I can't help
Falling in love with you-

"WAH!"

People turned to look at the redhead who had tripped. Lavi gave a groan, "I can't do this! This is impossible!" He shouted.

Meanwhile, the screen had flashed the losing sign. There was a growl and Lavi felt himself pulled to his feet. "Stupid rabbit, what the hell are you doing?! You ruined my perfect score! Again!"

Lavi sighed and spread his hands, "Really Yuu-chan, I'm no good at this game!" He protested. "Let's go play some other game, okay?"

"No. And it's Kanda." Kanda said coldly. "I'm playing this game. If you can't do it, shut up and watch. You only make me lose anyway."

With those words, Lavi was tossed unceremoniously to the side. He yelped and picked himself up off the floor, "Yuu!"

Kanda ignored him. Lavi tried again, "Alright, alright! I'll try harder! Let me play with you!"

"That was the third time you fell."

Lavi winced. "But, I want to play with you! You're my girlfriend-"

"What did you say?"

"N-Nothing." Lavi stuttered at the ferocity of Kanda's glare. He sighed and moved himself off to the side. "Fine, I'll watch…"

It wasn't as if it wasn't true, Yuu was his girlfriend and he was her boyfriend. Well he hadn't exactly said anything about it. But she'd accepted that they were in a relationship, so what was wrong with it? He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Besides screw up and make a fool out of himself in that stupid dancing game. Stupid arrows. Stupid game.

Or maybe he just sucked at relationships. He certainly hadn't been in one before Yuu.

Lavi pouted. Seeing Kanda was ignoring him, he decided to go and find his other two friends. They were probably still at that shooting game…

"Bang!"

A white haired boy jolted in surprise. He glanced at Lavi, then sighed. "Lavi, you scared me!" He said to the grinning red head, "Weren't you playing that dancing game with Kanda?"

"Yuu-chan threw me away. Literally." Lavi grumbled as he slung his arms around Allen's shoulder, "Alleeeeen…" he whined, hanging off Allen's shoulders like a dejected monkey. "Why does she hate me so?"

Allen shrugged, never taking his eyes off the screen. "It's Kanda." He said, as if that explained everything. "Look at the bright side, you're not dead yet."

"Still haven't gotten over that grudge?" A feminine voice said in bemusement. "Allen-kun, to your right."

"Right." Allen said as he shifted the screen and fired at the oncoming demon, hitting it right in the centre of its forehead.

"Woah, bullseye." Lavi said, slightly impressed.

"I'm out of bullets." Allen grumbled. Lavi's arms over his shoulders didn't seem to affect his firing ability at all. "Lenalee, cover for me, will you?"

"Sure, Allen-kun!"

Lavi looked at the black haired girl and the white haired boy, and sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. "Ah, you two work so well together…" he said as he looked at Lenalee fire the gun at the demons at point blank range as Allen reloaded his gun. He sighed and rested his chin on Allen's shoulder. "Why can't Yuu and I be like you two?"

"Don't blame yourself, Lavi." Allen said, his eyes narrowing as he fired at more demons. "It's Kanda after all. That guy doesn't work with anybody."

"Allen…you know Yuu is a girl, right?"

"She's more of a guy than a girl." Allen frowned. "In fact, you're like the only one who thinks of her as a girl, Lavi."

"That's not nice, Allen-kun," Lenalee reprimanded lightly, "Kanda may be strong, but she's still a girl. And our friend. Also, she's Lavi's girlfriend."

"Yeah, I wonder if Yuu even remembers that." Lavi muttered into Allen's shoulder.

"S-Sorry, Lenalee." Allen conceded at Lenalee's glower. He grumbled as he fired at the demons, "But yeah, it's only because of that that I'm tolerating that Bakanda's presence."

"Allen-kun...ahhh!"

"Lenalee!" Allen whirled as if his girlfriend really had been attacked. He held the gun in his hand like a real weapon, "Are you alright?!"

Lenalee blinked at him, then smiled. "I'm fine, Allen-kun," her pigtails bounced as she turned her head. "I just lost a life, that's all."

Allen blinked back. "Oh." Then his eyes narrowed and he grinned slowly. "Don't worry…I'll get revenge for you."

"Uh…" Lavi said warily as a dark aura seemed to surround Allen suddenly. He removed his arms from Allen's shoulders, backing away, "A…llen?"

"You…Akuma…how dare you hurt Lenalee!"

"Lenalee!" Lavi cried out, pointing frantically at the fuming white haired boy, "Allen's snapped!"

