Kosaka is a small town located in Akita prefecture. With a population of just under 5,000, Kosaka has the kind of friendly, small-town charm where the locals established a warm, peaceful community. This sleepy town, with its lime green rice paddies and dark emerald mountains, offers the best natural setting of the Japanese countryside.

Despite being considered a rural region, Kosaka has well-developed; buildings, infrastructures, hotels and other entertainment businesses since the increase in tourist visits over these past few years. Coming from another region or even country to sightsee the beautiful view and the famous lake in northern Japan.

In short, Kosaka is just a perfect place to live because it’s far from a hectic metropolitan city but still sophisticated in its own way.

Yami and Goro are cycling far ahead, leaving Ren and Kaito pedalling through the unsettling silence. 

Young-new planted paddies waving gently under the evening breeze. Dances in the light and lends her beauty to every passing soul. Green tapestry graced by clover never failed to give Ren a sense of tranquillity whenever he comes across them, alas now, for the first time he was cycling through the rice fields with Kaito, The strong urge to step on his pedals hard and storming in a turbo speed is the only thing that takes over his senses.

Regardless, Ren is very well aware - this time - he was at fault. He misunderstood Kaito. And if Ren intends to make their study group bearable, at least he should be a bigger man by making an effort to mend their wrong start.

“What are you doing in the back?” Kaito shouts from ahead without glancing back. Ren doesn’t realise he’s been left out because of thinking about other things. “The girls will be disappointed if you are not the one they see first”

Gathering his courage, Ren accelerates his pedals. “I- I apologise…”

Kaito only regards Ren who is already on his side with only one eyebrow rising up. 

“About before…I misunderstood,” Ren clarifies.

“Ah, that!” Kaito snaps his fingers, “You mean when you think I was going to beat you up? Or when you think I was a lowly bully all this time?”

“I’m sorry…” Every bull's eye Kaito hit, adding more weight to Ren’s head. He regretfully stares down where his wheel trips on the pebble, just like Kaito who guilt trip him.

“Don’t worry about that~ It’s not like my first time. You are not the only one who holds prejudice against me.” Kaito has a disdainful smirk on his face. “But still, even a kind-hearted guy like you also thinks so lowly about me…it’s quite upsetting”

Ren sighs, “That’s why I apologise, I’m sorry…”

“Then…” Kaito suddenly leans his face close to Ren. Seeing Kaito’s dark irises looking so clear yet solid like staring at black pearls under the deep water, Ren quickly averts his gaze with a strange feeling nudging his heart. “Do you change your mind? Do you think I’m a good guy now?”

Impossible for Ren to read if Kaito seriously asks him or if he’s just teasing him. His tone is always full of sarcasm. Aside from that, Ren’s brain can’t find the answer. If Kaito can really see through him, wouldn’t lying be in vain?

“Uh? Um…”

“I see,” Kaito can already tell the answer, “Then you shouldn’t apologise.” 

“What? Wait! I-”

Ren’s words cut when Kaito gives him a piercing side glance, “Apologies only when you think yourself wrong, not just to put people at ease”

Like being punched in the gut, Ren’s throat clogged. What Kaito said was true, Ren apologised mostly because he was afraid Kaito would be angry. “Ye-yes I understand…”

The lingering silence is what follows after their short banter. Throwing them back into an awkward tension. However, instead of looking upset like what he said, Kaito returns to his indifferent demeanour. Lightly humming and whistling melodies Ren never heard before, completely enjoying the acacia scent carried by the breeze - the signature fragrance of spring.

His black hair fluttering from clashing with winds, his face looks relaxed; no tense eyebrows nor scowl on his slightly tugging up lips. Does Kaito like to go on the mixer so much? Ren wonders.

“I…don’t know you are acquainted with Yami and Goro,” Ren begins. His determination to fix each other’s impressions still hasn’t changed.

Kaito almost never hangs out with people besides Haruki, Yuuta, Masao and Asahi. He keeps his circle small for unknown reasons.

Ren thought Kaito would shoot him an annoyed glare. Yet surprisingly, he answers truthfully. “I only talked to them once”

“What? Then are you coming when they ask even though you don’t know them that well?” Ren manoeuvres his bike as they enter the settlement; locals just return from their activities while a few of them are just about to start.

“I’m not like you; following random people just because they asked” Kaito snickers. Shame burns Ren’s cheeks. “They didn’t ask. I asked them instead”

“Oh,” Ren responded and paused. “So…you are also interested in that kind of stuff?”

