o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

You deserve someone else.

I'm not the one for you even if I want to.

When I see you two together,

I'd always pray that you'd fall in love with him.

And at the same time, I'd selfishly wish that

You'd fall in love with me more.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Inside the blue paper bag was the freshly pressed coat. She's been looking for him the whole afternoon—she hasn't even ate properly yet. A small piece of chocolate given by Emi served as her lunch.

"Where is that guy?" she mumbled as she searched the back of the school dojo. It was the only place where she hasn't searched.

Emi left her to search alone since she still had stuff to do in the library; she usually volunteers to do some work in there since it gave her extra credit—Emi couldn't help her find Souichiro because she couldn't back out. She apologized to Maya anyway and Maya understood that.

So there was Maya, walking all alone in that isolated place.

'I shouldn't have entered this place…no one's here so I better leave.' She thought.

The place was quite dim since there was a wall of huge cherry blossom trees on the right and the dojo's concrete walls on the left. The place was beautiful—it was quiet and there, she found tranquility—peace—but at the same time, it was also lonely…there was no one with her and she could hear nothing but the nature around her.

She liked it very much but she knew that she had to leave. With a sigh and a heavy heart, she stepped back to turn around and leave the lovely yet melancholic place where she was falling in love with.

A playful breeze slightly lifted her skirt up but that was okay since there was no one there to see what was beneath it.

Then another gust of wind, this time, slightly stronger, threw more petals on the path from the trees; and the once dull gray concrete ground now looked like a dazzling pink carpet. The smell of freshly plucked petals filled the air and Maya sniffed at the new fragrant smell and closed her eyes for a second or two, enjoying what nature has in front of her for a while.

She heard the rustling leaves and tweets of the birds along with their fluttering wings taking off for flight. Stepping back again as she opened her eyes, she took one last glance and prepared to leave the small wonderful paradise she found…and suddenly, she saw him.

He was under the shade of the most peculiar cherry blossom tree which had the biggest crown of all. Peculiar, because the tree's flowers weren't pink, they were red; and because of that, its shade had an orange-reddish effect. The red hazy shade that it had cast on the ground mixed with the greenness of the grass—on the ground, its color was blood red.

Souichiro's back was leaning on the trunk and she believed that he was sleeping. Frankly, she thought that he looked like a corpse because the tree's red shade on the ground looked like a large pool of blood. Creepy—but strangely wonderful in her eyes.

Afraid that she'd wake him up, she turned away to leave.

'Maybe I'll just look for him some other time' she thought as she walked away when she suddenly heard him call her attention. "Hey!" he called out.

She faced him—he was now sitting erect, looking at her.

"Umu…Souichiro-kun…Did I disturb your nap?" Maya asked.

"Come here." he said; and she did. Sitting beside him, she had said,

"Sorry if I disturbed you. I didn't mean to…"

"No, I was awake the whole time. I thought that you were just walking around…so I didn't call your attention but then I noticed that you were staring at me, I figured out that you were looking for me, am I right?"

"Umu. I came to give you your coat back." Then she handed Souichiro the blue paper bag and said, "thanks, Souichiro-kun."

"No problem." He said then he looked at Maya's face for a while. Was she blushing? Or was it just the tree's orange hazy shade?

"I…I should go now." She said then she stood up and Souichiro stood up too.

"C-can I walk you there?" he asked, slightly nervous. He was blushing a lot right now—he, of course, has evident feelings for her.

"Huh?" she mumbled, asking if she heard him right.

"I said, can I walk you to your classroom? You don't seem to have someone with you …" then Souichiro continued to blush.

Maya smiled. No boy ever asked her of she could walk her to her classroom before except her brother when he was still in high school.

"Thanks…But my classroom's still on the third floor." She replied.

"You're a third year?" he asked, surprised.

"Umu. Hey, I forgot to ask you before…what year are you in?"

Souichiro smiled and said, "I'm just a freshman."

"Oh…I thought that you were older." Then she smiled back at him "You must have thought that I'm a freshman too, don't you?" she asked.

"Why do you say that?" he asked too.

"When I told you that I'm a senior, you were surprised. I guess I'm not really tall…"

"No, no! That's not it…I just…I thought that you were umm…uhhhh—"

"Oh, stop it! You're bluffing." Maya said. "It's okay, I know that I'm short—my brother teases me for being a small girl."

"I understand that. I'm not really as tall as the other guys here. I used to be teased as a runt too."

Maya made a soft chuckle.

