She had been waiting for fourteen years to meet her angel.
But then, her angel was stolen from her in a matter of seconds.

It was raining.
Not just outside the dorm, but inside her heart as well.
And she did not like the feeling.

A small sigh escaped her mouth as she looked at the empty bed across the room. It had been only two months since the day of the Etoile Election, two months since she pushed her beloved roommate towards the other woman, yet it felt like an eternity. It just had seemed like the right thing to do, even though it hurt so much. Seeing Nagisa happy was worth it, but in the same moment, everything was taken from her.

Just three days after the election, Nagisa told her that she would be moving to Shizuma's room, leaving her all alone again. She just smiled and told her she would be all right, even though it should have been obvious that she was lying. That night, she cried herself to sleep.

After that fateful day, everything in her life went downhill. She tried to get over Nagisa, tried to date other girls to get her mind off the redhead. It didn't work.

She tried starting a relationship with Yaya, bonding over their broken hearts. But they both agreed that it wouldn't work out before they even really started doing more than holding hands. Yaya found a new love in Tsubomi-chan later, she was left alone.

She tried dating Chikaru-san, since Le Rim's student council president seemed to care for her quite a lot. But she found herself unable to match the older girl's pace, leaving her completely exhausted after just a single week.

She tried to find comfort with Chiyo-chan, as the first-year student had admired her for quite some time, even if it was not to the same extent she displayed towards Nagisa.
She didn't even know what happened. One moment they were sitting on her bed, leaning softly against each other while enjoying a cup of tea. The next thing she remembered was that she was pushing down the younger girl, trying to get her out of her uniform. What made her stop was not only the terrified look on Chiyo's face, but also the realization of the terrible things she was about to do to her.

She was pretty sure that Chiyo-chan never told anyone what happened, but in a dorm with that many students, someone had to have seen her run out of her room, almost crying her eyes out.
And word did travel fast at Strawberry Hall. Nobody said anything, but she noticed that the other girls were keeping their distance, staying away from the one who surely did something bad to a younger student.

It didn't show on her face, but the isolation got to her. Fewer people talked to her. Nobody visited her room anymore. The midnight tea parties stopped.
Her reaction was to shut herself off even more, basically only leaving her room for school and meals. She even took a break from the literature club, using the excuse of having writer's block, only to be away from everyone else.

And it worked. Aside from the occasional sound of footsteps in the hallway, her room could as well be in another universe from the rest of Astrea Hill. "Her" room... that small detail still saddened her. Just a small while ago, it was still "their" room, "Nagisa's and Tamao's" room. Now...well, there were surely some rumors and weird names about the room as well as it's inhabitant.

Over the last few days, a plan had started taking shape in her mind. She would just disappear from here, leave Astrea Hill and everything that happened there behind. It seemed so easy. On her next day off, she'd simply pack some clothes and a bit of money into her bag and leave. Students going into town wasn't that rare of a sight, so nobody would be noticing anything. She'd simply go into town, change into casual clothes somewhere, then board a train. She didn't plan where she would be going yet. Maybe she'd move into a small village in the country, far away from the school, and far away from her family who'd most likely force her to go back to Miator. Of course, getting an apartment by herself was out of the question, considering her age. But she was a smart girl, so maybe she'd be able to work part-time and rent a room in an inn. She could find new friends who didn't know about the things that took place in Strawberry Hall. And maybe, just maybe, she'd find a new love, someone who would always be by her side and help her get over-

A faint sound interrupted her thoughts. Had she been doing anything else than lying on her bed, she probably wouldn't even heard it. And even so, she wasn't sure if her senses didn't just play a trick on her. But then, she heard it again. Someone was knocking on her door, but very softly, almost as if that person was only grazing the wood with her knuckles.
"Probably some test of courage for the younger girls, knocking on the door of the scary Suzumi Tamao..."

Slowly, she went towards the door and opened it.
And there she was, dripping, her eyes hidden behind wet strands of hair.

The person Tamao didn't want to see. The person Tamao wanted to see.
The most beautiful girl in her world.

"Nagisa-chan...?"