To Be In Love Chapter 1: Aki?
10/12/09

" There's nothing I CAN do... The only one who can kill him is... Minako..." Junpei's face was filled with devastation."... Did you not notice?" His question shocked Minako. She flinched from the harshness in his voice and hung her head low, unable to speak. " You had that thing inside you and you didn't notice...? You're the one that raised it... You're the one that brought about the fall..." Before Junpei could even continue, Akihiko stood up abrutly.

"Junpei! That's not Minako's fault!" Minako just tugged on Akihiko's sleeve, shaking her head. Everyone was at a loss for words. "But it isn't your fault!" Akihiko said. " Enough, Aki. It's fine. I'm sorry I didn't notice. Everyone's just scared." Minako lifted her head up and smiled. "I'm sorry I kept yelling like that..."Junpei apologized, after he calmed down." Don't worry about it ok, Minako? You don't have to apologize... I know this isn't your fault... I didn't mean to lash out at you earlier..."

" It's fine. No biggie. Oh, I have to study for the finals! Gotta go! Stay positive okay guys!" Minako then stood up, winked at everyone and ran up to her room. With that the atmosphere returned to normal and Akihiko took a seat. "Aki?" Everyone looked towards Junpei, who had a usual grin on his face. "Are you guys dating?" " W-wh-what are you t-talking about?!" Akihiko's face got bright red in an instant. Junpei smirked, knowing that he caught onto something. All had their eyebrows raised. Only Aigis was confused, with her head tilted to the side. " Akihiko-san... What does it mean to be in 'love'?"

"H-huh? Why are you asking me about this?" Akihiko was flustered, and his face had turned into a deeper shade of crimson. "Akihiko-san, are you okay? Your vital signs are fluctuating... Are you in danger of 'dying of shame'?" Everyone started laughing, even Mitsuru herself gave a light chuckle. Akihiko tried his best to regain his composure. "How would I know?!" "You and Minako-san are dating right? Doesn't that mean that both of you are in love with each other? From what I gathered in my database, dating means to go out with someone in whom one is romantically or sexually interested. But I still do not compute. Will you explain further?"

"Aigis! Don't trust anything that Junpei says, they're all lies!" Akihiko huffed, still embarrased. "But my database says that if a person reacts very strongly towards something that he/she will normally just shake off, the person might be lying." By now, everyone was almost dying of laughter while Akihiko figdeted uncomfortably. "A-Aigis, y-you sh-shouldn't pry into o-others' private affairs!" Yukari barely got the sentence out, laughing so hard.

And unbeknownst of all of this, Minako just thought of all this as another normal day, innocently studying in her room.