Then, there was this grumbling sound…It was Souichiro's stomach.

They had both burst with laughter—"I guess you haven't ate too." She said, after laughing.

"I forgot my lunch since I was too sleepy to think about it…well, haven't you ate?" he asked.

"No, I was looking for you the whole lunch period…but I really have to go now, Souichiro-kun or I'll be late for my class."

"Oh, yeah…I'll walk you there." Then he started walking beside her with the blue paper bag on his hand.

When they finally reached the third floor, Souichiro suddenly asked her.

"Maya-san, can I see you again?"

Deeply touched by the boy's sweet words, she revealed a blush and all she could utter for her answer was another nervous, "huh?"

"Can I see you again?" he said. "I want to…go home with you—I mean, I want to take you home, just to make sure that you're safe and everything." He stammered.

"Thanks for the thought but…I go with a friend of mine—he drives me home everyday." She said.

"He?" He asked again, curious and jealous at the same time. "who's he?"

"Oh, he's just my brother's friend. He works as a teacher here now—he and my brother went to college together—he's my teacher too." She replied.

"A teacher, huh?" he mumbled with a bit of convinced way. He was thinking that this teacher was an old guy—probably in his late twenties, maybe…"Well, what about tomorrow? Can I eat lunch with you, then?" he seemed desperate to be with her again. Maya found it sweet but she was supposed to find it pathetic—she just smiled at him, that sweet smile she gives to everyone, and said,

"I also eat with my friends, I'm sorry Souichiro-kun…I'm afraid I don't have time tomorrow."

The blonde led out a small sigh and then, he had paused for a while and suddenly said, "Can you go out with me?" then he looked at her with his large eyes. She couldn't believe that this person—this really nice person whom she keeps on blushing with, asked her out.

Well, she likes the guy but no feelings of attraction were developed in her—I mean, Souichiro's nice but inside her mind, she was afraid to accept his offer. What if her brother was right about Souichiro? What if Souichiro was just someone who made his first impression good and the last was…well, on the bed? You get that, right?

To accept was a temptation and to go with him was a sin. If Shin ever found out that she said yes to this Souichiro person that he didn't even like, he'll go mad and not let her go out for the whole week. Or maybe Shin would even ground her—if he can—or make her do every house chore—or anything that would make her weekend miserable!

Afraid that her brother will find out if she'll say yes, she said,

"Sorry, I can't go out with you this week." She declined "Maybe I'll just see you around…sorry, I don't really have time this weekend. You're really nice, Souichiro-kun…maybe we can go out some other time. I just can't go out with you this weekend."

"That's fine…I completely understand—I'll be looking forward to that, okay?"

"Uh, yeah…Okay. Bye now, I have to go." Then she gave him one last smile and turned away to leave and enter her classroom.

3:00 PM

Unlike any other day, Mitsuomi's afternoons were spent in wide classrooms with noisy adolescents and with chalk dust. He's a teacher and that's his job—to lecture stuff about things he knew that others found complicated so that they would understand.

If you'd ask him if he finds that job too tiring, too stressful, or too hard, he'll say that it's fun. It's fun because being with his students makes him feel like he's one of them too—like he's a student too. "It's hard to get tired when you like what you're doing.", he said once. "I believe that even if I'm just a year older than my third year students, I can still teach them and I can also learn from them"

From that afternoon too, when he entered his last class, everyone said good afternoon for respect—except Maya Natsume—she was still slumped on her desk with her hands on her face—she's sleeping.

He made everyone sit down and then he started discussing the complicated distances with lots of variables multiplied by some kind of rate.

As if he didn't see Maya sleeping in his class while he was discussing one of the hardest lessons, he just continued lecturing and writing on the board. He didn't want to call her attention because he's afraid that she'll get embarrassed in front of her classmates so he just allowed her to sleep since she was sitting at the last row at the back.

After the bell had rung for dismissal at four, Maya was still sleeping in her seat. Her seatmate tried to wake her up a few times already but she just shoved away and continued to sleep.

Now that everyone was out of the room, Mitsuomi walked towards her desk and laid a hand on her shoulder. He slightly shook her so that she'd wake up but she just moaned in frustration and uttered, "Go away, damn you, and leave me alone."

"Maya-chan, wake up." Mitsuomi said. "Do I really get a curse from you for doing this? You've slept for more than an hour now."

Quickly bobbing up her head, she saw the empty classroom and Mitsuomi who was in front of her. She gasped and quickly said,

"I—I'm sorry! Did I sleep that long?!" then she looked at Mitsuomi and then to her watch which had read 4:15PM. "I slept throughout the whole science period?"

