Another knock. Kota got up from the bed and opened the door, wondering who it could be. A dark haired boy, who looked a little older, with thick glasses stood with a friendly smile on his face. He glanced down at a clipboard after staring at Kota for a few seconds and cleared his throat. "You must be Kota Shingyoji." Kota smiled and nodded still wondering who the heck this guy was. "Is your roommate here?" the boy continued. Kota glanced over to Seiji, who was now drooling on his pillow. "Uh yeah, but he's kind of sleeping right now." The boy rolled his eyes. "Well you have to wake him up, this is important." Kota nodded and walked over to the sleeping blonde. He shook him a few times until Seiji woke up suddenly. "UHHH Kota... what? I was in the middle of a good dream." Kota pointed at the doorway where the nerdy boy stood. "Oh it's you again." Seiji got up from underneath the covers totally shirtless. Kota let out a squeak and almost fell backwards in surprise, looking like he was about to have a nosebleed. The boy who was still at the doorway cleared his throat. "Alright, now that your both here I can give you a proper introduction. My name is Hideki Sawiara and I am your dorm manager. As a representative for Towahara College, I want to welcome you and make your experience at college the best it can be. Now, there are a few rules here at this dorm and I will formally go through them." Hideki took out a folded paper from his clipboard, which unfolded a few times on itself halfway to the floor. The manager read out rules like there was no tomorrow until he finally paused. Both Seiji and Kota came out of their daze, hoping it was over. "And the most important rule: There are no alcoholic beverages whatsoever. There's a bar across the street, go there if you want too." Both boys nodded. "Alright, so thats about it. If you have any problems, i'm in room 201. Thank you." Seiji closed the door and sighed. "Well at least we got that over with." Kota nodded and started looking for some clothes for his date. "Hey Kota, you want to go to the bath house tonight?" Kota dropped his bag and it landed with a loud thunk. A deep blush now covered his face as he searched for an answer of why Seiji wanted his to go to the bath house with him. "I can't. I-I'm busy tonight."
Seiji adjusted his pillow to make it softer and lay back down on it. The room was half-lit, only Kota's lamp dimly shining on the other side of the room. Clothes were scattered everywhere on Kotas side. He had left pretty quick at go change after their breif conversation. Seiji looked over to the clock and shot up and yelled in frustration. "I'm so bored! I can't take it anymore, I need to get out of this room!" he said aloud. 'I really wanted to go to the bath house, at the least i'd have a different scenery to look at other than these boring white walls.' Seiji imagined a hot spring like bath house with heavy steam and a small waterfall trickling down rocks which led to the bath. The smell of the heavy air would fill his lungs and would smell sweet from the inscents surrounding the bath, and as he would look up he'd be able to see millions of tiny stars lighting up the sky. He then imagined himself turning around and seeing a blushing Midori right behind him, wearing only a bathing towel. Seiji let out a huge smile and agreed it would be paradise, and continued to fantasise about the hot spring. Now he was immersed in the hot water and was having his back washed. He could almost feel the cloth rinsing his back with the hot water. "Does that feel good Seiji?" he nodded until he realised it wasn't Midori's voice. The imagined Seiji turned around to see Kota holding the washcloth. Seiji screamed and flew off his bed trying to get the image out of his mind. 'What is wrong with me?! Why did I have to screw up a perfectly good fantasy?!' "Are you okay Seiji? Your flushed." Seiji nearly hit the ceiling in fright and did some weird kung-fu move in defense as he turned around. Kota stood near the doorway with a puzzled look on his face, wearing his dress clothes. Seiji shook his head violently as the image of Kota in the hot spring filled his head again. He breathed in and out a couple of times trying to get back his composure, "So where are you off to?" "Um, i'm going to see a friend." With that, Kota closed to door behind him and left Seiji alone again with his thoughts.
Kota stood in there usual meeting place, by the entrance of the school and tugged his clothes uncomfortably. At that moment he felt sick to his stomach and just wanted to run a back to his room with Seiji. But, he knew he couldn't do that. Not only had he promised Goh they'd go out, but any chance he had with Seiji ended 3 years ago, the day he confessed. Even though he'd kind of been a different person when he did it, he still considered it to be his confession of love to Seiji. Now here he was, standing alone waiting for some other guy. 'What am I thinking? Goh isn't just some other guy...' Kota mentally lectured himself and leaned against the cement wall. He clutched his self and looked up into the evening sky. The sick feeling came over himself again. Was this it tonight, was he going to give himself to Goh. 'I can't tonight, I just... I don't know. Should I just get it over with? What if he trys something tonight, what will I do? I- I'm so-' There was a crunch of leaves and Kota's heart skipped a beat. "Sorry I'm late, I had some trouble with the boss. Wouldn't let me leave early but i'm here." he grinned. "Lets go." he let out his hand for Kota to take. Kota stared at his hand, dozens of second thoughts forming in his mind. He could have just ran away and apologised, told him he wasn't feeling well, but in the end he took his hand.
