He fell in love with the boy with honey-brown eyes. That smile that laughs made everything good. There was darkness inside and wonder if that boy would hate him for who he was that it made him feel worse.
Miyuki Kazuya hated his work right now. Instead of doing his work like a normal person, would the man was daydreaming. Miyuki was the CEO of a giant electric company, and many would kill to work for him. He's a genius, but even so, sometimes he needs a break.
Miyuki was thinking about a couple of days ago when he met something which had the brightest smile and a laugh that was so pure. The boy would be mistaken for a girl for his long brown hair. He has never met anybody that has grown their hair long. That's a guy before.
Miyuki was hungry, and he wanted some simple food, so the man went to a nearby convenience store. Miyuki manages to grab some things he needed for his dinner. He was taking another item from the shelf. He dropped the other items that he was holding.
The man then heard something laughing at him. The person who was laughing looked young and cute, and it looked like he worked in this convenience store.
"Ya know. That you could have used a basket to put all those stuff in." Miyuki realized he could do that, but it didn't cross his mind. The man didn't usually go shopping for food.
"Let me help you." The boy that worked in the store picked up all the stuff that Miyuki had dropped, and he even brought a basket for him.
"Thank you," Miyuki said.
"Your very welcome." The boy smiled.
Miyuki would never forget those honey-brown eyes, the laugh the boy had and that smile of his.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Kuramochi had to barge into his office and crushed his dreams. "Should you be working?"
"I'm taking a break."
"I can see that." Kuramochi then scanned at all those paperwork that the boss had not finished yet. "What am I going to do with you?" He sighed.
"I wish I could see you again," Miyuki mumbled so that his best friend could not hear him. "Maybe I can see him again if I go to that convenience store."
Miyuki wished he could see that sunshine again, but he knew that couldn't happen with all the work that he had to do. Miyuki knew that he couldn't be able to finish it on time. When it ends, it would be too late.
"I can't believe you're the CEO when you don't act like one."
"Thank you."
"That was not a compliment."
Miyuki went back to work, it looked like he would be staying here overnight, Being boss of a big company is hard, but Miyuki made it on his own, it was hard, but he did on his own.
There was the sound of the phone ringing, and it was loud that annoyed Miyuki. Kuramochi picked the call up since he knew that Miyuki would not answer.
"This is the IT Company," Kuramochi spoke as he picked the call.
"Okay, got it." Kuramochi just nodded as he took the call.
It was nothing important, so he decided it wasn't worth mentioning to Miyuki.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was quiet at the Banana Café, and it was a place that students came to study. And this one group always studied in this one café in the same spot and ordered the same things.
"Furuya, are you listening?" Haruichi was explaining the problem to his friend, but it looked like his friend was dozing off to dreamland.
It was like this whenever they studied.
"Eijun-kun, did you get this?" Haruichi turned to Eijun, who looked like he wanted to learn, unlike their other friend.
"Yes, I got it."
"How can you study and have two jobs at the same time?" Kanemaru would be dead if he did that, so he wondered how his friend could do that.
"I'm just used to it now," Eijun said.
"Didn't you say you met somebody strange at one of your work?" Toujou asked.
"Oh, ya. That customer was trying to pick up something when his hands were already full, and he ended up dropping it all." Eijun could still remember that day, and it made him laugh.
"There are people that do that," Furuya mumbled.
"You are awake."
Furuya then went back to bed when he said that.
"I think it's time for the café to almost close." Toujou turned to the clock on the wall in the café.
The high school students got up and put their books away and left the café.
Eijun said goodbye to his friends since they lived in opposite directions.
The high schooler looked at his phone and was scanning through his work schedule so he doesn't mess up where he would need to work.
As he was walking home to his apartment, the young man looked at his reflection on one of the store windows. His hair had grown a lot. Eijun touched it and thought maybe it was about time he should cut it. He does get mistaken for a girl a lot because even though he wears men's clothes.
On his way home, Eijun's path is stopped by some drunken. Eijun didn't think about the time since they studied late than usual. He has forgotten about the strange people that are here at this time. Eijun decided to turn around and go another way.
"Hey, pretty, why are you running away?" Just great, one of them had to spot them.
Eijun ignored him and kept on walking, but one of the men got up and ran after him and ended up grabbing his hand. Eijun turned to look at the drunken man.
"If you want to play around, I think you should look elsewhere. And I'm a guy,"
"You don't need to pretend." The drunken said.
Eijun was pissed that he was about to hit the man on where it hurts, but somebody beat him to it. Eijun saw the man fall, letting Eijun's hand go.
The high schooler looked to who was his saviour and was surprised to see the one from the convenience store.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Why, yes?" Eijun didn't think he would see this stranger again.
"You're the one that works at the convenience store, right."
"Yes."
