feat. nosaka getting shivers throughout the chapter

you shut your book with a sigh and stood.

lately, some kind of tension surrounds a certain duo (namely nosaka yuuma and nishikage seiya) and it has been bothering you; seeing nishikage looking like a lost puppy around nosaka, unsure if he will follow the emperor or not.

the thing that bothered you the most was that, it seems like nosaka isn't aware of the awkward (?) tension around them, which makes it more awkward for nishikage (poor babie).

“nishikage,” you called. the boys (the whipped ones ;-;) turned to you with raised brows.

“would you like to go to the town with me?” you asked as nishikage blinked, confused (“???”).

—

“so? is something bothering you?”

you sipped your mango smoothie, looking at the male in front of you through your (chic af) sunglasses.

nishikage stayed silent, unsure about how he would answer your question. “hah... i noticed how awkward you become when you're with nosaka, so i'm thinking something's been bugging you.” you said as you took a bite of your cinnamon bagel (without raisins ofc).

it was silent for a long time, but you waited with an encouraging smile. nishikage looked at you before asking, “manager, ... have you ever felt as if...” he paused, “as if you're not enough to stay beside someone..?”

you paused. you never expected something like this. ‘how could nosaka not notice this...’

“for the past few days, i've been thinking about how nosaka (san) has become so so amazing...” he said as you looked down at your glass of smoothie. ‘ah, i know where this is going...’ of course you do. you've once felt like this during the first few months being the boys' manager.

you've been asking yourself if you could keep up with them, if you could do your job perfectly as their manager, if you could take care of them like how they took care of you, and if...

if someone like you is good enough to stay beside people who's nothing but so kind, so amazing, and so so nice.

“and realizing that, i've began asking myself if someone like me is good enough to stay beside someone so amazing...” nishikage admitted. “i've been thinking if someone like asuto would be better than me.” you took a deep breath and laced your fingers.

“the answer to that is no.” you said as nishikage widened his eyes at you. “no one can be by nosaka's side other than you, you know. for all these years, the two of you have been by each other's side. you know nosaka better than anyone, and he knows you better than anyone.”

nishikage only clenched his fist, “that's not true. i didn't even know he had brain tumor until mikado told me back then. a girl, who's basically a stranger to him, knows something about him that i don't. can you believe it?”

“but she didn't replace you, did she?” you said and stood from your chair. “you still remained by nosaka's side. you were the one who was with him when he fought his illness, you were the one who stayed by his side when he was recovering, you were the one who fought with him against those who tried to taint your precious soccer.” you said with a smile.

“if he thought that you weren't enough then he wouldn't have let you stick beside him at all. but he let you, right?” you took a few steps and paused,

“nosaka might not say this a lot but i can see– i know he treasures you as much as you treasure him. you've been with him during his darkest times, and that's something that other people couldn't do. other people except for you.”

nishikage's breath hitched as he looked at your form, your back facing him. he blinked when you suddenly turned to face him with a grin, “don't you think that's already more than enough reason for you to stand proudly by his side?”

nishikage only stared at you for a few moments, regaining his composure and registering your words. “... right, you're right. manager, you're really good at giving advice.” nishikage praised as you only shrugged (arrogantly):

“well, how do you think i got the job of taking care of all twenty of you?” nishikage only let out a chuckle, standing as well. you smiled and stretched a hand towards him,

“how do you say we go eat kimchi stew?”

“eh... manager, you know i'm not that good at eating spicy foods, right?”

“yes, that's exactly why we're going to eat one.”