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Three weeks.
That’s how long Suo Hayato had been back in the classroom, back in his Bofurin uniform, moving around with that distinctive, unassuming grace that had always defined him.
And for three weeks, Sakura Haruka had perfected the art of looking literally anywhere but at him. The grade captain had become a master of avoidance. He froze Suo out entirely, but he also had closed himself off from the rest of his classmates. It wasn’t that blatant, Sakura had always been snappy and grouchy, and, fortunately for him, the others were still too riding the high of the Bankoku-gai battle and celebrating Suo’s return to pay much attention to their captain’s sour mood. Even Nirei looked starstruck most of the time, just looking at Suo as if he were a walking miracle.
Somehow, though, the whole classroom dynamic had shifted nonetheless.
When Sakura would stand to address Class 1-1 after school to give them the day's patrol schedule, it wasn’t Suo standing half a step behind his right shoulder anymore. It was Kiryu. Kiryu, with his relaxed posture and easy smile, had stepped into the vice-captain vacancy out of necessity when Suo vanished. Meanwhile, on Sakura’s left, Nirei was still in his own place, always with his notebook clasped tightly in his hands, looking entirely uneasy with the new arrangement since Suo had returned home. If Suo even considered Makochi his home, that is.
The blond vice-captain and most of their classmates were likely wondering why Suo was still sitting quietly at his desk instead of reclaiming his place by Sakura’s side. The answer was quite simple, though; Sakura hadn’t asked Suo to take the position back. Suo hadn’t offered.
But, after all, that was to be expected. Everyone knew how Suo had left Nirei black and blue before disappearing that night because of his Red Chanpuru obligations. It didn’t even matter that Bofurin had ultimately answered the call to help Suo - or Sun Fei - clean up his mess in the Kasai district. They had done their part, they actually helped - surprisingly, even Endo and Takiishi got involved - and in the end, they managed to free Suo from his duties so he could at least finish his education.
Everyone was happy about how things had turned out.
Everyone simply assumed Sakura was still holding a protective grudge for Nirei’s sake. And everyone thought Sakura was just royally pissed off. That he needed time.
Suo assumed it, too. Every time Sakura walked past him without a glance, Suo’s polite smile would falter just a fraction, a heavy, resigned guilt settling into his visible eye. After all, he hadn’t found the chance to apologize yet; Sakura didn’t seem remotely willing to listen, leaving Suo to believe that all he could do was be patient and wait.
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The irony of the situation was just so infuriating to Sakura. Nirei seemed to be completely fine. He had forgiven Suo so… easily. The moment Suo returned, announcing he had convinced his people to let him finish his years at Furin High, Nirei had burst into tears, and Suo had hugged him and consoled him, as if he weren’t the same person who beat him unconscious.
If anything, Nirei was more attached to Suo now than he had ever been, constantly trailing after him as if he were terrified he could disappear again.
Watching them together made something uncomfortable and ugly churn in Sakura’s stomach. But it wasn’t anger over the beating Nirei took that night, or at least, not only that. Sakura knew how to take a punch, and he knew Nirei did too.
No. As livid as he had been when he discovered what Suo did, it was the bitter disappointment that hurt the most. When Suo was summoned back to Bankoku-gai, permanently, when he had to make the agonizing decision to leave Furin for good, he had gone to Nirei. He had chosen Nirei to say goodbye. Even if it had ended in violence, it was still a closure that Sakura hadn’t been privileged enough to get.
Instead, Sakura had sat alone in his apartment, staring at his phone, dialing Suo’s number over and over and over again, without his call ever being accepted.
He went to Nirei, Sakura thought, closing his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Because Nirei matters to him.
I thought we were... friends. I thought he… cared about me, too. But he didn’t.
And if Suo didn't really care, maybe the rest of his classmates didn't either. Maybe it was all a big farce. It could be just bullshit. Maybe this thing they called friendship was just a cruel lie they had been feeding him for some reason Sakura could not understand.
In his apartment, Sakura had set aside all those little things his friends had given him; he couldn’t even stand to look at them anymore. It hurt so much to think that behind those gestures of kindness could be only indifference or, worse, betrayal.
