A/N: Alright, This is the waited update! now I will say to you guys, my update schedule will be not on time. That mean that maybe I will post one or two chapter per month. I must prepare myself for exam. I'm sorry for late, I mean VERY,VERY late update. So until then, I hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 4

Different Yet Same

Dream

Near the Shopping Centre, Ayano's dream….

After a long day of going around in the shopping Centre, they finally took a rest. To Ayano, It's seems to be forever because she never went shopping with her friend other than Chitose. She never expected how enthusiast and excited her partner is, and her partner is supposedly her rival, Kyouko.

"How was it, are you having fun?" Kyouko asked. Ayano already got much memory about Kyouko so she can project her image in her dream.

Ayano was taken back by this question. Sure, they went from one shop to another. Sure, Kyouko dragged her from shop to shop against her will. And sure, they got out from many stores without buying anything. But strangely, that doesn't annoy her, or even bother her. she also never asked herself if she was having fun.

"Am…Am I having fun?" Ayano though. Although at first she found that Kyouko dragging her around the shopping centre was annoying, slowly, that feeling was gone. It's because she can't help but to be happy seeing Kyouko excitedly checking the shops. She's like a child who just went to an amusement park for the first time. Her eyes filled with excitement and her smile is full of happiness. Even if Ayano tried to lie, she just can't do that. Even if she hated Kyouko, she just can't let her hatred took over her. That's because she just can't destroy someone happiness for her own sake.

"Yes, I'm having fun." Ayano replied to her question and gave a smile to her.

"I'm glad." Kyouko said and gave Ayano one of the most heartwarming and genuine smile Ayano ever imagined.

"She's….she's…..just way too cute…" Ayano though and blushed "She looks so innocent with that smile."

"Um….i'm sorry for today." Kyouko said while hung her head low as a sign of apology.

"Eh?" Ayano taken back by the fact she apologized for nothing "Why…What are you apologizing for?"

"I brought you from shop to shop, right? I saw that irritated face of yours then I realized what I did. It must be my fault, right? I'm sorry for what happened." Kyouko said while still hung her head low.

"Uwah, she's apologized because of what i did! What do i do?" Ayano though panicklly.

"Hey, it's alright! I'm just not used to it!" Ayano said while tried to calm her down.

Kyouko then looked at Ayano with eyes full of hope "Really?"

"Yeah, it's alright. I'm just not used to it." Ayano said relieved. Although it sounded like a bad excuse, deep down in her heart, she really enjoyed their shopping time. Even though she doesn't used to it, she's still happy.

Immediately, Kyouko beamed up "Thank you, Ayano!" and then flashed that smile again.

Ayano then blushed really hard and her mind flew far away "Kami-sama…..Why you make this girl so cute it's hard to concentrate?"

After that, some minutes passed in silence before Kyouko asked another question "Ayano, why you rejected my request earlier?" Kyouko asked curiously.

"Eh?" Ayano was taken back by her question again. The last thing she wanted to answer is that question.

"Is there something bad in me? Am I not good enough for you? Did I do something bad? Or…Do you really hate me?" Kyouko asked and each questions pounced Ayano's mind. Kyouko who's look like she wanted to cry make that weight even heavier. Ayano felt that the weight successfully destroyed her heart. Guiltiness is taking over her logic.

"I-It's just….It's just…." Ayano struggled to find a reason.

"It's just?" Kyouko tilted her head slightly as a sign of curious.

"It's just…." Ayano finally gave up "It's just…we are rivals, you know? I sometimes still hated the fact that you are better than me. So, I though "Why do I have to act nice to this girl? It's not like I'm friend with her or something", so I rejected it. But then, I realized that what I did was wrong. But…..even after what I did, you still treat me kindly and honestly, I never had this kind of fun before, even with Chitose. So…." Ayano stood up and then bowed down "I'm sorry, Toshinou Kyouko!"

A minute passed in silence. Ayano already expected the worst from it. Then, she's surprised to hear what Kyouko said.

"No, it's alright." Kyouko said calmly.

"Eh?" Ayano, surprised by this, then looked at Kyouko's face "No malice, hatred, or anger…..She really forgive me?"

"Are you sure? After what i-" Ayano said but cut off by Kyouko.

"No, I understand what were you thinking." Kyouko said still with that calm tone.

"I'm really disappointed by you, Ayano." Kyouko said.

That words struck Ayano like a thunderstorm. She already expected the worst, but what Kyouko did was worse than what she expected.

"You jumped to the conclusion too quickly. You only think about what you must do. You don't consider about how other people feels. You only do what have been told rather than act by your own self." Kyouko said.

That words amplify her self-disappointment and guilt about what she did.

"I broke her heart down…I broke my chance to become a friend with her….i am a disappointment…." Ayano though and that thought repeated like a loop inside her head. And every time that thought appeared, her mind started to be blinded by guilt and self-disappointment. It broke her own heart until the point that she almost cried.

"But…" Kyouko said now with a cheering tone.

That word then shine a light inside Ayano's mind who seems to be blinded. It's like a small candle in a big hall. No matter how short that word, it gave a small light of hope.

"But?" Ayano unconsciously asked. Her mind decided to ran towards the light.

"But I know you are actually a good person." Kyouko said.

"What….What do you mean by that?" Ayano asked. She's happy, confused, surprised, and not convinced on the same time.

