Saguru had barely finished his morning cup of tea when there was Kuroba's distinctive knock on his door. At eight thirty-four. They hadn't discussed when this outing was going to be, but considering Kuroba had stressed rest and relaxation in his speech about it, Saguru had been expecting him to be by a bit later. Well, he was dressed and didn't need to take anything beyond his cane and his wallet.

"Yes?" Rather than Kuroba, Saguru found himself face to face with Momoi. She had her sharp grin on her face that had him half wanting to close the door in her face.

"Hakuba-sensei, you'd better be ready to go because we're heading out!"

Saguru looked from Momoi to Kuroba a few steps behind her. Kuroba rolled his eyes. At his side, Takumi looked half asleep still along with his other friend, Himura Yuuto. If Saguru remembered correctly, Himura was also a member of the lacrosse team.

"Morning, Hakuba," Kuroba said. "Someone," he looked meaningfully at Momoi, "decided that we were going to have an early start."

"You wanted to wait until eleven," Momoi said. "If we waited that late all the best places at the beach will be filled up."

"We're going to a beach?" Saguru asked, mildly horrified at the thought—crowds, sand, and he didn't even own a bathing suit, not that he would want to swim.

"We're not going to a beach," Kuroba said.

"Did you or did you not say we could go to the beach this summer?" Momoi said, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, sometime this summer." Kuroba crossed his arms. "Beach trips take planning. You also need to give people a bit more warning to pack."

Takumi yawned. "I told you it wasn't going to fly."

Momoi sighed. "Fine."

Saguru and Kuroba both side eyed her. In Saguru's brief acquaintanceship with her, she rarely backed down on anything she wanted.

"She has an itemized list of things to do," Takumi said. "She made me read it out loud to her yesterday." Another yawn and he added. "Fireworks were on there, what, four times?"

Kuroba laughed. "I'm sure we can manage fireworks. There has to be somewhere nearby that's having some."

"If there isn't I want sparklers," Momoi said.

"Done."

Saguru hoped that it wouldn't result in injury. Somehow he was stuck on the mental image of Kuroba juggling live sparkers. He'd done that once when they were in high school if Saguru remembered correctly, and had narrowly missed setting Aoko on fire when she startled him.

"Awesome." Takumi slung an arm around each of his friends. Himura stumbled a little, throwing sideways looks at Saguru like he didn't know how to act with a teacher present.

Hopefully he could relax or Saguru would feel rather guilty about agreeing to join the outing.

"Well," Kuroba said, clasping his palms together. "We're all here and mostly awake. Where to?"

"The park," Momoi said instantly. "There's a crepe stand there where we can get breakfast."

"Ooh." Takumi perked up at that. Himura laughed.

"You've already had breakfast," Kuroba said, but he looked amused too. "All right, the park it is." The kids cheered and Momoi led the way down the stairs listing off things that they were going to do with their day. If they managed to actually fit them all into a day, Saguru would be surprised. Kuroba watched them before glancing back at Saguru. "Sound okay to you? You're not obligated to spend the whole day or anything. It sounds like they're intending to have a marathon summer experience all in one day."

"I'll manage," Saguru said. So long as no one actually expected him to run after them, things would work fine.

"We should hurry up before they get on the train without us." Kuroba called after them, "Oi, wait up!"

"Stop being so slow!" Takumi called back.

"No respect," Kuroba sighed. "Get a group of kids together and how do they act?"

"Like kids?" Saguru quipped.

Kuroba whapped him on the arm. "Just for that, I'm going to steal your second breakfast."

"Ah, fewer calories that I didn't need anyway. How tragic."

Kuroba laughed. Saguru smiled to himself as they caught up to the others.

*o*o*

Momoi swarmed the crepe cart as soon as they arrived at the park, dragging Takumi and Himura along with her. Kuroba hung back to watch.

"When they first started walking," he said, "I worried that Takumi was going to lead them into some kind of trouble. But then I quickly realized that Shiemi was the one to worry about. With Takumi we had to worry about him wandering off if something caught his eye. Once he was friends with Shiemi, we had to worry about them sneaking off on purpose on whatever quest they came up with that day."

"It appears she still keeps things lively."

"It's one of the things I like about her," Kuroba said with a smile that promised mischief. Yes, an adventurous attitude would be something Kuroba liked in a person. Saguru let himself be tugged along to the crepe stand, one of Kuroba's hands latched onto his elbow. He could swear Momoi looked at them and smiled her card sharp smile. Saguru decided to pretend that she hadn't because he was suddenly very clearly reminded of the conversation they had had after a recent literature club meeting.

