A story about Ayano. Period.

I'm Back!

"I'm BACKKK~!" Shouted a girl with brown hair and in a red scarf as she slammed the door open to greet herself with silence...

RIGHT... No one's here yet... she thought as she hit her head playfully. She should really remember that she was currently cutting classes, wait, correction, she didn't even set foot in her very own school yet... She threw herself to the couch and hesitated for the moment... thinking of someone she might bother...

Mom might still be busy and Dad is still working... Kousuke-kun, Tsubomi-chan and Shuuya-kun are out too..."SOUKKA!" she shouted as she lifted herself off the couch, "Since it's nearly lunch - I'll make him some lunch!" she noted to herself as she ran to the kitchen, swiftly making a bentou, in a minute, and dashed to the outdoors towards school. Of course she wasn't going to her school, she was going to a high school – where her father works – why would she return to her school after all her effort to avoid it earlier anyway?

She was sprinting towards the school, when suddenly; she froze and darted away from the eyes of the guard just outside the gates, who thankfully did not notice her weird behavior... Shimmatttaaaaa! She thought as she realized – I haven't change my clothes yet TT^TT! How am I going to get inside with this uniform I'm wearing! I can go back- buutttttttttt, lunch might have ended once I return!

"uhmm... Miss?" the guard managed to say as she, Ayano, was about to trot her way in.

"Hmm~? Oh, Hello~ I'm here to give some lunch to a friend of mine~!" The guard hesitated and pointed towards Ayano's uniform, "Ahem, that's cosplay..." upon hearing the word the guard gave Ayano that look whichmost of today's adults give whenever they see an otaku... "I'm visiting Tateyama Kenjirou!" after a slight chitchat of fabricated 'lies' (which nearly can't be considered as false since most of them were true...) -Tateyama Ayano was in!

Good thing the guard who knows me was on morning shift! She thought as she sighed... she was literally gliding through the halls when- "I'm talking to the principal..."said a female in a cool and very calm voice "So let's see..." answered a very serious male voice, "The culprit, if I'm correct, is Haruka-kun..." and someone else was talking too, "But shouldn't it be you Sensei for giving me the responsibility of holding the money?"

"Eh? What's happening here?" she asked playfully as she opened the door towards a nearly 'empty' classroom containing about two students, their teacher, and random science materials around them.

"AYANO?!"

"AYANO-CHAN?!" The teacher and the female student declared in unison, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"I'm here for a visit!" she answered lively

"Eh? But your tutorial will start later, what are you doing here Ayano-chan?" Haruka asked with a confused expression,

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT! YOU'RE CUTTING CLASSES AREN'T YOU!"

"A-Ayano..."

"PAPA! I brought you some lunch!" to this mention, Kenjirou melted into a smile, and received the girl's bentou.

"Daughter *scoff* Complex *scoff-scoff*" Takane rubbed in,

"TA-KA-NE..." Kenjirou said threateningly...

"What is it... PRIN-CI-PAL" Takane added with a smirk,

"nothing..." Dad answered in a blank expression, and I really tried my best to suppress my laughter into a smile, which Kokonose-Sempai and Enomoto-Sempai failed at. All Dad could do was smile back, and the next thing I knew, he was glowering at me...

"A-YA-NO. WHAT. ARE. YOU. STILL. DOING. HERE?"

"Hai, Hai! I'll be going... but- what are you guys doing here, isn't it still too early for your regular supplementary lessons?"

To this question, Takane grinned enthusiastically, "We're thinking about what we should do for our cultural festival!"

"Eh? Isn't it a little bit too early?"

"That's 'cause we received our money for the booth too early... and Haruka ended up using it for a game..." she declared with a facepalm,

"Eh? But it was a Limited Edition!" Haruka protested with a pout,

"Yeah, right, I don't even care! Wait... WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR TOP! WHY ARE YOU ONLY WEARING AN UNDERSHIRT!"

"It feels kinda hot in here-"

"WHAT THE F- SENSEI!"

