READ~

Heyyy :D How was everyone's Easter holidays? c:

AND OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

THE CLOUDS ARE PINK RIGHT NOWWWWW.

*^* I rarely get to see this. Like, once a year at most?

sdugfsdkjhfgkhfs. ON TO THE STORY!

Chapter 9: Apology

'Man.. this sucks. I could be with Chi right now eating cake.' Shota sighed as he twiddled with his pencil and began doodling on the piece of paper in front of him. 'I'm too lazy to write a whole essay as to why I'm in detention.. Don't I always prank people? This should be normal by now.'

He glanced over to see others in the room with him. Most of them he didn't know, some were his friends and.. Key? Shota narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy at the far corner of the class, his chin supported by his hand and yawning.

'What the hell is he doing here..?' He was always a goody-goody..' Shota mumbled to himself.

Key noticed Shota staring him down and decided to write notes. Key picked up his pencil and started writing on the piece of paper on his desk and showed it to Shota.

'What are you staring at? .'

Key waited for a reply as Shota turned to his piece of paper and began to write something.

'How did you end up in detention? e^ e'

'I was late for basketball practises. You? :3 '

'Prank. ( ; = 3=)'

Key smirked loudly at Shota's last message, drawing everyone's attention to him. "..What?" He stuttered, attempting to play it off smoothly. Everyone went back to minding their own business while Key sent death glares to Shota, getting him to turn around, Shota put a hand just at the front of his mouth followed by an 'In your face (e U e)' expression and snorted. Key was about to stand up from his seat and stomp his way over to grinning Shota's desk andsmack his head.

The sliding door opened and a teacher came in.

"Listen up, delinquents. I'm in a pretty happy mood today. I'll let you skip out on the cleaning duties today, so you can leave as soon as you finish those essays~ And I can leave early to my girlfriend~ "

The whole room cheered as they started on their essays.

'Yesss! I'm nearly done Chi~' Shota grinned to himself as he happily wrote the first few sentences of his essay.

Students stared and sweat-dropped at Paz, who was happily skipping along the halls.

'Can't wait to go home~' Paz hummed to herself, not noticing the attention she was drawing from the people around her. 'I wonder if Haku's gotten the letter by now..' She thought. Thinking if he was even going to come or not, because then Chihiro would be waiting all by herself at the back of the school. She'd hate me for that.

Paz ran down two flights of stairs to the shoe lockers, just to see if Haku had already seen the letter she put in his locker half an hour ago while he had P.E. She slowly approached Haku's locker to see if the letter was still there. Seeing a folded piece of paper on top of his outdoor shoes, Paz let out a sigh.

'Damn. It's still there. I'll make sure he reads it.'

She hid herself behind Haku's shoe locker row and waited.

'The bell rung 25 minutes ago.. what the hell is he doing?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by voices, she looked around to see if anyone else was there besides her. Right then, she saw Lenka and Haku having a conversation besides the shoe lockers two rows from her.

"Lord Haku. You understand what this means, don't you?"

'Lord Haku..? Is he royalty!? That would describe his way of talking..' Paz thought to herself as she continued to eavesdrop in the two's conversation.

"..Yes. I will do whatever it takes."

"Well then, please take care on your way home." Lenka bowed to Haku and walked away.

'They DO live together! I knew it! But why?' Paz mumbled to herself, amazed at how her 'guess' wasn't wrong after all. She felt somehow.. disappointed. Paz shook her head vigorously. 'Not the time to be thinking that right now. Haku should be heading to his locker, I have to hide somewhere else.' She scurried off to a nearby vending machine and hid beside it, watching Haku as he calmly went over to his locker.

'Come on.. read it already. Why are you so slow?! She's waiting for you!'

Paz continued to watch as Haku unfolded the piece of paper and began to read. He rubbed his temple and let out a sigh, crumpling the piece of paper, throwing it in the rubbish bin and walked out of the school building. Paz looked at Haku with disbelief.

'Are you f... Are you serious?! Is he going or not!?'

