“I see. So that’s what happened.” Asakura said in a whisper, staring down at his own hands.
To his surprise, he noticed that his fingers were clutching the glass so tightly they ran the risk of breaking it. An abrupt surge of anger rose in his chest, blocking his airway. Like a soaring dragon aiming for the sky, it went all the way up to his head, making him feel dizzy. This sudden and powerful emotion took him completely by surprise, so much that he almost cursed aloud. However, he forced himself to squeeze the next words through his teeth, sounding less affected than he really was.
“It must have been tough for him.”
Kyosuke nodded listlessly.
“It was. He stayed in the hospital for a week and all that time he wouldn’t speak a word about what happened. When we returned home, he simply smiled and said that he had chased Touma along a high pedestrian crossing and in a moment of inattention he fell down the stairs. It was clearly a stupid lie and I called him out on it, saying it was bullshit. But in turn he shook his head slowly, still smiling and refusing to say more.”
“What about that guy? What happened to him afterwards?”
Hearing this, Kyosuke clicked his tongue and downed the entire glass before placing it back down with a loud bang. When he spoke again, his voice was dripping with resentment.
“Touma never returned home after that. The next day, I found out that he had been cast for the role and even saw a picture of him smiling happily with the rest of the crew. Later, I found out that people had been told Sato went to a gay club and got into a fight, hence why he missed the interview. Everyone, from the actors to the Director, they all felt very strongly against him, chastising him for being reckless and unreliable. This entire situation painted him into an unprofessional figure and, together with the sudden outing of being gay, it became increasingly difficult for him to get a part, even a small one. Yet despite all this, whenever he got turned down, he simply smiled and said it couldn’t be helped.”
“To be able to still smile and act calmly in this kind of situation is proof of his good character. After all, not giving up and holding it together is harder than breaking into pieces.” Asakura said, finally calming down after that internal emotional outburst.
“En. He has always been like this. He always tries to do things himself and whenever he encounters an obstacle he never backs down. Also, I’ve rarely seen him truly hating or resenting someone. Don’t get me wrong.” Kyosuke added hastily. “He isn’t an innocent cupcake who gets bullied around. He can stand his own but he never does it out of spite or hatred. Instead, he tries to communicate with the other party and reach a peaceful settlement. Compared to me, he always stops his temper before the situation gets out of hand. If he and Touma had really gotten into a fight that night, then that would be the first one in Sato’s entire life.”
Asakura stared thoughtfully at the last bit of whiskey in his glass. There was a thought at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. Feeling frustrated, he sensed the need to change the course of the conversation. That’s when Asakura suddenly realized a very important aspect. All this time, Kyosuke had given him quite a lot of private details regarding Sato and his life. Since he never believed in people sharing information without having an ulterior motive, he couldn’t help but be suspicious. After all, Asakura was still a businessman at heart, so he was acutely aware that in this world there was no such thing as a free lunch.
After a few moments of remaining silent, Asakura eventually turned his head slightly and cast a sideways glance at the young man.
“Kyosuke-kun, why did you tell me all this? Outing your good friend just like that in front of a stranger… Aren’t you afraid Sato-san might be upset if he knew that?”
“You’ve helped Sato when he was a stranger to you, and based on what I’ve seen so far, you don’t seem to harbor any ill will towards him. That makes you a good person in my eyes.” Kyosuke replied simply while staring straight into Asakura’s eyes.
Is this person purely naive or simply an idiot? Asakura wondered silently, but Kyosuke’s next words startled him into almost dropping his glass.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“How did you know?”
“You have a certain air about you. Also, I saw the way you looked at Sato before he left earlier.” Kyosuke shrugged and then added in an undertone. “I’ve spent enough time around Sato and Touma, so I’m able to notice certain things.”
“I see.” Asakura smiled, lowering his eyes to hide his expression.
This young man had truly taken him by surprise with his revelations. Not only that, but he actually managed to pull him out of the closet after only knowing him for less than an hour. Kyosuke was even better than Kota, who, when they first met, took almost two hours to figure it out.
“Indeed, you are a wonderful friend.” Asakura praised earnestly.
“I’m not sure about that.” Kyosuke replied, looking rather downcast. “In the beginning I was blind to Sato and Touma’s relationship, not seeing the smallest hint of it before they came out to me. If I had noticed something earlier, maybe I could have stopped everything from happening. I’m a failure as a friend.” Kyosuke groaned in a low voice, his fingers gripping the empty glass tighter.
“That’s not true. You’re a good friend because you stayed by Sato-san’s side when he needed it the most. Even if you knew beforehand, there was nothing you could have done. In the end, it was his choice whom to love. Stopping them from being together doesn’t mean you could have stopped their feelings from existing.”
After saying that bit Asakura stopped talking. He let out a deep sigh, smiling mockingly at himself. Yes, he knew the truth behind those words very well. After all, he had personal experience with feeling unable to stop two people from being together. Just thinking about Keita and Rintarou made his heart lurch in pain. But that’s how things sometimes happened in life. You gain some and you lose some, all depending on your choices. And regretting your decisions after the fact was pretty useless and counterproductive.
