A fresh start of a brand-new day welcomed Touji Mahito on the first day of another year. It's been a while since he felt so light and comfortable under the shade of the present-day; it was relieving. Morning comes, the sky is dark, clouds gather together while the wind blows extremely-cold as it whispers in his ears, "It's about to rain hard."
As Touji leaves his place, he walks down the street from his house to go and attend their morning practice of volleyball wearing a thick dark blue jacket, red scarf, and a bag clinging to his back. Time passed by quickly while Touji took his time walking. Unaware of his pace, he felt a tiny tingling inside his belly when he realized that he was only one step away from the doorstep of his destination.
He grabbed the door-lock and opened it for himself when a warm breeze coming from the inside of the gym came rushing onto his skin. Touji sat on a bench and prepared his bag while keeping his eyes on the figures of his teammates and friends as they played. Listening to the sounds their rubber shoes created as they ran around, jumped everywhere, and practiced their daily routine.
"Mahito-kun!" a familiar voice of a boy passed through his ears. He looked back and saw a one-browned-hair-man smiling behind him as their gaze met each other.
"Why are you late again Mahito?" The boy asked as he pouted his lips and put his hands on the back of his head.
After putting out an emotionless face, Touji bluntly answered him with "It's cold outside." a complete and polar opposite of the loud and cheerful lad named Kazuyuki Hisashi. After a rest from the long walk, he went towards the clubroom to change into his gym clothes and immediately joined the team on their practice so he won't fall back behind them.
The practice began at last. It's just an ordinary game that they used to play every day and afternoon.
"Nice kill!!" one of their teammates shouted as Touji smashed the ball on the ground that Kazuyuki tossed for him in a perfect spot with perfect timing.
"Mahito-kun! How is that toss just now? I'm awesome, right?" Kazuyuki said as he smirked and praised himself with so much confidence.
"You're annoying Yuki. Shut up for a sec." Touji replied after he drank some water and rested on the side-bench of the gym. Setting Kazuyuki aside, he looked back and deeply evaluated his play and the flaws he made playing so he could fix them later on.
"What a meanie Mahito-kun! Hmp..." Kazuyuki walks away from Touji, leaving him alone as he gazes onto the other side of the world.
Touji doesn't want to socialize that much compared to Kazuyuki, even though they have been friends since they were little kids. They grew up together, played dirt, ran around, and wandered in every place within their reach. This bond pushes them to become exceptionally close friends, much like a strong sense of brotherhood towards each other. Touji and Kazuyuki even attended and graduated from the same academy in middle school until junior high school.
Also played volleyball together since childhood and beat their classes in every school that they have attended. All of this drives Touji to let Kazuyuki call him by his first name, which they have been using until now.
After a while, everyone fixed themselves up and went to the clubroom, finishing their morning practice with a meeting. It's already afternoon, and even so, the clouds are still as dark as the earlier morning. The wind's breeze became colder and colder as time passed by, despite that it's still yet for the rain to fall. No matter how dark it is, even a single drop of water won't fall from the sky. Touji goes off into the window in the hallway, staring at the dark clouds behind the glass.
"It feels so… heavy." The thought flashed in his mind. A moment of silence took place as the wind blew again right in front of his face.
"I wish this rain would fall already." He said to himself, walking alone in the hallway while his hands were placed inside his pocket, breathing a white smoke because of the coldness of the weather.
"Dammit." is all he can say.
"Does anyone see Hisashi?" he asked his teammates after finishing their afternoon practice. Touji was thinking about why Kazuyuki left all by himself even though they used to walk home together. It is not the first time Kazuyuki left all on his own. It's been happening so often lately that the thought troubles him in the past few days, but Touji feels that something has changed. Kazuyuki is not acting how he used to be.
"He said he needs to go somewhere today so he left early." One of the first years said. Touji looks confused. Kazuyuki used to tell him where he was going or if he was off somewhere. However, this time it's different. He didn't even hear a single word from Kazuyuki before leaving.
Touji bids goodbye to his team, walking on a cold-straight-road all alone. The place is surprisingly quiet, maybe because people won't go out with this weather. A moment after, he shortly felt the coldness once again. Brushing his palms to heat up his face and placing his hands inside his pockets as he breathes white smoke.
"It's not falling." Touji thought as he stared at the dark-shady sky.
