Sakusa's face was deathly pale, and his legs had actually gone a little weak. He gritted his teeth and refused to look down.
"Whoosh!"
The drop tower suddenly carried everyone plunging downward. People dropped one after another like dumplings being tossed into a pot.
Ryosuke's little mouth was open, his eyes shining. The wind rushed straight into his face and blew his hair into a mess while he howled excitedly.
"Ooooooh!"
Ushijima, on the other hand, cared more about keeping his composure. His lips were pressed tightly together as the wind swept his hair back, revealing his forehead for once. When Ryosuke happened to see it, he froze for a moment.
Ushijima-senpai with his hair swept up really was way too handsome! Ryosuke stared at Ushijima curiously and even forgot to keep screaming.
The weightless sensation made Sakusa squeeze his eyes shut hard, his heart rising with it. It was rare to see Sakusa looking this disheveled, and he really did not want to admit he could not handle this kind of thrilling ride.
But seeing Ushijima and Ryosuke looking so excited, Sakusa's strange competitive spirit rose up. He did not want to see worry in Ryosuke's eyes. He would feel like Ryosuke was pitying him.
"Aaaaaah!"
Ryosuke's scream was, as always, powerful enough to pierce someone's eardrums.
Ushijima felt like he was about to go deaf. He truly did not understand how Ryosuke, who looked so thin and small, could be this noisy when he screamed.
The screams of the people around them also came in waves, never stopping.
When the round finally ended and they got down from the doughnut-shaped seats, Sakusa's legs were soft. He even staggered, and if Ushijima had not reached out to support him, Sakusa definitely would have fallen.
Ryosuke looked worried and leaned closer to Sakusa. Sakusa's head was still dizzy, but he could clearly see the fine fuzz on Ryosuke's face.
In that split second, Sakusa suddenly came up with an excellent idea. Using Ryosuke's support, he leaned his whole body onto Ryosuke, looking unbelievably weak, then spoke in a faint voice.
"Ryosuke, I don't feel very well. I'm a little dizzy, and I feel like throwing up."
Sakusa usually looked so cold and aloof, wearing a mask all day and keeping strangers away. But right now, cold sweat covered his forehead, and strands of his curly hair drooped over it, making him look so pitiful that even Ryosuke's heart ached.
Ushijima stood off to the side and saw everything clearly. Sakusa looked pitiful, but if Ryosuke looked closely, he would notice the smile in his eyes. Ushijima could not quite understand what Sakusa was doing, but that did not stop him from thinking Sakusa was shameless. For a moment, he felt like he was only meeting Sakusa for the first time today.
Ryosuke immediately became frantic. He helped Sakusa sit down on a roadside bench, his tone full of concern.
"Omi-Omi, sit here and rest for a while. I'll go buy you a bottle of water!"
After saying that, he rushed off in a hurry, worried out of his mind.
Sakusa sat on the bench with a smile, in an excellent mood. Being cared for by Ryosuke like this was also a sweet burden. Ushijima looked at Sakusa with an unfriendly expression, as if Sakusa had committed some unforgivable crime.
"You weren't like this before."
Ushijima slowly sat down on the bench as well and spoke calmly.
By now, Sakusa had recovered and sat up straight.
"Sometimes acting pitiful really is a useful strategy."
His words were unclear in meaning, and Sakusa smiled like an old fox.
Ushijima sighed and gave no comment. Smile while you can. You would not be smiling in a moment.
A cold bottle of mineral water pressed against Sakusa's neck. Sakusa shivered hard from the chill. He thought Ryosuke had come back, but the moment he heard Keigo Atobe's voice, Sakusa's heart went cold too.
"You look pretty happy," Keigo Atobe said through gritted teeth.
Sakusa: smile vanishing.jpg
Ushijima could not help finding that sudden change of expression rather impressive.
Keigo Atobe had originally planned to take this chance to spend some proper time with Ryosuke at the amusement park. But as soon as he arrived at the entrance, he saw his foolish little brother standing under the blazing sun, lining up to buy water. Not only that, he had bought a whole pile of disinfectant wipes too. The plastic bag full of mineral water had left a deep red mark on his hand, and his little face was flushed from the sun. He looked dirty and pitiful.
Keigo Atobe's anger instantly shot up and up. Who was the blind fool daring to make this great one's little brother run errands? Were they tired of living?
"Nii-san!"
Ryosuke was truly surprised to see Keigo Atobe. He thought he had seen wrong and trotted all the way over to him. Seeing Ryosuke's foolish little look, Keigo Atobe had to admit his heart softened.
Then he asked Ryosuke what was going on and why he was buying so much water alone.
