Chapter Text
The wind on the rooftop of Furin High was relentless, whipping the hem of Sakura’s jacket and tugging at his bi-colored hair. He stood near the edge, framed by the sprawling view of the town he’d forced his way into, feeling the weight of the silence behind him.
Motoki Azusawa broke that silence first, his voice surprisingly steady. "It’s true that outsiders don’t normally move here. I think everyone’s wondering the same thing." He stepped forward, his eyes locked on Sakura’s back. "Why did you come to us... and why are you fighting to be the top?"
Sakura didn’t move. He stared ahead, his mismatched eyes wide, his body tensing as the question hung in the air like a physical barrier.
"You’ve done a lot for us, too!" Azusawa continued, leaning in with genuine earnestness. "So I’m curious! Really! Right?" He nudged Kiyomasa Kunugi, who was standing nearby.
Kunugi shifted uncomfortably, looking everywhere but at Sakura. "I-I’m not that curious..." he muttered, his voice dropping to a sharp whisper. "Don’t lump me together with you!"
Azusawa blinked, looking around at the rest of the group—Suo, Nirei, Kiryu, and Tsugeura. The atmosphere was thick, charged with a tension that Azusawa seemed only just now to be sensing. "Wait... Uh... Huh? Why’s everyone acting kinda weird?"
Nirei was the most obvious, his eyes bulging and his mouth hanging open as if he were trying to swallow the very air. Sakura, feeling the heat rise to his face, began turning his head frantically between them.
"Y-Yeah," Sakura stammered, his voice cracking slightly. "What’s with you guys?"
"Uhh... Um, I, Uh..." Nirei shook, his hands trembling as he tried to find a way to navigate the conversation without breaking the fragile peace.
But Tsugeura had no such filters. He stepped forward, practically sparkling with energy, a massive grin on his face. "He’s right! Of course I’m curious, too! I wanna know! I’m dyin’ to know!" Internally, he was already convinced: I smell some hidden virtue here.
Azusawa tilted his head. "What? You guys don’t know, either? Oh, is it a secret?"
In the silence that followed, Kiryu watched Sakura’s stiff shoulders. I thought he had his reasons, so I never asked, he thought privately. I bet they’re all thinking the same.
Finally, Sakura let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for a lifetime. He didn't turn around, but his voice was quieter now, stripped of its usual defensive bite.
"It’s no big deal, really," Sakura said, staring at the horizon. "I just heard that the school’s famous for the delinquents. They’re fighting every day, even during the holidays. I thought it was cool. It’s great that the guys living at the bottom of society... who’re only good for their fists, are riskin' everything to duke it out."
He gripped the railing, his knuckles turning white.
"And if I could come out on top... then maybe I could finally acknowledge that I’m good for something." His voice faltered, dropping to a jagged whisper. "That even trash like me... is capable of accomplishing something..."
The rooftop went deathly still. Nirei’s expression crumbled into one of pure heartache. The raw, casual way Sakura had referred to himself as "trash" hit harder than any punch they had seen him throw.
Sensing the shift in the air, Sakura suddenly pivoted, his face flushed with embarrassment and a desperate need to take the words back. "Hey, I get it, okay?!" he shouted, waving his arms aggressively. "That was all in the past! I know, I joined the school without even realizing it changed!!"
Azusawa didn't flinch. He just looked at Sakura with a terrifyingly calm, observant gaze. "Nah, Sakura. That’s not the issue."
There was a small, agonizing pause.
"Sakura..." Azusawa said softly. "...Are you actually trash?"
Sakura froze. He stopped shouting, his arms dropping to his sides. He looked down at the concrete of the roof, his shadow stretching out long and lonely before him. He didn't answer. He couldn't.
Azusawa took one more step, his voice dropping to a tone of gentle, piercing realization. "Or did someone else... call you that?"
The wind howled again, but for Sakura, the world had gone silent. The word "trash" echoed in his mind, a ghost of a thousand voices from a past he had tried to outrun, now standing right there on the roof with him.
The tension on the roof snapped with the sound of a heavy fist meeting a shoulder.
"Stop it!!" Kunugi yelled, having finally reached his limit. He punched Azusawa in the back with enough force to make the other boy stagger.
