Chapter 3

Kairi was at my house in less than half an hour.

After I'd told her everything that had happened, she said that she'd be right over so we could talk about it in person. She'd even dragged Sora along for the ride, which he didn't appreciate initially—until he also got an earful of my story, after which he also took active interest.

"Man, I always knew something was off about that guy," Sora remarked. "No offense," he tacked on hurriedly after receiving a harsh look from Kairi.

I shook my head. "It's okay," I said as I crossed my arms, feeling unpleasantly puzzled. "He is acting really strange…stranger than usual. He's never invited me to go anywhere before; he's borderline agoraphobic."

"Well, didn't he say something about opening up about himself?" Kairi noted. "Maybe this is his way of telling you that he's more comfortable with you now."

"I guess…but it doesn't make sense why he'd do that at an awareness event, of all things," I said. "Maybe it has something to do with what exactly he wants to tell me, but…"

"Why ask about it now?" Sora grumbled, playing with a stray strand of string off the sleeve of his shirt. "Just go to the park tomorrow and see what he wants from you there. It's the easiest way to find out, isn't it?"

He had a point. We would just worry ourselves into a frenzy about this whole thing without even knowing Natsu's actual motives. But it was hard to keep it out of my head—you just get really paranoid when you're in a relationship and your partner suddenly starts acting oddly.

"I know," I admitted helplessly. "I just can't help but worry that something's wrong."

Kairi placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry; I'm sure things are fine," she said reassuringly. "We'll go with you. Natsu said it was fine if you invited us, too, right? If anything happens, we'll be there with you."

I smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks, Kairi," I said. "You're the best."

Sora just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Kairi got permission to stay the night at my house so she could easily accompany me on the day of the event. That made this situation a little easier for me to handle. I couldn't thank her enough to sacrificing her own time to make me feel better about this whole thing.

Because honestly, I had no idea what to feel yet.

"Okay, let's recap," Kairi said matter-of-factly some time after Sora had left for home, sitting cross-legged on my bed. "What should we consider about Natsu to get a grip on this situation? I mean, besides being more comfortable with you, there has to be some other reason he's doing this. Any idea what it could be?"

I rested my chin in my hands worriedly. "I don't know for sure," I confessed. "Like I said, he hardly ever talks about himself, like—like he's ashamed or something."

Kairi raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Ashamed of what?"

She really wasn't helping with that in this discussion. I'd told her multiple times already that I didn't know. How was I supposed to guess anything?

I just shrugged helplessly. "I don't know; it's…well, that's mostly why I'm afraid to ask him anything about himself. I'm afraid that if I do, I might—you know, break something."

Kairi frowned. "He seems…fragile to you? Is that what you're saying?"

"…Basically."

This conversation was going nowhere. Kairi seemed to notice that, too, because she decided to change tack.

"Okay, then; let's think more recently," she suggested. "Has he been acting strange lately before today?"

I had to think about this for a bit. No offense to Natsu, but it was hard guessing whether or not if he acted stranger than usual because, well…he always acted strangely—at least compared to everybody else.

"I guess I'd have to say…a little jumpier?" I pondered. "I mean, he's always jumpy, but it's been more and more noticeable lately. He gets nervous every time I ask him if he's okay."

"More than usual?"

"Yeah."

Kairi crossed her arms and furrowed her brow in deep thought. She sat that way for a minute or two before she let out an exasperated huff and flopped backward on my bed. "Geez, I give up. That Natsu's much weirder than I gave him credit for. No offense to you or him."

"Right." I fiddled with my phone, absently flicking from photo to photo I had taken of Natsu and me. As far as I knew, he didn't even have a phone—and if he did, he didn't want to tell me his number for some unfathomable reason. Even I marveled at the fact that our relationship was working at all without a means to really contact him myself. "Still…it's odd how he told me to not do any research on the event that he wants me to go to. Why is he telling me to go into this blind?"

"Who knows," Kairi sighed in annoyance from her sprawled position on my bed. "I guess he just want you to get the message as cleanly as possible…whatever it is." She started playing with a strand of her hair. "Sora was right. Let's just wait until the event starts and then we can go see what the heck's up with him. None of this contemplating is giving us any answers to begin with."

"…Okay. You've got a point."

"Great." Kairi sat up. "Let's get some sleep now. I need to be awake early enough if I want to knock Sora's lazy butt out of bed before noon."