Right after Endo’s revelation, a part of him just wanted to stay under the blankets on his futon, curled up, hugging himself, sleeping off the rejection, the disappointment, the anger. And yet, when Umemiya had taken matters into his own hands and gone with his Kings to speak privately with Endo and Takiishi, Sakura already knew what to expect. Bofurin was made up of people who would never abandon one of their own, and Suo… Yes, he was one of them. So Bofurin went to fight alongside him, solving a problem that wasn’t about Bofurin at all, but was about the Red Chanpuru; a conflict that wasn't about Makochi, but Bankoku-gai city.
It wasn't even about Hayato, but… Sun Fei.
Bofurin went anyway, because Suo, or whatever he called himself, was still one of them.
But Sakura? Was he one of them? He wasn’t sure about that anymore. In any case, and just because he might have a masochistic strike, anger and frustration had forced him to swallow his pride and follow Umemiya's lead, because honestly... what else was there left for him to do?
All he knew was how to fight, and fight he did. Fiercely. And Bofurin and Red Chanpuru together won. But now that Suo was back, the sense of betrayal had only grown stronger.
In the end, though, Sakura wasn't simply mourning Suo’s friendship. There was something else, something that felt like a stone weighing on his chest every time he tried to breathe a little deeper. It was an unwanted feeling Sakura still couldn’t name, because when he had realized he was harboring it, well… it was already too late. Suo was gone. And he didn’t even bother to say goodbye to him.
So… really, what was the point of admitting his feelings now?
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The long-overdue confrontation finally took place on the rooftop of Furin one week later. Sakura had stayed late to finish the patrol debrief with Kiryu, but Kiryu had excused himself with an unreadable glance, leaving Sakura alone.
When the metal door opened, and Suo stepped out on the rooftop, Sakura swore internally and cursed Kiryu and his meddling ways, rolling his eyes in the process. Suo wasn't sporting his usual easygoing smile; there was an intimidating determination etched on his face, which made Sakura step back immediately.
He wasn’t ready for this.
"What the hell do you want?" Sakura snapped, crossing his arms and turning his eyes toward the horizon. "Patrol's over, so you can go home… Ah, well! Assuming you actually have a home to return to here in Makochi."
Ok, he was being childish and petulant. Sue him.
Suo, of course, didn’t listen. He stepped closer, but stopped just before Sakura’s instinct to jump off the roof could take over.
"Ah, yes. As a matter of fact, I secured a place recently, just near Nirei’s house, so I won't have to commute every day anymore." Suo’s tone was calm, placid… and infuriating.
“You should come over one of these days, captain.”
Sakura’s head snapped as he glared at his former vice.
"You! You are just… Just…"
"What? What am I, Sakura-kun? If you feel like insulting me, please don’t hold back on my account."
Sakura snorted, turning his head away once again.
"I’m not wasting my time staying here just to insult you. I’m going home."
As he made to move, Suo took yet another step, placing himself right in front of him, preventing him from proceeding.
"No. We need to talk… please, Sakura," Suo’s voice was unbearably soft, as he looked at Sakura, his single eye searching those gold and silver eyes that had been avoiding him so stubbornly these last few weeks.
"It's been a month, and you won't even look at me. You won't speak to me unless Kiryu or Nirei is standing between us. I've been patient because I know I deserve your anger. I know what I did to Nirei was unforgivable…"
"Oh, just… shut up!" Sakura cut him off sharply, though a deep blush spread instantaneously on his cheeks.
"Just shut the hell up about Nirei, okay? I have nothing to say about that. Sure, it was a dick move, Suo, but… It’s up to Nirei to decide if it was unforgivable, not me for sure."
Suo blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "Sakura-kun... I beat him and left him there in that park. I have felt… bad about it ever since, even if Nirei has been more than understanding. And I know how protective you are of him; everyone in Bofurin knows it. If you're punishing me for hurting him, I can accept that. But I need to know how to fix it."
Sakura let out a harsh, self-deprecating laugh, looking at the sky. Finally, he looked Suo dead in the eye, his heterochromatic gaze awkwardly burning with anger, yes, but also embarrassment. He couldn’t tell him how to fix it, he wasn't sure there was something left to fix, but Suo was being insistent, making him feel exposed and vulnerable, and it was the last thing he wanted.
To let Suo know how pathetic he was. Having stupid feelings for someone who wouldn’t even have missed him.
But, well, he couldn’t help it, could he? After weeks of tormenting himself, wondering if he really hadn't understood anything about Suo, if he'd ever really known him, Sakura could finally have some closure.
