I Love You

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/27402148.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M, M/M, Multi
Fandom: Baka to Test to Shokanju | Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts
Relationship: Sakamoto Yuuji & Yoshii Akihisa, Kinoshita Hideyoshi & Yoshii Akihisa,
Tsuchiya Hideyoshi & Yoshii Akihisa, Shimada Minami & Yoshii
Akihisa, Himeji Mizuku & Yoshii Akihisa, Yoshii Akihisa & Yoshii Akira,
Shimada Hazuki & Yoshii Akihisa, Kinoshita Yuuko & Yoshii Akihisa,
Kirishima Shouko & Yoshii Akihisa, Kudou Aiko & Yoshii Akihisa, Kubo
Toshimitsu & Yoshii Akihisa, Satou Miho & Yoshii Akihisa, Shimizu
Miharu & Yoshii Akihisa, Himeji Mizuki/Yoshii Akihisa, Kinoshita
Yuuko/Yoshii Akihisa, Kinoshita Hideyoshi/Yoshii Akihisa (One-sided),
Shimada Minami/Yoshii Akihisa (One-sided), Implied Kinoshita
Hideyoshi/Kubo Toshimitsu
Character: Yoshii Akihisa, Sakamoto Yuuji, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, Tsuchiya Kouta,
Himeji Mizuki, Shimada Minami, Kinoshita Yuuko, Kirishima Shouko,
Kudou Aiko, Kubo Toshimitsu, Shimada Hazuki, Satou Miho, Yoshii
Akira, Shimizu Miharu
Additional Tags: Depression, Depressed Akihisa Yoshii, Unreliable Narrator, Suicidal
Thoughts, Self-Harm, Self-Esteem Issues, Yoshii Akihisa Needs a Hug,
Everyone Needs A Hug, Everyone Has Issues, But Akihisa has the
most, Sibling Bonding, Love Confessions, Bullying, Sad with a Happy
Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ambiguous/Open Ending, It Gets
Worse Before It Gets Better, References to Gerry Anderson, Past Child
Abuse, Child Neglect, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown,
Therapy, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Series: Part 2 of Baka No Test Collection
Collections: Titanmaster_117's Favourite Rare Pairs
Stats: Published: 2020-11-05 Words: 5,717 Chapters: 1/1

I Love You
by Titanmaster_117

Summary

Akihisa didn't know why he liked hearing those words.

(Warning Possibly triggering and mature themes inside)

"I love you."

Akihisa didn't know why he liked those words.

He just did.

He liked saying them.

He liked being told them.

He didn't know why, though.

Was it something to do with his ego? Akihisa didn't know. He didn't think so. He never felt more
special when someone said them to him, never more important, never anything more than what he
already was.

But when people told him that, the flutter in his chest would return, and his heart would skip a
beat.

He still didn't know why.

Did he deserve those words?

Did he deserve those words that spoke of honey and kindness and love so pure and potent that they
could light a fire across the world and break down every barrier between man and peace?

"I love you."

He didn't know.

He didn't think so.

The first person to say those words to him was, surprisingly, not his parents.

It was his sister.

Granted, his memories of this time were foggy and fragmented, as this was when he was young,
and still laying in his crib, the white walls and ceilings and bright lights assaulting his senses in a
barrage that made him want to cry.

And yet, as a small child, a baby, barely a year old, he didn't. He didn't cry.

He didn't need to, for he already had someone there with him, to shoo away the fears and unwanted
sensations.

His stubbed, tiny hand wrapped itself around the pinky finger of his older sister, Akira, cooing and
gurgling as the 6, turning 7, year old let him stay in her shadow and gave him shade from the
searing lights, smiling softly as she leant down and pressed her lips against his soft, baby smooth
forehead.

She leant back up with eyes that expanded in the way that only the warming love between siblings
could.

A soft giggle left Akira's lips as she massaged the infant's hand in her own, and gently whispered to
him 3 words that were so simply, yet so complex and impossible to understand.

"I love you."

Those words had never felt truer.

His parents weren't around a lot.

He always told them that he loved them.

They didn't have the time to say it, but that was okay.

As long as he got to tell them.

He was young, but growing older when he heard the words again.

It was, oh, when had it been? Back in Elementary? Yeah, it was back then.

