After his feat of kissing Kotoko, sleeping in the room was troublesome because he had an urge to remove his blankets, put on a jacket, and run towards her in order to stay together.

He turned in different directions on the bed hoping to fall asleep at some point, get tired of moving and fall into sleep.

He snorted with anger that he couldn't fall asleep.


The next day, Matsumoto and his sister, Ayako, had arrived at the Villa in a red convertible around noon.

Both Ayako and Matsumoto instigated him with their insistence to get very close to him in order to conquer him, but it was clear that he wouldn't correspond to their affection.

Sudou suggested after lunchtime that they play couples looking for different places in the Villa and take a photo of the section with a yellow flag. The first team to end the game, they would give you free dinner.

The couples were decided by rock, paper or scissors.

He had to be with Ayako, Matsumoto with Sudou, Kotoko with Yuuki and Nozomi didn't wanted to play at all because the game seemed childish to him.

That Nozomi boy made him curious, he sounded very interesting for his taste and mature for his age.

"Oh Irie, how nice to be alone, don't you think?" Ayako flirted.

"I don't think so." He flinched at not twisting his arm.

"But you have a girlfriend?"

"No"

"Then I have a chance to win you over." She leaned back on his arm in instinct for possession.

"Please don't" He replied angrily, thinking about Kotoko and if she was doing the game well.

"Why? If you're so handsome and attractive" She sighed in love.

"I'm not interested in being conquered" He said dismissively.

Well, just by Kotoko.

Ayako looked at him confused, almost suppressed.

"You mean that you're serious about someone?" She simply questioned, releasing the grip on his arm to walk alongside him.

"It's none of your business." He repressed his desire to answer "yes" but he didn't see it as necessary. As long as the number of suitors falls, things will be easier for him.

"I'll take it as a yes" She grumbled, assimilating the matter. "But I won't tell Matsumoto" She scoffed affably, put her hands up in the air and took the subject for granted.

He nodded politely, unconsciously letting out a sigh of relief.

At least she is not as insistent as Matsumoto, she indeed is persistent.

They found almost all the yellow flags and took photos of the locations they asked to take, while he rambled on, half thinking about what he should do, he stumbled upon the hat Kotoko was wearing that day. A black felt hat with shades of dark blue. Kotoko.

What have happened?

They finished finding the flags with the audacity of the girl, Ayako, they were able to return back to the starting point, with him firmly holding the girl's hat in his grasp wanting to have a chance to smell it and remember her when he felt alone, but that was only his wishes for later. For now, put yourself in a position to check if everything was in order.

Arriving at the starting point, they noticed that they were the first to arrive and therefore the prize winners.

Nozomi was sprawled in a chair waiting for them to arrive, his head suspended in midair, using his long arms as a pillow in the chair's back, his legs wasted on the dirt floor, a thin red and yellow striped t-shirt, and shorts. Light brown, white casual sneakers.

"Oh," He sighed upon hearing her footsteps. "You are the first to arrive"

"Didn't Kotoko come back?" He approached with a hint of concern in his cold, monotonous voice. He looked at him with raised eyebrows, confused.

"How? But she hasn't returned, I haven't moved from here" He protested strangely. "What's with the question?" He rubbed the hat at his puzzled face.

"This"

"You mean she got lost" Nozomi concluded, looking increasingly concerned about Kotoko's situation. "Let's go get her" He exclaimed decidedly.

"Ayako" He said to her. "Stay here in case Kotoko comes back"

"Sure." She sat where Nozomi rested calmly as if the world were rolling in her favor. "Don't worry about it"

"Thanks." They both ran as if they came out freshly ejected from a gun.


"She couldn't have gone too far" Nozomi exasperated, puffed up walking up the trees with the excuse of being able to see better, although at first such a suggestion worked, at the time when the sunset was coming he couldn't see much.