"Gah!" Azusawa cried out, clutching his back as he stumbled forward.
"Why do you always have to be so pushy?!" Kunugi continued to shout, his face flushed with a mix of irritation and secondhand embarrassment. "Read between the lines, dumbass!!"
Nirei, still trembling slightly, gave a small, hesitant nod. "K-Kunugi-san’s right..."
"Whaaat?" Azusawa’s voice was thick with disappointment, his shoulders slumped. "But I’m so curious..."
Nirei watched Sakura's profile, his heart aching. It’s obvious, he thought, his mind flickering back to the image of Sakura’s nearly empty, sterile room. Sakura-san... didn't have a happy past. It’ll only bring back terrible memories if we force him to talk.
"Do you wanna know?"
The question was quiet, but it cut through the bickering like a blade. Nirei’s eyes snapped wide. "Huh?"
Azusawa straightened up, his playful demeanor shifting into something more grounded. "I won’t push it if you don’t want to talk about it," he said, looking Sakura in the eye. "But if you wanna share, then I wanna know."
Kunugi crossed his arms, staring at Azusawa judgmentally, but Sakura remained still, his gaze intensive, searching Azusawa’s face for any sign of mockery.
"Yeah? But why?" Sakura asked calmly.
"Why?" Azusawa hummed, tilting his head back as he pondered the question. "'Why'... well, from what I’ve heard about the things you’ve done, and after talking to you just now, I can confirm that at least I don’t think you’re trash."
A heavy silence fell over the rooftop. Even Tsugeura stopped his exuberant fidgeting. Everyone was quiet, paying rapt attention as Azusawa continued.
"If I heard anyone say that about you, I wanna be able to tell them off. Or if you’re the only one who thinks that... then I want to know why you’d end up thinking that way."
Sakura let out a small, shaky breath. "...And what if you find out?"
Azusawa didn't hesitate. He smiled softly, a look of genuine warmth in his eyes. "Then... I think we’d become closer. As friends."
Sakura’s eyes widened, his face a mask of surprise and confusion. Friends? Just like that?
"Learning about what someone has seen through their eyes," Azusawa went on, "and their thoughts and feelings, will help me understand that person better than anything else. I don’t want to hear it from someone else or through some rumor. I believe that hearing the story from the person, right from their mouths, will help deepen my understanding of them."
Then, his tone brightened, and a mischievous grin returned to his face. "Oh! Do you think it’s unfair that you’re the only one sharing your story? Then I can share mine! Uhhh—"
THWACK.
"Just stop it already!!" Kunugi yelled, hitting Azusawa again with a look of pure annoyance.
"Ow, ow..." Azusawa made a pained face, rubbing his side, but he didn't stop looking at Sakura. "Anyway, all that is to say... I don’t think the Sakura who came to Furin on the first day would have been able to share his past."
Sakura stared at him, stunned.
"I’m only talking to you for the first time today," Azusawa admitted, a brief flashback of a lonely, guarded Sakura walking down the school corridor crossing his mind. "But when I saw you on the first day of the school year, it felt like you had this distance. It was hard to approach you. I never thought you’d give me the time of day no matter what I said."
Azusawa’s smile grew wide and bright. "What I’m trying to say is... I want us to get along! I wanna close that distance now and be friends!"
Surprise rippled through the group. Nirei, Suo, and the others stared at Azusawa, then at Sakura, waiting for the explosion or the flight.
Be friends... close that distance... Sakura thought, the words echoing in his chest. I think I can understand where he’s coming from. After hearing those stories, I did feel like I’d grown closer to them, too. Did the people who decided to open up to me... want to grow closer to me, too?
Kotoha’s voice drifted through his mind: "Why don't you try making friends with all the first-years?"
Should I tell them? he wondered, his heart hammering against his ribs. About... my past. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, then forced them open. I need to stop thinking this way. It'll be fine. It’ll be fine to open up to them.
Just as Sakura opened his mouth to speak, the rooftop door creaked. Hajime Umemiya walked out, followed by Hiragi, Tsubaki, Sugishita, and a few others. The atmosphere shifted instantly as the leadership of Furin approached.
