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Futami Shun had a new habit.
It started off not long after he got called to his school counselor’s office right before winter break began, due to his affective assessment report by his homeroom teacher that had come back in red and written ‘Lack of observation skill, interfering with his ability to pay attention in class and when working as a team in doing assignments. Straightforward attitude is commendable. However, improvement toward practicing empathy in communication amongst classmates is necessary.’
Okay, so he might be blunt sometimes…
…or maybe too blunt.
He remembered Souma had pointed that out one time. And his sister had said that one of these days he would end up offending someone so he needed to start learning how to hold his tongue and not just voice out anything in his mind.
But…lack of observation skill?
What the hell was that supposed to mean??
“I see…” His counselor kept on nodding after reading the report card and hearing him out. “Then why don’t we practice a bit, your observation skill that is…y’know what, let’s just make this your winter break assignment!” The young counselor took a piece of paper and began drawing some sort of flowchart on it.
“Ugh…no way, Teach…as if I need more assignments in my hands,” he lamented.
“Oh c’mon, this would be simple and fun. Just find someone you want to know more about and observe their good and their bad.” The counselor explained while scribbling on the paper. “If you can write a report, or even just a self-reflection about what you experience and obtain from observing them and show it to me, based on that I can re-assess your affective report’s card.”
“I think it’d be easier if they were your role model or someone you look up to, that way you’ll probably learn a lot more than just honing your observation skill. And who knows, you might find something surprising and exciting for yourself.” The handsome counselor gave him a cryptic smile, which reminded him a lot of a certain novelist when he was cooking up ways to tease his younger friends.
Coming out of the counselor’s office, Shun gave deep thought about it.
“A role model, huh?” he muttered to himself.
The first person that came to mind was his dearest big brother, who was also the pride of the Futami family, and someone he missed so much.
But it would not do to observe someone who was currently living overseas.
So the next person in line was his tutor, Ichikura Hayate.
Now Hayate seemed to check out all the boxes his counselor required for this assignment.
Someone he looked up to? Definitely.
If only Shun could get at least half the ability of Hayate in solving Math problems and writing essays, he would’ve been even cooler.
Or even just 30% of the older boy’s common knowledge so that he didn’t have to submit a blank paper every time their homeroom teacher decided to do random quizzes in geography and biology.
However, he knew exactly that Hayate wasn’t flawless.
For how much Shun was mocked around by his group of goofy friends at school for lacking sense and wits about interpersonal relationships and romance, Hayate probably had it even worse.
Like…it was really curious how such a handsome, smart, and cool guy had never even gotten a confession before despite already being a Uni student.
And the older boy didn’t even know that an outfit called off-shoulder existed.
So, Shun decided that Hayate was a very interesting person to learn from. And probably, he could also figure out what the problem was.
And so…began a new habit of Shun to get to know more about his beloved ‘Sensei.’
One week in observation and he could already make a whole paragraph of why he would probably never catch up with Hayate in the brain department.
For one, Hayate was diligent…like very…diligent.
He might not be the kind of geniuses who were always the top scorer even without studying. In fact, it was because he worked hard for it.
Despite coming home late from part-time or tutoring, and finishing assignments for the next day, he would always spend some time revising what he had studied that day, organizing his notes, and jotting down stuff he hadn’t understood to be looked up for later.
He read daily news…even the boring ones like politics and financial updates…not the sports or entertainment news like what Shun usually read.
What Shun didn’t understand even after observing him for a while, was how Hayate still remembered high-school subjects (and even smoothly tutored him) now that his Uni curriculum didn’t even have Maths, Physics, or History…
…when Shun himself couldn’t even remember if you asked him what he had learned in class a week ago.
However, Hayate’s prowess in studying wasn’t the only thing he figured out while observing him.
And true to his counselor’s words…when you started paying more attention to the people you knew, you were bound to find new things about them…or around them.
Now Hayate’s being a klutz wasn’t news to him.
But this…
…this one was something even he, Futami Shun who would take a week to figure out that a love letter was in fact…a love letter, couldn’t help but notice on his own.
***
1
“Hayate-saaaaannnn…..!” Shun called for the third time in a row, raising his voice a little to get noticed.