"It's not good to talk here. Let's go somewhere else."
So the two went where there were more people and a lot safer.
They found a small park to sit by. Miyuki grabbed a drink for the student since he was worried about Eijun.
"Thank you." Eijun smiled.
"It's nothing," Miyuki said. "Why were you out so late? It can be dangerous even for a guy like you."
"Oh, you can tell I'm a guy."Eijun was surprised because everybody else always mistakes him for a girl because of his hair.
"Yes." He smiled.
Eijun felt warm inside when this man smiled at him. It made him feel weird.
"You're the first person to tell. I kept my hair long without realizing it."
"It's getting late. Do you mind that I walk you home? I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I can usually take care of myself, but sure I would like that."
The two chatted as they walked toward Eijun's apartment.
"Are you a high school student?" Miyuki asked because he saw his student ID hanging on his bag.
"Oh yes, I'm a third-year, and I'm eighteen years old. What about you?"
"I'm the boss of a company, and I'm twenty-six years old."
"He's eight years older than me."
They finally arrived at Eijun's apartment complex.
"Thanks for dropping me off."
"My pleasure." Miyuki smiled.
Miyuki watched Eijun go inside before he left.
Miyuki thought maybe it wasn't so bad going home late. He was glad he decided to head home instead of staying the night at the company. He manages to meet with that cutie again. But that drunken man annoyed him that he wanted to kill him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eijun was getting ready to meet up with his friends since it was the weekend. Today they didn't plan to study and take a break from it. They have been reviewing a lot since exams were coming up.
They went to have lunch at some restaurant that recently opened. They walked into the restaurant, and an employee that worked there greeted them
When they were seated, Eijun noticed all the workers here were male. It didn't bother him, but Eijun found it strange, but it didn't look like his friends knew since they were busy looking through the menu.
"Eijun-kun, have you decided yet?" Haruichi asked.
"Ah, no." Haruichi took the book from his friend and looked through the menu.
"What is this, Rose gale?" Eijun wondered.
"It's a famous tea that has the scent of roses." The server came and explained to him, even though Eijun didn't ask for him. It looked like the man was nearby when Eijun spoke out loud.
"Mukai Taiyou." EIjun read the name without meaning too. "Sorry, that slipped out." He apologized to the server.
"It's fine. I mean, my nametag is there to be called out to." He smiled. "
Mukai looked around to see the students were ready to order.
"Are you guys ready?" He asked.
"Yea, we are," Toujou answered.
One by one, Mukai took their order until it was only Eijun left.
"I guess I will have the rose gale with my meal." He said with a smile.
At first, Mukai thought that Eijun was a girl with his long hair but realized he wasn't because of his voice and the way he acted.
Mukai went to the back and got his order ready.
"We have a strange bunch today."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, Akira-san. I mean, we have students. We normally never get students."
"And how can you tell they are students?" Akira asked. "I mean, they are not in their school uniforms."
"I can tell because I'm a student too." Mukai pointed it out, and Akira just chuckled.
"I think I have seen that one with the long hair," Akira said. He tried to recalled where he saw such a pretty boy like him before. "Ah, the café down the street."
"The café," Mukai said.
"Yes, He works at the cat café," Akira said.
"And why were you there, Akira-san?" Mukai gave a questioning look at his manager and cook.
"I was there on business. It's not like I went there to have fun." Akira defended himself from the glare that his friend and employee were giving him, which was scary. "That boy also helped me pick a nice cake. You that one from the party."
"Oh, that cheesecake that was out the world."
"You shouldn't tease Mei-san like that even when he's not here."
"He's an idiot. But I won't deny that cake was good."
"I heard from the manager of the cat café it was Eijun who made it," Akira said.
"He did." Mukai was surprised. "Maybe that's why he was asking about the tea."
Mukai saw their food was ready, so he went back out and brought it for them. He placed their meals one by one. He watched Eijun as his tea was placed and saw the surprise look on his face.
"The scent smells nice." He smiled.
Mukai found that Eijun had a friendly smile, different from the ones and way better than those fakes ones he has seen. Especially better then the evil smirks that his co-workers give him.
Mukai thought his day was going bad, but it that smiled just brighten his day up.
The server went back to where Akira was. He watched the students from afar.
"I heard it's going to rain tonight," Toujou told the group. He usually the only one who tells them information about the weather.
"But it doesn't look its going rain," Haruichi said, looking outside when the sun was still out.
"Weather changes in the blink of an eye," Kanemaru said.
"I just want to sleep when I get home," Furuya spoke, and the friends didn't know what to say since it was something their sleepy friend would say.
"Thanks for letting us know, Toujou. I will have to remember to take a remember when I go to work tonight."
"What? Your working. I thought you had a day off." Kanemaru looked surprised.
"I did, but somebody called in sick, and I decided it's good to take the shift since I need the money."
