Should it be my fault for going after my dreams? Isn't that what everyone's been saying, to chase it? Why didn't I say that? I could have said other things to explain but this isn't solely my fault! Len thought as he watched the clouds outside of the plane. His little confrontation with Kahoko left him guilty. Guilty of what, he couldn't figure out. He wore a cap to conceal his face and wore nerdy-looking glasses to confuse people, and mainly his fans. The slightly older woman beside him was listening to one of his songs called 'Candle Light'. He could tell because her earphones were quite loud. He became worried about what would happen if she discovered who the dorky-guy-with-a-cap-on was.

He rested his chin on his right palm, staring at the blue sky.

She's my girlfriend, right? Isn't she supposed to support me with this all the way? Why isn't she making any sacrifices? He wondered.

"Excuse me sir, would you like some coffee, water or juice? Or do you prefer soft drinks?" asked the pretty flight stewardess. Len hadn't noticed her until the woman beside him tapped his shoulder lightly and impatiently.

"Sorry. Do you have any tea?" he asked, slightly altering his voice.

"We only have Lemon Grass tea." She replied.

He smiled out of politeness, "That'll do."

The plane had landed and Tsukimori arrived in the airport in London. He waited for his luggage patiently at the luggage carousel and picked up a somewhat heavy stroller bag with a tape that had 'Hino Kahoko' written in kanji. He sighed, forgetting he had placed that there before he visited Kahoko. He tried to shake that off as he went to the carpool and it didn't take him a second to see a piece of paper with Len's name in Japanese, in seriously wrong spelling. 'Rin Tsukimori'

"Len, you're back!" said Jonty, Len's agent, in English as he waved the paper excitedly. He had red hair that was so messy it looked like a clown's head, and the wrinkles on his forehead made it obvious he was past his thirties. He was slightly smaller than Len but had a terrifying attitude. Usually.

Tsukimori just continued walking, ignoring Jonty's rare enthusiasm. Jonty seemed to look awkward for a second but thought otherwise and tried to match Tsukimori's long strides.

"So, how was your visit with you girlfriend? Hmm? Oh, and look! I tried to write your name in Japanese!" he asked, acting like a kid that was able to spell his mother's name correctly for the first time.

Len looked at him as if saying 'you're annoying'. "What is wrong with you today, Jonty-san?" he said finally, with a slight Japanese accent.

Jonty seemed to stiffen and suddenly looked a bit darker.

"Maybe I'm in a good mood. Your meeting with the record label will be at four-thirty in the morning." Jonty said, his good mood dying down by the second.

"And one more thing," Len added.

"My name is not Rin."


After Len left, Kahoko's sister peeked in the room, about to ask if Len had finally asked her to marry him. Instead, she saw Kahoko crying into a pillow with her hands lightly pulling her hair.

"He said that to you?" Kahoko's mom and sister asked at the same time.

Kahoko looked away and didn't answer.

"Why is it so similar to so many of the dramas I've seen..?" her sister muttered to herself.

It seemed as if Kahoko's mother wanted to say "Oh, Kahoko" and hug her and let her cry but Kahoko was no longer like that. Ever since being officially Len's girlfriend, she realized that he was strong and desired to be as strong as he was. So then she vowed to take care of her own problems and refuse to cry in front of others except Len. Her mother repressed herself from comforting her now grown-up baby girl, feeling helpless as all she could do was give words of advice and kiss her head, letting her know that she had her support.

After informing her family about her unfortunate… quarrel with Len, her sister sat beside her, on the same couch he left her on a few minutes ago. They sat in silence, her sister taking in the new design of their living room. The couch was on a carpet imported from India, there was also a nice television in front of it with a coffee table in between. It wasn't Japanese style anymore.

"I like how our living room looks. It feels homey." She said, starting out with small talk. Kahoko hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knee.

"Kahoko, you've really changed." Her sister commented.

"How so?"

"I think it was ever since Tsukimori Len became your lover. You're less open now and.. it seems like your attitude has really changed."

Kahoko gave a humorless laugh. "That's because I only share everything with him."

"You know, I think he's not sacrificing enough for you." He sister said confidently.

Kahoko looked at her. "Really?"

"I think, you both have to make sacrifices if you want to make this work." Their mom said as she entered with two cups of tea and a glass of water on a tray.

Both of her children watched her, waiting for an explanation. Before she spoke, she set the tray down on the coffee table.

