Chapter Text
Jinn looked at the warm coffee on his hand as he walked towards the school. He left earlier today because he didn"t have to wait for Weisz to get up. He had either left really early or he never came back to the apartment last night.
After all that went down yesterday, Jinn knew it was the second. Weisz had the tendency to go fuck around with some girl to deal with his issues. And Homura coming back into their lives was definitely an issue for him.
Jinn was about to take a sip from his coffee when he saw Rebecca sitting on the bench outside the school. She didn"t look well, actually she looked like she hadn"t had any sleep at all. She was frowning, and completely focused on her phone like if she was trying to solve some kind of puzzle.
The green haired man looked at his perfectly intact double shot espresso with cream and smiled. He started walking towards the girl and once he was right next to her, he put the cup of coffee between her face and her phone.
"A coffee for your thoughts" he said and Rebecca looked up at him. Her frowning disappeared completely as she gave him a sweet smile.
"Good morning Loser" she said and looked at the coffee he was offering "is this for me?"
He nodded.
"It looks like you need it a lot more than I do," Jinn answered and with a slow movement of his hand, told her to move so he could sit next to her.
"You know… " Rebecca moved to give him space as she grabbed the cup of coffee. "If you wanted to tell me I did a terrible job doing my makeup this morning, you should have just say so" she pursed her lips and took a sip of the warm drink
"You did a terrible job doing your makeup this morning," Jinn said with a smirk on his face.
Rebecca chuckled, being careful not to spill the coffee.
"Thanks" she said and took another sip. "I really needed it" she looked at him with suspicion "how is it that you always know the type of coffee I like? It really amazes me"
Jinn rolled his eyes and poke her side.
"Don"t be too amazed, I just happen to like the same type of coffee you do" Rebecca was trying not to give in to the tickles but she wasn"t succeeding. "Now… are you gonna tell me why you look so down?"
He had suddenly stopped poking her and the ash blond girl"s smile disappeared the minute he asked her that. Jinn noticed she was trying to avoid the topic.
"Nothing… I"m just tired" she looked at the cup of coffee she was holding in her lap now.
"Becca…"
"Ugh, I can"t hide anything from you, can I?" She sounded frustrated but Jinn knew she was just teasing him.
"I thought we had already discussed that" he chuckled and Rebecca shook her head.
She then let out a long sigh while looking at her phone once again.
"It "s Shiki…" Jinn imagined that might be what had her like that, but he let her keep talking regardless "he didn"t come home last night, and his phone is off. I don"t know, I"m just worried, because he is working so much these days…"
"Well, I"m sure he has a good reason, he is probably drowned in paperwork" Jinn shrugged "didn"t you tell us that his grandpa was giving him a hard time?"
"Yes…"
"Then I"m sure he is trying his best to fulfill his expectations, you know how his family is…"
"Yes, but still I worry. He works so hard I"m afraid he might faint or something. What if he is not eating properly?" Rebecca"s blue eyes widened at the thought of that.
"I"m pretty sure he is eating perfectly fine, Becca give him a few hours maybe he will answer your calls" Jinn was just trying to be supportive, but he was quite annoyed.
There was no need for Shiki to keep her in the dark for the whole night, he could just send a message to let her know he was OK.
Rebecca sighed and shook her head
"You are right, maybe I"m just overreacting" she didn"t seem too convinced but Jinn noticed she was trying not to think too much into it.
"That"s right, stop," he said and patted her head.
She closed her eyes when he did that, she didn"t know why but Jinn always gave her so much peace.
"She is so cute" He couldn"t help thinking about her that way especially when she was acting like a kitten who needed petting.
As soon as he realized what he was doing, the green haired man took his hand away and looked away from her trying to hide his blush.
Rebecca tilted her head to the side, completely clueless as why he was acting so nervous all of the sudden.
"Are you okay?" She asked, searching for his eyes. Jinn never spoke to someone without making eye contact, unless he was embarrassed.
"Yeah, yeah I"m fine" looking back at her.
During the years he had learned to get himself together fast when it came to Rebecca and how he felt for her. He had to, he was always avoiding getting caught by any of his friends.
Jinn looked at his watch and nodded with his head towards the school.
"We should get going, we need to handle those forms they asked us yesterday" he said as he stood up. Changing the topic had always been another of his specialities.
Rebecca nodded and stood up right after him. She was still a little wary at his previous reaction but she let it slide. She rushed her steps a little so she was now walking right next to him.
