Beep,beep,beep

As morning light crept through the curtains of the room like an apology nobody asked for

yui was pulled from the depths of sleep by the ruthless shriek of his own alarm-a trap he had ,in some moment of misguided

responsibility ,set for himself .He sat up slowly ,blinking against the pale morning light "Monday again" he said to no one ,his voice

rough with sleep "uninvited,as always".

Getting ready for school was ,for yui ,a largely mechanical process-one he could on muscle memory alone while his mind lingered somewhere quieter. But downstairs ,the house carried a different kind of energy .His mother sera moved around kitchen with practiced ease, assembling his breakfast between glances at clock,already half dressed for work. His father jeol stood at the sink ,sleeves rolled up,working through the dishes in comfortable silence.Two people with job,responsibility,with their own exhaustion -and still somehow ,his morning came first ,Yui appeared in the doorway ,school bag over one soulder ,he didnt say anything .He rarely did .But he pulled out his chair and sat down,and the small,deliberate way he picked up his fork felt -at least to him-like the closest thing to gratitude he knew how to show.

As yui was eating,the sound came before the knock ever did -his name called out from somewhere below with a familiarity that could only belong to one person.

YUI!

he paused mid bite .Through the front window,he can already guess the figure standing at the doorstep -haru-school bag hanging off one shoulder probably already restless from having stood there for all of ten seconds.Yui slowly chewed his food ,unbothered.

He's here again", Sera said,more to herself than anyone,a small smile catching at the corner of her mouth as,,haru was only one who stood with yui even though he was overcast

joel didn't look up from the sink "tell him to stop shouting in front of the house"

Yui said nothing. which was his own kind of thing .he grabbed his bag from the bottom of the stairs,pulled the front door open and was met immediately with the other boy's impatient expression -eyebrows frowned,arms crossed as if yui kept him waiting for hours rather then seconds .

they had known each other long enough that words weren't always necessary.Yui stepped outside ,pulled the door shut behind him,and fell into step beside him without a word.The morning air hit his face, and neither of them felt too speak.That was simply how had always been between them- comfortable silence,that only year's of knowing someone could make a silence felt like company.

As they were walking,haru who broke the silence first,as it always was.

'so',he said quietly,eyes still on the road ahead,"things are.... going to.. change now, aren't they"

not a question.Never really a question.

yui glanced at him briefly'.....' then looked away. He had caught the thing sitting underneath those words -small,unguarded,not quite like haru.

"I stopped expecting them to" he said simply, his voice carrying nothing but everything at once.

neither of them said anything after that .The school gates were already visible ahead,and somehow silence that followed felt less like peace and

more like an ending neither of them named.

The gates were nothing special up close. Yui walked through them without thinking much about it,Haru right beside him staring at unfamiliar faces. Yui kept his eyes forward.

‘‘Come on, '' Haru said, already pulling out his schedule, let’s go find our classes.''

"Yeah"

Haru looked at him for a second and smiled.

The Corridors were packed. Yui followed Haru, letting him lead the way through the noise "it should be around here somewhere "Haru said, craning his neck over the crowd towards the notice board

"You have been saying that for the past five minutes."

"I know where I am going"

"You clearly don't"

Haru shot him a look and Yui looked away, unbothered. They found the board eventually -Haru spotted their names first, running his finger down the list until he hit both of them. same class!

" See, "Haru said, turning around with a grin, “I told you."

Yui said nothing but anyone could clearly see that just how happy he was. They both stood there for a second, both quietly relieved in their own way, before Haru started moving again.

"Come on, “he said "let's go find the room before you complain about that too."

After two wrong turns and one argument about whether they are going right way, “Class 1-B,"Haru said, stopping in front of the door.

"It took us twenty minutes."

"Stop complaining, we are here aren't we."

Yui glanced at him and pushed the door open first. The classroom was already loud-groups forming, seats being claimed, people who had clearly known each other since middle school picking up conversation like no time had passed. He stepped inside and immediately walked into someone.

He looked up. The boy was surrounded by people-some laughing, some nudging his shoulder and some trying to get his attention. He looked like a person who just used to this-people gravitating toward him without really asking them to. But his face didn't show much. Like the noise around him had nothing to do with him.

