First House

Haruki and Vanessa reached Nazuke's old house. They went inside and into his room and found a tiny, old picture of him and Haruki playing fighting on their old high school playground. "Oh," Vanessa said as she stared confusingly at the picture. "It's Nazuke, but... why are you there?" Haruki was speechless. He thought, "When... When did Nazuke have a picture of me and him in college together? Wait, does that mean he still remembers me?" He shook his head and spoke, "No, no, no. NO. Then that would mean, "

He was abruptly interrupted by Vanessa. "Haruki!" She shouted. "Haruki, did you hear what I even said?" She looked slightly disappointed. "O-oh, oh.. I'm sorry, Vanessa. Uhm, no." He shyly admitted, "I said, Why are you in that picture with him?" Haruki was just standing there looking dumbfounded, as he himself doesn't have a single clue. Nazuke was never really a person to hold onto such materialistic things, and even Haruki never knew why. "Although it's probably a picture we took when we were young," he thought. "U-uh, well.. We uhm," as he noticed that he was talking to Vanessa, "We were best friends... That's why.." "Wait… OH.. H—how did I not know that all this time? That's crazy.." "Oh, well, we were best friends." He says that, then thinks to himself, "In fact, we were more than that, I think... Yet, luckily, she doesn't know..."

Vanessa stares at the picture for a few seconds, precisely analysing every detail, quite astonished because she has never seen them two together. "Well, it's quite a cute picture, I guess." She said. Then she looked at him for quite a long time, expecting something, yet it was pointless without Haruki even realising it. Haruki was too carried away by the picture. He looked at it with sorrowful eyes, as if it were the only precious thing in the world, delicately touching it. At that moment, when Vanessa was beside him, he couldn't help but whisper, "I love you, Nazuke." He then peeked at Vannessa. "Did she hear? he speculated, then thought to himself, "Oh, well.. Luckily, Vanessa didn't hear that; as far as I remember, she's half deaf anyway. I would've been so busted if she heard."

Haruki gently stroked the picture frame and felt the beautiful, intricate golden patterns as if each row was made with the utmost care. He couldn't believe Nazuke bought such a rich, expensive frame for a simple picture of him and Haruki together and also kept it in his bedroom, so therefore every time Nazuke would come in, the first thing he would see was that. Although Haruki wasn't at all disappointed—actually, he was shocked and glad both at the same time. "Uh, Haruke." Vanessa asked, "Yeah?" "Uh, well, don't you think we should go to your house now?" "O-oh, yeah. Uhm, why not? Let's go…" So they both proceeded to leave the abandoned antique house. Haruki looked back at the place last time before he and Vanessa left to go to his house.