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aneenasevla · 2 months ago

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Red Velvet - Chapter 8 part 2

MasterList / Akane’s profile / Last chapter here

Chapter 8 - Christmas Party (part 2)

Even though the Seaweed Head went first, no one was left hungry. Kanami knew the electorate she had, and despite being a bottomless pit, Ohma wasn't greedy, it was just the heat of their play fight that woke up his instincts.

At least it served to sober them up.

The food was generously distributed to everyone and the hotpot started to cook, so finally Ohma could have his half of the Christmas turkey.

"It's the only situation where I normally see him smiling," Okubo comments to Tomori. "Look at this idiot's face, he likes his food more than his own girlfriend, ahahaha."

"That's so mean, Naoh!," Tomori laughs, a hand quickly covering her mouth. "But really… the bakery's profits have increased since Ohma started going there for a reason, after all, hahaha! And everything is delicious, Kanny!"

"Thanks," She smiles. "He helped despite being kicked out of the kitchen," she points to Ohma with her head. He ate calmly, but still shrugged to participate in the conversation.

"He helped by staying out, I presume," Okubo mocks, and Kanami laughs.

"No, he was helping me with our last minute grocery shopping," She strokes her boyfriend's head. "Especially with the ham. The stores were packed, but he still menaged to get it."

"Hey," he raises his head, looking at her. "It's a reason to fight, so I'm in. And you gave me several of them."

She blushes a lot, and Akane holds her cheeks, squeaking softly.

"Oh wow, I can't stand you guys," She hides her face on Rihito's shoulder. "All that sugar is gonna make me cry, I don't watch romantic films for a reason, guys..."

Rihito laughs, shaking his head. "There are only sissies at this table, I can't stand it either, hahaha!"

"You’re including yourself, right?," Okubo hiccups with a laugh, still busy with the food.

"I’m just going with the flow, damn it! I get too impressionable when I'm drunk. And anyway, this woman here is a bad influence," He smiles mischievously at Akane, extending a hand and placing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, and she smiles with her mouth closed. Mariko, blinking, leans over and asks Himuro in a whisper, "Are you sure they're not dating?"

"Absolutely," He responded promptly, but he was smiling as if he were having fun with some very private secret. "And yes, Miss Kanami, everything is delicious. I hope there’s still room for dessert later…"

"If there's no space left, it's okay," Ohma smiles. "I can clean all the plates myself…"

"Good, so are you going to wash the dishes later?," Kanami smiles mischievously.

"What does one thing have to do with the other?"

"If you are going to clean the plates…"

"Oh… why not?," He shrugs.

"I’ll help if there’s a lot," Okubo offers.

"Hell no, they're mine!," Ohma exclaims.

"Ohma, he's talking about washing the dishes, not eating your share…," Kanami sighs.

"Oh, okay. Fine be me then," He continues eating.

"Look how whipped he is," Akane whispers to Rihito. "He doesn't even notice it."

"If there is food involved, Kelpthullu becomes the most whipped creature on the face of the earth," Rihito laughs sharply, while Tomori says, "I'll help with the dishes too, before serving dessert. I'm seriously thinking about making coffee too, because it will help a lot with the drinking. You still have that coffee maker you got as a gift from your parents, right, Kannty?"

"Yes, I just had to put it away to have space to cook, but I'll go grab it now," She nods. "There's also hot chocolate powder on the other shelf, if you want."

"I do."

"Yeah, there was no need to ask you," Kana puts her hand on her boyfriend's head, and he immediately closes his eyes. Akane really wants to laugh, almost hidden behind Rihito. He noticed she was blushing.

"I accept it too, but what I really want is a rematch!," Rihito points to Ohma with a snort. "You only knocked me down like that because I was dizzy, ya hear me? Just wait until I sober up!"

"Do you want Miss Kanami to kick your ass, Rihito?," Himuro grumbles, to which he responds, shrieking a little, "Hell no! We're gonna fight outside, let’s take off these ridiculous sweaters and get down and dirty!"

Ohma looks at his face with a sparkle in his eyes, but Kanami stops him by saying 'dessert'. He immediately lifts his plate, his eyes shining even brighter.

"Outside? But it's snowing...," Mariko says, a little worried, and Rihito shakes his head vigorously.

"That's even better, the cold will sharpen your instincts!," He smiles at Akane, a hand on her back when he notices her redness. "Do you still want to see me tearing up some wooden logs with my fingers? I can do that too, hehe."

"We'll do this when we actually have wood to tear, right now we only have concrete and snow outside," She tries to recover herself without much success. "But we can play in the snow later, the ground will be pretty fluffy and no one will get hurt."

"Yeah, I'm in, but later," Okubo smiles, starting to put cookies on his plate, and a piece of chocolate pie.

"I can cut down a tree in the street, then there will be enough wood for-"

"Quit it, Rihito! Yeah, we're definitely going to need this dessert. This idiot becomes a natural disaster when he's drunk," Himuro snorts with a roll of his eyes. "And when Okubo joins him, no stone is left unturned."

"I know that well…," Tomori sighs with affectionate exasperation.

"I want pie too!," Akane smiles, taking a plate for herself and handing another to Rihito, smiling immensely. Kanami grabs the coffee machine and starts making some with Tomori.

Rihito takes the plate she offered him and goes to get some pie, that stupid smile seemingly permanently plastered on his face. Ohma, Okubo and Himuro knew him well and knew what he was like when he drank too much. He could either act like an idiotic clown who had the most dangerous ideas a drunk could have, or become a violent brawler prone to breaking everything around him. But that open, almost childish happiness was something new. He almost started jumping up and down when Akane placed a chocolate pie slice on his plate. Okubo looked at Ohma and saw the same expression on his face. He looked at Himuro, raising an eyebrow.

"Bro," He says in a disbelieving tone. He didn't need to say anything else.

"Yep," That's all Himuro says, nodding his head very solemnly. Damn, they were going to have a lot to tell Kaneda when he got back…

"I think you and I have something in common, Kana," Akane says, no longer calling the baker by her nickname. "We love seeing people with an appetite, right?"

"Of course," She smiles. "It’s rewarding, even more so given the time I spent cooking everything…"

"I'm not on your level, but I feel good anyway," Akane smiles more tenderly while looking at Rihito. "Hey He-man, you don't have to compete with Kepthullu. I like you feeling good, not having stomach aches."

"Don’t worry, woman, I can handle it!," He exclaims with his mouth full. "Tell her how I managed to put more than fifteen frankfurters in my mouth at once, Okubo, c'mon!"

"Yeah, Miss Agata, we are well aware of how Rihito secretly enjoys sausages."

"Fuck you, Himuro!," Himuro shrieks while Tomori bursts into laughter, pouring coffee into a mug and serving her boyfriend.

"Don’t worry, Akane, we'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t go overboard. You don't want to fell stuffed when you go training in the snow, do you?"

"It was never a problem with me…"

"You're not in the equation, love," Kanami takes a sip from her coffee. "Do you want coffee or hot cocoa?," She blinks when he lifts two fingers. "Both? Nah, choose only one," He keeps the two fingers lifted, now frowning with his mouth full. "... Oh, you want hot cocoa! I get it now, sorry."

"Coffee makes me restless," He manages to say with a frown. "And I don't like all the tachycardia either. I already have enough of it when I'm with you."

"That's enough," Akane gets up, blushing "Just give one more pie slice, Kana, I'm going to throw myself in the snow," she turns around with her plate in her hands, talking loudly as she leaves the kitchen. "Aaargh, I can't take this! Oh my God, I'm almost melting!"

Rihito chokes on his pie slice as he bursts out laughing, his mouth slightly covered in chocolate, while the others laugh more quietly. Tomori comments, "She's really drunk, because the Akane I know would be cursing and making fun of you guys, not throwing these cute tantrums, hahaha!"

"She went to the living room," Okubo comments. "Welp... Just Dance, anyone?"

"I'll pass," Ohma shakes his head. "I want to play a horror game, it's past midnight."

"It’s already half past one in the morning, actually. We're really having fun," Kanami smiles. "I accept whatever they decide."

"Just Dance! Just one round, c'mon!," Rihito exclaims excitedly. "I want to have the pleasure of dethroning that gigolo!"

"Gigolo...?," Mariko raises her eyebrows a little, to which Himuro declares, pointing at Rihito, "In your dreams! But I accept the challenge."

"Jeez! Is the dance contest going to start?!," Akane appears at the kitchen door again. "Sign me up! How are we gonna do this? Mariko, will you be Mr. Tan's dance partner for the night or can I challenge him on my own? If it's the first option, Rihito and I will destroy you!"

"You said it, Akane! Excuse me...," He helps himself with some more of the contents of one of the bottles that were brought, turning everything in his mouth at once, to which Himuro exclaims, "Stop drinking already, dipshit, you'll get alcohol poisoning at this rate!"

"Just one shot, damn it, to get me in the mood! I have to loosen up!"

"I accept the challenge... and a sip from that bottle," Mariko sighs, and it's Tomori's turn to choke on her pie amidst the laughter.

"Yay!," Akane jumps up. "Let's rock!"

"The whore couple versus the gigolo and his friend," Kanami smiles. "This will be very interesting..."

"Yep," Ohma nods, distracted while cleaning another plate. Himuro sees when he looks at him from the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow, grabing his phone and putting it on the table, and then going back to eating.

Himuro puts a hand over his mouth, trying to hide his laughter. Boy, Lihito could never deny the veracity of that night's events. There would be too much undeniable evidence for that.

They accompany Akane to the living room after satisfying themselves (partially, in Ohma's case), those who had no interest in Just Dance settling down on the couches. The cat, Medeyami, had apparently smelled food, because he had worked up enough courage to slowly go down the stairs, trying to remain unnoticed as he headed towards the kitchen.

But he couldn't get past Ohma's radar.

"HEY! You backstabber! I'm not done with you!," He charges, and the cat runs away. Kanami just sighs, shaking her head, when he goes after the cat too, making everyone laugh.

"Dude, we already told you, that’s not what 'backstabber’ means," Himuro sighs, but he still smiles, because hearing Kanami’s boyfriend call a cat 'backstabber' caused Mariko to laugh. "Anyway, what's it gonna be? Best of three?"

"With the way my partner here can shake those hips, we won't even need a tiebreaker!," Rihito exchanges a high-five with Akane.

"Exactly," she smiles. "It's an All-or-Nothing!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves, Himuro here is an amazing dancer," Mariko declares. Tomori laughs again, leaning against Okubo with her mug of hot cocoa.

"Come on, love, who do you bet on?"

"After what I saw at Brazuca’s, I won’t bet my money on either of them.”

"I'm going with Himuro," Ohma says, coming up behind the others with the cat in his arms. "He's the only one I already saw dancing."

Everyone jumps up, Mariko even letting out a high-pitched squeal and clinging to Himuro's arm.

"Ayee! Hon!," Kanami grunts, a hand on her chest. "You can't stop being stealthy even when you're drunk!?"

"Damn it, Tokita, quit that shit already!"

"Fuck, man, go scare your mom or something!," Akane waves her arms, controlling herself not to hit the guy.

"Ohma, you almost made me drop my hot cocoa mug!"

"I told you guys! He's a fucking apparition!," Himuro takes a deep breath before continuing. "But okay, let's just do one round for now. If by chance there is a draw, there will be one more song to change the score once and for all. The pair that wins gets the last chocolate pie slices.

"I cover it with most of the cookies that Tomori brought!," Rihito decrees, to which Mariko comments, "They really like your cookies, huh, Tomoh…"

"Girl, you have no idea! Naoh is crazy jealous of them," Tomori laughs.

"Hey, not the pie!," Ohma protests.

"Then beat her to a dance, you freakin' poltergeist," Okubo had almost spilled his coffee and he burnt his tongue, so he was pissed.

"You fucking shitheads... I'M IN!," He hands the cat to Kanami. "I'm going to beat you all on my own!"

"I doubt it, Kelpthullu!," Akane smiles. "And the competition is in pairs, so you'd be disqualified anyway."

"Kanami…?," he looks hopefully at the baker, who sighs a lot.

"I don’t want to, but…"

"Me and Medeyami, then!," he points to the cat. Kanami's eyes widen.

"Hey, leave my cat alone!," she gets up. "I'm also in."

"Wow, we’re going to have more competition!," Akane laughs.

"All this because of some slices of pie," Kanami sighs a lot. "Seriously, I can make something else for you..."

"Are you going back on your word, Kana?"

"No, you sea monster," She growls. "But you're going to fight for this even if you lose, I'm predicting all hell breaking loose."

