章 28: A Sudden Reunion of Two Friends

Before they left Sakura's apartment and after ensuring that she was already fine on her own, it was Nakano Yuna's idea that she and Tanaka Ryo exchange contact information with the other pair. This would allow them to all communicate in this case without having to waste her resources, such as by paying for an investigator to examine a mere address, for instance.

"Plus, we are all friends, right?" Nakano Yuna added casually. "It's normal for friends to exchange numbers with one another."

Friends… It has been a long time since she heard of that word. It has been so long since she hasn't experienced having friends by her side that she almost forgot what it feels like to have one.

Plus, for the first time since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend, Sakura has added additional phone numbers registered on her phone except for her family members only. Seeing them in her contacts somehow makes her oddly happy.

With a genuinely happy smile formed on her lips, Hayashi Sakura replies to Yuna's question earlier, "Yes, we are friends"

After bidding their farewells to Sakura and waving at her, Yuna, Ken, and Ryo have left her apartment room one by one after they've worn their shoes once again. It was Yuna and Ryo who first came out of Sakura's door, and when they did… something had immediately caught up their attention.

It was the perfect timing for Yamaguchi Alan to enter the apartment as soon as his classes for today are over. Once inside, he was somehow glued to his position by the time he entered through the door when he came face-to-face with Sakura's group of friends in school.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Is this for real?!" Nakano Yuna lets out a dramatic gasp as she lifts one hand up to cover her slightly gaped mouth from the shock of seeing one of the most sought-after elite bachelors in Japan-- says one on a gossip magazine that she so liked to read.

Tanaka Ryo, who doesn't have any idea who this guy is in front of him, eyes Alan for a while before returning his gaze to Yuna with an expression that he is ready to murder someone. "What? Is this guy your crush or something?"

Meanwhile, Ken was the last one to put on his shoes and get out of Sakura's apartment when he asks, "What? What is going on here?"

By the time he finally goes out after closing the door behind him, he comes face-to-face with the tall guy in front of them, who, in return, still looks confused with what is going with his surroundings now and why they are so shocked to see him.

A hint of recognition flashed in both Ken and Alan's eyes the moment their gazes met.

"Mori-san?"

"Yamaguchi?"

It was rather a surprise for both Tanaka Ryo and Nakano Yuna for both of these guys to know each other, especially when Alan takes the initiative to get closer with Mori Ken and offers a high five like any other boys would do to their best pals, which the latter takes without any second thoughts.

"Hey, dude! It's been freaking long since I saw you in the flesh!" Alan says cheerfully that the other two's existence was completely forgotten by him already. "You just disappeared out of the blue, you know. Wow, you got taller than me!"

Ken looks sincerely apologetic for that. "Well, my mother suddenly decided to transfer me to Kyoto out of nowhere, so… I didn't have exactly enough time to tell you."

"Dude, you really like hopping from one school to another huh?"

"Not really..."

As Yuna realizes that their presence is already being forgotten here, she suddenly waves her hand in the air and bellows before they all end up engrossed in their own world, "Hold on, you two!"

"Huh?" Both Alan and Ken turned around on the other two persons standing behind.

Yuna, being grateful that her existence was finally acknowledged at last, plants both of her hands on her hips before asking, "So how come you knew each other? And you seem really close, I must say."

That is when Alan started to do all the explanation about Mori Ken being a transferee in his school when they were both in their 1st grade and how he was an 'emo boy' back then. But then Ken and him eventually became close after the former saved his 'sorry ass' from being bullied by random guys in school.

Nakano Yuna listens to what Alan says and visualizes what he would look like in the past if he were an 'emo boy', with long hair, a bored look, and a dark aura. Those were the qualities that are really different from his dashing and bubbly personality now.

Meanwhile, Sakura was just going straight for her kitchen to get herself another glass of water when she heard noises outside of her apartment that immediately caught her attention. Why… it was her friend's voices that she could now hear having their own conversations outside when she thought they left already. After taking a few swigs of her water, she walks right to the door to know what seems to be the matter outside her apartment room.

Click!

Every time Sakura opens the door, the doorknob clicks, which makes all those around her turn to see her. Alan automatically waves at her with a wide smile plastered on his face, which soon caught Ken's attention.

With a confused look, Sakura says to her classmates, "What are you guys still doing here? I thought you already went home."

"And I thought you already slept to recover." Mori Ken countered, his face nonchalant as he said those words.

Alan hears this and jolts his head to look at Sakura once more. "You're sick?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I don't have your number," Sakura answers casually, as if that should make sense to Alan by now.

"And you didn't tell us that you and Yamaguchi-san are actually apartment buddies!" Yuna cries out to Sakura, which the latter only shrugged.

"Because you never asked. Anyway, I also learned it just recently so I am still as surprised as you, to be honest."

"Fufu…" Nakano Yuna mumbles under her breath, then her mood suddenly shifts from this to being someone who is now ready to spill some tea as she approaches Sakura all of a sudden while also being careful not to get really close to avoid catching her colds.

"Did you know that Ken and Alan have a history before?" she says, to which the two who were just mentioned both flinched at the mention of the word 'history'.

Sakura draws her eyebrows together, making a crease in between. "A history?"

"We don't have a history!" Alan and Ken shout in protest both at the same time.

Tanaka Ryo also shakes her head disapprovingly, "Don't make it look like a sexual thing, you idiot."

"Just let me finish, will you?" Yuna roared over Ryo, but to Sakura, she says so gently, "They have been friends since the first grade. Interesting, right?"

Her words made Sakura clasp both her hands in her mouth and exclaim in disbelief, "EEEHH?!"