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-Continued from chapter 4:

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Waya asked after seeing Akira fall off the DDR stage and Hikaru dive under him to catch him. The two were now sitting next to each other on the floor, Akira having gotten off of Hikaru, and they were staring into each other's eyes as if there were no one else in the world but them.

'They're probably thinking about those lyrics. The last ones were, "I'm in love," so I bet Shindou realized how he feels,' Isumi thought.

The two older boys ran to the two who were sitting in the floor. "Hey, you guys!" Waya exclaimed.

Akira seemed to hear this and turned his head to face them. "Wh-what?"

"I asked if you're okay."

"Ah… Yes, I'm alright."

"And you, Shindou?" Isumi asked.

However, the partial blonde was not paying attention. He was busy staring at Akira, in shock.

"Shindou?"

Akira then looked at the zoned out boy. "Hikaru? Are you alright?"

Seeing those mint-green eyes look into his, Hikaru regained his senses. "Huh? O-oh, yeah, I'm okay." Akira looked at him oddly. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You just looked at me funny."

"No, I didn't," Akira said.

"Yeah, you did."

"I did not!"

"Did so!"

"Oi, you guys, don't start this now!" Waya said, getting glares from both, which were followed by two looks of realization.

"Ah… I'm sorry…" Akira said, looking to the side.

"…Me, too," Hikaru added, suddenly finding the pattern on the carpeted floor very interesting.

"Okay, now, can you guys get up? People have to go around you, you know," Isumi said.

"Oh, right," Akira said, standing up. He then reached a hand down to help Hikaru, who took it gratefully.

"Thanks," the blonde and black-haired boy said.

"You're welcome." The two then looked at the older boys.

"Now what?" Hikaru asked.

"I think that's up to you," Isumi answered.

"Yeah. I mean, are you still in denial?" Waya asked.

Hikaru scowled. "No!"

"So, then, what do you want to do?" Isumi asked.

"Shouldn't we be helping Hikaru?" Akira asked, the look on his face slightly more sad that before.

"Yes, but we need to know what kind of help he wants."

"Yeah, and obviously going to the mall failed," Isumi said.

"Oh, that reminds me. Why were you here and not at the mall?" Akira asked.

"Ogata came after me asking about Sai again," Hikaru answered.

"He did? Then do you know why he was soaked earlier?"

"Oh, he tripped over a bench and fell into the fountain. It was really funny. …Wait, how did you know about that?"

"He came looking for me, asking if you told me anything about Sai."

Hikaru looked at him suspiciously. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Of course not!" Akira yelled, hurt. "I wouldn't do that!"

"…I guess you're right," Hikaru said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Sorry, I just get worried about it."

Akira sighed. "It's alright. Now, should we go somewhere else? You still need to find a girlfriend, right?"

Hikaru's eyes widened at this fact. 'Right… Just because I like him doesn't mean he likes me… Maybe I should try to fall in love with someone else, since I doubt he likes me back….'

"Y-yeah… I guess I do…." Hikaru forced a smile.

Waya and Isumi looked at him, sadly. 'He probably thinks Touya doesn't like him that way,' Isumi thought, while Waya was thinking, 'Mou, Shindou, you're so dense! And Touya's not much better for not realizing you don't want a girlfriend….'

"Should we head back to the mall? I doubt Ogata will be there again," Akira pointed out.

"Waya? Isumi? What do you think?" Hikaru questioned.

"Well, I think we should stay here for another hour or so, and then maybe go home and go to the mall tomorrow," Waya said. "I'm free between two and six tomorrow."

"That's a good idea. And I'm free, then, too," Isumi commented.

"I don't have anything then, either," Hikaru said.

"I have a study session with my father…" Akira said. "But, he'll understand if I cancel it."

Hikaru looked at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. He already knows about your… situation… so it's alright."

"Okay, then," Waya interrupted before Hikaru could comment. "It's decided. We'll meet in front of the Go Association at 2:15, okay?" The others agreed. "Now, Touya, what was that about you being bad at shooting games?"

"Eh?" Akira asked. "What about it?"

"Let's play one."

"No, I think I'll pass."

"Ne, Akira, can you play one with me? You were close on that Zombie one," Hikaru said.

Akira looked at him warily. "Wasn't that the one that almost made me sick to play?"

