"Meeting"

Keiichi was happy.

After all they had gone through today he was happy. He was happy that nothing that bad had come out of his friend's unexpected visit. He was also happy that Duos wasn't mauled by Mion. But what he was happy most about was seeing his friend, his best friend that he hadn't seen in ages.

How was he doing? Did he finish high school? Was there a reason to why he had come to see him? All of these question buzzed around in his head as he waited tirelessly for the day to be concluded.

He looked around at everyone else in the class.

He could see Satoko, Rika, and Hanyu working on some of the harder math problems given by their teacher. He watched as Satoko got frustrated because she couldn't find the answer. He knew that she hated fractions, but he stifled a laugh. After a life or death situation all she was worried about was whether or not she could solve a math problem. He was tempted to help her with the problem, but figured Rika and Hanyu would be enough help.

He looked to the other side of the class and saw Rena and Mion talking casually. He couldn't tell what they were talking about but it didn't matter. He felt some joy in the fact that they were taking everything so lightly, especially Mion.

Mion had been quick to scold him about putting himself out to protect them, when she thought it was her duty to protect the class. She was also greatly displeased with his friend's sense of humor. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he did it to protect her of all people. He had born witness to Mion's self-sacrificial actions in the past. He had sworn after that day that he would never let her fall into that position again. Never.

As if on cue, Mion waved at him giving him a puzzling look. He was unaware that he had been looking at her while deep in thought, and that maybe she had got the wrong idea…

He returned the wave and she smiled before resuming her conversation.

Normal… Everything feels so normal…

As he thought the words he reflected on past events in Hinamizawa. He remembered the time when everyone was in danger and all their lives hung in the balance between them and Takano. He also remembered times of past death and insanity that had consumed him and his friends. The memories sent a shiver down his spine.

But this time things hadn't changed. Fear hadn't gripped anyone and people weren't questioning what had transpired. They had accepted Duos' actions as a joke, a very crude but somewhat innocent joke. This was reassuring. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could feel a sense a security, a sense of peace. And he would fight tooth and nail to protect it.

The bell rang signaling the end of the day. He watched as the younger students got up eagerly from their desks, said goodbye to their teacher, and ran out the door. It wasn't long before him and the rest of the club, were the only ones left in the classroom.

"Alright! Let's get a move on with today's activities," said Mion excitedly.

"Yeah let's get started so Keiichi can lose," added Satoko smugly.

He gave her a hard stare showing the determination in his eyes. He had already lost three times to Satoko this week and had been subjected to her punishments. He didn't want to lose again.

"You just watch, I'll cream you this time around!" He said, with a slight edge in his voice.

"Then without further delay let the games begin! The game's Old Geezer and last place gets the punishment, you all know the rules," said Mion.

"Let's do this," he announced as the first round commenced.

In the end he actually hadn't done that bad. He had come in second losing to Satoko by only one game. She had boasted her victory to him but held back considering she couldn't inflict the punishment on him. Instead it was Rena who lost the game and was punished by being forced to carry Satoko's books and Satoko back to her house before going home. He was glad he hadn't got that one.

After the activities finished he waved goodbye to his friends as they made their trip home and watched as Rena happily carried Satoko home. He found it ironic that Rena had actually got to take Satoko home, even if it wasn't her own home the thought was still amusing.

He started walking home alone and pondered the events of today which were still vivid in his mind. He got about half-way down the road before he heard a voice from behind a tree.

"How was school?" said the voice from the shadows.

He turned to come face to face with Duos, leaning against a tree eating an apple. He seemed calm and content and was patiently awaiting his response.

"Fine, nothing much interesting about it, until you dropped by." He said casually.

"Too bad, would have liked to hear something interesting," said Duos.

"You were something interesting," he replied flatly.

"Good point," said Duos through a mouthful of apple. "Anyways now that you're out of school I thought you and I could do some catching up."

"Sounds good, let's go back to my house and talk."

"Hop on," said Duos, tossing the core of the apple into the dirt and started off along the road with him in tail.

His parents were ecstatic when they saw him and Duos walk into his house. They asked him how he had been, what had he been up to, and why had he come to Hinamizawa. He blatantly answered all these questions with less than remarkable answers and was eager to go upstairs to his room and await a year's worth of information. He had to admit that he couldn't wait to start talking.

After they had gotten settled they opened the conversation with why was he in Hinamizawa? They had already gotten past the brief introductions of his wellbeing and were eager to get to the more interesting parts of the past.

"I came here because I got tired of living in the city," said Duos. "I had a job with a moving company, they paid me well but it was all just work, day in and day out. There was nothing for me there back in Tokyo so I thought of where you went and guessed that it would be better to live with good company, than with those who don't give a rat's ass if you live or die."

He marveled at Duos' reasoning, he wouldn't have guessed that he would have come all this way just for good company. Then again, he didn't have much better company.

At age seventeen and a-half Duos was recently out of high school and had to provide for himself. Though he didn't have to do too much considering his family left him a large inheritance after they died. He had only been fourteen when they died and he could only imagine life without his parents.

Following their death he convinced the city to leave him alone. He had also been working since he was a kid to keep the inheritance intact so the city had little concern for him. In his eyes Duos was the definition of redemption.

"So where did you get the motorcycle?" He inquired.

"Oh that? A guy from the moving company, one of the only good guys I knew working there owed me a favor. When he heard I was going off on my own to Hinamizawa he had his friend who owned a dealership give me a good deal on a bike. I thanked him a lot for it. It's the reason I'm here now."

He had to hand it to Duos; he was impressed that he had come out here with just the bike and whatever he could probably carry on his back. He wondered where he was staying.

"So what are you going to do now? You have a place to stay or something?"

"I got it under control. A month ago I finally managed to sell the old house and added the money from it to the inheritance and since I got such a good deal on the bike, I can put the rest of my money to building a new home for me in Hinamizawa." He said confidently.

"So that's the reason why they're building that new house here in Hinamizawa!"

"Yep, it's not gonna be huge but it will be spacious for my living. I'm even having the stuff from my apartment in Okinomiya shipped here, that's where I'm living right now," said Duos quaintly.

He was amazed that Duos had planned this far ahead, he thought he had just come out here on a whim, but it looked like Duos had thought things through thoroughly.

"I'm glad you're set up and you're good to go," he said happily, "So do you just plan on living out your life here in Hinamizawa?" He said questioningly.

"Pretty much, I want to have a fresh start after all that's gone down." He said in a low voice.

The room went silent as both of them recalled what happened in Tokyo some years back. Neither of them wanted to bring up the subject.

"Well I best be going, I need to get on the road to Okinomiya before it gets to dark outside. I'm not quite comfortable with the roads yet here."

He understood and escorted his friend to the door. He waved to him as Duos walked to the side of the road where he parked his bike. A minute later he was speeding off towards the already setting sun in the sky.

Author's Notes

If you were following this story than I apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. I've been dealing with some complications and I couldn't use the internet for a while.

I hope to continue writing from this point on and hope a good story comes out of it.

Anyways I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this I've got my point across about my views on reviews. It's your choice and not mine so do it if you want to. I won't be mentioning anything about it for the rest of this story.

Hope you like how it's going :)