"Kuroba-ji, I ordered you chocolate and cream," Momoi said.

"You know me too well," Kuroba said.

"Wasn't sure what your tastes are, Hakuba-sensei." She stepped to the side to let him place an order.

Not really hungry, Saguru supposed this would count toward lunch and get something savory. "Ham and cheese crepe please," Saguru said. Momoi made a face behind him.

"Not something sweet?"

"It's too early in the morning for sweets."

"It's never too early for sweets," Kuroba said.

"You're going to be diabetic by the time you're forty," Saguru said.

Kuroba stuck out his tongue.

The kids had all chosen things with cream or berries or chocolate, Saguru noted with amusement. Takumi's first bite covered half his face in whipped cream. Kuroba dived into his crepe without spilling anything by some miracle. Saguru's own crepe oozed cheese down the side of his hand as they walked. Ahead of them Takumi and Himura discussed lacrosse while Momoi tackled her chocolate strawberry crepe with single minded enjoyment.

It was nice. Not too hot or humid yet, with the soft sounds of guitar coming from where a music festival was setting up for the day.

"Bite?" Kuroba offered as he neared the end of his sugary treat. Saguru eyes the mess of whipped cream and melted chocolate. Why not? The rich taste of cream spread across his tongue, chased by bitter dark chocolate; it wasn't quite as sweet as he had been expecting. Kuroba stole a bite of Saguru's crepe in the process. "Not bad," Kuroba said.

Saguru hummed in agreement. The bite Kuroba took from his crepe was very obvious. It was a little ridiculous to feel flustered by sharing bites of food at his age, wasn't it? Saguru finished his crepe.

"You've got a bit of whipped cream on your face," Momoi said to him. Saguru twitched, having not noticed her hanging back to walk next to them.

"Thank you." He wiped it off.

She grinned. "Kuroba-ji—"

"No," Kuroba said before she could say anything.

"I didn't even—"

"Still no. I don't have to know what you're going to say, your expression tells me the answer will be no."

Momoi sighed. "Well you're no fun." She watched Takumi acting out some sort of lacrosse motion to Himura. "Have any cards?"

A pack of regular playing cards appeared in Kuroba's hand.

"Nice." Momoi took them, shuffling them with ease. "I'm going to get that card trick you showed me down by the end of the day."

"You can try."

She kept the cards moving between her hands as they reached the music festival. It wasn't fully set up yet, but there were already groups of musicians playing here and there, and a small amount of people coming and going between what booths were set up. Saguru found himself relaxing between the soft music and the rustle of leaves in a light breeze and the chatter of voices around him. Kuroba struck up a conversation with Momoi, showing her proper hand movements for the sleight of hand she was working on, and Takumi got dragged into it as well.

Saguru ended up standing to the side near an acoustic guitarist's performance with Himura. Himura kept looking at him out of the side of his eyes while trying to pretend that he was paying attention to the musician.

"I don't bite," Saguru joked after a few minutes of this.

"It's just a little weird," Himura said, looking uncomfortable. "Takumi said you were sort of a family friend, but it's different to actually see it. You're different in class."

"I'm a teacher in class," Saguru said. "Outside of that, I'm just a person." It was funny how hard it was for people to realize that sometimes. Teachers had their own lives outside of their professions like anyone else in the world.

Himura glanced at him again. "Shiemi-chan says you like Sherlock Holmes?"

The way he said it made it clear that he was editing her words to a more diplomatic phrasing. Saguru smiled. "I do. Are you also a fan?"

The next half hour of wandering was filled with a pleasant discussion about the Robert Downey Jr. films as they compared to the original Doyle works. By the end of the conversation, Saguru was relieved to see that Himura no longer looked uncomfortable about Saguru's presence. By then, though, Saguru's leg was getting tired, so they moved a bit away from the music festival to sit.

Kuroba produced a Frisbee from somewhere and the kids dashed off to use it while Saguru and Kuroba took a seat on a bench.

"Having fun, Mr. Holmes otaku?" Kuroba teased. He had taken the pack of cards back from Momoi for the moment and let his hands play with them as they wanted. Cards arced in a bridge, flashing glimpses of their red and black numbered faces.

"I am actually." It had been a while since he went out to do something without an exacting itinerary or goal in mind. And there hadn't been anyone staring him down or following him around by some miracle. It was almost possible to forget that today was a brief break between the stress of the media and work and the upcoming Kid heist.