"Yes…are you okay? You don't seem quite well so I just let you take a nap during my class. I thought that you'd wake up but you haven't. Is everything okay?"

She nodded and then she bowed her head and said sorry again. "I didn't mean to sleep, Mitsuomi-sensei! My head was just throbbing and I was hungry—I wasn't able to eat lunch—sorry I fell asleep."

"That's okay…I'll just give you the notes from the lesson. Are you okay? Why didn't you have lunch?" he asked as he took the seat beside her again and looked into her eyes.

"I went to look for Souichiro-kun…do you remember him? He was the guy from yesterday who lent me his coat. I found it hard to look for him since I didn't know what year he was in—I didn't even get to eat lunch." She answered.

"C'mon then, maybe I should buy you something before you faint because of hunger." He said then he stood up and took the bag beside her desk and the few notebooks that were scattered on her table. "Is this all of your stuff?" he asked.

Maya stood up and took more notebooks from under her desk and nodded. He took the notebooks from her hands and stuffed those in her bag. Maya had reached out to insist that she should carry it but Mitsuomi didn't let her. "You're about to faint—look at you, you're hungry and you're beginning to look pale. I can't let you carry these things, they're heavy." He said. "If Shin-san found out that you fainted, he'll blame me for not taking care of you." he added.

Maya smiled and walked beside Mitsuomi who was carrying everything on his own. She wanted to help him but he just wouldn't let her.

"Where do you want to eat?"

o-o-o-o-o

"Please, Mitsuomi-sensei! Just try this, its really good."

"I don't like strawberries and whip cream—it's too sweet."

"It's just cream, just lick it, please?" Maya asked, giving the strawberry ice cream to him. It was ice cream that had a large portion of whipped cream and chunks of strawberry and chocolate syrup on top. "Its not too sweet, it's really good; you should try it! It's my favorite, please just try it, you'll like it." She was persistent—Maya was asking him to taste it for even just a lick for the fifth time already.

"Alright, if that's what you want." He finally said. Then she gave the untouched cup to him and a spoon.

She watched him take a spoonful and then he put it in his mouth. "So, how was it?" she asked.

"It was…fine. It's good." He replied.

"Don't you like it? It's my favorite! I can't believe that you didn't even like it. When I was in grade school, I used to go here with my brother and we—"

"I liked it, Maya-chan. That's a really good flavor for an ice cream" he said as he took another spoonful. Maya smiled.

"I'm glad you liked it. Isn't it nice to try something new?" then she got another clean spoon and took some ice cream from the cup that she gave him. Not realizing that they were sharing the ice cream.

After eating, they've split the bill and left the place. And just outside, coincidentally or not, Souichiro Nagi was there. He was with a tall foreigner-looking guy and they were drinking Pepsi on a bench, arguing if Coke was better than Pepsi. Souichiro saw Mitsuomi and Maya go out of the restaurant and then, he suddenly called her attention.

"Maya-san!" he said, waving his arms. He instantly caught their attention and Maya slightly ran towards him, leaving Mitsuomi for a while.

"Souichiro-kun, hey…I didn't expect to see you here." she said with a smile.

"Me neither but I saw you with him" then he looked at Mitsuomi who was slowly walking towards them. "Is he the one that takes you home?"

"Umu. If I'm not mistaken—" Maya was saying when Souichiro's companion said,

"Isn't he Mitsuomi-sensei?"

"Yeah, he is." Souichiro said. "Oh, this is Bob." He said, introducing his friend to Maya. "He's my friend ever since."

"Hello." Bob said. Then he took another sip from his Pepsi.

Then Mitsuomi finally reached them and Maya introduced the two to him. "Mitsuomi-sensei, this is Souichiro. He's the guy who was with me yesterday. And this is Bob…Souichiro's friend." She said.

Bob looked at Mitsuomi and said, "Hello, Mitsuomi-sensei. I'm Bob Makahira."

"Nice to meet you, Makahira-kun." He said. Then he turned to Souichiro. "Were you with Maya-chan a while ago, Nagi-kun?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was. Got anything against that?" he suddenly said in a rude way.

"No, not at all…I just want to know why she didn't get to eat lunch—she was really hungry when—" he was saying, then Maya butted in and said,

"Nothing happened, Mitsuomi-sensei. Don't blame him for that—I was just looking for him to return his coat. He actually helped me yesterday."

