“Come on Hakuta, don’t drag your feet.” Iruka said to him as she ran on ahead to take advantage of the empty swing set.

“Don’t worry about me.” He said, not picking up his pace. Now the boy felt like he had turned into her father as she took him from one place to another on the playground. A far cry from what he was originally concerned with when it came to being viewed as her boyfriend. “We got plenty of day. There’s no reason to rush things.” There were some children, but it wasn’t like they were so crowded that there would be a concern about losing out on some swing seats.

“Alright.” She took her spot on one of the swings, sitting and waiting for him to get closer to her. “Now, push me Hakuta.”

“I got it, don’t worry.” He unenthusiastically got behind her and put his hands onto the chains of her swing. Then by pulling back her back, he was able to build up enough energy to push her along with some height. Though he made sure not to put too much power to either get her too high for safety concerns.

“Whee!” She gave out a cheer as she felt the rush of air breeze past her face. “Wow, I can’t go this high all by myself.” While he had been holding back, it still was more than what most normal people could do on their own by kicking their legs back and forth. “Can we go higher?”

“No.” He shot down her suggestion. This was already at the limit of what he felt comfortable in terms of her safety. “I think this is more than good enough.”

“Ah you’re no fun sometimes.” She complained, but wasn’t stopping him from continuing on giving her a good swinging experience. “Come on, I can’t be the one having all the fun here.” She said after a little while of her giggling loudly as he simply pushed her from behind. “Get on the swing, I can push you.”

“If you say so.” Hakuta responded in a monotone voice as he slowed her down and they traded positions. “Now don’t go too hard on me.” He reminded her, but it seemed his words had fallen on deaf ears.

“Okay here we go!” She said aloud, pulling him backward. Hakuta noticed himself getting rather high off the ground with this maneuver she made.

“Hey, I think this might be…” He attempted to voice his concerns, but they truly went in one of Iruka’s ears just to leave out the other. She shoved as hard as she could to give him as much of a push as possible.

Hakuta went flying forward, his body feeling the G-forces as he hit the apex, or rather midpoint closest to the ground. Then his got the weightlessness of gravity as he swing forwards with so much force that his body lifted off the seat. Only his grip on the chains kept him from flying up into the air. Though they also ended up becoming his downfall, literally, as he fell back to earth with enough energy that it knocked him off the seat, landing on back on the playground sand.”Oof.” He said when he landed with a thud.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” She stood over him to check on the boy. “That looked pretty painful.”

“It was.” He answered, extending a hand up for her to grab and help him back onto his feet. Once she picked him up, he dusted his clothes of all the sand which had covered him when he fell down. For once it was a good thing he didn’t bring along really nice clothing or else he’d need to go home soon to get them washed. “I think that’s enough playground fun for now.” He said, suggesting they do something else. Hakuta didn’t give any ideas since it ultimately didn’t matter to him where else they went as long as it wasn’t here.

“I’m really sorry about that.” She apology in such an over the top manner by bowing her head down multiple times and begging him to forgive her. If he didn’t know her better, then Hakuta might’ve thought she was mocking him or something.

“I’m not angry at you.” He assured her. “Can we just do something else? I’m sure you got plenty of things to do since you’re the one who lives around here.”

“Oh, I know.” She snapped her fingers, knowing exactly where she wanted to take him next. “Follow me.” She attempted to grab his hand again, but the boy was quick enough to realize she would again drag him along. So he dodge her grab and pointed that she should just walk over where she wanted to go next. Hanging her head down, Iruka walked past him and he followed in a much more relaxed manner.

This was much more the pace Hakuta wanted to move at. Trying to keep up with any of the gyarus was exhausting for him, and that was before accounting for all the misadventures they seemed to put him through. Though looking at Iruka’s face, it was evident she took things in a much opposite manner. “Anyway.” Which would only last for a short time when she perked right up to show him the next spot they were going to today. “Tada!”

“An ice cream stand?” Unless this was run by her mother, there was absolutely no reason for her to take such pride in someone else’s business. Judging by the strange looks she got from the person running the stand, it was clear that wasn’t the case. “Well, I guess I’m not against any nice treats.”

“You don’t sound very excited.” She looked disappointed about his lack of enthusiasm. From his point of view, Hakuta wondered how she could be so excited. While this wasn’t a bad thing at all, there really wasn’t anything special about it either. Yet she viewed the stuff she led him to like a child going to an amusement park. Why would she care so much about this now as a high school student?

“Don’t take too much stock in it.” He assured her. The last thing Hakuta wanted to do was make her sad that he didn’t share her interests. He was her friend after all, so it would be understandable if they happened to take opposite sides of things. Though at the same time, for someone he considered himself good friends with, they really didn’t click all that well either.

“Well I’m paying, so you better be happy.” She gave him a small smile as she turned to the ice cream stand and asked for a pair of chocolate cones.

“Actually I prefer…” But it was too late for him to tell her what he would’ve liked instead. While chocolate wasn’t a bad choice, it wasn’t his favorite either. The scoops were quickly placed on the cones with a skill and mastery of someone who had been spending literal years perfecting their craft in the art of serving ice cream. She handed them the money and in return got some delicious looking frozen treats.

“Here you go.” She handed him one of the cones. “Hope you like it.” She then proceeded to lick her own scoop. Where the chocolate favored ice cream matched well with her tanned skin.

“Thanks.” He responded, enjoying his own cone to the best of his abilities. It wasn’t bad at all, but sounded a little unfair that he didn’t have a real choice in the matter.

“Guess you really haven’t changed at all, have you?” A boy’s voice spoke to them. It was one quite familiar to Hakuta, and when he turned his head to the source of the voice. It was no surprise to him that it was that same boy he met at the train station.

“It’s you.” He said, but this was also spoken at the same as Iruka. “Hmm?” Hakuta then turned his attention to her, where she did the same. There he saw her face lost his usual glow and had been drained of its color. “You know him?” They both asked each other in unison.

“I’m sure my presence here is a little surprising to you, Iruka.” The boy spoke once more. From the way he address her, Hakuta could tell they apparently had history together. He wondered what that could possible be. Was this the reason for them to strike up a conversation with him yesterday?

“Masahito?” She replied, saying the boy’s name. “What are you doing here?”

“How do you know each other?” Hakuta asked, putting himself into the conversation. “I met this guy back at the train station. I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”

“Hakuta…” Iruka nearly dropped her ice cream cone from all her shaking. “He’s my old friend.”

“Old friend…?” It was now that he realized who this person truly was. This was the boy that Iruka had told him about before. The guy whom she grew up with as childhood friends, only for him to abandon her when they were in junior high. If this was the case, then what was he doing here?