Kuroba didn't look like he had been spending his nights with barely any sleep in preparation for the 200th Kid heist. Right now at least, his face was relaxed and happy, faint smile lines bunched around his eyes as he watched Takumi dive to catch the Frisbee and send it spinning with perfect accuracy to Momoi's hands. It was a wonder how he could turn off the background thoughts and enjoy the moment like this. Saguru envied that ability a bit. He was enjoying himself, but reality was never far off in his thoughts. It was something like a miracle that they hadn't run into any reporters.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, almost ignorable. He checked it out of habit because it might be Mum. Hiroto's name on the message had him pursing his lips. Are you okay? He'd had a message of some variation of that theme from Hiroto every day for the last week, and Saguru didn't know how to respond to them when it was something more complicated than okay or not okay. He didn't bother responding to this one, just tucked his phone away again.

"I take it there's not going to be any more dates in the future," Kuroba said, a wry twist to his lips as he guessed the message's sender. The cards in his hands fanned and flipped independent of his conscious attention.

"Most likely not, no." It made him feel a bit sad, not for the loss of the romantic aspect of the relationship in his life but because he wasn't quite sure how to fix the strain to the friendship that had been forming between them. Hiroto clearly still felt guilty regardless that Saguru didn't blame him, and Saguru was too strained from dealing with the fallout to keep reassuring him that things would be fine when Saguru wasn't sure they would be. "It wasn't a serious relationship anyway."

Kuroba raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not upset over it," Saguru said firmly.

"Not indifferent to it either," Kuroba said. He held out the cards. They stared each other down until Saguru took one. Ace of hearts. It went back in the deck as Kuroba shuffled it. "There's nothing wrong with that. I've had some really sucky dates over the years and even when I didn't expect anything to come out of it, it's still a little disappointing."

"Of course it is a little disappointing." Who wanted to waste time over a social interaction that they would be uncomfortable in or regret later? "I am uncertain if I will be able to keep him as a friend," Saguru finally offered.

The cards vanished. It was incredibly irritating that Saguru couldn't tell how Kuroba pulled that one off. "Give it time?"

"I intend to." A dozen meters away, Takumi and Himura collided trying to get the Frisbee. Their game had turned into some sort of keep away with Takumi in the middle.

"If you feel the need to hang out, there's always me," Kuroba said lightly.

"Yes, with our busy schedules."

Kuroba snorted. "You're only as busy as you let yourself be. I made time for this. I can make time for other things too. And," he said, "you have no excuse right now. You're on break."

Fair enough. Kuroba lounged back against the bench, his elbow bumping into Saguru's shoulders companionably.

"Ace of hearts, huh?"

When Saguru glanced back at Kuroba, he had the card Saguru chose earlier twirling between his fingers.

"Maybe you'll have luck soon in matters of the heart."

"Really, Kuroba?"

Kuroba shrugged. "You never know." He slid the card into Saguru's shirt pocket. It was only in Saguru's head that his hand lingered a second longer than needed. They went back to watching the kids play and Saguru shoved all the things he didn't want to think about away to focus on the way the sunlight filtered through the trees. It was getting hot now, turning into a proper July day with all the discomforts that came with that. Thankfully they were in the shade. He closed his eyes and listened to the nearby music and Momoi's cackle of laughter.

*o*o*

Lunch was at one of the food stalls surrounding the music festival—takoyaki and yakisoba, all fried food with far too many calories, but the perfect festival food. Saguru was still mostly full from the crepe so he stole a few of Kuroba's takoyaki. Then Momoi saw an ice cream stand and dragged them all to it. Kuroba got a chocolate cone and Saguru caved and got a small vanilla cone. This had Momoi laughing and Takumi sighing. Saguru ignored this like he was determined to ignore every insinuation Momoi seemed driven to make.

"It's a vacation," Kuroba said with a shrug as he ate his ice cream. "If there's any time to get junk food it's now."

"Point," Saguru said, licking drips off his cone.

"There's an open air market a bit away," Momoi said, looking at her phone in one hand, a cone of black cherry ice cream in the other. "We should go."

"You don't even like shopping," Takumi said. His strawberry ice cream scoop slowly melted onto his chocolate scoop.

"I like window shopping," Momoi said. "Besides, I need to find a birthday gift for my mom."

Himura held up his hands. He'd gotten a bowl of sorbet instead of ice cream and had the least amount of sticky residue on him in result. "So long as no one expects me to carry things, I'm good."

