Chapter Text
Akito was shooting lasers into the back of Touya’s neck as he trailed behind him indignantly while Ken—concernedly—and Taiga—begrudgingly, agreed to guide them to the yellow house at the end of the street.
Even somebody as perceptive as Akito—especially when it came to Touya- did not understand what Touya was trying to do then.
He saw Touya’s request for hospitality to be a hypocritical act, which, admittedly Touya had just preached so ardently about not doing. He did have his reasons, though. Not only would it be rude to barge into what he assumed was Kotaki Nagi’s house, it would probably be wiser to, erm, also find a place to stay while they were stuck in the past. He still had no Idea how they were going to get out of this mess or if anything was even real, but he had told Akito that everything else could wait for later until they found Kohane.
Thinking about seeing her safe and intact after all of this time….he supposed that was the one thing keeping him from losing all that was left of his composure.
Ken was kind enough to break the silence, opposed to his partner who wouldn’t budge. Taiga’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead and Touya noticed that wasn’t all that contrary to the Taiga he had familiarized himself with. “So, what brings you kids to Vivid Street? Ken asked. “We don’t see many newcomers these days.”
Ah, Touya hadn’t thought of that. He turned his head to look behind him at Akito. He had his hands in his hoodie's kangaroo pocket and Touya could tell that paired with his lost looking expression, he was fidgeting with his fingers not knowing what to say. He couldn’t blame him, after all that had happened.
This was up to Touya, it looked like. So, he lied, “We….ran away from home.” He nodded as he said it, as if trying to convince himself he was being truthful as well as he was Ken and Taiga. Although the thought was so cruelly selfish, Touya couldn’t help but think: why shouldn’t they help themselves, after the way they’d been lied to? The way An had been lied to. Maybe it was his uncharacteristic way of reclaiming lost power.
It was too late to turn back. The damage had been done the moment the lie slipped from his lips. Touya knew better than anyone that no matter how badly he wanted to rewrite the past, there was nothing he could do to rectify his actions, and now he’d be stuck with it. He was willing to bear the weight of that.
In an instant, Akito grabbed onto his arm and his eyes screamed, “Dude, The hell are you doing?!”
Touya didn’t know, to be honest. It really was straight out of a novel, and now he was creating their alibi out of literally nothing. God, he already felt guilty. He wished he could talk this out with Akito, but they were in the middle of something…
“I see…” Ken said, appearing in deep thought. “I take it you’re from the middle of the city, yeah?”
Touya nodded along, and Ken didn’t press for more information. Touya was so, so grateful for that.
Taiga seemed to snap out of his trance. It was then when Touya began to wonder why he was still wearing his sunglasses when it was pitch black darkness outside. Maybe the neon lights that bounced off his metal necklaces and piercings hurt his eyes. He craned his neck back to look at the teenagers and asked, “Brothers?”
“Nope.” Akito butted into the lie, which was surprising since he had looked so opposed seconds ago. He must have caught on to what Touya was trying to do.
“He helped me escape.” Touya bounced off of him scarily easily considering none of this was even true.
Taiga pressed on, “Shit parents?”
Ken elbowed him so hard it elicited a pained cry from the older man. ”You’ve ought to stop doing that.”
“His parents were…” Akito trailed off, at a loss of what to say—either that or he was caught off guard by Taiga’s bluntness that seemed to shatter glass. They exchanged a glance and Touya honestly couldn’t believe they were doing what they just did.
Fortunately, Ken understood what was going on (What that even was, Touya would have to figure out later.) and messily changed the topic, “Would ya look at that?” He gestured over to a nearby house. It was yellow, a humble single story house that was crammed next to two other buildings. With Vivid Street mostly containing shops and livehouses, the house looked wildly out of place. It was that bold yellow color that made it fit on the street, the porch light illuminated it brightly, competing with other street and neon lights.
The four of them went over to the door, Touya and Akito nervously shuffling up the steps and watching as Taiga bent down and lifted the doormat up. Underneath it was a rusted house key, which he examined hastily before unlocking the door without caring to knock.
A quick “Kohane…”slipped out of Akito’s mouth before they even saw the inside of the house—before they even saw Kotaki Nagi, who was alive. Touya watched as the older men entered, and Akito practically charged in with Touya hesitantly following behind.
