His boots hit against the cement stairs, creating a loud and crisp sound, as he walked down. Shinya clutched the handle of his backpack. His brown eyes looked down at the steps, his lips pouted slightly. As he walked out of the apartment building, he saw the blue watering can he threw down at Die. He picked it up and placed it by the side of the stairs since he didn’t want to go up again. Toshiya and Die were probably ‘busy’ in the apartment.

Shinya touched his cheeks; he could still clearly remember the texture of Toshiya’s soft lips on it. Secretly, he wondered what kind of guy Toshiya was. He went around flirting with almost anybody, guy or girl.

But Shinya thought Toshiya was beautiful. Sure, you can say both he and Toshiya looked like girls at some time. It was because of their face shapes which were sharp and delicate, making them appear feminine whether they wanted to or not. Shinya frowned. But he himself was not beautiful like Toshiya; he didn’t have his charms and wasn’t as friendly.

He pouted more. He stood a long time at the foot of the stairs, absorbed in his own thoughts. He didn’t notice the person standing on the top of the flight, looking at him, till that person walked down and tapped him on his shoulders.

Shinya spun around, his brown hair flying behind him, as he gasped out in surprise.

"You are still here?" a certain redhead questioned him.

Shinya pursed his lips into a thin defensive line. "I’m just going."

"You didn’t eat your breakfast. Want to stop by the stall and eat something first?"

Shinya shook his head. "I’m running late," he gave an excuse, looking at his watch. Then he realised; he -was- getting late! He looked up from his watch. "I’ve gotta go." He frowned at the way Die was staring at him. "Nani?"

Die’s hand reached out and touched Shinya’s cheek. Shinya jerked slightly as the callused fingertips brushed across his skin.

"Something got stuck to your face," Die muttered as he cleaned his cheek with his thumb.

Shinya’s own hand raised to his face, touching his cheek after Die removed his hand.

"Ohh…"

Their eyes met for a moment. For that one moment, Die looked into Shinya’s brown eyes, marvelling at the light of innocence that made him look so vulnerable…then a second later, Shinya’s eyes hardened. "Wah, I’m late!" Shinya exclaimed and without saying a goodbye to Die, he sped off to the nearest train station.

***

Upstairs, in the apartment…

Toshiya: ZZZ…u.u

***

Die walked down the streets. The sun was high up in the sky; the apartment and flat buildings didn’t stop the hot rays from scorching his rather muscular arms which were exposed by the loose sleeveless white top he was wearing. "Fu…" he wiped the sweat of his forehead as he finally reached the stall. He ducked under the cloth shielding out the sun.

"You are finally here!" Kyo shot him a glare. "So late!"

Die pouted then saw the customer seating at the table and he flashed her a smile. The girl, who was dressed in her high-school grey coat and pleated skirt, smiled back, blushing hotly at the handsome redhead. "I woke up early this morning ne…"

"But you disappeared right after opening the stall(the congee stall Kyo and Die are talking about is a ‘yatai’ stall but they open in the mornings too…I dunno how to explain-read the description page!)!" Kyo said crossly. "You probably went to Shinya’s place, didn’t you, you skirt-chasing rascal!" he swatted Die’s arm.

Die grinned cheekily at the shorter man, not answering him.

"Wei, I say you should stay away from them," Kyo warned him.

"Why?" Die’s eyebrow arched arm questioningly. The girl came up to them and paid five 100 yen coins to Die who purposely winked at her. Then she shyly smiled at him again before leaving. Die could guarantee she would be here again tomorrow morning…(ß Die’s business strategy ^^;)

"Hmm…" Kyo fingered his chin. "Well, the reason really depends…on who you’re after…so…"

"I’m not telling you anything," Die said, knowing that Kyo was trying to trick him into saying who he was chasing.

Kyo’s eyes narrowed. "Fine, be that way! I’m just telling you that whoever it is…those two are…" Kyo shook his head.

Die ignored him.

***

Shinya sat on the bench alone, sighing as he tilted his head upwards, his neck creaking comfortingly. "Ahh…" he pouted. He was hungry since he didn’t have time to go to the canteen before his 2-hour lecture began. His fingers wrapped around the tuna sandwich he just bought from the canteen ten minutes ago. He peeled off the plastic wrappings and stuffed one corner of the bread into his mouth while he flipped open his book.

Suddenly someone came and sat down beside him. "Hardworking, aren’t we?"

He jerked up from his book. "Mph? Morrngng…" he uttered with his mouth full.

The violet-haired guy laughed good-naturedly as his hand reached out and removed the sandwich from Shinya’s mouth. "Good morning, Shinya," he greeted.

"Good morning, Kaoru-kun," Shinya said, smiling embarrassedly as Kaoru seemed to inspect the bread he just took a bite from. Kaoru was a student too but one year Shinya’s senior. But Kaoru was actually much older, maybe four or five years older than him(not that old lar…=p); Shinya never asked coz he thought it was rather rude to do so. It seemed Kaoru was topping in his class yet Shinya never thought of him as being the studious type. Quite the contrary actually…

"Hey, you are free tonight?" Kaoru suddenly asked, flicking a strand of purple fringe from his eyes.

"Tonight???" the auburn-haired beauty blinked. "I think so…"

"Oh, then meet me at this place okay?" he slipped a folded piece of paper into Shinya’s hand then got up from the bench rather abruptly. "Ja!" he waved and before Shinya could say anything, walked away.

Shinya looked at the piece of paper quizzically, as if it would answer him back. Then he unfolded the piece of paper.

"Huh?! Nani?!!"

***

His mouth opened in a yawn as he stretched his limbs. Toshiya saw his own reflection in the oval mirror in front of him. He flashed his reflection a wide smile then it went lopsided. Oh, man…I look terrible… He scratched his already-messed-up hair. Clutching his lumpy pillow in one hand, he padded out of his room to get a drink.

"Ehn…" He noticed the green light blinking on the phone (Shinya’s phone actually). Got message…should I listen to it? Naa, it could be something urgent…but it could be something personal too… One corner of Toshiya’s lips twitched. Ah…

Shrugging, his hand shot out deftly and pressed the round button under the blinking light. There was a static when the message came on but it cleared off after a second.

"---ne, not in? I’m coming to see you later…with Shinya…---*beep*" the message ended.