"Be careful on your trip," Aoi's mother hugged both her son and Yanagi. She gave an envelope to Aoi, "Here's some extra pocket money from Papa."

"That's rare," Aoi accepted it with some doubt.

"What are you going to do if you used up all your allowance for food and hotel, silly?" Aoi's mother laughed. She turned to Yanagi, "I'll be troubling you to look after Aoi, Yanagi-kun."

"No trouble at all, Okaa-sama," Yanagi accepted the responsibility with pleasure.

The two of them left with their luggage. They didn't really bring much, only one duffle bag each.

People would normally think that Aoi was just saying it to console him, but Yanagi knew Aoi wasn't that kind of person.

He had been looking forward to this day.

They planned to take a 3-day and 2-night trip to Holo World, the theme park where Peko came from.

3 days and 2 nights with Aoi!

Aoi looked at Yanagi's silly smile and inwardly laughed. He could more or less guess what was on Yanagi's mind.

They headed to the station in a good mood when Aoi's phone rang. Seeing that it was an unknown number, he declined it.

When they arrived at the station, they checked the train line and went to the platform accordingly.

"Kashiwagi-kun! You came!"

Aoi, "?"

Both he and Yanagi turned to the voice and he saw that it was actually his class president, Keiko.

"That's the wrong line," Keiko reached out to Aoi's arm. "Come on, the others-"

Before she could grab Aoi, her wrist was caught by a wide hand. It was then she noticed the glowering person next to Aoi.

"Yanagi," Aoi touched Yanagi's arm and looked at him in silent coaxing.

"..." Yanagi drilled into Keiko's eyes before he rudely thrashed away her hand.

He pulled Aoi closer to him instead and encircled his waist.

Aoi shifted his attention back to Keiko, not minding Yanagi's possessiveness.

"Class Rep, why are you here?"

"Eh…?" Keiko rubbed her bruised wrist, deterred by Yanagi's glare. She backed away in fear, "It's where we assemble for the trip. Didn't you read the itinerary I sent to the group?"

"Oh…" Aoi rubbed his chin and mumbled. "Should've gone a bit later…"

"Sorry, Aoi. Because I was impatient…" Yanagi hurriedly apologized.

"Didn't I tell you to stop that?" Aoi flicked Yanagi's forehead. He turned to Keiko, "We're not participating in the school trip. I already told Sensei the other day."

Keiko was stunned, "Eh? Why?"

"As you can see, I'm a bit occupied," Aoi patted Yanagi's chest. He looked at the time and nodded to Keiko, "Then, we'll be leaving first."

"Wait!" Keiko held herself back from grabbing Aoi under Yanagi's warning glare. She tried persuading, "This is a chance for our class to bond… We're all looking forward to knowing you better. This is our first school trip and–"

"We're in a hurry," Yanagi cut her off and directly left, dragging Aoi with him.

Aoi nodded at Keiko in farewell and matched Yanagi's rapid pace towards the platform. They reached there just in time for the train to arrive and promptly hopped in.

They walked to their seat in the back. Aoi watched as Yanagi stored their bag in the storage compartment and sat down next to him gloomily. Even until the train departed, Yanagi didn't say a word.

"Come on. Don't sulk," Aoi pinched Yanagi's cheek. "Aren't we still doing this?"

Yanagi lowered his gaze, "Aoi is too popular…"

"…Are you mocking me?"

"No!" Yanagi snapped up and grabbed Aoi's hand. "First was Kanzaki and now your Class President. Everybody wants to be with you, Aoi!"

"Class Rep just said that from her sense of responsibility. And you know that Kanzaki is just dumb," Aoi patted Yanagi's hand coaxingly. "Besides, isn't the most important thing is who I choose to be with in the end?"

"…" Yanagi rested his head onto their wrapped hands, "…No."

Aoi, "?"

"I don't like it," Yanagi gazed at Aoi like a pitiful puppy. "I don't like it when they're too close to you…"

Aoi couldn't stop himself from smiling, "Are you being jealous?"

Yanagi was silent for a while before he slowly shook his head. He hid his expression and said in a low voice, "I'm scared that they will take you away from me…It makes me think of doing terrible things to both you and them."

