Chapter Text
“So, where exactly are you from?” Tomo broke the silence with an inquiry that had been itching at the back of his mind for quite some time now.
With Kazuha’s advanced dialogue and speech patterns of rhymes and poetry, one should guess he’s from a family of nobility.
Perhaps it was just his love and admiration for poetry, however, Tomo didn’t think that was the case.
“Inazuma?” Kazuha answered matter-of-factly, ending his answer with a tone mixed with confusion and puzzlement.
“Yes– but your family ancestry.”
“Ah– My family. Yes, I’m from a noble family. The Kaedahara clan was a branch of the Kamisto clan.” Kazuha turned his body to Tomo, calming scarlet eyes meeting mischievous purple eyes.
“Dude. That’s really cool. And you never bothered to mention it?”
“Well, you never asked.” Kazuha laughed, this time without covering his smile. Tomo’s pride definitely skyrocketed that day.
“I can’t believe I’m friends with a noble…” Tomo muttered quietly. Or, well, he thought he did, until Kazuha replied to his comment.
“Not anymore,” Kazuha took a sip of his tea. “My clan relinquished quite a while ago.”
Oh. Did I accidentally mention a touchy subject?
Discreetly, Kazuha shot a glance towards Tomo. Noticing his worrying expression, he wasted no time to soothe Tomo’s mind.
“I don’t care about nobility. I like my life as a traveler. Rather, I think if I lived as a noble, I would have ran away.” Kazuha concluded with a gentle smile.
“Really? You’d have run away?”
“Yes. I don’t want any strings biding me to a place I don’t wish to be. I rather be somewhere more colorful, not dull and bland.”
Tomo seemed to be in deep thought, but before Kazuha could question what he was thinking about, Tomo quickly added, “I like colorful places too.”
Kazuha smiled towards Tomo’s declaration.
“Actually,” Tomo had gone up his chair and walked to Kazuha. Now, standing in front of Kazuha, he gives a soothing smile.
“You color me, Kazuha.”
“I color you?”
“Yes. As it may seem, colors are prettier with you by my side.”
“Are they?”
“I quite never admired maple leaves as much before I met you.”
“You’re admiring them now?“ Kazuha was touched at Tomo’s inspiration.
“Yeah. You brought beauty too many things, Kazuha.” Cue Tomo’s charming smile that takes every lady. Let’s see if it can take a man’s heart as well… more specifically Kazuha’s.
Everything seems to flourish when I’m with you.
“Tomo… I have something to tell you.”
Could this be it? Is Kazuha confessing to me?
“I’m also a runaway criminal.”
One, two, three… and counting, that was the amount of times Tomo blinked towards Kazuha in confusion.
“…Did someone shackle you to a mansion?”
“I think you took that too seriously–“
“I didn’t think you’d actually run away from nobility…”
“Tomo, I–“
“Wow, Kazuha, I admire your boldness. Respect, man..”
Before Tomo could inquire anything else about Kazuha’s so called braveness, he caught him off guard with a simple sentence; “I stole Kujoo Sara’s favorite sword.”
“Oh, okay. So you aren’t joking.” Tomo released a long sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He stared blankly at Kazuha again. (He noticed he should stop staring at him so much, otherwise this reaction would become a habit.)
“Yeah. apparently, it’s a gift passed down from generations. I didn’t think it would be so important…” Kazuha coughed in attempt to clear his throat.
“So– why did you even steal a sword? Additionally, Kujoo Sara’s sword?”
“It was… out of impulse.” Kazuha looked away shyly, scratching his chin and averting his eyes to the ground.
“Impulse?”
“I’m kleptomaniac.”
“Oh.”
Kazuha winced. Did he mess things up with Tomo? Did he get too comfortable too quickly? Should he have waited more to tell him the truth?
“That’s okay.” Immediately, Kazuha broke out of his disturbing thoughts once Tomo spoke.
“Yeah. That’s okay, Kazuha. I’m not going to leave you. You know that right?” Tomo, who was still standing in front of Kazuha, patted the smaller one’s head soothingly.
“It’s not okay. I don’t want to steal things impulsively. I don’t want to take what might be precious to others…”
“We can work on it. How about first we give that item back to Sara? Then, maybe we can find some methods to stop stealing such things.” Tomo was set on finding a solution to his partner’s problems. He’d do anything for that boy, he was sure of it.
“You want to stay with me and help me even after finding out I have kleptomania?”
“Of course. I’d stay with you forever.” Until death do us apart.
Man, he really was crazy for Kazuha.
“It means a lot to me.” Kazuha smiled solemnly, still finding it hard to believe Tomo.
“I like today. I got to find out so many things about you, Kazuha.”
“Yeah? Stay with me longer, and you’ll find even more.”
Don’t worry, Tomo thought. I planned doing that the second I laid my eyes on you.