Ryosuke immediately rattled off the whole story about Sakusa not feeling well and how they had all gone on the drop tower. It made Keigo Atobe furious. That brat was really making a fool of his little brother?
And that was how the scene just now happened.
The moment Sakusa heard Keigo Atobe's voice, his dizziness vanished, his legs stopped feeling weak, and he recovered right on the spot, leaving Ryosuke stunned.
Sakusa stood up and pretended he had not heard what Keigo Atobe had just said. With impressive shamelessness, he took the water from Keigo Atobe's hand, said thank you, then slipped behind Ryosuke. He knew Keigo Atobe had come to punish him.
Keigo Atobe's face flushed red with anger, his fists clenched tight. Matsukawa watched in fear, terrified that the eldest young master would lose control right then and there.
Ushijima grabbed Keigo Atobe and shook his head at him, signaling that Ryosuke was still here. If Keigo Atobe got angry now, Ryosuke might feel caught in the middle.
Keigo Atobe forced a smile with what little reason he had left, then glanced at Sakusa, who was playing dead, and said with ill intent,
"Ryosuke, was that drop tower fun just now? I want to try it too."
Matsukawa nearly covered his face from behind. He was the only one who knew the eldest young master was afraid of heights. What was he doing today? Had he taken the wrong medicine?
Ryosuke's eyes lit up, and he immediately wanted to share the joy from earlier with Keigo Atobe.
"It's really fun. Does Nii-san want to try it too?"
"Sure," Keigo Atobe said with an unreadable smile. Then he looked at Sakusa, his thin lips lifting. "Sakusa-kun isn't coming with us? Or can you not handle it?"
Sakusa froze for a moment, then stepped out from behind Ryosuke and met Keigo Atobe's gaze. A man could not say he could not handle something. In that silent standoff, tiny sparks seemed to crackle in the air.
Ryosuke did not really understand what was happening. He looked left, then right, and seemed to realize that Sakusa was still feeling unwell.
Then he looked at Sakusa worriedly and said,
"Then should Omi-Omi wait for us here? One round ends really quickly."
Sakusa ruffled Ryosuke's soft little hair, then stared at Keigo Atobe and said,
"Of course I'm going. How could I disappoint the eldest young master?"
Ryosuke did not understand. He just felt that something was strange.
Seeing this, Ushijima found an excuse to pull Ryosuke out of the center of the storm, leaving those two to face off on their own.
A few minutes later, the four of them sat neatly on the drop tower again.
Keigo Atobe had inserted himself right between Sakusa and Ryosuke, forcibly separating the two of them. From Sakusa's resentful little expression, it looked as if Keigo Atobe was the one cruelly splitting up a pair of lovebirds. The two of them could not stand each other no matter how they looked.
Keigo Atobe's eyes drifted downward uncontrollably, and his face went pale for a split second. He muttered inwardly that this was truly hurting the enemy at the cost of harming himself.
"Aaaaaah!"
The drop tower started, and Ryosuke began screaming again. Keigo Atobe's head went a little dizzy from the force of that scream, but he had no time to cover his ears now. The weightless dizziness also scared his face pale.
He did not look much different from Sakusa.
Sakusa's stomach was churning violently. He really wanted to throw up. With the drop tower bouncing up and down like this, he truly did not understand why Ryosuke and Ushijima were completely fine. Then he glanced at Keigo Atobe beside him, whose face was pale but who was still forcing himself to endure, and in that instant, Sakusa felt balanced again. It was fine. At least someone was suffering just as badly as he was.
Another round ended. Ryosuke and Ushijima looked completely fine, even eager to go again. On the other side, Sakusa and Keigo Atobe were pale to a terrifying degree. The contrast with Ryosuke and Ushijima could not have been more obvious.
Sakusa covered his mouth and forced himself not to vomit. Keigo Atobe could not hold back anymore. He had never played anything this intense since he was a child. He immediately rushed to the trash can and threw up with a loud retch.
Ryosuke was so frightened that he rushed over at once. Then he turned to Matsukawa, who was frozen in place, his tone unusually serious.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry and bring the water and tissues!"
"Oh, oh..."
Matsukawa snapped back to himself and quickly went to get a bottle of mineral water and some tissues.
Ryosuke looked at Keigo Atobe's pained expression and felt so distressed that he could hardly stand it, his face full of guilt.
At that moment, Sakusa could not hold it in either. The impact of seeing Keigo Atobe throw up was too much. Sakusa tore off his mask, rushed to the trash can, and vomited violently. The sour, foul smell from the trash can rushed into Sakusa's nose, making him feel sick. He felt as if his entire body had been dirtied, and he vomited even harder.
Ryosuke was so anxious that he kept spinning in circles, going back and forth between the two of them.
