Chapter Text
Nagi lived alone.
It was a fact that was accepted long ago. He had an inkling when his parents weren't there to help him move to Tokyo and settle in his dorms. He knew it when the silence became loud enough that he could hear his own heartbeat. So he knew the smiling faces of classmates were only a pretence that ended the moment the bell rang.
It had been suffocating at first, Nagi didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to accept it. That at some point the monster called loneliness would consume him whole and every one he had ever interacted with would leave him. Nagi had made peace with all of that long ago.
°°°
Nagi quickly dried his hair with his towel. It puffed slightly as it dried. With the cold of winter rapidly approaching, Nagi should probably do something about his wet hair. He really didn't-- didn't-- want to catch a cold and miss out on so much training.
He saw a shadow from the corner of his eyes. He turned around to check, but saw nothing. "Wierd," he mumbled, as he tried to shake off the feeling of being watched.
He hastily put on his school uniform, and tied the tie just loosely enough to make him breathe easily. He ran back inside the main building of the school, and threw his gym bag and picked up his normal school bag, and ran to class.
He stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway, and looked back, again, there was this dreadful feeling that crawled on his skin. There was no one he knew in that busy hallway other than other students like him who were rushing to class. Some of them bumped into him, which made Nagi shake the feeling and continue on his path to his class.
The announcer cracked and suddenly its voice barrelled through the microphones. "Mikage Reo, please head to the teachers room. That is Mikage Reo to the teachers room.
Nagi stared at the announcer. What could the teacher possibly want with Reo? Nothing good. Nagi reasoned with himself that he would ask the details after school from Reo himself.
After class, Nagi had a free period. He spent it exactly where he always did. On top of the rooftop of the Eastern building, where the ladder to the roof was unguarded, Nagi could enjoy the silence and play with his phone.
He crossed his legs and leaned against the wall. The wind blew softly over his face, and the chill of it reminded Nagi of the ever changing seasons. His game loaded, the sign of a zombie with a gun greeted him as the home page began to load.
crack.
Nagi stood up, his head snapped back towards the sound and much like every other time today, he was greeted with nothing. Nothing. Other than a broken piece of yellowed leaf that the wind was blowing away.
Nagi rubbed the back of his neck. "Didn't think being so alone would have made me hallucinate..." he mumbled. He shook the thought away and sat back down. He had a game to play, and an online ranking to save, and exactly an hour to do that.
He had another class after that, then lunch, and another class before finally he was free enough to start practising his soccer again.
During lunch, when he was enjoying his school lunch in silence, one of their teachers rushed to find him. It was Miss Yamada, an older math teacher who was known for having favorites. The fun fact was that Nagi didn't have class with her. "Nagi, have you seen Mikage Reo, he's in your club right?"
Nagi blinked in surprise, and slowly lowered his chubsticks. "Why? Is he missing?" He asked.
"No need to worry. Have you seen him today?"
Nagi slowly shook his head. "I haven't..."
Miss Yamada cursed under her breath. She shook her head and turned around, looking down at the list of people he needed to find in order to find Reo.
Nagi's heart sank. Has something happened? He didn't share any classes with Reo, so had he skipped them all today or stayed home entirely? No. If he had stayed home the school wouldn't be in such a frenzy. It wasn't completely illogical to assume he had come to school, but was now missing.
Nagi took a sharp breath, and took out his phone. A quick text might answer his question instead of mopping somewhere.
Yo, Mikage-sama
U in school?
remember we have training at 3!
Nagi could have sworn he heard Reo's notification sound. The tiny beeps and vibrations that were unique to Reo's phone, and then when Nagi looked back Reo was nowhere to be seen.
Nagis phone quickly buzzed to life. Messages were from exactly whom Nagi wanted it to be.
I'm at school. Dummy where else would I be?
I haven't forgotten.
OK...
See U.
°°°
"There you are!" Nagi put his hands on his hips, and glared at Reo as he slowly and lazily approached him in the football pitch. "Half the school was looking for you, Mikage-Sama."
Reo yawned, careless. "Didn't have the energy for classes today." He said, and waved his hand dismissively. "I had better things to do." He said simply.
"Oh, and what is that?" Nagi chuckled.
Reo's face was stone cold, he took a few steps closer to Nagi. Suddenly, he was close enough to Nagi that his face was inches away, and Nagi could clearly see the shades of violet in his eyes, and also the anger. Reo looked up at Nagi, and his eyebrow twitched. "It's time to confess it. You know. I will find out eventually." He said.
Nagi laughed awkwardly. "Find out what?"
Reo grit his teeth. "What does my father want you to do? Did he bribe you into letting me play?" He asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Nagi said without thinking. "You know he paid for the reconstruction of this place." He said, waving around at the pitch around them.
