The next morning, Ibushi was awakened by an incessant knocking on his door. He blinked his heavy eyelids open to see that it was six in the morning. Why would someone be pounding on his door like their life depended on it so early in the morning? Unwilling to remove himself from the comfort of his own bed, he called out to the person on the other side, "It's unlocked! Just come in!"

Akoya burst through the door like an avalanche, his soft pink curls sticking to his sweat-soaked neck. He quickly shut the door behind him and locked it, leaning against the hard wood as he sunk down to the floor, his head in his hands. His behavior was so out of character for someone like him that Ibushi immediately jumped out of his bed and crouched before him.

"Akoya?" he asked, slowly reaching out to place a hand on his friend's shoulder. His worry only increased as the other began to shake with sobs. "Hey, what's wrong?" He anxiously bit his lip when his friend didn't reply. "This isn't like you, you know."

"How would you know what I'm like anymore?" the other bitterly asked, finally looking up at him as tears spilled from his blue eyes. He quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and began vigorously shaking his head as if to say he didn't mean it. His knees pulled in toward his chest as he appeared to be trying to make himself smaller.

"That's a valid point, isn't it?" Ibushi replied, a small, bitter smile on his lips. "But it doesn't change the fact that you're obviously shaken up right now. Did you have a bad dream? What can I do to help you?"

Akoya held his head in his hands as if he were trying to block out everything around him. "Is any of this even real?" he dejectedly sighed out. "Did you really come back? Were things really resolved between us last night, or was all of this just some crazy dream I had?" He seemed internally torn up as he clenched his jaw in frustration. "Arima, are you really going to marry my…" His voice trailed off, but the question still stood.

For as long as Ibushi could remember, there was a sort of rivalry between Akoya and Kana. Once he became closer to the young heir, Akoya began coming over in fits of rage after fighting with his sister, staying for days on end. If it weren't for those fights, he doubted that he and Akoya could have ever gotten so close to each other. Then again, those days now seemed like a distant memory.

Concerned for his friend, Ibushi decided to move and sit next to him, his back also against the door. "What are you trying to ask, Akoya?" he asked, pretending to play dumb. Deep down, he knew exactly why his friend was so upset. After all, he was betrothed to the bane of Akoya's existence. Who wouldn't be upset over that?

As he thought more about it, he couldn't help but lament it as well. Throughout his high school years, Akoya had vented to him over and over about Kana, and then the moment Ibushi returned to his life, it was announced that he would marry her. Akoya's frustration was definitely valid. And as much as he hated upsetting Akoya, Ibushi knew that upsetting their parents would be much, much worse for both of them.

"Why does it have to be Kana?" the other man finally asked. "It could have been any heiress, but why her? I don't understand why things like this need to happen." He was quiet for a moment before finally saying, "Then again, I doubt I'd like any fiancee of yours."

Ibushi couldn't help but laugh at that. He knew how picky Akoya was about everything, so the fact that he would be so picky over his best friend's fiancee made sense, but it was still laughable. In fact, he could imagine Akoya sulking at his future wedding, no matter who he married, only showing up for Ibushi's sake.

"Don't laugh at me, I mean it," Akoya groaned, leaning his head against the hard wood of the door. Tears streaked his cheeks, but he seemed too upset to care. "I hate the idea of you getting married! If you're married, then where does that leave me? Your wife will be your most important person and I'll wither away into nothing in your memory, just like I thought I had while you were away at university!"

"Is that what this all boils down to?" the green-haired man asked, more in shock than anything else. "There's no way any of that will happen, Akoya. I thought you knew me better than that…" He couldn't help but feel at least a little hurt by his friend's words. Did he really think he'd be able to forget him that easily? How foolish.

"If you marry Kana, I don't know if I'll be able to take it," the other admits. "I just always felt like you were my only ally, and if you were to marry the cause of most of my problems, I just…" He buried his face in his knees, shoulders slumping in misery. "I really am selfish, aren't I? I can't even be happy for you because your marriage will take you from me."

"You're not selfish," Ibushi replied. "I completely understand how you feel. If we were to swap places, I don't think I'd be too happy about it either."