It was a girl who had told him that. He couldn't remember her name.

He couldn't remember much after the accident.

Her words were garbled and fuzzed and washed over by faded and broken memory, but then there
were the 3 major words.

"I love you."

Akihisa wanted to believe them.

He really did.

But he couldn't.

He had been lied to before.

The lie had happened on a summer's day, when he had fallen in love with a girl, and she him.

Or so he thought.

There was a dark place in the school's large backyard that not even the teacher's knew about.

In that dark place was a darker cave with an entrance that could be sealed off.

The teachers wouldn't learn about it until much later.

The girl, with a sweet smile and words that dripped with honey, led him to the dark place, with the
dark cave.

She said that he could only dater her if he went down there.

Akihisa didn't want to go down there.

Akihisa didn't like dark places.

He said so himself.
The girl didn't care.

Neither did her friends when they jumped out of the bush and shoved him into the cave, sealing off
the entrance and laughing at him in there.

They didn't bother to check up on the boy who'd been slammed into the cave's wall and collapsed
on the floor.

The teachers wouldn't find him until a few hours later, when one of the friends, with tears running
down his face, confessed to them and told them about the cave.

They found Akihisa unconscious, leaning against the wall, his head covered in blood.

They rushed him to the hospital, and afterwards, he never went to that school again.

(Akihisa would never learn how close he was to death.)

Akihisa never really trusted when people said those 3 words anymore.

No matter how much he wanted to.

(Years later, he would meet those 2 girls again, but under much different, yet oh so similar
circumstances.)

He wouldn't hear the words again until much later on in his life, when Akira was leaving for
America.

She said those same words to him once more.

And once more, Akihisa wanted to believe them.

His parents weren't around much. Being oversees did that to you.

But that was okay.

He always told them that he loved them.

Even if they didn't.

The accident was quick, and it was violent.

He wished that he had seen that car coming towards him.

Perhaps if he hadn't been so distracted by his own thoughts, he would've seen it.

But such was life.

Akira had rushed back from America to see him again, in the hospital, laying in a bed, covered in
bandages.
She had to cut a lot of her studies and events to come here. Akihisa knew that she shouldn't have
cancelled all of that just to see him. He was fine, wasn't he?

(He wasn't fine.)

She scolded him for that. He didn't pay it any heed.

Why would someone waste their time with someone like him?

He didn't know it at the time, but that question would haunt him for years.

Complications was a favourite word that the doctors liked to throw around.

Brain damage, learning difficulties, and memory loss were favourite phrases as well.

If only Akihisa could remember what they meant.

He made a new friend today.

Her name was Hideyoshi Kinoshita, and she was the nicest girl he'd ever met.

As it turned out, she was he.

Akihisa would remember to forget that sometimes.

As it turned out, Akihisa liked saying, "I love you", more than hearing it.

He didn't know why, but he didn't really mind.

It was fun to tease Hideyoshi about it, especially when he ended up being dressed up as a girl.

It made the act more convincing.

The longer Akihisa knew Hideyoshi, the more confused his feelings about the boy/girl/hideyoshi
were.

He really liked saying, "I love you", to him, but it was the meaning behind the words that had him
confused.

Was it familial love, love between friends, romantic love, something else entirely?

He didn't know, but for the moment, he didn't care.

The words felt right to say, but the meaning behind them was squashed down.

Maybe he was just being an idiot about it all.

(It would take him a few years and a good talk later on to realise that his love for Hideyoshi was
nothing more than that of a little brother to an older brother, which put the last few years into an
embarrassing light.
Which way the little brother and older brother went, would best be left to the imagination.)

More and more, Akihisa would be stuck with a label. A title.

'Idiot'.

They were probably right.

On the first day of Fumizuki Academy, Akihisa met Yuuji.

He called him an idiot.

He was definitely right.

Akihisa met a girl today.

Having met her before, through shaky memories and recollections, he remembered that her name
was Himeji Mizuki.

She looked at him with wide, and confused eyes.

And then she ran off.

Akihisa wouldn't understand why until a year later.

Akihisa was beginning to think the words again.

I love you.

Every time he looked at Mizuki, those words popped up, like echoes that were both silent, yet oh
so deafening in his mind.

And every time, they would have more than one meaning.

