Summary: Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

I'm back from finals with a new chapter for all of you. Thank you for those sweet reviews, I'm glad that the past chapters had given you guys some feelings, it's honestly what I aim for when I write.

Well, I guess this chapter is a big leap (i suppose it would depend on how you look at it) as regards Rei and Aya's relationship. But like I said, my aim here is to depict how a love grows, that it's not always love-at-first sight with people, and just because one relationship ends doesn't mean feelings are acted on immediately. Maybe it takes time to even identify these feelings, and maybe some more to actually accept they're there. But yeah. It's steady but it's getting there. So just hang on guys.

Sorry, there's a possibility that there's a lot of grammatical errors, I was just too eager to have it posted already when I finished this chapter. Hope you enjoy this one. Leave a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! nor any of its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

"Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse

There's Nothing Else To Find

"I don't know why I'm here."

"Neither do I."

"You don't know why you're here?"

Rei sighs. "I don't know why you're here."

Tatsuki shrugs, pointing at the sulking Yuuya who was standing listless as the seamstress as looking at the adjustments that needed to be made on the tuxedo he was sporting, "He invited me over." The blonde takes a magazine from the coffee table looking over the catalogue of formal wear, flipping through pages before he decides that he really doesn't care. "So," he starts. "This is what you guys do for fun?"

Rei snickers at the hidden judgment in his voice. "Well, we also like to make fun of Yuuya when we can."

"Oh!" he cheers up. "I like that."

"It's usually Yamato we tease but Yuuya's been in the dumps lately so he makes it easier."

"But he's like a zombie right now," Tatsuki points out, tilting his head to the direction of the sullen groomsman. "How is that fun? Oh—oops, sorry Yamato. I didn't mean to dampen the mood of your fitting."

"Oh, it's okay, Tatsuki," says Yamato reassuringly. "I don't mind. You've become a friend to my groomsmen I've been hearing, and they only have high praises for your cooking so I can't wait for what you have prepared for the wedding. But sorry, you must be bored out of your mind since we're only fitting out tuxes for the upcoming wedding, and the groom was also being measured as he wore the almost-done white tuxedo.

"He's not the only one bored out of his mind," mutters Rei.

"Be nice," scolds Yamato.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," laughs Tatsuki nervously while he sat down on the red plush couch where Rei also sat. "But, uh," he tries to ask before shifting to a whisper. "What's wrong with him anyway?"

"He's been like that for the last few days," answers Yamato in equal whisper. "We suspect he's had quite a bit of a spat with the mystery girl he's dating."

"Oh," says Tatsuki, sitting up straight, intrigued. "A mystery girl, eh?"

If you ask his friends, they would say that they haven't seen Yuuya be so off over a girl except for Ran. It's been odd seeing so affected over a different girl—not that they didn't like it because (they won't admit it but) they are glad he's finally moving on from all his Ran-related drama. But they didn't quite expect him to slump back into dark-age Yuuya so soon after the honeymoon phase of their whirlwind relationship. Plus, they have yet to get a name and a face to this girl (and quite frankly it's driving Masato and Yamato insane).

On the other hand, Rei tries as much as possible not to meddle into his new-found love life (if it could even be considered that). "Don't try asking, we don't know who the girl is," he says.

"Ooh," he coos. "How interesting. "Oddly enough, our friend Mami is also hung up over a guy we haven't met. I haven't seen her get so affected over a guy before, but I'm not sure their relationship is working out well."

There was a brief moment, Rei notices, when Yuuya suddenly looks up to them while Tatsuki spoke, and suddenly he becomes frozen in place, swallowing hard. The groomsmen meet eye to eye, and Rei narrows his eyes at him suspiciously and it makes the other turn away as if something else had caught his attention. Was that a glimmer of guilt he saw?

"That is odd," Rei mindlessly commented, continuing to eye an elusive Yuuya.

He is taken out of his thoughts when Yamato calls him for his turn on the fitting, the oldest Kotobuki taking his spot on the plush couch. Rei stood in front of the mirror, putting on an unfinished jacket while the seamstress adjusts accordingly, taking measurements as she does so.

