Delay

"Hey Daisuke!" the teen peered over his shoulder to find Yasuhiko huffing towards him, "Daisuke!" as he neared, he noticed the papers he was waving in his hand, "Daisuke, you live near Kaoru, right? Have you seen him lately?"

"Hmm?...Oh no, I thought he was with you."

"No. He hasn't even been responding to my invites online." Daisuke's brows rose at the statement, "I'm worried."

"Well…I'm sure he's fine. He's a hard working guy, I'm sure he's just busy. Like me." he said as he kicked off towards the school gate.

"Wait Daisuke!" Yasuhiko's voice faded into the wind as he sped towards the city. Upon reaching the fish market, he greeted his coworker with a forced smile as Yumi, the clerk he was replacing, threw her arms up in celebration. He joined Shugo behind the register and sat at the stool with a long sigh.

"Oh man, I can't believe I have to be stuck in here on a Friday." his fellow salesman groaned, earning a grunt in agreement. It was during these slower days that he was tempted to pull out his English homework, but the manager had already given him a good scolding over that. It wasn't professional, he said, and it made his homework smell like fish, anyway. Still, he was always so tired riding home from the city. At least he didn't work during rush hour, but his manager had asked him to come in for Tanabata, which Daisuke imagined would be a lot worse.

"You have any plans for the weekend, Daisuke? Rena and I were gonna visit some friends in Yokohama."

"Ah, that sounds nice..." the sophomore uttered indifferently, "I'll probably just sit on my ass all weekend avoiding homework." he admitted with a smirk, "How'd that puppy-thing turn out, by the way?"

"My parents are still really against it, but once I save up enough, they won't be able to stop me from taking in all the animals I want!" Daisuke chuckled at Shugo's aspiration. He could imagine the young animal-lover growing up to be one of those animal hoarders or something, trying to save all the strays and giving them exotic names. In fact, he had such a passion for animals that Daisuke had caught Shugo muttering some sort of prayer over the fish he'd killed. Frankly, the fact he'd applied for the job was surprising in itself, especially after admitting his vegetarianism, but maybe he was able to separate himself from the work.

"Do you have any pets, Daisuke?"

"Nah." he answered, "Not really a pet person, but I did raise a grunty in The World." Shugo laughed at this.

"Oh really?! Grunties are funny!"

"Haha! I think they're kind of cute! My friend and I—" Daisuke cut off as the memory struck him. His coworker asked if he was okay and the teen nodded absentmindedly.

"...Yeah..." his voice trailed off, "...My...friend and I raised it together; we named it Star because of its starry saddle."

"Aww! That's sweet! Did you guys hang out a lot and like...raise grunties? Haha!" Daisuke feebly smiled at the inquiry and shook his head.

"Nah, he just liked grunties and he wanted me to help him."

"Oh?...Were you two close? Sure looks like it." Daisuke's cheeks warmed as he noticed Shugo staring at him, "...Were you REALLY close? HMM?"

"...Shut up—"

"OH MY GOSH! Hahahaha! No wonder I never see you with a girl! Well, other than that Natsume girl, but she's just a friend. I can tell." Shugo speculated, moving in closer as if the answer was written on his face, but Daisuke simply turned away with his lips pursed in a defiant pout.

"It's not important anymore."

Eventually Shugo's persistence was quieted by the evening flow of customers. He tried to continue the conversation by the end of their shifts, but Daisuke continued to disregard him and sped off into the night. Before retreating home, however, he remembered Yasuhiko's concern over Kaoru and decided to stop in front of the darkened abode. No cars, no lights…

"Pft...w-whatever. He's fine, I don't know what I'm worried about."