One of the sounds I had missed a lot was the sound of the doorbell ringing.
For a second, I just re-processed the sound of it, sitting comfortably on the couch by myself, dragging my gaze away from the television towards the door. Even something as simple as a doorbell was enough to bring me nostalgia. I had terribly missed the sound.
I quickly got up, almost stumbling a bit in process due to my hurried footing and ran towards the door, my heartbeat slightly accelerating, not knowing who to expect.
I twisted the handle and opened the door- "Yo H/n, I'm pretty sure I forgot my controller in your room last ni-" The boy in front of my was scratching his shirt through his black t-shirt. His deep voice was interrupted the moment his brown eyes locked against mine and he froze completely, he quite possibly had stopped breathing for a moment, too.
I grinned happily, staring at Baji from up close after four years. He had changed, but never to the point where I would not recognize him. Baji had gotten taller, he had gotten very handsome, although maybe just slightly less cuter than how I remember him to be. His voice had changed a lot, and his black hair was now long, past his shoulders, cascading down his face and sides in a slightly wave manner, shining.
"Hi, Baji." I said calmly, not getting enough of seeing him from up close again and staring at every single detail of him, as well as the multiple emotions in his face.
"...." His eyebrows and eyes were widened and he stared in shock. It was clear that I was the last person he had expected to see at that moment. His gaze travelled around my face, hair and everything, but mostly my eyes. "..." His surprised expression changed into a soft grin and then a wide smile.
"Holy shit, Y/n?!" The next thing I know, his strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me up, pulling me close before setting my down and ruffling my head with no mercy. "Fuck, where have you been?! You're changed, why the hell didn't tell me you're back, bastard?!"
I couldn't resist, I was laughing along with him, overjoyed to see my dear friend Baji again after four years. Despite everything, he seemed to have just the same amount of energy and craziness as he did in the past. "Baji, careful, hahaha!"
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me to his side, grinning with his devilish yet geniuenly happy face. "It's been such a long time, look at you, you look badass!" I laughed at his compliment, reddening. He called me badass for changing a bit. "What the fuck are we waiting for, c'mon! We got a lot to talk about!" Without spending any further time, he immediately started dragging me towards his motorcycle.
"Hahah, Baji wait- I need to get my shoes!"
"You don't need them, come on!"
Without giving me any other choice, he dragged me on the back his motorcycle, before mounting it and started accelerating the engine and the speed quickly. I held onto him tightly, laughing. In the end, his forgetful nature, or perhaps his intense happiness to see me again resulted in him not caring about the forgotten controller inside H/n's room anymore.
Plus, the loud voice of Baji and his roaring engine was enough to alert my brother and parents that Baji had already kidnapped me from the house, already taking me away.
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The pigeons near our feet were all moving around, jumping and flying. Their feathered wings fluttered and produced soft sounds, as the few ones that had gathered near us were searching for the food scrambles Baji and I were feeding them. I stared at one single white and brown pigeon approaching, tilting its head curiously, before I proceeded to throw a few pieces of the remaining food I got towards it, the parts of it I did not find as tasty or the ones I could not bear to eat anymore.
"-the asshole never dared to mess with me ever again. He looks like he wants to piss his pants everytime he sees me ever since that happened." Baji rambled on, telling me one of his many legendary stories of another victory of his against someone, as he pushed some strands of his long black hair away from his face using his entire hand. He never once mentioned me a case where he was beaten by someone, claiming that he had never lost to anyone. Knowing Baji, I most definitely knew he was not lying, though.
I focused on his face as he talked to me with so much dedication, sounding really into whatever he was telling me. Of course, he wanted to hear a lot from me first. Although we did talk through the phone a lot during my time abroad, we still had so much to catch up with, and after I finished telling him my own things and stories, I listened to him boast about himself and his heroic and superior acts. Although he mostly talked about him fighting, I noticed he avoided talking to me about Toman, the gang he was a member of, and he focused mostly on other things, excluding any details about the gang.
Or anything about Shinichiro.
I smiled as I stared at the side of his face next to me, as he was sitting on the bench talking about his victories and moments of pride, happiness but also times when he had silly fights with his mom, Mikey and the others. It was nice hearing him talk about whatever made him happy and his friends. At the same time, I just had the need to ask him how he really was. Obviously, I wouldn't want to bring him back and mention any difficult periods, like the time with Shinichiro's death or anything that had to do with his friend 'Kazutora', but ever since that had happened, he had avoided calling me for a very long time and got very distant. Though, it really was a relief to see how he was acting with me now that we were finally close again. He did not seem any miserable or distant with me now, which made me very happy.
