Chapter 14: Chapter 13: Unsettling news- Part 1

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How did I get myself into this?

All Haruki wanted to do was turn over so that he could lie comfortably on his back while facing the ceiling. That’s all.

The comfy pillows and bed were there, yet he couldn’t do what he wanted with them for the moment.

The reason being that a certain ‘leech’ currently clung onto him and was simply refusing to let go.

Haruki helplessly sighed, “Ginger, at least shift to the other side. I can’t move.”

The ‘leech’ replied, “That’s the whole point.”

“Why are you in my bed… Again?” Haruki glanced over his shoulder to look at the person hiding behind him. “I know this is your house, but give me a break here.”

“I came back yesterday afternoon, but Haru never bothered to come see me then and the entire day today. I’m sad because he’s failed to notice how much I missed him,” Kentaro responded dejectedly.

“I was a school and came back home from the club late yesterday, so I was tired,” he told him. “The same goes for today, I was at school. You’re the one who chose to ditch today, so of course I couldn’t see you.”

“As far as the teachers are concerned, Kentaro is still in Hokkaido,” he stated.

“So you didn’t show up because of that?”

“Yes, I was also tired.”

“Then don’t complain,” Haruki concluded, “Now let me go.”

Kentaro’s arms remained circled around the other person in an iron grip.

“Are you looking for a fight?” Haruki warned.

Feeling a sense of ominous foreboding, Ginger finally started to break, “The weather is chilly today so I need the warmth. I-I also can’t sleep, so I have to spend the night with Haru again.”

“Stop with the excuses, Ken.”

The younger teen immediately zipped his mouth obediently.

After hearing nothing else from the guy, Haruki sighed again, “If I’d known that you’d become this clingy, I would’ve never shared a bed with you for so long.”

“Don’t be mad…”

“And why the hell not?!”

There was nothing at first, but after a while the person behind him reluctantly freed him and shifted over, creating some space between them.

Haruki finally let out a relieved breath and stretched before turning to face the urchin, who had shifted all the way to the end of the bed.

Kentaro was literally giving his back to him and griping in silence.

“What the— are you sulking?”

No response.

“You’re not serious,” Haruki was baffled.

Kentaro was very serious.

This dude, Haruki face-palmed himself and stared up the ceiling, finding it hard to believe that the other person was actually behaving like this right now. Does he think he’s still a kid?

Kentaro had already closed his eyes and pretended to sleep when Haruki suddenly called out to him. He ignored.

“Oh, so now we’re not talking?”

Yes, they weren’t talking now.

Haruki clicked his tongue in pity. “Too bad, I was actually feeling a little cold just now, and needed some warmth. But I guess it’s not important anymore—”

He’d barely finished speaking when the urchin wordlessly stuck to him again. At least Haruki had shifted to a much more comfortable position for himself.

That was fast, he smiled and ruffled Ken’s hair in the process.

“You do realize that you’re becoming too old for this right, Ginger? Look at how big you are,” he went on, “Soon, you’ll even be taller than me.”

“If I grow bigger, I’ll be able to protect Haru.”

“Believe me, I think you’ve achieved that goal already,” Haruki snickered.

And it was true. Their first and second years had gone by in a flash, and during all that time he’d taught and trained Kentaro everything he knew about fighting. Of course the instructors at their school had done their part as well in molding the kid into one of the junior champions.

For someone who’d started off with no knowledge whatsoever about the sport, Kentaro’s massive improvement had left a lot of people awe-struck. Looking at him now, Haruki failed to find a single trace of the small kid who could be easily bullied back then.

Though Ginger wasn’t a pro, he wasn’t a force to be reckoned with either. Haruki had even concluded giving him extra lessons some months ago now that felt pretty confident about Ken’s skills.

“Still,” shifting in Ginger’s embrace, Haruki directly faced him and pinched his cheek while feigning disappointment. “I will miss the little brat who used to fit perfectly in my chest. Instead I’m stuck with this grown-up stubborn version who’s super needy.”