Upon entrance, Touya couldn’t tell if the most shocking thing was seeing Kotaki Nagi herself or if it was seeing Kohane sitting right next to her, hugging a pillow to her chest on a leather couch with a porcelain teacup in her hands. In addition to that, on the coffee table in front of the girls had an entire tea set atop it, but the fresh aroma of tea was the last thing Touya could take in before Kohane’s face livened upon seeing himself and Akito standing in the door frame.
Kohane essentially barreled over to them, and her arms knotted around Akito and Touya. “You guys!” She almost choked the words out, her speech tumbled out of her mouth so amok and frantic. “I’m so glad—Are you—”
Akito pulled her in tighter, her face smooshing into his chest as he dug his face into the crown of her head and Touya rubbed circles into her back. She was shaking, but none of that seemed to matter as the three of them melted onto each other and the rest of the world disappeared.
“There are no words,” Touya said softly, so just his teammates could hear him.
As if hammering the chains that entangled the three of them, Taiga coughed, “Um.”
All three of them unknotted. themselves from each other. Touya had forgotten about the presence they were in.
“Oh, hi!” Kotaki Nagi said, and she set her teacup down on the coffee table and started approaching them.
Touya quickly stuck his hands to his sides like a soldier and bowed down respectfully. “Hello, my name is Aoyagi Touya, my friend here is named Akito. It is an honor to meet you.”
“You two must be the friends Kohane spoke about–” He felt a light tap on his shoulder paired with a slight giggle, “Hey, there’s no need to be so formal...”
The woman sounded so earnest, Touya wished she had pinched him instead of gently tapping him. He stood up fully and she was staring him in the eyes. The first thing Touya noticed about her was that he seemed to tower over her. She may have been the same height as An, either that, or only a few taller. He had to blink a few times to make sure he was processing any of this correctly because in the video of RAD WEEKEND Ken had showed them, her stature had always appeared so tall with the way she stood on the stage and the crowd would go wild at her fingertips.
“Ah, apologies, Nagi-sama—I mean—I mean, Nagi-san-!”
Nagi burst out laughing at his humiliation, going as far as to slap her knee in hysterics. Once she recovered, she wiped a tear and planted a hand on Touya’s shoulder, “Oh, I like this guy.”
How else was he supposed to react when he was looking in the eyes of a woman… who was dead.
“You like anyone that inflates your ego.” Taiga offhandedly commented, slipping his shoes off by the door.
Nagi seemed to be baffled by how Touya carried himself, though Akito came in before Touya could conjure up any self-deprecating thoughts. “We’re very sorry for barging in so suddenly.” He plastered on a cordial grin, his nice guy persona and Touya knew there was no way he’d survive if he was going to put up a facade.
“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Nagi said, her hand still on his shoulder. He couldn’t believe she was in front of him. “We’re always welcoming ‘round here,” She shot a look at her brother, “Aren’t we, Taiga?”
“…Always.” Taiga said, sounding quite unwilling. “You know who these kids are?”
“We’re runaways.” Touya filled her in. Kohane’s head snapped in his direction, confused out of her mind.
“The little lady as well?”
“Yes.” He may have said that a little bit too confidently, becauase Nagi quirked a brow for a split second in response.
She nodded slowly and spared Kohane a glance before replying, so concerned, “Oh my god…how far are you all from home!?—Ah, that doesn’t really matter right now.” Her immediate empathy clawed away at Touya’s words. “You need a place to stay?”
Taiga tried to counter, “Nagi—“
“—Just for the time being, of course. No rent at all, since it sounds like you kids need it.”
“Really? Kohane asked.
Touya was hesitant although this was his plan coming to fruition, “But how will we pay you back?”
“I just said you don’t have to do any of that, no? We can figure everything else out later.” Nagi finally removed her hand from Touya’s shoulder and easily directed her attention to her own teammates who were standing stiffly next to Akito, “Ken, you’re here early. Are Yuka and An still coming for dinner?”
Ken blinked in shock, “After everything that’s happened tonight? It might be best if we—”
“But Keeeen, It’s been forever since I've seen Yuka! And An’s been excited to dig into the Kotaki special…”
Watching the Kotaki Nagi quite literally bat her eyes so casually made it felt like he, Akito, and Kohane were invading in on such an exclusive vision of RADder. Which, in a way, they definitely were intruding. They were never meant to see any of this, that is if his time travel theory was correct. The people standing so close to them often gave the impression of being much taller than they actually were, and now…
Touya soon realized no one in RADder actually took the time to introduce themselves…..whether it was because of their egos or because they had assumed they had already known their names, Touya would never know. Maybe it was for the best, but how would he ever know that?
