Warren waves me goodbye and tells me to sleep well. He left.

As I got up the stairs of the second floor, I looked at the neighbor. What was his name again? I thought and put my hands on the pillar. “Good night,” I said.

“Good night.” He said back, turning around to his door and stopping to look back at me. “Your...friend left me with something.”

“He did?”

He nods and waves his hand for me to come. “Are you willing come over for a chat?” His hair blew slightly through the dark. I nodded.

His apartment was quite big due to being organized and having more space. “Sit down,” He pulls out a bar stool from the counter table. I walk over quickly and jump on the bar stool, “Um...what did my...friend leave you with…?” I quietly asked.

He turns towards me and leans on the counter table, looking at me...in the eye. “He left me to give this to you,” He gives me a napkin and shows me. “Do you even know him?” His eyes judge me.

As I read the napkin, it reads ‘June 24th, let’s have our celebration!’. It’s our anniversary that day. I’m surprised that he remembers for once...because he forgot for the last 3 years now. I was going to stop celebrating it after for what happened every year. Yamato would forget.

I sighed and took the napkin. “Yeah...I do.” It’s embarrassing that my neighbors have to see this, sometimes they ask him who Yamato is and I lie. This time I can’t really lie. “Can I throw this away?” Scrunched the napkin and ripping little pieces, I was stopped by thin fingers of his. My neighbor’s.

“What’s your name again? I didn’t quite catch it,” He stares.

I gulped and cleared my voice, removing my hand away from his and looking down at my lap. “Jinki Hidemi.” I state. This is nerve racking...

“Nozomi Hideki,” Hideki puts his hand up and waits for me to take it. I do. A firm handshake and a weird feeling in his hand. It was strange. His fingers were thin and light pale, long nails and yet our hands still fit together.

“Wow, you have small hands.” Shit, that came out wrong. I cover my mouth and placed my head down on the table, “I’m soooo sorry…!”

Hideki stays quiet for a second and sighs deeply and loud, “...no...it’s fine. It’s not...crap, the first time.” He clears his voice and snaps his fingers. I look. Hideki ruffles his hair and stands straight up. “Let’s be normal neighbors who greet each other in the morning and say goodnight at night. Alright?”

I nod.

“But,” He stops and clears his voice once more. “I don’t want to get into your mess, it seems to be trouble for my plants.”

...plants?

“Whuuuuu—”

“L-Look, my plants get stressed easily if they don’t get their classical music by—” He starts to explain but was blocked my laughter.

“HAAHAAA!!” I covered my mouth and point at him, “You’re all red! Oh my god, are you really a green thumb?!”

“Y-Yes, but that’s not my point. My point is…!”

“Hideki, come on! It’s fine!” I still can’t stop laughing. “Listen, I’ll try to keep it quiet and just say good morning and goodnight every day.” Smiling at him, he nods and turns away. He’s so cute...wow.

Ears red and cheeks are slightly red, he was embarrassed to mention and to even explain his side of the story. “So, you know about the classical music helping the plants grow better, right?” I ask.

“You know about it too?”

“Of course,” I chuckle, “It’s quite interesting and I didn’t think it would work! But it does!”

“It’s amazing how music can affect plants as well,” He agrees.

I clapped my hands and leaned closer in interest, “Wait, is that why I always hear classical music sometimes? I usually hear it quietly playing in the background…”

He nods shyly and pushes his hair to the side, “I try not to bother the other neighbors with the music.” Hideki clears his voice and lets out a cough, “Excuse me, I have to take my medicine.”

“Oh yeah, no problem.”

I waited as he rummages through the cabinets and takes out a pill. Grabbing a bottle of water, he swallows the pill and gulps the water. “Ahh…” He awes of how the water tasted so good. He turns around, still shy and nervous. “What...do you do for a living?”

“Oh, I work for a company,” I tell him.

“Office work?”

“No, just making comics and writing stories. It’s like...an entertainment for people to read and watch our stories? Something like that…” I chuckle and looked at him. “What do you do for a living?”

“I run my family's restaurant close to the city.” He tells, “I only work on the weekends to take care of the taxes and payment.” His eyes look down to his hands that hold each other, “You’re...living well, right?”

“I guess...so…” I said.

He clears his voice and coughs once more. “I’m sorry, I have a cold...I do not want to get you sick.” As I looked at him, he was a little red. Hideki coughs once more and he wipes his mouth.

“I heard you have an occurring allergic reaction…” I tried to tell lightly, “Some of the neighbors try not to get you sick.” He nods; walking over to the sink and washes his hands. He responds slightly but the rush of the water blocks what he says.

“Yes...the landlord knows about it and tries to tell everyone about it,” Sighing, he leans against the sink counter; leaving the water running. “It can get annoying.”

I chuckle slightly and nod along, “The landlord does want everyone to treat you well,” I get up from my seat and bow slightly, “You should get some rest, I have to work in on some assignments and sleep in. It was nice talking to you.”

“Likewise.”

“Well, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, I’ll walk you out.”

He does. We waved goodbye and said goodnight once more. He closes the door and I could hear the lock twist. As I looked up at the sky and then at his plants, it’s for once peaceful.

I haven’t had a simple talk in a while with anybody. I miss it.