Author's Note: This is a risk considering that I have a major fic in another fandom going on, but I decided to plunge in anyway. I hope you all like it! And I hereby present – the sequel to My Flatmate is an Icecube.

1: Change

It is possible for humans to change in a short period of time. I do not mean to say that it is easy (it by no means is) but I do know that it's possible.

For example, that half-wit Sakuragi could progress from a world-class academic dunce to a slightly above average student by the time his university entrance exams took place, thanks to Akagi. And I'm not talking about my first-year captain Akagi; I'm talking about his sister. Apparently she and Sakuragi got together sometime during the end of our second year in high school – it did help him in his studies (and perhaps even his basketball… Even so, I am still not ready to admit that) but did nothing to make him a more mature person. At least, not to others outside the circle of Sakuragi-Akagi.

But I doubt you are satisfied. Perhaps this is not a good enough illustration of the changing of a person in a short time. Perhaps I should cite another example. Perhaps I should tell you what happened three months ago, when Toki moved out of her own apartment…

…Leaving me alone.

x

"Apparently 'don't be stupid' is an excruciatingly tall order for you," Toki hissed sarcastically, throwing her clothes into her luggage bag.

I was quiet; not because I wanted to be, but because I didn't know how to say what I was supposed to say.

"I coach you for a whole summer and the four months after that," she paused to take a ragged breath, "pour my heart and soul into helping you secure a place in university, and YOU TELL ME YOU DIDN'T TAKE THE ENTRANCE EXAM!" she screeched in crescendo, throwing up her hands for emphasis.

I'm sorry…I didn't know you'd be this upset.

"But you know what, Rukawa Kaede?" her voice simmered down to a calm, dangerous tone. "I am really pissed because you kept it from me. The entrance exam was four months ago and you're only telling me now. You resigned from Kouei and you didn't tell me. What nerve."

I took a step towards her bag to take out her belongings.

"If you didn't take the entrance exam but told me, I would have understood," she glared at me fiercely, tears springing to her eyes. "But did you? Did you tell me about all your plans? The entrance exam wasn't the only thing you kept from me! To think you're my best friend!"

"You can't move out of your own apartment," I quietly responded, reaching towards her clothes.

She stared, her hands frozen above the opened bag. "Is that all you're going to say?"

I withdrew my fingers and shut up again.

She stormed into The Back and I followed her. Reaching into her drawer she pulled out a sketchbook that I had never seen before. She then threw it at me.

"This was meant for your entrance to university," she snarled in contempt, before returning to the room, taking her stuffed monkey from her bunk and trudging through the door. Without a sideways glance at me, she curtly informed, "I'll be back one of these days to get my other stuff in The Back."

I finally managed to wring out something from the depths of my throat. "I'll be at home next week. On afternoons."

She turned left to the front door, but I remained rooted.

"No need," she eventually pronounced. "I'll just watch the sports channel and drop by when it shows that you're playing live."

She then plunged the key into the lock, turned it, and within all five seconds of clicks and slams she was gone.

They say there is a thin line between love and hate. I presume that with friendship, it is the same because from that day onwards, Toki certainly wasn't herself anymore.

x

Toki and I have a very… different relationship. We have never been romantically involved and even though we lived together for about two years in total we had never shared the same bed.

The fact is we aren't lovers.

My mother and younger siblings (young as they are) have always wondered aloud if we would 'ever happen'. I would constantly reply them with a definite no, but in the last three months I happen to have changed my mind. But that just means the 'no' is not so definite anymore.

We were previously mentor-mentee, when I was still a small fry in Kouei Publishing, struggling to make ends meet as a manga artist. Obviously, she was my mentor because she is better. Then we became flatmates due to an unexpected turn of events that involved my home's electricity being cut off. After that I got introduced to my father and moved in with him but I decided that Toki needed someone at home to look after her (she was independent but could forget to eat when she was working) so I moved back last summer. She helped me with my studies whole-heartedly while trying to learn basketball half-heartedly. I had always seen her as a good friend, and she had always seen me as both a good friend and younger brother. (She used to have a younger brother but he died of an asthma attack years back, and she often mentioned that she loved to look after me just as she did for him.)

It is rare for me to confess my feelings so honestly to myself, but seeing that I am somewhat distraught at not being able to see Toki everyday snatching the takoyaki away from me and fighting me for the remote, it seems right to speak up.

After all, I'm not telling this to anyone else.

I believe there is a part of me that is pining for her – I still cannot bring myself to call it love, because if I loved her I would not have hurt her. And apparently I have hurt her deeply, because her whereabouts are currently unknown to me.

She is avoiding me on purpose.

I have already called her mother, but Toki isn't in London. I managed to email her father, but he too has replied that she has not contacted him. I have gone to her school in Tokyo but they refuse to disclose her address and timetable, claiming that it is against the school's policy to reveal the students' particulars. I have waited outside all the gates of her campus whenever I can squeeze free time into my schedule, but I have never seen her.

However, there are two other people that I haven't asked yet. Unfortunately, I do not want to ask them because they happen to be Sendoh Akira and Kawasaki Tadashi – the former is my rival, the latter is my half-brother.

I do know, for a fact, that Toki cannot hide from me forever.

x

"Hey Ru," Toki flopped onto the couch and shoved a few documents under my nose. "Look."

