You ✧ SoraMafu ✧ MAJOR EDITING

f o r t y - n i n e

Walking home, Soraru felt irritated. He kicked pebbles everywhere as he held his tears.

Mafu. Mafumafu.

He stopped on his tracks. Closing his eyes, he whispered, "It will be okay. He'll come back. He definitely will." He opened his eyes and continued walking.

His mind flew elsewhere, yet Soraru felt like he's in outer space, choking. As if he ran out of oxygen. He looked up, eye level. Looking around, he rushed towards his flat.

Tired, his back crashed against the walls of his flat as he slid down. Come back. He looked up, tears already streaming down his half-heated cheeks. As he sniffled, his phone vibrated.

"Hey, you home?"

A text. From Luz, huh? Soraru croaked a laugh before replying, "no." He looked up. "Hey Mafu," he whispered. "When will you ask me if I'm home?"

A small laugh, quiet and slightly cold. Soraru stood up and fished for his keys. Unlocking his door, he turned on the lights. He noticed his corridor with a small light seeping through his bedroom. Curiosity filling his head, he closed his door and headed to his room. He opened the door, and found his monitor lit. Did he left his computer plugged? Or was someone here?

It didn't matter, he thought.

Soraru sat on his chair and checked what lit his monitor up. LINE. So it was just LINE. He sighed, feeling quite relieved, then checked. It was a message from Sakata.

"We're heading to your place whether you like it or not."

Soraru's forehead creased. What for? He ignored the message. Part of him told him that Sakata was probably just joking around, but part of him told him that they have something important to tell him. Pondering over what was their reason for going to Soraru's house—after the ruckus made inside the cafe earlier—he didn't notice that his doorbell has been ringing for six times.

"SORARU-SAN!" someone finally shouted.

Flinching, Soraru finally came back to his senses. He stood, then headed to his front door, only to be greeted by a pissed off Amatsuki.

"What the hell?!" Amatsuki shouted. "Are you intentionally ignoring us?!"

Soraru stayed silent.

"Amatsuki-kun, enough," Sakata said, patting Amatsuki's shoulder. "Remember why are we here?"

"Right..." Amatsuki muttered.

"Can we go in?" Urata asked.

"...Yeah," Soraru responded, looking down.

The four entered Soraru's house and sat on the couch. Soraru, who's been quite silent for a while, closed the door and headed towards the bathroom.

If only it were you ringing that doorbell, then scolding me, I wouldn't feel this bad. You're making me feel so depressed. I wonder if you're still alive.

Soraru washed his face then headed back to the group. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Something wrong?" Urata inquired.

"Of course there's something wrong," Amatsuki said. "We met earlier, remember?"

"...Sorry," Urata mumbled.

"What... are you guys doing here?" Soraru finally spoke. He just came home too, but then he already looked so wrecked.

"We... have something to tell you," Luz said.

"It's important," Sakata added. "Sit."

Soraru complied. He sat silently, looking at each of them. Who's going to speak first?

"Mafu..." Urata whispered.

"Huh?" Soraru looked up.

"Mafu-kun is coming back," Amatsuki muttered.

"And..." Luz trailed off.

"Are you serious?" Soraru asked, looking down. "How do you know? Where's the proof? How are you sure?!"

Everyone stayed silent as they all—except Soraru—looked at each other.

"We... we've been in contact with him for a while now," Amatsuki replied.

Soraru finally looked up, looking desperate and badly hurt. "What...?"

"Sorry, Soraru-san," Sakata said. "We've all been in contact with Mafu-kun. We don't talk much, but he called earlier."

"And he didn't call me...?" Soraru mumbled, almost inaudible.

"He said that he's coming back," Luz added. "He sent us here. He told us to make sure you're alright."

"And how does he know that I'm not?" Soraru asked, laughing coldly.

Luz glanced at Amatsuki. "Sakata-kun reports everything happening to you to Mafu-kun," Luz answered. "Even if Mafu-kun doesn't reply much, Sakata-kun still reports."

Everyone fell silent.

"We're... sorry, Soraru-san," Urata spoke after a while.

Afterwards, he fell silent too.

Until sniffling was heard. They all exchanged looks.

"Hey, Soraru-san..."

"Soraru-san..."

"Don't cry."

"It's okay..."

"How is it okay?! Tell me!" Soraru looked up, tears streaming down. "You don't know how it feels like to have someone you love suddenly disappear without a word! Then what if... what if something happened?!" Everyone gulped as Soraru looked down and wiped his tears.

"Soraru-san..." Sakata whispered.

"Listen, Soraru-san," Amatsuki started. "We didn't want to keep it from you. We wanted you to know. But it was Mafu who said not to tell you."

"But after he called me earlier, we all felt guilty about not telling you," Luz added. "We didn't tell Mafu that we were planning to tell you. We also don't know why Mafu didn't want you to know."

They fell silent, and just allowed Soraru to sob silently. "...Leave," Soraru finally said.

"Huh?" Amatsuki omitted.

"I said leave," Soraru repeated, looking up at them with pleading eyes. "Leave me alone. I need to be alone."

They all looked at each other and nodded. They stood. "We'll be going now," Urata said as he patted Soraru's back. "Take it easy, Soraru-kun."

♪♪♪♪

Yo.
It's been sooo long since I've updated! (lol i keep saying the same thing) Anyhow, this book is coming to an end~ Do you all still remember when I said I'd put up something like teaser chapters here for the next fic?

Well yeah, don't worry, I'm still gonna do it. I've probably said a billion times that I'm gonna have a better fanfic than this. Actually, I'm laughing at myself because I've written tons of fics that I didn't finish at all. Everytime I said that I'm gonna have a new fanfic up and that it'll be better than this, I end up discontinuing that fic I've written (with a couple chapters already), then start with a new one.

But hey, recently I thought of a new one, and the idea seems to have a long story, so everything would probably escalate slowly. I also have another idea that has a long story and escalates slowly (probably slower than what I thought recently). And so, after the last chapter will be released, I'll be putting up several teaser chapters for maybe two fics! (< this will be further explained after the last chapter ^^)