There was a knock on his door.

"Come in."

The door was opened silently as his brother entered the room.

"Nii-san, there's just one thing I want to say."

He turned to look at the younger boy who looked more and more like himself, only that he was slightly slimmer.

"What is it, Hazue?"

"Tomorrow is an important day to you, nii-san. And I'm not talking about the ceremony."

Kaidou frowned.

"Please, don't look like that. Nii-san, you know what I mean. If you can't have the second button you would like to have, then you can still give yours. That is the least you can do, nii-san. I don't want you to regret it later on."

His words were sincere, the expression on his face was sorrowful as well as serious. Kaidou couldn't understand how it was possible that Hazue would suddenly say such things to him, but even so, he was right.

"I don't want to see you in pain, nii-san," his little brother said before he left him alone with his thoughts.

---

"You know what, onii-chan is really going to graduate tomorrow! That slob!" The words were followed by girly giggles.

"Shut up! My grades are none of your business!" Momo yelled and chased his little sister. And after them came their little brother who didn't want to miss the fun.

They all ended up in her room even though she had tried to make her brothers stay on the other side of the door.

"Tayoko, I'm gonna make you understand that you should have more respect for your big brother, I'm so gonna do that right now!" Momo yelled even louder when he grabbed his sister and tickled her until she collapsed on the floor laughing and holding her stomach.

"Me too, me too, Takeshi-nii!" the younger boy screamed next to them, tugging Momo's shirt.

"Go ahead, Takeshi, you really should spend time with him now when you still can," Tayoko said as she got up and sat on her bed.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Momo had lifted the smaller boy on his shoulders and was going give him a piggyback ride even if it was going to mess his hair.

"Hmph, you're impossible!" she shouted and glared at her older brother.

"Tayoko-nee, don't tease Takeshi-nii, please," the younger boy begged holding on to his brother's head.

"It's alright, little guy," Momo said patting his brother's feet. "It's alright, but Tayoko, what's your problem?"

"You two can go and play as much as you want to, but you better listen to me now, onii-chan," she said sounding unexpectedly serious.

"Fine, just spit it out already."

"Onii-chan, if you're gonna come back home tomorrow with all the buttons on your gakuran, I'm going to kick your ass so badly you can't sit in months," she informed grinning widely. But Momo knew her well enough to know that she wasn't kidding. No matter how much he would have wanted her words to be a mere joke…but they weren't.

"Tayoko-nee, you can't do that!"

"Yes, she can't do that, she really can't do that because I'm so much stronger than she is!"

"Takeshi, you jerk! That's not the point!"

She was obviously getting really angry thus Momo decided to listen if she had something else to say.

"It's been all over your face these days. That there is someone you like at school. And of course you haven't even bothered to express your feelings in any way. That's why I am telling you: don't you even think about coming home with your second button!"

As surprising as it was, she was right. But Momo hadn't really expected his sister to care about such an insignificant thing. It was his problem after all.

"Takeshi-nii, is it true? If it is, then I agree with Tayoko-nee!"

If it had been possible, Momo would have given his brother a certain look but now he could only say it out loud: "You're saying that just because you're expecting me to bring some really cute girl home, huh? And that she'd have pretty friends that you could start dating, right?"

"Takeshi… Let me say something else. First of all, I won't ever forgive you if I truly have such a coward as my onii-chan that he won't even take his feelings seriously. And second of all, don't come crying to me because I definitely won't comfort you if you start hankering for whoever it is that you like."

And after saying that she left the room, walked downstairs, and all the way out of the front door. The discussion was obviously over.

"Takeshi-nii, are you alright? Tayoko-nee didn't mean anything bad, right?"

"It's not something you need to worry about. She wanted to tell me that and maybe it's good that she did," Momo said thinking about what he had just been told.

"But anyway, that's about tomorrow. Let's play, little guy!"

"Yay, Takeshi-nii!"

---

The ceremony was over much sooner than Kaidou had expected. And most of the time he hadn't even been listening to the speeches and following everything else that had been happening, because he could only think about one thing.

Where the hell is Momoshiro?

---

Why did he have to be the one to do all that? He hadn't even agreed to help. For once in his life he would have wanted to sit on a chair next to his classmates and listen to the principal and all the rest of the ceremony, but no. Momo was helping at the backstage - he was a senior so everyone expected him to do that. And while he was there, it made him worry about a certain thing - or a certain someone - even more than he would have if the situation had been different.

Kaidou, how the hell am I supposed to catch you before you leave?!

---

It was all over. Even his classmates had said goodbyes to each other and made a terrible fuss about the buttons. So far no one had showed up to ask for his button. But there would have been someone who could have had it right away, someone to whom his button belonged to.

"Kaidou-kun, aren't you going to go with the others?"

"Ah… Yes. Thank you for everything, sensei," he said, got up and left the empty classroom.

---

"Arai!"

"Huh, Momoshiro? Where have you been all this time?"

"I ain't got time to explain right now. But have you seen Kaidou?" The tone of his voice might have revealed just how worried he was, just how important it was to him to find his teammate, but at this point it didn't matter at all. He just needed to find the boy which was in fact harder than usually, because today of all days he wouldn't be wearing his ancient bandana since this day there wasn't any kind of training at school.

