"Daisuke!"
The loud, happy yell made Daisuke flinch and then he was encased in a bear-hug. Dark made a strangled noise from inside.
/Sheesh/ the kaitou muttered. /Overwhelming much?'/
Daisuke finally returned the hug, chuckling both at the comment and the greeting.
"Hey, Saehara."
His former school buddy pounded him on his back in his excitement, grinning from ear to ear. "Good to see you again, Niwa! How're you doing?"
"Great. You?"
Saehara smiled more, if that was at all possible. He had filled out a lot more than Daisuke in the last years. After the near-apocalypse where part of the town had been damaged, after everything had quieted down, Saehara had changed schools. His father had been transferred to Tokyo to a larger precinct, a very good career move, and the family had followed. Daisuke had been in contact with his friend for a while, then it had tapered off. A card here or there, an email, then a long stretch of nothing.
When Daisuke had gone to Tokyo for his own studies, he hadn't really thought about catching up with Saehara Takeshi at all. His mind had been busy with so much else, among those matters the fact that he and Satoshi had moved in together and had become lovers.
Ten long years since they had last seen each other personally.
Saehara wasn't as tall as Daisuke, but he had about gained in body weight. He wasn't fat, but it wasn't all muscle either. The hair was short, almost a crew cut, and the dark eyes were sparkling with fun and life.
"Wonderful!" Saehara now answered Daisuke's question. "I've been really great."
Both men walked down the promenade.
"Just finished the U and I'm looking into a few jobs."
"You stayed with journalism?"
"Kinda. It's interesting, but I sorta slid into politics. It's an interesting topic and it corresponded with the journalism part. I've got a business degree and one of the politics and science papers if looking for a free journalist. It sounds promising."
Daisuke nodded. "Good luck with that."
"So, you still studying?"
"In a way. I'm on my way to a degree. Doctorate, actually. I'm working part-time for a local art museum."
Saehara, who had never been that much into art, just nodded. "Heard anything from Hiwatari?"
Daisuke hesitated. Takeshi had probably heard nothing of Satoshi's name-change, about him taking back the family name, or that the two men were now involved.
"Yes," he just said.
"And? Still living here?"
"Yes. He went to the same university I did."
Saehara snorted. "And here I thought he would already be heading some kind of company, brain-child that he was. I always wondered how a genius like him hadn't already left school and all."
But he had. Satoshi had had finished school already before coming to Daisuke's junior high as a spy and later much more. Today he had a doctorate in engineering, was on his way to a second one in just a few weeks time, had founded his own little company that worked in the security business of computers and other electronic equipment, and he and Daisuke had been a firm item for years.
Daisuke bit back on telling all of that to his friend.
/Why not?'/ Dark asked, startling him a little.
/Some things are a bit harder to digest than others/
/The relationship part of the genius side of Sato?'/ the kaitou wanted to know.
Daisuke didn't answer. Instead he focused on Saehara again, who was talking. "Last I heard he and one of the Harada twins got together, but I figured it wouldn't last."
"It didn't," Daisuke murmured.
"You and Riku?"
"Same deal."
Saehara gave him a sympathetic look. "Ah well. Teenage crush, huh?"
Daisuke just shrugged.
Saehara went on about the girls he had met and how he had just now found the love of his life, a young woman by the name of Mei Kim from Osaka. It looked pretty serious between them. The families were already preparing for the wedding bells.
"So, got anyone in your life?"
/Nosey/ Dark commented.
Daisuke just nodded. "Yes."
"That's great!"
They stopped by a coffee shop and got themselves each a paper mug to go, continuing their stroll.
"We might make it a double date one day," Takeshi laughed. "I know this fabulous little restaurant here. Good food, good prices. And good sized portions."
Daisuke shrugged. "I don't know."
"Don't tell me she's shy. Or that you are!"
"It's not that."
/Tell him or stop teasing/ Dark muttered.
So Daisuke changed topics. They chatted about this and that for the next hour until Saehara's cell phone rang. He listened to the caller, then talked briefly, but Daisuke didn't listen in. When his friend had hung up, regret was in the dark eyes.
"I have to be somewhere. Job related. You want to get together tomorrow?"
"I'm taking the train home tonight. My grandfather's birthday is tomorrow."
Saehara shrugged. "Well, call when you're here again, okay? I doubt I'll be leaving any time soon."
He nodded and they exchanged email addresses and cell numbers, then Saehara was off in a hurry.
/Dai?'/ Dark asked softly.
/Hm?'/
/You think he wouldn't be able to handle you and Sato together?'/
/I don't know, Dark. I just don't know/
It shouldn't bother him, Daisuke knew. Saehara was a distant friend, someone he hadn't seen in years, but what if the other made something out of it? What if...?
He shook his head angrily.
Dark sat in the back of his mind, silent, watchful, and just a little bit quizzical.
"I don't care," Daisuke finally whispered as he pushed past the thickening crowd of people around the railway station.
/Good/ Dark told him, sounding satisfied.
The trip home was mostly done in silence and Daisuke spent the time reading one of the books he had borrowed from the university's library. When he finally arrived at the townhouse he and Satoshi shared, he had pushed the encounter with Saehara aside.
It wasn't important any more.
end of this drabble