After a while, they both got up from their seats and went towards their rooms. When Kyosuke was about to take his leave, seeing the direction he was heading to, Asakura stopped him. A sudden thought raced through his mind.
“Kyosuke-kun, are you and Sato-san sharing the room I exchanged with you?”
“Yes, that’s right. Why?” Kyosuke asked in confusion, hoping Asakura wasn’t about to change his mind about the room.
“Then what about the sleeping arrangements?”
“What do you mean? What sleeping arrangements?” Kyosuke sounded more and more confused by now.
“Where are you sleeping?” Asakura asked, breathing deeply to maintain his impatience in check.
“The bed, of course.”
“And Sato-san?”
“Also on the bed. Where else would he sleep?” Kyosuke was baffled. His eyes widened as he saw Asakura’s darkening expression. “Asakura… -san… What’s wrong?” He asked nervously, instinctively taking a step backwards from the dangerous looking man standing in front of him.
“That’s unacceptable! How can two grown men like you sleep on the same bed like that?!” Asakura finally snapped.
“Why can’t we? It’s not like this is the first time.” Kyosuke blinked at him innocently, completely unaware of the menace that was heading his way.
“N-not the first time?!” Asakura blurted, his eyes widening, looking almost bloodshot.
“En. We used to sleep in the same bed when we were children. He often stayed at my place and since there weren’t any spare rooms, we shared mine.” Kyosuke paused for a second, then continued speaking pensively. “After middle school, though, it became more difficult to share that small bed, so my parents bought a bigger one.”
“Then, you mean to say that you two continued in this manner even during high school?” Asakura inquired dumbfounded. For some reason he felt his head aching and his breathing was becoming increasingly erratic. Had he fallen through a hole leading to a different dimension?
“En.” Kyosuke nodded, continuing to blink innocently. “After all, my parents loved Sato very much. After entering high school he eventually moved in with us and we continued sharing a room.”
“T-this… This is… Are there really families like this? And you… You two are so close. Have you never… I mean being so close to him and…”
Asakura mumbled to himself, wanting to know the answer to his unspoken question but also dreading it. His words soon fell into a stutter and he was interrupted by Kyosuke.
“Well, we’re cousins after all, so isn’t it normal for us to be this close?”
Those words fell with the power of a lightning bolt. Asakura instantly stopped his incoherent mutterings, becoming instead silent as a dead person. He gaped at Kyosuke dumbly, his eyes wide and almost blank. After what seemed like hours, Asakura finally opened his mouth in an attempt to speak.
“C-cousins? You and Sato-san are… Cousins?”
“Mhm, that’s right. My mother is his father’s younger sister. I’m actually a year younger than him, but I went to school earlier.” Kyosuke said, smiling and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
“I see.” Asakura nodded his head, not knowing why exactly he felt such a huge relief upon hearing that. “Kyosuke-kun, you should have said so sooner. Otherwise, there will be misunderstandings.”
“Eh? But I thought I already told you.” Kyosuke scratched his chin pensively.
“No, you didn’t.” Asakura retorted, drowning his urge to smack this young man over the head.
“Ah, Asakura-san, please don’t tell Sato about this. He doesn’t like it when people talk about his family.”
“Eh? How come?”
“Well… His family situation is a bit complicated and his relationship with his father has never been good. That’s why he spent most of his time at my place.”
“Sato-san… He hasn’t had an easy life.” Asakura whispered to himself, suddenly feeling very tired.
All the way to his room, he kept wondering what Gods or spirits were at work, making him get involved in this situation. He had enough trouble managing his own life, without having to stick his nose into other people’s private affairs. Nevertheless, as soon as Sato’s face popped into his mind, all these troublesome thoughts were extinguished. After all, wasn’t it normal to want to help a fellow sufferer? And if he had the means, why not extend a hand and play the hero?
A/N: Hmm, so dear old Asakura now wants to play the hero 
We’ll see how that goes
This is the last chapter of the weekend. I hope you enjoyed the short sneak peek into Sato’s past, as well as Asakura’s unusual interest. See you all next weekend!
Also, just like before, I am reminding you all to go check out this even if you haven’t already.
I hope he won’t play behind the scene again. That should have taught him a lesson.
Yes, let’s hope he has learned his lesson 🤭
He’s doing the stalking again lmao
Thank you for the chapter 💜
XD well there is still time for him to change his ways 🤭
❤
let’s be more active this time, eh, Asakura?
poor Sato :((
thanks for the chapter <3
Yes! Rooting for Asakura to do things right this time 😄
<333
Hopefully he realised and will do a better job this time 😊
Thank you for the chapter 🥰
I am sure he grew up and learned lots of things… hopefully he will be able to show them 🤭
😘🥰