"Oh, right… I guess I was so worried that I did badly…." He laughed weakly. "Okay, well, do you want to play something else?"

"We could play the Pac Man one."

"But you destroyed me at that one!" Hikaru yelled, hands on his hips.

Akira smiled. "I'll play a shooting game that isn't that zombie one if you'll play Pac Man with me."

Hikaru thought for a moment. "Hmm… okay, deal." He held out his hand and Akira shook it. "But we're playing my game first!" Hikaru said, pulling on Akira's hand and running towards another game.

"Whoa! Hikaru, wait! That's not fair!" Akira yelled as he was pulled off into a crowd.

"Those two…" Isumi said. "Really, they bring out the childishness in each other."

"Hikaru's like that anyway," Waya replied.

"Yes, but not Touya. He's always so serious. I'm glad that someone can bring that side out of him."

"Yeah. And Shindou does seem happier when they're together."

"If only they knew how each other felt, this would become extremely easy." Isumi sighed. "I think Shindou brings out the denseness in Touya, too."

Waya laughed. "I agree. Hey, do you want to go play a game? I haven't played Zelda in a while"

"Alright, let's go."

Waya and Isumi then headed to the Zelda game, only to hear someone scream, "Hey! Let go of me!" They looked at each other for a second before quickly running toward the yelling.

"Let him go!" Akira yelled.

"Hey, this one's cute, too," a guy said, putting his arm around Akira's waist and pulling him closer. Akira could clearly smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Get off of me!" He tried to push the drunk away, to no avail.

"Akira!" Hikaru yelled, squirming to get free of another man's grip on his arms.

"Touya, Shindou!" Waya yelled. He and Isumi assessed the situation carefully. There were three drunks who were all around Isumi's age, though they were larger than him, and two of them had latched themselves onto the younger pair of teen Go pros. Waya ran over to the guy who had grabbed Hikaru's arms and tried to tackle him, while Isumi pried the other guy away from Akira. The third drunk was just watching them lazily.

"Hey, guys," the third slurred. "Shouldn't we try finding some chicks?"

"We prefer dudes," the first garbled, dodging Waya's tackle and almost falling over. "Especially ones like this, who get grossed out. Ahahaha."

The second guy then said inaudibly, "Yeah, and this dude here is taking one of our finds away." He was talking about Isumi, who had succeeded in getting Akira free.

"Hikaru!" Akira yelled. He ran toward his friend, then rammed himself sideways into Hikaru's capturer's arms, putting an arm around Hikaru right under the drunk's hands in the process to push him away towards Waya.

As Waya stopped Hikaru from falling and asked if he was okay, the guy who Akira ran into grabbed him.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" the drunk said, attempting and failing to sound seductive. He put an arm around Akira's back, over his arms, and the other hand gripped his chin tightly. Akira tried to pull away to no avail as the man leaned, so he scrunched his eyes closed and kept his mouth closed tight. Then he felt a rough pair of lips on his, and immediately tensed even more, then started quivering, while the other three teens froze with wide eyes. The man tried to get his tongue into Akira's mouth, but when he wouldn't open in, the drunk squeezed his chin, hard, and Akira unwillingly gasped from the pain. Then his eyes opened, widening, as a tongue was forced into his mouth.

"Hey, you!" a guy who seemed normal yelled, pointing to the drunk and his captive.

The drunk pulled back for a moment to take a look at the man, then his eyes widened. "Oh, shit." He let go of Akira and backed up, then turned and tried to run for it, not getting very far.

As Akira was freed from the man's hold, he fell to the floor, shaking, and lifted a hand to his mouth, trying to wipe the germs off and the taste away.

"Akira!" Hikaru yelled, and ran to him. He knelt next to his friend and wrapped his arms around him, to which Akira responded by flinching. "Akira… Akira, look at me. It's me, Hikaru."

Akira looked up, and Hikaru finally saw the fear in his eyes. His own hazel eyes widened a bit. "Gomen, Hikaru," Akira said sadly.

"Why are you apologizing?"

Akira looked down, not answering. He leaned into Hikaru, but he didn't stop shaking, even as the normal-looking man caught the drunk and dragged him over to the four teens.

"I assume this guy forced himself on you?" the normal-looking man asked, facing Akira.

"Yeah, he did," Waya replied, as Hikaru was too preoccupied and Akira was too afraid. "On both of them, actually. And the other guy who was with him, the one with the black hair, did, too."

