Disclaimer : I don't own CCS
Chapter Dedication: To Aoi Itsuki. I hope things will turn out better in the end.
"Daidouji-san, you truly are the most beautiful girl…"
"Tomoyo-chan…. Even now that I'm going to Hong Kong, you're always, always gonna be my best friend!"
"Daidouji, congratulation for winning the choir competition!"
"I really like you."
"I wonder if someday I can be as charming as you are, Daidouji-senpai."
"Daidouji-sama…"
"Tomoyo dear, I know that you can always make me proud..."
.
.
.
"I really, really dislike you."
THE Daidouji-san
Chapter 2: Good Girl, Good Guy
I woke up the next day with a shriek.
That dream was… a nightmare! Thanks to the horrifying speech Hiiragizawa had told me the day before, for the first time since the end of Junior High, I couldn't have a decent sleep. I wasn't insomniac. Well, at least I stopped being one years ago. Years ago. And just one encounter with Mr.I-really-dislike-you-TOO made the old disease come back to me. Glancing at my alarm clock, I realized that I had woken up earlier than the intended time. Sighing, I turned off the alarm so that it wouldn't ring its weird 'wakey-wakey-wakey!' sound in the next seven minutes.
I was an optimistic girl, but to be honest, inadequate amount of sleep and nightmares could even ruin my usually pleasant morning mood. I mean, I slept really late the night before. For that, I gave my second gratitude to , who inconsiderately and insensitively had locked the school gate the night before. I had to wait for the Daidouji bodyguards to rush into the school to unlock the gate. If anyone was wondering, the school gate was that high, that it had been impossible for me to climb that up. As the result of coming home late, I had to deprive my sleeping time so that I could work on my homework.
And I had nightmare.
And I suddenly became an insomniac girl again.
Who was to thank?
Exactly. I didn't even want to mention the name, because I supposed it was clearwho it was.
The thought about the certain sapphire-eyed guy didn't disappear from my mind even after I finished taking a shower and grooming myself. It made me even applied the apricot jam that I didn't really like to my toast, and I didn't realize it until I took a bite.
And why was I doing this?
Exactly, again.
It wasn't that I voluntarily wanted to blame everything to Hiiragizawa, but on the other hand, I couldn't think of a better option.
Like, how could that guy trick me for seven years into believing that he was the most polite, most gentlemanly-like, and most kind young man, while in fact, he had none of these traits? Up until this moment, I still couldn't believe that it was Hiiragizawa-san, like Eriol Hiiragizawa-san, who said those shocking and untrue words to me the day before. The Eriol that I remembered was that young boy who loved to tease Syaoran-kun, who had a habit to kiss Sakura's hand, who could understand Yamazaki's queer jokes, who could play the piano well, who…who was not the guy I encountered the day before. I believed that people could change, but his change was too drastic that it was insane.
And why was it insane, again?
Because he had dared himself to mock me. And who am I again? Tomoyo Daidouji. Exactly.
Thinking about him made time fly fast. My car would reach the school gate in the next several minutes. I took some deep breaths to prepare myself. Because I am a Daidouji, I owned my own glory. I wouldn't let a mere new transfer student just stole my trophy like that. This was a battle.
But in this battle, a Daidouji could win effortlessly without guns, blood, violence, or a single sweat. A Daidouji fought in class.
The limousine stopped in a graceful halt and I stepped out of the car. It was a cool morning and I felt my mood was getting better.
First step.
Second step.
Third –
"Daidouji-senpai, good morning!"
"Daidouji-sama, good morning! I heard that you got chosen as the vice president for the Student Council! Congratulation! I am sure that you can be the president, but oh well…it doesn't matter to me!"
"Whooaa… Hime looks more and more beautiful every day! I wish I could be her boyfriend, just for a day…"
"Idiot, do you know that she rejected Kanazawa from Class B yesterday? She wouldn't even have to think twice to reject you!"
