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For quite a while now, Io had the feeling somebody was following him. Always walking a few feet behind him, always keeping the same distance. He could clearly hear his stalker's footsteps all the way from the bus stop up the street and when he had almost arrived at his house, he finally decided to take the matter into his hands.

"Ryuu, is there something you want to tell me?"
He stopped on his tracks and turned around.

What he saw now was his best friend glaring at him, in a way he supposed he had looked all the time during their silent walk. In fact, Io had almost been able to feel Ryuu's pink eyes piercing through him from behind. Ryuu was a passionate person, but he had hardly ever experienced directed his anger against his friend. Somehow, it had always worked out between them.

"You should be the one to explain himself", Ryuu replied almost overdramatically, "What was this all about? Did you really plan on leaving us hanging?"

Io had seen this coming. It was clear that the earlier explanation had been enough for the other members of the Defense Club to close the affair, but Ryuu was a completely different case. The two of them had always been together, ever since Io could remember, and even though breaking with the club had never meant breaking with his friend in general terms, Ryuu took it as personally as expected.

But despite all correct calculations, seeing him now this way was not something Io had actually wanted to happen.

"The position as treasurer could have come in handy for a future career."

"So why did you come back anyway?"

They had been over this earlier already, why was Ryuu suddenly making such a fuss out of it? Everything had been said. Io had apologized and promised to stay with the Defense Club. He had turned down the student council's offer before the end of the school day and returned to the daily business of defending Earth from alien monsters.

But Ryuu was here standing in front of him, pouty face and all, voicing his anger as well as he could without actually shouting at him. Thinking of it, Io realized how his friend had made sure he would here his shuffling as he had followed him all the way here, even though his own home was within the complete opposite direction.
But what more than an apology would he want? Why did he keep on asking? What did he want to hear?

Sure, Io could tell him how today's battle had shown he couldn't get anything done without him, how, in the end, he had been the one who had to bail him out. Or that the Defense Club would have been shut down without a fifth member, that he just couldn't turn his back on his friends. But Ryuu wasn't stupid, he knew all this, of course he did.

But these were the only things Io could actually say. He could impossibly talk to his friend about how all of these arguments had another, deeper layer to them.

He could never tell him how seeing him being tickled into submission by a random guy that had turned into a weird monster had made him feel. Ryuu's ticklishness used to be a weakness few people knew about and only Io had exploited so far. That his financial trades were hardly the same without this faint background of chattering. That he couldn't bear the possibility of him getting hurt each time they became Battle Lovers, especially after all that had happened already.

No, it was impossible to talk about this with someone whose head was always full of plans for the next flirt or date.

Ryuu would never understand.

But in the end, that was not the important thing, was it? He had returned to them, had not let them down despite the profitable offer. There was no reason to complain anymore, was there? Everything had been said.

Yet Ryuu was demanding more explanations and it somehow hurt. From a logical point of view, he had every right to be suspicious, to sulk and to scoff at him, but it still hurt. The possibility that he might distrust him hurt Io a lot more than he had thought.

This was just another sign that he absolutely couldn't talk about everything. At least not right now.

Maybe at some point, when everyone had calmed down, it would be a good idea to talk matters through. Maybe one day they could sit down together and be open about their thoughts and feelings about everything.

But not now. That was way too early.

"You still haven't answered my question", Ryuu remarked after a long while of silence.

No, this was really not the best time for an absolutely frank answer now. Not before he had found out why everything hurt so much more than expected.

"Why did you come back anyway?"

Finally, Io took out his house keys from one pocket and shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess it's more fun with you guys."

This was not a lie, but not the complete truth either.

The question was just whether Ryuu ever wanted to hear it.