Sunday, April 15th – Sunny – Morning

Sunlight was starting to trickle past the blinds and fall on Yu's face by the time he finally stirred. Damn. What...time is it? If he'd horribly overslept and wasted the rest of Yosuke's time here...

He squinted at the clock on the far wall. Nine in the morning. Late for him, but not terrible.

Belatedly, he noticed that the futon that had been next to him was no longer set up, and the young man who had occupied it wasn't in immediate eyesight. Yu blinked a few times, rubbing a hand over his eyes, and sat up. No, his room was empty, and from the looks of it, Yosuke had rolled up the futon and set it next to the closet.

He didn't...! It was too early for the train to have come, right? Of course, Yosuke needed to get back to Inaba for school tomorrow, but nine AM was early even for that long of a ride...

He scrambled to his feet, ignoring his futon in favor of dealing with it later, and made his way into the house proper. "Yosuke?" Please answer, please oh God please, don't have left already, why would you leave without saying goodbye—i

"In here, partner," came the reply, and Yu finally breathed again. He was in the office-slash-spare bedroom. Yu took a deep breath before heading into the room, where Yosuke was already dressed with his hands in his pockets, looking at a photograph sitting on a bookshelf. When Yu entered, his gaze got drawn to the door, and Yosuke smiled. "Morning. Hey, you okay? Looks like you got up in kinda a hurry."

Yu blinked, and subconsciously ran a hand through his hair. There was no telling what he looked like, standing there with bed-mussed hair and rumpled pajamas. "I..." I thought you were gone. I thought you'd left. He couldn't say that. One, it would offend Yosuke that Yu would have even thought that his partner would leave without saying goodbye. And two, it sounded like...

He couldn't think about that. He couldn't think about that.

Yu finally just shook his head. "Guess I just woke up disconcerted, and then noticed you were already up."

"Oh, sorry. I guess it's not nice to vanish on people, huh? I just didn't want to wake you up." Yosuke turned back to the bookshelf and gestured to a photograph. "You still have this."

"Hm?" Yu stepped forward and looked. "Ah. Of...of course I do." He'd dedicated an entire shelf of the bookcase to objects that reminded him on Inaba. In the center, of course, was the group photo they'd taken not long before he'd left.

"Well, I guess it's not a surprise, just... You framed it." Yosuke seemed oddly touched by it.

"It deserved to be framed." Yu shrugged.

"I guess...wait." Yosuke crouched and peered at the back of the shelf, then let out a squawk of protest. "Why the hell is this in a frame!?" He reached in and pulled out a smaller photograph, looking up at Yu in accusation.

Yu tried to hide the smile behind his hand. It was the cell phone photo he'd taken of Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie while they were at the...suspicious hotel in Tatsumi Port Island. "It deserved to be framed?"

"Like hell it did. Ugh, I can't believe you kept this." But there was still a smile on Yosuke's lips, and he hesitated just a little as he set it back on the shelf. Next to Yosuke's attention was the pair of black glasses, sitting right next to the larger picture. The brunet flopped back to sit cross-legged in front of the bookshelf. "Wow, you have these too. Why's the lens broken? When'd that happen?" Yosuke leaned back to look up at Yu.

An indescribable jolt shot through Yu, and he desperately tried to regain what little composure he seemed to have nowadays. "In the battle with Izanami. I don't know what caused it. It was right at the end...they just cracked and I threw them away. But I found them back in my room when we all got home again. I don't know how it happened, but I decided to hold onto them." Yu slowly lowered himself to sit down as well, trying to keep in a reasonable line of sight for Yosuke without crowding him.

Yosuke nodded, tracing a fingertip over the frames but not picking them up. Most of the rest of the shelf was similar objects: a handful of movie tickets, some of which Yosuke would recognize as movies he'd seen with him; a tucked-away (and decidedly not framed) print of the boys in their 'Miss Yasogami' get-ups; a well-worn script covered in notes that he'd gotten from Yumi just before she'd confessed (Yu still felt bad about that); a letter in an envelope addressed to Kou; a string of beads that could have been made by no one other than Nanako...

Yosuke frowned and reached in, picking up a small object and showing it to Yu. "Um? Not really your style, man."

Yu blinked and looked; it was the compact Ai had given him. "Oh. That's...uh, that's Ebi's. She..." Yu sighed. "It's a long and a little uncomfortable story. You remember how I was dating her briefly?" Yosuke nodded. "It...has to do with that. In a way. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to deflect. Most of the story is just Ebi's to tell and not mine."

"No, that's cool. I get it." Yosuke put it back. "I figured it was something like that." Next was a small watch that lit up when Yosuke pressed one of the buttons. "Oh cool, this is sweet."

Yu suddenly felt his face burn. "That's just...it's nothing really..."

"Out of range? What's that supposed to mean?" Aaaand Yosuke had pressed too many buttons. Now, when Yosuke looked back to Yu as the latter didn't answer, his eyes got wide. "Dude! Now I have to know! What's with the watch?"

"It's...n-nothing." He snatched it out of Yosuke's hands, placing it back gently on the shelf. "J-just a present. It's out of range of its...um." Yu snapped, trying to come up with a word that would make sense. "Base." Yup, nailed it.

"Base?" Yosuke wasn't sold. "What, like a charging station, or a sync fob?"

"Yes." That answer came way too quickly. "Exactly. I left it back in Inaba, and I don't wear it as much now so I never asked for Uncle to mail it to me. It's nothing, really. Just a toy."

