Shintarou Kisaragi walked through the door from his room into the hallway to get a soda. He walked into the kitchen, to see Konoha already at the cupboard. He took some food, too much food, and sat at the table. He ate the whole handful in less than ten seconds, and then just stopped moving altogether. Shintarou began to wonder if he was asleep at the table- weirder things had happened.

"Hi, Konoha."

"Hello." Silence fell.

"How are you today?" Shintarou offered.

"I'm fine."

"That's good."

"Yes."

"Is there any soda left?"

Konoha looked guilty.

"Okay then." A well of slight anger built up in his throat. "Where're the others? Scratch that. Where's the fridge?" A trail of scratches led from the kitchen wall through the hall, into Konoha's room. "I see."

Konoha cocked his head to the side, and smiled sweetly at him.

"I'm sorry." Shintarou couldn't help but smile back at him. He had an infectious smile, that he couldn't help but return. He didn't know why Konoha always made him smile, but when he was with him, a small smile always crept across his face.

"So anyway, where are the others?"

"Momo told me not to tell you."

"Come on, give me a hint?" Konoha looked thoughtful for a second, then looked up.

"They said something about air travel."

"Oh right. They probably won't be long then."

"Why not?"

"Kano in an airport?" Asked Shintarou, rhetorically. Konoha looked thoughtful again.

"Oh."

"Why should they have all the fun? And why didn't they take us?"

"They said I couldn't come because of security guards..."

"Oh yes, you are quite intimidating to someone who doesn't know you." Konoha looked hurt at this. "I'm guessing Momo wouldn't let me come?"

"Let's go on holiday!" shouted Marry. Seto smiled. That would be very expensive, he told her. Kano reassured him, saying they could haggle the price down. By haggle, he of course meant he would deceive them.

"Did someone mention a holiday?" came Momo's voice. She ran in to the room excited.

"Yeah, Marry suggested-"

"Let's do it! But we can't bring brother. He'd smell up the plane."

"Oh,overseas, is it?"

"Of course!" They left three months later.

"Metal detectors." Said Konoha, seemingly randomly.

"Ah, your nemesis. Is that why you couldn't come with them?"

"I think so.I didn't know they left you behind though." Shintarou felt a pang of sadness at the though of Konoha just sat there, feeling all alone, before he realised that the first thing he did was steal the fridge. Konoha himself just sat there at the table. Shintarou was about to strike up another conversation, but he heard snoring. How he could sleep in the presence of food, he didn't know. Konoha had his priorities in life spot on correct- eat, sleep, eat sleep, eat, sleep, and not necessarily in that order. For example, it could be eat, eat, eat, sleep, sleep, sleep, or any combination of the six. It repeated for what seemed to be an infinity. He decided to go out to get some soda.

When he came back, there was a large stain on the kitchen floor, and Konoha was squatting on the table. He slowly looked up.

"Shintarou."

"Konoha." There was a slight pause.

"Shintarou." He repeated.

"Konoha." Shintarou, repeated, nonplussed. They locked eyes. Konoha looked down at the stain, then back up at Shintarou.

"Spider." Said Konoha.

"Probably not any more," said Shintarou.

"There were more." Konoha replied.

"Are you... scared of spiders?"

"I don't like them." He mimed a spider with his hands, then looked down at them and quickly stopped the gesture. Shintarou began to wonder if he was scared of his own hands.

"What's wrong? They're just spiders. Where did they go?" Konoha pointed under the fridge.

"I see. Well, they probably won't be back soon. Anyway, I got you this." He rummaged in his bag, and found something soft and furry. He pulled it out- a triceratops plush toy. Konoha glanced at it, and a smile came to his face. He grabbed it out of Shintarou's hand, and ran into his room. Shintarou had never seen inside Konoha's room, but there was a large pile of what he assumed were toys, all of them distinctly dinosaur shaped. Some of them were porcelain or plastic models, and some even detailed anatomical models. He didn't seem to care- if it was triceratops shaped, he loved it. He wondered what else Konoha liked- he was his best friend, after all, and he would like to know what to keep an eye out for. Konoha came out of his room, and brought him a crumpled soda bottle. It had piercings and holes in the plastic, presumably from where he had gripped it too hard. A lot of soda tended to go missing when Konoha was there- he'd break the bottle, then come back for another, and break that one, et cetera.

"This is for you." He said, offering out the bottle.

