FRESSIA | Innocence, Trust, Friendship

The soccer team is taking a quick break during practice when Sho walks up beside his manager, Holly.

“Hey,” he starts, “don’t you think those two have gotten closer somehow? It’s like they’re inseparable now or something....”

Sho and Holly both take a glance over to their team’s midfielder, Yuri, and newly appointed striker, Tsubaki. They watch the two as they chat with each other like they’re in their own little world. 

Not knowing what joke must have just been made, Tsubaki nudges Yuri with an elbow. Yuri is then seen dumping his water bottle atop Tsubaki’s head, as the latter does the same for revenge. They laugh, and Yuri takes a towel to dry Tsubaki’s now-drenched hair from their water fight. A few feet away from the scene, Holly stares in silent judgment, and Sho just wears a blank smile on his face.

Following into the locker rooms, a loud voice echoes throughout the tiled room full of sweaty soccer players.

“Woah! Have you been working out?” Tsubaki gawks proudly at Yuri's defined abs, and Yuri just rolls his eyes as he comes back, pointing out Tsubaki’s broader shoulders and toned arms.

“You used to have stick arms back in high school.” 

“Did I?” Tsubaki looks over at himself, and Yuri chuckles at him. Tsubaki then grins. “I’m getting taller, too,” he adds, as his hand measures up between the two similar heights above them. “I bet I’ll be taller than you soon.”

Yuri scoffs. “I won’t let that happen.”

The other teammates in the locker room just look at the two, not saying a word to not disturb … the energy created in the locker room as they move about like extras in the background.

Once the locker room extravaganza ended, the whole team met up together at the burger shop on campus as the coach’s treat. While eating, Yuri points out to Tsubaki that he has ketchup on his face. Unable to see it and wipe it off properly, Yuri takes a napkin and wipes his face for him. Tsubaki gives a nonchalant thanks before going back to wolfing down his burger, which Yuri just smiles, then goes back to eating as if at least five sets of eyes didn’t just witness the scene and are now judging the two in silence.

Sho then turns to Holly, seated next to him. “Do I have anything on my face?”

“Just your ugliness.”

“I see...”

As Sho sulks, the coach raises his drink in the air. “To the new addition on our team, Tsubaki Fujihara! Let’s all work our hardest to compete and make it to the top in the future!”

Everyone at the table follows suit in raising their drinks as they congratulate Tsubaki once again.

“Let’s aim for the Olympics!”

“Now that’s a stretch, Coach....”

The table fills with laughter and chatter as the sun sets into the evening. After everyone finishes their meal, the team walks out of the burger shop and heads off their separate ways, and that’s when Tsubaki is invited over to watch a movie in Yuri’s dorm.

As the movie played, the two laugh together at the comedic scenes shown on the television screen—barely any space between them as they sit on the floor. A foot away from the pair is Sho, sitting, minding his business, and eating his popcorn.

He then pulls out his phone and sends a text.

‘Help. I’m seriously third-wheeling over here!’

His phone flashes with a quick reply:

‘Too bad. Deal with it yourself.’

Sho’s mentally screaming inside. “HOLLY!!!”

As the time hits a quarter to midnight, Yuri and Tsubaki walk out of a convenience store that sits in between their two places. They stood outside, enjoying the cool night breeze, as they took a bite of the ice cream they just bought.

“Today was fun,” Tsubaki says, chewing on the wooden stick left from his ice cream. “I’m glad I came back.”

Yuri smiled. “Even though you were gone for a long time, it feels like you never left.” He then laughs, “But I guess it’s ‘cause we’re still the same people.”

Tsubaki let out a chuckle, “You think so?”

“It feels good to have my best friend back.”

Tsubaki turned to look at Yuri, whose dark eyes were taking in the stars littering the night sky above, and began to ponder in the presence of his new surroundings; he became reminiscent of his time abroad. 

The different cities. 

Landmarks. 

People.

He’s been to several different places; he couldn’t keep count. Met several different people whose faces he couldn’t remember. In those four years away, every moment was short-lived and meaningless to him.

No matter how many beautiful sceneries he’s seen or how luxurious of a lifestyle he’s lived, few and far between could beat right now, eating convenience store ice cream under the stars.