Tokyo Babylon Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ A Perfect Circle ❯ Prelude to Tomorrow ( Chapter 7 )

I want to become sunshine and kiss everything in sight…

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"You could have been KILLED! What were you thinking?"

"The bastard was fucking around with Fuuma; what the hell was I supposed to do?"

"You could have waited! And that's not Fuuma-san anymore; he's a monster!" Yuzuriha cuddled her Inuki-puppy closer to her chest, the latter of whom was whimpering at his mistress's obvious irritation and pawing at her collar, and took a deep breath. She was hovering over Kamui's CLAMP Campus hospital bed, utterly oblivious to the active video camera mounted in the corner and Keiichi watching in confusion from a chair, and both scared and relived beyond compare. Sorata had told her of what he had seen happen to Kamui after finding her cuddling her newborn in the aftermath of a battle with Fuuma. Fuuma must have gone after her as soon as he left Kamui's party; he had found her walking toward the CLAMP Campus. Kusanagi had left her earlier that afternoon with a new and beloved set of clothing, a phone number, and renewed hope.

The day had gone relatively well thus far-a gift from Kusanagi-san, and after a spat with Fuuma, Inuki reborn to her-and now this.

/He's so stupid! Why does he always have to let his temper get the best of him?/

"He is Fuuma! Fuuma is still alive in there-I can feel it, whether you believe me or not, fine, I don't care-but he is alive in there, and I am going to bring him back! And that man has been screwing around with him! It's really messing him up! I can feel it!"

"Kamui…" Keiichi said quietly. "You're going to get the nurses in here again."

"Fuck them!" Kamui swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed and screwed his eyes in pain. "-I'm going to find Fuuma. He's in danger."

"You are not!" Yuzuriha spilled Inuki on the ground and gently shoved Kamui back into place. Keiichi stood and hovered over her. She managed to force his legs back atop the mattress without severely jarring his shoulder. The doctors had already set the bone and placed him in a cast, but given his past recovery rates the cast was expected to be off within the week. It was going to be a job to keep the campus medical researchers from swarming on him. /A job, like crazy. God, Kamui, why do you have to get into so much trouble? You're going to get yourself killed! Everybody is worried sick about you; why do you have to do this? It's stupid! You're not accomplishing anything!/

"Look… I know how you feel." She stroked his forehead gently with the back of her hand and offered him some water from his bedside table. He took a sip gratefully. "I-I haven't been in your position, so I can't say that I really understand, but… I can imagine what it would feel like if somebody I loved turned into a monster like that. I would probably act like you are right now. Not think and go crazy. But you have to stop, Kamui. You're only hurting yourself and making us all worry sick."

Inuki tugged at the hem of her sock. She giggled and nudged him away with the side of her foot. Keiichi looked at the floor as if expecting to see a rat and blinked when he saw nothing; she knew that she could not see Inuki, but it was no fault of his. There were people who could see him. /Oh, Inuki, I'm so glad you're back. Everything seems so much better now, even if you were just living in my heart. I'm so glad you're back./

"You're making all of us worry, Kamui-chan. I know that you're in pain right now, and I think I can understand that, at least - I thought Inuki was dead - but you can't go off making it worse by looking for trouble." She leaned on her elbows on the edge of the bed and stared into Kamui's eyes. He was forcing himself to calm down, but the turmoil was still evident. "We'll get him back, Kamui-chan. We'll find a way. I know we can. I met Fuuma-san, and I saw how nice he is. Even if I didn't know him very well, I want him to come back. I know it'll make you happy. I met somebody special to me, so I know what I would do to defend him. I think you would do the same thing. Let us help you."

"…thanks, Yuzuriha." Kamui gave her a wan smile and patted her folded hands. /He's so awkward, but he's so sweet. I hope everything ends up all right, for your sake, Kamui. Just don't try anything more stupid. Please, just use your head for once, sometimes./

Yuzuriha adjusted her weight to allow herself to extend her hand, pinky out. Kamui stared at it.

