Note from the Author: The first 2/3 of this story was actually written throughout the course of the school day. I'm not sure where I found the time to write that much in between classes, but I just had to write this, so...maybe it's the power of devotion? Anyway, this is one of my favorite couples EVER and for some reason I haven't yet written something for them...huh. Well, all that has changed! Enjoy your Ayumu and Hiyono-ness!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Spiral or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

"What do you mean 'homecoming?'" Ayumu asked, staring blankly at the eccentric girl in front of him. Her hands were tied together in a pleading motion, but the look on her face was far from that of fear of disappointment.

"'Homecoming!'" Hiyono repeated with a smile, "I had a talk with the student council and they loved it!" Ayumu blinked.

"But what is it?" The name sounded familiar, but he just couldn't place it…

"Oh, please, Ayumu!" Hiyono scolded sharply, causing the poor boy to jump, "Don't you watch movies?"

"Uuh…"

"It's a dance, stupid! For the school!" Hiyono finished. Ayumu blinked again before sighing. It was so like her to plan something that stupid.

"Well," he began with a quick breath in, "You have fun with that." He shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking away. Hiyono stood along in disappointment. This was not how she had pictured this going…Ayumu hadn't done his part at all.

"Guess that means I'll have to ask him myself," Hiyono declared to herself, throwing her fists onto her hips. It wouldn't fit her dream plan at all, but maybe Ayumu could make up for it later.

Hiyono sighed and her arms dropped to her sides. Maybe her back up plan was better than nothing but she had forgotten to consider the at minimum fifty percent chance that Ayumu would say no.

It was stupid. There were fliers all over the school, announcements before and after the bell rang, teachers sending out reminders left and right as though they were interested, all that junk. And now that it was only a few days away, all the students were chattering about the new event with incomprehensible excitement. Was it really that big a deal? It sounded straight up boring to Ayumu. He blamed Hiyono for asking the school to have this lame homecoming almost a month earlier. They hadn't talked much since then…

She had always run away after saying hi, if she even took the time to say that. And she always looked so depressed when she was around him. Ayumu didn't like it. Not one bit.

He trudged up the steps to the roof, being sure no one was around so he could relax on his own without any interruption.

He was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised when he opened the door to the roof he felt was his.

Hiyono was at the far end of the open space, leaning against the fence watching the perfectly clear blue sky. Ayumu walked over to her, assuming she must have been zoned out because she said nothing, even when Ayumu stood so close to her they were almost shoulder to shoulder as he leaned against the grated fence with her. He was staring at her all the while and Hiyono never let a stare go unnoticed. Yup. She had to be daydreaming.

"I thought you were supposed to be good at observing," Ayumu pointed out, moving his eyes to the sky for two reasons: one- he was curious to see if there was anything interesting up there, and two- he would prefer if Hiyono didn't he had been looking at her.

"Geee!" Hiyono squeaked with a jump, snapping back to reality. She stared in horror at Ayumu.

"Hey," he greeted calmly, lifting his hand in a motionless wave.

"A-A-A-Ayumu!" Hiyono stuttered. She calmed down and leaned back against the fence, thought this time her eyes were on her feet and she was fiddling with her fingers. Ayumu thought she was blushing, but he couldn't tell just from the corner of his eye.

"Hi," Hiyono greeted back before the silence took over.

"It's weird to see you up here," Ayumu commented when the silence was stinging his ears.

"Yeah…" Hiyono agreed. Ayumu wasn't used to seeing her like this. It was almost…depressing. He wanted her eccentric self back as odd as he felt thinking that. He wanted the Hiyono who asked the school to hold stupid western events, not the one who kept her mouth shut, refusing to say a word to him. He just wanted to talk to her. Ayumu let out a loud groan.

"What's wrong?!" he shouted. A faint echoed rippled through the air. Hiyono looked over in surprise.

"Huh?" she asked rather dumbly.

"Just tell me what's wrong!" Ayumu demanded, "I don't care what the problem is, I just want to hear it so I can fix whatever I can and you and me can be back on speaking terms!" Hiyono stood in shock for a few seconds, then laughed. Ayumu looked at her again, taking his turn to be surprised.

"It's nothing really," Hiyono assured, a hint of sadness in her voice, "I just…" She sighed. "I just, well, kinda wanted to go to homecoming. I was the one who suggested it, but there's no way I'm going alone."

Ayumu caught on.

"Oh, give me a break," he mumled under his breath, "You've been avoiding me for a whole month just so I would ask you to some lame dance?" Hiyono winked.

"Should've guessed you would nail it, Ayumu," she teased, "So…? Do you have anything you want to ask me?" "Fine…" Ayumu whined, "I'll take you to this horrible excuse for entertainment. But you owe me big."

"That's all I ask," Hiyono said cheerfully, suddenly herself again.

Ayumu wished she wasn't so captivating. Then he could have said no, or just stayed away from her without worrying. He could spend the night of homecoming at home.

Hiyono was just too addicting.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Madoka said in utter disbelief. A hand covered her mouth as she scanned Ayumu up and down, still concerned about the suit he was wearing as unkempt as his school uniform. The basic parts of the suit and a white button-up shirt which looked too big for him. No looking nice. Not even the suggestion of a tie or maybe even buttoning his shirt up all the way. Ayumu didn't want to go and he wanted to be sure the whole world knew it.

"You can't believe it?" he began to ask angrily, "I can't even fathom what would force me into this thing!" Hiyono's excitement from that morning flashed through his mind and he promptly shut his mouth.

"See you tomorrow," Ayumu said nonchalantly, waving as he slowly walked to the door, "I'll be back late, so don't wait."

