5:30PM

The display on Eiji's watch taunted him, seconds taking hours to go by. He still had another thirty minutes before he actually needed to be here, but if he hadn't left the house then, he would have paced circles around the kitchen until he got dizzy and fainted.

And that would make him miss his very important appointment.

A cold wind blew, but the redhead didn't even feel it. He couldn't hear the gentle swishing of the trees around him, or the soft quacks of the ducks in the distance. All that met his ears was the quiet ticking and tocking of his watch, slower and slower and slower.

"Eiji…"
He looked up then, to be faced with the hooded man from earlier that day. This time, though, he didn't back away.

"Oishi."
"Eiji…c-can I still call you that? And can I sit here?"
"It's not my tree, you know." Eiji couldn't hide a smile at that moment, scooting over a little to allow his old best friend to sit down beside him. The sunglasses were removed, the hood taken down, and there sat Oishi Syuichirou. Taller, perhaps, with a little more tone than before, looking slightly more worn than he used to, as well, but otherwise, he definitely hadn't changed in the slightest. "Eiji is still fine. You wanted to speak to me?"
"It's been three years…of course I want to speak to you, Eiji; I want to know how you're doing. So you work with cats now? And children?"

Eiji took a breath, and began to recount everything that Oishi had missed since the end of high school. Fuji and Tezuka applying to the same university in Germany, Taka's wedding and beautiful wife and cute children, Momo's move to Spain, Kaidoh's sudden inheritance, Inui deciding to apply for one of the best universities on the planet, and Echizen's decision to quit school entirely and focus on tennis. The conversation lingered on tennis, then. On Kaidoh leading the Seigaku high schoolers to victory in his final year, on Hyoutei actually being pretty nice guys, and Rikkai too, and all the other schools and and and-

"Hey, Eiji…" uh oh, had he rambled for too long without letting Oishi talk? Spending so much time with Jiroh made Eiji really appreciate whenever he got the chance to speak.

"Oh, nya, am I being boring?"
"No, no, it's all really interesting, but…" Oishi smiled gently, "I asked how you were doing."

Did Oishi seriously want to know any of that? He couldn't. Eiji just ended up babysitting his neighbour's cat, then someone else's cat, then a few more cats, and before he knew it, his house was full of cats and he had a business going. He couldn't even remember how he got into helping out at the school, but he enjoyed it. That was basically it.

"…and that's basically it, really. Sorry my life is so boring, nya, it's nothing compared to yours. Wasn't there an article in the paper about what you ate for breakfast one morning? That's how much everyone wants to know about you!"

Oishi's eyes were sparkling with absolute fascination, which puzzled Eiji. "There was, yeah. So what do you have for breakfast most days?"
"O-"

"I'm really interested!" the shy smile again, tugging at Eiji's heartstrings. It really was almost just like before. Was that how Oishi wanted it to be, after such a long time? "You've been able to read about my life all over, but I haven't been able to get a thing on you for years and years, do you know how worried I've been? Everything's changed so much since I left…"
"I haven't"
Oishi chuckled then. "Yes you have. You're practically another person. Now, about breakfast every morning. Is it something sweet?"
"Yep."
"Pancakes?"
"Nyaaa, guess what's on them."
"Hmm…" Oishi fiddled with his fringe. "Ice cream. Chocolate ice cream."
"Bzzzzzz! Wrong! Cream and chocolate sauce and strawberries!" He giggled, clapping his hands and celebrating his minor victory. Eiji's companion looked thoughtful.
"It's weird, thinking you live alone now. You do everything for yourself? Cooking and all?"
"Oh yes, Marui taught me a lot. Do you remember Marui? We're good friends now!"

Strange to think, really. Eiji smiled to himself as the conversation went on. I have so many different friends now. Jiroh and Ootori and Taki are like my best friends now that Fuji is in Germany and I can't see him anymore. I see a lot more of little Taichi these days, and Marui comes over to help me out with cooking sometimes…and there's the occasional chat with Gakuto at the gym…

"So you have a lot of friends?"
"Oh yes, yes." Eiji blushed, pulled out of his thoughts. "My best friends are probably Jiroh, Ootori and Taki, though. We went to one of your shows in Osaka together…"

Oishi's eyes widened. "Really? Was it good? When was it?"
"A few months ago…it was really amazing, Oishi! And kinda surreal, too. You were always popular with girls in school but man, entire stadiums of screaming women? Crazy. Never saw that coming, nya." Oishi just went quiet, apparently in thought.

"About shows, I have one tomorrow, so I probably need to go rehearse now. You busy tomorrow night?" Eiji shook his head, chest tightening hopefully. "Perfect. I want you to have these."

A small envelope was pressed into Eiji's hand, and the redhead held it to his chest protectively, as though he had just been handed a precious treasure. "Thank you…"
Again, the shy smile. Was Oishi learning how to hide his emotions? He was doing a good job of it, for sure.

"I have to go now…but uh, first, do you have a pen?" Eiji handed him one, and he wrote a few things on the envelope. "There we go…now let's never lose contact again, okay?"
"Okay~ nya!"

An awkward embrace followed. A strange sort of one armed hug as Oishi put up his hood and put on his sunglasses, even though it was dark. Whispered goodbyes, a pat on the cheek.

Finally, silence once more, save for the tick-tocking of Eiji's watch.