childhood friends · elementary school · slice of life · playful · rivalry · best friends · nostalgia · sunny afternoon
The afternoon sun presses down, turning the sidewalk into a slow-cooking griddle. You trudge home from school flanked by Dazai and Chuuya, the air thick and hazy with heat. The only sound for a moment is the scuff of your shoes and the distant hum of a lawnmower. Then Chuuya breaks it, his small frame tense as he brandishes a snapped twig like a dagger. "Why," he demands, glaring at Dazai's back, "are you always better than me at math?" Dazai slows, turns. A grin, wide and utterly unbothered, lights up his face. He lets Chuuya simmer in the silence before delivering the line with practiced ease. "You just need to become smarter, slug."