It was bad enough that their faces were mere inches apart, but now that he was making those cute expressions on top of it…

Ba-thump!

Kentaro suddenly felt flustered and immediately ducked his head, hoping that Haruki wouldn’t notice his strange reaction.

“What do you mean? I’m not stubborn,” Ken protested.

W-what the hell? Why do I suddenly feel so embarrassed?

However, Haruki was too oblivious to what was happening and placed both hands on either side of Ken’s face, forcing their gazes to meet again.

“Not like this. You won’t even leave me alone for a few minutes these days, and you’re growing up too fast. Even your squishy cheeks aren’t there anymore.”

“You’re the one who’s sixteen…”

“I deserve to be sixteen,” Haruki complained. “Look at you; only fifteen and you’re already competing heights with me. The hell? You’re really going to grow up before our eyes. And the weird thing is that mom doesn’t plan on stop calling you ‘little’.”

At the mention of Maki, Kentaro thought about his own mother.

“I got to see her again,” he suddenly told Haru.

Haruki’s brows raised, “Your mom?”

He nodded.

“How was she?”

Kentaro explained everything that’s happened during his past week at the Harada Estate.

Haruki didn’t know whether he was relieved or concerned after listening to it all.

“So that’s what happened?” he shifted to lay on his back and face the ceiling once again. “Your dad was against the idea of you continuing to high school but you refused. No wonder you’ve been going to Asahikawa a lot more lately. You even have to cut school days.”

“En.”

“But are you sure that was a good move to pull? What if he sends someone else to monitor you again? Someone who isn’t Akihiro?”

“I don’t care, he already knows I’m here,” Ken promised, hearing the amount of concern in Haru’s voice. “He won’t do anything drastic for now and has already respected my decision. He said I was free to learn for as long as I wanted so…” he trailed off, not really sure if he should continue or not. After all, the last sentence he’d spoken was a lie. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Haruki about the three-year deal

It was hard to tell whether the other person was convinced or not, since he didn’t say a word.

“Haru?”

Snapping out of his daze, Haruki mumbled, “I might not seem like it but I’m a sucker when it comes to parting ways with those important to me. But since you said it’s nothing, then I’ll believe you.”

Kentaro was glad to hear that.

So he doesn’t want us to separate too. That’s a relief.

“But,” Haruki added evasively, “Don’t feel obliged to stay here if you’re not supposed to. I don’t want you to have a hard time deciding between this place and the other. If there really does come a time that you have to go—”

“Then I won’t,” the kid boldly proclaimed.

“Ginger,” Haru shook his head powerlessly. He’s only saying this because he still has the same mindset of a kid. But he’ll soon come to accept the reality that’s waiting for him.

In the end, Haru only smiled and nodded, “Alright then.”

Even though he knew just how irresponsible those probably words were.

***

After returning to school, Kentaro pretty much managed to catch up with the rest of the students in no time, revising what he’d missed with Haruki’s help, and soon enough, he was back on track again.

“Good to see that you’re not lagging behind,” Takumi’s voice made Ken look up from the social studies textbook he was reading. The guy who was approaching his desk continued, “With the way you’re always on the road these days, I’m surprised your studies aren’t getting affected.”

Kentaro returned the greeting and focused his gaze on the person following behind with a nonchalant look on his face.

Tadashi noticed Ken’s gaze and nodded his greeting without saying a word, as was his usual habit.

Despite always looking so disinterested with everything, Kentaro had long since studied the kind of person Tadashi really was. After all, it took one introverted personality to know another.

Takumi glanced across the desk to where Haruki sat beside Ken and clicked his tongue, “But contrary to you, this fool is always sleeping.”

Haruki really was dead to the world, using his hands as a pillow which buried most of his face.

“He said he needed to rest his eyes a little,” Kentaro’s gaze focused on his book again, “I let him because he looked tired.”