Akoya vigorously shook his head, rubbing his face against the fabric of his pajama pants. "You don't understand, Arima. You're always like this. You try so hard to understand things that are just outside of your realm of comprehension. There's no way you could ever understand because you're not like me." Realizing the sharpness of his words, he stood up and bolted toward the bathroom attached to Ibushi's room, shutting himself in there and locking the door.

Deciding to let him sort things out, Ibushi went and crawled back into bed. He did his best to stay awake until Akoya emerged, but had no success and ended up falling asleep anyway.

.

When he woke up, Ibushi instantly realized that he was not alone in his bed. In fact, Akoya was snuggled up to him, sleeping peacefully. He felt a smile tug at his lips, seeing how peaceful the other looked. It was almost as if he hadn't been sobbing only a few hours ago. Resisting the urge to push Akoya's hair out of his face, Ibushi decided to grab a book from his bedside table and read until Akoya woke up an hour later.

The other man regretfully blinked his blue eyes open, looking as if he still needed sleep. It only took a few moments to realize where he was, his cheeks instantly flushing. He quickly rolled over to the other side of the bed, hiding his face with his hands. Akoya curled in on himself once more as he tried to collect his thoughts.

"Uh, good morning?" Ibushi greeted, confused by his friend's antics. He decided not to question it any further upon seeing the bright red flush dusting Akoya's ears. Instead, he turned back to the book he had been reading, patiently waiting for the other man to calm down. In truth, he had forgotten how dramatic Akoya could be at times.

Once the other man had calmed himself down and regained his normal coloring in his face, he turned to face Ibushi. "Uh, yeah, good morning," he greeted back. He seemed nervous as he continued. "Sorry about that. I didn't, uh, mean to…" His voice trailed off as he wondered if it would be more awkward to apologize for falling asleep in his friend's bed, especially waking up in a position like that.

"Don't worry about it," the green-haired man laughed. "It almost reminded me of old times, you know? Back when you used to stay over all the time and we'd fall asleep in here watching movies or something. You don't need to apologize for something like that. It used to be a common thing for us, and I'm glad to relive nostalgia."

"Y-Yeah, me too," Akoya pitifully replied, averting his eyes to the comforter as if it were the most beautiful thing he had seen in his life. He gently ran his fingers over it, deep in thought. "I should probably get back home, huh?" A sigh escaped his lips. "You're coming over to see Kana today, aren't you?"

"Would you like me to pay you a visit as well?" Ibushi closed his book and placed it back on his nightstand. "I mean, she's not the only one who lives in that estate, right? There's no way I could go to my best friend's house with no plans to see him. That wouldn't be right, you know?"

"Yeah, you're right. I should've known that would be your answer." He blushed once again, getting up from the bed. "I'm going to head back to my room and prepare to head home. I'll see you later today then." Akoya rushed from the room, somehow managing to gently close the door after him.

For a moment, the other man sat there, confused. How could Akoya have so much energy after just waking up? Back in the day, it would take him about an hour before he would even sit up in bed. Then again, Ibushi had never met the adult Akoya. Maybe this was what his friend was like these days. He couldn't wait to know more about the adult version of his best friend.

.

Kana Gero sat patiently in her family's tea room as her fiance entered. She smiled fondly and gestured for him to come and sit across from her. "Good afternoon, Ibushi-san," she greeted, bowing her head to him. "I am so glad that you chose to visit me today. It makes me feel honored."

Ibushi bowed in return, his head nearly hitting the kotatsu between them. "I am the one who should feel honored to be in the presence of a beauty such as yourself, Kana," he assured, smiling at her.

She covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled. "You flatter me, Ibushi-san," she replied after calming down. Her cheeks were dusted with a faint blush. "To think that such a charmer will be my husband before too long. I'm delighted!"

Something about the word "husband" caused Ibushi to realize just how real everything was. He could feel his nerves building up in his stomach, causing it to churn. Was this too fast? She was already using that word, yet something about it didn't feel right. Then again, who was he to complain. This was a marriage that would benefit both families. He didn't have time or energy to be thinking those sorts of things.

"And for me to have such a lovely wife will be an honor," he replied, though he felt as if his words made his mouth feel heavy. He couldn't tell if he was lying or not, and the thought of that worried him. "I will surely be the envy of every eligible bachelor." Though flattery was the easiest way to get into her good graces, he couldn't help but feel that it was wrong of him to tell her things he wasn't sure he meant.

