But before he could even finish his sentence Fujiwara had swung a punch at Miura.
"You stupid shit!" he raged, "damn you!"
"Taku!" Aikawa chided as he forced himself between them two. Bending over the injured Miura, he asked anxiously, "Are you okay, Miura-chan?"
But Miura's only answer was to spit the blood out from his mouth and wipe the stains with the back of his hand while elbowing Aikawa out of the way.
"You--"
Another blow caught him sharply in the face, this time an odd cracking sound filling the air as the fist hit the jaw. Already a bruise was beginning to form, the pinkish swelling prominent against the backdrop of the pale skin.
"Taku! Stop that!" This time Aikawa reached out and caught him by the arm before he could deliver yet another blow. "Stop it! Have you lost your mind?! You too, Miura-chan!" He glared at the uncooperative pair in turn.
"What's with you?" he asked. "Aren't we all friends?"
"No one's friends with him!" Fujiwara said stubbornly. "That's no friend of mine!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Fujiwara regretted it. Hurt that he had never before seen flashed momentarily in the tea-brown eyes, and a steely mask overcame the face that had to him been like an open book.
"Precisely," Miura replied in an eerily calm voice. "We're not friends."
Their eyes met briefly just then, and the wordless communication that had always spanned between them transmitted all the apologies and hurt feelings that they had left unsaid. Time came to a complete standstill, the silence somehow accentuating the unspoken bond that bound them together. For a long moment they stared unblinkingly into each other's eyes, the tension slowly seeping out of the air.
Then without any explanation, Miura turned unexpectedly on his heel, and with his back facing them, went down the corridor, the finality of his leaving echoing clearly down the narrow passageway as he went.
"Miura-chan!" Aikawa called, but the boy did not turn. "Mi--"
"Let him go," Fujiwara's tired voice interjected.
"But--"
"It's okay." The words were so soft that Aikawa could barely hear them despite the fact that he was standing less than a foot away from Fujiwara.
"Taku..."
Slapping an arm around Aikawa's shoulders, Fujiwara merely said in a more normal tone, "Let's go."
And then they too left.