"I already did this with Subaru, and I don't know if it worked or not-something tells me it didn't-but I want to do it with you. You have to promise me that if anything comes up, you will call on me, or somebody else, for help. You can't take this on by yourself. If you get yourself killed, it won't help anybody. It will only make us all sad. Please tell me you at least know that much."

Kamui stared at her hand for a moment, gave Keiichi a fleeting glance as though asking for advice, and must have seen some form of encouragement with which he felt at odds. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"I can't do that, Yuzuriha."

"Why not?" Yuzuriha shoved her pinky under Kamui's nose and leaned over him threateningly. "Stop it; you're going to make me turn gray! You're worrying me sick! And everybody else here! Why won't you take any help from anybody? You're just being prideful and stupid!"

"This is not the sort of thing that anybody can help me with."

"That's a lie, and you know it."

"You don't understand. You don't know what's going on."

"Maybe I don't, but maybe I also know that we can find ways to help you, whatever it is, and that nobody here wants you to get hurt or get killed." She started to tear up. She angrily wiped her eyes and shook her head. Her chest was filling with blind rage. /Not here, not now. I am not going to get emotional on him. He won't take me seriously./ She took a deep breath and forced calm down the core of her chest. She clenched the sheets to control her shaking hands. "We love you, Kamui, and we want to help you get Fuuma back, and quite frankly, it would be nice if you lived to tell the tale. If you die, that's it, Kamui! If you get maimed, you'll be miserable, and we'll all hurt with you. You have to be careful!"

"I cannot involve any of you in-"

The door opened. Subaru stepped into the room, slightly disheveled, exhausted, and already removing his shoulder bag from night school and depositing it into the chair by the door. The bandage around his eye was falling loose. Inuki scampered to him and eagerly tried to claw up his leg.

"…sorry I'm late." Subaru tucked the loose strap of his bandage into the surrounding folds, knelt to scoop Inuki belly-up into the cradle of his arms, and walked to Kamui's bedside. The puppy pawed playfully at his chin and yapped. Subaru gave him a weak smile and set him on the side of the bed. He promptly half-fell, half-stumbled off to stand behind his mistress's legs.

"Subaru-san, are you all right? Do you need me to see if a nurse can help you with that?"

"Fine. Just a little tired." Subaru gave Yuzuriha a wan smile/-and he's not fooling anybody; he's a terrible liar. That smile is like glass-/and looked down at Kamui. Kamui was giving him the sort of look that is a clear, dire request to speak in private.

"…I am glad to see that you have returned safely with your companion," said Subaru, looking from Yuzuriha to Keiichi and obviously trying to find the best way to word a request for privacy. "We have all been worried about you."

"I'm glad to be back." Yuzuriha gave Kamui one last look that plainly said 'You have not heard the last of this', kissed him on the forehead, gave Subaru a hug, and tugged on Keiichi's arm. Kamui slightly flushed and touched the blessed skin. "Keiichi and I are going to get something in the cafeteria. We'll be back in a little bit."

"…right." Keiichi looked at Yuzuriha to confirm that she was thinking along his lines to leave them alone, saw the confirmation, and escorted her into the hallway. Inuki scampered out of the room after them and collided with the backs of Yuzuriha's legs. Yuzuriha giggled and collected him to her chest once again.

"I'm so glad you're back, Inuki."

"Is that your dog?"

Her heart caught. /…no way…/ "You can see Inuki?"