Her laughter once more filled the silence. "My brother never told me how charming you were," she giggled. "Then again, I suppose a man finding another man charming and whatnot would be a bit strange, wouldn't it? I mean, men who are attracted to other men aren't the type of people one would keep company with, right?"

Ibushi's mind then went to his and Akoya's close friend Kinshiro Kusatsu, who had been the student council president when they were in high school. After they graduated, Kinshiro had not only begun dating his childhood friend, Atsushi Kinugawa, but also his long-time rival, En Yufuin. The three of them were all still living together as far as he knew, though he'd have to check with Akoya just to make sure. Those second years from the Earth Defense Club, Io Naruko and Ryuu Zaou, had also started dating, if he could remember correctly, but he never really kept up with them. He had seen just how happy all five of them were when around the men that they loved, and outside of them he had never kept better company in his life.

"Don't you think those words are a bit harsh?" he slowly asked. "All people should be respected no matter whom they love."

"Do you really believe such a thing?" Kana asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "If two men or two women were to marry, how would they ever produce an heir to take over their legacy? Sure, there is adoption, but would that heir truly be worthy of the family name just because their parents bought them?"

Ibushi didn't like where that conversation was going. The distaste in her voice when she said those things made his stomach churn. How could someone be so cruel regarding things that they didn't understand? "I suppose you have a point," he finally said, eager to end the discussion. His heart pounded in his chest, nervous of what would happen if she discovered that he didn't actually agree with her.

"I could tell you were a reasonable man," she simply replied, stiffening up. "Something about keeping company with homosexuals seems dirty, don't you think? I know that I never would. It's simply undignified. It doesn't matter how rich they are or how influential they may be, I simply refuse to associate with their kind."

He quickly glanced to the clock on the wall, counting down the minutes until he could escape to visit her brother. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled to keep conversation with her until then.

.

"And you still want to marry her?" Akoya sighed once they were alone in his bedroom. He'd heard about everything from Ibushi, fixing him with an I-told-you-so stare. "Luckily, she doesn't know about our friends from high school. Kinshiro plays the role of a straight man surprisingly well at social events, though I can tell it upsets him that he can't bring En and Atsushi with him as his dates. I mean, could you imagine being him? Not only is he gay, but he has two boyfriends! He would never be able to show his face at galas again. You know, all these years, his parents believe that En and Atsushi are just his roommates. Sure, their home has three bedrooms, but we know they only use one."

Ibushi nodded along to what Akoya was saying, glad that Kinshiro was still happy with their old friends. It made him curious about the other two. "What about Naruko and Zaou? How are things with them? I know they got together not long after the other three."

The other man blinked his blue eyes in surprise. "You mean you don't know?" he replied, pulling out his phone. His mouth formed into a smile. "So they got married about a year ago," he stated, "but that's not the crazy part. It turns out that a couple years ago they had broken up for a short period of time, and during that time Ryuu went back to his scandalous ways. Anyway, long story short, about a month ago, they got full custody of Ryuu's daughter, and she's adorable." He then pushed his phone toward Ibushi, an excited smile on his face. "And they refer to me as Uncle Ako!"

Ibushi accepted the phone and peered down at the screen, his mouth stretching into a smile. Ryuu and Io smiled back at him from the picture on the screen, a little girl with pink hair tied into pigtails riding on Io's shoulders. He had to admit that there was no mistaking whose daughter she was, his heart swelling with happiness from seeing how happy the couple looked together.

"Her name is Sakura Naruko," Akoya fondly said, accepting his phone from the other. "And I plan to spoil her rotten." He sighed, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "It must be nice, huh? Being able to love whomever you wish without being shamed by your friends. I think that's what true friendship is. Would you agree?"

"I completely agree," the other answered with confidence. His heart felt lighter now that he was able to be completely honest with his words. He couldn't help but mentally note how much easier it was to speak with Akoya than it was with Kana. It made him wonder why that was so, but he decided not to think too hard on the matter and opted instead to hear his friend gush about his nowfound "niece".

If keeping company with homosexuals wasn't acceptable, then he hated to know what was.