"...sure, partner." Thank God, Yosuke dropped the subject. That wasn't a conversation he was ready to have, and certainly not with Yosuke. He wasn't sure how to explain it to himself, and he'd been the one doing it... He mentally shook himself, pushing images of Tatsuhime in the snow away. None of that would do anyone any good.

"So what are we gonna do today, partner?" Again, Yosuke's voice brought him back to the present.

"I...hadn't given it much thought. I know we're working on a somewhat limited timeframe, but...maybe we could roam around the city a little? There's an interesting looking action flick playing at the movie theater, and we might have time enough for that."

Yosuke just grinned. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do it."

Morning - Afternoon

They got into the city proper with plenty of time to spare for the matinee, and enjoyed themselves in spite of the (frankly terrible) movie. By the time it was finished, it was just about lunchtime and Yosuke insisted on Yu letting him buy him lunch.

"You've already spent all this money to get out here..." Yu protested, knowing the words would fall on deaf ears.

"Yeah, yeah. So it won't be anything fancy. C'mon, we'll just go get ramen. I saw a shop not too far away."

And so Yu let his best friend drag him to the ramen shop, and it almost felt like they were at Aiya again, but without any promise of a massive beef bowl when it rained or a delivery girl who was terrifyingly good at her job or Daisuke and Kou showing up when you least expected it and...

Dammit.

"Lost in thought again, man?" Yosuke's voice was soft, understanding.

"Yeah." He poked at his noodles with his chopsticks. "Makes me miss Aiya."

"Yeah." The silence that fell over the rest of their meal was thick, but not oppressive. It was like if neither of them talked, they could hear their absent friends in the ambiance. They finished quickly and Yosuke paid, and they walked out into the strip mall again. Yosuke was humming some tune Yu didn't recognize—probably one of the tracks kept forever on loop in his headphones—and looking around without a care in the world.

So clearly, the deafening ticking of the clock was only in Yu's head. He pulled his phone out to look at the time. 1:13 pm. He had to ask. He wished there was anything else he could say, but he needed to ask.

"Hey...Yosuke?"

"Yo."

"When..." Yu swallowed. "When's your train back to Inaba? I don't want you to be late."

"Oh. That. Heh..." Yosuke stopped, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Well...I may have done something a little irresponsible."

He forgot. It was earlier and now he's missed it. He never really had a train ticket back and now I have to buy him one. Fine, I have the money, but then how will I get to Inaba and why... Yu pushed the pessimism away. "Oh?"

"I, uh... I changed my ticket." Yosuke paused, letting the weight of the sentence hit Yu full force before the brunet flashed his trademark sheepish grin and wink. "You seemed really lonely, and what's one day of school missed? I'll get back in Monday night and hit the books again on Tuesday. Dad thinks I got sick and don't want to risk the train trip right now."

Yu couldn't believe his ears. Did he really... I can't... Yosuke was going to be here another day. He'd be here all day today and part of the day tom... "Wait." The euphoria deflated a fraction.

"Heh, I was wondering when you'd catch up to that. I told you I'd done something irresponsible." Yosuke crossed his arms and gave Yu a hopeful look. "Can I convince you to cut classes for one day? Just so that I'm not sitting in your house being bored alone?"

"Yes." The words were out as soon as Yosuke stopped speaking.

Which seemed to surprise the brunet. "Wow, that was easier than I thought. What happened to the studious, 'no I'm going to the library today' Yu?"

"Left him back in Inaba." Yu knew there was a ridiculous grin plastered on his face and he couldn't help it. "That's... I can't..." No, no he was not going to cry, that's ridiculous what is WRONG with him.

Yosuke just grinned, but there was something softer—something genuine—behind the smile that came so naturally to him. "I always talk about how much you changed me," he started, voice low. "But I think I forgot that we must have changed you, too. When you left, we all still had each other to lean on, to see every day, to bitch about homework to. But you...you didn't get any of that. And I think going from what we all had—hell, from that last fight alone!—to being alone in a city, no matter how familiar... Well, I think that'd be rough. And you really look like you could use someone around for a while. I can't push it much farther than I already am, but... I'm here for ya, partner."

Yu's vision was blurring. He still refused to let the tears fall. "I'm going to do something, and you're going to deal with it. Got it?"

"Sure thing."

Yu stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Yosuke in a tight hug, setting his forehead to his friend's shoulder. He had absolutely no clue how Yosuke was going to take this; he remembered the last time he'd hugged Yosuke and that had been...awkward, and then Yosuke had sort of half hugged him outside the hospital after they'd left Nanako. But this...

Yu could hear Yosuke chuckle through the vibrations in his chest, and the brunet put one arm around Yu in return. "You're so weird sometimes, man. Glad I made the right choice, though."

"Thank you," he mumbled, and he felt Yosuke's hand clench into a fist against his back. Taking a deep breath, he pulled away from Yosuke, shaking his head. "Sorry about that."

"I think I'll survive a hug from Yu Narukami." The wink Yosuke gave him sent any doubts he had about whether or not Yosuke was really okay with this right out the window. "So hey. Now that we've got more time, where're we going next?"

"Anywhere's fine with me."

"Oh come on, pick something. I suggested the movie; you've got to have some kind of idea in your head."

"Hmm." Yu looked around, trying to place what he remembered of the city from the last time he lived here. "We could...ah!" He turned back to Yosuke. "There's a park, not too far away, that reminds me of that hill overlooking Inaba. We could grab coffee and go up there."

"Sounds like a plan, partner." Yosuke's grin was infectious. "Lead the way."

He never wanted this to end.

Never.