Rain fell hard, drenching both figures in the dark night. The dimly lit lights outlined their silhouettes, and both of them were obviously looking at the ground, no one speaking a word. The shorted boy reached out, holding onto the taller boy’s shirt. His grip got tighter, and a bitter smile emerged on his lips.

“Good bye then.”

Letting go, both of them turned around, looking at the opposite direction. Neither of them turned back. Neither of them saw the sight of what a passerby would have seen; a scene that would tear anyone’s heart apart. They slowly went their separate ways as tears finally silently fell. 

***

Never once did his smile faded. That constant smile was constantly on his lips as he greeted each customer brightly. On his shirt, the name tag pinned on wrote ‘Yamada Ryosuke’. “Yamada?” Looking up at the familiar voice, he saw his daily customer, Arioka Daiki.

He politely smiled back, as he asked if the older guy would want his usual. Daiki nodded, and his eyes continued to follow Yamada around as he prepared his order. When Yamada was back with his order, he found himself saying, “Would you go out with me?” 

The younger boy was obviously taken aback, as he blinked a number of times while looking at Daiki. Sensing Yamada’s worry, Daiki laughed, “Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you.” After passing over the cash, he strolled out of the shop, and Yamada found himself unable to forget how Daiki waved to him.

Too alike.

***

Drumsticks fell to the ground, and following was a thud. Turning around, Keito had rushed towards the band’s drummer. The others followed, clearly shocked at the situation. Keito had looked at the fallen member in shock, as he continued to shake him, whispering his name.

“Yuto, Yuto wake up.”

***

He sat down on the bench of a park, inhaling the fresh air. By habit, he pulled out his camera and started to take photos of random objects, animate or inanimate. Going through the photos he had took, Yamada stopped at a particular photo. He had gently caressed the display screen of his camera, and his mouth shaping into syllabus. Yuto.

Sighing, he stood up and left the place.

***

The hospital equipments continued to beep, and the whitewashed room seems so dull. “This isn’t like Yuto.” Keito whispered, holding onto the drummer’s hand, as if urging him to wake up. The other members looked on, knowing that Keito had always felt something for their drummer. 

Keito stood up, and looked at the others with determined eyes.

“He has to know.”

***

Pushing a piece of his hair behind his ears, he felt his heart feeling uneasy. Was it because he was meeting Daiki? Yamada couldn’t pinpoint what was going to go wrong. He saw Daiki around the corner, and he started to fidget. It was then, his phone signaled to him a new message.

Opening the message, he was shocked to see an unknown number, but the content of the message, Yamada couldn’t ignore it. Without caring, he stood up and ran pass Daiki, ignoring the older guy as he hailed for a cab.

Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he continued to repeat in his mind that this wasn’t true.

***

Doctors surrounded Yuto’s fallen form, and the rest of his band members could only look on. Keito felt his world collapsing in front of him, seeing his best friend and crush for many years facing something like this. 

Footsteps were heard, and Keito turned to see a shorter boy with feminine features running towards them. Without even confirming their identities, the boy grabbed Keito’s shirt with trembling hands and chocked out, “… Yuto?”

Mentally, Keito already knew that the boy was Yamada Ryosuke, the person that Yuto had always talked non-stopped about. He remembers how Yuto’s smile was the brightest when he mentioned this Yamada person. 

He felt Yamada’s grip loosening, and the shorted boy slowly trudged towards Yuto’s ward. Seeing Yamada looking at Yuto was a heartbreaking sight, even for Keito. He could practically see Yamada’s heart being ripped out. 

The shorter boy never uttered a word, and he just went into the ward, even with the doctors’ protests.

***

Moving closer, he saw Yuto’s face. There were still doctors around Yuto, yet he ignored them. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You just have to face everything yourself right? That’s expected of you of course.” Tears fell as he vaguely saw the doctors shaking their head as they left Yuto’s side. A forced smile reached his lips, as Yamada sat on Yuto’s bed, holding the taller boy’s hand gently.

Brushing Yuto’s hair to the side, Yamada leaned forward, capturing Yuto’s cold lips with his as he muttered, “But that can’t be helped, since I accepted everything of you.” He didn’t know if it was him, but he felt the younger boy’s lips curving up a little.

Just a tiny bit.

“It’s no one’s fault.”

The room was only filled with a monotone beep, and Yamada’s tears continued to fall.

***

“Welcome,” Daiki looked at Yamada weirdly as the younger boy just greeted him like always. “Why did you run away that day?”

The younger boy had obviously flinched, yet he just continued asking if Daiki would like his usual, and totally ignoring the older guy’s question. Daiki didn’t care, as he pulled Yamada from the other side of the counter. It was only then, when he clearly saw Yamada’s face, he saw how tired the younger boy looked. 

“I was going to reject you that day anyway. There’s someone waiting for me.” Tears slid down his chubby cheeks, and Daiki let go. 

“So where is that person now?” As a habit of his, Daiki continued to watch Yamada moving around to prepare his order. When his order was set in front of him, he could help but give up on Yamada.

“He has gone to another place to wait for me. It doesn’t matter, since he never had the habit in informing me first.”

“Sorry for bringing this up.” Before Daiki left, he saw a slight smile on Yamada’s lips, and heard, “It doesn’t matter. It’s no one’s fault.”