"No, but Kamui has told me about him." He cautiously reached in the general direction of Yuzuriha's chest. His hand passed through Inuki's head. He quickly pulled his fingers back before she could interpret his action as anything remotely perverse. She could see the familiar skepticism etched into his face, but it was quickly and mercifully replaced by a relaxed smile. /At least he's not going to get on my case about it, even if he does think I'm a nut job. I wonder if Kamui talks about us a lot./

The thought gave her a degree of satisfaction. She wiped her eyes again with the back of her hand and smiled up at Keiichi. She liked him; he was the sort of friend that Kamui needed-upbeat and relatively sane. /He's also cute, but I'm definitely not interested in him that way. I can't be right now. I guess that space in my heart is taken right now. I wish Kusanagi was as pretty as he is. Maybe it is possible to like more than one person that way; I've seen it happen, but I can't understand it. I guess it has to happen to me for me to understand it./

"It's very late, isn't it?" asked Keiichi.
"What? Oh…" Yuzuriha looked at the hallway clock. "It's about one AM. Why?"

"Already? Jeez…" Keiichi sighed. "I think I'll sleep through class tomorrow."

"Is that any different than any other day?"

"No, but now I have a good reason."

Yuzuriha giggled and returned to her mental space. Keiichi tilted his head.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Oh! Nothing, I was just… hey, I have a question."

"Yes?"

Yuzuriha scratched Inuki atop of his head stopped at a fork in the hallway. She noted that the cafeteria was to the right and faced Keiichi fully. Keiichi stopped and stared back at her. "Do you think it's rude for people to say that they understand things if they haven't been through them?"

"…I don't think it's rude at all. It's at least an attempt on that person's part to provide comfort. Nothing done with good intentions is rude in my eyes."

"I think it's nicer for people to say that they can't understand, but they know that they don't want these people to feel the pain and that they at least want to help. I don't know." She kissed Inuki on the forehead and started walking down the right fork of the hallway. Keiichi followed her. "It's something I've been wondering about, if general pain feels the same for all things, or if there are different kinds of pain I don't know about. If I can't help people because I don't understand perfectly what they're going through. My friends… go through a lot of different things, you might say. We all have our pains."

"Pain is just pain to me." Keiichi shrugged. "And I think that's nonsense; you can help anybody you want to help. Well… maybe not, and if you try to save the world, you'll die of exhaustion and frustration, but I think that you can do a heck of a lot if you try your hardest. Even if you mess up sometimes, I mean, you can still… just by being there and caring…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Yuzuriha smiled at him and took his hand, shifting Inuki's weight to the crook of the opposite arm. "I'm really hungry. Come on."

"So am I." Keiichi stumbled after Yuzuriha, caught himself upright, and fell into step. "The food here is surprisingly good for a hospital. It's almost like a restaurant."

"That would be the campus. Hey…" Yuzuriha stopped pressed the 'down' button aside the elevator doors. Keiichi bumped into her. "…I have another question. It's… well, it's sort of a stupid question. I was just wondering about it."

"There are no stupid questions. Shoot."

"Do you think it's possible to love more than one person at a time that way?"

"Huh?"

"I mean… I don't know how to put it." She twisted her toe behind her opposite ankle and scratched Inuki absentmindedly. The pup batted at her hands. "…it's like… well… right now, I just love this one person, you know, that special way, like he's the only one special to me or ever will be, even if I've been told that I have nothing to compare this feeling to and it might not be love-it might be all I've ever experienced, you know? But I'm pretty sure he's the one. I just know. You know?"

"Sure. I've seen it happen."

"Well, yeah. Anyway… about my question…" The elevator stopped at their floor; Yuzuriha and Keiichi boarded. It was mercifully abandoned. "…just…" she was momentarily hypnotized by the blinding light shining into the elevator, watching the bar of light enclose on itself from both sides, and in that concentrate flow to a glare until it suddenly cut off all together. She blinked. "…weird."

"What?"

"Nothing, just… that was odd. The way the light did that thing."

"…okay."

"Anyway." The elevator started to move. "I just wonder… you know, if some people can love two people that way at one time. Or three, four, whatever. I'm sure it would be confusing. I mean… in the end, you have to choose one, don't you?"

