Yuko was lying on her back on her bed, a manga held up in front of her. She was reading by the lamplight. She rolled over and brought the light closer. Then she slammed the book shut.

"I see..."

***

"Give me a minute, Yuko." Ren told her hastily, as some members from the track and field club called out to him. "You go on ahead."

"Okay!" Yuko replied, waving him off. She walked on.

"Oh, good morning, Nishikawa-sa–"

"SABUROOOOOO!!! GOOD MORNING!!"

Yuko turned around and saw Sara tackling Saburo with a hug. He was just greeting her, and now his attention was instantly turned to Sara. Yuko watched for a while. They were being excessively close. Sara planted a kiss on his cheek, and she heard Saburo mutter exasperatedly, "Sara..." He looked in Yuko's direction, as though remembering he was greeting her.

"Good morning, Nishikawa-san." he said, smiling.

Sara still had her arms around his neck. She turned around and gave her a smile too. "Good morning, Nishikawa-san."

Yuko gave them a tight-lipped smile and then turned away quickly. After walking a distance, she glanced back. They were back to their flirting.

She exhaled, and she could see her breath rise in front of her. It was so cold.

***

Takiyo was immersed in the novel they had given him for his birthday. Yuko saw him and smiled. He was back to normal ever since their conversation, and she felt better about it. She dropped her bag on her table. He hadn't noticed her yet.

Suddenly, he felt arms slip around his neck. He started, then turned his head a little.

"Is that you, Nishikawa?" he asked. "You surprised me."

"Yes~" Yuko replied, eyes closed.

"...what are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you."

"Why?"

She tightened her arms a little. "I am hugging you because I'm in pain, and you can understand that pain. So I'm sharing it with you."

Takiyo processed this for a little while, but based on Yuko's tone, he decided he wouldn't mind it. He returned to reading, but Yuko still hadn't left. He could feel her burrowing her cold face into the back of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine.

Wait... Cold?

Takiyo jerked away from her. "You're just getting warm aren't you?" he yelled.

"But it's so cold..." Yuko whined, rubbing her hands together.

"What's with that?! I actually thought there was something wrong, you know?"

"But you wouldn't give me a hug otherwise... And you've been sitting in the class for a while. So you're warmed up." Yuko reasoned.

"Go away!" Takiyo shouted, stepping away from her.

"Warm hugs..." Yuko whined.

"Good morning..." Ren said droopily, walking into the classroom. He looked up and saw Takiyo standing in front of him, and brightened up. "Hey, Takiyo, I'm in a good mood, so give me a hug!"

Takiyo stepped away from him too. "No!"

"But it's cold...!" Ren tried to reason.

"Then go and hug Kaneshiro, she's been here longer than me!" Takiyo told him.

Arisu looked around at her name, and Ren blushed.

"See, you're warmed up now." Takiyo said, and he sat back down.

"Hello, humans!" Syo said loudly, bursting into the classroom. "I'm warm as hell!"

"Yes, you're a good man!" Ren cried happily.

Yuko rested her chin on Takiyo's shoulder. "So what are you reading?"

Takiyo glanced at her, then ignored her. Yuko sighed. "What a bony kid..." she muttered.

"Go away, Nishikawa." Takiyo said bluntly, turning a page.

"Takiyo-kun, are you strong?" Yuko asked randomly.

"Go away, Nishikawa."

"Are you ticklish?" Yuko asked with more fervour.

"No." Takiyo replied. Yuko hopelessly tried to tickle him. "You must have a weak spot!" she said determinedly. Then she suddenly grinned. "Your ears maybe?"

"I don't even want to know what is going through your mind right now, but no." Takiyo deadpanned.

"Armpits? Knees? Jaw? Nose? Feet? Fingers?" Yuko asked, ticking them off her fingers.

"You have gone well beyond tickling." Takiyo told her.

Yuko thought for some time. Then a thought came to her. He was disturbed when...

"I know! It's your neck, isn't it?" She grinned triumphantly. She knew she got it right this time, because Takiyo gave no reply.

***

Yuko was acting strangely. She was acting very happy-go-lucky all day. But the times she had a grim-looking expression, her mood would suddenly rocket sky-high. It was put off as PMS or something.

Because of her eccentric mood, she was taking full advantage of her new-found information. Whenever Takiyo was being particularly blunt, she would go for his neck. Like tickling, brushing, and there was a random moment when she stroked it for no apparent reason.

She was definitely acting weirdly.

