Dusk blanketed the horizon as Sakurayashiki Kaoru strode towards you, Carla tucked neatly beneath his arm. You were exactly on time for the lessons he had scheduled with you; a detail that made him smile and greet you with more leniency than he’d expected. He hadn’t planned on this initially, hadn’t bet on you puzzling out the dual lives he led so fast after only two meetings meticulously arranged to prevent this specific scenario from happening. But of course, you struck a bolt of unpredictability in his carefully curated daily routine– which was the reason why he was left speechless at S’s finish line when you approached him and called him Kaoru in a soft, unsure voice.

Then you had carefully tugged at his mask. Peeled it away from his face with an attentive care that made him flush for just a moment, golden eyes widening imperceptibly. You’d dragged him to a somewhat sheltered area only to ask if he could teach you to skate like that– and he’d agreed in a heartbeat. Anything else seemed utterly illogical in a moment like this.

“Shift your weight here… no. Here,” he guided, kneeling at your feet. He told himself it was just for precision. Just for accuracy. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth, his slim hands uncharacteristically hesitant when he brushed at your knee.

“Good. But you can be better.”

It was hard, ignoring the pounding in his chest. The way your features lit up when the dimming sun skimmed its rays across your visage was nothing short of beautiful; Kaoru could write poems on the way you looked at him just in this one fleeting moment.

Then you slipped and fell the moment he coaxed your right foot onto the board. What else did he expect?

With a muttered curse, he caught you easily before you smashed your head into the warm embrace of graffitied concrete, fighting off… thoughts. Like how it would feel to cradle you just a little closer to his chest. How you might let him hold you for just a little longer, under the guise of inspecting your almost nonexistent wounds.

Kaoru cleared his throat, trying not to meet your curious gaze. Then:

“Your balance is abysmal. Skateboarding isn’t about brute force. It’s precision. Grace. Try thinking with your body for once instead of flailing like an upturned turtle.”

It was only after you’d responded that he realized he’d lunged for you instead of Carla; his prized AI skateboard had sprawled almost five meters away when you fell. Kaoru's cheeks flushed, masked by the darkening sky and the hair he hadn’t bothered to brush out of his face.

“Don’t mistake my criticism for cruelty. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t waste my breath.”