“That so? He’s always so tired these days,” Takumi shook his head. “Poor guy, I hope he’s not overdoing it with the books. I know he’s aiming for some badass computer degree in college and all, but isn’t he studying a little too hard for now?”

“He uses his normal time-table,” Kentaro responded, not looking up. Of course if he was over-doing it I would have noticed.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t the reason why he missed club activities yesterday because he had a headache?” Takumi mused and glanced at Tadashi in question.

“He did say he wasn’t feeling okay, so the instructor let him off,” Tadashi first said then thought for a while. “These past few days he’s been acting a bit sluggish.”

“So you noticed it too?” Takumi seemed certain now and turned to Ken, who’d already set his book down and was staring at them with inquisitive eyes.

“Sluggish?”

“Yeah, but maybe we’re mistaken. I don’t know,” Takumi scratched his head in uncertainty.

“You should ask him about it when he wakes up,” Tadashi suggested. “Just now, that look on your face showed that you really had no idea this was happening, Nomura. He might not tell us because he doesn’t want us to worry, but it might be different with you. I tried doing so myself but he just laughed it off and dodged the question.”

Haru’s been acting like this for the past few days?

“We’d originally planned on coming to collect you guys for lunch but we’re just gonna go ahead on our own,” Takumi said as he and Tadashi turned to leave, “Tell Fukuda to have a quick recovery for us if he’s sick for real. If not, he’d better not ditch practice.”

With that, the two left chattering about what they planned on eating at the cafeteria.

Having heard some odd news, Ginger glanced back at Haruki who still slept soundly and even thought about waking him up. In the end though, he simply concentrated back on his book and continued to study.

**

Haruki opened his eyes almost half an hour later, and the first thing he felt as soon as his consciousness returned was a stabbing pain in his head. He resisted the urge to hiss while supporting his head in both hands.

“You awake?”

Hearing the familiar voice close by, he nodded.

“How’s your head? Feel any better?”

He shook his head lightly.

“You going to the club today, or ask for leave like yesterday?” Kentaro continued to ask.

“If I ditch again, that man will definitely kill—” he suddenly paused and slowly turned to face Ken who was staring at him patiently with a hand supporting his chin.

Ginger arched an intrigued brow, “Definitely kill who? I’m listening.”

Haruki looked around. Their entire class had long since emptied out.

“Well?” Kentaro clearly wasn’t easily dropping this.

“What time is it?”

“We’re gonna pretend my question doesn’t matter, then?”

“Sigh, who told you?” Haruki asked, having been discovered.

“Told me what?”

“That I skipped practice yesterday.”

Releasing an exaggerated gasp, Kentaro straightened in his seat with a look full of bafflement. “You what? You, a guy who’s married to martial arts, actually skipped Judo. My god…”

“I will punch you.”

“You can try,” Ginger laid his head back in his hand again, obviously unthreatened.

“You-” Haruki had just lifted a hand as if to strike when he suddenly winced in pain and held his forehead again.

Kentaro was instantly alarmed. Removing Haruki’s hand, he took over and covered the guy’s forehead with his own cool palm. “You’re burning up.”

“No, I’m always warm.”

“I don’t think that’s the case this time,” Kentaro had just removed his hand when Haruki’s arm shot out to keep it in place.

“Instead of being so loud, get useful and cool me down, idiot.”

Kentaro helpless let his friend do what he wanted, but he knew his cool palms wouldn’t be enough to make him feel any better.

“You should go home.”

“No,” came Haru’s lazy response.

“Are your parents around?”

“They won’t be back until tomorrow evening.”

Even if he went home now, there’s no one to take care of him. His condition still needs to be monitored, Kentaro thought.

“Haru, how long have you been having these headaches?”

“It’s nothing.”

That’s not what I asked. Ginger furrowed and continued to investigate, “It’s been a couple of days now, hasn’t it?”

“Just where are you getting all these— Shimoda and Matsui told you, didn’t they?”

“When did it start, Haru?”

