He’d managed to get his alone time, but in the end, all he’d done was look back over his memories of Koutarou. He still didn’t have any clear answers, all that had happened was that time had passed. When he checked the bedside clock, it was almost noon.

– – –

“Let me make some coffee.”

When they got up to the second floor, it wasn’t the living room that Shuuji headed for, but the kitchen. He’d been the one to invite the clone upstairs, but he still didn’t have any idea what he was supposed to say, or what kind of attitude he should adopt. The coffee was just an excuse to buy time.

The clone meekly accepted it, and took a seat on the sofa in the living room. The only thing Shuuji could see from the kitchen was his shoulders and the back of his head, and the fact that the clone didn’t seem to have noticed Shuuji’s stare made him feel a bit better.

Standing in front of the coffee maker he’d used so often, his hands moved on their own. After setting up the coffee grounds, he prepared two cups, and then got the sugar and the milk from the fridge.

Koutarou preferred to add a little sugar and milk, rather than take it black. His hands moved of their own accord, adding them to the finished coffee.

“Smells good. If it’s done, I can carry it over.”

Completely unaware of Shuuji’s internal turmoil, the clone turned from his place on the sofa and offered his help in an easy tone.

“No, I’ve got it,” Shuuji responded hastily, forcing a smile onto his face, and then carried the coffee over to the clone, a mug in each hand. If he approached the clone, rather than the other way around, he’d have a little more time to prepare himself.

“Thanks, as always.”

Koutarou never failed to say thank you to Shuuji, even over the most trivial things. And the clone said it too, just as naturally, as he accepted the cup.

Beside the clone was empty space for Shuuji to sit. Usually they’d sit right next to each other, so close that they would touch, but now for some reason, he couldn’t do it. Still though, leaning too far towards the end of the sofa might be interpreted as him disliking the clone entirely, so he took a seat with just a little distance between them.

He brought the steaming cup to his mouth and poured a mouthful of coffee down his throat in an effort to calm himself down.

Shuuji was the one who’d said he’d call once he’d calmed down. Now he’d invited the clone up to the second floor, and there was no reason for them not to reopen their interrupted conversation.

“Can I ask something?”

“Of course, anything.” The clone smiled, apparently happy that Shuuji had been the one to start the conversation.

“What originally made you think you wanted to create a clone?　And why one of yourself?”

Shuuji couldn’t understand it. The clone had said he’d wanted proof of his hypothesis, but it seemed like a big risk to take on just for one researcher’s theory.

“Look at how thin you’ve gotten…”

The clone stared fixedly at Shuuji’s face, and muttered something that didn’t have anything to do with the question. He sounded like he was in pain.

“Nevermind that, listen to what I said…”