The third chapter of "N Y L A" where Hiro tries to hang out with some of his close friends, but wonders if he's as close to them as he used to be, and how his relationship with Sakura might be influencing it.

Chapter Text

3 in the afternoon where he was, 11 at night where she was. Rubbing his eyes after finally deciding that he wouldn't get to sleep and he should try to do things, he crawled out of bed and did a quick stretch. Over and over in his head, he kept hearing "We'll make this work," and over and over in his head he could just imagine her waking up to see him just fall asleep. It hurt his heart, but what could he do? Their sleeping patterns were just way too off…

"At least listening to Miku and Zorome might distract me…" he mumbled under his breath, plopping down in his seat and wiggling the mouse a little to make the screen flicker on. "Come on, hurry up," he said, giving the mouse an extra wiggle despite knowing it wouldn't do anything. Soon enough, he had his password typed in: "02ZeroTwoSixteen16," a homage to their user codes on the chat site they used. Then he tapped on the icon in his taskbar and checked his friend's server.

There was plenty of chat about random things. A new tabletop roleplaying system had just come out, so Ichigo and a few of the others were going over the rules together. There was something about how you could sneak attack with a shield bash, and the mental image made Hiro just chuckle and shake his head. These games weren't always the most sensible, but they sure were fun, and one of the few ways he still stayed connected to all his other friends.

Then his eyes lingered to the "Gaming" voicechat. Or, well, it used to be named that, before someone renamed it to "Lovebirds Nest." He wondered for a moment who did that, and then wondered if the two in there, Zorome and Miku, had even noticed.

Now, he wasn't usually one to cause trouble… Or come in between their private times… Yet, he really wanted to see what their reaction would be. So, like the clever person he was, he opened up Ichigo's private messages.

It had been so long since he talked to her, he noticed, and let out an audible "Sheesh" when he noticed that a full two months had passed since they last had a private conversation together. They used to chat all the time, but… Shaking his head, he decided to set out to do what he wanted instead of focus on that.

"Hey Ichigo. Was it you that renamed the gaming voicechat?" he sent. He knew it was probably either her or Goro, and if Goro was the one that did it… Well, he had a plan for that too.

It took a minute before he saw the 'Typing. . .' indicator appear, and then a message appeared. "Nope, that was Goro this time."

That surprised Hiro for a second. Just straight up ratting him out? Well, he guessed it really didn't matter as long as the two lovebirds themselves didn't find out who it was. In any case, he quickly responded back with, "Well those two wanted to talk to you anyway. Mind hopping in their voicechat for them? I'll be there too." Trap, set.

"Wha? They just assumed it was me? Rude," Ichigo typed, and as soon as he read that, Hiro tabbed over to the server, watching the voicechat with his mouse hovering over to 'Enter Call' button.

It took a minute to get her headset on, or at least that was what Hiro assumed was keeping her. Though as soon as she entered the call, he clicked his mouse button down, muted himself, and listened to the sure-to-ensue chaos.

It was Miku's voice he heard first, still in the middle of a sentence, "-but what I'm saying is you always run in and die!" she stressed the word die with a raise of her voice.

Then Zorome's came up, a lot more nonchalant and dismissive, "Eh, so what? I respawn anyway. Not my fault that this game's dumb and things are way too overpowered. Wait, did you hear two people join?"

There was a pause from the both of them, and then it was Ichigo who took the time to speak, "Hey guys. You wanted to talk to me..?" she asked unsurely, and Hiro could almost feel her gaze shift to his muted icon. Teasingly he stuck out his tongue, not that she could see it.

"About what? Did you call her in here so you didn't have to have your ass told off?" Miku accused Zorome, though that prompted Ichigo to speak up again.

"No… Hiro said you two wanted to talk to me about the voicechat's name change?" the blue-haired icon clarified, and then all of them could hear the sudden keyboard presses of Zorome and Miku tabbing out and then clicking to the server.

"Lovebird's Nest!?" the two said in sync.

Then Zorome asked before Miku could, "Wait, did you change it? Did Hiro? What sense does that even make, we're not lovebirds. You guys just never play with us anymore, so we spend a lot of friendly time in here!"

Miku chimed in after the initial shock had washed through her, clearly just as irritated while trying to justify themselves, "Yeah, that's all. This running joke is stupid- Wait, how long had it been like that? When did we start again, Zorome..?" she asked.