"I guess, yeah." Keiichi sighed, stretched, and leaned back against the elevator. "Never really thought about it because I see it happen all the time around school. All of these obnoxious love triangles. It must come with adolescence. The human heart has an unlimited capacity to love. You know, you were kind of asking if it was possible, well-" The elevator stopped; they both stepped off and walked toward the cafeteria. "-in a way… reminds me of something my mother used to say. The heart is tied to the imagination, so anything you can imagine - you  know, like asking that question; you must have imagined it - is possible."

"Even if I myself don't feel it?"

"Maybe someday you will. And, quite frankly, I hope that you never do. I… it's very rare that I see somebody truly divided about the issue; they're usually just confused until they discover which one is the one. Maybe there is somebody with more than one 'special someone' in the truest sense, when all is said and done, but it's usually all confusion. I don't know." He stopped to look at the cafeteria menu. /Wow, this place even has a menu…/ "People always want to be the special one; they can't just take what profuse, deep, friendship-love is given to them. It can be just as strong, if you ask me, just different. And because of that, those situations always result in pain for somebody. Somebody has to be odd-out in the end. Happened to Jouji-kun last week; he's been up in my dorm sleeping and avoiding school so he doesn't see his crush with her boyfriend."

"Seems like a rather weak thing to do."

"He's hurting; give him his space. Couldn't change how that girl felt about him in the end-no matter how much she loved him, he wasn't the special one-and even though he knows that, he thinks he's worthless. I kicked him in the head the other day and told him to go to class, but he didn't really move. Well, yeah I guess he is being rather lame. He's convinced that she's the special one and that he will never heal, even though I told him that he has no way of knowing, and that he said that about his last girlfriend. But noooo, let's not listen to Keiichi; he's just an airhead. He has no way of knowing."

"I don't think you're an airhead. I think you're full of wisdom."

"And, according to some people, something else."

Yuzuriha laughed and bounced Inuki in her arms. Keiichi held the door for her and followed her to the end of the line. Several of the medical staff were waiting to enter the concentric food selection. Yuzuriha stood on tiptoe and licked her lips; they did indeed have an amazing selection for a hospital. /Or a restaurant, for that matter. Where does the campus get all of this money?/

"Never been in here?"

"Yeah. Surprising, considering how much my friends end up in here."

Keiichi laughed. "Yeah, you have a point. We think the campus must be selling drugs to get the money to do stuff like this. Or trafficking in pretty students; something like that. We definitely have enough of those. Seriously, though, a lot of money comes out of the things our research divisions patent."

"Yeah. Well, you guys are the top research facility in the entire country. You guys do some pretty amazing stuff. I mean, I guess 'we' now, since I'm a student. It's quite an honor to be a part of this school."

"Yeah… but… huh, now you've got me thinking." Keiichi crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Yuzuriha tilted her head and scratched Inuki between the ears. "It's… I guess the only situation in which that triangle-thing wouldn't cause pain would be if all parties involved love one another mutually; sure, it's possible." He licked his lips. "There were three girls who once tried it; they were sort of always advertising it around school. Not complaining, mind."

"You pervert." Yuzuriha whapped him on the arm and started laughing. Keiichi covered his arm as though he had been wounded and edged away, also laughing.

"Scary woman. You really like to crack the whip, don't you?"

"No! Not at all!"

"I know, I know." He straightened back against the wall and sighed, smiling. He looks so tranquil when he's thinking. Just like Kusanagi-san. "They… well, it didn't work out. Somebody ended up getting kicked out. It just caused a massive amount of pain for that girl. Every example I've seen makes me think that more-than-one person just can't work out-people, I guess, are inherently too selfish, they want that one-on-one focus-or it's just too rare to find something that truly is mutually beneficial for all parties involved, truly reciprocal from all angles, so nobody is being shorted, because that's just not fair, and nobody should have to put up with that-but I'm sort of a fool." He linked his hands over his head and stretched. "It probably works just fine for someone, somewhere. If the heart can desire it, it is possible. I have that foolish belief."

