Work Text:
Good news: Ashito has a super huge, mega enormous bag of candy.
Bad news:The candy doesn't suit Ashito's taste.
Good news:There are plenty of people around Ashito to share the candy with.
________
Ashito had been standing still in front of the shelf for five minutes now. More precisely, he had been staring at the mandarin orange-flavored candy on the shelf for five minutes. The fluorescent lights of the supermarket shone down on the bright orange packaging, making it stand out among the rows of other candies in various vibrant colors.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest, trying to look at the candy bag from a more objective angle. Then he switched to propping his chin, as if the thinking pose of some philosopher would help him make a wiser decision.
No good. He changed again to putting his hands on his hips, looking like he was weighing a momentous life decision. As if just changing his posture would make the answer automatically appear in his head.
The candy bag was big. Too big. Big enough to make him hesitate about buying it.
Ashito didn't usually eat snacks. If we're being broader about it, he didn't really like sweets. He always preferred savory things, or simply rice with grilled fish. So normally, he wouldn't have stood here this long. He would have walked straight past the snack aisle without a glance.
It's just that, maybe because he was homesick. Or something like that - a vague feeling that Ashito didn't know how to express - that made him stop in front of this candy bag.
It was probably just an ordinary type of candy that could be found at any convenience store in Tokyo. But Ashito couldn't just pass it by.
Because he'd seen it at the supermarket near his home. Because it was mandarin orange flavored - a specialty of Ehime. Because every time he saw that deep orange color, he remembered the mandarin orange groves stretching across his hometown.
He didn't know anymore. Ashito wondered if he was becoming too sentimental.
He wanted to buy it. But the black number 2.5 printed on the eye-catching orange background made him hesitate. Not 250g like regular candy bags, but 2.5 kg.
Price-wise, it wasn't too expensive. It was actually quite a good deal when calculated per gram.
Volume-wise, it was much larger than typical candies. More than Ashito needed. Much, much more.
This was the type of candy bag for large families, or to stock up for a whole month, not for a student who didn't like sweets like Ashito.
"Ashito, are you done yet?" Otomo's voice came from the checkout counter.
It seemed the other three had already finished choosing what they wanted.
"Done, I'm coming right now!" Ashito replied hastily, his hand quickly grabbing the oversized candy bag - the final decision made in a moment of impulse - then ran toward the checkout counter.
The thud as it landed on the checkout conveyor belt rang out with a solid "thump," causing the other three heads - Otomo, Tachibana, and Togashi - to turn around in unison.
All three took a second to confirm that the object before their eyes was indeed candy. It took another three seconds to process the information that Ashito was buying it.
After a few months together, they rarely saw Ashito eat snacks. If he did, it was because Yuuma enthusiastically shoved them into his mouth with "Try it, it's really good!" That was enough for them to vaguely guess that perhaps Ashito didn't like sweets.
That was a bit surprising. After all, his personality was quite... childish, energetic, and innocent. Usually people like that all liked sweets, right? But it seemed Ashito was an exception.
After paying, the four of them headed toward the long bench in front of the convenience store, planning to eat before returning to the dormitory. This wasn't exactly a habit, but on days off from practice, they would go somewhere together.
Ashito set aside his juice can and unwrapped the candy bag he'd been looking forward to. After giving the other three a handful of candies each, he finally unwrapped one for himself.
"Thanks," Otomo said while unwrapping a candy.
"Mm, mandarin orange flavor. Pretty good actually," Tachibana commented.
Togashi also put one in his mouth, chewed experimentally, then nodded in agreement.
The moment the orange candy touched the tip of his tongue, Ashito felt a light, refreshing sourness. Then the sourness was gradually replaced by a clean sweetness, not too harsh. The candy dissolved slowly in his mouth, leaving a cool sensation in his throat.
The taste was like what Ashito had imagined beforehand.
But as expected, it still couldn't compare to fresh mandarins. It didn't have the juiciness, didn't have the natural sweetness mixed with the mild sourness of Ehime mandarins freshly picked from the grove. Ashito knew he couldn't expect something like that from these compressed chemical sugar tablets, but he still felt disappointed.
Basically, satisfied. But still a bit let down.
And now the problem appeared again.
Ashito thought one candy earlier was more than enough for himself. He wouldn't put a second one in his mouth today. So now, how to deal with this still-full candy bag?
He looked down at the candy bag beside him. It was still bulging, as if taking out three handfuls of candy hadn't reduced its volume at all. 2.5 kg was a scary number when thinking about having to consume it all.
Give it away? But it was already opened, and besides, Ashito didn't think anyone would be willing to accept 2 kg of this candy.
