"Yukihide," The professor's call interrupted Yukihide's thoughts for a moment, "Can you answer my question just now?"

He panicked. All this time he had only thought of his paintings for exhibitions—more precisely, he thought of the person in the mirror whose identity was still a mystery. How could he answer the lecturer's question?

He glanced at Imai who was sitting quite far in front of him. Imai whispered something but he couldn't catch the movement of Imai's lips.

“Yukihide!” The professor started to get angry. Yukihide bit his lip, "If you don't listen to my lecture, you better get out."

“B-but, sir...”

“The door is not locked.” The lecturer pointed to the exit located at the back of the classroom. With a heavy heart, he packed his things and walked out of the classroom. Just as he was about to close the door, a hand stopped him.

It turned out to be Imai.

"What are you doing?" Yukihide hissed.

Imai smiled, "I skipped the class." He put his arm around Yukihide's shoulder and looked around, “Hmm, it's sunny today. How about I accompany you to painting in the park?”

He snorted, “Who wants to paint in the park? I don’t like painting in a crowd. I can’t focus."

Imai took out something from inside his backpack. A small mirror. Yukihide's eyes widened.

"I borrowed my sister's mirror, so don't ask why it's pink."

It seemed that Imai was holding back the embarrassment of carrying a pink mirror. Yukihide pretended that he didn’t know why the mirror was so important. Imai took a deep breath, “I know you want to paint your reflection in the mirror. I brought a mirror so you don't have to paint in that dusty storage room. It’s not good for your health, you know.”

“Ah, thank you, Imai.” Yukihide received the mirror. He looked back in the mirror and smiled to himself. Then he took Imai's arm, "Let's go!"

***

Kinnosuke felt like an idiot—standing alone in the campus area, still in his school uniform, with his hand holding the cell phone with Yukihide's photo on the screen. His eyes scanned all the people passing by. That day Inagaki couldn’t accompany Kinnosuke in searching for Yukihide. Meanwhile, Mori helped Ueda at the police station.

Several students walked past him with varying looks, from curiosity to disdain. He felt uncomfortable for a while but he had to try harder to find Yukihide. Kinnosuke headed to the art department building.

There was no sign of Yukihide anywhere. He thought that maybe Mori made a mistake. He had checked almost everywhere, but then his stomach rumbled. He didn't know where the canteen was, so only armed with desperation, he went around the art department. His footsteps stopped in front of a room with the words 'Campus Radio-ON AIR' on the door.

Without a doubt, he opened the door as he saw someone’s back facing him. This person was in the middle of broadcasting. Hearing someone’s footsteps approaching, the person turned around and was surprised to see Kinnosuke. He hurriedly played a song and then approached Kinnosuke.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Can't you see I'm broadcasting?" The man snapped.

Kinnosuke bowed apologetically, "I’m so sorry, but I want to find my brother."

"Huh? Looking for your brother? Sorry, this is not an information desk. Why don’t you call your brother on his phone?"

"I can't. This is an emergency!” Nothing could stop Kinnosuke. He ran to the microphone and shouted the name of the man he was looking for, “YUKIHIDE SHOTA! THIS IS KINNOSUKE! I’M LOOKING FOR YOU! MEET ME AT CAMPUS RADIO!”

***

The only thing that Imai regretted was lending Yukihide the mirror and giving him the idea of painting in the park. Yukihide made Imai hold the mirror right in front of Yukihide's face, while the man sketched. It felt like an eternity. His hand was cramped. He tried to move his hand a little but Yukihide shouted at him.

"I'm tired." Imai lowered his head.

Yukihide shouted again, “Imai, don't move! I can't see the reflection." Seeing Imai stop complaining, a smile appeared on Yukihide's lips, "You are indeed very kind, Imai."

"Yes, but not this way. Anyway, you have to treat me to lunch, dinner and ice cream. I want pancakes too, then—”

"AH! We meet again!”

They both turned their heads in the direction of the sound. A man stood behind them, walking his dog. Panicking, Imai suddenly stood up and bowed toward the man.

“Hayashi-san, how are you?” asked Imai.

Yukihide looked at both of them. He didn't know who Hayashi was and it seemed that Imai didn’t want to introduce him to Hayashi.

“Sorry, I forgot to ask your name.” Hayashi-guy smiled at Imai, ignoring Yukihide's existence.

“I’m Imai Seiki. This is Yukihide Shota.”

“Nice to meet you all, guys. Anyway, Imai-san, I want to apologize. I haven't heard anything about the mirror.

Hearing the word mirror mentioned, there was a heavy feeling in Yukihide’s stomach. He stared at Hayashi without blinking, “What mirror?”

Hayashi looked at Imai as if asking for Imai's approval to tell Yukihide about the mirror. But Imai just shook his head.

“Imai, what mirror?” Yukihide interrupted before Imai could say anything to Hayashi.

Defeated, Imai let out a long sigh, “Your mirror, Yukihide. The mirror."

Yukihide had mixed feelings—he didn't understand why Imai would tell his secret to someone he just met, even though he entrusted the secret about the mirror to Imai because he was his best friend? He felt a bit betrayed.

"You told him everything?" Yukihide whispered with his shaky voice and his jaw clenched.

“Hayashi works at an antique shop and I asked for help looking for anything related to your mirror. That's all."

Hayashi really felt bad for starting a fight between Imai and Yukihide, “Yukihide-san, it’s true that Imai-san asked for my help in finding out about the mirror. He didn't say anything. If you’re willing, I can help you, Yukihide-san.” Feeling guilty, he tried to defend Imai.

Imai convinced Yukihide to accept Hayashi's help, "Yeah, who knows you might find out where the mirror came from and the reflection might disappear."

"But I don't want the reflection to disappear."

“Well, it's up to you but at least we understand what's going on with you."

Knowing that Imai's intentions were actually good, Yukihide finally agreed to Hayashi's offer although he wasn't sure the man could solve the mystery of the mirror.

"I will contact you later, Hayashi-san. Thank you."

Yukihide snorted softly, hearing the way Imai talked to Hayashi. Never had he seen Imai so eager to talk to someone. In fact, Imai was still looking at Hayashi's back until the man walked away.

Yukihide nudged Imai's arm then smiled meaningfully at him, "How dare you reveal my secret to your lover."

"What lover? No! He is not my lover. After all, I'm doing this because I want to help you. Right?"

“Oh, cut the crap. You just want to know him better, don’t you?”

“No!”

Yukihide continued painting while holding the pink mirror by himself, “Hey, you’ll have a class soon. Go back to campus. I still want to paint here."

"Uhm, okay I'll go back first. Are you sure you don’t want to go back with me?”

Yukihide's brows furrowed, “Imai, you’d better be overprotective of your future lover, not me."

“Hey! I don't have a lover!” Imai's face turned red.

***