Five


That afternoon, Toudou sat on a bench on the bank of the Seine. He barely saw the bright Fall afternoon surrounding him. He was blind to everything. Then, he felt a hot coffee cup against his back. He jumped, squawking, and turned to see Carmen. Her mouth was pressed into an unimpressed line.

"So, you finally saw him," she said.

Toudou nodded, taking a long swig of the coffee. It burned his throat. Toudou hated that Maki-chan's sudden reappearance could do this to him. "Yeah," he croaked.

"So, what happened?" Carmen asked, sitting next to him.

Slowly, Toudou answered, as if in a daze, "I couldn't do anything…. I just ran away."

Carmen sighed. "Jinpachi…" she started.

"He was using cane, Carmen," Toudou blurted out.


Earlier that morning, Makishima stood in the doorway of his brother's office. He looked much the same as he had six years ago; Maki-chan still had freakishly long limbs, long green and red hair, and long features. Everything about Maki-chan was long…

"Yuusuke," Ren said, startled. Toudou heard him rise behind him. But he paid little attention to Maki-chan's older brother. His eyes had fallen on the long wooden cane that Maki-chan leaned on. His knuckles were white on the cane, as he stared at Toudou with shock and… was that longing?

No, Toudou thought, slamming the door on that thought.

"Toudou," Yuusuke blinked, shocked.

Toudou bowed slightly at Yuusuke, before quickly running from the room.


Carmen sighed, "Wow…"

"I know," Toudou said. "I don't even know what to think." He leaned back on the bench looking up at the bright blue sky, the same sky under which he had raced with Maki-chan.

"You know," Carmen said. "You've never really told me about him…. I know you two have history. That's obvious."

"Yeah," Toudou chuckled, a mere shadow of his usual loud laugh. "We have some history all right." He straightened and looked at Carmen. "Did you want me to tell you?"

"Only if you want to," Carmen shrugged.

Toudou sighed and leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. "We were eternal rivals in high school. Maki-chan's an amazing climber…. We were pretty much equals back then. I won our last contest at the Interhigh our last year. He pushed me further than anyone I've ever met." He paused taking a sip of his coffee. "Our last year, we became friends of a sort. I was… well, I was incessant. I called and texted him constantly. But, I know that he liked me anyway…. At least, that's what I have to think. Then, he went off to London for university. We talked all the time, but things didn't really get started until I visited him for two weeks in March…"