"Hmmm..." She really didn't want to wake up yet... And the soft bed was so comfortable... She turned again and bit her lip when she felt the wounds from yesterday. It hurted... Those dumb classmates. If Layla hadn't kicked them down who knows what could have happened... She shivered and crawled even deeper in the sheets. It smelled good, like mint with lavendel...

Wait a minute. Mint? Lavendel? Her bed didn't smell like that... She lazily opened one eye and looked at the ceiling. A very high ceiling. A ceiling with a... chandelier?! She sat up quickly and looked around. This room... wasn't her room?! It looked like...

'Wait! I'm ok! Put me down. I said, put me down!'

'I won't put you down. Now that I finally caught you... I won't let you go. Besides... you can't go home like this right?'

That was...right, Tsukasa had taken her to his home and ordered his maids to help her.

All those women that wanted to help her bathe and dress her... It was so different than what she was used to. A marble bathtub, towels so soft as puppy's and the most expensive bath lotion on the planet. And as she lay there covered in delicious smelling soap, she only thought of Tsukasa. He had said he believed her... she really cried her heart out back then. After all that had happened, all the people who immediately judged her without hearing her story, all the people who didn't believe a thing she said and just made up their own stories... It felt so good hearing him say that... And when he hugged her it felt like she was protected against anything and anyone...

She fell back in the pillows of her bed and thought about yesterday evening again. After she had bathed and dressed she was brought to Tsukasa's room, where he'd taken care of the wounds she had gotten from those bastards. He had been so kind then, saying that he would take full responsibility for any scars she would get, saying he was sorry over and over again.

Of course right after that she'd thrown a pillow in his face because he dared to ask about Thomas. Idiot. Of course she wouldn't do it with a foreinger just like that, grrr... But when she remembered how he said he had been jealous she felt her cheeks getting hot.

'I love you'

He'd said he loved her. When she replayed the moment he'd said that in her head, how he'd looked at her... her cheeks were only getting hotter when she thought about what had happened next. He had kissed her, and even though she'd said to wait, he hadn't. And maybe deep down.. she'd wanted it to happen as well. His kiss had been so soft and gentle, so unlike how he usually was she had lost herself in the moment. Only when they broke apart again and looked at each other they got extremely red. After that she had gone to her own room, but not without hearing Tsukasa say she shouldn't take what he said too lightly.

He really... liked her? And she even let him kiss her... what was she doing exactly? Did she like him as well?

A knock on her door made her sit up again and two maids entered, bringing her breakfast. They also brought her a new uniform and told her Tsukasa had ordered it for her.

"Wow really? I have to thank him. Where is he?"

"The young master has already left ma'am," one of the maids said. "He was shouting something about revenge and then left."

"Re-venge?" she stammered. Oh no! She stumbled out of bed and quickly grabbed the uniform the maid held out for her. As her hand was on the doorknob of the bathroom she heard her phone ring. Would it be her parents?! She couldn't not take it, they would be suspicious but... what would she say?!

"He-helloo? Tsukushi speaking?"

"Ah Tsukushi? Glad I got to you."

"Layla? How do you know this number?"

"Haha Tuskushi, how cute. Of course I would know your number if I wanted it. But that's not important now. You haven't spoken to your parents right?"

"Ehm no, I... wait, you know I'm not at home?"

"I know about everything," Layla said in a hurry. "I know you've been taken to Tsukasa's mansion and that you stayed the night. I called your parents and told them I was there as well and that we had a girl-talk that lasted the whole night, so match up to my story if they call you. You're still at his mansion?"

"Uhm yes, But Layla..."

"Good, then I'll come and get you right now, stay put."

After that the connection went dead and she just stared at her phone for a while before she tossed it on the bed and quickly dressed herself. She was enjoying the last part of her five-star breakfast when one of the maids came to tell her Layla had arrived. She quickly ran downstairs, where she saw her blond-haired friend talking to one of the butlers of the mansion.

"Layla!"

She turned around and laughed at her. "Good morning Tsukushi, good to see you being energetic again. Did you sleep well?"

"Uhm yeah," she stammered as she looked at the car that stood waiting for them in front of the door. Uwaaah, a limousine?! Layla had one of those as well?!

"Good, then we may depart," she said as she walked to the car. A man in a neat suit held the door for them and Layla thanked him shortly before she stepped inside. She hesitantly followed Layla, and gasped when she saw the interior of the limousine. It was so luxurious! Beautiful brown leather seats that bounced a little when you sat on it, tinted windows which gave the space an intimate feeling, a mini-bar with refridgerator, a tv-screen in front right behind the driver, there was even a Playstation inside!

"To Eitoku High School I presume?" the driver asked through a window that connected the driver's space to the back.

"Yes, and step on it please," Layla said as she leaned back in the couch. Whoah, she looked amazing again. A dark-blue off-shoulder top with black stars on it, and underneath short black pants, of which one half looked like a skirt with ruffles. Ankleboots with small silver chains completed her amazing outfit, as well as a small silver chain around her neck with a Lotus on it.