"Waya, why are you telling him that?" Isumi whispered.

"Because he's a cop. I know him from before." Before Isumi could ask, he added, "And, no, I wasn't in trouble with him. Some girl tried to steal my wallet, so he helped get it back." Then Isumi noticed the handcuffs on the now silent drunk's wrists.

"Oh… right." Then Isumi spoke up, "What are you going to do with him?"

"Well, we've been looking for this guy for some time, now. He's… done stuff like this before," the cop answered.

"What did he do?" Waya asked.

"Well… I don't think I should say that in front of those two." The cop looked concernedly at the two younger teens.

"I don't think they're playing attention, anyway."

The cop sighed then looked straight at the two older boys. "He's been accused of raping young men."

Sadly, Waya was wrong when he said that Hikaru and Akira weren't listening. This fact was made evident when Akira began to shake even more violently, and Hikaru tensed up, then yelled, "What?"

The cop glared at Waya. "…Gomen," Waya said.

"Yes, you heard me right," the cop replied to Hikaru's shock.

"Then… Akira could have…." Feeling said boy tense without the trembling stopping, Hikaru stopped his sentence in the middle.

"Yes, he could have. And you, too."

"Well, I don't give a damn about me right now, but…" he trailed off. Akira's movements calmed to a shiver after hearing that. Knowing that Hikaru cared and was there was comforting to the green-haired boy.

"Let's go to the station. We will have to ask you four, especially you two," the cop said, looking at the two previous captives, "some questions. And this guy here is going to jail."

Hearing that, said man began to fight the tight hold on his arms. "Hey!" he yelled, then followed it with some vulgar language. Though he was strong, he was too drunk and uncoordinated to put up an actual fight, and soon stopped swearing and trying to get away.

The man's yelling and thrashing had been enough to scare Akira again, and he shook just as violently as before. Being in Hikaru's arms didn't seem to help him much anymore. The partial blonde stood up, helping his trembling rival up as well, and the two followed the cop and their two friends silently, Akira holding tightly onto Hikaru's hand.

As they arrived to the police station, they were led to a table to answer questions. The police attempted to ask Akira, but he wasn't responding, and he continued to quake. The questions were starting to annoy Hikaru, who was trying to comfort the green-haired boy.

"This isn't working. You need to answer, Touya-san," the cop said.

"He isn't able to right now," Hikaru said. "Why don't I just explain what happened at first, and then you can ask Isumi and Waya the rest. They were there."

"Ah…" the cop looked at Hikaru, then sighed. "All right, Shindou-san. Then, start from the beginning. When the other two know what happened, I'll ask them. It seems you are correct about your friend."

"Okay. Well… I was pulling him towards one of the shooting games, when the guy you caught stepped in front of us. He said, 'You kids want to play with me?' and I told him no, 'cause we were already going to play a game. I guess I didn't realize what he meant by that. He got annoyed, and grabbed my arm, then pushed Akira to the side. We both yelled at him to let go, and then the other drunk grabbed Akira, too… and I think that's when Waya and Isumi came. Right?" Hikaru asked, looking at the two mentioned boys.

"Right. And we can explain the rest."

Waya and Isumi continued the story until the point where the cop came, and then were asked some questions, which they easily answered.

Then, two women walked quickly through the door, followed by a man, and when they saw their sons, the two mothers ran to them. Simultaneous cries of "Hikaru!" and "Akira!" were heard as the boys' respective moms called them, getting their attention.

"Mom," Hikaru said.

"Mother, Father," Akira whispered.

"Why are you here?" Hikaru asked his mother.

"I was worried, of course!" was the reply.

"Akira, are you alright?" Touya-san asked. Hikaru backed up as she went to hug her son, who cringed from the embrace, before relaxing into it, still quivering.

"Y-yes, I'm… I'm alright, Mother," Akira replied softly.

His father then spoke up. "What happened, Akira?" He put a hand on his son's shoulder, and Akira flinched, tensing and scrunching his eyes together. The former Meijin's eyes widened, along with the two recently arrived women, and he removed his hand. "Shindou, can you explain?"

Hikaru looked down. "Akira… had a rather traumatic experience at the arcade." The parents looked at him, so he continued. "Some guys were drunk, and they… well, they grabbed the both of us, and Isumi and Waya tried to help. Isumi freed Akira, but he… he tried to help me, and then the guy who had grabbed me caught him, and he… he…" Hikaru stopped, his fists shaking at his side and a furious look on his face as he stared at the ground.

