Camera Flash~

I, I'm not the kind of girl

That kisses and tells the world- Disaster Boy, Cobra Starship

Her breathing slowly accelerated until she found herself hyperventilating. The dark room hid every figure around, but she could definitely sense something moving in the air.

Someone else was in the room. She heard attentively for any sound, but none arrive. It was silent as a tomb. Cold sweat started running down her forehead. For some reason, she was afraid. Maybe it was because darkness blinded her, or maybe it was because she could feel something coming.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of cobalt eyes appeared in front of her. Even though she couldn't see his face, the color of his brilliant irises gave away the identity of the man.

He seized her arms before she could run away.

"No…let me go" she weakly panted. Her voice came out in barely more than a whisper.

Kanda didn't answer. He just held her arm tighter, squeezing a tendon against the bone. Keira bit her tongue to not give him the pleasure of hearing her screaming, but equally shouted as loud as she could: "KANDA, YOU ARE HURTING ME!"

"Onozawa!" a different voice penetrated her ears, together with the dry sound of something falling.

Her eyes opened instantly. The darkness disappeared with her eyelids, substituted by the whiteness of the lab's floor.

Feeling her head as if it weighted ten tons, Keira lifted it. Around, the whole classroom stared awkwardly at her, including the professor who tapped his foot on the floor beside her.

"You know I don't tolerate students sleeping in my class" the man scolded "And, even worse, students screaming" the teacher frowned at her, his white eyebrows almost touching over his nose.

Keira looked curiously around, the word screaming sinking in her nervous system meanwhile.

When it hit her, her eyes had already fixated upon Kanda's smug smirk.

"Holy shit" the girl murmured, her eyes widening at realizing what had just happened.

"What did you say, Onozawa-san? Did you just curse?" the professor snapped. Nevertheless, Keira didn't bother to turn and defend herself, busy as she was horrifying with the situation.

What did she scream? She was sure it had something to do with Kanda, because everybody exchanged looks between them both.

"Kanda, you are hurting me!"

"Onozawa-san, I'm talking-"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry" Keira hastily mumbled. She lowered her eyes to stare at the table. "It's just that I haven't been sleeping well these days. I promise it won't happen again" her eyes sheepishly flickered between the teacher and the surface of her shared table. She caught a fast glimpse of Maia's hands in the process and knew the girl was surely going to ask some questions.

"I hope so. One more disruptive attitude and I'll send you to the headmaster's office, understood?" the man sentenced icily. Keira only nodded and stared back at her notebook, where the pages of the day's lesson still remained empty.

When the professor restarted the class, the conversation Keira so dreadfully expected arrived in the form of a note.

Maia slid a paper across their lab's table. What was that?

How much time was I asleep? Keira scribbled down instead.

Fifteen minutes, perhaps less :/

I spoke in dreams, right?

No. You SHOUTED. D:

Crap Keira thought. To not make it worse, she didn't confirm whatever she had screamed.

Keira banged her head against the table as if that could undo the probably biggest stupidity she had done since arriving to Tokyo.

Apocalypse…please. Meteorites, zombies, earthquake, tsunami, tornado, nuclear explosion, Godzilla… she enumerated in her mind, thinking about the different ways of ending hers and her classmates' lives in such a dramatic way that no one would remember her embarrassing display.

Plants spreading poisonous spores to end humankind…

"I know you don't want to talk about it" Maia whispered discreetly to Keira "But if Kanda did some-"

"He didn't do anything" Keira harshly interjected.

Maia clicked her tongue, disbelieving. "We all heard you," she replied, "and saw you storming away"

Keira didn't dare respond, burying his face among her notebook's sheets instead.

Stupid, stupid, asshole, dick, jackass, jerk, son of a bitch, bitch, did she already mention asshole?

"Asshole" Keira hissed.

At her side, she heard Maia sigh heavily. However, she didn't push the subject anymore and left Keira to grieve in peace.

Keira tried to control her desire to look at Kanda, who was seating in the row at her left and two seats in front, perfectly visible from the position the girl was in.

It was unexplainable -the source of this sudden necessity that arose from within her guts- how she felt the urge to follow the actor's second-by-second movements.

Perhaps it was the survival instinct of watching your enemy's motions to get prepared for any attack, or perhaps it was that the wave of hatred was so powerful that to keep it alive she had to continuously send withering looks to the actor. Whichever was the true reason, Keira found herself struggling to control her pupils which kept on scanning each room in search of Kanda.