"So, where is your other half?" She asked and Jinn chuckled.
"Who knows? Probably spent the night somewhere between a brunette and a blonde" he shook his head and Rebecca giggled.
"Do you think they will be ok?" She asked and stopped walking for a second. "Weisz and Homura, I mean"
Jinn turned to look at her and shrugged.
"I don"t know, I guess they will" he put his hands on his pockets "they are not kids anymore, I"m sure they will work it out"
Jinn said that but he wasn"t really sure about it. Yes they were not kids but he knew Weisz was still not over what happened back then, him not coming back last night was proof of that.
He looked behind Rebecca and noticed Homura was getting off a cab.
"Speaking of the devil" he said to the ash blonde.
Rebecca turned around and her face lit up when she saw her friend.
"Homura!!" She waved at her and the purple haired woman walked towards them with a smile.
"Hey you two! Good morning" she said, greeting them.
"How was your first day?" Rebecca asked and linked her arm with hers.
"It was alright, I think I"m going to like it here" Homura welcomed Rebecca"s gesture like if they had never stopped talking to each other.
"Jinn and I were wondering…" Rebecca said, catching the attention of both her friends. "Were you able to talk to Weisz? Are you guys friends again?"
Jinn"s jaw dropped down, how was Rebecca so blunt?
"Well…" Homura looked at the green haired man standing in front of them "we did talk, so everything is fine now. I don"t think we will be as close as before but at least we can move forward"
The smile Homura gave them was not a sincere one and Jinn knew that it was probably because the conversation didn"t go the way she expected it.
He knew them both, the three of them were inseparable when they were kids, to the point that they could tell what the other was thinking instantly. The bond the three of them had back then was kind of unique. So Jinn knew when his friends were not being honest.
Homura waved her hand in front of his face and that brought him back to the conversation.
"Did you hear me?" She said with her eyebrows furrowed.
"Sorry, I dozed off, what was it?"
"I said I was surprised you didn"t know, I was sure Weisz would have told you by now"
"Oh.." Jinn shrugged "no, well that"s because I haven"t seen him since yesterday" he said without thinking.
"Aren"t you guys roommates?" Homura asked. Somehow she couldn"t shake off this strange feeling she was having, and she didn"t like it.
"Yeah, he didn"t come home so that"s why" Jinn looked at his watch again "and look at that he is probably going to be late" shaking his head he pointed at the gate "We better go in"
Homura froze for a second, trying to understand what Jinn meant by that. How could he be so layback about his friend not going back home, what if something happened to him? She looked at Rebecca who didn"t seem to be affected either. What kind of friends were they?
"Um.. guys, shouldn"t you be worried if someone goes MIA all night? I mean…"
"Look!!" Rebecca suddenly said "and he decided to join the party"
Homura followed Rebecca"s gaze and saw Weisz walking towards the gate. He looked tired and was combing his hair as he walked. Jinn called his name and he turned towards them.
"Good morning.." he said, his voice was hoarse and it looked like he was wearing the same clothes he was wearing yesterday.
"Good morning" Homura and Rebecca answered him. Weisz"s eyes laid on the purple haired woman for a brief moment and then he turned to his best friend.
"I"m so glad I found you here, give me your sweater" the blond said, putting a hand on his friend"s shoulder.
Jinn scoffed.
"Why would I do that? Get your own sweater" he said, shaking off Weisz"s hand from his shoulder.
"Come on, I can"t go in like this, the kids will tease me for life"
"You should have woken up earlier and gone home to change clothes" Jinn crossed his arms. He knew he was going to give him the sweater in the end, but he was going to put up a fight.
"Why are you being so mean to me all of the sudden?" Weisz said with a sly smile planted on his face "is this because you are trying to look tough in front of–"
Jinn cover the blond"s mouth with his hand to shut him up
"Fine, shut it, I"ll give you the damn sweater"
Rebecca giggled and Homura was looking at them with wide eyes. Was this a routine for them? Because it certainly looked like it.
"Do they do this often?" She whispered only for Rebecca to hear. The two men were busy exchanging clothes.
"Well occasionally, usually Weisz gets to their apartment before sunrise so they don"t have this issue, but once in a while…"
"Wait, usually?" Homura kept getting more and more surprised. "Does he spend the night away frequently?"
Rebecca"s giggles increased and Homura felt a little dumb. What was she missing here?
