“Haa…! Haaa!” Panting wildly, Kise quickly wiped the droplets of sweat that had formed on his forehead with his sleeve as he stared at what was in front of him. He had spent the entire day running around through the streets of Kanagawa, hopped inside of the train halfway through the afternoon and had come off god knows where only to end up in front of an unknown park. What he did know, however, was that Kasamatsu was currently inside of the park. “Haa…! Heh… Don’t underestimate… haa… a dog’s nose…!”
With decisive steps, Kise entered inside of the park, his eyes carefully searching around as he continued to follow Kasamatsu’s scent. He didn’t quite understand why Kasamatsu was at a park at that time of the day but he also knew that his college classes still hadn’t started, so there was a big probability that he was there simply taking a walk or something along those lines. If he was there walking alone, even better for Kise. If not… he was about to become a needy guard dog, rather than a needy puppy.
No, no, no. We’re talking about Kasamatsu-senpai here, okay?, reminded himself Kise in the back of his mind, slightly shaking his head to try to shoo away such thoughts. He can barely talk with girls, there’s just no way he’d be out here having a date with some random chick! That’s something I’d probably do in the past but Kasamatsu-senpai would definitely never do something like that!
Kise started walking forward, his hand clenched tight around the leg protector his senior had left behind in the locker room.
Wait… What should I tell him when I see him?, inwardly wondered Kise, coming to a halt after only having given a couple of steps forward. I should be at school at this time of the day. I can’t just randomly throw him with a ‘What a coincidence, I was also out on a walk’. He’ll definitely get suspicious of me if I pop out of nowhere, holding onto a piece of clothing that belongs to him and dripping out sweat from everywhere. Wha… What should I do!?
“What are you doing here, Kise?”
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!” screeched Kise, his body startling and straightening as if a sword stabbed into the ground. He slowly turned his head around, his mouth opening and closing as if a fish out of water. Kasamatsu was standing behind him, wearing his usual training clothes and chest inflating and deflating with slightly quicker movements than usual. He had probably been jogging in that park. “U-Um… W-What a coincidence, K-Kasamatsu-senpai… You also come to this park…?”
“...” Kasamatsu’s expression immediately went from a questioning demeanour to a disgusted face. When he saw Kise’s tail sliding from inside his clothes and starting an energetic wagging motion, he felt even more reluctant over having approached his junior. “Why don’t you do something about that tail of yours first before you skip classes and come for walks at the park? It suits your current appearance though…”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do!” said Kise, fully turning his body around and walking over in Kasamatsu’s direction. “If I went to school, I’d probably be chased around once again by my fangirls or bullied by the guys during basketball practise hours! It’s better if I solve this curse first and foremost, even if it means skipping a few classes. That’s why I came-”
“Wait! Stop right there!” interrupted Kasamatsu, motioning his hand forward and ordering the blonde to stop. “If you get any closer to me, I’ll punch and kick you on the spot. I can’t have any of what happened yesterday repeat itself in the middle of a freaking park. If you want to talk, then keep a three metres distance at all times.”
“Ugh…” groaned Kise, coming to yet another halt. He could feel his dog ears lowering in disappointment from underneath his hoodie. His tail also came to a stop, becoming completely inert against his rear. “Senpai, that was an accident…”
“If you jump on others and bite them by accident, then yeah, I better keep my distance from you until you break that so-called curse of yours,” acknowledged Kasamatsu, crossing his arms over his chest at the same time one of his eyebrows perked up on his brows. “So? What do you want this time?”
“I… Well, it’s just…” babbled Kise, not knowing where to begin now that he was received in such a cold way. If he were to confess to Kasamatsu, there would be a 100% chance of him getting rejected on the spot. Being rejected by his year-long crush while with dog ears and tail… that would wreck the little bit of pride he still had in him. “I just…”
“If you want to apologise for what happened yesterday then yeah, okay, apologies accepted,” said Kise, after releasing a soft sigh brought forward due to the blonde’s indecisiveness. “Now get back to Kaijou. Even if you missed your classes, you might still get back in time for basketball practice. Your teammates are not assholes that would bully you just because you look even more like a dog than usually.”
