The green eyes opened slowly and it took Shuichirou a while to sit down on his bed. He looked through the windows and it was a beautiful day outside. He was feeling much better.

Getting up from the bed and leaving his room, he was a little surprise on seeing his breakfast already set on the table. There was a small note from Eiji, "I needed to solve something from college, I will be back at night, don't worry. Lunch is on the fridge. The clothes are already washed and outside. Please, take care of yourself."

"That's sudden." He said to himself, looking at the clean clothes drying out on the sun and moving slowly with the gentle breeze.

#############

The beautiful young woman with short black hair and purple eyes was walking down the street. Part of her hair was tight on a ponytail and it was possible to see the side cut hairstyle on the right side of her head. She had spent the night out and was going to a bakery near to have some breakfast before heading home, but she stopped, being surprised to see the familiar face sitting inside the store.

"What's he doing here?" she asked herself, before entering.

Eiji was sitting in one of the tables, his head down, looking at his own reflection on the hot chocolate he had ordered.

"You're a little bit far from home, Kikumaru-san." She said, gently, in front of him.

Eiji looked up surprised.

"Yagami-san! What are you doing here?"

"I live around here." She sat down, across from him. They had become close from the time they spent together at college. "What about you?"

"I needed to stay away from home for a while." She noticed the sadness on the blue eyes.

"Is everything okay?"

"I will have to move out."

"Did you and your boss have a fight?"

He just moved his head negatively and she realized he didn't want to give more details.

"When are you planning to move?"

"As soon as possible."

"Well, my roommate moved out last week. She went to live with her boyfriend. I have an open space."

"What?! Really?"

"Yes." She smiled gently at him. "My parent's own the apartment, so there's no rent, you can help out just with the regular bills, like water, electricity and stuff."

"You have your own place?! But… why do you need a roommate?"

"I hate cleaning." She made a face.

"I can totally do that!" he was excited and she smiled.

"Would you like to go there? It's five minutes away."

"Sure!" he stood up, but realized something just after. "But, is it really okay? For you to live with a guy?"

She stood up as well.

"I would never live with a regular guy, but you're different." the purple eyes were gentle. "You have a really good nature."

################

"You seem different now, Yagami-san." He said, noticing her hair style and her clothes while they were walking together on the street. She was wearing a dark red dress, reaching above her knees and a little clingy. Although she was short and thin, she had a nice figure.

"At college I don't like to stand out."

"I see."

"Here we are." She stopped in front of a tall and beautiful white building. Just by the architecture, Eiji could see it was an expensive place.

"Wow!" he said, looking up, before entering with her. The elevator stopped on the 8th floor.

"Welcome." She said, after opening the door and the blue eyes were wide in shock.

"This place is huge!" he said, before taking off his shoes and walking into the large living room. The apartment had beautiful light wooden floor and a wide balcony and everything had nice, light colors. The kitchen was very modern.

"Come see the vacant room. There's a bathroom here as well." He followed her until the end of the hallway and she opened the door. The place was twice as big as his room at Oishi's home, with wide windows.

"I can see the park!" he finally smiled properly. "It must be beautiful here at night."

"My girlfriend likes it as well." She said, looking through the windows as well.

"Girlfriend?"

She looked at him and smiled.

"Does it bother you?"

"No, not at all! I'm just a little surprise. I would never guess." she giggled at him.

"She almost never comes here. She's too busy and lives on the second floor at her store, so it's easier for us to meet there."

"I see."

"So, what do you think? Would you like to live here?"

"Yes, definitely!"

"Nice." She smiled. "When are you moving in?"

"Ah." He thought about Oishi and his face was taken by sadness again. "I need to talk to Oishi-san first. There's the matter of my job as well."

"What matter?"

"I'm quitting too." He smiled sadly.

"Really? But, why? You seemed so happy."

"Things happened." He shrugged, trying to avoid Tezuka's cold words from his mind again.

"I see." She crossed her arms. "Well, the room is yours if you want it. Just let me know when you're moving in. Summer vacation is coming soon, so I will go home to visit my parents for a couple of weeks."

"You're from Kyoto, right?"

"Yes. It would really help me out to have you here by that time."

"I will be here. Don't worry." He made a reverence. "Thank you so much, Yagami-san."

"Since we're living together, we can call each other on first name basis, right, Eiji-san?"

"Yes, Mika-san." he smiled.

########

"Natsuya-san?" Eiji opened the door at Sakurai a little, after knocking. It was 4 p.m and he knew the owner would be there cleaning and organizing things. He had spent the day with Mika, talking about living together, college and she even made him lunch. She prepared grilled sliced stake with mushroom sauce and green salad and Eiji really enjoyed her cooking. "Natsuya-san?"

He called again, already entering the place and Rei finally appeared from the back.

"Eiji-san!" she smiled, seeing him. "I'm sorry, were you waiting long? I'm preparing some pork stocking for ramen tonight!"

"Not at all." He smiled back. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."

"Is everything okay?" she was worried. "You're not giving up on the job, right?!"

"Of course not!" he moved his hands negatively. "I came to ask if you would have more hours available for summer break."

"Really?" she smiled. "I still need help on the last shift until 4 a.m. But, you said you had another job. Is that okay?"

"I will quit soon." He said hiding his sadness with a small smile. "I will also move to another place, so I will really need the money."

"Oh, I see. Well, it's fine by me. I will be happy to have you here for more hours."

