They walked to Hiashi Metro Station in a loose group.

Daiki stayed in front talking the entire way.

Something about a professor. A vending machine. An UFO he spotted last night.

Riku walked beside him with his headphones on, turning pages one-handed while he walked.

Ayame followed a step behind them with both hands in her coat pockets, occasionally looking up whenever Daiki said something especially stupid.

Kaito and Mei walked behind the others.

Their hands were still linked.

Mei had stopped trying to pull away from it after the first few minutes.

Every now and then her fingers tightened suddenly around his for no reason.

Then loosened again once she realized she was doing it.

Kaito noticed specific things.

The softness of her palm.

The nervous tension in her fingers.

The way her grip tightened whenever somebody brushed past them in the crowd.

He squeezed her hand lightly once.

Mei twitched beside him and looked up immediately.

"Stop," she whispered.

"Okay."

He rubbed his thumb once against her hand instead.

Mei made a tiny strangled sound under her breath.

"Kaito-kun," she whispered, trying very hard to sound stern.

It failed completely.

Her face had already gone pink again.

Kaito looked forward calmly and said nothing.

The evening air had turned colder while they walked.

Station lights reflected across damp pavement left from an earlier drizzle.

People moved around them in steady streams toward the entrance gates while traffic rolled past on the street beside them in blurred white and red light.

Mei drifted slightly closer to him while they walked.

Not enough to look intentional.

Enough that he noticed anyway.

He noticed other things too now.

The warmth of her shoulder near his arm.

The faint scent of shampoo whenever cold wind shifted her hair slightly.

The way she kept glancing down at their hands before quickly looking away again.

Cute.

That thought kept returning on its own.

Hiashi Station rose ahead of them in steel, glass, and white light.

The group split naturally near the gates.

Daiki bumped his shoulder hard against Kaito’s on the way through.

"You were both painful to watch," he muttered.

Kaito snorted quietly.

Beside him, Mei made a tiny horrified sound.

Ayame looked at him for a second.

Then at Mei beside him.

Then away again with a satisfied smile.

Riku raised two fingers without removing his headphones.

Then the three of them disappeared deeper into the station crowd.

The station felt louder underground.

Announcements crackled overhead between bursts of static. Cold air rolled through the tunnels whenever trains passed somewhere below. Footsteps echoed across tile. People moved constantly around them in dark coats and office clothes under the harsh white station lights.

Kaito walked Mei toward her platform.

She stayed close beside him the entire way.

Still holding his hand.

When they reached the platform, the train was already approaching.

Wind rushed through the underground tunnel first.

Then the headlights appeared around the curve.

Mei slowed slightly beside him.

The train pulled in with a screech of metal and a rush of air.

Doors slid open.

People immediately started boarding around them.

Mei stepped toward the entrance.

Then stopped.

Kaito looked at her.

Her grip tightened around the strap of her bag.

"Kaito-kun..."

She looked up at him through the bright station lights reflecting across her glasses.

Nervous.

But determined too.

"Can we..." she started quietly.

The warning chime sounded overhead.

Mei flinched slightly at the noise.

Then forced herself to finish anyway.

"Can we ki... ki... ss goodbye?"

Her voice nearly disappeared under the station announcement.

Kaito looked at her for a second without answering.

Not because he didn’t want to.

Mostly because hearing her actually say it out loud hit him harder than expected.

Mei’s face became steadily redder the longer he stayed quiet.

"I-I mean only if you want to," she added quickly. "You don’t have to just because I asked or anything, I just thought—"

Kaito reached over and touched her shoulder gently.

Mei stopped immediately.

Completely still.

People brushed past them toward the train doors. The station announcement continued overhead. Somewhere farther down the platform somebody laughed loudly at something.

Kaito barely processed any of it anymore.

Mei looked up at him once.

Then her eyes closed.

Not dramatic.

Just nervous.

Expecting him now.

Kaito felt his pulse kick once against his ribs.

Cute.

Really cute.

And she wanted him to kiss her enough to ask for it in the middle of a crowded station while looking this embarrassed.

He would have preferred somewhere private.

