Sitting with the morning dew, you contemplated the weather. It was breathing, it was quiet, and you had pieces of [your favorite fruit] packed and it was fresh and delicious. There were wind chimes someone apparently put into the trees. They made a more scattering melody than many of the ones you hear at school, and birds and insects would disrupt the already unruly order by flying into or past them. What a wonderful instrument, comprised of the simplest tunes 4 notes has to offer. And yet it is enjoyable 100% of the time.

You are 12 now. It's your moment to become a highschooler in the near future, and nothing is stopping you except 2 grades. There is like a beam of light cascaded onto you, and you can only think about everything ahead.

Well, you find it deep within yourself to continue to hate Souichi, which is good news. Prolific hating should be considered a leisure sport, its easy - And no matter how much anyone tries to convince you otherwise, being not-exactly-last in the pecking order is just fine. But your best friend is now kind of a compulsive grooming fly with all these people staring at her, you're also kind of become a fly by association, which is bad news. But summer vacation is in about a week... Which is okay news. You stuffed the bag into your pocket, no doubt going to be embarrassed when you shove your hand in later and have it covered in crumbs. But right now was seriously just too chill of a moment to care.

" Oi, Chee man. What are you doing out? "

" 'Out'? Am I not allowed to walk? "

" On account of your broken legs, no. "

" Huh-Whatever. " He swatted at the air, uninterested.

" You're not my friend anymore [Name], you keep too too many secrets. "

Goddamn it. Were they THIS keen on knowing what happened at Sayuri's? They were literally there, they don't need to be so nosy now. And you were sure Misaki atleast would've said something by now.

" There is no secret. We simply got lost downstairs. "

" What, no, Mii burned herself? "

" Not intentionally. Say's mom has these freaky medieval murder torches on the wall, and she tried to climb up to get one. Burned herself. "

He went a little quiet.

" House is huge. " You finished, opening the school doors for him. " So now that my secrets done, whats with yours? "

" I wanted to walk to school. My legs got steel rods in them now, like that old wrestler. "

" So in the middle-end of year 6, you decide you want to walk? " You pressed. What was the difference, Misaki usually carpooled with everyone else or took the bus. So.

" Yeh. "

Oh. Well okay.

You both made it into the classroom and greeted everyone else quite easily. Even though you thought itd have the opposite effect, Souichi being missing for today started to stand on your nerves as soon as you noticed. For various reasons.. He could be behind you, or on the ceiling, but then his backpack was also gone. Attendance proved that he correctly wasn't in the room, however he's not adverse to showing up randomly during the day on occasion. That's all him.

-

In the middle of second period, you felt a little sick and decided to head to the bathroom. Its quite weird that the school manages to be creepy even during the day and filled with people, but the air was cold and despite the murmur of classrooms at work, it felt like someone could just scoop you up and lock you away forever.

You wandered around the concrete corner to the non-urinal side of the restrooms, honestly just wanting to look at the mirror now. The longer you were just out of class, the more dread you felt. And here was your reason;

" Souichi, what the shit are you doing in the bathroom!? "

You made break for the corner out, but he held you in place by your shoulders. Right now his eyes were rolled all the way back and he was smiling.

" Did I scare you? " He said excitedly. " Oh I wish you would've let me hear that scream! "

" Not cool. Hanging out is fine, but you're in the bathroom and being creepy. "

" You're skittish still, is all. " He proposed, " But we may meet again in my room This Saturday. I have something very important to- "

The sound of footsteps made him slink upwards and cascade above and onto the ceiling. A girl came in, but once she saw you standing there, looking like.. something, it was like the bathroom suddenly disinterested her greatly. She left without saying a word or looking up. Thank god.

" Get back down here Nos Feratu. "

Lowered, Souichi tapped his fingers against eachother.

" - Important to tell you. Sayuri will not be present, like usual. But I don't need her in my business now that we've connected. "

" Yeah, Okay. But be in here again and I'm telling your brother. I'm not kidding. " You thought about if he'd seen you unbutton your pants before. Really, you couldn't tell he was anywhere until suddenly there he was, hanging about like a pendulum.

" Oh, my wonderful [Name], If you only allowed me to let us go public, I'd have approached you there. "

Rolling your eyes, you looked in the mirror.

" I don't even.. Okay, whatever, Saturday. Leave. "

He placed a kiss on your cheek, which scared you out of your skin enough to make you close your eyes for a second. Now it really didn't make sense to you, but believe it or not, he was gone. Even when you looked up, and in any of the stalls, even under the sink.. He had fully disappeared.

" Freak. " You said plainly, returning to class.

You were really hoping that was his quirky outing of the day, and that he'd leave you alone, but yet again he cornered you in the hall, touched your face and when you tried unpack your lunch outside you saw him writing studiously in a journal from where he sat in the branches.

This was all too much, and calling home sick for just a partial day only helped a little. But there was comfort knowing he wasn't in your house, atleast.

Was he?