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When I got back, Grandma and Grandpa were still watching TV in the living room. There was this saying about seniors and sleeping and waking at weird hours of the day, but even students cramming for major tests would stay up late when it became a necessity. For my grandparents' case though, they were only up until their favorite evening show was over. With nothing else in particular to do, I decided to go to my room.

I lied down on the futon with the lights out, fan at the side of the open window and aimed at my direction. Despite that, I couldn't sleep a wink and ended up just staring at the ceiling, hoping that the lack of any visual stimulus would bore me to sleep. Then, I heard the sounds from the outer hall die down, which meant that Grandma and Grandpa were off to bed. When everything became completely silent, I decided to call Torahiko on the phone. After dialing and a few rings, someone picked up. It was Torahiko's dad.

"Hello! This is Ooshima Inn! How may I help you?" he said.

"Ah, yes. Ooshima-san? This is Hiroyuki. Is Torahiko there?"

"Ah, Hiroyuki-chan! Nice of you to call. Hold on, I'll call him for you," he said, me hearing him put down the phone. A while later, someone picked it up.

"Yo, Hiroyuki! Tora here! What's up?"

I smiled. "Hey, Tora! Can't sleep back here. How about you?"

"I've been in the kitchen ever since I got home. Been itching to cook a dish and I finally got it right!"

"Really? That's great! Can't wait to have a taste of it."

The tiger laughed. "Can't wait for you to try it either! Anyway, why the sudden call?"

"Well." I chuckled. "No particular reason. I just wanted to hear your voice tonight."

There was a brief pause.

"I-Is that so?" Torahiko said.

"Yeah. Hearing it felt like a breath of fresh air, you know?"

"Geez! You're making me blush here..."

"Ehehe..."

Tora coughed. "Anyway, got any plans tomorrow?"

"Aside from starting working at Tatsu-nii's place tomorrow, not much. Why?"

"Wanna have a sleepover? It's been a long while since we last had one."

"Really? Your parents won't mind?"

"Of course not! Even they're dying to see your face back here! Already told them about it and fist thing they thought of was what to have for dinner that day."

"Is that so? Then I'll take you up on that offer. I'll be a little late because I'll be getting some things from home before going there."

"Really? Alright!" Tora said with glee. "Ah. So that means I'm gonna have to tidy up my room then."

I chuckled. "Haven't kicked that old habit off, huh?"

"Well I'm sorry then!" he said, annoyed.

"Don't be. It's nice to know that the Tora I remember is still here."

"A-Anyway, might as well ask you about it. Wanna have a group study on the 11th? I really need serious help in my homework here!"

"Eh? But we don't have the same teachers, or lessons for that matter."

"It'll be fine! We'll find a way. Juuichi-san's gonna join us too."

I sighed. "I hope you're not planning on just copying."

"Come on, have a little more faith in me, why don't you? Oh, Shun-kun's also coming. So will Kyouji-san, Tarou-kun, and because he's the best at Math but sucks at other things, Kounosuke. Already asked Shin-kun, but he said he was already done with his."

"Looks like it's gonna be a fun group study then. But isn't that the day we would be lighting up fireworks and stuff?"

Tora snorted. "Already planned it. We do everything from morning to afternoon, then when everything's done, we party our asses off!"

"Alright then." I got out my cell phone and made a note on the calendar. "Group study on August 11. What time?"

"As early as you can."

"Okay. I'll just set my alarm here at seven. That alright."

"Sure. Ain't that phone of yours handy, huh? Wish I had one. But you know, no signal and all that."

"At this day and age you don't even need reception to use a cell phone. You can call and send messages to the Internet by wi-fi. You know that, right?"

"Of course we know! We're not complete bumpkins here, Hiroyuki! Even if we did only know that stuff because Kazenari has them."

I chuckled. "Wish Minasato would at least get wi-fi first. So when I get back to the city we can still stay in touch."

"Heh. I'd want that too. We all would."

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already ten in the evening. "It's late. Wanna call it a night?"

"Sure," Tora said. "We'll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow. Good night, Hiroyuki."

"Good night to you too, Tora."

"Ah, wait! One more thing."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for calling. It meant a lot that you did. Even though we did just spend the whole day together with everyone."

I paused. "Now you're the one making me blush. And you're welcome. Let's do this more often."

"Yeah."

Done with our conversation, we both hung up. Going back to my room, I lied down on the futon yet I was still sleepless, my mind fixated on the sleepover me and Tora planned. What were we gonna do? What were we gonna be talking about? Would we play the old games we used to play? All these thoughts went to my head as I smiled. I also thought of bringing something that we could use to reminisce of our childhood days, but finding that something was a task saved for tomorrow.