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"..Ryuu. Are you sure you're fine?"
The pink haired womanizer glanced over at his friend, confused by the sudden question.
"Mm, I'm sure," he nodded, buttoning up his shirt. The hot bath had helped his aches a little bit, so that was one good thing. Now that he thought about it, a lot of crazy events had happened over the span of two days. He even got blasted through a stone wall by a chopstick monster, hahah.
Io looked over at his friend, observing the bruises and small cuts on his arms, neck, etc.. That blast had hit him pretty hard, it was surprising that his friend hadn't had a single broken bone. Damn that pink wombat-like creature. All of this talk about 'Battle Lovers' and 'Heirs to the throne of Love'..Io was still questioning what love truly was. Sure, his initial assumption he made earlier was what he believed to be love at first, but now that he had time to question it..
Sighing, the green haired teen forced his thoughts to stop, and he began to dry off his hair a bit more once he had his clothing on.
"...You're not lying, are you?"
Ryuu looked over at his friend once more, examining the worried look on his face. (Io probably didn't even notice how distressed he seemed.)
"Why would I lie to you?" he smiled at his friend, hoping it'd wash the worries away. True, he did still hurt all over, due to being thrown around like a rag doll, but everything was fine, really.
The multi-billionaire looked away, suddenly realizing how silly he must look at the moment. He gulped, attempting to think of a reason as to why he would be acting like this.
"Ah..We should get going," in a desperate attempt to change the subject, he noted how late it was getting. He picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. Ryuu did the same, and followed his friend out of the hot spring.
After a couple or so minutes of walking in silence, Io suddenly jolted to a stop.
Unaware of this at first, Ryuu took a couple or so steps ahead of him. Once realizing his friend was no longer by his side, he also stopped, and turned around.
"What's wrong?" he asked, now becoming slightly concerned, but more than that, he was confused.
The latter didn't respond, but only bit the inside of his cheek nervously, silently worrying to himself.
Io then dropped his bag to the ground and took a step forward, and wrapped his arms around his friend's waist tightly, as if he would crumble to pieces if he didn't; Io then buried his face into the pink-haired boy's shoulder, a puzzled and embarrassed expression on his face. Why did he do that? The question ran through his head multiple times.
Ryuu blinked, attempting to process the sudden action.
A hug..? He sighed happily, and returned the hug.
"I'm fine, I promise."
When was the last time they hugged? Quite a while ago, it seemed, now that Io thought about it. It was a nice feeling, however; he wouldn't deny that. It was as if he could feel his worries literally wash away..It was warm and affectionate. Comforting. There's better word to describe it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Then it all suddenly clicked.
Love wasn't about getting one billion dollars invested into your Cayman Islands account.
This was love.