Work Text:
Tsubomi taps her toe against the floor, resting her elbows against the bar. It’s kind of overbright and loud, the way a lot of late-night ramen shops with a beer tap are, but she finds she doesn’t mind. It’s more interesting than the well-heeled, respectable places she goes drinking in with her university friends. She is a little surprised Kageyama frequents the place. She’ll barely hear him, when he arrives.
--
When Tsubomi is in her third summer of university, she witnesses her old classmate and childhood friend, Kageyama, fall from the sky like a meteor. He rights himself and lands on his feet, cracking the pavement, sending up a shower of rock. One nearly smashes into her face, but at the last second it swerves abruptly into the ground. He reaches up and forces a floating man down to earth, catching him by the wrist. The both of them are incandescent, Kageyama speaking quietly until the brightness fades. The man has the grace to look slightly ashamed. Kageyama nods once, embarrassed at the crowd that has gathered, and Tsubomi grabs hold of him before he can melt into the city.
“Tsubomi-cha – Tsubomi-san?” his eyes widen.
“Hello.” She says, letting go. She’s a little self-conscious, now. “Would – it’s been a while, would you like to catch up sometime? It’s the least I can do.”
“Oh.” He rubs at his nose. “If I wasn’t here, the rock wouldn’t have almost killed you, so –”
“Nonsense. Pick a place.” If he had accepted too easily, Tsubomi would have felt as though she was getting in over her head. Now, though, she felt confident. “I’m free tomorrow and the day after.”
He looks visibly surprised. It’s so odd – she can’t remember seeing more than mild shock or a dead-eyed stare when they were in middle school, and yet. His eyebrows fly up.
She prompts him. “It’ll have to be at night, though. All my classes are in the morning.”
They agree to meet in three days’ time.
--
She doesn’t wait for long – she got there a few minutes early, because her train had arrived out of schedule, and Mob arrives precisely on time. He says hello and takes the seat next to her. They order. She decides not to ask why he doesn’t drink.
They exchange pleasantries. It’s surprisingly not that hard to hear him, since they’re sitting so close. Tsubomi is completing a Commerce degree and works in a café. Mob is studying Japanese historical literature.
“Really!” she says.
“It’s as far away from numbers as you can get.” he replies. He takes a quick gulp of noodles. “And I like the ghost stories.”
“Ah, how interesting, Kageyama-kun.” She sips her beer. “So much more interesting than accounting. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, though, and I like math.”
She pauses. Considers.
“I suppose it’s as far away from what you’re studying as you can get.” she concludes, smiling.
“Yes.” Kageyama furrows his brow. It’s still odd to see him with expressions. It’s still far less than your average person, but.
She eats. An awkward silence has settled between them. The noodles are good, but she won’t find answers at the bottom of her bowl. She doesn’t quite know how to broach this topic – Kageyama-kun, I remember when you floated a frog above my head and now apparently you can fling yourself across town, what’s that about?
He breaks the silence first. “I’m glad we could meet.”
She swallows hurriedly. “Same here.”
“I wondered how Tsubomi-san were doing, but I never knew who to ask.” He turns to her, the hint of a smile on his face. “I’m glad. You seem to be doing well.”
She shrugs. The beer is loosening her up very slowly. “I think I’m doing okay. How about you, Kageyama-kun? I know what you study, but what happened with that guy a few days ago?”
“Oh.” He rubs the back of his neck. “He’s a remnant of Claw. Do you remember about six or so years ago, when that psychic group destroyed a few buildings? I was trying to calm him down.”
Tsubomi nods as though she understands. “Your ESP has gotten stronger.”
Contrary to her expectations, he doesn’t take this as a compliment. If anything, he withdraws a little. “I suppose. I don’t use them much.”
“Though, didn’t you use them for that girl?” He turns to her, confused. “You know. That girl who got her novel ripped up. It was sweet of you.”
