"So you really know him. Are you relative?"

Shin turned to her for a second with a sudden annoyance grew in his heart, then back to his tea and played the straw but said nothing.

"How's he?"

Once again he turned to her. This time he looked at her properly.

"Why do you want to know?"

Yamaguchi took a seat beside him and sighed almost dramatically.

"I still remember few days ago I told you that he tends to bottle up his feeling than exposes it. I saw him yesterday and I don't like the way he smiled."

Shin looked at her in silent.

You don't change at all. You still care too much to your student.

"So far I remember he never smiled that way. Seeing him yesterday made me think that he tried to hide all of his sorrow inside him and doesn't want to share it to anyone."

"Is it important for you to know what he's thinking? Is it important for you to know his feeling?"

Yamaguchi stunned at the sudden cut. She blinked silently to Shin who was staring intently to her. She suddenly felt as if being interrogated.

"Why do you really want to know?"

"I …, isn't it obvious? He's my student, and I know that he's suffering. I want to help him."

"He's not your student anymore. He's graduated."

"He is still my student, and will always be forever."

"Am I still your student too?"

Yamaguchi stunned. She looked at Shin without blinking for a while before threw away her stare and nodded. "Of course. Of course you're still my student."

Shin chuckled lightly. He could catch the stutter in her voice.

Uncertain. Why are you stuttering? Is it that hard to admit that I'm not your student anymore? Does this mean I'm really just a student for until now? Nothing else? Just a student? Your student?

Shin felt his chest tighten so sudden. He gulped and gritted his teeth. A sudden anger suddenly crawled to his heart. He silently took deep breath many times.

I'm nothing to you.

Yamaguchi gulped her juice to hide her nervousness. Once again she could feel her heart beat to loud. She believed that she could even hear the beat. She closed her eyes and took a very deep breath.

Come on. Why I suddenly feel this nervousness? What is happening to me? This is Sawada. My student.

She opened her eyes so sudden when realization came to her.

Am I still judge him as my student. If so? Why I feel this uncertain feeling? What is happening to me? I declared myself to be their teacher forever but now my heart beat to loud in front of my former student like a little girl who was sitting side by side with her first love?

Suddenly she stunned once again and blinked many times. She peeked at the person who was sipping his juice slowly.

Am I falling in love?

She reached her juice and looked at the orange liquid seriously.

To him?

She then smiled and shook her head.

There's no way I fall for him. He is my student.

She blinked and put her glass.

He was. He's my former student, which means, he isn't my student anymore, which means, we're legally two matured person who legally fall in love to each other.

She turned to Shin and looked at him for a while, and suddenly her cheek grew red and she stood up when her heart beat too loud once again.

"I'm leaving!"

She almost ran out the shop to hide her nervousness and didn't even look back to check whether Shin was trying to catch her or not. She felt too shy to do it.


"You shouldn't do that, Shin."

He looked up to meet the calming gaze of his best friend.

"You shouldn't judge her that way."

"I didn't."

"Yes, you did. Are you jealous over someone else? Who? Do you think she falls for someone else? I never see her this nervous."

Shin breathed heavily. He looked at Kumai and found that the fat man was right after all. He nodded and move out of the store.

He thought deeply about all of their conversation in Kumai Ramen along the way, especially about the way she stuttered. He thought so many possibilities of it but in the end, he was too afraid to conclude anything.

Slowly, he opened the door and closed it as silent as he opened it. He leaned to the door for a moment and fell into a deep thought once again.

Why? Why did I do that?

He walked to the balcony and looked up to the sky. It was blue, and suddenly his thought was clear as the sky. He pursed his lips and suddenly realized his stupidity. Why should I get mad at her? She's been like that since the very beginning. She's been too cared to her students even when they had graduated. Why should I get jealous over it?

He stunned suddenly for a while. He blinked many times to assure himself that he was thinking what he thought.

Jealous? Is this how it feels?

He looked away to hide his shyness, but then he realized that he shouldn't do that because no one was staying with him. He was all alone.

Am I jealous over my own cousin? There's no way Yamato falls for her? I do really know him, I'm sure.

Suddenly he once again stunned.

Or, the reverse. Yankumi is falling to him. He has the look. He's taller than me, and perhaps she had found out that he's smart too.

He looked up to the blue sky.

I wish I have a heart as wide as the sky so I won't feel anything when all I think about Yamato is right.

