AN: Inspired by the perfect Yoyumi song; "Grenade" by Bruno Mars. Neither the songs nor the characters mentioned are mine. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Enjoy, friends!

The tall brunette took a deep breath and shouldered his backpack as he walked down the hallway, glancing at everything and anything that moved. He was looking for someone in particular.

He sighed as he exited the front doors of the school and walked down the small number of steps down onto the lawn of the property.

"Oni-chan!" he heard a small, quiet voice say excitedly. He looked down and saw Yuka Mochida, his little sister.

"Oh, hey Yuka. What brings you here?" He replied, curious as to why the middle-schooler was at the high school.

"I was waiting for you, big brother," the girl answered, giving a bright smile.

The older boy smiled as well. "Alright. Well, I have to take care of something first, so you can go ahead without me. Just don't eat any popsicles in the fridge, okay," he said with a wink.

Yuka giggled and nodded. "Okay, Satoshi! See you when you get home," she replied before walking off. Satoshi smiled and watched her go before sighing deeply and looking forward once again.

He finally spotted her, Ayumi Shinozaki, talking with her friend Mayu Suzumoto. This would make it more difficult to talk with her alone.

"Well, it's now or never," he mumbled to himself before walking over to where the two girls stood talking. They seemed to be ending a conversation.

"…and then, he started singing! Singing! Right in the middle of the crowd! It was hilarious," an enthusiastic Mayu said, Ayumi nodding with a smile on her face.

The two girls turned to face Satoshi as they heard his footsteps approaching. "Hiya, Mochi-chan!" Mayu said, giggling. She always had a different nickname for him, it seemed.

"Hello, Mayu," the boy said with a smile. "How are you?" he asked politely. He didn't really talk to her much, so it was somewhat awkward for him. But, she was nice, so he would return the favor.

"Oh, I'm doing wonderful, thanks for asking," the cheerful girl replied with a bright smile that was quite infectious. The boy smiled and inclined his head in response before turning to Ayumi.

"Hi Mochida-kun," the blue-haired girl said with a kind smile on her face.

"Uh, hey…" he replied uncertainly, "can I- uh… Can I talk to you? You know... in private?" He stole a glance at Mayu.

A curious look crossed Ayumi's face before she replied confusedly, "Uh, yeah," she turned to the other girl. "Mayu, do you mind?"

"No, of course not! You two have fun," she said, walking off to meet up with Morishige.

"So, um, what did you want to talk with me about, Satoshi?" Ayumi asked hesitantly as she looked up at him.

Here it goes. He's going to say it. He's going to get this off his chest. He has to, for Yoshiki. Satoshi's constantly wondering why their short class rep doesn't see how much Kishinuma cares for her. It got especially puzzling after their school's annual haunted house. A few upperclassmen decided to pull a little prank on 2-9.

Now, if you knew anything about Ayumi, you'd know that she loved scaring people, but whenever you tried to return the favor, she would start having a panic attack. She'd start wheezing and would collapse on her knees.

So, imagine her reaction when a few teens dressed as an assortment of monsters jumped out at them when they were walking around the school checking for trash. Naturally, Yoshiki's reaction was to… well, punch them. He says it was a reflex of his, but Satoshi and Naomi, who were there as well, say otherwise.

After knocking the leader out and scaring away the others, he rushed to Shinozaki's side to make sure she was okay. She quickly shoved him away, yelling at him for not being careful.

That, and many more examples, provide proof to the other students of 2-9 that Yoshiki definitely has a soft-spot for their class rep. They might even say he has a crush on her. Kishinuma admitted to his best friend that he thinks that she's beautiful and smart and interesting. And that he does, in fact, love her.

The only issue with that is… she doesn't return his feelings. He'd do anything for her, but she barely acknowledges him. Instead, she fawns over Satoshi, much to Yoshiki's annoyance.

Satoshi took a deep breath, preparing himself for her inevitable reaction.

"Well," he started off, "I kind of came to get something off my chest… So, if you'd just hear me out. Don't say anything until the end, okay?" He looked to her for confirmation that she understood.

The petite girl nodded, a slightly alarmed look on her face. He then rubbed a hand down his face, a bit stressed on how this could play out.

"Okay, here it goes… Oh, and I prepared a speech." He said, ducking his head sheepishly, reaching into his pocket, taking out a folded piece of notebook paper. She glanced at his hand before looking back at his face.

"'Easy come, easy go,'" he began reading, adding a few comments in between, "'That's just how you live. I get it. You take it all, but you never give.' Well, at least not Yoshiki. 'He gave you all he had, but you tossed it in the trash. To give him all your love is all he ever asked…' I mean, he didn't actually ask you, but still. He just wanted you to like him.

"'But what you don't understand is that he'd catch a grenade for you, he'd throw his hand on a blade for you, he'd jump in front of a train for you. He'd do anything for you. He'd go through all this pain. I'd bet he'd even take a freaking bullet through his brain. Yeah, he'd die for you. But you wouldn't do the same.

