Emotions were a foreign thing for Ayano Aishi, in fact, she'd never felt them before she met her Senpai. The thing was; such a pointless thing as feeling didn't matter to her, she found it useless. It did no good anyway, most of the people that felt ended up getting hurt in the long run. It wasn't her being a pessimist, it was just logical. She only used facts after all.

Her father had worried about her...odd behavior, Ayano never talked and always was alone. Her eyes looked empty and soulless, as if she couldn't wait for all of this, for life, to be over. Not because she was suicidal or anything, but because she was just simply bored with this entire world. And while he found it unsettling, his wife had just laughed and assured him that there was nothing wrong with their child; that her behavior wasn't anything strange and it was common with the Aishi women.

He'd never tell her that the only reason he worried so much is because he was afraid his daughter would turn out to be like her mother.

And his fears were justified, because the moment she met Taro Yamada, she started feeling. But positive or not, it was dangerous.

Budo understood that clearly now, as he was hiding in the school attic, pushed up against the wall, a pocketknife at his throat and a petite, feminine hand covering his mouth as her body pressed up against his.

Of course he could easily flip their positions, he was 99- or, well, 80 -percent sure that he could. But he knew he couldn't really do that at the moment, not while the teachers were looking for them and the sound of their struggling would just alert them to their conveniently placed hiding spot.

It was odd, he didn't know how he was supposed to feel in this situation. He was cautious, for one, especially after he had seen what went down behind the school a couple minutes ago. His senses were on high alert and his eyes staying on her face the whole time instead of the knife, where it should be.

That was what confused him, he was having mixed emotions. His instincts were yelling at him to just tackle her and pin her down until she had nowhere to go, but on the other hand...he was actually...intrigued by her; mesmerized, even.

Now don't get him wrong, he'd take her down and report her the first chance he got, but since he had a feeling that he wouldn't be getting that chance anytime soon, he opted with trying to figure out the mystery that was pressed against him- leaving no space in between -and was currently holding a knife to his throat; pressing lightly, but not enough to cut through the skin and draw blood. A clear warning for him.

Was he turning into a masochist or something? It wasn't that he liked having his life in her hands, but it wasn't like he minded very much either. As long as it was her, at least.

Ayano Aishi, the strange girl from class 2-1 who never talked to anyone. No one really minded though, since everyone tended to stay away from her because she had such a...dark and creepy aura around her. Some students just had chills running down their spines whenever her name was just mentioned, and they couldn't for the life of them figure out why.

The message was clear though, any human being with common sense could feel it; she was dangerous.

But apparently, Budo had lost all common sense the moment he had taken an interest in her.

He had told himself at first that it was just mere curiosity, nothing wrong with that. In fact, a lot of students were curious about the anti-social girl, they were just too freaked out to investigate any further.

But from the way his heart was pounding at the moment, even he had to admit his feelings had gone past curiosity a long time ago.

He got snapped out of his inner thoughts as the knife tilted upwards a little, the tip of it pointed right underneath his chin and forcing him to tilt his head up. If he made one wrong move he'd be done for; the knife going straight through his flesh and it'd be because of his own doing.

"Stop staring."

Her voice wasn't entirely monotone, as he'd expected it to be. It was still cold and generally uncaring, but there was a hint of annoyance there. It was easy to miss, but he somehow managed to catch up on it.

"I wasn't," he lied, and regretted it immediately. She had a knife, and he'd never been good at lying; he was sure his cheeks were tinted red already. So now he could only hope he hadn't used up what little patience she had left because if she made a move to stab him and they started struggling, they'd get caught and both of them would be in trouble.

Luckily for him, his prayers had been answered and she pulled the knife back just a little. He wasn't sure if she realized it or not, but having the mysterious girl pressed up to him like that was starting to become a bit...uncomfortable. (Yeah, that was the word)

"How much did you see?" She asked, voice and expression stoic.

At the mention of that little detail, all his mixed feelings got replaced by one and one only. Anger. "Enough," he answered curtly.

Her eyes hardened and she threateningly held up the knife. "Careful, Budo, the only reason I didn't kill you yet is because it's too risky. I'd watch my words if I were you." She leaned even closer, surprising him because he hadn't thought it was possible. She glared up at him, making sure to keep eye contact as she spoke. "So, I'm going to ask you again. What. Did. You. See?"

"I saw Kokona," he answered, and her body went rigid. "Or, more accurately, I saw her head."

Shivers went down his spine as he recalled the memory, and he quickly forced the disturbing image out of his head before he'd end up pushing his lunch back out of his stomach.

"You know why, don't you?"

"I do."

Of course he knew. It was the only real thing he had managed to figure out about her during his investigation. She really was an enigma, he was willing to bet that even Info-Chan didn't have much info on her, if at all.