Paz stared at the figure who was slowly walking further and further away from the building like nothing happened.

'Whatever. I'm goinna chase him down, then, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind and maybe even a small gift of gratitude to his face.' Paz stormed off and followed after Haku.

As she was about to yell out to him, he stopped, turning to his right and headed towards the back of the school. He didn't even notice Paz was standing just a few feet away from him with her fist up high in the air. She stood there dumbfoundedly.

'..I don't get him! Seriously! What was up with crumpling the piece of paper and throwing it away, then suddenly..?!' Paz grunted, kicking the ground.

'Just to make sure.. I'll go see how their conversation goes.'

'You better thank me for this, Haku.'

The school was peaceful after school. It was quiet, and all you could hear were the sounds of the sports practices going on in the field. All Haku could hear were the soft ruffling of the grass as he cautiously made his way to the back of the school, trying to avoid a special someone for their own sake.

'This better be good..' Haku mumbled to himself as he reached the back of the school. He looked around.

No one was there.

'I have no time for this.' He grumbled to himself as he turned away to face the direction where he came from, ready to go back home. The vehicle was waiting for him. 'I should be more careful.. what if Chihiro's just around here..'

He stopped when he heard a slight rustle of the grass from behind the tree. 'Paz' was there, leaning behind it. Looking at the ground, well, it looked more like she was sleeping because her eyes were closed. 'If she invites someone to talk, it's only etiquette to be devoted to it like staying awake until the other party arrives.'

Haku sighed and slowly walked towards the he got closer and closer, Haku began to feel amazed at how, she and Chihiro, looked so much alike.

He bent down next to her. Next to 'Paz'.

"What is it this time?" Haku stared at the sleeping 'Paz'. 'Even I could get confused between them.. but of course, their eye colors would..'

"What took you so long?" She yawned, stretching her arms. The girl lazily rubbed her eyes. "Awaken. You were the one who was sleeping when I got here. You've kept me waiting, as well as my escort. It's rather rude"

The girl turned to Haku, and opened her eyes to see a familiar face. Both of their eyes widened.

To Paz, this was all exactly going according to plan.

'Her eyes.. This is not... What's Chihiro doing here?! I've been tricked!' Haku thought to himself, infuriated.

The two continued to stare at each other, speechless. Not one word coming out of each other's mouth.

Chihiro unconsciously motioned her hand to the frame and of his face, gently caressing it as if she was trying to remember something. Haku felt lost in her hazel eyes, suddenly,all the things Haku and Lenka discussed earlier turned invisible.

"..I feel like I know you." Chihiro looked at Haku with such tenderness and longing. But, that wasn't all of it. She felt something else.

Both of them didn't notice their surroundings, it felt like it was just two of them. Everything else.. didn't seem to matter.

Shota stood frozen on one spot with an emotionless expression as he continued to look at Chihiro caressing Haku's face, staring at each other, like they were.. well.. in love. But they barely knew each other. Or at least that's what Shota told himself.

'She did say that she might have met him before.. but.. I've been with her for years.. Longer than him.' Shota furrowed his brows and tightly gripped his bag. 'Tch.. They're not even noticing me.'

'Perfect! Haku will forgive me for this right..?' Paz thought to herself, slightly turning her head to the side to see an emotionless Shota staring at the scene before him. Her eyes suddenly filled with rage.

'Hurts doesn't it?'

Paz continued to watch as Shota walked away then averted her eyes back to the two. Chihiro looked happy, but Paz couldn't see Haku's expression because he had his back on her.

'Well.. I've done my job for today. I'm going home to prepare for the field trip tomorrow.' Paz sadly smiled to herself, not noticing, she turned her back on them and began to walk home.

In the meantime, Mr. Himekawa was watching everything from the window on the second floor. 'Those kids.. why isn't Chihiro giving any reaction? Isn't she supposed to be fainting right about now?'

'I was about to jump down from the second floor too..' Lin chuckled to herself.

