Yesterday, Ayoshi's parents had finally come back from their business trip. So the entire Aishi family sat down together to have breakfast.
Ayoshi sat with his head down, taking quick glances at his father, who worked on paperwork. 'Come on, Ayoshi, say something to him,' he thought. "Father?"
"What is it, Ayoshi?" Jokichi asked without even looking up from his papers.
"How was your trip?" Ayoshi asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"Good."
"Did you manage to get that business deal?"
"Yes."
Ayoshi kept asking questions, trying to keep the conversation from falling flat, but the more he asked, the more Jokichi started to get annoyed. "Ayoshi, I'm trying to concentrate on my work! Stop asking questions," he said in a slightly angry tone.
"Ayoshi, leave your father alone, he's busy," Ryoba said as she refilled her husband's cup with coffee.
"Sorry, father," Ayoshi sighed. 'Why do I even try anymore?' He thought as he got up to leave for school. He met up with Taro and Osano. They gave each other greetings and started walking while having a conversation when someone stopped them.
Osoro stood in front of them, looking directly at Ayoshi. Taro and Osano both noticed, feeling a little worried about him, and blocked Ayoshi from him in a protective stance. He rolled his eyes at the two and said, "Ayoshi, we need to talk."
Ayoshi hummed and went around the two to walk up to Osoro.
Taro and Osano got worried. Taro said, "Are you really going to talk to this guy?"
Osano said, "He seems dangerous!"
Ayoshi looked at the two and just nodded.
"Fine, but if you get hurt don't come running to us," Osano said with an angry face, but felt very worried about Ayoshi.
"I will be fine. You two can go up ahead."
"Are you sure, Ayoshi-kun? We can stay with you," Taro said, not wanting to leave Ayoshi with such an aggressive-looking guy.
Osano just crossed his arms and looked away.
"Yes."
"Just go already, we need to have an important conversation," Osoro said in an annoyed tone.
Taro and Osano both got upset but walked off together, making sure to look back at Ayoshi.
"What do you need?" Ayoshi asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about those delinquents we fought."
"What about them?"
"I wanted to thank you for getting rid of them. So thank you."
"Why are you thanking me? I only got rid of them because they always bother me."
"I know, but still, they were quite annoying."
"If they were so annoying, why did you not just get rid of them yourself?"
"Too lazy."
"Or is it because you couldn't?"
Osoro scowled and walked very close to Ayoshi. Almost in his face, he said, "I could easily get rid of them."
"Oh, really? Wasn't I the one to save you?"
"I was outnumbered and they had weapons," Osoro growled out.
"I was still the one to save you."
Osoro stared at Ayoshi for a few seconds. He smirked and laughed. He loves how unbothered Ayoshi is by him. He loved that Ayoshi didn't fear him at all. He loved how he talked back to him. It's refreshing. "Fine, you saved me."
"Is that all?"
"No, I wanted to ask you for a favor."
"What is it?"
"I wanted to ask if you would come with me somewhere this weekend to help me with something."
"Why do you not ask one of your lackeys?"
"Those idiots. I can't trust them not to fuck something up, especially with this, so I'm asking you."
"Fine."
"Thanks. I'll come pick you up at your house. What's your address?"
Ayoshi gave him his address and then left to get to school. He finally caught up with Taro and Osano, where they waited at the school gate.
"Ayoshi-kun, are you ok?" Taro asked.
Osano just crossed his arms and looked away with a frown, but sneakily tried to check for anything wrong with Ayoshi.
Ayoshi nodded to confirm that he was fine.
"If you're fine, stop wasting time! Let's go before the bell rings," Osano said as he walked off.
***
It's the end of the day and today Ayoshi's club didn't have any activities. So he stood at his locker, changing his shoes to go home, when someone walked up to him.
"Ayoshi, my prince! Don't leave yet," Kizano said as he ran up to Ayoshi.
Ayoshi turned his head and looked at Kizano, "Do you need something?"
Kizano didn't know why, but he felt a little nervous to ask, "Well… since you're free today… will you come with me to my club activities? We don't know much about each other, so please spend time with me." He smiled at Ayoshi. "Let's get to know each other."
Ayoshi put his school shoes back on. "Ok."
Kizano felt his heart race from happiness. He wrapped his arms around Ayoshi's arm, leading him to the gym. "Great! I'll show you how amazing of an actor I am. Maybe I can even teach you some acting, you could end up enjoying it."
"Mm."
Kizano started giggling to himself at the thought of Ayoshi loving acting as much as he did. 'Maybe he'll even join the club! We could end up being all the leads together, showing everyone our skill, our talent… our chemistry!'
They finally made it to the gym, where the other club members were practicing their roles in the play. They all saw their president bring the guy from a little while back and were surprised.
"Ok, everyone gather up and listen," Kizano said to everyone. They all gathered and made sure to pay close attention. He laid his head on Ayoshi's shoulder. "Today, my prince, Aishi Ayoshi, will be participating in our rehearsal. So you better be welcoming and do your best today. Don't embarrass me in front of our guest." All the club members nodded their heads and they all greeted Ayoshi. "Ayoshi, I'm going to rehearse with everyone, you'll see what it's like and if it seems like something you want to try, just tell me."
Ayoshi just nodded as he saw Kizano get everyone ready. During the whole rehearsal, he saw a new side of Kizano. He could tell that Kizano is an arrogant man, but looking at how he directs the club members is interesting. Kizano looked very serious, and even though when criticizing the others he could be mean, his advice was really good and truly helped them. He could tell that Kizano wanted them to improve and seemed proud when they did. The longer he saw everyone act, the more he saw that everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun. 'I did say I would try acting to improve myself. I have never tried acting… maybe this could be it.' He walked up to Kizano, "Kizano-kun, I want to try acting now."