Kageyama turns red. “I – she worked so hard on it. You were there?!”
“I was sitting by the river.” She grins. “I heard a lot. How did you ever get mixed up with all that?”
The color recedes a little. He actually twiddles his thumbs. “She asked me out on a dare, but I turned her down. We walked home from school a couple of times.”
It seems very him, to be so stiff and proper. “Awh.” She can’t help saying.
“Well, I didn’t know it was a dare for a week. I just thought she, um, liked me.”
He has very fine scars on his hands, Tsubomi notes. Like he’s scuffed them over and over.
“But actually, I’d like to say something to you, Tsubomi-san.” He folds his hands over themselves. “You transferred to a different middle school in third year, so I lost my nerve. So. I wanted to say…”
She props her head on one hand. He’s staring down at the slightly greasy bar surface, like he’s put his script there.
“I liked you.” He blurts. “Past tense! I’m not, a stalker or anything. Just until I entered high school. I just thought,” he falters, “that you should know. I did a few things with the goal of impressing you, but it turned out to help me a lot as well. So thank you, for inspiring me.”
Tsubomi almost wants to laugh or cry. He’s awful sincere. He’s so awfully sincere and easily influenced – she barely knew him in middle school and – she has to pass off her giggles for coughing.
Kageyama finally turns to look at her, deeply confused.
“I’m sorry!” she says. “Thank you. I accept your belated confession,” It’s something that she’ll keep forever, her old childhood friend fidgeting with a napkin, baring himself in a way she forgot people could do. “Thank you for telling me.”
She pats him on the shoulder. He looks a little shocked at the touch.
“Though – I do hope you didn’t think this was a date.” she can’t help teasing. “I have a boyfriend, you know.”
“Oh – no!” Kageyama yelps. “I didn’t assume that – I mean, anyone would be happy to go on a date with you, it’s not that – I just, I’m interested in someone else,” he concludes lamely.
She does grin, now, at how red he’s going. “Don’t worry about it! Why don’t you tell me all about this mystery flame, hmm?”
“He’s not on fire?” he says, quizzical, and she lets herself laugh, here in this bar with good noodles and good beer and a boy with unimaginable power thinking she, Tsubomi Takane, was an inspiration. She likes this. She likes how Kageyama cautiously smiles at her laughter, late to the joke. It’s fun.
--
In the end, they emerge from the bar having had more words exchanged than all their previous encounters combined. She startles to see a blond man step over, a hand already at Kageyama’s side.
“Hey, Shigeo. Time to get home.” he says.
Tsubomi raises her eyebrows at Kageyama. He seems to sigh, and says “This is Hanazawa Teruki. Teruki, this is Tsubomi Takane.”
“The famous Tsubomi?” Hanazawa looks over at her, and his gaze doesn’t wander below her neck. She likes him already.
“The famous Hanazawa?” she parrots back to him, shooting Kageyama a wink. He covers his face with his hands.
“The one and only!” Hanazawa pulls out his phone and taps smartly on the screen. “Do you need to call a cab? Shigeo and I are fine with walking, but it’s a bit late for someone all on their own.”
Tsubomi considers, then decides, hell with it. “Yep. You don’t have to wait with me.”
But they do. Hanazawa is everything Kageyama had said he was, though Tsubomi rather thought it was love, rather than clear eyesight, that influenced him. The guy was wearing green and orange. It was a wonder Kageyama got out of the house in a perfectly respectable button down and dark pants when this was what he called fashionable.
“If you two ever want to catch up again, let me know.” Tsubomi said suddenly, as the cab pulled up near them. She picked out a sharpie from her pocket and scribbled her number on Kageyama’s hand. She whisked her way into the car before she could see their reaction, but looking back, Hanazawa was raising a hand in farewell, and Kageyama was waving. She watched them recede into the distance, Hanazawa hooking an arm around his friend's shoulders, and grinned.
Tsubomi sat back against the leather seat, staring into the night sky.