Haruki breathed and let go of Kentaro’s hand. He began arranging the books on his desk and told him, “Let’s go have lunch before it’s over. I’m starving.”

“Stop dodging the question.”

“I’m not dodging,” Haruki stood up from his seat with a stretch. “I already told you I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Dude, it’s a minor headache. I just need cold water or a pain-reliever maybe. It’s nothing to fuss about,” he slung his back over one shoulder, holding some textbooks needed to put in the locker in another hand. “Now let’s go.”

Kentaro stared hard at him for a while before he finally started to arrange his own stuff them into his bag.

“Much better. You see—” his statement hung when the other person rose to his feet and snatched his bag away from him, leaving him with only the textbooks he held. “Eh? What’s up with you?”

“Tsk,” was Ken’s only response before he turned to leave first.

Haruki had to follow after him, a little dumbfounded, “Why are you so pissed now?”

The other person ignored.

Haruki closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes, suddenly in a huff as well.

Humph, stupid kid. He sure knows how to give me attitude a lot these days, and he won’t even say the reason.

The two walked in silence down the halls, one leading the way sulkily and the other following behind confused and irritated.

Haru had finally had enough, “HEY YOU—”

“Nomura-sempai,” his anger was forcefully swallowed when a somewhat hesitant sweet and gentle voice interrupted his words. Curious, he also stopped in his tracks beside Kentaro who’d been called out.

The girl who stood before them wore a Second-Year bow tie on her white shirt. She was short with a full figure and a small oval face; her looks even prettier especially with her long wavy brunette hair.

‘Whoa’ was the first word which popped into Haruki’s mind.

The girl hadn’t seemed to notice that Haruki was behind her target until she got a little closer, so she also greeted him with a nod, “Fukuda-sempai.”

Haruki nodded back and took a closer look at her.

Wait, I recognize her. Her older sister’s in my class…

He then glanced at Ginger, who was just staring at the person who’d called him with no evident change in expression.

Focusing solely on Kentaro, the girl spoke again, “Nomura-sempai, can I please have a few minutes of your time?”

Uh-oh, I know where this is going, Haruki thought and immediately excused himself with a huge grin.

“I’ll go on ahead, Ken. You’ll find me at the lockers,” he simply stated and continued on his way, leaving Ginger before he had any time to protest.

If I hang around, that kid will most likely just use me as an excuse to bail because of extreme embarrassment, he turned a corner and headed to where their lockers were. Once he reached his, he placed the books he was carrying inside and shut it again before leaning against it to wait.

Lately it seems that he’s gotten a little popular with the girls. Isn’t this the third girl already this month? Though I doubt he even knows what liking someone means, Haruki shook his head regretfully. I’ll have to sit down and talk to him about it one of these days. Being surrounded by guys all the time is not good for him.

He’d just finished the thought when he felt another stabbing pain shoot through his head, causing him to wince again.

What the hell? These endless headaches…

“Oh Fukuda, you’re finally awake,” Takumi’s voice was ever so familiar through the halls. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he and Tadashi approached the other person.

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“You’re too loud,” Tadashi reproached.

“It’s still lunch.”

“You’re still too loud,” Tadashi repeated and turned to Haru. His eyes showed a slight reaction, “You look pale.”

“You guys…” for whatever reason, Haru felt relieved to see them, and just after those words had left his mouth, his body suddenly swayed.

“FUKUDA!!!” the two yelled in unison and rushed to catch the falling person.

 

Another strange experience.

Kentaro kept thinking about the conversation he had with the girl he’d met in the halls. He’d never met her before and yet she’d just proclaimed about having feelings for him, which Ken found very much odd.

A person can even have feelings for someone they don’t talk to. Where does that so-called ‘love’ even come from?

He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

Did Haru already know what was going to happen? Is that why he left in a rush?

He’d just reached the corner when his pupils shrank at the sight of Haruki hanging limply from Takumi and Tadashi’s shoulders. He immediately rushed over, panic-stricken.

