Ten-year-old Ryuugazaki Rei loved looking out the window of his second-story bedroom towards the neighboring house's yard and seeing the maple tree that stood there. Whether it was in the spring or summer when the leaves were a healthy green, in the fall when they had turned a beautiful variety of gold, orange, and crimson, or even in the winter when the leafless branches were covered with snow, he had always thought that the tree was majestic. The way that the trunk arched gracefully up from its roots, the way that the branches wove themselves towards the sky, the way that the leaves danced in the breeze with a jingling sound—to the blue-haired boy, that tree was special. The beauty of it was something that he couldn't apply any calculation or theory to, but all the same he loved it.

Once, when he was younger, he had overheard his former neighbors complain about the tree, saying that it blocked the sunlight from entering one of the windows in the bedroom, which was right across from Rei's window. Rei had snorted to himself when he heard them—he couldn't see why the tree was such a problem if there was a whole other window that was letting in sunlight. He was glad that those neighbors had not owned the house—if they had owned it, he was sure that they would have cut his favorite tree down. To his not-so-slight pleasure, those neighbors had moved last fall, and ever since then the yellow house next door had remained empty.

Rei had heard from his mother that the house belonged to someone by the name of Hazuki, and that it had been in that Hazuki person's family for generations. It seemed that the Hazukis had been renting out their house for years now. The Ryuugazakis had occupied the house next to it for all ten years of Rei's life, and over the years Rei had watched from his bedroom window as residents of the yellow house came and went. Never once, though, had the nameplate on the mailbox changed to Hazuki, and it had made him a little bit curious about the mysterious family that owned the house. At the least, he hoped that they were not like his most recent neighbors who had moved away.

Now, it was spring and the newly grown leaves of the maple tree were freshly green once more. It was a pleasantly warm Sunday morning and Rei had spent the past few days recovering from a fever. His wake-sleep cycle had been flipped because of his irregularly long intervals of sleep, but with his last long period of sleep, the cycle had returned to normal and he felt more than adequately rested. The first thing he had done when he felt well enough to be out of bed was to walk over to his bedroom window and draw the curtains open. Unlocking the window and pushing the shutters open, he looked out—

And found an unfamiliar pair of eyes staring at him.

Rei almost fell back from the window in surprise. In the nick of time, he grabbed the windowsill and regained his balance. Pulling himself back up, he cautiously peered out the window again.

There was a boy standing at the window across from Rei's. At first glance, he looked to be somewhere around Rei's age—though, judging from the roundness of his face and his small build, he was probably a bit younger than him. His hair was a golden blonde, and he had a small turned-up nose and a tiny pink mouth to match. His large burgundy eyes, which reminded Rei of dark red maple leaves in the fall, were wide with curiosity and—was it delight? Once the boy got over his initial surprise, a big smile lit up his face and those burgundy eyes. Rei didn't realize that his mouth had dropped open slightly from the brightness of the boy's expression.

Beaming at Rei, the boy opened his small mouth—and out came a high-pitched voice that almost seemed too big for it.

"HI!" he shouted happily, his hands slamming on the windowsill as he leaned out the window towards Rei. Surprised, the blue-haired boy took a startled step back. Not sure how to respond, he simply stood there with his own mouth still open. Undeterred by his lack of response, the blonde boy continued on happily.

"I'm Nagisa! Me and my family moved in two days ago!" he chirped. "I saw the family name on your front gate, but the kanji was too hard for me to read. What's your name?"

"—Me?" Rei said hesitantly. It had been a while since he'd spoken to someone around his age, and right now he was feeling a bit out of his comfort zone. But he managed to say the next words, albeit a bit stiffly. "Ryuugazaki—Ryuugazaki Rei."

"Heh~? So your name is Rei-chan!" The blonde—Nagisa—said, giggling. "You have a girly name, just like me!" Rei was taken aback by this response—and he could feel his ears turning red as he gave a heated response.

"'Rei-cha'—I do not have a girly name!" he protested. "It's an honorable name that was given to me by my grandfather—"

"But it IS girly, right?" Nagisa cut in, smiling. "That's okay, though—we're on the same boat there, Rei-chan!" He giggled. "It's like it's fate!"

"I—you—" After sputtering a bit, Rei shot the blonde an annoyed look. "Why are you referring to me so casually? We're not that close—and you're probably younger than me, too—"

"I'm turning ten this year!" Nagisa said cheerfully, not minding the disbelief that spread across Rei's face. "I heard from my mom that our next-door neighbors have a son my age—that's you, right? People always think I'm younger than I am cause of my baby face, but my cousin Natsumi said that it'll pay off when I get older, so I don't mind!" Rei frowned slightly as the blonde rattled on, a bit taken aback at how talkative he was being when it hadn't even been five minutes since they met.

