Oliver couldn't quite believe he managed to walk all the way back to the city center and didn't run right into another rainstorm. The gloomy weather has been following him along but remained stable. He sighed. Nonetheless, he knew he needed to find a place to stay for awhile.

In the spur of the moment, Oliver had been too upset to notice how much of a fight he has picked with Kazehiki. Despite the occasional unpleasant interrogations, his friend had remained a safety spot until a few hours ago. In any case, Kazehiki would have helped him out; Oliver wasn't so sure whether he'd be willing to do so after the incident.

Oliver didn't ponder for long where to go instead and marched over to the isolated part of the city. He left behind the dozens of buildings stung together and got greeted by patchy greenery. The suffocating feeling wore off in both an unsure and curios way to see how things must have changed in the neighborhood. It was just another poor neighborhood, but the peaceful nature of it was something the inner city could only ever dream of. 

He had roamed around the park frequently when he hadn't had a place to go. Even though Oliver hadn't interacted with any of the residents here, watching them go through their rough days with faint smiles had always given him a bit of hope.

Once he passed the park and got back to sparse apartment complexes, a familiar building perked up inbetween the grey scenery. Its bright orange color has barely worn off in his years of absence, and Oliver huffed and casted it a compliant smile.

He couldn't return home yet. Unsure of whether Fukase was still lying in his bed in pain or he had been taken away eventually left him restless—he wasn't ready for either possibility yet. Instead, Oliver hoped to buy a little more time for himself to process the situation thoroughly, and he couldn't think of a better place than the food pantry.

He pushed open the door only hesitantly. Despite having once been a regular guest, he felt like an intruder now. The volunteers storing away the baskets didn't notice him at first, and he sighed relieved internally. They were about to close the building, but at least then he had another thirty minutes to spend in there with barely anyone talking to him. He sat down on the wooden bench in front of the large window and leaned his head against the cold surface. All the walking and agitation has worn him out.

He wanted to go as far to close his eyes for a moment, only to have several pictures beam in front of his sight. Oliver opened them again and groaned to himself. There was no way he would get any proper rest here. His heart was still racing with mixed emotions.

Oliver looked around in the familiar building. Everything was still the same from a few years ago, as if nothing has ever changed. However, he has clearly changed. His life has moved on from the past and now he was sitting here, feeling like a stranger to what was once considered his home. 

Memories of him flashed back up. Even though the blond had felt miserable to have to turn to a place like this, he had enjoyed the sparse company he had gained from it either. Not that he had talked to the other people coming here, but he remembered clearly this one person that has not once left a bitter aftertaste in his memories. He wondered what has happened to her in the meantime.

"Am I seeing things or is that actually you?" A voice echoed through the room. Oliver's head turned up to where the sound came from and his eyes widened in surprise. First, a familiar head perked out of the other room, but then the body hurried to the blond as well. He couldn't quite react to seeing his old friend standing in front of him after they had neither talked nor seen each other for years.

"It's really you." The woman didn't hesitate to pull Oliver in a tight embrace. Albeit hesitantly, the blond retorted the gesture. "It's so nice to see you again."

"Lumi," Oliver breathed out quite perplexed, "You're still working here?"

"More like helping out every now and then but yeah," She retorted and grinned, "Do you have a minute? I'd love to catch up again."

Oliver nodded and let himself get dragged to the room nextby. A small smile found its way to his face. The energetic attitude his friend has always worn had not disappeared one bit.

They sat down on a set of plastic chairs after she had offered him something to drink. Oliver didn't feel like taking in anything at the moment, but didn't want to cause inconvenience either. He watched her struggle with the yet unopened plastic bottle and smirked.

"What about your application though? No luck?" Oliver broke the silence and received a headshake in response. Lumi took a sip of her water.

"I got in but I'm only working part-time, which is why I can still help here."

Oliver tilted his head to the side and eyed his counterpart for a moment. Something has changed on her face.

"You like it just too much here, huh?" Oliver teased.

"Even if it's more for self-satisfaction, it's a nice feeling to help others," Lumi muttered, with her eyes fixated back on Oliver, "And who knows, maybe I'll continue to meet people like you here."

"I'm not sure whether that's a good thing."

Lumi laughed and shook her head. "You didn't change one bit."

Her eyes drifted back down to her bottle. Her index finger tilted it from one side to another. 

"Why not though? A little taller and more good-looking and then I'd finally have a partner for life."

Lumi put the finger on her lips and stared off into nothingness. A smirk grew on her face, and Oliver leaned forward to flick her back into reality. She flinched at the sudden pinch on her chin but then chimed in with her friend's teasing laughter.

"Sounds like you're still looking in the wrong place. You need to have money to be good-looking."

"Well, if that's not true."

She gave a histrionic sigh and leaned her face against the back of her hand. Back to tracing the edge of the bottle lid with her finger, Lumi hummed an unfamiliar melody. Oliver watched her for a while and joined in tilting the bottle in his hands.

Sitting with Lumi like this sent chills through his body. It was quite nostalgic, but also bizarre to see how much and how little life has changed both at the same time. She looked almost the same—her hair grew longer and there were a few more fine lines under her eyes—but the expression in her face has not faded one bit. 

Despite being the older one between the two, her juvenile aura along with her seemingly trivial bothers would not shift. While there was a bit of a sting in Oliver's chest, he couldn't deny that he liked this sort of feeling.

He jerked out of his thoughts as Lumi suddenly jumped up and leaned all over the table to the blond. He rose an eyebrow and got a wide grin in return.

"But enough talking about me. How are you doing? How's life? I haven't heard from you ever since you found a place to work at."