"It's not foolish. I think it's beautiful." She leaned over in front of Keiichi and grinned. "Talking to you really does make me feel better."

"It does?" Keiichi smiled back. "I like talking to you, as well."

"Good! You don't have to put on all of these masks like other people. It seems a lot smarter to me not to play games." She straightened and sighed. "I read a saying on a website once: 'Fools do the impossible because they don't know that it is impossible'. I think it's a really nice saying. Sort of like saying, you know, if you believe something is impossible, you've already made yourself loose."

"Yeah, I thought about that once. Sounds like something my mother would say."

"…I'm really sorry. I heard… I…" she looked down. /Wait to go.  You really hurt his feelings. Baka, Yuzuriha./ "…I guess I shouldn't-"

"No, don't worry. You can't avoid everything that will remind me of my mother. You can't do that when somebody is constantly on somebody's mind. Everything will remind you." He laughed sadly. "I'm really doing all right. I want to move on and be happy; that is also what she would want. I don't want her to worry, wherever she is. Being sad won't change anything, so I might as well make the best of it."

"…you know what?"

"What?"

"I think you're a really strong, amazing person, Keiichi-san."

"…thank you."

"You're welcome!" Yuzuriha grinned at Keiichi once again; Keiichi returned an equally enthusiastic smile, though laced with the vestiges of pain.

"Well, I guess if fools do the impossible, I'm set up to save the whole world. Or make a threesome work, or a quad, whatever. But you've got to have more than one fool for that stuff."

"Fool's not the same as idiot, I don't think. Fools are more… just… they're very smart in their own way. Sort of naïve, detached. Something. I don't know. I really think they're the people who change the world. They're… I guess… well, you know how people see something occurring right in front of them and they still say it's not possible? Those are idiots. There's a big difference."

"Power to the fools, then. Maybe I'll do pretty well for myself."

"You will! I have absolute faith in that! If somebody like you can't survive, Keiichi, there's no hope for anybody."

"Why, thank you." Keiichi grinned at her and nodded down the line. "We're getting there. I want a teriyaki bowl; I'm absolutely starved. Say… out of curiosity, why exactly did you ask that question about people loving more than one person? Anything going on with you along those lines?"

"What? Me? No." Inuki flopped back-up and sniffed the air. He was finding things to his liking. "I've just noticed something about a friend of mine… maybe I'm paranoid, but I think he's the sort of person who does that. Sort of… how do I explain?" She thought for a moment. Inuki nibbled on her sleeve. "He lives with such hot-and-cold extremes. It's like… he has friends… and then people he loves that way… no just best friends. Either because he's just confused or… well… he hasn't really experienced that sort of love and he's confusing deep friendship love for that… because, hey, even if it's sort of messed up I've confused that before, and I wouldn't mind kissing my friends or something; it's just a deep form of expression… I don't know." She shied away. /Great, he must think I'm a pervert or something now./ "…maybe it's like, society's only said that kissing and stuff is for lovers, but it's natural to want to do that with best friends. Is that just a girl thing?"

"…um… I don't know." He coughed. "Maybe."

/Oh, great, he really does think I'm a pervert or a nympho. Are girls really the sex-crazed ones, just in a different way? Where did all of this come from, anyway? I must be losing my mind./ "I mean… I wouldn't sleep with them, no, but, like, making out… forget it. Anyway." She sighed. "Anyway, this friend… well, let's just say that he's sort of cursed to fall in love that way with his best friends, or so it seems, and that he has just as many people desiring his exclusive… attentions. Do you think there are people like that? People who… I don't know… have something about them that makes everybody they touch fall in love with them?"

"Oh, of course. That would be called oozing sex appeal."

"More than just that. It's like… this might just be an inkling, but I'm getting some vibes off some people… there are lot of people around him who are falling for him, hard. And I think he's getting confused, both with his own emotions and theirs."

"And we wouldn't be talking about our little hotheaded trouble-magnet, would we?"

