"The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend."

By Heather Brewer

#01 [Unwanted Advice]

Have you ever fallen in love with someone to only to have your feelings rejected? How about, having someone confess to you and only to reject them? Or have you ever wondered if you can ever take back what you said and wash away that regret and guilt?

I wish I can lie to myself than to ever admit to committing myself of these actions, but the truth hurts more when you get someone else involved in them, especially when it involves a friend to end up with a broken heart.

Where do I start, from the beginning on Valentine's Day? Or should I start on what transpired yesterday on the school's rooftop?

How impolite of me, I didn't even introduce myself. My name is Ayumi Shinozaki. I'm 17 years old and class representative of classroom 2-9. If you ever attended Kisaragi Academy, you would know me as the occult class representative and if you don't know me, I have a major crush on Satoshi Mochida, who in my eyes is the only man that is kind and trustworthy.

As for the events that transpired, it started on Valentine's Day where we celebrate this holiday by having the girls handing out chocolates to the boys. On this special day I had planned out to present some chocolates that I specially made at home, using a recipe I found online, to Mochida and confess my feelings towards him.

I started my morning off by firmly brushed my hair leaving no chance for any stray or unwanted slit-ends to show up. I tied my hair in my signature twin pigtails with yellow hair ties that I recently bought for this occasion. Along with a new blue skirt that was slightly shorter than the school's but not too short to be noticeable, just enough to show off my legs. Finally I lightly mist myself with perfume before heading my way to school.

My first thought was to hand him the chocolates before school, before any other girl could, so I waited by the school gate. I carefully browsed each student walking by for Mochida. But I was unaware of one person who was able to walk up to me, an ex-delinquent in my class who has somewhat-spiky blonde hair, Yoshiki Kishinuma.

"Sup, Shinozaki," He waved a greeting.

Lately he's more talkative towards me but he always would get on my nerves, especially with that blonde hair of his. Every time I see it, I just want to yank on his hair and tear it off his head. But not everything about him is so bad. When we first met, Kishinuma had a bad habit of smoking and causing trouble at school, now he's learned to let go of his old habits.

Kishinuma waved his hand in front of my face since I didn't give a response to his earlier and somewhat greeting. "Hey Shinozaki, if you don't close your mouth and pay attention, you might just swallow a fly."

I immediately covered my mouth and glanced away from Kishinuma. As much as his old habits have changed, his attitude hasn't. He's still as direct and discourteous as ever.

I averted my attention away from my thoughts and slapped his hand away from my face. "Thank you so much for your charitable concern, Kishinuma," I spoke with sarcasm in my sentence.

Then a thought occurred to me that Kishinuma would often walk to school with Mochida. If anything, he should be in close proximity of the school gate. I quickly glanced behind me to spot him, unfortunately he wasn't nowhere in plain sight.

I took deep depressing sigh as I claimed my loss knowing obviously I must have missed him while I was greeted by Kishinuma.

"What's wrong, Shinozaki?"

"Nothing," I responded in defeat. "Let's get to class before you're marked as tardy again."

I made my way to the classroom along with Kishinuma walking behind me. There was no way I could hand Mochida the chocolates in front the class, which would be too embarrassing. My best choice would be to encounter him during lunch for a private conversation.

Kishinuma and I eventually made it to class, greeted the rest of our friends and got seated before Yui-sensei called for attendance.

Later…

As soon as the school bell chimed for lunchtime, I took the opportunity to go deliver the chocolates and confess. Unfortunately, Mochida was nowhere in the cafeteria. As I began to worry, I went to his best friend for some answers.

"Kishinuma, have you seen Mochida?" I asked him politely.

"Hello to you too, Shinozaki," he responded with a smirk, turning his head towards me.

"Just answer the question!" I raised my voice at him. I wasn't in the mood for his jokes, especially when time was inadequate to me.

"Sheesh!" He jerked away at my demand. "You don't have to bite my ear off. As for Satoshi's whereabouts, I don't know exactly where he is. The last time I saw him, he said something about heading towards the rooftop."

With a more-or-less satisfied answer, I took my leave and bid thanks to Kishinuma.

As I headed towards the rooftop with the chocolates in my hands, the door was not completely shut and through the gap, I could see Mochida standing outside. Before I could think of swinging the door open and surprise him, I spotted him talking to someone. Curious, I leaned in to see who he was talking to. Surprised and disappointed, it turned out to be Naomi Nakashima, another girl who also is competing for the love of Mochida. Deciding on whether to barge in-between them or not, I instead peeked through the gap as I continued to watch the events unravel.

Nakashima held out a box of chocolates in front of her as her face was flushed red as a cherry. She kept her head down, avoiding any eye contact with him. Mochida was smiling nervously as he rubbed the back of his head as if he were unsure how to respond. I, in the other hand, knew exactly what this was; a love confession. I couldn't believe that Nakashima took the lead over me. Surely I was upset and yet heartbroken, I wasn't so sure what to say or do in this situation. As I bit my lip and held my chocolates tightly close to my chest, I ran down the stairs.

I allowed my body to take its course. I didn't care where I was at; I just wanted to leave the area. As I passed students and hallways, I found myself in my empty classroom staring down on Mochida's desk with the chocolates in my hands. I gripped the box tightly as I wanted to destroy the thing I worked hard for. I mean, it was already blown up in my face earlier so why should I care? It wasn't like Mochida was going to accept my chocolates anyway.