Unfortunately, in a moment of weakness, she lifted her head a few centimeters to look at the actor. A cold shudder ran down her spine when light blue met cobalt. Keira felt the blood escaping her face and the urgency of turning around appeared, but her body didn't respond. The intensity of Kanda's eyes destroyed every bit of thought or self-consciousness Keira could have had. Mesmerized this way, the girl's physical memory storage sent sensorial stimulus to the border of her lips, which started tickling at the remembrance of the dreadful kiss.

Kanda snarled, or that appeared to be judging for the way the air rapidly escaped through his mouth. He then smirked with auto-sufficiency, the air of arrogance he gave off thickening with the action.

Confused by his demeanor, Keira 'returned' to her body. She motioned to turn around to see if something behind her back was the guilty of Kanda's smirk, when she realized her index finger had been unconsciously caressing her lower lip.

She balled her hand into a fist and let it fall onto the table. What the fuck was wrong with her? Surely, Kanda now thought that she liked the kiss and that she cherished it like some stupid, infatuated fangirl.

The bell rang to announce the beginning of her recess. Keira hastily collected her things and left the room like an exhalation, decided to wait for Maia at the cafeteria, where she couldn't ask any more questions so blatantly.

Darth Vader? Galbatorix? Vulturi? Illuminati? Some other sick villain yearning to destroy the world or, at least, rule it and kill anyone who dare challenge him?

Keira jumped off the red Aperta while Lavi imitated her.

She looked around, curious about her new work place. It was a wide, tall building which façade seemed to be covered with thousands of rectangular mirrors. On the ample parking lot, dozens of luxurious cars awaited their owners patiently under Tokyo's autumn sun.

"Ready?" Lavi smiled gently and surrounded Keira's shoulders with a large arm. He looked up to the different offices and studios enthusiastically.

Keira sighed, as if with that she could ease the nervousness that embraced her stomach. "Not really…"

"Ow, just relax, girl. It's only rehearsal" Lavi tried to cheer her up. They walked together to the double-door entrance, where a kind employee greeted them with a bow and opened the door to let the two actors walk in.

"I know, I know" Keira mumbled absentmindedly to him, gazing eagerly around.

They crossed a circular, white lobby which had posters plastered along the wall, interrupted only by the mouths of three large hallways and the metallic doors of two twin elevators.

Lavi paid his respects to the female receptionist with a hasty bow, and then guided Keira to one of the lifters.

Keira observed uncomfortably one of the posters. Its image wasn't exactly something…pleasant to look at. In fact, it was the cover of a porn movie or so Keira concluded.

"Err…Lavi" she tugged her guide's sleeve gently whilst she examined the rest of similar movie posters.

"Mhm?"

She pointed the first image "What…kind of movies this place produces?"

Lavi didn't even look at the poster to know what the girl was talking about. Chuckling, he pressed the 'up' button beside the elevator. "Its Nikkatsu Roman Porn series, produced back in the 70's in an endeavor to solve the stagnancy the movie industry was suffering. Don't worry, sweetheart," he stroke warmly Keira's hair with one hand, squeezing her to his side with the other arm "Nikkatsu has also produced some masterpieces and successful non-porn movies, and Geek in the Pink is going to be one of them"

Keira grimaced, not fully convinced, her memory bringing back the different make out sessions that made her chill. However, they were just that: make out sessions, nothing even close to sex or depravity of the type.

"C'mon, Kei," Lavi pushed her gently across the open doors of the elevator to get in "do you really think that I'd let you participate in that kind of movie?"

Keira flinched. She remained in doubtful silence after the doors closed.

"I thought you trusted me~" Lavi commented, staring at the ceiling distractedly.

The girl stared at him while the compartment moved upwards. Lavi's profile was perfect from this angle, she thought. The nice-chiseled nose, the contour of the pink lips above the straight jaw-line, together with the apparent smoothness of his skin and the glint of his green eye, made him look more like an invented heartthrob than an actor made of flesh and bones.

Keira shook her head. In what the hell was she thinking? Lavi? Seriously?

She needed a full-night sleep or, otherwise, she was going to go nuts within the next days.

Lavi dedicated Keira a fast glimpse. Despite its short duration, it was yet enough to startle the girl and make her hastily change the direction of her eyes.

The American actor slyly smiled. "Huh? Don't you trust me, Lynda?"

"Lynda?" Keira questioned.