"Knowing her, I don't think so" Naoki corrected. "She's very energetic, she must have walked farther away"

"You do know her" Nozomi complemented, running at his pace that seemed to lose control at any moment if he didn't find her before nightfall. "I have known her for more than five years, but sometimes it's not enough" He laughed nervously. Is it because of being out of his comfort zone that he was saying nonsense? Probably, Naoki said to himself.

"Right now, you're not carburing well." He cleared his throat, sweating like an elephant, stepping frantically on branches, and his palpitations increased with the passing of the evening, focusing away from the horizon. "We need to find her as soon as possible"

"And also your brother." He rubbed that important detail into his face. How could he forget that his brother was also with her? Because he cared about Kotoko more than anyone else in the world. This was not the time to blame himself, he was about to lose his composure if he didn't find her, he needed to see her and hug her as soon as possible. Remind her that as long as she exists, he wouldn't have to worry. "Don't tell me that Kotoko is more important"

How did he read his mind? So obvious was he?

He nodded involuntarily.

That girl is worth too much to be left alone with any scum.

"Kotoko!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Kotoko! Answer me!"

Nozomi looked at him in amazement with his feat.

"Kotoko! Answer! Here I am" He announced his presence strongly. "Kotoko!" He howled clearly and firmly. Answer me Kotoko, I'll go crazy if you don't show up.

"Naoki-kun!" The girl's scream came from a few meters to the north.

The alarmed hunch impelled him to run faster than his companion who was meditating on the desperate screams he made in order to find her. Fortunately, screaming worked.

He found her squatting with his brother balling over her shoulder, both confined to the cold of dusk wrapped in a small brown blanket.

The hell my thoughts.

He took her in his arms, pulling her away from the grip of his younger brother who was still asleep. Caught between his arms and the girl's incredulous expression, he inhaled the sweet aroma making it soothing to his heart that was beating so hard that it seemed that he would die at that moment of the same fear of losing her.

Do you feel it Kotoko? It's my heart beating for you, for believing that something bad happened to you.

"Don't scare me like that again" He proclaimed in a short voice.

"Naoki-kun"

"Please don't do it again." It sounded more like a plea than a scolding but that was the least of it. The important thing was to find her before dark.

Nozomi managed to arrive and looked disturbed at the scene of seeing them hugging on the grass at the root of a tree.

"Kotoko" He sighed, relieved to see her.

"Nozomi." She pulled away from Naoki, setting him aside. "Did you come too?" It was obvious, she was shocked by the scare.

"Yes, you gave me a good scare." He dropped to his knees in defeat, inhaling big breaths of fresh air in order to relax. "You always get in trouble, you have no remedy"

Suddenly, he saw that she hugged him again, hiding her head in his chest. An intense blush rose on his cheeks.

"Thanks for finding me" She murmured softly. He reciprocated the hug, without hesitation.

Naoki rested his head on hers, breathing in the air her body naturally radiated. He tightened his hold on her embrace, wrapping her whole over his body, noting how small and helpless she felt when she was around him.

"Next time, I'll be more careful" She assured.

"That's impossible" He joked, thinking that having the privilege of finding her first than anyone else, was a feat that will make her fall in love with him. "You always get in trouble even if you don't ask for it" He laughed nervously, a mechanism used to hide his terrible desire to cry from fear.

Releasing her, he saw that her face was slightly flushed. It was the first time he had looked at her in that state and that captivated him too much to want to let her go, he needed to make sure that it was for him that he became like that.

"Em, Kotoko" He spoke as carefully as he could.

"Nothing" She blurted altered. "Let's take Yuuki-kun before he wakes up"

Nozomi rushed to take the boy away using the force of his long arms, even more than Naoki's, he even looked like a professional swimmer and not a basketball player.

"I'll take him, Naoki, it's not a problem for me" He assured calmly. "Really"

"Well, I'll leave you" He admitted defeat, seeing how he carried him with care and caution.

He is good with children, he thought.

"We have to get back now" He boasted hastily.

Naoki and Kotoko followed behind him, as they climbed the path of the dirt road drawn by a line a meter wide, almost impossible to see at night.