"Fuck! Do you really think I'm still pissed because you beat Nirei up? Nirei told me everything, okay!? He said he actually managed to hit you in the face, and that he was the one trying to stop you from leaving! I know he doesn't hold a grudge for that! So why should I care?"
Suo’s brow furrowed, his flawless mask of calm completely slipping away. "If it's not that... what is it, then? Why can't you even look at me?"
The question hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Sakura shoved his hands deep into his pockets so Suo wouldn't see them shaking. How could he say it? How could he possibly admit that he was jealous? That while Suo was fighting for his own people, Sakura had been losing his mind, staring at a phone screen that wouldn’t light up.
"You didn't call," Sakura muttered, "I called you, I don’t even know… thirty, fifty times. You just ignored me. But you… You had time to go find Nirei."
Suo froze. The realization hit him like a physical blow. "Sakura..."
"No! Shut up! You went to him," Sakura said through clenched teeth, a tear threatening to spill over his amber eye.
"You said goodbye to him, but you didn't give a damn about me. I thought... I thought we were friends, Suo. I thought I actually meant something to you, but you just left without a word… or a punch in my face… I got nothing!"
The silence that followed was deafening. Suo stared at him, his expression crumbling into something so miserable. Sakura had never seen that expression on his face.
"If I had come to you," Suo said, his voice barely a whisper, "I would have let you stop me."
Sakura blinked, not sure he understood correctly.
"What?"
"I couldn't fight against you," Suo confessed, taking another little step closer, his hands curling into fists at his sides.
"Bullshit," Sakura deflected automatically, too scared to believe him. "It’s not for sure that I would have beaten you. You're fucking strong, Suo, you could have…"
"It’s not that, Sakura-kun," Suo interrupted him, almost snappily.
"I... I didn't want to fight you. Because I knew if I looked at you, if I heard your voice telling me to stay, I would have abandoned everything, my people, my duty, my family, just to stay by your side. I didn't want to leave you, but… I couldn’t afford to stay. So... I chose Nirei. I chose him because I knew I could force myself to push him away. You know,” Suo offered him a fond, soft smile, “I care deeply about him, but I could still leave him. So I used him to say goodbye to you for me, because I was too much of a coward to face the person I... I cared about most."
Finally, Suo closed his mouth and released his breath as if a weight had been eased off his shoulders.
Sakura was too shocked to react in any way, so he just stared at Suo, his mouth agape.
"Sakura-kun, just to be clear… I am not talking about just friendship. But at the very least, I want to be your friend again. I know you are disappointed in me, and I am sorry for forcing my feelings on you like this, but you deserve to know the truth, even if you don’t feel the same. Honestly, I have never thought you would."
Sakura’s breath hitched, his brain struggling to fully process the confession.
The person I cared about most.
"You..." Sakura swallowed hard, the crimson on his face shifting from humiliation to awe. "Fuck… You're an idiot. A complete, total idiot."
"Maybe," Suo said, a small, incredibly fragile smile returning to his lips. "Yes, maybe I am. But I'm back now. And I don't ever want to leave again. Not if you'll have me."
Sakura didn't answer with words. He couldn't. Instead, he lunged forward, grabbing the lapels of Suo’s uniform jacket and pulling him. Hard.
The kiss - Sakura’s first - was clumsy and way too rough, but after weeks of agonizing longing, he couldn’t bring himself to be soft. When Suo’s hands found his waist, pulling him flush against him, Sakura wrapped his arms around Suo’s neck, eager to kiss him more deeply, to stay closer, to feel him, breathing and alive in his arms.
When they finally pulled apart, Suo’s forehead rested against Sakura’s, his hand still cupped on Sakura’s cheek, his thumb gently tracing the line of his jaw, while Sakura’s hand went to rest on Suo’s nape.
"So," Suo murmured, "I was thinking… about that vice-captain position..."
"Shut up," Sakura mumbled, "Kiryu can keep it for a little longer. You're staying right here now."
And then he kissed him again, pressing his mouth against Suo’s smug smirk.
Ah… he was still so damn infuriating.
But Suo was back, and he wasn’t going to leave again any time soon.
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About an hour later, to the east, the crescent moon had begun its ascent into the sky, and Suo thought, while his mouth was still eagerly, unapologetically exploring Sakura’s, that for once they could watch it together.
And yes, it was beautiful, wasn’t it?