“Uh, what?” Of all things she expected to hear him say, Rouko couldn’t quite believe what was said to her. “I knew you were desperate, but that’s a bit out there, don’t you think?”

“I know it sounds outlandish, it really does.” He admitted, coming to terms that he had just spilled his deepest secret to Rouko. Hakuta had no idea on what he was going to say until the words already flowed out of his mouth. This girl was about to ruin everything, so he acted hastily without any regard to the consequences of his actions.

“And what does this have to do with what we’ve been talking about?” She asked. “You know, assuming you aren’t just tricking me with something stupid.” Despite her reservations, it appeared she was open to the idea. No matter how ridiculous.

“It explains why I’ve gotten closer to Shiuka.” He explained. “I wasn’t trying to or anything, but it kind of just happened because we live together.” There was nothing about Ninka when it came to his situation, but he believed it would be enough to tell her why he seemed different now as a person.

“And you mind telling me how that works?” She continued to ask for more information. “I can’t believe Shiuka wouldn’t tell me about this. When did she move out?”

“She hasn’t, I’m the one who moved in.” Hakuta told her all the details, which she listened to intently, but still had a hard time believing it. “We’ve been living together for a couple months now.”

“And how do I know you’re telling the truth?” She inquired, taking another peek at her phone. Rouko still had the incriminating photo save and ready to be sent to Ninka at a moment’s notice. This could’ve easily been a trick by him to get her to drop her guard so he could continue being safe to do whatever it was he might’ve been planning with the other girls.

“That’s easy, I’ll take you to her… Our house now.” Hakuta took the last bite of his chocolate croissant, left money for payment, and got up from his seat. “We should hurry, she’ll probably be home soon.” He hoped that Shiuka stuck around longer for dinner at Ninka’s. This would allow him to give this girl proof and continue to hide the fact that he blabbered the secret away.

“Alright, lead the way.” She might’ve doubted him, but trusted him enough that having the boy take her to someplace alone was safe. It was Hakuta after all, he was far from what many would call a dangerous individual. That said, she made sure to stay behind him to ensure the boy didn’t get the drop on her. “But I don’t know how you’re going to prove it, we all already knows where she lives.”

They walked together anyway as the sun was nearing the horizon now. Soon night would come and the temperature would drop, but maintain some semblance of heat as it was still summer.

In no time at all, the pair arrived in front of Shiuka’s house. “So, how will this make me believe you?” She asked with a smug expression. He didn’t react much. Hakuta simply reached into his pocket to produce a key and unlocked the door to the building.

“Do you believe me now?” He said as she looked on with her jaw dropped from the sight. “If I can go in without any problems, that clearly has to mean what I said was true.”

“Or maybe I was right about you all along.” She instead went to accuse him once more. “You lied about not being interesting in Shiuka, but you’re actually sneaking behind our backs with her.” While she doubted her friend would simply give a boy a key to her house for potential fun times. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility either.

“Fine, if you won’t believe me then I have no other choice.” He shook his head in disappointment and took her arm. She was taken aback by his brazen attitude in wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible as the boy took her up the stairs. “This is my room.” He opened the door, revealing his own personal room. This was the first time he had ever willingly taken a girl to his room by themselves. If only it was more a moment which meant something outside of proving a fact.

“Wow, it’s pretty much exactly what I thought your room would be like.” She commented, walking inside.

“I didn’t say you could come in.” He said, but it did little to deter her from going in deeper. His room was plain compared to Shiuka’s, but there was some flair to it that meant it really was his. Such as the two posters of popular game franchises and his computer. There were also figurines of notable characters from games he enjoyed.

“Guess Shiuka’s dad pays your dad really well.” She was now satisfied with his explanation to her. He wasn’t some guy attempting to ruin her friends and hurt their feelings. Hakuta was just someone who got stuck in a weird situation because the choices of others.

“That’s one way of putting it.” He responded, looking at the clock. He was surprised Shiuka wasn’t home yet, but since it seemed she wasn’t here. He needed to hurry to get this other girl out for secrecy reasons. “Now come on and get out of here. I don’t need Shiuka finding out that you found out.”

“Good with me.” She agreed and followed him out of the room. Rouko wasn’t sure what to do with this information. A part of her wanted to blabber it because that sounded like a way to get people riled up when it came to rumors. But this involved one of her best friends, so she didn’t want to ruin that girl’s reputation. Not to mention if the school found out, then that could lead to some more consequences for everyone down the road. She was mischievous, not malicious.

They walked back down the steps, him a bit relieved that she had taken this news much better than he anticipated. Though with that knowledge, Hakuta did hold some concern she might use this information to blackmail him specifically. For it wasn’t that she would tell the world, but she would expose him as the one who failed to keep a secret to Shiuka.

“I guess I’ll just see you…” He was about to bid her a farewell and open the door for her to leave. Unfortunately this was the moment when they both heard a key enter the door and the knob begin to turn. It was evident Shiuka had finally made it back home with her about to walk inside to see Rouko here. “Uh oh.” He froze for a bit, trying to think quickly on what they needed to do. “Hide.” The boy whispered to her, which prompted the girl to duck away into the living room.

“Oh, did you just get back?” Said Shiuka as she walked in. The girl didn’t think much about their meeting right as she got through the front door, locking it as she got inside. “Would explain why the door was unlocked.”

“Uh, yeah.” He did his best to keep a straight face, but internally the boy was freaking out. How was he going to get out of this situation? If she found out Rouko was here, there would be no good explanation with it that would end well for him. Hakuta peeked over to the living room to see Rouko barely hiding behind the couch. If only she could’ve picked something better in her haste. “Have a good time with dinner at Ninka’s?”

“It was great.” She dropped her bag by the stairs. He hoped she would just go to her room or even the bathroom to freshen up, but apparently she had different plans in mind. “Whew I’m beat, I just want to relax and watch some TV.” Shiuka attempted to get to the couch as quickly as possible, but he put a stop to it by getting in her path.

“Are you sure?” He asked. When she made an attempt to get around him, he would move to continue blocking her. “Maybe you want to take a shower first?”

“Kind of rude to tell a girl she stinks.” She responded, taking a wiff of her armpit. Shiuka found no problems, so she ended up pushing him to get to her destination. As she went to sit down, he turned to see that Rouko wasn’t at the spot she previously was. That was odd, he thought. Where did she go?

A quick scan of the living room would reveal to him that she moved from the couch to using the coat hanger by the wall to hide. There was a ton of coats and jackets there because Shiuka shopped a ton. So it was surprisingly good for Rouko to hide in. “Let me guess, you don’t want to watch a movie.” She said, lying down to get comfortable. “Well, go ahead and just go to your computer. We both know you want to.”

“Right…” He replied, turning his eyes towards Rouko. At this point Shiuka was distracted, so this was the best time for that girl to make her escape. He beckoned her, where she quietly moved from her spot along the way to get out of the living room. He hoped she would just go out the door, but instead Rouko grabbed his arm to take him to the stairs.

She rushed up, forcing him to follow and make her steps so that Shiuka wouldn’t notice there being two sets of footsteps being created. Then she took them into his room and shut themselves inside alone.