"Don't worry, that's just his dark side." Lenalee said cheerfully. "You know, like when he gambles in poker?"

"It comes out in the arcade too?!"

"Ahahaha…HAHAHAHA!"

"Yeah. When my character gets hurt." Lenalee said with a sheepish smile. She pointed to the screen with her gun. Her lifepoints were signified with a picture of her and a bar of (halved) life, and Lavi supposed this was one of the games which had a visual scanner to attempt to make things more realistic. "Allen-kun doesn't seem to understand it's just a game."

"He's taking this way too seriously." Lavi deadpanned as the white haired boy laughed evilly and the version of him in the screen seemed to mimic his evil laughter in his expression. He grimaced. "Hey, hey. Is this really alright?!"

"Oh it's alright!" Lenalee giggled as if her loving, sweet boyfriend hadn't turned into a white haired demon. "Even though I don't need to be protected, it's so sweet of him!"

"Uh…" Lavi said as he stared at the beaming girl. A crowd had gathered, muttering and murmuring at the loud bangs and shrieks of the demons and Allen's maniac like laughter. "Which part of that is sweet?"

"Pitiful Akuma, let your soul be saved!"

"Everything!" Lenalee smiled widely at Lavi, somehow managing to fire at the demons with the gun at the same time. The girl really had skill, Lavi thought. It was scary. She was smiling at him as she killed the demons which released shrieks of pain. No wonder she was Allen's girlfriend.

"O-kay." Lavi said, smiling shakily. "Ah, Lenalee…your smile's really bright. It's dazzling." His shoulders slumped, and his expression fell. "I haven't seen such a bright smile from Yuu-chan…in fact Yuu-chan hardly smiles!"

"La-vi…"

"Yeah-wah!" Lavi backtracked, his green eye wide at the white haired demon before him. Almost literally, for there were horns on his head of spiky white hair. "W-What is it, Allen?!"

Allen grinned demonically, the demon horns in the screen seeming to reflect his demonic nature, "Just now, what did you just say?"

"Uh, what?"

"You were looking at Lenalee's smile with those-I mean, that eye!" Allen pointed an accusing finger at Lavi as Lenalee blinked, his other hand firing at the demons. Was it just his imagination or did the demon (devil) horns on his head just grow? "Don't tell me, you're interested in her?!"

"What-" Lavi spluttered. He held up his hands quickly, "Of course not! No offence Lenalee, but Yuu is the only one for me!"

"None taken." Lenalee said with an understanding smile. "Allen-kun, Lavi was just wishing Kanda would smile at him. When I smiled at him, it reminded him of how Kanda would never smile at him." She explained.

"Yes…" Lavi said, downcast. "That's absolutely right…"

Allen raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you? You're unusually depressed."

"That's because Yuu won't smile at me…" Lavi said depressingly. "It's just like Lenalee said…"

"That shouldn't bother you." Allen said bluntly. "I don't think Kanda even knows how to smile."

Lavi's shoulders drooped even further, and Lenalee frowned, "Allen-kun!"

"What? It's the truth."

"Really!" Allen blinked as Lenalee bumped a fist lightly on his head. "You're making Lavi even more depressed!"

Allen blinked, and looked at Lavi. He felt guilty, and shot a demon, and Lavi didn't even notice that the horns which seemed to be on Allen's head had disappeared. "Sorry Lavi." He apologized. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad, it's just, it's Kanda!"

"You're not helping." Lenalee sighed. She shot the last demon so they would advance to the next stage. She turned to Lavi, and put on a comforting smile. "Cheer up, Lavi! Kanda's just shy." She ignored Allen choking on his own breath, "I'm sure she'll smile at you someday! Or maybe, she smiles at you when you're not looking!"

"I'm always looking at Yuu!" Lavi exclaimed as if incredulous as to the mere idea of it being otherwise. "Always!"

"You sound like a stalker…" Allen muttered. Lenalee glared at him and he amended, "Just kidding. Ahahaha…"

"But seriously," Lavi looked at Allen at the change of tone in his voice. Allen smiled at him. "Kanda's a bastard and all, but she's your girlfriend so that must mean something, right?"

Lavi was touched. "Allen…"

"That's right!" Lenalee said encouragingly. "Kanda's never dated before you! You're definitely special!"

"Lenalee…" Lavi said. He blinked, then smiled, his expression beginning to brighten. "Well, that's a good point!" He said. "Maybe Yuu does care for me deep inside!"

