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(Kizumi's P.O.V.)

Things weren't right with him. This Yuji...I could see all of these little things that he was doing. He always sat close to Shirou, and would easily and smoothly pull him into conversations. He didn't even have to try to make Shirou laugh, either. He played it off as innocent friendliness, but I could see exactly what was going on. Once in a while I'd catch a deadly glimmer in his eye, like a challenge, almost. Maybe I was simply jealous at first being that him and Shirou got along so well...but now it wasn't just me. He was intentionally doing things to make me angry. I knew he was.

Over the past two weeks I'd been gritting my teeth and keeping silent in order to keep Shirou from getting angry with me. I had even tried to convince myself that I was reading too much into everything Yuji did...but every day I was proven wrong. Something just didn't feel right when he was so close to Shirou. The side glances he gave me made it feel so much more off, like he was waiting for me to react.

If I reacted though, then Shirou would definitely get mad at me. That wasn't what I wanted, and if I tried to explain to him why then he would just tell me I was being jealous. Anyone would, probably. I was fully aware of how it must have looked to anyone else, but I swore it was much more than that.

"Ugh..." I muttered to myself as I walked down the street. Just thinking about it was mentally exhausting, and it irritated me more than I wanted it to. I tried my best to shake it off as I neared Shirou's house. I didn't want to arrive at his house annoyed. I'd spent all week at school like that, and I wanted a break. Some quality time with him might make me feel better. I would have spent more time with him during the week after school, but lately the teachers have been slamming us with work since we have practice finals and such coming up. There was only a couple months of school left, after all.

I'm sure that even if I had finished everything with time to hang out that he would still be busy with things. I approached the door and then knocked a couple of times. While I waited I put my hands in my pockets. It was cold out, but luckily it didn't take long for Shirou's Mom to answer the door. When she saw me, her eyes lit up like they always did.

"Hi, sweetheart!" She greeted me in her usual pleased tone. "Come on in."

"Thanks." I gave her a small smile and stepped inside.

"Would you like anything to drink? If you don't want anything cold we have tea or hot chocolate." She offered.

"Oh, I'm alright. Thank you though." I responded. She nodded and then said,

"Well, if you change your mind you know where everything is. Shirou is up in his room." With that, she allowed me to do my own thing. I pulled my shoes off and then hopped up the stairs. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I got closer to his door. I felt stupid for feeling them since I had been here a million times and saw him almost every day...but at the same time I loved that he could make me feel so nervous. He'd always been so impossible to get used to, and I was obsessed with that feeling. It was genuine and pleasant.

As I turned his handle and pushed the door open, I prepared to say hello...but I stopped short when something caught my eye that made me want to shut the door and leave. Yuji was sitting on the bed with him. I'd never felt a pang of annoyance so quickly in my life when he smiled at me. They had cards in their hands and were in the middle of some game. Due to the surprise of Yuji's presence and the flush of anger that followed I let a sentence slip that I hadn't meant to.

"What the hell are you doing here?" After I said it, Shirou gave me a look. I would have mentally slapped myself, but I was actually starting to feel genuinely angry. This was supposed to be my time with Shirou, so why did he have to be here? Why not on a day when I wasn't here? Better yet, why didn't he just not come around at all? I didn't know whether to blame my luck or his existence. Maybe it was both working together to make me suffer.

"Just hanging out." He spoke kindly, masking the look in his eyes. Shirou hadn't told me that Yuji was going to be here when I texted him earlier. Did he figure that I wouldn't mind or something? That thought made me feel annoyed towards Shirou next. Was he really that oblivious, or did he not want to take my feelings into consideration because it just looked like foolish jealousy?

"We just dealt these cards if you want to join us. Here, I'll lay out yours." Shirou gave me a smile and grabbed the pile of remaining cards. Unable to say no, I sighed and reluctantly walked over to the bed. I would have rather just gone home than play cards with Yuji, but if I had to do it then I wasn't going to lose. Shirou moved over so that I could sit on the bed as well. I was right across from Yuji now, but refused to look up at him. I knew if I did that it would only fuel the fire inside of me, and I didn't want to start a fight.

Yuji began talking to Shirou as my cards were being dealt to me. Like usual, Shirou chuckled at whatever he said and I felt a sting of irritation in my body. The urge to change my mind and just go home was somewhat frustrating to fight, but I held on and just sighed a little. When I had gathered my hand and organized my cards, I muttered, "I hope you're both ready to lose."

"We'll see." Yuji responded, and I gave him a cold look before we began. He wasn't going to win any of these games if I was playing.

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