"'You ignore him, you push him away, you even punch him. If his body was on fire, I bet you'd watch him burn down in flames. But, Ayumi… he'd still catch a grenade for you. He'd still throw his hand on a blade, jump in front of a moving train, and take a bullet straight through his brain. He'd do anything for you. And it hurts him that you wouldn't do the same.'"

As Mochida finished reading the paper, he hesitantly looked up to see Ayumi's reaction. "Oh, and Yoshiki definitely wouldn't approve of me doing this, so don't take it out on him," he added as an afterthought. If she was going to be mad, she should be mad at him, not his blonde best friend.

She had a small, sad smile on her face. His speech had made her remember all the thoughts she'd been having that week. It made all those times he stuck up for her and she pushed him away flash through her mind. Thinking back… she really regretting all those times. He was so sweet to her, and how does she repay him? She ignores his existence.

The brunette stood there, looking at her face, trying to gauge her reaction. He was worried. He wasn't sure how she was going to react. They probably weren't going to be friends anymore, but that was better for him then seeing his best friend suffer.

"I-I know he'd do all those things for me." He could hear the tears in her voice. "I didn't know what I was doing. I'm so sorry."

"I-It's okay… Don't apologize to me…" he quietly replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, it's not, Mochida. I was being an awful person. He was so sweet to me, and I just cast him aside… And, I didn't know… that he had feelings for me. I didn't notice. I'm sorry….." she said back to him, her voice trembling.

"I promise I won't do it ever again," Ayumi said determinedly and looked him in the eyes, showing her sincerity.

The taller boy nodded. "Just make sure you make it up to him. He really deserves it."

"I know he does. Actually, I was going to… Tell him thank you today. I was about to do it after I finished my conversation with Mayu, but then you came over."

"Oh, heh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I've kind of liked him for a while now… I just never knew how to act around him. I was afraid…" she told him.

"…Because of your dad?" he asked. She had told him about that. How her dad had cheated on her mom and then left them. She now seemed to think that all men were liars and cheaters. But he knew that Yoshiki was different. Especially when it came to the girl in front of him. Ayumi nodded.

"Ayumi, he's not like that. He's different from your dad. Trust me," he promised.

"I know," she said affectionately, "He's a lot better than my dad ever was." She really knew that. But it wouldn't stop her from being insecure every once and a while. Satoshi smiled gently.

"Well, I'd better go catch up to him before he gets too far," Ayumi said quickly.

"Yeah," Mochida replied, "I just saw him leaving not too long ago." The shorter girl nodded and smiled. She gave him a quick hug, thanking him for being willing to do that for his friend. He gave a nod and a smile. That went better than he thought it would.

After waving to Satoshi, Ayumi ran off in the direction Yoshiki went. She really hopes she'll catch up to him.

There! She sees the group (minus her and Satoshi of course). And she can make out the back of the tall blonde boy she's running after.

"Hey! Wait up for me," she calls, hoping at least he'll hear and stop. She was a little more fortunate than that, for the whole group stopped and turned around, wondering what their class rep looked in such a rush for.

When she finally caught up to them, she stopped a moment to catch her breath.

"Hey, Shinozaki. You… okay?" It was Yoshiki. "Yeah, is everything alright class rep?" That one was Naomi. Ayumi held up a finger to them as she panted.

She straightened up when she caught her breath and looked at everybody's faces. All of them either held amused or curious faces. Her gaze finally fell on the boy occupying her thoughts. He had a look of mild concern hidden in his grey eyes.

Ayumi made a decision and took a deep breath. She quickly stepped closer to Yoshiki and raised herself on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck, closing her eyes, and gently pressing her lips to his.

Yoshiki's eyes widened and a deep blush splashed onto his face for a moment before he too closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the kiss. The blush was still prominent on his features.

The others stood in momentary shock before Mayu and Seiko started cheering, the others joining in by either clapping, laughing, or giving wolf-calls.

The pair pulled apart, blushing madly. Poor Yoshiki's cheeks looked like a lobster that got badly sunburnt.

"We'd better… leave you two alone. Just don't have too much fun while we're gone," Mayu managed to get out through her giggling. The others nodded with amused faces.

"Uh… Okay…" Ayumi responded, Yoshiki too confused to speak.

As the rest of the group walked off, Seiko looked over her shoulder mischievously and then leaned over to Naomi, whispering something in her ear. At this, Naomi burst out laughing.

When they were out of ear shot, Ayumi turned to Yoshiki. A blush was already crawling its way back onto her cheeks.

"What the hell was that for? I mean, not that I'm complaining, but you took me a little by surprise," Yoshiki questioned.

"That was for being so sweet to me. And it was to say that… I… I love you," Ayumi answered, looking at her feet.

Yoshiki had never heard such beautiful words from a more beautiful person in his life. And he didn't want to. The taller boy gently grabbed her chin, tilting it up, deep affection shining in his grey eyes. He then leaned down and pressed a short and sweet kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against her, and moved his hand to brush a hair behind her ear.

"I love you, too, Ayumi," Yoshiki said gently. The blue-haired girl smiled gently, happiness shining in her eyes.

And as the two students stood, staring into each other's eyes, all seemed right with the world.