<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Ryuu chuckled to himself at the picture his friend made, carrying Ayano’s umbrella, and risked ducking out from under it to get a quick shot on his phone camera.“Blackmail material.” He declared, tucking his phone back into his pocket as he once more retreated under the safety of the umbrella, getting wet entirely worth it, in his opinion.<br/><br/>“You did amazing!” He said as he mentioned scoring in the top 5% for math. “I should have made you study with me.” His somewhat lower score didn’t kill his future plans, but they might make it a little more complicated in the long run. Medical schools were not known for taking anything but the best of the best, after all. He hadn’t even told anyone about his dreams of becoming a surgeon, afraid of being laughed at. They were rather ambitious dreams.<br/><br/>“Come on, tell me your science score, it can’t be that bad.” He wanted to know as they walked along, getting closer and closer to school. It was a shame they still had to go even after finishing their exams and everything. They deserved a break, in his opinion, and he was sure many other students would agree with him. “My foreign language marks were awful.” He groaned, shaking his head slightly. “Why does English have to be so hard? So many rules. And then they break the rules so many times. Why have rules if you aren’t going to follow them?” <br/><br/>And there it was, their school building, half hidden in a blanket of fog, the lights already on inside despite it being morning to compensate for the dark skies. Students were scurrying to and fro, and someone in a yellow rainslicker nearly slipped in a puddle in front of them. <br/><br/>“I don’t… hate them.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. He could never hate spending time with his best friend, even if he had to do it with other people around and music blasting too loud to be able to talk. He snickered at the image of Ito in a speedo to match his captain’s, easily able to recall that swim meet. “I know. I remember.” He declared, smirking. What else were best friends for, but poking fun at each other? “I thought I was going to have to jump in and save you from drowning with that thing on.”<br/><br/>He followed him under the awning, accepting the umbrella and shaking it to rid the plastic of stray droplets. “Do you still have it?” He asked suddenly, leaving him to figure out what he was talking about, still not discussing his ambitious medical career when Ito mentioned business management, as it would only serve as a verbal reminder that they would soon be apart. He already knew that, and he was sure Ito did too. There was no need to bring it up and make it even more real. Even more final. That hideous yellow speedo was a safe topic.<br/><br/>“Race you.” He agreed, and took off running before he had even finished speaking. He needed the extra few seconds’ head start so he didn’t consider it cheating.<br/></span>