“So. Have you learnt your lesson yet? Aoi? Mabou? Haven’t I told you to stop pulling stunts like this?” An-chan says as he scolds the two boys lying down on  mats.

“Uh…. So… rry…” Aoi barely makes out an apology

“An… Chan…” Ma bout groans a response.

After waiting quite a while, An-chan had finally come back. Looking like he was used to this happening, he then rushed up and untied the two, then we carried them to the second floor. After being upside down for so long it looks like they fell faint from Anemia. 

“Will they be alright?” I ask as I walk over to An-chan standing over the two

“Sigh* Probably, they have  the guts to do worse things than this. They’ll be alright”

“Is that so… then does this happen often?” I asked hesitantly 

“Yeah… sometimes they even try bungee jumping with these ropes.” He says as he rubs his temple.

“Bungee jumping? Is that even safe?” I asked, not sure how the rope didn’t just rip them in half as they jumped.

‘Is this the power of the game world?’ I asked

‘No.’ but was rewarded by a sharp reply

“Well the rope is part rubber so it’s possible, but no. It’s not safe, and I keep telling them that. Sigh*”

“Hehe… it’s really fun Kazuya-kun! Wanna try?” Ageha remarks as she points to the ropes at the corner of the room

“Sure, you can shake the rope, Then I will end up like these guys? Sounds really fun…” I say with in a sarcastic tone

“So you’ll do it?” Ageha says with a bright expression not even noticing

“No.”

“Heeee… no fun” 

“Ageha, Hotaru, bring those water bottles here” An-chan orders as he gesture to the bottles on the table

“Oh, sure!”

“Ha-hai!” And they hurry off

“Kazuya, lift their heads up.” I nod, then we  raise their heads off the ground.

“You two drink up. You both need to stay hydrated. Being upside down for too long meant that all the blood on your head went to your feet.” An-chan says as he passed a bottle of RoboWater to me and we administered water to the two barely conscious guys.

“Thank… you…” they say with barely any strength as they gulp down the water.

“Huh that should do it, now we just need to let them rest.” An-chan says as he slides a pillow below the heads of Aoi and Mabou, then heads up to the roof.

_________________________________________

…

“Quite the handful, huh?” I ask while I lean on the metal railings.

“Tell me about it, one of these days they might actually hurt themselves” An-chan says with a worried expression

“And that was not hurting themselves?” I asked a bit bewildered

“Nah… They can still do worse. There was this time they were doing a test of courage seeing who can last the longest standing on the  middle of the road, and I had to literally drag them back to stop them…” An-chan looks into the distant sunset as he tells me the long list of pranks and antics Ageha, Aoi, Mabou and the others had done. But in contrary to how bad, things get in his stories, he is still talking with a faint smile on his face.

“You don’t look particularly mad at them.” 

“Well, they are kids, let them do stupid things while they are still young. Because when they graduate, they will have responsibilities, jobs and can no longer do stupid and fun things like this” he replies with a wistful expression

“That’s true.”

Then we stood there in a moment of silence contemplating what to say next. I look at Angelica who was busy admiring the sunset as she sat upon the railings. And she is strangely quiet today

…

“You know. I am going to graduate this year, and I am planning on working at the family factory. But I might no longer find the time to spend with them…” he says with a hint of sadness

“You could still visit them from time to time. And you’ve done a good enough job taking care of these guys. So they’ll be alright” 

“Yeah… Thanks, but I do wish that they at least stay away from the more dangerous stuff” he sighs

“Well, they wouldn’t be Ageha, Aoi and Mabou if they did though. They would be boring and stuck up. And you can’t imagine them being like  that, right?” I chuckle

“Hahaha, Yeah. I guess you’re right” he laughs at my remark

“Hey, Kazuya?”

“Hmmm?”

“Aren’t you and Hotaru getting pretty close?” he asks with a grin

“Huh? Does it look like that?” I say as I feign ignorance. I knew my head patting would come to bite me in the ass.

‘Hoho.. you had it coming’ the angel sitting on the railings looks to me and grins.

“Hmm? Now, now don’t be shy Kazuya.” he teases with a mischievous grin as he punches me lightly on the arm.

“Its not like that, I just find her cute that’s all” I plead my case

“Is that so…” he looks at me with a knowing look “Then what’s with that red tint on your cheeks?” he points to my face

“What?” I look at Angelica who just grins at me and winks.

“Hahaha! Nah, just kidding.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny” I shake my head

“But… it was quite a surprise actually”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“Well even though she comes us, she mostly just follows us around from a distance and watches but never really plays with us”

“Is that so…”

“Yeah, and when you came she became involved all of a sudden. So… I just wanted to thank you” he says with a warm smile

“You are welcome. I guess, I didn’t do anything though” I say not really knowing how to respond

Then he laughs and we watch the sun for a bit.

“Well now that we are here, and you still have time, why don’t we see who can last the longest?” I say jokingly as looked at him with a grin while I pulled on two coils of measured ropes.

“Hahaha! No, I would still like to stay standing, thank you. And I still have to confess to this one girl so I think I don’t want to die just yet…” He says as his expression suddenly becomes sullen after realizing what he just said.

“A girl?” I asked as if I did not already know who she was.

“Yeah, her name is Isuka, and she... She plays pranks all the time, but when she does its really fun. She is a beautiful be it a little mischievous. And when she laughs even more so…” He says with a bright smile as he looks at the ground

“You sound like you really like her. Then why don’t you?” I say as I elbow him on the side.