"Actually… yeah, we are." She sighed. "And I used to have a huge crush on him too-there was just something about him-but I realize that was just a crush; I do have a basis for comparison for my current feelings, you know? But it seems like there's something deeper for all of these people off of whom I'm getting vibes… like it's not just a crush, and there's going to be a lot of trouble. And maybe it just is; maybe there are crushes by degrees, I don't know, but they're going to think it's love, and they're going to hurt. And what if it is? And somebody-people-are going to get hurt? Like… I don't think settling for two or three people is going to work in this situation. I just don't. I hope I'm wrong, but there's going to be a lot of pain if I'm right."

"…Subaru-san, right?"

"You've felt it too?"

"It's pretty bloody obvious." He sighed and crossed his arms, leaning shoulder blades-into-wall. "Well… I've felt that from him, too. I'm not… well, believe it or not, I'm straight." He laughed. "It comes as a huge shock to a lot of people, but I prefer women. And I've still felt it. It made me wonder if I was bi. Maybe I am. I have a theory that if you ever feel anything, on that basis alone, the potential is there. Or everybody is just naturally bisexual; I don't know. So I guess I'm bi-preferring-women."

"I guess Kamui's sort of lucky in some ways. And-"

"Unlucky in others, yes." Keiichi sighed again. "Oh man. Well, I guess some people just make others fall in love with them, somehow. People like that have a cross to bear. While they might never be in short supply of people to love them that way, they themselves will walk through life breaking hearts, both those dear to them and not. And in the case of somebody gentle such as Kamui, the fact that they cause pain in their loved ones by having to tell them that they don't reciprocate will hurt him as well, because he will still love them, just in a different, strong way. But people are foolish; they always want more, want what they can't have, and they can't control that even if they are aware of it. The heart is foolish. And it will probably wreck friendships Kamui has, make them weird and drive the other away out of pain. Kamui isn't so lucky after all." He thought for a moment. "The guilt will probably gnaw at him. But do you know what would be even more tragic? If he is surrounded by people who desire him whom he doesn't desire that way in return, and the one person he desires that way does not feel the same way for him. Wouldn't that be a true tragedy?"

"Sounds like a bad manga."

"Life is full of melodrama." Keiichi laughed. "I try to avoid it, but you have to take it to get involved in anything worthwhile. All you can do is make a good time of it."

"But… Subaru-san I have to worry about." Yuzuriha cuddled Inuki. The puppy made a small noise of comfort and licked her nose. She smiled. "Thank you, Inuki. But, in any case, I can tell that Kamui has some really mixed up feelings for a lot of people. One of those people, I think, is Subaru, and he's going to get pulled in. I just don't want him to hurt. I don't want anybody to hurt."

"Who knows. Maybe Kamui and Subaru will elope and be in Hawaii by this time next week. Maybe they'll live happily ever after in a house with a white picket fence and three kids. Kamui would make a lovely housewife."

Yuzuriha burst out laughing and whacked Keiichi on the arm again. "You're terrible!"

"It's true." He shrugged. "Oh, you know I love Kamui. I'm just teasing."

"I know."

"Seriously, though, how can they have kids? They're both guys."

"CLAMP Campus research is working on a way to have that happen. That way same-sex couples can have children of their own."

"That would be so cute! And it would be really nice; I know there are men and women who love each other who want the same opportunity to have children as everybody else. I would be so happy for them."

"I would be scared of their kids. Severely depressed, hot-tempered, powerful, scrawny--"

"Oh god, and pretty."

"Very pretty. Damn." He laughed. "I'm going swish."

"Nah, don't say that. It just sounds bad."

