Sasayan's eyes shot wide open when he heard the first buzz of his doorbell. His hands instinctively felt around his side table, trying to find an alarm clock just to make sure he hadn't slept in.

One-thirty. It was one-thirty in the morning and someone was banging on his door. Sasayan was all for waking up refreshed in the morning, but this was neither refreshing nor anywhere near morning.

He grabbed a shirt which he had ready on a chair and fit himself through the holes, wiping his eyes as he got near the door of his apartment. Another buzz. "Just a minute, just a minute."

The sound of his lock turning and his door creaking sounded out through the silent living room.

". . . Sasayan-kun."

He was all ready to give whoever was disrupting his sleep a piece of his still-sleep-deprived mind. But the moment his name entered his ears, he could feel all the annoyance melt away. "Natsume-san."

Natsume was hastily asked to come in and sit down on his couch. He already knew something was up with the girl. He just trusted his gut feelings when dealing with the girl.

Even though they hadn't seen each other without Shizuku or Haru tagging along for a couple of months or so, with them only communicating through text messages or through the internet, Sasayan still pretty much understood how Natsume's cogs turned.

He came back from the kitchen with a box of grape juice in hand. "You know, I was wondering if I was ever gonna drink this. I think it's really convenie–" The boy just stopped in his words. The girl's eyes were dampening.

"Natsume-san, what's wrong?" He had to ask her some time. Nobody would just drop by unannounced in the middle of the night for no reason.

The girl stretched her sleeves. She was wearing the sweater he had given her for her birthday a year ago. "I can't do it anymore, Sasayan."

Sure, he could read the girl easily, but now, she was just being vague.

"I just can't live without you around anymore." She whimpered, just before hugging her knees together. Sasayan chose not to reprimand her for putting her shoes onto his sofa.

The boy carefully reviewed the girl's words. Can't. Live. Without.

You.

"Me?" He asked, with a bit of uncharacteristic nervousness in his voice. And honestly, a bit of excitement. Yes, they had already graduated college, and they hadn't interacted much with just each other, he was still pretty sure that he liked Natsume the way he liked her in high school.

Talk about desperate, he'd tell himself when he'd lie in bed reading a text message from her over and over again.

Natsume grabbed the juice box from the boys hand and swiftly stabbed the straw into it."Yeah. You. Mitty. Haru-kun. Everyone, I just can't handle missing everyone like this, Sasayan-kun."

Oh.

Well at least he was still on her list, that's good. "Natsume-san, you do know we've gone through college without all of us being classmates, right?" He pointed out, his eyebrow instinctively arcing. "How is this any different?"

"Sa—sa—yan—kun. Stop being stupid."

Being stupid, the girl says. He just chose to keep the comment to himself. The girl's eyes were still welling up, so she was still pretty much easy to hurt.

"Of course it'll be different. Everyone's gonna be even more apart than they were. Mitty and Haru are gonna get married and have thirty babies and live away from us."

The girl stopped and took a sip. The boy was now just amused by how farfetched the girl's assumption of the future was. He kept listening to her pseudo-drunken rants.

"Yamaken's gonna be too busy with his hospital and probably become even more of a jerky weirdo."

Strange, he thought. Sasayan never knew that Natsume actually regarded Yamaken a friend. But of course, he did grow less hostile during their college years, so maybe that helped change her mind.

"And you, Sasayan-kun. I really miss you."

Somehow, that line managed to grab attention he didn't know he had. "Natsume-san, you're the one being stupid right now." He had to say it.

"Eh?!" Was all the girl could say. "I expected you to wallow with me, Sasayan-kun. You're as cold as when I first met Mitty!"

Sasayan let out a loud sigh and walked off into his room. He could hear the girl murmur 'Where're you going?' as he walked past his door frame. He was following what his gut feeling was telling him to do.

He scavenged through his drawers and grabbed a key.

"Here, Natsume-san." He handed it to the girl, who was already sucking the juice box dry. "What is that for?"

Sasayan gestured to the door. "It's a spare key for this place."

The girl just had a look plastered on her face that screamed out "Why?!"

"It's for when you get lonely. Just drop by here." Sasayan said, with an annoyed look on his face. He may have had a vexed expression, but his heart was beating a bit too fast for his liking at that moment.

". . . Thank you very much, Sasayan-kun."

The girl wiped all the tears that were in her eyes. She grabbed the key from his hand and stood up to hug the boy.

Sasayan froze in his place. Natsume felt really warm. Every part of her did. He just liked how she warmed him up like that. "Y–You're welcome, Natsume-san."

Natsume separated their bodies and flashed him a smile. She was feeling loads better, and he knew that. "I should get going. I'll drop by again soon, Sasayan-kun."

"Wait, Natsume-san." Sasayan voiced out, with a bit of anger in his voice. "Do you think I'm going to let you walk out into the streets in the middle of the night."

The girl rolled her eyes. "How do you think I got to here in the first place?" She chuckled, just before walking out the door. "I'll text you when I get home."

The boy gave a nod. But before Natsume closed the door, she peeked out just to say something more.

"Hey, Sasayan-kun. I really did mean it when I said I miss you."

The boy felt a smile grow on his face. "I do to, Natsume-san."

And the girl closed the door.

Sasayan once again began to rethink the events that just happened as he switched off all the lights and went back to his bed.

His phone lit open beside him. Natsume had already texted him.

"Sasayan-kun. There's a creepy guy outside your building. I'm coming back up to stay for a while. I'll be using your computer!" The boy just sighed and smiled.

Maybe he was going to regret the fact that he gave Natsume the ability to intrude his apartment 24/7.

But, on second thought, he didn't really mind.

After all, he really did miss her.