'...Nice view...'

It was now late in the afternoon as the sun began to set and paint the skies with light orange hues.

He was on his way home from his afternoon Kendo practice back at Minato, and after his momentary stop at a small park, Kouji had simply kept on traveling by foot without interruption, remaining silent during his entire hike with his bogu bag bobbing slightly by his side along his every movement. Showing no signs of exhaustion as of yet, Kouji lifted his gaze towards the clear waters past the artificial land of Odaiba, and then to the clouds that delicately reflected the bright, carroty rays of sundown. The dark-haired teen let out a quiet sigh. Despite having to put up with his friends' antics as usual, it was just yet another uneventful school day for him.

As he strolled on the sidewalk near a road alongside the banks to Tokyo Bay's waters, he spotted out of the corner of his eye a lone young girl sitting by the grass with her legs folded up and her chin perched on her knees, schoolbag forgotten beside her. It was a bit hard to tell from this angle, but it almost seemed that this girl was simply staring out into the distance.

Kouji noticed the familiar-looking uniform that she wore; it was the uniform that the female students of Odaiba Middle School were required to be dressed in. His eyes then trailed up to her face, and soon, a look of realization dawned on his face as he recognized the girl's hair style and facial features. He didn't exactly know her name, but… wasn't she that girl whom Kouichi seemed to be fond of talking to? Although his brother probably didn't realize it himself, they appeared to get along quite well. At the thought, Kouji suddenly felt a faint, yet unsettling twinge in his chest, but he tried to brush it off. Even though he felt that, recently, he and his own twin brother had been slowly drifting apart, Kouji still can't bear the thought of his brother finding ease in another person's presence. Despite the wall of miscommunication that had built itself between them, he firmly believed that Kouichi was his brother and was the only person he could put his trust into the most, and vice versa… and nothing was going to change that.

Taken aback by his own emotions, Kouji halted his thoughts with slightly widened eyes. Why had just one simple look at this girl brought upon such… sudden, groundless thoughts? What did his current relationship with his twin have anything to do with her? Kouji frowned to himself. What was he thinking?

A low, frustrated sigh coming from his front interrupted his train of thought, making him look over to the girl who slumped her shoulders back and buried her face into her knees. Kouji furrowed his eyebrows at this. Judging by her movements, she appeared to be… dejected. Of what, the reason was beyond him, but… he didn't like how listless her voice had sounded.

Unable to stop himself, Kouji made his way down the gentle slope and walked over to the other girl, the grass crunching softly under his footsteps. He stopped behind the girl, but she had either ignored him or simply hadn't sensed his presence, because she didn't seem to move. Exhaling silently, he then spoke, "Hey."

He caught her shoulders tensing almost instantly, and she immediately turned around to look at him, wide-eyed in surprise. Of course she probably hadn't expected someone to walk up to her out of the blue. He wasn't even sure as to why he decided to approach her; this wasn't any of his business, after all. But seeing a distressed-looking girl sitting alone this late, he couldn't help but feel even the least bit of empathy towards her. Besides, she was a good acquaintance of Kouichi's, so it wouldn't hurt to ask what her problem is—wait, he needed to reword his inquiry in a more nicer manner first.

"Uhm… c-can I help you…?" The brunette said slowly as she blinked, appearing fazed by the boy's mere presence. No sooner, though, did her mouth shape itself into an 'o', expressing both surprise and recognition at once. "Oh, you… I think I've seen you before… I don't suppose your name is Kouji?"

Kouji raised an eyebrow at her inquiry, but didn't question it. He supposed Kouichi had told her about him somewhere along the way. "Yeah, that's me," he stated, nodding. "You know my brother, right? Kouichi. And, your name…?"

"Oh, I'm Hikari," she responded, trying to give the other a smile. "Hikari Yagami. And yeah, he's told me a lot about you," she then inspected the other's face, nodding to herself. "I could tell right away, huh… Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Kouji."