"—anyways, you should totally come over!" He snapped back to attention when Nagisa said those words. "Mom said that I could invite you over after I finished unpacking in my room, and I finished just now, so—"

"No," Rei said abruptly. At his answer, the blonde boy looked crestfallen.

"Eh~? Why not?" he whined, his voice disappointed. "We have some strawberry cake in the fridge—and I have video games too! And dolls! It'll be fun!"

"I—I don't like sweets," Rei said, pushing his glasses up with his hand and trying to ignore the pout on the blonde's face. "And we're not that close—"

"We could be if you'd come over!" Nagisa chirped hopefully. "You could even tell me about the kids at our school! I heard there's only one elementary school in this neighborhood, so you must go there too, right? I don't know anyone from around here yet besides you, Rei-chan, so—"

"I can't." Rei felt a cold sensation bubbling up in his stomach. "I don't go there." His hand tightly clenched into a fist at his side. "I'm homeschooled."

"Oh." Nagisa looked only a little surprised before brightening up again. "That's okay! We can still have fun—"

"I said no," Rei snapped. "There are plenty of other kids in the neighborhood—go find someone else to play with." Without waiting for a response, he slammed the shutters shut and drew his curtains closed. His pulse racing and his palms sweating, he sank down onto the floor, his back dragging against the wall of his room. After calming down a little, he realized that he probably hurt Nagisa's feelings with his unfriendly attitude. A twinge of guilt passed through him before he shook it off with a shake of his head. Walking towards the bookcase in his room, he pulled out a book about pole vaulting and went to his desk. Sitting down on the chair, he opened the book and started to read, trying to get Nagisa's disappointed face out of his head.

He wouldn't step out the door of his house unless he absolutely had to. He had promised himself. And now was not one of those times. That was what he told himself as he tried to concentrate on the page before him.

Rei hoped that the next time he looked out the window, the blonde boy wouldn't be there.

…

But he was. The next time Rei drew the curtains and opened the window, it was on a Monday morning at 10 am. He knew that a school day at the neighborhood elementary school began at 8 am, so he predicted that a certain blonde haired boy would definitely not be there when he looked out the window. There was the maple tree, and the window of the yellow house next door was open—

When he saw Nagisa at the windowsill right across from him, he nearly fell over in shock again.

"Rei-chan!" Contrary to his previous worries, Nagisa's face lit up once he saw Rei at the window. It seemed like he hadn't been hurt too deeply at Rei's reaction the other day, and even if he had, he was over it. Either way, the blonde leaned out of the window towards Rei just as he had yesterday, beaming at the blue-haired boy. "You finally opened the window again!" he said happily.

"You—why—I thought you'd be at school!" Rei burst out, shocked. Nagisa laughed and folded his arms over the windowsill.

"My mom overslept today!" he said. "Her alarm didn't go off, and we're all heavy sleepers—by 'we', I mean my mom and my sisters and me!" He grinned, revealing a set of teeth that were adorably crooked. Now that he mentioned it, the blonde had a serious case of bedhead and was still in his pajamas. "She's making toast really quickly right now—and probably burning it—" As if on cue, a woman's hurried shout came from somewhere in the yellow house.

"NAGISA! COME DOWNSTAIRS AND EAT YOUR BREAKFAST THIS INSTANT!" Jumping a little at his mother's voice, Nagisa made a face before looking back at Rei and smiling again, a little nervously this time. Rei guessed that the blonde was feeling anxious about his first day at a new school.

"I have to go now—I'll see you later, Rei-chan!" Giving Rei a friendly wave, Nagisa disappeared from the window. Rei could hear his footsteps pattering down the stairs and his voice saying something like "Coming, coming!"

Now it was just the empty window, the maple tree, and Rei. Exactly as Rei had wanted.

He pushed his inexplicable feelings of disappointment to the back of his mind and instead closed his eyes, enjoying the morning breeze and the sound of the leaves on the maple tree dancing in the wind. When Nagisa burst through the front door some minutes later with toast in his mouth and waved excitedly at Rei, he decided that it was time to shut the window again.

Surprisingly, he found himself giving the blonde a small wave of his own before closing the shutters.
…

[Hazuki.] That was the name on the nameplate of the mailbox that was visible from Rei's window. As soon as he noticed it when he looked out the window one afternoon, Rei ran downstairs to the kitchen where his mother was making lunch.

"Mother, did the Hazukis move in next door?" he asked, his words coming out in a rush. Rei's mother paused in slicing the carrots and turned to Rei, her eyes lighting up as if she had suddenly remembered something.

"That's right, I forgot to mention it to you yesterday, dear!" she exclaimed. Wiping her hands on the apron, she turned her head towards her son with a smile. "They moved in while you were still in bed with your fever. Mrs. Hazuki brought over a cake just the other day, when you and your father went to the hospital for your checkup. They seem to be a nice family—Mrs. Hazuki told me they have a son your age!" She gave Rei an encouraging look. "Maybe you could go and visit him later this afternoon—I heard he was starting school today, so he should be back around three or so—"

"I'm finished with my math problems, Mother," Rei said abruptly, not liking where the conversation was going. He tried to make his smile seem casual. "I was hoping you could look them over for me." His mother looked startled for a moment, but then smiled at him. Rei could almost hear the thoughts that she kept unsaid, and he didn't like it.