"I'm not saying it as a bad thing. I'm just saying… but anyway." He looked toward the front of the line. "Damn, this is a long line. In any case, this sort of thing happens every day. And people heal, people move on, and find the ones just for them. A lot of people date around and think they've found the one when they haven't, and they do it over and over again. And they're so sure, and it hurts so much when it ends. They think they're going to die. It all works out in the end, though. I have to believe that or go insane. If you haven't had a lot, you know, dated and felt all of the deep degrees of love, you won't know just how right the one person is. You can be easily confused. I'm-I'm not advocating playing the field or anything if you don't want to; some people find the right one on the first or second try, and that's fine. That's good. I'm just saying… you know…"

"I know what you're trying to say." She jostled Inuki playfully. The puppy batted at her cheeks and yapped. "And I think you're very right. You have a lot of wisdom, Keiichi. I don't know why people think you're an airhead."

"I am one by nature. I've just known a lot of people and seen a lot of things." He pointed at himself and winked. "I make a lot of friends very fast. I'm very pushy."

"I've noticed. And that's good; it's what Kamui needs, for once. A healthy, upbeat, sane friend."

Keiichi started laughing. "I don't know about healthy or sane, but…"

"I mean healthy for him."

"I know, and I still don't know about that…"

"And you really are sane. You've got a good head on your shoulders. Being quirky doesn't make you insane at all, no matter what society might say. True sanity is just clarity of thought, regardless of how unconventional or complex you or your views might be." She nodded. "Kusanagi-san told me that when I told him I thought I was insane. And the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. Even if I think some of my thoughts are really dark or twisted or insane, like nobody in the whole world thinks that way, or could think that I think that way sometimes because I look cute and innocent… I'm not insane after all. It's very human. He said 'often thought and not spoken', that sort of thing. People think it's irrelevant and that nobody would understand, so they don't talk about it. But when people do talk about it, they're shocked when others actually relate. They feel as if they're not so alone after all."

"He sounds like a very intelligent man."

"He is! He's really wise. I think a lot of it comes from the earth itself, like he can tap into the source of all consciousness. I have odd beliefs on life like that, even though I was raised in a shrine. A lot of my views differ. I can't really talk about it with Grandma; she's really religious and strict about it, but Kusanagi can talk with me about it."

"I would like to meet him someday. He sounds like a cool guy."

"He is!" /Oh, no. If he meets him, he'll think that he's much older than he actually is. He'll probably pick up on the way that I feel about him and get protective. I can't let anybody know how I feel, or they'll try to cut me off. I'm still treated like a child. They mean well, but I can't let them interfere./ "…he's just a dear friend of mine. He has a lovely wife and some children; I've met all of them." /And that would tear my heart apart. No, no, don't think about it. He doesn't. He's alone, but he's got you. Don't dwell on it./

"Ah, an older guy. I was picturing some high school student. You know, your 'special someone'."

"What? No-" /He can't know. I'm sorry, Kusanagi, I have to lie about you. I still love you./ "He's just a friend. It's nice to get to talk to open adults, because, you know, they have a lot of wisdom, and they're rare to find. I mean, the ones who are open enough not to immediately renounce all of your beliefs. He's taught me a lot. I feel like I belong in a twenty-five-year-old body sometimes."

"You've seen a lot and learned a lot in a short amount of time. And you're a smart girl." He stopped at the root of the tray rack. "Ah, here we are, finally. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"No."

"Who is your special someone?"

"Um…" /Oh, great…/ "…somebody from my past."

"Somebody you'll never see again?"

"I hope that isn't the case, but I haven't seen him in years. I keep fearing that he's changed or something, or moved on and found a girlfriend."

"Maybe you should also move on." Keiichi smiled at her. "Maybe there are other people around who are falling for you."

"…what?"

"You know, give somebody else a chance." He laughed softly. "What we were talking about. See if you can compare."

/…oh my god. Oh. My. God. / Yuzuriha forced her eyes to relax from being so wide open it felt as though her eyeballs were being pushed out and swallowed. Inuki sensed her shock and whimpered. /He can't be serious… oh my god… oh my god …he's probably just playing around. Or he knows somebody else who's been talking about me… he's not…/

/…oh no…/