Matchmaker - Soukoku

Chapter Three

Atsushi pov

I really only joined the debate team because Dazai wanted me to.

I mean, who am I kidding, I suck at debate. Whenever we have tournaments, I always do the worst out of anyone else on the team. Dazai knows I'm kind of a pushover, but he still came up to me a month ago with his puppy eyes and went "Atsushi join the debate team pleeeaseee", and, I mean, you really can't say no to those puppy eyes.

Now I wish I'd said no because I'm stuck here after school 3 times a week, and some of these people scare me. A lot. Kunikida, for example. He takes everything seriously. Like, if you put a puppy in front of him he'd probably just tell it to shut up so he could hear the teacher better. Maybe he'd give it to somebody else. Me, I hope. And he yells. Like I said, scary.

The teacher in charge of the debate team is Mr. Hirotsu, he's kind of old to be a teacher, in my opinion. At least, I think he is. I have no idea what his age is. He just looks old. (No offense).

I'm so tired right now, I stayed up late trying to work on my argument for a debate we have next week. I'm gonna have to ask Dazai to edit it. I don't know where he gets so much energy from, but he's always bouncing off the walls, I swear to god.

I yawn, clattering down the stairs, my backpack slung over my shoulder. Kyouka is already sitting at the table, eating cereal.

"Mom and Dad already left for work." She says in her quiet voice.

"Mmm." I shuffle through the cabinets, looking for the cereal. "Where'd you put the cereal?"

She makes a puzzled face. "It's on the counter right in front of you, Atsushi. Are you tired or something?"

I wave her off. "No, no, I'm fine, I just-" I stifle a yawn. "I was just practicing for debate." I pour myself a bowl of cereal and sit down across from Kyouka.

"How's lacrosse going?" I ask.

"It's good. Kind of scary at first because I didn't know anybody, but I like winning." She finishes her cereal and stands up, taking her dishes over to the sink.

"Oh, well I'm glad you're fitting in!" I say.

She nods and exits the room, probably to go text her friend Kenji or something. I don't know. Who knows with her, honestly.

When I'm done with breakfast, I wash my dishes and check my backpack to make sure I have everything. Oh great, It's Tuesday. I have debate practice today. Kunikida is probably gonna yell at me and Dazai is going to be disappointed because my argument isn't good enough, and Mr. Hirotsu is gonna glare at me and the whole team knows I'm bad and we're gonna lose because of m-

"Have you seen my lacrosse uniform?" Kyouka asks, startling me.

"What?"

"My lacrosse jersey. Have you seen it?"

"I think mom put it in the washing machine, go check there."

"Thanks."

I take a few deep breaths. You're fine. Kyouka comes back into the room. She frowns at me a little.

"I found it."

"Great!" I say. "You ready to go?"

She nods. I get my stuff and head outside. It's a cool morning, as expected for late October. I grab my bike and fasten my helmet, checking to make sure Kyouka is behind me before setting off.

The school is about a 5 minute bike ride away from our house. The wind slaps me in the face as I pick up speed. I shiver. I wish I'd worn something warmer. Soon, I pull up in front of our school, parking my bike at the bike rack. Kyouka pulls up shortly after me.

The two of us walk up the path towards the school, where students are already mingling outside.

"Kyouka!" A short, blonde freshman with freckles runs towards us, his arms out. He envelops Kyouka in a hug. "Hiiii!"

"Hi, Kenji." Kyouka says, patting his head.

I smile at them and walk off towards where Dazai usually is. He's not at the tree where I usually meet him, so I stand under it, leaning against the trunk.

"Yoohoo!" Comes a voice from above me. I look up. Dazai is sitting in the fucking tree, beaming down at me. "Good morning, Atsushi!"

I blink. "Why are you in a tree?" I ask, my exhaustion showing through my voice.

"Oh, I was just thinking how romantic it would be to sit in a tree with someone..." He muses. "Of course, I don't have anyone to sit in this tree with me, so..."

"Do you want me to sit in the tree with you?" I ask.

"Goodness, no. I see you as a friend, that's all." He hops neatly down from his branch, his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Good, cause I didn't want to climb a tree anyways." I mumble, rubbing my eyes.

He pokes my face. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Yes, I was just up prepping for the debate, jeez."

"Oh, yeah! I'm excited for it, I-"

The bell rings, and people start to shuffle inside.

"Oh, see you after school, I guess!" I call, joining the crowd. Dazai waves after me.

...

I was right earlier. I can't do this. I suck at debate. We're gonna lose because of me.

When I got to the debate room, Dazai read through my argument and made way too many corrections, while also pointing out at least 2 dozen spelling mistakes I must have made because I was half asleep.

Then Kunikida yelled at me for making spelling errors. Then he yelled at me for not sleeping. He's scary. And Mr. Hirotsu just kind of looked at me the whole time, and I honestly have no idea what he was thinking which kind of terrifies me.

Finally, practice is over. I let out a sigh of relief as Dazai and I exit the building.

"Why'd you make me join, it's so much wooorrk..." I whine.

Dazai chuckles. "It's fun, at least for me. Really, I just wanted a friend on the team. But if you hate it that much I guess you can leave me all alone..." He trails off, making puppy eyes at me.

I raise an eyebrow. "Are you trying to guilt trip me?"

"The point of guilt tripping is that it works!" He yells, play-shoving me.

I chuckle, walking over to where my bike is parked.

"Hey, wanna come over-" I start to ask, but a short red-headed boy appears out of nowhere and taps Dazai on the shoulder. He turns around.

"Hi, are you Dazai Osamu?" The redhead asks, looking embarrassed, mad, and very internally conflicted all at the same time.

"Yeah..." Dazai says, looking the boy up and down. I know that face. Dazai's definitely checking him out. I sigh. Guess he's not coming over today.

"Right, well, uh," the redhead clears his throat. "I need to talk to you, I guess."

Dazai flashes a flirty grin. "Oh really?" He asks.

Yep, I am so getting out of here right now. "Dazai, I'm going home!" I say, getting on my bike. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Dazai calls, not even turning around.

I roll my eyes and give the redhead a sympathetic smile before pedaling away. I feel bad for whoever that is. Dazai can be kind of annoying, especially when he likes someone.

I've known Dazai for a while now, and he's had countless crushes, although he's never actually dated anybody. At some point, people started asking him for advice for some reason. Probably what the redhead is there for.

Honestly, I've been tempted to ask Dazai for advice before, myself. But who am I kidding, there probably isn't a single person in this school who would ever want to date me...

1314 words

A/N: Foreshadowing...? ;)