"This rain is sad. He can always make the water drop to reduce the burden, but it still chooses to carry everything on its back. I guess even rain can become stubborn, can't it?" Touji murmured on his own as he realized that he forgot his umbrella. He knew this rain would fall extremely hard. In spite of that, it still slips into his head that he should bring one.
Under the heavy falling rain stands a young man covered in wet-heavy uniforms when he suddenly felt uneasiness, a ponderous feeling of loss. He looked down at the road and saw his reflection in the water.
"I wonder what Yuki's doing right now." He said as he walked calmly with an emotionless eye even though the rain might get stronger sooner or later.
Raindrops continue to fall from the sky as Touji reaches the street where he and Kazuyuki live. He closed his eyes to remember his childhood memories with his friends. He's walking at a slow pace, each step making the water from the road splash around his shoes as he feels every drop of water fall from his face. Coldness and the heaviness of wet clothes didn't bother him for the rest of the time until he came home.
"Another day has passed. Today's not good as well, huh? " He sighed as he entered his house.
It's already 9:00 in the evening. The rain won't stop falling, but it is weaker than earlier. Touji gazes into the window with his hair down. No stars, no moon, and clouds covering the sky are the only things he can see.
"I hope it will stop soon," he said as he lay down on his bed, burying his face into his pillows to end his typical day with a night of sleep.
A moment or two when the phone suddenly rang, Touji sat on the bed and grabbed it from his left to look and see who was calling him up. Hesitation fights inside him whether to answer or reject the call. It's in the middle of the night when a noisy fellow pops up from the screen. A few more buzzes rang the phone when he finally decided to answer it with a cold and deep voice.
"What do you want?" he answered in the line.
"Good evening Mahito-kun! How are you?" Kazuyuki's lively voice replied to the sleepy and eye-closed Touji.
"Just tell me what you wanted and get it done as soon as possible so I can sleep already." he sighed.
"Meanie! I don't need anything in particular. I just wanted to hear your voice." Kazuyuki chuckles.
Touji took a deep breath to release the annoyance he was feeling. His phone lit up once again - a notification popped up from the screen. As he scrolls his finger to open the notification bar, a message received appears - it was from Yuki.
- Text -
Yuki: Touji meanie! I just wanted to talk to you, come on. We can chat rather than call if that's what you want.
Touji: Do you even know what time it is now, you damn Hisashi?
Touji replied with his eyes barely opening up. His sleepiness is eating him little by little as he badly wants to sleep, but even so he can't leave his only friend to text him all night long, knowing that he'll do it for sure.
Yuki: It's too early to sleep you know. Well, either way, I hope the rain will stop soon.
Touji: Is that all you've wanted to say?
Yuki: Hmph! You're so mean. I just wanted to say sorry about it earlier.
Touji's eyes widened from what he saw. He sat on his bed while putting his pillow into his lap, waiting for Kazuyuki to send another message.
Touji: Huh? What do you mean? Sorry for what?
Yuki: Oh well, you see. I thought you were mad at me since I left early after practice without telling you so I'm a bit on edge because I didn't mean anything about it.
Touji: I don't mind. Just tell me if you're going somewhere next time, and don't make me worry about you again.
Yuki: Mahito-kun!
Touji: What?
Yuki: You're so kind tonight. Let's have a yakiniku and ramen tomorrow with the team!
Touji: Right, right, do what you want. Good Night.
Touji feels so relieved after the exchange of text messages. He wanted to smile at least a bit to show the easiness he felt, yet the cold weather and the rain won't allow him to. He laid down on his bed for one last time, putting his cellphone on his right side as he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and started to think about something to fall asleep. As the rain kept on falling on the roof of his house, Touji Mahito fell deep asleep, removing all the tension and stress his body got from one regular day of his life.
Touji's phone began to ring since he set it to an alarm this morning. When he opens his eyes, his room is too dark and cold. With a morning confusion, he stood up and walked towards the window. His eyes were still blurry, yet he could feel and hear the drops of water falling from the roof of his house. He decided to open the window to feel the piercing coldness of the wind that touched his skin when he checked his phone once again to see what time it already;
"It's only 5:30 AM. I woke up too early. I thought I set it to 6:30. Guess my eyes we're hazy last night." he said to himself as he pulled down the window to close it.
to be continued...