"Why would I? Unlike you, I'm doing something productive tomorrow," Madoka said with a yawn and disappeared into the living room, but Ayumu had already shut the front door and was on his way to what seemed to be a night of imminent hell.

"Ayumu! You came!" Hiyono cheered, throwing her arms in the air. Ayumu couldn't say anything thought he was to reply.

Hiyono was in pink. Not a very bright pink, but not dark either. Just the right color to make her dirty blonde hair really stand out. Her hands were covered to the elbow in gloves of the same color. The dress was held up by thin strings wrapped around her neck. In the center of the dress, at the top where the strings were attached, was a red sequined brooch. The dress was simple and yet Ayumu couldn't catch his breath. His face fumed, he just knew it. Ayumu hated blushing.

"Was I not supposed to?" he said after taking his time to find the words, "You were the one who asked me."

"Wrong!" Hiyono happily corrected, "You asked me. I just said I wanted to go." Ayumu sighed.

"Whatever," he gave in, turning around to take a deep breath, "Ready to go?"

"Yup!" Hiyono practically jumped to close the distance between them. She wrapped her hands around Ayumu's arm and gave him a friendly wink.

"You didn't ask me to the dance properly, so now you have to escort me just right," she informed. Ayumu faked a groan, which proved to be difficult considering he had little to no air to make any sound at all. Even with all the effort he had put into that groan, it still had come out somewhat squeaky.

The two walked down the street through the cool night in silence for most of the journey to the school. Ayumu had thought it was even stupider to hold the already stupid dance at the school, but apparently it would be an outside thing and held in the field. Ayumu hated that idea even more…but as of that moment, it felt okay…at least, a little bit.

"Hey, Ayumu," Hiyono began with hesitation. Ayumu glanced down at her, feeling his heart beat a little harder when he saw her so close. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah?" he tried to ask with confidence.

"Thanks," Hiyono said sincerely, "Really. Thank you. This means a lot to me." She looked up at him and smiled. Ayumu looked away in a hurry.

"Sure thing…" he tried to choke out, but it was said with the same tone as his fake disappointment in the moment only a few minutes before.

"Hey! Can you hear that?" Hiyono asked, letting go of Ayumu and running the last stretch to the school, her high-heeled shoes clacking against the cement with every step. Ayumu could still feel where she had been holding. He hoped it would go away soon…

"Come on, Ayumu!" Hiyono laughed, motioning for him to walk faster. Ayumu sighed while allowing his strides to become a little wider.

"Right…" he said through a breath. He glanced over to Hiyono again, but this time she wasn't smiling. Her eyes were down at her feet again. She looked like a formal remake of the Hiyono from the rooftop.

Ayumu didn't say anything. Instead, he just grabbed her hand and led her through the entryway onto school grounds.

"I thought you were the one so psyched to be here," he pointed out, "so what's holding you?" Hiyono looked back up and she put on a weak smile.

"Oh, right," she said with a cheap laugh, trying to pull off that she had forgotten she wanted to be there. Ayumu wouldn't stand for it…again. He led her off to the corner of the wall where it met the actual building. It was really dark, but he could still see her well enough, so as long as it didn't look too creepy, all was well.

Ayumu put his hands on Hiyono's shoulders but wouldn't let himself look at her face. He kept his head hung as he asked for the second time that day, though a little calmer this time, "What's wrong?" Hiyono looked off to the side, even though Ayumu's eyes were in another direction.

"I'm okay," she answered plainly, "Now come on, we're missing the dance." Hiyono tried to walk away, but Ayumu tightened his grip just enough to tell her to stay.

"What's wrong?" he repeated, moving his eyes up to meet hers. Tears were forming on the corners of her bright blue eyes and Ayumu suddenly felt as though he should feel guilty.

"Really, it's not big deal," Hiyono pushed, "It would sound stupid if I told you, so-"

"I don't care," Ayumu interrupted, "What's wrong?" Hiyono's poorly played smile vanished and she moved her gaze to the ground once more.

"I just…feel bad is all…" she said quietly. Ayumu felt a weird sort of pain stab him, as though he knew she wasn't the one who should be saying that.

"I feel like I forced you into this…" Hiyono went on, "I…I was stupid and started having these ridiculous fantasies of some fairytale night where you…you would have been happy to ask me to come with you…and…and would tell me I looked nice…and…well, it's all just a stupid girlish fantasy, and I'm letting it get the best of me, so let's just go and-" She never got the opportunity to finish her sentence.

"You're beautiful," Ayumu interrupted again, making sure he was looking her straight in the eye, and begging she couldn't hear his heart breaking his ribs. One of the tears streaked down her face.

"W-what…?" she asked, completely stupefied.

"You're beautiful," Ayumu said again, "I'm serious." He leaned in, taking this new opportunity to take his eyes off her again by just closing them altogether. He gently pressed his mouth against hers. Hiyono was rigid for only a moment before she let herself give in to the world-stopping emotion and let her lips move with his. She reached up and laid her arms over his shoulders, letting Ayumu move closer to her. His hands left her shoulders and wrapped around her waist, closing what little distance was left between them.

Ayumu took the initiative to end the kiss. Her taste was still on his tongue as he bent down formally, holding out his hand, doing his best to play the part of the fairytale prince Hiyono was dreaming of.

"May I have the honor," he began, "of taking you to this dance?" Hiyono broke out into an overjoyed smile and suppressed a feminine laugh. She put her hand in his and he stood up.

"I'd love to," Hiyono said, her laughter rich in her words. Ayumu slipped his hand from under hers and offered his arm out to her. Hiyono took it and the two began walking, unsure of where they were really headed as they stared into the other's eyes.

Ayumu had long forgotten any reasons he had had second thoughts about not coming.

He was with Hiyono all night.

That should have been enough to convince him right away.