"Why do you keep her a secret, Yuuya?" inquires Tatsuki innocently, running out of conversation since Rei had left him on the couch with Yamato.

Yuuya groans. "It's just… complicated. Can we please just drop it?"

"Ah," Tatsuki drags out the tone. "Complicated is never good."

A frown makes its way to Yuuya's face as if offended. "That's not fair. Maybe complicated can turn out to be great, you know? Maybe those things that start out complicated will eventually make itself simple."

Tatsuki shrugs, unconvinced. "Or complicated is just complicated."

"Or, just uncomplicated it yourself," offers Rei.

The blonde groomsman sighs, letting his shoulders dip only to be scolded by the seamstress. "Like I said, it's not that simple."

"Okay, enough pressing," says Yamato who was more sympathetic to Yuuya's woes. "Why don't we get some dinner and beer after the fitting, relax a little, you know?"

"Beer sounds good," grins Tatsuki. "I'm in."

Rei raises an eyebrow. "Why are you coming again?"

"Because I'm fucking amazing to be around," boasts Tatsuki. Rei rolls his eyes. "Oh, you love me, Rei. That's why you keep coming back to the office for lunch!"

Rei grimaces. "That sounds more suggestive than it actually is."

"Plus even Yuuya comes by sometimes," notes the chef.

They stay off touchy subject for the remainder of the fitting, and when they finished they have dinner at a bar and grill nearby. They order beers, each having their own reason to consume some alcohol that night. It was Yuuya who finds himself needing the buzz more than the others, quickly consuming two bottles even before they finish the actual food, and currently almost down with his third.

Tatsuki stares at the blonde groomsman as he chugs down the remainder of the beer inside the bottle. "Woah there," says Tatsuki, equally feeling some buzz already. "That woman did a number on you, huh?"

"What?" slurs Yuuya. "No, it was probably—no wait, it is my fault. Seems like everything's my fault. I keep messing up my relationships, you know, if you can really consider this last one a relationship."

"How did it become your fault?" Yamato asks, slipping in the question innocently.

"I think she wanted like a legit relationship?"

"What's a legit relationship? Like is there an illegit one?" asks Rei sarcastically.

"You know, like really dating. Eating out in public together, holding hands—not only sex," says Yuuya uninhibited now.

"Woah woah," interrupts Tatsuki. "That seriously sound a lot like Mami's situation—you remember Mami, right, Rei?—Well, she seems to be falling for a guy who's hung up on his ex."

Rei notices how Yuuya winces again at the mention of Mami's name, making it utterly impossible for him not to make a connection now.

"But you know what, Yuuya," says Tatsuki before taking another long sip of his beer. "You should go out with Aya. I think you would be good for her." Rei has no idea why he had the sudden urge to punch Tatsuki by the arm right now, and if they weren't sitting along an island bar, he would have kicked him too. "You seem like the marrying type," Tatsuki continues. "Aya needs a marrying type."

"She has a boyfriend."

"Not anymore," frowns Tatsuki.

Rei almost spits out the beer he was drinking, but only Yamato noticed the reaction. "What's that supposed to mean?" Rei asks, a lot less calm and monotonous than he would have wanted to sound.

"You don't know?" He looks at Rei curiously. "After Ran's party almost a week ago they got into this huge fight. Blew up, I tell you," he whispers as if there are other customers interested in the conversation. "Anyway, words were said and Takato left thinking Aya needs space. They haven't spoken since then. Ugh, I don't really know what to feel about it, you know? It's like my parents split up or something, it's bothering me quite a bit more than I'd like to admit but—"

"How is Aya?" Rei cuts in on Tatsuki's seeming monologue, hoping no one would catch on his growing curiosity.

Tatsuki blinks at him, tilting his head to the side as if wondering why the answer isn't obvious to him. "Horrible," he says. "She's been in her apartment most of the time and she's a mess. She even refused my baked goods. Nobody refuses my baked goods." Rei has a sinking feeling that Tatsuki's more upset that the chef can't cheer up his friend with his pastries rather than her actual kind-of break-up.

