I Bring An Offering

[YAMAGUCHI HIDEO]

Of course, Eiji was aware of the reputation Amaya had at school. People found her weird and scary. They wanted to avoid her as though she was a ghost or could genuinely cast a curse on someone. Eiji believed in neither of those things so he had no problem talking to her. She did have an aura that suggested she didn't want you around, but that seemed all but away for now. The two were focused on his work to the point that Eiji was not even certain how long they had been at it. He could look at the time to know, but he was far too taken by everything to do even that.

Hiroki admitted having talked of Amaya to Eiji. It wasn't weird to any of them. After all they were friends, and Hiroki and Amaya were living i the same house, it made sense. It was still weird that he somehow thought she could help him with work but something else came to Hideo's mind as he heard Hiroki. "Ah yes, he knows her but didn't know you," he said, looking at Yoshihiro as he said that. Eiji had shown no knowledge whatsoever of Yoshihiro, despite the guy also being his senpai. And, out of the two, one would think Yoshihiro was the one other would want to talk to. The boy in question merely shrugged. "I can't say I know him either, other than as Hiroki's friend." The school was big enough for them not to have talked to each other, let alone met. All he knew of Eiji was that he was in a robotics clubs, something he didn't even know his school had. Then again, Yoshihiro was not part of clubs, he preferred to work. He knew club activities were considered just as important as any class but he didn't have time for it.

Yoshihiro could understand being careful financially, but if the reason why Eiji was in a public school was because his parents could not afford two special schools and they preferred to send their other child to Miyazaki... Yoshihiro held his tongue, but he thought it was a waste. He wouldn't say it, with Hiroki around. Then again, maybe he loved toy robots and not something more useful. In that case, who cared if they did that. "Is that one bribing you with cake too? Would you even be able to tell which one is doing that?" Hideo asked. Since Hiroki only said twins, both assumed there was another guy looking just like this one at Hiroki's school.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki wasn’t afraid of Eiji being close to Amaya, perhaps it was because Eiji had acted in a weird way testing his feelings out for him the other day, or just his intuition but he truly did not believe that he would do wrong to the girl. In fact, to his surprise they seemed to get along rather well, and he was happy with that. It might give Amaya someone else to talk to that didn’t seem afraid of her. It was actually a good thing in Hiroki’s mind. Wasn’t what Osamu did with Matsumi? Unless the guy had more obscure thoughts over the girl, he didn’t view things any differently than the way they appeared to be now. “You don’t necessarily know everyone from your school.” He reminded Hideo. Maybe Hideo did know everyone from his but having connections wasn’t as important in his school or in Yoshihiro’s.

In fact, the connections that were important in Miyazaki were mostly with the agencies that would show up and have a good sense of competition without getting into a war. Anyways, Hiroki wasn’t the one to push someone to the side to get the spotlight for himself.

“What? Eiji’s twin is also different, we work on the same projects, you’ve seen her around on occasions.” He restrained himself from saying it was when he was forced to wear girly outfits because the only thought made him want to scream. “Eiji’s not bribing anyone with a cake, you have to stop seeing this as a way to flirt.” Hiroki said, why would Eiji do that? Unless it was another way to test his feelings.

[YAMAGUCHI HIDEO]

Hideo was a tad baffled by Hiroki's retort. He thought about explaining further, about asking them who they thought was most likely to be treated as a senpai, Yoshihiro or Amaya. That Eiji knew her as the weird, scary horror girl that she was probably also known as at school made sense, but that he would come see her and treat her with respect, topped with the fact that he didn't seem to know Yoshihiro at all, it was funny. But Hideo didn't bring it up. Because it made sense that not everyone at school would know of Yoshihiro just like it made sense the guy didn't know of Eiji prior to Hiroki bringing him as his friend. It was just funny. But he was not sure Hiroki would get it. The temptation to say it just to piss Yoshihiro off and see how much he had to feed his jealousy before he lashes out was there, but he kept quiet.

Hiroki corrected them all without even realising by pointing out that Eiji's twin was a girl. None of them knew. If she came here, they didn't pick up the connection between them. They only would have understood she worked with Hiroki. At most would they have teased him for being a ladykiller, a comment all the funnier since it was directed at Hiroki. Either way, they hoped she was not trying to flirt with Hiroki with cakes too, because he was even more dense about those things than Osamu appeared to be.

