Arriving at Hiroshi's apartment Akari got a little nervous. It was true that they hadn't seen each other for two whole years. It seemed like such a long time. The door was unlocked so Akari walked in hesitantly.

"HiroHiro?" she paused in the entrance.

"HiroHiro? Are you here? Is anyone here? HiroHiro?"

It was actually pretty clean for Hiroshi he was usually a bit messy. Suddenly two hands appeared in front of her eyes and she felt a muscular body behind hers.

"Guess who?"

"HiroHiro! That's not funny! You half scared me to death!"

The hands went to her shoulders and he spun her around. His face hadn't changed at all. She smiled at him. He looked so happy to see her.

"I missed you HiroHiro."

She put her hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. Hiroshi knew about the curse and kissing the other person's check had been their way of making up for hugging.

"You don't know how badly I've wanted to see you! I missed you Akari! You've gotten taller." He teased. He had always been taller than her.

Akari laughed, "Sorry about not keeping in touch with you. You look exactly the way I left you like. Except some things…"

Looking closer Akari noticed that he had gone from being a tall, awkward boy, to being closer to being a man. He was like her brother and she felt pride bloom in her heart for her friend.

"What changed?" Hiroshi asked a bit hesitantly.

Then he smiled, "Am I more buff?" He flexed his arms

She laughed at him, his thoughts were still those of a young boy even thought he looked so much older and more mature.

"You're just…I don't know…different."

"In a good way." She quickly added.

He smiled at this and led her to her room.

"It's the same one you stayed in when you ran away from home two years ago, and all those other times. So…ummm, how's your family doing?"

"They're fine. We just had a little trouble last summer with the twins, they're a handful. How was your summer?" she queried with a smile.

"It was okay. I missed your visits. Um…I was just curious, but…um…I wanted to ask if…um…you, um…"
"HiroHiro! Stop with the 'ums'! Get on with it!"

She loved how this macho guy could stumble so trying to ask a girl a probably very simple question. She decided to help him out in his "time of need."

"What is it? Does it have anything to do with my family? My work in Harushima? What I'm doing here?"

"You don't need to help me! Ima guy, I can do it myself. That's what guys are supposed to do. They hafta ask all those darn questions!"

"Well, what is it then?" she really was getting curious now.

He finally spoke in a fast paced murmur.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Akari was shocked. She didn't think Hiroshi would care about her having a boyfriend or not. When she had broken up with him, he totally understood that it was because of the curse. Why would she get another boyfriend just to dump him again? She told this to him, and as she did, she thought of Yuki. Oh, man. She thought. When Hiroshi gets to the bottom of this, there's going to be lots of explaining to do. But Akari was afraid that Hiroshi would get mad at her for getting another boyfriend after she had dumped him. So she didn't say a word, besides, Yuki wasn't really her boyfriend. They had just sort of separated recently anyway. But as she got ready for bed after having dinner with HiroHiro, she kept wishing that Yuki was here. She knew she shouldn't wish after him when she didn't really deserve him. That night a horrible dream came to her. Yuki and Hiroshi were shouting at each other fervently. Bits of their conversation floated to her dream ears.

"Don't go near her, you rat freak!"
"You're the one who's jealous! I can hug her!"

"Well, she used to be my girlfriend. So stay away. She would never go out with you she only came here to get away from you!"

"Operative word being USED to be your girlfriend, she likes me. You're just a friend. She was confused and needed a break, that's all."

After a restless night Akari woke up with her bed sheets tangled in her legs and sweat soaked her face and hair. What was she going to do?!