"Umm, thanks, I guess. May I ask why?"

"I don't know what you like," he said, looking upset, "but I know you like soda," he kept holding out the bottle awkwardly. Shintarou took it out of his hands. He had assumed Konoha felt obligated to get him something in return for the triceratops. "Thank you for the dinosaur." He said, smiling again.

"It's fine. I just saw it, and thought you might like it, so I bought it."

"Was it expensive?" He looked concerned slightly.

"No, not really." He began to wonder if he did this every time he received a gift. Come to think of it... "Konoha, have you ever... received a gift?" Konoha seemed confused by the question, and cocked his suddenly righted it again.

"No."

"Why not? Did Kenjirou never... what about your birthday?"

"I don't know when that is." Shintarou began to wonder, not for the first time, who this boy was. He confused Shintarou with his very existence- what were those weird shapes under his eyes? How was he so damn strong? He's assumed it was because of his eye powers, but he thought there was probably more to it than that. How did he eat and sleep so much? And most importantly, why was his name and face so damn familiar? He definitely knew him from somewhere, and for some reason, every time he thought of him, even when they first met, he always thought of Konoha as a good friend. He'd repeat the name again and again in his mind, trying to grasp some form of recognition from the confusion, but nothing came. The realisation would just dangle at the back of his mind, taunting him with its impossibility to reveal. But, of course, nothing ever came. He had the same bizarre sensation, only sometimes, with Ene. The familiar face, the name, and the attitude. He felt as though they had been arguing for longer than the time he'd known her. And Ene never seemed to be quite herself around Konoha- she kept her wit and jokes, sure, but she seemed on the verge of tears. Sometimes, after spending time with him, she would cry when Shintarou was... busy. It was kind of distracting, to be honest. Occasionally, she would talk about him to Shintarou, and get angry at him mid-sentence. Did the two of them know each other? Speaking of Ene...

"Say, master, you and Konoha seem to be getting on quite well, don't you? Maybe I should avert my eyes..." Shintarou pulled the phone from his pocket, and began screaming obscenities at the touch screen. Ene collapsed laughing, before making some smart comment about the things they'd said. Konoha looked confusedly at the phone, then realised who the voice belonged to.

"Oh, hello, Ene." he said. Ene looked up at him, with the sadness in her eyes she tried so desperately hard to fight.

"Hey H-Konoha!" She did that sometimes. The most she had managed to get out so far was a choked 'Ha' before continuing. They started conversing, and Ene seemed her normal self again, but with the difference only Shintarou seemed to notice. Ene went quiet all of a sudden, and when Ene went quiet, Shintarou knew there was something desperately wrong. He went back into his room to fetch his jacket- it was kind of cold in the apartment sometimes, after all. Ene's voice came from his phone, full of sadness.

"Hey, uh, Shintarou?" When she spoke even that formally, there was something fundamentally wrong with her.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ene?"

"I need to talk to you. It's about Konoha." Shintarou felt a sensation not unlike a ten tonne hammer smashing into his gut. He had only just met the guy, and he got on so well with him... he found himself really hoping there wasn't a catch- that he could just have a friend without any... complications.

"Do you know who he is?"

"No, of course not. Do you?"

"Yes, I... I..." Ene said the name. She said two words that made Shintarou's very being collapse in on was what he had both hoped and dreaded at the same time. What he had known all along, but couldn't bring himself to hope. Hope hated him after all, Ayano's death had taught him that. That his dreams didn't just come true. Just two words that devastated his very being, turning his knees to jelly. He wanted to collapse, but he couldn't. He turned towards the door, and slowly, steadily walked towards the boy in the hall, still stood there looking confused. He was so blind not to have seen it before, so blind and stupid and selfish and... he couldn't. Not after Ayano. Not after she had died. He couldn't ignore another. He walked towards Konoha and grabbed him, and embraced him tightly, tears streaming down his face. Konoha seemed confused, before returning the embrace. There was a sound of the door opening, and Kido, Kano, Seto and the others walked in, before freezing when seeing the two of them stood awkwardly together in the hall. Shintarou didn't care. He didn't care who saw him now. All he cared for was in his arms, and he would not let go. Not for appearances, or awkwardness, or anything. He had not dared to hope, but it had happened. He had come back. Enomoto Takane, Ene, he thought, the flash dancer. But that could wait. He had all he wanted. He grabbed Kokonose Haruka and did not let go.