One Year Later

9 | Pep Talk

Kiyotaka nervously paced his room, back straight and hands neatly clasped behind him, as he waited. His heartbeat wouldn't seem to settle down. He was too busy thinking about tomorrow— about how wonderful it would be, yes, but also about the number of things that could go wrong.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when his anticipated visitors finally rang his intercom's doorbell. He tried to seem casual as he ran to it and allowed them inside.

"Everything went okay on your end?" Chihiro asked as soon as he was safely inside. Asahina threw herself onto the bed, while Kirigiri and Sakura stood beside it and waited. Kiyotaka nodded.

"I have the present secured. ...Hina-chan, Oogami-chan. You remember my asking you for help with presentation, yes? Any ideas?"

"We've totally got you covered," Asahina declared with confidence. "The little box we have is so cute! And we thought of a sweet way for you to hand it over, too— it should be a callback to when you handed him that note. You remember that, right?"

Kiyotaka smiled. Of course he remembered that. He sometimes forgot that so many of his friends had been watching from the sidelines. Kiyotaka had handed off the note rather casually back then, acting as if he simply needed Mondo to hold it while he looked at the flowers. Mondo was sure to bring him another bouquet tomorrow, or maybe a card, and so he could easily replicate that memory.

"That's a great idea!" Mondo, surely, would notice and appreciate such a detail. "...This is... really happening, isn't it?"

It wasn't a school day, thankfully, and so they had the entire day to celebrate and arrange their plans. Mondo had asked him to meet him in the school's western parking lot at ten. Mondo, too, had planned something. He'd been sneaking around with the boys for a while.

"And we have everything prepared on our end, do we not?" Kirigiri asked. The others— everyone besides Kiyotaka— giggled and nodded. Kiyotaka didn't bother trying to ask them what secret they'd planned. They'd done this last time and things had gone exceedingly well (with the exception of two guys and their kazoos), so he saw no point in demanding to know their plot or telling them not to interfere.

The girls (and and Chihiro) were about to leave and let Kiyotaka get some sleep, but Asahina caught him sighing nervously and elbowed Sakura.

"You two go on ahead," she whispered to Kirigiri and Chihiro. "We'll stay behind and get him hyped up, okay?"

Kirigiri nodded, not putting up a fight on that front. Asahina was more suited to pep talks than anybody else. Chihiro, too, nodded, but seemed a little hesitant. He said nothing as he left and quietly closed the door behind him and the detective.

"...What's up, Taka-kun?"

Kiyotaka jumped as he looked up. He hadn't been paying much attention and had assumed that all four of his visitors had left at once. He shrugged, the movement awkward and stiff.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Pfft— that's a lie. You suck at lying."

Asahina threw herself onto his mattress once again, and this time Kiyotaka joined her there, lying down flat on his back with his hands folded over his stomach— the way people typically laid on the sofa in their therapist's offices in movies. He didn't say anything about the discussion they'd had the last time they'd been together on his bed like this. Sakura, knowing her own weight, simply leaned against the footboard. Her massive figure cast a shadow over both of her friends, blotting out all of the overhead light.

"I am not a good liar," Kiyotaka confirmed to himself. "I guess it's supposed to be a good thing. Quite inconvenient, though."

"What are you so worried about, huh? Everything's gonna go great!"