Hideo shrugged when Hiroki tried to defend his friend. "Sure, it could also be to just say thank you. He could just get something that is very popular at a store near him, unless you told him what to get." Hideo could justify buying something to Amaya, to a point. If he was asking for a favor, it made sense to repay it in one way or another. But Hiroki... "However, you cannot deny that it is a perfect way to flirt without looking like it." To prove his point, he moved closer to Hiroki, faked handing over the box that he already had in his hands. "Thank you for your assistance. There is this famous store near my house, I hope you will appreciate. You like this type of cake, don't you?" he said, his voice not sounding too flirty but with a hint of innocence that, knowing the guy, they knew was fake and used on purpose. Of course, Hideo was unaware that Eiji said something similar to Hiroki while handing the cake, at least about it being one he liked.

He moved away and gently tapped on Yoshihiro, who seemed to be thinking about it. Was he thinking Eiji said something similar to Amaya and it could have a hidden meaning, like how Hideo did it? The tap was to comfort the guy. "Well, at least he'll just stay an hour or two while they work and go back." With that said, he intended to leave them all, both the guys and Amaya with that kouhai of hers. It stopped being interesting for him to stick around.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki could see the humour behind Eiji knowing more of Amaya than Yoshihiro but didn’t laugh; wasn’t it a good thing that she started talking to more people than just those who were living in the same house as hers? She thought it was a good thing and he was pleased to see that Eiji went that far with his project too. He wasn’t against the guy talking to Amaya about something that could link both of their interests. It also made her less scary in his eyes. He didn’t see why a cake would mean that Eiji was flirting. He couldn’t remember the time he said to Eiji that Amaya liked anything chocolate but he made the right choice and having one for himself was only a bonus.

He shrugged at Hideo’s comment. “I don’t even remember telling him what she liked.” He admitted to his friends. Why was Hideo insisting on the fact he was flirting? He did stop in his trail of thinking though, as Hideo pinned point almost the exact same thing that Eiji said but preferred not to say it to his friend in case he’d end up being the target of more of his teasing. “You say that because you would flirt with cakes.” He said simply. Hideo would flirt with just about anything and turn it into romance, he doubted any of them had the same capacities as he did on that level.

Hiroki didn’t believe that Eiji was intending to flirt with Amaya either, he would have known about it, wouldn’t he? Anyways, he could always question him later if it truly bugged her but he did feel bad a bit for Yoshihiro. “Don’t let what he said get to you, you know how he is.” He said, dismissing it all.

[TAKAHAMA YOSHIHIRO]

Hiroki did not realise the impact of what he said. If he didn't know, did he offer cake because it was a safe thing to bring and there was a bakery along the way, or did he actually looked up what was a good thing to get her. Then again, any food was likely to please her. Amaya might be one of the few women who'd be happy receiving a raw fish, because she would think of all the meals she could prepare with it. Of course, it darkened Yoshihiro's mood a little as he wondered something similar. He didn't want to attribute any malice to what the boy did, but Yoshihiro was not the type to bother getting a present to thank for someone's favour, even though he knew it was sort of the norm. He didn't even give money for New Year. Then again, he was the one who had the least amount of it amongst the people here, it made sense he'd rather save as much as possible, despite the good luck and tradition.

Hideo stared at Hiroki as he tried to defend his friend. His look implied he was better than that. "Cake is safe. Most people love cake, it's an easy way to get closer to someone. And, in cases like his right now, should this be a way of confessing and it is denied, it could always be viewed as just being polite while asking a favor. Like I said, safe." And that should be enough for Hiroki to understand that he wouldn't do that. Hideo was bold and took control of the situation, he was not playing safe.

Hiroki tried to reassured Yoshihiro, which only bothered him. He didn't need comfort there! "Why should it get to me! What do I care if someone wants to spend time with her!" he let out, on the defensive. These guys kept implying there was something between them or that there should. It was ridiculous. If Eiji was insane enough to want to flirt with her, Yoshihiro had no intention of stopping him. He'd run away soon enough, anyway. And if not, then it would be time to know what his true intentions were. He too decided to leave, choosing to only keep in mind the point that Hideo said, the boy would leave the house soon enough. He was there only for work, he had no reason to stay around afterwards.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki didn’t know why Yoshihiro seemed to be bothered by it unless it was for jealousy. He doubted that Eiji was into Amaya-san. He did tell him that he wanted to do tests on him for feelings but he doubted it was for the girl hence he never spoke to her before and he doubted that his twin did as well. Anyways, he was pretty sure that his friend came with clean intentions and thought that they had nothing to worry about even though it was surprising to see him work with her. It only meant that she’d have more friends and he saw it in a good light.

“I don’t think Iwase-san is the type to confess like that.” He argued back with Hideo. After all, the guy did not see him on a daily basis as much as he had and he couldn’t believe that he turned into a flirt like Hideo. Sure, there were odd moments like when he tried to recreate manga scenes with him but he preferred to keep that for himself.