"I'm not going to lose," He says, resolutely, his face very determined. "And you're going to fight side by side with me, right?"

She looks at him and smiles. "Always."

"Wow, they're still acting all cute," Akane grunts. "Let's get this shit started already!"

"Fuck yeah, now this is a real competition!," Rihito throws his arms in the air before turning to Okubo and Tomori. "Aren't you guys going to join in?"

"Nah. Fierce competition. If Naoh wants to, that's fine, but I'm content with just being a judge," Tomori shrugs.

Okubo shakes his head, leaning back on the couch. "I'm terrible at this, and someone has to make sure you guys don't choose only what suits you. Let's play fair, alright?"

Everyone nods in agreement. Akane smiles mischievously afterwards.

"Fair enough. So, let’s get started, I’m getting excited!," Rihito clenches his fists. "I'll be even more if I get some more booze-"

"No!," There is a collective scream in the living room, as he jumps in fright.

"Fuck, okay! Holy shit, just because they know I'm unbeatable when I drink..."

"If you drink any more you won't be able to even walk, get a grip," Okubo complains. "I carried your drunk ass on my back enough to know what I'm talking about. Come on, you two go first," he points to Himuro and Mariko. "The karaoke champions can do the honors."

"Fair enough. Shall we?," He extends his hand to Mariko, who accepts it with a shy smile. "Just follow me, like we did at that dance club."

"S-Sorry if I step on your foot…"

"It’s not going to happen, relax," Himuro laughs softly, while Rihito leans in and whispers to Akane: "We have to watch them very carefully. I wasn't exaggerating when I said he moves like the king of all Gogo Boys."

"I’m one step ahead of you, honey," she smiles.

"Okay, we’ve already chosen the song! Take your stance...," Tomori chuckles, pressing some buttons... and Himuro's eyes widen a little when he sees the chosen song appearing on the screen.

"... Rasputin? Seriously?"

"We said we weren’t going to choose songs that would make your lives easier!," Tomori laughs heartily, while Rihito practically screams like a crow. Mariko just blushes a little.

"Oh, damn, Tomoh... I'll accept making a fool of myself only because I'm with Himuro, and because that pie makes it worth it..."

"Humph!," Ohma nods vehemently. Kanami laughs a little, but she was still a little mortified about where her boyfriend had got themselves into.

"Come on, I want to see your famous twerk everyone speaks of!," Akane teases.

"Take a good look then, miss. It's a privilege," Himuro says with a half smile. He was a little flushed, which pleased Rihito a lot, but not with his confidence shaken. And the way he spoke to Akane… the strange pang of anger in his chest went away as quickly as it came, but it still left him disconcerted. He pouts, crossing his arms to watch the show.

The song doesn't take long to start, and the others have a lot of fun watching Himuro being forced to exit his comfort zone, dancing with lots of leg movements and exaggerated squats. Mariko tried to keep up with him, quite shy at first, but seeming to relax with her dance partner's encouraging smiles. The others just clapped and whistled.

"C'mon, Gigolo, show 'em why you are a master of Jeet Kune Do! Raise those legs higher, do the heron pose!," Rihito laughed amidst the applause. Akane laughed like a hyena.

Ohma watched with his arms crossed, his eyes half-closed, frowning, in the same way he waited for his turn to fight in the Kengan matches. Kanami looks at him worriedly; was he really taking this seriously?

The song ended with a high score for the first duo of the night; poor Mariko was left panting, but still laughing. Akane nods.

"In fact, he's a worthy opponent," She looked serious now, confiding to Rihito. "You can't be afraid of letting the dogs out, dear."

"Woman, have you forgotten yet?," He smiles devilishly at her. "I am The Dog. You said so yourself. Let’s teach that smug fucker a lesson…"

"See? The song being more of a meme than anything else didn't make any difference," Himuro lifts his chin, resting a hand on Mariko's shoulder, who smiles even more. "You'll need more than that to take us down."

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be? Get ready, your pedestal is about to go down! You coming, Akane?," Rihito invites, extending a hand to her.

"Let’s teach them a lesson they won’t forget!," She holds his hand, and they both get up to take their place on the gaming floor mat.

"Hehe… how about this one, babe?," Okubo confides, showing the song list to Tomori.

"Oooh...," She widens her eyes, then smiles mischievously. "You really woke up today and chose violence, huh, Okubo Naoya? Hehe, I like it...," She affectionately pats her boyfriend on the shoulder, pressing the buttons on the control. "Okay... let's see what you guys will do about this."

The song appears on the screen. And Rihito chokes on his own saliva.

"Time Of My Life? Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Damn, you guys dropped a freaking bomb now!," Himuro laughs satisfied.

Akane blushes. "Shit, you guys really wanna kill us..."

"Real dancers fear no kind of music!," Okubo declares, and Ohma nods vehemently.

"Afraid of your opponent, Ichiro?," He looks defiantly at the other. "Well, you should."

"Tone it way down, Ohma," Kanami opens an embarrassed smile, patting him on the shoulder.

"Okubo is right," Akane looks at Rihito. "We gotta rock no matter what," she extends her hand to him, in comradeship.

"It’s Rihito, damn it! And I'm not afraid of anything!," He barks, flushing hard, while straightening his shoulders and cracking his joints. "You are messing with two big cats, the most lethal hunters in the world. We are going to show you how big of a mistake that was…"

"Yes, show us. Just don't forget the pirouettes in the meantime."

"Screw you, Himuro! And yes, we will," He reaches out and shakes Akane's hand, his green eyes, a little heavy from drinking, burning with determination.

The song starts and Akane feels a shiver run down her spine. It wasn't like that funk music at Brazuca's; now things were different. She swallows hard, but still looks back at him, her blue eyes determined.

He stares at her in the same way, frowning in his seriousness. And the entire living room seems to hold its collective breath as Rihito walks towards her, hands going straight to her waist, and brings her to him as if she weighs nothing. He looks into her eyes intensely for a second before slowly making her lean over, the room slowly turning upside down, and she felt a gasp catch in her throat. He straightens her up again, his face still red, his eyelids heavy... and there was some feeling in his eyes that she couldn't describe. And then he gave her a sharp half smile.

"The things I do for you, woman...," He whispers just for her.

"I'm glad you want to do them for me," she whispers back provocatively, almost kissing him, while taking on the ballroom dancing steps, her feet light as feathers as they danced, and she imagined herself in a dress just like the one in the movie, while spinning.

His thoughts followed the same path, without either of them knowing. He liked her short skirts and tight, low-cut dresses and would never complain about them. But imagining her in a flowing, glamorous ballroom dress while they danced... it was probably the gayest and most fascinating line of thought his brain had ever followed when it came to her.

He follows her steps with a mobility that left even Himuro astonished, his feet clad only in socks making no sound despite the firmness with which they touched the ground. And it helped that this wasn't a traditional ballroom dance; there was a lot of jamming and improvisation there, giving it a more modern look, which suited the kind of music they were used to. They smile from ear to ear, loving the synchronicity they were having without the need to communicate verbally; All they had to do was look at each other's bodies and they were able to predict and follow each other's movements masterfully. And they had never danced anything like this together before!

"Holy shit...," And once again Himuro pulls out his phone to record; Mariko's jaw dropped.

Ohma nods satisfied. "I want to see him fight with the same grace he dances…," he confides to Kanami.

"I hope so…," She smiles. "But never against you, 'cause I know he wouldn't stand a chance," She kisses him on the cheek, and his brain short-circuited for a second, making his face flush. He cleans his throat when Okubo smiles mischievously. They turn their attention to the dancing couple, their interest not waning one bit.

Tomori watched them with shining eyes. "Oh, I've never seen Akane dance like that before, damn..."

Rihito had never seen it either, and he could only say that he loved it. Damn, when was that woman going to stop surprising him? She was as light as a feather for him, but she wasn't completely limp in his arms, like a rag doll being manipulated. She made her presence clear with firm steps, swaying her hips at the right time, smiling at him even when he made her spin around herself. He even lets her spin him too, laughing out loud, and managing the feat of not losing his balance even though he's not sober. And then he holds her hips again, moving his along with hers, asking in a whisper: "Now comes the best part. Ready?"

"Always!," she takes a few steps away from him, waiting for him to do his moves.

He smiles mischievously and immediately turns to face the “audience”, making Mariko startle and gasp, when he puts on a real show on his own, with quick and determined steps, spins and even one kneeling on the floor, smiling devilishly with his eyes fixed on Himuro.

“Take a good look, you stuck-up jerk! I won't lose to you!”

Himuro, meanwhile, just laughed and moved his head to the rhythm of the music, his phone capturing each image, while Tomori clapped heartily, laughing and even whistling with her fingers in his mouth, like Rihito had done previously. He turns his back to them again, slowly approaching Akane while waddling and snapping his fingers, making her laugh. And then Tomori's eyes widened.

"Oh, damn, they're not going to do that move, are they...?!"

"Oohhh, this is gonna be gooood…," Okubo smiles widely, waiting.

And, indeed, Akane runs up to Lihito and jumps on him, and he, strong as he was, lifted her without any problem. She stretched her legs and opened her arms as if she were flying, while the song was at its peak. This elicited applause from their audience, and Ohma smiled a little.

"Holy shit," Kanami blinks. "And they're drunk! I hope they don't fall..."

"They won't," Ohma assures her. "If you weigh like two loaves of bread for me, she weighs like half a loaf for him."

"Are you calling me fat?," She jokes.

"No, I'm calling you 'bread' ", He laughs, and she pushes him slowly, laughing too.

"Dude!," Himuro exclaims, almost jumping off the couch in excitement, while Mariko clapped, very excited. Rihito had to admire the fact that they were competitors who knew how to take things in stride, but he didn't waste too much time thinking about it, completely focused on the show he was putting on with Akane. He puts her on the floor again, both of them smiling like two silly teenagers at each other, before taking her by the hands again and resuming the ballroom dancing steps, these softer ones. A simple finish, but perfect to end the show, in his humble opinion.

The song ended softly, and the two looked at each other as if they wanted to kiss... and Akane smiled mischievously and gave him a light kiss, just to finish everything with a flourish, drawing screams from the others who were watching.

"Hell yeaaah!," Okubo raises his arms, shouting excited. Akane leaves Rihito's arms and looks at the others in the living room, smiling a little shyly.

"Oh my God, that was incredible!," Tomori gets up to clap, practically jumping with excitement, and Himuro ends the recording on his phone to do the same, more measuredly.

"I have to admit, that was pretty cool! Show those moves during your next match, for the love of God!"

Rihito can barely respond, panting as he was, still stunned by the peck that Akane had given him. They had already kissed several times before, so why did this one in particular make him feel all disoriented, his heart skipping a beat like that?

No... it was just because of the dance. Yes, it was from all the dancing dancing, it had demanded a lot from him. He then smiles, scratching the back of his head and laughing with pride.

"See? We're awesome, don't doubt the gracefulness of big cats!," And he pulls Akane towards him by the waist in celebration. Mariko opens her mouth, but Himuro immediately responds, "No, Mariko, they're not dating."

But his smile made her wonder if he really believed that.

Akane returns to her seat, with Lihito at her side. She was still red, and still breathing heavily.

"Uuuf.. the results… what were the results, Tomoh?," she asks.

"... It's a tie!," Tomori exclaims, her eyes widening, to which Rihito and Himuro shriek at the same time, "What?!"

"Yeah, it's totally a tie! Look here, the scores are identical!," She shows them, to which both of their jaws drop.

"Huh? No way! We danced much better!"

"In your dreams! This thing must be broken or something!"

"No, the machine is in perfect condition. Just accept it, it was a tie," Tomori shakes her head with a laugh. "You were all equally awesome."

"Oh... I'm honestly happy about that, they were really incredible...," Mariko comments.

"After the Buff Couple's turn, we’ll break the tie!," Akane declares, almost climbing over Rihito for support and standing taller on the couch, too agitated. "We have to set this score!"

"Hey, woman, sit down, I’m not a tree and you aren't a monkey!," He complains, bowing a little in surprise, but immediately holding her to keep her safe on his back. "But she's right, just you wait until the tiebreaker! After now, I doubt there's any song in this thing that we can't dance to!"

"Likewise," Himuro points at him in a challenge before returning to the couch with Mariko, who was still a little out of breath from what they had seen.

"Our turn now," Ohma snaps his fingers. Kanami sighs, a little exasperated, just going with the flow.