"That's an amazing outfit you have," she said and Layla looked down.

"Really? I seriously had no idea what to wear today, I have been pacing up and down in my room almost all night. What the hell happened after school?" she asked bluntly. "Soujirou and Akira said Tsukasa brought you to his home, but after that I don't know a thing."

Just thinking about it made her head turn a beet red again and she didn't want to look at Layla's penetrating stare. She still heard the 'I love you' through her head, af if someone had put it on repeat...

"Don't tell me... you did it?"

"N... what? No! We didn't go that far!" she shouted angrily. Uhm... did she just...?

"Hooo, so you did so something," Layla said with a sly smile on her face. "Thought as much. You looked way too squirrily when I saw you coming down those stairs. It's strange no matter how you look at it, unless something happened. And it did. So? How was it? Who did what?"

"L-layla!" she shouted embarrassed. "You shouldn't ask things like that so casually!"

"Oh, can't I?" she said surprised. "I'm just curious though. Since it doesn't seem he did anything you didn't want... I can finally relax. Won't you tell me a little?"

"Well... a little... I guess," she said, blushing fiercely. Luckily only Layla was around, and she had closed the window to the driver, so maybe just a little...? Layla had put her boot on the seat and let her head rest on it, waiting eagerly for her story. Somehow... it felt a lot like when they were little... So she just told her everything.

"And then uhm... he wanted to... .he wanted to kiss me... and I, I said to wait, but he didn't... and when... when our lips touched I... didn't want it to stop... And even though he held me so strongly, his kiss was... was very gentle..." She laughed a little silly and knocked herself on the head. "That is... pretty strange right? To say no and then just let it all happen... Why did I do that? Aha haha.." When she looked up she saw Layla looking at her, a strange smile on her lips and a slightly reddish face.

"Aah... that sounds... pretty great to me," she said, leaning her head on her knee. "For a guy like that to be so careful with you, he must care about you a lot more than he shows. I'm jealous..."

"Ano... I don't think, I eh... I really don't know," she said slightly panicked.

"There's no need to 'know'," Layla sighed as she looked up at the ceiling of the limo, closing her eyes against the lights that shone in her face. "You just have to... feel, right? Even if you don't know now, you will in the future. And if that is a few days, weeks or months, who cares? Just take your time finding out if you like that guy. If he really likes you... well, he'll wait until you're ready right?"

"Wow, Layla..." she said as she looked at her friend. Everything she just said... How could she understand so well? "Layla... did you perhaps... have a boyfriend?"

"Eh, what?" Gone was the completely relaxed mood she was in just a second ago, and she stared at her. Then she burst out laughing.

"No way! Me, a boyfriend?! Get out Tsukushi-chan!"

"W-what?! Is it that strange?" she stammered flustered.

"No, I most definitely not have or had a boyfriend," she grinned. "Like I would have the time to keep one. I would feel sorry for the guy, since I'm not at home a lot."

"But you... you said it so well.."

"Ah, I feel flattered," she smiled, "but I'm afraid it's not from my personal experience. Let's just say... it's because of the things I see around me? But I'm serious Tsukushi, if he's really like you say, then he'll wait until you know. Don't sweat it. You can't force your feelings, but you can guide them right? Just go on a date with him a few times, see how it feels. If you feel you want more, well, that will be a clear signal right?"

"A... date," she mumbled. "Yeah, not like that last one..."

"Ho-hoo... you've been on a date already? Tell me, tell me!" Layla now almost seemed to shine and she laughed a little. Talking to a friend like this, a real friend, felt really good...

"Miss, we have arrived," the driver spoke through the speaker next to the window.

"Oh, already?" Layla said disappointed. "I was enjoying your story so much I completely forgot the time! But to believe you actually held a leek around his neck as you sat in the elevator the whole night haha, amazing girl you are."

"He did feel better after that," she defended herself, but couldn't help but smile when she saw Layla grinning.

The driver opened the door of the limousine and they stepped outside. Immediately she saw everyone look at them, and people started to whisper amongst themselves as well.

"Look! It's that girl again that fought with Daiki yesterday!"

"And Makino Tsukushi is with her as well!"

"She has a driver and limousine? So she is rich?"

"Her coat is from a well-known designer as well, I told you yesterday. She's a rich girl."

"But she fights? Then who on earth is she? And she knows Makino, she told everyone they were friends."

"With that poor person? That low-class? How?"

"Uwaaah... everyone is talking about us again," she mumbled uncomfortable. Would this ever stop?

"So? They're not important anyway," Layla said without too much interest. "Besides, we need to meet up with Tsukasa to make sure he tells everyone the same story as I told your parents. It will not be good for the both of you if this gets blown up even more than it already is. And for your image it will also be bad if you just went on one date with the guy and stayed the whole night."

"Eh Layla, is it really that bad?" she said as she hastened her pace to keep up with Layla's long legs. "I mean, I'd rather have it your way of course, but last time everyone was just happy for me I stayed out the whole night. With Tsukasa I mean. That thing with Thomas was a bit of a different story..."