"Shut up, she can hear, you know!"
Three steps, and I already had the crowds around me. Some were circling around me, while the rest were just commenting me from away (if they really wanted to keep it a secret, they should have considered lowering down the volume of their voice, really). It was a bit confusing to reply to all the 'Good Morning!'s and 'How are you?'s, but I couldn't say that I hated all the attention.
But the girl who was standing next to me suddenly turned around and squealed, "It's Hiiragizawa-kun…!"
I felt the rush of air passed through me. I later realized that the crowd around me diminished slowly to… gather around a certain bespectacled, transfer student.
But worry not, I still have my loyal admirers crowded around me and it didn't matter when –
"Good morning Hiiragizawa-kun…My name is Ayase from Class C. I hope we can be good friends!"
"Hey Hiiragizawa, I heard that you are a transfer student from England?"
"Hiiragizawa-kun is chosen as the Student Council's President, right? Wow, you must be a very smart and capable person!"
"Hiiragizawa-kun!"
"Hiiragizawa-senpai…!"
…
…
I took a deep breath.
A very deep breath.
I knew I wasn't a novice in this department. I knew what to do.
Turning around in a casual way, I then spread my smile to the dark-haired incarnation. "Good morning, Hiiragizawa-san!"
I knew that I had caught his attention, because his sapphire eyes were locked into mine and…
…he smiled.
"Good morning, Daidouji-san," he said as he bowed his head politely.
I supposed that I was too dumbfounded with his action that it required me an extra two seconds before I returned the bow.
We exchanged polite smiles before Hiiragizawa excused himself from me and from his newborn fan club. He mentioned something about having to meet the teacher to find out his class. As he walked away from the crowd, I began to wonder.
Was it the same Hiiragizawa that mocked me the day before? The Hiiragizawa that just greeted me now seemed so… normal, so polite, like the Hiiragizawa Eriol that I knew when I was 11 years old. Could it be that I had been hallucinating the day before?
…
Of course not. Years of being the School's Princess made me realize that there could be a hypocrisy in a façade and a contrary message inside a politeness. I knew that I hadn't been hallucinating the day before. I knew that Hiiragizawa had embarrassed me for real. I knew that his polite and nice-guy attitude just then were just his acting.
Hiiragizawa was corrupted. Hiiragizawa was my enemy.
He remained polite just because he didn't want to ruin his public image. I bet that once we were alone, he would show his true color, that nasty side of him who dared to make fun of me.
That side of him would come.
And I, Daidouji Tomoyo, would be the one to prove that.
We would see.
.
.
So then… three days had passed.
With nothing wrong occurred.
Not that I wished for something wrong to happen, but I just… well, I expected and believed that Hiiragizawa Eriol would show his true persona. But… he didn't.
He didn't even show it when there were only the both of us. Oh yes, with me being the vice and him being the president of the Student Council, there were many instances where we were left alone by ourselves. In those moments, I was ready to catch the double-faced Hiiragizawa red-handed. I had even cautiously set a hidden video camera at one of the blind spot inside the Student Council Room. But what it had recorded were only casual occurrences of Student Council's activities. And, yes, unfortunately, that camera also caught me by accident when I fell while I was carrying heavy books handouts in such an unladylike fashion. Fortunately, I had been all alone when that stupid incident happened. I had to remind myself to erase that embarrassing part once the Hiiragizawa-spying project was done.
Sadly, I didn't suppose that project would be finished any time soon.
Because after three days and 14 hours, I still hadn't caught any misfits, any strangeness from Hiiragizawa.
This had… somehow earned my respect.
This guy could hide his bad traits well. Anything out of my plan was considerably a rare thing.
Not that my plan had backfired. I knew I just needed to be more patient, act as usual and then –
"Daidouji-san, would you please collect all the polling from the classes?"