"He has a different date every weekend" Rebecca stopped laughing "but now that I think about it, he barely goes out on work nights, this must have been a special occasion" Rebecca shrugged "Who cares? Let"s just go in, or we are definitely going to be late" she turned to look at the guys "Hey you two!! Are you going in or not?"
Both of them nodded. Jinn had given Weisz his sweater and was now wearing only his shirt.
"I can"t believe you sometimes" Jinn whispered to his best friend "on a work night? Really Weisz?"
"Stop being such a prude, it"s not the end of the world" the blonde glanced over to where Homura and Rebecca were walking a few steps ahead of them. " I just felt like it," Weisz added, his eyes fixed on Homura"s back.
"You are unbelievable, what the hell happened yesterday?" Jinn said and Weisz just shook his head.
"Not now, I"ll tell you after work" Weisz looked like he was dealing with the situation quite well, but Jinn knew better.
"Alright, you better, you know I hate being in the dark"
Weisz chuckled at his best friend remark and beamed at him
"Aw, you care about me, that"s sweet" Jinn rolled his eyes at the blond"s mocks
"Shut up, I hate you right now, you better look after my sweater, got it?" The green haired man grinned and walked faster to reach the girls.
Homura kept sending glances at Weisz trying to analyze the whole situation. He had spent the night out, Rebecca said he had different dates every weekend and that surprised her even more.
The Weisz she knew was not a womanizer, at least he wasn"t back then. So it made her curious and kind of angry to see him act like this now. What was even worse was that everyone around him seemed to know about this and were ok with it.
Her eyes were focused on the blond, she couldn"t stop staring at him. Homura was trying to figure him out, this new side of Weisz was completely new to her. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn"t notice, Weisz"s gray eyes staring back at her.
Time seemed to stop for a second when they finally locked eyes, but it didn"t last long. Completely embarrassed for being caught looking at him she turned her head towards Rebecca trying to hide her blushing cheeks.
Homura kept walking, ignoring the unsettling feeling she had in her chest. It was not the time to think about this, her talk with Weisz was pretty clear the day before, they were going to move forward and try to start over. Instead of overthinking, she smiled at Rebecca and poked her side.
"So, how"s everything with you Becca" she said as they walked into the building.
***************
"That"s all for today, and remember to hand in your 1st draft on Non-holonomic systems by Friday" Weisz said as half of the class was already standing up to leave "I mean that Jeremy, specially to you"
"Professor please, I always hand everything on time" a redheaded boy around 16 said with a wide cocky smile on his face
Weisz shook his head.
"I"m going to record you one of these days, have a good lunch, everyone" he said as he put everything on his briefcase and left the classroom.
He was starving, he didn"t even have coffee in the morning. He had left the girl"s house in such a rush that he couldn"t even buy a coffee.
He got chills thinking about how he spent the night at a girl"s place. He never sleeps over, never. He must have been really tired to fall asleep that fast. Luckily for him, the girl didn"t wake up before he did so he managed to leave without leaving any trace.
Weisz"s stomach made a funny noise, indicating that he was starving. This was so not him. He never had dates on work nights, but yesterday… yesterday he just needed to forget the way he was feeling after seeing and talking to Homura for the first time in 8 years.
The conversation they had was still on his mind, Weisz was amazed at how he handled everything. For a moment hearing her say she was sorry and looking at her beautiful face, he thought all the hard time he had trying to move on from his crush had been a waste of time.
Absolutely no, he couldn’t allow those feelings to come back. That"s when he panicked and did the only thing he knew would keep Homura out of his mind.
He didn"t lie to her when he agreed to move forward, it was the best for both of them at the moment. Weisz was not mad, but after noticing the way his heartbeat raised when he saw her again, he knew he had to keep his distance. He was not going to make the same mistake twice.
Weisz opened the door to the teacher"s lounge where they had lunch and froze when he saw Homura sitting by herself. She had a pair of glasses on, and was reading a book while she ate some chips.
The blonde stood there, she hadn"t noticed him yet, so he was considering having lunch somewhere else. He was about to turn around and walk away but he stopped. Taking another look at the purple hair woman, the talk they had yesterday came to his mind again.
Avoiding her wasn"t the solution, they were supposed to leave the past behind and move forward. Weisz scratched the back of his head, pushed the door further and walked in. He could do this, the rest will probably join them soon.
