Eda picked up a can of sprite from the vending machine, popping it open and taking large gulps. It's a hot day out, so it's refreshing, and really cheers him up from the dreadful mood of the rest of the day.

They had a long weekend, so they spent it traversing the shopping district nearby. They'd come here once to get tea leaves, but never quite looked around well.

Shinomiya grimaced.

He had his own can of juice in his hand, but he seriously didn't understand Eda's apparent obsession with soft drinks. They were essentially bombs of carbonated gas to him, but Eda enjoyed it like the only thing he thought was worth drinking.

"When you drink soft drinks, soft drinks eat you back," Shinomiya sneered. "Work o'the devils, them things."

(Sometimes when Shinomiya speaks, he mixes in his dialect halfway through, and Eda would be left wondering if that was Japanese for half a moment.)

"Isn't that pineapple," Eda muttered back, starting to walk again.

(Like geez, let him drink whatever he wants. At least he can feel a soda on his tongue.)

He knew the road back to that one waffle store from a couple weeks ago, but Shinomiya, like the aimless moron he is-- needed to be tugged back in the right direction about thirty times throughout the trip.

"It's that way."

"Are you sure?" Shinomiya would stare at him skeptically, like he doubted hard. "Like very sure? Super sure? A hundred percent? Without a doubt or dime in a dozen-- wait that's the wrong quote, nevermind. So, you sure?"

"Stop asking that!" Eda threw his hands into the air, genuinely frustrated at this point, "I'm gonna start questioning my sense of direction, too!"

Shinomiya scoffed. "What, so you weren't sure?"

"I am sure about it but stop making me think it isn't!" Eda snapped. At this point, Shinomiya was really annoying him for the sake of it and he was about eighty percent sure that was the intention. "Stop talking and let me focus!"

Seriously, he hated walking around with this guy.

"Wimp," Shinomiya spat with a scowl.

Eda crushed the can in his hand. Oh, that is it.

-

After a few punches, a whole ruckus, and getting a security guard called on them for disrupting the relative peace of the town park, they sat on the bench, facing away and bickering lightly while trying to pretend they weren't cussing each other out.

"Dickhead."

"You can't even get the right amount of salt for an egg sometimes."

"Shut the hell up, you burned water last week."

"I did not burn it, it just boiled over!" Shinomiya hissed sharply, turning around. "And you're the one that didn't notice."

"Don't blame me for your mistake."

"You were literally next to it, and I was outside!"

Eda turned around, ready to give this brat a piece of his mind again about that one incident-- Shiomi got cranky all of next week because the gas stench was everywhere and they had one hell of a lecture-- but they're interrupted.

"Are you two fighting again?"

They turned back-- and, on the other end of the small crest of trees, there was a small brick-road path leading up the shopping district down toward industrial areas.

Sekimori stood there, an arm in a cast. His free hand held a paper bag of what looked like groceries, and he was wearing casual clothes for once.

"Sekimori-senpai?!" they exclaimed, really not expecting to see him.

"You didn't die in the last chapter?" Eda muttered to himself. Seriously, do people usually show up so soon after their tragic expulsion?

"Sekimori-senpai!" Shinomiya said, louder than necessary. He made his way over the bench, rushing forward to greet the senior. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Sekimori sighed at the sight.

"I'm glad I got to see you two as well," he said. There was a permanent frown on his expressions, making his smile just a little fainter than the norm.

Eda steps over, taking the seniors groceries from him. No sense making the injured hold the things, after all.

"Do you live around here, senpai?" he asked, then realized the stupidity of the question, "ah-- I guess not. You wouldn't be staying in Polar Star if you were."

Sekimori hummed in response, a faint smile finally curling at the edge of his lips.

"I'm barely released from the hospital, so I'm staying at my uncle's tea shop for now," he told them, as if his cast needed any further explanation. "I can't head home until I'm done packing up everything I need."

Head home, huh.

Never would he have thought those words would sound so sad.

Shinomiya had only barely given up on the endlessly circulatory argument regarding Sekimori's expulsion, but he wasn't about to start it up again. It would be insensitive to do in front of the person himself, after all.

"So... what are you two doing out here?" Sekimori asked.

And like he'd pressed the correct button, both of them just burst like a bunch of children shoving each other over to tattle first. Eda went first, pointing jarringly at Shinomiya and declaring that "we're lost because Shinomiya is an idiot!"

"Me?!" Shinomiya reacted like he was getting doused with cold water, "you were so damn sure we were headed the right direction!"

"I would've been fine if you could quit distracting me!"

"Excuses!"

Sekimori held up a hand, and they immediately shut up.

"So," Sekimori continued, like world war didn't just break out for a second in front of him, "where were you guys headed to anyways?"

At that, they paused.

It was as if they suddenly realized what they were talking about, and the air settled into something slightly awkward.

Sekimori raised a brow at that.

