About 3 months have passed since the incident with the gunman and a great deal of things have changed. After excelling in school and making his way to the top of the freshman classes, Byte was sponsored for room and board on campus. He ended up getting his own dorm, free of charge, which was great. The original plan had gone over smoothly, he stayed with us until he found a place for himself to go and now we won't have to worry about being a burden on my parents. Although he did seem reluctant at first, he did end up accepting the school's offer. Besides, it's not like we wouldn't see each other anymore. Occasionally, I would go and visit him at his dorm, and sometimes he would stop by here and hangout for a little bit (It's not like I can escape patting his head at this point.) 

When I was getting ready for school this morning I had noticed how quiet my parents were. I know the mornings can be rough sometimes but for socially outgoing people like themselves this was just odd. 

“You guys are on the quiet side this morning, something wrong?” I asked

“Not really honey, it just feels a little weird not having Biito here eating with the three of us after being here for so long.” my Mom replied. 

“I was just thinking the same thing.” my Dad added as he took a drink out of his mug. 

“It's okay though, he’ll still be around I promise you that. Also we thought it would be great for him to take the dorm opportunity on campus so you guys wouldn't have to keep worrying about another person living here” I responded. 

“He wasn't any trouble honey, actually we really liked him” my Mom said with a smile.

“A lot” my Dad added as he pointed at me. 

The walk to school was eerily silent, which, I guess isn't that different from how it used to be, but this was different somehow. I couldn't place my finger on what exactly was bothering me today, but I wanted it to quit. 

“Maybe it's the winter air” I said to myself as I trudged along through the cold. There wasn't that much snow on the ground yet, but it was enough to change the way the landscape looked. But despite how different the scenery was, I had recognized one part of the wooded area on the way to school even now, after so much time had passed. 

‘This is where Byte and I met’ I thought to myself as I looked at the familiar place. I shook myself a bit and then continued trudging along until I made it to school. 

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The school day went on as any other did, but for some reason I felt a tinge of excitement toward the middle of the day, and found myself ready for my next class. I hurriedly grabbed some materials from my locker and got to class a little early, and watched as the students poured in, as well as the professor. Class began, and after a few minutes in I felt my excitement fade. The seat next to me was empty, ‘Byte’s not here’ I thought to myself. 

After class I ran into Yua and Reiji in the hallway on my way to my last class of the day. 

“Sure I'd love to grab coffee with you guys after school!” I responded to their question. 

“Great! It's not like I would have taken no for an answer!” Yua boasted with a hearty laugh. 

“You know how persuasive she can be” Reiji added with a sigh. “By the way, where's Biito don't you two share this period together?” 

I hesitated for a moment. “Y-yeah but for some reason he wasn't here today.”

“Wow that's really weird for such a smarty pants like him” Yua observed as she touched her finger to her lip. 

“Here, I’ll text him and see if he’ll meet us after school,” Reiji said as he grabbed his phone from his back pocket. 

“Awesome!” I exclaimed as I waved by to my friends, “I’ll see you both after school!”

The school day ended on a good note and I made my way to the local coffee shop. ‘Mug Boys does make a really good cup of coffee, and it'll taste and feel so good after being cold for most of the day’ I thought to myself. ‘Yeah why else would I pick it dummy?’ Yua suddenly appeared in my head (what is she doing in my thought bubble?) When I arrived the scent of ground coffee really lifted me away, I felt light as a feather. Before I could get too carried away, I noticed my friends were already here, sitting in a booth seat by the window with a view of the street. They probably saw me coming from at least a street down. 

“HERE SHE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY!” Yua blurted out as Reiji ducked down. 

“Oh put a sock in it!” I replied with a chuckle while looking around. “Where's Biito?”\

\

“Dunno, he never responded to my text…” Reiji said as he showed me his phone. 

“Its alright guysssss, we can have fun without him can't we?” Yua asked with a grin. 

I nodded my head and smiled. 

We enjoyed our coffee and did some catching up together. It had been a couple weeks or so since we had last been in the same place together and some quality time with friends was needed. After all, exams were right around the corner and we all knew that we wouldn't have much time to just hang out and talk once we started studying. 

“Exams are upon us, we should all study together” Reiji said as he finished his latte. 

“That’d be really great, we could help each other out with our not so strong subjects” I added. 

“Yeah, as long as this one isnt too distracting” Reiji said as he pointed over to Yua sitting right beside him. 

“Aweee what's the matter Rei-Rei? am I a distraction?” Yua asked in a mocking tone as she wrapped her arms around Reiji and gave him a noogie. 

Reiji squirmed to get away from her before adding “We should get Biito on board, there probably isn't anything we can’t learn from that guy” Reiji said as he swatted away Yuas probing. 

“Well, he's probably too busy with that new girlie friend of his” Yua mocked while she tried to grab Reiji's cheek. 

“Girlfriend?” I asked.