He recalled the time his friend had urged him countless of times to search for a job and just apply wherever possible. It had been a rough path and had taken horribly long, but in the end, he had managed to gather a minimal wage job. Oliver hadn't cared about neither the pay nor the work conditions as long as he had a job to begin with. A smile grew on his face when recalling how Lumi had bought for the two of them a cake as soon as she had found out.

"It's been tough, of course. I was working just whenever possible," Oliver sighed and rubbed his neck. The pain from his physically burdening job returned merely by the thought of it. He was quite surprised at this point how he had managed to work overtime whenever there was a possibility to. However, along with those pieces of memories, unpleasant ones dwelled up either. Oliver looked back up and gave Lumi an apologetic frown. "Still rude of me to never show up ever again, though."

Lumi waved it off and took another sip of water. Silence befell the two for a while.

"Are things better now?"

Oliver's eyes wavered around the table. He couldn't bring himself to lie right into his dearest friend's eyes, but he instead nodded weakly.

"Yeah...they are," He forced out reluctantly. He didn't purposely want it to sound like a lie, but he couldn't wring any more words out his throat. A lump grew he couldn't just gulp down.

Lumi watched Oliver keeping his eyes down, not giving her any signs he was going to change his mind anytime soon. She smiled weakly and reached out to take one of Oliver's hands in hers. He looked up bewildered but didn't pull away.

"You really didn't change one bit," Lumi said and smiled even brighter, while examining the cold hand, "But that might be a good thing."

Oliver frowned. Unsure of where the conversation was heading, he remained quiet for now. His friend's glistering eyes radiated enough determination for him to know she was going to take the lead now anyway.

"I've seen you in much darker places. Even so, you always managed to stay strong and bite your way through it. Your persistence is incredible."

Her words did get to Oliver's head. Despite being trapped in an unescapable spiral the past months up until now, he knew very well that he had once reached points in his life he would never want to go through ever again. It didn't give him much more hope nor motivation about his current issue, whatsoever.

"I don't know what is going on right now in your life, but you managed to get up and build up your life despite your past. Not many people get to do that."

Oliver leaned back and pulled away his hand. Lumi let go of him fairly easily, knowing that the blond was someone that cherished distance a lot more than the average person. Even so, she continued to keep his attention on her solely. Keeping unnerving eye contact was her forte, after all. 

Oliver hummed and wanted to look away for a moment but couldn't. He had completely forgotten how hypnotizing Lumi's glances could be. More than ever, he appreciated her subtle gestures to give him the space he needed in this situation. He wanted to say something at this point, but he wasn't sure what. There was merely the urge to talk with his friend again, leaving him with mixed emotions.

"I'm just trying to remind you that you are incredibly strong. Whatever it is that makes life hard for you right now, don't give up. I know you can fight through it this time as well, even if it's with help."

Lumi burst into chuckles right after her speech once she noticed the quick change in Oliver's expression. He grimaced and looked away, clearly disapproving of her last aspect. She sunk down from laughter and tried to reach for Oliver's hand once again but he pulled away in time.

"Don't look at me like that. You're the one that makes me have to talk to you like a child when it comes to receiving help," She laughed and took a deep breath to lower her voice again, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Not everything can be solved all on your own, and you need to accept that. If you want to move forward, you can't always have things your way, so just accept that you might need to steer off your usual plan this time."

Oliver subtly pouting to himself was enough of a sign for Lumi to realize the weight of her words. Letting silence process everything in peace, she got up eventually and put both their bottles back into the cupboard. Oliver stood up as well in a rather unsure way. He still didn't find a response he could give his friend.

However, she just smiled off his uneasiness and waved him over to follow her to the stack of baskets sitting in the corner of the room. She lifted up one herself and waited for Oliver to do the same. While carrying the rest of the baskets into the van, she turned around one more time with a bright smile.

"Stay strong. I know you can do this. And remember my words at least as a form of apology...you know, for all the time you never showed up."

Oliver smiled and nodded. As much as he worried this conversation would end up just like Kazehiki's, it took a much more pleasant and hopeful turn. Although he still had his doubts, he could at least accept her reasoning.

The two of them ended up storing away the last bits of equipment and Lumi closed the doors of the building. The sky has darkened down during the time they have spent together, and Oliver knew that this meant for him to slowly return home eventually. His body still tensed up by the thought of it, but his mind slowly made peace with himself again. That was the kind of distraction he needed in a long time.

While following Lumi to the van, he watched her get ready for her evening route. They shared another smile until Oliver broke off his silence eventually.

"I missed your energy. You give people so much strength by being so bright. Not in the delusional way, but a realistic one." He reached forward and squished Lumi's cheeks lightly in his hands, just like he did a few years ago whenever he was up for a bit of teasing. "My little sunshine."

Lumi chuckled and shook off his hands with a grin. "There is my Oliver."

"Thanks for giving me a bit of hope once again. I really hope I can get through what is going on right now, even if I have no idea how to yet."

Oliver sighed and shrugged his shoulders, trying to shake it off as nothing too big in front of his friend. She continued to wear a lazy smile and nodded reassuringly. They shared a final hug before Lumi got in the car and ready to drive off. Oliver watched her get out of the driveway onto the streets.

"Visit me whenever you have time again. You're always welcome," Lumi yelled out and waved at him while slowly driving off. Oliver merely nodded and waved back while watching her disappear into the traffic. After she has left, the blond started to notice how dearly he has missed her. That surely wasn't the last time they would be talking again.

With a weak smile, Oliver turned around to the building one more time before making his way back home. His feet were aching but he took this as a sign that this must be the right thing to do at the moment, no matter what was awaiting him in his apartment.