I looked up and noticed that he had again ordered me to do something. I politely replied, "I will, Hiiragizawa-san. But maybe after I finish auditing the Drama Club's budget? I will finish it in an hour and after–"
"So you can't?"
My ears perked up in a call of challenge. "I can do those, Hiiragizawa-san. Just give me time to –"
"Ah, but I need the polling now, Daidouji-san. Although surely, I don't want to force you out of your capacity, so –"
"I'll do it," I said as standing up, realizing that really, I had again succumbed to his manipulation. I hated it. But I had better fall for his manipulative words than to be labeled as an incapable or undependable person. I walked towards the door and did his orders. Collecting the polling wasn't naturally a hard thing to do. But it was still quite a work out to gather all those papers from 21 classes and more. And because of the limited amount of papers I could bring with both my hands, I needed to go back and forth from the classrooms to the student council room a couple of times.
When I finished the task and was ready to do the budget's auditing again, he spoke again.
That time, he asked me to go talk to Fukuyama-sensei about a conflicting schedule that the volley club and basketball club had.
And after I finished the negotiating task, he told me to do the stamping works.
Even when the clock informed us that it was already five PM and all other members of the student council had gone home, he still had this, "Daidouji-san… could you go to the rugby club and tell them to give their club's annual budget? It's the only club that hasn't submitted the report."
And it took me three days 17 hours to realize that he had turned me into a slave.
…
I was about to let out a soft comment that would rub the reality hard on him, but he had began first.
"Are these all too much for you, Daidouji-san?"
No.
I knew I could handle it. I could deal with a demanding, perfectionist boss like Hiiragizawa Eriol. But his manipulation must end and it was his turn to succumb to my wish. With a small smile, I shook my head as the response to his earlier question. "No, it's alright, Hiiragizawa-san…" and I added a planned pause. "It's just that…ah, it's nothing Hiiragizawa-san. I will do it."
"It's just that… what?" he countered.
"It's… erm…" I deliberately paused, averted my eyes from his blue ones, and tried to fake the blush on my cheeks. I could see that Hiiragizawa was focusing his attention to me. This was why I love being a girl. No matter how weak girls were compared to boys in physical department, girls always had their own way to make boys gave in. We didn't even need to sweat our body or to make scars on our face to win the battle. "Erm…the male students in our rugby club are known to tease female students a lot. That just… makes me uncomfortable…"
That was a half lie. The guys from the rugby teams might have the tendency to disrespect some of the female students. But that didn't make me uncomfortable because I was one of the very few female students whom the rugby club members actually respected. They never dared to do anything improper to me, but Hiiragizawa didn't need to know that.
Hiiragizawa watched me with his keen eyes. "Is that true, Daidouji-san?"
I nodded slowly. "B-but I will do my best. You don't have to worry, I know that they will understand and –"
"I understand," he said as he took off his glasses. I cursed myself to be momentarily awed by how clear his sapphire eyes were. "I will go and talk to them."
Good. Things were starting to go as I planned. "Thank you for accompanying me, Hiiragizawa-san. It's still my job, I will still come, but I just need a little help here," I said. The real reason was because the evil side of me just wanted to witness how Hiiragizawa would deal with those folks from the rugby club. While they were known to be women-lover, they tended to bully pretty boys like Hiiragizawa-san. I was just curious as to how Mr. President would handle the situation. And as I let out my mental laughter (Hohohohohohoho….), I kept up the worried façade.
Of course, I wasn't that cruel. Once the situation got out of control, I would come in between them to resolve the problem. Surely, Hiiragizawa would change his opinion about me.
He stood up from his chair and offered me a smile. "It is so nice knowing that I have you as my Vice, Daidouji-san."
I returned the compliment. "No, it is my honor to help you, Hiiragizawa-san."
We walked out of the room. He opened the door for me and let me walked first. I was a little surprised with that action. Apparently, his gentleman attitude had never really left him. I nodded in gratitude and slid myself out of the Student Council room. He locked the door first before we walked together in the vacant school corridor to the school yard.