He did not intend to bother Yoshihiro though and shrugged. He didn’t hold Hideo back and thought it was best to let Eiji and Amaya finish their work. They seemed very into it and he supported that. “Well, you can tell him I’m in my room if he needs me when he’s done.” He said to them, deciding he didn’t have to check on his friends to do anything wrong to Eiji-san.

[IWASE EIJI]

Hideo could concede that point to Hiroki easily. Even to him, who barely knew of that Iwase guy, could say he didn't look the type to confess to someone by pretending to need their help for some work and give them a gift in return before they even started the work. Hideo preferred to pick on another detail. "It's Iwase-san now. I thought you were on first name basis. Why do you feel the need to put some distance between you all of a sudden?" He was mostly teasing Hiroki. He didn't bother to dig deeper to learn why he called his friend like that. It could just as much be because he started to wonder whether Hideo was right on something or not as it could be because he was talking of him to people who weren't familiar with the guy. But teasing Hiroki was easy and fun enough. They were all willing to leave them to work right now. Their curiosity had been quenched and they didn't fear what he might do to Amaya. Even Hiroki was willing to leave them alone. "What am I, your secretary!" Yoshihiro exclaimed after Hiroki told them they could just tell Eiji he was in his room should the boy want to see him afterwards.

Eiji wasn't really aware of what was going on outside of their room. He was too focused on his work. He didn't see time passing by at all. It was always like that when he worked on something, he would put all of his energy on it and forget about everything else. That is, until it would be about time for Amaya to start cooking if they wanted something to eat this evening. "It's alright, I have enough to work with right now," he assured as he put everything back in his bag, including the book he lent her before.

It was a bit awkward to be left alone in this house that wasn't his. He didn't feel like he should remain there, despite the fact both Amaya and Hiroki invited him to stay for the meal. He didn't tell Amaya that, instead, he figured he should look for Hiroki while he let the woman go. He remembered that Hiroki told him he would be working in his room. It was one of the very few places he could locate, having been there before. He first made his way back to the living room and had a polite, albeit a bit shy nod towards the people there before climbing the stairs to reach Hiroki's room. Once at the door, he knocked. Maybe he should have asked the others if he was still in there, but he supposed he could do that should he appear not to be. Then again, it was a bit weird to ask others to tell his friend he was saying goodbye before leaving. Eiji figured he could just text him, if anything. But he would try and see him in person first.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki blinked, he didn’t intend to speak of Eiji-san like that, but he thought it was the right thing to do considering that Hideo and Yoshihiro did not know of him. After all, the Iwase twins were friends with him, not the rest of the house. “I thought it was more proper to call him that way around you two.” He simply said, not being on the defensive. They didn’t need to know the details of what was going on with their friendship. He thought that they were getting along quite well and he didn’t mean to give such an order to Yoshihiro but he thought that the guy would still be around. Didn’t Amaya’s aunt ask him to keep an eye on her? It was funny to think that he might be jealous of Eiji-san but he hoped that he understood he had nothing to fear from the guy who was around Amaya.

Amaya nodded when Eiji said that he had enough to work with now. She was glad that she could have helped somehow and talked of bones was refreshing to her. It was funny how one of Hiroki’s friends could have a bit in common with her. She let the guy go to Hiroki, she had to cook for dinner and wondered what they had in the fridge that could fit everyone’s tastes.

Meanwhile, Hiroki had been practicing the lines for the plan and smiled when he heard knocks on his door. He went to it and closed the script, making sure to hide it so Eiji would have a surprise for the play he was doing with Akemi, and opened it. “You’re done with your project? Did it go well?” He asked, inviting the guy into his bedroom. It was large, had a television for him to watch his shows if he liked, and a few pieces of furniture along with a desk area where he had a laptop for his school projects.

[IWASE EIJI]

Hiroki did not always seem to get when people teased him, it was the one bad point about doing it, because he could end up looking clueless and give you a logical response to it. But Hideo was alreayd walking away and ignoring the boy's explanation. Now that it was all said and done, he considered leaving, like he first intended to until Eiji showed up.

Amaya didn't think about walking Eiji either to Hiroki or the door. She had other things to do and he said he would be fine. Plus he already thanked her, which sort of ended their interaction for the day.

Hiroki opened the door to him. He walked in at the boy's invitation. He was always a bit amazed at the space. Whoever was renting them rooms thought about the fact they were all students. They had plenty of room to sleep, study and practice certain hobbies if they wanted to. Eiji had all of that in his room as well but it was a lot more cramped. He had an entire wall of shelves filled with books, robtos and parts and he constantly had to move things around if he wanted to use his desk. There didn't seem to be a problem there.