"Ei-chan, why do you work so much?" Furuya asked. "Aren't you tired from studying and working?"
They were surprised that Furuya was the one who spoke.
"Are you worried about me?" Eijun smiled at Furuya, but the raven just hid his blush with his bag.
"It's not like that." Furuya can be such a tsundere sometimes.
They finished their meal and paid for their meal.
"Hope to see you again," Mukai said as they left the restaurant.
The friends had plenty of time, so they decided to walk around the area. They found the shops they liked.
"Sawamura, aren't you collecting these?" Toujou pointed out the item. It was a gold key with a red ruby in the middle.
"It's not the real one," Eijun said.
"How can you tell?" Kanemaru thought it looked like the same as the one Eijun had in his home.
"Because I know a lot of these things." That didn't answer Kanemaru's question, but he didn't care much about anyway.
"Why are you even collecting them?" Toujou asked.
"Because it is important to my family, but when I was born, something happened and shattered them all."
"Are you sure it wasn't just a story your family made up?" Haruichi felt like it was just some old story.
"Could be." Eijun laughed.
Eijun could just forget about it all and not look for them, but that meant letting go of his parents and their death.
His grandfather got a distance after his parents died. Eijun felt there was something strange about the way they died. Their body was never found, and his grandfather told Eijun that they committed suicide, which did not make any sense.
Eijun tried to confront his grandfather about it many times, but he would never listen to a word he said, and that made Eijun upset.
After Eijun entered high school in Tokyo, the two didn't speak much anymore. The old man didn't even return his calls when Eijun tried to talk to him, so Eijun gave up.
"Eijun-kun, are you okay?" Haruichi waved his hand in front of his best friend.
"Ah, sorry I was lost in my thoughts."
Eijun couldn't believe he was thinking about the past now.
It was now getting late, and the friends said their goodbye.
Eijun went home to get ready for his next job. It wasn't a job he would tell his friends about because they would be against it.
Eijun tidied his hair and wore nice clothes, and then he looked at himself in the mirror.
"Everything will be alright." That was something he always said, so nothing bad would happen.
Eijun arrived through the back to get to his job. It was night time, so it was a bit nosy because it was a bar and he was a bartender. The bar owner was no other then Haruichi's older brother. Eijun asked to keep it a secret even from his best friend.
Eijun studied a lot after his parents passed away. He wanted to earn on his own without his grandfather's help. The old man has been ignoring him for a long time now, so he decided not to take the man's money.
The job at the bar wasn't bad. He had a couple of drunk people who came in, but all they wanted to be somebody to listen to about their worries and he was a good listener.
Kominato Ryosuke was out smoking when a shadow approached him.
"Ah, it's you." He said.
"Ryo-san."
"What brings you here tonight?"
"I'm exhausted dealing with Miyuki's shit right now, so I need a break." True to Kuramochi's words, the man could see how bad he looked.
"Let's get you a drink, then shall we." Ryosuke guided the man inside the bar.
The first thing that Kuramochi noticed was the young man bartending.
"He looks young for a bartender. How come I have never seen him here before? Is it new?" Kuramochi asked.
"He works here only Saturdays. He's a student, so I can't make him work other days right now."
"Is that alright?"
"It's fine. The boy is already eighteen and will be graduating soon. The same time as my little brother." Ryosuke explained. "Anyway, he makes the best drinks?"
"Eijun, can you make a drink for a poor soul?"
"You didn't have to say that," Kuramochi mumbled.
True to Ryosuke's words, the boy's drink was amazing that Kuramochi was shocked.
"Are you not enjoying your work Mr?" Eijun asked.
Kuramochi looked up at the guy after taking a drink.
Something like that. I like my job, but my boss is a pain in the ass." Kuramochi found it easy to talk to this bartender who was like a baby. "He's lazy, and sometimes he sneaks out."
"Maybe your boss wants to relax and not worry as you do right now."
What the boy said made sense? It looked like Miyuki was worrying about something.
"Sometimes it's better to talk it out with your boss. He's your friend as well, right."
"How can you tell?"
"You speak to him like he's somebody you have known for a long time."
Eijun finished making another drink and gave it to the man.
When Kuramochi was done for the night, he went to speak to Ryosuke before he left.
"Where did you get such a guy? I mean, he's a great listener, and he understands me."
That night Kuramochi left feeling good about himself and decided to talk to Miyuki in person about these things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That morning Miyuki was exhausted, and he had a lot of things he had to deal with and one that had to do with the main house of Miyuki. There was no time to rest, and his father kept on calling him. Dealing with the Miyuki household was something he didn't want to do.
The door to his office opened, and he knew who it was since only one person opened his door without knocking, and it was his best friend, Kuramochi.
"What is it?" He asked, his eyes not even paying attention to his friend.