Kizano got so excited about introducing Ayoshi into his world. "I'm sure you'll be great at it." He got everyone's attention again, "Ok everyone! Ayoshi is going to try acting. I want everyone to give your support and if you think you can give some advice, don't be afraid to help." Everyone got excited, all curious to see what Ayoshi's acting would be like. "Ok Ayoshi, let's start you off with something easy." He grabbed someone's script.
Now that Ayoshi was going to be acting, he asked what the play was about.
Kizano puffed out his chest, "I actually wrote it myself! It's about a jester who infiltrates the kingdom that is at war with her homeland to gain information to send back to her kingdom. She is the jester for the prince. She is supposed to entertain and make the prince laugh whenever he wishes, but he is very focused on his work, so the jester has a difficult time with him. However, she somehow gets the prince to open up and gains his trust, which helps her collect information. In the process of the jester collecting information, they fall in love." He finished telling the rest of the plot to Ayoshi. "Ok, enough about that. This character is a loyal servant of the prince. They don't have that many lines, so it won't be too hard. He will be interacting with the prince, so I'll be acting with you as the prince."
"Mm."
Kizano explained the character in a little more detail to help Ayoshi get into character. "Ready?" He asked as he grabbed the character's props.
"Yes."
"Great." Kizano gave Ayoshi the props and helped him properly hold the props, then got into place, and told Ayoshi to begin.
The character that Ayoshi is playing is a person who gets very worried about his master. The scene the two acted out is where the servant tries to convince the prince to accept the jester the king gifted him. After some talking, the servant managed to get the prince to agree.
Throughout the whole scene, everyone watched amazed. The two had amazing chemistry. Their acting was so great that it truly seemed that they were a prince and a loyal servant. When they finished the scene, all the club members clapped.
"Wow! Aishi-kun, you were amazing for your first time acting."
"It doesn't even seem like your first time."
"That was wonderful, Aishi-kun!"
The members spilled out praise to Ayoshi.
Kizano looked at Ayoshi with eyes filled with astonishment. He rushed up to Ayoshi and held his hands. "Ayoshi! You're a natural. Even though your performance was short, your acting is great! Of course, there were still some mistakes, since it's your first time, but we can help you improve. If you wish, of course."
"I would like to improve."
Kizano never felt so happy, "Marvelous!"
The other club members cheered, happy to continue to watch Ayoshi act and excited to act with him. The rest of rehearsal everyone spent acting and helping Ayoshi improve his skills. Everyone had so much fun with Ayoshi and loved having him around. So when they were all leaving to go home, they made sure to tell him to come back again.
Both Ayoshi and Kizano stayed back to clean up.
"You don't have to stay and help me clean my prince."
"Yes, I do." Kizano tried again to tell Ayoshi he didn't have to stay but soon gave up. "Kizano-kun?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for inviting me."
"Of course! I wanted to spend time with you, and this was a great way to get to know each other better."
"Yes, I did learn a lot about you."
"Oh really! Please, do tell?" Kizano asked playfully.
"You take the things you love very seriously. Even though you can be harsh, I can tell you care for the others and genuinely want them to improve."
"I have to be harsh if they're going to even improve just a little." Kizano then smiled gently, "I do love this: acting, writing plays. It's my dream. It brings me so much happiness. I want to do this in the future." Soon the big smile on his face faded, "That's why I'm putting so much effort into this play… My parents think my dream is stupid, that it's not going to go anywhere and I should just get a job like them in some boring office. However, I'm going to prove to them that my dream can get me somewhere. I'm going to show them that my plays… that my acting can make people happy and draw them in, that people enjoy it so much that they would be willing to pay to see them. So I have to put my everything into this, so that it can be the best. I'm going to show my parents my dream is worth pursuing."
Ayoshi noticed the fire that burned in Kizano's eyes. "I am sure your dreams will come true."
Kizano walked up to Ayoshi, "Thank you, Ayoshi."
"Mm."
"Do you have a dream, Ayoshi?"
"A dream?"
"Yeah, like something you want to accomplish in the future?"
"No, I do not have a dream."
"Really? There's not a wish you want to come true in the future?"
Ayoshi became lost in thought for a very long time. He never thought of what he wanted in the future. All he knew of what he wanted for the future was to find his senpai, but he never thought of that as a dream… more like a duty.
"Ayoshi?"
"I want to find… someone who will love me for who I am."
Kizano giggled, "I'm sure that'll be quite easy."
Ayoshi sighed, "However, it is just a dream. It will never happen."
Kizano frowned, "What? Why would you think such a thing?"
"I am not stupid. I am not blind to who I am. I can tell I am not… like other people. I am not normal. Who could love someone… like me?"
Kizano's heart ached and his frown worsened. "No! Don't you dare say such a thing," he said as he grabbed Ayoshi's face and made him look up at him. "Ayoshi, you're a wonderful person! Anyone would be lucky to have you and your love, but if they can't see how much of an amazing person you are just the way you are, then they don't deserve you!"
Ayoshi looked Kizano in the eyes as he talked with such a serious and genuine tone. "You are very kind, Kizano-kun. Thank you."
Kizano hugged Ayoshi tightly. 'My sweet prince… your dream has already come true. It's just a matter of time before you find out.'