Archive of Our Own

Or... so he liked to tell himself.

Twelve years. No contact, no sign. Heck, not even a message. Inui didn't change is number so Kokonoi would be able to text him just fine, but everyday was... nothing. The only thing on his phone was an old picture of him and Kokonoi during their reign as the Black Dragons.

"Seishu, are you expecting anyone?" Inui hides his phone as he hears Kazutora's voice coming closer. Inui, the expert that he is, only gives a poker face at the male. "Does it look like I am?" He asks Kazutora, hiding the sarcastic tone in his voice. He still hadn't gotten used to him, let alone talking to him. Kazutora only shrugged. "You look like you were, so I thought I asked."

Maybe Inui was.

But what's the use of expecting when you know it'll never come around?

"I'm not." Inui answers. "Who would you think I would expect?" He asks again, taking a glass of wine from the incoming waiter who was appearing with the tray of glasses.

Kazutora pondered, thens shrugged again. "That guy who you're always with. That guy with the slanted eyes."

Ah, so Kazutora does remember. Then again he did beat him up...

Kazutora continues. "Never mind. Maybe I was just imagining things." He shrugs for the third time and he leaves Inui to stare at his half-empty wine glass.

Was it over? Well, for their gang years, it was. After what happened with Tenjiku, Kokonoi went off and did his own things. The last message he sent Inui was four years ago, in which the only thing written on the phone was, "Sorry to bother, can you get something at our old house?"

Maybe Inui should've replied, but he was already doing fine with Draken at the motorbike shop and fixing up his own pieces. Why did he need to go out of his way and... hurt himself all over again?

Inui sighs, drinking whatever remained in the glass as he opens his phone again, lookinga the message from four years ago.

Their old house, huh...?

Inui was surprised that no one ever bothered in buying the lot, even after twelve years.

Given, it wasn't actually their house. Kokonoi just stayed there most of the time whenever his parents were out of town or something. Inui still had the keys, so he didn't have a worry about breaking and entering.

The moment he opened the door, nostalgia crashed through him like a tidal wave. Though, Inui wasn't smiling at the memories that he made with Kokonoi---Rather, he felt a sense of melancholy. They were just memories, right? Inui was surprised that he didn't forget about them even after time had passed.

Inui goes upstairs to his bedroom, and was met with a box on the bed. Weird. No one had been going in and out of the house for years, so why would there be a box? And in his room, too...

He shakes his head. "God... this better not be a booklet of money he wanted me to get."

Inui, though reluctant, he opens the box and... huh?

There wasn't much anything in it, except for a photo album, a video camera, and a diary. "Since when did Koko keep something like this...?" Inui asks to himself, picking up the notebook. It was thin, and it probably only held at least 10 pages.

The first page almost had Inui sobbing:

"To someone I broke my promise with."

Kokonoi didn't regret leaving Inui alone.

At least... that's what he always thought.

He missed most of the events in which they thought they would be spending together after everything died down. Kokonoi was just a kid---Hell, he was only a middler schooler when he got involved with everything.

Even as someone who was already in their twenties, Kokonoi did have regrets of his own: He regretted not being able to protect the people he loved. He regretted disposing his so-called "members" once things when downhill. He regretting being part of Kantou Manji Gang and being part of Bonten.

But the biggest regret of all?

Kokonoi regretted leaving Inui alone.

His phone vibrates. He opens it, and there it was. Inui's message.

Funny how Kokonoi's last text was to for Inui to grab something at their old house. He went there four years ago, leaving some souvenirs in the box: A small album that had a few pictures from when they were in elementary to middle school, a video camera that he uses whenever they would go out, and a thin notebook that was some sort of diary for him.

Kokonoi admits that he wasn't good with his words when it came to things like this. When it came to dealings and such he was all there, but for his own emotions… he wasn’t mentally and emotionally prepared. If anything he was just the opposite.

He takes a deep breath, then opens the message.

"Then make a new one, Koko. I'll wait for the new one."

"You're gonna have to wait a while for that, Inupi."