“Not really, just curious,” Kaito answers without missing a beat. “How about you? You don’t reject girls from our school just to meet random chicks, do you?”

Ren is a bit baffled when Kaito asks him back, “Perhaps…I have the same reason as you”

“Well, whatever, at least both of us know who’s the most excited among us” Kaito jerked his head at Yami, who is already far on the front, leaving his figure only a small dot in both Ren and Kaito’s eyes. From school up to now, Yami cycled his bike with a vigour that even athletes like Ren and Kaito couldn’t match.

“That guy never gives up on trying his luck,” a light giggle escapes from Ren’s mouth. Kaito can’t help but stare at him.

“Is that peacock guy really your friend?”

“What do you mean?” Ren regards him with a quizzical gaze. There’s a hint of edginess in his tone.

“It just…” Kaito seems to be looking for the right words to explain his answer. “You guys don’t look compatible”

Ren snorts, “Like you and me?”

Hearing a timid guy like Ren abruptly make a joke is not what Kaito expects. “Like you and me.” Kaito parrots with a little chuckle.

“Just so you know, I don’t completely throw off by the idea of having you as my study partner,” Ren decides to come clean. “That’s true that I was a tad scared before. You are not the friendliest dude I know..” He grimaces. 

“Tell me something new,” Kaito shrugs nonchalantly. “And you are not scared of me anymore?”

“Sometimes…you have a very intimidating facial expression. Like you hate just for existing and everything around you disgusts you in some way.” Wincing by how blunt his words come out. Ren thought whether he had crossed the line and whether Kaito would be offended by the honesty he rarely conveyed.

However, rather than look offended, Kaito tilts his head. He genuinely ponders on what Ren had said. “Is that so? hmm…I’ll try to work on it”

Ren agape. That’s not the answer he expects from Kaito. He will work on what? His tamper? “Yes? How?” 

“You see…I have a very bad sight.” Kaito swivels his head to face him briefly before returning his gaze to the road. “Right is minus 7 and the left one is minus 5, also mild astigmatism. If I don’t squint my eyes, I can not see very clearly; blurred and unfocused. I originally wore glasses but I don’t feel comfortable using them nowadays. But if people think I was angry all the time because I glare at them…I perhaps will try wearing contact lenses, although they will be troublesome”

/So that’s why? How can he even see the writing on the board with those eyesights?/ 

Just right after Kaito explains himself, his bicycle bumps with another bicycle from the opposite direction ridden by a middle schooler. The short boy almost nudged aside from the different strength with Kaito.

“Ah! Hey Oni-san, please watch where are you going!” The middle school boy stumbles after pulling the brake.

Goro, who is only a few metres ahead, halts on his track and shouts. “HEY, BRAT! YOU DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS?! HE’S THE NATIONAL ATHLETE OF KYOKUSHIN KARATE! YOU WANNA DIE?!”

“Cut it out, will you?!” Kaito hisses at Goro, who quickly clasps his mouth tight. Then with a completely opposite expression, Kaito lowers his head at the younger boy. “I’m sorry. It was my fault, I didn't see your bike.”

“Hmph! Be careful next time!” After the middle schooler left. They continue the trip to the cafe which is already on the sight, a few metres on the front.  

“Ha…do you know how dangerous it was to ride a bicycle without glasses when you have bad eyesight? I bet it would be worse at night.” Ren sputters an unexpected nagging. Kaito admits to being quite refreshing to be scolded by a boy who usually never freely expresses himself. “Anyway, now after you told me that face is not an irritated face, I think we can start to properly become friends? After all, we are a pair now” a momentary pause follows after, “As a study group I mean” Ren immediately clarifies.

Kaito thinks again of the true reason he’s following Ren into a blind date he’s never interested in; perhaps one of them is to get to know him better. The idea of being friends with Ren doesn’t sound bad at all. 

The other reason though, Kaito was probably unknowingly doing this to make himself feel better, hoping to lessen his guilt and his burden. Even though he knows helping Ren won't justify his actions but deep down he feels he has to help the poor boy with a secret that only he knows.

“I’m not the brightest one in friendship,” Kaito admits, looking away, feeling embarrassed. “But, because I will be counting on you to help me study, I’ll do my best. There should be one aspect from us that matches each other, right?  For example, like favourite colour 1…2…3!”

“Black”, “Blue.” Kaito and Ren answer at the same time.

“That’s okay. Friends can have different favourite colours.” Ren reassures with a gentle smile. “Favourite ramen broth? 1,2,3!”

