For some reason the road ahead of him had felt endless the whole time he had been driving. It had been just measly couple of hours in reality but Komaeda was feeling like it was evening already; maybe it was the tiredness he felt after last night. He glanced at Hinata who was staring out of the window, and returned his eyes to the road.

He didn't know how to phrase it but there had been something… odd about Hinata the whole day. He had been initiating a lot more conversations than usually, and so many of them had been about Komaeda. He had said he didn't mind answering if Hinata was interested, but there was a weird feeling in the back of his head every time. He wasn't really that used to talking about himself, and usually he would even try to avoid it, but...

He still felt nervous that Hinata had asked him if he had woken up during the night. He had lied, kind of, but the other didn't seem to have noticed anything. It hadn't probably had any meaning to it, but it still made him feel a bit uneasy and even more guilty. He really hadn't learned anything at all. He bit his lip. If he allowed this to continue, there would rise a risk that his luck would…

"Aren't we going to stop?" Hinata asked, interrupting his thoughts. They had just passed by a gas station and they hadn't stopped even once since they left, so Hinata's question wasn't at all out of place. But it still took Komaeda a bit by surprise, since he had planned on stopping at the station.

"I'm sorry, I was lost in thought. I'll turn back as soon as I can," he said as he began to already think of a place where he could turn the car around. Hinata didn't answer him, but Komaeda did notice the other was looking at him. It was making him feel jittery. He should just get to the gas station quick.

As he began to slow down to turn, he remembered yesterday and Hinata's panic attack. He could finally try to find out the source; suddenly all of his thoughts were focused on the magazine and he pressed his lips together. He'd have to be careful about this so Hinata wouldn't notice. Of course he could just leave it as a mystery and not take the risk of getting caught by Hinata, but he had to know.

He felt a heavy weight on the bottom of his stomach as he thought about finally finding out something about Hinata's past. They had talked so much about Komaeda's past life already, but Hinata hadn't really told him anything about his.

He gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter.

As soon as they got into the gas station, Hinata wandered into the bathroom. Komaeda waited until the door had closed behind Hinata before he rushed to the magazine rack. He didn't have a lot of time; luckily the magazine he was looking for wasn't hard to find. The blue-haired girl in the cover was a really popular idol so even he was familiar with her face. He took the magazine and immediately went to the cashier to pay for it.

As soon as he had paid, he hid the magazine under his jacket, between his left arm and side. The cashier looked at him a bit funny, but Komaeda just pressed his index finger on his lips and walked off. Most likely the cashier wouldn't have mentioned anything to Hinata in the first place anyways, but he wanted to make sure of it. Most likely the cashier would just think he was hiding it because it was a gossip magazine.

Hinata walked out of the bathroom pretty soon after that, and Komaeda smiled at him.

"I'll go to the bathroom too. If there's anything you want…,"

"Yeah, I know," Hinata answered, sounding almost bored. Komaeda chuckled, and let Hinata pass by him to the shelves before going to the bathroom himself. As soon as he got in, he took the magazine out and started to browse through it.

As he had expected, most of what he saw was just regular gossip about idols, and for the longest time nothing really sparked his attention. But close to the end of the magazine, he finally saw something that seemed like it could be it.

"Mystery! Where did these popular idols disappear to?!" The headline seemed promising, and he began to read through the article. It went on to describe a lot of idols that just faded away from popularity so subtly that no one noticed, or in some cases even idols who just disappeared without a word. The latter ones sparked his attention more, and he turned to the page showing them. There were three people, but one of them caught his eye since she was the only woman on the list. Hinata had talked something about "her"...

The thing that had set Hinata off might have been something else too, but Komaeda somehow got the feeling that she was the one he should focus on. There was just something pulling his attention to her… He frowned as he read the short description of her.

"Enoshima Junko. A popular young model, that raised a lot of attention in the beginning of her career, and went on to shock the whole industry with her energy and charm! But three years ago she just suddenly stopped appearing in magazines. There was no mention of her leaving the industry; and curiously, none of the magazines at the time discussed this at all! What happened to her? Did she get tired of the industry? Did she leave the country? Did she die? We may never know! She hasn't been seen since then, so something has to be up, but her production company seems to be keeping it under the wraps!"

Komaeda read it through a few times before throwing the magazine into the trash can. If she was the person he suspected him to be, then Hinata most likely had something to do with her disappearing…

He sighed as he left the bathroom. The article had given him more questions than answers. He hadn't really expected much from an article with a sensationalistic headline like that, but it really had been useless to the information. Only thing he had more now than before was that he knew the possible name of this "her" Hinata had brought up. She had been the one to do something to traumatize Hinata, that much Komaeda could bring together. But if this person really was this Enoshima Junko, then how did her disappearance tie together with Hinata?

Hinata noticed him approaching pretty soon, and for a moment Komaeda thought he saw a flicker of a smile on Hinata's lips. But almost right away Hinata turned his eyes back to the shelf in front of him, and Komaeda decided it must have been his imagination.

"Is there something we should buy?" Komaeda asked when he reached the other, and Hinata shrugged.

"I guess we should take some snacks and something to drink," Hinata answered after a moment of silence, with Komaeda waiting next to him with a patient smile. As Hinata had suggested they went on to buy snacks and water, and much to Komaeda's relief the cashier didn't say anything and Hinata didn't decide to return to the bathroom. Hinata hadn't gone close to the magazine rack as far as Komaeda could tell.

This woman named Enoshima was most likely the reason Hinata ever had appeared in Komaeda's life. He looked at Hinata, looked at the slightly tired look and remembered the panic the other had been yesterday. In the picture she had been grinning widely, showing a peace sign with her hair in pigtails. It was hard to imagine that a cheerful model like her could be involved in whatever had made Hinata so anxious, but he still had a feeling it was her. There could be much hidden behind her public image.

He gritted his teeth. There was something about her making him feel uneasy, like she was someone to stay away from. The more he thought about her, the more he felt that way. It was weird when he didn't know her at all, but there had been something in her eyes that made him feel like she held something in her that he despised.

Hinata suddenly stopped and looked at him, and Komaeda realized he must have had a suspicious expression in his face. He quickly molded it into a smile again. Hinata continued walking after seeing that, but Komaeda could tell that the other hadn't been convinced at all. He felt like sighing; he had kept the magazine a secret for now, but he had still made Hinata a bit suspicious over him.

He shook his head. Things had been odd between them for a while now, ever since Hinata had decided to return instead of leaving, like both of them were constantly gauging the water and trying to figure out what was correct. It was so fragile, and Komaeda wanted to avoid skewing it into a bad direction. He had to keep it together.

They stepped back into the car, Hinata setting the shopping bag by his feet. Komaeda took a second just to get used to his seat, to get off the uncomfortable feeling he had. Sitting in the car made him feel a bit calmer.

They were still here and moving forward. For now, that was most important.

Thank you for reading all the way here! The next chapter will be up on the 30th of May (my birthday is like right in the middle of these updates haha, I kind of debated whether I should have pushed this update to the 25th but I've been throwing my schedule around a lot recently so decided not to~) I hope to see you there !

(OH and also before I forget, I noticed I had mentioned my Tumblr once in the past, but my url has changed since then so, idk, in case someone wants to pop by and say hi my current url is arctic-urpo, just so you don't get lost ;;;)