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes!” Nagi bursted out, grabbing Ken by the shoulders and pushing him out the door whilst his sneakers squeaked on the floor, “I’ll have more help in the kitchen, yeah? Now you go get Yuka and An, and when you’re back it’ll be time for dinner!”
No room for any protests, Nagi closed the door behind Ken.
Taiga rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Nagi, please don’t push yourself. I’ll cook dinner.”
“I hate when you say that stuff, Taiga. I’m perfectly capable of cooking food, you know. Besides, you say that as if you can even be trusted in the kitchen.”
“You trust Yuka over me in that situation?”
“I didn’t say that. At least you wouldn’t burn the house down.” Now remembering about the three teenagers she just invited to live in her house, she bounced back to them. “You three alright with being my teammates in the kitchen?”
If they were in any other situation, Touya thought that the idea would have made the three of them drool.
They nodded. Of course they did. Maybe they really were runaways with how lost they felt.
Nagi graciously guided them to the Kitchen, which wasn’t too hard to get to considering the house had a very open floor plan that even when standing behind the kitchen island that Touya could very clearly watch as Taiga slumped down onto the couch. He seemed to let the cushions swallow him whole as he sighed and pressed his phone behind his ear as he picked up a call. Touya had to admit that the two siblings (who he presumed were roommates at this point) made very good use of their space. They had opted to use warm light bulbs instead of industrial-like ones. Instead of a huge television perched on the wall in front of the couch—which in turn was a very small one sitting on a second coffee table pushed against the wall—there were an indescribable amount of records hung up. Like, they had somehow gathered every record in the world and they all made a home out of that wall.
Contrasting the cozy nature of the living area, the kitchen was…
“Sorry for the mess, things have been a bit hectic lately” Nagi scooped up at assortion of pill bottles and cups on the counter and pretty much threw them into an overhead cabinet with a huff. She was quick to collect herself with a deep breath in. “So it's a good thing the Kotaki Special's real easy.”
Touya doesn't feel real at that moment. Like, he's drifting through time and space and he's a ghost spectating everything. He can’t describe how badly he wants to speak with Kohane and Akito. Their group hug still lingers on the dimming warmth in his chest but he wants nothing more than to reignite that flame. Also, most importantly, have a conference on this entire predicament now that they were all together again.
“S’in the freezer,” Nagi said as she messed around with the dials of this oven. “On top of all the ice cream, can you grab it for me?”
Touya immediately nodded his head and moved over the refrigerator with Kohane behind him.
He pulled the freezer open, a blizzard hitting his face. If his judgment was correct, The Kotaki Special was housed inside a bag of frozen chicken nuggets and french fries. How extravagant.
“Aoyagi-kun, look.” Kohane whispered and she tapped on his shoulder to get his attention. She pointed at a polaroid picture that was on the fridge, hung up by a magnet that was clearly a souvenir from a gift shop. “It’s a picture of An-chan.”
In actuality, there maybe were a dozen pictures of An on that wall, ranging from baby photos to the one Kohane just showed him. The fridge may have doubled as an art gallery; he noticed a drawing of three stick figures with ‘RADder’ written above it.
The An in the picture couldn’t have been older than thirteen. Her smile still was so infectious even when captured in time, she beamed at him and held up peace signs. Writing at the bottom of the polaroid said, ‘Summer 2010s!’. Ken-san was standing behind her with his sunglasses on. It felt almost uncanny seeing him dressed in something other than his WEEKEND GARAGE shirts. Compared to the other photos here, this was the oldest looking An, recognizing that she had braces and all the other ones didn’t.
Although he was holding a bag of frozen chicken nuggets, he couldn’t help it when his hands began to tremble in the slightest bit, and he knew it wasn’t because of the cold.
An. Oh, he could only pray that she wouldn’t stumble upon that alleyway, that she wouldn’t go inside the porty potty as they had. That she was safe.
Has she gotten to practice yet? Had she noticed they were gone? Did the time passing here pass differently than it does in the real world? In the present?
He glanced over at Kohane who appeared to have the same idea he did, his apprehension reflecting on her face.
