A few minutes later, a woman’s voice spoke through loudspeakers, instructing passengers to board the plane. Eiji walked on his own and left the co-worker who was on cloud nine and was mumbling on his own. He was fantasizing something Eiji had no clue about but somehow he felt annoyed about it.

”13-A”, Eiji sat on his assigned seat and took the magazine stuck on the adjacent backrest. He skimmed through pages, showing disinterest to the articles which were only about airline related news.

Eiji wondered where Minami had went to again. The little guy always disappear on his own and oftentimes, his disappearance had caused him some sort of troubles. Eiji didn’t feel good about it and started worrying about him.

Eiji sighed and checked another magazine. This one spurred his interest. He immersed himself into silent reading while people began to move around to find seats.

“Excuse me”, a familiar voice called out. Eiji ignored him and continued reading the magazine. Some articles were actually few days old. He would have checked them on newspaper already but this couple of days had been hectic for him.

“Eiji-san, do you enjoy reading?”, the same familiar voice asked. This time, however, Eiji turned his head and was surprised to see a person so different from he was expecting.

“Uh.. yes I do. Nobu-kun, that’s Sakuraba-san’s seat, yes?”, Eiji asked.

”Well… I was talking with Sakuraba-san a while ago. And he said he wanted to be by window side to see the clouds”, Nobu replied while he scratched his head.

”Clouds? It’s too early for dawn. He won’t see anything…Well, I don’t really understand how that kid’s head works.”, Eiji said while his attention shifted back into reading.

Nobu fastened his seat-belt and acted all normal while his inner self was shouting, dancing, tumbling in happiness. It all started a few minutes ago.

Nobu was on his way to boarding when he noticed the small person who was always next to Eiji-san standing in daze all alone. Out of curiosity, Nobu walked up to him.

”You’re Sakuraba-san, correct? What are you doing here? We’re boarding the plane.”, Nobu asked.

”Oh… I.. . Uhh.. Sorry I was thinking about you… I mean… Takahashi-san…”, Minami bowed and apologized like he always did.

”Oh. You should go ahead and board the plane now.”, Nobu replied while walked away.

”Wait Umehara-san”, Minami said in abrupt but the next word wouldn’t come out. He wanted to ask him but he didn’t have the courage. But, curiosity got the best of him and in the end he was able to ask the question.

”Umehara-san. What’s… your.. umm… what are you to Takahashi-san?”, Minami finally said it. He breathed hard as if he overcame a huge obstacle.

Nobu was surprised. This person had caught on to something. Still, Nobu had no reason to tell him anything. Plus, Eiji-san would kill him if spill a bean about that night.

”We’re friends”, Nobu replied and was planning on not saying anything else. But… let’s call it guts, or gayday, but Nobu could tell Minami was gay. The guy wasn’t even trying to hide his scent.

”We’re friends, but I do want to be more than that with him”, Nobu said. Somehow, he felt like his precious Eiji-san was being targeted. The small petite guy was a co-worker so he had more chance to talk with Eiji-san. Plus, he looked girly and cute and Eiji-san, who was straight, would surely fall for someone like him. Which was why, Nobu wanted to tell Minami that Eiji was off limits.

”Eeee… I see… Hehehe”, Minami turned to goofish smirking. His eyes were sparkling in interest as if he had found a rare treasure.

”Umehara-san, do you want to change seats with me? Just so you know, I sit beside Takahashi-san”, Minami said.

”For real? But I don’t think Eiji-san will like it”, Nobu replied. He was surprised by the sudden change in personality. The little guy who looked like a scaredy-cat turned into a total fairy godmother in an instant.

“Just tell him I want to be at window side or something to sightsee! Let me see your seat number… 32B. I’m at 13B. Goodluck!”, Minami ran off. Nobu thought he was a rival, who would have thought that he was a cupid in disguise. Still, he was happy he would be able to sit beside Eiji-san for the next one and a half hours.