Youthful Days (Book 1)

Preview: Golden Era (Book 2)

Below is a teaser section of the sequel Golden Era (which is now up!)

link: wattpad.com/story/199346755-golden-era

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW STORY, BUT A SELECT CHAPTER.

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When the string of frantic knocking reached him, Fuji glanced up once and decided to ignore it. He knew what Eiji had to say and hoped silence was enough to make him give up.

However, this proved to be only wishful thinking. Before Fuji could refocus on the task at hand, the door swung open. It thrashed against the wall violently, sending motes of paint dust raining down on the floor.

Fuji kept his eyes down, "Eiji, if you plan on bursting in like this, then you might as well forget about knocking altogether."

"And if you plan on hiding from me," Eiji shot back, panting, "then maybe we shouldn't live together anymore."

There was a minute of silence between them.

"Where have you been for the past week?" Eiji demanded sharply.

"I've been busy. You know I have tons of graduate school applications—"

"That didn't stop you from coming to Misono before."

Eiji went on watching Fuji writing for a few more minutes. He was unscrambling some complicated chemistry equations, his concentration honed in on the formulas at hand instead of Eiji. The nonchalance alone made the top of Eiji's head boil like an angry volcano. "Fuji Shuusuke, put down your pen!"

Fuji stopped writing and faced his friend.

"Tell me, why did you withdraw from the teaching assistant position?"

"How did you know about that?"

"Just answer my question."

"It didn't fit my schedule anymore."

"Oh really?" Eiji narrowed his eyes, "That, or because you found out Ayuna was in your class?"

Swiveling his chair around, Fuji picked up his pen again, "Think what you like, Eiji."

"What I think is you're giving up on her," Eiji said. "Are you?"

After another beat of silence, Fuji began evenly, "She's engaged. Not to just anyone, but Yozei Sachi."

"I know that. But so what?"

"So what?" Fuji jeered. He thought back to the brilliant white light bathing the clock tower terrace, the blank expression plastered to Ayuna's face, and the behemoth diamond ring. "It means she's taken. She's moved on, given her heart to someone else. Isn't walking away the rational thing to do?"

Eiji was appalled. "How can you say that?"

"Do I have a choice?" Fuji shot back coldly. "This isn't three years ago, but three years later. We are all clearly leading very different lives. None of us can ever go back to that time again. They are memories and they'll stay that way—"

"No." Plucking the pen out of Fuji's hands, Eiji threw it to the floor, "It's not 'us' but you. You can't go back because you're a coward! You shrivel up into your stupid little shell whenever a roadblock appears and you never bother to consider there might be an alternative side to the story! It used to drive me nuts back in the days and it's still driving me nuts!"