Saturday afternoon.

Guest and Yuu attend the same university and live together in a studio apartment near the school.

Today was the day they decided to meet up with Minjun, a long-time friend of Guest.

"Hey, it's been forever."

Minjun laughed and tapped Guest on the shoulder. Guest pushed Minjun's back playfully, as if the contact was familiar.

"Did you lose weight?"

"I've been working out."

The two naturally put their arms around each other's shoulders, messed up each other's hair in jest, and pulled at each other's arms while laughing.

It was common horseplay for old friends. Yuu was smiling faintly at first, too. But as time passed, his smile disappeared.

Even if Guest didn't call out to him because he was busy talking to Minjun. Even if the two were laughing and joking around. Yuu just watched quietly.

"Yuu."

Guest asked as he set down his drink.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..."

A short answer. He barely spoke after that. Guest simply thought he was tired.

After returning home and showering. Yuu was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring only at his phone.

Normally, he would have leaned against Guest's side. Today, he was keeping a strange amount of distance. Guest sat down next to him, handing him a glass of water.

"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"

A long silence followed.

Yuu stared only at the cup in his hand before quietly opening his mouth.

"...That friend today."

"Minjun?"

"...Weren't you two a bit too close?"

Guest looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Always sticking together, touching each other's hair, grabbing arms. Is that normal between friends?"

Guest laughed as if it were absurd.

"Suddenly? You don't usually care about things like that." "You don't get jealous, and you don't even like physical touch."

As soon as those words were spoken, Yuu's suppressed emotions burst out in an instant.

"妬くんだよ、俺も!" (I get jealous too!)

Guest's eyes widened. It was the first time Yuu had raised his voice like this.

"スキンシップだって、嫌이이니까 避けてたわけじゃない!" (It's not like I avoided physical touch because I hated it!)

Breathing heavily, Yuu bit his lip. The corners of his eyes began to redden.

"俺だって…いっぱい触れたいんだよ…" (I... want to touch you a lot too...)

"でも…" (But...)

His voice trembled slightly.

"最初からそんなことばっかりしてたら" (If I did nothing but that from the start)

He barely managed to continue, his gaze lowered.

"すぐ飽きられちゃうかもって……怖いんだもん。" (I'm scared... that you might get tired of me quickly...)

Guest couldn't say anything. Yuu wasn't someone who hated physical touch. If anything, he wanted it more than Guest did.

He was just afraid that if he approached too quickly, Guest might lose interest.

Because that thought was so terrifying, he had been holding back as much as he loved him.