They looked at Kuroba, who looked at Saguru. "I suppose looking at a market could be fun." He did have Mum's birthday coming up. Maybe something gardening related…?

"Shopping it is," Kuroba said.

"Great." Momoi linked arms with the boys. "Be my extra eyes, we're looking for something floral or indispensably useful."

As they reached the correct street, they were quickly surrounded by the crowd. Saguru kept half an eye on the eclectic mix of things being sold—handicrafts alongside kitchenware and cheap knickknacks painted bright, eye catching colors. Momoi gave stands a glance and powered past the ones that were of no interest before stopping for long chunks of time at ones that looked more promising. Saguru followed at a more sedate pace, Kuroba at his side, keeping the children in sight distance.

They paused at a booth with metal markers that Saguru could see Mum possibly using in her garden. Momoi was at a stand selling floral embroidery.

"What do you think of this?" Kuroba held up a garden ornament in the shape of a bird. It would have been pretty if the metal hadn't been tinted nearly fuchsia.

"Too bright. If it were a natural green…"

"Hmm."

The markers weren't quite what he was looking for, Saguru decided. He glanced at the children; they'd moved on without buying anything embroidered. "I've been wondering, how did Momoi-chan and Takumi-kun meet anyway?" Himura was understandable. They both played the same sport and were in the same year. Momoi on the other hand was both a year ahead in age and school.

"Momoi Keiko's her mom," Kuroba said, like that explained everything. It took Saguru a second to connect the name to the family pictures of Aoko and Keiko with babies, and the high school classmate he barely remembered to her strong-willed daughter.

He almost stumbled into the path of another shopper as he stopped walking. "Wait. Keiko. As in Aoko-san's best friend, Keiko? I'd had the passing thought but...they're nothing alike."

"Yes?" Kuroba's lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh.

"How?" When? Considering their ages, Momoi Keiko would have gotten pregnant before Aoko and she had never seemed the sort to even be interested in dating let alone… Saguru shook his head. Those thoughts were rather narrow minded and full of assumptions, and it truly wasn't any of his business anyway.

"The how is a bit more personal than I'm going to say, but Shiemi's only a little less than half a year older than Takumi," Kuroba said. "Keiko was due a month or so before Aoko, but Shiemi was born pretty early, and Takumi was born a bit late, and when it came down to it, Shiemi met the cut-off date for school and Takumi didn't. They grew up together."

"I see." In truth, he hadn't thought about his other classmates much after he left Japan. Kuroba, of course—he couldn't help but think about Kuroba—Aoko, more due to her relation to Kuroba, on rare occasions their teacher or Koizumi because they had stood out in his memory… It was almost embarrassing that he hadn't thought what happened to the others at all. "Keiko-san and Aoko-san are still friends then?"

"Yeah. They meet up every week or so and get drinks. Two ladies raising kids mostly on their own." There was a small smile on Kuroba's face, both respectful and wistful at the same time. "Keiko changed a lot after she had Shiemi. She's a little scary these days actually. We're not on the best terms. Understandably."

"Understandably." Saguru stopped and bent over a pile of t-shirts more for something to distract himself with than because he was actually interested. There was an awkward pause for a few minutes as they moved on. There wasn't really any right thing to say when one was reeling over the shock of half conceived impressions from decades ago being smashed to bit. Nothing that he wouldn't regret at any rate. Searching for something to redirect with, his eyes landed on a booth two booths ahead of them. "Well then."

"What?" Kuroba followed his gaze before lifting one eyebrow. The entire booth was dedicated to Kaitou Kid fan merchandise. This included a special 'limited printing' 200th heist shirt, posters made from photos taken during actual heists, and uncomfortably accurately sized body pillows. The sign in front proudly proclaimed it to be the official Kid fan club merchandiser. "Well," Kuroba echoed. "That sure is a lot of Kid's face in one place."

"I'm torn between wanting to make a comment about how teenage you would be full of narcissistic pride, and enquiring about if they've gotten permission to use Kid's face in the market."

"It's just about impossible to control use of Kid's motifs these days," Kuroba said. In a lighter voice that sounded completely fake he added, "Aoko would love to arrest each and every person selling them on the grounds that they could be collaborating with a criminal, but at this point there are more Kid fans than there are police officers in Japan."

"I'm tempted to get one of the bookmarks they're selling and see how long it takes people to notice."