"Of course, dear. I'll look it over after I finish with the carrots," she said simply.

After lunch, when Rei opened the refrigerator to get water and saw the strawberry shortcake in its plastic case, he suddenly stopped feeling thirsty. Closing the refrigerator door, he thanked his mother for the meal and went upstairs to brush his teeth.

…

Before, when Rei had wondered about the Hazukis, he had never guessed that a short blonde kid with crooked teeth and wide burgundy eyes would be part of the mysterious family. For some reason, he had imagined them to be a family of adults that probably lived somewhere in the mountains in a traditional Japanese house, and that they would always just rent out their yellow house in the suburbs that they had never really needed to use. Now that the real family had actually moved in next door and their ten-year-old son was making his presence very noticeable, Rei could safely say that all of his previous fantasies had crumbled to dust.

Apparently, Hazuki Nagisa was not one to give up easily. Whenever Rei opened his window for a breather from one of his lessons or to just stare at the maple tree and daydream, he found Nagisa at the window across from his about half of the time. And whenever these occurrences happened, Nagisa would lean dangerously far out the window with a bright smile on his face and would start chatting, whether Rei wanted to talk or not (the bespectacled boy tried to convince himself that the latter was often the case). The little blonde often alternated between pleading Rei to come over and talking about what he had done that day. The former of their conversations (if one could call them that, since Rei didn't say much back) always went something like this:

"Come over, Rei-chan!" "No." "I have candy!" "No." "Oh, right, you said you don't like sweets! My mom can make us some hamburgers!" "No." "We can play the new video game that I got with my allowance last week!" "No." "Or we can play with my mini cars! My cousin Natsume gave me some of his because he says he's a junior-high student now and he doesn't need them anymore—" "No." "Let's watch a movie then! I can sneak one of my sister's horror movies out of her room when she's not there—""No." "Rei~~chan~~!" "I said, no!"

At their simplest, they just went like this:

"Play with me, Rei-chan!" "No." "Play with me!" "No." "Play with me!" "No." "Play with me, pretty please?" "No." "Play with m—" "NO!"

The latter of their conversations consisted of Nagisa talking almost nonstop about what he'd done with his friends that day at school or how his three older sisters were 'evil hags' or the latest video game that the blonde had played or the latest horror movie that he'd seen at the cinema that weekend (Rei often wondered what could compel Nagisa's eldest sister, who he heard was in college, to take her baby-faced grade-school brother to see R-rated movies overflowing with blood and guts). Although he didn't say much in response, Rei found himself listening to every word that Nagisa said, and more often than not he even found that he enjoyed hearing the blonde's cheery voice.

It was a mystery to Rei why Nagisa was so set on befriending him of all people. He had no idea what he had done to encourage any of the blonde's actions towards him of late—besides waving at him from his room that one time. Even then, it had only been a small wave—but it seemed that was all the encouragement the blonde had needed to pop up from the window of his room pretty much every day and greet Rei like they were best friends. Rei knew his own personality well—since he was little, he had always been the type of kid who quietly stayed out of sight in the corner with his nose in a book, the type of kid who wasn't good at human interaction and who other kids didn't try to approach. So he had to wonder what fun Nagisa could be having from constantly chatting him up like this—each time, he had hardly given any conversational responses in return.

What surprised Rei even more was how he himself kept opening his bedroom window, even though he knew Nagisa would be out there at certain hours in the afternoon. He told himself that it was to see the maple tree, and that was partly true—but whenever the window next to the tree was empty, a part of him felt strangely hollow. And whenever Nagisa was there at his window, chattering on and on—Rei didn't know why, but the scenery out the window just seemed more complete. The maple tree's leaves gently swaying in the breeze, the bright yellow house that was tinted green by the leaves' shadow, and a small blonde-haired boy leaning over the windowsill, his burgundy eyes shining as he talked—that was now the scene that Rei secretly looked forward to seeing when he opened the shutters.

A month after they had initially met, Rei started opening the window early in the afternoon and dragging his chair so it was next to the windowsill. Sitting down, he told himself it was just because he wanted to read while feeling the fresh breeze outside, but in the back of his mind he was looking forward to a certain blonde head springing up from the window after school hours ended.

On one of those spring days, something rare happened. Nagisa stopped talking and rested his chin on his arms, which were folded against the windowsill. In a rare moment of silence, he studied Rei with those big burgundy eyes of his as Rei sat at the window, reading his book on beginner's physics. Feeling slightly uncomfortable under the blonde's stare, Rei looked up with a slight frown that was meant to mask his embarrassment.

