Chapter Thirty-Five.

Taking care of a friend is a lot of brain work.

She blinks. "W-w-wha-what?" she stutters.

He blinks. He is intensely staring straight into her eyes. And he just suddenly realizes that. "I-I mean, i-if y-you don't want, then it's-"

"I-it's a-actually fine." She blushes. "Actually..." Yume nods.

"Wait…" Kenya blinks out of disbelief. "…what?"

She nods again. Her cheeks turns redder.

"A-are you sure?" Kenya smiles. "I-I-I can kiss you?"

Another nod. Yume gasps as she realizes what she has just done. "Wait, I me-"

He leans towards her and pulls her nearer, his arms wrapped around her waist. "Can I really kiss you right now, Yume-chan?" Kenya asks as he stares right into her eyes.

She nods. Yume closes her eyes as he holds her face nearer to his. Their lips are almost touching.

"I think my instinct to not trust men who come near you after making you cry is a good instinct, Yume-chan." The two young kids just notice that there is someone else inside the room. Yume shrieks and immediately pushes Kenya away from her. Unbeknownst to the two, Zaki has been there the whole time.

Kenya immediately apologizes. "I-I am s-sorry!" he stutters as he kneels on the floor to bow.

Yume is shaking her head as her hands wave crossing each other. "I-It's not what you think! We weren't really doing anything."

Zaki raises a brow. "I've been here a few minutes ago and you two have been staring at each other. Then, your lips almost touched." He frowns. "Can you enlighten me again how that is not what is happening between the two of you?"

"Uhm…" Yume gulps. "I'm so sorry," she mumbles.

Zaki only sighs. "Not that I can control you anyway." He glances at Kenya. "Boy, you can stand up now."

Kenya slowly looks up.

"Just stand up. I still don't trust you, though."

The speedstar stands up in a very stiff posture. "I-I apologize for my misbehavior, Sir!" He gulps.

The butler looks at the two of them. "You two are still young. Please do not do things that you might regret in the future." He turns to Yume. "Especially you, Yume-chan. If your mother ever learns of this, she will get really mad. You should know how conservative of a woman she is."

"B-but we weren't even doing things that-" Yume tries to explain. With just one look from Zaki, the girl stops talking. She has always known that that certain look from the older male only meant one thing – there can be no further arguments. That she has already lost with the dabate.

"Yukihara-san told me to tell you to go downstairs. She prepared drinks and sweets for the guest." Zaki turns away and walks to the door. "We won't speak of this in front of Yukihara-san, understood?"

Yume taps on her kneecaps as she stares at the tray of goodies on the table in front of her. The smell of cinnamon is in the air, and her stomach is longing for a taste of her aunt's creations. She gulps as her eyes cannot move away from the fresh baked pastries on the table.

Sadaharu notices her growing impatience. "Just a few more minutes."

Kenya occasionally glances towards her direction. He just only notices how she looks at the food. He pities her. He looks at Sadaharu. "Inui-kun, what are we waiting for?"

"Who, you mean." Sadaharu checks his watch. "And, they should be here for now."

"Who did you invite, Sadaharu-kun?" asks Yume as she turns her gaze away from the pastries for awhile.

'Krrriiing! Krrriiing! Krrriiing!' The doorbell suddenly rings. Yume and Kenya looks at Sadaharu out of confusion. The dataman, on the other hand, simply smirks then adjusts his glasses.

Yume stands up. "I'm gonna get that." She frowns at Sadaharu. "That is seriously creepy, Sadaharu-kun." She opens the door and walks out of the house. The doorbell keeps on ringing. "Coming!" she announces loudly so that the ringing should stop.

She opens the gate. She blinks once, twice, and thrice. "W-wha…?" Her mouth is left open out of surprise. "…w-what are you guys… doing here?"

Equally surprised, all the guests are unable to say a word. Except for Hikaru.

"Ahh… Yume-senpai, long time no see," says Hikaru. He glances over at his teammates. "And this is the reason why I wouldn't be able to go to the movies with you today."

The Shitenhouji team is in shock. "Wait, what?!"

Yume invites the guests inside the house. They are sitting silently in the living room, except for Kintarou who has been talking to Yume non-stop about 'Eighth Star.' Meanwhile, the whole team is finally relieved to see that Kenya is indeed safe.

Yukihara enters the living room to greet the guests. "Hello, you all must be my acquaintances or, er, friends with my Haru-chan and Yume-chan."

"Haru-chan, pfft." Chitose stops himself from bursting into a laughter.

"Ah! Yes, we are." Shiraishi bows down politely.

Yukihara smiles. She looks at Hikaru. "And, Hikaru-kun is here, too!"

"Hikaru-kun?" Koishikawa raises a brow.

"Yes, Hikaru-kun visits here almost every week. He hangs out with our Yume-chan." Yukihara shrieks. She whispers in a manner that Hikaru and Yume could still hear her, "I think they're going to be dating soon, so I just let them take time outside even until the dark."

Yume and Sadaharu frown.

"Not that they actually hang out until it gets dark." Yukihara gigles.

"Yukihara-san, you're over-romanticizing our hangouts too much," Hikaru comments, "Those are just movies and lunches. Nothing special."

Yukihara winks at the young boy. "Or so you say." She turns to Yume. "Right, Yume-chan?"

Yume sighs as she covers her face. "No," she mutters.

Sadaharu deliberately clears his throat, loud enough to attract his mother's attention. "Please not today, Okaa-san. We're, uhm, having a different discussion here."

The mother pouts. "Fine, fine." She looks at the whole group. "My son wants me out now, so…" a chuckle, "... I'll better go now; I'm off to the kitchen. If you'll need me, you guys know where to find me." Yukihara then leaves the scene.

