Well, here is chapter 2 of this fanfic. Again I want to thank "STORYmaker2" with some edits he did for the fic. Well, without more to say, here is the chapter.

It was 10:00 AM, and dawn had arisen in the city a few hours earlier. Manumaru slowly began to wake up, only now realizing that he'd fallen asleep on the couch last night. After a quick stretch, he realized there was something on one of his arms and shook his head to see Resasuke lying next to him.

With a surprised look, he remembered that last night Resasuke was watching TV when he fell asleep. The TV was off, so he assumed that Resasuke turned it off when he got sleepy, but he began to wonder why and how they got in that position.

Manumaru wanted to get up quickly, but doing so would wake Resasuke, a rude thing to do to a guest. Although he didn't feel uncomfortable for some reason, he didn't know why, but Resasuke's fur felt so soft, and so was his breath while he slept relaxed him.

Strangely enough, a part of him unconsciously wanted to stay like this all day, but his conscious part told him not to stay there for long, as they still had to meet Rinta that day. However, now that he thought about it, the note Rinta never said what time they would meet up.

Moments later, Resasuke began to wake up and raised his head to see Manumaru.

"Eh, good morning." The pallas cat said nervously, considering the awkwardness of their position.

"Good morning." The red panda said, sounding as calm and emotionless as ever.

"Did you sleep well?" Manumaru said, trying to make himself less uncomfortable with the situation.

"Yes."

From what little he could understanding in his voice, it seems that Resasuke didn't mind sleeping with him in that position. However, Resasuke always seemed to have his mind elsewhere.

The red panda got up and sat on the couch as Manumaru did the same.

"Are you hungry? I can prepare something for breakfast, even if it is a bit late." The pallas cat said, noticing the time on the clock.

"Yes, I'm hungry." The red panda answered.

"Anything in particular?"

"Anything."

Manumaru sweatdropped, almost expecting such an answer.

Minutes passed, and Manumaru called Resasuke in for breakfast in the dining room. Resasuke arrived and sat at the table without a word. At first, they both ate in silence, making Manumaru feel just as uneasy as before.

"By the way, Resasuke, didn't Rinta tell you what time we should meet him?" The pallas cat asked, trying to end the uncomfortable silence.

"No."

"And he didn't tell you where we should find him either."

"No."

"And how was he going to find you with me if you hadn't come here?" Manumaru said with growing frustration.

"I don't know."

That worried the pallas cat a little. One day the red panda might even forget where he lives and end up lost, which would be worse than when he misses the stop when he goes to work. The idea that it could happen to his friend terrified Manumaru. As far as he knew, the red panda had no family in Tokyo, and himself and Rinta would be the only ones who could recognize him if a tragic situation happened. Something had to happen as quickly as possible.

"Well, once we finish eating, I'll call Rinta to find out where we should find him. After that, we can shower and change." Manumaru lay out the plan.

Resasuke nodded.

After about 45 minutes, both of them reached Resasuke's apartment, where Resasuke opened the door, and they entered. However, once Manumaru closed the door, the apartment went ominously dark.

"I'm home. Sorry for not coming back last night." The red panda said.

The pallas cat was surprised, for a moment he thought that his friend had someone at home, but once he turned on the light, he realized that the whole house was full of plants and that he was seeing them as if they were people.

This made Manumaru feel a bit sad. It became evident that Resasuke felt lonely, so he had that many plants feel like he had company. As he thought that, he watched Resasuke diligently pour water on each plant, followed by a little fertilizer on them. Seeing how he was careful with his plants, he could see that unlike his relationship with others, he could be more attentive with the plants, and for some reason, he could perceive that he was more relaxed with them close.

"Do you want some help?" Manumaru offered.

"Yes, thank you." Resasuke said while nodding.

The red panda handed the pallas cat the watering can to water the plants while he put on more fertilizer. It didn't take them long, and before they knew it, they were done with the job.

As the minutes passed and the red panda showered, Manumaru took in the apartment. It was definitely bigger than his own, and he wondered how Resasuke afforded it since they both worked in the same place and earned the same amount of money. The only thing he could think of is that his family has helped him, although since Resasuke hardly spoke of anything, not even his private life, he didn't know if he was, in fact, close to his own family or not. However, Manumaru didn't notice any photos of his family either. That made him wonder if he saw the plants as his family and nothing more. Before the pallas cat knew it, he could see that the red panda was ready to go. It seems like he lost track of time, or his friend prepares faster than he thought.

"Well, I see that you are ready. Ok, let's go. Rinta should be on the way to the meeting point by now."

"Yes."

As they left the apartment, the pallas cat made sure the red panda locked the door. Then they went to the station and took a quite empty train, so they could sit together and thus prevent Resasuke from missing the stop as they did when they took the train to go to his apartment.

