"﻿Bitter!" "﻿Why do I retain such vivid memories of such bitter events... ﻿Hiro-san!" "﻿What do you want for din...ner?" "﻿Wha-What was that?" "﻿N-Nothing... ﻿Doesn't look like nothing to me." "﻿Hiro-san!" "Show me what you're hiding right now!" "﻿Shut up!" "﻿You're way too insolent these days!" "﻿Don't touch it!" "Hiro-chan!" "I finally exploded." "swimming." "piano." "cram school and kendo." "calligraphy." "cram school and swimming." "﻿All of that plus school!" "When the hell am I supposed to relax?" "!" "there's no point!" "﻿Quit one of them!" "﻿No!" "it'll feel like defeat!" "there's a place I always go." "﻿A secret hideout nobody else knows about" "﻿My secret hideout is a green tunnel..." "﻿I know this kid!" "﻿He's the son of the Usamis across the street." "They were saying ﻿he recently came back from England or something." "﻿Usami Akihiko." "﻿What the hell are you doing here?" "This is my hideout!" "﻿You can't just come in without my permission!" "﻿Permission?" "What am I supposed to do?" "so... first you have to ask me nicely." "﻿Please." "﻿Eh?" "﻿Please." "but now there's a new member." "﻿What a weirdo." "His expression never changes." "﻿What the hell's he been writing this whole time?" "why do you know about this place?" "﻿I thought nobody knew about it" "﻿There was a kitten on the road." "so I chased after it into these bushes. ﻿and the green and blue and white looked really pretty together..." "﻿I'm a little surprised." "﻿I didn't think anyone else would notice it a couple days later... ﻿We have a transfer student joining us." "﻿His name is Usami Akihiko-kun." "﻿Akihiko transferred into my class. ﻿but the center of attention himself looked ﻿totally uninterested in any of it." "﻿He really is a weirdo." "﻿He doesn't have any expression on his face." "I'd find the time to go to my secret ﻿hideout and work on secret operations." "just Akihiko and me..." "﻿Hi!" "﻿Every day was strangely a lot of fun the list of things I had to do was still as long as ever... ﻿Hiro-chan!" "﻿Men shouldn't cry!" "they shouldn't let anyone see them cry!" "﻿Good!" "Akihiko's not here yet." "﻿Like I could show him my face like this!" "﻿But I..." "I don't think I can keep this up much longer... ﻿Hiroki?" "﻿What's wrong?" "Your eyes are all red." "﻿I want to quit but I swam 50 meters!" "And I played a piano sonatina!" "﻿I made it to Level 2 in calligraphy and I won the kendo tournament!" "﻿What's the point of improving if you want to quit your lessons?" "﻿I don't want people to think I quit because I sucked!" "﻿Then isn't now the perfect time to stop?" "I want to keep moving up!" "digging one's own grave?" "you know!" "just leave me alone!" "I'm in the middle of fighting ﻿a lonely battle and you don't have a clue how I feel!" "﻿Hiroki." "always acting like you're an adult..." "﻿Didn't look like anything I could say ﻿was going to get through to you" "﻿so that's a little charm to cheer you up." "The ﻿boy next door in England taught it to me." "﻿He kissed me!" "He kissed me!" "He kissed me!" "let's go back." "﻿I'll walk you home." "it's so cold!" "Wish I'd put my gloves on." "﻿Want it?" "just the right hand?" "My left hand's gonna be cold." "that's why..." "﻿W-We're two guys!" "nobody's looking." "Don't worry." "﻿You're not cold anymore?" "I'm fine." "﻿I'm glad." "all of my worries had been blown clear away." "• • •" "﻿Here it is!" "cause one's own ruin or downfall." "﻿Downfall?" "do..." "Got it!" "etc." "﻿Would continuing my lessons really put me in critical danger?" "but he knows more words than I do." "either!" "anyway?" "Of course ﻿it's not a friggin' cheering up charm!" "﻿Even I know what a "chuu" is!" "formerly called "seppun what were the characters for "seppun" again?" "sex... what are you always writing?" "﻿Words." "﻿Hey." "﻿Akihiko-sama!" "﻿Akihiko-sama!" "﻿Akihiko-sama!" "﻿What are you... ﻿He'll find us!" "where are you?" "﻿Who is that?" "He's looking for you." "﻿Why does he know you're here in the first place?" "﻿Cause this is my house." "﻿House?" "!" "﻿He's coming this way!" "﻿Don't stick so close to me!" "﻿White." "he'd be clear white." "this is quite a problem." "Where has he gone off to?" "I just don't ﻿want Akihiko to feel my heart pounding!" "﻿Don't notice...!" "﻿Uh-oh!" "If I don't get home soon I'm gonna get yelled at" "﻿See you" "too." "﻿I don't wanna." "then?" "a friend!" "Welcome!" "right?" "but have you told his parents?" "﻿Not yet May I use yourj phone?" "just call them for us." "come with me!" "﻿Hey!" "﻿But the phone." "﻿Don't worry