Eda and Shinomiya's eyes met for a brief, awkward second-- then Eda sheepishly admitted, "the seniors kicked us out in case we tried to do something bad. We thought we'd go to your uncle's tea shop, actually."

"We figured we could find you there," Shinomiya added.

"Can we go over?" Eda jumped, eager to ask before Shinomiya could. He hesitated toward the end, though-- "Or would it be imposing?"

Sekimori hummed, amused. They were acting like children starved for his attention, and he honestly found that incredibly endearing.

He was only gone for a little while, but he had to say-- he sort of missed their company, too. Their arguing was starting to sound more nostalgic than annoying. Seriously, he's growing soft.

"Well, that's fine, just come over and stay for lunch if you want," he decided, checking the time on his phone. He ought to text his uncle while he was at it. "You'll have to be quiet, though. It's a tea shop, so the ambience is important."

They cheered a little too loud and excited for his comfort-- but he found himself smiling at them instead of chastising them.

They were really growing on him, and that really made the pain in his chest ease.

-

"Eh?!" Shinomiya exclaimed, immediately being shushed by Eda who shoved a hand over his mouth.

Despite that, Eda also questioned rather loudly in shock, "you're not permanently expelled?!"

Sekimori chuckled, "I figured you didn't know. It's a rare loophole, after all," he said. He gathered a few jars of spices from the shopping bag, carefully sorting them out in the cabinets. "I told the seniors right before I found you guys. Can't have you guys getting expelled too if you cause trouble, after all."

They were in the tea shop now.

It was a small store, but it had a kitchenette, a washroom, a couch, and a spare futon. It's enough for one person to live sparsely, usually workers that stay late or when the owner didn't want to bother travelling home for the night.

For now, Sekimori was staying here.

"Other than the usual legal requirements, there are two conditions to fulfill before one can become a student at Tootsuki," Sekimori raises three fingers, turning to the students. "First is of course, general skills. This is usually done in the form of an entrance exam or an interview."

Now that was something Eda didn't know.

"Why do you look confused?" Shinomiya snapped to the boy, "we had written tests and interviews, didn't we? All basic questions, though."

"No?" Eda balked, genuinely confused, "I was literally sent here like normal. You're telling me Totsuki is high-end enough for their junior high to have entrance tests?!"

"That probably means you were approved by a recommendation," Sekimori explained, "I reckon it was Saiba-senpai for you-- though I don't know the man myself to make that assumption, it seems to be the most likely situation."

"What? You cheat," Shinomiya seethed.

"Oh shut up, I didn't know!" Eda retorted. "If you let Junior High entrance exams stump you, maybe you're a shit cook."

"Screw da'pie hole, ya dimwit. The interview's a hack."

"The interview? Oh... is it because you were trying not to sound like an indecipherable hooligan half the time?"

"Insult the accent one more time and I'll stuff you in turkey, pudding-head."

"Anyways, anyways," Sekimori claps twice to get their attention-- it's a little awkward with one arm in a cast, but he manages-- "then we have the second condition, which is the age limit."

They hummed at that.

That's also a classic school rule-- there's a year or two of leeway. Grade skipping isn't quite as much of a thing here as it would be outside of Japan, so the age limit in schools aren't quite as broad.

"Tootsuki is a private international academy, so unlike most of the public schools around, grade-skipping is allowed to a restricted degree," Sekimori explained to them. "I'm one of those very few that entered the academy a year early."

"That's possible?"

It certainly is.

"And well, the expulsion will still remain in my record, but it'll be fine."

Skipping grades isn't a frequent thing in this country, and the school year begins the same as every other child born in the same year frame.

So if Sekimori was a year younger than his peers-- he would technically bypass Tootsuki's strict entrance policies and still be eligible to apply for school next year.

"So you have the age... but what about the testing part?" Eda spoke up, "will you need to find someone to recommend you in?"

Sekimori shook his head. "There's always a transfer exam for the high school division in Spring, though it's only eligible for the first year."

Next Spring? That would basically be the equivalent of getting pulled back a year in school-- that's not gonna look great on records.

But then again, maybe that really didn't matter to him.

"So until then, I'm going to polish my skills so I can come back twice as strong," Sekimori told them. "The high school entrance exam is notorious for being much harder than the junior high advancements, after all. And those are really tough too." 

"Yeah, and when you come back, you can prove to those cheating punks that you're not gonna go down so easily!" Shinomiya cheered. "We'll be waiting for you, Sekimori-senpai!"

"Ah-- me too!"

"Yes, yes," Sekimori patted them on the head, because their enthusiasm was very much appreciated, "now that we've gotten that out of the way-- let's have lunch, shall we?" 

Look on the bright side-- Sekimori 'll be able to see these two get into high school when he graduates. 

It's just a year, after all.

All the more experience for him.

(And revenge will be served, he swears by it.)