"You are just old friends, she is an acquaintance now, you don"t have a crush on her anymore" Weisz kept repeating in his head while he grabbed his lunch from the food station, and walked towards her.
"That"s all you are gonna eat?" The blonde said casually, taking Homura"s attention away from the book.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him taking a seat next to her, and she clumsily took off her glasses as she closed the books she was reading.
"O-oh, hi Weisz, I didn"t notice you came in" she said trying to sound composed.
"I guess that habit of losing yourself in books hasn"t changed" he pointed at her bag of chips "that"s not food"
Homura was still surprised he was talking to her so naturally. But she didn"t want to think too much, that was all she has been doing since the morning and it only made her more anxious. So she was just going to go with the flow.
"Oh, this? Yes I know I"m waiting for Rebecca to be back, she said she wanted food from somewhere else so she was going to grab it" she smiled and put the book away in her bag along with her glasses.
"Why am I not surprised?" Weisz rolled his eyes "let me guess… Jinn went with her" he said as he took a look at the food he grabbed from the food station.
"Yep, exactly that" Homura follow his eyes towards his plate and leaned to take a better look "that doesn"t look so bad"
Weisz shook his head, of course Jinn went with her. He was so obvious sometimes. He noticed Homura"s curiosity as she leaned to see his food.
"It"s not bad, Rebecca just likes to eat outside campus food, because she has been spoiled too much"
She chuckled and for a moment Weisz started questioning again if he could do this.
"Well you know how she always liked good quality food"
"Come on she eats whatever is in front of her, I"m surprised she hasn"t gain more weight"
"Don"t be that mean!" Homura said trying not to laugh "there is nothing wrong with loving food"
"Yeah right, well tell that to this food" Weisz pointed at his plate "I"m sure it feels discriminated by her" he had forgotten how nice it felt to hear Homura"s laugh at his really bad jokes.
"Oh god" Homura breathed between laughs, she didn"t know why she found Weisz jokes and teasing funny. Sometimes she was the only one laughing, but even though she knew the jokes were terrible she just couldn"t help it "you are still making those awful jokes, eh?"
With a smile on his face Weisz took a sip from his apple juice.
"Yeah well and you are still laughing at them..."
Their eyes met for a brief second, and they didn"t need to say it but both their minds were automatically transported to the many times they laughed together when they were younger. When they didn"t have to act and pretend their feelings didn"t matter.
Homura"s laugh stopped and Weisz"s smile vanished. The previous joyful atmosphere was now gone leaving an awkward feeling. They both looked down, Homura found her hands very interesting and Weisz dug into his food trying to ignore the beating of his heart.
"We are back" Rebecca had just stormed into the room with their food. Weisz had never been happier to hear the ash blonde"s voice as in that moment.
"What took you so long?!" Homura looked as relieved as Weisz "I was starving…" She tried not to sound too obvious so she stood up and helped her friend with the boxes of food, grabbing the one that she ordered.
Homura glanced at Weisz who kept his eyes focused on his food.
"Sorry about that, Becca couldn"t decide which to get," Jinn said, taking a seat next to Weisz and rolling his eyes.
Rebecca noticed that and hit his arm.
"Hey, no one asked you to come with me…"
"Yeah right, then we would still be waiting for the food"
"Whatever it wasn"t that long anyway, don"t be so extra" she sat down next to the green hair man and smiled at Homura "I"m sure you will love what I got you, it"s one of their best dishes"
The door of the teachers lounge opened up again and this time it was Laguna who entered the room. His blue eyes searched around for his friends and when he finally saw them he walked towards them and sat next to Rebecca.
"You all better be free after we finish today I"ll buy you guys a beer"
"And what"s the occasion?" Jinn asked
"That my dear friend is a surprise…" Laguna wiggled his eyebrows as the other four just looked at each other worried, the blue eyed man instantly frowned "Oh come on, don"t make those faced, I promise is something good"
"If you say so…" Weisz said and looked at his watch "shoot, my next class starts in 5 minutes, better run"
"How short is your lunch break man?" Laguna asked him as the blonde stood up and shrugged.
"I got caught up with some of the kid"s projects" he threw the empty plates on his food tray on the trash can and turned to his friends "I guess I see you guys after work"
***********
In Homura"s opinion the period after lunch was always shorter. She blinked and it was already 4:30 pm and everyone was ready to go back home.