"What?" he asked stiffly. Nagisa cocked his head to one side thoughtfully.

"You really like reading, don't you, Rei-chan?" he remarked. Rei's cheeks colored slightly in shame.

"I-is there something wrong with that?" he snapped defensively. Maybe he shouldn't have sat at the window with a book in his hand all the time. He waited for Nagisa's teasing voice to say that it was lame, but the remark never came. When he looked up, Nagisa was smiling, but there was no teasing or mocking in it.

"It's just that you've always listened to me talk about what I like, but you never really talk about what you like to do." Nagisa frowned slightly as he processed his thoughts. "Actually, you don't talk about yourself much at all—"

"That—" Rei stopped, clearing his suddenly dry throat. "That's because you talk more than enough for the both of us," he said matter-of-factly, readjusting his glasses with one hand. In reality, he just hadn't wanted to because—well, partly because he had felt too shy and partly because he had previously seen what other kids thought of his hobbies. He mentally shook his head to keep away the unwanted memories that threatened to swarm him.

"Really?" The blonde's face fell for a moment—and almost immediately Rei regretted his choice of words. "I'm sorry, Rei-chan—was I talking too much? My mom always told me not to 'chat my friends' ears off'—but I guess I was doing it again." Not liking the look in Nagisa's eyes, Rei quickly opened his mouth.

"You weren't—" he began, blurting the words out. Recomposing himself, Rei readjusted his gasses before looking slightly to the side, his cheeks tingeing pink. "I mean, you do talk a lot, but—I don't necessarily hate it—" At these mumbled words, the blonde's face promptly lit up again, which caused Rei's stomach to flutter slightly for some reason.

"Really? You don't mind? I'm so glad!" he chirped happily. "I mean, Rei-chan always listens to everything I say, so I guess it made me want to talk a lot!" The tips of Rei's ears turned pink at this confession, and he only gave a small grunt in response before turning back to his book. But he still listened as Nagisa continued to speak.

"So what books d'you read, Rei-chan?" The question startled Rei—he had expected Nagisa to revert back to talking about himself, not to ask something else about him. Oblivious to Rei's reaction, the blonde kept talking, his eyes shining with curiosity. "Sometimes when I'm coming back home from school, I see you with this really concentrated look on your face while you're flipping through a book, and I always wondered what was so interesting!"

"I—" Rei could feel the second wave of nervousness wash through him—afraid that Nagisa would find him weird or boring, he considered lying about the subjects of his books. But Nagisa hadn't scorned him for being a bookworm—and Rei had a feeling it would be hard to lie with those wide burgundy eyes staring at him. Clearing his throat, he replied with a hesitant voice.

"I read about—about math and science, mostly. And physics…sometimes pole vaulting…" His voice trailed off as he watched nervously for Nagisa's reaction. Contrary to his fears, the blonde didn't seem bored or weirded out.

"Heh~really? You must be good at math and science, then, if you're reading those books so much!" Nagisa chirped, with a genuinely interested voice. He wrinkled his button nose slightly. "I'm not so good at math, so I'm jealous—but I really like history though! I have a few history comic books in my room if you wanna see—" His eyes lit up when he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I have a few books about bugs, too! Maybe you'll like them, since you said you like science!" Before Rei could respond, Nagisa was gone from the window. Soon he popped back up, a picture encyclopedia of bugs in his hands. Leaning out the windowsill, he flipped through the pages of the encyclopedia, and each time he found something he thought worth sharing, he flashed the pages at Rei. "My favorite bugs are—" As he rattled on while showing Rei photos of some grotesque-looking bugs, Rei's face began to pale. Nagisa was through his tenth 'favorite' bug when an outburst came from the blue-haired boy.

"That's not beautiful at all!"

"And my next favorite's the dung beetle—huh?" For once, it was Nagisa's turn to be startled. Rei had bolted up from his chair, pushing up his glasses in a dramatic fashion as he did.

"Out of all the bugs that exist, why would you choose those bugs as your favorite? That makes no logical sense whatsoever! I mean, the dung beetle spends most of its life rolling excrement, for God's sake!"

"Eh—Rei-chan?" Surprised that the usually quiet boy was being so wordy, Nagisa watched and listened in fascination as Rei continued to spout long, difficult-sounding words and countless facts to support his argument, addressing each and every bug that Nagisa had called his favorite. When he was finished, Rei concluded with the statement that "Logically speaking there is no way those insects fit any definition of beauty whatsoever!" After finishing his last sentence, the blue-haired boy panted, leaning down slightly to catch his breath, his face red from talking nonstop for ten minutes.

"Rei-chan…" Nagisa said with an awed voice. "That is…" The breath hitched in Rei's throat—realizing that he had just fallen into a ten-minute rant about biology and theories and beauty in front of the blonde, he suddenly felt an urge to crawl into a hole and die. "…the longest time I've listened to you talking!" Nagisa finished, a broad smile on his face. "Even though I had no idea what you were saying half of the time—that was amazing!" At this unforeseen reaction, Rei could only gape silently at the blonde like a fish out of water.