The smile instantly disappeared. Lavi fixated his eyes upon the doors, which had just opened to reveal a wide, dark room with tall ceiling.

Big film-lanterns were hanging from the metallic roof beams that held the curved ceiling of the structure. The chamber, in its majority, remained austere and dark. Different chairs, bags, suitcases, props, sheets of paper, scripts and other things Keira couldn't recognize among the darkness were scattered messily on the floor.

In the farthest corner, two false-walls were joined forming a perfect 90º angle. Between the two walls, in the only illuminated spot of the room, workers accommodated school lockers, pasted false windows and, beside the improvised hallway, they raised another pair of panels that were going to equally serve as walls.

Lavi sauntered out of the elevator, leaving the question deliberately unanswered.

Keira, taken aback by Lavi's strange demeanor, stayed a few seconds standing silently in the elevator. It was when the doors started to close that she reacted and sprinted out of the compartment, jogging afterwards to catch up with the American.

Dozens of people saluted Lavi in their way to the far, lightened corner. He responded with a hasty bow, which Keira soon imitated when people started addressing her too.

"Bookman-san. Onozawa-san" Reever approached them, speaking clean English. He shook the newcomers' hands in deference to Lavi's Westerner culture. "Welcome to our set"

"Hey, Wenham!" Lavi patted the Director on the shoulder amiably. "Nice to see ya'"

Reever flushed upon hearing himself being called by his first name. "With Reever is fine, Bookman-san" he coughed uncomfortably.

"Oi, why?" Lavi pouted.

"Hi, Reever-san" Keira sheepishly interfered, shifting into English mode.

"Hey, Onozawa. How have you-" he got interrupted by a female voice yelling his name from some yards away. He turned around in the direction of a woman who sprinted towards them.

She couldn't have more than twenty years, although, the huge spectacles she was wearing contrasted with the youth of her face. In one arm she carried a bunch of papers and seamed copies while the other hand held a black pencil case.

The woman stopped near Reever, gasping even though she couldn't have run more than five meters.

"Reever-san, I just…made the trace of the first… patterns but…, Oh, hi!" she exclaimed when she noticed the two actors standing there.

She hastily bowed to Lavi and Keira, movement that provoked some of her papers to fly away from her arms. "Oh my! I I…" she turned violently her head, searching for some imaginary, free hand that may pick her things up.

Keira knelt down to collect the scattered papers. Re-accommodating them, she handed the sheets back to their owner.

"Oh, arigato, thank you, thank you" the unknown woman repeatedly curtsied, alternating her gratitude exclamations between English and Japanese.

"You are welcome" Keira smiled friendly. She felt Lavi's gaze fixating upon her, but didn't dare look back at him.

"This is Oosaki Jenedith" Reever introduced the nervous woman "She is our storyboard artist"

"A pleasure" Jenedith exaggeratedly bowed, the locks of her dark hair bouncing uncontrollably with the movement.

Reever pointed to the newcomers with a motion of his arm "Oosaki, you already know Bookman Lavi,"

Lavi bowed in acknowledgement.

"And she is Onozawa Keira, our new actress" Reever finished, gesturing proudly towards Keira.

"Hey" the actress greeted gently.

Jenedith had just opened her mouth to reply when another voice interrupted her.

"Alright, alright, move, move, we ought to start the rehearsal in three minutes! Three minutes! Actors, get your positions for the first scene!" a male voice shouted over the scandal of the set. Keira visualized the man standing in one corner, his face vaguely familiar from that day of their first audition.

"Talk about it with Walker-san," Reever indicated to Jenedith, "he must be somewhere there supervising the furniture accommodation. Onozawa , come with me. Bookman, to your position" he then started walking to an unfolded chair that was placed in front of the two recently made sets.

Keira caught a glimpse of some familiar faces among the movie crew. In one corner, Reggory Peck –she finally recalled his name- and Klaud Nine were discussing.

Beside Reever's chair, Allen was sitting down turning pages thoroughly, revising each one before passing to the other, his eyes flickering between the words written down and the set in front.

"Relax, Keira" Reeved advised, taking formality from the situation by calling the girl by her name. "It's just a rehearsal"

"I know, I know" Keira sighed.

"You studied the first scene, right?"

As if I had something better to do during the night she bitterly thought. "Yes, I did"

"From this moment on," Allen interfered without looking at the girl, his attention apparently focused on the task of revising his scripts. "you stop being Keira Onozawa and turn into Nakuru Dazai. Remember: spoiled, rich, whimsical, haughty. You are the queen of the world and everyone below your status is nothing but garbage." At this point, he lifted his eyes to look directly at the girl.