They were now, as usual, sitting in Hayate’s living room for a tutoring. Papers and books strewn across the room. Proofs that they had been at it for a couple of hours.
Shun was still struggling with his trigonometry problems when he realized his Sensei didn’t even pay attention to him anymore.
Instead, the guy seemed to be thinking hard typing something incessantly with his smartphone.
“Ah…sorry, Shun-kun, which number was it again?” He finally turned to Shun after being nudged.
“I told you, I’m still stuck with question 3.”
“Lemme check tha—”
“Say, should we call it a day? you seemed awfully occupied, though…” Shun gestured to Hayate’s smartphone who readily vibrated once again, telling them another message came through.
Okay, so maybe he sulked a little for being ignored...and couldn’t help but pouted a bit.
Something akin to guilt crossed Hayate’s face for a second.
“S-sorry about that, I get distracted just now.” He put down his gadget with the screen facing downward. “Let’s at least finish this page.”
Just five minutes on the book and suddenly Hayate’s smartphone wouldn’t stop buzzing. One message came through after another.
“Whoever that is, it seems urgent,” Shun pointed out. “Whom are you chatting with anyway? A girl?”
“It’s not urgent, and it’s just Mima-san…and Souma-kun…”
Despite saying ‘not urgent’ Hayate promptly took his smartphone. And just like that, Shun’s practice book was forgotten once again.
“Huh?” on reflex, Shun checked out mawarimichi group chat on his own phone.
But there was no new chat.
“What are you guys talking about? Is that a new gc?” Feeling left out and not making progress with his homework, he decided to just be nosy.
“Eh? It’s not a gc, I’m just chatting with Mima-san…and Souma-kun at the same time.”
“About what?”
“Um…you see, Mima-san is currently renovating his apartment and he said he needed advice on the design, the furniture, and stuff…so we’ve been talking about that.”
“Whoa, Hayate-san, you also know much about interior design? That’s really cool!” Shun suddenly had a new level of respect for him.
“Nope. I know nothing about that.”
“Huh?? Then how do you give advice?”
“I ask Souma-kun. He said he didn’t really know much about interior design either. But he had a course about it once, so at least he’d be more reliable than me,” Hayate explained matter-of-factly.
“Wait a minute, so…what you’ve been doing is…I mean, Mima-san asks you, then you ask Souma the same questions, and then relaying Souma’s answers back to Mima-san?”
“Yeah…”
“Then why didn’t you just tell Mima-san to contact Souma directly? I mean, isn’t it a hassle going back and forth like that?” Shun frowned. “It’s not like they didn’t know each other…”
Hayate blinked at him once before his mono-lidded eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect O shape. A realization belatedly hit him.
“You’re right, Shun-kun! Why didn’t I think of that before?”
“………”
‘Normally, that would’ve been the first thing anyone thinks about in this situation.’
Bewildered, Shun chose to keep the comment to himself.
***
2
[one week later]
Shun paused the game on the TV screen and waited for Hayate to finish making his phone call. It was Friday night so no tutoring session. Shun had made a surprise visit to Hayate’s place, after his jerk of a friend bailed out on him last minute before their usual game night, and demanded the older guy play with him.
“Who’s that?” Shun asked the moment Hayate ended the call.
“Mima-san.”
“Something wrong?”
“Uh…he says he’s coming over.”
“Nice! Can you tell him to bring that pricey pudding or the lemon cheesecake by the station?”
“No way, he’s coming here after working overtime so he must be tired. I’ll buy you some from the konbini instead.”
“Then nevermind. Let’s just continue this, I’m about to beat you once again, Sensei,” Shun said as he resumed the game.
“We should start tidying up over here.”
“What?” Shun looked aghast. “You kicking me out already? We haven’t finished here.”
“You can stay, but I need some more space to lay out the futon. Mima-san says he’s already close.” Hayate began to collect their trash and whatnot.
“Hold on, so he’s staying over?”
“Yep.”
“But didn’t you say you have an appointment early tomorrow morning, would that be okay? Nee-chan said you even take a day off from your shift tomorrow.”
“Um…the appointment is with him, actually. He’s asking me to accompany him to choose the new furniture for his apartment. Originally we planned to meet at the station, but I don’t know…he suddenly said he wanted to sleep over.”
