* * * * * *

When it finally happens they are in the park. The day had turned unexpectedly blustery after a warm morning, and Akinari is shivering by the time he sees Chojiro approaching through the trees. Chojiro looks preoccupied, and doesn't make eye contact as he hands Akinari's diary back to him.

"Did you make any headway on it?"

"I don't know why you bothered to write in that stupid code. The coded stuff was just as cryptic as the Romanji. You never said anything specific. Big waste of time."

Akinari looks down at the book. He had really hoped that finding this diary meant an end to their questions about what had happened in that period of time when their memories had gotten spotty. It had taken him weeks to admit that he had apparently created a writing code that was too difficult for him to crack by himself, and several more weeks to decide that he trusted Chojiro enough to let him try. Chojiro was much better at that sort of puzzle, and soon had it cracked, which had raised Akinari's hopes. A coughing fit seized him, curling him up like an old man.

"Why are you out here without a jacket, idiot? You're going to turn that cold into pneumonia. Here, take mine."

"You'll be cold."

"I have a sweater on, I'll be fine. Here, let's get out of the wind."

Chojiro drapes his jacket around Akinari's shoulders and pushes him toward the stone footbridge, where they take the shelter of the abutment. Akinari doesn't argue the fact that he, too, has a sweater. The warmth of Chojiro's jacket is much more, and much more welcome, than he had expected.

Chojiro leans on one shoulder against the wall, hands in pockets, very close so that he has to look a little down to the shorter boy.

"You are such an idiot. What would you do without me to look after you? I can't believe you jumped on that kid the other day. You'd have been beat to a pulp if I hadn't stepped in."

There's a bit of admiration in his voice, though - everyone at school is now saying Hanabusa Akinari is clearly a nutcase to attack someone twice his size. "Watch out for him!"

"I couldn't let him say that. Even if I wasn't sure what he meant."

The boy had actually aimed the taunt at Chojiro, something about "Tanaka and his little butt toy" - a challenge, because Chojiro hadn't had enough fights since coming back to school, and his reputation as most dangerous was seemingly up for grabs.

"Don't act naive, Hanabusa. You knew what he meant. It wouldn't have pissed you off so much if you hadn't. The question is," Chojiro leans in a little closer, "I wonder if he was right."

"What? Don't be nasty."

"He said it to piss me off. But maybe he's referring to the things from before, that we can't remember. Your diary..."

"I thought you said you didn't learn anything from it."

"I didn't say that. I said you never said anything direct."

Akinari is frozen by Chojiro's gaze, like a mouse hypnotized by a snake. He makes a small noise as Chojiro turns his body and pins him against the abutment, a burningly warm hand touching his face.

"You're still an ice cube," says Chojiro, though Akinari's body feels warm and getting warmer. Chojiro slides both arms into the coat, around Akinari's waist.

"You don't want to do this. I'm sick," says Akinari, tilting his head back against the stone, but Chojiro wouldn't be Chojiro if he worried about small dangers. "Maybe there was a reason I brushed my teeth before I came out," he thinks crazily, as he closes his eyes to experience Chojiro's tongue, and the warmth of his body pressing him hard against the rock. And then it's all very familiar. The disjointed remembered emotions suddenly make sense with the present, even though there's something new and different and unfamiliar. The new just makes it more exciting.

Chojiro breaks off, grinning and his eyes shining. He looks the happiest Akinari remembers seeing him in ages.

"You liked that. You are such a fag," he says, affectionately.

"Then so are you, you shit," Akinari responds, grinning back at him, his arms tight around Chojiro's waist.

"Whatever," says Chojiro, leaning in again.