the bird song

She corners him in her classroom one day, and snarls at his blank stare. "Participate this year!"

He sighs, rolls his eyes skyward, and leans back against the wall. "There isn't a point."

The cloth is clenched in her left fist, and she raises it toward his head as she uses her other hand to grab the front of his shirt. "Are you a man, or a mouse?"

The cloth is eye-level to him, and he fights back a cringe. "In this case, neither."

He is sitting in the middle of his room, and letting his head hang in despair. Why does she have to break into his flat carrying that thing? "I said no, Yamaguchi."

She is standing over him, the article of clothing slung around her neck and her fists planted on her hips. Her glasses are off, probably dropped outside when she started to scale the building, and she looks very, very angry. "And I said that you are going to wear it. This is a high honour, Shin!"

He stands up slowly, and looks down at her. "No," he says, eyes narrowed in what could be presumed to be anger, "I don't care about honour, and I don't care what you think."

Her eyes narrow to match his expression, and she growls. "Shinohara is going to do it."

Without missing a beat, he reaches down and flicks the piece of cloth off of her, and looks at her right in the eyes. "I'm not Shinohara."

Kyotarou talks about nothing beside her, and she doesn't hear a word.

"Ojou, did you hear me? Where is the Young Master?"

She looks up at him, and feels the anger start to rise. "He is too afraid to wear the fundoshi."

The scarred man's eyes widen in surprise, and then looks around the crowd. "I won't believe it!"

The men participating start to form their line, and she tries to focus on Shinohara. His back is ramrod straight, and his expression is serious. Looks like he wants to win, this year.

"It's not like he has any competition this time."

"What was that, Ojou?" Kyotarou asks, crouching down beside her. "Who doesn't have what?"

She drops her head in her hands, and sighs. "He should be here."

The young chief nods in understanding, and places a hand on her back. "He should, but he isn't."

He walks into the air-conditioned office of the building site's manager, and tenses at the angry glare of his boss. A large dog sits beside him, with torn cloth hanging from its mouth. "Hello, Fuji."

"You know this dog? Because the men say that this is your dog, so you should know it."

He nods, and walks over to pick up the leash that is laying uselessly on the floor. "He isn't mine, but I know the family that owns him."

His manager's face gets even more red, and he clenches and unclenches his fists. "Get it out of here. You're working overtime today to make up for the time that you are gone, and the price for this suit comes out of your pay check."

He nods again, and starts to pull the leash. "Come on, boy."

They should still be at the shrine, he thinks to himself, so I'll take him there.

FIN.