A quieter place.

But the thought lost importance pretty quickly after that.

He stepped closer instead.

Slow enough that he felt her tense slightly in anticipation.

Their foreheads brushed lightly first as he leaned.

Then he kissed her.

Soft lips.

Warm breath.

Mei made the smallest startled sound against his mouth before kissing him back immediately.

Careful.

Earnest.

Trying very hard not to mess it up.

Her fingers grabbed lightly at the front of his jacket.

Kaito felt that immediately.

A sharp tightness went through his chest.

Warm.

Soft.

Too good already.

Mei’s lips softened more against his after the first second passed.

Kaito felt her lean closer slightly without seeming aware she was doing it.

His hand slid from her shoulder a little higher instinctively.

The station sounds blurred together around them.

The overhead announcement became impossible to follow. People moved past close enough that somebody brushed Kaito’s shoulder once and neither of them reacted.

The kiss deepened naturally.

Just neither of them pulling away when they probably should have.

Kaito felt his heartbeat getting steadily harder to ignore.

Mei kissed him back with nervous sincerity that somehow made everything worse in the best possible way.

Every time her fingers tightened against his jacket his pulse kicked harder.

The warning chime sounded overhead again.

Neither moved immediately.

Then Kaito pulled back slowly.

Mei stayed close for half a second longer before realizing it.

Then she stumbled backward immediately with her face completely red.

Her eyes looked bright behind the lenses of her glasses.

"I—"

A tiny sound came out instead.

Kaito suddenly became very aware of his own breathing.

Mei looked just as overwhelmed.

The warning chime sounded again overhead.

Mei startled hard this time.

"My train—"

She hurried into the carriage, then immediately turned back once she stepped inside.

"Goodbye, boyfriend," she said softly.

"See you tomorrow."

Kaito smiled before he could stop himself.

"Goodbye, girlfriend."

The train doors slid shut between them.

For a second Mei just stood there staring at him through the glass while the train started moving.

Then realization suddenly hit her all at once.

Her entire face went red again.

One hand flew up and covered her mouth.

Oh no.

She had finally processed what she just did in public.

Kaito watched her panic silently through the train window while the carriage disappeared down the tunnel.

Cute.

Really cute.

He stood there for another few seconds after the train vanished.

Then turned toward his own platform.

The delayed reaction hit halfway down the escalator.

Heat rushed straight into his face.

Kaito grabbed the handrail immediately and lowered his head into his free hand.

Oh no.

Mei was his girlfriend.

And he had just kissed her in the middle of a station like a completely insane person.

Her lips had been soft.

That detail replayed in his head immediately with catastrophic clarity.

And the way she had grabbed his jacket—

Kaito covered his face harder with his hand.

What is she doing to me?

.

The takeout bag was warm against his side.

His gate was twenty meters ahead. He was looking down at Mei’s message when a car’s headlights swung around the corner.

Too fast.

The engine roared suddenly louder.

Kaito’s body moved before his brain finished processing it. He threw himself sideways, slammed shoulder-first into the neighbour’s low wall, and barely caught himself before hitting the pavement completely.

Pain cracked through his arm and up the side of his neck.

The takeout bag slipped from his hand and hit the road.

The car stopped exactly where he had been standing.

Kaito stayed braced against the wall for one hard heartbeat, breathing sharp through his nose.

Then laughter burst from inside the car.

Loud.

Completely uncontrolled.

He knew that voice.

He hated it.

The driver’s door swung open.

Hiro stepped out with one hand against the roof, bent slightly forward laughing hard enough that he almost couldn’t stand straight.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark coat hanging open against the cold air.

"Holy shit," he managed between laughs.

Kaito stared at him.

Hiro looked up and immediately started laughing harder.

"You’re still like this?" He pointed at him. "You jumped before I even got close."

"You almost hit me."

"I stopped."

"You accelerated."

"I accelerated a little."

"The car was barely a feet away from me."

"And you still threw yourself into a wall." Hiro wiped under one eye with his thumb. "God. You haven’t changed at all."

The passenger door opened more quietly.