And Akihisa didn't know what they were, or why.

But he shoved these thoughts down anyways.

Mizuki wouldn't like him.

Mizuki wouldn't want to spend time with an idiot like him.

Akihisa met another girl.

He tried to be her friend by speaking French.

She called him an idiot.

She was right.

Akihisa met another girl. A child called Hazuki who looked awfully familiar.
She was young, and she was sweet, and she was trying to buy a stuffed toy for her older sister.

He was able to get her the doll, though a crazy series of shenanigans and mad lad events that he
would rather not talk about.

Once he got enough money for the stuffed toy, he brought it and gave it to Hazuki.

She repaid it by kissing him on the cheek and promising that in the future, she was going to marry
him.

Akihisa was unsure of what to make from that at first.

A familiar, familial warmth came into his chest once more.

He liked that feeling.

Overtime, in due part to his role as the Punishment Inspector, he got use to being in pain.

He got used to the beatings and the bullying and the name calling and everything else.

That was okay.

That was fine.

That was what an idiot like him deserved.

That was just life.

The first year transitioned into the second year.

Nothing changed.

The hitting and the beating and the name calling still continued on.

But that was okay.

He was caught between his own feelings.

Mizuki and Minami.

He liked one and he liked the other.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

How the hell could an idiot like him fall for 2 people?

And more importantly, even if he did choose...

Why would they even want to be with an idiot like him?

He continued to tell Hideyoshi that he loved him.

His reactions were funny.

Plus, there was a bit of truth to it.

And, it had become a strange coping mechanism.

But neither he not Hideyoshi knew this.

He called his parents. There was a brief conversation, and he told them that he loved them.

They hung up without saying another word.

That was okay.

His sister came back.

Akira came back home from America to check up on him. She'd always been worried about him,
ever since the accident.

She was... Quite expressive about her love.

Akihisa didn't like it. He liked the sibling love that they had for each other. It was nice. It was safe
and warm, not... Not whatever she wanted to force it to be.

Still though, she seemed to be aware that he was uncomfortable about it, and backed off a bit from
it, so that was nice.

She also seemed to be aware of a few other problems, but that was okay.

Everything was okay.

Akira kept saying that everything was not okay.

He was not okay.

But that was wrong.

He was fine.

An idiot like him was fine.

Akihisa wasn't smart. He knew this better than anyone else.

However, he was smart enough to know that everyone else was worrying about nothing.

He'd toughed it through the Class A vs F war. He'd toughed it through that whole beach episode
and everything afterwards. He'd toughed it through all of that... That... Crap with Miharu and the
blackmail incident, as well as that whole Cultural Festival incident, and then the scaring contest
thing.

He'd toughed through it all.

So why were they worrying now?

He was fine, why was everyone worrying?

He was okay.

The hitting began to slow down.

Minami had begun to look at him with concerned eyes. So did Mizuki, and Hideyoshi, and Kouta,
and even Yuuji.

The name calling and the mocking and the beatings slowed down, to the point of stopping.

Akihisa was confused.

Were they ignoring him?

Why were they ignoring him?

Why were they leaving him behind?

He put the knife down and washed away the blood.

It helps.

He didn't notice the pair of eyes watching him as he cleaned his hands.

He began to wear long sleeved clothes wherever he went.

Why was Yuuko talking to him now? What did she want with him? Was she here to declare war on
Class F again-

"Do you... Do you wanna talk about anything?"

…Huh?

The troop from Class A had invited him to sit with them. Aiko had given him some reason, that she
was trying to find the best skirt measurements and needed an expert-

Which was silly, considering that Kouta was a much better choice when it came to things skirt and
panty related. If he were Kouta, he would be listing off skirt sizes, calculations, measurements,
taking into account wind variations for skirt flips and the minimum and maximum height to see a
girl's undies or whatever.

-And Yuuko had patted the seat next to her, indicating that they weren't giving him a choice. Kubo
was there on the opposite seat, Satou as well. Even Shouko, who usually can be found within a 1
foot radius of Yuuji, was sitting there, looking at him expectantly. As well as something else, but
he wasn't sure what.

They sat him down with them, and they began to talk about this and that, filling up the table with
idle talk and chatter.

Then, they began to ask him questions.

