Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot; characters are all owned by Enterbrain and AIC.

As usual, entire sentences in italics are thoughts and flashbacks.

x~~*~~x

Anger

A tinny, metallic sound shattered the air, and Tachibana Junichi reluctantly got up from bed, eyeing the time on the alarm clock that lay on his bedside table. The clock was staring at him, hands pointed to eight and twelve, indicating that he had about one hour to get ready before he was due at school to assist Tsukasa with the preparations as her assistant on the Founder's Festival Committee.

He sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his bleary eyes with his hands, his mind weighed down by the bomb that Risa had dropped onto his social life previously. His gaze flitted towards the closet that he had converted into his personal planetarium two years ago after being dumped by Makihara, who was now studying at Kibina High School. Junichi reminisced on the time he spent converting that closet; he had to remove all his clothes and move it to another cabinet in the room. He obtained a large sheaf of black paper and glued it to the ceiling of the relatively large closet. He then stole some glow-in-the-dark yellow marker from Miya's room while she was downstairs with Rihoko and then he decorated the ceiling with the marker, even referring to an astronomy text to get some of the northern hemisphere constellations right, such as Andromeda, Canis Majora and Minora, Cassiopeia, Ursa Majora and Minora, including the Big Dipper and Polaris, Draco and finally Cygnus.

He made his way to his bedroom door and locked it, proceeding immediately to his planetarium, opening the door as he gazed at his two-year old handiwork. He took a look at his depiction of Cygnus the Swan and his mind drifted to the age-old tale of "The Ugly Duckling".

He knew that he wasn't an ugly duckling because Risa did fall in love with him, and yet he felt as screwed as fate as if he really were the ugly duckling – and there's no growing up to becoming beautiful for Junichi since that just doesn't happen in real life.

The troubled boy shook his head; he knew that the source of all his troubles was his yandere ex-girlfriend. He now knew that he would have no chance of being in a lasting relationship with the clingy girl, given her actions.

"Of course, a clingy girlfriend is better than no girlfriend at this point," muttered Junichi in dejection.

He continued to gaze at his planetarium for another half hour, falling back into his routine before the school year began. "Risa-chan was a dream come true. Should I have accepted her despite the things she did? Would she have apologized to everyone if I accepted her? I don't even know…," muttered Junichi as he lay on his back in the makeshift futon in his personal planetarium.

Unbidded, a loud rapping sound came into being at Junichi's bedroom door.

"Nii-nii, get up!" shouted Tachibana Miya, Junichi's little sister and the unwitting cohort in the rumors that destabilized Junichi's social life. "Isn't Ayatsuji-senpai expecting you at school in half an hour? I don't think you wanna mess with her, nishishishi~"

At this, Miya visibly shuddered while Junichi got up and unlocked his bedroom door. In the doorway stood his sister, who was a full head shorter than him. Her hair was neatly cut short, and she was still giggling with her trademarked laugh.

"What makes you say that, Miya?" asked Junichi, amused. Miya sometimes – okay, most of the time – drove him nuts, but there are other times when Junichi was really glad that he had Miya for a sister.

It was this feeling that continually weighed down on him as though someone placed a cartload of lead bricks on his shoulders for him to carry. Miya still didn't know about the rumors, as indifferent as she was to gossip. With dread, Junichi realized that her two best friends, Ai and Sae were among the people that Risa had fooled. He could only hope that those two didn't take the "news" hard. Especially for his own safety, if we consider the temper of the Swim Club member.

"Well nii-nii , do you remember when Riho-chan was filing forms for getting equipment? We were waiting in line when Sae-chan and I heard the commotion in the room you were in with Ayatsuji-senpai."

Junichi nodded and internally facepalmed; that memory was so clear to him because of the way Tsukasa reacted. Rihoko practically had Tsukasa fill out the Tea Club's forms for her, leaving the latter in an irate mood in which Junichi had to deal with.

"Oh," Junichi managed, at which Miya giggled.

"Well there you go, I think you really don't want to be on the receiving end of Ayatsuji-senpai's temper, do you nii-nii? Of course, if you're a maso—"

Junichi instinctively bonked Miya on the head. "Stop saying such ludicrous things, Miya," lectured Junichi as he headed towards the bathroom.

"You should really stop hitting me like that, nii-nii," grumbled Miya as she massaged her temple. "We're not kids anymore; I think even Umehara-kun would scold you for doing that."

"Please, Miya, it's a big brother's right," huffed Junichi as he headed towards the bathroom, thinking about how Tsukasa did seem different when she was pissed off, oblivious to Miya's gaze.