The purple haired girl kept sending glances at Rebecca who seemed to be very focused on her phone. They were walking towards the bar Laguna told them to meet. Weisz, Jinn and Laguna will be meeting them there.
"What"s so interesting that you can"t stop texting?" Homura asked Rebecca and made the ash blond look up at her.
"Oh? I"m sorry Mura, I was just texting Shiki, I thought it will be nice if he joined us tonight"
Homura nodded and smiled at her friend.
"Yes, that would be amazing. I haven"t seen him in like forever" Homura leaned closer to her and took a peek at her phone "so what did he say?"
Rebecca smiled faded and she frowned with concern
"He hasn"t replied"
Without realizing it, Homura read her chat and noticed she had been sending him text messages for a while, but none of them were answered. Rebecca looked really worried and that made Homura sad.
Back when they were in highschool, she remembered how Shiki was always attentive to Rebecca, so this whole new attitude coming from him was really strange.
Homura rubbed her friend"s back and smiled at her.
"I"m sure he is just busy"
"Yeah…" Rebecca nodded put her phone on her pocket and smiled at her "You are right, I"m going to just enjoy hanging out with you guys tonight, he will call when he can"
Homura nodded
"That"s right, it has been so long since we had fun together"
Both girls entered the bar and found Weisz and Jinn had already gotten a table for them.
"So, where is Laguna?" Rebecca asked as she sat down right next to Jinn.
"You know him, he likes to make an entrance" Weisz answered as he set his bag aside so Homura could sit next to him.
"What is that he always says?" Homura said, trying to ignore how her heart started raising the minute she sat in that chair.
"A star is never early or late or something like that" Jinn scratched his head trying to remember the exact words.
"A star is never late, nor early, they arrive exactly when it"s meant to" Laguna"s voice startled the four of them. The blue haired man laughed at his friends" confused faces and sat down with them.
"Who said that by the way?" Weisz asked him.
"Gandalf" Laguna smirked.
"Pff, are you serious?" Jinn burst out laughing "You are such a nerd"
"Look who"s talking Mr. Love actually is my favorite movie"
"Didn"t Gandalf say "Wizards""? Rebecca asked innocently which made Jinn laugh even harder.
Weisz was hardly keeping it together as well, he was not good at holding his laugh.
"Whatever I reinvented it, you cannot trust an old man whose fashion style is wearing rugs, even if it was the middle ages" Laguna shrugged and called the waiter to get their orders.
"So.." Homura said looking at her friend "are you going to reveal the mystery or are we gonna keep talking about Wizards" fashion?"
"I"m getting there, yes" Laguna gave everyone a smile and rubbed both his hands. "Ready?"
"For God"s sake just say it already" Weisz snapped.
"Fine, good grief, don"t get so impatient"
"DUDE!"
"Alright alright, here is the thing…. I got the main lead on a play, it opens this december"
"What?! That "s awesome!" Weisz said and the rest congratulated him as well.
Everyone in their group knew how much Laguna loved acting and how hard it had been for him to get serious parts. So hearing him say that made them all fill with joy.
"Wow congrats man!!" Jinn said with a big smile on his face.
"Yes that sounds incredible Laguna, we are going to the opening night, right?" Rebecca asked and the blue-haired man nodded.
"Well done buddy, I"m really proud of you" Weisz said, laying back on his chair.
"Oh my god!" Homura jumped up and hug him "congratulations, this is amazing, I know how much you wanted this part"
"Thanks Mura" he hugged her back.
Weisz looked at them a little bit wary. She knew he was after that specific part? The blond didn"t know they were that close. Back in highschool Laguna and Homura"s relationship wasn"t like this.
He looked away, ignoring the knot in his stomach, and right in the moment the waitress came back with their drinks.
Homura sat back down so the woman could serve them their beers. She was so happy, that it took her a while to notice that the beer in front of her was not the one she ordered.
"Um…" she was about to call the lady back when she felt someone grabbing the beer she was holding.
"I think that one is mine, she must have mixed them" Weisz said as he slid the beer he had on his other hand, towards her "You like light beers right? Dark ones just give you headaches"
The smile on the blonde"s face made Homura feel warm and fuzzy inside. For a moment she felt she was back in highschool when they were close and neither of them had been hurt.
She nodded and took the beer from Weisz hand, brushing his fingers slightly. For a minute Homura thought he was going to let their hands touch, but he retracted it as soon as her fingers brushed his.
