A/N: Hello! Here's chapter three! I hope you enjoy it. =3

The bell signaling lunchtime began a chain reaction: Chairs scratched against the floor, students got up and left the classroom, and the smell of rice punctured the air. Sawako took a whiff of it and smiled to herself. She got out her boxed bento and opened it revealing panda-shaped rice rolls she made that morning, teriyaki chicken on bean sprouts and a side of rice.

It's been a couple weeks since she sprained her ankle. Shouta greeted her every day of that time period -always with the same cheerful disposition that she longed to achieve. She would even try to reply just as cheerfully, but awkwardly end up giving him an eerie smile. It was all too new for her; the new feeling of having more than one person beside her. Ayane and Chizuru hung out with her too, of course. Everyday with them seemed like a whole new adventure for her.

"Sadako!" Chizuru called from the doorway just as she picked up her chopsticks.

Her red-haired companion stood, leaning against the door-frame with what looked like a grin on her face from Sawako's point of view.

"We're going to have lunch outside. C'mon!" She said, and gave a small gesture to come with them to which Sawako replied with an excited nod.

She hurriedly packed up her bento and scurried over to them.

"Let's go!" Chizuru smiled her toothy grin while she wrapped her arms around her two closest friends.

Like the inseparable pack they were, they headed out into the courtyard together. It took a while before they found a preferably good spot on a bench below one of the school's windows. They sat down and started eating -they talked too, of course.

Sawako was so incredibly happy she could have friends like them. She couldn't even express how much she loved them. Their little quirks like how Chizuru always seemed to have that bright yellow aura around her and Ayane... Oh, Ayane was the most mature person she knew. She even thought she might be more mature than her own mother! It seemed as though Ayane could never leave the house without a couple of layers of mascara on her already thick eyelashes and her friends thought that was perfectly fine! -because she was doing it for the one she loved. Ayane was one of those people who just knew other people. She knew how they were, whether it be happy or sad. She could tell if they were hiding it with fake smiles or tears. And the most incredulous thing of all was she could tell who a person was. Her assumptions were never biased or stereotypical; they were spot on.

Sawako sat sandwiched between her two friends. She lifted one of the panda-shaped delicacies to her mouth and stopped short. She looked over at Chizuru who was staring wide-eyed with her mouth hanging practically two times wider than it should be.

"D-do you want some?" Sawako asked her drooling friend.

Chizuru nodded enthusiastically which was rewarded with a whack upside the head from Ayane.

"Eat your own food!" She said, somewhat angry.

Chizuru rubbed her head and glared at her with a pout on her face. Sawako nervously looked from one friend to the other not sure if they were joking or being serious. Either way, she had to lighten the mood somehow.

"Yano, do you want one too?" She asked quietly.

Ayane didn't know if she was seen through or Sawako was just being innocent because that was exactly what she wanted. Ayane didn't have to guess if Sawako was innocent or not; she knew that was her character.

"Can I?" Ayane stared at her with big eyes.

Chizuru laughed, "Is that why you were so annoyed? Were you... jealous?"

Ayane snorted. "And if I was?"

"Yano!" Sawako said, and quickly stuffed the rice panda in her mouth.

Ayane chewed on the soft rice in her mouth and widened her eyes.

"Thishs ish relwwey gud!" She managed to say, her mouth still full of rice.

She swallowed and looked over at Chizuru, "I got one firrrrrrst!" She taunted and stuck her tongue out.

Sawako couldn't help but giggle at her pair of friends while Ayane laughed her ass off beside her.

This is great! Sawako thought happily.

"Hey, isn't that Sadako?"

Shouta's friend, Kou, pointed out the window towards a group of three people: Chizuru, Ayane and Sawako.

"Eh?" Shouta said, and glanced out the window.

He recognized the trio immediately.

"It is," he smiled, and continued to stare at the playful bunch -eating and laughing like small children.

His friend leaned over to study his expression, "What is it?" He asked.

Shouta looked at him. "Well, it seems like Kuronuma has always been alone because of all the rumors. It's nice to see her with people nowadays." He span his legs around his desk and stood up while stretching his arms behind his head. "I'm gonna go see how she is." He saluted to his friend and jogged out of the classroom.

Sawako clapped her hands together, "Kazehaya-kun is 100% refreshness!"

She gave Ayane and Chizuru a small smile before they were interrupted by a voice.

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"

Sawako's eyes went wide as she span off the bench knowing whose voice it was. Shouta leaned out the window behind them and gave her a cheeky grin.

