"Hey, N-noya." He stood still over the bed. He was grateful Tanaka was passed out and not able to neither see nor hear him.

"Wow, so it really is you, huh?"

"Yeah… Uh. So how are you?"

"…"

"I-I heard you're doing ok? It must be pretty cold ov-"

"Asahi-san, are you fucking kidding me? It's been like three years since we last spoke and now you come at me with this shitty small-talk nonsense? Yeah, it's fucking freezing over here."

"Well if you had at least sent a message you would've heard about me sooner…" He was surprised at his own words.

"Huh? I wasn't the one who disappeared after graduation, the hell? And just so you know I did try to call you, but your never answered any of my calls, okay? Jeez, what a jerk… Wait a minute, are you drunk right now? You're drunk, aren't you?" Asahi smiled. "Stop laughing! This isn't funny!"

"I swear, I'm not."

"Not what? Laughing or drunk?"

"Laughing. I'm not drunk, either. Not that drunk anyway." He grabbed a blanket and covered Tanaka's passed out self. "Listen. Um… I'm sorry, okay. It really… I didn't mean to just go away. I was an idiot. I'm really sorry."

"Tsk. Whatever."

Truth be told, Asahi had wanted to hang up after Noya called him out. But he wanted to keep talking to him; after all this time he found it was still as easy as it had been back when they were in high school.

"So, Tanaka was telling me you're taking some time off your studies, huh?"

"What? Give him back the phone, he's got no business talking about me."

"I would, but he's passed out on my bed right now, haha."

"Wake him up. Now."

"H-hey, there's no reason to get angry, he just had a little too much to drink, that's all. I'll get him on a cab when he wakes up." Asahi was scratching his head now, something he was used to doing when stress would start to build up in him. "He really can't hold his liquor, huh."

"I wouldn't know, we've never gone out for drinks. I think this might've been the first time?"

"You're kidding!"

"Well, we're still 20, we can't even get booze at the convenience store."

"Man, it's not gonna be pretty when he wakes up." He started rummaging through his fridge. "Damn it…I'm out of Pocari. Looks like I'm gonna have to make a trip to the store."

"Aren't you a nice sempai."

"Yeah well, you never stop being one, right?" He felt a little sad now that the conversation was coming to an end. It truly had been nice to talk to him again. "Anyw-"

"Hurry up and get ready, I'll hold."

Asahi's face became instantly red. "But… it's 2am… are you sure you're okay?"

"What am I, a kid? Now that I don't have things to do anymore I go to bed at 4am almost everyday…Actually, I'm gonna hang up."

"But you just said-"

"Call me back when you're ready to go. I'm not wasting any more minutes on Tanaka. And use his phone, that way you won't waste your money either, haha."

"Nice, but I don't think I can do that to him; I don't wanna add to his headache tomorrow so…uh…g-give me your number? I'll call you back." Was the heater turned on max? because he felt as hot as being kissed by fire. "Okay, then, I'll call you back in a sec."

"Sure."

Tanaka's phone felt warm to the touch. Asahi was not sure if it was because the battery had over heated or it was a product of his own body. He grabbed the nearest coat, his wallet, keys and cellphone. He looked in disgust as Tanaka let out a noisy fart. There was no use, Ryuu was not waking up before sunrise. He looked for Noya's number on his phone and hit the call button.

"Hey"

"Yo, I had a bet with myself you'd call after you came back from the store."

"That would've been the better option, but I guess I'm too drunk to think straight?"

"Yeah, right. Say, what kind of things do they sell in convenience stores over there?"

"Pretty much the same things back home? What kind of question is that? Haha"

"Hey! Don't make fun of me, okay? You think you're the shit because you live in the city now?"

"Actually, they have this tuna-mayonnaise nigiri at 7-eleven. It's good stuff." He peaked back at Tanaka. "I'll be right back."

"If he's out like that I doubt he'll wake up any time soon. Tsk. Don't forget your scarf on the way out."

"Yes, mom."

"Don't give me that! And hurry up, I wanna hear about this tuna thing, is it really better than the stuff we got here?"

Asahi smiled again and made his way to the door. He found his scarf on the floor and thought about Noya's advice of wearing it outside, but his cheeks were fire at this point so there was no need for it, really.