"If we're going to embarrass ourselves, let's do it with our heads high," She goes with Ohma to the mat. "Put on a good one, Tomoh."

"Okay! Help me here, Naoh, I'm loving these departures from their comfort zones...," Tomori laughs sharply while Rihito returns to the couch, Akane still clinging to his back. He looks at her over his shoulder, smiling a lot as he says, "But seriously, you were awesome! I didn't know you were good at ballroom dancing too."

"I like dancing, so it comes easily to me," She smiles, still panting a little. "And you’re not bad yourself! I wonder where you learned it…," She puts her hand on his chest, after sitting back down on the sofa. "Regardless, I loved it…"

He blushes hard at the compliment, his eyes following the slide of her hand intently. He holds her fingers in an automatic gesture as he responds, trying to play it cool, "Eh, my mother liked that movie. Then I memorized the whole fucking scene because I was forced to watch it with her a lot, haha."

"Oh, that's cool, my mother liked it too, but I learned to dance in the streets," She laughs lowly. "Ooh, it's the Buff Couple's turn now. I wanna watch them...," she looks at Ohma and Kanami; Ohma was stretching a little. "I know Butch can't twerk to save her life, but does Kelpthullu knows how to dance?

"!I don't know, Kane. I've never seen him dancing before," He comments, now as curious as she is. "He probably never pulled Auntie into a playful slow dance in the middle of the living room or something..."

Okubo seemed just as curious as them. "Damn, Tomoh, I have no idea which one to choose… ooh!," He has a burst of inspiration. "Let's play this one here!," he looks for it and shows it to Tomori.

"Dear lord, babe, you're devilish today!," Tomori laughs happily, practically vibrating on the couch. "Okay, here it goes! What do you think of this one?," And the name of the song appears in pulsating letters on the screen.

Kanami's eyes widened. "Wha- but this one is Hiro's favorite! Not fair, Tomori!," she whimpers, stamping her foot.

"Are you seriously scared of a song, Kanami?," Ohma teases her, smiling. She pouts, blushing profusely.

"There's going to be payback, you two," She points to Okubo and Tomori. "And you… you owe me dinner."

"Fair enough," He smiles.

"And you’re the one who’s going to cook it from scratch."

"Fine by me," He shrugs. "But I won't say when it's gonna happen."

"Son of a…," She grunts. "Bring it on, Tomori!," She almost screams in anger.

Tomori laughs loudly, pressing some buttons, while Rihito and Himuro sit straighter on the couch, very curious. They had already seen Ohma at karaoke, so they knew he was a good singer. But dancer? That would be a tremendous novelty.

"I swear, there won't be any space left on my phone after this party," Himuro sighs as he picks up his phone, and Rihito does the same.

"Don't worry, mine has plenty. Did Kaneda saw to the videos you sent him?"

"Not yet, he must be busy with his family. But they are there, just waiting for him to appear, haha ," He smiles mischievously. "Including yours."

"Son of a bitch…"

"We'll get our revenge pretty soon," Akane whispers to Rihito as they start watching the Buff Couple.

The music starts and Kanami sighs nervously. That song actually made her redder than a bell pepper. Not that she didn't know the dance moves, but she wasn't very good at it... or at dancing in general. Ohma looks at her.

"Relax," he smiles a little. "You've faced way worse."

His confidence was certainly enviable, but it made her smile too.

"Yeah, I know…," And she takes a deep breath, calming down. Yes, she had faced worse, indeed…

"My nails, hair, hips, heels," goes the song on the screen. And the two finally start moving.

All four others sitting in the couches had to pick their jaws off the floor when Ohma started imitating the dummy's steps. Kanami was focused, doing her best to remember the choreography, but Ohma seemed to have become a living, three-dimensional shadow of the dummy on the screen, his hair bouncing as he shook his head in circles, even doing the drag queen's gestures without any modesty, which everyone knew was non-existent in him.

That was one of the very few good parts of being who he was, after all.

"Holy shit," Akane whispers, astonished. "What the hell am I seeing!?"

"... What the fuck is going on," Rihito and Himuro say in unison, as if they had rehearsed, their eyes wide and their jaws dropped. Mariko shakes her head, amazed.

"Handsome, self-assured, can sing and can also dance... Miss Kanami won the lottery..."

"He’s dancing just like the dummies on the screen! How?!," Tomori asks in amazement, looking at Okubo. "Damn, when I start to think you guys are going to stop surprising us…"

"See? And I actually thought they were going to embarrass themselves," He pouts, sulking. "It's so fucking unfair! Does this guy has to be good at everything?!," he mutters. "It's a good thing I'm not in the competition, because damn..."

Tomori strokes his arm in an attempt to comfort him. "For me you are more than good, you know that."

Rihito just shakes his head, looking as frustrated as him. "The Seaweed Head looks like a comic book character, it's ridiculous! How can that be?!"

"Calm down, just remember that it’s a doubles game. Miss Kanami's performance will also count towards the result," Himuro guarantees, and Mariko chuckles softly.

"Kanami was never very good at dancing. Even more so a few years ago... remember how chubby she was, Tomoh?"

"Mari, don’t be mean," Tomori snorts, to which the other girl shrugs.

"I'm just saying. It's not a lie."

"Yeah, she was chubby," Akane confirms. "But it's not like she was ugly, she was actually pretty cute... I still have pics of us before she went to the States. And she's trying her best, too," Akane defends, surprising the others.

"Oh… I know, gee, I didn’t say she was ugly. Just chubby," Mariko puffs out her cheeks. "And okay, she improved her dancing a little, there's no denying it. Mr. Tokita must've taught her, because damn..."

"I don't really believe it, but who knows? She's improved," Tomori nods, still watching the duo in amazement. "But improving is one thing, and perfectly imitating the movements on screen is another..."

"Yeah, that's a big deal," Akane grumbles. "Now I'm angry at this guy. He's insanely hot, but he also makes me incredibly pissed. I give seven out of ten."

"Damn, seven out of ten is a pretty big number! Even more so because you added 'insanely hot' to the mix!," Lihito complains with a frown, ignoring the somewhat amazed looks from Okubo and Himuro.

"Honey, a guy needs to be at least an eight out of ten for me to be interested, so shut up," she pushes him. "Take a look in the mirror more often."

Okubo laughs, his bad mood easing.

"You shut up! I'm not...!," Rihito begins to growl angrily… and then his eyes widen, the anger disappearing from his features as quickly as it had appeared. "No, ‘wait… I’m an eight out of ten?!," He shouts, delighted, and Himuro has a brief fit of laughter. The idiot had been folded like a napkin and he hadn't even noticed, holy shit.

"After the glow up I gave you, nine and a half," She says, softly to him. "But don't go spreading the news, I want to maintain the reputation of a rutless bitch..."

"Damn, I’m a nine and a half! I've never gotten a nine and a half in my life!," He says in a high-pitched tone, ignoring her last request, making Mariko startle a little and Tomori hide her face in Okubo's arm to hide her laughter.

"Hey, I told you to not spread it, dumbass!," She shouts back, slapping him on the shoulder, blushing profusely. Himuro laughed without any shame

"Are you listening, Tokita? Akane said I'm a nine and a half!," He continues shouting.

"Calm down, Rihito, he’s still too busy twerking," Himuro points out between laughs.

And the song finally ends. Ohma turns around, taking advantage of the character's movement and looking at Rihito. "Huh? Nine and a half of what?," He asks, his hands on his hips, unable to break character. Kanami bursts out laughing.

"Babe, the song is over, you can stop now," She wanted to bury her face on the ground, but she was still laughing. Ohma sighs, shrugging and stretching his arms, breathing heavily.

"That song was pretty intense," He comments. "You said Hiro likes this?"

"Yes, he likes it, it’s his favorite."

"Now I understand why. It uses a lot of energy, which is a good exercise. I even got hungry again."

"Not so fast, Kelpthullu!," Akane exclaims, still red in the face, but more anxious than anything now. "Tomoh! Give us the results right now!"

"Alright, calm down! Just a sec...," Tomori checks the machine... and then she bursts into a loud laugh, putting a hand on her face, showing the result only to Okubo.

"Take a look at this…"

"What? What is it?!," Rihito and Himuro lean forward, eagerly, to get a better look.

"Uh... oooh, shit...," Okubo covers his mouth with his hands, laughing along with his girlfriend, then announcing, "You twerkers on duty lost. The winners are the Buff Couple."

"WHAT?!," Kanami, Akane, Rihito, Himuro and Mariko exclaim at the same time. Ohma just smiles from ear to ear.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Give me that shit!," Rihito grabs the machine, furious, while Himuro almost shouts, "This thing is fucking broken! There's no way these results are right!"

"Oh... okay, I'm not surprised. It was too surreal," Mariko babbles. "But damn, I wanted those pie slices…"

"Give it back, guys, there’s nothing wrong with the machine! Look, it was a narrow victory. They only got two points more than you," Tomori pokes the screen with her fingernail, laughing afterwards. "That's what I call a narrow victory. Congratulations, Kanny, Ohma!"

"Aargh, I can't believe that I’m going to lose to the Seaweed Head twice in a row in a single night!," Rihito grabs his head with his hands, while Himuro shakes his head, indignant.

"Holy shit, it's not fair... being dethroned by Rihito, who twerks like a slut, would be more acceptable... how did you do that?," He demands to know, staring at Ohma. "Where did you learn to dance like that?!"

"I don't know," Ohma laughs. "But if the guy on the screen is dancing, he wants us to dance just like him, right? So I just imitated him, there's no secret."

"Look, imitating is one thing," Akane begins. "But it doesn't mean becoming a freaking mirror! You're too powerful, you bastard! You need to go down," she starts to get up and Kanami gets in front of Ohma, while Rihito needs to restrain her. "Don't run away, Tokita, there's no way you're actually an amateur!," Ohma was already a little far away from her, on the other side of the living room.

"I'm not one to play around, Cannibal," He laughed, despite being cornered, far from the girl. Kanami goes to him, and he looks at her. "Well, let's go eat," he walks towards the kitchen.

"Wait, me too? But I…"

"Didn't we dance together? You were my partner, weren't you?," He smiles, turning to her. "It was our victory, not just mine. We fought together, side by side."

Kanami looks at him, wide-eyed, blushing and freezing in place. She then smiles shyly. "How… how it should be… right?"

Akane immediately stops squirming in Rihito's arm, her face flushing hard, sitting down again on the couch.

"Damn...," She whimpered. "I hate this guy...," She pouts, crossing her arms. "stupid, cute couple...," She mutters under her breath."

"Ugh... just give me a minute. I really need a smoke after this shit. Excuse me, Mariko, I'll be right back...," Himuro gets up from the couch in a huff, opening the door and heading out into the cold night, while Mariko watches him with a mix of concern and a desire to laugh. Rihito, still grunting, pats Akane's shoulders, letting her go after making sure it was safe.

"Hnf... forget it, Akane. It doesn't change the fact that you were awesome when we were there. Who cares about that dumb machine?," He tries to console her, even hugging her, while still frowning. "I’ll buy a chocolate pie just for us…"

"After drinking our asses off," Akane adds. "Because otherwise I'll throw that stupid pie on the floor and I want to eat it, not destroy it."

Tomori just laughed her ass off as she turned off the game.

"Tell me, Naoh, wasn't that what we call a 'high-diff'? Hahaha!"

"For sure!," He laughs too. "But to be honest, I'm a little pissed too. I wasn't expecting that...," He scratches the back of his head. "I think next time, we shouldn't bet on food..."

"Don’t worry, there will still be cookies left," She assures, getting up and hugging him; With him sitting, it was easier to make him lay his head on her chest. "For everyone, including you two," She looks at Rihito and Akane. "You'll love it, there's lots of shapes! Christmas trees, Santa Clauses, reindeer, little sleighs..."

"Sissy shit, all of it...," Rihito whimpers, which only makes her laugh more.

"I want the cookies," Akane whimpers too; she looked really upset this time. "I need sweet stuff!," She starts to get up, but then she pauses. "Oh, damn, the Buff Couple are there... can you get some cookies for me, Tomoh? Please…"

"I'll go get it, we're very emotional today," Okubo gets up. "I just hope that the friendship doesn't deteriorate after this... How about we exchange a few punches for five minutes in the snow, Rihito, to let it all out? Before we play some horror games."

"I'm in. I'm dying to punch something...," Rihito grunts, giving Akane one last hug, a pat on her head, and then he gets up too, cracking his joints. "Himuro is outside anyway, we can invite him also."

"I'll come with you to watch! Do you want to come along, girls?," Tomori invites with a smile. "You've never seen them fight each other, it's really fun!"