"If you can make up your mind to this, then your performance will be perfect" the Brit smiled warmly at her.

"And, here you go" Reever exclaimed. He placed himself behind Keira. She didn't see what he was doing, but felt an extra weight on her head when the director jammed something between the locks of her hair.

Allen lamely suppressed a chuckle.

"As long as you wear this, your persona will be Nakuru, not Keira, understood?"

Intrigued by Allen's reaction, but also grasping the seriousness of the situation, she snarled. "Mirror. Now" she snapped her fingers into the air.

Allen's smile widened, but it was Reever who held a small mirror in front of her. Keira's face was the same, the dark rings under her eyes poorly dissimulated with makeup. The only difference now was a toy tiara adorning her head. It was small, with plastic gems shinning under the lanterns' light, and kind of funny, since its size didn't fit Keira's. However, it certainly conveyed her character's essence.

She replaced the giggle the sight could have produced to Keira with a flinch of disgust. "Do you think I look like some kind of retarded brat? Bunch of idiots you turned out to be" Sneering, she stalked away from the two males, adopting her position among the rest of the actors from what she could recall from her script.

Her feet stopped moving. Her eyes widened. Her heartbeats raced.

"Holy crap"

She had just remembered the first scene.

"You can't be serious" Kanda retorted, disbelieving his manager's words. He helped himself with a pair of trousers, similar to the ones his character was supposed to use.

Kanda heard the idiot of Peck summoning the actors to the set. Fuck, couldn't the fucking producer just wait until he was finished? He was the star, for God's sake.

And there was also his manager pissing him off with such a ridiculous petition.

"Just three less kilograms, Kanda" Fujimoto authoritatively insisted "Stop working out during the mornings"

"There's no fucking way I will leave Kendo" he angrily retaliated, stepping out of the lame changing rooms. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black trousers combined with the pair of sneakers he usually wore during rehearsals.

"It's part of your contract, Kanda" Fujimoto tranquilly said.

"A contract I never fucking signed" Kanda snarled.

"But a contract you have, still. You can be sued if you-"

"I know, Goddamn it" the Japanese actor muttered. "Don't fucking expect me to lose my shape, but I'll reduce the training to two hours per day" he reluctantly agreed between clenched teeth.

Fujimoto sighed, resigned. "That's a start" he murmured for himself. He dried the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief as he watched Kanda striding away. Dealing with the actor was really tiring.

"Problems?" Klaud Nine inquired nonchalantly.

Fujimoto grimaced "Kanda. But that's almost the same"

The Executive Producer sharply nodded in understanding. "In any case, he can't be worse than Onozawa" she added.

Fujimoto grunted "I never liked that girl. She is not up to par"

"Don't misunderstand me, Renjiro. She is a good actress," Klaud defended, "but she needs to get rid of her misconception that kisses are forcefully linked to romantic emotions."

"She is a high school teenager. Don't expect her to understand such a thing"

"On the other side, Renjiro, what we didn't expect was this reluctance, especially with Lavi. They seem to be really close to each other" Klaud pursed her lips, as if trying to comprehend some difficult math problem.

Together, she and Fujimoto observed the rehearsal from a safe distance. Reggory Peck was shouting to Keira, who just defied him stubbornly from beside one of the prop lockers. Behind her, Lavi remained in his position leaned against the wall.

Kanda was not yet to enter in the scene, therefore, the Japanese watched everything with cold indifference.

Allen and Reever tried to encourage Keira to kiss the redheaded actor, but their efforts were as fruitless as Reggory's yells. Keira was just imperturbable.

"At least she acts like Nakuru Dazai," Klaud commented to her companion "She always gets things done her way"

"Holy shit" Keira stared wide-eyed to the choreographers.

The sun was about to set on the far western side of the world. Its orange light projected large shadows below the team that trained on one of the Nikkatsu's courtyards.

They were by the end of the first day of work and Keira already felt tired. She didn't even want to think about all the homework she had to do arriving home.

Well, it was not as if they were leaving in her brain enough space to think about such trivial issues. In fact, what filled her mind that moment was the perspective that her life was currently in danger.

Watching the cheerleaders, choreographers or whatever shit they were performing basic cheerleading stunts gave her chills. And thinking that she was supposed to do the same…

I'm gonna die.