He still remembered Hana saying that players had to control their sugar intake. Too much sugar would affect stamina, recovery speed, even concentration.
The players at Esperion must have been taught that since they were young, so no one would intake too much sugar into their bodies. If they agreed to take candy, his friends of the same age probably wouldn't take more than a handful. Ah, who knows, maybe Yuuma could take two or three handfuls.
Eat it himself? No, that wouldn't work. Ashito thought before he could eat a third of the candy bag, it would expire.
He glanced at the expiration date on the package - three months left. That sounded like a lot, but at the rate of one candy per day? Then no, definitely wouldn't finish it in time.
Ashito hung his head, both hands hugging the candy bag as if it were a burden. Terrifying visions began appearing in his head.
The scene of himself rolling on the ground clutching his face from cavities; the scene of running day and night to burn off the sugar he'd consumed; finally, holding a test result paper with alarming indicators.
Seeing Ashito's head dropping lower and lower, Otomo patted his messy head.
"Just give a handful to everyone at Esperion and it'll definitely be gone."
"That's right, isn't it?" Ashito looked up at Otomo with sparkling eyes. "You're really a genius, Otomo!"
The other three saw Ashito's expression as if he'd just been enlightened, and somehow suddenly felt uneasy.
They were overthinking it, right?
Ashito smiled looking at the candy bag in his hands. That's right, not just the first years, he could share with everyone.
Everyone.
________
That evening, Togashi saw Ashito carrying the oversized candy bag leaving the room. Before going, he didn't forget to stop and ask him.
"Do you want to take more?" Ashito shook the candy bag in his hand.
Togashi shook his head - after all, the handful Ashito gave him at dusk was more than enough.
Seeing that, Ashito didn't ask further, nodded as if understanding, then left, leaving Togashi with a suspicious look toward the door that had just closed.
___________
Ashito thought he should start with his classmates first, especially those easygoing ones.
So obviously Yuuma's room was the first destination.
Takeshima opened the room door, a bit surprised to see Ashito standing in front of his room carrying something.
"Is Yuuma in the room?"
"Ah, yes." Takeshima stepped aside so Ashito could see inside clearly, also a gesture inviting him into the room.
Hearing Ashito looking for him, Yuuma took his eyes off the tablet screen, looked up, and saw Ashito smiling while carrying an unidentified object approaching him.
"Yuuma, want some candy?"
Yuuma looked at Ashito's innocent smile, then down at the enormous candy bag in his hands, looked back up at Ashito's face, then back down at the candy bag.
Was this a prank Ashito had for him for always shoving sweets into his mouth?
Even thinking that, Yuuma still smiled and reached in to take a handful of candy.
Mm, it was real candy. Normal candy. Yuuma thought when he reached in he'd touch something creepy.
Before he could say thank you, Yuuma saw Ashito take out two more handfuls of candy himself and place them on the desk.
"Take a bit more, after all Yuuma likes sweets." Ashito kept his bright smile.
Revenge, this was revenge. Definitely.
Both Yuuma and Takeshima had that thought.
Seeing Ashito turn to look at him, Takeshima consciously shook his head indicating he didn't want any.
"Really don't want any?" Ashito asked again, his voice sounding disappointed, his head tilting slightly to one side, his sparkling eyes looking at Takeshima.
"...I'll eat with Yuuma." Takeshima turned away, avoiding the other person's gaze.
"That's Yuuma's portion, you can take your own portion. I have plenty more." Ashito patted the candy bag he was holding as if to prove it.
"Takeshima." Ashito drew out his voice.
In the end, Takeshima couldn't withstand Ashito's gaze and accepted a compromise.
"Alright. Give me a few."
"Just a few. Really. Don't need as much as Yuuma." He quickly added, afraid of falling into the same situation as his best friend and roommate.
As if not hearing what Takeshima said, Ashito still took a full handful of candy and gave it to him.
After those two received their candy, Ashito checked off two marks on the list in his head. He cheerfully said goodbye to the two of them and left, leaving behind two bewildered people in their own room.
"What's with him?" Yuuma pointed toward the door.
"Um... distributing candy?" Takeshima answered based on what he'd just seen.
"..."
The two were silent for a few seconds, exchanged doubtful looks, then simultaneously headed toward the door. Yuuma opened the door and stuck his head out into the hallway.
As expected, they just caught sight of Ashito standing in front of another door, still carrying the enormous candy bag, knocking on the door rhythmically.
It was Otomo and Asari's room.
Otomo froze for exactly one second when he saw Ashito carrying the now-familiar candy bag standing in front of his room.
He opened his mouth, but couldn't find words to say, just stepped aside to let Ashito into the room.