They began to ask him how he was, what he was planning on doing later, what he liked, him him
him him him-

Stop it.

He couldn't handle it.

He had to leave.

And against the protests of the others, he did.

The voice in his dreams was getting louder.

He liked to say things.

Mean things.

And the worst part was...

Sometimes Akihisa would listen.

Sometimes he thought of Miharu.

Sometimes he thought of paying her back for all of the pain that she put him through.

But that was just him being silly.

He once dreamt that he was looking into a mirror.

Inside that mirror was a person who was and was not himself, with dark eyes and snow white skin
and red blood that dripped from his wrists.

That figure was dressed like his ESB avatar.

Akihisa looked down and saw that those wrists were his own.

He looked back up, and saw that there was blood on his neck.

It didn't look that frightening.

Akira kept asking it he was fine.

He was.

Mizuki kept asking if he was fine.

He was.

Yuuko kept asking if he was fine.

He was.
Minami kept-

STOP IT.

Why does everyone think he is lying? Why does everyone want to bother him and think he was
unwell and unable to take care of himself?

Why does everyone care?

Why should they care?

He was just an idiot. Just a useless, worthless, idiot.

They had said so themselves.

He was fine.

He was fine.

he was fine.

He Was Fine.

He was FINE.

hE was fine.

HE WAS FINE.

HE WAS FINE.

Hazuki got him a bracelet.

It read a few simple, yet oh so complex words.

YOU ARE LOVED

Why was he crying?

He came home one day, and looked in the mirror, seeing the pale skin, bloodshot eyes, and dark
bags accompanying them. He looked weaker than before, his arms lankier and thinner, as well as
his waist and chest.
It was fine.

It was all...

Was it fine?

He didn't think he could tell anymore.

Why was everyone here?

There were so many people in his home, so many familiar faces. Akira, Yuuji, Yuuko, Hideyoshi,
Kubo, Hazuki, Minami, Aiko, Mizuki, Shouko, Kouta.

They were all looking at him with concern and some other emotion that he couldn't get a read on.
To be fair, they never could.

Once more surprising him, it was Yuuko who took the lead, asking where he was.

Akihisa waved it off, it was fine, it wasn't important. It wasn't anything that they needed to concern
themselves abou-

"Yoshii... Akihisa."

It was Mizuki's voice who stopped his train of thought, her eyes that were a shade of blue and
purple giving off a glow that he swore that he had seen before, her face filled with that same
emotion that he wished that he knew.

"If... If you being like this... If this is what you want, then we'll be there for you. We'll support you,
but... But you're not well-"

"What? What? No, no, you're- Himeji, you're completely overreacting, I'm doing great. Feel great,
in fact. Feel awesome. You shouldn't worry about someone like me!"

"Someone like you?" it was Minami's turn now, apparently, "Look, Aki, whatever you want, we'll
support you, you know that right? Whatever makes you happy, we will be there for you, no matter
what. But if you're unhappy, then you've got to tell us, because this-"

She turned him towards the mirror, giving him a good look at his face again.

"-Isn't healthy. You're not getting enough sleep, you're not drinking enough, you don't look like
you've been eating at all-"

"What, no! I'm eating, I'm drinking, just, y'know, the same amount that I used to, but I'm already
used to that, it's all good!"

"It's not!" she cried back. Why were there tears in her eyes? "Aki, you are killing yourself like this-
"

Please don't say that.

"-I can't just sit by and watch you do this to yourself!"

Why do you care? You didn't before. Why did you stop hitting me? Why did you leave me alone?
Why are you doing this to me?

"Yoshii", it was Shouko this time, "We are here for you, and we will be there for you. No matter
what, how, when, or why. But, it is clear that something is deeply upsetting you, and as your
friends, it is our duty to assist you in overcoming that."

Please stop...

"Hell yeah, ya idiot", Yuuji went, getting a punch on the arm from Skouko as he leaned against the
wall with his arms crossed, "Ow! Sorry... But we're your friends. We got your back."

Stop it...

"Un", nodded Kouta.

"Yeah, Ahikisa", Hideyoshi went, "We wouldn't be here without you, man."

Stop it.

"Yep, what they said!" Aiko chirped while Kubo nodded along.

STOP IT.