Everyone feels awkward now. No one is saying a thing.

Kintarou blinks. "Why is no one talking? Is the party over now?" He turns to Shiraishi. "I haven't even gotten my autograph from Mikata-chan."

His captain simply frowns. Shiraishi glances over at Hikaru, who sits put, then to Kenya. He notices how enraged his friend is just by seeing Kenya's facial expressions and posture. "Kenya…"

"I-I apologize for my mother. She is… uhh, sometimes…" Sadaharu clears his throat, "… very nosy and insensitive." He looks at his cousin. "... and she tends to misinterpret a lot of things, so, uhh…" He glances towards Kenya.

The speedstar is silently sitting on the couch, his back slouching and his eyes glued to the floor. There is darkness in his eyes. Kenya suddenly stands up. "I'm leaving," he announces in a soft voice and proceeds to walk towards the door.

"Wait, Kenya-kun!" Koharu calls him. "Don't just run off somewhere again. It's hard searching for you whenever you go missing."

Shiraishi stands to stop his friend. "Kenya-!"

Kenya stops walking. "Is it true? Are you guys really going out?" He turns around to look at Yume and Hikaru. "And behind my back? Really?!"

Yume shies away from his glare. "Th-there's nothing going on. Geez, we just hang out… as friends."

Hikaru looks straight at the speedstar's eyes. "It's not like you and Senpai are or were together anyway."

Koishikawa places a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. "Hey, now. That is going overboard, Zaizen."

"And terribly out of place," Hitouji adds.

Miu stands up. "Come on, you guys. Let's not have this fight here, okay? We can just talk about this calmly and without raising our voices."

"I think I should not be here right now." Sadaharu swiftly sneaks out from the scene.

"Yeah, but you always knew that I like-!" Kenya grunts. He takes a deep breath and walks to the door. "I'm going home!" The door swings open and closes with a loud bang.

Chitose nervously chuckles. "Well, uhm, that was… terribly awkward." He looks at Hikaru. "That was a… kind of a… uhh, heated discussion."

"It was an argument," Hikaru deadpans. "There's no use sugarcoating things."

Kintarou looks at Shiraishi worriedly. "W-why is Kenya mad?"

Hitouji sighs. "This is definitely not how I pictured things would be." He looks at Yume and Hikaru.

"What do we do now?" Gin looks at their captain.

Shiraishi massages his forehead as he groans. "I…I-I don't know." He sighs. "This is one scenario I haven't taken into account." He glances at Hikaru. "You're not dating Kurumizawa-san, are you?"

Hikaru silently looks at him. He does not say a word.

Yume frowns. "We're not dating, okay?" she replies defensively. "We just hang out together. There's nothing wrong with that… right?" She looks at Koharu, Hitouji, Koishikawa and Miu for confirmation. She glances over at Gin. "…j-just two friends… hanging out. Right?"

Miu sighs. "Maybe you guys aren't really dating or you don't have plans to go out as lovers, but…"

"There is no doubt that Kenya doesn't see it that way," Koishikawa explains, "Sometimes jealousy just clouds people's judgment. Especially for Kenya who is prone to jealousy."

"Very prone to jealousy," says Hitouji.

"But it's not like jealousy is a good reason for misjudging other people's relationship," Hikaru comments.

Shiraishi clears his throat. "R-right. It only explains the behavior but that doesn't justify the actions."

"If Kenya-san couldn't even control the way he responds to jealousy, how could we even be sure that he'll have a healthy relationship with Yume-senpai?" Hikaru questions.

Chitose raises a brow. "When did you even get that kind of wisdom?" he comments on the sidelines.

"That is true." Gin nods in agreement. "At the end of the day, Kenya-han would have to sort out his feelings anyway – how he responds to them. Otherwise, his relationship with other people may be compromised."

Koharu pouts. "But we're still Kenya-kun's friend! We should be there to help him out, right?" He looks at everyone. "Right? Right?!"

Kintarou frowns. "I don't really understand. Help Kenya with what?"

"With his life choices, apparently," Shiraishi weakly smiles.

"S-should I help out, too?" Yume asks. "I mean he'll probably be more upset if I suddenly show up. But I just cannot-"

Hikaru scratches the back of his head. "At least he's not as mad at you than he is at me. You don't have to worry about getting most of Kenya-san's rage or something."

Hitouji and Chitose exaggeratedly gasps. They look at each other.

"Was that an expression of concern that I just heard?" Chitose asks teasingly.

Hitouji replies, teasingly as well, "Well, that is what I heard, too!" He looks at Hikaru with a mocking smile. "Isn't that just amazing?"

Hikaru rolls his eyes as he grunts.

"I think Kenya-kun would be very delighted if you were the one to approach him, though," Miu tells Yume. "He probably needs reassurance that there's nothing happening between you and Zaizen-kun."

"But if we do that, aren't we feeding him into his jealousy outbursts?" Hitouji comments, "Like, we're just gonna tolerate the way he behaved and let it pass."

Koharu rubs his chin. "I don't think we really have to do it that way. Maybe he also needs time to think."

"We need to give Kenya-han his personal space first," Gin suggests, "There are things that he must realize by himself. In the same way, Kenya-han must eventually know by himself that it is wrong to make a closed assumption against someone else just because he was having a certain feeling."

Chitose waves his hands in the air to attract everyone's attention. "I am certainly not getting what is happening here. I mean, if we are simply going to wait until Kenya finally gets this 'realization,' when will we know that it is alright to talk to him about it again?"

Koishikawa nods. "I agree. Kenya did take time away from everyone else and he seemed not too eager to return to us until now. How are we sure that he won't lock himself away again?"

Everyone sighs. "Taking care of a friend sure is hard."

~ End Chapter ~