And…
… I had to say this was where Hiiragizawa made me doubtful again.
While we were walking through the corridor, he maintained such a pleasant conversation. He asked about my well being, commented on my good works in the student council, asked about our homeroom teacher, and even made me talk about Sakura-chan. After Sakura left to Hong Kong several years ago, this had always been a sensitive issue to me and I had preferred to just avoid the subject. But Hiiragizawa-san… he unexpectedly could make me share the information about Sakura without me feeling any flinch or pain.
I wondered whether because this was Hiiragizawa Eriol to begin with and he always had his smooth way to lead women without making women felt dominated. Perhaps, it was also because he had such a good, nice aura. Or perhaps… could it be because he was polite, a good listener, and a good friend to begin with?
And as I heard his story about his jet lag, I couldn't help but to think that maybe I had misjudged him. Perhaps he had been in his foulest mood when he said those harsh comments three days prior? After all, it must have been very tiring for him to become the Student Council President all so sudden...
Had I truly been hallucinating things? Could it be that I had misheard his speeches? I mean… I had been tired that time too…
"Hiiragizawa-san?" I called out for him after he finished sharing a story about Spinel.
"Yes, Daidouji-san?"
He looked up straight to my eyes and I realized that he was the kind of guy who always looked straight to his opponent's eyes.
…
I grew more uncertain.
But I had to make sure several things, so I asked him. "About that late afternoon…three days ago…"
"What about the late afternoon three days ago, Daidouji-san? Is there something wrong?" he asked in concern.
I was the one to be silenced. "D-did you really mean what you said?"
"What I said?"
"Yes. A-about…"
The sound of the whistle made me spontaneously averted my attention to the situation around us. Apparently, we were already in front of the schoolyard. The rugby club was having their after-school practice. Hiiragizawa turned to me and then smiled warmly, "Don't think about it. Now, we'd better do our job first, shall we, Daidouji-san?"
"Yes." I nodded and decided that maybe I had thought wrong about Hiiragizawa-san. In my attempt for a silent apology, I would just let myself handle the rugby club and –
"Excuse us, we are from the Student Council…" Hiiragizawa already made his move to talk to the rugby captain, who was taking his break.
The captain looked up at as. "Yes?" he said as he stood up. This showed how he was a good half meter taller and three times bigger than me. Although it wouldn't be a problem for me, it might have been a problem to a guy as thin as Hiiragizawa. I was about to talk and handle the situation but Hiiragizawa had once again acted first.
"I am sure that you have known Tomoyo Daidouji, our Student Council's Vice President," he said as putting his hand on my shoulder in a way that a father would do to boast of her daughter's achievement. "She has a problem that I think you need to solve. You see, she was assigned to ask for your club's budget but she refused and reasoned that the rugby club was far too brute and too rough for a girl like her…"
What?
But Hiiragizawa mercilessly continued, "And I want her to see that you guys are nothing like what she presumed. So I hope that you will give her considerate time to make her understand that you guys aren't like what she had described to me earlier: a bunch of thugs who don't understand the student council's rules," he smiled. "By the way, you guys were very great in that match last Sunday, I'll make sure that I will be present on your next match on Friday. See you!"
I was so astounded that I couldn't speak a word to correct that damn lies Hiiragizawa-san had just told the rugby club's captain –who, by the way, had his face turned red.
And I still couldn't say anything, even after Hiiragizawa gave a pat as if he had trusted me to do something, and left –left!– me alone with the captain.
…
…
How I escaped the situation was something that even I couldn't exactly comprehend. I thought that maybe because of the girly speech and the fact that Ryuu, the rugby team's captain, had owed me something in the past (I had offered to tutor him in Math and English last semester), he could understand the misunderstanding and believed me. Oh, how I was tempted to just blame it all to Hiiragizawa, but realizing that it was the Student Council's name on stake, I decided to cover up his faults. After minutes and minutes of convincing Ryuu, I finally gained his trust back plus the rugby club's budget.