"Basket!" the head choreographer, a woman in her late twenties with the body shape of a supermodel, ordered to the two men who were lifting her feet chin-height while she stood above them.

They slightly crouched down, an imperceptible movement, then straightened up and tossed the woman just to catch her with their arms.

"That's the prep" the trainer approached Keira dangling exaggeratedly her hips. "It's basic. The first thing you need to know how to do"

Keira almost guffawed at the word 'basic'.

"You can't be serious" she whispered, horrified.

The choreographer chuckled. "It's not as difficult as it seems. Come" She grabbed Keira's wrist and dragged her –literally- to the base where three men were already waiting.

Keira's guts twisted with fear. She frantically looked around to search some support, someone who may yell 'STOOOOP' and avoid her upcoming dead. But no one talked. Around, Reever, Allen, Kanda, Lavi, Klaud and some other persons whose name she couldn't recall observed the scene with great interest.

She cursed each one for not helping.

"Is…is this really necessary?" Keira babbled "I…I mean, we can use a stunt actor or…"

"Chist" the choreographer ordered "Kyle, grab her waist. Yes, like that. Now, Onozawa, what you are going to do is tiptoe once, go back to normal standing and then jump. Kyle is going to help you, but you also need to impulse yourself leaning on both bases' shoulders, okay? We are doing just that part, don't lift yet."

Keira felt relief wash momentarily through her body. Jumping was a simple task she could do. Please, never lift. She acidly thought.

"…Seven, eight, jump!"

Keira tiptoed, and then jumped procuring that her legs landed on the expectant hands of the two other men. The third person, the one who helped her, lifted most of her weight, leaving Keira little effort to do.

The two men of the base let her feet fall at one order of the choreographer.

"Jump as if you were sitting. Your legs together" she instructed Keira. "Again! Jump in eight. Seven, eight!"

Keira tried again, this time pressing her knees together. The two males in front grabbed her feet with more easiness this time.

They performed the same, simple movement three more times. After that, the terrible words Keira so much feared to hear came out from the mouth of her trainer.

"This time, we are lifting. Keira, all you have to do is stand straight and stay firm. Don't move your arms to gain equilibrium, that won't help you. Your fists must be on your hips at all times, get it?" she demonstrated the position once.

Keira sharply nodded, trembling.

"Relax, it is fun"

"No, it's not" she responded with tremulous voice. The choreographer just smiled.

Fuck that smile.

"Ready?"

"No"

"Don't lift until I say so. Seven, eight"

Keira jumped. Easy, why couldn't they just leave it there?

"Now, seven, eight, up!"

Keira's knees faltered the moment she felt the hands raising her heels. She felt her body falling to the front, but somebody assertively embraced her waist and pulled the girl backwards. Her feet didn't even touch the ground, the weight of her body held completely by Kyle, the third guy.

God blessed Kyle.

"Is okay, is okay." The choreographer said when Keira stood on her own two feet again. "See? We are not going to let you fall. Kyle, help her up. Just relax, Onozawa, okay? Now, shall we try again?"

"No" Keira replied immediately.

"Yes? Yes, perfect. At eight. Seven eight"

Keira landed perfectly on the hands of the base. She took a deep breath, decided that her physical incompetence was not going to stand between her and her goals. She could do this. She could do this.

"Seven, eight, lift!"

This time, Keira let herself be pushed up, feeling how Kyle pressed his hands against her thighs. In front, the female choreographer held her knees to keep them from trembling.

"Steady!" she ordered. "Use your muscle's strength! Stand up straight!"

Keira felt her body moving forward again, however, this time, a pair of hands opportunely appeared in front of her.

"Grab them! Support in them if you want, but you are not coming down this time, hear me?"

Keira yearned to strangle the choreographer. Yet, she obediently grabbed both hands and let part of her weight lean on them.

"Stand up! Straight! Chin up, don't look down! Now, you are going to release Bookman, alright?"

Bookman? Bookman Lavi? Where was Lavi? Oh, yeah, the hands.

What? Letting go of the hands?

"HELL, NO!" she shrieked in hysterics.

"Hell yes! Stand straight: buttocks out, boobs up, hips centered. Legs," she patted emphatically Keira's knees "strong, okay?"

"No! IT IS NOT FUCKING OKAY!"

"Stop being so wimpish, girl. Let go, now!"