"Oh, never mind then." Mitsuomi muttered. Then he turned to Maya and said, "I'll be in the car." Then he said goodbye to Souichiro and Bob and went away.

He entered the car and started it as he turned the radio on, he watched Maya walk with Souichiro and Bob for five more minutes; then he watched her wave her own goodbye at them and walked towards his car. She got in and then Mitsuomi suddenly asked her,

"What time does Shin come home?"

"About six to seven thirty" she replied.

"And what time does he want you home?"

"Five to six…why do you ask?" then Maya suddenly took a short glimpse at her wrist watch. It was already 7PM. "Shit…he'll be furious." She muttered.

"That's okay, he should blame me. I'm the one who sort of asked you out." Mitsuomi said. And then Maya remembered something—she remembered that Shin was going to give her 'the' talk when she gets home.

"Shit…" she muttered again under her breath

"What's wrong?" Mitsuomi asked when he heard her curse.

"No, don't take me home yet!" she said. "He'll be all over it—Brother is going to give me 'the' talk! You can't take me back yet—I'm scared—what if he suddenly tells me about it? I'm not ready yet for that kind of thing! I mean, I know all about 'the act' but it's still different when he's the one talking about it!"

"Calm down, Maya. Maybe he was just joking earlier. I don't believe that he'll explain everything by detail—he's your brother…he kinda knows his limitations."

Maya pouted, somehow embarrassed that she said those words…to know that she was talking about 'it' with Mitsuomi made her feel quite uneasy and weird t the same time.

"Mitsuomi-sensei…can't you please drop me off at Emi's place?"

He shrugged and replied, "I can't do that, Maya-chan. If your brother finds out about that, he'll definitely blame me if anything happens to you."

"But Mitsuomi-sensei, please, please, please don't take me home yet!" Maya said. "I promise that I won't make my brother worried—I just don't want to go home yet."

He sighed again and mumbled, "I can't do that, Maya-chan" then he took a left turn—they were once again just a few streets away from Maya's house.

"But please, Mitsuomi-sensei—I'd do anything for you, I'll even—"

He had cut her off and said, "Maya, you just have to understand that I can't take you there." He said that in a deadpan tone.

"Please, drive me at Emi's place, please?" she said. No, it was actually more of a beg.

"Don't be like that; you're acting like a brat. He'll just talk to you. You don't have to be afraid because that talk is bound to happen sooner or later. I mean, he just wants you to know about a few things. And for heaven's sake Maya, he won't talk about 'THE ACT' in detail. It's not like that."

Maya blushed at his words. This was embarrassing; she had no idea how stupid it was of her to whine all about the talk her brother and she will be having when she gets home to this man whom she only met last Monday. This was so unlike her.

"Sorry, I'm just scared that he'll discuss 'it' in such a way that I'll blush and laugh at every word he says until he gets mad." She replied.

Mitsuomi just shook his head and said, "He won't get mad, Maya. I think he'll understand. And besides, he's your brother. I believe he knows what he should tell you. Trust me, he knows what he's doing."

"I hope so…" she replied in a bleak tone. Then Maya looked outside and counted the houses that were just near hers. She was to count ten more until she reached hers. "Can you go with me inside?" she asked. "Go with me so that brother would have a hard time to tell me what he has to tell me."

"Huh? I…I…don't know if I can…I can't stay long."

"Please, Mitsuomi-sensei! Just this once, please? W-why won't you just get dinner at my house so that brother would be occupied by your 'presence' and not that talk we'll be having."

"Well…I guess that's ok—"

"Great, Park by the driveway!" she excitedly said. Then Mitsuomi just noticed that he was to stop for they were already there. When he parked the car, they both got out. He started to walk first towards the open gate when Maya grabbed him by the hem of his shirt to hold him back.

"Hey, there's something strange here. Nobody leaves the gate open—Brother or Aya always closes the gate, it shouldn't be open right now."

"Well, do you think there's someone inside or maybe they just forgot to close it…" then he looked at the house—there were no lights. Maya glanced at her watch and saw that it was already 7:30 in the evening. Aya or Shin should really be home already and there should be someone in the house but…there was no light. No one was there.

"Mitsuomi-sensei, I'm scarred…" then she found her own hands wrapping around Mitsuomi's strong right arm. "What if Aya and my brother are in there…" she muttered, thinking the worst; "What if there's a bad guy that…got them and—"

"Shhh, you shouldn't think like that." He said. "Should we call the police now?"

"Yeah, I guess you should…" then a small tear escaped from her eye because of worry and fear; "I want to know what's happening. Should we get in?"