"For one thing, Kahoko," She said as she made herself comfortable on the chair beside the couch. "Has he ever put off his work for you and spent months with you? You've been together for what.. four years?"

"Six." Kahoko corrected. Her mom was about to continue, but she paused and looked at her, shocked, but continued anyway.

"He should at least spend more time with you if he really wants this to work out. Based on experience, honey, if he can't do that, he can't do anything else." She said taking a sip of water. "But then," she peeked at Kahoko. "What sacrifices have you done for him?"


"What have I sacrificed for him? It seems as if I haven't done anything for him at all." Kahoko mumbled to herself on her way to work. She parked her car at the 'reserved for teachers' area. There were still a lot of cars in the parking lot which meant that the dance classes that took place during school hours was still going on. As she exited her car, she breathed in the nice, fresh air that the nature around the rocky floor gave off. She liked that this parking lot wasn't like the other boring ones with absolutely nothing in it. There was even a tree at the far end with a swing on it.

"Don't push me any higher!" Kahoko yelled, afraid that the skirt of her dress would fly up and reveal her underwear.

Len just laughed and caught her as the swing fell back. He made it stay still, holding both ropes with both of his hands.

"Why'd you stop?" Kahoko asked, looking up at him, his face only inches away.

Len lightly kissed the bridge of her nose and pushed her again. Kahoko gasped and held tighter on the ropes. "I wasn't ready for that!" she yelled. But he caught her again and kissed her lightly on the lips, pushed the swing and did it again.

Kahoko got dizzy but she wasn't sure if it was from the sudden movements and sudden stops or because of how many times Len had kissed her. They both sat on the small space of the tree, but since only one person could fit in it, Len held Kahoko on her lap.

She felt his lips brush her neck as he smelled her hair. She got tickled and her right shoulder went up on instinct as she moved away from his touch.

Len chuckled. "Are you getting tickled?"

Kahoko shook her head. She shouldn't be remembering this even though it happened nearly a year ago. She leaned on the hood of her car, waiting for the students to come out. She noticed that two of her colleagues had already parked their cars. She sighed and checked her watch. Oh wait, she didn't have a watch and looked for her cellphone in her bag. But as she did, the students were already exiting the mini school. It was already 2pm and some of the grade schoolers and preschoolers usually got dismissed at this time. She made her way up the steps past the people going in the opposite direction and as she entered the room, there were still a few people left, doing stretches with the teacher. She set her things on her desk by the wall and sat down, organizing her things or basically she was trying to make herself look like she was doing something so that it didn't look like she was waiting for the people to leave. As she was 'organizing', the dance teacher went up to her to thank her for allowing her to use this place. Another person with boyish hair walked up to her. She could tell she was a girl because of her eyeliner and lip gloss.

"Kaho-chan? Is that you?"

Kahoko was amazed. "Mio?"


"…that's why I couldn't really meet up with you guys." Said Kahoko after school hours. Mio was patient enough to wait for her friend to finish up in 5 hours. She watched from preschoolers to college students, learning the violin. At times when she got bored, she'd do a little stretching beside one of the teachers who were doing yoga or tried learning the violin herself. It became easy for Mio to become friends with Hino's colleagues because they were all such open and friendly people. Right now, at quarter to eight in the evening, they were at a pastry shop eating sweets. Just like in the High School days.

"So it's like you were drinking alcohol." Mio said.

The water Kahoko swallowed seemed to go down the wrong way.. "H-how so?"

"Well, I know for a fact that Tsukimori-kun drinks alcohol since he's been to countless parties abroad. I know you don't. I guess you working extra harder and working overtime is like you trying to get drunk to forget everything while he was away, right?"

Kahoko made a weird face.

"You could have used a better analogy though." She mumbled and started to play with her food.

"I'm proud of you, though. I was getting worried that you'd start ruining your life by getting hung-over every night or something." Mio commented.

"Thanks, Mio-chan." Kahoko smiled. "You look really different now. Your hair's still the same, but you're glowing. I bet you've got a lot of suitors." Kahoko said with a smug face. As Mio humbly shook her head, Hino's phone rang.

"Sorry, I'll have to take this." She said, going outside to the front of the pastry shop. But as she did, someone caught her wrist with a tight grip that somehow didn't hurt.

"Etou-kun, what are you doing? Anyways, I have to take a call." She said, trying to wriggle herself away but Etou was also holding his phone and had a serious look on his face.

"It's me." He said, and she heard his voice from her phone as well.

For some reason, his gaze held hers and she couldn't look away.