"Akihisa, whatever you want, wherever you go, we'll still be here", Yuuko grasped his hand with
her own, and looked right into his eyes, "Whatever you may think about yourself, you are so much
more than that. You are wanted, you are appreciated, you are loved-"

"STOP IT!"

Akihisa was surprised to hear that that was his own voice. So was everyone else.

"Stop it stop it stop it stop it just stop it!"

He grasped the sides of his head in pain, and found himself standing in the middle of the room.

"...Why do you care? Why are you pretending to care? Why are you saying these things? You've
never said them before! You've never wanted me! You never liked me! You never needed to! I'm
an idiot! That's all that I am, that's all that I was, and that's all that I will ever be! A weak,
worthless, pathetic idiot! That's what you all said to me, isn't it? That's what you said to me all of
the time! That I'm a loser! That I'm useless! That I'm nothing more than an idiot! You've all name
called and beaten that truth into me for years! And it's true! I can't think properly, I can't find the
answers that everyone else can, my brain has been fucked ever since that accident with the car, but
that's okay! It's all fine! It's nothing to worry about! So why are you all worrying?!"

Why were they all worrying over nothing?

"Okay, so maybe I've had a few bad thoughts, but that's fine, it's like, what teenager hasn't? I mean,
so maybe I haven't been eating or drinking a lot, but that's no different to when I was on my own,
wasn't it? And, yeah, maybe- MAYBE!- Maybe I've had a nasty thought about- About putting
Miharu's head into a wall, and I've got some not nice thoughts about my mum and dad and stuff,
but it's- It's not like I've actually done it, have I? And, I mean, yeah, I've had some weird dreams
about meeting an evil version of me telling me to kill myself, but, well, I haven't actually done
that, I've just-"

He finally noticed that his long sleeves had fallen down, revealing the pale scars underneath. He
didn't note his 'Friends' reactions as he just grasped one of them and began to try and laugh,
coming out as tearful sobs.

"It... It helps when I do this. It just- It gets rid of the pain for just a moment... Just for a moment..."

Just for the single moment.

He fell to his knees, and covered his face.

"It would be better if I left, wouldn't it?... If I died... Maybe then you wouldn't have to worry about
me... You wouldn't have to waste your time with me..."

"I'm such an idiot..."

There was not a sound for a moment, and then a minute, and then 2. Nobody moved for so long.
Everything was still, silent.

Akihisa both liked and hated it.

Then, there was a shuffling of feet nearby, and a pair of small hands hugged his waist.

It took a few moments for him to look through his obscured vision, and peak between his fingers.

Hazuki was looking up at him with tears of her own, her small arms wrapping themselves around
his abdomen and holding tightly, as if promising to never let go.

She didn't say anything, but she did bury her head in his chest, her tears staining his shirt.

Perhaps, nothing indeed needed to be said.

Until it did.

"Please... Please don't go..."

Akihisa didn't know what to say. Really, he didn't.

She cared... Of course she did. She was Hazuki. She was one of the kindest and most
compassionate human beings on the planet. He was pretty sure that she would even forgive the
worst bullies out there for their transgressions, just because it was a kindness.

Another hand took his shoulder. It took him another few seconds to react and look up, until he
froze.

Yuuko was looking down at him, not down on him, before kneeling, and reaching for her own
sleeve.

Were had all of the pride that was always visible on her gone? Were had all of the splendour and
power and everything that made her her go? He didn't like it. He liked her better when she was like
that: In her element.

"You think you're alone, Akihisa, but you're not."

She pulled up her own sleeve and wiped her bare arm.

"You never were."

Underneath the sudden makeup that she had on her arms, were lines of silvered scars.

"For always living under another person's shadow", she said, "For always disappointing someone...
Especially myself."

The others looked on in shock and horror, especially those in Class A.

However, a few stood in solidarity.

As Yuuko wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself closer to him, it was Hideyoshi who
stepped forward next, lifting up his trouser leg and revealing, at his thighs, white scars that were
covered by all clothing.

"For always being seen as what I am, and not who I am."

Then it was Minami. Her scars, looking fresher than the rest, resting on her chest.

"Just recently... For always hurting those that I care about."

Finally... It was Mizuki. Her scars rested on her arms.

"For always watching those that I care about suffer... And never doing anything to stop it."