"Lavi, Lavi" Keira begged, looking down at the redheaded. "Lavi, please, please, don't let go"

He stared into her eyes, surprised that he had called him by his first name. A silence installed between them, deep enough to provide understanding without the need of words. Lavi could feel her fear, and Keira could sense his preoccupation.

The choreographer hit Keira's hands before they could even comprehend what was happening. She undid, against the American and girl's will, the contact between them.

Forced by the situation, if she didn't want to stay paralytic for the rest of her life, Keira straightened immediately to avoid falling to the hard ground.

She did as the trainer had ordered. Still, her legs never stopped trembling no matter how hard she tried to control them.

"Now, we are doing basket" the choreographer said in a more calmed voice "All you have to do is extend your legs to the front, always together, and extend your arms at your sides, alright?"

Basket? What was the basket? Was it when they tossed the-

"Seven, eight"

"KYAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Keira's scream resounded across the entire yard. She closed her eyes instinctively, sure as hell for one second that her life had come to an end. Fortunately, what she felt when landing wasn't the roughness of cement, but the warmth of human arms.

The girl slowly opened her eyes. She discovered herself lying on the arms of the three male cheerleaders. With a grunt, sensing that she was ready to stand up, they left Keira on the ground before stirring.

"Go and rest, we are done for today" the main cheerleader ordered to her subordinates. Keira heard them exclaim some relief exclamation while leaving the yard.

"Tomorrow," the woman pointed to Keira menacingly, a fierce glint shinning on her eyes, "we're doing this again. I'll request one hour from your schedule until you master this stunt, okay?"

It was not as if Keira was left with the option of retaliation. She wordlessly nodded, the lump on her throat drowning any possible sound.

"Fine. Go rest, we're done for today" and, with that, the woman walked away.

Once the cheerleaders were gone, Keira stumbled unsurely to Lavi's direction. Her legs felt like jelly. Without a word, the male actor came and surrounded her waist, supporting some of her weight.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to let go" he said apologetically.

Keira shook her head "Is okay, I need to know how to do this. God, it is terrible! Walker-san!" she called.

The Brit turned around to face her.

Keira flipped her middle finger towards him "For including cheerleading in the fucking movie" she explained in clean English.

Allen chuckled and approached them. "Have I ever asked where you learned to speak English?" he gently inquired intending change the subject.

A melancholic glint crossed Keira's eyes for a second, so fast that Allen wondered if he even saw it. "My father was Portuguese. My mother is Japanese, so the only common language they used at home was English"

"Mmm…I see" Allen replied, not knowing what to say.

"Interesting" Lavi commented too.

"Not really" Keira wryly smiled "Eventually, my father learned Japanese"

"Well, at least that explains your half-European looks" Allen reasoned. "It's because you are half-European!" he beamed happily. "Just like in the movie!"

"All you think about is your movie, right, Moyashi?" Lavi asked mockingly.

Keira needed all her self-control not to laugh at the nickname.

Allen glared at Lavi and said: "Allen, Lavi. My name is ALLEN. Too hard to remember?"

Lavi stuck his tongue out at the Brit "Moyashi sounds better"

"Not, it certainly doesn't. And, if you really want to know, I also think about food and world peace and those things" the Brit explained 'as-a-matter-of-fact'.

Lavi feigned some cough "Coff, coff, and Lenalee Lee, coff"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, I was just coughing." Lavi rolled his eyes. "Well, there's my car. Shall we go, my lady Keira? I'll drop you at your place if that's okay."

"Of which of the recent and upcoming happenings do I have the option to choose, Lavi?" Keira replied sardonically.

"None" Allen smiled. "The author is the one who always decides"

"And I hate you for that" the girl responded with a fake smile which felt more like a 'fuck you'.

Allen giggled. "Well, then, see you tomorrow" he waved his hand in farewell as he walked to the Rolls Royce that was waiting to take him to the hotel.

The last rays of sun died in the horizon indicating that first day was already gone.

An approximate of two hundred of other similar days still waited ahead.

Lavi parked in front of Keira's house. He looked through the rear-view mirror to confirm that the black Porsche was still following them.

The sport car zoomed beside them, straightly passing the red Aperta. Lavi frowned, recognizing the number of the plates due to his photographic memory.

"That was Kanda, right?" Keira scowled, staring in the direction where the black car had disappeared.

Lavi nodded, serious. "I was hoping you to not notice he was following us…"

The girl let out a sarcastic huff "Not many people can afford a black Porsche 911 Turbo, ya' know?"