"After you rejected me, then you invited me again, right? That proved that you are actually a good person. If you really hate me, why you invited me on the first place?" Kyouko stated.

"Eh?...It's just…..my instinct…." Ayano said with a low voice, now asked herself.

"That's it. Your instinct tell you that you actually don't hate me. I'm glad to hear that. And also…." Kyouko started to fidget her finger and blushed "You said that you happy because of today make me very happy…."

Ayano can only stand there, her mind flew up on the sky and blushed. She can't even make out a sentence.

"E-Eto…" Is the only word that she successfully made out.

"You need to be more honest to yourself. Open up a bit and spoke what is in your heart. Maybe if you do that, you will get more friends." Kyouko said, cheering her on.

After that, Kyouko immediately stood up and walked toward Ayano. This caught Ayano off guard.

"W-What are you doing, Toshinou Kyouko?" Ayano asked Kyouko.

Kyouko then grabbed her hand and said "I want to be a friend with you, Ayano."

Ayano can only stand there, tried to understand what happened.

"Yes, I'm asking you to go with me because I wanted to be a friend with you." Kyouko said.

"Eh? Aren't we supposed to be….rivals?" Ayano said now asked herself if she can even called Kyouko her rival.

Kyouko shook her head as a sign of disagreement then said "We maybe are rivals, but who said that we can't be a friend? Never I encountered someone as interesting as you. You gave me a new color to my life. The color which make my life more beautiful. I also wanted to see you becoming a better person. Your true self, the one who I wanted see from you. So, Ayano…" Kyouko tighten the grip of her hand "Let's become a friend, Ayano!" Kyouko said and then smiled.

Before Ayano can replied, the world around her started to collapsed. She felt very sleepy and then she fell asleep. After that she opened her eyes. Greeted by sunlight, birds chirping, and an alarm clock on the face.

Ayano's room, Morning….

"Unh…" Ayano groaned. She just felt that she has been asleep for a really long time. The first thing she did was take the alarm off her face and checked what time is it. After she checked her alarm, she just noticed something's off. Something's very bad is going on.

Ayano only has 10 minutes before the class started.

If Ayano was a normal student, she might care less about it. But, reality hit her with the fact that Ayano is Student Council vice president. Everyone will notice immediately if Ayano, the Student Council vice president, is late to school. She's known in the school to be the one who's never late to school. Even if she's late, she usually has something really important to do. But not for that day, she has any excuses why she's late. Even if she does, the only excuse she can use is turn herself in and said the most overused excuse that every student in the world used.

She overslept.

Just imagining herself used that already make her shivered. Her pride just doesn't allow her to use such a bad excuse. Immediately, in 5 minutes, she's ready to go to school. A tidy uniform, a fresh from a bath body, and also a piece of toast that she bite in her mouth.

"Ayano!" Her mom called her because she didn't eat her breakfast properly.

"Later, Mom!" Ayano said and immediately dashed to the school. It usually took her around another 5 minutes to walk to the school. So she's confident if she ran she could make it in time.

On the way to school, while she's running, she saw a girl from far away wearing her school uniform.

"Who is she? I can't see really well from here….there's some of blonde color I see from her….Wait, Toshinou Kyouko?" Ayano though and that almost make her half-eaten toast which she somehow managed to eat fell.

Seeing no intention to called her, she just continued to run. At least that what she planned before Kyouko called her.

"Ayano, Morning!" Kyouko greeted her while also running.

"Toshinou Kyouko!" Ayano called her. Before she could say anything, the mentioned girl already run faster.

"The loser will treat the winner!" Kyouko said and left her behind.

"Wait! Toshinou Kyouko!" Ayano called her, but that fall into the deaf ears. Although she knew there's no point to race with her right now, her pride just doesn't allow her to lose, especially to her rival. So she ate all of her toast and then run faster.

And soon enough, Ayano caught up with Kyouko. They take the same path, so they had a head-on race. Both of them are equal to each other most of the time. Sometimes Kyouko lead and sometimes Ayano lead. That happened until they almost reached the front gate of their school.

Ayano started to lost her energy to run. Her vision started to become hazy. She started to run slower. Because of her vision, she only continued to run to the school. After she passed the gate, she tried to breath because of the oxygen loss from running too long. She looked around to announced her win over Kyouko. She looked behind and saw Kyouko almost finished. She want to announced her victory, but remembering that she was late, she immediately ran to the class.

Class 2-B, Nanamori Junior High School…

Both of them then arrived in front of door class. Ayano decided to open the door first. Unexpectedly, their homeroom teacher already started the class, so their enter isn't unnoticeable by their homeroom teacher.

"Toshinou-san and Sugiura-san…" Their homeroom teacher said while giving them a deadly glare.

"H-Hai?" Both of answered while shivered a bit. Their homeroom teacher is known to be very discipline about school law once she inside their classroom.

"You two will do the cleaning for our classroom today…." Their teacher said still with the same tone.

"A-Alright." Both of them let out a sigh of relief once informed that their punishment was just cleaning their classroom.

"Now take your seats." Their homeroom teacher calmed down.

Then both of them took their seats. Unknown to them, a certain someone observed them. She's surprised to see their friends late to go to school.

"If Kyouko was late, I can understand. But, Ayano?" Yui asked herself wondered why she was late.

Meanwhile, Ayano is getting nervous why she must be paired again with Kyouko. And unknown to her, the mentioned girl was also nervous and also had an interesting dream last night….