The 3 of them got closer, and knelt down one by one, pulling themselves into the hug, and refusing
to let go.

Slowly, but surely, the rest of the group, though lacking scars of their own, entered the growing
group hug. First, it was Akira, then it was Kubo, then Yuuji and Shouko, then Kouta and Aiko. All
of them pulling themselves closer, and joining in on the growing display of comfort, all of them
holding each other tightly, and promising to not bend, nor to break, nor to ever let go, lest they be
lost forever.

And Akihisa...

All he could do was sit there, stupefied. How had he missed all of this? How had he missed all of
their pain? How had he...

That wasn't the point, was it?

He finally understood what emotion it was that they had been displaying.

Wow, I really am an idiot, huh?

His mind was warmed, and his vision was the clearest that it had ever been.

He allowed himself to melt away in their embrace.

And all of the emotions that he had been holding back and hiding away finally burst forward, in a
burst of tears and sobs.

And, to his surprise once more, it was one that was accepted by them.

Or maybe he should've have been surprised, especially not after he finally realised what they had
been feeling.

Because, as he had realised, what they had been feeling wasn't disgust, or pity, or anger, or apathy.

What it was was concern, compassion, understanding, sympathy...

And love.

Akihisa was the first one of them to go to therapy.

The idea had come with some resistance on his part, he would admit, and there was still the
thought that he'd be wasting their, and everyone else's time, but the others were adamant that he'd
be wasting no ones.

Hideyoshi was apparently the next one to go in afterwards, as well as Yuuko, then it would be
Mizuki, and then Minami. They'd all booked them for the same day, just with different sessions.

Akihisa had no idea how this was going to go.

But, it was too late to back out now. For better or worse, he was going to see this through till the
end.

He owed his friends- His family- That much.

He took a deep breath, gave a thumbs up to those he was temporarily leaving behind, and then
opened the door.

The therapist inside, a young woman with light brown hair and eyes, and a small notepad and pen
on her lap, looked up to him and smiled, "Hello there, Mr Yoshii."

Akihisa swallowed the bitter pill of hesitation in his mouth, and nodded, "Hey."

As it turned out, Fumizuki Academy was being investigated, thanks to the results of their therapy
sessions.

The FFF were the first to be expelled.

No one would miss them.

The 5 man and woman support group began to hang out all of the time, always staying over at each
other's houses, playing together, talking together, and doing everything together.

Over time, they became inseparable.

Akihisa loved them all for it.

One day, their entire group was over at Akihisa's house, flooding his and Akira's living room and
hogging their sofa-

Greedy butts!

-When all of a sudden, Yuuji popped out of Akihisa's bedroom holding a DVD.

"Yo, Akihisa, what the hell is 'Thunderbirds'?"

Akihisa and Akira's eyes widened, and the boy turned to him.

"Oh hoh hoh hoh, allow me to educate you, my child!"

Suffice to say, he got the whole group hooked on everything Gerry Anderson related.

Never underestimate the binding power of puppets and explosions.

Especially explosions.

Akihisa and Yuuko would talk about a lot of stuff together. As it turned out, they had a lot of the
same interests.

However, one day, Akihisa would begin to describe his own feelings of love towards Hideyoshi to
Yuuko, trying to make sense of it all.

He loved Hideyoshi, but he didn't feel like he was in love with Hideyoshi. It was the same kind of
warm feeling that he always felt around Akira and Hazuki. That want to be with them and to play
with them and stuff, but to think about putting any romantic connotations to them just felt wrong,
like it wasn't meant to be.

Yuuko just gave him a beautiful smile, "That's called brotherly love, ya dingus."

"Oh!"

Well that was embarrassing.

Sometimes, Akihisa would still have those dreams.

They were few and far in between now, growing less and less powerful each time, but they were
still there.

Yet now, in those dreams, there was another figure who was and was not himself, holding him
close to them and whispering sweet nothings to him.

Akihisa called them his angel's voice.

He would meet Miharu another day.

She would apologise profusely for everything that she had done to him.

Akihisa just gave her a smile.

She had already been forgiven.

A year would pass, and Fumizuki Academy would begin to shut down.

In it's final days, Mizuki would ask Akihisa to meet her on the rooftop.