"The kids here are of course," she said. "To them this is all excellent gossip and some sort of Cinderella-story, the poor girl with one of the richest guys in school. However, there are some people who can become quite a problem if this news gets outside the school gates. Your parents seem... well, they were only excited to hear you were staying at the Doumyouji mansion and even encouraged me to send you to his room when I called them, but his parents might be less amused."

"My parents..." she sighed heavily. Of course they would say something like that, urgh. They would only be happy if she and Tsukasa started dating, but not because they knew him. "But I thought Tsukasa's parents were in New York?"

"They are," Layla replied, "but do you really think anyting happens in the Doumyouji-mansion without his mother and father knowing of it? You should know that the wealthy families have eyes and ears everywhere, definitely if it concerns the young masters and ladies. Needless to say Tsukasa is, even though you might not see him that way, the heir of the Doumyouji-group. Everything he does is monitored by many people."

"Seems suffocating to me," she mumbled.

"That is why I could understand what Akira meant when he said school is a place he can relax. In here not many people need to keep and eye on them, so the pressure is a lot less than when they're at a party or anywhere else for that matter."

"Akira?" she repeated, and Layla sighed. She called them by their first names in the car as well...

"He kept insisting to call him by his first name, so I will."

"Heh?" she said as she pushed Layla a little. "Maybe he likes you."

"Akira only likes women who are at least ten years older than him," she replied undisturbed. "I can confidently say I do not belong in his area of interest."

"Ah, Layla! Tsukushiii!"

Akira waved at them from the rose garden and she automatically walked over to him and Soujirou. She didn't see Tsukasa and quickly asked where he was.

"Ah, he was talking about revenge and suddenly took off," he replied as he looked up at the main building. "He's probably..."

"You're not kidding right Akira?" Layla asked. "Revenge? Against those idiots? I already kicked the living daylights out of them yesterday so.."

"Uh-oh," she mumbled and she immediately took off. Layla, Akira and Soujirou catched up when she was in front of the main building, where a large crowd had already gathered and was looking up, some even pointing. She gasped when she actually saw what he had done.

"Oh my God," Layla muttered in English.

"Tsukasa..." Soujirou sighed.

"He always goes too extreme," Akira mumbled tired.

"We need to get up there right now!" she said panicked as she looked up at the roof of the main building. People. There were five of them, and they all hung upside-down by a rope from the railing on the rooftop. Two of them were screaming and calling for help, the others didn't make a sound at all. Did they faint? Not surprising under the circumstances...

"Pff hahahaha."

She looked over het shoulder and saw Layla was laughing to hard she needed to hold Soujirou's shoulder so she wouldn't fall. "Layla..?"

"And I thought I was extreme when I said I would hang Sakurako upside-down in the cafeteria hahaha, he really goes big hahaha."

"STOP YELLING OR I'LL CUT THE ROPE!" they heard Tsukasa shout, and one of the them now even shouted harder, completely in panic.

"We need to get up there," Soujirou mumbled irritated. "He really would cut the rope if they irritate him too much. And they would die from a fall from that high. Not that he would know that of course, he's too dumb to realize it."

They all ran upstairs as fast as they could, and she was on the roof first. "Wait you! What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted so Tsukasa turned around.

"Hey, you're finally here," he replied enthousiastic and he handed her a pair of scissors. "Here. Cut the rope of the guy you hate most first."

"C-cut the rope?" she stammered as she stared at the scissors. "But they'll die that way!" She looked over the railing to the guys who hung there and saw that three of them looked up scared. One of the five was still screaming.

"SAAAVVEEE MEEEE!"

"That guy," she mumbled as she stared down, "That guy is the one who hit me with a baseball bat."

"Got it!" Tsukasa said as he leaned over next to her, "Let's cut his rope first."

Now the guy shouted even harder, and then suddenly the people on the ground also started screaming and even ran away. "Something's coming down! Gross!"

"Uh-oh," she mumbled as she saw what was trickling down on the people below.

"What a dumbass. He peed in his pants."

"Anybody would do that in this situation," she grinned.

"Are you... feeling better now?" he asked.

"Ah!" Was that... why he did this? Just... so she would feel better? She blushed and turned her head away. "Hmm, yes, much better," she stammered.

"Uh, okay... uhm, that's good then," he said, and when she did dare to look at him again she saw he also had a head like a tomato.

"Oi, why are you blushing so much when you look at each other?" Akira said with a frown. "Don't tell me something really did happen yesterday?"

"That's not something you should ask," Layla grumbled when she gave him a little push. Layla winked at her and she quickly looked away, down at those dumb guys who still hung on their ropes. And Tsukasa just stood beside her, not saying anything as well. This feeling... wasn't too bad...

"Hey!"

Huh...?

'Hey?'

That... voice. It couldn't be...

"How are you guys doing?"

She whirled around, her own hair slamming in her face in her hurry to see. In the doorway, his hands casually tucked in the pockets of his pants... Tea-coloured hair, marble eyes, a moss-green sweater, that smile... It really was him.

Hanazawa Rui.