"Are you more upset that she broke up, or that she doesn't want your goodies?" asks Rei with a raised brow.

"Ew," gags Tatsuki. "You don't say 'goodies' and 'want your' in the same sentence. It's just wrong."

But the chocolate-haired groomsman waves him off dismissively.

"So what happened between Takato and Aya?" peruses Yamato, and Rei is thankful somebody finally brings them back to the topic at hand, and likely because he didn't have to ask the question himself.

Tatsuki shrugs. "She hasn't really talked to me about it. But if I had to guess it's probably about her work, or his work. It's been a touchy subject between them as far as I can recall since Aya quit her job in the financial district." He takes a sip of his beer before continuing. "You know I used to like Takato, Mami always said there was something iffy about him. But I don't know, I used to think he was nice—I mean he is nice, but I just don't understand why he couldn't be supportive of Aya. It sucks," he mutters pouting. "What happened sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucking sucks."

"Hey, no need hold back on the profanities on our behalf," says Rei.

"Perhaps Aya should look for a pretty boy, you know?" Tatsuki ignores the joke, now blubbering. Rei never knew Tatsuki could be so unfiltered after his third bottle of beer. They all give him curious looks. "I mean, Takato had always been kind of a nerd guy—ambitious, career over anything type. Maybe what she needs is someone like you," he points out to Yamato with his beer, which surprises the older Kotobuki. "You're pretty."

"And you're drunk," Yamato counters.

"No, I'm just talkative," which was true. "As I was saying. She should get himself a pretty boy, I mean Yamato's marrying Miyu. And Yuuya, he's quite pretty too, sometimes. He seems like a loyal, gonna-marry-you type of guy. She should find guys like us, am I right?"

They laugh at everything he says, finding his good-natured humor quite entertaining and admittedly refreshing for their group.

"Are you basically saying that Aya should be with a pretty boy, and that pretty boy is you?" asks Yuuya in disbelief, finally catching up to the conversation.

"What?" Tatsuki asks, incredulous.

"I mean, sure Aya's pretty," points out Yuuya. "But I mean your friend's ex, really?"

"That's not—she's like a sister to me."

"Oh," says Yamato dryly. "Well, I didn't know sisters were your thing, but since you're not related—"

"What the fuck is happening—"

Luckily, Rei was Tatsuki's saving grace. "Alright, let's give the flustered boy a break."

"Okay, that conversation went somewhere completely off-tangent," mutters Tatsuki, reeling from the joking accusations thrown at him earlier. "My point is, maybe Aya just needs someone different."

"Who's also pretty," adds Yuuya.

"Pretty's never bad."

"Well, for what it's worth, I think you're pretty Tatsuki," says Yuuya out of nowhere. Rei gives him a look and finds his cheeks flushed from all the beer he's drank. Well, there's another guy saying things he ought not to say.

"You think I'm pretty?" repeats Tatsuki, and Rei and Yamato can't figure out why these two are so casually talking how pretty they were.

"Well," Yuuya clears his throat. "I mean, not as pretty as Rei over there, but yeah."

"So if Rei is prettier than me," Tatsuki starts and a grumble can be heard from Rei's direction. "How far behind Rei am I on your list?"

Rei looks absolutely horrified, "Why is there a list—"

"I mean, not far. But then Yamato's a strong contender. Just look at him."

"But you're saying I'm behind Rei?" asks Yamato, offended.

Rei looks at him incredulously. "Don't encourage them," he accuses.

"So what? That makes me third on your list?"

"If I'm only second to Rei on your list, then I'm not sure you should be on my list at all, Yuuya," says Yamato.

"So where am I on your list, Yamato?" asks a curious Tatsuki.

"There's not enough beer in this world to prepare me for this conversation," mutters Rei. "Can you all just stop this nonsense about a list?"

Yuuya grins, putting an arm over his best friend. "Aren't you flattered you're first on my list."

"I don't want to be on your list."

"Where am I on your list, Rei?" pouts Yuuya.

"Way, way behind me," answers Yamato.

