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School was finally over, and the weekend was tomorrow. As you opened your locker, you hear dour name being called out by a squeaky male voice.

Yukio.* You thought to yourself as you confirmed it was indeed him by looking over to your right side, only to see his smaller first-year form rushing towards you. "(Y/n)-senpai! I have something you need to deliver to Bokuto-san!"

You took it a blinked a few times confusedly as he handed you two sheets of paper in some foreign language, "Um, what are these?"

"Just deliver it to, Bokuto-san," Yukio said with a tired smile. "Akaashi-san said that he was familiar with this language and that he was looking for it. And tell him I need to talk to him later as well, please."

"Where did you find this?"

"While studying in the library!" He said proudly with a fist clenched over his heart.

You laughed and thanked him, then finished packing up to go home, when you recieved a text.

Akaashi: Hey, Bokuto's at the park, can you go check up on him, he's in a funny mood.

You smiled as you quickly replied with,

(Y/n): You got it, dude!

You did get to the park, but you were at the point where your curiosity was over-the-limit. You sent him like three texts, but he never replied, and quite frankly, that made you feel self-conscious.

It didn't take long for you to find his spiky grey hair facing a tree with...two-lunch boxes?? You didn't necessarily suspect he was cheating on you or anything, since there was no one else there, and he didn't seem to be waiting for someone. So, with pure courage, you made your way over to him.

"Koutarou...?"

He jumped up from his seat on the bench as he turned around to look at you, "(Y/n)! What are you doing here?"

"I, uh...I wanted to talk with you." You said, scratching the back of your head with a sheepish smile.

He nodded as he scooted over on the bench and patted the spot next to him, signaling for you to sit with him. You smiled slightly as you sat next to him. "Talk? About what?"

"Well... Two lunches?" You said looking at him with a weird expression.

He looked amused with your answer, "Is that your concern?"

"Well—" You were about to answer, until he interrupted you.

"There's no one."

"Huh...?" You looked shocked. If there was no one, then why...

"I just...wanted to feel like there was." Bokuto said staring down at his toes, with a quieter expression than usual.

You stayed silent, not knowing exactly how to answer.

"What? Something else you wanted to ask me?"

"Yukio was looking for you." You said, remembering the initial reason you came.

"Yukio?" He said while tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah, he wanted you to read this." You said handing him the papers.

"Did Akaashi bring...?" It looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped himself.

"Huh?"

"Uh, never mind." He said while laughing with a frivolous grin apparent on his features. "But alright, I'll talk to the little chibi later."

"Oh, okay." You replied, smiling back at him cutely, making his heart race.

You kept silent after that, leaving Bokuto a little confused, "What is it? It seems like there's more on your mind."

You paused for a moment, thinking of the right question before you asked, "What are you doing here?"

He paused, but then gazed up at the tree, "Take a look at this."

He motioned up the tree, your eyes widening as you noticed a whole bunch of carvings of names all along it. "Wow, so many names..."

"Look at the top ones..." He said in a very serious tone, surprisingly for you since he usually kept his frivolent personality.

"Uh...what am I looking at?"

"They're old characters from an old language. Barely even used nowadays." He said turning his gaze to you, then back up at the strange characters.

"Old characters..." You repeated his words softly out loud, unconsciously.

"I might've told you before, but when I was a kid, I had a friend who loved languages. But these characters are from a time-period long before our time. A very forgeign language, basically."

"What does it say?" You looked at him while tilting your head.

He scooted closer, "Koutarou."

"Huh?" Your eyes widened.

"And it says 'Hana' next to it." He said with a distant expression and a small smile.

"Hana...? Who is she?"

"She passed away last year. We were friends from childhood." His gaze returned to the two engravings at the top of the tree.

Your eyes widened, at a loss for words.

"She was like a sister to me. Annoying, but irresistibly cute at the same time. I used to take care of her as if I were her real brother. I might have the only person to think of her that way, really."

He paused to look at you, a smile crept up on his face as he took your smaller hand in his.

"She was such a crybaby, always clinging to me... We went everywhere together. We even carved both of our names here, one fateful day. See, Hana was crying. She wouldn't stop, and I didn't know what to do. So I told her, 'I'll do anything you ask, as long as you stop crying.' Then she replied..."

He took a breath as he squeezed your hand tighter, "She said, 'Can I marry you?'"

Your eyes widened as you were taken aback by that answer. Bokuto could feel your uneasiness and sent you a reassuring smile. You returned the expression, hesitantly, but urged him to continue.

"Still a kid, I agreed without giving it much thought. And as proof of our promise, we carved our names...using a language we just learned together, that ancient language I was talking to you about. It was like a secret code like only the two of us knew..."