After apologizing and expressing my gratitude for the umpteenth time to Ryuu-kun, I headed back to the Student Council room ready to –
"Ah, you're done, Daidouji-san? You got the rugby club's budget with you?"
I smiled my number nine smile (the "I'll remain nice, but you'll regret messing up with me" smile) and nodded as giving him the report. "Yes, they have finished the report but they didn't have time to give it to us."
The bespectacled man (who had been sitting comfortably while I had been out there dealing the problem with the rugby club) accepted the papers and began to examine it. "Hmm, there are noticeably several unnecessary expenses. Daidouji-san, I want you to audit this and –"
"But I haven't even finished the drama club's budget auditing,"
"Well, why haven't you?"
…Despite my respect to the great Clow Reed, I just couldn't help the urge to smack his reincarnation for being such an insensitive jerk who didn't realize whose faults was it from the very beginning. I never slacked off. It was just that he gave me the most impossible jobs (note the plurals) with the littlest time possible.
I cleared my throat and decided that if Hiiragizawa refused to cooperate, I would be the mature one here. "Hiiragizawa-san…"
"Yes, Daidouji-san?"
"Could you please explain why you lied in front of the captain of the rugby's club?"
He gazed up at me for a long time, but I wasn't deterred by this. "Well, Daidouji-san. I wasn't lying. What I told Ryuu-san was the truth, wasn't it?"
"What I said to you was only that they were known to tease female students and I was not exactly comfortable," I paused to heave a sigh. "Which part of it that said they were brutes, thugs, and rough people? I never said any of those and yet you lied and told false things about me to –"
"You started it," he cut me.
"I started it? I started it?" My tone unconsciously rose.
"Yes," he said as he stood up from his chair and walked around the table. He stopped in front of me and sat down casually on the table. "Yes, you started it. You were using your usual two-faced trick on me. And didn't I make myself clear that I couldn't stand a manipulative woman like you? You should be wiser than trying to trick me into facing the rugby club under the false pretense of 'Oh, I am a weak girl'. You gain what you give, Daidouji-san. And if you want to protest me, then you should be fixing you personality first."
…
…
I couldn't stand it.
"Who are you?" I asked with incredulous eyes. "The Hiiragizawa-san I knew… the Hiiragizawa-san I knew is –"
"Well, the Daidouji-san I knew was the kind-hearted, perspective young girl who acted for others, and not for some selfish reasoning."
"I never change, Hiiragizawa-san," I said and I realized that I almost gritted my teeth to suppress this rare emotion of anger. "You do."
And I watched him in horror as the reincarnated guy began to laugh almost maniacally. One thing that immediately popped in my mind was that this guy was crazy. I really didn't want to bother with him, but I knew that my pride would never let myself back away from his challenge. So, instead doing a wise thing like running away, I remained rooted on my spot.
Which, again, was probably the stupidest thing I did that day.
Because when he grabbed my chin and pulled me down closer to him, I knew that probably I wouldn't really win this game. After all, no matter how thin Hiiragizawa looked like, he was still a guy –who was physically stronger than me. In a movement so swift, he twirled my body and slammed me to the table. That damn guy, he made my head hit the wooden table, but that was not what bothered me. It was when he stood, turned around to face me, and pinned both my arms easily, that I felt blood drained from my face.
I tried my best to remain calm, I really did. I managed to keep up the stoic, uncaring face on my feature to hide the true fear that was eating me up inside. He wanted reaction. He wanted me to succumb, to be intimidated by him.
I wouldn't.
I was –intimidated by him, that was –, but I wouldn't let him know it.
He stared straight at my eyes for only God knew how long, until I thought that sapphire was officially a color that I disliked, before he broke the silence.