"Not this! You--" Reo hit Nagi's chest with his fingers. "What does my father want from you?"
"I don't know your father, but Baya wanted me to keep you. There would have been no need for all of that if you had showed up to training. Then I would have known you were actually good."
Reo narrowed his eyes. "Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Believe what, exactly? What I just said was no secret."
Reo took a sharp breath. "So you mean you're not connected to my parents?" He hissed.
Nagi pushes him away. Reo stumbled back but didn't fall. "I sense some history there. Why would Mama-san and Papa-san contact me?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Reo chuckled. "Although... you didn't seem suspicious to me all day. You were pretty normal as I watched you from afar."
"Hold on, what!?" Nagi gasped. His jaw fell, slowly now it all made sense. He had been feeling like someone was watching him all day. So someone was watching him all day. "It was you!!"
Reo looked at his nails. "You have a dull life." He said as a matter of fact.
"Mikage-sama!! The school was half in a frenzy trying to find you and you were following me around!?" Nagi repeated. "Seriously, following me? You're creepy."
"And your life was dull."
"And let me guess, a waste of time?"
Reo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I had to make sure you weren't one of my father's minions."
"And what's the verdict? Am I one of your fathers minions?"
Reo shrugged. "My father had better tastes in minions. You're too plain. Too stupid." He said dismissively.
Nagi was sure he looked stupidly confused. "Whatever. Is that a good thing or bad?"
"That, Seishiro, remains to be seen." Reo said as a matter of fact. He took a step back, then another and another. He never took his eyes off Nagi, as if he was still under surveillance. He walked backwards until he stood next to a ball, and kicked it to Nagi, who trapped it between his foot and the ground. "For now. We have soccer to practise." Reo ordered.
"Whatever you say, Mikage-sama." He murmured, and enjoyed the way Reo always cringed at the mention of his last name.
°°°
Despite his obvious character flaws, Mikage-sama was growing on Nagi. It was dreadful how easily Nagi adapted to having someone's eyes on him, watching him. After a lifetime of walking either alone or desperately alone, now there was someone dedicated to following Nagis every step.
And Nagi wasn't joking when he said "every step".
"This isn't your class, Mikage-sama." He joked. He turned around, resting his elbow on the table behind him, where the Mikage heir had conveniently chosen to sit.
Reo rested his chin on his fist, his eyes had the same look of murder every time Nagi called him Mikage-sama, yet he always stayed silent. Reo clicked his tongue angrily. "What I chose to take as electives has nothing to do with you." He said.
"I didnt know you could change elective classes mid-semester." Nagi said, an eyebrow raised.
Reo clicked his tongue again. "Tsk. You can when you're a mikage and your father thinks taking humanities classes are good for a future manager." He hissed.
Nagi could believe anything at this point. Mikage money could get him anything he wanted, reo lacked for nothing. Not material at least.
The teacher walked in and she was just as surprised to see Reo's name in her list. She carried on regardless, choosing not to play with fire.
During the lecture, Nagi felt the back of his skull was slightly too warm, he knew not to look back because then he would see Reo's dark violet eyes staring right into his very soul. It sent shivers down his spine in a bad way. Nothing good came from Reo analysing him so intently.
Nagi kept his back straight and focused on the subject. He was a scholarship student so he couldn't afford to skip or drop classes like Reo could. Oh what money couldn't buy. Sometimes Seishiro wanted to fall back into his old dream of finding a high paying job and retiring young. Yet he couldn't. He could find that job later but he wouldn't have the athletic body of a teenager later.
°°°
The next match for their road to nationals would be held in another school, another prestigious one as far as Nagi knew, and as much as his teammates gossiped. They were right.
Nagi stepped off of the bus and immediately realised this school was another league entirely. The place looked new, a huge building a perfect silver color. The place smelled pristine and there were monitors every few steps instead of boards and papers. The students had cards, and the gymnasium felt like a world Cup staduim.
While Nagi's jaw was on the floor, Reo looked bored. "This? You call this advanced? It's worse than the one at our penthouse." Reo said, hands on his hips. He looked around at the training equipment, then pointed his hand at a lateral raise machine. "Huh. That's the cheapest one in the market."
Nagi shivered. "You have these at home??"
"Yes, you don't?"
"Wait so, can I come to your home gym for training by any chance?" Nagi asked.
"No." Reo said. His face turned blank.
Nagi huffed. "Come on!! If you have all of this at home why can't I use them--"
"No." Reo repeated again. "End of discussion."
"OK..." Nagi rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say Mikage-sama."
Suddenly, Nagi caught something from the corner of his eyes. A small shop in the gymnasium. He ran to it and almost pressed his face to the window of the shop. There along with all sorts of balls and jerseys, Nagi saw a bright blue bouncy ball. It looked plastic and soft to touch.
