Well, it was officially happening. A house warming party was going to be happening at a place that Kouji had only just spent minutes at. Though despite his protests, everyone was on board with that plan as his uncle brought out the snacks and drinks.

As much as he wasn’t glad about it. If you can’t beat them, join them, Kouji thought.

And so he also tried to enjoy the festivities. It wasn’t anything special or big since there weren’t even a double digit amount of people here. Still, it was fairly lively as is. There was Waa trying to get Yuma to understand how to play one of the latest video games. Teru was laughing it up with his Yokakura with some drinks. Moku was starving, so he was munching on some chow with the headmistress. It seemed that plenty of them were off enjoying their own thing here.

It was so weird for him. He had eaten out with the girls, but it usually consisted of him trying to cut as many corners as possible. Being able to not worry about the expenses of his food, as was agreed between him and his uncle. It was a funny feeling he hadn’t had in a long time.

“Kouji.” Anastasia grabbed him by the arm, getting his attention. “It would be nice if we could talk, yes?” She said, trying to pull him away from the others. The girl not only wanted a little chat, but she also wanted to make it private as well. Too bad for her, that sneaking off wasn’t going to be easy to do.

“And what is going on here?” Himawari was quick to put a stop to this. She took his other arm to prevent him from being pulled away from the others. “I think that being in this nice living room is perfectly fine.”

“Hmm? But is there anything wrong with friends talking privately?” Of course, Anastasia phrased it as innocently as possible. Even if her intentions were far from it. Kouji, on the other hand, knew that he should probably try to quell Himawari’s concerns before it was too late.

“Could you wait for me there?” He asked Anastasia. “I just need to talk something private with Himawari first.” The silvered haired Russian obliged, and left them with a bit of a worried expression on her face.

“I’m not so certain I’m a fan of this behavior.” She scolded him. “You’re a little too cozy with her, don’t you think?”

“First off, the two of us are not together.” He defended himself. “So I don’t think you should be concerned about who I’m spending time with.”

“The only reason we’re not, is because you can’t make up your mind.” She reminded him of their unique relationship situation. “Look at her, kissing up to your uncle.” She turned her gaze in disgust towards Teru who was chatting with Yokakura.

“I don’t think it’s kissing up.” Kouji corrected. “The two of them are more similar than you’d think. So I guess there’s a bit of chemistry there.”

“Even still, I have no intentions of losing to a girl like her.” She crossed her arms in defiance. “Or anyone else for that matter.”

“Yeah, well I’m going to be hanging out with a friend of mine.” Kouji left her to her dismay. After all, there was someone else waiting for him.

“You finally made it.” Anastasia greeted him with joy in her voice. “If we could… Could we talk in your room?” That was quite something to ask of him, now that he had a proper room. Sure, everyone’s been alone with him at his apartment when he was sick. It just that there was something a little more personal given that this was a single room where he was finally enjoying life as a teen.

“Um…” Well he did agree to talk in private with her. So it didn’t technically matter where, but he was certain that Himawari and Teru weren’t going to be happy hearing about that. “Sure.” And so, they both went into his room.

Since he had just moved in that day. It was still filled with a fair bit of boxed from his old place. It shouldn’t take too long for him to unpack though, since the boy didn’t own all that much stuff back there. Fortunately for him, he was able to keep that old tv and had it set up here to watch whenever he wanted to.

“Ah.” The first thing Anastasia did when they entered was leap into his bed. “You have such a soft bed.” She told him, as she was rubbing her face onto the pillow.

“Yeah, I’m really glad my uncle got one for me.” While he was fine with sleeping on the ground. Kouji did miss having a bed that he could cuddle up in. Especially since Winter was coming. “So what did you want to talk about?” He reminded her of the real reason they were here.

“…” Whatever she wanted to talk about, it wasn’t one that she was excited about. Instead of her usual gleeful self, the girl lost that smile on her face. “You know, I will miss you.” She said.

“What are you talking about?” He was confused with a statement like that. “I’m not leaving the school. We’ll still being seeing each other like we always do.” It wasn’t like when he was planning on leaving them back during the Summer. Things were different now compared to back then.

“But, we will not be living so near anymore.” That was her problem. Back then, it wasn’t all that difficult to just walk down the street and pay him a visit. It was something that she took quite a bit of an advantages over the other girls. Not to mention that they walked to school in the mornings. This was all just put together in a manner that she enjoyed.

“Right, so we can’t be walking together anymore.” Kouji responded. “But, I’m sure we’ll find other ways to spend time with each other. We’re friends after all.”

“Is that something you really mean?” She asked, wondering if he even felt as strong about this new circumstance as she did.

“If it’s for you, of course I will.” He sat down on the bed next to her. “Don’t tell any of the others, because it’s embarrassing. But you’re a really special person to me.” Bashfully, he couldn’t even look her in the eye as he relayed this information.

“I… Promise.” She said, feeling flustered at the idea of how he thought about her.

“It’s because you’re the first friend I ever made here. If it wasn’t for you, I’m not sure if I could’ve survived this tutoring job.” It’s funny, since she wasn’t considered a girl that he needed to take care of. Yet it was thanks to that smile of hers, that can-do spirit which always helped keep him from breaking down. “So I just wanted to thank you for it.” He continued on. “And don’t worry about anything between us. I’m sure we’ll find ways to handle whatever happens.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” She was overjoyed with what she just heard. In her excitement, she tackled over him with a big hug of her own. Making sure to express her gratitude a lot. “Thank you, thank you…”

“All right, all right, I got it.” He said, hoping that no one was going to walk on this sight.

***

The party went through rather nicely. For once in Kouji’s life, he thought that things went his way without any more added trouble.

“Good bye.” He said goodbye to the last person to leave, that being Himawari. She stayed a little longer to try and extract information about what he did alone with the other girl. It didn’t take long to convince her of his faithfulness, since nothing really happened anyway.

“I’ll see you at school next week.” She said as she walked away. Now, he could breath a sigh of relief. This weekend was going to be filled with a lot of unpacking, but at least he could spend most of it without worrying about anyone else. Right now, it was late. So sleep was the only thing on his mind. “Good night uncle.” He said as he made his way to his room.

“Good night.” Was the response he got, along with something else. “Oh by the way, Isako’s still here.”

“Really? What does she need?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing serious. It’s actually a funny story, you see...” Yokakura had the bright idea of bring out some adult beverages to enjoy with Isako. But she was always a bit of a lightweight when it came to enjoying a few drinks. “So she’s sleeping here for the night I guess.”

“Fine with me.” Kouji didn’t think much of it. Sure, it was a little weird to think of someone so professional getting so drunk that she was passed out. Especially one that was his headmistress of all people. Oh well, it should be a big dea- “Ehh!?” Or it was going to be a big deal. Considering that his uncle forgot to mention one important thing.

She’s sleeping in his room right now.