It was very warm where Ryosuke was sleeping, so he batted his eyes opened, and everything was dark except for where the light from a tiny lamp from across him was , lighting up a small space of the room. His phone was beside the pillow, and Sugita-san was hunched over the bedside. Ryosuke grabbed his phone and checked the time. It was almost two in the morning.

“You awake?” It was Sugita-san. He sat straight, stretched, looked across Ryosuke, and furrowed his brows.

To his and Ryosuke’s shocking surprise, on the opposite side of Ryosuke was a sleeping Mirai in a chair with a plate of sandwiches almost sliding down her lap.

Sugita-san stood up and scratched his stomach. “She must’ve come down after me. And she made sandwiches.”

“What happened?” asked a disordered Ryosuke. The last thing he remembered was his plate of food.

Sugita-san told him that he had choked and fainted during dinner, and the one to point it out was Mirai. “She cursed you and hit you while I was resuscitating you. If you weren’t gonna die from choking, you would’ve died from her hits.”

“It’s a miracle I survived then,” said a relieved Ryosuke.

Sugita-san walked to the door. “Now that you’re up and good, I’m gonna hit the sack with my girl.”

Ryosuke pointed to Mirai. “What about her? You can’t leave us alone. Wake her up, and tell her to sleep where she needs to sleep.” He then looked around the room. “And where am I anyway?”

“You passed out, so you got special treatment. You got the bed. The rest of the boys are out in the living room, and the girls are in the guest room across you.” Sugita-san opened the door, ready to leave.

“Coach!” hissed Ryosuke. “Get her to leave. She can’t stay here with me!”

The older man irritably rolled his eyes, lazily circled his shoulders, and unwillingly went to the sleeping Mirai as Ryosuke plopped back down and pulled the covers over himself to make it look as if he was still asleep. He didn’t want to face her right now. He peeked through his half-opened eyes. Unfortunately, it gave the older man an idea. He nudged Mirai on the arm, waking her up, and then ran out of the room.

“That jerk!” hissed Ryosuke, and she heard his voice and looked at him instead of at the door. He opened his eyes. He couldn’t lie to her. “Hey…” And he couldn’t look at her.

Her response once she confirmed his breathing? A whack on the head.

“What you do that for?” He touched the back of his head and glared at her.

She stood up. “That’s for waking me up.” She pinched his cheek. “That’s for hitting me to wake me up.”

“But I didn’t—”

“And this—” She didn’t give him a chance to explain as she pounded her fists at his chest repeatedly, “—is for being stupid and not chewing your food like I always tell you!”

He put his arms over his chest to defend himself. “You’re hurting me.”

She heard him and stopped. She flopped back down to her chair and sniffled as tears formed in her eyes. “I was worried.” She bit her lower lip. “I was scared.” She kicked the bed, and they both heard a crack from her toes. Her feet curled in pain, but she ignored it. “I hate you.”

After a long silence, he said, “Do they hurt?”

She nodded with her head low.

He couldn’t help but smiled. He got off the bed and gently nudged her head back with a finger. “Idiot. Who told you to kick the bed like that?” He crouched down, grabbed her foot, placed it on top of his knees, and massaged it. He spotted parts of her pants had stains of her fallen tears, and he clenched his teeth because he hated that he had made her cried, scared, and worried. “Sorry,” he said, not looking up at her, too ashamed.

“I’m not crying because of you.” It was a lie. “I kicked too hard.”

He smiled to himself, knowing she wouldn’t admit it.

She pulled her foot away. “It’s okay now.”

He finally looked up at her and sent her a smile, then he stood up, stretched, and walked to the door.

She grabbed his shirt. “Where are you going?”

“I need to pee.” He tugged the front of his pants.

Her face distorted with disgust. “Don’t do that in front of a girl. It’s a turnoff.”

“You’re not a girl. Stop thinking you are one.” He opened the door and left before she could hit him. When he came back from the bathroom, she hadn’t left his room. He closed the door behind him. “You were supposed to leave when I left.” He went to sit at the side of the bed.

She disregarded his comment. “Not gonna sleep anymore?”

“Had my fair share already. You?”

“You can keep me company then.” She switched on the ceiling light, and they squinted their eyes in response to the brightness of the room, and she turned off the lamp.

