Miya's troubles for sleeping were starting to wear on him, his eyes itched just for being open and he couldn't concentrate on anything. He just hoped no one would notice…
"You feeling alright, little guy?"
Of course Reki noticed.
"Yeah. Fine," he answered over his shoulder without much inflection, rubbing his eyes again.
"You look like you haven't slept much," Langa pointed out.
"And you're way too young for having eye bags."
"I'm fine," Miya repeated, pressing. "The tests at school are just killing me."
"Tell us about it," Reki stretched his arms over his head.
Sometimes it was hard to picture Reki as an actual high school sophomore; he had the energy and the recklessness of a kindergartener.
"Hey, your summer vacation starts right after the exams, too, right guys?"
Reki and Langa answered in unison: "Yeah."
"Are you in for another hot spring therapy?"
Reki wasn't in with it, not that Miya had expected any different.
Though, Reki vehemently denied having any particular reason for not wanting to return to Miyakojima.
Crybaby, Miya thought, but he was also a gullible one since it only took little convincing from Langa, Miya, and Shadow to get him on board with the trip. Whatever had come after them the last time surely was gone by now anyway.
Miya made the effort to act mildly indifferent, but he was actually a bit excited. It was the first time in a long while that he was going to spend summer with his friends. He was way too absorbed in his excitement and in telling himself to act cool that he looked at nothing but the floor as he walked–
"Oh, sorry!" he apologized once he bumped into someone…
"No worries," Takashi said calmly.
Miya had to blink to pass the shock of it.
"Are you alright, Taka-chan?" the girl next to Takashi – she was from their class, Miya had seen her with Takashi before – asked.
"Yeah, it's fine. Let's go."
They actually left without even a glance back.
Miya looked down, his efforts to contain his upbeat mood changing to try to uplift his suddenly low one. Takashi and he were on better terms, as far as Miya could tell, but the times they talked were sporadic and short. It was a miracle if they got to exchange two sentences.
Whatever, Miya thought, he had done just fine without Takashi for years. He had new friends.
He had new friends.
He didn't need Takashi.