The adults looked at Waya to continue. "The drunk kissed him." Astonished looks appeared in the features of the three.

Hikaru spoke again. "Yeah, and Akira started shaking, and I wanted to help him, I really did, but I just froze on the spot…." Hikaru put his hands on his head, grasping his hair between his fingers. "I'm such an idiot! I couldn't do a damn thing!" he said, self disgust clear in his voice.

Isumi said, "And then the policeman came and the man tried to run, but he was caught and arrested."

"He should be in jail for a long time," Waya said. "That guy… apparently he was accused of raping… guys our age…."

Touya-san and Shindou-san shrieked at that and Koyo had an angry aura around him, all realizing what could have happened to their sons.

Hikaru looked at Akira, noticing his fists were gripping the cloth over his mother's shoulders, hard. "Akira… you're angry."

"…Who says I am?" came the whisper from the other sixteen-year-old.

"Your hands. You don't clench your fists when you're scared."

Akira immediately loosened the grip on his mother's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Mother."

"It's alright, Akira," Akiko replied. "You don't have to apologize."

Akira turned to Hikaru. "Akira…" Hikaru said.

"Because… if I hadn't have gotten you free… you could have been the one who…" Akira trailed off.

Hikaru frowned, getting the wrong idea. "So you shouldn't have helped me."

Akira looked at him, showing the infuriated look in his eyes, but not aiming it at the other boy. "Idiot… I didn't mean it the way you're thinking…." He faced away.

"Then…." Hikaru walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, stilling his shaking, which neither of the two noticed, though the others did. "…What did you mean?"

Akira faced him. "You could have been hurt! Doesn't that mean anything to you?" he exclaimed.

"No. Not when it was you who got hurt," Hikaru replied, pulling Akira towards him into a hug and wrapping his arms around him. The people in the room noted that while Hikaru's actions were more similar to the drunk's than any of the others that scared Akira further, they only seemed to calm him.

Akira wrapped his arms around Hikaru's torso and buried his face in his shoulder. "Well, I'm glad it was me and not you. Besides, I think I'm alright now."

Hikaru smiled. "Good. Then we can leave, right?"

Touya Koyo, the first person other than the two sixteen-year-olds to talk in the past few minutes, said, "I'll go ask." The pair didn't seem to hear him, though.

The two mothers watched their sons, glad for them. Although Hikaru's mother was still slightly confused, she could see how happy her son was, and she approved of almost anything that would make him happy.

Looking at Akira and Hikaru, Waya and Isumi smiled. "Maybe they'll get together now," Waya whispered.

"I hope so," Isumi responded. "We should tell them not to meet at the mall tomorrow. Shindou doesn't need or want a girlfriend, so there's no point."

"Right." The two told the mothers of Akira and Hikaru, not wanting to bother the teens. The two women agreed to tell their sons of the change in plans when they got home.

As the former-Meijin returned, he informed the group that they could leave. The seven of them filed out of the police station, Akira leaning into Hikaru, who had an arm around his shoulders.

"Thank you, Hikaru," Akira said.

"That's my line," Hikaru replied playfully. Akira laughed, and the seven continued the journey home. As they got to the point where they had to separate, Hikaru took Akira's hand. "Hey, do you want to meet up on Friday?"

"Sure," Akira said. "When?"

"Is five okay? I have a plan."

Akira smiled. "Can you tell me what it is?"

"Well, I have concert tickets. It's a band who sang one of the songs that was on the Guitar Hero game."

"Oh, okay. When does it start?"

Hikaru grinned. "Eight, but I thought we could go to dinner and the mall first."

"The mall?"

"Yeah. I wanted to pick out an outfit for you to wear." At Akira's frown, he added, "I didn't say there was a problem with the way you dress. It's just, you can't wear the clothes you normally wear to a concert."

Akira relented, sighing. "Fine, as long as it's nothing vulgar."

Hikaru chuckled. "Fair enough."

The two then said their goodnights and went their separate ways with their families, both excited for the day that would be there in two days—soon, but not soon enough. Smiling all the way home, the previous events temporarily forgotten, they reached each of their houses and got ready for bed, happy with how the day ended.

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