"This is sounding way inappropriate," says Rei. "You all know the list isn't real, right?"

But then they weren't listening to him anymore, each person arguing back and forth their points on why each should be placed higher on the other's list. It wonders Rei how they even got to this imaginary list and why it was so important for them not to be on the bottom thereof when it's not like they're each other's dating prospect. Instead, he focused his thoughts on a certain raven-haired girl who, according to her best friend, had likely just ended things with her long term boyfriend. He can't help but wonder how she's doing at that exact moment.

"Rei!" a voice calls him from his thoughts, and he doesn't bother figuring out who it came from.

"Are you listening?" Now he knows the last one was Yuuya, whose mood suddenly made a one-eighty after this conversation. "Don't you think I should be higher up in Yamato's list?"

The brown-haired groomsman groans. "Can we stop it with the list? Somehow the sentiment Yuuya was trying to convey has been lost at this point. And frankly, I don't really care."

They all frown at him. "Well, someone's going one notch down from my list," pouts Tatsuki.

Rei can only roll his eyes, still unable to figure out the stupid list and whatever metaphor it was supposed to mean, if any. Instead of arguing further, he takes out his wallet from the back pocket and pulls out a few bills, placing them on the table before taking his jacket that was hanging over his chair.

"Leaving already?" asks Yamato who was still yet to finish his second bottle.

"Hn," he grumbles. "There's somewhere I have to be."

"Where's that?" wonders Tatsuki out loud, still poking his nose in other people's business as usual. "Are you meeting Hana tonight? I still haven't met her, Rei, and that's saying something considering that all of your other friends already have. I'm quite offended."

"When you're often offended about a lot of stuff, it kinda takes away from the whole point of being offended, don't you think?"

Tatsuki scrunches his face, making a weird and funny look like a child would when he's trying to understand big words. It's probably the alcohol, Rei considers. "I have no idea what you meant by that."

Rei sighs. "Nothing. Never mind. Good night."

"Make good choices!" Tatsuki manages to say, waving his beer bottle in big motions, almost spilling its contents on Yamato and Yuuya, to which Rei rolls his eyes.

Outside was cold, and it was probably because winter was soon approaching, but there was no sign of snow just yet. He takes out his phone and sees that a message had been sent to him.

Are we still on for tomorrow morning?

The message was from Hana. They've gone out on a couple of dates, and Ran had brought her to her party (she was originally Ran's friend, after all) thereby meeting all his friends, and he didn't find dating again so bad, much to his surprise. Although he's not sure yet about pursuing a relationship with her, he wouldn't want to close his doors either. Like what was once said to him, everybody has their own pace.

He finds himself closing his phone without replying to her message, and instead he hails a cab he sees coming at his direction. He gives the driver directions until they finally arrive in front of an apartment building that wasn't his own—in fact he didn't know what possessed him to come to her apartment, but there he was. Rei gets off the car and makes his way to her door—7J, he remembers from the couple of times he's been over.

Why am I even here?

But it's too late now because he was ringing her doorbell, unsure of what will greet him or what he'll otherwise find when the door opens. No one answers and he thinks he should consider that as a chance to back out, but his consciousness had other plans when he presses on the ringer again and he hears the resulting sound from inside. It was only then that he hears the faint sound of feet shuffling making its way to the door.

When the door opens, he is met by Aya in an old university shirt and grey jogging pants. Her hair was disheveled, and the high bun that is was in helped in no manner to hide the frizzy tangles and knots (he was afraid to guess just how long ago she last washed her hair). Her cheeks were red and her eyes were swollen and tear-stained, and she wore an expectant look when she opened the door, but it easily faded away when she saw him.

"Oh," she says, her voice crestfallen. "It's you, Rei."

"No need to get all excited for me."

She frowns, stepping aside to let him in to her equally messy apartment. Papers were everywhere as well as evidence of all the take-out she had ordered from the past few days. "Sorry. I thought you were Takato."

"I'm sorry, I'm not."

She hesitates for a moment before asking, "So if you're here at this hour then you must know what happened. Did Tatsuki tell you?"