"Of course she does." Lenalee said with a smile as Allen nodded. She turned, "Sorry Lavi, this next stage is gonna be hard, so we'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah." Allen said, turning back to the screen as well. He narrowed his eyes. "So far there's only been Level One to Level Threes. The next stage, there's gonna be a Level Four, and it's one tough bitch. Or bastard. Whatever."

"We have to save its poor, tortured soul."

"He's taking this way too seriously…" Lavi thought but didn't have the heart to say at Allen's serious expression. He scratched his head. "Maybe he was a demon exterminator in his past life or something."

"I see…what's this game called anyway?"

"Exorcists: The Dark Order." Allen said.

"Correction; Exorcist. Maybe Allen was an Exorcist in his past life." Lavi wondered. He shrugged with a smile. "Sounds cool. Maybe I'll try it sometime." He waved. "Well, have fun defeating the demons!"

"They're not demons, they're Akuma." Allen said.

"…Isn't that demon in Japanese?"

Allen blinked. "Really?" He said. "Well, they're Akuma anyway."

"Okay." Lavi said slowly as Lenalee looked on in amusement. "Well, enjoy exorcising the Akuma then."

"Yeah." Allen smiled. Lavi walked away, and he could hear him say to Lenalee. "Come on, Lenalee. The Level Four's not gonna beat us this time. If that Bakanda can do it, so can we!"

Lavi frowned slightly. "So Yuu plays that game too, huh?" He muttered. "And looks like she's pretty good at it, to beat a Level Four solo…that must be a pretty tough demon, right? Ah, I mean, Akuma."

Lavi blinked. He sighed and pushed his hair back from his eye, then brought his hand to the back of his neck as he moved forward.

"Well, guess I'll go see how Yuu's doing…"

When Lavi returned, he found a crowd around the dancing game. He frowned slightly and pushed his way through the crowd with effort, "Excuse me…coming through…"

He didn't manage to make it to the front, but he made it to a point where he could see what the commotion was. Lavi gasped, the sound swept away by the murmurs and whispers around him and the loud music.

"Hey, hey! Look at him!"

"It's a her! That's a girl!"

"W-What?! A girl?! And here I thought I'd found my new boyfriend! He's so handsome! And tall! He'd make a perfect guy!"

"Yeah. I think she's taller than my boyfriend!"

"That's a girl, isn't it?"

"Yeah, no guy would have such long hair! Oh man, look at how she dances! Like she's walking on air or something!"

"She's moving so fast I'm getting dizzy…"

"That's a really hard song, isn't it?"

"She's so pretty…"

"What, you fallen for her?"

"N-No! I was just- admiring-"

"Man, I don't blame you. Once you get over how she dresses like a guy, she's hot. Like, really hot. I'd fuck her."

"And her lack of breasts."

"Well, a girl can't have everything, can she?"

"She's perfect as she is…"

"Oh man, you're really smitten, aren't you?"

"I bet she already has a boyfriend."

"Are you kidding me? A girl like that? Look at her eyes. So damn cold. Which sane guy would want her as a girlfriend?"

"Or rather- what kind of guy would she allow as her boyfriend?"

"But a cold and independent girl like that- well, she's just my type."

"Don't let her boyfriend hear you say that."

"If she has one."

"She does have one." Lavi thought indignantly, feeling irritation build up in him. He inhaled to calm himself down. They didn't know Yuu. They only saw her aesthetically appealing appearance, and not her. He was the one who knew Kanda Yuu. No use arguing with idiots.

Lavi raised his gaze. Kanda was dancing – dancing without him. He had expected that, but it still hurt a little. Kanda's movements were fluid and graceful, and the perfection of them was illustrated in the screen which belted out 'Perfect' consecutively, to the awe of the audience. Long black hair flowed gracefully around the beauty who spun and whirled in a flurry of grace that took his breath away.

Lavi smiled wryly. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. He couldn't even last with a much slower song and here Kanda was, dancing to a much faster song. It was a Japanese song. Of course. Kanda had taken pity on him earlier, picking an English song for them. For him. And he'd still failed. No wonder he'd been thrown away.

He figured the problem was his movements. He had no problem taking in the arrows on the screen with his memory, no matter how fast they went. What he had problem with was coordinating his movements to the arrows. Or maybe he just hadn't tried hard enough. He hadn't been entirely serious, he'd just wanted to have fun. Who knew Kanda Yuu would be so good at dancing? As if his childhood friend wasn't perfect enough already.