"A-As a compliment!" She stuttered.

Her eyes glistened looking at her number one idol and her cheeks flushed a rosy-red. Shouta laughed and looked to his left down the hall when he heard a voice call out to him.

He waved his hand. "I'm busy!" He called back. "Give me five and then come get me!"

The girls heard a faint 'alrighty' and then saw Shouta return his gaze to them.

"Someone wanted me," he told them, and then suddenly got an idea. "Hold on," he said, and turned to leave.

Sawako turned back to Ayane and Chizuru who had walked up to her and they saw a glint of confusion in her eyes. They responded her with a shrug.

Moments later, Shouta appeared out of nowhere beside Sawako and landed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey!"

Sawako jumped with surprise.

"Ah!"

"Eh, sorry!" He apologized. "I didn't know that would scare you!" He gently put his hand on her shoulder unconsciously, and laughed it off.

Sawako felt her face heat up and nervously slid over to the other two girls to get out of Shouta's reach. Ayane noticed she was acting funny and chuckled to herself.

As Sawako caught her breath she wondered why he decided to come outside and before she knew it, she was asking that very question. "Why-Why did you come outside?"

Shouta stared at her with surprise for a moment before answering, "Because I saw how much fun you guys were having," he said finally, and cocked his head, giving them a smile.

Ayane shook her head. You just wanted to talk to Sawa-Chan. She already had the feeling that he liked her from the way he smiled at her and she thought it was entertaining watching the two slowly get closer to each other. Sawako had this wall around her heart and she noticed that when she was with Shouta, it was if that wall never even existed. But it was only Shouta.

Sawako quietly glanced at her red-headed friend with question plainly written on her face. Ayane's pink-dyed lips mouthed the words 'never mind' and Sawako quickly returned her focus to Shouta. As she did so, a silver lining glimmered beside him. It looked as though a small human was hiding behind him. She realized it was the same thing from last week! Her eyes studied it wonderingly and she reached out to it without realizing it.

"What are you doing?" Chizuru's voice snapped her back to reality and the image vanished quickly.

"Eh?" Sawako shook her head, "I-I mean nothing!"

She waved her hands and then quickly clasped them behind her back. Although, her eyes couldn't help themselves and traced back to where the thing had been.

"What are you looking at?" Shouta asked.

Sawako suddenly glanced up, meeting two dark brown eyes. She gasped realizing he had leaned over and was now eye-level with her. She jumped back quickly, her face a red mess.

"I... There-there was a spider!" Was the best thing she could come up with and then pointed to the spot where she was looking seconds before.

They all looked for a moment and when they returned their gazes back to Sawako there was an awkward silence in which Chizuru threw her head back and started laughing. Sawako blinked a couple of times, startled.

Ayane pat her back, making her relax, "It's okay; it's gone now. Got scared off by this noisy kid here." She jutted her thumb towards Chizuru and gave a small, cheeky grin.

Chizuru looked offended, "Hey!"

She attempted to defend herself, "I am a kid. But at least I know how to laugh like one!" She stopped herself when she realized she said that wrong. "I mean-!"

Ayane laughed at her. You couldn't even call it a fight when Ayane was on the other side of the argument. It was obvious who would win. When they were done bickering at each other Sawako caught their attention with a small bow.

"Yano, thank you."

"Hey, we're friends, right?" Chizuru grinned and then suddenly got an idea. "Why don't you start calling us by our first names?" She piped.

Sawako looked surprised at first and then recalled that she did call Shino by her first name so it shouldn't be that difficult-

"O-Okay..."

She looked over at Shouta nervously who gave her a reassuring smile and felt some of her uneasiness fade away. She then looked down at her fingers which she was fiddling with and felt her cheeks heat up -this was a huge step for her. Although, she knew she could do it so she took a deep breath and-

"A-A-Ayane," she stammered.

She looked up to see Ayane smile briefly, and then nod off towards Chizuru who was confused as to why she called Ayane's first name first but, whatever, it didn't matter, Chizuru thought.

She saw Sawako take another deep breath and looked her straight in the eye.

"You can call that one Chi-Chan," Ayane quickly cut in before she had a chance to speak. "No need to step that high."

Sawako looked at her and gave a small nod. She quickly looked back at Chizuru and took one last deep breath-

"Chi-Chan."

The name flew out of her mouth like it was the most natural thing in the world and Chizuru's face immediately lit up. Tears began welling her eyes.

"Eh?" Sawako was dumbfounded by her friend's reaction. "Chi-Chi-Chan?!" She asked, concerned.

