Mornings were hell.
Not the metaphoric kind. Literal. Slow-moving zombie traffic, undercooked convenience store yakisoba, students who talked too much, and teachers who talked even more.
Reiji Kazama had perfected the art of walking into Mishiro High exactly one minute after the bell. Just late enough to be noticed, but not enough for anyone to care.
Except today, he arrived on time.
And that was mistake number one.
He yawned as he slouched into his desk in Class 3-B, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket despite the uniform policy. His body still ached from yesterday's rooftop chat with Minazuki-sensei. Not from anything physical. No, emotional whiplash was a whole other beast.
She'd called him "hurt."
What a joke.
Sure, he'd been hurt—by people, by systems, by himself. But what was the point in naming it like it was some medical diagnosis?
Reiji stared out the window, watching petals fall like lazy regrets.
Then mistake number two happened.
The classroom door flung open.
It wasn't the teacher. It wasn't a student.
It was… her.
Small. Pigtails. Rain boots despite clear skies. And a voice as sharp as a foghorn.
> "You! Angry Eyebrow Punch-kun!"
Reiji blinked once. Twice.
> "Mama says you're her student!"
She marched into the room like a chihuahua convinced it was a lion, stomped down the aisle between desks—and leapt onto his.
Dead center.
The class stared.
Silence. A rare and terrifying thing.
Reiji's soul left his body. "Y-Yume…?"
> "Tch. She knows your name?" a student whispered.
> "Wait—is that a child? A real one?" another gasped.
> "Kazama got a kid?!"
> "No, idiot, that's Minazuki-sensei's daughter!"
> "He's dating our teacher?!"
> "SCANDAL!!"
Reiji, ever the dignified delinquent, whispered a prayer to whatever god was willing to delete this moment from history.
Yume beamed.
> "Do you love Mama?"
He choked.
> "Y'know, you're always frowning like someone stepped on your favorite snack. Is your face broken?"
The class burst into howling laughter.
> "That kid's got no chill!"
> "She's roasting him alive!"
Sakura Inoue, class rep and professional buzzkill, slammed her palm to her forehead. "Someone please get the child off his desk."
But Reiji, already turning pink from hairline to collarbone, looked frozen.
> "Why are your hands so big? Do you use them for punching villains?"
> "Do you sleep upside down like a bat?"
> "Why do you smell like band-aids and regret?"
Reiji snapped.
"Hey!! Enough with the questions, gremlin!"
Yume's eyes went wide. Her bottom lip wobbled. Uh-oh.
Cue: Mistake number three.
She started to cry.
And not the soft, movie-teardrop kind. The full-blown, high-volume, five-year-old siren wail. The class reeled back like they'd been hit with a flashbang grenade.
> "You made her cry, Kazama?!"
> "You absolute monster!"
> "Poor kid!"
> "I knew he was heartless!"
Reiji panicked. "W-Wait! I didn't mean to—ah, jeez—!"
He awkwardly picked her up like a malfunctioning robot trying to cradle a jellyfish. One arm under her knees, the other cradling her back. She squirmed like an angry cat.
"Shhh! Don't cry! I'll—I'll buy you candy or a… unicorn or something!"
He glanced at the door in desperation.
And there, in a tragic twist of fate, stood Asuka Minazuki—holding a stack of papers and watching the circus like it was both horrifying and hilarious.
Reiji locked eyes with her, guilt dripping off him like sweat.
"I swear," he croaked, "I didn't kidnap her."
Asuka blinked once. Then smiled.
> "I believe you."
The class lost it.
"I SHIP IT!!"
"Punch-kun x Sensei confirmed!!"
"Why does this feel like the start of a rom-com?"
Reiji set Yume down gently. She sniffled once, then immediately clung to his leg like a barnacle.
"Mama, Punch-kun yelled at me but now he's sorry."
Asuka stepped forward and crouched next to her daughter.
"Yume, I told you to stay in the staff room."
"But I wanted to say hi to Punch-kun!"
Asuka sighed, then looked up at Reiji.
"I apologize, Kazama-kun. I was late this morning. Couldn't find a babysitter."
He scratched his head. "It's fine. I'm used to… chaos."
Yume tugged on his sleeve.
> "Will you be my big brother now?"
"Wha—?! No!! I'm not—I mean—!"
> "You can come live with us! You can sleep on the couch!"
Asuka laughed gently, covering her mouth. "Let's not traumatize Kazama-kun too much today, okay?"
Reiji felt like the ground might open up and swallow him whole. Honestly, he would've welcomed it.
Yume gave him a thumbs-up and whispered, "You did good, Punch-kun."
And weirdly…
He didn't hate it.
---
Later that Day – Rooftop
Reiji returned to his usual rooftop sanctuary, still mentally reeling from the Yume Attack. He sat with his legs dangling over the edge, sketchpad on his lap.
He wasn't drawing dragons today.
Just a little girl in rain boots, sitting on a desk with a grin wide enough to blind the sun.
"Punch-kun," he muttered to himself, smirking faintly.
That kid had guts. More than most people he knew.
The door creaked open behind him.
Asuka.
Of course.
She sat beside him again, this time without a word.
Wind tugged at her cardigan. She watched the sky. He watched her watching the sky.
"…Sorry," she said eventually.
He blinked. "For what?"
"For the chaos. I should've kept her close."
He shrugged. "It's fine. She's kinda… impossible to hate."
Asuka smiled. "She likes you a lot."
"She also called me angry eyebrows."
"She's not wrong."
Reiji let out a short laugh through his nose.
"…She said I should live with you guys."
Asuka chuckled. "She's five. Her solution to everything is snacks and sleepovers."
Reiji's voice dipped lower.
"…Wouldn't be the worst thing."
Asuka turned, surprised.
He looked away.
"…Forget it."
Silence stretched between them. Not uncomfortable. Just quiet.
"Thank you," she said softly.
"For what?"
"For not yelling too much."
Reiji let out a tired sigh.
"I'm really not good with… all this."
"You're doing better than you think."
He looked at her.
She was smiling at the sky again.
And for a second, he didn't feel like Punch-kun, or delinquent Kazama, or the kid everyone avoided.
He just felt like… a boy watching the sun.