"Thank you very much." He made a reverence.

"Are you busy now? Do you want to see how I put out ramen together and taste some of it before we open?"

"I do!" he was excited.

###########

"Shuichirou, your phone is vibrating!" Takumi said, while on the stove. He was simmering some vegetables for the beef stew. Haruka was by his side, cutting the meat. Oishi's cell phone was on the kitchen's counter top. He was on the balcony, folding the clean clothes.

"Yes, yes." He came close and picked it up, looking at the message. "It's from Eiji-kun."

"Is he all right?" Haruka asked.

"He's just saying he was at his new part time job looking at some ramen." He smiled. "But he will be home by dinner time. He's going to be surprise you guys are already here making food."

"He had such a stressfull last days worrying about you." Takumi said, looking at Haruka. "It will be good for him to have a break."

"Do you think he's going to like the pudding we brought?" she asked her friend.

"Yes. He loves desserts." He smiled. "Sometimes I pick up a cupcake to him from the bakery near from work. I'm already out of flavors."

Haruka looked at her husband and there was a small smile on Takumi's face.

"Aren't you guys cute?" she looked at Shuichirou. "Like a married couple."

"What?" he chuckled. "No way!"

"Does Eiji-kun have a girlfriend or someone he likes?" Takumi asked.

"Now that you talked about it, he never mentioned something like that."

"That's odd." Haruka put the meat on the pan. "He's so cute."

"You think?" Takumi asked with a smile.

"Yes." She smiled back. "Like a puppy. Some girls like this type of thing."

"What about me?"

"You look like some shaggy dog." She kissed his cheek. "But I like this type of thing."

Takumi laughed and Oishi was sure they were even more adorable after getting married.

"I love her." He grinned happily.

"I think Eiji-kun just never had a chance to think about such a thing. He told me he spent all his awake time studying so he could be in good schools and have good grades or working with his parents. There's also the situation with his panic attacks. He took a while to tell me about it. A girlfriend is someone close, so he would probably have troubles to hide it."

"Maybe this will change with the therapy." Haruka went to the rice machine while Takumi was stirring th meat and vegetables in the pan. "You said the sound proof speakers helped already, right?"

"Yes. He was very happy."

"His parents sound great." Takumi said.

"They sure do. Eiji-kun is very devoted to his family."

"You should meet them, Shuichirou. Since their kid is living with you, you should introduce yourself." Haruka suggested.

"Yes, I was thinking about it for a while now. I'm going to talk to him before summer break. He's probably going to Osaka to visit."

########

Eiji took a deep, long and worried breath in front of Shuichirou's apartment door. In the minute he left Sakurai he started to rehearse the conversation about moving out and quitting his job on his head. He was already making a great effort not to cry everytime he heard Tezuka's words on his mind and how horrible they made him feel. If Oishi had shared such information with him, he was, indeed, being troubled by his situation.

Kikumaru felt his throat tight, remembering their conversation on the train station on that rainy night. Oishi looked so truthful saying he was not a hassle and that he was important to him. Eiji leaned his forehead on the door and wondered why he lied while the green eyes looked straight at him. Tezuka was right, he was indeed too kind.

Eiji couldn't take advantage of his good will anymore. His heart hurt with the possibily of being apart from him, but it was for the best. He opened the door after reuniting all his courage, but he stopped with the smell of food reaching him and was surprised to see the visitors.

"Ah, you arrived just in time, Eiji-kun." Oishi smiled at him. He was at the table, setting the dished, together with Haruka. Takumi was there as well, placing the food.

"Takumi-san, Harada-san." He was really surprised and removed his sneakers quickly. "Good evening."

"Hello, kid! We made dinner! Go wash your hands and sit down."

"Eh?" he was surprised. "But… why?" he looked at Oishi worried. "You didn't want to eat my food?"

"Not at all." He smiled, trying to put him at ease. "They came to check on us and do something for you, since you worried a lot with my cold."

He felt Haruka's hand on his hair.

"You deserve to be spoiled a little too, Eiji-kun." The golden eyes were kind. "Just enjoy it, okay? We're really grateful of how well you took care of Shuichirou."

"Really?"

"Yes." Oishi smiled. "And this is the perfect opportunity to use these."

He placed the bowl he had received as a gift in front of Eiji and he noticed it was a set.

"What's this?"

"Haruka and Takumi gave it to me on my birthday. I put it away to a nice occasion. Did you notice? It's a set. For the both of us."

He picked up the blue bowl and it looked so beautiful!

"Is this really for me?" he couldn't believe.

"Isn't nice? We've something to use together now." The green eyes were gentle.

He felt the tears invading the blue eyes and lowered his head a little, trying to hold back the tears.

"Thank you." He looked at them again. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it." Haruka smiled.

"Let's eat?!" Takumi said. "Otherwise it will get cold!"

Eiji looked around for a moment after sitting down and being served. Shuichirou, Takumi and Haruka were talking happily to each other and it made his heart tight. He got used to be welcomed and be included by them. They had become his family in Tokyo and he would miss those moments so much. He had no strength to have that serious conversation to Oishi. He didn't want to ruin the moment.

Looking at his bowl, the same as Oishi, he observed his troubled reflection for a while, before taking a spoon of Takumi's stew, finding it absolutely delicious.

He had silently decided to enjoy that dinner to the fullest, since it would be the last one.