Kouji simply nodded in response, although internally, he was somewhat at a loss. Why did he approach her in first place? What was he supposed to do, again? Looking into the distance, he sighed and decided to tell it to her frankly. "It's past school hours now, and curfew's almost near," he then looked at her pointedly, "What are you doing just sitting here all by yourself?"

Hikari was a bit caught off guard by the bluntness of his question. Her forced smile faded, soon replaced by a frown, and she turned away from the other to rest her chin on her knees once more. "Nothing in particular… just… thinking, that's all." She glanced back at Kouji out of the corner of her eye. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, a girl like you shouldn't be out here so late," Kouji said, shrugging. A moment's silence briefly passed, and then, the raven-haired boy slowly—and awkwardly—spoke, "…You seem kind of… down. Something the matter?"

The young girl felt rather confused by the other's concern; after all, this wasn't quite what she had expected from the aloof teen. She had heard from Kouichi that he was very detached and reserved, so why did he seem just a little bit of the opposite right now? Hikari tore her eyes away from the other and looked down, her downhearted feelings from earlier resurfacing. "It's nothing…"

Kouji's eyebrows knitted themselves together at her weak response. "It doesn't sound like nothing," he flatly said, "Especially if it's keeping you like this. I… Well, I don't know much about you, but I'd like to think of you as one of Kouichi's friends. And… thanks for that."

At this, Hikari's expression morphed into that of bewilderment. "…Um, why are you thanking me?"

Kouji bit the inside of his cheek for a moment, but then responded, "For keeping him company. A friend of my brother's is a friend of mine, I guess…"

…If that was so, then why did he feel hesitant just uttering those words?

Pushing back the irrational insecurities away from his mind, Kouji continued, "Care to tell me why the sad look? You don't seem like the cheerless type to me."

Where was he trying to go with this? He wasn't about to try and console the girl, was he?

"It's nothing," Hikari repeated, letting out a sigh. "It's nothing personal, but I don't really want to talk about it…"

"—'Cause we've only met, right? That doesn't bother me," Kouji said as he began to fiddle with the keychain on his bag. "But, you should at least try to talk to someone you know; like a family member or something."

Hikari's posture seemed to stiffen at that. In response, Kouji raised an eyebrow inconspicuously. '…Bull's-eye.'

Pressing on, he simply continued, "Hm… So, I suppose you won't tell me what's wrong?"

…Stop. He needed to stop. He had no idea where he was going with this exactly, and he really had to quit his uncharacteristic prying before he got too involved with her problems. But… for some reason, he just couldn't leave the girl alone after seeing her dejected look. Was he doing this for the sake of his twin brother; because she knew Kouichi well? Was it out of pity? He didn't know why, but all he knew that the reasons he could think of were pretty half-assed to him.

"I said it's nothing," Hikari stated more firmly this time, finally turning around to look at him. "I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it if you'd just go away and leave me alone right now…"

Kouji narrowed his eyebrows at her, but as he heard the sound of a car zooming by, an idea began to form in his mind—a crazy one, but for some reason, he was in the mood for it. "Well, if you say so…" he said, then walked over to the girl, stopping a ways in front of her to set down his large bag.

Hikari merely watched with quizzical eyes as the raven-haired teen began to walk back towards the road. Kouji paused by the pavement for a moment, then continued on to the middle of the street, standing still. The brunette's eyes widened. "H—… Hey! What are you doing?" she called over, baffled.

Kouji didn't look back. "You told me to go away, didn't you? So I will," he stated cryptically, "…Unless you'll tell me what's bothering you, then I might change my mind."

Pure bewilderment settled on her expression at his statement, but as Hikari spotted a couple of cars and a truck approaching from a distance, alarm signals went off in her head. "W-Wait, hold on! Just what are you trying to get at here!?"

The other didn't respond as he stood idly in the middle of the road, hands pocketed while watching the incoming vehicles drawing nearer at a fast rate. The cars seemed to veer to the sides of the road, as if they had spotted the boy from the distance, but apparently the large truck had yet to move from his path. His long, jet-black hair began to whip about as a gust of wind blew past him.

