Please Don't Hit Zero ~ IwaOi

~15~

Thirteen days remaining

Somehow, I manage to get myself out of bed in the morning. I drag myself to school, regretting every second of it. Seeing Iwa will be hard. But it's the last day before the break starts, and I can't afford to miss it.

The two of us kind of awkwardly avoid each other. I don't even know why. I mean, I am not meeting his gaze because it hurts, but why is he not looking for contact?

Nothing else seems off, though. The first and second bell ring. Everything is normal... right?

Wait. I am missing two screaming idiots that make weird comments and even weirder faces. The two of them stay home together every now and then, so that's not all that unusual, but...

Their timers ended yesterday, didn't they? And I haven't even thought about messaging them. Nerves immediately course through my body. Damn it.

When lunch break comes, I want to turn to Iwa and tell him about my concerns. But he isn't even looking my way. His eyes are glued to his phone.

Oh well. It's not like he would understand, anyways. He would go 'Shittykawa, why are you worried? They do this all the time' or something.

Is he texting Lana? The slight smile on his face makes me think that he is. That makes me even more glad that I didn't start a conversation with him. No way I want to hear about his newfound feelings and all that stuff.

Guess I'll take a look at my own phone. No new messages. Makki and Mattsun haven't been online since... Yesterday's lunch break? That's definitely suspicious.

I send the two of them a quick message, but do not receive an answer before the lessons start again. Even when the final bell rings, the two have not replied.

Thus, I decide to talk with Iwa anyways. "Iwa-chan," I start, the awkwardness sounding in my voice a bit. "Could you please check on Makki for me?"

"Hmm? Why?" He doesn't look up from his phone. I can now clearly see that he is texting 'Lana 😊'. Iwa and emojis? Really? I have never seen him use one.

"I have a bad feeling about them not showing up today. Please?" I beg. "Mattsun's place is closer to mine, so I'll be checking there."

"What's so weird about them not showing up?" As expected, he isn't worried at all.

"Please?" I say again. "You can text my cousin every other second."

Ack. There goes the jealous comment I was hoping to hold back. He now turns his gaze to me, frowning. "Right. Whatever. I'll do it."

"Thanks," I reply quietly. Time to pack my bag and leave as soon as possible. I don't know what happened to Iwa, but he clearly doesn't want to talk to me anymore.

If Lana found out, she would probably cry. She already felt bad about taking him as a love interest. It's best not to let her know that for some reason, it seems to be ruining our friendship.

Without wasting any more seconds on the weird behaviour of my friend, I rush to Mattsun's house.

His mom opens the door with an extremely worried look on her face. That's not good. "Hi, Tooru," she says. "Did Issei call you...?"

"No, what's wrong?" Anxiously, I look past her. The living room is empty.

She averts her gaze a little. "Well... I don't know if Issei is willing to see anyone right now..."

"Please?" For the third time in fifteen minutes, I beg.

A broken voice suddenly sounds from behind her. "Oikawa...?"