tsun-sweet boyfriend | sakusa kiyoomi

13 ' regret

Arcade

2 hours later

"Wow, you actually showed up," Yume comments and waves, "We thought you'd ditch us for some last minute stuff with your boyfriend."

"Yeah, it's a surprise," Jiro adds and approaches.

"Of course, I won't do that," Amari reassures and heads to the entrance of the arcade.

"But I did go on a date with my Kiyoomi earlier," she brags, "And he finally finally said it!"

"What? I like you?" they guess.

"Yup, daisuki, he told me," she confirms, beaming with joy.

"Well that's some progress, good for you," Yume congratulates.

"So in like, a few years, I'm going to be, um, S-Sakusa Emi," she gasps, "If he marries into my family, though unlikely, Amari Kiyoomi? Or nah, I'll just be Sakusa Emi!"

"Enough with the Sakusa this and that, all you ever talk about is him. Let's try that instead," Jiro changes the topic and points at a car race game.

"Uh oh, here we go with the car obsession again," Amari sighs as Jiro advances to the unoccupied car game seat.

"Honestly, he behaves like a kid when it comes to cars," Yume chuckles and follows with Amari.

"What do you even see in him, Yume?" Amari continues in a softer, more hushed tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Emi," she denies and brushes it off, making the other one shake her head.

A few weeks later, the nationals finally came, and Emi's more than eager to watch and make an article about this for the school newspaper. She volunteered on writing this one; It was a good excuse to have her glued to the team.

"You didn't play yesterday, right?" Emi asks as they walk to the vending machine inside the venue, "Why is that again?"

"We didn't need to, we advance straight to this second round," he answers as she bought bottled water.

"Good luck, I'm sure you'll win," she reassures him, "Not that you need luck though, heh."

"Thanks. I'll head back now, see you," he remarked before walking away.

"Yup, yup, see you, Omi Omi."

Itachiyama is victorious for the second and third round, and Amari makes sure that she has jotted down all important and interesting details for her paper, unnoticeably focusing too much on Sakusa as one of the top three aces in Japan.

However, unexpectedly, the third round isn't so easy for the team. With each team, Itachiyama and Inubushi East High both winning one round, Amari couldn't help but feel worried for them. In the end, unfortunately, the team captain gets injured and to her dismay, they lost.

"Wow, if only the captain-" Amari hears the comments of the crowd, particularly those by her friends.

"It can't be helped, sports is about luck too," Jiro contradicts, "Happened to us on swimming team too."

"Still, it's a bummer," Yume adds.

"Let's go home, Itachiyama's eliminated already," he suggests and hangs his bag on his shoulder.

"Oh yeah, if you lost a round, you're out, right? That's how it works?" she confirms.

"Yup, it's brutal. One lost and it's good bye nationals. So, let's go."

"Come on, Emi-chan," Jiro adds and stands up, "You know you can't go to him, right? He's with the team."

"Right," Amari mumbles with a nod, lazily grabbing her belongings.

"Let's go."

Sakusa plans to go straight home after their unexpected loss. After a talk and speech by the third years, he walks with Komori, who's obviously feeling as gloomy as the others.

"We'll win it next year," Sakusa tells his cousin.

"Yeah, we will," Komori agrees.

Their walk home was quiet as usual, the two of them contemplating about what just happened. Minutes later, Komori parts ways with him on the street that led to his house, and he bids him goodbye. As Sakusa reaches his house, he sees a familiar figure waiting on the fences nearby and he narrows his eye, trying to recognize her.

"Emi?" he mutters under his mask.

He approaches her and upon noticing him, her face lights up with a bright smile.

"Omi!"

"What are you doing here?" he inquires and pauses.

"I just came to check on you. And I, uh, bought you some stuff, you know, in case you're feeling down, or, or something," she explains, obviously unsure what to do in this situation.

"Oh."

"I bought you snacks you like," she adds, "I just want to cheer you up," she bashfully explains.

"Do you pity me?" he questions, his brows furrowing.

She gulps, looking at him and his intimidating glare.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you," she answers, "I don't think you can call it pity. The loss, it obviously doesn't feel so nice."

"That's pity, probably," he hisses.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, "I didn't mean it like that. Forget I even came here. See you tomorrow in school," she continues and forcibly hands the paper bag to him.

"Throw it if you want, bye!" she says before getting away, her eyes now a little red and glassy.

"Wait, Emi," he tries to stop her, but she's too embarrassed to face him at this point. Sakusa rarely has regrets but this is one exception.