If you were walking through Paulownia Mall, you could see two small boys, one slightly more grim looking, both of them not old enough to be in middle school, running and laughing. Amazingly, the smaller one's hair was so blond, you could have mistaken it for gray.

An old man, sitting on a bench shot them an irritated glare. Being loud at a Mall? Heresy.

One of the two children proofed to be faster, his friend tried hard to catch up.

„Wait up, Shinji.."

The blond boy called. Shinji, or Shinjiro to be exact, did not bother to look back.

„What for?"

It was their daily race.

In the end, Shinji stood at one of the fountains, trying to look unimpressed and the younger boy would flash a bright smile.

Sweet memories.

Usually was that the point where Akihiko snapped out of his fantasies. Shinji was gone from his reach and he himself had become the one you should beg to wait up. Now, there was just Mitsuru, who'd never wait for anybody. Aki often thought what an honor it was, to be allowed to enjoy her presence. He liked her, but sometimes she was hell to stand.

He stretched his arms, rolled his shoulders in their sockets and got to his feet. Dreaming never got him anywhere.

As quietly as possible, he got up from his bed and, considering the time his caution was a rather wise decision. Being awake at 3 o'clock and having to deal with a sleepy Junpei was hell on earth. At that time of the day, his usual jokes took cover and hid from the plain aggression he showed towards everything that was vaguely shaped like an alarm clock.

Fortunately, Akihiko succeeded and went to train, trying to be almost silent. He grid his teeth together and focused on the punching ball and his fists, ignoring his brain, his body and the worn out fabric of the sandbag. Sensless violence and pain were like a Diarama-spell to his melancholy.

Nine hours left and Shinji was, once again, living nearby. Speaking of hell.

He did not bother to check on him moving in. Shinji could take care of his own business and just because he would be able to reach him by falling down flat on his face, there was no need to stick together. Mitsuru would knock later anyway, just to make sure he hadn't forgotten about her.

But until then, he locked his room and tried to study. Tried to read. (His hands were covered in blisters, so boxing was no option.) Tried playing an utterly pointless MMRO... whatever! game on the internet. But, when he glanced at the time barely 5 minutes had gone by.

„Damn it!"

Frowning, he scanned the room for an activity, but failed to figure out anything that would distract him for more than another 5 minutes.

„Damn!"

He became an animal, trapped in his room, running up and down, thinking about leaving, thinking about himself. Finally he laid down on his bed, face buried in a pillow and closed his eyes. Being calm could not be that difficult.

Pushing his imagination, he pictured sheep, jumping over a long fence. One sheep, two sheep... bad luck number three began questioning the reason behind this and the forth fluffy animal decided to rather stand in it's imaginary field and chew on some grass. Hello imaginary wolf.

Instead of calming him, his thoughts drifted and all kinds of animal vanished.

Mentally, he was back to his 111h birthday.

Shinjiro had long shaggy hair, combat boots and an attitude made for more than one teenager. And, he had a plan.

Right after school he had grabbed his friend and exclaimed, he'd make him a real man. So, Akihiko was spending his birthday in town, buying or more like searching for porn, Shinji would approve of. Being a grown-up was hard work, he decided.

Shinji said nothing, just kept looming behind him and made sure, in his own nice way, that Akihiko would not escape so easily. He was being targeted and knew no way out.

Together, they'd entered a bookstore, lead by an elderly couple, but after he'd asked where he could find the "adult imaginary section", he was swiftly thrown out. Shinji followed, but hesitated to beat up two people, so much wiser than himself. At least one advantage of age.

After that, they, or rather Akihiko on his own for Shinji said real man went to buy their own porn, tried another shop, but he could not proof that he was older than he looked (and really was) and after that, he tried to sneak off, followed by his friend, who made strange noises with his knuckles when he tried to leave the mall.

Finally, they met a young man, selling newspaper, who could show them a whole collection of magazines and hard-cover books, sealed and hidden under a pile of other things.

Akihiko was so overwhelmed by what bestiality humanity had invented, that he had to sit down for a second and clear his thoughts. Then, he called for Shinji, because he would buy them, alright, but how should he judge the quality of what he was offered?

His long-haired friend came over to him, pretending it was perfectly normal to hide in random shadows and stared at what Akihiko had picked out (randomly). Males, blond girls, animals and 'gears', was the basic separation. Most of it made the young boxer shudder.

Without lifting an eyebrow, or any other physical reaction, Shinji picked one, that was called; 'Blond girls and big cocks'. He shrugged and said;

„The names have never been that creative. It's honest and that's good."

Akihiko could not claim to be manly after they had watched it, but that was not the reason behind porn, he figured.

But now, the real, meaning the present, Akihiko opened his eyes. Shinjiro would probably still be the same, once he was driving around in a wheelchair. Only he would come up with an explanation for something like 'Blond girls and big cocks'. Still, those were sweet memories none the less.

He never though about the tape again, but where the hell did he put it after buying it and watching it with something close to disturbance and a sternly looking Shinji next to him, waiting for him to do something? Was it thrown out afterwards?

Lost in his thoughts, he sat up and covered his face with his hand, trying to think more clearly. To be honest, he did own pornography but he could not recall himself watching something like that willingly. Just to check, he got off the bed and searched through his closet and the box in the back of it, left, next to an old pair of shoes. No blondes, except for one and nothing that read anything about cocks.

Sighing, he decided it had gotten lost and pushed the box back into it's usual place.

He straightened his back and immediately became the same trapped animal, he'd tried to drive out earlier. His room felt too small. Could he take the risk to leave? Shinji would be in his room or outside of he dorm anyway, so he had time to grab some food and take a long walk.

Akihiko checked the clock. At least, some time had passed. Those sheep had not died a futile dead.

He grabbed his jacket and left the room, wondering if Shinji would like his room and if he felt at home... (He seemed to have a really one tracked mind, but would not admit so, not even to himself.)

There was distance between them that he still wasn't quite used to and now that it was so obvious to him, Akihiko would try and evade the tension that lingered when they met. It was nothing he could stand.

The stairs were Shinji-free and he frowned, when he noticed his stands, knees bend, arms guarding his chest... he straightened his back and forced his shoulders to relax. This was ridiculous.

Akihiko entered the lounge and was a little too pleased when his old friend was not there. Instead, Minato and Yukari sat around the dining table and talked. The blue-haired boy nodded and the girl smiled.

„Hello Akihiko-senpai. Where are you going?"

More smiles and the blond teen felt some of the tension leaving his body.

He replied:

„Out. I'm hungry. We're not going to Tartarus today, anyway."

They agreed and Minato waved him goodbye, jokingly. Akihiko thought him a weird guy, but chuckled anyway. Once.

When he turned to leave, he overheard Yukari saying:

„So... he really made me carry all of his boxes up there. I thought my arms were gonna fall of.."

Shinji.

„And then I saw...these... these... movies."

She sounded disgusted.

Minato would not answer, but Akihiko could easily picture him, raising an eyebrow at her. Somebody had to finally explain to that girl what life was like, or more precisely, what a major part of the male population was like.

"When I asked him why he owned such filth, he had the courage to shrug me off and say, these... things were at least honest!"

A small approving sound came from Minato and Akihiko felt a chilly hand running up and down his back. Shinji really hadn't changed. But then, what had?!

He shrugged and opened the door, welcoming the warm air and the noise of cars passing him by. It felt nice.

Hands in his pockets, he decided that the jacket was unnecessary and walked on, thinking about what exactly he felt like eating.

And, secretly, what Shinji would eat.