Feeling panic rise further in her system, Hikari impulsively stood up and moved to stride over to the sidewalk, yelling, "Get back here! Are you trying to get yourself killed!? Why on earth are you—Hey! Are you even listening?!"

Again, silence was his only response to the girl's cries. Staring at the massive vehicle's front as it rushed nearer and nearer, he felt himself smirk a little as a loud, blaring horn pierced through the air, shrieking long and loudly along with the incoming truck's engines.

"Okay fine, you win! I'll tell you! Now get out of there! Hey!" Hikari screamed out, shutting her eyes and clutching the sides of her head in fear, "KOUJI—!"

There was the loud screeching of tires against asphalt, and at the last possible second, Kouji finally leapt backwards from the truck's path, loose strands of his hair flying all over his face against the force of the wind as the large vehicle zoomed past him, horn still blowing like mad.

With shock and disbelief evident on her face, Hikari's hazy eyes merely trailed over the boy's figure as he made a few rearward strides, returning to the safety of sidewalk. Her knees then slumped to the ground, forcing her into a frog-legged sitting position in her stupor. Kouji—still relishing the sensation of adrenaline rushing through his system—ignored the truck driver's swears and curses directed towards him as he turned back to face the girl and walked over to her, not caring if the driver just up and left.

As he stopped in front of the shell-shocked brunette, Kouji muttered in a single breath, "…So, still not gonna tell me yet?"

Gathering her bearings somewhat, Hikari snapped her head up to the boy and glared at him long and hard. "Wha… what were you thinking? Do you even realize that you could've gotten yourself killed back there?! You're… you're just… unbelievable!"

Kouji exhaled and tried to calm his own racing heartbeats, then looked back at the girl with a lighthearted half-smirk. "To be honest… I don't know. I have no idea why I did that, but… I thought I'd try and take your mind off other things with that."

"…What?" Hikari stressed out, looking frustrated. "By having to worry about a guy who almost got himself hit by a truck!? No thank you, I already have other problems to deal with; and having to think about a lifeless body across the street's the least thing I need right now!"

"I wasn't actually going to get hurt, you know—"

"But doing outrageous stunts like that, that's what gets you hurt!" Hikari interjected, clearly upset by how the other shrugged of the incident like it was no big deal. She then let out a shaky sigh. "I-I don't understand…! Why would you do that? What if…!"

"Don't think about 'what if that happened'; what's done is done and I'm still here, isn't that what counts right now?" He then turned away slightly. "And I did it because I simply wanted to get the truth out of you; like I said, you don't seem to be the type to appear bothered by things… and types like you tend to bottle up their true feelings. I should know…" Shaking his head lightly, he looked back at the other with a more eased expression. "But that's beside the point. Now that I've got your attention… tell me what's bothering you? I mean, you wouldn't want to worry your family or something if you go home with that depressing look of yours. And…" he murmured a bit more quietly, "I especially wouldn't want Kouichi to worry…"

Hikari frowned at the older teen's logic, and ran a hand over her face tiredly. "Fine… but you're not exactly helping yourself with that little stunt of yours, if trying not to get your brother worried was your aim."

Despite that little piece of truth that defied his logic, Kouji couldn't help but let out a small laugh at her words. "Hah, I guess not. So…" he trailed off, suggesting her to press on.

"Alright, alright," Hikari said, holding up a hand and waving it dismissively. A small smile played at her lips, but as she continued, her eyebrows furrowed a bit in apprehension. "A-Are you sure, though? I mean, I don't really know how to explain it, and I might bore you, so…"

Kouji shook his head, glancing over at their forgotten bags a few feet away from them before returning his gaze back to the girl. "I'm sure it's no problem; I've got a lot of time to kill, so I'm all ears."

And there it was; it was small and faint, but there it was. A genuine smile finally graced her lips.