One Eccentric Idiot Has A Realization

"Make yourself at home, again."

Reina walked through her front door, leaving it open for Juzo to follow. He walked in and took a seat on the couch. Reina brought in some drinks from the kitchen before joining Juzo.

"Got your favorite juice."

Juzo grabbed one from her.

"Thanks."

The two sat quietly on the couch for a few minutes. Eventually, Reina couldn't bear the uncomfortable atmosphere and spoke up.

"Why are you here? You're just sitting here doing nothing."

"My house is too loud at this time. It'll calm down after dinner."

"That's it? You're inconveniencing me because your house is too loud?"

Juzo just shrugged and took a sip of his drink. Several more minutes passed before Juzo finally spoke.

"Do you like Nikko?"

Reina, who was eating a snack, started to choke on her food. She took a swig of water and collected herself, then responded.

"What the hell did you just ask me!?"

Without hesitation, Juzo repeated the question.

"Do you like Nikko?"

"Of course I don't! Why would you think that!?"

"Well, you've been acting weird the last few days 'cause he's been trying to hang out with Yamada. I just added everything together, so I'm asking if you like him."

Hearing his explanation, Reina calmed down somewhat.

"You don't understand what I feel. I don't like him in the way you mean, but he's still important to me. You and Nikko are my best friends. I've already told you that I'm scared that he might leave us, so why are you still digging for answers that you've already gotten?"

Juzo sat silently, taking in Reina's words. His thoughts turned to the discomfort of Nikko spending time with Tomoka, and he figured out what the problem was.

"You're scared that he's gonna change, aren't you?"

Reina looked at Juzo, confused.

"What?"

"You think he's gonna change. It'd probably be either Yamada wanting him to change, or him doing it to grab her attention, but you think he's gonna become someone different."

"What… no, I…"

Reina was lost for words, realizing that Juzo was right. But Juzo also felt the same.

"I'm scared, too. I don't want my friend to one day become unrecognizable to the person that I've grown to like."

Reina took a while to organize her thoughts before responding.

"You're right. I think he might change with her. That's what happened to me before with Ritsushima. Once she started trying to grab the attention of the boys, her entire personality changed into something that disgusted me. And I'm scared that something like that could happen to Nikko."

Seeing Reina's distress, Juzo wrapped his arm around her.

"In hindsight, this whole thing of trying to help each other find love might not have been a good idea. We seemed to miss the fact that friendships have ended over stuff like this."

"Well, I just thought that it would be good if we could all be happy. Even if Nikko gets with Yamada and we're no longer friends with him, I'd still be happy for him."

"We should probably have a talk with him as soon as possible. We're probably overreacting to everything right now."

"Yeah, but overreacting to nothing is part of being close to someone. If anything, this whole thing has made me realize how much I care about my relationship with you two."

Reina looked into Juzo's eyes and gave him a genuine smile, with tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. With his arm already around her, Juzo gave her a hug.

"That's a nice way to put it."

"What do you want to drink?"

Nikko was looking over at Tomoka, patiently waiting for her requests to order.

"Just get me something fruity."

"Okay, give me a sec…"

For the next hour, the two sang their hearts out in the karaoke box. Despite there only being two people, the energy and atmosphere felt as if they were performing at the Budokan. But as with all things, their time ended, and the two found themselves walking to the bus together. Nikko was still riding the high of karaoke performances.

"Was that not one of the greatest experiences of your life?"

"I gotta admit, you were pretty good with the mic. I should learn some of your techniques."

"The only technique of mine is overwhelming confidence. That way, in your own mind, you don't make any mistakes."

Tomoka laughed.

"Thanks for inviting me out. I had an awesome time with you."

"See? And you were the one acting all annoyed when I talked to you at school. Just admit it, I'm your friend now."

Tomoka rolled her eyes.

"I see that you can't go without mentioning yourself for more than ten seconds."

"Hey, I'm trying to sell a business, a lifestyle. I need to make myself look as good as possible, because usually I don't. That's why I have only a couple friends."

"You're losing me with your nonsense."

Nikko stopped in his tracks, which caught Tomoka's attention.

"What's wrong?"

Nikko looked up at Tomoka, his carefree face now serious.

"Tomoka, just from talking to you, I can see that you have a problem with people. But I want you to be my friend, and that means you need to get along with my other friends. They're practically family to me. Do you think it would be alright if we hung out with them tomorrow?"

Tomoka studied Nikko's face with a bewildered stare.

"What're you talking about? I don't have a problem with people."

Now Nikko was the one who was confused.

"But… then why did you act so abrupt with those girls yesterday, and with me afterwards?"

"Because all of you were annoying me. Reina and Juzo were fine, though. They were much less annoying than you."

"Oh. Looks like I got all serious for nothing."

Tomoka wasn't going to let the chance to make a jab at Nikko slide.

"Who the hell did you think I was? Some sort of antisocial asshole? That's quite mean, judging me like that."

"Don't try and make me feel bad, I made a mistake. Sorry."

Tomoka resumed her walk to the bus stop, but paused after a few steps.

"I'll hang out with your friends. But again, I'm not gonna waste any of my money, so you gotta deal with that."

Tomoka started up her stride again, and Nikko jogged over to catch up.

"Thanks so much! I'm sure they'll be excited to spend time with you."

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll be happy to be with someone other than you."

"Come on, we've got other friends, too. And just so you know, I'm the glue that holds everyone together. Or at least that's what I like to think."

Tomoka giggled.

"No, you're the glue that's stuck to everyone's hands that just won't come off, no matter how much you try to wash it off. Now stop distracting me, we gotta get to the stop before the bus leaves."

Tomoka started to run off again into the distance. Nikko watched her for a bit, but he suddenly had an epiphany. Running after her, that realization repeated itself in his head over and over again.

I'm in love with Tomoka Yamada.