“He lied?” A few sentences earlier Urufu had shaken her world, and Noriko decided that this was one of the very few occasions that merited skipping class.

Urufu nodded and kicked at a stone on the pavement.

The day was pleasantly warm, and something in the air held a promise of the summer that was to come.

“Noriko, dinner, my treat?”

“Sure,” Noriko answered numbly. “He lied?”

“My place?” Urufu asked. “We could stop at some places I know and I’ll buy what’s needed.” He grinned. “I’ll even cook it for you.”

“Yeah, fine,” Noriko said. He lied? Then, slowly, very slowly, their minuscule conversation finally registered in her brain. “Eh? What about your mum?”

“Working I guess. Not at home anyway, so she won’t disturb us.”

Won’t disturb us. You insensitive moron! Then Noriko admitted she was being unfair. I’m in love with you all over again, and you just invited me to spend the afternoon alone with you at your home. But there was one problem. Urufu should have absolutely no idea about how she felt this time. For one she was a year older, with the recent memory of being betrayed clear in her mind.

He lied? She surprised herself by thinking of what Urufu had said earlier rather than being shocked by his outrageous proposal.

“I know it can be hard to take in. Anyway, we’ll talk about it over dinner. It’s the kind of topic that doesn’t go well with an empty stomach.”

Urufu stared up at the sky and shrugged. Then he slouched a little, the way only he did when he was troubled. Noriko had learned his expressions by heart last summer.

She slowed her steps and allowed him to get a little ahead. Watching his back she noticed how he had become a little more solid over the year, but there was also something forlorn in how he moved. I wonder if Kuri will ever stop hurting in you. Why, why did you have to break up when you love each other so much? The thought saddened her. Being in love with him didn’t matter. She preferred the Urufu who was madly in love with Kuri to the broken man who walked ahead of her.

Do I keep him in the dark or not? It only made sense Urufu still believed her being broken hearted over Nao. Especially as in a way she still was. Love was strange that way. Another strange thought, and one that told her she had matured the last year.

“Urufu, we’ll have that dinner on one condition,” Noriko said and rushed to his side.

“Huh?”

He hadn’t even noticed how she fell behind.

“We’ll talk about me, but you have to promise we talk about you as well.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, Hamarugen Urufu,” Noriko said. He could be infuriatingly dense sometimes, but for her that had become one of his endearing sides, one that kept him as an important friend in her heart when she tried to cope with Kuri stealing him in front of her eyes.

“Not much of a topic,” he murmured. He probably thought she hadn’t caught up on that.

That part of him, his way of belittling himself when he was hurt, wasn’t endearing at all. Noriko thoroughly hated it. “Shut up, you oaf! Don’t you think that’s for me to decide?” Crap, that’s a little too close to a confession!

Urufu was an adult after all, or at least an adult to some peculiar degree Noriko didn’t fully understand. Despite being an insensitive moron all too often, he still picked up things by merit of experience.

Instead he shrugged. “Sorry,” he said. “Sure, we’ll talk about me as well.”

You could at least pretend to be interested. Noriko muttered silently and swore under her breath.

“Pardon?” Urufu said.

“Nothing,” Noriko replied.

“I don’t play with myself that way,” Urufu said.

Noriko cringed and blushed. So much for him not listening to me. That was the obnoxious part of Urufu. She never knew when he paid attention or not. It didn’t really show in his face.

“You’ll miss out on the sports festival,” Noriko said to change the subject.

Urufu didn’t answer. He just took a few more steps and muttered under his breath.

Fighting the urge to grab his arm Noriko followed in his footsteps. They passed the Stockholm Haven café and continued to the train station. Urufu’s bike still stood locked at the school.

Just as they entered a train Noriko’s phone came alive.

Ryu? “Yes, what is it?”

“Where are you? Your home room teacher came to our classroom looking for you.”

Noriko watched Urufu, who pretended not to listen to her call. “Train. Can’t you hear that?”

“Train, what the hell? You have class right now.”

You don’t have to tell me that. She move a little closer to Urufu on the seat. “Skipping. You’ve done that before.” Noriko tried not to notice the admonishing glances both of them received from other passengers. By this time of the day none of them had any business riding a train.

“You’re with Urufu, aren’t you?”

There was no point denying that. “Yeah, so what?”

“You should stay away from him.”

Noriko moved the phone from her head and stared at it in her hand. You have some nerve! “I’ve had it with your hypocrisy,” she said into the phone and killed the call.

When she pocketed her phone she saw Urufu glance in her direction.

“Idiot bro,” Noriko explained. As if she had to explain anything. Urufu just got himself suspended for the second time in short time. If anyone had something to explain it was he.

“We’re getting off three stations from here,” Urufu said with a voice that made it clear he wasn’t going to inquire any deeper.

“Shopping?” Noriko asked. She knew they were, but anything to change the subject again.

Urufu nodded and dug up his own phone. “Just checking the route from the station. Hang on.”

Noriko leaned back in the seat and waited for him to finish. Later that evening she’d get her face handed to her by her parents, but that was later. For now she intended to enjoy skipping school for the first time in her life.

