Takashi walked home from Kenji's house in a daze. After the awkward encounter and near-confession, his feelings were in turmoil. The truth was clawing its way out whether he willed it or not. But speaking it might cost him the most precious thing in his life - Kenji's friendship.
The next day Takashi dragged himself to school, exhausted from a night of restless thoughts. At lunch on the rooftop, tension thrummed in the air between himself and Kenji. Arata and Daiki glanced between their friends anxiously, sensing the strain.
"Did something happen yesterday?" Arata ventured.
Takashi and Kenji faltered, avoiding each other's eyes. "No, everything's fine," Kenji said. But his tone lacked conviction.
Arata gazed between them, worry for his friends twisting his heart. He had to do something before this distance tore them apart. Glancing at Daiki, his breath caught at the understanding reflected in those eyes - and the hint of shared longing that left his own heart racing without knowing why.
After school Daiki found his steps straying to Arata's neighborhood, a restless ache building inside him that only one place seemed able to soothe. Before he could question it, he was knocking at Arata's door with a pounding heart.
Arata blinked in surprise. "Daiki? What are you doing here?"
Daiki rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "I'm not really sure. I was just...wandering...and ended up here." His cheeks heated. Lately being alone with Arata made his pulse race in a way he couldn't comprehend.
Arata's smile softened. "I'm glad you did." He stepped aside, welcoming Daiki in without question. And in that moment the restless ache inside Daiki quieted, filled with a peace unlike any other - one that both calmed and confused him, giving rise to new thoughts and longings unfamiliar yet undeniable.
As Arata's door closed, panic welled up in Daiki and his gaze lingered on Arata's smiling face for a touch too long. His heart raced with both anticipation and anxiety, feeling truly alone together in this place that was both haven and torture. What strange power did Arata hold over him? And when had this quiet dream first taken root without him realizing?
"Are you okay?" Arata asked, noticing Daiki's strange mood.
Daiki swallowed hard. "Yeah, I'm fine." But his shaking voice betrayed the truth. Whatever this was, it felt wrong. Unnatural. Being this close to Arata left his thoughts in chaos, senses in overdrive, logic crumbling until naught remained save a single ache he could no longer escape.
He clasped Arata's hand without meaning to, a spark igniting between them that lit the final wall crumbling to ash. "I'm sorry, I...I don't know what's wrong with me lately." His whisper held untold depths of anguish and longing that gripped Arata's heart. "When I'm with you I feel so...confused. Like nothing makes sense anymore."
Arata gently squeezed his hand, understanding etched in his gaze. "There's nothing wrong with you." He smiled tenderly, lifting the weight from Daiki's chest by his warmth alone. "But there is something we should probably talk about."
Daiki gazed at him helplessly, on the brink of a precipice with no choice left but to leap - whether to fall or fly, to soar high or plummet low, rested now in Arata's hands alone. His anchor, his haven, his dream awakening through the dark.
Daiki sensed as he gazed into Arata's gentle eyes that whatever end this dream might bring, he did not walk alone. The distance between them faded, replaced by a blossoming understanding more deep than any before. The truth hovered on the edge of thought, waiting only to be found.