"Why.. does your touch feel so familiar?" Chihiro put her hand back down to her side. Haku wanted to say something but he couldn't find the right words. He wanted to tell her something, but his mind was all tangled up. Chihiro stood up from her spot and Haku's eyes continued to follow her, soon, he did the same.

"I don't really know why but, I think we met before."

'Remember it Chihiro..' Haku thought to himself.

"Well.. I hope we can talk again some other time. I'm waiting for a friend to finish detention." Chihiro chuckled and smiled at him before running off.

'Fool! Why didn't you talk?!' Haku grumbled to himself before. Then, the thought hit him. 'Paz.. right? Though she lied to me at first.. Maybe her intentions weren't bad..? I misunderstood.. didn't I?' Haku didn't notice himself slightly smiling as he walked back to the front gates.

From afar, Haku saw Lenka talking to the driver, as he got closer, he realized that Lenka was scolding the driver because Haku was supposed to be escorted home half an hour ago.

"I will have grandfather fire you if you make this mistake again. Lord Haku could easily get lost! He is a very important guest. If we were to lose him.." Lenka couldn't finish the sentence because she felt a nearby presence, and turned her head to see Haku.

"Lord Haku! Where have you been? You were supposed to be escorted home half an hour ago." The worried expression she had on her face faded.

"I had some.. business to take care of. I apologize, but I'm here now. Please escort me home."

"Yes, of course." Lenka opened the car door for him. He went inside and Lenka followed. Soon, the car the driving off. As usual, the car was quiet. All they could hear were the engine, and the other cars zooming past them. The car was driving along a convenience store when Haku caught a glimpse of Paz by the shop window.

"Wait. Could you stop the vehicle for a minute? I must take care of something."

Lenka signaled the driver from the back seat to stop the car. He turned the keys and the engine sound stopped. The driver got out of the car and opened the door for Haku.

"Lord Haku. Grandfather is expecting us to be home early today. We still have more to discuss about.. that object." Haku nodded back to Lenka and went off to approach Paz that had just walked out of the store while happily eat an ice cream block, carrying a plastic bag filled with snacks.

"Good afternoon." Paz turned around to see Haku and grinned at him.

"Why, hello there." She greets him with a sarcastic tone.

...

"Th-" Haku was cut off.

"No. Don't thank me. It's the least I could do after lying to you about being.. Chihiro and all."

"Yes.. Well, that is true."

"I didn't do it with bad intentions, you know."

"I know."

That reply from Haku surprised her a bit. 'I know..? Is that it? I thought he'd be mad like last time..' Paz thought.

"Welllll.. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget about the field trip. Get to school early. Byeee!" Paz ran off, the plastic bag full of snacks she was carrying rustled loudly as Haku stood on the same spot in silence.

'Is this how humans apologize?' Haku smiled to himself as he walked back to the car with the driver waiting for him.

"No reactions at all? Nothing?" The Elder asked Lin with a surprised look on his face.

"Nothing.. but she did somehow caress his face." Lin replied, looking back at the Elder.

"That is indeed unusual.." The Elder mumbled. "That means there is only one explanation as to why she didn't have a reaction."

Lin's eyes widened.

"But that means...!" Her eyes were desperate, this wasn't possible.. right? Everything was just starting to play out smoothly! Why did it have to happen at the starting point of the progress?

"Yes.."

'We might have to go back sooner than we thought.' Lin cursed to herself.

"Someone crossed the border."

Lin grabbed the knife that she always kept in her heel and dashed towards the Elder, ready to attack him. All this time.. Why hadn't she noticed before?! The Elder was a part of Yubaba's plans. It explained everything. The hair tie, erasing the memories of that girl, why Haku was suddenly taken in by him and why he agreed to letting Lin stay in the human world although she was only a normal spirit. She gritted her teeth at the thought of the betrayal of the Elder, especially the fact that Yubaba was playing with them the whole time like marionettes. Lin lunged at him, anger written all over her face, she was inches away from the Elder.

Then stopped because she realized that this was the author's April fool prank for the readers.

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:D

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Happy April Fool's Day everyone! I was late so.. yeah. That was lame. =.=