***

Urufu knew of the strangest places, and he bought the strangest things. All of it food after a fashion. Most of what he shopped for their dinner she knew of, or at least had heard of. Some of it, however, Noriko saw for the first time in her life that afternoon.

What’s he planning to cook? she wondered when she sat waiting in the small living room while Urufu made himself busy in the kitchenette.

Noriko decided that wasn’t a question worth pursuing. Sooner or later she’d know anyway.

Bookcases lined one wall, and her eyes were drawn to it. She saw a strange mix of children’s book and literature aimed at young teenagers. Why Urufu wanted to read that kind of books was beyond her, especially when she realised an entire bookcase held English literature only.

With a book picked at random in her hand she stared at it. It was heavy, and most definitely not fiction. A Change to Learn, by some author she had never heard of before. With renewed interest she picked another title. Iterative Processes: A Second Chance, and once again an unknown author.

How could I forget he’s grown up after all. She slipped the books back and looked at a few more titles. Organisational processes, accelerated quality management, responsive human resources decision making, and on and on. Most of it was beyond her grasp of understanding, but Noriko’s respect for Urufu grew another notch.

There’s a lot of effort behind your ad-hoc solutions. She stared at his backside. Funny how I was immediately drawn to you. You were nothing but a trouble maker. Hero worship maybe. He had saved her after all, but Noriko knew it was something more profound than that. Had it been only worship of her knight in shining armour she wouldn’t have fallen in love with him again last year when he pretended to be a geek. But you really are one, aren’t you?

Noriko’s eyes left Urufu’s back and wandered across the bookcases again. No, not a geek, but a professional? Or is that the same thing? Heading towards the adult world wasn’t the same as being part of it, and there were aspects of it she still didn’t understand.

“You’re silent.” Urufu suddenly said and turned. He gazed at her with an open question in his eyes.

Noriko smirked. “A little uncomfortable being alone with you here,” she admitted. It was at least a part of the truth. The thoughts foremost in her mind she kept to herself.

“Why? I know it’s smaller than you’re used to, but I thought you’d feel better without anyone listening in on our conversation.”

Urufu, you! “Thank you for the consideration,” she said and decided it wasn’t worth explaining anything. Another adult thing? Have you forgotten what it was like to be a teenager?

Noriko looked at the man trapped in a boy’s body. Do you feel trapped? I think you do, and I believe you are.

When Urufu gave her an uncertain smile Noriko felt her heart jump. Those eyes, and that smile! But I prefer your grin. In truth she longed for it; that wolfish grin filled with so much mischief and raw happiness.

I need to understand your anger. Because Noriko didn’t believe Urufu really was a violent man, or even an angry one. She recalled listening to him explain how he really was a teenager to a degree, and how he reacted like a kid even though he thought like a man.

But these days you just react. It’s like you’ve stopped thinking.

“How are things with Kuri?” Noriko asked. She deliberately picked the most sensitive of topics.

By the stove Urufu flinched, but apart from that there was no reaction. “Strange you should ask now. She broke up with me in February, remember?”

Noriko walked along the bookcases and sat down in what had to be Urufu’s chair. An ultra ergonomic monster that must have cost a fortune. “You broke up with each other to be honest.” It wasn’t comfortable at all.

For a moment, just for a moment, colour rose to Urufu’s face, but Noriko saw how he fought his emotions down.

“I lost her anyway.”

Noriko waited for him to finish stirring a sauce.

“So why are you so angry now? Why didn’t you flare up in rage back then?” Because that was what Noriko genuinely couldn’t understand.

“You don’t… no my bad. I was the one who didn’t understand.” Urufu’s hand stroked a chin that had yet to grow any beard. It was the kind of gesture you’d expect from a middle aged man. “Back then, when I still didn’t know any Japanese. I was angry then as well.”

Suddenly a picture of a tall boy with raging eyes and flaming, spiky hair popped into Noriko’s mind. Her rescuer. The boy she gave her first love, even if it was only a one-sided crush. Yeah, you were angry back then as well. “Explain!” she said, even though she guessed.

“I was desperate to make it back home. I lost my wife and my kids. Then...” Urufu’s face mirrored two years’ worth of memories. “Then I believe I gave up, and that made me angry. So I dyed my hair and behaved like some kind of hooligan.” His face broke into an embarrassed grin, almost but not fully the grin Noriko wanted to see more than anything else.

So it was like that after all. He’s angry with himself and blows up at any nearby target. “You did the same when you were young? I mean the first time?”

Carrying a pot in his hands Urufu walked to the table and set it down. “No,” he said when he stood upright again. “I didn’t dare back then. I was shy with girls, clumsy and had just found out I had an easy time making friends despite my shyness.”

Shy? You? Noriko stared after Urufu’s receding back as he went back to the kitchenette. “I don’t understand.”

“I made a lot of friends during university. Even became kind of popular. So I got a lot of self confidence, and that has stayed with me ever since.” He collected a couple of plates and a pair of glasses. “Back then being impotent didn’t scare me the way it does now. I’ve grown used to being in control, I guess.”

Urufu placed plates and glasses on the table. “Thank you for asking those questions,” he said. “They’ve helped me understand more than anything else. You’re a wonderful friend.”

Something caught in Noriko’s throat and she barely stopped herself before she rushed up to hug him.