"I'm just... so moved!" Chizuru exclaimed, sniffing and wiping some of her tears.

Ayane and Shouta started laughing. Sawako looked around at the threesome with awe. She never felt this close to anyone besides Shino before. It was amazing.

"You and Ayane are two of my best friends!" Chizuru declared and threw herself onto them for a big hug.

A voice interrupted the bundle of friends a few moments later. Calling out to Shouta to be more precise.

Shouta gave a small groan and then called back, "I'll be right there!"

By then the girls had unraveled from their hug and were staring at him.

He shrugged. "Guess I gotta go," he said, and then smiled. "Bye," he waved to them, turning to leave.

Sawako didn't want that though, and grabbed onto his shirt without thinking, "Kazehaya-kun."

She didn't realize until after she felt the shirt leave her grasp what she had done.

His ears went red and he stared at her with widen eyes, "Eh? What is it?!"

"Ah, nothing!" She quickly brought her hand back and looked down.

"Oh, okay..." He slowly turned around again and started walking away. What was that? My heart is beating really fast!

She then thought of something and suddenly brought her head back up.

"Kazehaya-kun!" She called.

His face was completely red when he turned around again. "What is it?!" He accidentally yelled, but Sawako paid no attention.

"Will we be able to... uh... get together another time... outside... of school?" The words seemed to stumble out of her mouth and she was almost certain her whole body must be shaking by now. She was surprised she could even keep herself upright at this point.

Shouta's mind went all over the place. Is this a date? Is she asking me out on a date? Does she... like me? What the heck is going on?! Although, all his questions were answered in the next few seconds.

"With everyone else of course!" She added quickly.

Reality hit him harder than he thought it would. All he could think was: Stupid! I'm so stupid! He mentally punched himself.

He managed to put on his cheery facade to quickly rebuild his barrier of 'coolness'. However, he couldn't stop his heart from beating as fast as it was.

"Of course!" He smiled, making his eyes curve downwards at the sides.

Did it work? He opened his eyes farther and realized she was smiling as well. Her expression had more of an effect on him than she knew and he quickly covered his gaping mouth. Whoa. Then he remembered he had to go and had no more time to waste.

"W-Well, see you!" He waved one last time before disappearing into the school. He covered his face, blushing furiously and mentally punched himself again.

Did I stutter?

Everything was silent after he was gone.

Ayane broke that silence, "You know, Sawa-Chan. I think you've fallen.".

The nick-name gave Sawako a light feeling and her heart began beating faster hearing it. Although, she felt like she was missing something to the second part of what Ayane said.

"Fallen? What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

Ayane widened her eyes and blurted out a giggle. She covered her mouth, failing to quiet herself. Chizuru gave her a funny look obviously not getting what she meant either. The red-head couldn't help but laugh even harder seeing both of them look so confused. Her laugh finally receded after some effort. She leaned into Sawako's ear.

"You've fallen for Kazehaya!"

Her words stirred Sawako's stomach and her ears instantly turned redder than a tomato.

"Wha...!" And she she cut off by the sound of the bell.

Ayane gave her sly smile as she pulled back and then turned to Chizuru. "Should we head back inside?"

Chizuru nodded slowly, still unsure what Ayane was up to. They headed inside nonetheless.

Sawako was still wondering why Ayane said that. Her face had never been redder in her entire life, and she didn't even realize it. Maybe she was getting a fever.

Yes, that was it! What else could it be?

Ayane and Chizuru walked through the doorway with Sawako following behind. Everyone's eyes were on the black-haired girl who appeared different today. A couple boys whispered to each other.

"Sawako looks cute today!" One of the boys said.

Which of course, was responded with a harsh, "Are you stupid?! If you go out with her, you'll get cursed for sure!"

"But before..." He started, referring to the first day of school, however, his friend never heard him, laughing like an idiot.

The boy sulked down in his seat and continued to observe Sawako secretly as she walked over to her seat located behind Ayane's and diagonally from Chizuru's -Ryu sat behind her. Sensing a pair of eyes following her, she grew uneasy very quickly thinking she was being targeted again. She glanced around the room looking for the source. She hit the mark when her eyes locked onto the boy who was staring at her. She was then surprised when he smiled at her. Immediately she thought she did something wrong and stopped where she was.

"Eh..."

Having stopped so abruptly, someone bumped into her from behind. She tilted her head back right below Shouta's chin -being much shorter than him.

"Kazehaya-kun!" A blush rapidly rose to her face and she scrambled to face him.