After a quick look at the room, his eyes landed on his friend and he gave him a nod in response. "I've got plenty to work with, when I will have the time," he said. For a moment, his gaze look around once more, in search of, maybe, the box with the one-portion cake he bought Hiroki. But it might also be in the kitchen. It would make sense. It wasn't like Eiji could see a small fridge in there to put it in should the boy not feel like eating it right away. "I did not interrupt you, did I?" he asked. He knew Hiroki said he would be rehearsing, but maybe he stopped and was doing something else when he knocked. Either way, Eiji interrupted it, the important part was just how important that thing was. "I've finished work so I thought I should come over," he added. He knew he and Amaya suggested he stayed for dinner but he was not going to bring it up had they forgotten about it. He wouldn't mind if they did. He thought, however, that he could maybe work a bit more on his experiment with Hiroki, if only by having a brief conversation with him.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

It was true that Hiroki didn’t always notice it when people teased him, he was always taking the defense of the person who was the target of it and it was why he felt bad for Yoshihiro to feel that way towards Eiji. He didn’t believe his friend to be a threat at this point, not towards Amaya. He didn’t think that he had feelings for him even if the cake part did ring a bell to him. He would rather put it in the fridge for now and wait until after dinner. Amaya could be scary when you didn’t eat your whole meal and she was definitely not a fan of wasting food.

Speaking of which, when she was done and Hiroki went back to his bedroom, she didn’t think of guiding him toward it. She had a meal to prepare and if he was a guest, she had someone else to impress with her cooking skills. It was one of the rare things that she took at heart and did not want to disappoint a guest either so she started working on the meal she decided that would fit the household and let Eiji go to Hiroki’s bedroom.

Hiroki smiled and nodded when his friend assured him he had enough to work with. “That’s wonderful, I’m glad Amaya-san was able to help you out.” He said happily. It was indeed a very good thing for her to be able to help someone, perhaps it made her feel good and the cake probably would make her feel better. He shook his head at his question though. “Nah, you didn’t besides, you’re our guest today so you can stay here while we wait.” He assured Eiji. “What do you want to do? We could watch some TV show while we wait for her to call us.” He said, he knew better than walking in the kitchen when she was working, she could be scarier than a banshee. He had witnessed it!

[IWASE EIJI]

Now that his work on his animatronic with Amaya was over, Eiji could focus his attention on another experiment he was interested in. Could he have any interest in Hiroki or was him just liking him because his sister did? Or did he think his sister liked Hiroki because he did? Either way, he already worked a little on this by giving Hiroki a cake. Giving gifts was something he saw boys doing a lot in those shoujo manga. Or girls. Either way, someone was handing over a gift and one if not often both ended up blushing at the gesture. He didn't know if Hiroki blushed, it wasn't as obvious on someone as it was on a drawing. But Hiroki looked really happy. Eiji would need to assess what he thought of every situation, but he could do that later that day. For now, he had more opportunities to try.

Another thing they seemed to be doing a lot was compliments. "I should thank you for talking to me about Tsukina-senpai. It was a good idea, she was very helpful." It was maybe not a compliment per se, but he read how some praised the other for their brilliant suggestions and things of the like. And Eiji had a hard time figuring out what to say. He had a too analytical of a brain to come up with sentimental things like this easily.

Apparently, Hiroki remembered the invitation, since he called him a guest and told him he could stay here. Eiji nodded as he sat on the bed, making sure not to sit on anything Hiroki might have put there previously. "Thank you," he said, trying to give the other boy a smile but being a bit shy about it. When Hiroki mentioned a television, his eyes scanned the room one more time to see if there was any in there. What a luxurious boarding house that was! Eiji had none. He had a computer though, if he wanted to watch anything on his laptop. "What were you doing before I came in? I know you said I did not interrupt you, but you must have been doing something."

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki appreciated the gesture of the cake and didn’t stop himself thinking what Hideo had been telling him earlier. He didn’t want to admit that he might have been right. Anyways, who was he to tell that Eiji was hitting on him? It was a silly thought even though he wasn’t new to charming both genders. Though he couldn’t say if he liked boys or girls in particular and didn’t experiment that far he still considered Eiji a very good friend of his. He also kept the cake for him safe in the fridge knowing what kind of wrath Amaya would give him should he not eat what she had cooked for them.

“Wonderful, what are you two working on?” he asked wondering what it was about. It was definitely about robots but he wasn’t sure why she was needed unless it was involving creepy stuff. He was happy he could have been of help then! It still had him wondering as he let the guy look around the room.