There was silence most of the way there. Kota was to nervous to speak more than two words at a time, since these were most of the answers he gave to Goh's small talk. They ended up at a restaurant, not a very fancy one, but more fancy then normal in Kota's eyes. 'Does this mean he is expecting something tonight?' Kota thought his heart beating so hard it felt as though he could hear it in his ears. He almost didn't notice the menu that was put in front of him and when Goh asked him what he wanted. He quickly skimmed through the list of food until he finally decided on something light, since he knew he wouldn't be able to eat much. The food came not soon after as a small salad was set in front of him, and a grilled steak was set in front of Goh. 'Why does he need so much protein?!' Kota thought with worry, almost hyperventilating now. Not to seem too obvious he controlled his breathing a forced some salad into his mouth. He could hear the sound of Goh cutting his steak and chewing it soon afterward. This happend for quite a bit until it stopped and there was silence. Kota looked up in curiosity to see Goh staring at Kota almost mesmerised. "Goh?" Kota said, almost afraid of what his response would be. Goh's hand slid across the table and pulled Kota's hand under his own. His dark green eyes were so intense as he looked into Kota's eyes, he felt like he was totally exposed and blushed. "I love you, Kota." Kota's blushed deepened by the sudden confession and by how sincere it sounded. They stayed like that for a while, Goh reading Kota's eyes waiting for him to say something, but Kota was at a loss for words. He knew the correct reply would be "I love you too." but he knew he couldn't say it as honestly as Goh. His hand was released and Goh went back to eating, a disappointed look on his face.
When dinner finished, Goh suggested they go to the bar a block away. Kota agreed although he hated drinking, let alone he was still a minor. However, like a good smoke, Goh liked a good drink as well, so Kota decided he'd accompany him. They walked side by side down the sidewalk, average distance between them until Goh placed his arm around Kota's shoulder and pulled him close. It felt like forever until they got to the bar and walked inside to find a spot at the counter. It wasn't too busy inside, only a few other customers sat around the room and mingled with each other. A few people looked over a stared at the couple. Kota felt like he could die, and buried his head into Goh's jacket. This was why he hated going out on dates, everybody judges you by who your with, especially if it's a guy. When they both sat down and ordered their drinks, Goh had something strong that burned Kota's nose, they started talking. Their conversation was more lively, now that Kota had forgot of why he was nervous in the first place. That was something about Goh, he could always manage to change Kota's mood in no time. "So, who's your roommate, what's he like?" Goh asked out of nowhere. "Well...He's nice. He likes to sleep a lot.I think he's going stir crazy or something because he looks really bored and antsy being in there almost all day." Kota laughed a bit to himself, the scene of Seiji drooling on his pillow returning to his mind. "Actually, he asked me to go to the bath house with him tonight." Goh made a noise to show he heard and downed his drink. "Is he good looking?" he asked, a hint of jealousy in his tone. "Uh...well. I guess so but-" Goh got up suddenly and turned toward the exit, throwing a few bills on the counter. Confused, Kota jumped up and frantically grabbed Goh's arm. "Where are you going?" "For a smoke." he continued walking until he was out the door.
Kota grabbed his jacket and quickly zipped it up and ran out the door. The cool breeze of the fall evening washed over him. He saw Goh leaning on the wall, lighting a cigarette. He took a long drag and looked at and then away from Kota. "Are you mad or something? Did I do something wrong? I don't understand, everything was going to well and then you suddenly leave like that." There was silence until Goh dropped his cigarette and crushed it with his shoe. "Do you love me, Kota?" A pause. "You know, you just don't get it do you? Do you have any idea of how much I care about you, how much I want to be with you? This is why I get so jealous all the time." Goh grabbed Kota and hugged him tightly. "I just wished I knew what you were thinking. If you even love me in return." Kota gulped. He knew he had to answer Goh, this was his chance to end everything or to deepen their relationship. His thoughts drifted to Seiji, and the day he had turned him down, a lump forming in his throat. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Goh's waist and said, "I do love you, Goh." probably in the most honest tone he'd ever had. However the lump in his throat did not go away, even after Goh hugged him tighter and they kissed. He still wasn't sure why he said it, but he did. Maybe it was out of desperation, or out of pity for Goh, or maybe even out of regret for accepting Goh's friendly hand a few hours earlier.
It was a little after midnight now, and both boys were getting a little sleepy with all of the fresh air. They stopped in front of Kota's dorm in their usual meeting spot and the nervous feeling came over Kota again. "Well, Goodnight Kota." Goh said before giving a light peck on Kotas cheek. "What, Goodnight? But I-" Goh chuckled softly to himself. "Listen Kota, I know your not ready yet, I mean you'd have to be a total dumbass not to notice. You were a complete wreck until half the date was over." Goh ruffled Kotas hair and flashed him one of his goofy smiles. Kota returned the smile and started to make his way up the front stairs. "Thank you Goh. Goodnight." Goh waved goodbye and started walking to his dorm a few blocks away. He watched as the smaller boy scampered up the stairs and disappeared after the door closed behind him. He flipped open his cell phone and searched through his contact list. "Hey Jin, it's me Goh. What you doing tonight?"
Kota stumbled into the badly lit dorm and squinted to see the room numbers. When he finally found his room he quietly opened the door. It was almost totally pitch black in the room and Kota tripped on a couple of his clothes he had thrown on the floor earlier. 'It would just be a pain to find my sleeping clothes now.' he thought. With that he took off all his clothes except his underwear and crawled into bed.
The next night, Seiji didn't ask Kota to go to the bath house.