“Eh…then is Souma coming too? He’s the one designing the place, right?”
If Souma was coming then Shun thought he would tag along as he didn’t have anything to do tomorrow. He could probably sleep over tonight as well, so he didn’t have to spend time commuting home and could continue the game with Hayate some more.
“He is, but it seems Souma-kun gave him some options for every item instead of picking one. So Mima-san asked me to help choose.”
“…so basically he wants you to do the final design for his place, right? You two do have similar tastes.”
“I guess so…” Hayate mutters while blushing.
Now that one was something Shun hadn’t been able to decipher from Hayate yet. His penchant for blushing.
After observing him for a while now he was getting better at telling apart Hayate’s many expressions except for the blushes. Since the guy practically blushed at the slightest provocation, it was hard to tell what he was shy about just now.
“By the way, does Mima-san stay over often?” He couldn’t help but be curious, since Hayate seemed really used to his coming over to sleep on a very short notice, unlike the first time.
“Um, maybe once or twice every two weeks? Usually on the night before when we planned to go somewhere the next day.”
“Heh, you know what?” He grinned, “If I didn’t know you two before, I would have thought you guys sounded like a couple.”
“Ugh..i- it’s not like that!” Hayate’s face went red instantly.
***
3
[2 months later]
Winter break was over and Shun submitted his assignment, which got him praise from the counselor about how detailed his observation was and that he was able to assess objectively how he could improve to be a better student using his role model.
Of course, he left out all the personal details about Hayate. And the fact that he seemed to get distracted by something else that was currently a constant presence around the older boy…which was Mima.
Submitting the report didn’t mean his observation was over, though.
Ever since he found out that Mima regularly slept over at Hayate’s place and hung out with him every weekend, not to mention the older guy even as far as asking Hayate to choose the furniture for his apartment, there had been this nagging feeling inside Shuu that there was something going on between the two.
He couldn’t really put it into words because the two of them didn’t act anything unusual around him…
But once, right after spring and Shun became a third-year, he visited Hayate’s University to gain information about majors that would pique his interest.
It was quite early in the morning and they arranged to meet up in front of the Uni library.
When Shun got there, Hayate wasn’t alone. Mima, in his full working suit, was there with him. When he asked him why he was there, the older guy casually said he came to deliver Hayate’s bentou.
Turned out, ever since that first night Mima stayed over at Hayate’s on short notice and Hayate told him that he usually ate konbini-bought meals almost every day, Mima had been regularly making bentou for the other. And even as far as delivering it to his University before going to work.
Because...apparently, Mima was worried Hayate ate too much junk food and got sick.
Now, wasn’t that a bit extra?
Why did he act like Hayate’s parent?
Shun couldn’t think he would be able to do that to someone who wasn’t family, though. Even his Nee-chan only occasionally made bentou for him and they were blood-related.
Would Mima also make bentou for him if he told him the same thing as Hayate did?
For some reason, he doubted it.
However, of course, he kept that comment to himself.
And that wasn’t all.
Without realizing when that happened, he'd began paying attention more to Mima rather than Hayate. That was when he started noticing that Mima only came to Mawarimichi during Hayate’s shifts. The salaryman’s presence was frequently missing when Hayate’s shift didn’t coincide with Souma’s. He knew because he dropped by his sister’s café every day after school.
Of course, it could also be because of the man’s schedule and he often met up with Motoharu as well while he was there, so it was a bit hard to deduce…
Nonetheless, Shun also started noticing that Mima always came to the café around two or three hours before Hayate’s shift ended, because they would walk home together after.
And during that time he was at the cafe, if Motoharu wasn’t around, he would spend the time reading books.
And when his eyes weren’t on the page he was reading, then they would be staring at Hayate…or even following him around with his eyes whenever Hayate had to tend to the customers.
Shun often caught him smiling without reason when the older guy did that, even though it seemed it wasn’t due to the book he was reading.
He also began to realize Mima’s strange habit when ordering food and drinks.
For one, he would wait until Hayate was free from serving other customers, before calling him over.