He shrugged when Eiji questioned him. “I was practicing my lines but I can have a break.” He said to his friend.

[IWASE EIJI]

Hiroki asked him what they were working on and Eiji was not entirely sure if the boy was not just humoring him at this point or not. He knew his robots stories usually interested people less than whatever Hiroki could say about work or school. But Hiroki was looking at him and didn't seem to have just said this to be polite. He was willing to listen to him explain what his project was. "It's a side project I wanted to try, just for fun," he began to say. He pulled the notebook from his bag so he could show Hiroki, making sure to open it only on that page and not on other thigns that may be written there. "I do think robotics is our future and we should develop it more, but it can also be used for more fun things. I am also curious about animatronics. I asked her about the structure I could use to create a bird-like one. The skeleton, if you prefer." There were various drawings and notes on the pages he showed Hiroki. Eiji didn't see it as particularly scary, it was research, nothing more, and didn't think about what Hiroki might think of it himself. "Ideally, I'd like to make one that could fly someday, but it would be nice if it can just move i a way that looks natural." He didn't pull out the materials, nor did he go further than that. He could have. But Eiji tried to restrain himself. Even Akemi told him to sometimes learn when to stop talking about his passion when doing so with people who did not share it.

Eiji nodded. He heard him talk about the play he would be in. Akemi was working hard to. The school year would soon end and they still had a lot to do. "I'm sure you will be amazing," he assured Hiroki. He couldn't say he saw the guy act, certainly not a whole play, but he trusted that Hiroki would do his best. It was his passion after all. "Akemi told me you were really talented, and hard-working. I'm sure it will go well." Eiji was trying to compliment him still. He didn't mean to being his sister, but he could hardly do otherwise. The two were working together. It wasn't like Akemi told him a lot about Hiroki, or anyone else for that matter, but it made sense she knew more about the boy than her brother did. He still found it a bit weird to compliment like that though. It wasn't quite like him to do so. But it was something they did often in manga, to get one character to blush and Eiji was wondering if he could get Hiroki all flustered and see how that affected himself.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki got interested when Eiji said he was working on a side project; he had seen what they were doing with his club so it had him wonder about his side project. After all, he saw that Eiji was talented at what he was doing just like he seemingly was when it was to performing arts. Unlike Eiji though, his future was already traced, Eiji had to prove himself worthy to get enrolled in a school that would help him get where he wanted to be for his dreams. He felt bad for him when he thought about it but preferred to stay optimistic about life and see where it would take them. It couldn’t be all that bad right? Some of his roommates would say otherwise, but he was willing to be stubborn enough not to let them poison his mind with negative thoughts.

“Oh, I see why Amaya-san was needed here.” He said, figuring out that she might know a lot about creepy things including bones and body anatomies. Didn’t she have anatomy models in her room? He wondered for a moment if Amaya suggested they got in there to see. Luckily, Eiji wasn’t interested in human robots so there was a chance that it hadn’t been part of their topics. One could never trust Amaya when she was starting to talk about things she liked, the scary ones that is.

He was a bit surprised when Eiji said he would be great at acting and the compliments he was getting. He never thought that he would openly say that to him. He pictured him to be more like Osamu, the pragmatic type but he was glad that he thought that. It only validated the fact that he had a future. “Thanks! I’m happy you guys think that.” He said, touch that he had the support of the twins, totally oblivious to the fact that it was only Eiji testing and experimenting once again.

[IWASE EIJI]

Eiji nodded as Hiroki understood why he asked Amaya for advice. He never would have thought of doing that had Hiroki not mention her to him. He was not paying attention to what people had to say about each other at school, not even about the infamous 'horror girl'. He didn't know if she would have been interested but it turned out that she had been, at least enough to humour him and find a few information that could help him. Plus she was better at drawing than he was. Or just had a lot more experience with drawing bones. Both could be true.

Hiroki didn't blush like a girl in a shoujo manga when he complimented him. He looked a tad surprised. It wasn't a bad look but nothing that could affect Eiji in any way. It was weird though, to compliment like that. People rarely did. Of course, he brought in Akemi, which might have been a bad move. But despite them being sort of rivals in love, at least if they were protagonists of a shoujo manga, they were siblings and no rivals at all.

Hiroki did look more affected once the surprise subsided. "The others looked very surprised when I arrived. I'm not causing trouble with them, am I?" Eiji rarely came here but it was not the first time either. The others even proved it by knowing he was friends with Hiroki and assuming he came to see him. That didn't stop them to act the way they did when he said he came to see Tsukina. Of course, Eiji had no idea they had been spying on them for a moment after they got in the room to work together.