~Time skip: ~

Senri looked up at the cloudless sky as he lied in the grass. Still no word from Yuma. A sweet, earthy fragrance filled his nose.

"Riri, did you get anything?" Yuni asked, taking a seat beside him.

"No. It's worrying. The police still haven't found anything new." said Senri, turning his back to Yuni. "No one could see that he was crumbling..."

"Yumapi is big hearted and sensitive. He always shoulders his own problems and hardly asks for help." said Yuni. "He doesn't like worrying others..."

"Even still... to take off without even a note?" Senri seethed, gripping the grass beneath him. "He acts as if we wouldn't understand..."

"I see you both are having a good time." Shigure said, taking a seat in front of Senri. He placed his hand on the side of Senri's head and caused him to fall asleep. "Was he talking about Yuma again?"

Yuni nodded then looked at Shigure.

"Do you think he's dead?" asked Yuni innocently.

"Yuni, don't talk like that. He's probably just out and about, finding himself." said Shigure, giving Yuni a heavy slap on his hand

As much as he didn't want to admit it, there was no evidence proving Yuma wasn't dead. Without Kasuka's magic, they couldn't even remotely search for a general area. Yuni sighed then clasped his hands.

"Ryugasaki is a jerk. Kumarin and Tora too! They saw how upset he was and continued with it. It's their fault that Yumapi disappeared." Yuni complained.

"Let's stop these blame games. Everyone is to blame, even you. None of us stepped in when Chizuru did those awful pranks to Yuma. None of us had a talk with Yuma, explaining that he should confront Chizuru. None of us told Jin anything until he caught wind of a more serious incident." said Shigure, sighing heavily.

"Well when you put it like that..." Yuni mumbled, his cheeks puffed out.

Senri quietly slept as Shigure stroked his hair. He was assigned the task of keeping Senri under control, since he was the one most affected by Yuma's disappearance. Yuma was a dear and irreplaceable friend to him along with being family.

"Oh, it's the two big bad wolves." Yuni said, earning himself another slap on the hand.

"You two seem lively. Is Senri asleep?" Issei asked curiously.

"Big meanie Kumarin and Tora, why are you here? What if Riri senses your presence?" Yuni asked, moving from Shigure's reach.

"Still calling us mean names huh? Well, I guess we earned it huh, Issei?" Rintaro said, glancing at Senri. "Anyway, that's not why we're here. We're just here to tell you that there's nothing new going on on both ends."

The wind around them started to kick up. Shigure tightly held Senri as it started to become fiercer. Yuni wailed as large flowers and small trees covered him in a shelter like dome.

"He probably knows you're both here. Go." Shigure said, noticing the wind would soon become quick enough to cut skin. "Go!"

They hesitated before going. The winds started to die down until it turned back to a normal, steady state.

⋆‪♡⋆‪♡⋆

Yanagi pushed his food around with a somber face. There was still no update on his roommate's whereabouts. He felt a hand stop his.

"What are you doing?" Yanagi spat, moving his hand.

"They say don't play with your food." they said cheerfully.

"Shut up, Minato..." Yanagi seethed.

"Ahaha, you wound me Nagi dearest~" Minato said, leaning against Yanagi.

"Stop being weird." Yanagi fussed, pushing Minato off his shoulder.

"So cold hearted, aren't we Yani...?" Minato said, lowering his voice at the word "Yani".

Yanagi pinched his arm then looked around the table, hoping no one heard. Minato laughed heartily, having successfully embarrassed Yanagi.

"You're pressing all the wrong buttons." Yanagi warned, seconds away from putting him in a headlock.

"How do you feel right now?" Minato asked.

"Angry." he replied.

"Then I've done my job right. You aren't sad anymore." said Minato, looking with him with tender eyes.

Yanagi blinked then felt touched by Minato's efforts. It was true, he didn't feel sad about Yuma's disappearance at the moment. He pulled a book out of his bag then had Minato lean in as if they were sharing a secret.

"What?" Minato asked curiously.

Yanagi gave him a quick kiss and a soft "thank you". Despite most of the time Minato was an airhead, he had his moments when his senselessness made sense. Minato smiled widely then surprised him with a deeper one.

"Did... did they just kiss?" a female student whispered to her friend.

Yanagi's eyes darted around as the cafeteria started to murmur.

"Yeah, we did kiss. It common courtesy to greet close friends in France with a swift kiss to the lips." said Minato with a goofy grin.

Most seemed to have accepted it and moved on. He looked at Yanagi and saw he had already left his seat.

"Shinya, why doesn't he want to date me..." Minato whined.

"I don't think he doesn't not want to... maybe he's just... doesn't want to disappoint his girls and doesn't want to juggle a relationship too." said Shinya.

"Ah, in the end he'll always pick his girls over me." Minato said with a heavy sigh. "Now I'm the one who needs cheering up..."

⋆‪♡⋆‪♡⋆

Yanagi entered his room and was greeted by silence and darkness once again. Yuma was always a quiet person, but the silence around him was different than the one now.

"Still no Yuma?" Shion asked from behind him.

"None..." he replied, a bit spooked by Shion's appearance.

Shion rubbed the back of his neck then turned his back to Yanagi.

"I hope he comes back..." he said, walking back to his room.