Before I could tear my chocolates apart, the classroom door slides open only to reveal a blonde haired boy, Kishinuma. He entered with a surprised look in his face as if I caught him off guard.

"Sh-Shinozaki?! W-What are you doing here?"

I quickly wiped my tears off my face and put on a fake smile as quickly as possible. I responded to Kishinuma's questions as casually as possible, "Just going to return a book to the school library. What about you? Planning to do your homework on the last minute before class?"

"Nah, I already had Satoshi help me out. I'm actually here to grab my bento."

When Kishinuma mentioned Mochida's name, my body shook but I remained quiet as I watched Kishinuma walk towards his desk and grab his lunch. Secretly I tried to hide the box of chocolates behind my back. I didn't want to risk him asking questions and have him meddle in my love life. Unfortunately I was asking a bit much out of him, as Kishinuma took notice of chocolates and my expression.

"What's got you so troubled, Shinozaki?"

"N-Nothing's wrong!" I responded with haste, in hopes he would drop the topic and leave me alone.

He took a moment to progress, as if he was choosing carefully what to say next. "Is this about Valentine's Day?"

I averted my eyes away from him, I slowly responded, "Y-Yes…" I wasn't so sure why I wanted to continue telling him, maybe it was his sharp grey eyes but I continued by revealing the chocolates I hid behind me.

"You see, I made these chocolates and planned on giving them to a boy I like." Of course the boy is Mochida, but I didn't want him to know and spill the beans. In the meantime, I'll just keep it anonymous.

"Then what seems to be the problem? Just give him the chocolates." He said bluntly.

I sighed as I nearly forgot who I was speaking with. "It's not that easy, Kishinuma. Firstly, what if they don't taste so well? What if he doesn't like them and tosses them away?" I said as I raised my voice and averted my gaze to the ground. "What if he doesn't return the same feelings I have for him?"

Kishinuma waves his hands as to signal me to keep my voice down before he could respond. "Well if you truly did put your heart into making that chocolate, though I'm not saying you didn't, then I believe that it'll taste good, especially if it's for the guy you like! I bet he'll like them no matter how they taste! And if he doesn't I'll find the poor bastard myself and forcefully feed it to him!" He said with a goofy, and yet heartwarming grin on his face.

My eyes spread wide open as I was shocked at the words coming out of Kishinuma's mouth. I couldn't believe it, Kishinuma was actually comforting me. I had to ask myself, why he would say these kind words to me when usually we would either argue or get on each others' nerves. Then I started to piece things together, what if Kishinuma found out who I actually meant by "a boy." What if Kishinuma is speaking out for his best friend and reminding me what kind of man Mochida is.

Here I was, the class representative, being comforted and lectured by an ex-delinquent. I could only giggle to myself at the very thought. Then an idea came to me, a cunning one at that. If Kishinuma was truly speaking out for Mochida, maybe I could use him to get Mochida. Since I'm always clinging after him, maybe if I spend more time with his best friend instead, he'll get jealous and crawl back to me.

So I decided to put my plan into action, by pressing the box of chocolates towards Kishinuma. "So why don't you give them a try?" I said with an innocent smile on my face.

"W-Wh-What?!" Kishinuma shouted in shock. A slight pink blush was seen across his face. "What do you mean? I thought those chocolates for that boy that you liked?!"

"Of course they were, but I'm reconsidering it since you've helped by comforting me in my situation. Besides I can always try again next year."

As Kishinuma takes a glance of chocolates that are in his hands, he responds, "I-I guess."

"Just make sure to tell me how they taste. I need to know if I really want to win his heart over," I say cheerfully.

Kishinuma remained silent as if he was hesitant to believe in my words and take the chocolate.

"Look, if you don't want them I can always take them back!" I said as I got upset.

"N-No… Um… I mean… I would be happy to take your chocolates!"

"That's the spirit," I reassured. "Now let's head back to the cafeteria before everyone suspects that we're gone."

"Sure thing, Shinozaki," he responded as he heads out the door.

I soon followed him out the door as I kept my appearance in check. If I know Kishinuma, he'll probably boast to Mochida about the chocolates, which works well with my plan. With Kishinuma as my wingman and by getting Mochida to envy for my attention and affection, there's nothing that can go wrong.

…

…

…

If only I could have stopped myself right there… no… before I gave him the chocolates. Maybe… just maybe things would have turned out differently.

A/N: To celebrate my move into a new city, getting a job in under 3 weeks and getting myself a new laptop; I decided to write a fanfic on my OTP and draw my own cover art. As much as I love seeing Ayumi and Yoshiki together as much as the next guy, but we mustn't forget what makes this couple so admired and lovable; tragedy. It's like a knife that stabs and twists inside us but doesn't make us bleed.

So unlike my last fanfic, Guardian Angel, this one will be settled in a few multi-chapters. I apologize in advance if there's any grammar errors or if you get lost. It's a first for me, but the inexperience is making me excited. I also drew the coverart myself. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one.

EDIT: Did I really contradict myself by saying that Ayumi had help then claiming she didn't in Chapter 2? I know it's my first multi-chapter fanfic but I can't believe the errors I left behind. *facepalms self*