All the while, Hiro was lightly laughing in his seat. He could hear the confusion from Ichigo's attempts to get a word in over Miku and Zorome, but they kept on.

"Three hours ago. Has it been like that for three hours? Everyone probably saw it and didn't say anything, ugh!" Zorome said, and Hiro could hear him hit the desk with a fist.

At that point, Ichigo finally decided to force her way before they could continue rambling on. "Okay, okay, settle down. It was just a joke. I didn't do it, but it was pretty funny… Despite all the jokes we know you two aren't really together-together-" Then she was cut off by Zorome again.

"We're not even regular together!" the boy huffed.

"Yeah we're not," Miku confirmed, then suddenly turned her focus on the forth person in the call. "Wait, Hiro sent you in here? Hiro I swear if you were the one that did it you're getting your butt kicked in the next session we play."

Oh no. Now he'd have to hold back his laughter and defend himself. He put his hand over his mouth and took a deep breath in through his nose, then slowly release it through his mouth. Once he was settled down, he hit the unmute button and spoke up, "No, wasn't me either. I just wanted to see how you two would react when you noticed. You would've been blowing up the chat literally if you had noticed," he explained. He couldn't supress the chuckle that came up, but he managed to take his finger off the push-to-talk button before it went over the voicechat.

"Yeah? Who did it then?" Zorome spoke up as soon as he was finished.

Then Miku pressed in as well, "Yeah, who?"

Hiro almost felt like him and Ichigo looked at each other's icons at the same time. Whether they did or not, they still seemingly had an understanding: Time to dip.

"Hey sorry, I gotta head to dinner-" Hiro said, glancing at the clock. Dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon? He wished.

"I have to head off too, for some jogging before it gets too dark," Ichigo's excuse was at least a little more reasonable.

Right as Zorome and Miku's icons lit up, both of the other two clicked "Disconnect," and silence fell upon Hiro's ears again. For a minute, until he blinked his eyes open and noticed a message from Ichigo. He opened it, and grinned as soon as he read, "You're terrible. Glad to see you outside of our weekly tabletop games, though," and that last part is what put Hiro into a bit more sombre tone.

He used to love hanging out with the group. They were his safety net. If anything went wrong, he could run to any one of them. Now, it was all about Sakura… Sakura, the one that had stolen his heart, yet she was so far away. His heart was all the way in another country, and it wasn't even assured that they'd meet each other.

Hiro thought about replying to Ichigo's message, but instead he tabbed over to his games list and opened up one of the many open world building games that he liked to occupy his time with. He didn't know anything to say to Ichigo that wouldn’t lead to a conversation about Sakura, and he didn't want to have that conversation with her right now.

His heart was too deeply embedded in her to let her go.

Besides, he still kept up with his friends. It wasn't like he had tossed them away completely. He had just swapped out some of their time for time being with Sakura. They all understood that this was what made him happy, right? He even remembered Goro and Ichigo commenting on how happy he seemed after the long boat of depression he had been in, right when he started talking to Sakura.

If they wanted him to be happy, they could let go a little, right?

Right, he told himself.

Despite the intense longing. The yearning to hold Sakura in his arms, the willingness to go to any length for her and to see her smile. He'd throw all his happiness out the window if he could just see that smile.

"Too bad life's not perfect," he sighed out, shaking his head to clear it some, and opened up one of his save files on his game. It was named "Mistilteinn," where he worked on making a big, big kingdom. He was the king, and Sakura was his queen. It was so complex at that point: A castle with so many rooms, and hidden rooms, a dungeon area for any who might try to tear them apart. Then he built a place for each of his friends to live in. Ikuno got a research lab because she liked science so much, Ichigo had a building close to the castle where the royal guard could be since she was a natural born leader. Miku and Zorome got their own little school together… He didn't know why, but he thought with their conflicting personalities they'd make great school teachers.

If only they could all be in this world. Something built from the ground up, where everything can be perfect, he thought.

Or maybe if only Sakura could be in his arms, they wouldn't have timezones, or distance, or anything else in the way of being together.

With a deep inhale, Hiro tabbed out, put on some upbeat music, and set off to go make a new building… He didn't know what it'd be yet, but in a kingdom, there had to be plenty of places to live, right?

A big, happy city. Everyone knew each other. Everyone could support each other. Everyone could love each other.

And he would be happy with Sakura.

They would make this work, and eventually they could have a perfect reality like in his game.

She gave him hope, and drive, and that's all he could ever want. She was all he could ever want. She made him happy, and that's what he needed.