Baji stopped talking at some point, frowning and clicking his tongue as he pushed his hair back aggressively. "Damn it, I forgot to get my hairtie today, and it's so windy!" He growled in frustration, irritated by how the wind brought his hairstrands in his face.
I smiled at the sight, feeling amused. My eyes softened after a while as I kept watching him desperately trying to fix his hair. ".... You kept your promise."
He paused at that moment, looking at me unblinking. I continued, "You promised to let your hair grow longer for me until I came back. And it looks beautiful on you." I gently pushed a few strand of his hair from his face behind his eyes, making him tense a bit, his cheeks reddening. I pulled my hand away the moment I did this action.
Bu-dum.
"You can't imagine just how happy I was to see that you kept your promise and let your hair grow. I think it makes you look so attractive, Baji. But obviously, if you don't like it, there is no reason for you to keep it-"
"No, it's perfect." He interrupted me, looking away with narrowed eyes, lips pressed shut and his fang sticking out a bit through his lips a bit. His cheeks were still flushed. "I look very manly with my hair like this. It doesn't bother me, I just wear a tie if it gets in the way." He shrugged it off. "But it looks so cool on me, doesn't it? You liking my hair gives me another reason not to cut it." He gave me a closed eye grin.
A soft, cool water drop falling on the top of my head and my face distracted me from whatever I was planning on saying next. I looked up at the sky and it was covered by many light gray clouds, the sun not visible, although it was still day. "It's about to rain." I spoke subconsciously, using my hand to wipe away a new raindrop that fell on my face.
"Hmph, I noticed." Baji said, looking up with me, before right at me. He got up, making the pigeons gathered near our feet fly away. "I'm taking you to my house before it rains."
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At last, we got to Baji's house before it started raining. Staring at the rain falling from outside the window and hearing the sound of it was relaxing. It was a nice change of weather, because despite it being summer, the rain helped cool down the temperature in a way that was just right. Not too hot and not too cold.
Miss Ryoko was thrilled to see me again, to say the least. It took a bit more than an hour for her energy to die down a bit and for her to stop fighting with Baji. His mom kept asking me questions and talking to me non-stop, to the point where it annoyed Baji to the core. Eventually, she gave me some snacks and allowed Baji and I to finally chill in his room without her further interruption.
We were both sitting on his bed, talking, laughing and telling our stories, just like how we were doing outside before it started to rain.
"You know," I spoke, the tone of my voice getting in a slightly higher pitch, "Emma and Mikey don't know that I'm here yet."
"They don't?" He blinked at me. "Makes sense, they didn't happen to tell me anything about you... I just expected you to have told us all earlier. Why didn't you?"
"Well," I looked around his room, changing into a more comfortable position on his bed. "I needed to rest the first day I came back home... And then we were planning on surprising you all at the same time- but whatever. Hey-" My eyebrows raised slightly the moment I got an idea and I looked at him. "Why don't we call them and invite them over right now? They're definitely not going to be expecting to see me here."
".... Uh-" He looked a bit hesitant, looking around his room. I stared at him, trying to decipher his facial expressions and his thoughts. "... Nah. Not happenin'."
".... Huh?" I blinked, unexpecting him to drop this. "W-.... What? Why?" I let out a short laugh in slight confusion. "Why not?"
"Because," He scratched the back of his head, looking away with a slight frown. His cheeks were a bit flushed. "Because." He spoke flatly, pausing and staring at me for a moment, to the point where we almost had a small staring contest. "Because.... They're busy. They're.... I think they are already busy with some other friends... I spoke to them earlier today and they both are very busy today."
"Oh," I muttered, not taking my eyes off of him. For some reason, it was a rather awkward and weird interaction, he acted a bit strangely. "... Well then, okay." I shrugged and shook it off, smiling. "It's fine, I'll hang out with just you for today."
Baji was more than okay with this.
For the next half an hour, we spent our time chatting in his room, changing conversations every so often. It was nice and brought a calm feeling upon my soul. It brought me back many memories of when we were younger and we were just hanging out like this, without a care of anything else.
With the passing of time, of course, everybody changes in many ways. Me included. As expected, Baji changed, too. Well, not to the point where he was a different person. He was still the same Baji I knew. He just gave off a more mature feeling, as if he had been through a lot more than he had talked to me about during the time I was abroad. And of course his appearance changed, too. Besides him growing his hair, he was much taller and more muscular.
We would even have conversations about things we already had over the phone while I was living out of Japan, but it is completely different to have a conversation with a loved one face to face. It could get very depressing having conversations for hours over the phone with my friends and family. Because even if you could hear their voice, even if they could hear yours, it wasn't the same. The room was still empty around you.
