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     Who the hell was this guy, anyway? He’s never seen him before, and he was sure he’d notice someone with hair as red as that here in Inaba. Yousuke could not make sense as to why he gave him such a bad vive, but it was there. In the pit of his stomach—and it made him feel sick. Every now and then his eyes would flicker away from the man as he stocked the shelves, but his gaze always lingered soon after; longer than should be deemed necessary.

Who was he?                 Who was he?                                          Who was he?

     Abandoning the cart of stored goods, Yousuke approached the man with a sense of purpose and determination. The closer he got, the more familiar he appeared. He only saw a brief glimpse of his photo when he called Nicole and he appeared on her screen, but that was him—no doubt about it. The same goggles, same stupid striped shirt, same out of season vest. Just who did he think he was, anyway? Now that he was much closer and was now standing right before him, he caught the strong stench of cigarettes and his nose wrinkled in disgust.

     “ You bastard – “ the words leave his lips before he could stop them, and he realizes then there’s no going back. Just roll with it, Yousuke. “ You better not be pressuring Nicole to pick up your nasty habits! “ The accusation was strong as he crossed his arms over his chest, trying to make himself seem more intimidating than he really was.

It was a quiet day at JUNES, which was rare on its own. It was so quiet, his dad actually gave him the rest of the day off. Not one to look a gifted horse in the mouth, he booked it out of there before he could change his mind. As much as he enjoyed working, it was so time consuming and exhausting--if only school was the only thing on his mind, but the TV World held its own importance.

Hopefully Souji wasn’t too busy, but he made sure his text wasn’t urgent in the slightest; that way, if he got turned down, the other wouldn’t have to feel guilty about it. He just... Kind of missed him. He missed everyone, really. Summer break came and went so fast, he had no idea where it went. Most of his time was spent either at work or in the TV World, because the summer time was the busiest time for the employees of JUNES.

When he heard approaching footsteps, his head snapped up expectantly. A usual grin stretched on his lips when he saw the other and he pushed himself away from the railing.

A troubled and thoughtful expression is quick to shift into that of quiet embarrassment when he was caught spacing out. That has been happening a lot lately, and he could only hope that the others don’t really notice. It was silly and stupid to drag them into his own affairs, especially when they all had their own things to deal with.