"Hey, Sakura?" Umemiya called out, his usual relaxed grin in place. "I wanted to talk about Momijikawa—"
"I—" Sakura interrupted, his voice louder than intended.
The entire rooftop went silent. Umemiya stopped in his tracks. Hiragi looked up, surprised by the interruption. Every single person on the roof turned, their eyes fixed on the boy with the bi-colored hair.
Sakura took a step forward, his fists clenched, his gaze finally steady. It was time.
The silence on the rooftop was no longer expectant; it was heavy, pressing down on everyone as Sakura stood his ground. He didn't look at any of them. He stared at a fixed point on the concrete, his voice coming out in a calm, almost detached tone that was far more unnerving than if he had been screaming.
"I’ve... killed a person."
The air seemed to vanish from the roof. Nirei’s breath hitched; Azusawa’s smile vanished instantly. Every pair of eyes—from Umemiya’s to the newest first-year’s—widened in horrified shock.
Sakura didn't stop. He couldn't stop now that the dam had broken.
"I have always been alone," he continued, his voice steady but hollow. "Ever since I was born. I was bounced from house to house. And the only memory I’ve got of all the families I’ve been with are piercing stares that seemed to stab through me and cold homes that chilled me to my bones. Even when I started school, it was all the same. I’d lose my shoes, get doused in water... it was rough. Every day was just... rough."
He let out a short, self-deprecating huff. "But hey, you’ve seen me. I’m not exactly the most polite guy out there. But... back then, I still had a bit of hope. That maybe I could find a place... where I could belong. That maybe someone would need me. That there might be a place where people would actually accept me."
He closed his eyes, the memory of a specific face surfacing—a face full of loathing.
"But around then was when I also met my father for the first time. When I tried to get close, he glared at me with this angry look on his face. And then... he said that I was a murderer."
A collective gasp rippled through the group, but Sakura pushed through the small pause.
"He said that when I was born, my mother died. Because of me, my mother lost her life. He looked at me and told me that I killed my own mother. When I heard him... I honestly didn’t know what to think. But the only thing going through my head was that... 'I don’t belong... anywhere.' And yeah, so then—"
Before he could finish the sentence, a blur of movement crossed the roof. Tsubakino, tears streaming down her face, didn't hesitate. She threw herself forward, her arms wrapping around Sakura in a fierce, crushing hug.
"Wuh? H-Hey?!" Sakura’s body went rigid, his hands hovering awkwardly in the air.
"You poor thing!" Tsubakino wailed into his chest, her voice thick with emotion. "I! Love! You!"
The raw, unfiltered affection acted like a solvent on Sakura’s defenses. The tension drained out of his shoulders. Slowly, almost tentatively, he leaned his head against her shoulder and let out a long, shaky breath, finally accepting the contact.
Umemiya stepped forward then. The "Greatest" of Furin didn't look like a legendary fighter in that moment; he looked like a proud older brother. He reached out, his large hand resting gently on Sakura's head, patting it with a soft, knowing smile.
"I’m proud of you," Umemiya said, his voice resonant and warm. "You’re an amazing, strong person."
Nirei was next, practically stumbling over his own feet. Waterfalls of tears were literally pouring down his face as he reached out and took Sakura’s hand into both of his own, squeezing tight. "Sakura-san... I’m so, so glad you came to Furin!"
"Sakura."
Sakura turned his head toward the sound of his name. Hayato Suo stood there, his usual playful smirk replaced by a look of profound sincerity. "Don’t ever forget. Right now, this is where you are."
Sakura looked around at them all—the people who had seen his scars and hadn't flinched.
Kunugi walked up, delivering a light, grounding slap to Sakura’s arm. "That must've been hard," he admitted, his voice rough but kind.
Finally, Azusawa stepped into the circle, his eyes shining with a new level of respect. "Sakura. Thank you for telling us."
The distance Azusawa had spoken of didn't just close—it vanished. In an instant, the individual figures merged into a single, chaotic, messy group hug. They pressed in from all sides, a wall of warmth and belonging that finally, for the first time in his life, shielded Sakura from the cold.
He was no longer trash. He was no longer a murderer. He was just Sakura, and he was finally home.