"So he's a cute, sad asshole" Syoguri spooned some rice into Yuume's bowl.

"Stop calling him that" Yuume glared at him.

"Do you know anything about him?" Akiichi poured tea from a teapot. "Apart from the fact that he's cute, sad and whiny."

"I know he has two brothers and a best friend, who also has a brother" replied Yuume. "And I suspect he often has nightmares."

"Why do you think so?" asked Akiichi.

"He keeps pointing out that people have nightmares and that I shouldn't worry" explained Yuume. "But I'm not buying it."

"But you know, Yuyu" Akiichi's orange eyes expressed slight concern. "You live in two different timelines. When you two meet, when you bring him the money, it'll only be a few days for you. But five years for him."

"You speak as if Yuume has already fallen in love with him" Syoguri sat down at the table. "You haven't fallen in love yet, right?"

"I just have a small crush, don't worry" Yuume rested his head on his hand. "I think it'll be okay if I check on him every month to make sure he's okay and I'll hook up with him in five of his years."

"You're right, actually" Akiichi nodded, playing with his thin braids. "By the way, you'll see if Riri can add another epithet to this >>asshole<<."

"Don't call me >>Riri<< or I'll call you >>ex-boyfriend<<" Syoguri gave him a murderous look.

"Could be worse" remarked Yuume. "He may have called you >>Gugu<<."

"Don't give him ideas!" yelled Syoguri and Akiichi and Yuume burst out laughing.

Yuume helped Syoguri with washing the dishes, then he went to the bathroom. He heard Syoguri's and Akiichi's laugh, then quiet thud, which meant that they closed the doors of Syoguri's room. This sound reminded him only of one thing - people in love wanted to be alone. And nobody should be interested, what they're doing right now.

Warm water washed away all his worries and cares or at least those he could do something about. He remembered the first time Tsuneo had brought Tereya home. They shut up the door like that too and he heard their laughing voices for a long, long time. Sometime later, he invited her over, when their parents weren't home. He remembers picking up his two-year-old headphones from the shelf, because without them he couldn't focus on the book at all. Those two were too much of a distraction for his hormone-fueled teenage mind.

Once he changed into pajamas and wrapped with his fluffy bedding with cat pattern, he began to wonder what had happened when Kin rescued Tsuneo. He missed him. His brother was his role idol, authority and a friend. He remembers that at first he didn't know where to go or what to do when Tsuneo died. He was lost in thought, in his world. And then he was almost hit by a car.

It's good that this yubiwa saved him then, because otherwise there would be no one to go to Kin and his parents would probably break down completely.

It's been a few days. Yuume walked to the window and rested his elbows on the sill. Heiwa jumped on beside him, tail wagging. The moon shone with a pale light. The stars twinkled in the evening sky. It started snowing.

Tiny snowflakes fell slowly to the ground, fluttering in the air. Somewhere in the distance sparkled the surface of a nearby lake. One of the neighbors had a string concert playing quite loudly.

Yuume took the bell from the locker. It was already April, he could have called Kin. He was supposed to check in once a month to make sure everything was okay, right?

He laid down on the bed and studied this magical artifact. If someone didn't know what it was, they didn't even realize that this item could connect two timelines.

He closed his eyes and rang the bell. After a while he felt the cold and the darkness pulling him down.

But he wasn't afraid of this darkness. Not anymore.