“What happened?” his eyes never left Haruki’s strained expression when he asked the two. They hadn’t even been separated for five minutes!

“He suddenly collapsed and blacked out just now,” Takumi explained. “Whatever his condition is, it’s gotten worse.”

“We can’t send him to the infirmary either since the school nurse has already left for the day. Her office is locked,” Tadashi further explained and looked down at the person he was holding. “However, even if it was open he’d still be sent straight home. He’s got the symptoms of a developing fever.”

A fever, Kentaro was even more stunned. He felt at Haru’s forehead.

It was burning up even worse than before.

“I’ll take him home,” he suggested. Even though he spoke and behaved calmly, his mind was a mess.

“Good idea,” Takumi nodded and gestured for him to take his place, which the other person did. He then told them, “I’ll go inform our homeroom teacher or club instructor, whoever I find first.”

And left the three shortly after saying that.

This was Kentaro’s first time seeing Haruki look so weak and delicate, so his heart couldn’t settle no matter ho hard he forced it to. His calm façade was starting to crack the longer his eyes lingered on the unconscious person.

“What did he tell you?” Tadashi asked suddenly.

Kentaro slowly shook his head, “He didn’t tell me anything serious. He kept saying that they were small headaches and that he needed a reliever or something to get better.”

“Then it seems that even he was wrong. Perhaps he really had no idea it’d get like this,” Tadashi spoke. “There’s no doubt that even his parents will be informed about the situation.”

“They’re out of town.”

Tadashi pondered for a bit then said, “Then of course you’re the one who’s going to be responsible for him. Most of the teachers already know how close you are to the Fukuda family.”

I’ll take care of him, Ken subconsciously gulped, feeling nervous suddenly. Yeah, I’ll take care of him no problem.

He’d always looked forward to the day Haruki would depend on him for a change. Now that that his chance had been delivered to him on a silver platter, he had to be happy, right?

Wrong!

He was extremely scared and nervous, okay?!

“I’ll do my best,” he confidently proclaimed.

***

When Haruki finally came to, the sun had just disappeared over the horizon. He felt extremely parched.

He rose and sat upright, his hand feeling his forehead.

My head certainly doesn’t hurt as much anymore, he glanced around, wondering how he’d gotten to his room, on his bed, and in his pajama bottoms. He knew he’d passed out at school earlier, but for how long exactly?

After slipping off his bed and throwing on a random shirt on, Haruki left his room to look for the person he was certain was somewhere in the house.

 

Kentaro was in the kitchen making dinner and too embedded in his own thoughts to even notice someone standing at the doorway right away. He didn’t even hear the other person’s light footsteps as he entered the room, and it was only until that person called him that he flinched in a startled and glanced over his shoulder.

“You’re finally up.”

“Yeah, figured it was about time,” Haruki joked and headed for the refrigerator. “You brought me home in the end.”

Kentaro continued dicing up his ingredients as he spoke, “Our instructor gave us a ride.”

“And he allowed you to ditch practice too?” Haruki raised a brow as he took out a glass for himself and poured the cold water he’d taken out of the fridge.

“I told him your parents weren’t around.”

“Oh, were you being my concerned little brother again?” Haruki sounded smug. “I hope I wasn’t much trouble for you.”

“… Not even.”

“So it turns out that I really did a little bit of rest after all. The pain’s almost completely gone. All that’s left is a tiny stinging feeling that’s only a little irritating,” Haruki rubbed his forehead.

Ken’s teeth clenched unnoticeably. He was really trying to hold back something.

Haruki had been suffering from a low-grade fever when he was first brought to the house. His temperature had been a little above normal, and he wouldn’t stop writhing in pain, sweating non-stop.

At first Kentaro had been at a loss of what to do.

He’d promised the teachers that he’d be fine by himself but that had been a lie. He hadn’t known a thing about treating fevers.

