Kurara Hanazono

I sat at the breakfast table, eating my toast gingerly. I tried to hide my annoyance at my mother, but it was difficult. Every morning, she would wake up and come to the table, without even changing into some actual clothes. She pretended to be all innocent and oblivious to the fact that she was wearing booty shorts and a slack t-shirt.

Now, I don't hate my mother. She's smart, pretty, and a really good single mom.

Well, most of the time.

But two years ago, I had an accident inside a virtual video game that my mother had been creating. I ended up aquiring some of the AI personalities.

OK, I'll admit that that wasn't in the least my mother's fault. I had snuck in late at night to test it, unsupervised, and I chased one of the 'bugs' to a vault. Little did I know that the vault had been holding all of the unsafe software. Major oops.

Around that time, I also started hanging out with Kouhei Namba. It was by total fluke and I really regretted telling him my secret.

Even though he is a complete and utter pervert, he stood by my side and protected my secret.

And over time, I came to love him. But that took a long, long, long time. And I mean a REALLY long time.

But don't think that I'm dense. I'm not. I figured stuff out… eventually.

Six months ago, a threatening AI came about that was an exact copy of me. In the end, Kouhei tried to save me. I was the one who really saved him.

When Kouhei was in the game trying to rescue me, he ended up aquiring a couple of the personalities himself. I'm not sure exactly which characters, or even how many, all I know is that it's my turn to protect Kouhei.

Kouhei Namba

I shovelled down enormous chunks of beef, as my younger sister sat down at the other side of the table. She grimaced at the bit of sauce dribbling down my chin. I grinned at her, laughing a little; and making myself choke.

"Kouhei, you klutz," my sister sighed, watching as I gulped down three glasses of water, finally dislodging the piece of meat.

"I'm not a klutz," I growled, through another mouthful of beef.

She stared vacantly at me for a moment. "Yeah, you are," she replied finally, pointing at some more sauce sliding down my face. She handed me a napkin, grimacing.

It seemed like everything was winding back down to normal. Kurara's personalities were deleted from her brain, so now I don't have to run around saving her and then getting slapped whenever she comes to. Now I don't have any reasons to see Kurara except for the fact that she's my GIRLFRIEND!!!

Wow, I sound like such a chick.

Ever since that day, I've been feeling weird though. I sometimes lose my train of thought and then suddenly snap out of it, looking like a lunatic; asking dumb questions about what happened and having Kurara looking at me like I'm some sort of, well, lunatic.

I guess not much has actually changed. It's not like Kurara acts any different with me, except that we, you know, kiss, and hold hands and stuff.

I stood up and traipsed to my bedroom, discarding my pyjamas and replacing them with my school uniform.

The doorbell rang just as I was doing up my tie.

"Hello?" I could hear my sister asking dully, yawning in the person's face.

"I'm here to see Kou-," Kurara said softly, just as I bolted into the room.

"Um, hi K-kurara, w-what are you doing here?" I asked, panting.

"Well, I-I thought that I would come and p-pick y-you up today since y-you know, you always pick me up and I thought, 'why don't I pick Kouhei up today for a change' and so that's why I'm here, to, uh, pick you up," Kurara stammered, blushing furiously.

"'Kay," I grinned, pushing my sister out of the doorway and putting an arm around Kurara. "See ya, sis," I whispered, sticking my tongue out at her. She scowled, slamming the door behind her.

Just because I'm 17, doesn't mean I have to start acting like an adult.

Kurara Hanazono

I snuggled in Kouhei's warm arms, feeling the chill of November pressing against my skin. I sighed and smiled, looking up to him. He smiled back at me, awkwardly.

Even now, we get awkward around each other.

We looked around, making sure that no one was looking; and kissed quickly, our bodies metres apart.

Our lips were the only pieces of our bodies touching. The rest was separate and shaking.

Six months and we can't even kiss each other in public.

In private, however, that's a totally different story.

Kouhei grabbed my hand softly, pulling his lips to my ear. "I love you."

I giggled, feeling my cheeks flush. "I love you too, Kouhei Namba!" I replied softly, as he pulled me into a warm hug.

And we continued our brisk walk to school.