He nods, slowly picking up the pieces of paper scattered all over the living room. He looks at one of them and sees that it's a sketch of decorations and different events with different themes. "You sketch these?"

She shrugs. "I sketch a lot when I'm stressed."

He quirks an eyebrow at her and she avoids his accusing gaze. "And the overeating of fast food?"

"That's just hunger."

"Aya," he says softly giving the apartment a once-over again. "You're a mess."

The wedding planner takes her spot at the couch, pulling her legs up against her chest and taking her sketchpad and pencil from the table. "I'm just going through something, okay? I'm allowed to be a mess and to eat an unceremonious amount of junk food while I'm at it so leave me alone."

Her words came with a sting that he didn't see coming, but he knows the act she's trying to pull. He's been there. "I know," he says with sympathy in his voice, still standing across the room, picking up pieces of trash that he passed. "But you can't keep hiding up here. You have a business to run and you have friends who are willing to help you."

"I'm not hiding," she says definitively. "I'm just staying put. Because he'll come back, right?" But Rei doesn't answer, not that he knew the answer to that question either. "So I have to stay here, so he can find me. If he comes back while I'm gone, he'll miss me. I have to stay here."

He's trying hard to find the logic in her statement, but opted not to say anything to correct her. Instead he tries a new strategy. "That makes sense," he says, trying to remove any hint of sarcasm in his voice. "But," he treads carefully this time, taking a couple of steps toward her. "Takato is a smart guy, Aya. Even if you're not here exactly in your apartment, I'm sure he'll be able to find you. He can call you after all. A pretty girl like you? He'd be crazy not to."

There's a brief moment in her eyes that he could tell he was making sense to her, so he ventures a couple of more steps until he's in front of her and he sits down on his calves, putting down the trash he's picked up on her coffee table, among boxes of pizza and bags of chips. He's kind of thankful she didn't pick up on him calling her pretty, and now he's reminded of the earlier conversation on pretty boys.

"And even if he were to find you in this apartment, is this really the sight you want him to see?"

"What are you doing here, Rei?" she finally asks, in a tone that tells him she's finally paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.

"I'm here to check up on you."

She groans tired. "I've only been like this for a few days, okay? I don't need people checking up on me every freaking hour. I've only missed a few days of work, Mami can finally handle the business for once. Tatsuki can keep his nose off my personal business for a while longer. I'm entitled to break down too. I'm entitled to feel like shit."

"They're your friends, Aya. They're only worried about you."

She closes her eyes, regretting yet again the words coming out of her mouth, like she hasn't learned from the past week.

"And you?"

Oddly, he couldn't find himself answering her question. "I've been where you were. I've hurt like you have," he deflects. Instead, he pulls himself up from his seated position and takes a spot beside her on the couch, after setting aside some of her sketches. "I know what you're going through."

"Everybody knows what a heartbreak feels like, Rei," she says, wiping a tear that fell from the edge of her eye. "But you don't know what this feels like."

"What are you talking about?"

She swallows, rubbing her face with her palms. "I said some terrible things to him."

Reaching out, he's careful to take her hand into his afraid he'll scare her. "We say some horrible things to the people we love sometimes. And they know we don't always mean it. If they love you, they'll forgive you."

She bites her lower lip, tightening her grip on his hand. "That's the thing," she says, her voice cracking. "I think I did mean it."

He doesn't say anything, knowing there's nothing he can really say to make her feel any better. He watches her take her free to press against her eyes as if doing so would stop the tears from coming out. There's this weird sensation inside his stomach, a pain he cannot yet associate with seeing her so broken, and he wishes there's something more he could do than hold her hand, and something more he can say than the silence he's offering.

"I told him," she manages to say through sniffles. "I told him it was exhausting being his girlfriend. I'm horrible, aren't I?"

There's something in him that takes him to a different point in time, to that day where he found her note on their kitchen table with the words 'I can't marry you', a note that broke his heart many times over. He wonders if this what she felt—did he exhaust her too? Did she get tired being his girlfriend? Did the prospect of being his wife seem like it was going to suck the life out of her? Did she think about how much she hurt him and if she did, did she break down over it like Aya's doing now?