Another thing was that even though the café already offered a set of 3-course meals at cheaper prices, Mima would always choose to order them separately, like…one by one, even though the menu he ordered was the same as the daily offer set.
Not that he complained when his sister’s customer chose to just pay more for each of them.
But what really strange was when he ordered drinks. He would order one or two drinks during his stay and each time, he would also order things separately…
For example
"Hayate-kun, may I order some milk into this?"
when obviously what he'd ordered was a cup of premium black coffee.
Or
"Hayate-kun, may I order some more honey?"
but didn’t the menu he ordered used brown sugar instead of honey?
"Hayate-kun, could you please add more toppings to this?’"
"May I order more of that sauce please?"
If he were Hayate, he would've honestly felt that to be quite annoying, not to mention ineffective? But not even once he saw Hayate look bothered by it.
In fact, he always served the older guy with a warm smile. Like you could practically see cherry blossoms surrounding him when he smiled that way.
Something Shun certainly didn’t see Hayate did for the other regular customers.
“Mima-san, you know the set meals are cheaper right?” Shun pointed out one day just because…
“and you can order them for take away if you can’t finish it? It’s more expensive to order separately, y’know.”
“I know. But I’m fine with it.” Mima answered simply.
“And that we do have lattes in our coffee selection?”
“Yep.”
“……….”
***
4
[4 months later and the summer festival]
Ever since Shun had begun noticing Mima’s behavior around Hayate, his eyes would automatically observe him whenever the older guy and Hayate were in the vicinity.
He also began noticing that whenever they hung out as a group, Mima and Hayate would by default walk together, stand side-by-side, or sit close to each other.
Something he didn’t realize when that had started to be a norm between them.
It was highly suspicious as well since whenever they went to the movies as a group, Mima-san would always be the one booking and sharing the tickets between them. Which, by any means, made him always sit beside Hayate, for some reason.
It was even more obvious during that time when they attended the summer festival. How they just naturally fell behind the other three and walked together, close enough for their shoulders to brush each other.
If Hayate wasn’t whisked away by Motoharu after Mima walked away to buy their snacks, those two probably would’ve wandered off somewhere without them.
After they were all gathered again and ate together under a makeshift stand, with Shun and Souma devouring everything in front of them while listening to Hayate’s overtly enthusiastic chat with Motoharu, Shun noticed how Mima stared at the boy and the novelist, so much so that his own omusoba laid untouched before him.
***
5
[the beach trip]
“Let’s choose seats,” Souma put the last of his bag inside the trunk and was ready to climb into the car.
“I call the back row!” Shun almost rushed to beat him, only to be held back when Souma noticed his swim trunks and commented about his dumb choice of not bringing any change.
They waited for another ten minutes until Mima arrived, panting heavily and sweating all over after running.
When Hayate climbed into the middle seat, the fact that Mima just naturally followed to sit beside him didn’t skip Shun’s eyes.
At the same time that Motoharu also did the same.
“Eh? Takayuki, shouldn’t you sit in the front?” asked Motoharu, “You’re more familiar with the routes in Kanagawa after all.”
“But I…” Mima’s eyes flickered to Hayate for two seconds.
“Mima, sit in the front and show me the way,” Souta said as he started the engine.
Shun thought he must’ve been hallucinating because at that moment he seemed to have seen Mima pout juusstt a little…before the older guy turned back and hopped onto the passenger seat.
Mima and Hayate excused themselves to the restroom just before they drove back home.
After 20 minutes of no sign of them coming back, Shun was tasked to pick them up. After all, it wouldn’t be strange for any of them to suddenly get lost or forget the way back.
He, however, didn’t prepare for the scene he had to witness when he rounded the corner to the restroom.
He could make out Mima and Hayate’s figures from afar but when he got closer, he saw how Mima was leaning his face towards Hayate. His long bangs quite covered the side of his and Hayate’s faces but it was clear enough for Shun to see that one of Mima’s hands was cupping Hayate’s cheek.
And Hayate looked like he was closing his eyes??
“Hayate-san!?” out of surprise, Shun couldn’t hold back his mouth from shouting. His first thought was ‘Are they really trying to-? In public??’
The two of them, completely startled by his shout, promptly turned to him.
