“Shiuka, you’re back.” Said Hakuta, who couldn’t possibly be more happy with this outcome. It took him a while to come down from cloud nine to realize that he laid on top of her. “Ah, sorry about this.” He blushed as he gave her back her personal space.

“I should be the one saying sorry.” She responded, sitting herself up. “I’ve been acting like a real big idiot lately.” Shiuka couldn’t deny she wasn’t aware what she did with him was wrong. Being aware made it the worst for her, but what else was a girl her age who didn’t have a handle on her emotions were to do?

“I’m just happy you’re back.” He stood up, reaching a hand out to help her onto her feet as well. She accepted it and now they both were no longer lying on the ground. “Anyway, we should go inside.” He suggested. “I’m sure you want to get cleaned up first.”

“You don’t want to talk first?” She asked, pulling onto his sleeve to prevent him from heading in.

“I wasn’t really ready yet.” He had expected to use the time spent searching for her as his time to think within his mind to figure on the words he’d say. Now that she had abruptly interrupted it, he was left at a loss for words. “But I do want to say I’m sorry for what I said in the classroom.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” She assured him. “I ran into Ino out there.”

“You did?” He was shocked to hear this. Hakuta’s body filled with dread on what could’ve possibly been their topic of conversation. Then again, considering she had returned, it must’ve been on the positive side.

“She told me about the things you said after that.” She giggled. “I never knew you liked me so much.”

“I don’t like you that much!” He yelled out in embarrassment. “I meant all that as friends, you know since we live together.”

“I figured as much.” She laughed. “It’s just funny to see you blush like this.” He rolled his eyes from her words. Even at a time like this, she still kept up the teasing.

“Anyway, let’s go inside.” Now it was his turn to grab her arm, leading the girl into her own house. “I can get started on dinner. Just go get yourself cleaned up now.”

“Yes sir!” She gave him a playful salute, then headed into the bathroom upstairs. While she was in a much brighter mood than before, Shiuka was still aware their troubles weren’t over yet. He might think the mean things he said were the major problem, but they both knew deep inside there was still another matter to take care. The issue which brought them here in the first place.

She washed her face in the sink, gently patting herself dry with a soft, luxurious towel. Shiuka had to take deep breaths to calm herself in preparation for what she knew she needed to do. There was no way in their current circumstances could they beat around the bush any longer.

Finally, after a good amount of time to get herself read, Shiuka exited the bathroom. “Ah, so what are you…” She headed down the steps and was about to ask him for what he had in mind for their next meal. This was when she saw him hunched over the sink in pain. “Oh my gosh, what happened?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” He spoke to calm her down. There was blood running down his hand as he wiped himself with a nearby cloth and ran water to wash the wound. “I was being a little dumb and accidentally cut myself.” Hakuta didn’t tell her as to the reasoning to how she made such an error. For it was due to him being distracted in thought about the same thing which ran through her own mind while in the bathroom.

“That looks pretty bad.” She commented, nearly wanting to faint from the sight of blood. “Don’t worry, we got bandage wraps right here.” She reached over to a cabinet. “Me and my dad are kind of klutzes in the kitchen sometimes, so we always keep this here since we’re probably bound to get hurt.”

“I’ve noticed.” He gave a rather unflattering remark on the number of times he had already needed to tend to her nicking her own fingers. That boy swore she overreacted to any potential injury she had. It made him wonder if her dad felt the same way. “Anyway, I’m a grown boy. I think I can take care of myself.” His attempt to grab the bandages from her hand, which was met with her pulling them away from him.

“You’re always helping me out, why can’t I?” She asked, giving him now other choices but to either accept her first aid or continue to bleed out.

“Fine.” He relented, putting his hand palm up to let her free access to place it on. She gently grasped his hand and put on the topical ointment to prevent infection. He grimaced a bit from the pain. It was abundantly clear she was lacking in experience to try and minimize the damage as she dabbed it on and spread it about.

After this, she put on some gauze and wrapped it around his hand. “You know, you’re really bad at this.” He let her know about her lack of skills. “And a regular old bandage would’ve been more than enough.”

‘Hehe, I know that.” She laughed again. “I just want to enjoy the moment.”

“The moment?” He looked at her in bewilderment. Her doing this wasn’t anything special to him, outside of having her soft hands grace his.

“I couldn’t tell you this yesterday.” She told him, finally bringing up the point of conversation they both wanted to avoid, but knew they needed to confront. “It was just too embarrassing, but I like sharing moments like this with you.”

“Ah geez.” His free hand rubbed the back of his head as he turned his gaze away from her. “I don’t think I’m all that special of a guy to be sharing stuff with.”

“But we’ve been doing it less lately, haven’t we?” She sighed, thinking of the first month he spent here with her. It felt like everything was special and a big deal. Now after he had settled down a bit, it seemed they were creating space between each other. “It’s not just you playing with the rando online. But ever since things like Iruka coming by or all the stuff going on with Ninka. I guess I just got jealous.”

“Wow…” He couldn’t believe she’d use a word like that. Hakuta definitely didn’t think he was that important at all to be jealous of him spending time with other people.

“It’s silly, I know.” She turned her head down in shame and to hide away her impending growing red face. “But I just thought maybe I didn’t mean anything to you anymore.”

“That’s what you’ve been worried about this whole time?” He asked the question aloud, but it was meant for himself. Thinking on the matter, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey, I kind of was hoping you wouldn’t laugh at me.” She took offense to him doing so, but misunderstood his reason for doing so.

“No, it’s just that you couldn’t have known.” To him, it was never a question on him distancing himself away from her. In fact, Hakuta already knew that was an impossible feat. “It’s about the last time my dad came back.” He reminded her of what had happened just one week ago, when their father made a hefty find which lead to great profits.

“Of course I remember that.” She was quite glad to see her own dad once again. He did bring her some nice gifts a girl her age loved. And given what Hakuta got from his dad, she could tell their parents knew them very well. “He got you that computer.” She spoke on the matter with a bit of disdain. It was because of that object which started this whole ordeal in the first place.

“He was going to get us a house.” Hakuta hit her with a bombshell. “One in this area, so I wouldn’t have to leave school.”

“He was?” She was taken aback, letting go of his hand from the shock. “Wait, why did he change his mind?” A computer was certainly quite different from that of a house. It astounded her to think he wouldn’t want to give Hakuta a home.

“I got him to change his mind.” It was a secret Hakuta had been hoping to keep from her for a long time. Because it worried him to think what she would think of his decision. “I told him that I don’t want to move out from here.” His pride, his own ego and desire to make his dad happy kept him from wanting to do it the first time when they thought he would be moving out for good. After all, why would one want anything different? Especially with how he had acted about the whole ordeal.

“You wanted to stay here?”

“I guess since the cat’s out of the bag now, I should ask you about your opinion of it.” Said Hakuta. “But Shiuka the truth is… I’d like to spend the rest of our time in high school living together. That is, if you’ll have me.” He knew this meant making a lot of sacrifices, such as continuing to hide away their living situation from their friends and everyone else.

This was a big deal during their precious youth. This meant being unable to bring anyone here to hang out without questions. It meant dating would be nearly impossible. That they’d have to worry every time someone got too close.

“Hakuta…” She could hardly hold back the tears running down her face. “Of course I want you to stay.” She rushed onto him and gave the boy a tight hug. Her heart could finally no longer hold the burden of doubt which had been troubling her for weeks.

“That’s such a relief.” He sighed, happy they would be able to continue their lives. And glad they had resolved their issues.