He took a long pause, but regained his 'cool' from that emotional time of his life as he stood up from the bench, and sent you a gaze, much different than the ones he had ever given you before.

"Pretty cliched tale, huh? I'm sure you've heard stories like it a thousand times. I soon forgot about the promise regarding it as...well, as just another play date. But she never cried after that. Not even when I teased her, and not even when she injured herself. In fact, she didn't even cry on the day my parents decided to move across Japan to the Kanto region."

"..!" You yet again stood silent as he spoke, you really didn't know how to respond to any of this. Who would?

"Everyone came to see me off. And she stood all by herself, behind my family and friends. She just quietly looked at me, with eyes fit to burst into tears at any moment. And that's when I realized that sweet girl, whom I adored as a little sister, believed my promise. I'm such..a...such a hopeless fool." He said letting out a deep sigh while rubbing his temples.

"Bokuto..."

"That's why I decided I was never going to get married. I can't trample on her feelings any more than I already have. Obviously, I know this won't change anything. But...I wont be able to forgive myself if I didn't honor my word. I...I'm a weak person."

You stood up as well, as he took both your hands in his sending you a sympathetic look, "Im sorry I had to tell you all of this. Are you...jealous?"

You sighed as you looked into his eyes, "Don't ask me that."

He chuckled slightly as he pulled you into a gentle embrace, "Exactly what I suspected. Seriously...you're just too cute, you know."

"U-uhh..." You are currently a flustered mess, mixed feelings soaring all over your body.

"Well, that's enough of the teasing, I suppose." He said, giving a cheeky grin.

"Koutarou!"

"But you know, for as bad as I feel, it is s precious memory to me. That's why I wanted you to know."

Your eyes widened as he snake his arms around your waist and pulled you in tighter as you hesitantly wrapped yours around his neck, "I was the one who took away her tears. The one who buried her under her repressed despair. It's all my fault. I'll never forget the look on her face that day...How could I?"

He pulled back as he took one of your hands and stepped further back from the tree, taking in a good look, at it, "Im so sorry, Hana. I'm sorry I had to break our promise."

You ruined his head to look into your (e/c) orbs, and smiled to himself as you shot him a solemn gaze.

"Hey, (y/n). Do you regret your decision to date me?"

"Hmm?" You said blinking your eyes, processing what he had just spoke to you.

"After hearing about Hana...can you still say that you love me?"

You smiled brightly and laughed silently, "I do love you."

It was only a matter of moments for his whole face to bloom into various shades of red that rivaled the Nekoma uniform, "..."

You laughed and kissed his cheek, feeling him loosen up, "...I wasn't planning to tell anyone about Hana. I thought I'd keep the promise within me...and live with the burden. But for some reason, I just wanted to let you know. I just had to tell you. Even though I knew it would change anything.."

"I understand." You spoke softly as you tried to maintain an unfaltering posture. "There are things that I have learned from this. You have a past. A side of you I know nothing about. I mean, obviously. Uh, everyone has a past. And there's nothing we can really do about it. But, that fact that yours pains me, is proof of how I... Love you? Sorry, that sounded cliche and I just..?"

He grinned from ear to ear as he swooped down to place a soft kiss upon your lips, "Nah, that was cute. You mean that?"

"Yes." You said, grinning like an idiot because for some reason, it's the only thing you could to in this situation besides blushing like a maniac.

"I see. You make a powerful case." He said with quite the amused expression.

"I know." You said, gleefully.

"I swear, it's always such a joy spending time with you. And you made me realize some things about the world."

"Like what?"

"That girls can't take a simple tease without blushing like crazy." He said while nuzzling his head in the crook of your neck.

"Wh- hey!"

He burst into fits of laughter before pulling back with a more serious expression, "Alright, alright, but seriously though. You make me realize how hard it is that I can't get any closer to you."

You both paused as he stepped back towards the tree, "I think...I'm going to stay here a little longer and think for awhile." He said with a sheepish smile.

"Okay." You said simply while pecking his cheek. "I'll see you later, then."

His cheeks flushed mildly as his gaze became looked on the tree before him. You sighed as you walked out of the park, a sea of thoughts clouding every corner of your mind.

As you got home, you plopped on your bed and let out a long, exhausted yawn and clutched a nearby pillow close to your chest. You worried about Bokuto, a lot. And this whole story about Hana made you feel uneasy. Why did he tell you this now? What brought it up exactly? Ugh, this was absolutely hopeless.

MEANWHILE.

Bokuto inwardly groaned as he pulled out his phone, his home-screen set as a silly picture of you, a light smile adorning his brimming features. But the more he thought of how happy you made him, the sadder he became.

Hana could of kept that promise with lost hope and lived a terrible life, and it would have been all his fault. So, if she had lived a horrible life on a unfulfilled promise, then why should he live a good life?

What was he to do.