Yet, strangely enough, they didn’t immediately separate themselves after being caught red-handed in such a compromising position.
And that was when he spotted Hayate’s teary eyes.
“What…happened, Hayate-san? Are you alright?” He threw a questioning glance at Mima, who seemed to just be aware that he was still holding Hayate’s face. He slowly retracted his hand.
“I-I’m fine…it’s just…”
“Hayate-kun’s eyes got sand in them, there was a sudden gust of wind just now. They look really red.” Mima turned back to Hayate and once again, smoothly cupped Hayate’s jaw to tilt his head. The movement was so swift as if they were used to the gesture.
Hayate closed both his eyes again just when Mima leaned his face closer.
Shun widened his eyes at the scene. Heat instantly crept up his neck.
“Hayate-kun,” Mima halted his motion, “I can’t blow them away if you keep closing your eyes.”
‘HUH?’
“Sorry, it’s a reflex…” Hayate muttered softly.
‘So they were just trying to get rid of the sand?!’ So much for him getting hot all of a sudden.
Dumbfounded by how primitive and ineffective their method was, Shun couldn’t hold back his tongue.
“Mima-san, don’t you usually carry around eye drops?? It might be faster using it than blowing his eyes like that…”
The two look-alikes glanced at him in sync.
It was obvious they didn’t think about that at all.
***
+1
“TAMAYAA!!” Motoharu shouted out of the blue, gaining a few chuckles from the others.
Amidst the sound of fireworks crackling and the rain of colorful rays against the indigo sky before them, they stood side-by-side and lapsed into silence, entranced by the magnificent view.
The fireworks show was almost over when Hayate suddenly broke the silence first, “It would be nice to come here again together.”
He blushed furiously right after saying it as if that wasn’t meant for anyone else to hear.
“Yes, let’s all come here again next year,” Mima promptly answered him while showing his rare, soft smile.
It didn’t evade Shun how the older guy always seemed to be the first one in responding to Hayate’s random outburst, and that indulging expression…like he was staring at something so precious.
“All right, why doesn’t this old guy take a picture of all of you?” Souta readied his camera and took position. “Okay, everybody, get together.”
“Oh, Souma and Shun, you should get a step lower…Hayate, get a bit closer.”
“Okay…”
“Wait…Hayate-kun,” Mima swiftly approached the younger, “please watch the step over ther—”
“I’m taking it now~”
What happened after was a series of blurry movements and chaos within seconds before the camera’s shutter clicked.
Hayate tripped on his step...
He would’ve definitely crashed onto Shun below him if only Mima wasn’t so quick in catching him.
Mima embraced Hayate’s waist from behind and drew him closer to halt the smaller boy from falling. In his haste, he elbowed Motoharu’s arm, which was holding the beer can, and it splashed on Souma a bit.
“COLD!!” Souma yelled in surprise when the beer dropped to some of his hair and the side of his body.
“Are you okay, Hayate? you’re not hurt, right?” Mima’s voice was laced with concern, still not aware that he was the one causing more chaos among them than if Hayate had just fallen instead.
Or that he just called Hayate by his first name...
The picture turned out to be catastrophically comedic. The Shiki brothers and Motoharu doubled over laughing while Hayate blushed furiously. Mima, on the other hand, just looked at the picture flatly, before asking again if Hayate was hurt.
Shun spotted how in the next picture, it showed how Mima’s arm snaked around Hayate’s waist. He instantly looked over and saw that he was still half-embracing the younger.
“Let’s take another one,” Souta said, “Hayate-kun, stand closer to Mima please.”
And Mima was still holding the other’s waist as if Hayate could fall over like a leaf.
Maybe it was the scene from the restroom earlier that made Shun become a little more sensitive about these two. However, it was very strange that no one else but him seemed to notice it.
Shun, who didn’t take his eyes off these two could only facepalm in his mind.
‘Uh..c’mon, it’s not like Hayate-san would trip at the same place for the second time? aren’t you just being overprotective? and what’s with your hand, oi!’ seeing how Mima’s arm lingered too long around Hayate.
“Mima-san, thank you, I’m okay though,” Hayate said. Unclear if he was aware of the arm that was still circling his waist.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Out of the need to point out about these two so that everyone would notice and he wouldn’t be alone feeling this secondhand embarrassment, he finally gave in to his urge.
