"Um, Heisuke-kun?"

"What is it, Chizuru?"

She paused as she steeled her nerves, taking in a deep breath.

"Earlier today, during lunch," She looked at him, hoping to gauge his reaction to her words, "After I went after Saitou-senpai, you seemed unhappy somehow… And when I wanted to help out Okita-senpai, I got that feeling from you too. Um, did I upset you somehow?"

It didn't seem like he was unhappy with her, but she could not disregard the fact that he could be unhappy because of her, as egocentric as the thought was.

Heisuke-kun opened his mouth, and she could tell that he was ready to make up some excuse or outright deny her claim; not only was his eyes shifting from her to the ground, but she noticed that his eyelid was twitching the way it did whenever he was trying to come up with a lie. Perhaps he knew that she had seen right through him, but he promptly pressed his lips together after noticing her intense stare. After what seemed like forever – but was in fact no longer than a minute – he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I wasn't unhappy, not really," He replied with another sigh, his expression sheepish, "I was just… I guess the best way to describe it is that I was just surprised."

"Surprised?"

"Yeah," The smile he flashed was equally sheepish, but it reassured her that he was now telling her the truth, "It's just that you only met Souji and Hajime-kun recently, but you're going out of your way to befriend them…"

"About that…" She pursed her lips, "I can't help wanting to know them better. Today, when Saitou-senpai left the classroom with Okita-senpai, I thought that if I didn't go after him, it feels like I might not see him again."

Her laugh was strained, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was saying.

"That must sound really weird, right?"

"No, not at all," Heisuke-kun's quiet, sincere answer surprised her, especially since she could not detect any sarcasm from his words; she thought that he would tease her about it for sure. When he provided no explanation as to why he would say that, she frowned – only to quickly perk up again, as a new thought occurred to her.

"Oh! Maybe I feel that way because they are Heisuke-kun's friends?" She mused, "If they are Heisuke-kun's precious friends, I would like to get along with them, and to do that, I'll need to know them better."

"Eh? Precious friends sound a little-"

"Heisuke-kun, you're always helping me out," She didn't give him the chance to finish, her smile widening as she glanced fondly at him, "Even now, you're here because you wanted to make things easier for me, right? So, for your sake, I'll get along with the people around you. I'll make a good first impression as Heisuke-kun's best childhood friend!"

His eyes widened before he burst out laughing, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Chizuru, you're really the best!" He said between bouts of laughter, and she couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was teasing her. After a moment, however, his expression turned solemn. A faint blush graced his cheeks as he grinned, averting his eyes in a manner that made him appear uncharacteristically shy.

"You know, I wasn't lying when I said that I was surprised, but to be very, very honest, I guess I was a little… Um, envious as well."

She nodded slowly to show that she was listening, and to encourage him to continue.

"Well, I didn't want to have that position taken away from me," He admitted, his voice barely above a whisper; his blush had deepened, and he was avoiding eye contact entirely now, "Seeing the way you went after Souji and Hajime-kun made me wonder if maybe you'll get along with them more than you'll get along with me."

Her heart had started to race, and she could feel her own face heating up at how earnest Heisuke-kun sounded; his friendship meant a lot to her, but she never knew that he felt the same way.

"There's nobody like Heisuke-kun," She replied with as much sincerity as Heisuke-kun was showing her, ignoring how forceful she probably sounded, "So please don't think that you can ever be replaced so easily!"

His eyes widened slightly as he mulled over her response. A moment later, he broke into a grin, his cheeks still flushed; he didn't need to say anything for her to know that he was now back to being his usual self. They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they continued on their way, simply enjoying each other's company before he suddenly sped up. When he was a few paces ahead, he looked back at her over his shoulder, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Come on, Chizuru! Let's get there super early!"

He stretched out his hand towards her, his grin widening. She returned the grin and took his hand, almost stumbling when he playfully tugged her forward, earning a yelp of surprise from her and a bark of laughter from him. As soon as she had regained her balance, however, they raced down the corridor, giggling and laughing gleefully while ignoring the looks curious students were giving them. She wondered how much trouble they would be in if they were found out by the disciplinary committee, but the thought was brief and she was having too much fun to worry; you would only be in trouble if you got caught, after all!

Besides, Heisuke-kun's hand was warm, and his grip was firm and kind.

It reminded her of when they were children, and how he would often hold her hand in order to comfort her; as a child, it made her feel almost invincible. She was a timid child, quick to resort to tears, and he was a bouncing ball of sunshine; when they met in kindergarten for the first time, nobody would ever have predicted that they would become fast friends. Although she was young at the time, she could remember bits and pieces of the first time they met…

"Father! Father! I want my father!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks, pouring from her eyes like twin waterfalls as she pressed her small body against the door, standing on tiptoes as she reached for the doorknob.

"Father!"

"Come come, Chizuru-chan," Her teacher had carried her away from the door, but the adult's cooing and back pats did little to calm her down. Being carried did reduce her crying to soft sobs, however, and the teacher seemed satisfied with that, "Your father will be back later, alright? Let's play with the other children first."

She nodded, unable to speak through her sobbing, and felt herself being lowered onto a chair. For a few minutes, she simply sat there, staring at the piece of paper on the table in front of her. Tears were pooling in her eyes, but she didn't allow them to fall; she would hate for her father to see her crying, when he does come to pick her up.

"Can I have that?"

Upon hearing the question, she turned to face the boy seated beside her; his right hand was gripping onto a crayon tightly while his left hand was sprawled out over her piece of paper. When he saw the tears glistering in her eyes, he frowned.

"Are you crying?"

Her lower lip trembled; his innocent question had made her think of her father, and she was on the verge of bursting into tears again.

"F-father…" She mumbled, sniffling as she rubbed her tears away with an arm, "Want… Father…"

"Your father will be here soon!" He replied loudly, and had thrust the crayon towards her after a moment's hesitation, "I'll even let you have this super special crayon until he comes back!"

When that didn't stop her tears, he slammed he crayon down on the table, and snatched her hand.

"I'll protect you until he comes back!" He declared, squeezing her hand tightly. When that seemed to get her attention and help with the tears, he grinned, pounding his free hand against his chest with vigor, "So don't cry! I'll protect you!"

By the time they reached the Kendo club room, both of them were panting heavily. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, but she still found the breath to laugh as her knees gave way and she crumpled to the floor. Heisuke-kun stood beside her as he panted and laughed along, doubling over with his hands on his knees for support. When her breathing went back to being somewhat normal, she glanced up at him.

"Heisuke-kun, remember when we first met?"

"Eh, you mean in kindergarten?"

"Yes! You held onto my hand the whole day, until my father came to take me home."

"That's because you wouldn't stop crying!" He laughed even harder, almost gasping for air as he slicked his sweat drenched bangs back from his forehead. His reply made her heart swell as it proved that he remembered their first meeting as clearly as she did, "I even got my parents to wait for your father for an hour after they came to pick me up… It's been so many years since then, huh?"

His laughter ebbed, and his expression softened as he smiled to himself, a faraway look in his eyes.

"What are you thinking about, Heisuke-kun?"

"Huh? Um… About how amazing it is that we're still friends, I guess?"

"That's a kind of fate, isn't it?"

"Well, you could call it that!" Heisuke-kun laughed, "I mean, someone's gonna be there to make sure you don't get lost all the time, right!"

"Eh?! Heisuke-kun!"

Author's notes:

Wow an update that didn't take 2 weeks! :'D I actually had some free time, so here you go!

toshimi-chan - Hehe Kazama will certainly be properly introduced later in the story!

pluechan - Thank you for your kind words! I like how the role of childhood friend seems to really fit Heisuke. XD