When Akihiro didn't pick up after his 6th attempt at returning the call, Nao decided to go meet him in his room.  But when he reached there, he got the impression that his friend had not yet returned.

All lights were off and he got no response when he rang the bell.

Feeling too lazy to go back to his room and get the spare key, he decided to ask Ogawa next door about Akihiro's whereabouts. The neighbour who hadn't seen him this evening, told him where he could get more info from - Room 9, Floor B.

At Nakano Asahi's. 

---

As Nao had expected, the lights were still on in room 9B. Taking a deep breath, he rang the bell.

"Nakano-senpai ...? "

Silence.

He knocked the door a couple of times, to check again.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping neighbours, he turned the doorknob to check if the door was locked from inside. When he found out that it indeed wasn't, he pushed it open gently.

"Senpai, I'm sorry for intruding but .."

Asahi was lying on the bed half naked with a guy Nao didn't recognize. Seeing that he was asleep, Nao wondered if he should disturb him.

I need to ask him.

But more importantly, why am I staring at his body right now?

Nao's eyes scanned the length of Asahi's slender, toned body. He wasn't too muscular, but his flat abs were sure sexy. 

What the fuck am I thinking?

Lying there on the bed, his eyes closed and defenses down, he looked extremely ... 

Nao couldn't find the right word to describe him. 

Good looking or not, he's an asshole.

Nao closed the door behind him and walked up to the bed. As if to erase the stains of tender thoughts he had of him  seconds ago, Nao patted him twice and shook his shoulder rather roughly.

"Hey, can you wake up for a second?"

Asahi ignored him and turned around. Sighing and pretending to be slightly annoyed, Nao patted him again.

This time Asahi groaned and mumbled something Nao couldn't decipher. Before he could go back to sleep, Nao shook his shoulders again.

"What do you want?!" Asahi's irritation clearly showed in his tone. "And why are you here, in my room?"

He asked Nao, palming his eyes to stop the sting from the light.

"Do you want me to turn the lights off?" Nao asked out of instinct, feeling slightly guilty about the situation.

"Nah, it's all right. Tell me what you want."

"*Nagamine. He's not in his room."

Scratching his head, Asahi tried really hard to think. A good thirty seconds later or so, he had formed his reply.

"He's probably with the other kids who came with him."

"The others? But they are not from this complex, right?."

"Yeah. See, he was really really drunk and there was no one to bring him to his room. You didn't pick up your phone either when his friends tried to call you."

"I was asleep." Nao confessed, feeling slightly ashamed.

Hearing his reply, for some reason Nao couldn't figure out, Asahi snorted. Giving Nao a sheepish smile he said, 

"He'll be all right. Don't worry."

 And then, out of the blue, he raised his hand and patted Nao's head.

"You are such a nice friend, aren't you?" 

Nao stood as still as a statue, unable to gauge what he was feeling. His heart skipped a beat and for a moment, he forgot how to breath.

I must be really ... scared of him, right?

He hurriedly walked out of the room, closing the door as he left.