A Big Deal

Souhei Sasahara isn't sure how he feels about the fact that she is here.

He hadn't been expecting anyone to appear, especially when it hasn't been a month since they moved to their respective dorms. They have all been so busy with tidying things up and trying to meet new people that the idea of visiting his old friends hadn't really crossed his mind.

Sure, Haru called him a week before, completely out of the blue, to tell him about this baseball team he saw on one of his travels and how there was this shorter player and how, for a second, he could swear he was seeing one of Sasayan's games again.

Even though he didn't love being reminded about his stature, hearing from Haru and his joyful adventures was always a good thing.

Then, there had been that strange message from Mizutani.

Sasayan opened his phone and, once again, accessed the text from his not-all-that-friendly friend.

The girl had been emailing him updates on how she was adapting to the university, saying that he, as the social one, should be in charge of letting everybody else know how she was doing, because talking to Asako or Chizuru would be too much of a bother. In those, she would describe the people she was interacting with, as well as her classes, while trying to emphasize that Asako wasn't to come visit until she was better established.

Her message, however, had been short and almost incomprehensible. It was only ten minutes into analyzing it that the truth finally made itself known. Or, rather, it rang his intercom.

A call or a visit. I would think it to be the latter.

She was trying to warn him, of course. The boy really should have thought of that possibility earlier, but it hadn't crossed his mind that something like this could happen. He'd thought that everyone was still too busy to talk, too busy to take buses or bicycles or planes so they could meet.

The load of work they'd been given obviously hadn't stopped Asako from talking to Mizutani, just as it hadn't stopped her from finding her way to his apartment complex.

How could she even know where he was living?

Sasayan still didn't understand why Mizutani would send him a message about it. Maybe it was out of sympathy, since she knew they were the ones Asako liked to harass the most. Her practicality didn't surprise him, though. The words were clear and to the point, and if the boy hadn't been pulling an all-nighter because of this economy essay he'd just finished writing, he probably would have realized what she meant.

Asako Natsume, it seemed, was really good at catching him in his worst possible moments.

The doorbell rings, pulling him out of his thoughts, but it takes Sasayan about three seconds to pull himself together, because he is about to fall asleep while standing up. He entertains the thought of leaving the girl standing on the corridor as punishment for not telling him she would be visiting, but ends up opening the door anyway.

"Asako." He drawls out, yawning and rubbing his eyes and trying really hard not to lean against the door frame, because he would surely be a goner if he did so.

In front of him, the girl shifts between happiness and panic, as if she isn't sure what she is doing there, which he thinks might as well be true. She has always been too impulsive for her own good.

"I –" She starts, then hesitates, and starts again. "I missed you!"

Her exclamation shouldn't make him as happy as it does, so he steps back to give her space to come in, covering his face in the shadows of his curtains so she won't notice his flushed cheeks.

"You really shouldn't say such things." He replies cheekily, sitting down on the bed and looking out the window. "A guy might get the wrong idea."

From the corner of his eyes, he sees as Asako blushes and puffs her face, torn between being embarrassed or ashamed of how much like her that sounds. It is the second time in less than a minute that she looks so doubtful, and Sasayan wonders if this is a much bigger deal to her than he feels it should be.

But everything is a big deal to her, so he just reaches for his cup of coffee and drains what is left of the drink.

"You wouldn't." She says, suddenly, making the boy grimace in confusion before realizing that she is responding to his last remark. "You wouldn't get the wrong idea. Because you are not like the other guys."

Her face is still adorably pink, and she looks even more beautiful than he remembers her being.

Sasayan hopes it's an effect of the morning sun, for he doesn't think he can handle being even more in love with her.

He wants to kiss her, just to see what she would do, if she would be irritated or just flabbergasted. Instead, he goes to the small kitchen-like space that he has somehow squeezed into the compact space of his apartment and asks if she wants some tea.

She stutters out a yes, before reaching for his computer and going through his things.

"Is this why you haven't been talking to me?" She finally asks, and the accusation is clear in her tone.

He sighs.

"Yes. School's been crazy." He pauses, deciding to make her feel a bit guilty. "I haven't slept yet and my classes start in three hours."

He can see the conflicting emotions in her face once more, but worry seems to win out and Asako ends up by his side.

"Go lie down, I'll make some more coffee." She pouts and looks to the side, escaping his surprised gaze. "You look horrible and we can talk when you get back. I don't have classes until tomorrow."

So that is why she is here, he thinks. At least she isn't skipping, as he had previously imagined. If he was feeling a little less tired, he might have taken the time to chastise her about school work, but he is really glad he didn't and even more glad that he won't have to.

"Stop looking at me like that." She shrieks, pulling at his sleeve and guiding him to the bed. "I will study, I promise. No need to send me those you-shouldn't-be-here glares."

Sasayan lets his head hit the pillows and yawns, covering his eyes with his arm.

"I'm not. I'm just tired. But you shouldn't be here." He lowers his arm to meet her eyes. "Why are you here?"

As an answer, he receives a pillow to his face, so he decides his time would be better spent sleeping than trying to force things out of this infuriating girl.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, he sees Asako take out some books from her bag and grab his laptop. He wonders if she will actually get something done or just update her blog, and makes a mental note to check it later for any new posts. She is so easily distracted that it amuses him.

In his pocket, his phone goes off again, but Sasayan is already asleep.

It's an email from Mizutani – but he won't know that until much later –, talking about how this last week has been and how Asako wouldn't stop calling her until a few hours earlier, when the girl was having a meltdown about how she hadn't heard from Sasayan in so long and how something might have happened. Mizutani asks if their friend really went to his apartment, because she had gotten his address from Haru.

She says she misses you.

It's a stupid little thing, this reason, not a big deal.

But everything is a big deal to Asako, and it so happens that the fact that she misses him… Well, that's a big deal to Souhei Sasahara.

I just wanted to do something to celebrate the beauty of their ending in TnK. It pained me, but I'm kind of glad that they didn't suddenly get together.