Koshiro 1.7

I found myself pondering over the interactions I had with Hiro in the past. I hadn't noticed any flirtatious exchange over our one month of working together. We had always been friendly and aloof towards each other, but that was it.

Sure, we would hang out in his room a lot, but we were always busy with our own tasks. We barely ever sat a few feet from each other for more than five minutes. He respected our boundaries as colleagues.

My glass of water was empty, and the whole confrontation had made me feel parched. I decided to walk to the kitchen to get some more. The guilt-ridden emotion and drunkenness had made me feel munchie and snacky.

A bowl of cereal sounded great. As I arrived, Makoto had just finished preparing a tray of sweets. I assumed that they were for Hiro.

"Oh, sorry. I was just going to get some water," I showed my empty glass.

"Master Tadashi doesn't invite people to his bar that often," he smiled politely as he packed away a box of cookies.

I became self-conscious of the alcohol stench coming from me, "yeah, we were just talking. But he's going to sleep now."

"You could get water from the north wing you know."

"Um… I just wanted to walk around and clear my mind a bit."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think Master Hiro will be mad at you for a long time," he arranged the tray and put it on the table.

"Oh, you knew about that too?" I blushed.

"I know more than I'd like to admit. But I try my best not to gossip to prevent conflict between the brothers."

I filled my glass with water and sat down at the dining table. The young butler kept himself occupied, though I knew he was just stalling from going to Hiro's room.

"Makoto?" I shyly inquired.

"Yes, Miss Anderson?" he looked up at me.

"Can you keep this a secret? You don't have to tell me anything. I just needed to get this off my chest. And as you know, I'm not really allowed to disclose things to my friends. I don't even know where my phone is– "

"Yes, I understand. You can trust me. I've been working for the Tanaka family like my family before me."

"Okay, I'm just nervous. It's been a while since I've had a secret."

The butler gave me a sincere smile and sat down at the table, "go on."

"Well, you see. Um… Hiro's mad at me for hiding something from him, and I get it. We were supposed to tell each other everything and it was connected to the case. I wanted to protect him from knowing about it, because I thought it might hurt his feelings. But I didn't think of the consequences of my action and I made the selfish decision of keeping it a secret.

"I think it might have triggered the pizza box incident. Someone must've known about it and targeted me. Hiro blamed Tadashi for not protecting me better. And Tadashi told him that he was the one who allowed me to go home alone and somehow caused my expulsion. Now I just feel guilty and awful. What if everything was my fault?" I sniffled.

"I'm sure both of them will know the truth soon enough and everyone can move past it without having any hard feelings. I've known the boys ever since they were just babies. I'm positive that things will revert back to normal once you've discussed it with them," he offered some cookies and milk.

"Sorry, I was just babbling. I'm not always this sappy and emotional. I just didn't want to lose him as a friend, you know. I genuinely felt happy hanging out with him."

"Wasn't that the start of the whole drama?"

"What?" I munched on a milk-soaked cookie.

"You wouldn't feel so bad if you didn't care about him and he wouldn't be so bothered over your safety if he didn't either."

"What are you saying? I thought of him as one of my best friends," I gulped more milk in denial.

"Miss Anderson, may I ask you something?" my companion asked.

"Sure."

"Have you ever had a crush on someone?"

"Yeah, sure. Plenty," I bit into another cookie.

"And I don't mean fictional characters."

I gasped at his audacity to call me out, 'I liked a boy once!"

"When was that?"

"First grade, I even wrote him a valentine's day card."

"How did that go?"

"What's your point?" I hogged the plate of cookies.

"My point is, I think you and Master Hiro likes each other."

"I'd know if I like him, alright? And there's no way you could figure that out just by listening to me," I narrowed my eyes.

"I never said anything about only knowing your part of the story," Makoto cheekily smiled.

"He said something to you? C'mon! Spill it!" I gripped the glass of milk tightly with anticipation.

The booze was still in my system and I had just noticed how dramatic it made me react. My emotions were amplified by a dozen. It made me act neurotic and I couldn't control it. I realized that it was the reason I had refrained from getting drunk.

"Makoto! Where's my food?" Hiro stood sturdily at the entrance of the kitchen.

"Oh, Master Hiro! Sorry for the delay. It seemed that my task had been halted by an unforeseen event. But now that you're here, you can either take it to your room or eat it here to minimize the cleaning process," his butler stood up and bowed.

"Hey! You were supposed to send it to my room. Where are you going?"

"I think you are capable of doing that yourself. I'm needed in Master Kenji's office," he smiled and winked at me before leaving me with Hiro.

He harrumphed and walked over to the tray of assorted sweets. He grabbed a piece of Twizzlers and munched on it savagely.

After a brief period of silence, I eventually spoke "I'm sorry about everything. I mean it."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help too. Maybe I was just mad at myself that you couldn't trust me enough."

"I wasn't thinking straight. I should've told you. I'm sorry I wasn't being truthful, but I do trust you. I just didn't want you to fuzz about it without confirming its relevance."

"It's okay. I think I would've done the same if I were you. I just needed some time to think it over."

"Truce?" I offered him a cookie.

"Truce. But you can keep the cookie. I know it's the only snack you like," he smiled and took a seat before munching on his sweets.

We ended up talking about the case while munching on the snacks. The night suddenly felt breezy again. The change in his treatment affected my mood greatly. We decided to go back to bed and he walked me to my room.

"Makoto was right," he looked down at me.

"What?"

"Well, at least he was right about my feelings," he smiled and turned away to go into his room.

I walked into my bed staring blankly at the sheets with a dumb smile on my face.

"Maybe he was right about mine too," I whispered to a pillow.