Kurogane shrugged. “Gotta admit she’s a pretty girl”, he said. If you turned your brain off and ignored her abhorrent personality, that was. “But maybe you simply brushed your teeth and turned into night clothes. Maybe you weren’t that drunk. Or maybe it was just routine and habit kicking in.” If Yuui could at least depend on his habits, that was a good sign in Kurogane’s book. Would save him a lot of trouble if he went on autopilot again.
“Listen”, he said when Yuui asked him to tie him up again, gently brushing over Yuui’s back. “If you’re conscious enough to get dressed, open the door, close and lock it again, get to Hana’s house, talk and flirt with her, drink, get back safely while drunken, and then get cleaned up enough so I don’t even notice any of it, I wouldn’t be too worried that you’re not awake and aware when it happens. I think you just don’t remember it later.”
Even though he had a hard time to come up with a reason why Yuui would sneak away and don’t tell Kurogane if he was simply awake without remembering later.
‘Or it isn’t him’, the very low voice in the back of his head whispered again. Weirdly, even though the thought was outrageous, it was Kurogane’s logical part that noticed that his own explanation about Yuui suddenly sneaking away and back again, without Kurogane noticing, sounded completely bonkers. After all, Kurogane had only been working on Akachan from 7-10, so Yuui had only 3 hours to get dressed, get to Hana (without a car), get drunk, flirt and kiss, come back (without a car and drunken), shower and brush his teeth, dry his hair, get into night clothes, and fall asleep again.
‘Occam’s razor dictates that it wasn’t him’, his logic whispered. But since Kurogane didn’t have an answer to the question who else it should have been, he waved the thought away again.
Ghosts weren’t real, after all, and Yuui never had had a twin, anyway.
Kurogane still couldn’t tie Yuui up. Yeah, at least they’d find out if it kept happening even with Yuui tied up, or it would stop the problem by preventing Yuui from wandering off, but Kurogane wouldn’t be able to live with the thought that Yuui was tied to his bed for several hours alone with no means to get free. It was just impossible. Kurogane could never do it.
“Fuck no. I can’t leave you here tied up”, he said. “I wouldn’t be able to take a single step out of the door.” He continued brushing over Yuui’s back. “You can come with me and sit in my lectures tomorrow. Just sit there, you don’t have to think and you can doze off.” He suggested this first because he thought that after not going outside for a week, it would probably be good for Yuui to get some fresh air and see a few friendly faces (Battler was in Kurogane’s lectures), even if it would be hard for Yuui to endure. Maybe Yuui had run away to Hana because he was lonely. “If you don’t think you’re well enough for that, I can stay home tomorrow, and after that, it’s weekend anyway.”
Yuui really wanted to make a joke with Kurogane as he pointed out Hana was a pretty girl, but he were too tired for anything right now that he just gives a strained laugh back over it. Too spent to really want to even make any sort of joke now. His brain just felt so mushy he didn’t even know if he was mentally able to make any coherent tries at a joke right now.
He had been so off lately he had even been tempted to call his mother and ask if there was any sort of history with dementia or anything close to it in the family.
His try at getting tied up once more failed, as Kurogane pointed out all the reasons that they shouldn’t worry too much about it. But all those reasons just made him worry more about it. He didn’t feel hungover at all. So he was sure he had not been drinking, so his worst fear was still that he had gone out on his own, and kissed Hana on his own. That was what he feared the most!
“I can’t come to school with you when I haven’t been to my own classes for a week.” He chuckles gently, as he understood Kurogane were trying his best to find the best way to keep his eyes on him and not have to tie him up. Of course the only logical thing in the end was for Kurogane to stay at home. Something Yuui hated. He hated Kurogane cutting off anything else he had to do to be home with him.
Yet, more than he hated the thought right now, he was afraid and didn’t want to walk off again.
“C… can you stay home tomorrow?” Yuui whispers, as he tries to calm down. If Kurogane was there for three days, he at least knew he wouldn’t wander off in that time. It meant it was three days of safety. After that hopefully he felt good enough to get to school himself. He just had to hope Hana hadn’t ended up spreading it or anything. He really hoped she was the sort of person that wouldn’t gossip.
He didn’t know if he could deal with being judged by people above the constant feeling of floating through his days.