"I haven't seen him but I think his class has already gone out," Arai replied frowning.

"For fuck's sake!"

And Arai could only look at how his classmate spurted towards the stairs and vanished from sight.

---

Kaidou believed in his brother. He knew that Hazue wouldn't have said such things to him if he hadn't meant them. And he wouldn't be doing that just because of what Hazue had told him, but because it was what he wanted to do. It was just damn hard to do it when the other person was missing.

Even so, Kaidou took the second button off his gakuran, held it tightly in his fist and went looking for Momoshiro for the last time.

---

There was someone walking near the tennis courts. Was it him? Was it really Kaidou? And if it was, what the hell was he doing there?

"Kaidou?!"

"Momoshiro, where the hell…"

Momo couldn't have been happier to see him. It was him, he had found him and he hadn't gone away yet.

"Please, wait!" he yelled and ran towards the other boy. The second button was already safely in his fist and soon he could give it to Kaidou!

"Where have you been hiding all day? Fsshhu." The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, everything about him was so familiar to him, so very dear, even the hiss. The only thing missing was the bandana but it was alright now, because it was really nice to see how the sun shone on his black hair making it seem as though it would have sparkled.

"I haven't been hiding, I haven't been hiding at all! But I had to help during the ceremony and so on…" And he might have said a plenty of other things, even thrown his arm around Kaidou's neck and acted like being best friends with him, but then he noticed something vital. His button was gone. If it was even possible, Momo heard his heart cracking.

---

Now that he was finally there, it was about time to act. One last time Kaidou squeezed the button in his fist and thought that he couldn't back out anymore. And if it didn't go well, he could just kick Momo's ass afterwards. But when he was about to open his fist and hand the button to his dearest rival, his eyes saw something they didn't like seeing. Momo's button was already gone, he had given it away!

What the hell was I thinking anyway…

---

It wasn't hard to figure what they both were thinking.

OMG! He must have given it to one of the pretty kouhais ('he really must have' by Momo) so what kind of a fool will I be if I give mine to him now? Why didn't I do anything before now? ('Fsshhhu…' by Kaidou) But… But you are the only one, only you can have my button and my feelings with it…

Suddenly Momoshiro got very angry with himself. So fucking what if Kaidou liked someone else. It was his fault for not telling anything about how he felt even though he had had nearly 3 years of time to show those feelings. And he definitely could have done it in a whole different way, instead of calling him "Mamushi" and fighting with him every day when they saw each other. Without doubt soon, any second now he would just walk away and begin his life in another school without him, and that kind of a thought was far too painful for Momo to deal with.

"Kaidou!" he yelled so loud that he surprised himself.

"You idiot. Don't yell like that when I'm standing right in front of you."

"Kaidou," Momo repeated with a gentler tone. "There's something I want to give you. Here, take my button."

When he shoved his hand closer to his rival and opened his fist, he didn't dare to look at him, especially not because his hand was shaking.

In spite of all, Kaidou was in luck. It wasn't just the button or Momo or his clumsiness, no, it was more about the blush that Momo didn't see because he wasn't looking at him. Also, this was undoubtedly one of the kindest and sweetest gestures he had received from his rival.

Slowly and gently he moved his hand on Momo's hand to take his button. He squeezed it tightly in his left fist.

"Momoshiro, don't move your hand just yet," he said as he moved his right hand closer to Momo's empty palm. "Because there is also something I want to give you."

When Momo felt the light touch of Kaidou's fingers and finally a round object on his hand, he raised his head to have a good look at what he had been given. Yes, it really was Kaidou's button. And he didn't know if there would have been a way that he could have been happier.

"You have a stupid grin on your face," Kaidou remarked before he could say anything.

"And your face is all rosy pink, it is!" Momo pointed out grinning even wider. "But it's so cute, it's just the cutest thing!"

"Idiot, don't shout such things!" Kaidou hissed although he really wasn't angry at all.

Then, out of the blue, Momo grabbed Kaidou's hand - just in case, not to let him run away anymore - and hugged him.

"Let's go on a date today, let's," he whispered in the ear after he had brushed a few strands of hair off it.

"Idiot…fsshhhuu. And your face is too close," Kaidou complained hissing and his blush deepened.

"There's a reason for that, Kaidou. And that is because I love you and because…"

And when Momo noticed that his now ex-rival was unguarded, he kissed him on his lips. And thus it was easy to make Kaidou to accept his suggestion of a date, especially when Momo promised to pay for whatever they were going to eat.

---

In the evening when Kaidou came back, Hazue dared to go to his brother and praise him after noticing the new shine in his dark eyes.

"I bet you finally got your first kiss, too, nii-san! Way to go!"

"Shut up, fsshhhhuu!!"

But Kaidou wasn't the slightest bit angry when he grabbed his escaping brother in his arms and took Hazue into his room where he promised to play video games with him as long as he was allowed to stay up.

---

"I must've been a fool…" Tayoko cursed herself when Momo kept on showing off with the button, with an idiotic grin on his face.

"Tayoko-nee, one day we will be as happy as Takeshi-nii is now," their little brother comforted her and patted her head.

"At least I have one brother who isn't a complete idiot," Tayoko sighed and hugged her little brother while their big brother couldn't stop thinking about a certain person and a few specific kisses he had finally gotten from a very special pair of lips.