Had this confirmed his idea that they could have time traveled? They must be in 2016, then, since An looked like a middle schooler in the photo. Maybe 2017 depending how long ago it was taken, but that was too vague for him to have any idea when they were.
(He’d have to show Akito when they had a chance. Knowing him, he’d probably be able to tell the year accurately just by looking at their clothes and how they styled them.)
That would explain why his phone didn’t have Ready Steady. The song simply didn’t exist yet, and maybe his entire phone model hadn’t either considering how everything was wiped from it.
Kohane lifted up the bag of frozen french fries and took a deep breath that quivered along with her lip she bit on, “We need to find out…um, what date it is.”
Touya nodded, and was about to add on until Nagi called out for them. There were so many things they wanted to talk about, they needed to talk about. But for now, the words left unsaid would have to make do, even if all they did was communicate anxiety back and forth.
“Here you go, Nagi-san.” Kohane set the french fry bag on the counter and Touya followed suit with his chicken nuggets.
Akito was getting to work buttering a baking tray, though he did it very aggressively. Touya knew he was trying to release tension and everything that was boiling inside of him, similarly to how he’d go on runs to clear his mind. Now he had to let it all out via butter.
Nagi giggled in good fun and swatted at the pan to get him to stop, “Thanks a bunch, you guys—ah, Akito, was it?—you can lay low on the butter for now.” Something about watching all of this…
Kotaki Nagi was going to die.
Did she know at this point in time?
She acted normal—but that was easy for him to say, he had never met her before—she hummed like it was any other day. If Touya was anybody else, he thought he might have looked at her and never suspected anything was wrong. Oh, how easily he’d fall for the street’s lies if it were him instead of An. If she knew she was sick…Touya undoubtedly would have fallen for the facade she put up. This facade that was like a wall, made him think she knew the answers even though her most prized cuisine was chicken nuggets and french fries.
Unlike the one Nagi put up, Akito’s facade was weaker and shattered as he froze and the tips of his ears went red, “Oh. Um, sorry about that.”
Nagi opened the bag of french fries and poured them onto the baking tray, shoving them to one half of the tray and spreading them out enough that they wouldn’t be stacked on top of eachother. Then, she put the chicken nuggets on the other side of the tray, muttering, “I hope it’s enough for everyone…” Nagi took the tray and slid it into the oven with a sigh. “Jeez, I could really use a coffee right now.”
Touya perked up.
“You kids want some?” Nagi asked, “I’d imagine after everything that’s happened today you must be exhausted.”
It’d be selfish to ask for some, after all the lying he’s done today. He already started to wonder if he had told the truth, what would have happened? You can’t just go around talking about how you’re a time traveler, which he supposed he was now.
“You all look like you saw a ghost.” She laughed and pulled out four little coffee blends from a cabinet below. Her face became something much softer, “Look, I’m not gonna force you to say anything, but please, don’t hesitate to ask for stuff. For now, this house is just as much yours as it is mine and Taiga’s.”
“That’s really nice of you, Nagi-san.” Kohane said, “You’re really nice.”
Nagi grinned, “Coffee, going once, going twice.” She smirked at him and shook the coffee blends like they were maracas.
He caved, “I’d like some, please.”
“I knew it!” She fist pumped made her way over to the coffee machine. It wasn’t as nice as the one he was used to seeing at WEEKEND garage, it was aged but in a way that gave it personality. “You fancy a certain flavor? I’ve got loads.”
“Nothing in particular. Thank you, Nagi-san.”
Five minutes later, Touya had a new plan. Now that he and Akito had reunited with Kohane, their next objective was to get back home. He liked to think he would have spent a lot more time grappling with the idea that he had time traveled into the past, but he needed to use whatever time they had wisely. Fortunately for him, Kohane appeared to be on the same page after their small rendezvous in the kitchen, so he’d like to be smart about what questions they asked to avoid creating suspicion about where they came from or anything of the sort that would debunk his selfish lie. And, of course, to figure out what time they were in—the top priority.
Akito, however, was in a daze. He sort of just sat at the small, circular dining table and blankly stared at the crevices in the wood opposed to he and Kohane’s sagacious gazes at Nagi. She gently slid him a mug of coffee and took a long sip of her own.
The oven hummed all the way from the kitchen, almost harmonizing with the radiator.
“So, um, Nagi-san,” Kohane anxiously drummed the fingertips atop the table. “You said you were a singer?”