Asari sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall reading some English book, not paying attention to Ashito's appearance. After all, it wasn't unusual for him to come here looking for Otomo.
Until someone's shadow slowly moved closer, stopped right in front of the bed, and without hesitation plopped down on the floor next to the edge of his bed, that's when Asari looked up.
Ashito held out the candy bag in front of his face and repeated the magic phrase from earlier.
"Asari, want some candy?"
Asari looked at the candy bag that had completely obscured Ashito's face behind it, only seeing his messy hair and two hands holding up the candy bag high. He glanced to the side and saw Otomo looking defeated and helpless.
Though suspicious, Asari still took one. He knew with Ashito's persistent personality, he wouldn't let him off if he didn't take candy. Agreeing now was the fastest way to solve the problem.
Taking one candy wouldn't make Asari worse at soccer.
"Just one?"
Hearing the other person's question, Asari reluctantly took a few more.
Seeing the candy bag still held high right in front of his face, with no signs of moving, Asari frankly said:
"I'm not taking any more."
Only then did Ashito pull back the candy bag, even pouting in disappointment. Still, he didn't demand more because he knew Asari's personality.
He turned and held up the candy bag toward Otomo as if asking if he wanted any.
"No, I still have the candy you gave me." Otomo shook his head.
Ashito just made an "oh" sound, then said goodbye to both of them.
Otomo wasn't at ease so he followed Ashito out into the hallway, leaning his shoulder against the door frame to observe. Sure enough, he was heading straight to Tachibana's room and repeating the door-knocking action.
Otomo rolled his eyes, inadvertently seeing Yuuma and Takeshima standing in front of their room door, also looking toward Ashito. In each person's hand were bright orange candies - precisely the type of candy Ashito bought this afternoon.
The corner of Otomo's mouth twitched. When I said you should share candy with other people, I didn't mean for you to carry the candy bag and hand it out to each person like this, Ashito!!!!
Unfortunately, the screaming sound in Otomo's head couldn't reach Ashito's soul, much less stop him from entering Tachibana's room with a completely carefree smile.
Kuroda's usually polite smile clearly stiffened for a moment when he saw what was in Ashito's hands.
Ashito (pretended) not to notice, smiled while carrying the candy bag in front of his black-haired friend, repeating the magic phrase once more.
"Kuroda, want some candy?"
Kuroda didn't answer immediately, just looked at the candy bag for a while as if weighing something, then took exactly two candies from the bag.
"I'm not taking more." He stated upfront with a serious expression.
Ashito didn't coax him to take more, knowing it wouldn't work. So he shifted his target to the other person in the room.
"Tachibana?"
Tachibana flinched slightly when he heard Ashito call his name. He rubbed his neck, wanting to avoid the other person's focused, expectant gaze.
"No, I... um..." Tachibana stammered, clearly in a dilemma. He sighed a long sigh, finally surrendering to that invisible pressure. "...alright. Give me a few."
Despite trying to hold his ground, Tachibana still couldn't resist the pull from Ashito's sparkling eyes full of anticipation.
And then, under Tachibana's horrified and utterly helpless gaze, Ashito cheerfully gave him a handful of candy (definitely more than this afternoon and definitely more than "a few"). But now, all resistance had become meaningless.
Tachibana could only turn to look at Kuroda with a desperately pleading gaze, hoping to find a bit of support from his friend. But all he received was a standard professional smile along with eyes that clearly said: "You made your bed, now lie in it, buddy."
Perhaps noticing Tachibana's unnatural expression, a bit of guilt rose in Ashito's heart, making him carefully ask the other person.
"Too much?"
"No." Tachibana answered almost by instinct when he caught the dejected look clearly showing on Ashito's face, only to immediately regret it and want to bite his tongue.
Ashito received that answer, his face immediately brightened up, all traces of previous worry vanishing without a trace. As if the guilt from just now had never existed.
"Then it's fine."
Ashito patted Tachibana's shoulder lightly once, then cheerfully said goodbye to the two friends. Continuing his "expedition" mission of seeking out other classmates' rooms with the sacred duty of sharing the wonderful (that he wanted to get rid of) orange candy with everyone.
Only after Ashito left did Kuroda dare to laugh. Tachibana glanced over with a resentful look.
"Thanks a lot, good friend."
"You're welcome," Kuroda said lightly. "You're too soft, that's your problem.">
Just 20 minutes later, all first-year players of Esperion's youth team, without a single exception, had in their hands at least a few candies with the characteristic fresh orange flavor. Some lucky (or unlucky) ones even received a whole handful.
Anyway, congratulations, congratulations.