As the bathroom door shut, Miya's shoulders drooped and she returned to her bedroom in a foul mood.

"Baka nii-nii won't ever see me as anything other than his little sister, huh…," whispered the brown-haired girl to herself as she began to lazily get ready for her obligation with Sae; they had planned to practice for the Miss Santa contest today with Miya being Sae's assistant up on stage.

"Will that ever change?"

x~~*~~x

"Tachibana-kun…," came Tsukasa's voice, dripping with irritation.

The committee head was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor when Junichi entered the room, half an hour late due to the time he wasted in his planetarium.

"Er, g-good morning, Ayatsuji-san," replied Junichi nervously as he imagined or rather, felt the black aura emanating from the irate class representative.

"Didn't we agree to meet here at ten in the morning sharp because we have to go to every single fucking club in the school before the Festival starts later at six in the evening?" queried Tsukasa in an icy voice.

"Y-yes… I was… held up this morning, Ayatsuji-san, and I deeply apologize," said Junichi as he bowed to Tsukasa, hoping that his drastic actions would at least stifle Tsukasa's anger. He still was surprised that the perfect class representative could get really really really angry the way she did, noting that it was only directed at him and never anyone else.

Tsukasa's face softened when she remembered her confrontation with Kamizaki Risa. 'Perhaps I could be a bit nicer to Tachibana-kun; nicer in that I'm being the real me, not the mask I've carefully constructed for everyone else. It's the least I could do after he's stuck with me after all this time,' thought the class representative as she strolled past Junichi who was still locked into a bow.

"Let's go, Tachibana-kun. Best not to waste any more time, hmm?" said Tsukasa sweetly as Junichi recovered his senses and followed in the girl's wake.

The two of them first proceeded to the people in charge of the contests that would be held later that evening, namely the Best Couple Contest and Miss Santa Contest. Tsukasa tasked Junichi with performing standard fact-finding on the contestants that were already present.

"Hello Morishima-senpai, it's been quite awhile!" said Junichi excitedly as he approached Haruka who was being assisted by Hibiki in fitting one of five Santa costumes.

"H-hi, Tachibana-kun," replied Haruka with a twinge of nervousness as she remembered what the kouhai had shown her a few weeks ago.

"Is everything alright, Morishima-senpai? Tsukahara-senpai?" asked Junichi with a feeling of trepidation.

Hibiki stopped adjusting the lace near Haruka's breasts and turned to Junichi.

"Well, Tachibana-kun, I don't know how aware you are of things, but rumors have been circulating around the campus that you're, uh, that is to say, in an incestuous relationship with your own sister," finished Hibiki awkwardly.

Junichi visibly flinched and paled. "O-of course that's not true, Tsukahara-senpai! Hehe…"

'Really though, other than the fact that it's between blood siblings, just what exactly is wrong with an incestuous relationship? Well, there's the issue of not having enough variety in our genes but I don't really care for that stuff," thought Junichi. 'I wonder what Miya thinks about it…'

"…Hello? Earth and puppies to Tachibana-kun?" prodded Haruka.

Junichi found himself and blushed in embarrassment for getting lost in his thoughts. "Sorry about that, Morishima-senpai. I need to catch up with Ayatsuji-san now, so I'll see you two later, and best of luck in the Miss Santa contest!"

Junichi noticed with a small pang in his heart that neither of them waved at him as he left, noting that Haruka was indeed, averting his gaze.

x~~*~~x

"Where to next, Ayatsuji-san?" Junichi asked Tsukasa as the pair padded through the courtyard of Kibitou High School.

"Hmm, how about the Swim Club's Oden stall? It's quite the famous stall; they even have a secret recipe and all that hubbub," replied Tsukasa as she pointed at the Oden stall that was, to Junichi's horror, being attended to by Nanasaki Ai, who was taking pans out of a large sports bag and placing them on top of the gas stove.

"A-Alright then, Ayatsuji-san, I'll go over to the Robotics Club while you—"

"No. You stay with me at all times, Tachibana-kun," interjected Tsukasa, grabbing onto Junichi's sleeve as he tried to get away. "It's your punishment for being late. Besides, I already let you go check up on Morishima-senpai by yourself."

'And I might as well do some fact-finding regarding the rumors,' thought the committee head as she half-dragged Junichi to the Swim Club's oden stall, where Ai had gotten a flame burning under the stove.

"Phew, finally," said Ai as she rubbed her face, looking up at the two arrivals. "Good morning, Ayatsuji-senpai, Tachibana-senpai."