He was looking at her sideways, wanting to take her hand, but he noticed something that was out of place and caught his attention. She was silent, pensive in the area where they advanced on the back of extreme exhaustion. She looked overwhelmed by something and that intrigued him, she wanted to know the reason for her thoughts in case it was serious or something problematic. Whatever. He wanted to be her support.


After arriving and dining with the rest of the game participants, Yuuki was still asleep in his room, as if went missing was little trouble.

Naoki took the opportunity that he was in a safe place and went in search of Kotoko, who had said that she would stay in the campfire of one of the guests until it was extinguished.

He could see her sitting with her knees to her chest, hugging them with her small and thin arms, observing with intensity the fire that danced in the burned wood.

"Kotoko" He called her to have her attention.

She looked up seriously.

"Naoki-kun" She sighed broadly, resting his head on the hollow of his knees. "What brings you here? If it's already night"

"I was coming to see if you knew how to put out the fire" He said sarcastically, to which she laughed at that.

"Nice try" She grumbled, wrinkling her face.

"I just wanted to get out, okay?" He pretended to be important, taking a seat elegantly in his haughty demeanor, lowering his guard with her. "It's a good weather so as not to enjoy it"

"You're right." She laughed softly. "Although winter ones are better because you can put blankets on, instead I can't even use them here." She stretched her legs while stretching her arms to the ends. "Well, it doesn't matter, the stations take advantage of as place"

"I guess so" He leaned his body against the chair's back.

"I won't stop thanking you for what you did" She admitted happily, almost proud of his feat that same day. "It was incredible"

"It's not a big deal" He snapped with his face red from the flattery. "I just did what I had to do"

"But it was great!" She clapped happily, not ashamed to do so. "A whole feat from a film, I couldn't have gotten out of that fuss and you found me"

"Stop flattering me, it's annoying." He pretended annoyance, although inside he was ecstatic about it.

"Don't be so modest, laugh Naoki-kun." She placed two fingers on her cheeks and indicated a smile. "When you smile you look very attractive, more than you already are"

"I'm not going to do that" He complained, blushing more than he could. He was about to explode.

"I like it when you smile, you have a nice smile" She complied absent from his feelings towards her.

"Please don't go on." It sounded like a plea.

Can't you see I'm holding back so I don't run to you and take you in my arms? Can't you see it's hard not to do it?

"Don't continue with that" He ordered, taking courage from his insides to say it.

"Okay, I won't bother you." Dejectedly she leaned toward her knees, hiding her face between them.

"Kotoko, there is something that intrigues me" He weighed, rocking his tousled hair, directing his gaze towards the extinguishing fire. "Is there something bothering you?"

"What do you mean?" She questioned with a frown. "Is there something bothering me or what is bothering me?"

"If something's bothering you" He clarified, clearing his throat.

"Em, not that I know of." She pouted, confused even with her answer. "Should something be bothering me?"

"It's not that" He rectified, locking his voice that was behind with his thoughts. "It gave me the impression that there was something that doesn't leave you alone"

"Well, there is something" She commented carelessly, to which he set his alarms into action. "I need a place to do my practices"

Was that what worried you? He sighed with relief, he thought that maybe something intrigued her and that didn't let her alone. I am glad to hear.

"A place for your practices?" He repeated.

She nodded pouting.

"I'm worried I won't find a place to do them" She said at the expense of his intentions.

Immediately he thought of Pandai, his father's company, he was sure she would find something to do such as commercials.

"You can try Pandai" He suggested.

"Pandai?" Her eyes widened like light bulbs. "Hey, it's a good suggestion, I'll tell Oji-san"

"Dad will give you a chance" He assured with a firm voice.

"Excellent, Naoki-kun, you're great" She jumped out of the seat, in victory.

"You still haven't done anything" He protested mockingly.

"Whatever" She winced indignantly. "An achievement is an achievement" She asserted with raised eyebrows.

"As you say"

Whatever it is to help you and see you smile is my privilege.