“...is that all I am…?” whispered Kise, his face dropping and golden eyes getting stuck on the dirt path they were standing at. “Am I just a dog to you, whether I have a tail or not?”
“Huh?” interjected Kasamatsu, not having fully heard everything that Kise was mumbling about.
“At first, you were a real pain in the ass,” continued Kise, not caring anymore. Really, at this point, what was there to care? His pride, the curse, confessing to his crush… did any of it even matter after all that had happened? “But I ended up looking up to you in my own way. You made playing basketball with a team possible for me. You taught me how to do it. You acknowledged my strength, even if all I can do is copy moves from other basketball players. You easily acknowledged me as a player, then why can’t you acknowledge me as a person!? What am I to you? Just the ace player of Kaijou’s basketball club? Just an underclassman? Just a dog-like guy who follows others around? I am none of them! Why can’t you just accept that fact and acknowledge that all of those things are what make me me!?”
“...” Hearing those words, Kasamatsu was left speechless. For as pragmatic as he had been as a third-year high school student, for as good of a captain he might have been for the basketball team, even if he never favoured anyone, classmates and teammates alike… he knew he didn’t treat Kise the same way as everyone else. Just the fact he had been avoiding him as much as possible since graduation day even though he kept contact with the other former 3rd years and the teammates that remained in Kaijou High School was more than proof enough.
“If it annoys you to have me around, then just be open about it and tell me straight to my face that you don’t want to see me ever again,” said Kise, tears running down his saddened golden eyes. “I’m not a real dog but… If you can’t own up to it, then don’t take a puppy in, raise it and then leave it on the roadside for someone else to take home! If you can’t look after me for the rest of your life, then you shouldn’t have made me fall for you in the first place, you big idiot!!”
“Kise, wait!” called Kasamatsu when Kise started running away deeper inside of the park, his golden furry tail hidden between his legs.
Had he been unconsciously hurting Kise all this time with his half-assed attitude towards him? Had he been unfairly demeaning Kise just so he could deal with the awkwardness he felt when around him? Those weren’t behaviours that a proud senior and a good captain would have - only the lowest of trash would even think about doing something like that.
“I really am a big idiot, aren’t I…?” mumbled Kasamatsu, his hands closing into tight, trembling fists. With an annoyed click of his tongue, he also darted running down the same dirt path the blonde had taken.
The park wasn’t vast, and he had grown quite familiar with it, after jogging there every evening during school break transition between high school and college. Kasamatsu was sure that he would be able to find Kise fairly quickly and try to somehow clear up the misunderstanding.
“Hey, Kise! Come out from wherever it is you’re hiding!” called Kasamatsu, his cheeks slightly pinkish due to the looks he was receiving from the people taking strolls through the park. Since Kise was sort of like a dog at the moment, he might as well play the part and pretend he was purely looking for a runaway pet. “If you don’t get back here right this moment, I’m putting a leash on you and dragging you out! Wanna have that one ticked out of your bucket list? I don’t feel like it, though, so get your ass back here!”
After a nearly full lap around the park, Kasamatsu eventually bumped into a large bush that had trembled and rustled at the sound of his calls.
“Seriously, hiding in a bush? Just how much like a dog… can you… get……” snorted Kasamatsu as he steadily grew closer to the large bush. However, what he found on the other side of the bush wasn’t the blonde model called Kise Ryouta… but a large golden dog. Kasamatsu’s face immediately went ghastly pale. “Oh no…”
Kasamatsu pushed the bush’s branches and leaves out of the way, awkwardly navigating his way to the other side. He crouched down in front of the golden-coloured dog and hesitantly petted his head, obtaining a happy bark in response.