At some point, I noticed a few books over his shelf and desk, and along with them I noticed an animal collection book. I stared at it, my eyes shining a bit in interest. I pointed it to him. "Hey, mind if I see this?"
He noticed where I was pointing. He walked over it and grabbed it, before getting comfortable on his bed. He patted the seat next to him. "Here, sit down." Upon his invitation, I got on his bed and sat next to him close as he opened the book and started pointing at me different pictures mostly and talking enthusiastically and seriously about animals.
I stared at him and listened in admiration and fascination. Each moment we spent together reminded me of how wonderful Baji really was.
He was definitely not the brightest of the bunch and he could get very violent and make reckless decisions and actions that could lead to serious consequences. Ones that he never cared about or even thought. But he truly had a lot of space and adoration for the people he cherished in his golden heart. And he loved animals too, hence his strong interest in the book he was showing me.
It was very adorable and heartwarming to see him being all nice, calm, relaxed and even playful or childish with me at times. I remember seeing him interact with others. He was very goofy around his friends, but he could also get all serious, all worked up and even scary, violent and tough with everyone else, but he showed a more gentle and relaxed personality with me.
In any other case, I would have thought that he was behaving like that because he could not be himself around me and only acted calm as to not upset me in any way. But Baji was genuine in everything. Or at least, most of the time. He would never be the kind of person to ever show a fake personality or change himself and to pretend to be someone he was not.
He was geniuenly calm and relaxed around me.
"Axelons also come in different colors. How cool is that?" Baji grinned as he pointed at the pictures of the book with pure interest, as if he had opened the book for the first time. It was not.
"I agree, although I think you mean 'axolotls', Baji." I corrected him.
"I know what I said!" He shook me off, defending himself.
I smiled and turned to the next page, looking at the pictures of various animals, along with information about them. "This is really cool, Baji. Where did you get this book from?"
"I know, right?!" He boasted. "I won it in a carnival in one of those games where you need to shoot a target. I went with a few buddies of mine there and-"
"Baji-san!"
Although Baji seemed completely unfazed, I got startled the moment the door to his room was pushed open and a cute blonde guy with big green eyes appeared. I stared at him in pure shock, confusion and the face of someone who was very close to nearly having a heart attack, my eyes shifting on his and then the black cat he was holding in his arms. He was panting, his chest moving up and down and his mouth opened.
Speak of the Devil.
"Haah- sorry I'm late! Peke J got soaked in rainwater and I had to clean..." The guy's voice slowly drifted off, getting quieter the moment he made eye contact with me.
For a moment, the room was completely silent, Baji and I in his room next to each other close, this random guy standing in the doorway with a cat and us having a staring contest.
"... Oh, Chifuyu." Baji replied calmly. "I forgot you were coming over-" His voice was a bit quiet, as if feeling a bit embarrassed to admit this.
I perked up at the familiar name. And after a few seconds, I realized when it hit me that Chifuyu was one of Baji's friend.
After the day I called Baji that one time while he was hanging out with two of his friends, Baji did speak a bit about them and some adventures they had together.
Chifuyu was a very loyal and dear friend to Baji. Baji never told me this in words, but the way he talked about Chifuyu and his reckless actions for Baji's sake and support, and the way Baji would occasionally chuckle, laugh and change his voice and demeanor while talking about him was enough to show me how great and how much of an important friend Chifuyu was to Baji. And I remember him telling me about Chifuyu and his personality, to the point where even I found myself eager to meet him.
"Eeeeeeehhh???!" The blonde boy'a face flushed, his eyes widening as he tensed up, getting all shocked and nervous all of a sudden as he stared at the two of us. "Ummm- I-I didn't mean to interrupt anything Baji I-I swear I didn't know-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Baji grunted. "Come inside already, I have treats for Peke J."
Chifuyu tensed up, his face turning red as he reluctantly stepped inside and placed the black cat on the ground. Baji got off of his bed, leaving the opened book next to me where he was sitting and he walked over his desk and opened a drawer. From there, he pulled out a few cat treats and he knelt down, reaching his palm filled with treats towards Peke J.
"Those are your favorite, right? Sorry I got the wrong brand last time-"
"Meow!" Peke J meowed and walked past Baji, who was frozen on the spot, unmoving and expression unchanging.
The cat walked past him and sat on the ground in front of me, staring up at me as I was still sitting on the bed. The cat and I were staring at each other.
".... Ah?" Baji looked over Peke J in disbelief, as if processing why just happened, as if the cat did something unsual. Looking up at Chifuyu, he was even more in shock than Baji, his eyes and mouth wide open. I couldn't decipher the exact emotion he was feeling, but it was intense.