Maybe she did hurt to. Maybe it was just as difficult for her to make the decision that she did—throwing away a life she thought she was building with someone else. And perhaps he was too consumed in his pain to consider those things. But he'll never know, he supposes, because she's gone and he'll probably never get the explanation he deserves.

"You're not a horrible person, Aya," he says, his voice still laced with concern despite the thoughts that were running through his head. "You didn't want to deliberately hurt him. You were fighting, and you told the things you've been feeling for a long time. He can't fault you for feeling what you felt." He wonders if he meant what he said, and he thinks that he probably does. "On the bright side, you didn't leave him while you're planning a wedding and placing him in a mountain of debt."

He hears her stifle a laugh from underneath her hand.

She lets a few minutes pass between them, trying to take it all in and regain her composure (not that she had shown any since he arrived). And he waits for her in silence knowing it's probably the best thing for him to do at that moment.

"Thank you," she says softly, barely audible.

"For what?"

"Being here."

"Anytime," he says, surprising himself with such commitment, but it was too late to take it back now as she dove for his lap, laying her head on his legs like he was a pillow. He wonders what possessed her to be so audacious as to unexpectedly take advantage of a friend's generosity by sleeping on them—was she like this to all her friends? "Um, what are you doing?"

"You said you're here to comfort me," she says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Was heartbroken-Aya ever so clingy? "This is how my friends comfort me. But they're not here—Tatsuki's supposed to be at some guy's night out with you guys or something. So I guess that makes me wonder again why you're here? And Mami's doing god knows what."

He snickers. "First, I said I was here to check up on you. Second, yes, we were having drinks, and he's probably drunk right now. But I never knew you were such a clingy person."

Never being in such a precarious situation before, not even with Ran because she handled heartbreak completely differently, he's not so sure what he should be doing right now, and more importantly, where was his hand supposed to go? It's pretty awkward to just put them on his sides, and putting them over the back of the couch feels a little uncomfortable with how sunk down he was. So, with much careful thought, he decides to pat her head, like a pet, because she was lying down like a pet would.

He brushes through tangled dark locks, not to mention sticky. How did it get so sticky?

"You know," he breaks the silence. "I know that some girls have a weird penchant for the dramatics, especially over break ups—you know, making the guy see what a mess the girl's become since leaving her and all—but you should probably know, we prefer it if you could wash your hair. And probably clean up the trash too."

"Hey!" she hisses, but having no real energy to turn and face him from her position. "I'm not being dramatic—"

"Like what did you put on your hair anyway? Did you think that the soda was shampoo?"

"You called me pretty a while ago."

He scoffs. "When?"

She turns around to face him, making him uncomfortable as she changes position on his lap. "A while ago! You said Takato would be crazy not to look for a pretty girl like me."

"Well, that was before I knew your hair was mixed with glue."

She glares at him, but to him she only looks funny with her face all scrunched up, strands of hair all over her face. "Oh, you think you're hair is so nice? What's with the do anyway, are you auditioning for a Korean boy band?"

"Don't hate on the hair just because yours looks like a hurricane blew by," he retorts smugly. "And just so you know, my hair is silky smooth."

"What are you a shampoo commercial?" She hoists herself up, positioning herself so she's leaning against his chest, trying to tousle the groomsman's hair. She places both her elbows on his shoulder as she reaches, putting their faces mere inches apart, but she doesn't notice their proximity as since she's so focused on his hair, and when he finally gets a grip on them, it was exactly as how he described. "What the hell—Why is this so soft?"

He shrugs looking at her face that's so close to his, watching her gaze on the top of his head.

"What do you use on your hair?"

"Stop it," he tells, now feeling the awkwardness of the proximity.

"Do you use honey or something? Because I think I smell honey in there somewhere."

"Aya," he says with more authority.

She shifts her gaze from his head to his delicious brown eyes. "What?"

When her dark orbs finally meet his, he forgets what he has to say, and suddenly he takes particular notice of just how long her lashes are, and how round her eyes really are, things he hasn't really paid attention to before. Were her eyes this mesmerizing?