It was because of Taro, a classmate of his. For some reason, the girl had fallen head over heels for him, or so it seemed. Budo really couldn't figure out what went on in that pretty little head of hers.

Ayano sighed and finally stepped back, giving him some breathing space but making him miss the close contact at the same time.

It was official, he really was going insane.

"She was going to confess to him at the Cherry Tree behind the school this Friday, I had to act quickly so I asked her to follow me, stabbed her and dismembered her. Simple as that." She tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression, thinking something through in her head. "That's one rival gone, which just leaves Oka, Osana, Senpai's little sister, the delinquent's leader and about... four others, I think?" She shook her head and growled. "Ugh! Why must so many people try to take my Senpai away from me?!" She hissed angrily.

Meanwhile, Budo could only stare at her in shock. Ten people, she was planning to eliminate ten living people and she already had one down. And for what, for Taro? For someone who didn't even notice or acknowledge her? What was she thinking?!

He took his earlier statement back, he wasn't the insane one, she was.

Just as he had decided to risk their hiding spot and take her down- after all, if he explained what had really happened nothing was wrong -both of them could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and they froze up completely. He was actually surprised to see a flash of panic showing in her eyes for just a split second before it disappeared.

Ayano's eyes cleared up and she started muttering to herself, quickly thinking of every possible thing that could happen and how she would get herself out of it.

The moment she had heard the footsteps her mind had already started calculating left and right. She knew for a fact that Midori was the one coming up the stairs, he could tell by her footsteps. That was a good thing, the green haired girl was known for being a bit ditzy and slow. Sure, she was curious, but most of her curiosity was aimed at some game developer she spent her entire day on asking stupid questions. Ayano could easily think her way out of this one, and she already had a perfect plan...but that didn't mean she liked it.

The black haired girl turned to face Budo, a pained expression on her face as she whispered. "I'm sorry, Senpai."

Budo frowned, something told him that she wasn't referring to him. In fact, he knew very well that she was talking about Taro. But why would she say she was sor-

His eyes widened and he instinctively leaned back as she suddenly lunged at him, making his back hit the wall for the second time that day. The small girl quickly put the pocketknife in the pocket of his school uniform, and- before he could protest -completely pushed her body against his and grabbed the collar of his uniform, tugging him down to roughly smash her lips against his.

The Martial Arts Leader just stood there, completely in shock at the sudden change of events that were taking place. She was kissing him, she was actually kissing him.

The footsteps grew closer, and Ayano responded by pushing it to the next level and placing her hand at the back of his neck to hold him down against her as she forced her tongue in.

And, despite his better judgments, he wrapped one arm around her waist and placed the other on her cheek before kissing her back with just as much force as she was using.

She pushed him back further against the wall and didn't even react as he switched their positions, turning so that she was the one pressed against it- uncomfortably so, I might add, but neither of them were paying attention to that at the moment.

Ayano had to admit, she was surprised. She hadn't actually expected him to kiss back, let alone use his tongue.

And here she thought the only backbone he had lay in his martial arts skills.

They could hear a soft gasp coming from the door before hurried footsteps quickly made their way back downstairs, pretending as if she had seen nothing.

The moment Midori was gone, Ayano slipped her hand into the boy's pocket and pulled out her knife before pushing him back roughly and wiping her lips. Her face was flushed and she was out of breath, her lips slightly swollen and hair disheveled; but despite her appearance, her eyes were staring up at him with murderous intentions.

And just like that, Budo snapped out of...whatever was wrong with him a second ago. His eyes widened and his face went a few shades redder than a tomato. "Y-you-"

"Don't start getting any ideas," she growled coldly, trying her best to speak through the heavy and ragged breaths she was taking. "My heart belongs to Senpai, I don't even know if I can forgive myself for this."

As stated before, emotions were foreign to Ayano, that's why she didn't know why the feeling of anger and confusion were mixed with a weird tingly feeling deep in her stomach. She didn't know who she was angry at or why she was confused, but she did know that that weird tingly feeling only showed up when she was around Senpai. But still...this feeling was different, it was stronger somehow, and she didn't like it; not at all.

She pushed past him, avoiding eye contact at all costs as she hurriedly made her way out of the cobweb-filled attic. "Just know that you're playing my game now," she told him lowly. "Tell anyone what you saw and I'll drag you down with me. I know you're a terrible liar, and you're going to get even more flustered now because of that...that k-kiss," she stuttered, clearing her throat uncomfortably as her cheeks started heating up.

She didn't let him respond, the moment she was done talking, she hurried down the stairs as if her life depended on it; only one thought on her mind.

Why didn't she kill him?