Ayano was then ushered outside the room by her father, with thanks for the bentou he received from her. After ordering her to return to her own school, she bid her farewell and pulled herself away from them. And with her, Ayano, finally away, those people started arguing about different stuffs again... And yes, she really did return to school, but even though she was stupid, it really would be too stupid for her to enter the classroom while class was ongoing. Therefore, she decided to head towards the rooftop of her school.

The air was nice and cool as she felt them gently caress her cheeks. She always went to the rooftop even before, but now, the very site still bewilders her for some reason unknown to her. She smiled, as always.

"Today, I met my Mom's sister, my aunt... Hiyori-chan, with of course, Mom..." she hesitantly stared at the empty place before her as if waiting for a reply, which of course never came but, she still continued, "She was unexpectedly younger than me, but... we still did get along with each other, she even brought a friend along with her, Hibiya-kun! He's sooo cute that I bet Shuuya-kun would try and make fun of him... and of course, I will stop him and all!

"Takane-Sempai, Haruka-Sempai, Dad, Mom, and surely Tsubomi-chan, Shuuya-kun, and Kousuke-kun are doing well... Oh yeah, that female albino, Mary-chan must have transferred to their class by now! I bet that Kousuke-kun will still like her! I also caught a glimpse of that really famous idol Kisaragi Momo-chan today... hmm... maybe saying that I 'caught a glimpse of' is a wrong term... how 'bout 'enjoyed and went out with' – that's better~ eheh~ Hiyori-chan and Mom enjoyed most of it... Hibiya-kun found it rather boring..." and she gave out a long deep sigh.

And for some reasons, she found her eyes wet, "eh... I-I'm cry-crying?! But why?!" she exclaimed as she wiped the tears off her face

Shintaro could only sigh, "Because you're stupid, that's why..."

"Ehhh? That's not true, Shintaro-kun is really REALLY smart, and yet you still cry!"

Shintaro rolled his eyes, avoiding Ayano's gaze as he emerged from the staircase, which leads to here, the rooftop... "I had a reason to"

"Eh... Crying because Ene threatens to post scandalous things about you or by you, or because Tono(Shintaro's pet rabbit which means "Lord" or "Boss")'s food got spoiled... not really good reasons for a guy to cry..." she noted with a playful smile, irritating Shintaro,

"Those are tears of happiness, damnit... Were the loops really so long that you can't even tell?" he asked as he scratched his nape, to this Ayano nodded and grinned mischievously...

"Perhaps it was also because it was so long ever since I've last felt this 'happiness', that it currently feels quite new to me... try being considerate Shintaro!" and ending with a pout,

"I am being considerate right now - by being present right infront of you after excusing myself to 'use-the-comfort-room' just to be able to talk to you about these things no one else but you and I can and could remember... and by even considering answering all of your nonsense questions... if you want..."

"Do you really miss me this much?~"

"Fine, I do miss you so much, so badly that I followed you up here in the rooftop instead of studying downstairs! Seeessshhh! Isn't it even obvious!" he said with a snarl

"Shintaro's such a Tsundere~ You're mad that you weren't the first person I confronted after escaping the haze, weren't you~"

"I'll admit that I am, but why meet all of those people before me!" he said with a snarl,

"It would be unfair for them if I met you first since you're the only person who remembers what happened... and besides" Ayano grinned, "better save the best for the last!"

"My ass"

She hugged him, and after a slight hesitation, Shintaro hugged back... "Do you think that... everyone can be 'happy' now, even though they forgotten everything that happened to them?"

"I guess they are... I would really be happy to think that everything that happened was only a dream... and please stop emphasizing 'happy' or 'happiness' every now and then, it's starting to annoy me" to this Ayano giggled, making Shintaro snarl again,

"Hey, did you know I went back home in a hurry and said 'I'm Back!' all enthusiastically only to be answered by crickets? I was so excited that I was finally able to return to this world!" with this, Shintaro rolled his eyes and hugged her even tighter,

"Welcome Back... idiot..."