He glanced at Yui, said nothing for seconds

"Sorry, “he said.Flat.Quiet.Already looking away, Yui didn't say anything back. He wasn't even sure why.

"Hey-"Haru grabbed his sleeve from behind. "Those two seats next to the window, quick!"

"Okay okay"

They grabbed the seats. Haru set into his seat immediately, stretching his body like he had just finished a long journey. “Not bad “he said, looking around the classroom.

Yui said nothing. His eye moved across the room just for a second. Seeing the boy already turned back to his group, like nothing happened. He just stopped scanning room when the class door opened.

The teacher walked in with the kind of energy that immediately settled the classroom without trying-she dropped her bag on the desk and looked around like she was doing a quick headcount. No forced enthusiasm, just someone who had clearly done this enough time to not make it a whole thing.

"Good morning." she pulled the cap off a marker. "I'm Miyazawa Keiko. I'm your homeroom teacher." She leaned slightly against the desk. "Okay so introduction since, I don't know none of you yet-stand up, say your name and thing about yourself."

The introduction started from the front row and worked their way back. Some kept it short, some rambled a little, most looked relieved when it was over. when it got to haru he stood up without hesitation like he has been waiting for his turn.

"Akimoto Haru."He glanced around the class for a second. "I just want everyone around me to be doing well. That's genuinely enough for me."

It was simple. No jokes, no performance. A few people nodded, some smiled. Haru sat back down, Yui glanced at him briefly.

"That's really all you had."

"I meant it though."

Yui looked away and said nothing. Which was basically his way of agreeing.

Then it was Yui's turn. He stood up slowly, like he was doing favor by participating. "Koda Yui."He paused. "I just want my privacy and for no one to bother me.That's it."

The class went quiet for a second. Then some let out a disbelieving laugh, some heads turning like they weren't sure if he was serious or not. He was.

At front Miyazawa-sensei pressed her lips together, clearly trying hard not to laugh-but the small laugh escaped her mouth-which was enough.

Yui sat back down completely unbothered by the reaction he had caused.

"Yui,"Haru whispered, somewhere between used to it and disbelief.

"What."

"You can't just say that."

"I just did"

Haru put his face in his hand, across the room, among all the people still reacting. Reiji had gone still, he wasn't laughing, he wasn't smiling. He was just looking at Yui with an expression that was hard to read- like something had caught his attention without his permission.

Yui wasn't even looking at his direction. He was busy ignoring Haru, who was still nagging him about social awareness. But Reiji kept watching him-the kind of looking that doesn't announce itself.

"Next" her eyes being already landed on Reiji.

He blinked once and stood up unhurriedly, like the room had all the time in the world to wait for him. "Kano reiji."He sat back down before teacher could even nodded. The classroom went quiet for a second.

Miyazawa-sensei looked at him for a moment then just moved on.

After sitting down, his eyes moved across the room-like it was intentionally just to glance at Yui, as his eyes landed at him.

Yui looked back, it lasted two seconds, maybe less. he broke the eye contact and faced forward to look at the board

Reiji turned back to whatever that was in front of him. He didn't know why his chest felt slightly different. He told himself it was nothing

It was probably nothing.

After introductions the class settled into the first lesson. Notebooks opened, everyone settled, doing what they were supposed to do.

Except one person.

Reiji didn't know when he has started doing it.But somewhere between the first and second period his eyes kept drifting left to third row last seat, where Yui was sitting with his chin on his hand, staring ahead with the kind of expression that made it hard to tell if he was listening or completely blanked out

Reiji looked back at board.

Then looked over again a few minutes later. He couldn't explain it.it wasn't like this when Yui walked into him at the door, maybe it was because he could control it but now it's much worse.

By the time lunch break arrived Reiji was staring straight at the board and had retained almost nothing from the past two hours. People surrounded him, by the time he was being irritated with himself.

"Yui" Haru said immediately, spinning around in his seat, "Come on we're going to look around." Yui looked at him without blinking, Haru knew what it meant and just ignored it like He always do.

"Get up. We're not sitting here the whole lunch break."

"Can't we just sit here, the school has been here for years. it'll survive without us exploring it."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point."

Haru stared at him. "The point is we're going."