Shouta gave her an awkward grin and they started to chat a bit. Truth be told, Shouta was called because he had to meet with one of the teachers. Sawako listened intently to his story. A couple girls in the background watched Sawako as she chatted to him, breaking off from watching to then whisper snide remarks to each other regarding her chance with him -as if Sawako was aiming for him anyways.

"Someone told me to tell Ryu about a change in baseball practice, so if you don't mind..." Shouta said, but Sawako's attention was elsewhere.

The figure was back. She realized it was a little girl; as bright as light and clothed in a delicate, lace dress. Her skin was transparent, as if fog coated her entire body. Her eyes were two completely black holes. She twirled around and smiled at her. Those eyes gave her a queasy feeling in her stomach. Shouta noticed Sawako was acting strange.

"Kuronuma?"

It wasn't until she didn't answer him that he knew something was terribly wrong. And something was.

Sawako felt dizzy. The room began to move and her head felt lighter than air itself. Someone yelled and she hit her head, hard. Her eyes drew blank.

When she reopened her eyes she had to strain her vision to adjust to the light. She laid in a clean, white, infirmary bed. She sat up and looked around questionably.

What happened?

Her eyes focused on a figure in the doorway. There, a woman stood with dyed blonde hair that reached her abdomen, curled at the tips. She looked to be about in her twenties with a daring nose-piercing and giant hoops dangling by her face. Sawako was surprised that she was even permitted inside the school.

Dressed in a white nursing outfit, she leaned against the door-frame and spoke, "Did you plan on sleeping all day?" She raised an eyebrow.

Sawako stared at her with big eyes.

"No, well, what exactly happened?" She asked quietly.

She carefully pushed down the light-weight quilt from her body and sat up onto her knees facing her.

The woman shook her head, "You can't even figure that out? Man oh man!" She laughed. She looked over at the confused girl and sighed before giving her an answer. "You passed out." She told her bluntly. "A boy carried you here... What was his name again?" She paused for a moment and tapped her chin. She easily gave up however, "Oh whatever! Never mind," she said. "Guess what he was doing while he carried you here though!"

Sawako continued to stare at her utterly confused.

The woman continued, "He was blushing! Can you believe that?" She snorted. "What kind of perverted thoughts do you think he was having?" She cackled to herself as she slid off the door-frame and walked over to the big-eyed Sawako.

Sawako leaned forward onto her hands, "Kazehaya-kun would not think like that!"

The woman walked right up to her and laughed in her face, "Ha! And what makes you so sure?"

Sawako was dumbfounded. What makes me so sure?... She was interrupted out of her thoughts when the woman suddenly stepped backwards, threw her head back and started laughing. She quickly returned her gaze to the teen.

"I was just kidding!" She exclaimed and laughed some more, "You don't have to be so serious!"

A snort accidentally left her nose and she covered her mouth. She giggled like a small child before walking over to the speechless girl and patted her back.

"But you're a good kid," she told her. "Justifying the guy you like."

She gave Sawako a grin and stopped patting her back, returning her hands onto her hips.

Sawako waved her hands, "No, you got it all wrong! I simply admire him for his brilliance!"

The nurse could tell by her face that was as red as scarlet that it wasn't simply admiration, but she thought that she should be able to figure that out herself soon and just played along with it.

"But you know..."

Sawako cocked her head to one side and stared at the woman.

"I heard that admiration turns into love..." The woman said, and blushed herself. "Or something like that," she said nimbly.

Sawako only gave her a small nod.

"Promise me you'll be true to your feelings if they change though," she said sternly, and Sawako thought there must be some reason to it, although she knew it was better not to pry-

"Un, I promise."

The woman gave a somewhat sad smile before turning and walking over to her desk. "If you're feeling better, you may go now. However, class is almost over anyways." Her voice seemed to have quieted down and she didn't seem as lively as before.

Sawako looked over at the clock and widened her eyes realizing the woman was right. She jumped up from the bed and made a small bow.

"Thank you," she said, and left the room soon after.

The lone woman sighed and clacked her papers on her desk to even them out.

"Why did I have to say that? ... Admiration turns into love?" She asked herself, and laughed, "How fitting."

A/N: I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER!

I'm thinking about writing a side story about the nurse's past. What do you guys think? I think I'm probably just going to go for it. But I'd like some encouragement maybe? Idk. If you have any ideas, please share!

Shout-out to: ILoveBunnies & Nai Mayonaka Kage who favourited my story!

Thank you ILoveBunnies for my first review.