I Won't Let You Wilt

Sit by my side

"Hey!!"

Kel ran towards the two of them as soon as he noticed them standing by the lake.

"Sunny?" Kel uttered, raising his eyes in surprise. "I didn't know you were back."

"Hey, Kel." Sunny waved at him.

Sunny didn't know whether to tell Kel that he'd come back mainly to live with Basil.

"Sorry that I didn't tell you I was coming back," Sunny confessed. "I was going to try and visit you after Basil."

"Oh..."

Last time they talked, their relations had seemed okay. Still, after revealing the truth to his friends, Sunny hadn't been able to make up for all that he'd done.

Hero had been furious at him, and especially at Basil for coming up with and executing such a horrific plan. Aubrey couldn't believe they'd hide the truth of Mari's death for so many years, and kind of blamed them for inflicting all that pain and misery on themselves. Eventually, after a few months had passed, Aubrey seemed to become a bit more understanding towards Sunny whenever Sunny called her to talk to her.

Kel was just confused that they'd attempted to hide everything for so long. He'd gotten mad at them, explosively mad, but just minutes after, he remarked that they must really enjoy self-torture to bottle things up for such a long time.

"You could've called me to say you were coming back, at least," Kel said. "But I guess I know why you didn't want to."

Basil tilted his face away from their attention.

Sunny turned his gaze to his shoes. "I'm so sorry for the things I did. I know your brother won't ever forgive me, and it's okay if you're still angry at me, too."

"I'm not angry," Kel said a bit ambivalently. "Just...amazed at the lengths you two went to in order to hide things."

You still sound a bit angry, but I guess that's only natural when your brother literally hates us...

"Anyway, I don't like to dwell on it," Kel said. "As long as you've learned your lesson and you're honest about things from now on, I still consider the two of you friends."

"Thanks, Kel. I'll be honest about everything, I promise," Sunny said.

"M—Me too," Basil added.

"Oh! You must be wondering why I'm here." Kel smiled characteristically. "Actually, I saw you two wandering through the park an hour ago. I thought about calling out to you, but I was really hungry at the time, so I went to the plaza to grab a pizza. Then I got bored, and I guessed the two of you would come here...it looks like I was right!"

"Good guess," Sunny complimented.

"So, how're you two?" Kel asked.

Sunny turned to face Basil, noticing his rather embarrassed expression, eyes evasive.

"We just wanted to check out our old hangout spot," Sunny answered. "It's still a nice place, isn't it?"

"Sure is."

"Are you doing anything today?" Sunny asked.

"Just gonna go practice basketball in the park once the rain clears."

Does Kel think it's odd that we're sharing an umbrella and wearing matching flowers in our hair...?

"...But while you're here, Sunny, how would you like to be invited to a reunion party that's happening at the end of this week?"