"How goes things, Nanasaki-san? I'm under the impression that you've got quite the load to carry on your shoulders when Tsukahara-senpai tasked you with the responsibility of running the oden stall," replied Tsukasa easily as she eased her way into the stall, turning knobs on the stove to ensure that it was in working condition.

"I've got it all under control, Ayatsuji-senpai," replied Ai as she took out bags of oden ingredients from another sports bag.

Junichi felt the icyness of Nanasaki Ai underneath the polite exterior she was presenting. This was obviously for Tsukasa's benefit – if it were only him and Ai right there, Junichi was sure that Ai would either ignore him or be openly hostile. Unsure, Junichi decided to prod and attempt to explain himself.

"Look, Nanasaki, about those rumors—"

"Please, don't talk about that, senpai," interjected Ai testily. "I saw the photograph for myself."

Junichi visibly paled and Tsukasa, who was now crouched beside Ai inspecting the gas source frowned. 'This girl isn't as perceptive as she looks. I'd think that she would be able to identify a doctored photograph from an unedited one.'

Changing tack, Junichi prodded further. "How about Miya? How is she holding up?"

"She doesn't know about the rumors yet, and people are too nice to say it to her face," said Ai with a look of scorn on her face. "Really now, senpai, I expected better from you. Disappointing."

"Tachibana-kun, I think we're all done here," said Tsukasa as she straightened up and eased herself out of the booth. "Make sure you adhere to safety protocol in case anything goes on, Nanasaki-san."

Ai nodded and continued to fix a death glare straight at Junichi even as the two left.

Junichi sighly audibly and, to her surprise, Tsukasa felt a pang of pity for the boy walking beside her, shoulders hunched. 'Pity, now that's something I rarely feel,' thought the class representative wryly.

"Alright, next up on our list is the Tea Club," said Tsukasa as Junichi audibly gasped in terror. "What is it, Tachibana-kun?" 'Was that absentminded junior another one of those girls he associated with?'

"N-Nothing," said Junichi after a while. "Let's get this over with so we can have lunch, shall we?"

Tsukasa tasked Junichi to inspect the exterior of the clubroom while she checked the interior.

To Junichi's horror, Rihoko was clearly and visibly avoiding him. He had tried to talk to her while she was setting up the tables that would be used by the Tea Club to entertain their guests who consumed the amazake they produced when Junichi suddenly felt a hand strongly gripping his shoulder.

He involuntarily cried out in pain and turned, where he was confronted by the hard stare of one Yuzuki Ruriko.

"Tachibana-kun… just… just get the hell away from Rihocchi," she spat. "You have no idea how depressed she is right now, and you have the audacity to pester her while we're working?"

"You deserve to be tied to a pole and boiled alive," quipped a soft voice. Junichi turned to the source and saw the other senpai of the Tea Club, Hiba Manaka emerge from the doorway, looking at him with an uncharacteristically hostile look in her eyes. "Please leave. You're making Rihocchi lose concentration."

"We're quite disappointed in you, Tachibana-kun," said Ruriko with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Let's go, Tachibana-kun," said Tsukasa who exited the Tea Club's room. Unbeknownst to the troubled boy, Tsukasa had heard everything.

'Poor guy. And I thought I had the short end of the stick, façade notwithstanding.'

x~~*~~x

"…and that's how it is, Tachibana-kun," said Keiko timidly to Junichi at the classroom's doorway.

Junichi had gone to Class 2-A after he and Tsukasa had eaten to see what the people present were doing when he saw Kaoru looking at him with an icy glare on her face. If looks could kill, Junichi would've been hit with a death ray, failing his saving throw.

"A-Ah," Junichi gulped. "Is it the rumors that're making her mad?"

Keiko nodded and replied, "She's really angry at you, Tachibana-kun. I suggest you try not to cross her path until her anger has simmered. I don't know how long that will take though."

"What about you, Tanaka-san? What do you think?" asked Junichi quietly, a pleading note in his voice.

"It's not my business as to who you date, Tachibana-kun, but honestly, I'm saddened that you went too far with your choice," said Keiko sadly, a look of pity on her face. "Please try not to talk to me too much in class from now on."

The brown-haired girl, the very same girl that he, upon Kaoru's urging, had given advice turned her back on him and walked off, leaving Junichi leaning against the doorframe, a hands running through his hair in frustration. Through the other door, Tsukasa left the classroom and looked at her assistant.

"Hey Tachibana-kun… Are you alright?" asked Tsukasa. 'I've never felt genuinely concerned for anyone before. He doesn't need to go through this kind of crap just because people are too stupid to realize that the photos were doctored. He stuck by me, so I shall stick with him as well,' thought the class representative grimly, realizing that she had never done anything quite like this before.

