He had always seemed like a troubled kid.

On the first day I saw him, the day he appeared out of the blue and asked my newfound friend out on a date, he appeared to be just a regular guy.

However, every day since then, I would see him there. Just outside the school, in that exact same spot. He wouldn't make another attempt to talk to anyone, and no one would talk to him. He would just...be there. With each passing day, he intrigued me more and more.

One day, however, I was heading home with Yukiko, that same friend. As we approached the gates, he appeared from around the corner.

"Hey, Yuki..."He said, in the same manner that he had before.

"Huh?" Yukiko replied, seemingly surprised.

"Y-You wanna hang out somewhere?" He asked, just as he had the first time. However, this time, I noticed a hint of desperation in his voice.

"I can't..." Yukiko's response was the same as well. Upon hearing it, all traces of hope vanished from the boy's face.

"Fine..." he said quietly, in stark contrast to the angry tone he had used last time. Sighing, he turned around and walked slowly away. I stood rooted to my spot and watched him as he left. Suddenly, something in my mind went off. Without realizing what I was doing, I turned to Yukiko, excused myself, and before I knew it, I was following him.

He was already quite far away, so I began to run after him. As I did so, I kept asking myself why I was doing this. I barely knew this guy, so why was I chasing him? I couldn't come up with a suitable answer, but somehow I felt compelled to do this. Finally catching up to him, I reached out and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He whirled around, suddenly overjoyed.

"Changed your mind, Yuki? I knew you'd come around-" However, he stopped when he saw that it was not Yuki. With that realization, he quickly became angry. "What the hell do you want?" he asked, glaring at me.

"Why don't you hang out with me instead?" I said, making sure I sounded cheerful. All I recieved in response was a skeptical stare. Still determined, I smiled and offered him my hand. He simply stared at it with that same expression. After a while, though, he slowly reached out and took it.

I led him to a bench on the side of the road. Sitting down, I let go of his hand as he sat next to me.

I tried to think of a way to get a conversation started. "So...How's it going?" I asked, not being able to come up with anything else. He stared at the ground, saying nothing.

Not willing to give up, I tried my best to make small talk. I would bring up intresting points about the things that were going on around us. Other than the occasional amused or annoyed grunt, he did not respond.

After a while, I couldn't come up with anything else to say to him, so we ended up sitting there for quite a long time, completely silent. Every so often, he would glance at me, only to quickly look away when he saw that I had noticed. Other than that, I got no reaction out of him.

Feeling defeated, I finally rose from the bench and prepared to leave. Before I did, I decided to make one last attempt.

"Well, it was nice hanging out with you," I said, extending my hand for a handshake. "I'm Seta Souji." He didn't shake my hand. I didn't expect him to. I had offered it more out of courtesy than anything. "You know, I'm always around. You can come talk to me any time."

At this, he looked up at me with what appeared to be a look of surprise, then returned to his earlier indifferent disposition. "Sure, whatever..." he replied flatly. However, the annoyance in his voice seemed to have vanished. That was progress, although it wasn't much. Satisfied, I turned and headed for home. I would have to call Yukiko later and apologize for abandoning her.

"Hey..."

I turned around. He was looking at me again.

"What do you want from me, anyway?"

I smiled. "You looked like you could use a friend."

He gave me that same skeptical look.

It was late by this time, and I didn't want to have Dojima worrying about me. "Well, I'll see you around, uh..."

"Mitsuo."

I was surprised at his quick response. "Right. See you around, Mitsuo." I waved, then turned and once again started toward home.