The woman grinned widely, the prospect of music released the tension in her shoulders. Touya hadn’t observed before. “Yup, With Taiga and Ken.”
”When is—when are you all performing another gig? What date?”
Touya and Kohane exchanged a knowing glance. Kohane had created a smooth entrance for easy answers about the time.
“Tomorrow,” Nagi says, not entirely helping their case here. “Can’t have a weekend without singing at COL. It makes Fridays like these feel so restless.”
Touya nodded. As if to give himself time to think of a question to ask he took an extended drink of his coffee. God, was it good. The taste nearly took him back to WEEKEND GARAGE where An would smile at him and ask, “Is it good? Do you like it, Touya? Do you like it? ” repeatedly as he drank from the brew she made special for him. He had to swallow the thought though and focus on the task at hand, “I see.”
“It’s not a good mindset to have, force of habit, ” She shrugs nonchalantly, “Time is of the essence, you know? If you wanna enjoy the time you have, you’ve gotta stop living for tomorrow and live for today.” She contemplates this a little bit longer but decides to end her speech promptly with, “There’s a million songs about Friday nights for a reason.” She snorts at her own joke and waves one of her hands as if to swipe the seriousness away.
“I see.”
“You’re funny.” Nagi told him out of nowhere, She rests her head atop her palm.
“…What?” His face shadows as his brows crease. “I didn’t say any jokes.”
Akito snorted, deciding now was the best time to give any input.
“You’re so…” Nagi begins, drawing a deep breath in. Well, that was before she audiby squeaked and shot up from her chair, “The food!”
The string of curses she let out, sprinting inside the kitchen, nearly harmonized with the squeak of the front door as it opened and three people came pooling in.
Leading the charge was… An.
It was An, with the same fire in her eyes, with those same star clips. It was surreal seeing her here but there was nothing that compared to the relief he felt when he noticed this An was even shorter than he remembered—measuring up a little bit above Ken-san’s elbow—and had a long jean jacket on, something the An he knew would declare a fashion crime.
It was An, who still tackled the closest person to her into a hug upon seeing them, “Taiga-ojisan!”
Taiga looked like he was suffocating under An’s added weight, still sitting on the couch and all. Despite his protests for the girl to get off him, there was still an irrefutable fondness in his eyes that looked foreign to Touya. “It’s only been a few hours. Miss me that much?”
An nodded, “I missed you lots! Nagi-san too! Where is she?”
An’s mother, Yuka, he remembered, tapped her daughter on the shoulder and chided her, “You’ll give poor Taiga even worse back problems, dear. Get off him, maybe?”
“Sorry!” An squeaked, and promptly slid off of him.
Taiga groaned as he stood up from the couch, “Even worse back problems? You’re making me sound like an old man, Yuks.”
“Just looking out for you.” Yuka smirked, “If it bothered you so much you wouldn’t have stopped dyeing your grays.”
Taiga hissed at her, clearly not able to combat the truth. So, he changed the topic, “Oi, Nagi!? Everything alright in there?”
An’s eyes lit up, having received the answer to her earlier question and she started running towards the kitchen. Though, that’d be impossible for her to do without noticing the elephants in the room.
Her jaw went slack. Her mission to find Nagi? Abolished. Gone.
“Teenagers!” She gaped at the three of them. Wonder dancing in her eyes at speeds so rapid, Touya couldn’t dare to try and count the stars that shone so bright in her gleeful gaze.
Ken came rushing in behind her, “I forgot to tell An about the, er, situation.”
“Oh, An! You’re here!” Nagi finally came out of the kitchen, patting An on the head in greeting. “So, Taiga and I are gonna be having some visitors over for the next couple…weeks?” She grinned weakly at the three of them, who were still sitting like statues at the table.
An clearly wasn’t taking any of that in though, so focused on the three of them. Her stare bounced from Kohane, to Akito, to him in a ricochet of curiosity. “Hi!” She waved at them excitedly. “I’m An! Who are you people? Do you sing? Wanna—”
“Slow down An, you’ll overwhelm them.”
“Ah, sorry! Sorry!” In an attempt to say anything more, she sputtered out, “It’s just—wow—you guys look so cool! Like, really cool! Cool like Dad and his team!”
“That’s debatable.” Taiga said, walking into the kitchen and sneaking a french fry.
“Cool like…” She pointed to Akito, “I really like your earrings!” Then, she turned to her dad, “So, can I get my ears pierced now that I'm old enough?”
