The one thing you'd hoped no one would find out. You thought you'd done such a good job of hiding your femininity from the males surrounding you, and only on his second encounter, Umeda had found out that you were a woman?

You stared at the doctor leaning a few inches from you. He had a smug look on his face. Fear rippled through your body.

"Wh-what?" you choked out, keeping your voice low so that Izumi wouldn't overhear. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me, (Name)-chan," he said, again using the female suffix. Then he straightened up.

Your roommate, who'd been gazing out of the window, turned to Umeda. "Is he okay?"

The doctor nodded. He looked completely innocent as he answered, "Yes. There's no concussion or damage or anything. He should be okay." Then he glanced at you over his shoulder, giving you a shark-toothed smile. "But I'd like to talk to him for a while. You can go back, Sano."

"All right." He pushed himself upright and then nodded in parting before walking towards the door, pulling it open, and exiting.

You waited a few seconds. When you were sure that Izumi wasn't there against the door, eavesdropping, then you fixated your eyes onto the handsome doctor and said, "How did you know?"

"It was obvious," he replied, with a dismissive flick of his hand. Umeda then went over to his desk chair and pulled it over, positioning it so it was across from you. Then he sat down. Spreading his legs out comfortably in front of him, he relaxed back into the chair and said, "Why are you here, (Name)-chan? Gakuen is an all-boys' school, you know."

"I know," you replied. "I'm not dense or anything. I'm in my right mind."

"Then why in your right mind would you come and attend school here?"

You thought about the reason and almost immediately, a blush flared up onto your cheeks. You looked down at your lap.

Umeda smiled knowingly, as if he knew the reason behind your coming here. "Ah," he said. "It's a girl thing, isn't it?"

"Well, sort of…"

"Let me guess…" He tapped his forefinger against his chin, contemplating. Then he met your eyes and said, "You have a crush. On Sano."

You got defensive and you threw up your hands in front of you, your face turning as red as a tomato. "No!" you cried. "I do not!"

But Umeda was laughing. "I knew it," he said. He sounded gleeful, strangely so for a school doctor. "You do have a crush on him, don't you, (Name)-chan?"

"No, I don't," you insisted, knowing very well that he knew. "And please stop calling me (Name)-chan."

"All right, all right, we'll compromise. You tell me why you came here, and I'll stop calling you (Name)-chan." He leaned his cheek into his fist comfortably, propping his elbow up on the armrest.

You knew you were cornered. There was no way to escape. So you sighed, scooting back so that you were sitting against the wall. "Okay."

So you let your story pour out, about how you'd seen Izumi first when he'd gone against your brother at the high jumping Nationals. You told him about how you'd developed a crush on the handsome male. How you'd decided to hide your identity as a girl and come as a boy.

Umeda listened quietly. When you were finished, he slipped a hand into the pocket of his white doctor's coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He took one and held it between his slim fingers, producing a lighter from someplace else. "You don't mind if I smoke, do you?" he asked. "I'm still going to smoke, whether you're comfortable with it or not."

He wrapped his lips around the end and sucked. Then he took the cigarette away from his mouth and finally turned back to you. "So I was correct. You are here because of a crush."

You nodded.

The doctor chuckled. He let the smoke out with one breath. "Sometimes, females can be so stupid."

"Hey." You narrowed your eyes at him. "I'm not sure if I like you so much, Sensei. Remember that I am a female."

"I know." The older male took another long, slow drag of his cigarette, letting long tendrils of smoke curl out lazily from the butt. "But that's what I find so vulnerable about the female species. You know, (Name), you're putting yourself in a lot of danger, posing as a boy here. If your fellow peers found out there was a girl living amongst themselves, they would go crazy."

"Crazy?" you echoed, imagining Izumi suddenly a ladies' man.

Umeda nodded. "Yes. All of them…well, except for Minami. That bastard can't possibly go any crazier than he possibly is." He smiled fondly.

"Tell me about it." You swung your feet around the cot and set them firmly on the ground, pulling yourself to your feet. Almost immediately, a wave of dizziness swept through you and you doubled over, gasping for breath.

"Your chest still hurts, huh?" Umeda thought for a moment. "It must be because you're concealing your breasts. That's putting extra strain on your body. You do have breasts, right?"

That was an uncomfortable topic, but you managed, "Yes."

"Then it will take a little longer to get your breath back. For now, you should just take it easy." Umeda twirled his cigarette in his fingers, examining you. "You know, (Name), you really do pass for a boy. I think you can stay undercover for a while."

"I used to be real feminine before this," you said.

"Minami told me about you. He warned me that a female would be coming in disguise." When you gave him a questioning look, he explained, "He's my nephew."

"Another reason to pound Minami," you said, reminding yourself to remember that.

You finally caught your breath and straightened up, pressing the cooling ice pack to your chest. "I'll be fine soon," you said. "Thanks, Sensei. I'll be returning to class, then. The guys must be worried about me."

"I'm sure they are." He went to his desk, reaching for a notepad and pen to scribble down a pass for you. As he wrote, he glanced up at you. "(Name), I'm warning you to be extra careful. You should be lucky Izumi didn't strip you or anything. Be extra cautious, all right?"

"Sure. Why are you suddenly so concerned?"

Another smile came to his lips, curving the tops of them upward. "I don't know. It might just be because Minami cares about you. It might be because I don't want you to get hurt. But mostly it's because I don't want to have to take responsibility when you do get discovered."

He finished the pass and ripped it out, walking over to hand it to you. You took it from him, thanking him, and turned to go, but you still had one more question.

"Sensei, you'd been calling me (Name)-chan since you saw me. How did you know I was a girl?"

"That's easy," he said, matter-of-fact. "I'm gay."

You stared at him. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged, not at all ashamed by what he had said. "I'm not into women. I'm gay. Homosexual. Interested in men. I could easily tell that you weren't a male."

You started to laugh. "Really? Well, I hope you're not interested in Izumi! I had my eye on him first."

"He is quite handsome," agreed the reddish-blonde.

You smiled and waved. "Bye, Sensei. Have a good day." It was too late to go back now. Umeda already knew you were a female. You couldn't turn back; you couldn't hide your identity from him. Hopefully the doctor would provide to be a friend.

As you exited, Umeda looked up and said, "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to drop in here. Just make sure you don't bother me, okay?"

You beamed at him. "I'll remember that!" Then you gave him a big smile and left him to smoke his cigarette, sitting back in his seat, watching you leave.