"Well, it's true, I don't think that all those bugs are pretty either, but I still think they're cool!" Nagisa went on. "I do have a bug I really like that's totally beautiful, though—it's my most favorite bug too!" Flipping towards the end of the encyclopedia, he stopped when he found the page. "There it is!" He turned the book towards Rei.

"I always love seeing butterflies, but this one's my absolute favorite!" he chirped. Rei peered at the page—the butterfly in the photo was mostly a bluish purple, dotted with white spots and the edges of its wings black. The heading on the page read 'The Purple Emperor'. "Apparently, these butterflies can only be found in Europe, so I've never actually seen one—but if I ever go to Europe I hope I can!" He pointed to one picture where a ray of sunlight was hitting the butterfly, making part of its wings shine an iridescent purple. "It says here that when the sun hits them their wings glow purple like this!" The blonde looked up, his eyes directly meeting Rei's. "It's almost as beautiful as the color your eyes, Rei-chan!" At the last remark, Rei sputtered in surprise, feeling the heat return to his cheeks.

"I—my eyes—" All of a sudden, he felt his heart rate speed up, and it felt like butterflies had popped up in his stomach and were fluttering around. He couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from Nagisa's burgundy ones, which were shining with sincerity as he grinned at Rei.

It was a good thing an actual butterfly flew through the air between them, breaking the awkward moment (that is, awkward for Rei). Nagisa's eyes flickered in recognition before widening in delight.

"Oh, look! A butterfly!" he said eagerly, dropping his book on the floor of his room. He leaned further out the windowsill, causing Rei to worry that he was going to fall over it. As if it had known about Rei's concern, the butterfly flew towards Nagisa before he could lean out further, its white wings fluttering gracefully in the wind. Laughing and clapping his hands in delight, Nagisa watched the butterfly flying closer—

And blinked in surprise when the butterfly landed on his mouth.

For a moment, Rei was surprised as well. Then, an unexpected thing happened.

A burst of laughter rang through the air. And it wasn't Nagisa's. It was Rei's—and soon, he was laughing louder, one hand on the windowsill and the other on his stomach. He didn't know what had gotten into him, but the sight of the little blonde boy silent with surprise for once, and with a butterfly over his mouth, just seemed funny all of a sudden. He was so amused that he didn't notice said blonde's burgundy eyes widening as they watched him laugh.

When he had finally calmed down, Rei found Nagisa standing very still, the butterfly still on his mouth.

The high-pitched exclamation that came next practically blew the butterfly away. It flew out the window and away from Nagisa as the boy nearly thrust himself out the window, leaning over the sill precariously.

"Rei-chan laughed!" The blonde's eyes shone like rubies as he beamed at Rei. "I can't believe it! You finally laughed!" Taken aback, Rei stared at Nagisa, searching for some words to say.

"I—You—" he stuttered. "You're going to fall out your window like that, Nagisa-kun!"

"Ehh—?" Nagisa's smile grew even wider. "You just said my name, Rei-chan! That's the first time you ever did!" Realizing what he had done, Rei reflexively clapped a hand over his mouth. His face and ears started turning red again as he abruptly shifted his glasses up his nose for the third time that day.

"I—Well I—What's wrong with a person calling his friend by their name?!" he blurted. That only made Nagisa's face glow even more.

"You think we're friends now?! REI-CHAN!" Rei groaned mentally—his face felt like it was on a furnace and it seemed that every time he opened his mouth, he was just digging his hole deeper. From the look on Nagisa's face, he knew that he was probably never going to get rid of the blonde now.

Strangely enough, though, the thought of it didn't bother him at all. Seeing Nagisa titter excitedly about 'Rei-chan this' and 'Rei-chan that', Rei felt a warm feeling grow in his chest. Even though he didn't know it, his mouth had fallen into a soft smile as he watched the boy next door with fond violet eyes.
…

When Rei's mother mentioned the incident at dinnertime, Rei had the sudden urge to actively avoid her eyes. So he did, his own eyes focusing on the food he was pushing around his plate as his mother's cheerful voice illustrated what she had heard earlier that day to his father.

"It's been a while since I heard our Rei laugh like that," she was saying, a pleased smile on her face. "I was wondering what was going on—and I heard another voice coming from outside the house, a boy's voice—" She turned to Rei, eyes sparkling. "You never told me you became friends with the Hazukis' son, dear!"

"We're—we're not really friends," Rei mumbled, poking at the tomato in his salad with his chopsticks. "He just shows up now and then and talks a lot—"

"Well, that sure is good to hear, son," Rei's father said, smiling approvingly at him. "You should invite the boy over sometime—your mother could whip up a batch of her special pancakes for him when he does."