"Hey, how much for the blue one?" He asked the student who seemed in charge, and received a reasonable price. A minute later, Nagi was throwing it on the ground and catching it. The ball bounced effortlessly, and returned to the exact spot Nagi had thrown it from.
Reo, who hadn't moved an inch, glared at Nagi with an eyebrow raised. "Huh, a kids toy." He said, annoyed. "And what use does that have?"
"Nothing." Nagi said simply. "I bought it for enjoyment."
"Enjoyment?" Reo asked again. "That thing is a children's toy. All it does is bounce around. A waste of time."
"Should you criticise everything I do, Mikage-sama?" He said, a grin on his face. "You should try it sometimes. Not everything is a hassle or a waste of time."
Reo pointed at his new ball. "That is." He said simply.
Before Nagi could reply, the other team's coach appeared. "Follow me, we'll take you to your lockers." He said. "The match begins in half an hour so you better hurry up."
The match itself was no challenge. They won, the ease of it was beginning to bore Nagi. With Reo around feeding him impossible passes, winning was almost guaranteed.
"That was amazing, Mikage-sama, you were amazing!" He laughed. They were in the locker rooms as the high of the match wore off and Nagi had emptied his water bottle over his face. "Keep up the good work and we don't even have to worry about the nationals!"
Reo leaned back against the metal lockers. He looked almost ready to pass out, his eyes rolled back and his breathing ragged. "Whatever, Seishiro." He mumbled.
"Alright get up. The bus will leave in a minute. don't make me carry you out. What would it say about the image?"
"You've ruined the Mikage image already." Reo waved his hand.
Nagi threw his bag over his shoulder. Reo had made no move to gather his stuff. With a loud sigh, he packed Reo's bag for him. Reo himself still hadn't moved. "Are you serious?" He asked.
"Give me a minute, Seishiro, you idiot." He hissed. Nagi could give him all the minutes in the world but Reo still wouldn't move. He was too pale, his breathing too ragged. Nagi knew that look, he was exhausted to the bone.
"There there..." Nagi put the bags down and threw Reo over his shoulder instead. The tired boy suddenly gained enough strength to rain hits down Nagi's back.
"Put me down, bastard!!" He yelled. Then all the fight seized from his muscles and Reo became complicit. "Ah! Whatever!"
Nagi picked up the bags. This would be a long ride to the bus. An awkward one too. "Don't move too much Mikage-sama or I might drop you."
"Then you'd be dead." Reo warned.
"So don't wiggle so much." Nagi mumbled as he put one foot after another.
He got strange glares from the students of the other school, but his own teammates had gotten used to this dilemma. They didn't blink when Nagi squeezed both of them into the bus and gently put Reo on his seat. "I'll kill you one day. Reo said, with too much sincerity to be a joke.
"Yeah, yeah, find the stamina to walk after a match first." He mumbled. He put their bags above their seats and sat down next to Reo.
The bus started to move, Nagi fell back to his chair, and relaxed into the stiff chair. He reached for his pocket to make sure his phone was still there. It was, he felt the hardness of his phone case in his pocket. Then he reached for his other pocket, and felt nothing in it.
Nagi looked around, he looked down, on the chair, on the pocket in front of him. The bouncy ball he had just brought was nowhere to be seen. He sank back into the chair. "Ah! No way, I'd just bought it."
Reo looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "You lost the ball?" He chuckled. "Guess it couldn't really bounce back to you. Wasn't that its only job?"
"Yeah, Yeah, I know, it was a waste of money." Nagi said, he pulled out his eye cover from his pocket and put it over his eyes. He needed his rest, to sleep for some time at least, he had an exam to cram for tomorrow once he got home.
°°°
Tap, Tap, Tap...
That was the hypnotising sound of the bouncy ball Reo kept throwing towards Steve's chair and catching it again. It bounced to the ground, the therapist's chair, and Reo caught it again before throwing it.
Steve, moreover known as Professor Doctor Doctor Stephen Smith, was his parents' cherry picked child therapist to find out what had been wrong with Reo. The man had a wall full of trophies and certificates. Reo gave him credit, the man specialised in Teenagers. More specifically, Anxiety and depression in Teenagers. He was his parents' key to fixing up Reo. Or so they hope.
"It's perfectly bouncy isn't it?" Steve asked, in perfect Japanese. He spoke both Japanese and English perfectly. "You didn't have it last week, Where did you get it?"
Japanese for normal, and English for when Reo needed to switch to English because "speaking in a language other than your mother tongue will result in some emotional detachment." As If Reo needs more of that.
Reo caught the ball and didn't throw it again. He held it in his hands and stared at it for a few seconds. "It was a gift from a friend." He explained. "Our match against North-west Tokyo High was in their school, and their gymnasium sold this stuff."