However, after following the online instructions of what he had to do to lower a fever’s temperature, he’d finally managed to calm Haru’s breathing and gotten him to rest a little easier. After that he had to also get him out of his uniform and into his pajamas to allow more air-regulation.

All of these tasks sounded easy and meagre, but the time he’d taken performing them had  been probably for the longest three hours of his life.

“Need any help?” Haruki asked him.

“No,” Kentaro flat refused. He then added, “Go rest a little more. I’ll call you down.”

“Come on, haven’t I been asleep the entire day‒”

“Don’t help me.”

Sheesh, Haruki easily gave up and got absorbed in his own thoughts instead, wondering why the guy before him seemed a little irritated.

Little did he know that Kentaro was also wondering when this ‘ingrate’ would properly apologize for not considering his feelings earlier…

“Damn, that’s right. I’ve got to come up with an excuse for my folks agai—” Haruki was interrupted when Ken suddenly flinched and slammed down his knife, startling him. “What? What happened?”

Kentaro cussed to himself then vaguely mumbled, “Small accident.”

“Accident? You cut yourself?” Haruki quickly rounded the table and came to assess the situation. Ken really had cut his left forefinger, and blood was sipping out of the cut at an alarming speed. “That’s gotta hurt. Quickly wash it off.”

However, Kentaro just held the bleeding hand with his uninjured one, simply making sure that no drops of blood landed on the spotless kitchen tiles. He responded with an indifferent:

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not ‘nothing’, it’s clearly something with the amount of blood that coming out of there,” Haruki reproached.

“Feeling grossed out?” Kentaro didn’t look at him when he asked this.

“I have no reason to be,” Haruki sighed. He grabbed him by the wrist and began leading him away, “C’mon, this isn’t the time to be—”

Kentaro slapped his hand away and stubbornly held his ground.

Haruki gave him a puzzled stare, “What’s with you? Did… did you cut yourself on purpose?”

Face full of disbelief, Kentaro smiled stiffly with raised his brows, “Not everyone wants to try masochism like you.”

“Excuse me??”

“Didn’t you say it was nothing? That it was just a small headache?” he asked, still wearing a smile which wasn’t really a smile.

Haruki furtively protested, “I mean, at the time it really was nothing—”

“Do you know why you passed out Haruki Fukuda?” Ken slightly tilted his head to the side, his eyes never leaving Haru’s guilt-ridden face. “I bet you didn’t even know you had a fever.”

A fever?

“Will there ever come a time when you’ll listen to what I have to say for once?” Kentaro’s smile vanished as it was replaced by a wronged expression. “You still think I’m a stubborn child who doesn’t know what his doing? You think I don’t care?”

Haruki: “……”

Ken opened his mouth as if to say more but then closed it again, as if realizing that he might have overreacted a little.

In the end, he just turned and left the room with a, “Sorry. I’ll go wash it off.”

Haruki was utterly speechless.

Wow… he must have wanted to say that for a while now, Haru reflected.

It was bad enough that he’d been ignoring the other person’s feelings this entire time, but right now he’d also added fuel to the fire by thinking that he’s hurt himself intentionally to win his attention.

He raised a hand and smacked his forehead harder than intended, rubbing the soreness away quickly afterwards.

Ginger’s growing up, so his mindset is maturing little by little. Although he gets easily pissed, I can tell he’s only trying to look out for me like I do for him.

 

It didn’t take long to get dinner ready and soon enough the two had already settled at the kitchen table.

Their meal today mostly consisted of  uncomfortable silence.

Haruki stole a few glances at the person sitting opposite him who had his attention on his cellphone.

“This is really good,” he decided to make small talk after what felt like forever.

“En,” Ken acknowledged, but his eyes never left his screen.

“So, uh, what are you watching?”

“Sketches.”

Ah, that's right. This guy is obsessed with art, Haru thought. He'd seen a lot of the guy's sketches and noticed something important about them. Kentaro never seemed to enjoy drawing people. It'd always be this kind of animal or that kind of scenery.