Yanagi moved to close the door then noticed a foot stick it's way in. He recognized those fuzzy slippers anywhere.

"Minato..." Yanagi whispered. "Could you step back a bit?"

Minato did as he was told then had the door shut in his face. He made it obvious that he was still mad.

"Nagi, I'm sorry for kissing you like that during lunch. I could've put your reputation in danger." said Minato, shifting in his big fuzzy sweatshirt, sweatpants and fuzzy slippers.

Yanagi opened the door and let Minato in. He quickly locked the door and latched onto Minato's waist.

"You get so affectionate when we're alone. If you only had that confidence in public." said Minato, accidentally venting his frustration.

"It's different..." Yanagi said.

"It's not that different from dating a woman." said Minato.

"But, it's just..." Yanagi stammered.

"I get it. It's because I don't have big boobs or boobs in general, because I don't have a plump ass, because I have a dick hanging in between my legs." said Minato angrily. "I'm not a woman, so I wish you'd stop leading me on if you don't want me."

"Wait, Minato..." Yanagi said, just missing his wrist. "Minato. Minato. Mini!"

Minato stopped just before closing the door. Mini. The nickname he wanted Yanagi to call him. He didn't like that it was being used in this situation. He felt the door open and a hand bring him back inside the room.

"You're my first... My first serious relationship, my first boyfriend, you took my first kiss, and... that." Yanagi said, holding Minato close. "I just need time to adjust..."

"I'm sorry... I guess I was being too hasty... I really want to show you off and make those hormonal girls wildly jealous." said Minato with a chuckle.

Yanagi chuckled as well then sighed. One of Yuma's sketchbooks has caught Yanagi's eye. He picked it up and opened it. Minato looked over his shoulder as most pages displayed Chizuru's misdeeds. Yanagi felt a bit creeped out by how many there were.

"Think they ran away together?" Minato suggested.

"No. Kasuka and Chizuru are joining Ryugasaki for business reasons. Plus Chizuru doesn't like him, so..." responded Yanagi. "Though the possibility of Yuma going after him is high, after seeing just how often he sketched Chizuru..."

⋆‪♡⋆‪♡⋆

Kasuka stuck his hairpin in his bun then looked back.

"Tired already? That's not a good sign." said Kasuka, having his fruit juice float over to him.

"I just didn't sleep well. That's all." he replied weakly.

"I've already called for Jin so he can get a medic here since all I know is magic." said Kasuka with a shrug.

"When do you think we'll be released...?" he asked curiously.

Kasuka turned his back to him.

"Chizuru, we're not even half way into the year and you're already thinking about escaping. We couldn't even if we wanted to." said Kasuka. "Plus if you get in trouble, I suffer with you. I can't let that happen."

"Do you think they've forgotten about us...?" Chizuru asked, specifically thinking of Yuma.

"Hm, no. I added an upgrade to Yuni's hair clip before we left. So I've been listening in ever since we left. We aren't talked about much, but it's better than nothing." said Kasuka, avoiding mentioning Yuma was missing.

"Have you heard anything from Yuma?" Chizuru asked.

"Of course. He still feels guilty, but seems to be coming to terms with it all. Good for him isn't it?" Kasuka said.

"We really can't talk to them?" asked Chizuru, lying back on the bed.

"I'm not even supposed to be using magic. So no. Let's just focus on our tasks here and hope we get released sooner. This place is definitely not doing wonders for my hair and face." Kasuka joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Kasuka put the hand mirror down then sighed. Senri hardly talked about. It was always Yuma this, Yuma that, those big three jerks, that blasted Chizuru. Did Senri hate him? Did he do something to make him hate him? His ears perked up at the sound of Yuni's voice.

"Someone said they spotted Yumapi up in the mountains!" Yuni said, having burst into Senri's room.

"Are you serious? Where? We need to tell the others!" Senri said.

Kasuka angrily swiped everything off the surface in front of him, causing Chizuru to look up and figure out what was going on.

"What's wrong...?" Chizuru asked quietly.

"Yuma should've died..." Kasuka spat before harshly closing the door behind him.

He didn't know where the anger was coming from, but he knew that what Kasuka said was completely uncalled for. He transformed into a bug and easily slipped underneath the door. He followed after Kasuka and landed on his clothes. He bided his time before transforming back and causing Kasuka to fall underneath his weight.

"Don't wish death upon Yuma. He did nothing wrong." Chizuru seethed.

"We wouldn't be in his mess if he hadn't come in the first place!" Kasuka argued.

"Stop blaming others for your own wrongdoings. Trust me, it doesn't help. Just own up to it and do better." Chizuru snapped.

"Since when did you become a saint, huh? Weren't you always the one terrorizing all of us, making sure we hardly slept a wink at night? What happened to that Chizuru?" Kasuka asked, glaring at him.

"He grew up. It took way too long for him to realize how severe his harassment could get and the dire consequences that would come with it." said Chizuru. "What if the drink had splashed onto his chest? What if my invisible prank drove him to think he was insane? I had to start thinking long term."

Kasuka sighed then looked away from him. He just wanted Senri to pay attention to him, to worry about him. Was it wrong for him to want something small like that?

"I just want his attention..." Kasuka mumbled to himself.

Chizuru didn't understand who's attention he wanted, but he knew he wouldn't get it if he didn't change his attitude.