The rain was back in Chiba one Friday afternoon, thankfully not that hard. Maki was still at work since they had an activity while Mirai was also still at school. Ryosuke stood behind the counter, his chin placed on his palm as he viewed the rain, seeing how a drip made an abstract pattern on the window. Tomohisa was seated next to him, playing a game puzzle in his phone but got tired with it and exited the application. Ryosuke turned his head slowly and was surprised to see Tomohisa’s wallpaper. He smiled slowly to himself and chuckled, causing Tomohisa to look at him.

“What?” The older man asked.

Ryosuke shrugged his shoulders for a minute then teasingly stated; “Your wallpaper is a picture of you and Maki-nee.”

Tomohisa almost choked on his own spit. Ryosuke saw that?! He turned back to his phone wallpaper. It was him and Maki sitting together on the couch, smiling at the camera and Mirai took it for her own entertainment. He was turning a bit red and was trying to hide himself while Ryosuke laughed slowly to himself.

“Why don’t you court her Tomo-nii?” The younger one of the two asked. “I mean, she likes you too right?”

Tomohisa didn’t know how to reply to that. Did Maki like him? They did meet each other in a “messy” way and Maki might’ve been pissed at him but they got to know each other and he was sure that he was able to show that he was a good guy. “Let’s just end it with “I like Maki” first, alright Ryou?” He smiled softly.

“Suit yourself.” Ryosuke replied. He still wasn’t satisfied but he’d leave it at that.

The rain continued to pour and when Ryosuke turned to his wristwatch, he found out it was already three in the afternoon! “I-I got to pick Mirai up!” He yelled and almost hurt himself at the edge of the counter when he immediately grabbed his jacket.

“Ryou!” Tomohisa called out.

The boy stopped just in time for him to catch the umbrella Tomohisa tossed to him. He grinned sheepishly. In his hurry, he was going to brave the rain without an umbrella. “We’ll be back soon Tomo-nii!” He yelled, his hand waving in the air before he exited the bookshop and met with the down pouring and angry rain.

Now left alone, Tomohisa took his time to look at his surroundings. It was just in time that his grandma came downstairs from taking a nap.

“Ah Tomo, did Ryosuke went to pick Mirai up?” Yamaa-san asked.

Tomohisa nodded his head slowly while his grandmother sat beside him. “Great kid.” He commented suddenly, thinking about Ryosuke. “He’s pretty much dedicated and loyal to Mirai-chan…”

“Maa, that’s probably what love does.” Yamaa-san smiled. “What about you?”

“Eh? What about me, obaa-chan?” Tomohisa asked, a little amused.

For a moment, the old woman only smiled at him. “I’m talking about Maki…”

Tomohisa felt his heart skip a beat. It always did that when Maki’s name was mentioned. He smiled to himself and shook his head. “I don’t really know obaa-chan.” They stayed quiet, probably Yamaa-san wanting her grandson to have his thoughts settled for himself for a while. By now the rain had stopped so Ryosuke didn’t have much use for that umbrella anymore.

There was gentle pitter pattering from outside and Tomohisa already knew what it was. The door opened, followed by the ringing of the bell to reveal Maki, slightly wet from the rain but, to no shock to Tomohisa, looked radiant as ever.

“I think the rain hates me.” Maki began, a smile contradicting her statement. She took her jacket off before continuing. “It stops just as I reached our mailbox!” she laughed slowly then approached Yamaa-san to kiss the old woman’s cheek.

“What about me Maki-chan?” Tomohisa asked in an almost deadpan manner that Maki thought he was serious. But he made up for it by slowly smiling causing Maki to hit his arm playfully.

“Got to get out of this clothes, wouldn’t want to catch a cold…” Maki said as she dragged her tired body up the stairs. Tomohisa sat there, closing his yes for a moment, trying not to imagine Maki getting out of her clothes. Bad brain! Bad brain!

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“Oh…” Ryosuke held his palm out to the sky. The rain stopped. No use with the umbrella then. He closed it then gave a little shake to get rid of the stray droplets. Then he fixed his jacket and made his way to Mirai’s school. One could ask why he made this effort of picking Mirai up everyday or making any other effort at all when he himself knew that Mirai didn’t want a boyfriend at the moment. He’d answer; he just enjoyed it, whether or not Mirai cared, he felt happy doing those little things for her.

