Finally, the decisive day for Kiyo's educational path has come, which is the high school graduation exam.

Thanks to the thorough preparation at home that whole week, both Kiyo and Sunny didn't worry too much.

On that morning, after eating a peaceful breakfast, they left the house to hit the road. Still the same familiar path...

Arriving at the schoolyard, Kiyo looked around. So fast, three years have passed. Compared to the first day here, the school has also changed a bit, planting more trees and adding more classes.

At that moment, he felt the warmth of Sunny's hand in his palm. The way he holds hands right now, is the kind that doesn't want to leave his friend.

"Time flew so fast, three years already..." - Sunny said in a slightly pity voice.

"Right."

Finished, Kiyo carried his bag and took Sunny's hand into the exam room. As expected, the two of them were going to take the exam in the same room.

Sunny sat down in one place, letting go of Kiyo's hand.

"By the way, I have a question..."

"What?"

Kiyo stopped as his face heating up. He was about to ask him if he liked him more than his friends, but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

Sunny is still waiting. Kiyo suddenly remembered that: The two were about to enter a very important competition, and asking right now was not okay at all. So he had to say something else:

"The day you came to my house... Did your sister say anything?

"No. She doesn't even know." - Sunny giggled.

"I see..."

That laugh Kiyo got used to hearing forever, but at this moment he didn't dare to look at Sunny, because... he looked so cute when he smiled.

There was a bell ringing. That is the signal for time.

"Okay, hope you do the test well Sunny."

"Yeah, you too, Kiyo."

They walked out of the classroom, carrying their bags to take attendance.

Kiyo is assigned to the first table, group one. Sunny is at the second table from the bottom, group three. Quite far from each other.

Distributing exam papers, and handing out exam papers.

When the bell rings again, it's time to start working.

What's in the topic, already in all the knowledge I've reviewed, now just need to recall and write, I don't have to hesitate.

Kiyo finished the whole question in just thirty minutes, out of ninety minutes.

Sunny too, but two minutes earlier than him.

After checking and correcting the mistake, Kiyo spent the rest of the time looking out the window, thinking. He thought briefly of Sunny.

When is his birthday? He never told me... Kiyo thought.

But I haven't told him yet... And maybe he just doesn't care..

When the birthday thoughts were over, he turned to the question he had been curious about for a while.

Should I ask or not? Either way, me and him will reveal everything, before it's too late.

Kiyo sat holding his face, looking where he was going, his legs swaying slightly.

Sunny sat from the back of the class, not doing anything but watch Kiyo from afar, since he had already checked every answer. He also thought of the same question to Kiyo.

Does Kiyo like me? If I told him, how would he feel? It's far-fetched for someone like me to likes Kiyo... But his attitude is a bit suspicious.

Sunny took a blank scrap of paper, wrote something in a hurry, and then folded it.

When the two were still thinking like that, the bell rang, signaling the end of time.

"The first two people in the first group will collect the cards, and the first two people in the second group will collect the cards." - The teacher ordered.

Kiyo stood up, collecting the titles one by one, then came across Sunny. When he saw Kiyo, Sunny put on a sincere and lovely smile. Catching a glimpse of it, Kiyo just flustered looking away.

When finished, everyone left the classroom. Sunny walked over and asked Kiyo:

"Hey, did you do well?"

"Yup, it was easy."

"I see that too."

When they walked out of the classroom and in an empty place.

"Hey..." - Sunny called.

"What?"

He handed Kiyo the paper just now, then left. Feeling curious, Kiyo immediately opened it and saw a line:

"If you can translate, that's good.

1001001 100000 1110010 1100101 1100001 1101100 1101100 1111001 100000 1101100 1101001 1101011 1100101 100000 1111001 1101111 1110101 100000 1001011 1101001 1111001 1101111 101100 100000 1001001 100111 1101101 100000 1110011 1101111 1110010 1110010 1111001"

Kiyo was dazed by the code. For two reasons.

Either he didn't have time to translate the whole sentence, the other was that he didn't understand how Sunny could belong to such a binary sequence.

The next test was about to begin, so Kiyo frantically folded the paper, put it in his bag, and quickly lined up.

* * *

Arriving home, Ryota ran to the gate to welcome:

"You're back!"

"Yes, hi."

"You seem tired from school. Let me make tea!"

"Wait. I do it myself. You can do whatever you want."

While Ryota went to the backyard to play, Kiyo took out the paper from earlier and turned on the computer. Now only with its help, he could read it.

He opened the Syndrome software, looking for a website that could decode it.

Here it is. This is the most suitable, he confirmed as he entered the website. Kiyo looked at the page carefully, then wrote it carefully so that there was no mistake.

It took five to six minutes to copy the entire binary, then nervously clicked the "decode" button.

....

Seeing the translation, Kiyo blushed, unable to believe in his eyes. He quickly exited, turned off the laptop, unplugged the power, and sat with his face in his hands.

