He wasn't like a main character at all, she mused, another day in the sunlit classroom where the lazy week crawled on. But then again, neither was she. If she had to compare their relationship to a manga - how would that go? Takane wasn't sappy, oh gosh no, but it did make her wonder sometimes.

In a shoujo manga, Haruka might've been the best friend or the popular, kind student people flocked to. What would that make her? She glanced over at him quietly sketching and smiling to himself and simply wondered. Would he be a transfer student? Perhaps a mysterious guy that just caught her eye. Not out of love, but curiosity.

Though frankly, she examined her hands thoughtfully, she was absolutely nothing like a shoujo heroine. How about the other characters? She'd imagine that jerk Shintaro probably becoming Haruka's best friend - perhaps paired with the sweet Ayano, they were cute enough friends in this universe as it was. Cute.

She wasn't cute. Takane sighed, pulling at one of her pigtails distractedly. Wasn't that what shoujo heroines were? Then she couldn't be one. She would be a side character at best, comic relief maybe, she was good at screwing things up like that.

"Are you okay, Takane?"

The voice broke her train of thought. Haruka's smile graced her and she blushed, only slightly.

"I'm fine." Well if it had to be like this, what about a shounen manga? She could see herself getting behind the big guns - wizardry, weaponry, aggressive team spirit and motivational quotes - all the cool stuff to fight and save the world.

But then again... She frowned down at her chest and made to lay her head on the table. Shounen heroines almost always had that extra kick, huh? She wasn't particularly attractive or unattractive but she definitely didn't have the curves that made the cut.

"Takane? Are you sure you're okay?" She groaned in response, hiding her face in her sleeves. Talking to Haruka about her insecurities was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I know it's a little boring just waiting but it'll be lunch time soon!" He sounded so cheerful, she just wanted to hug him until it rubbed off on her. Of course she didn't.

"You've already started eating anyway."

"Do you want some?"

"No."

So where did that leave them? It was all her fault really, that they didn't fit in either primary category and going into every one of the minor genres would take a lifetime. She snickered at the thought of a magical girl anime - now that would be interesting. All she thought of then was Shintaro and Haruka as magical girls. Priceless.

Pulling her headphones out, she placed them over her ears and tapped her foot.

Every day in the sun lit classroom at the desks by the window.

It's alright.

They didn't need to be in any kind of manga.

She'd kick ass like a shounen heroine online and be strong like a shounen hero to protect Haruka when he needed her. She'd maybe confess her not-so-platonic feelings in a shoujo heroine kind of way and laugh it off dumbly like a shoujo hero when she got rejected. This was the way it was going to be. It was alright this way. Alright...!

"Tell him before it's too late."

Ayano's voice echoed through her mind - the girl's sad smile lingering in her thoughts. How long had it been since she had seen the red scarf, the modest grace that was Ayano Tateyama. It couldn't have been more than a few days ago.

Before it's too late.

She ran and ran and ran as the rays blazed down, heat causing drips of sweat to run down her forehead, her neck and everywhere the summer sun could touch. Her face was red with exertion, limbs aching and her brain shrieking for her to stop. Stop, you can't do it. Stop, you're only going to hurt yourself.

"Are you okay, Takane?"

She was not okay.

She'd never be okay.

Not like this.

Her breath was running short and she didn't know how much longer she could run for but she had to. There was no way she was going to stop now. Takane knew she wasn't strong. She was no hero or heroine or anything of any story - pitiful really, her loved one was going to die and all she was doing was running.

Haruka.

Run faster. She tried and tried but her legs were weakening from the strain. Her lungs were constricting, her heart pumping insanely, and it all hurt so much.

I love you.

She would've screamed it had her lungs not given out.

Black. There was black. A vision, then black.

Had it been the end? What kind of ending was that?

Ah, but. Reality never was a story told in pictures and panels.

Konoha was perfect. The exact depiction of a manga boy; the one she had gotten to know through Haruka's drawings so long ago.

He was tall and flawless - the spitting image of Haruka's avatar and she almost believed for a second he was the boy.

He wasn't.

Or if he was, he didn't remember. "I'm sorry," Was what he said. "I only just met you now."

Takane, now going by the name Ene, gazed up at the passive male with a plastered grin.

"Hey! Stop spacing out or something will drop on you!"

A manga, huh. Those ideas were so far gone now she didn't even remember what they were. Naïve, love struck thoughts. Stupid little fantasies she could laugh at Shintaro about. Seems ironic that the one that survived was not one she had cherished nor loved dearly, but she was glad in a cruel way. That he'd suffered the same things she did. And yet now she was always enjoying Shintaro's misfortune.

"Ah, sorry..." Konoha looked at her blankly, pulling the screen up to his face. "Do you have any pictures of food?"

She blinked innocently, brought back to the life that was now; it was laughable how much the boy reminded her of the idiot she once loved. Such an idiot.

"I might, why?"

"It's almost lunchtime."

"So? What about that breadstick you've got in your mouth right now?"

He paused as if unsure why he asked and was now unable to respond. She didn't want to look at him just yet, at that face that she knew so much about yet stared at her as if he were drawn to her. He didn't remember. He didn't need to know. Ene sailed across the screen expectantly, flipping through Shintaro's photo album of red things while waiting for the boy to finally formulate a response.

The one she got was something she least expected. The voice broke her train of thought and looking up, she was met with a concerned stare.

"Are you okay, Ene?"

It was only then when she realised she was crying.