"That sounds wonderful. In fact, why don't we invite the whole family over for brunch next weeke—" Suddenly, Rei's mother was interrupted by the sound of the kitchen door banging shut. A moment later, a teenage boy with dark blue hair in a black gakuran uniform slunk into the dining room.

"Ryou!" "Ryouji." Ignoring his parents' reaction, the teen's violet eyes flickered across the table, taking in the contents of today's dinner. After a few seconds, he gave a tsk.

"M'not hungry." Ryouji's eyes brushed past Rei with a bored glance before the teen turned and headed out of the dining room, passing Rei's side of the table.

"Wait, Ryou! At least have some bread—" Rei's mother called out. There was no response from Ryouji, only the sound of footsteps heading upstairs and, later, that of a door slamming shut.

From the moment he had heard the kitchen door slamming, Rei had frozen up, his shoulders tense and his eyes fixed down on his lap. Only when his older brother had walked out had his body relaxed, although the nauseous feelings that had risen in his stomach still remained. It had almost been a whole week since Rei had seen him—he usually came home later, after Rei already finished his dinner and was studying upstairs. Suddenly, Rei didn't feel so hungry any more. Shoving the rest of his food into his mouth as fast as he could, he excused himself under the worried gaze of his mother and stood up from the table.

That night, the faint sound of rock music could be heard from the bedroom across the hall. Rei tossed and turned in his bed, trying to fall asleep but having trouble with it. It was only when the music turned off late at night that he was able to do so.

In his dreams, he was fighting to climb out of a pit he had fallen into. At one point, he looked up—and saw a pair of apathetic violet eyes stare down at him from above.

When Nagisa asked him what was wrong the next day, Rei quickly changed the subject.

…

One night two weeks later, when the weather was slowly getting warmer due to the approaching summer season, Rei was lying down on his bed and waiting to fall asleep. His bedroom window was open, and the night breeze that crept in past the open shutters pleasantly ruffled his blue hair. Before he could fall asleep, however, he heard a familiar voice chirp softly from outside the window.

"Rei-chan?" Rei blinked when he heard Nagisa's voice calling him. "Are you awake?" Wondering why the blonde wasn't in bed at this hour, Rei lifted himself off the mattress. After putting on his glasses, he crept across his room to the window. When Nagisa saw the brunette boy's face appear, a smile came onto his face. "I thought you might be asleep already—it's a good thing you weren't!" Rei saw an emotion flicker in Nagisa's eyes, something that he hadn't seen in them very often: nervousness.

"Is something the matter, Nagisa-kun?" he asked, his tone a little worried. Nagisa looked a bit surprised before he let out a small giggle.

"As usual, Rei-chan is sharp!" The blonde leaned his arms on the windowsill. "Actually, I couldn't sleep—because something new is happening tomorrow."

"Something new?" Rei lifted an eyebrow curiously. Nagisa nodded.

"It was actually my dad who suggested it." Though maintaining his smile, his gaze fell to his hands, his thumbs twiddling.

"Y'know, I actually…get teased by the older boys a lot at school." As he said this, he let out a half-hearted laugh. "They started to pick on me recently because I'm small and I have a girly name. So, well, I'm sort of a crybaby." Rei blinked, hearing this new piece of information. The blonde had never mentioned that he was having such trouble at school—and as he processed this in his head he felt a ball of rage curling up in his stomach. Fist clenching by his side, he wished he could find those boys and—

And what could you do about it? A voice said in his head. Rei's eyes jolted open.

That was right—there was a reason he was in his current situation. His fist unclenched weakly, and for a moment self-deprecating thoughts flashed across his head. But Nagisa wasn't done talking, and as the blonde opened his mouth, Rei snapped himself out of it and refocused his attention on the blonde.

"So, you see, my dad said that I should take up a sport to toughen myself up. He and my mom talked about it, and my mom registered me at the swimming club on the other side of the neighborhood. It's going to be my first day there tomorrow, so—" Nagisa scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"Actually—I'm a little nervous about it. And I'm having trouble falling asleep—so I thought maybe I could talk to Rei-chan about it and I'll feel better." His burgundy eyes looked to Rei, waiting for the boy to respond.