about it!" "﻿Call us when dinner's ready!" "﻿This book was really good!" "too!" "if aliens ﻿really wanted to take over the world rather than destroy stuff." "﻿You're freaking'me out!" "then read this one." "﻿I'm glad..." "Akihiko's back to his normal self." "﻿Thank you for letting me use your bath." "it looks like Hiro-chan's pajamas were just the right size." "﻿Yes." "﻿Don't call me -chan!" "you can go aheadl back to my room." "﻿Okay." "﻿Thank you very much for everything." "﻿Dinner was very good." "﻿Good night dear." "Hiro-chan!" "﻿Take a picture with me and Akihiko-kun tomorrow!" "﻿Huh?" "!" "He's adorable!" "﻿I think I saw little angel wings on his back!" "﻿How about you get your eyes checked tomorrow?" "!" "﻿He's a very good boy." "﻿Maybe... a little too good." "okay?" "﻿I will!" "﻿I didn't really know what Mom meant ﻿but somehow..." "I felt like I understood." "﻿And when I called to say Akihiko-kun would ﻿be sleeping over at our house tonight" "﻿the butler was the one who spoke to me!" "if she's at home?" "but Akihiko-kun's ﻿mother acts completely indifferent towards her son!" "﻿And apparently his father rarely ever comes home at all." "don't pry into other people's families." "too..." "﻿What does "indifferent" mean again...?" "then... ﻿That has to be really tough to deal with." "﻿Sorry." "Looks like I'm imposing on your family." "why are you apologizing?" "okay?" "all of a sudden? ﻿and I saw somewhere that people like that ﻿can get stressed out pretty easily... okay?" "!" "﻿Don't forget it!" "﻿Okay." "﻿G'night!" "﻿Night." "﻿Why do I get so flustered around Akihiko?" "﻿I know!" "I feel just like the prince did!" "telling ﻿me I have to save the poor princess!" "that's gotta be it!" "﻿Yeah... ﻿The princess..." "﻿Kamijo-kun wake up" "I can't get it right" "﻿the teacher's gonna yell at me again" "﻿You keep jumping up an octave." "my fingers won't reach all the way to C." "﻿No way." "﻿Let me see your hand." "you're right You have small hands." "gimme the flute." "﻿Your problem isn't that your hands are ﻿small." "I think you're blowing too hard." "you doing?" "!" "You know they call that an indirect kiss!" "﻿Rain... it's getting heavy!" "﻿Let's go to my house." "﻿Your house?" "﻿Akihiko-sama." "from across the street." "﻿Thank you for taking such good care of Akihiko-sama yesterday." "﻿I've heard a lot about you from Akihiko-sama." "﻿Hello!" "﻿It's the voice of that man from before... ﻿Welcome to our house." "I'll bring you something warm to drink." "who's that guy?" "﻿Shitsuji. (The butler.)" "﻿Hitsuji?" "(A sheep?" ")" "right?" "actually." "﻿Wow!" "﻿This is amazing!" "Way more than at my house!" "﻿Can I borrow some when I go home?" "﻿Sure." "﻿And this is the first time I've seen a bed with a roof!" "﻿How do you clean the top of it?" "your mother is calling you." "I'll be right back." "﻿O-Okay... ﻿Akihiko's probably always fighting with his parents." "﻿That might be why he makes that face sometimes." "﻿I wonder if I can cheer him up somehow." "﻿This is what Akihiko's always writing in... ﻿I'm sure it's not a homework notebook... ﻿I shouldn't be taking a peek at other people's things..." "I'll close it right away!" "﻿Hiroki!" "which one do you... ﻿Who said you could look at that?" "!" "﻿Sorry!" "﻿Give it back!" "Give it back!" "﻿Did you write this story?" "﻿I said give it back!" "right?" "﻿Hiroki!" "﻿It was really interesting!" "﻿You don't have to flatter me." "﻿"Flatter"?" "Don't treat me like an idiot!" "﻿I've conquered two-thirds of the books in the school library!" "﻿How about a little respect?" "!" "then it's freakin' interesting!" "﻿Just show me the rest already..." "I only tell the truth... there's so many!" "﻿Don't show 'em to anybody else!" "﻿What's the big deal?" "you can't" "﻿I'm only showing them to you because it's you." "no one else." "﻿Promise!" "okay!" "﻿"Just our secret" ﻿What wonderful words." "﻿This is really interesting!" "﻿He should totally be a writer!" "﻿"One good turn deserves another" What does that mean again?" "too." "that's just like me today!" "what does "nasake" mean?" "compassion." "that's not quite it I didn't tell him ﻿all that out of sympathy or anything." "love." "Romance!" "lovers kind of romance?" "!" "was his first love." "﻿It's done." "﻿Usagi-san?" "!" "you better be grateful." "you'd definitely be dead in a gutter somewhere!" "﻿Turn your laptop off if you're not using it!" "﻿What's this folder?" "﻿Hey!" "Why the hell do you have pictures of me?" "!" "﻿Shit!" "﻿Delete them!" "Delete all of them!"