"Just let me wrap myself up more, it’s very cold outside…," Mariko shivers. "I don’t even know how they’re so excited to go outside…"

"I would love to play snowball fight, but these muscle-heads might end up killing us," Akane sighs. "I'm gonna build a snowman or something...," She leaves the couch, grabbing the box that Okubo was bringing from the kitchen. "Let's go, Tomoh, Mariko. Let's put on our coats and cool off a little. And give your date a kiss or two later, Mariko, he really needs it," she said that last sentence a little seriously.

"Ahaha, I will," Mariko nods, blushing profusely, while Tomori turns to the men and says, "Will a chance to show off for us make you all feel better?"

Rihito looks at Akane, still pouting. And then he nods, frowning.

"I think so. I just wish there were some logs nearby... but I'll settle for a few punches."

"Or for throwing some snowballs at the homies," Akane laughs. "And in the middle of a cold-ass night, look how wonderful and healthy!," She laughs loudly. "C'mon, I'm getting all fired up now," She quickly puts on her coat and scarf. "I didn't do some Dirty Dance moves to be upset, let's go guys!"

Rihito ends up laughing softly, scratching the back of his head. "Okay, okay... Come on, Okubo, let's fight and let your girlfriend explain to the girls how awesome we are, as I know she could be a commentator if she wanted, just like Sayaka."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far…," Tomori laughs, her face heating up, as they bundle up well to withstand the cold of the night outside.

Akane goes out first and sees Himuro in the cold. "Hey, Mr. Tan! Wait for us!," She comes close to him with Rihito.

Himuro had stopped under a lamppost further ahead, lighting a cigarette while frowning. He swears under his breath when the lighter takes too long to light. And then he raises his head when he hears the call.

"Hey, Miss Agata, Rihito. Did you come to lick your wounds here in this freezing cold too?," He asks, but he didn't sound hostile. Just a little sullen, like the other losers in the house.

"We came to vent, bro. Okubo and I want to exchange some punches. What do you say?," Rihito cracks his joints, grinding his teeth.

"The girls can watch and cheer for you," Akane adds. "They can call you hot and shit. I want to make some snowmen too."

Himuro arches an eyebrow.

"... Let me smoke a little, and then I'll join you. Holy shit, Ohma is a destroyer of other people's egos..."

"He's even worse than Agito now," Okubo grumbles, coming further back. "But if the Fang of Metsudo himself didn't break my spirit in the end, some stupid dance game won't be enough to do us in. Right, Rihito?"

"Dude, I’ve already lost to that son of a bitch and I haven’t lost my fighting spirit, I ain't about to lose it now," Rihito nods determinedly. "Akane and I are simply going to do even better than we did next time!"

Himuro smiles sideways. "That's a good thought. I just embarrassed myself in front of my date, and that's a bit of a blow to the ego..."

"Mari was taking it all as a joke," Tomori responds from the door, all covered up, her nose already turning red because of the cold. "Don't worry about that, Himuro. She will comfort you later."

"Heh. I'll definitely need it," He finally manages to light the cigarette, taking a long drag and blowing the smoke to the side.

Akane moves away from the smoke, going to get some snow and making a little ball. "Wow, you got lots of snow this year," She comments. "It's been a while since I played with it like this... "

Indeed, when had she stopped having this much fun, since those dark times? She had to change that.

"Hey, Rihito," She calls, smiling, a little happier.

"Hnn?," Rihito turns to her, somewhat distracted, his hands in his coat pockets. And he doesn't see when Himuro and Okubo leave, already anticipating what was going to happen.

"Think fast!," And she throws the snowball towards his face. Rihito's eyes widen as he dodges at the last second, and she gasps when the snowball hits Himuro right in the back, in a very loud wet sound. "Oh shit! Wrong target! Sorry!"

"Ugh! It's okay, don't worry! At least it didn't hit the cigarette...," Himuro makes a face at Okubo's loud laugh while Rihito straightens up, smiling sharply and exclaiming, "Woman, you don't want to get into a snowball fight with me, I'll let you know that!"

Tomori laughs from the doorway, rubbing her gloved hands. "I'll accept being your partner if you want, Akane!"

"It was just to break the ice, literally!," She smiles, embarrassed. "I know my limits, okay? If I were Butch I could participate, but I can't take a fight against those- EEEEK, NO! YOU HEARD ME RIHITO, GET AWAY FROM ME!," She starts to run, dodging the barrage of snowballs he started to throw at her, and then tries to throw one or two back. "Get off of me, you big- Aaaaargh!," but she was still laughing amidst all the screaming.

Okubo laughs loudly, watching them, then he looks at Tomori. "Hey babe, I won't invite you to play with us because it's not fair, but this one is for you," He takes a very large amount of snow and makes a giant ball. "Alright… wait… and… fire in the hole!," he poses as a baseball pitcher and throws the very large snowball towards Rihito, causing it to shatter right on the back of his head, who stumbles to the ground.

"Hahaha, bullseye!," He laughs like a madman as he celebrates.

Tomori also laughs loudly when TRihito falls face down in the snow, with a loud “Oooff!”, his legs in the air.

"Hahahaha! You haven't forgotten your baseball days, babe! Nice pitch!," She blows a kiss to Okubo, laughing when he scratches the back of his head with a huge dumb smile.

"Okubo, you dickhead!," Rihito shouts as he stands up, his entire face white, almost as if he had grown an instant beard. "I'm gonna make you swallow snow, Baldilocks!"

"And there they go," Himuro takes another drag on his cigarette, just watching as Rihito made equally huge snowballs and threw them at Okubo, the projectiles whizzing through the air with the force they were thrown. "Careful, girls, this will become a battlefield."

Akane had already fled a long time ago, skirting the street so as not to be caught in the crossfire. She smiled at the girls. "That's it, I started the fight. Let's relax and eat cookies for now," she takes a couple from the box on Tomori's lap, smiling as she heads to the front steps of Kanami's house, sitting on one of the steps, with her leg crossed like a proper lady.

Tomori grabs a cookie too, laughing, as Mariko appears in the doorway, wide-eyed at the snowy combat scene beyond.

"Holy crap... I think this is the most violent snowball fight I've ever seen."

"That's because Ohma hasn't joined them yet. Then things will go- oh, my Gohohohod!," Tomori chokes on a cookie when Rihito tries to get Himuro to join in the game by attacking him with a snowball. Himuro skillfully diverts the trajectory of the Rihito's hand and counterattacks with snow in his face, making him choke.

"Himuro, you fucker!"

"That's what you get for trying to attack a Jeet Kune Do master head on, idiot," Himuro smiles scathingly, the cigarette still held in his other hand.

He is surprised with a snowball right in the stomach, and Okubo laughs loudly.

"Thanks for distracting him, Rihito!,"He smiled stupidly!

"Son of a bitch! You guys are so dead!," Himuro growls, half doubled over, while Rihito bursts out laughing, looking like a buff Santa Claus with all that snow on his face. Soon the three men are engaged in combat, snow flying everywhere, screams mixed with laughter echoing in the street.

"Take that, you bitch!"

"I've got snow in my eye, dumbfuck!”

"Swallow that, sucker!"

"You hit my balls, you asshole!"

"An extremely healthy and educational game for all the kids in the neighborhood, as you can see," Tomori comments with a laugh as the three women share some cookies.

"I just hope no one calls the police," Mariko makes an amused face.

"Nah, don't worry," Akane giggles. "Kids are heavy sleepers, and there are always one or two idiots passing by on motorbikes making noise. I already came here at night before. Let's hope, She cups her hands. "Rihitoooo! Finish them, my hot Santa! Show 'em the icy hell!," She shouts at an acceptable volume.

"Akane! Leave it to me, I-," Rihito turns to her, smiling widely, but the distraction costs him dearly, because Himuro and Okubo immediately attacked him with more snow, practically strafing him mercilessly while he covers his head with his arms.

Akane laughs. "He'll get back on his feet."

"Argh! Two against one? No fair, you jerks! You...!," And then he clenches his fists and throws his head in the air with a primal scream worthy of a wild animal, surprising the other two, Himuro's eyes widening.

"Wow, we pissed the leopard off!"

"It’s time to try my Frozen Hell, you pussies!," He roars, and the girls let out amazed exclamations, Mariko almost falling back in fright, when he lifts a huge block of ice from the top of a car parked next to the curb, in the shape of the car roof, throwing it at his opponents like King Kong himself shooting down planes from the top of the Empire State Building.

"Holy shit! I knew that a girl's encouragement could double our strength, but not like this!," Himuro shouts.

"Oh fuck!," Okubo defends himself from the ice block. "Damn, dude, we're supposed to fight with snowballs, not icebergs! You fuckin' animal!"

"Hey, what's going on?," Ohma blinks, looking at the confusion, once again springing from nowhere. The girls jump again in fright.

"Eeeek!," Akane throws a snowball at him on reflex, and he takes it right in the chest. "Stop scaring the crap outta everyone every damn time!"

"Hey!!," He grunts. "Kana gave me this sweater…," He whines in a low tone.

"Tokita!," Lihito completely turns his attention to Ohma, his eyes sparkling. "Right on time! I'm going to have my revenge!," He makes a snowball, threatening to throw it at Ohma. "Get out of there so I can hit you without risking hitting the girls too, Loch Ness Monster!"

"A-Aren’t they crossing the line a little?," Mariko asks, a little alarmed, to which Tomori shakes her head, laughing heartily.

"Believe me, Mari, you will know when they are crossing the line, hahaha!"

Ohma looks at him. "Oh, if that's the case, I'll stay right here," he smiles mischievously.

Kanami opens the door. "Girls, what's going... oh," She blinks. "Should've guessed."

"Come on, you dick! Now you're scared of facing us? Gonna hide behind the girls?!," Okubo provokes. "Get your ass over here if you're a man!"

Ohma makes a face before looking at Kanami, showing her his sweater all covered in snow, visibly upset. She looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

"What, do I have to decide for you? Go on, don't worry about the sweater, snow is just cold water. We'll wash it later," She shrugs.

It was just what he needed to hear. Ohma nods and goes down the stairs, calmly.

"You idiots," He growled menacingly. "Aren't you tired of getting your asses kicked…?"

"You’re the one who’s going to get an ass kicking, you bastard! I am the King of Balls! Come at me!," Rihito shouts, while Himuro bursts into laughter.

"Which balls, Rihito? Hahahaha!"

"Shut up, man, saying 'King of Snowballs' would take too long!"

Ohma starts running towards them, with that determined look on his face.

"Oh shit, here he comes! Take your stances!," Okubo also ran to get a better position. Rihito barely had a chance to react, however: Ohma threw himself on top of him, the two of them rolling in the snow like two kittens.

"I can’t wait to see them getting rid of those sweaters…," Tomori comments while offering Kanami a cookie.

"That's exactly what I want," Akane smiles like the She-Devil she was. "What other opportunity will we have to see our four men together and naked from the waist up? Summer's still far away, y'know…"

"Akane!," Kanami blushes while accepting Tomori's cookie. "So this was your plan? You pervert!"

"Nah, I'll second that!," Tomori claps her hands, excited, to which Mariko coughs, a little red.

"But- But aren't they going to catch a cold or something?"

"Hardly! They aren't as healthy as a horse, Mari. It's the horses who are as healthy as them," Tomori lets out a high-pitched laugh, taking a cookie from the box and raising it in the air. "Come on, Naoh, show 'em who's boss!"

Okubo opens a shit-eating grin and takes advantage of the other two idiots' distraction to throw a volley of snowballs at the heads of the two who were exchanging punches on the ground. Ohma immobilizes Rihito in an armbar and looks at Okubo.

"Oh, you son of a bitch," He exclaims. "Now it’s every man for himself?!"

"Always has been, idiot!," he throws another snowball that hits him right in the face, causing Ohma to be thrown to the ground and releasing Rihito from the immobilization. Himuro was just laughing in the back, and Okubo took the opportunity to throw more snowballs at him too, while Ohma was distracted.

The result was that what was supposed to be a candid play-fight turned into an all-out brawl between four tough and formidable fighters who seemed to, even if taking it more seriously than they should, be having fun. They even added blows from their respective fighting styles as they tried to hit each other, to Tomori's delight, who excitedly described what was happening to the other girls.

"That’s right, Naoh, use a triangle choke! Ooh, how cool, Himuro increased jabs with his fingers, Bruce Lee did that a lot in his movies! Rihito, be careful with headbutts, someone could get really hurt! And I don't know much about Ohma's fighting style, but it's incredible how he can redirect the trajectory of those snowballs!"