"I needed to talk to you, but maybe that can wait since you look like shit."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Kuramochi didn't even want to answer back to his friend at this point.
"I'll come back later."
"Wait, there are some things I need to discuss before you head out." Miyuki stopped his friend from leaving the office.
"What is it?" Kuramochi sat across Miyuki from his desk.
"We will need to start looking for those jewels."
"I thought you didn't care about it."
"I didn't care; I just didn't have the time. But our bodies will be something that not right if we don't find them and restore it."
Miyuki thought he was happy the last few days, but there was still darkness inside. Miyuki wished he could be a normal human being and be free of this curse, but that would not happen.
"That day, we shouldn't have gone to that forest."
"But we didn't know what would happen," Kuramochi said. "We were just looking for our friend."
"Our dead friend who cursed us with these horrible forms."
Kuramochi didn't know what to say.
"Can anybody love us like that?"
Miyuki then thought about that high school student. He thought about what the boy would think if he saw his true form. He would run away like all the rest.
A couple of days ago he didn't think about his form or anything and was just enjoying his life but then his father had to call, and everything went sour.
Miyuki hated his life, and he wished everything went back to normal.
Their friend hated them so much that he ended up cursing them.
Kuramochi wanted to tell his friend Something, but it looked like right now wasn't a good time.
Kuramochi left the office and let his friend cool down. He wondered what had happened while he was away that made his friend so upset and like he was back then.
Miyuki took his glasses off, and it was annoying him.
"I wish I could see you."
Miyuki couldn't stand to be in the office anymore. He needed some air. He took off his black blazer as he was feeling hot and just wore his white dress shirt.
He ended up going into the city just walking around. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't have anywhere in mind. Miyuki's thoughts were jumbled; everything was horrible for him.
"Hey!" Miyuki recognized a familiar voice call out to him, and then he felt being pulled. When he turned, he was faced with those honey-colour eyes. The boy smiled at him with that warm that could take everything away.
"I thought I wouldn't see you again." The boy panted. "I saw you and couldn't help but run after you."
Miyuki was surprised.
"I knew it was you, even just looking at your back." Eijun felt embarrassed, saying all that. "Ah, you're not wearing your glasses today. Did you forget to put them on?"
Miyuki realized that he had forgotten to put them on, but it's not like he couldn't see. His eyes were terrible, but not that bad.
"Are you feeling okay?" Eijun asked.
"Why?" Miyuki wondered why the high schooler would ask him that.
"You seemed down."
Miyuki was surprised by this boy.
"How about having lunch with me?" The boy smiled. Miyuki couldn't refuse that smile, so he ended up having lunch with the boy in a nearby restaurant.
"Ah, I never introduced myself to you. I'm Sawamura Eijun."
"That's right. We bumped into each other but never told our names. I'm Miyuki Kazuya."
"So Miyuki-san, what's bugging you? I mean, you don't have to tell me, but maybe I can help. I'm told that I'm an excellent listener."
"My family has been bugging me a lot. I don't live with them anymore, but they still want something from me."
"That must be tough, but I bet they are just worried about you."
"Why do you say that?
"Families are always there for each other. Well, that's what I remember."
"Sure they care, but it's not about caring."
"Then what's the problem?"
"My father calls me a lot, but it's not about him but my mother, who is making the problem. She's not my real mother, but I know she cares, but I wish she would stop."
"Doesn't she just want to accept you as her son? Miyuki-san, I don't know a lot of step-mothers, but I know that she is still a mother."
"You talk real mature for a high schooler."
"Is that so?" Eijun chuckled.
Miyuki found himself better after speaking to Eijun and spending time with the boy. He found it comforting to be around the boy.
"Sawamura, I would like to see you again if it's okay." There was sight blush in Eijun's face when Miyuki asked him that.
"I don't mind since I want to see you again." Miyuki could tell that the boy was shy.
The two exchanged numbers.
Miyuki didn't know when he would be able to contact the boy since he was busy.
"Were you heading somewhere before you saw me?" Miyuki asked.
"I was heading to the library. I have exams coming up soon."
"I will walk you there then."
They walked as they talked until they arrived at the library.
Eijun was going to say something before Miyuki left. Still, something unexpected happened. The man touched his face with his right hand. Eijun was shocked but didn't say anything. They looked at each other in the eyes. It felt like they were the only two people in the world right now.
Miyuki smiled as he looked at Eijun. The student felt something sad in his eyes when the man looked at him, a sadness that he didn't know of.
"I will see you around." Miyuki let go of his hand and walked away from Eijun.
That bad leaving made Eijun just stare at him as he walked away. There was this feeling that Eijun got that worried the man. Something was still upsetting him, but of course, Eijun couldn't barge into that space.
"He's way older than me, but I guess even adults have problems they need to deal with."