How Could You? (Souyo)

Escapade

"Huh?"

"Please," he sighs.

"Dude, what's up with you?" I scoff.

"I'm worried about you."

"The hell for?"

"Please just come back to the hotel."

"Dude, I'm busy."

"I don't want to be alone," he whispers.

I stop for a second. "I'm on my way."

"Th-That's not what I meant," he splutters.

"Yu. I won't leave you, man."

If Kanji's said something, or Dojima's called, or whatever...

Fuck.

I won't let him down.

~~~

Yu's POV:

"So," he clicks his tongue. "No real emergency, huh?"

"Kanji was out of line last night."

"He was right, though," he shrugs.

"Yosuke, that's not true."

"Be honest," he grunts. "You think I'm just as much of a loser as he does, don't you?"

"Don't degrade yourself," I snap.

"You didn't deny it."

"You're not a loser."

"Only 'cause I forced you to say it."

"Yosuke," I say.

"Sorry," he mutters. "Didn't want a pity party."

"You both said some pretty awful things to each other last night."

"Yeah, because—"

"Kanji doesn't see you that way."

"And what about you, huh?"

"That was one time."

"Only one time that I'm aware of," he mumbles.

"Yosuke—"

"You're strong, Yu," he says. "And it's not that I don't think you can take care of yourself, but... Kanji's a big guy."

"He's no different than you and me."

There's so much he wants to say, but he stops himself. Why?

"Hey," he sighs. "About what you said yesterday... About the drugs—"

My breath hitches.

"Sorry," he says. "Bet you don't wanna think about that on a trip."

"I just don't believe he'd ever take something like that."

"And I believe you."

"Just like that?" I scoff.

"Just like that," he nods. "I'll always have your back."

If he were to ever find out about Yuna...

"So let's get to the bottom of this," he smiles.

"...What?"

"We're gonna dig deep," he says. "Until we find what exactly happened."

"You don't have to do that," I stammer.

"Yu," he sighs. "Of course I do. You're my partner."

Partner.

Fuck, Yosuke.