“What you got? Cards? Aren’t they outside?” He remembered Yuta. “How are things between you two?”

“Me and who?” She pretended to not know as she avoided looking at him to situate herself at his bedside.

“Your boyfriend.”

She looked away.

“Aww, shy?” he teased, though he had to force himself.

Seconds later, she quietly uttered, “I’ve missed you, Ryosuke.”

*

Yuta jolted up in pain in the middle of the night in the living room and looked at his stomach, which was where he felt the pain, and saw that someone had their leg on top of his abdomen. He slowly pushed the leg off and sat up. It was dark everywhere, so he couldn’t tell whose leg it belonged to. All he knew was Taisuke got the couch, and he last saw Shintaro and Juri crowded by the outlet to play a game on their charging phones.

He looked around the dark room.

There was little light coming from down the hallway.

Now that he was awake, he had to use the bathroom. He got up, walked down the hall, and noticed light seeping from under the door of the room Ryosuke was put in. He passed the room and went to the bathroom. When he came back out, he heard voices from inside the room, so he stopped, confused if he had heard correctly.

The voices inside didn’t sound like it was only Ryosuke’s.

Yuta was sure that the girls had the opposite room because he had helped Sugita-san set the room for Ryosuke. Maybe he was tired and had heard things. He yawned and continued his walk until he recognized a laugh. He faced the closed door. “Mirai?”

*

“See, look!” Ryosuke stretched out his arm and pointed to his invisible wounds. “I’ve got bruises here and here and here. Oh, and here.”

Mirai slapped the arm away, laughing. “Whatever, liar.”

“If you don’t believe me, ask Coach. He told me about your crimes. You should atone for them, you convict.”

“I’m not a convict, you-you con artist!”

“Who did I con?”

“All of us. You pretended to pass out so that we’d worry about you.”

He stuck out his tongue and played along. “Not my fault you were too dumb and believed it.” He pretended to gasp and covered his upper body with his arms. He softened his voice and spoke in a girlish manner, “Oh, my! Don’t tell me your heavy hands knocked me out so you could be alone with me for the night?”

She laughed at his silly act.

He continued his one-man act as a girl. “Help!” he exasperated. “Somebody out there! I’ve got a man who wants me!”

She covered his mouth because his drama was getting him excited and loud. “You’re gonna wake them up!”

He ignored her and shoved her hand away from his mouth. “Anyone! Some—”

During their small and playful fight, they fell back onto the bed and ceased their laughter when they noticed something—his hand was pressed on her chest. He d it twice for confirmation.

“!” She got off him and pulled the blanket over her.

He looked at the hand that had d her, and furrowed his brows, dissatisfied. “Your bra was in the way.”

She hit him with the pillow, unamused. “Don’t talk about it.”

“Fine.” He looked at the time on his phone. An hour had passed. “You should go back now.”

She looked at the bed. “I think it’ll fit both of us here.”

“You kiddin’, right?”

She grabbed the pillow she had thrown, placed it behind her, and then fixed the blanket. “As long as we don’t push each other off, we’ll fit.” She was serious.

“You… You like me, don’t you?”

“As if. I’m scared to go back to my room.”

“Dude, it’s across this room. Just open this door. That’s it.”

“I’m still scared,” she whined. “Just let me sleep here, gosh.”

He pulled the blanket away from her. “You’re a girl. I’m a guy. If anyone sees us tomorrow, no one will believe what we tell them.”

“But I’m scared, Ryosuke.”

“I’ll take you,” he offered and got off the bed.

But she didn’t.

“You can’t be scared if I’m taking you.”

She sighed and looked down and fidgeted with her hands. “What if you eat that when I’m not here,” she pointed to the sandwiches she had made hours ago, “and choke and die?”

He didn’t know if he found her excuse funny or stupid. Regardless, he couldn’t find the energy to laugh. He knew she was determined to stay and would say anything to stay. He scratched the back of his head, lost at what to do to make her leave before anyone woke up and noticed that she wasn’t in the room with the girls. He walked to the plate. “I’ll eat it here, right in front of you so that if I choke, you can save me. Happy?” He looked at it. “Is it still good though?”

“It’s not fresh anymore,” she chirped and was practically dancing on the bed, “but it’s still good. But that one, Haruka made it.”

