KOF School

Shopping

Yashiro was shocked when his mother suddenly appeared and quickly turned away, pretending to walk in the other direction.
To his dismay, she suddenly called to him.
"Excuse me, young man," Yashiro stopped but didn't turn around.
He heard heeled footsteps coming towards him and slowly turned to see his mother come over. Yashiro didn't know what to expect. Did she recognise him? She was his mother, after all.
"You're very tall," Yashira remarked. "Just like my son."
Yashiro bowed slightly in response.
"It's kinda hard to see anyone by your height," Yashira went in. "Especially around here."
Yashiro nodded again.
"I suppose you haven't seen anyone around your height as well, right?" Yashira asked.
Yashiro shook his head, though he knew quite a number of people who were even taller than him.
"Right... if you see a boy with light hair like mine by your height, can you inform me?" Yashira said, taking out a piece of paper from her bag and handing it to him. Yashiro took the sheet and looked at it to see that it was actually a poster of himself with his mother's contact details. "This is my son, he's been missing for around a week now. I hope he's okay, I lost all contact with him."
Yashiro nodded again and folded the piece of paper and stuffed it into his pocket. Yashira bowed and took out a few more of those posters and stuck them up on the wall right beside the mural he had done. She stared at the street artwork for a second, her mouth slightly agape, and turned to briskly to walk away.
Well, he knew why. Yashira found his art-style familiar. She's the one who taught him how to paint in the first place, when the two of them would make spray-paint projects on canvases way before he even went to preschool. Of course, Yashiro was perfect in her eyes back then, though he could barely read and count.
Shermie and Chris sprang out of their hiding place as soon as Yashira walked away and ran to him.
"What did she say?" Shermie asked. "She literally outran us by using the back door."
"Don't ask why we didn't use it," Chris added. "Anyway, what did she say? Did she recognise you?"
Yashiro shook his head. "She just came to stick up a few more posters."
"She looked really broken, though," Shermie remarked. "I kinda feel bad for her..."
Yashiro said nothing as the three of them walked back to Chris's place where they were all putting a night for a sleepover.

Yashiro laid awake, his thoughts still revolving around the worried look in his mother's eyes. It was true, she wasn't the best, but they did have some good times together.
The two of them used to sit together every weekend to paint, sometimes he would bring out his little ukulele— which was what first inspired him to learn to play the guitar—and play for her. Yashira would just silently admire him, her son that was such a good musician at that tender age. If it wasn't for her sudden obsession of wanting him to be nothing less than perfect, she would actually be a great mother.
Yashiro didn't like seeing her like that, but the thought of going back home to live with the same expectations she had upon him still made him shudder. What if she would go back to her old ways, abuse him the same way she had always done?
"Yashiro?" Yashiro jolted out of his thoughts and turned to look at Chris giving him a concerned look, his face illuminated by the dim lighting. "You're awake?"
Yashiro nodded, sitting up. "Yeah. I need to use the bathroom."
He made his way towards the en-suite bathroom in the cold dark. The floor was freezing the soles of his feet, but he couldn't just sleep that night, not with his mind in a whirl at least.
Yashiro simply sat down on the toilet seat for a few minutes before going back to the room. Shermie was still fast asleep on  the extra futon laid out on the ground. Chris let out a yawn and started snoring less than a second later too. Yashiro lifted Chris's phone from the bedside table and looked at the time.
It was nearly six-thirty. It was already morning, he could see glimmers of the early-morning sun breaking through the curtained windows. It wasn't like he could actually sleep after knowing that it's already morning.
Yashiro changed into a casual outfit and left Chris and Shermie a note, saying that he was going out. He made his way to a convenience store and got himself and his friends a light breakfast before making his way back to Chris's home. He had to pass his own home too, and knew that his mother was already awake at this time, probably making breakfast or doing laundry.
Shermie and Chris were already awake by the time he came home, sitting in the living room with the sleep still in their eyes.
"You woke up so early," Shermie groaned. "Why?"
"I couldn't sleep," Yashiro remarked as he put the plastic bag of food down. "Help yourselves, I got some for y'all too."
"I haven't even brushed my teeth yet," Chris yawned, earning a frown of disgust from Shermie.
"Yes, and I can smell it," Shermie sighed. "Go brush your teeth. Your breath stinks."
"Well, you aren't any better either," Chris countered as he got up and made his way towards the kitchen. 
Yashiro snorted and sat down to eat as well.

Later that day, Yashiro snuck out again and went to the mall to shop for some stuff. Christmas was in a few days, after all, and he still hadn't gotten anything for anyone yet.
Especially for Shermie and Chris. They really deserved something, being the only few that actually knew of his whereabouts. For some reason, he decided to get something for Iori too, something small like a bookmark since he often saw him reading. He did feel bad for ambushing him even after knowing that he had a condition.
And also because the redhead actually went ahead and spoke to his mother out of concern. That was a nice gesture too.
Yashiro contemplated on whether he would get something for his mother but then decided that he really didn't have any idea on what to actually get for her. He decided to just walk around and see if he gets any inspiration on what he would get for her.
The first stop was the bookstore since it was on the first floor. He got some stuff for himself, the bookmarks for Iori and his sister like he planned. He was about to make his way towards the notebook section to get a music manuscript book for his songs and that's when he spotted it.
It was a canvas. A medium-sized painting canvas. Yashiro wondered if he was as good with a brush as he was with a spray can but decided to just get a few. A painting sounded like a good gift.
He picked up a set of oil paint, then made his way towards the counter, and paid for everything before making his way back outside. Yashiro went back to Chris's place, got changed into a different outfit and bade his friends goodbye before leaving to go back home. Shermie and Chris were very much surprised, but were glad all the same. After all, this meant that they didn't have to meet in secret anymore.