Aoi was slightly stunned, not expecting such an answer. But then, he inexplicably felt some relief.

As he mulled over his strange reaction, Yanagi thought Aoi was upset or repulsed by him from his silence. Still, he didn't regret saying it.

He wanted Aoi to know his every side, even the darkness within him, because he didn't trust himself.

If one day he lost his mind and intended to hurt Aoi, at the very least, Aoi would already be prepared.

Just as he let go of Aoi's hands, he heard a light laughter from Aoi, tickling his ears and scratching his heart. He bet with all his life that there was not one person on this Earth who had better laughter than Aoi.

"Aoi…?" he looked at Aoi with a little confusion in his eyes.

"Nothing," Aoi interlaced their fingers and grinned. "I'm just glad."

Yanagi blinked a couple of times, "Glad?"

"Mn," Aoi spread open his hand again and pulled away from Yanagi's hand. "I'm glad you didn't say that you would let me go in that situation."

Yanagi caught Aoi's hand and squeezed it tight. He solemnly stated, "Never. Not under any circumstances."

Aoi shuddered from Yanagi's declaration. He hurriedly looked out the window, hiding his blush with his sleeve.

Out of all the things, he seriously couldn't get used to Yanagi casually dropping bombs like this.

They safely arrived at their destination and headed straight to their hotel. They had planned to play at Holo World the next day from morning until night, so they went to find lunch instead.

"What should we eat?" Aoi asked as they strolled down the street.

"Soba?" Yanagi carefully suggested.

Aoi looked at Yanagi with squinted eyes, "Did you guess that?"

"Was I right?" Yanagi hesitantly asked.

"How do you think I know that you guessed?" Aoi searched for the nearest noodle shop on his phone.

Yanagi slowly lowered Aoi's hand, "I know where the place is."

Aoi blinked and couldn't help but laugh, "So, to be exact, you predicted this? Impressive."

Yanagi scratched his neck sheepishly, feeling a little proud of himself.

He brought Aoi to the noodle shop he had searched for and told him about the recommended Soba dish.

They ordered their respective food and the waiter told them to wait around 10 minutes.

"Can I ask you something?" Aoi suddenly said.

"Anything," Yanagi straightened his posture.

"Did you enrol into our school because you knew I was going to apply there or is it just a coincidence?"

"...A bit of both," Yanagi fidgeted. "I applied to several schools near your middle school hoping to see you again, but I didn't exactly know what your choices were."

"Why are you still so nervous confessing things to me?" Aoi lightly laughed. "You should know by now your confessions make my heart flutter."

Yanagi shook his head a little, "Even so…"

He was afraid that one wrong word would disgust Aoi.

He was afraid that if he started to think that anything he did would please Aoi, he would lose his sense of what could be done and what shouldn't be done.

"...I promised that I will change," Yanagi raised his gaze to Aoi wrongfully. "Don't spoil me too much, Aoi…"

"I'm not," Aoi helplessly said. "I'm just saying that you don't have to be afraid of speaking your thoughts to me or doing what you want with me."

"I…" Yanagi hesitated, "...I don't trust myself."

"Then, trust me. Isn't that enough?" Aoi raised his eyebrows.

Yanagi, "!"

Their order arrived before he could reply with anything.

The two of them enjoyed their food and chatted lightly for a short while to digest before leaving.

Passing by the cinema, they decided to watch a movie together. It was a sequel to a movie that both of them had watched together at one of Yanagi's sleepovers.

They didn't buy any snacks since they had just eaten lunch and directly entered the theatre.

As the light dimmed, Yanagi gazed down at Aoi's hand on the armrest.

He wanted to hold it so badly.

To be exact, he wanted to hold and touch Aoi every second of the day.

"Then, trust me. Isn't that enough?"

"..."

Yanagi hesitantly shifted his hand until it touched Aoi's hand.

When his hand enveloped Aoi's own above the back of his palm, the hand underneath him turned, facing their palms together.

He looked up to find Aoi smiling with his sideway glance at him.

At that moment, Yanagi knew Aoi would let him hold his hand any second of the day as their fingers interlaced with each other.