Bokuaka Week 2020

Day Four:

Crashes and bangs echoed around Kotarou's normally music-filled home. His parents and siblings were bustling with boxes, and running around with bags. It was chaotic like this every time they moved. The Bokuto household traveled everywhere, all over Japan. They moved a lot because of Kyoshi, Kotarou's father. His job prevented settlement. But their new house would be home for quite a while, the rest of high school, at least. It was a nice house, in a good neighborhood, and Kotarou hoped for good people, too.

So, picture Kotarou's delight when he spotted the neighbor boy bouncing a volleyball in his hands. It might ay have been the highlight of his summer, though he was busy. Kotarou had as many odd jobs ad he could handle, he was saving money to move out as soon as he could. He loved his family, they were the most important thing to him, but Kotarou wanted friends, and he couldn't have that if they moved every few years. He never got the chance to talk to Neighbor Boy.

But this first day of school, he ran into a familiar face. One he had seen out the window many times.

"Hey!" Kotarou jogged up to him, Neighbor Boy stopping to let him catch up. "I'm Bokuto Kotarou, nice to meet you!"

"Hello, Bokuto Kotarou," Neighbor Boy said, and kept on walking. Kotarou followed him, all the way to school. The walked in together, and Kotarou stayed near him all the way to the lockers. Neighbor Boy sighed, and turned to Koutaro. He asked, "Why are you following me?"

"Well, we're neighbors! We should get to know each other!"

Neighbor Boy sighed, giving up his peaceful morning, and put his shoes into his locker. He closed the door, and walked to his classroom, with Kotarou shadowing him like a duckling. But once Neighbor Boy entered, he could not follow. Considering the classroom he was lead to, Kotarou gathered that Neighbor Boy was a year below him. He'd just have to come back at lunch. Which he did, day after day, long enough that Neighbor Boy finally acknowledged it.

"What do you want?" Neighbor Boy asked one day, when Kotarou came to his classroom at lunch. Kotarou just grinned, happy to finally be spoken to.

"To eat lunch with you!" Kotarou said. Neighbor Boy grimaced.

"Yes, and on the roof no doubt." he scoffed. Kotarou nodded, vigorously. Neighbor Boy realized he had opened a can of worms. He sighed, resigned to his fate, and followed Kotarou through the hallway, and up the stairs. They chatted there throughout lunch, and Neighbor Boy found himself enjoying it more than he thought. And afterwards, Kotarou walked him back to class.

The day after that was Saturday, and Kotarou was in his backyard, first free time all summer. He was spiking a volleyball against the side of his house. It was loud enough inside, with all his siblings, that you couldn't hear the pounding. On the other side of the fence, however, the noise was infuriating poor Neighbor Boy, who was tying his hardest to read. He stood up, and walked to the fence, craning his neck to see what was causing the commotion. What he saw was surprising to him.

"You play, too?"

Kotarou turned his head, spying Neighbor Boy over the fence. He dropped his ball, and walked over.

"'Course I do! Why do you think I was so persistent?" Kotarou rested his chin on the fence. Neighbor Boy backed up at the proximity, but stayed relatively near. He wanted to keep speaking to Kotarou. He liked speaking to him more and more, by the minute. "I saw you practicing in your yard. I promise I'm not normally this annoying." Neighbor Boy laughed.

"I'm Akaashi Keiji."

(Sorry, it's short. I'm tired)