Yui gave in because he knew, if he further irritated Haru he might get angry. "Fine, let's go"

Haru gave him a big smile.

Yui and Haru walked out of class, lunch break emptied the classroom fast. classroom went back to its usual noise. Reiji blinked and looked up from his desk like he had just surfaced from somewhere. he glanced towards the door. Then around the room.

Yui was gone.

he leaned back in his chair and stared at the empty seat. The whole morning had passed and wasn't even close to speaking to him- just spent entire classes staring across the room like that counted for something. he exhaled slowly through his noise

That was irritating.

**********

The school was bigger than it looked from outside. Haru had opinions about every corner of it.

"The courtyard is actually nice," he said, peering through a window as they made their way back.

"Yeah,It is"

They were almost back at the classroom when Haru suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Hey-isn't that Sato and others?"

Yui looked. It was.

"Some of our middle school people are here," Haru said already turning in their direction.

"Yours," Yui said. "Not mine."

"Don't start. They always tried to talk to you."

"Yeah, and I always had to sit there and listen to whatsoever they were going about."

"I know what it's called."

Haru gave him a look."Do you want to come or not."

"Go.I'll head back to class."

"You sure?"

"Haru."

"Okay okay-I'll be back before the bell." he was already walking towards them."Don't sit there staring at the wall!."

Yui turned toward the classroom without answering.

As yui was on way too classroom, haru turned and raised his hand and Sato looked ,his breaked into a grin as he waved back.

"Haru-how come you ended up here?" Sato asked as he got closer.

"It's close to my apartment and it's a great school. "Haru shrugged "beside Yui also here".

"now that's make sense."

They fell into easy conversation the way people do when they haven't seen each other in a while but picking up back doesn't take much effort. If was comfortable. Normal.

Then Sato said something, a name, just a name. And everything else around Haru-the noise, the corridors, the people -went quiet. Haru felt chill and forget everything he had been laughing about.

"What do you mean" Haru said. His voice came out quieter than he intended.

"I don't know much either -I just heard about it a little while ago."

"Is he here? RIGHT NOW!?"

"no no " Sato shook his head." just calm down bro- he probably won't be around for while"

Haru let out a slow breath. The tension in his shoulder dropped slightly but it didn't disappear completely. He knew that yui need to know and be cautious about it. Haru said his goodbye quickly, the easy smile still his face even though something behind his eyes had shifted. He turned and headed back towards classroom.

Yui had already been back few minutes . He'd walked in,dropped into his seat and turned towards the window without much thought thought . The courtyard below was half full of students.

Reiji saw him the moment he walked back in. He was alone,seating near the window ,facing away completely unbothered by everything around him. The rest of the classroom was scattered with people with no one paying attention to to anything in particular. That was it. simple enough. He walked towards him without thinking too much about it.

"What are you looking at-anything good out there?."

yui looked at him with confusion because he was surrounded with people, so why talk to him. He then looked out of the window again."

"No."

"Then why are you starting at it."

"Do you have any problems with it."

Reiji couldn't answer anything. He just looked stunned.

Haru heard the bell from the corridor. He'd been heading back already- the moment he said bye to Sato, his feet moving on their own while his head was somewhere else entirely. He pushed open the classroom door and walked in, and the thing he did without even meaning to was look for Yui.

Yui was sitting at his seat, facing the window, completely unbothered. And standing near him was Reiji, who looked like he wasn't sure he had ended up there.

Haru took one look at the situation and understood what had happened. he didn't even need to ask.

he walked over.

"Reiji-Kun, hello."

Reiji blinked -like someone pulling themselves back into the room -and nodded once. "hey". Then without much else he turned and walked back to his seat as students began filling back in.

Haru dropped into his chair and looked at Yui.

"What did you say to him"

"He asked why I was staring out of window" Yui paused. "I told it wasn't his problem"

Haru put hands on his face. "He was just trying to talk to you."

"I know."

"and."

"I didn't ask him to."

Haru exhaled slowly. There was no winning this argument and he knew it. he let it go as he had something else on his mind anyway. something heavier. he'd tell Yui after school -not here, not now, not in the middle of everything.

For now, he just looked forward as the teacher walked in.