Seishiro, it was a gift from Seishiro. Kind Seishiro, hard working Seishiro, Stupid Seishiro who can't see Reo is nothing but trouble for him.
The therapist, or he should say his parents' agent, continues to talk. "Ah, I did see the news. You won 2-1 didn't you?"
Reo raised an eyebrow. "Why are you surprised? Of course we won." He squeezed the ball in his hands, then stopped himself before he could deform it permanently.
"Tell me more about your football journey."
"You mean soccer?"
"I am an English man, Reo, don't joke with that." He laughed. "Very well, what about your soccer journey."
Reo rolled his eyes. "What do you want it to be? My mother clearly bribed the whole the school to make me stay in the team. It was your brilliant idea, remember. That I must have sufficient exercise?" He hissed. He threw the ball again, and caught it, and threw it, and caught it, and threw it, and caught it. "You need to exercise, to socialise. You kept drilling it into my parents yourself."
"So, do you keep going because of external motivation?"
"Did you leave me any other choice? Did you or my parents leave me for a fucking second? There is not a day without being planned beforehand by my parents!" He asked, his voice raising from a steady explanation to a shout. Then he stopped throwing the ball.
Reo shoved the ball into his pocket. What a waste of time. "Say what you have to say and let's be done with it."
"Very well. Why do you think your parents are controlling you, or molding you as you said a couple of weeks ago." Steve asked, ever calm.
"You're trying to get me to repeat myself enough times to find a hypocrisy or a flaw. Either that or you're trying to get a rise out of me, it won't work." Reo said, shrugging his shoulders.
Steve wrote something in his notebook. "Very well then, how about we talk about something else. Why don't you tell me more about our recent time change. Our sessions used to be at 4 pm, but now they're at 8 pm. You never told me why we changed the schedule."
Reo rolled his eyes. Goodness. Why did everything begin and end with soccer these days?
"I have to meet up with someone. After school stuff." Reo explained.
"After school? Does this have something to do with soccer?" He asked slowly.
The therapist can use all the tricks up his sleeve, but he'll never hear Seishiro's name from Reo, not unless from his dead lips. Nagi isn't just another note in the notebook that is almost certainly going to be presented to his father and mother. Reo won't let him become another pawn in his parents Chess board.
"No. I had to stay and work on some project. A science one. I thought it would be better to finish that before coming home." Reo said instead. "And I will be doing that again, so get used to this schedule. My parents pay you enough don't they?"
Steve kept writing. "I'm happy you have managed a schedule Reo, I'm guessing you'll be able to manage your classes this year?"
"I managed my classes last year too, thank you so much." He hissed. He got perfect grades. Top attendance. What else does his parents WANT??
OK, he didn't manage all of them, but he never liked history anyway, and also his lessons weren't advanced classes, but so what?
Reo threw the ball again and caught it. The repetitive sound of it was calming. It always bounced back. It should have always bounced back to Nagi, but Reo decided it was his gift instead.
"If you're worried about that I'll manage. I'll need a better GPA to stay in the soccer club anyway." He mumbled.
"That's a nice motivation. I didn't know you liked soccer that much,"
"It's the least waste of a time sport I can think of." Reo waved dismissively. "So what? You want to over analyse me on that or something?"
Steve wrote something else on his notes. Reo wondered what it was. Was he thinking about Reo's most minor expressions, analyzing his body language, putting fragments of Reo's life together until he found the best way to manipulate him back to being Mamma-san and Papa-san's good boy?
"I think it's enough for today." Steve said, closing his note book. He stood up to his feet, and offered his hand for Reo to shake. He did. Reo didn't offer any sweet words. He just shook his hand and watched him go out of his room.
Baya walked the doctor out. Reo could finally get out of the room and stop feeling suffocated in his own penthouse. His own space.
Reo looked out from the windows of his penthouse. The city buzzed with life under his feet, it felt quiet, despite he knew it was drowned in noise.
"Smith-san left." Baya said it was the first clue for Reo that she was in the room. Reo brought himself to smile at the old woman.
"Good riddance," he mumbled. "He's not gone, Baya, he's upstairs talking to Mama-san and Papa-san." He said, waving his hand dismissively.
Baya came close, close enough that he could feel her warmth, but she never initiated a hug, and Reo was far too old to do so like when he was a kid.
"Your parents are trying, my boy. I know you want to talk to them. Truly talk to them..." Baya whispered. Oh, her and her heart of gold.
"It's no use, Baya. They won't believe me or care as long as it doesn't help whatever life they've planned for me." Reo said, his eyes twitched. "They didn't believe me when it mattered."
A warm hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. A silent act of comfort Reo had admittingly gotten addicted to. The only person who had believed him, the only person who cared for him-- and not for the perfect image of Mikage Reo that his parents set up.