"I told you, this girl could be a UFC commentator if she wanted! And stop diverting projectile trajectories, you cheater!," Rihito shouts to Ohma while Okubo and Himuro engaged in a combat full of technique and balance, considering that they were on slippery ground.

"And you think I’m going to fuckin' stand here just taking it?," He throws another snowball back at him.

Kanami is visibly worried. She looks at the girls.

"Look, I hate being a party pooper but someone could really get hurt... I mean, they're play-fighting, yes, but they're in the snow, if one slips and falls on top of the other..."

All said and done. Okubo slipped and accidentally collided with Rihito, who fell on top of Ohma in a very embarrassing position, as if Lihito was doing him on all fours. The three of them just didn't collide with Himuro as well only because of his flexibility and because he grabbed the lamp post in time.

"See? Told you," Kanami sighs.

"You and your big mouth," Akane grunts.

"Hey, I didn’t sign up for this shit, get off of me!," Ohma punches Rihito in the face and kicks him when he frees his legs.

"Argh! And you think I want to be in a position like that with a fuckin' man? Fuck off!," Rihito gets up, furious and with a bruise blooming on his chin. He grabs the hem of his sweater, and as Akane predicted, pulls it over his head, exposing his bare chest to the elements. "That's it, you bastard, I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Hey, wait, I’m still in the middle of you!," Okubo screams, but is accidentally kicked by Ohma when he tries to get up, sleeping right after. "Ooof!," he falls back onto the ice and Ohma manages to escape Rihito's blow that follows, but the sweater is caught in his claws, leaving it in tatters.

Himuro was going to get off the pole, but he realized that he was stuck to it by the skin of his cheek.

"Ow, shit! Aaargh...," He tries to free himself, grinding his teeth, and sees no other choice but to let go as he frees himself from the sweater, letting out a groan of pain when his cheek comes off the post. "Damn, how am I going to rip this off from there now? It's all your fault!," He turns to the other three, also naked from the waist up, and Mariko turns very red, sighing softly.

"Oh, damn, I'll never get used to this, am I?"

"OH HELL YEAH!," Akane stands up, shaking her fists. "Hot guy fight! Go, Rihito, punch the shit outta him! Leave him all cold and bothered for mommy!"

"Damn, you tore my sweater, you jerk!," Ohma shouts, showing the marks of Rihito's on the poor sweater, going with the flow and taking it off too, throwing it towards Kanami who caught it on reflex.

“Be careful, you guys,” She says, but she can't speak loud enough. Of all the four women, she was always the most concerned about protecting everyone, so it wasn't unexpected that she would be the only one distressed there.

"Hey, why is everyone taking off their sweaters?," Okubo looks around, confused, getting up from the ground with snow on top of his head, resembling a white wig. "Alright...," he takes off his blue sweater too, much to Tomori's delight.

"YES! Akane, you're a genius!," Tomori hugs her friend sideways, blushing and smiling from ear to ear. Rihito, meanwhile, had taken Akane's request very seriously, exchanging blows with Ohma, this time using his fingers, smiling madly.

"This is for my friend's honor, Tokita!"

"And what did I do to her?," He dodges the blows. "Quit that shit, I'm not a backstabber..."

"That's now what I'm saying, dumbass! She was sad that she lost to you on Just Dance! And if beating you up will make her happy, I'll gladly do it!," He declares for the entire street to hear. And that even makes Okubo and Himuro stop exchanging blows, both of them a bit stunned.

"... Shit, I left my phone inside," The latter laments. "I didn’t catch that on video!"

Akane blushes a lot, also caught by surprise among the crowd.

Kanami laughs at her face.

Ohma is just confused. "Huh? What do you mean? Himuro lost too and he's fine... "

"It's different in this case, Ohma. Rihito isn't sleeping with me, no matter how much he secretly wants to," Himuro jokes, while Tomori has a small burst of happines, laughing at Akane's flushed face, to which Mariko, frowning, says quietly, just for Kanami to hear, "Himuro told me that they weren't dating, but are you really sure about that?"

"As far as I know, they're just friends… with benefits," She shrugs. "But I'm seriously doubting that now."

"So why don't you go confort her intead of being here, entertaning me? Idiot," Ohma makes Rihito turn around with a redirection blow, taking advantage of the movement of his blow to push him towards the girls, or more precisely, towards Akane. "She's right there."

Akane's eyes widen, frozen like a deer in the headlights, her face red as a pepper as the other women laugh their asses off.

Rihito falls to all fours in front of her, completely stunned, managing to break his fall with his hands. He looks up at Akane, blinking awkwardly. He turns red too, swallowing a little and, trying to ignore everyone's attentive looks, he says, "Just- Just ask me to go back there so I can beat the shit outta him!"

"N-No Rihito," she puts her hands on his shoulders, bending down to help him get up. "I... yeah, I was upset, but there's no need to do that...," she was still surprised, but tried to ignore her feelings. "Look, I know you're a good guy who likes standing up for people, but... you don't have to punch your friend for me. I wouldn't like that..."

“Please don’t fight your friends for some worthless bitch,” she thought, feeling her throat tighten.

"Uh…," Rihito blinks, his determined expression cooling. He looks at her, a little worried for her. And then he nods, turning his head back and saying with a smile, "Change of plans, Tokita! She's fine now. We can postpone our fight."

"What- that easy?!," Mariko shrieked, while Tomori had tears of laughter in her eyes. Himuro shakes his head.

"Like a flash in the pan. It goes out as quickly as it lit up."

"Eh, that's fine," Ohma shrugs. "Come on, guys, there's hot cocoa, coffee and lots of other things inside."

"Nice! Is there any cookies left, babe? They go well with hot beverages...," Okubo's smile lights up. "Hey Himuro, I have an idea! Can we put alcohol on the hot cocoa?"

"We absolutely can! Mariko and I brought some booze that actually is pretty good for that kind of stuff," Himuro nods, going to get his sweater, while Tomori replies, "There are a lot of cookies left, love! And seriously, put your sweater back on. I love seeing you without it, but I worry about you getting sick...," She strokes Okubo's face while offering him a Santa Claus cookie.

"Yeah, it's cold, but it'll be hard to put it back on. The thing froze. Look, it’s a freakin' popsicle now," He shows her the poor sweater, picking up the cookie with his mouth and following her inside.

Akane blinked as the three couples quickly entered the house, chatting about amenities as if nothing had happened. She looked at Rihito, who was still looking at her at the foot of the stairs.

"Come on, Akane, let's eat cookies and get drunk on spiked hot cocoa while we watch Okubo shit his pants with the horror game. It's funny as hell, hehehe!," He extends his hand to help her get up from the stairs, smiling, as if he hadn't been determined to punch his own friend a minute ago.

"Wait, Ichiro," she says slowly, making him turn around. When he does so, she notices that he's shirtless in the cold, so she takes off her scarf and gives it to him. "I... I don't want you to catch a cold, while... while tell you something," she sighs; the alcohol in her blood definitely hasn't worn off yet, but she could still think a little.

"Uh... okay," He nods, a little surprised, accepting the scarf and wrapping it around his neck, and in a somewhat absurd way, he uses its ends to cover his nipples, laughing like an idiot. "I look like a model from an erotic calendar, don't I? I would be Mr. July, hahaha…"

She blushes. "Yeah, you would… but with leopard-printed underwear, it'd be cool," She smiles, but shakes her head afterwards. "B-But that's not what I mean, so... please, don't… don't do this to your friends because of me… I… I don't deserve this, I mean, they don't deserve this, because of me. They weren't mean to me or anything. It was just Kelpthullu going overboard over a pie slice. I mean, what kind of stupid reason is that? And… I…"

She really wanted to say that sluts like her didn't deserve this kind of consideration, especially one who manipulated him and played him for a fool to begin with, but she couldn't articulate it.

"What the- Akane!," He suddenly interrupts her, reaching out his hands to touch her shoulders, looking a little surprised by her speech, his eyes wide. "Hey, calm down! That's...," He suddenly laughs a little. "That wasn't serious, Cockatoo. Tokita and I do that all the time. Not just him and me, but Okubo, Himuro and even Kaneda, who is the shortest amongst us. We fight all the time, for any reason, simply because it's fun. It was during our matches in the fighting rings that we became friends, and that's how we keep things. But...," He scratches the back of his neck. "I really wanted to teach him a lesson, because you seemed upset. But if you're not anymore, then everything's fine! That bottomless pit can keep the pie, I was serious when I said I would buy one just for us."

She wanted to say something, but her inebriated brain was causing problems just at the least convenient time. She sighs. "I know, I just… I feel bad when people try to 'defend my honor' by fighting with friends. I… I’ve lived in too many situations like that," And sometimes they’ve been done on purpose, she notes in her thoughts. "Sorry for going crazy," She rests her head on his chest. "What I mean is... don’t get in trouble because of me, okay?"

"I wasn’t fighting with him. I just wanted to punch him in the face," He says with a shrug, arching an eyebrow. And he seems to realize what he said when he hears her snort. "Uh… okay, that sounded stupid." He sighs and hugs her, stroking her back. "Kane, if it was something really serious, the whole thing wouldn’t have ended with us going inside all together to have spiked hot cocoa… if it ever gets serious, you can be sure it won’t involve my friends," And when she shivers against his chest, he hugs her tighter, now a little embarrassed. "But if you don’t want me getting into trouble because of you, I promise I’ll try not to do that. Unless I have no choice."

"Not having a choice is one thing," She looks at him. "But being a bully just to please me... no man, that's not it. Just… let’s draw the line, okay?," She raises her hands, looking serious, even if with a red face. "Your chin's look hurt… you need to treat it, it’s gonna bruise pretty soon…"

"Yeah, the bastard got me bad…," He touches his chin with a grimace. And then he sighs, blushing a little himself. "And okay, sorry. I think I drank too much and got carried away… but that always happens when I’m with these jerks, it’s the fighter’s instinct," He justifies himself by scratching his unruly hair. "I promise I won’t do that anymore."

"Okay, let’s go in. I asked that of you here so no one could hear me out here. I don't want it to look like we'1re arguing or something," She pulls him in for a kiss. "But I thought you looked sexy as fuck while beating the shit out of guys. I'd like to watch one of your matches, if only for fun. I'll watch and cheer for you."

He makes a happy sound with the kiss, smiling sharply afterwards. "You thought I looked sexy, huh? Now more than ever I feel like taking you to watch me fight... I'm going to dedicate my next victory to you. And I'll be dying to bangt you, because I usually get all hot-blooded after a match, hehe."

"I know... you don't even feel cold right now," She smiles, pulling his hand to guide him inside. "And I want you later, when we go to your house after this party. "

"Hell yes...," He gasps behind her, his voice somewhere between dazzled and excited. "I'm dying to repeat those dance moves with you, but in my bed this time..."

"Yeah, I'm dying for that too," She laughs, leading him into the house.

She felt a warmth in her chest when he wanted to be her knight in shining armor at that moment, but she had too many traumas and bad experiences to think that was a good thing...

And that damned warmth in her chest was definitely not something she wanted to feel.

Next chapter Here

#kengan omega #kengan ashura #kenganverse #heavybakery #redvelvet #fanfiction #kengan oc #ohma tokita #rihito #lihito #okubo #naoya okubo #himuro ryo

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useless-bi-otch · 2 years ago

Text

Cookies'n Cream - Chapter 17

Last chapter / MasterList / art by @aneenasevla

Chapter 17 - Vortex

TIMELINE: This chapter takes place at the same time as Heavy Bakery’s Chapter 27, under a different POV. You can read it here

"Please..."

"No."

"Come on, man, please!"

"I already told you no, damn it!"

"Fucking hell, dude!," Rihito shouts, throwing his arms up in frustration, making some pigeons that pecked on the sidewalk take flight in fright. "When it comes to helping Okubo you go all out, but when it's my turn, you couldn't give a single fuck!"

“And how the hell are we going to help you if you refuse to make the first move, you idiot?," Himuro rebuts impatiently, quickly pulling his phone away from Rihito's grasp, who stretched out his hands in an attempt to grab it by force. "You know what you have to do, if you want that girl's contact that much."

"No! I'm not going to create an Instagram account just to slide into a chick's DMs," Rihito twists his whole face in disguste. Kaneda sighs heavily.

"What's your problem with Instagram, exactly? It's just a social network..."

"A sissy social network where you only find pictures of food, kittens and motivational phrases for moody teens. I have too much respect for my manhood to put up with that,” Rihito rolls his eyes, and that elicits a chorus of groans.