He kept his word, and met her in the place where the sun was at it's dimmest and yet, at it's most
beautiful.

He saw her, and she saw him.

And on that rooftop, she confessed her part in his part, as one of the 2 girls.

Yuuko would ask him to meet him on that same rooftop the next day.

Of course, he kept his word and met her at that same time of day.

And with that, she would confess her part in his past at well.

The other of the 2 girls.

One of them was a bully reformed, and the other was a girl who had always been longing.

Both of them had told him those 3 sweet words that he was only just beginning to like to say and
hear again.

Akihisa didn't know what to do.

How could anyone know what to do?

Maybe there was someone.

Or in this case, 2 someones.

"I'm flattered that you're asking us", Aiko said as they sat at the round table together, "Really, I am.
Well, I mean, we're both flattered, but... Why are you asking us?"

"Yes", Shouko added, "I would have thought that you would have talked to Yuuji, or Kouta."

"Well, you're the smartest people that we know", AKihisa said as Minami sat next to him, "And,
well, we figured that, with your current love lives, and everything, that you might be able to share
some wisdom."

Shouko looked down, looking somewhat pleased with that answer, and then looking up, "Have you
decided on who to accept, and who to reject?"

Surprising even himself, Akihisa gave a hesitant nod, and an equally hesitant answer, "Well...
Yeah. Yeah I have... I just don't know how to break it to them."

Shouko looked to Aiko, and then Aiko looked to Shouko. They both smiled, and nodded.
"Well then, here is what you have to do."

Sometimes, Hazuki would ask Minami if she really was happy with her relationship with Akihisa.

Their relationship was more brother and sisterly than romantic.

Minami just smiled.

"Yes", was always her honest, beautiful answer.

She couldn't be happier.

Akihisa had once asked Minami how Hazuki knew to get him that bracelet when he was unwell,
despite him not having seen her for such a long amount of time and not giving her the evience to
conclude that he wasn't well.

Minami just gave him a confused look.

She had never told Hazuki about his condition.

Later on, he asked Hazuki how she knew to get him the bracelet.

She would only reply with a smile and a giggle.

Hideyoshi swallowed the bitter pill of distain in his throat as he watched Akihisa talk with Mizuki
and Yuuko.

Whatever made him happy...

He looked to the side, smiled, and wondered if Kubo wanted to talk.

Akihisa looked over the fence guarding the edge of the roof, and gazed at the setting sun, far
enough away from the edges of the roof, just to be safe.

He always loved the sight of the setting sun. It was always just so beautiful to look at.

It always reminded him that there was something worth living for.

The door to the roof opened up, and out walked Yuuko and Mizuki, the both of them with nervous,
but also hopeful expressions on their faces.

Akihisa looked to them, and they looked to him.

He took a deep breath...

And gave them his answer.

Years later, Akihisa would be standing over a kitchen top, holding a knife in his hands.

He needed something to help him chop all of these onions up, after all.
He was trying out new dishes. His boss at the restaurant that he worked in did tell him that he was
one of the best chefs that he'd ever seen, sure, but that still wasn't good enough for him. He was
constantly trying out new foods, new recipes, always wanting to improve his skills and be the very
best that he could be.

Next to him, his fiancée, her belly swollen with 2 little souls within them, giggled as he asked her
to pass the peeler for the carrots, to which she responded with a cute, "F.A.B!"

Ah, the endless joys of Gerry Anderson.

The more that he looked at his wife to be, the more he had to resist the urge to just kiss her right
there and then, and then let his hands rest softly on her stomach and feel the 2 growing babies
inside kick at the seal. He couldn't wait to see what they looked like in person, what traits they
would pick up from each parent, everything about them, and more.

He smiled to her again, saw her face, and succumbed to the urge, planting his lips on hers, and
letting the both of them melt away in the lip locked embrace.

As they kissed, their hands interlocked, and they looked down to see the scars on their arms, now
all old and almost completely gone, but still there.

They looked away from the scars, and into each other's eyes, almost being absorbed by their
beauty, before letting their lips touch again.

She moved away from him, and he moved away from her.

The next 3 words on their lips were so simple, yet oh so complex.

"I love you."

Akihisa now knew why he liked hearing those words.

Recovery is a long road, but it is one that was well worth treading...

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!