"Well let"s make a toast for our favorite actor" Rebecca said raising her glass "Cheers!!"
They had always loved drinking and having fun as a group, even when it was non alcoholic beverages, they still enjoyed the company of each other. It was nice to get together like that again.
Weisz didn"t know how much time had passed, they had 2 more rounds of beers and everyone seemed to still be holding it up pretty good, everyone but Rebecca.
"You think she is ok? Maybe I should take her home" Weisz heard Homura"s voice next to him and he turned to look at her. Her cheeks and nose were slightly red, and she looked kind of tipsy.
"You wanna take her home? I bet you can"t even walk properly right now" he said, shaking his head.
"If you are insinuating that I"m drunk, I would gladly tell you I"m not."
"Yeah, okay" Weisz snorted
"I said I"m not!" Homura raised her voice without noticing and Weisz snickered "Stop laughing at me, so what? I"m a little tipsy, I can still take my best friend home"
"The hell you can, don"t worry about Becca I doubt Sir Lancelot would let her do anything stupid" Weisz pointed at Rebecca, who was laughing non stop and telling everyone she wanted to dance; and Jinn, who was trying unsuccessfully to keep her from embarrassing herself.
"Oh…" Homura said following the blonde"s gaze. "You have a point…" she turned to look at him and giggled "Sir Lancelot?!"
Weisz took a sip from his beer and shrugged. He tried to hide how affected he was by the sound of her laugh
"I see what you did there, you are such a—"
Homura"s voice faded, she suddenly realized how much she missed these things. Seeing him teasing and laughing with everyone made her want to hold on to this moment and never let it go.
The image of a younger version of themselves appeared in her mind. It was the first time they got drunk, they were at Weisz"s house and the six of them had sneaked into the basement some of Weisz"s grandfather"s wine bottles. They thought back then they were being so badass and rebellious.
Homura used to think that, spending time like that, laughing with him surrounded by their friends, was how she was going to live for the rest of her life. But her mother had other plans and that memory was all that was left.
"I"m such a what? Hey, you there?"
Weisz"s voice brought her back from her flashback.
Homura shook her head and giggled.
"Never mind that… I forgot what I was going to say"
"See? I told you, drunk" Weisz smirked as he drank what was left of his beer.
"I"m not that drunk… maybe just a little tipsy, you know I never lie"
"Is that so?" The blond asked and she nodded "then if I ask you something you will answer me with honesty right?"
There was some kind of mischievous sparkle in Weisz"s eyes when he said that. Homura knew him well enough to know he was up to no good, but she still smiled and nodded.
"I will, ask me anything you want" she was trying to sound confident and ignore completely how nervous she actually was. The expression in Weisz"s face was one she had never seen in him before and it was making her heart uneasy.
"Cool…" the blonde smiled once again and put his beer aside. As he did that he leaned closer to her. "Anything?"
Homura imitated him as she nodded and before she knew it their faces were closer than before. She didn"t realize it, her body seemed to have moved on its own, she could actually feel the warmth of his knee brushing hers. Maybe she had drunk more than she should have.
Weisz titled his head, still wearing that smirk on his face, his gray eyes searching for something on her face. It was as if he was trying to analyze every little gesture she made.
Homura could feel her whole body weaken under his stare and she was starting to panic. This was new to her, she knew they used to be close when they were younger and that he had a crush on her but… Weisz had never looked at her like that, in such a suspicious yet naughty way.
"Um… are you gonna ask?" The purple haired girl cleared her throat and broke eye contact with him. Why was he doing this?
"Yeah…" Weisz said and his smirk faded away. Homura couldn"t help but frown, how did he switch moods so fast, now his eyes were filled with something she couldn"t quite understand.
Weisz hesitated for a second, he was well aware of what he wanted to ask her, he has been wanting to ask her since he saw her the day before.
But he was afraid, afraid of her answer and of what that would do to him. Afraid of bringing back memories that were long buried away. He wanted to try being Homura"s friend and move forward like they said they would, with no hard feelings, but he needed to know this first.
He had always had the suspicion that there was something else behind Homura wanting to study abroad. But he was too proud back then to ask her about it. Instead he went off and fucked every single woman he could, to get rid of the void in his chest. Pathetic he knew that but it had worked so far.
Until now.
He took a deep breath trying not to sound too casual, and finally asked.
"Why… Why did you really leave?"