Secrets, Lies, and Betrayal
"You're very welcome. Oh, and welcome to our school Mr. Kuga. I know it'll be a pleasure having you attend here."
"The pleasure will be all mine." He said before he walked out.
As he walked into the hallway to get to his locker and put his new books away he got distracted by playing with his new key to his locker. He spun one of the key chains around his finger.
Karin had just walked out of the bathroom. She felt a little better. Though now she could feel this lump forming in her throat, knowing she was going to face Kazune in the cafeteria. She still didn't know what to say. Should she apologize? Then again it wasn't like they were dating or anything. So why did she feel so guilty about kissing Micchi? Was it the chance of Kazune still having feelings for her? Was it the fact that she had allowed herself to be kissed? There's no way she saw it coming. Or maybe she felt bad that people found out about it. She wasn't that kind of person though, at least she thought she wasn't.
Too preoccupied with her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed there was someone walking right in her direction. The other person hadn't noticed Karin either. They collided and fell to the ground. Books were strewn all over with a few papers here and there as well.
"Oh geez, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." Karin said as she helped the person pick up their books.
"Obviously." The other person spat out. Karin ignored the attitude and stood up with some of the books and papers that were on the floor. The other person with the rest of his school supplies stood up as well and dusted himself off. He was about to tell Karin off till he got a good look at her.
He was struck by how pretty he thought she was. Karin handed him the books. "Again, sorry." She said. Before she walked away she heard him call out to her. "Wait!" She turned around.
"I should be the one to apologize, I wasn't looking where I was going either. I'm sorry too." He said sincerely. 'There's something about her...'
Whatever bad taste Karin had from this guy after his rude remark earlier had disappeared. "It's okay. Hmm, I've never seen you around here before, are you new?" She asked taking into account all the books he had, some of which were handed out to the students earlier in the semester.
He nodded. "You caught me. I'm Jin Kuga." He flashed his trademark charming smile. Karin blushed a little. He looked like a character out of a movie poster or something. "Karin. Karin Hanazono. It's nice to meet you." She extended her hand out then realized he wouldn't be able to with everything he was holding. "Do you need some help?" She offered.
"Sure. I'd really appreciate it. It's always nice being in the company of such a beautiful girl." Jin smiled. Karin felt herself blushing again. As cheesy as he came off, to get a compliment from someone that looked like him was quite... effective in a way. They walked over to his locker and Karin helped him get organized.
"I have to go and meet with some teachers now. I had to miss the morning class due to a slight problem with my schedule so I was stuck in the office, but I'll be seeing you around Miss Karin; prettiest girl in school." Jin smirked.
Karin tried her best not to roll her eyes. Yet a part of her couldn't help but somewhat be intrigued and curious about the new student. What was his deal anyway? She shook it off once he walked away and proceeded to go the cafeteria like she originally had intended to before bumping into the superstar.
She walked into the cafeteria. Karin expected everyone to stop what they were doing and just eye her down. Not because she was conceited or anything, it just seemed like her and Micchi were all anyone could talk about that morning. She was surprised to see things almost... dare she say, normal. It was as it was everyday. Not feeling very hungry she skipped out on getting lunch and walked straight to the table. She'd have to face Kazune at some point. At least here she'd have the support of Himeka, Yuuki, and Miyon. She knew she should have been mad at the two of them, but she wasn't. She knew they didn't mean to harm her.
When she reached the table she noticed Micchi's absence. She made a mental note to check up on him when she could. At the table Miyon and Yuuki were pretty silent which was a first for them. Usually they would be wrapped up into each other talking about Yuuki's music or Miyon's writing, when Miyon wasn't talking to Himeka and Karin that is. As for Himeka and Kazune, Himeka was trying to have a conversation with Kazune but he didn't seem that into whatever it was they were talking about.
His mind seemed like it was elsewhere. Karin contemplated whether or not to go up to him and say something. While she was having a mental debate Kazune had excused himself from the table and the conversation. He cleaned out his tray and appeared to be heading out. Once Karin noticed she followed him outside.
"Kazune... ?" Karin softly called out to him. Any lower and Kazune might not have heard her. He turned around and saw her walking up to him. He did his best to suppress the sigh he was holding in when he saw her. Kazune folded his arms which gave off the impression he wasn't really interested in whatever it was she had to say to him.
He didn't know if he actually felt that way, all he knew is that if something was going on between Karin and Micchi, he didn't want to know about it.
"Look, what you heard in class... It's true, but it didn't mean anything. I just wanted you to know that. You believe me, don't you?" Karin's eyes were almost pleading. Kazune softened a little. Why his opinion mattered to her so much, he didn't know. He also didn't know what to say either. He just simply nodded and found himself putting his hand on her head and petting her in a gentle, loving way. "Don't worry about me." He said. "Whatever you do in your spare time, that's all you. It's nice to know that what I think matters to you. But don't stress about it so much."
Karin was really surprised now. There was no attitude whatsoever or sexist remark to what he had just said. And the affection? It threw her completely off. Did this mean things were okay between them? There were no hard feelings? She decided to take his word for it and faintly smiled. "Yeah..." A part of Karin was a little disappointed truthfully. Even though that kiss was completely unintentional, a part of her wanted Kazune to feel jealous. That way she'd know that he still feels something for her like she had heard him say. But this told her otherwise. Did he really think his opinion didn't matter to her? Of course it did. She found herself unable to say that out loud though.