"Women. Girls…" he said in an underestimating tone. "Always think that they are smarter. Always think that by pretending to be weak they can get whatever they want. Girls like you… who are so…typical." Hiiragizawa trailed his cold, lean fingers across my skin in an agonizingly slow manner. His face remained cool as he leaned close –close enough that I could feel his breath on my cheek. "You…" he began again. "…aren't fazed at all. Is there, by any chance, that the great Daiodouji-san is often treated like this by men?" he asked as trailing his finger lower, as if to emphasize his point.
And who was being typical, again?
I exhaled a breath and raised my knee upwards aiming for his stomach, careful not to hit his certain private area (I certainly didn't want the rare kind of the Sorcerer's lineage to be ended yet) but hard enough to make him loosen his grip on my hands. He growled in annoyance, but that had given me an opportunity to free myself from him and stood up in poise.
"Why I was not fazed, Hiiragizawa-san, was because I didn't think that your …lame sexual ministration amuse me. And as to why I had let you did that, was not because I enjoyed treated like that by men, but simply because I wanted to test how much you could keep your own façade. And apparently, I am disappointed, Hiiragizawa-san," I spoke and was glad that at least I could return back the remark that he had told me three days prior. I suppressed a smirk upon noticing that Hiiragizawa's eyes widened slightly.
His surprise, however, was temporary. His smile turned into a smirk and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "I was right. You certainly are… a two-faced girl."
This was easy to respond. "As if you're not a two-faced guy yourself, Hiiragizawa-san."
He provided me another smile, and this was when it hit me, horribly. I felt like I was looking into a mirror. That was when I realized, why I was afraid of Hiiragizawa-san. He resembled me too much. I always stressed down the point that I was not someone to mess up with. The same thing could be applied to Hiiragizawa-san.
I shivered slightly.
"…If there's nothing else you want to discuss, Daidouji-san. Then, you'd better just go back home. After all, it's not safe for a weak girl as you are to stay up this late. And thank you for your good work today." He smiled.
I itched to reply, but I realized that it would be pointless. I smiled back and bowed to announce my leave.
After all, I still had my card: the video camera that I had set in this room. I was sure that it had recorded the moment when he tried to assault me. Of course, parts of me who was talking back to him could be erased, it was easy to edit. I just needed to come back early tomorrow morning to get the tape and –
"And if you think that you can blackmail me with your secret video surveillance, then you're wrong, Daidouji-san," he spoke, effectively making my steps halted. "Besides, it is me who holds your card now."
I turned around so abruptly and saw how he was examining my secret video camera. He watched the video from its little screen and smirked again. "After all, this video has caught you falling down shamefully."
I grew pale when I remembered that that damn video had recorded my fall the day before.
"Oh, and we could see your panty when you fell down," he pointed out casually. "Hmm, black and frilly. Pretty kinky for a Daidouji."
"Give the video camera back," I ordered. Red started to tint my cheeks.
He calmly took the small memory card from the video camera, gave the video camera to me, but kept the cassette inside his blue school's blazer.
"The memory card, please, Hiiragizawa-san…"
"You intended to make it a small surprise for me, didn't you? Then I think it's safe to assume, I can keep your little present to me."
"Give it back…Hiiragizawa."
"I will. After I move the data to my computer."
"Y-you pervert! Give that back!" I blurted out. Oh, I had just shouted. I hated it when I shouted or yelled. My voice was definitely not designed for one and I ended up shrieking like an ugly banshee. He sensed this, and laughed at my pitiful voice.
"You're hopeless," he said calmly as he gave the memory card back. My plan was resolved firmly. A Daidouji always got whatever that she wanted. Now, this Tomoyo Daidouji wanted the defeat of one Hiiragizawa, and surely, I would get it, effortlessly.
"You may always get what you want, Daidouji-san," he spoke as I walked across the room. "But I, too, always get what I want. Until tomorrow, Daidouji-san."