"Don't be stupid. What if the bad guy's still in there?" then he took out his phone to call the police—but just then, a blood curling shrill!

The scream made Maya jump with surprise and this time, she really cried. Mitsumi stuffed his phone back in his pocket and tried to calm Maya. "Don't cry—it won't do much right now. It'll just cause us to panic. Don't cry, please—we'll all be fine."

"That could have been my sister!" she said as she unwrapped her ice cold hands and started walking towards the house. When Mitsuomi tried to hold her back, another smaller scream startled them and that just urged Maya to run; to get inside and know what in the world was happening in there. He yelled at her, telling her that she should stop running but the adrenaline was already there. He had no choice but to go after her.

Suspense was in the air. The girl did not know what she was to do after she will see what's going on; Mitsuomi was still running after her and she knew that the boy would just stop her approach so she jumped up to the outer wooden porch instead of using the stone steps—a thing she used to do when she was younger.

"Maya, get back!" Mitsuomi said; but she wouldn't listen to him. She just continued running until she reached the door which was ajar. Then she went into the darkness of the house—the next thing for her, waiting to be revealed.

"Brother! Aya!" she said as she walked inside; then, she heard someone move from the couch; she heard the leather upholstery squeak and move and then she heard footsteps as her hand looked for the light switch.

"No, don't!" she heard her brother say. "Maya, don't open the light!"

But it was already too late; she already had; and with a sudden flicker, the light filled the room and she saw Shin who was COMPLETELY naked two meters away from her beside the couch in the living room.

"AGH!" Maya screamed in an appalled, revolted way as she turned around and closed her eyes. She walked away until she bumped onto Mitsuomi who was breathing heavily for running after her. he took her by the shoulder; and that's when she opened her eyes—but just to look at Mitsuomi and nothing more.

"Are you alright? I heard you scream." He said as he looked at the living room and almost gaped with disgust.

"Mitsuomi, what the hell?! Why are you here?" Shin asked as he looked at the 19yrold boy who was still tightly holding her shaking sister. Suddenly, Mana Kuzunoha's head popped out from behind the couch and her eyes widened with shook too. She threw Shin something to cover his hanging dick while she took a small towel which was beside her to hide her body. Both of them looked at Mitsuomi who was now looking at the ceiling—not daring to look at them for his own reasons—and then, he burst out a huge chuckle and began to laugh. Shin too, laughed in embarrassment. It isn't everyday that someone sees you making love with your girlfriend.

And later on, quite annoyed, Maya spoke. "What is so funny?!" she was blurting, "I just saw his dick—that is so DISGUSTING!!" and with these words, both of the men laughed even harder; so hard that Mana found it funny too and began to laugh.

"Sorry." Shin said. "I told you not to open the light—I thought I locked everything. How'd you get in?"

"What are you talking about? You left everything open." Mitsuomi replied while recovering from laughter.

Then Shin looked at Maya who was still shaking, gripping Mitsuomi's right arm firmly, as if she didn't want to let go yet, she faced the other way too, not looking at him and so he said,

"Maya, don't choke his arm. Don't overreact, it was just my penis."

"What the hell are you saying—that was the first penis I ever saw!! How do you think will I forget that? You should have at least hat sex in your room!! You have no idea what the hell was I thinking before I opened those lights!"

Mana chuckled and said, "Now, now…don't be like that Maya-chan. Sorry if you had to see us." Then she turned to Shin and said, "How could you forget to lock the door?" Shin replied with an apology then Maya said,

"I don't feel well. I'm going up—tell Aya I won't eat dinner." Then she closed her eyes again and turned around to the stairs across the living room. Shin laughed at her and grabbed her by the hand saying, "You might trip, Maya. Open your eyes when you walk; you should see where you're going." Maya just pushed him away and said,

"Don't touch me, you're worse than disgusting." And she continued walking; almost tripping over the bundle of clothes scattered on the floor.

"You're so stubborn you'll fall down stairs." Shin said then he turned to Mitsuomi and asked if he could help Maya up. Mitsuomi nodded and happily approached Maya. When they were both gone, Mana faced Shin while dressing and said,

"After an hour and a half of passionate sex, you're still in love with her, aren't you?"

To her disappointment, he sadly nodded.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

AN: well, I hope you liked this chapter. I really worked hard for this one and it took me a long time to update. Where did Aya go? Don't worry, she'll appear up next chapter, I just hate her that's why she's not here. Thank you for reading and please review!!