He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

Oh my God. What should I do if she really falls for him? Should I go back to Africa?

He opened his eyes and looked to his right. He could feel his heart jumped out of his ribs when he found Ryu was smiling in front of him.

"You look so desperate, what happened? Did you confess and she rejected?"

Shin blinked many times and breathed heavily."She interrogated me about Yamato."

Ryu smiled mischievously. "And you get jealous over it?"

He breathed heavily and turned over, shook his head while leaning to the rail of the balcony. "I don't know that I'm this stupid."

"You're not. Everything is legal when you're falling in love. Even that jealousy."

"To my own cousin, Ryu."

"Both of you and Yamato are adults."

Shin chuckled. "He doesn't even reach his twenty yet and you consider him as an adult."

Ryu blinked his eyes in silent. He just realized that Yamato wasn't an adult yet. "You're right. He's only eighteen, almost nineteen. The gap between his age and Yankumi's is too far. So scratch Yamato from the list."

"As you said before that everything is legal when you're falling in love, and so the age. When you fall in love, you won't consider anything. You will just surrender to the feeling and forget everything."

Ryu chuckled and shook his head. "As usual. You learn fast."

Shin walked into the room. "I won't take that as a compliment."

"Why? It's true."

Shin scratched his shoulder and looked at Ryu. He sighed heavily once again, made Ryu chuckled loudly at his attitude.

"How's Yamato?"

"So far so good but I don't like his look.

"She said that too."

"Who? Yankumi?"

Shin threw himself to the couch. "Not exactly the same but she said something about Yamato looks different and she didn't like it."

Ryu chuckled lightly. "She always cares to her student, right? I suddenly remember she once told me about Yamato being jailed of false accusation. She, and his friends, fought hard to prove that he's clean. She made it. They made it."

"Jailed? When? I never heard about this?" Shin looked at him seriously.

"He never said anything about it too. I will never know about it too if Yankumi never tells me."

"What is it about?"

"Something about assault. He didn't do it. He was just there, accidentally, trying to save middle school students who were being mugged by some people."

Shin looked at him without words. "Nobody tells me about this."

"He never mentioned it too, even Aunt Yoshiko. Yankumi accidentally told me. You can ask Kumai for the details. He knew everything."

Shin furrowed his brows. He thought hard but nothing came to his mind. It was too dull so sudden. He couldn't think anything.

"Are you okay?"

He turned to Ryu and blinked. "Huh?"

"This …," Ryu pointed at between his brows. "when you furrow this part, you are confused. About what? Yankumi?"

"No." He looked at Ryu and sighed. "I don't know."

Ryu smiled mischievously. "Don't worry about Yamato. He will be fine. He will recover before you realize everything. He will show us that he is strong enough to face the truth that his mother is gone."

Shin bent over and face palmed himself. "We know that he isn't that strong, Ryu."

Ryu pursed his lips. He didn't say anything because he knew that the older was right.

"And I believe that Yankumi is right when she said she didn't like the way he smiled. He's too transparent. Everybody could read him clearly that he's hiding his true feeling."

A knock on the door almost startled them. They looked at each other for a moment before Shin stood up and walked into a room, leaving Ryu who slowly moved to the door. He opened it and stunned.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

Ryu opened the door widely and let the guest came in.

"I saw you in the mourning house few days ago. Is Ogata your relative?"

Ryu threw himself to the couch and chuckled. "Is it important for you to know that we're relative or not?"

"You won't be there if you aren't related to each other. It's a closed ceremony, you know. Only for family and close friends. So far, I know you don't know him closely. You just met him accidentally in Kazama's case. So I believe that you're relative."

Ryu smiled lightly. "What are you going to ask actually?"

The person looked at him and sighed. "I don't like the way he smiled. He's not fine. I want to help him."

Ryu blurted his light laugh. "Are you sure? Do you know where he lives?"

The person didn't answer him.

"Yankumi, you don't even know where he lives. How will you help him in case something is really happening to him?"

Yamaguchi blinked his eyes and sighed. "He never said anything even to defend himself. He will just do what people say to him. He won't refuse."

A thought flashed in his mind, made Ryu lost his smile. He gulped and took a glance to the closed door beside him. "Yankumi. Are you in love with Yamato?"

He clearly could see Yamaguchi was stunned. The woman turned to him too sudden and he could see her cheeks grew red.

Oh my God. No.