It was finally home time, and Takiyo wanted to quickly escape Yuko's weird nature. But she came by before he was done packing his bag and said, "Ren has to stay back for club activities. So does Arisu-chan, and Syo-kun."

"Uh-huh..." Takiyo nodded, swinging on his bag.

"You're not in any club, right?" Yuko asked, falling into the step beside him.

"You still haven't figured that out?" Takiyo replied.

"Oh, I knew." Yuko said, waving her hand. "I'm just extremely bored, and neither Oka-san nor Oto-san will be home today."

"Oh no..." Takiyo tried to look sorry for her. He just really wanted to get away.

"So let's hang out a little." Yuko suggested, leaning in. "We've hardly ever gone to a café or something after school because we live in opposite directions."

"But I want to go home..." Takiyo said, looking away.

"Okay, then I'll walk with you!" Yuko said cheerfully, grabbing his arm and snuggling into it.

Takiyo looked uncomfortable and tried to pull away. Yuko looked up with innocent eyes. They held each other's gaze for sometime, but Takiyo gave in.

"Fine..."

"Yay!" Yuko cheered, but she hadn't let go of his arm. Takiyo walked stiffly.

They walked out of the school, and Yuko's arms slowly slipped down to his hand. They locked fingers with him.

"Nishikawa, what are you doing?" Takiyo asked finally. Yuko didn't reply and lifted his hand up to her face. Then she pressed her cold lips to the back of his hand.

He finally had enough. He yanked his hand away, and yelled, "Seriously, what is wrong with you?! You've been acting flirty all day! What the hell is wrong?!" Yuko could see he looked angry and looked down at her feet, eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs.

She didn't say anything, and they stood in silence. Takiyo's expression softened, and he asked, "Nishikawa...?"

"Sorry."

Takiyo looked surprised. "Sorry?"

Yuko clenched her fists. "Sorry." Takiyo watched her for some time, and then he noticed a tear track.

"He–"

"I'm horrible, aren't I?" Yuko said suddenly, looking up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Nishikawa?" Takiyo asked, concerned.

"I'm horrible." Yuko repeated. "You don't need to be nice to me."

"What are you talking about?"

Yuko was trembling a little, and she took some time before talking. "I've been thinking for a while. This relationship that we have...this promise that we have... I'm just using you."

Takiyo looked shocked. That had been playing on her mind too.

Yuko wiped at her eyes. "Every time I see Senpai with Hirose-senpai, I go cold inside. I feel cold. Why do I have to feel like that? Why can't I just be happy for him? Hirose-senpai is a good person. I'm sorry if I've mislead you, but I don't feel anything for you. I don't like you like that. And yet...here I am using you for my own satisfaction. Doing all the things I wished I could do."

Takiyo tried to say something, but he couldn't say anything. He should say many things for this, but he got nothing. He just watched Yuko talk.

She clutched the front of her shirt. "But I'm in no way satisfied! Am I that selfish? Am I that desperate to fill this emptiness inside? But then..." She looked up at him. "There are friends for you. I've been thinking about that too."

Say something, stop her, say something.

"What exactly is a friend? You go to them if you have problems, right? They're your sound board for frustration. They are there to make you happy, right? But then, are they just for that? Are they just there so you can feel happy if you're sad? You want them to make you happy. You burden them with your problems. But, do you use them to make you happy? Do you use them to take burden off yourself? Do you use them to solve your problems? If you're using them, then they're a tool, right? You use tools, right?"

He could see her breaking down. This is what anxiety did to a person. A simple problem is expanded into much, much more, contradicting everything else. Worrying about everything else. You would worry about things, when nobody would worry about them in the first place. You would beat yourself up over it, when there was no reason to.

That was the thing about Yuko. That was also the reason to her devastation after he brother's death. Anxiety could so easily destroy a person. This wasn't just social anxiety. It had expanded to much, much more.

He wanted to reach out, calm her down, reassure her. But he couldn't do any of that, because of his own restrictions. All he could do was watch. He prevented himself from doing any more than that.

"Takiyo-kun," Yuko looked right at him. So directly through the tears. "What is the difference between a friend and a tool?"

It took great strength to face what she was feeling. It took great strength for him to step out of his boundaries.

But he did. He stepped forward, and wrapped his arms reassuringly around her. This was the most he could do. He wasn't that strong yet.

"You said yourself," he said quietly. "I wouldn't hug you otherwise, right?"

Yuko nodded, trying to stop crying. Takiyo patted her back. He knew she was strong enough to face it. She had to be.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have stopped that glass and be alive today.

--New Friend Arc Complete--