"You say that, but you're here, giving me hell so you can use my account to hunt down this girl's profile," Himuro puts his phone in his shirt pocket. "And why does it have to be mine, anyway?"

"And you still ask? Don't you remember how there were like five or six girls asking for your DMs after Miss Uta posted that picture? That pretty boy face of yours is a chick magnet, as much as I hate to admit it."

"Do you seriously want to use my face to catfish a girl? Hell no! And if you don't cut that out, I'll fuck you up," Himuro threatens, to which Rihito puts his arms in front of his face in a defensive position, grinding his teeth.

"Damn it, didn't I told you that I just got out of a Kengan match? I won, but I still toke some blows that left me sore, so I can't go all out on you now!"

"Stop being such a pansy. If you didn't want us to open a can of whoop-ass on you, then you shouldn't get on everyone's nerves so early," Okubo, who was walking behind, jokes. Rihito flips him the bird, ignoring the disapproving glances from passers-by passing them on the sidewalk.

"Shut up, you're another fair weather friend! What would it cost you to ask Miss Uta to cut me some slack and give me her friend's number?"

"It'd cost me what I've been trying to maintain all these weeks, you obsessed sicko! Do you think I'm in a position to ask her something like that?"

"More than any of us! You two went out other times since that second date, there's some intimacy settling in," Rihito shrugs as the four of them stop in front of the red light for pedestrians. "Want me to be honest? You haven't banged her yet only because you're a sucker. If you already had, you could ask for anything and she'd say yes."

"Screw you, man," Okubo grumbles while Himuro rolls his eyes and Kaneda scratches his hair tiredly. "You think I have a magic dick or something? And anyway, Tomori is very protective of her friend, from what I've gathered. I respect this. Just do what Himuro and Kaneda said and create a fucking account already."

"Is that all you have to tell me?" You ungrateful bastard..."

"Fuck, Rihito, what do you want me to do?," Okubo opens his arms in frustration, almost hitting Kaneda's nose, who had to dodge with an irritated expression. "You want me to put on my best shameless face and ask her for her friend's number? And what if she gets angry at me? Do you really wanna ruin something that you yourself helped to build?"

"Hell no! Your weeping would be unbearable."

"Then forget about it! I can still try to help ya, but let's think of something that doesn't involve me ruining the best thing that's happened to me in the last few years!"

Rihito frowns and pouts, appearing to be thinking hard. And at the same time that the light turns green, he reaches into the right pocket of Okubo's pants with an expression of feigned innocence.

"You could let me use your profile then, since Himuro vetoed his..."

"That's fucking enough! Holy shit, man, you're more annoying than usual!," Himuro yells, hitting Rihito in the ribs with a precise jab, to which he lets out a yelp.

"Aargh! That's one of the sorest places, you son of a bitch!"

"Not even I can stand this anymore!," Kaneda also lost his patience, hitting Rihito's stomach with a palm blow, and he get out of breath.

"Ow! E-Even you, you lil' fucker?!

"You're to blame for getting on our fuckin' nerves!," Okubo cracks his fists, snarling. "Trying to grab my phone was the last straw! Now you'll get your ass kicked 'till we reach Yamashita's office, asshole!"

"Damn it, I hate you guys- argh! Cut it out, you- ouch! Just wait until I feel better, you shitheads!," Rihito was screaming and threatening them while trying to escape the kicks, punches and nudges that fell on him, the four of them crossing the crosswalk like crabs, walking sideways and providing quite a show for the astonished passersby around.

They had to stop after being spotted by two policemen, who threatened to take them to the police station if they didn't put an end to their stupid antics. But the punishment was duly administered, and when they finally reached Kazuo's office, Rihito was hugging his torso, whimpering and even limping a little.

"… Should I ask?," The old man asks, a bit exasperated, staring at them from behind his desk. Kaede, standing by the door, adjusts her glasses, unimpressed.

"There is no need. Whatever the reason, Rihito probably deserved it."

"C'mon, Kaede, that's mean…," Rihito pouted. "Just for that you won't be invited to dinner in the company of a great name of the Kengan matches."

“Tell him to ask me out himself instead of making you his errand boy."

"... I was talking about myself."

"I know."

"Hey, did I hear that right? You won a match, Ichiro?," They hear Ohma's voice, as he returned to the office with a glass of water. "Congratulations for doing the bare minimum."

"It's Rihito, Seaweed Head! We already talked about this, damn it!," Rihito shouts indignantly, barely managing to overcome the loud laughter of the others. "And of course I won, what are you thinking? It was the reason I came. Kazzy, my man, I hope the paperwork for my newest aquisition is ready," He smiles excitedly, and Kazuo nods.

"Oh yes, they already are! They're in the files, Ms. Akiyama will pick them up. And you two are here to renew your licenses, right?," He looks at Himuro and Kaneda, and they nod.

"Yep. The last thing we want is to screw with Mr. Ohya's business and consequently ours," Himuro points to the Kaneda, who laughs softly.

"Exactly! And he asked us to let you know that he invited you to a night out at Dai-Uchu-Sakaba next weekend."

"Ahaha, if I'm free by then, I'll accept it! And what about you, Okubo?," Kazuo turns to Okubo. "What are you here for? Mr. Atami has already renewed your license for the next three years, if you're worried about that..."

"Oh no, I’m fine," Okubo shakes a hand, scratching the back of his head with the other. "I’m just following these three today, we agreed to go eat later…"

"Are you going to the Bakery?," Ohma raises his head. "I was already going there. We can go together."

"Whe barely mentioned the sugar shack and Tokita is already having the munchies," Rihito jokes while Himuro and Kaneda pick up pens to sign the papers Kazuo handed them. "Come with us then, dude, it’s been a good few days since we last talked! Tell me, how is your housing situation? Did you get a place to stay or are you under a bridge?"

Kazuo has a brief coughing fit, which he disguises by taking a few sips of the water Kaede offers him.

"I was going to go back to my mansion but they demolished it," He shrugs. "But I found a better place, I just can't take you there because the landlord doesn't allow it. At least not yet."

"Wow, that sucks," Rihito comments, his hands on his hips, while Okubo crosses his arms with a sympathetic expression. None of them noticed the discreet sigh of relief that Kazuo gave while briefly wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "But honestly, Tokita, it was better that way. That mansion was falling apart. I remember how easy it was for Ivan and I to break in..."

"The old mansion was nice, but it wasn't even mine, it belonged to nobody and I was there, so it's easy to break in," Ohma shrugs.

"Your assuredness while talking about invasion and illegal occupation of private property is impressive…," Kaede comments, and Okubo laughs while Himuro and Kaneda raise their heads after finishing with their signatures.

"Come with us then, Tokita! Then you can talk more about your new place while we can't see it with our own eyes," Himuro suggests.

Ohma waves to Kazuo as he leaves with the guys.

"Nah, there’s nothing special, the house is just like Yamashitakazuo's, only it has fewer rooms and bigger spaces," Ohma comments, already walking with them. "It’s really nice, I pay the bills and the landlord helps me with the cleaning."

"Wait, the landlord help with cleaning? Damn, give me his number, sounds like the kind of place I'd love to move to!," Rihito jokes while they go down the stairs. They hear Kazuo call from upstairs, his voice rising:

"Rihito, don't forget that you also need to renew your two employees' licenses! They are now fighters for the association under your name!"

"I know, Kazzy, chill out!," Rihito answers calmly, without turning around, while the five of them leave the office. Soon they were on their way to the bakery, which fortunately was not far from there.

"There's only one room available, sorry," Ohma says with a half, almost mischievous smile. "So, tell me about the match. How did Ichiro fare?"

"He did good, according to him, but it's hard to believe, considering that we beat the shit outta him just now and he couldn't even defend himself," Himuro jokes, and easily dodges when Rihito tries to hit him with a clumsy kick, the pain getting in his way.

"It's easy when it's three against one, you fucker! But yes, Tokita, I fucking rocked it in that match!," He exclaims excitedly, and he spends the next few minutes describing the match in detail, while they walk towards the bakery. Okubo was particularly excited to get there; besides the food, there was also a very important person waiting for him. And if he'd been paying attention, he'd have noticed that Ohma seemed to be quickening his pace as well.

"... you say it was a piece of cake, but we can see the bruise on your ribs when you raise your arms like that," Himuro was saying, to which Rihito laughs.

“No, man, I'm telling you, the guy only managed to hit me by luck! I managed to get there and make him shut up, hahaha, the arena shook with their cheers…”

“Too bad I couldn't see that” Okubo smiles at his friend, and Himuro and Kaneda laugh along with him.

“I’ll only believe it when I see it, man,” Himuro jokes. “So far I've only seen you losing…”

“That's why I don't invite you anymore, damn, you just bring me bad luck” Rihito jokes too, and the four of them stand there, laughing like idiots, while Ohma just smiles. Okubo didn't know if he was seeing things, but the seaweed head had been smiling more lately. Maybe it was just the product of his very fertile imagination, driven by the honeymoon phase he was living…

“So, are you going out with your little friend again and leaving us behind?”

Kaneda's question makes him turn his head quickly, surprised and a little embarrassed. It's been a few days since those idiots started referring to Tomori as his “little friend”, just to tease him and make it clear that he wasn't deceiving them about his intentions; even Kaneda had joined in, which put him at a numerical disadvantage. He decides to respond normally to not give them weapons to use against him.

“Oh, I don’t know. Do you have any plans?”

“Well, I’ve got a new game at home, if you feel like…” Kaneda offers. “It's Biohazard 8...”

"Really? Cool! PC or console?," He asks excitedly as they walk towards the bakery door.

"Console! The price dropped a lot at the store close to my place."

"Boy, you're such a lucky bastard!," Rihito gives him a congratulatory slap on the shoulder. "I'd have to sell my right eye and my left nut to buy something like this."

"So let's celebrate Rihito's victory at Kaneda's place, I'll bring some beers and... what's up, Ohma?," Himuro was about to say, but pauses, surprised, when Ohma enters the door without waiting for them, taking hard steps, his shoulders stiff, his fists clenched tightly. The bell rings as the door closes again, and the four of them look at each other in bewilderment.

"What the hell happened to Tokita?," Rihito asks, to which Okubo shakes his head.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good. C'mon, maybe he needs assistance," He nods, and they all march to the door, the bell ringing overhead again.

They are welcomed by a familiar scene: Kanami, with a firmly frowning face, facing what appears to be a customer who seems to be a delinquent, aboard the classic combo of topknot and leather jacket. They watch his expression change from smug to scared as he notices Ohma, who has stopped right behind the baker, a dangerous aura surrounding him.

"Wow, where did this giant come from?," He exclaims. "Hey man, am I blocking the traffic, by any chance?”

“You’re bothering her,” Ohma approaches, bending down a little to look him in the eyes, the aura manifesting. “Get out.”

The guy cringes and raises his hands “okay, sorry, I didn't know she was yours…”

“Hey!,” Kanami exclaims, outraged, and that was all it took for the four idiots to decide to interfere. Holy shit, was this establishment some kind of magnet for harassers or something?

“Hey, what's going on?,” Rihito asks, crossing his arms.

“Is the guy bothering you, Miss Kana?” Okubo punches his hand, snapping his fingers “We clean up the trash, you can relax,” He promises, and he wasn't going to lie to himself, that opportunity seemed like a godsend. If beating the crap out of a clueless asshole would help him regain points with the boss and friend of the girl he liked, then he'd gladly do it.

“Yeah, this one stinks…” Ohma almost growls, the guy's eyes widen when he sees the three of them and finally surrenders, now feeling he pissed off the wrong people.

Rihito pretends to lunge at him, and he yelps in response, now flying off. They follow him with their eyes, frowning, Kaneda giving a small sigh of relief that things haven't gotten out of hand; they had already been warned by the police that day, and a second time might not end up so well on their records.

"Oh… thanks boys, but…," Kanami mutters suddenly, making them turn to her again. She looked troubled, even a little upset, which apparently didn't go unnoticed by Ohma, although her expression remained neutral.

"Are you okay?," He asks, while Rihito tries to open a friendlier smile.

"We arrived just in time!"

"I am, thanks. I could handle it, but I…," She blushes, looking like she doesn't know what to say, and Okubo ends up feeling sorry for her. He claps Ohma on the back, smiling playfully.

“Ohma, calm down man, if we hadn't butted in, you'd have ground the guy to dust."

Ohma sighs and turns around. "I'm still pissed, stop."