Ushijima sighed and shook his head. Keigo Atobe and Sakusa were usually the two most serious people, so how did they become this childish the moment they met? Though he sighed, Ushijima still walked over and awkwardly patted Keigo Atobe's back, trying to make him feel a little better.
After Ryosuke saw that, he finally had time to take care of Sakusa. When Keigo Atobe looked up and saw Ryosuke bringing Sakusa water and fussing over him, his eyes turned red with anger. The low pressure around him was so cold it almost spilled out. Matsukawa slowly turned his head away, not daring to look anymore.
Ryosuke was caught between the two of them, so anxious that he wanted to scratch his head and ears. After this whole mess, Ryosuke no longer felt like playing. Worried about both Sakusa and Keigo Atobe's condition, he ultimately decided to go home.
They had arrived with three people and returned with four, making the atmosphere even stranger. No one in the car said a word, and Ryosuke felt uneasy too. Although he did not understand what had happened, his instincts had always been accurate.
By the time they returned to the estate, after all that chaos, it was nearly noon. Keigo Atobe waved his hand and had the small kitchen prepare lunch.
The four of them sat silently in the living room. Ryosuke finally could not stand the atmosphere anymore. At that moment, he missed Coach Washijō more than ever. Ryosuke stood up, went upstairs, returned to his room, and hid like a turtle retreating into its shell.
When it was time to eat, Keigo Atobe finally had someone call him downstairs. As Ryosuke passed Ushijima's room, the two of them went down together. Ryosuke looked gloomy, still muttering,
"I'm never going out to play again. I really want to go back to school."
Ushijima kept a stern face.
"Bear with it, and it'll pass."
Although he had not been caught in the crossfire, the sight of those two childish people arguing had really hurt his eyes.
Downstairs at the dining table, Ryosuke buried his head in his food. He really was hungry. He had barely eaten breakfast, then had gone out for the whole morning, so now his stomach was growling.
Keigo Atobe looked at his younger brother's face, almost buried in the bowl, and felt a little distressed. The training camp's workload had been so heavy, and the food had not been good either. In just a few days, Ryosuke had already gotten this thin.
Keigo Atobe picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks and placed it in Ryosuke's bowl, reminding him to eat more.
Sakusa's eyes lit up, and he also picked up a piece and put it into Ryosuke's bowl.
Immediately, a new competitive spirit emerged. The two of them seemed to be going against each other, each adding food to Ryosuke's bowl one chopstickful at a time.
By the time Ryosuke had eaten almost enough and looked up, he saw that the bowl in front of him had been piled up like a small mountain. His brain nearly shriveled.
Ryosuke: ?? What's going on? This is so strange.
Unlike Ryosuke's confusion, Ushijima ate with a blank expression. He could even calmly clean up whenever Sakusa and Keigo Atobe dropped food onto the table.
"Ryosuke, eat this," Keigo Atobe said with a bright, confident smile, holding a piece of fish in his chopsticks.
Not to be outdone, Sakusa gave Ryosuke a chopstickful of stewed vegetables. Then he looked up and met Keigo Atobe's gaze with a face full of provocation.
The meal was filled with flashing blades and drawn swords. Everything was fine.
Except Ryosuke rubbed his round, overstuffed stomach, let out a loud burp, and worriedly expressed that he was not feeling too great right now.
Ushijima's head hurt badly. Originally, he only had to take care of Ryosuke, one child. Now that he had run into these two, it was no different from taking care of three children.
After lunch, everyone sat silently in the living room again. Ryosuke could not sit still, as if the sofa were burning him, and quietly slipped back to his room.
Ryosuke lay on the bed and sighed. After a while, his eyes swept over the suitcase placed by the table, and they suddenly lit up.
Five minutes later.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock!"
Ryosuke urgently knocked on Ushijima's door.
Ushijima came out with his bag on his back. Their eyes met, and he saw that Ryosuke had also packed his luggage. In that moment, the two of them reached the peak of unspoken understanding.
Without saying a word, they silently slipped out through the back door together, then had Matsukawa drive them back.
Ryosuke stood beside Ushijima, his fingers tapping rapidly on his phone as he typed a message. Although running away at the last minute like this was not very moral, the moment he thought about the atmosphere at home, Ryosuke felt like he could not breathe. Besides, the Sakusa family home was not far away anyway.
When the time came, he would just have his brother drive Sakusa back.
Matsukawa had been halfway through using the restroom when he was forced to run over. These young masters from rich families really had too many issues. But when he thought about what had happened today, Matsukawa sighed too. It truly had been hard on the young master.
Then Matsukawa respectfully invited the two of them into the car and drove off at full speed, leaving a long trail of exhaust behind him, as if a dog were chasing them.
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