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It took a day or two more, but Kizumi finally came back to school. He told me that his teachers had been upset with him, especially since he hadn't called in or had anyone pick up his work for him. That was to be expected though, and it wouldn't be hard for him to catch up at all. As of right now, Kizumi and I were sitting alone together for lunch. I assumed he wanted time alone with me after everything that had happened, so for the past couple of days he and I found our own spot to sit. He knew we'd have to go back with the others, but we could have a few days to ourselves.

I watched him as he ripped open a bag of chips and popped one into his mouth. His brown eyes found mine and he held the bag of chips out to me. I smiled a little as I took some. The first day back hadn't been too pretty, but he was more or less himself now. I think maybe just us being alone really helped out. I probably needed it, too. As I ate my chips, Kizumi sighed a little. His eyes had left mine and he was scanning over the parking lot. A few students were scattered around at various cars just chatting with one another.

"It's nice to be back, actually. Staying at home alone can get pretty boring." He suddenly mentioned.

"What did you do the whole time?" I asked him curiously.

"Not much, to be honest. Ate, sat around, slept...sometimes I dug through my backpack for something to do. It's all kind of a blur...I know I spent a lot of time in bed though." His last comment was a little quiet. It caused guilt to creep up on me so  tried to lighten the mood.

"Dug through your backpack? I don't know anyone in their right mind who does homework when they're bored." I laughed lightly and it brought a small smile to his lips.

"I guess you're right." He said and looked over at me again. "...I missed you, Shirou."

"I'm sorry." I told him. He leaned over and for the first time ever, I didn't worry about anyone seeing us kiss. He placed one on my lips, then another on my forehead. I smiled as he touched my cheek lightly. It was then that I realized someone was in front of us. Both of us looked up to see Yuji.

I felt like panic should have surged through me, but it didn't. Instead, I was curious. He knew doing this would probably annoy Kizumi, and he had promised not to do anything that would particularly annoy him on purpose...so whatever he had to say was probably important. I stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Kizumi did the same, not making a single comment.

"...I need to admit something." He sighed after a long moment. "I can't let this eat me alive."

"Admit?" I asked. Kizumi scoffed quietly under his breath, and I had the strongest feeling he was directing it towards me. I glanced at him and he was still looking at Yuji, waiting expectantly. Kizumi must have already known what this was going to be about.

"I know that a lot has happened." He said to us. I nodded. "...and it's...it's...my fault."

"What?" I asked, confused by the sudden accusation towards himself. Why was he doing this all of a sudden? And It couldn't have been all his fault. I mean, yes he was doing things Kizumi didn't like but...I had to admit that Kizumi was at least a bit over dramatic about it. I suddenly remembered what Kizumi had said about Yuji doing those things on purpose. Was that all true? Was he admitting to that?

"Shirou, we've been friends for a long time so I'm not going to sugar coat this. You're kind of an oblivious idiot." He laughed a little. He'd insulted me, but I wasn't mad. He wasn't being rude, exactly...and I knew it was true.

"But...I mean, what-" I started.

"Kizumi." He cut me off by addressing him directly. I watched as irritation flashed across his face. "You've got a good eye for trouble. You knew exactly what was going on. I was hoping you'd catch on quickly, but you noticed from the very first day we met, didn't you?"

"Wait a second..." He really was admitting to doing everything on purpose. "Yuji...you..."

"Yes." He sighed. "I caused all of it intentionally."

"But...why would you...?" I asked with concern.

"I guess I've always sort of been like this. We haven't seen each other in years, you know." He told me. "...Truthfully, I didn't want you to get hurt." His eyes seemed to swim with deep sadness as he said the last part. What made it worse was that he couldn't even meet my eyes.

"But-" I kept trying to speak but he wouldn't let me.

"I thought maybe he would just get angry and threaten me...I hadn't expected him to hurt you like that. I apologize for that, Shirou. I'm sure he told you everything I was doing behind your back. I pretty much took advantage of your oblivious nature to make him angry."

"It sure worked out great, didn't it?" Kizumi's tone was ice cold and coated in thick sarcasm.

"Just keep your mouth shut, okay?." He snapped at Kizumi. When he spoke to him it was like Yuji was an entirely different person. "I'm here apologizing to you now. Can't you just let me do that? I know what I did was wrong, alright? That's why I'm trying to fix it."

To my surprise, Kizumi didn't say anything else. Instead, he was looking up at Yuji with furrowed brows, waiting. Did he see something in Yuji's expression that I couldn't? I scanned his face as they stared at each other. He looked annoyed with Kizumi, but his eyes swam with regret. Even if he had a bad attitude towards him...he genuinely was sorry.

"I'm sorry...Kizumi." He clenched his fists as he said this. "I'll make this clear to you, just like I did to Shirou...I'm done doing this to you both. I won't get in the way anymore. I'm not asking you to start over and see me as a whole new person or anything stupid like that, but we both need to get over it and at the very least tolerate each other. For his sake." Yuji pointed at me. I looked at Kizumi to see if he was going to retaliate angrily or not, but he didn't say anything.

It didn't sound like a heartfelt apology to me, but maybe it was just because of the way he was talking to him. That's when Kizumi stood up. Fear overtook me instantly. I thought he was going to grab him by the shirt and start beating the crap out of him...but he simply stuck his hand out. Kizumi's face had softened just slightly as he waited. Yuji took his hand firmly, shaking it without a smile. Something passed between their expressions, and it suddenly hit me that Yuji couldn't have given Kizumi some mushy apology. He'd apologized to him in a way that Kizumi would believe, even if it meant being a jerk about it. After all, Kizumi was stubborn and hardheaded, so doing it this would make him understand he was serious.

Relief washed over me as Yuji nodded at him and turned away without another word. It had been so brief, and unexpected...but I felt the air between them lift just slightly. Yuji hadn't said anything more to me besides saying 'see you later'...but I knew he would find time to apologize to me better eventually. I understood that for now he just needed to get some of the guilt off his chest by solving the issues between him and Kizumi.

Maybe things would finally start to turn around.

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