No way... does he like me??? Wait, is this real or a dream? Pinch my cheeks a few times.

Kiyo started pinching, pinching ten times to authenticate. He felt quite hurt.

So it's not a dream. That's real.

Kiyo gasped, looking at the binary code over and over, and that was actually real.

Should I go and ask?..

Come to think of it, Sunny should be back by now, but he didn't want to bother opening the computer again, so he had to wait until the afternoon.

***

That afternoon, Kiyo cycled past Sunny's house. At the door, he rang the bell.

Seeing no one to open the door, he pressed it again. At this time, the person who came out was not Sunny, but a little girl. She's two years younger than Kiyo, only about shoulder height, with long brown hair, almost knee-length, and wears a gray bow tie.

She rasped:

"What do you want?"

"You are Sunny's sister, aren't you?" - Kiyo asked annoyed.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Is he at home?"

The girl ran into the house, pulling Sunny to the door.

"He called, just come out already."

Then she slammed the door, leaving the two of them outside.

They've only just met, but Kiyo already hates that girl, because of everything Sunny said and her attitude.

"So, what are you doing here?" - Sunny bewildered.

"Shall we go to Kikyo Hill to talk?" - Kiyo is a bit nervous.

As they arrived there, they sat on the grass, silent for a while, then Kiyo spoke:

"Oh hey, that paper..."

"What's with it?"

"The thing is... I solved it." - Kiyo didn't dare look at the person next to him.

Sunny was startled and frantically asked:

"So... so what is it?"

Kiyo paused as if he was gathering the courage to say:

"Um.. it seems to say you like me very much and then says sorry.."

Sunny said nothing more.

"Also, I wanted to ask.. Is that true?"

Sunny became more silent. And the more silent he became, the redder his cheeks became. He wanted to say it was just a joke, because he thought he wasn't worthy of Kiyo.

But then why did he write it down? Besides, if he told Kiyo like this, he'd probably be furious.

Well, don't lie, I have to say...

"Yeah..." He stammered.

"What??"

"That's true."

Kiyo was surprised, then taken aback. I didn't expect Sunny to like someone like him.

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Yes. You know, I don't really trust anyone but you. Not even my parents and my sister. You protected me, hung out with me, studied together, and practiced together. You were also very nice, sincere, kind, and capable."

"Um..." - Kiyo was silent, blushing because no one had ever told him that before.

"That's why I like you. Even though I don't deserve you very much.."

Then why are you telling me, Sunny? You literally said all the things I liked about you..

I don't want to see you being like this..

"Hey." - Kiyo said seriously.

At that moment, Kiyo hugged the person next to him tightly.

"What??"

"Are you saying you don't deserve me? Everything you say about me is similar to how I think you are. You're better than me. Be confident."

"But..."

"No but. I reciprocate your feelings and I show them back, that's all."

Sunny said nothing more. He buried his face in Kiyo's shoulder, holding the other.

"Thanks..." - Sunny mumbled.

"It's okay. But besides believing in me, you also have to believe in yourself. You're amazing."

Pausing for a moment, then Kiyo said:

"And I like you."

Then Kiyo moved closer to Sunny's face, got closer but stopped, then looked away again.

Sunny smiled, then asked:

"What's wrong?"

"Nevermind.. I'm embarrassed to death."

"Ah, I see what you're up to." - Sunny nodded.

"You don't have to say it.." - Kiyo still blushed.

Sunny is still smiling. Then again said:

"Next time I'll do it for you..."

"Wha-" - Kiyo was startled.

"Just kidding. But hey, now that we like each other... can we become a couple?"

"I don't think this society accepts us as lovers. Besides, our age is not yet the time to be a couple." - Kiyo looked down to the grass.

"Is that so. I'd still rather be friends.."

"Me too. Let's just be friends, and we will decide on the other one later."

"Yeah, that's right."

Although they hadn't been lovers yet, both of them were still relieved that they were able to tell their true feelings. They might have suppressed their love for each other for those three years, because they were both afraid of not being accepted. But now, the emotional burden had been dropped from those small shoulders.

Their relationship had been pushed to a whole new level.

Looking at the sky, Kiyo noticed that it was starting to get a little dark.

"Hey, what's your birthday? I'm May 1st."

"Me... September 13. But for what?" - Sunny is a bit confused.

"I just ask for it. Okay, let's go."

Actually, Kiyo asked that so when Sunny's birthday, he would give him a meaningful gift. Imagine his feeling when received a gift from someone he liked..

As always, Kiyo took Sunny home.

"Do we have any other exams tomorrow..?"

"History and Geography. Computer science should be next week. Let's go home, Kiyo!"

Saying that, he kissed Kiyo's cheek. And go into the house.

"What the.." - Kiyo stood covering his face with his hands, then let go and slowly got into the bike.