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Akemura thinks he's going to die. It's over for him. He's going to make his older sister cry. He can't do anything to support his family. He doesn't think he can feel his body - does this mean he's already dead? When it snows in Tokyo, it snows. Or maybe he had some bad timing being outside. It barely looked like it would rise more than two centimeters! Why is he the one who gets smacked around by fluffy snow? Oh wait, snow isn't fluffy. Snow is wet and clumpy. He hates this.
"Ah..." Akemura groans and he tries not to close his eyes but when his physical strength is leaving him, it feels like there's nothing to hold up his eyes with. He shuts them, falling deep into a dark red nightmare behind his eyelids. And then the red disappears for black.
Akemura doesn't think he can dream if he's dead, so when he dreams about being surrounded by snow white rabbits instead of dying by snow, he thinks this is the afterlife putting him into a torment nexus.
He sniffs around, smelling Hiroto's cigarette brand, but it can't be Hiroto turned into a snow white rabbit.
There's a disconnect when he moves himself in his dream and when he feels his body move out of reach of what he sees and his eyes start to open up, just a little. He sees an unfamiliar ceiling. He flops around. An unfamiliar wall and floor and he sees the heavy blanket of a kotatsu table over him. It's a pale beige color.
"H... Hiroto?" Akemura mutters, forgetting to add honorifics after his name.
"You realized?" Hiroto says and Akemura shakes away the snow rabbits of his dreams and snaps himself awake. The older man enters the room, where Akemura noticed he heard Hiroto first before Akemura could see him, and Hiroto looks impressed. "How did you know it was me?"
"I know this brand..." Akemura pouts, sliding deeper under the table, and he doesn't know how to feel. Hiroto's house looks surreal and large or is it because this is his first time here?
"Mhm, when you start smoking and trying out, you'd pick a favorite," Hiroto says and he sits down by Akemura's head, uncaring of how he puts his stinky bare feet next to Akemura's face. Akemura hisses, offended by the naked feet. "I had to make sure none of your extremities were dying. Good for you. You only lost a foot. I had to cut it off. You were bleeding all over my bathroom."
The blood drains from Akemura's face and he pales, absolutely shocked. He tries to work his mouth, opening and closing it. "N-no!" He almost cries right away.
"Sorry, I was joking. It made me laugh," Hiroto flatly says and Akemura doesn't hear him for a moment but when he does, he glares at Hiroto and snaps his teeth at Hiroto's toes. Except Hiroto doesn't move his foot away and when Akemura bites them, something he wasn't planning to do, it felt like he bit into an iron pan, and Akemura's teeth rattle with pain and impact.
"Ah!" Akemura covers his mouth and slips further under the table. He curls up under there, disgruntled, and he feels for his feet and hands. All his toes and fingers are attached.
Hiroto takes his time to pull out a cigarette and he puts it into his mouth. Akemura gasps, astonished he would give Akemura lung cancer.
"Smoking is bad for you," Akemura says because he doesn't think Hiroto would care if Akemura died from evil secondhand smoking. He pouts, glaring at the old man from under the table.
"I know," Hiroto mutters, but he doesn't light it. "Hm." He experimentally pokes Akemura in the head a few times. "What were you doing playing in the snow? It's very cold out."
"I wasn't playing in the snow! I was dying!" Akemura whines and he rolls around. "Thanks for saving me... I guess..." He mumbles, embarrassed, and he doesn't know how much of Hiroto's room is he allowed to see. It's only one room in his house but it feels sacred since Hiroto is the strongest member of the Soga clan. It would be like if he could see inside Chiaki's room, the one given to her since she became a princess. All the princesses lived there and it gives off a certain energy.
Hiroto's room has a vibe to it but Akemura feels too toasty to think further about it. The cigarette smoke just ruins how comfy the room would be if it was without it. Akemura thinks he caught sight of bookshelves in here.
"I am brewing green tea. Would you care for a cup?" Hiroto asks him instead of offering him something like hot chocolate.
"Hmm... Do you have hot chocolate I could use?" Akemura says, slightly flushed because he doesn't want to be seen as a kid, but who cares about drinking tea, it tastes like bitter water.
"Hot chocolate? What is that? Is it a chocolate brand?" Hiroto looks baffled. "I do not have it. Would you like another tea brand?"
"What?! You don't know what hot chocolate is?! You should try it! It's better than tea!" Akemura declares, excited to defend his favorite drink. "I drink it everyday when it is winter... and every day in fall... spring... summer..."
"So it is a hot drink," Hiroto guesses. "No, I do not, but tea is healthier for you. This is why you're weaker than me."
"Says you who smokes everyday! How have your lungs not given up on you?" Akemura grumbles. Grr. His lungs are too strong. "I do not want tea! It tastes gross. I could have the same effect sticking my head into a garbage can!"
"Really?" Hiroto asks and he pulls out a blanket from the closet and lays it out. Akemura stares, confused, until Hiroto drags him out from under the table by grabbing his forearm and then picks him up under the arm. Hiroto sets down Akemura onto the blanket and rolls him up like he's sushi and picks him up.
"W-what are you doing to this! Unhand me! Please" Akemura pouts and Hiroto begins to walk through his sacred house that Akemura feels like is burning into his retinas. "Not the legendary halls..."
"Let me help you enjoy tea," Hiroto says with a cool tone but he begins to gesture Akemura towards an open trash can.