"... What? He- Baji, he totally ignored you! How?!" Chifuyu gasped, eyeing his friend in shock. "He never ignores you or your treats!"
Meanwhile, the cat stared at me curiously. I smiled at it. "Hi, buddy!" I greeted the cat, not making any movement that could scare him away. The cat kept staring for what seemed like forever.
"Meow!" Then, it meowed and jumped on the bed shiftly and wasted no time and started rubbing itself on me. I instinctively raised my hand and started scratching whatever places I could find, until I found his favorite spot where he started purring and closing his eyes, his tail raised high and the tip of it moving around slowly. I giggled and awed, enjoying the cat's presence, finally getting to see the cat Baji was talking about for so long. "You're such a beautiful cat, aren't you?" I complimented him, looking at the white scar over its head that for some reason seemed a bit familiar to me and the cross collar on his neck.
I looked up from the cat, only to see the black and blonde haired guys stare at me as if they were witnessing a holy spirit or angel before them. "... What?" I asked, continuing to pet the purring cat.
"..... He never does this to strangers." Chifuyu spoke to me, not taking his eyes off of me and the way the cat was treating me. "And he never chooses anyone else over Baji! Plus, Baji has his favorite treats! Peke J never resists them..." Chifuyu pointed out, looking at Baji too. "Baji, I think- I think this girl is a goddess!" He exclaimed, putting his hands on his cheeks, making me blush and stare at him in surprise. "This is the first time he goes to anyone else when you're in the room and ignores the treats! Either Peke J is sick or-" He gasped in awe and looked at me, eyes shining. "Or she's the chosen one."
"Uh-" I was speechless, obviously flustered by Chifuyu's words as I kept petting the cat that demanded my undying attention and affection. "... I'm not any type of goddess as far as I'm aware..." I laughed a bit and looked down at the cat, being surprised by Chifuyu's words.
This must have been something new for both of these guys to look so shocked. Apparently, the cat chose to interact with me first. ".... I think he is just curious about me, since I am a stranger to him." I shrugged my shoulders.
Baji stepped up, clearing his throat. "Yeah, anyways," He scratched the back of his neck. "Y/n, meet Chifuyu.... officially. And Chifuyu, this is Y/n." Baji did the introduction part for us.
Chifuyu stared at me, his lips parted slightly, before he inhaled deeply through his nose and the expression of his face brightened.
"Oh- right, you're Y/n! I should have realized that sooner..." Chifuyu said, as if some things were clicking in his mind, so as to who the random girl in Baji's room could be and why she was there.
Chifuyu gave me a very big smile and immediately started speaking, not giving me the opportunity to greet him properly first yet. It was not the first time we had spoken to each other, but it was our first time officially meeting. "It's amazing to finally meet you! Baji has told me a lot about you! I mean- definitely not any bad or weird things-" This guy was awkward and tense as hell, which I totally got. It was just surprising because although Baji did make fun of Chifuyu often and called him things, he never mentioned Chifuyu being THAT flustered or anxious and awkward generally. So I was confused over why he was acting this way, cause I did expect him to be more chill based on Baji's description, which could or could not be an accurate description of Chifuyu. "Sorry- I just was not really prepared to meet Baji-san's girlfriend and make such a terrible introduction-" Then, his face flushed and he covered his mouth, "Ah- no-not girlfriend, friend, just friend! He totally doesn't like you this way- I MEAN- not like he doesn't like you- he DOES like you like a LOT- I mean--"
A book was thrown quickly over Chifuyu's way, slamming against his face.
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Am earlier update cause I got impatient :3
I apologize if I over-exaggerated Chifuyu's personality here. I promise it won't be like that all the time. ^^;
I just thought that it would be accurate of him to be so nervous and flustered around the MC/you upon meeting for the first time. Cause the person he looks up to, aka Baji, may or may not like, have a crush on or be in love with the said MC-- eHEM.
So yeah, and also taking his sudden appearance in the room into consideration and finding Baji close to a girl obviously was something he would never expect at that time, hence why he got all and extra awkward and embarrassed around her presence, cauisng him to start saying random things that could get Baji embarassed, misunderstood or exposed. (Baji would have done more than throw a book at him to shut him up if our dear MC was not there 👀)
But I do promise he won't be like this, cause I'm pretty sure that would just make the Chifuyu of my story less accurate with the real Chifuyu personality of the anime in a way.
Your comments about the story are always appreciated 🙏 they motivate me and help me with the story more than you think! ❤❤
NEXT UPDATE: on May 24th