”That's,” Ken took in a deep breath, shocked by the sporadicity of his daughter, “A discussion for another time.”
“Bleh,” An stuck her tongue out. “Anyways, what’re your names?”
Touya’s coffee had gone cold by then. “Aoyagi Touya.” He said stiffly. Too stiffly, especially for him when talking to Shiraishi An. Either way, he still held his apprehension close to his chest no matter how badly he wanted to let it run free because that was something An had taught him how to be.
“Akito.” His partner said, completely forgoing his nice guy persona. He even went as far as to slouch in his seat. That was understandable. Whenever he went ‘nice guy’ for too long he’d always complain to Touya about how badly his back hurt.
“No last name?” An quirked a brow.
“S’not important.”
An was gripping onto the table with anticipation, leaning her body over it just to bask in their presence, “And you?”
Kohane bit back a giggle, a nervous giggle he presumed because her fingers anxiously frolicked across the table. “I’m Azusawa Kohane. It’s nice to meet you, An-chan.”
“An-chan…” An echoed, and thought about the name for a short bit. Then, she giggled to herself, giddy. “I like you guys.”
It really is late for dinner time. Though, that was hard to say when the sun never set in Vivid Street. It was practically always daytime, always summer, the way the town never went to sleep. Streetlights illuminated the small patio where he and his teammates sat to eat the Kotaki Special. Nagi had pulled out some lawn chairs, only enough for the four adults but no one seemed to mind as the street sang loudly and filled up the silence that filled Touya, Akito, and Kohane.
High on caffeine, Touya thought it’d be impossible to fall asleep, especially after everything that had happened. Kohanes head drooped so low, he ended up taking her plate away from her lap to avoid her smashing into it. That would probably cure her obvious exhaustion, but it was far too hefty a price.
He couldn’t believe it. Time travel existed and honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if he had read a book with this same exact plot before. A novel lost to time, of course, as the story was vacant from his mind so he supposed for now he’d be a protagonist in a book filled with so many plot holes.
The three of them would make it home.
They’d figure this out. Hadn’t they always done that?
“So,” An sprung out of nowhere, making Kohane’s head shoot up with a peep. “You guys came to Vivid Street, so are you singers?” Kohane nodded, and grew even more excited. “You know, not a lot of kids my age show up around here.”
“We’re not kids.” Akito said, half asleep.
“Ah right, teenagers.” An clapped her hands, “Actually, I’m a teenager too. I’m so old I can’t even count my age on my fingers” she explained to them. She started to count on her fingers, but once she reached ten, she shrugged. “See, I can’t continue. ‘Cause I'm so old.”
“…How old are you?” Akito asked, giving her exactly what she wanted..
“I just turned thirteen!” She puffed out her chest proudly. Akito snickered.
“That’s lovely.” Said Touya with a gentle smile.
If An was thirteen…then the earliest year they could be in was 2017. He would have thought 2018, but that would mean Nagi would be—
“Anyways,” An said, stealing a french fry off of Akito’s plate. “I think since we’re so close in age—and we all sing—we should team up! Teammates are really important, ya know. That’s what dad always says.”
“Ah…I’m really sorry,” Kohane sighed, placing a comforting hand on the middle schooler’s shoulder. “An-chan, I don’t think we can…we’re only staying here temporarily.”
Although he could only try to force himself to hope that was the truth, watching An try to hide how dejected she felt was a much harder feat. An impossible one, at that, as he found himself feeling even more guilty than he already dod. An scratched her nape, embarrassed, and tried to avert her eyesight away, landing on RADder and Yuka.
Touya glanced at the adults, their chairs facing outwards to look at Vivid Street. It was a quiet conversation they all seemed to have. He couldn’t make out any words because the music there was louder than he had ever heard it before. There were a few laughs weaved between their words, but they were being weighed down by something. That something…based on all of the things Ken had told them about RAD WEEKEND, it could be a lot of things. He and his friends' presence probably didn’t help, and he hated himself for it but he didn’t think there was any other place for them to be. Ken had an arm resting on Yuka’s shoulders, with his other he used it to—well, Touya assumed he used it to—playfully wack Nagi’s hand away from stealing some of his food (Maybe the influence for why An kept stealing Akito’s). There was a familiarity that covered them all like a blanket.
Touya’s heart ached for them.
They already knew it’d all be ripped away, didn't they?