“Shoyu”, “Miso.” Both of them groan from different answers, but the uncontained smiles that slightly tug on their lips betray them.

“Favourite place in school?”

“Under the cherry blossom tree,” “Beside the Koi pond”

“What??? That place was scary!” Kaito disapproves of Ren's choice.

“Don’t tell me you are scared of ghosts and superstition bullshit,” Teasing grins bloom from Ren’s cherry-coloured lips. His hazel eyes playfully glint at Kaito.

“Ugh…wait until you see them yourself!” Kaito warns. Now Ren knows the reason behind that intense glare, he can’t help but see them for merely an empty taunt. “This is bad! We are really opposed to each other.”

But Ren only shrugs as if that’s not a big deal. “I met a lot of different people before.” His compassionate eyes appear as serene as standing under the leafy tree, giving Kaito a sense of calmness. “We don’t need to be the same in everything, as long as we try to understand each other. Everything will be fine” He gives Kaito another sincere smile. “Shoyu ramen is my second favourite, you know?”

Kaito might not realise it, but a big, full grin makes its way into his lips. “Yeah. And we can take turns to study both at Dojo and the gazebo near the koi pond?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Let’s start tomorrow!”

“Start what?” Ren blinks at Kaito's abrupt enthusiastic exclamation.

“What else? Our study session, of course,” Kaito says while rolling his eyes at Ren who asks something so obvious.

Had Ren heard from other people that Kaito Sato was so eager to study, he would think of them as making a ridiculous joke. Now he heard it by his own ears, he begins doubting his hearing. “Are you joking?”

“I begin to believe you are only mean to me, Hasegawa” sighing wistfully, Kaito adds. “I’m serious about entering university. I need to enrol there by crook or by hook”

Despite still being hard to believe, Ren also doesn’t wish to belittle Kaito’s goal - no matter how absurd it may sound. “Alright! In that case, I’ll also do my best. Though, I’m not sure if you can catch up with me. You may take whole days and nights for you to study but still haven’t ready for the SAT”

“Which teacher crushed his student’s spirit even before it started? You are the worst teacher,” Shaking his head, Kaito jokingly frowned at Ren. “Let’s make a bet. Whoever manages to enter the university they want, will have one wish to be granted by the other”

Ren’s face shifts into a cocky expression Kaito has never seen before. “Ha?! To think someone would challenge me in the study and that person is you?! This year winter must come in August then. Anyway, It’s a deal! Prepare your fortune, Sato! My wish won’t be cheap!”

Kaito scoffs, “Look at you. A moment ago you feared me, now you dare throw insults at me.”

“Now I think carefully about that, your university future is in my hands. You should lower your head in front of your sensei!” Ren sticking out his tongue. Leaving Kaito into another series of today’s caught off guard as he’s seeing Ren’s rare outgoing habit. He turns out to have various interesting expressions underneath his mask. Kaito doubts Ren ever showed them to other people.

“Seriously this rascal…” Incredulous laughter escapes from Kaito’s mouth. “Do you forget I will also be your music teacher?”

“Honestly, your credibility is still questionable.” Accelerating his bike, Ren runs away after stating a matter of fact.

“Oh really?!! Come back you little…” Kaito catches up with him in an instant.

The sun orb has sunk half below the horizon, leaving the cast of oranges to burn the sky; Ren’s fair skin reflected the last ray of the sun before it disappeared, gleaming into gold along with his bright radiant smile, eyes twinkles with mirth above his rising flushed cheekbones.

Ren’s merry and frank laughter is thousand times more melodious than his fabricated ones. Echoing across the bridge, and carried by the gentle stream below to where the sun is leaving for the day.

The moment later, Kaito realises it’s not only Ren’s laughter that feels unfamiliar but also his own laughter that sounds alien to his own ear. He forgot when he had this much laughter. Has the sunset in this town always been this radiant? Or since when did the road from school to home become less boring?

/What an interesting guy/ Kaito thinks when he sees Ren looking over his shoulder, shouting at him to ride his bike faster. 

A few days ago, at this hour Kaito for the first time intrusively heard Ren’s life secret directly from his mouth and now Ren trusts him to see the genuine version of him without his mask.

In his deep conscience, Kaito feels unworthy. Does he deserve this?

He looks away, ashamed of himself.

“Someday…I’ll confess my fault to you, someday…” Mumbling to himself, Kaito pedals to the cafe where Ren and the others have parked their bikes.