Truthfully, Rei was at a loss as to what he should say. He had never been good at comforting others—nor did he have much experience in it. A twinge of guilt welled up in Rei as he realized he hadn't even noticed anything off about the blonde until now. All those times he had showed up at the window to chat, Nagisa had seemed perfectly cheerful, his face lit up in a smile as he talked to Rei about this and that. To think he hadn't noticed that the blonde was carrying any worries on his shoulders…

"Do you…" Rei snapped out of his thoughts at hearing Nagisa's voice. The blonde boy faltered as he said the next words. "Does Rei-chan…think I'm lame now?" He fumbled with the edge of his shirt, his voice growing uncharacteristically small. "I mean, now that you know I'm a crybaby—and on top of that I'm small and I have a girly voice—they even said I laugh like a girl, too—" Not liking what he was hearing at all, Rei slammed his hands on the windowsill as he shouted,

"You're not lame at all!" At this sudden outburst, Nagisa jumped slightly in surprise, his eyes widening. Realizing that he was being too loud for this time of the night, Rei quickly lowered his voice. "They're just being stupid, those boys at your school. I bet they don't even know you that well—that's why they're teasing you just based off how you look. I know better than them—I don't think like they do. I mean, you're always bold and friendly—you have a ton of friends in this neighborhood alone, and I've seen how the kids crowd around you all the time! You also know how to be funny and you tell really good stories—it's never boring, listening to you talk…"

"R-really?" Rei was interrupted by Nagisa's hopeful voice. "You really think that, Rei-chan?" A bit embarrassed by the flow of events, Rei nodded, a faint flush in his cheeks.

"Be, besides that, you—you're even brave enough to chat up someone you don't know the first time you meet them," he said. "I—I know I wasn't always very friendly to you. I even slammed the window shut the first time we met—honestly, I thought you'd have given up on talking to me much earlier. But you never did...all the way until now…" His own voice grew a bit smaller, but nevertheless it stayed firm. "If I had been in your shoes, Nagisa-kun, I don't think I could have done the same."

"That's why I know you'll be fine—you'll make tons of friends at that swim club in no time. If it's you, you can do it for sure." Not sure how to wrap himself up, Rei looked down at his hands while twiddling his own thumbs. "So…you know..." A soft but sweet giggle came from the window across from Rei. His head jerking back up and his face red, Rei glared at Nagisa, who was laughing.

"Wh-what?!" he snapped. Letting out a last giggle, Nagisa shook his head and smiled sweetly at Rei.

"You're the best, Rei-chan. Thank you!" Just those two phrases from the blonde were enough to set Rei's stomach butterflies off again—and Rei felt stupid for feeling the urge to grin stupidly all of a sudden. "I think I'll be able to fall asleep now—" The words had barely fallen from Nagisa's lips when they were followed by a huge yawn. Rubbing his eyes, Nagisa grinned sleepily at Rei. "G'nite, Rei-chan!"

"…Good night," Rei replied, readjusting his glasses. Nagisa gave him a wave before turning to return to his bed, yawning again. Rei followed suit as well, taking off his glasses and putting them on the drawer beside his bed before crawling back under the covers.

Only then did he allow the stupid grin to spread across his face.

…

It turned out that Nagisa did, in fact, successfully make friends at the swim club. In the later hours of the afternoon, when he returned home from the club around an hour before dinnertime, Nagisa would show up at his bedroom window and tell Rei about his swim lessons that day. That was how Rei learned about the two swim club friends that Nagisa seemed closest to—one 'Haru-chan' and one 'Mako-chan', and later, one 'Rin-chan'. He heard about everything, from the first day at the club when 'Haru-chan' had lent Nagisa his swimsuit and swam beautifully in the girl's swimsuit Nagisa's sister had placed in his bag as a joke, to the next day that the blonde had met 'Mako-chan' who was nice and had taught him how to swim the backstroke, to many more days following when all three of them had met 'Rin-chan' and eventually formed a team to compete in the relay at the regional swim competition for elementary school students. Although Rei missed seeing Nagisa earlier in the day and hearing the blonde talk about these friends so much made him feel more than a few twinges of jealousy, he was glad that his friend was doing fine and wasn't being picked on. Plus, it was obvious that he was having a lot of fun swimming. So Rei never told Nagisa about his opinion of the sport—ever since he saw some swimmers on TV when he was passing through the living room, gasping almost desperately for breath as they struggled down their lanes, he had always thought that humans were born to walk on land and that the sport did not look very beautiful at all—because he was afraid he would somehow spoil that fun for the blonde.

Also, it seemed that the prediction Nagisa's father made had come true, even though the way it came true might not have been to his liking. One afternoon, Rei heard Nagisa's window opening at the usual time, and turned to find the blonde peppered with band-aids and bruises, his hair and clothes looking like they'd been in a sandstorm. Despite it all, however, the blonde had a triumphant grin on his face—was that a new gap he saw between Nagisa's teeth? Thrusting his hand out in a V-sign towards a gaping Rei, the smaller boy said, "I beat those stupid sixth-graders up!" After debating whether to lecture Nagisa about recklessly getting into a fight or congratulate him for standing up to the bullies, Rei decided to first do the latter. Then he did the former, giving Nagisa a long-winded lecture on refraining from getting into fights—until he saw the silly pout on the blonde's face, which made him collapse into laughter in the middle of it. Of course, Nagisa eventually followed suit, and the two boys were each rolling on the floor of their bedrooms with laughter until they ran out of breath.