I'd only moved back for two days and she was making my life miserable by making me sign a new contract for the apartment, probably some new additions to bathroom ettiquette.

"English," I uttered.

She sighed and read off the paper, translating badly as she went. "Um, dear Tokita Kaede, we are, um, pleased to inform you that you have been, um, offered–"

"Summarize it," I suggested, relieved it wasn't another soul-selling issue.

"Good idea. Basically, what should I major in?"

"Math." I meant it as a joke.

"But I suck at Math."

"I know." She had to copy Sendoh's Math homework everyday back in high school.

She socked me on the arm. "Okay so what about English?"

"You already know English," I pointed out.

"But a degree would be different, wouldn't it?"

I shrugged. An English degree gotten by an English-speaker in Japan would pale in comparison to, say, a political science degree gotten by an English-speaker in Japan. And I personally felt that Toki could do something like, journalism perhaps – she made it clear that she didn't want to major in arts because she thought that wouldn't provide stable income. She did have a flair for writing. Developing manga with her for so long had made me see where her strengths lay.

"Hm, you're right. I should diversify and apply my skill instead of honing it further."

Yes, we had a connection.

She exhaled. "What do you think about journalism?"

I propped my chin on my palm, my fingers masking the upturn of my lips.

x

I remember smiling very little before I met Toki. The only times I'd smile would be on the basketball court after a highly satisfying win. And that was rare, because most wins were mundane for me.

People in high school often thought that I'm a mysterious individual whose vocabulary is limited to 'pass' and nothing bothers me except for basketball. I would like to clarify this.

For one, I don't make an effort to be mysterious. It's just that no one bothers to stalk me to find out where I live, what I eat or how many times I defecate per day. Also, I don't speak much because no one speaks to me. Apart from on the court and Sakuragi calling me names (I only respond to him because he's irritating and it provides a cheap thrill to sink more baskets than him) I believe no one else speaks to me. If they do, they're girls and they whisper. Sometimes they scream. Other times they bore. You cannot blame me for not replying.

And for the nothing bothers me except for basketball part, I'd say that my family makes me bothered, in a nicer sense of the word. However I honestly do not care for what is happening around me unless it concerns my family.

Recently, this spectrum of concern has extended to Toki. And as I look at the sketchbook in which she has chronicled all our funniest, most pointless tiffs while studying in illustrations, I can't help but frown and wonder where she is.

I glance at the date display on my watch. It's been exactly three months.

I try to swallow my pride and attempt to reach for the phone, but my mind tells me that no way am I going to resort to my last move when I haven't got checkmated yet.

But someone beats me to the last move.

The phone rings.

x

I don't pick it up and leave the voice-mail to do it.

"Hi Kaede, this is Tadashi."

I try not to freeze. I sit back on the couch to listen to the message.

"I think you've changed your cell number, so I'm calling your landline."

She had. I think it is because of me. I am somehow happy to entertain that thought but I am not sure why.

"Anyway, my classmate just called me about the 40th anniversary. It'll be great to see you again. I'm still stuck in Canada; apparently there are some problems with my visa. I guess I'll have to settle them as soon as possible. Tell my brother I said hi. See you."

With a click, he disconnected.

x

What was that about? I sigh and get up to leave the living room before the phone rings again. I stare at it for awhile before gingerly picking it up.

"Kaede?" a male voice drifts over to my ear before I speak.

"Which one?" I ask; it is the landline after all.

"Tokita," is the simple reply, with a hint of bewilderment.

"She's not here," I reply flatly and proceed to put down the phone. Upon hearing the yelp from the other end I put the receiver to my ear again.

"What?" I probe.

"I said, where is she and what are you doing in her home?"

"Don't know. None of your business why I'm here."

I really don't mean to sound so sardonic, honestly. It just comes out.

"Uh, okay. Anyway could you take a message?"

I grunt in agreement. I still can take messages; it is still Toki's home and there is always the chance that she'll drop by when I'm at a game to see the messages. If she ever does, at least I'll know that she's alive.

"Please tell her that there will be a reunion on the second Sunday of September at Ryonan High School, 5 PM. It's a major event because it's the school's 40th anniversary. I can't get Sendoh or Sayaka to tell her because they're in Hawaii for an exchange program. Thanks. This is Koshino. Bye."

x

"I'm moving out."

"What do you mean, move out?" Toki raised her eyebrows at me as she looked over my shoulder. I was drawing a manga that told our story that happened in the late part of my second year of high school – in all truthful detail, including the plot twists with the guy Toki was in love with being my half-brother. The only fibs in the story were the characters' names.

"You go to school in Tokyo," I stated the obvious.

"Ah, no need for you to move out," Toki dismissed my notion with a wave of her hand. "I'll be commuting to Tokyo from here."

"Why." According to her Sendoh, his girlfriend and a number of her acquaintances had already moved to Tokyo because their universities were in the heart of that city. Incidentally Sendoh and Toki ended up in the same school. I wasn't that worried because the girlfriend was there – but with Sendoh, anything can happen.

She grinned. "I want to make sure you draw me prettier than my mother, even though she has fake boobs."

x

I don't know why I stayed on in Toki's apartment even though she has moved out. I do feel a nagging guilt when I think about her father paying for the water and electricity, but I can't seem to bring myself away. Every time I try to leave I find myself coming back. It probably isn't the flat itself.

It can never be the flat itself.