Kuroba snickered. "Don't think I didn't notice that keychain you got a while back. I never knew you were a secret Kid fan, Hakuba," he said with over the top batting of his eyes.

"Well I have always had a deep interest in all things relating to him," Saguru said with a straight face.

Kuroba laughed again. "You're starting to sound like a stalker again."

"I don't need to be a stalker. I already know where you sleep."

"Now if I didn't know this was your warped sense of humor, I'd be creeped out."

Saguru let himself smile as Kuroba tugged him toward a new table, this one selling interestingly arranged potted succulents. "Well you know where I sleep too, so it evens the field a bit."

"Does your mom have succulents?" Kuroba picked up a tiny pot with a bluish rosette shaped succulent.

"A few. She leans toward leafier plants most of the time." Some of the pots were rather striking though, and he could see Mum enjoying them. "I admit that I'm not as familiar with them as some plants." He was fairly sure that he could identify the aloe vera correctly. "Although I hesitate to buy a plant if we're going to be carrying it around for the rest of the day."

"Something to keep in mind."

Plans to come back another day were solidified when he examined some of the striking color variations that the plants had. Yes, this was definitely something Mum would like. While Saguru talked to the stall owner about possibly reserving one of the pots, Kuroba went and checked in with the others. By the time Saguru was done, they were a good dozen or so stalls away and Momoi had a bag in hand. Takumi also had a bag, and that turned out to be sparklers.

By the time they made it back to the park and took another rest for his leg, it was well into evening and the music festival was well under way with vendors selling wares like a street fair. Kuroba brought back more fair food to share as they rested and waited for the sun to go down.

For a short while close to dusk, Saguru sat alone with their bags as Kuroba and the kids found a few stalls with games to play. Saguru smiled to himself, seeing Kuroba flinch away from one stall in particular and knew it had to be a goldfish game.

There were a large number of people milling around and the overlapping sounds of music had died off for the main performance of the night. It was some rock group Saguru didn't recognize, with heavy drum beats that he could feel through his whole body. It sounded like something Aoko would have liked in high school.

While he waited, he pulled out his phone. No new messages, just the unanswered message from Hiroto. For the moment he felt like he could answer it. He sent off a brief message that he was fine at the moment and spending time with a friend. Hiroto would likely guess that meant Kuroba; Saguru didn't care what he took from that though. He turned his phone off after he sent the message. The rest of the evening would be in the moment.

Despite the walking and standing, his leg was barely bothering him at all for once.

Night had finally descended when the others returned. Himura had a goldfish in a plastic bag and Kuroba kept both Takumi and Momoi between him and Himura's prize.

"Congrats," Saguru said, nodding at the fish.

Himura grinned. "Kuroba-ji practically teleported into the mask stand when I showed him."

"You're all horrible," Kuroba said.

"When were the fireworks supposed to start?" Takumi asked.

Momoi had her phone out. "Soon. C'mon, there's a better spot to view them…"

"You hear the lady," Kuroba said, offering Saguru a hand up. Saguru took it gladly. Momoi led them toward the lake in the center of the park where there would be fewer trees to block the view. They were almost there when the first firework went up. The bright flash of color and echoing explosion had them stopping to stare.

"We're going to miss the best vantage point!" Momoi gasped in the hush that followed. She grabbed her friends and dragged them at a much faster pace.

Saguru didn't bother trying to keep up, watching as a bright green firework bloomed overhead. He could feel the reverberation of it in his body. Even with Tokyo's light pollution, the fireworks were bright and beautiful, one after another. He almost forgot Kuroba's presence entirely until a hand on his elbow moved him around debris on the ground that he had missed as he stared at the sky. "I haven't seen fireworks in years," Saguru admitted between booms.

"Yeah?"

"On television, yes. In person?" He never attended any events that would have them.

"Well now you have. Good call by Shiemi."

They didn't say any more as they finally joined the kids at the water side. The reflections added to the experience. The juddering cacophony of explosions of the finale were inexplicably cathartic.

"Well," Momoi said after the last reverberations had faded into silence. "I think that was one of the best ideas I've ever had."

"Definitely fun," Kuroba said, ruffling her hair. She ducked away and held out a demanding hand.

"Cards. I think I'm pumped enough to pull off that trick now." When she took the deck, Saguru remembered the card in his pocket.

"You might need this, unless it's a different deck?"

Momoi took it and grinned. "Ace of hearts, huh?"

Almost in synch, both he and Kuroba gave her unimpressed looks. Perhaps she'd shared her opinion on their relationship with Kuroba as well.