By the week of the regional swim competition, the season had made a complete transition into summer and the heat was slowly getting unbearable. Now, Rei slept with the window open every night, although he always made sure to lock the mosquito net down to guard against potential burglars. The night before the competition, Rei had just slipped under the covers when he heard a soft sob from outside the window. Immediately, he put his glasses on and jumped out of bed, reaching the window in two strides. He unlocked the mosquito screen and pushed it open.

Tears were rolling down Nagisa's cheeks as he cried at his window. Alarmed, Rei asked, "Nagisa-kun? What's wrong?!"

"R-Rin-chan—sob—he said—sob—he was moving to—sob—Awstralya—" the blonde choked out. "After the tourna—sob—ment ends, he'll—sob—leave—" Patiently, Rei listened to his friend talk between sobs, and after a while he pieced together what Nagisa was trying to say. Apparently, 'Rin-chan' had been planning to leave the country to study swimming in Australia, and although he was leaving the day after the swim competition, he had informed Nagisa about it today. Feeling a bit mad at this 'Rin-chan' for his bad timing, Rei tried to comfort Nagisa the best he could. After a considerable number of minutes, when Nagisa's sobs had subsided down to sniffling, the blonde opened his mouth.

"Everyone is going to leave me behind—when the swim club closes in the fall, I won't be able to see Haru-chan or Mako-chan anymore—and I won't ever be able to see Rin-chan again—" He wiped his eyes. "And when Haru-chan and Mako-chan graduate and go to junior high, they'll have their school swim club to join—and I'll be at the old swim club all by myself—and I'm scared of being alone, Rei-chan." His voice trembled. "They'll always be a year ahead of me in everything, growing up faster than me—soon, they'll just forget about me completely. Even though I don't want that at all!" The blonde buried his face in his arms.

"They won't forget you," Rei said soothingly. Although he didn't personally know Nagisa's friends, that didn't matter to him at the moment—whatever he could do to stop those tears, he would do. "How can anyone forget you, with that loud personality of yours? I'm sure that you'll be able to see them again, even Rin-chan-san—even if it takes a long time. Every time they grow older, you'll be growing up too—there's only a year and a half left before you'll be off to junior high yourself. And even if they're not at the swim club, you'll still make new friends. I was right the first time I told you you'd be able to do it, so I'm sure I'll be right again this time, too."

"Rei-chan…" Nagisa looked up from his arms , and Rei was relieved to see that the blonde had stopped shedding tears.

"And even if I'm wrong—at the very least, you won't be alone." The blue-haired boy blushed as he said the next words. "After all…I'll still be here. And you know where to find me if—if you need someone to talk to." Fighting the urge to leap under the covers of his bed, the brunette shoved his glasses up in an attempt to hide his red face. Luckily for him, it was night, so it wasn't that obvious.

When he lowered his hand, he saw that the corners of Nagisa's mouth had curved up into a teary smile.

"Did I ever tell you you're the best, Rei-chan?" Great—now the stomach butterflies were back again, invading for the umpteenth time. Pretending to remain composed, Rei crossed his arms in exaggerated confidence, chin tilted up slightly.

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" Knowing Rei was trying to cheer him up, Nagisa giggled in response.

"I'll always be there for you, too, Rei-chan." The blonde beamed at Rei. "You're an awesome friend." At this compliment, Rei's ears turned pink. Coughing slightly, he cleared his throat.

"You, uh, you should go and get some sleep now—after washing your face, that is." Not meeting the blonde's eyes, Rei added, "Good luck with the competition, by the way." The blonde nodded firmly, his smile growing wider.

"Yep! I'll do my best, Rei-chan!" After a quick fist pump, the blonde was gone from the window.

That night, Rei dreamed that Nagisa's team won the competition. The next day, the dream became a reality at sunset when Nagisa dashed into his room, triumphantly flashing the medal on his neck behind the window for Rei to see. Although the rims of his friend's eyes were a little red—presumably from telling 'Rin-chan' goodbye—Rei only smiled and congratulated the boy.

They each sat at the windowsill and chatted until Rei's mother called him downstairs for dinner. Feeling as if he himself had been the one to win the medal, the brunette could not stop smiling even as he sat at the table, chewing on his beef roast.

...

Note: This story is really long, much longer than I originally planned for it to be. I may or may not have been inspired by Frozen and this really great Reigisa fic called "Floresco" in which Rei and Nagisa are neighbors. I didn't think there were many Reigisa fics where Rei and Nagisa meet when they are little, so I wanted to try my hand at writing one :)I realize that in the anime Rei lives in an apartment, but I put his family in a house for the purposes of this story.

And err, I want to mention that when I was writing about the tree in this story, I was thinking more about the American maple tree, which is a lot taller and has a thicker trunk and sturdier branches than the average Japanese maple tree. When I realized my mistake, the story was already half written, so...I hope you forgive me for forgetting that major detail (^^;;).