The one person sketch he'd ever seen had been of Kentaro's mother, which was a pretty old one.

“Planning on sketching something new?” Haruki inquired.

“Maybe.”

One-word responses, huh? Haru narrowed his eyes, “Are you angry?”

Kentaro: “Not.”

Haruki: “I’m sorry, but I really didn’t know about my condition either.”

“You didn’t listen.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“You don’t mean it.”

Ah, this kid. Haruki sighed, “How can I make up for it?”

Ken glanced at him with an arched brow.

“You won’t accept my apology so what do you want me to do?” the older teen suggested.

Ginger actually placed his mobile on the table and finally concentrated on him like he was carefully considering something.

Haruki suddenly grew uneasy, “What are you thinking, Ken?”

He stared at him for a long time – then scoffed and continued to munch down his own food, completely ignoring him.

Haruki almost gaped, “What‒what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Kentaro responded casually. “I don’t want anything from you.”

Is there some hidden meaning I’m not getting here? What’s with him?

However, he still decided not to press further on the matter and continued to quietly eat his food with a slightly annoyed expression.

He said he wants nothing, then I’ll give him nothing.

After a while, he spoke again, “So, that cute kohai from earlier…”

Kentaro waited for him to finish but the guy didn’t. He then asked, “What about her?”

“Does this mean I have a little sis kohai now?” Haruki questioned.

“No.”

Silence.

“I rejected her,” Kentaro added simply.

Haruki almost choked on his food, “Why?”

“Not interested.”

Haruki face-palmed himself and shook his head slowly, “Please tell me you did that in the nicest way possible.”

“I told her I wasn’t interested.”

Of course you did, Haruki ran his hand down his face. Her older sister’s in my class. I don’t want to get involved in this.

“At least when you reject someone, don’t be mean about it,” Haru told him.

“There’s nothing wrong with telling someone the truth.”

“Of course, but it’s the way you say it that counts,” the older kid pointed out then asked, “You noticed her reaction when you rejected her right? I bet she was about to cry too.”

Kentaro’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“I’m right?” Haruki was surprised.

“There is no point in getting someone’s hopes up.”

“What else did you tell her?”

“That it was pointless to date since I’ll be leaving the school soon,” Ken told him, still indifferent. “It’s a waste of time.”

“......”

“And that I already like someone else.”

Haruki stared at him, “You lied again.”

“… I wasn’t lying.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Haruki snorted and continued to eat his food while mumbling, “I swear, at this rate you’ll never get a girlfriend.”

Ken gave him a long hard stare, “Why the sudden interest in this topic?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Haruki spoke sarcastically, “Maybe it’s coz I’m older now and developing some interest in dating girls.”

Kentaro furrowed.

But Haru didn’t notice and went on saying, “Maybe middle school was a no-no for me but I’m definitely getting a girlfriend once I’m in High school. And when that time comes, I don’t want you to start feeling lonely either. So you better start upping your game. Start talking to girls a lot more.”

Ken mumbled, “I hardly see that as something necessary.”

“Well, it is. You’re growing up too.”

The ginger-haired teen continued to grumble something to himself but Haruki couldn’t make out what he was saying anymore and didn't bother trying.

Instead, he took his phone and began scrolling through his emails. He then casually asked as he did so, “So who do you like?”

No response.

“I knew you were lying.”

He waited for Ginger to say something, but upon receiving empty silence, he opened his mouth to say more. However, that was when Kentaro finally spoke up.

“I wasn’t.”

“Then who—”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” Kentaro interrupted, avoiding the other’s questioning gaze. “So let’s forget I said anything.”

Haruki snorted and turned back to his phone, “Alright, if you say so. Eventually, you’re going to have to tell me before…” his statement trailed suddenly, his gaze fixated on his screen.

Kentaro also noticed his sudden reaction and wore a concerned look, “What is it?”

Haruki straightened in his seat, looking stunned, “He… he actually replied my email.”

“Who did?”

“Kim Juwon.”

 

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