Okubo raises his hands in surrender, half alert. Ohma turns around and sits at the table where the guy was before. Okubo exchanges a brief look with Rihito, both of them making sure they've seen the same thing, before turning to Himuro, who simply shrugs. Kaneda, as usual, is the most tactful.

"I think we all need to calm down. Everyone knows that Ohma gets angry when someone get in the way of his meal," he smiles, and everyone else gives a sign of understanding. "Miss Kanami, good afternoon, we're here for diner".

"Oh, yes, I already got it," Kanami nods, gesturing with a small sigh. "Eh… Tomoyo was the one being bothered, she's inside with Tomori..."

"What, really?," Okubo turns around, widening his eyes a little. Damn, the guy had to be one hell of a creep to hit on a teenage girl! And if he had tried the same with Tomori… he would probably have turned red with rage if Kanami hadn't raised her hands to reassure him.

"Relax, she's fine. I was just pushing him away when you arrived. Cute, but not my type."

The four of them end up laughing, Okubo breaking his laugh with a brief sigh of relief. Thank god… he would still make sure they were both okay, anyway, even if it was just for conscience sake. Kanami hands them the menu.

"I'll be serving you today, so you can order directly with me."

They place their orders, and soon Kanami leaves them there, standing next to the table that Ohma occupied. He remained silent, his expression closed. They look at each other quickly before sitting down at the table with him.

"Hey, Kelpthulu, are you still mad?," Rihito asks. The other shakes his head.

"No," He answers, a little curtly, but not rudely. It was a relief, in a way.

"Great," Himuro nods. "Because you aren't usually like this."

"Well, she's our friend, right, guys?," Kaneda says, ever the peacemaker. Ohma was only the first to see them. I'm sure everyone here would act..."

"Yeah, but don't you think she would be able to act on her own in this situation?," Himuro frowns.

"Yeah, man, she's an Amazon and all, but what does it cost us to be friends?," Rihito defends. "Tokita just did it..."

"Yes, but if we didn't interfere and let it happen, Seaweedhead here would grind the guy, and it could cause problems for the bakery staff, and for Miss Kanami too,” Himuro speaks in a low voice.

This causes the other three to widen their eyes.

"Wait a minute, Ohma, were you really going to do that?," Okubo asks anxiously. There was no way Seaweed Brains could be that clueless…

"No…," Ohma grumbles, and Okubo smiles in relief.

“That’s what I thought...”

"Just break a few bones."

"No, man!," He exclaims with a grimace. Fuck, why did he even ask?!

"Damn bro, I've seen you get pissed, but over a loaf of bread?," Rihito laughs, and Himuro rolls his eyes.

"The girl makes the bread he eats, man..."

"Heh, even so," Rihito crosses his arms.

"Why am I always the subject of the table when I'm here?," Ohma looks at them. "Am I some kind of exotic animal, by any chance?"

Okubo, Himuro and Kaneda clear their throats at this, suddenly embarrassed. Rihito didn't have that consideration though. He continues to laugh lightheartedly.

"Well, you kinda are a rare specimen…," He starts mockingly, but he shuts up the instant Ohma shoots him a sharp look in mute warning. Seriously, what the hell was getting into him that day?

"Here, guys, sorry for the delay!"

Kanami's voice interrupts them in their inner questioning. She had been bringing their orders on trays, skillfully balancing them on her hands and arms. "Tomoyo's back at work, crisis averted. Thank you.,” She smiles, handing Ohma's tray last. His sour expression disappears when he looks at her. Okubo is distracted by his own order, all happy to see the cookies, on a separate plate. But even so, he couldn't help noticing how Kaneda and Himuro glanced at each other quickly, nodding in what appeared to be mutual understanding. The later then chuckles behind the sleeve of his robes, while the former shows a lot of interest in his croissants.

He turns to Rihito, wanting to check if he saw the same, but he was totally absorbed in his sandwich, kind of avoiding facing Ohma after the death glare he received. Okubo huffs, a little frustrated. Shit, he hated being left out of inside jokes!

"Hey, Ohma," Himuro calls suddenly. "You must have eaten the whole menu already, right?"

Ohma nods, uninterested, and Himuro follows suit.

"How long has it been? Six months?"

"Eight."

"Wow, it's been a long time," Kaneda comments. "And you come here often?"

"Why not? The food is tasty."

Okubo raises his eyebrows, and this time Rihito imitates him. The later ends up shrugging, and it's the former's turn to imitate him. If they weren't going to let them know about the conversation, he wouldn't worry about it. Kaneda continues:

"What about that Yakiniku restaurant you like?"

"What about it?," Ohma looks up from the food. "Wanna go there after eating here?"

"Hnmm…," Himuro suddenly mutters, looking frustrated. He looks away, but Kaneda continues, with a little more insistence.

"I've seen you less there, it seems that you found another place to eat…"

"Missing me much? I'll follow you there, man, don't fret."

"Nah, no, I was talking about you not talking to us anymore, not hanging out with us like you used to..."

"I've been busy," he nods. "Matches and such.”

"Does this 'such' include crushing on Miss Kanami too?"

The reaction from everyone around the table is immediate and distinct: Rihito widens his eyes, jaw dropping, while Okubo almost drops his plate of cookies in astonishment. Himuro looked like he desperately wanted a smoke, while Ohma's expression hardened like stone, his eyes bulging. Kaneda smiles, very pleased with the effect he elicited, and Okubo wants to grab him by the dividers of his robes and shake him.

How could he drop that bomb on their heads like that, in the middle of their fucking meal?! Ohma, having a crush on Kanami? In what universe would Seaweed Brain be able to be interested in a woman if she wasn't made of barbecued meat or something?!

… And when they saw Ohma's tense expression, which was strangely reminiscent of an animal that had been cornered by predators, they could only think that, perhaps, that could be this universe.

"Wha- What?," Rihito exclaims. "Seriously? The…," He turns to look at the counter, and when he sees Kanami working there, he looks at them and whispers, pointing to her while covered by the his other palm, "The Amazon?!"

"Damn, so that's his type?," Okubo smiles, still disbelieved. "Now I understand why! He has a very specific type."

"There's nothing to be nervous about, bro," Himuro sighs and assures him when he sees that Ohma is still tense, almost in a defensive position. "It's normal…"

"We just wanted to know, don’t worry," Kaneda smiles. "We won’t spread it-"

"Hey Miss Kanami-," Rihito was already calling, raising a hand, before being attacked and silenced by the hands of Okubo, Himuro and Kaneda, shutting him up with angry, desperate hisses.

"Holy shit, man, you don't know how to keep quiet, do you?," Himuro whispers furiously, the four of them practically fighting silently on the table while Rihito tried to get free.

"Damn, bro, respect your friend!," Okubo hisses softly. "What if she doesn't want the same? It will be just like the delinquent from before..."

“You really don't think, do you, man?," Kaneda sighs.

"I just want another milkshake!," Rihito screeches when he finally gets rid of their hands. "Let go of me, damn it!"

"Boys, no play-fighting, please!," Kanami asks from the counter, her tone firm. The three release Rihito at the same time, and he nearly falls off the table.

"Damn, what's gotten into you?," He massages his face angrily, touching the red marks that the fingers of the other three had left. "Come on, I’m no snitch…”

"Sorry, we reacted badly," Himuro sighs, looking at Ohma next. "I confess that it's a bit shocking for us, Ohma. You, of all guys..."

Ohma finally seems to see them, unfreezing from what appears to be trance. "Huhhh… I actually have a question…"

"Ask, bro." Okubo smiles hopefully.

"What do you mean about ‘crushing her’? I’d never crush her, it’ll break her bones…”

... Holy. Fucking. Shit.

The four of them lean back in their seats, sighing, disappointed and furiously frustrated. Damn it, how could someone be that stupid? Even obliviousness should have a damn limit!

Ohma just shrugs, going back to sipping his milkshake as if he didn't just break his friends' spirits. That makes them give up asking any further questions, and Okubo tries to guillotine the idiotic hope that had begun to rise within him.

He’d been fantasizing about double dates between Ohma, Kanami, Tomori and himself. It would be the perfect opportunity to regain the trust of the object of his affection's friend. But no, Tokita destroyed his dreams like a meteor of pure concentrated stupidity, so he had better keep that shit to himself.

"Hnnf... Well?," Kaneda is the first to try to break the ice, opening a very weak smile. "Are our plans of going to my apartment to play Biohazard still up or...?"

"Just give me a minute, man," Rihito asks in a defeated tone, leaning his arms on the table and laying his head on them, hiding his face. "I'm still recovering from the blow. Tokita's virginity is even more resistant than his Indestructible technique, what the fuck."..

"No dude, no," Himuro rubs his face, as if he'd been mentally punched. "I'd explain what a crush is, but I have to pretend you're five to do that and I can't.

"Then don't," Ohma shrugs, going back to eating. "I was going to ask Kanami, but she wouldn't want me to crush her bones either, so it's fine."

"Enough! Stop it, or my brain will melt and start running outta my nostrils!," Rihito almost sobs, grabbing his head with his hands, while Okubo rubs his eyes, a vein standing out in his temple.

"After this I'm going to order not only cookies to go, but all the donuts and chocolate eclairs I can buy. I'm gonna need junk food to get through this existential crisis..."

"You're so dramatic," Ohma grumbles. "You're acting like I beat you or something," he gets up."I'll go to another, so I don't 'crush on you'," he rolls his eyes, taking the tray to the counter.

The table is filled with high-pitched sounds of desperation one would only expect to hear at the entrance to the netherworld, which Ohma blithely ignored. Rihito shivers all over, sticking out his tongue.

"Dude, that's fucking disgusting! I'd rather be 'crushed on' in the literal sense, thank you!"

“Can we just forget about this conversation, please?,” Kaneda practically begs, running his hands over his face, while Himuro mumbles exhausted:

“I'm gonna have to smoke a couple packs after this. The damage to my lungs will be irreparable and it's all Tokita's fault."

"More irreparable than they already are, ciggy?," Okubo snorts, picking up a cookie from his plate and chewing it slowly "No, but you know what's worse? Those two would make a great couple. Two people who love food, albeit in different ways," He looks at the ceiling. "The cook and the glutton. It seemed like fate, y'know..."

He starts a little when the other three choke on their own saliva, bursting out laughing as low as they can manage.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Just look at that sappy spirit in the body of a gorilla, guys," Rihito puckers his lips, making kissing sounds. "The world got a lot more colorful and fragrant after that cute nutcase came into your life, didn't it?"

Okubo turns very red. "What?! I don't...!"

"You’re even talking about fate and shit, haha ," Himuro smiles sharply. "Was it fate that I invited you to that first visit here then? Damn, I'm more of a matchmaker than I thought!"

"Shut the fuck up! I'll beat your asses!" Okubo growls, picking up a fork and pointing at the two in a threat. Kaneda shakes his head.

“Come on, you two, leave Okubo alone. He was talking about Ohma and Miss Kanami specifically."

"Exactly! Thanks, Kaneda-"

"The fact that he put himself in their shoes and wanted company on this uncontrollable descent down the river of fate is irrelevant to the discussion."

"Damn it, I'm gonna beat you black and blue!," Okubo hits the table with his fists, while the other three laugh loudly. "I won't do that in here only because I don't want to be kicked out again!"

"Yeah...," Kanami raises her voice, and as she had heard the noise at the table, she looks at him with half-closed eyes and a raised eyebrow. "I'm watching."

Okubo flinches as the others let out another wave of laughter. He grits his teeth, letting out a pained groan.

“Ugh… I only put up with this because I deserve it. And because Tomori's lunch break is coming... stop laughing, dammit! You're just jealous!," He points accusingly at his friends, who by that time were already sobbing. "Make fun of me all you want, but your words will come back to haunt you later! The river of fate will be there, waiting..."

"River… more like a vortex, if you wanna know," Rihito laughs before taking another bite of his sandwich. "A fucking spiral that just keeps spinning and spinning, throwing you deeper and deeper. .."

"Aw, who's the sappy spirit in the body of a gorilla now, huh? You're philosophizing about the issue as much as I am!"

"I'm making an analogy with your situation. You go round, round and round, you sink deeper and deeper in these waters, but still can't get your dick wet for shit."

"I swear, motherfucker, you're dead when we get out of here!," Okubo opens and closes his fists as if he wants to grab Rihito's neck, who wipes tears of laughter from his eyes. And that's when they hear a familiar voice, accompanied by approaching footsteps.

"Don't do that, Naoya! If you kill Rihito, you'll end up in jail, and who's going to practice batting with me in that case?"