The redheaded nodded again, unable to come up with a proper comment. Probably, Keira was starting to freak out. First, the kiss, then, Kanda following them… She had not yet said anything about the incident the day before, although there was not too much left to explain. Her yell said everything.

He gazed at her. The yellow lights of the street lamps lit half of her face, leaving the rest of it the hidden by the darkness. She seemed to be calm, except for the slight furrow of her eyebrows that indicated something disturbed her thoughts.

In many ways, she was like Lynda: the wavy, brownish hair; the color of her eyes; the form of the jaw line and, what struck him more, the strong personality.

Keira was like the Oriental homonym of his latest love, he couldn't avoid thinking. However, there were still many differences that made both girls completely different persons.

Never mind, he had to stop thinking about Lynda. She was past history. Keira was the present, his present, and there was nothing that could ever link the American and the Japanese together. He was just being childish.

"He is a dick" Keira sneered out of the blue.

Lavi shrugged nonchalantly and returned his attention to the front of the car. "He just feels threatened"

"Threatened? How does that has anything to do with being a jerk?"

The American sighed and explained "He is used to having girls drooling all over him. Even though he affirms he hates it, his ego doesn't. Sadly, for his ego, he found someone immune to his gorgeousness and, well, 'charms'" Lavi flexed his middle and index fingers in the air in this last part, then dropped his hands onto the steering wheel and continued talking, "and that one is you. It didn't bother him at the beginning, I dare say, but after seeing that you can get along perfectly well with me, well…he just can't accept it"

"But that's ridiculous!" Keira exclaimed, "You are agreeable and friendly. He, on the other side, is arrogant, conceited and has a cactus stuck up his ass"

"And do you think he sees himself like that?" the actor questioned cryptically.

Keira didn't answer. Certainly, and as far as she knew, no people besides her personal Hitler considered themselves villains. Not even real Hitler, who justified his actions behind a screen of made-up abuses and injustices.

"And what does that has to do with him being all…creepy?" she asked instead.

"He is a man, Kei" Lavi rolled his eyes and smiled "We are competitive by nature. I am a threat, a competitor. You are the prize, as sick as it may sound. And he is, well, Kanda Yuu, he can't stand defeat. His ego wouldn't tolerate it"

They stayed in silence whilst the new intelligence sank in Keira's system. She couldn't believe that all of that, -the kiss, Kanda stalking her- was just a product of the Japanese's fear of being defeated. However, in some way, it made sense. Because, for which other reason, besides being an ass, would he kiss her? The only explanation Keira had given to that, if she ever searched for an explanation, was that he did it to piss her off after hearing she hadn't yet received her first kiss. But what Lavi said made more sense. Kanda never thought of anyone but himself, therefore, in an endeavor to save his own pride he acted that creepy way

"You talk as if you knew Kanda perfectly" Keira pointed. She stared at Lavi, waiting for a reply.

The American smirked. "It's just a matter of close observation" said he.

"Mmm"

"Can I ask you a favor?" Lavi abruptly questioned. He turned his head and looked seriously at Keira, whom stared back. "Stay away from Kanda. If he gets too angry or jealous…we don't know if the next time he'll go only for a kiss"

Keira gulped, nervous by Lavi's implication. The way he just said it, too, made her have goose bumps at the mere thought of Kanda attempting something more.

She sharply nodded and opened the Aperta's door. "It's not as if I can avoid him too much: we share classes. But I'll do my best" the girl assured.

"Thank you" Lavi's shoulders relaxed, visibly relieved. "Oyasuminasai" said he.

Keira smiled and got off the car."Oyasuminasai"

A/N: Well, first of all, I am really sorry for the shitty redaction...my writing skills fell to dullnes again. Next ones will be better, I promise!

The result of the poll these last...few weeks: Kanda is winning! So I guess we have a team here which thinks that 'Nice guys finish last' :O

Kanda: 50%

Lavi: 30%

Either works: 20%

Well, I have nothing else to say but to express my gratitude towards you, guys, the ones who follow this Fanfiction and also the others I've written. You are awesome!

*sniff, sniff*

I don't know if I described Keira's first attempt of a prep correctly. You can look for pictures in Google of the stunt to have it clearly visualized. I gotta say: the first time I tried to make a prep I felt equally horrified, so I feel really bad for Keira :/

Again, thank you and...it is my time to sleep so...Oyasuminasai!