Lavi stood and watched as Kanda danced. Soon, the screen was showing a perfect rank, inciting cheers and shouts and wolf whistles from the crowd. Lavi heard Kanda turn and scoff as the game progressed to the next song. His best friend's hair was loose from the customary ponytail, and flowed down her broad back like a waterfall made of silk as the rock music came on. Lavi wished he could run his fingers through the beautiful black locks. He wondered if he even had the right.

Owari mo miezu hashirinukeru

Without even being able to see the end, I run through

Yasuragi wa tooku sugata mo naku

Peace is distant, shapeless

Kodoku o fuujikomete tozashikakeru manazashi

A glance confines and begins to close loneliness

The next song was playing, and it was even faster, a song so fast the beats didn't even have time to resound in his head before he was caught up in the rest of the music. He knew it. Doubt and Trust. He remembered the lyrics and he could translate them into English. Kanda had let him listen to it if he promised not to make himself a nuisance.

Habataku mono o mukaeru sora

The sky greets those who fly

Shihaisareru no o osore yashinai

I don't fear being controlled

And he hadn't, just so he could listen to music with Yuu.

Akogareru mabayusa wa

Subete o kaeru tame ni

The dazzling brightness that I aspire for is to change everything

But Kanda didn't seem affected, and Lavi found himself further entranced by the Japanese's graceful movements. Kanda looked like she was dancing with her sword, Mugen. Deadly, sharp and precise.

Dare mo yurusezu ni doko e yukeru darou

Without forgiving anyone, where can I go?

Lavi wondered if they had sword dancing back in Japan even in the modern era they lived in. He slid his hands into his pockets as he heard the idle chatter of the guys around him and listened to the music, mouthing the lyrics and wiping the sweat off his neck with the back of his hand. The crowd was stifling.

Hikari no moto yami wa umare

Under the light, darkness is born

"You know what? I really hope she doesn't have a boyfriend."

"She's perfect, I don't think any guy would satisfy her."

Shinjitsu wa itsuwari ni yureru

Truth wavers in falsehoods

"If she had a boyfriend he would probably be perfect too. Not normal guys like us."

Kokoro o tsukisasu

Piercing through my heart

Fureta yoru o kourasete mo

Even if I let the night that I touched to be frozen

"Yeah, the type that's intelligent and athletic and has his own fangirls. A girl like that has got to be with a guy as good as her. Or better."

"Like in manga."

Yume to iu yokubou no kage o yobitsuzukeru

I'll keep on calling for the shadow of desire known as 'dreams'

Kimi no tsumi to itami o shinjiteiku

I trust your sins and pains

"She's really pretty, isn't she? Look at how the guys are looking at her."

"I'm glad my boyfriend isn't here. He'd be making eyes at her."

"Who wouldn't? I wish I was as pretty and perfect as her."

Zenbu hoshii to sasayaku koe

A voice whispers, "I want everything"

Nakushiteku koto ni oitsukezu ni

Without catching up to the things that I'm losing

"She's really beautiful, isn't she? She looks Asian."

Saki made motomeru yubi tsumetasa ni kizukanai

My fingers that yearn for the rest don't notice the coldness

"An exotic beauty then. Why is God so unfair?!"

Ai wo nokosu nara tometa kuchibiru ni

If you left behind love, then it stayed on my lips

Even the girls were talking now. Lavi looked up at said exotic beauty and wondered who could be perfect enough to be her boyfriend. Then he blinked and realized that boyfriend was him. Supposedly. It had just slipped his mind for he was far from perfect. He didn't have girls staring at him like how both guys and girls stared at Kanda.

Hikari dake ga yami o unde

Only light gives birth to darkness

Nukumori wa utagai kasanete tadoritsuku omoi

Warmth accumulates doubt and make its way to my thoughts

His phone vibrated in his pocket at that moment, and his fingers closed around it and pulled it out. Lavi pressed a button and touched the screen to view the message.

Where are you?

It was from Allen. Lavi typed a quick message back with one hand.

Kawasu mune ni chikau mono ga

That which I vowed in my chest that crossed with yours

Eien no kizu de kamawanai kizami tsukete

Doesn't mind the eternal scar and carves into me

Dancing game. In the crowd watching Kanda.

He clicked send, then slipped his phone back into his pocket, his eye never leaving Kanda.

Toki ni kizuku hazama ni kieru mae ni

Before it disappears in the crevice constructed by time