After eavesdropping on Kazune and Micchi that other day she couldn't help but feel her hopes go up a bit. Now she just felt foolish for allowing herself to think he still felt something for her after the way things went down between them. She felt the tears resurfacing. Like before, Karin tried to blink them away. Kazune saw her getting teary eyed and frowned. He hadn't meant to upset her if he had. He was about to say something till Karin beat him to it. "I'm gonna go now. I'll see you later in class." She turned around and went the opposite way.
As he watched her jog away he let out the sigh he had been holding in. Kazune had meant what he had said, but the fact his love kissed another guy still upset him, not that he'd let her know.
Once she was far enough Karin plopped herself down on the grass, sitting down. She hugged her knees close to her chest. Some of the tears had managed to escape. She used her sleeve to quickly wipe them away. "Is the spot next to you empty?" She heard someone ask. Karin turned and saw Jin standing there with a bag of cherry twizzlers and a worried smile on his face. He could tell that she had been crying with just one glance.
Karin sniffled a little and looked ahead. "Suit yourself." He sat down next to her and put a twizzler in his mouth. As he chewed on the string of cherry flavored candy he offered Karin one. She gave in and took one and started nibbling on it slowly.
Their brief silence had been cut short by Jin. "Sooo, hypothetically speaking, lets say you were sad, would you want to talk about it?" He asked. Karin slightly chuckled at his attempt to get her to open up. "Just a misunderstanding between me and someone." She didn't really feel like diving deep into details, even less with someone she barely knew,
Jin nodded. "I'm no stranger to that look you have on now. Let me guess, guy trouble." Karin didn't say anything. She just kept nibbling on the twizzler. Jin knew he had hit the nail on that one. "Well, whoever this guy is and whatever the issue may be, to make a girl pretty as you sad probably isn't worth the time. You should be with someone who can always put a smile on your face and never give up trying when you're frowning." He said. Karin glanced at him. She couldn't help but wonder if she was really as pretty as Jin kept saying.
Does she really deserve someone like that? And if she does, could Kazune be that someone?
Kazune was walking around kicking a pebble. Not like he had anything better to do. He just wanted to be alone. It was moments like this that he truly thought about telling Karin the truth about who she really was and just hope for the best and be with her. Every time he thought like that he realized how selfish it seemed. Basically drop that bombshell on her and hope she can cope with it just so he can be with her.
She deserved a clean slate. That's what Kazuto had intended for her when this all started. She shouldn't be with some... clone.
As Kazune bitterly thought about all the things wrong with him and why he shouldn't be with Karin, Micchi had walked up to him. Kazune looked away. "What do you want?" He asked.
Micchi frowned. "I never intended to kiss her, Kazune. Just needed a way to keep her quiet. She was asking questions about you know who. I ran home really quick to give you this." Micchi handed Kazune Kazuto's diary much to his surprise. Kazune thought he was going to have to break into his home to get this, why was he handing it over so easily?
As if he had read his mind, Micchi answered. "Think of it as a peace offering,"
Kazune nodded. Before walking away he gave Micchi a pat on the shoulder. "So are we cool?" Micchi asked. Kazune forced a laugh and punched Micchi right in the face. "Now we are." He walked away leaving Micchi with a bloody nose.
Jin playfully nudged her. "You know, I hear when someone is sad, they tend to over think things which makes them sadder. So snap out of it." Karin laughed a bit. "There's a smile. You know what you need? Some more cheering up. If you're not too busy tomorrow, wanna grab a shake or something after school? We can hang out and just talk." Jin smiled at her. Karin felt that blush from earlier creep on her again. Was he asking her out? Like on a date? Even though he said they'd simply would just be hanging out, the look in his eyes gave Karin a different impression.
She got up and dusted herself off. "It's almost time to get to class." She said. Jin chuckled at how she had just completely dodged his question. "You can go ahead, I'll be there in a bit."
"See ya in class." Karin went ahead. As she was walking she heard someone walking behind her. She assumed it was Jin. "Decided to head back now I see-" She said turning around and stopped mid sentence when she saw it was actually Kirio who had been walking behind her.
"Glasses man..." Karin hadn't seen him since the fight with Kirihiko. Where had he been all this time? "I almost thought you disappeared or something." She said playfully. The playfulness was not returned though. He looked serious, even worried. "Is everything alright?" Karin asked.
Kirio pushed his glasses upward from the bridge of his nose. "I need to ask you something..." Karin stayed silent. "You haven't by any chance been seeing things, have you?" He asked.
Karin shrugged. "What kinds of things?" She was confused. It was an odd question to ask someone after not having seen them in over a month. "Just... Anything usual. Visions or hallucinations..." His voice went low on that last word. Now that Karin fully took in his appearance he looked exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair looked a little disheveled, and his eyes held nothing but weariness in them. "Not really. Are you okay?"
"Karin listen to me, it isn't over. We thought it was but it was only the beginning. It's going to come after you. I don't know when but it will come for you." Kirio said. Karin started getting a little scared. "Kirio what's going on? You're kind of freaking me out right now..."
Kirio rubbed his eyes. His mind was playing tricks on him again. Right now he was seeing 2 of Karin. They both had a demon-like appearance and looked like they were going to attack him, but he knew one of them was still the real Karin. He took his best bet and formed a dark orb in his hand.
"Woah... What are you doing?" Karin started to back away slowly. Kirio aimed and fired. "Kirio no!"
It's too bad he hit the wrong one.
END OF CHAPTER 7