He feels his breath hitch the longer they stare at each other, until finally her elbow slips from one of his shoulders, causing her to lose balance. He immediately puts his arm around her back to steady her and he thinks that's the only time she realizes just how close he was to her face. She blushes at his touch, feeling the strong grip around the small of her back, and she puts both her hands on each of his shoulders, blinking profusely.

"Um," she mumbles, unsure what they were talking about.

But then their moment is disrupted when the door slams open.

"Aya, I'm here!" declares Mami before she takes in the sight before her.

Her surprised expression is probably enough to tell Rei just how suggestive their positions were. He sees the blush that creeps up Aya's cheeks as she turns to face her friend. She lets go of his shoulders first, and he makes sure she's steady to sit back on the couch before he lets go of his guiding hand on her back.

Aya struggles to look presentable in front of Mami whose stance has now shifted to a more maternal gesture (although there was probably no way Aya could look presentable in the state she was in).

"Mami," Aya says, finally. "I didn't think you were coming anymore."

"You're not Takato," Mami points out to Rei who was getting ready to stand up.

"Well, your friend's here now," he tells her. "I should probably get going."

Aya nods guiltily, as if she was caught doing something she shouldn't have.

"Bye, Aya," he manages to give her a small smile which she returns.

Rei makes it past the peering eyes of Mami, and out the door. He sighs when he thinks he's in the clear, mentally slapping himself for whatever it was that happened in that apartment. He scratches the nape of his neck as he continued to make his way to the elevator when he hears his name being called out. He turns around to see that Mami was trying to catch up to him.

"What?" he asks.

"Rei," Mami says, and there was something in the way she says his name that tells him she doesn't really like him. "I know that you and Aya have been friends for a while now."

He's not really liking the tone of where this was going.

"But I've known Aya for a very long time. And I may not always approve of the way Takato treats her or their relationship, but I just want you to know that starting a relationship before another has even come to a complete end is never a good start."

He shifts his footing uncomfortably, facing her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she sighs. "I mean, here you are."

"Here I am what?"

"You're here, at her place, comforting her over a maybe-break-up when it's obvious that you have feelings—"

"I'll stop you right there," Rei says. "I'm just being her friend. I know what it's like to go through a bad break up. I'm just comforting her." He winces at the use of the word comfort, remembering the earlier conversation.

Mami shrugs, telling him to believe what he wants to believe. "Like I said, it's never a good way to start your relationship when the other has just ended."

"Look, I don't think you're the best authority to tell me how a good start to a relationship looks like," he hisses, annoyed at the way Mami's making him feel. But then he immediately regrets making that remark.

Mami raises a perfect brow. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He sighs, he might as well spill what he thinks he knows. "You and Yuuya?"

Immediately her authoritative stance falters, and her face is flushed red. "What?" Mami stutters. "How did you—"

"I didn't," he says quickly. "Well, not really. I had an inkling. You just confirmed it for me."

Mami bit her lip, still trying to recover form the initial shock of the revelation. She looks over her shoulder to make sure Aya hasn't come out of the hallway.

"I'm not going to tell her," Rei tells Mami seeing the worried look on her face. "I'm just saying. We don't always get to control how relationships start—not that I'm starting one or will start one with Aya. I just want to point out that some relationships don't start out with the ideal."

"But that's different," she says, making Rei grow a curious look. "We're not stepping on anyone else to start a relationship—not that we're about to, anyway."

"And I'm not planning to either," Rei replies with conviction. "And just so you know, Yuuya has been really down lately. Whatever he did to you, or didn't, he seems repentant."

Mami was about to say something, but the bell signifying the arrival of the elevator just rang, and the doors had opened. Rei steps inside, and immediately presses the button to close the doors. When she's finally out of sight, he leans back against the walls of the elevator, releasing a breath he's been holding out for a while now.

How'd I even get into this mess?

Suddenly being reminded of something, he takes out his phone from the pocket of his jeans, going to the messages he's left unanswered, or, rather, just one in particular. He starts to type out a reply.

yeah. see you.