He kept walking and had just rounded the corner when he saw the gates to Mirai’s university. Some of the students were already exiting through the gates as he entered. His usual spot where he’d be waiting for Mirai was at the end of the waiting shed.

With him being there everyday, almost every student knew him as ‘that guy who came to pick Horikita up.’

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“Good thing the rain stopped ne?” Suzuka, Mirai’s friend said as they walked the corridors to head on home. Mirai smiled and nodded her head. It was such a tiring day, sometimes her brain just wanted to give up but then again, she was doing this so she can be a doctor and support her onee-chan who has done so much for her.

“Hey guys why don’t you hang out with us?” One of their classmates, Asami suddenly came into view, bumping shoulders with Mirai.

“Eh? Where are we going?” Suzuka asked. They stopped walking altogether just by the waiting shed.

“Karaoke! We don’t have a test next week and I’m so thankful for that!” Asami answered then she turned to Mirai with a small smile on her face. “Mirai you should go, I bet Ryo will get excited when you come with us.” Her meaningful words echoed out until the three of them turned to the gates to see a group of guys and girls, seemingly waiting for their answer. Mirai simply smiled as she saw the tallest of the guys waving his hand to her. Many girls would want Ryusei Ryo’s eye on them but he only focused on one girl.

“Come on Mirai, let’s go.” Suzuka urged, giving in to the temptation of enjoying a Friday.

“Oh, I have to tell Ryosuke not to pick me up then.” Mirai replied.

Asami cocked her head to the side. “Ryosuke? Isn’t he that guy who picks you up? Doesn’t he go to school? He’s like your lackey or something. Just text him, come on we don’t want to run out of booths.” She walked ahead of them even before Mirai or Suzuka could say anything.  

Mirai felt annoyed somehow. Asami had no right talking about Ryosuke like that. “Ne Suzuka, I’ll text Ryosuke, you go on ahead.”

“Oh, ok then…”

Now left there, Mirai pulled her phone out and was about to text the young man when the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed in-front of her. She was surprised to see Ryosuke in-front of her with a small smile on his handsome face but then she noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

 “Ryou! What are you doing here?”

“Picking you up…” Ryosuke said simply. “I guess you didn’t see me, I was at the end of the shed.” There was an awkward silence until Mirai realized he heard what Asami said about him.

“Ryou--”

 “Go on ahead, your friends are waiting for you.” The young man said, his tone simple and straight. They both looked at the direction of the gates and saw Asami and the boys waiting. “I’ll tell Maki-nee that you’ll come home a little later.”

“Ryou, about what Asami said…” Mirai began, her voice shaking slightly.

But Ryouske beat her to speaking once again. “Don’t worry about it, she’s right anyways.” He chuckled as if musing himself. “You be careful ne? if you need anything you can call me.” And with that he turned away, passing through the gates. It couldn’t be helped that he heard Asami and her friends talking about him when he passed by. “Pity ne? He’s good-looking though…” One of the girls said.

Ryosuke tucked his jacket closer, avoiding to be obvious that he can hear them. It seemed the beating of his heart was coming to a close stop.

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Night time slowly came as Tomohisa enjoyed his time alone on the beach. The scene was so beautiful that he couldn’t help but smile. He was never this sentimental but the magic of the crescent moon above might’ve done the trick. The sand was cool under him as he sat close to the shore. He’d found a small stick while walking and used that to draw the view of the waves and the crescent moon on the sand. The wind blew hard at that moment when he noticed a presence approaching. Turning slightly, he saw Maki making her way over to him, wearing a simple shirt and shorts. It wasn’t long before she was sitting right beside him.

“You always like it by the shore ne?” Maki said. She smiled as she saw the drawing right in-front of them.

“You can’t enjoy the beach back in Tokyo, unlike here.” Tomohisa replied, gazing at the waves.

Maki kept quiet, continuing to look at the beautiful twilight scenery in-front of them. “I guess you’re really learning to love Chiba hmm?”

Tomohisa smiled, bowing his head. “I wasn’t looking for the warmth I feel inside me when I came here.” He chuckled low in his throat then turned to Maki. “Maybe it was the fickle wind that brought you to me.”

“M-me?” Maki questioned, pointing to herself. What was Tomohisa implying? Was she his warmth?

“You two!”

They both turned at the voice and saw Yamaa-san by the back porch. “Come inside unless you both want to get colds!”

Tomohisa smiled in reply then stood up, offering his hand to Maki who slowly accepted it to stand herself up. And together they entered the quaint old house.