That was the signal that our war had ended for that day, so I turned around and provided an equally sweet smile. "Yes, until tomorrow, Hiiragizawa-san."
To Be Continued
A/N: Guilty as charged…I'm infected with K-Pop (never thought I would. I cursed it a lot in the past) and now I also write fanfiction for them. This is a lousy reasoning, but that's why I haven't been paying much attention to this fandom. Although of course, ET will forever be my OTP. I'm committed to finish this story (although perhaps, again, updates will take longer time), so I hope you'll still be willing to read it out. Until next chapter!
Annonymous Amethyst: I also notice that you too have been sticking with this pairing for some years, so as a fellow ET fans, I also am ecstatic! Yeah, I'll try to explore more about them, but I got to be honest that sometimes I don't know what to write anymore because I've been with this pairing for too long, haha. But thank you very much for reviewing!
asga: hello! Thanks for dropping by. You too are a loyal ET fans, so yay for ET!
sweet-sunflower: Thank you. Yeah, I realize it is pretty choppy. I'm still trying to make it less choppy. I'll surely do my best. Thanks!
redeyes143 : thanks for reviewing! Where will it go? Haha, I must say that I plan a pretty long introductory arc, then I'll jump into the real plot.
Shanaa12: Sorry for the rare updates. I'll try to be more diligent in the future. Thank you!
whathappenedtotruelove: I'm glad if you found it unpredictable. Thanks for reading the story!
Snow-Aquamarine: To be honest, I'm still scared to this point to portray Tomoyo like this. Yes, this may be 'new', but I'm actually torn myself (even as a the author) into loving or hating this concept. But thanks for reviewing!
James Birdsong: Thanks for reviewing! I notice that you might be the one who gives reviews to each chapter of almost all ET stories in . Thank you for your dedication!
LadyMidnightGuardian: Hahaha, yeah. THE Eriol here will ruin Tomoyo's life a lot. I'm too cruel to Tomoyo. Thanks for reading my stories! 3
bshinigami: I don't mind at all with you commenting that. Thank you, I'll try to work better for the upcoming chapters. Thank you for being such a loyal reader! ^^
erilmerlin: Here goes the 2nd chapter! I hope you like it!
woofyy: Until you point it out, I myself didn't really realize that it's actually a love-hate story. But looking at the stories planned ahead, yes, it's definitely a love-hate story. Yeah, I'll surely try to pay more attention to the grammar more. I'm pretty confused how I should address the tenses with the first person POV. And about Eriol's character…yeah, he is even way more OOC than Tomoyo. I'll have one or two chapters explaining why their characters develop that way soon. Thank you for reading and reviewing!
callmestranger: Aaaw, thank you very much. ^^. Here goes the 2nd chapter
lala: Sorry for the looooooonnnng update. I won't abandon this fic though. Thanks! ^^
closetbookworm: Yes, this will solely be from Tomoyo's perspective. Although I'll make 2 side chapters from Eriol's perspective AFTER the whole story ends. Thanks for reviewing!
Sheo Darren: I have to google first on the 'kuudere' term, haha. Aah, so that's the meaning. Yeah, she'll be pretty blunt in the first half of the story, but her true warmth will seep out later. Thanks for reviewing!
Everlastingnice277: Glad that you do! Thank you…
Mel Melly Melt: First of all, thanks for your long review (here and in my other one-shot story). And awww, thanks for reading my other ExT stories. ET fandom may not be as lively as it used to be 5 years ago, but I hope people will go back reading ET again. So..I'm glad you ventured back here. ^^. I'm actually very insecure with those new 'spices' to Tomoyo's character. But I think she'll resemble the usual Tomoyo more. Actually, I'd like to think that this is the usual Tomoyo, only with the slight (or not) twist. Sure, I'll take your advices and I'll try to work better in the future. Oooh, I also want to thank you for your 'The Red Thread' review, and I'm actually glad you shared your opinion about that. It's a special one shot for me, so thank you….