"NooooooOOOOOOOoo!" Akemura tries to wiggle out from the sushi blanket roll he was trapped in but it's no use. Hiroto is too strong for him to break free him.
He closes his eyes, sniffing, before Hiroto has a small laugh and turns away, heading back to the book room with the kotatsu table.
Hiroto carefully unrolls Akemura and Akemura scrambles back under the kotatsu table, hissing at him.
"Hot chocolate, hm?" Hiroto leaves him at that before he exits the room.
"Bully..." Akemura snuggles under the table, where he boredly looks up. "Hmm... Why did he kidnap me... I was next to my house! Meanie! Jerk!" He wiggles around, wigging out.
Hiroto swiftly comes back, holding a box of hot chocolate. "I cleaned up snow in front of a store. I escorted the employees home after buying this from them..."
"How did you do that? It wasn't a minute!" Akemura's eyes nearly pop out.
"I am super cool. Do you forgive me? I can brew you hot chocolate," Hiroto says, though his expression doesn't change too much, but his voice is extremely sincere and Akemura feels kinda bad for calling him names. Hiroto shakes the box in front of him like he's shaking a bag of treats in front of a cat.
"Fine..." Akemura mumbles. "Why did you take me to your house? If you didn't know, I was by my house."
"I thought it'd be awkward to intrude on someone else's home. Though... I suppose you are my invitation in, like a person-shaped entry ticket," Hiroto lightly says and Akemura pouts at him. "Alright. I won't abduct you next time."
"Um... I'm not really upset about that... I would be dead if you didn't take me in," Akemura quietly says, embarrassed, and Hiroto nods, leaving to make hot chocolate. "... Hm... Does that guy know how to make hot chocolate? I bet he uses premium tea leaves."
"I do," Hiroto calls out from the other side of the house and Akemura turns pink in the face. "I have excellent hearing. I trained my body to the max."
"You can't train your ears!" Akemura says, skeptical, and Hiroto just laughs, his voice echoing a bit.
Hiroto comes back, smiling with a cup of hot chocolate. "No, but if you know how to channel your spirit energy, you can boost all your bodily functions."
"Does that mean you can poop really good?" Akemura says, serious, and he slides out of the table, on his knees, to take the cup sitting up. He sips the hot chocolate and warmth hits his mouth, spreading through his body when it glides down his throat. It's yummy.
Hiroto blinks for a moment. "I never tried it? There are a lot of questions you could've asked me. Do you often suffer from constipation?"
"No! I just wanted to know," Akemura says and he holds down his question of whenever Hiroto can pee very well and - um, Akemura doesn't know, shoot it through the wall? Hiroto would say he has juvenile humor if he asks that.
Hiroto leans against the wall, staring at a bookshelf. "Well, that is good. The cold does not bother me. If you want to go home soon, just tell me. I can run you through the snowstorm."
"... Um... Can I wait until it's over," Akemura says, shivering for the people Hiroto escorted out. He hopes they are doing fine. Akemura looks down. "It isn't like there's anyone home. Mom is busy with my older sister and older sister lives at the main quarters for the princess."
"Hmm... I see. So you're lonely. You can just say that," Hiroto smiles, grinning, and he pats Akemura on the head with his cigarette touched fingers. "I will give you a free hug if you want one."
"Use your other hand," Akemura whines. "I can smell that nasty stuff on you!"
"But do you want a hug?" Hiroto asks, definitely teasing him, with how he holds out his arms and says it like he's too serious.
"Stop! I'm cringing! I'm not four years old! Old man!" Akemura blushes more from being treated like a tiny child and he drinks his hot chocolate while giving Hiroto a stony hard look.
"I'm only eight years older than you," Hiroto explains, vaguely offended. Akemura hopes he is.
"How do you know my age?" Akemura pouts into his hot chocolate.
"Chiaki told me," Hiroto says and Akemura wants to complain about being betrayed but surely Chiaki has a good reason to give his age to someone who would kidnap her little brother from dying in a snowstorm. Hiroto is suspicious, there is no other way around it.
When Akemura finishes his cup, Hiroto takes it from him and stands up, leaving. Hiroto pauses for a moment.
"Wash your mouth and hands," Hiroto asks - no, he orders from him. "Or I'll tell Chiaki."
"Tch!" Akemura clicks his tongue and stands up, following Hiroto to find the kitchen. "One day, I will be stronger than you and I'll be telling you to go wash your mouth and hands."
"Is that so?" Hiroto says, still keeping that cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Then I won't serve you hot chocolate anymore." Akemura is about to complain how Hiroto never needed to do it and why does it matter but Hiroto continues talking. "Since you'll be the stronger one. I don't like drinking sweet things but I won't turn you down if you offer me a drink."
"You're a simple guy!" Akemura wigs out even more and Hiroto just pats him on the head. "Why are you giving me so many head pats?"
"To remind you of your station. Shorter than mine," Hiroto says and Akemura throws himself at Hiroto's back but it feels like he hit a stone wall because Akemura bounces back, in pain. "Try not to do that until your spirit energy can overcome mine and my physical prowess."
"This doesn't make sense!" Akemura feels like poking at Hiroto just to figure out why he feels so hard but he calms himself. This will be him in the future. "I promise I'll make you drink hot chocolate and you'll realize why it's better than tea!"
"Alright, I would let to see you try," Hiroto says, and Akemura blows out air through his nose, victorious.