Rinta was in a small place, having a cup of coffee while waiting for his friends to arrive. Checking the time on his cell phone, he saw that it was already noon. He hoped that Resasuke's company did Manumaru good after Fenneko revealed herself to already be in a relationship. He knew what it felt like to face rejection. Since the singles meeting, Rinta had developing feelings for Tsunoda and also took his time to ask her out on a date, but she rejected. Although, Rinta did take the rejection a little better. Now he was dating someone else, but so far he hadn't told his friends. He wanted to tell them the day before, but seeing how upset Manumaru felt after Fenneko rejected him, he realized that it wasn't the right time.

Moments later, his cell phone began ringing, and at first, he thought it would be his friend, but when he saw the number, he realized that it was his girlfriend.

"Hello Inui. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Thank you very much. I was shopping and found the CD you were looking for. I don't know if you want me to take it to you at this moment or if you prefer that I give it to you on Monday at work."

"Well, if you are close, I can wait for you to come. I'm in the center of the city, if not, you give it to me at work. I don't want to make you go so far just for that."

"I'm close, about two blocks away. Tell me where I can find you, and I'll be there in a few minutes."

"The place is called Café Serengetea."

"I know that place, I'm on my way."

"Okay. I'll wait for you."

Just as she said on the phone, Inui didn't take long, only five minutes. When he saw her enter the restaurant, Rinta beckoned her to see him and come closer. She walked over as she took the CD out of her bag and handed it to Rinta.

"Thank you very much. How did you find it?" The giraffe asked as he gazed at the CD.

"A friend told me that there was still a copy in the store where I bought it." The spaniel replied.

"Good, don't you want to stay a while? I'm waiting for someone, but if you want, you can keep me company until they arrive."

"Okay, there was something I wanted to talk to you about anyway."

Inui sat down on a chair that was next to Rinta.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" The giraffe asked.

"Well, we've been dating for a while, and I was wondering if you anted us to be able to go out on a picnic to a romantic place any day now," the spaniel began the talking.

The giraffe blushed, despite their relationship, he had never thought of taking her on a date to a place other than a restaurant or a park. But still, he liked the suggestion.

"Would a place like this seem romantic to you?" Rinta asked, showing her a photo of the place on his cell phone.

"It's lovely, I've never been to a botanical garden." Inui replied as her tail began to wag.

"Well, next week we can go, if you're free."

"Of course, I have nothing planned."

"Well, it's decided."

They spent a long time talking and enjoyed every moment of each other's company. In the end, it was the work of fate, since after Tsunoda had rejected Rinta and Inui realized that Haida's heart lay with Retsuko, they found themselves in that same cafeteria and were more surprised to see that they both worked in the same place. Since then, they began dating as friends, and when they realized that they had similar tastes, they began dating not long afterward.

However, at the moments Rinta looked towards the door and saw that his friends had just arrived and approached the table where Inui was sitting. The giraffe tried to remain calm despite trying to avoid this situation, but he decided to just go with it after a deep breath. The truth would come out eventually. Why not now?

"Sorry I'm late, I had to help Resasuke with some things before I could come." Manumaru informed.

"Don't worry. By the way, I want to introduce you to Inui. She also works in the same company as us, but in the administration area." Rinta introduced.

"Please. It's a pleasure to meet you." Inui said, bowing her head in greeting.

"Equally. My name is Manumaru and he is Resasuke." Manumaru said, bowing his head and also bowing Resasuke's head.

"Rinta has told me about you. And he has told me good things about both of them. Manumaru, he told me that you are very sociable. And Resasuke, he told me that you are very quiet." the spaniel said with a growing smile.

"Well, it seems like he matched our personalities, right Resasuke?" the pallas cat said.

"Yes," the red panda nodded.

"Well, I think it's time to go. See you later, Rinta. And it was nice meeting you two." Inui said, getting up from the table and bowing her head in farewell.

"Goodbye Inui." The three friends said at the same time.

After that, she left the cafeteria and went home to rest.

"She is a pretty girl Rinta, and very polite. Surely you and she are a good couple." The pallas cat said. Rinta took a deep breath and lowered his head.

"It's that obvious then."

"Well, before we entered, we were observing you two and I could notice a certain expression between you two that made me realize that between you were more than just friends. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I planned to do it. Yesterday I was going to tell you two, but after…you know that… I didn't want to make you feel bad by telling you that I was in a relationship after what had happened to you."

"Oh, now I see. You're a good friend."

"Don't mention it. Well, now that we are together, I have an idea of where we can go so that you forget about what happened yesterday."

"I'm anxious to see what you planned."

As you saw in this chapter, apart from the plot of Manumaru x Resasuke, I gave the Rinta x Inui couple a bit of screen time. And don't worry, it will not be the last time they appear, they will have other appearances as well as other couples. Well, I hope you liked the story and leave your comments to know what you think.