“Oh Kise, what has happened to you…?” whispered Kasamatsu, gently grabbing into the furry animal’s head and lightly scratching behind his fluffy ears. They were the same ears Kise had in between the strands of his blonde hair the previous day. He felt a powerful stab on his chest. “W-Was it because of what I just said? Because I’ve been avoiding you since graduation day? Because I’ve called you a dog multiple times since the day you joined the basketball club? I-I didn’t mean all of that. Ah, more like, part of it was actually meant but I never viewed you as an actual dog. I mean, d-dogs can’t play basketball, right? I know you’re a lousy guy, really annoying most of the time and you have a terrible personality every so often, but I don’t want you to become a dog. It was wrong of me to avoid you like that without giving you any explanation but… I… just don’t know how to deal with you outside of basketball.”
“Um… Senpai…?”
“Good, so you can still talk like a human. It’s my turn to talk now, though, so pipe down for a while,” said Kasamatsu, giving a light tug to the dog’s furry ear to quiet it down. He made sure to keep his eyes down on the dirt, it was just too embarrassing to look Kise straight in the eye at the moment, whether he was a dog or not. “Um, where was I…? Um… I just said I don’t know how to deal with you outside of the court, but I also didn’t know how to deal with you during club activities either… All of those kicks and punches, every time I yelled at you or told you to run additional laps… That was just me not knowing what to do at those moments. I don’t hate you enough to beat you up at any given opportunity. Better yet, I don’t hate you at all… I didn’t mean to hurt you with the way I behaved, I didn’t mean to hurt you with my admonishments. I didn’t mean to avoid you or lead you into thinking that I hated you or wanted to throw you away and never see you again. It’s just… Shit, this really is the kind of bullying only an elementary school brat would think of doi-”
Out of the blue, the large dog’s ears perked up, pushing Kasamatsu’s hands away from his head. The dog then leisurely jumped inside of the bush and ran off through the dirt path back to the grass area.
“Eh?” interjected Kasamatsu, left staring into the hole the large dog left on the bush as it ran towards a petite woman holding into a leash. When he stood up as if lightning had hit him, his mouth hanging wide open in shock at what he had just seen, his eyes bumped into another fluffy eared being. “Eh…?”
“Um…” hesitantly started Kise, awkwardly massaging the back of his neck as he averted looking straight to Kasamatsu’s eyes. “I think… you just mistook me for someone else… Kasamatsu-senpai…”
“...!!!!” In a fraction of a second, Kasamatsu’s face became as scarlet and hot as the inside of an erupting volcano. “D-Did you… you… hear…?”
“Even though you’re older than me, you’re surprisingly childish, Kasamatsu-senpai,” said Kise, a large smile readily tugging at the corner of his lips. “Since you’re so shy around ladies, I never pegged you to be the type that bullies the person they like.”
“W-W-Who shaid I like you!!!!!!” stammered Kasamatsu, stumbling on his words as he lunged his fist forward and punched Kise straight on his face. Though it should have been mortal to human beings, the hotness he felt on his face escalated to even higher temperatures.
“Not the face!!” yelped Kise, motioning his hands to his face and massaging the place that had been punched. “I’ll need it a lot to make up for all the work I had to postpone because of the cursed jelly beans.”
“T-The ears are still right the-” started Kasamatsu, his trembling hand pointing at the perky dog ears on top of the blonde’s head, but his voice was swallowed when a pair of lips came crashing down against him. “...!!”
“I love you, Kasamatsu-senpai!” confessed Kise, slowly parting his lips from Kasamatsu’s. A happy smile was once again present on his features, even though they were now a little bit bruised and swollen. “I really love you! I’m head over heels in love with you, whether you punch me, kick me, cuss at me, or bully me!! Do you wanna throw away the senpai-kouhai thingy and the former basketball teammates past and go for boyfriends from now on?”
“...!! Ah… Yo… Do… Don’t be so casual about something as big as dating, you fucking perverted dog!!!!”
“Ouch!!! I-I told to not hit the face, you big, childish meanie!!!!”
So cute!
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