Tsukasa was used to fending for herself, and plastering her façade onto her real personality to obtain the trust and praise of her peers. With Junichi, she found that she didn't need to do that. Around Junichi, she could be herself. She didn't know if Junichi knew just what kind of effect he had on her, on how helpful his companionship was, and even if Junichi did know, Tsukasa would take the fact that she appreciated him for it to the grave.

'That's just too embarrassing!'

"I'm fine," sighed the boy as he straightened up. "Say, Ayatsuji-san, I've been wondering – why are you still nice to me? I'm sure you've heard of the… rumors."

He spat the last word out in frustration.

Tsukasa nodded and Junichi looked aghast. "But why? Why haven't you been avoiding me like everyone else?"

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow. "Are you insinuating that you don't want my company?" she replied icily.

At this, Junichi visibly paled and Tsukasa barely suppressed a smirk. 'Jeez, I should really stop messing with the poor guy…'

"O-Of course not! I'm really grateful for it, honestly," said Junichi, a hand behind his head. "Do you believe in the rumors?"

Tsukasa audibly laughed.

"I'm above such drivel, Tachibana-kun," she said viciously. "There's more important stuff to deal with than shit like that. Like the Founder's Festival."

Junichi nervously giggled when Tsukasa swore. "So, where to next? We already did half the work in the morning rounds."

Tsukasa frowned. "Frankly, Tachibana-kun, you're not going to like where we're going next," she said sincerely.

Junichi raised an eyebrow in inquiry when Tsukasa replied. "It's time to check on the first years."

Junichi sighed audibly. "Let's just get it over with – I'll just try to explain things to Miya in due course."

x~~*~~x

When Junichi and Tsukasa finally reached Class 1-B, Junichi sucked in air audibly. Seeing the look on her companion's face, Tsukasa did something she rarely did.

"It'll be fine," she reassured Junichi whose knees were shaking. "Pull yourself together and be a man. You know that you at least have me for an ally."

Junichi forced a smile at her and, taking a deep breath, opened the classroom door. "Excuse me, the committee heads will now make an inspection for your planned activities for the Festival."

The members of Class 1-B were mostly going to participate in the Best Couple contest and thus, were busily making costumes for the event. When Junichi called out, the entire classroom dropped what they were doing, and the whispers began to buzz.

"…slept with Tachibana-san…"

"…his own sister…"

"Doesn't he have any shame?" said one girl angrily.

Junichi swallowed, ignoring the whispers while Tsukasa quickly took command of the situation. "We're here to inspect your work for safety issues, not to be targets of rumor-mongering," called Tsukasa nicely but gently to the general populace, her façade back in form.

The boy's eyes swept the room until they fell onto two girls – Sae and Miya. The former was wearing a penguin suit, and when her eyes met Junichi's her mouth formed a large "O" and she immediately turned away. Junichi looked over at his sister, who was wearing a cat suit and for some reason had a grim look on her face, trying to hide the pain in her eyes. Miya approached Junichi and the entire room, even Tsukasa fell silent.

'What the hell is she thinking?' thought Tsukasa. 'Doing that won't help their cause at all… unless his sister is trying to be mature about the matter… then it could work I guess. Hmm…'

"Sae-chan, everyone, please excuse me. I need to have a word with my onii-chan," said Miya loudly, gesturing for Junichi to follow her. The boy looked over at Tsukasa, who just smiled wryly as though she was saying "Good luck – you're gonna need it."

They left, unaware that Tsukasa also exited the classroom at the same time.

x~~*~~x

Junichi followed Miya to an unused classroom in the second year corridor, closing the door as he entered in his sister's wake. His sister sat down in the teacher's table, and to Junichi's surprise, sighed audibly.

"H-How are you, Miya?" asked Junichi tentatively.

"People are talking about the two of us," she said flatly. "What happened, nii-nii? Where did these rumors come from?"

Junichi decided to tell the truth. What else could he say, anyway?

"Well Miya… I need to tell you something first," said Junichi. "I was dating Kamizaki Risa, a girl in my year. Do you know her? She was my classmate in middle school and apparently, I was also her classmate way back in kindergarten."

Miya let out a low whistle. 'Risa-chan… I haven't spoken to her for years. I don't even think nii-nii knows that she was the reason I started to call him "nii-nii".'

"I know her," replied Miya, slouched on the teacher's table as Junichi remained standing. "How did we get from you dating her to this mess?"