He frowned. “No way am I risking my life with her food. She’s the second Rie nee-san.” He stopped and looked at her. “Or is nee-san the second Haruka?”

They laughed.

He took a big bite of the safe sandwich he grabbed, and she patted the bed for him to sit beside her. He did so as he took another bite. She smiled and pulled up her sleeves to wipe the breadcrumbs at his mouth.

“I’m still eating,” he mumbled, but he still moved forward to let her do her job.

She pressed her hand to his mouth. “Stop stuffing your face. That’s what got you like this in the first place.”

“Can’t help it. Your food’s poisonous.” He began to choke again because he wasn’t careful, so she panicked and searched for the water bottle she was sure she had brought with her. He, with a hand hitting his chest, pointed to under the bed.

She crouched down and saw the water bottle and grabbed it. She quickly twisted the cap opened and shoved it into his mouth. As he drank, she soothed his back. Once he was done and was calm and had wiped away the tears, she couldn’t hold in her anger anymore and pinched his cheek. “How many times are you going to kill yourself by choking?”

He assured her that he was fine and explained that he was too hungry and was overtaken by its taste. He finished the last sandwich and put the plate on the floor. “Ready now?”

She shook her head.

“I ate already.”

“It’s not healthy or good to sleep after eating.”

He rolled his eyes. He thought eating the sandwich would be good enough to persuade her. “Okay, what’s up with you? You don’t want to go to your room. Why?”

“No reason.”

“You can tell me.” He sat in front of her on the bed and reached for her hand but quickly pulled away as he remembered to distance himself.

She saw it and was hurt, so she took initiative and held his instead. “You can still touch me. I want you to. You can still hold me. You can still hug me. I want you, Ryosuke…to treat me like… Like the same. That’s why I’ve missed you. Don’t treat me differently just because I’m…dating him.” She squeezed his hand. “Okay?”

It took him a while to answer her with a nod.

She hugged him, happy that she at least had that cleared.

“But you still gotta go to your room.”

She broke away from the hug. “Why can’t I stay? I just told you that I’ve missed you, so you should let me stay.”

He shook his head. “That’s a different matter. Why don’t you really want to go back?”

She looked down. “I said it before, didn’t I? I don’t know what I’d do if I lose you.”

It made sense to him now. She wanted to stay because she still believed he was sick, and was worried about his health. Since he was the cause and had lied about being sick in the first place, he decided to give up. Besides, he did want her to stay with him anyway since she had been with her boyfriend for half the entire day already. He fixed the bed. “I give up. Sleep here if you want. I’m too lazy to take you back anyway.”

She grinned with joy.

He removed the covers for her to join him, but she stopped him. “What now?” he sighed.

“Didn’t I say you’re not supposed to sleep after eating?” She fixed the blanket over herself. “You can come to bed after fifteen minutes.”

He groaned. He was feeling sleepy and tired. “Don’t do this to me now.”

“Then, are you going to leave me as a widow?” She was half-serious. She stared and pointed at him. “If you are, I’ll come after you.”

He broke into a soft laugh. “You can’t come after me if I’m dead already.”

“Then, I’ll exorcise you. Now, goodnight, Ryosuke.” She pulled the blankets over herself and made herself comfortable on the bed.

“Night, Mirai.” He helped tucked her in and went to grab his phone on the floor to keep him company for the next fifteen minutes. He situated himself on the space beside her, his phone, and felt something pulled on his shirt. He looked down and saw her cling to him with her eyes closed. He was amused and thanked her quietly, something he found himself doing a lot nowadays.

*

Yuta had been listening by the door of the room where Ryosuke and Mirai were in. It had been silent for quite some time now, and he was curious as to what was happening and why it was quiet. He decided to do something shameful, something he thought he’d never do—peek from under the door. Right when he got on all fours, the light in the room was turned off. He quickly crawled to the living room in case they opened the door and see him. But when he got back to the living room and waited, the door didn’t open.

It could only mean one thing.

His girlfriend was sleeping with her friend.

He tried to comfort and persuade himself that his girlfriend wasn’t that kind of girl. He repeated to himself that he trusted her and Ryosuke, that they wouldn’t betray him. No matter how he tried to defend them, a huge part of him couldn’t full-heartedly accept the expla