False Advertising

style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Courier New";color:black'>Eleven

            Shun was more than relieved to find the furo empty,
tempted to nearly dive in from the doorway. Sighing, he placed his effects in
his tub and slid it into a slot.  Suddenly taking notice of his sore feet,
Shun groaned as he trekked to the faucet, giving himself a bone-shilling douse
of cold water before he tied his hair up and approached the furo, dipping
himself in with a murmur of gratitude.  He sank back, resting his head
against the edge.  Sighing once more, he was even gladder to feel his
problems begin to melt away.

            Well, most of them. . . er, some of them.  He
growled in frustration as he realized that the most prominent of his qualms
were still just as boisterous in his mind.  The sempais. . . it couldn't
be, could it?  And if it was, how long could it really last?  It was
almost sad to see that not only they'd want to keep it a secret – if it were
true, that is – but. . . there's always the chance that it'd been a secret for
years and that they weren't just toying with Kazuya. After all, they did decide
to become terminal students together. . . perhaps they were just waiting for
Suka and Shun? Or is that hoping way too much?

            Shun pushed his hand through the water and frowned. 
Watching the tiny disturbances ripple through the tank, he sank back into deep
thought.  He no longer wished to concentrate on the sempais; it was their
problem and not his.  Now it seemed that only Hasukawa was on his
mind.  Why should it bother him? Suka-chan was always on his mind. How could he not think about his best
buddy?  Sure, he was getting a little quiet lately, but maybe it could
have just been attributed to him getting serious with school-work.  After
all, he was beginning to take after Shinobu. Still, it worried Shun a
bit. 

            Was that all that bothered him about Kazuya?  Shun
shrugged, figured that was it – at least until that damned gay-vibe recurred.

            He sat up with a start, a splash pushing back and forth
through the water.  Couldn't be.  Just an hour ago he almost pulled
the wool over some chick's eyes!  He liked girls, right?  Shun, a
little unnerved, settled back into the water.  His frown deepened a bit as
he reasoned for a brief moment that maybe this was, in fact, why he never found
his type of girl.  He was about to punch himself when he began to foolishly
rationalize. What was with the seriousness all of a sudden? Why style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>now? What makes today so special?
Shouldn't crazy life-changing things
happen on important days?

            "Maybe that's what makes today important. . ."
he murmured.  If he wasn't that way, then thinking through the possibility
that he was shouldn't bother him.  After all, the question is demanded of style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>all, isn't it?  Is it not one of
the deeper personal inquiries that levels humanity? So that one can live
happily?  Seriously, it's not like there would be anything wrong with it,
especially here at Greenwood.

            Taking a deep breath, Shun closed his eyes and asked
himself.  He almost chuckled – this was silly! Besides, if he was gay,
who'd he be gay with?  Hasukawa?  Hardly.

            Yeah, Suka-chan.

            Shun eyes shot open as if he'd actually heard a solid
answer.  As it had every time he asked the question, his denial
automatically kicked in as to give him time to convince himself that he liked
him  – Girls!  Liked girls. "I think it's too warm in here.
. ." Shun muttered as he rubbed his eyes; maybe he was just tired. 
Ever since the start of the year he had been worrying a lot about Kazuya so
maybe that was why he kept thinking about him – they were roommates, after
all. Unfortunately, this was not the first time he'd considered this. What
bothered him a bit, though, was that this was the third time in just two days.
Strangely experimental ideas were becoming oddly frequent. His crush,
certainly, was still not going away.

            Shun pushed it away and managed to smile. 
Abandoning thoughts of possibly being gay or the sempais or whatever, he was
just glad to have Hasukawa as a friend - no matter what more it may or may not
lead to.

            He smirked, too, as he stretched and yawned in the
water.  "I don't think I'm his type, anyway."

What happens next?:

[Shun rests his eyes for a
bit.] Go to Chapter Seventeen (style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>17)

[Shun goes to talk about this
with Kazuya . . . maybe.] Go to Chapter Sixteen
(16)