Isuka, the predecessor of the Soaring Club. The one who will give a dream of flying a glider to the main characters. Also the best friend of Amane, the one who, I quote “the one who gave color” gave color to Amane’s life

“Hehe. Well, she and her friend are pretty close and, if I confess it might trouble them.”

“Is her friend a girl or a boy?” 

“A girl…”

“Then why are you hesitating? Or is this a Yuri type of situation?” I asked with a bit of sarcasm at the last part.

“What?! No, no. It’s not like that. Its just, I don’t know, I think she likes me, and that’s probably why she invited me to join their club. But I think I might go in between their friendship, if we do start dating. Plus she’s chasing her dream. And I can’t get in the way of that...” he rambles on with a sad expression

…

“Aren’t you just making excuses? Tatsuya?” I cut him off with a calm tone

“Wha… No. I…” he hesitates

He looks at me as if he wanted to retort something but I look at him and continue.

“Tatsuya. Endlessly contemplating if you should or should not is a never ending cycle that will accomplish nothing. And by the time you have finally escaped that cycle it might already be too late and you might even regret it” I say as my chest suddenly aches.

 I recall my previous life, if I had just pushed my pride aside and confessed to Hina earlier then… maybe… just maybe we would have been able to spend much more time together. Or maybe even grow old together if it came to that point.

“I know that! I just…” he struggles to find a reply

“You just what?” I ask as I look at him

“…” unable to respond he stays quiet.

“Sigh* I too was once inlove…” I look once more to distant sun set.

“…” he looks at me in surprise but carries on listening

“She and I were members of the student council. I am actually president if you could believe it” I chuckle.

“She was gorgeous, with her emerald eyes and dark brown hair, this plus her being the so called Ice Queen of the school made me attracted to her.” I think back to our not so sweet first encounter, and I feel my self smile. 

“ At first she was cold towards me, only talking to me about council related topics. And we went on through the years, with me trying my best to break that ice queen-esk façade of hers, by finding every excuse to spend time with her. In my seni- ehem, one year she became suddenly shy towards me, and then because of pride we ran around in circles trying to get each other to confess. And one day she actually did, on the way to school I had picked her up on my bike. Then on that very bike she confessed.”

“Then what happened?”

…

“She had to move over seas…”

…

“ And because of my indecisiveness I had lost her. Because of pride, I regretted it. So much. So an advice from a friend. Don’t make the same mistake I did.” I pat him on the back as I look him in eye

“I see. Yeah you’re right, feels weird to be given advice and patted on the back by someone, a lot younger than me though.”

I suddenly realize and laugh at the thought

“Well, yeah. Why did you even bring that up then?”

“I don’t know, for a moment there it was like we were the same age? I think?"

“Well, you can tell that to your grand children. That you got love advice from someone six years younger than you, plus someone you just met yesterday.” I jest

“I dont know... I feel like I have met you before? If that makes any sense whatsoever?"

"Hmm... maybe we were friends in a another life or something" we laugh at that for a good few minutes. We techinically have, though I was looking through a computer screen then.

…

“Well I’m going to do it.”

“Do what? bungee jump?” I say jokingly

“No. I mean confess. I’ll do it once summer ends.” He declares

“Is that so? Go for it.”

“Well its all thanks to you Kazuya, thanks for sharing that story by the way.” He says as he raises a fist to me with a smile

“Your welcome An-chan” I as I  push my fist into his.

“Come on lets go check on the two. They should be waking up now.” he says  smiling happily as he walks away

…

‘Aren’t you gonna tell him?’

‘No, let’s just let things play out’

‘You sure? Okay…’

Isuka, the predecessor of the Soaring club. And the one who will pass down her dreams of seeing the Morning Glory down to Aoi, Ageha, Kotori and Amane... Will disappear this summer…

_________________________________________

“Wah! That was fun” Ma bou says as he stretches

“I won though.” Aoi says standing up.

“That’s because An-chan untied mine first. I would have totally lasted longer” Ma bou exclaims 

“Yeah, yeah whatever you say loser. Bleehh!” he sticks his tongue out at Ma Bou

“You…” then as if a bull finding the red cloth of a matador, he chases Aoi “I am not a loser!” he shouts as he chases him

“Loser, loser, loser…” Aoi continues to mock him, laughing, while getting chased.

Ageha watches the sight with a smile as she looks tenderly at Aoi.

“We-welcome back” Hotaru says as we go down the stairs.

“Ho… what did you do up there? Confess your feelings at the sunset, or something?” Ageha smiles widely as she teases.

“Bingo.” An-chan points a finger gun at Ageha to emphasize that she was right.

“Wha?” they all gasped in unison. As Hotaru blushes

They all stop, even Ma bou and Aoi stops running around to look at us, shocked.

…

“Pfft. Bwahahaha!” we laugh at their reaction, then I walk up to the blushing Hotaru and patted her on the head. As I recall what An-chan said on the roof.

“Well guys its getting dark, I gotta go…” I gestured to the window as it displays the hues of orange, pink and such as it slowly turns darker.

…

“Be careful on the way home!”

“Bye!” 

They all shout as I pass through the secret entrance out the back of the building.

 From the second floor Ageha shouts “Bring swimming clothes for tomorrow!”

“Sure!” I shout back as I unchained my bike and ride off with Angelica in child form as she held onto me.

“You were strangely quiet. Is something wrong Angelica?” I asked as I pedaled

“Nah, its just I didn’t want to interrupt your ‘bro talk’” she says with a mischievous tone

“Is that so… Well tell me if there is though, we’re partners right? Angelica” 

“Sigh* Yeah… dummy” she says as I feel a warm sensation on my back, as she leans onto me, I felt a smile form on my face, as we rode on home.