"Fine, fine." The cards arced in her hands almost as smoothly as they did for Kuroba. She pulled off a complicated maneuver with her hands that showed off the faces of the cards before shuffling again. "Himura, pick a card."

With a long suffering look, he did, and Momoi proceeded to do a trick where no matter how much she shuffled, the card he picked was always at the top of the deck. Both Kuroba and Takumi had smiles when she was done.

"Masterfully played," Kuroba said as she returned the cards.

"Told you I'd get it right."

"It's actually pretty hard to do," Takumi said to Saguru as Momoi and Kuroba discussed how to further refine it. "You have to have really quick hands."

"Palming and double lifts, correct?" Saguru said. He'd looked up quite a large number of sleight of hand tricks in high school.

Takumi pursed his lips. "Don't pick it apart; that takes all the fun out of watching."

"Detectives are critics," Kuroba said, but he was cheerful about it rather than irritated like he'd been in school.

"To be fair, I usually don't bother trying to figure them out most of the time anymore." Although some of Kuroba's tricks made for enjoyable mental exercises because they seemed so impossible.

"And with that," Kuroba said, "it's time to be heading home, kiddos."

"But we haven't done the sparklers yet," Takumi said, holding up the bag.

Kuroba hesitated for a split second, Saguru only catching it because he was always watching Kuroba's body language for what clues it would give behind his masks. "Well we'll do them back at the apartment and your friends can stay the night."

"Really?" All three teenagers stared.

"Yup," Kuroba said like it wasn't out of the ordinary to let people stay over. "Hakuba, want to join the slumber party?"

"I think I will decline," Saguru said. He couldn't tell if Kuroba had been teasing or not with that offer. "Besides, I live next door, that's close enough."

o*o

A half an hour later found him sitting in one of Kuroba's chairs, watching Momoi and Himura chase Takumi with sparklers around the landing. A bucket of water with used sparklers was at Saguru's side. Kuroba had a sparkler of his own, absently tracing bright shapes through the dark. The events of the day left Saguru languid and on the edge of dozing off. He should just go to bed, but if he left, the day would be over and the temporary reprieve would vanish with it.

"Thank you," Saguru said.

Kuroba shrugged his thanks away. "I'm glad you came. Otherwise I'd have been the odd one out."

Unlikely; Kuroba had a way of fitting wherever he went. He could have easily fit into Takumi's friend group for the entire day, but he'd chosen to hang back with Saguru instead.

"You probably won't see me tomorrow," Kuroba said. "I'm going to be busy up to the heist." A reminder, unwelcome, but necessary.

"Good luck." Be careful, Saguru didn't add. There'd been too many injuries lately.

The sparkler in Kuroba's hand fizzled out. He tossed it in the bucket. "Lady Luck has been on my side so far. I'll have to keep courting her."

The image of Kuroba sending roses to a temple of all things popped into Saguru's head. He should definitely go to bed.

Kuroba's callused fingertips pushed hair back from Saguru's forehead. He opened eyes he didn't remember closing to see Kuroba crouched in front of him with a fond smile on his face. "Go to sleep, Hakuba. In your bed, not one of my kitchen chairs. I could try to carry you to your futon as you're sleeping, but I don't think that'd go well."

"I weigh a good fifteen kilograms more than you at least. You'd drop me."

"I'm more muscular than I look you know."

Saguru gave Kuroba a slow once over. No, he had a pretty good idea just how much muscle lurked under the carefully baggy clothing Kuroba preferred. He'd felt the firmness beneath them and had plenty of imagination to picture the rest. "I'm sure you're wonderfully fit," he said, "but carrying a grown man larger than you would still be a strain."

Kuroba blinked at him and pulled his hand away. He cleared his throat. "Right, which is why you're going to bed and I'm not testing my weight limit for deadlifts."

The sputter and hiss of sparklers and the kids' laughter was further away now; they'd gone down the stairs to take advantage of the parking lot's larger space. In the dark, lit by one street lamp and a handful of sparklers, they were a mix of shadows and gangly teenage limbs. Saguru heaved himself to his feet even though every bit of him protested the movement. His back cracked as he stood straight.

Kuroba snickered. "You sound like an old man."

"I embrace that statement." He turned away. "Good night, Kuroba."

"Night, Hakuba. See you in a few days."

Saguru tottered back to his room and all but fell into his futon, not bothering to change out of his clothes. He fell asleep to the sound of Momoi and Takumi challenging Kuroba to a sparkler duel.