ms. L/n and her friend," One of the security men whispered.
Another looked. "Yeah?"
"Doesn't look like friends to me-"
"Oh, shut up with gossip, we're working here," said the other. "But yeah, you're right," They followed after a while.
.
.
.
"Why are you like this," Sanzu looked at her with disgust.
Y/n on the other hand continued to bite her ice cream and showed it to him repeatedly. "Whatever do you mean?" She played dumb.
"Doesn't that give you headaches or something?" He furrowed his brows.
"Nope,"
"We'll it's giving me headaches, stop it,"
She laughed. "It takes ages to finish ice cream like that, come on, bite it~!"
"Uh, nuh uh," Sanzu sassily muttered.
"Ah-! Don't Nuh Uh me," Y/n mirrored his sass. "Keep yo attitude in check, I'll kick your ass on laser tag later,"
"HA! I'd like to see you try," Sanzu teased.
"Oh, you'll see me try alright," She plotted.
.
.
.
At the laser tag center. The worker was reminding everyone to play fair and avoid being rough to not potentially hurt another player.
Y/n was on the red team while Sanzu was on the blue team. They gave their final playful glares at each other before they entered their team gates.
The inside was like a dark maze decorated with neon lights, she could hear the other players shoot and their footsteps as well, though almost all of them were far from her.
When she turned a corner, she saw a few blue team guys walk past, she of course didn't let the opportunity slip past her and quickly shot two of them in the back twice before running to hide.
The counter of points was in the red team's favor, Y/n was feeling confident and relaxed since her team was ahead.
There were still 5 players on the red while only 3 on the blue, she wondered if Sanzu was already eliminated, that'd be disappointing, after all, she wanted to personally eliminate him.
"Where are you, Sanzu," She muttered under her breath.
"Dreaming 'bout me huh," That voice only belonged to one person.
The sudden closeness of the whisper made her turn and immediately point her gun, but she stumbled back and fell to her ass, her gun also slipped from her hands as she tried to catch herself.
She was lying down on her back and quickly tried to get up and find her gun, but Sanzu grabbed hold of both her wrists and pinned them down above her while he straddled her, with his gun pointing at her chest.
"Got'cha," He whispered before looking down at her with a grin.
He shot at her and the number for the red team went down to 4. She remained lying there in shock at her sudden loss.
"Well, see you 'round," He chuckled.
She then sat up. "That's foul!"
By the time she reached the exit, the game was 2 vs 1, and not long after the red team lost. Almost everyone was back in the lobby and the only one missing was Sanzu.
Which means he's the sole survivor of the blue team. He walked out with a proud smile as he twirled his gun before blowing its tip right in front of her face.
She closed her eyes because of the air. "You played dirty, you should've been eliminated for foul play," Y/n crossed her arms.
"Just admit you lost~" Sanzu teased.
"You two are so cute," One of Y/n's teammates suddenly blurted out. "Oh, did I say that out loud?" They chuckled. "You two must've been together for a while huh,"
Sanzu and Y/n looked at each other before averting their gazes, Y/n blushed at the accusation while Sanzu remained aloof.
"Ah, no," Y/n awkwardly laughed. "We're just really good friends,"
"That's a pity," They said. "You're both cute, I'd totally date either of you, maybe both-"
"Hey-!" Their friend nudged them. "Sorry about 'em,"
The two friends then walked exited the laser tag center, well, more like, the other friend pulled the other forcefully to save themself from the embarrassment.
"That's... interesting?" Y/n tilted her head at Sanzu. They stared at each other before laughing amongst themselves.
"Well, we better get back, it's getting pretty late," Sanzu said. "I can't have you blaming me for being tired tomorrow morning,"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," She just chuckled as he ruffled her hair.
A/N: Awe how sweet!
Im sure nothing bad will happen,
ANYWAY
I'm currently in my finals week, and I'm also currently procrastinating, so here's a new chapter hehe hope you enjoy~!