"She was the reason why Kaoru, Morishima-senpai, Nanasaki, Nakata-san and Rihoko were all avoiding me. She showed them a picture of you and me together, claiming that you were my girlfriend. She doctored them both – the second picture was you and me sleeping in one bed."

Miya frowned. "She told me all about what she had done as a prerequisite for me to take her to the Founder's Festival so we can officially become a couple. Prior to that, we were basically dating in secret. No one else knew, Miya," said Junichi, sitting down in a chair directly in front of Miya.

"I couldn't forgive her. She practically ruined my friendships with Morishima-senpai, Nanasaki and Nakata-san. Kaoru is pissed off as hell and Rihoko's depressed. So when I told her that I was breaking up with her, she planted the pictures on Takahashi-sensei's desk. And so, here we are," Junichi said tiredly. "Miya, what do we do?"

Miya sat up straight and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Does anyone else know the truth?"

"Well, I don't know about Ayatsuji-san – she's the only person treating me normally—" 'well, as normal as normal gets for Ayatsuji-san,' thought Junichi wryly. "I can't say for sure if she knows that the photos were fakes. I haven't asked her directly yet, but she did say that she was my 'ally' earlier, before we entered your classroom. But enough about me – what about you?" asked Junichi in a worried tone.

Miya audibly sighed and slumped onto the desk once more. "None of my classmates want to talk to me. They've mostly been blaming you, but they won't talk to me. Even Sae-chan…"

Her voice cracked, and Miya continued, the tears threatening to spill over. "Sae-chan… s-she's so distant all of a sudden. We were going to participate in the Best Couple contest as a joke couple – we planned to do a manzai comedy sketch up there, actually."

Miya tried to laugh at her idea but her body just wouldn't let her. "Anyway, when you walked in, Sae-chan told me that she didn't want to work with me anymore. She told me that she was scared of you, that she was scared of m-m-me."

Unbidden, the tears fell as Miya buried her head into her arms splayed on the desk. "Sae-chan… I don't think she wants to be friends with me anymore…," she wailed, her voice muffled.

Not caring the consequences if anyone saw them, Junichi stood up and sidled around the desk, placing his hands on Miya's shoulders.

"…nii-nii?" she choked out through the tears that continued to fall.

"Come here," said Junichi gently. "It's my duty as an older brother to be by your side when you're in trouble. Even if I'm the cause of the trouble," he noted wryly.

Miya stood up and gazed into Junichi's eyes. Before she knew what she was doing, she buried her face in Junichi's chest, her hands balled up into fists, gripping her brother's school uniform. Miya cried like she hadn't cried for the longest time. She cried, mourning what could very possibly be the end of her friendship with Sae and Ai. She cried, that Risa had been so selfish with her older brother as to resort to ruining his life if he didn't take her. She cried, knowing the unfairness of everything. Junichi enveloped Miya in his arms, rubbing his sister's back while she convulsed, crying continuously.

"There there Miya… We'll find a way out of this. Tell you what, why don't you just spend the Founder's Festival with me? Both of us know the truth – it's definitely better than you trying to spend your time with Nakata-san."

He spat out Sae's name in anger – angry that Sae refused to believe her first and best friend, believing a set of pictures without even bothering to hear Miya's side of the story.

"T-Thanks, nii-nii. It means a lot to me," said Miya, who surfaced, wiping her eyes with her arms. "Hehe… this is really embarrassing, you know. Me, crying in your arms just like that time so long ago when I fell from the monkey bars, nishishishi~"

"That's the spirit! Let's just enjoy ourselves and let things sort themselves out. Don't forget that Ayatsuji-san said that she was on our side," said Junichi reassuringly. "Listen – I better head back to Ayatsuji-san. I trust you can find your way to the classroom, right? You should clean up though; your eyes are a mess."

"You don't need to tell me what to do, nii-nii," said Miya, sticking her tongue out Junichi as she opened the door and left.

Shortly afterwards, Junichi left the room, deciding to head to Class 2-A on the assumption that Tsukasa was there.

x~~*~~x

It was terribly ironic that Junichi told Miya not to forget about Tsukasa, because, in all the hubbub, none of the Tachibana siblings noticed Tsukasa shadowing them when they headed to that classroom.

When Junichi bolted out of the classroom, he never bothered to check the shadowy corner in front of the classroom's other door. Tsukasa stepped out of the shadows and smoothly walked back to 2-A – she had seen everything that had happened through the door's window.

"Well, this certainly makes things interesting," said Tsukasa to herself, giggling.

x~~*~~x

I apologize for taking so long to update; real life happened, see.

Please read and review!