"Hey, Naoko-chan! You want to go grab lunch?"
Naoko gave her friend an apologetic wave. "Sorry, but I'll have to pass today. There's something I have to do." After they parted ways, Naoko left the campus without waiting for Oikawa—he still had a class to attend.
With purpose, she strode to the train station. The entire journey was a blur, but she made it to the memorial park eventually. She found herself standing in front of Kuroo's grave, which had flowers and incense strewn around it. She righted them. This wasn't the first time she had done something like this—when her parents had passed away, she'd done the same, but eventually she'd stopped going.
"Hey, you bed-haired cat." She paused, considering her words. "This doesn't count as disrespecting the dead, now, does it?" She removed a box of cake from the plastic bag she was carrying with her. Unorthodox, but not unheard of. "You weren't the most fond of sweets, but... this was one of the desserts you actually liked." His death was a fresh wound on her heart, and she nearly winced when the wind blowing against her face was her only answer. Granted, she would probably have a heart attack if he suddenly jumped out from his grave, but...
She didn't want him to be lonely, strangely enough. She knew how loneliness felt, and it was a terrible thing. Of course, he was dead, and Naoko was entirely superstitious, but—
"Oh—hey! Are you Makoshima-san?"
Naoko turned, eyes widening slightly when she saw a man holding a closed umbrella approaching. He had grey and black hair styled in a way that reminded her of a horned owl, but she was polite enough not to stare for too long. She vaguely recognized him from Kuroo's photo gallery. "Bokuto-san, right?"
"Hah, yeah..." he trailed off, sidling beside her and looking down at Kuroo's grave. "Hey, Kuro, old buddy." Naoko simply stood in silence as Bokuto had the rest of his conversation with Kuroo in his head. If a few tears slipped out, he pretended they weren't there, so she did, too.
"Wait." Naoko stopped him when he tried to leave. "Have you by any chance talked to Tooru?"
"Eh? Oikawa? We're not that close, but we sometimes talk. Haven't heard from him for a while though. What's up, Makoshima-san?"
She wasn't really sure how to continue. After all, how could she tell him that Oikawa seemed convinced that foul play was afoot? It wasn't as if she disbelieved him—for all his rambling about aliens, Oikawa had a surprisingly good sense of judgement a steady grip on reality—but—but—
I don't want to get his hopes up.
"I... just need to get your opinion on something." Naoko paused, wondering how exactly to word what she was about to say next. "If only two people live together, and neither of them did the dishes after dinner but found them clean the next morning... What would that mean?"
Bokuto lifted his eyebrows. "Is this a hypothetical situation, or...? It sounds like you have a cleaning fairy floating around you." He chuckled shortly before his face turned unexpectantly solemn. "Realistically, though?"
Naoko inched forward.
"It... It sounds like you have a third person in your house."