“Mima-san, you can let go of him now thou—”
“Okay! I’m taking it now, 1….2….say sushiii”
The camera clicked, and just like that, nobody heard Shun’s comment.
And Mima didn’t let go of Hayate’s waist until they got back into the car.
***
[EXTRA]
“What’s wrong, Shun-chan?” Souma approached him on the counter seat. “Recently you look like you’re always thinking about something, which is new…but here, let your senpai hear you out.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“If you’re thinking so long about something then it could only be about exams or figuring out if a certain girl confessed to you or not.” Souma chuckled.
“It’s not about me!” Shun was about to just shoo the red-haired boy away, but the urge to not keep it to himself anymore suddenly fought his way out.
The café was quite empty this time of day. Hayate wasn't around and by extension, so was Mima. Motoharu was sitting at the other corner of the counter, seemingly so focused on typing on his laptop, but other than him, no one would have listened in to them.
He grabbed Souma’s arm and pulled him to sit beside him.
“Listen, there’s something I wanna ask you.” He lowered his voice and that gesture certainly grabbed Souma’s full attention.
“I’m all ears, what’s it about? A new crush?”
“Ugh no! it’s about Hayate-san and Mima-san…”
Souma widened his eyes and nodded excitedly, “Okay, wait a second.”
“Huh?”
“Motoharu-kun, will you come here please?” Souma abruptly called the older guy.
“Wait! What are yo—!? I didn’t say you could—”
“Relax, if it’s about those two then we certainly need him.” Souma grinned, “Trust me.”
Shun was doubtful about this. After all, it was all still his conjectures. But since Mima was involved, it’d probably be wiser to hear advice from his same-age friend.
Shun told his two friends all about his observation over the last few months. His sister came back from the kitchen and even though she looked as if she was busy prepping, she seemed to listen in as well.
Not that Shun cared anymore at this rate.
Surprisingly enough, none of them looked even the slightest bit curious or shocked…
“Well, well…” Souma clapped his hand and turned to Motoharu before they both burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?!” Somehow he felt affronted. It couldn’t be that they thought he was being too sensitive, right?
“Nothing…nothing, actually we've been waiting for this to happen,” Motoharu said as he smiled from ear to ear.
“HA?”
“Congratulation on being the last person to know!” Souma wiped the laughing tear from his eyes.
“What??” Shun was flabbergasted.
“Well, except for the parties involve, that is…”
“So you guys already knew?!”
“Yuup…even Asami-san and my brother as well.”
“Then why did you guys act like nothing happened?”
“Surely it’s because nothing, has happened until now.” Motoharu voiced out, emphasizing the word 'nothing'. “Between them… so we also kept quiet but well… it is getting too frustrating I must say.”
“Are you guys sure they weren’t already dating and just hiding it from us?”
Shun was doubtful about all of it. Because even to his eyes, Hayate and Mima already looked like a long-time couple, with how casual they were to each other, skinship and whatnot. And he was infamous for his immunity to anything romantic.
“I’m positive. Otherwise I would’ve already known,” Motoharu said firmly.
“Then…should we do something about it?”
“Normally this isn’t something we should interfere…”
“But—”
“And which is why,” Souma interrupted, “Motoharu-kun suggested that we wait until you come around before giving them a little hand.”
“Wait…why pin it on me?”
“Because…” Motoharu giggled, “...if even the Futami Shun could figure it out when those two couldn’t then they really are a lost cause.”
“OI!” Feeling betrayed, he glared at everyone.
“But that means we can finally do something, right?” Souma looked excited.
“But you guys are so mean, what if I never found out?”
“I’m sure they’d come around one day…at the very least before this world ends,” Motoharu said lightly.
“Okay then.” Shun rolled his eyes. Even though he felt a bit betrayed for being left out, he also felt relieved now they could talk about it to others.
“What should we do and where do we start?” He threw a hopeful glance toward Motoharu, and so did Souma.
“Well…well…we should think about it together…but for now,” Motoharu leaned closer, his eyes sparkled with mischievous intent.
“…I do have something in mind.”