"Tomori!!," he smiles, changing his tone from irritated to soft like a television channel. "Heeey…"

And the other idiots lose their collective shits, Kaneda already out of breath, Himuro sobbing and Rihito crying. Tomori, approaching them while carrying a tray with her own lunch, smiles with an arched eyebrow at the hubbub at the table.

"Can I know what's the joke or is it a men's secret?"

“Believe me, you don't wanna know. Just ignore those idiots and sit with us," Okubo invites, moving away a little in the seat to make room for her, the smile not dying even with the knowing smirks of his friends getting on his nerves. "We were worried about Miss Tomoyo and you."

"Me...? Ooh, Kanny told you what happened, didn't she?," She understands after a few seconds of confusion, sitting down next to him "Don't worry, Tomoyo's fine. She had already run into the kitchens when you arrived, and I managed to calm her down a bit. And nothing happened to me, I wasn't around at the time it all went down."

"Still… we ended up remembering that bullshit from a few weeks ago, with those stupid kids and everything," Okubo explains, and Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda have to restrain themselves a lot not to remind him that there was no ‘us’ there. "I kept thinking about some stupid things that made me anxious, that's all. We’re glad you're okay..."

Tomori smiles tenderly. "You're so sweet, you know? All of you are. Don't worry, I'm fine too. Just a little fed up," She sighs a little. "This kind of idiot is always showing up to disturb the peace at the bakery. I don't know if it's because of the area we're in or if it's just bad luck..."

"Does this happen often around here?," Kaneda asks, frowning a little, and Tomori takes a sip of the juice she brought with the rest of her lunch.

“More than we'd like, to be honest. It's one of the reasons why Kanny wants to relocate the bakery."

"Relocate?," Himuro repeats the word, to which Okubo widens his eyes a little.

"Wait, you guys want to change the bakery's address?"

"Oh, that's right, I haven’t told you yet," She sits more rigidly in her seat, looking at him. "We had a meeting a few days ago and Kanny decided that it’s time to look for a bigger and better location for the Heavy Bakery. We're currently looking for a place that meets these demands, but we haven't had much luck so far. I even said I was going to ask you if you knew a place or anyone who knows one..."

"No, I don't. Sorry," He scratches the back of his head, trying to smile. "But that doesn't mean we can't help look, right, guys?"

"Of course! I can look for some spaces near my business," Rihito offers, raising a thumb. "It's not exactly the prettiest part of town, but it's got a lot going for it. And you can bet no cocky brat is going to try to play the badass act in the area where my crew and I work."

"I can try checking with some of my contacts. I have some friends who are basically the eyes and ears of the entire district," Himuro comments. Kaneda smiles sheepishly.

"I don't have many contacts or a business, but I can try to find something too. I see a lot of ads for land for sale in the classifieds..."

"And I can help spread the word! Posting on my social networks, inviting people to the bakery, helping to increase the clientele that will definitely want to see a quality establishment thriving. Good publicity makes all the difference, you know?," Okubo smiles excitedly. Tomori lets out a small shuddering sigh.

"Would you do that? Would you really help us? Even if you don't gain anything from it..."

"And who said we don't? The bakery gets even more space, tyou guys expand the business, money comes in and the quality increases. We will be able to apreciate even more of the kick-ass food that you offer. Everyone would win. Helping you out would be our way of saying thank you for the great service… and the great company,” He squeezes her wrist gently across the table.

Rihito, Himuro, and Kaneda, on another occasion, would've thought that as a masterful ploy on Okubo's part, who seemed to know exactly what to say to make the girl he was crushing on swon. But the tender, painfully sincere expression on his face spoke of something much stronger than that. And if Tomori's delighted look meant anything, it was that she had seen the same thing.

"Naoya… thank you. Thanks a lot!," She pouted, holding his arm and closing her eyes as if she was trying not to cry. "And you too, Rihito, Himuro, Kaneda… I keep feeling that I am increasingly indebted to you ..."

"You already know how you can pay! I can even give your friend the news that the sugar shack is going to change its address, no problem at all-"

"Shut up, Rihito!," Himuro and Kaneda command in unison, impatient. Okubo would have joined in the chorus if he wasn't too busy humming with satisfaction from Tomori's half-hug. He strokes her knuckles.

"You're welcome, Tomori. We'll do what we can to help our favorite bakery."

"Yeah, because we used to go to so many others before knowing about this one..."

"Shut up, Himuro."

"And this has nothing to do with the fact that you're trying to regain Kanny's trust, right?," She asks, arching her eyebrow, and Okubo makes a face.

"... Partially? I prefer to to say I'm combining business with pleasure. And like I said, it's going to benefit everyone, you included. I even want to start now!"

"Oh yes? How?"

"With a photo! What do you think?," He takes his phone out of his pocket. "I can advertise the bakery using it... but I'll probably need a better screen...," He sighs as he contemplates the cracked screen of the phone. Tomori laughs, while the other three idiots roll their eyes.

"Seriously, isn't it time you picked another phone?," Kaneda asks.

"It's a classic model, man! It has a whole vintage charm..."

"And no parts available on the market for a repair. Quit being a dumbass and just buy the new iPhone like everyone else...," Himuro snorts impatiently, and Okubo stares at him indignantly.

"And take part in this mediocre fad? No chance! Not to mention that these current models do not even compare with the old ones in terms of resistance and durability-"

"Whoopsie-Daisy!," Rihito slaps the back of his hand, and he almost drops the phone on the floor, the device jumping in his hand like a fish out of water as he tries to support it with somewhat desperate exclamations. "Wow, why are you so afraid to drop it on the ground if it's so durable? That cracked screen is just misleading propaganda from that mediocre fad, right?"

"Screw you! The V3 is resistant to a lot of things, but not toa mule’s kick!," Okubo growls, and both the other three idiots and Tomori burst out laughing. She shakes her head, picking up her own phone.

"Let's try mine then! It's not the latest model, but the camera is good," She leans against Okubo, holding onto his arm. "I just think it'd make more sense to take a selfie with the bakery owner, if the intention was to promote it..."

"I don’t think she'd take a selfie with me at the moment…"

"To promote the bakery? She'd drag you to the place with the best lighting!"

Okubo laughs, leaning towards her so he can fit in the photo. "Okay, I don't doubt that at all. But I really want to take a picture with my favorite cook. Like your fan selfies, you know?"

Tomori blushes, biting her lower lip and looking to the side, smiling like a fool.

"So... you're saying you're my fan?"

"If I say yes, do I get some kisses and some complimentary cookies?"

She pushes him away playfully, giving a high-pitched giggle. "You can't control yourself even in front of your friends, can you? Here, you take the selfie, my arms are too short for me to be able to frame the two of us together."

"Okay. Smile and say 'T-Rex' then!"

She laughs out loud, and he takes the picture right then and there, catching her with an expression of natural glee. Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda didn't know what they wanted to do more: if to have a joint nausea fit at the scene or if to smile with enormous satisfaction.

Holy crap, Okubo didn't know how to hide it, not even at the risk of becoming the target of their mockery, did he? The urge to apply psychological torture, typical of male friendships, was too strong. But another, much more urgent urge was taking shape, and they decided, in a quick exchange of glances, to make it a priority.

The could have a game night another time. Their friend had a golden opportunity on his hands and they weren't going to let him pass it up.

"Oh, come on…," Tomori pouted when Okubo showed her the photo. "My eyes half closed."

"While you were happy and laughing, which is the most important thing."

"But you took me by surprise, there was no time to strike a pose!"

"And that's great, people like spontaneity. Even more so when one of the cooks has such a pretty smile. The bakery's clientele will double."

"Yeah, on the one hand that's great," Kaneda comments suddenly, enjoying Tomori's blush. "But on the other hand, it can also be a little risky."

"Yep. Just today we had to scare away a pushy idiot. That other day, Miss Kanami had to scare away three of 'em," Himuro takes a sip of his soda. "How many more are going to keep showing up like this?"

"Hey, hey, stop it, you," Okubo mutters, seriously, when Tomori's shoulders stiffen a little, her expression becoming slightly pained. "You want to make her scared to even show up for work or something?"

"But we're saying that because we care!," Rihito shrugs with an air of innocence. "We also haven't forgotten what happened that day, with those asshole kids lying in wait-"

"Holy shit, Rihito, you're only making the situation worse!," Okubo hits the table with his fist, to which Tomori shakes her head.

"It's okay, Naoya. They're right. Kanny will even accompany Tomoyo to her house to make sure she doesn't get followed or anything..."

"But what about you, Miss Uta? Are you going to have to go home alone after what happened? You can't!," Rihito gestures a little, while Himuro points to Okubo and commands:

"Take her home, Okubo."

"Wha- Me?," He starts a little, blinking in surprise, and the three nod with serious expressions.

"Who else would it be? You're not going to let her go home alone knowing it might be risky, are you?"

"Uuh… of course not, but…," He scratches the back of his head, looking sideways at Tomori, who also looked surprised. "I don't want you to feel obligated to say yes or anything…"

"I- I don't!," She says quickly. "I'd love the company, by the way. I just don't want to get in the way of any plans you guys may have..."

"Oh, yeah! Didn't we arrange to go to Kaneda's for for a game night?," Okubo remembers, looking back at Tomori afterwards. "They were until an hour ago complaining that I don't hang out with them that much anymore, the whiners..."

"Oh, in that case I really don't want to get in the way of your night out. You'll end up hating me if I monopolize your friend,” She teases with an embarrassed laugh, to which Kaneda makes a reassuring gesture with one hand.

"No problem, it's for a good cause. Your safety is far more important, isn't it?," He looks sideways at Okubo. "You can hang out with us another time."

"Yeah, man. No hard feelings," Himuro assures, to which Rihito smiles mischievously.

"I'd even say that you will be in better company than us, hahaha!"

“Wow, did everyone decided to flirt with me today or what?," Tomori jokes, while Okubo casts an intense look at his friends, who continued to make innocent expressions.

"I know what you're doing, you fuckers, don't think you're fooling me."

"... In that case, if it doesn't bother you, I'll take you home, Tomori," He finally offers. "That way they and I are calmer. And I have an excuse to spend a little extra time with you, hehe."

"Hahaha, likewise! Okay, then, I'm in," She nods, smiling. "Thanks for worrying. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," She gets up from her seat, patting her skirts with her hands a little, and then walking away towards the toilet area. The four idiots follow her with their eyes, and when making sure she was far enough away, Okubo turns to the other three with a frown.

“Holy shit, couldn't you be less discreet?"

“Man, we have no idea what you're talking about,” Himuro comments as Rihito finishes his sandwich and Kaneda takes a sip of his coffee.

"The fuck you haven't! What a stupid-ass idea, using a traumatic experience of hers to convince her to put me under her roof like that..."

"Bro, trust me, she wouldn’t need much more convincing than that," Rihito guarantees. "We just saw the opportunity and helped you seize it, since you’re too slow to think about it on your own," He laughs mockingly. "No need to thank us, okay? Just enjoy it and be careful not to break her bed with your more than two hundred pounds.

"You're not that far behind, Bigfoot," Okubo snorts, but it's getting hard to stay annoyed. He would never complain about an opportunity to spend more time with Tomori. And if it also meant they could reach third base in the process... "But damn... you guys are totally set on helping me get laid, huh? Hahaha!"

"Yeah, I've been very pious lately," Himuro smirks. "After seeing Rihito and you strugle with rejections again and again, for four years straight, a Good Samaritan side just woke up inside me."

"Yep! At least one of you two had to score, right," Kaneda jokes, ignoring when Rihito gives him the middle finger. Okubo shakes his head.

"Yeah, right… I just hope she doesn't see it as just me trying to take advantage of a sticky situation."

"She kinda could, pal… if we didn't know that she wants this as much as you do," Rihito gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Just go for it!"

"Haha, alright," Okubo doesn't resist, smiling widely. "I'll still find a way to thank you properly… and no, Rihito, forget about her friend's number! I already told you that my dick doesn't work miracles, dammit..."

The four of them stand there, laughing and making fun of each other's faces, but they stop when Tomori returns. She sits back down, smiling at them.

"So, what did I miss?"

"Absolutely nothing. We were absolutely quiet, waiting for you to come back, like the well-behaved boys that we are," Okubo jokes, stroking her shoulder, to which the sous chef laughs. He glances sideways at his friends, who are trying to keep a low profile by focusing on the food. But they also smiled.

They might be a trio of nosy bastards, but holy shit, he wouldn't trade them for any other.