A/N: Heyoo! It's Aqua, back with a new chapter and ready to write more! =P

Hope you've been enjoying my story so far... And I'd like to say that for the longest time I've wanted to say this actually, and...
I'M SO SORRY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LOOKED FORWARD TO SAWAKO'S INNOCENCE! I'VE DESTROYED SOME OF IT AND I'M SO SORRY! T^T

Please forgive me-e-e-e-e-e! Gosh, I hate myself for that; I LOVE her innocence and I destroyed some of it... Sorry...

And if you don't understand what I mean, I'll tell you in my bottom Author's Note.

Even though Sawako didn't want to go, something nagged her mind and body moved on its own.

The sign to the karaoke building flashed its lights wildly as the group passed below it. Sawako heard laughter around her, making her feel trapped with no escape. She felt suffocated, but it wasn't a bad feeling entirely, she thought. Actually, she enjoyed this feeling very much, it made her chest fill with butterflies and a grin pinned itself on her face.

With Ayane by her side and Chizuru linking arms with her, they walked into the building. Sawako felt the nervous tension as she stared up at the back of Shouta's head. She wanted to run and hide, but Chizuru held onto her tightly, not letting the slightest chance of freedom available.

Beforehand

While Sawako pounded the door of the bathroom, Ayane had locked herself in, inviting Shouta and Ryu to karaoke. Finally, she came out to an exhausted Sawako and told her that in was all alright. They would be going later anyways and that would mean she would have some time to calm down. Sawako agreed hesitantly, convincing herself that it was a time to have fun with all her new friends at the same time. That reminded her to invite Shino and Ayane approved without a second thought. Sawako felt a bit better after phoning Shino and asking her to come with her. She forgot to tell her about Shouta, but then realized that it would be better to tell her in person anyhow.

The group swiveled their way through the hallways of the building before ending up in their designated room. Sawako quickly scuttled her way towards one of the couches and flopped down with Shino by her side.

"So who wants to start?" Chizuru asked.

Ayane sat down on the other side of Sawako, while leaving the whole other couch to the boys. Everyone looked at each other with a look of horror on their faces; Chizuru sighed. She abandoned the idea of making them start and called it upon herself.

"Okay, fine, if you insist… I'll start." She said jokingly. She laughed a hearty laugh and selected a song.

Sawako leaned on Shino's shoulder and exhaled deeply. Her eyes darted over towards Shouta and her face became a mess of red.

Shino made her look at her and asked, "What's wrong?" She tilted her head as Sawako felt the presence of Ayane's gaze on her back.

"Oh, I need to tell you something…" She looked around and then returned her eyes to Shino who had an expression of concern.

"It's nothing wrong." She reassured, Shino raised her hand.

"Ah, me and Sawako are gonna go out for a sec." Shino said to the group and pointed to the door; everyone nodded.

Shino led Sawako out of the room and into the hallway. They made their way to the vending machines and stopped.

"So what's up? If it's nothing wrong, then what is it?" She asked.

"Um…" She nervously rubbed the back of her hand before a voice broke out in the hall, interrupting their discussion.

"Hanaki!" The voice whined.

Another voice called out in reply, "Kurumi, what do you want?" A body appeared at the end of the hall. Sawako and Shino turned to stare in surprise.

"I want tea, but they don't have the type I want on the men…" She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

Her face showed the expression of alarm, but then she flipped it to a smile.

"Oh, well if it isn't Sadako." She ran a hand through her hair and smiled again.

"It's Sawako." Shino mumbled under her breath. Sawako placed a hand on her arm and smiled at her. Seconds after, she turned her attention to Kurumi.

"Oh, Kurumi-chan!" She faked a smile towards her. Kurumi looked taken aback, but retreated that look quickly.

"Why is her smile so intimidating?" Kurumi gave Sawako a look of anger.

"Isn't this a surprise…" Sawako trailed off; a silence formed, making the moment somewhat awkward.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them and to their dismay, it was Shouta.

"Kurumi!" He smiled and waved to her.

Sawako widened her eyes and her heart clenched painfully.

"What?"

"Kazehaya!" All of a sudden, her face lit up with a smile and her cheeks flushed slightly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Ah, er… I came with my friends." Kurumi squirmed, twisting her ankle and biting her lip bashfully. Sawako had never experienced anything like this. What was going on?

"Nice! I came here with Kuronuma and them." He nodded off towards her; Sawako began to feel inferior.

"It's Kurumi, but then I'm Kuronuma? Why are they so intimate? What is their relation? And what happened to Senpai?" Sawako wanted to know more.

"Oh, I know! Why don't you join us? We have an extra couch in our room and we're all chipping in with our money anyways." Shouta suggested. Shino looked at him warily.

"What is he thinking?" Shino thought as she glanced over at Sawako. Her eyes were wide as she looked from Shouta to Kurumi. Shino held her head with her hand and shook her head.

"Sure!" Kurumi piped up with ecstasy.

Shino rolled her eyes and blew out of her mouth.

"Okay, well, Sawako… Let's head back while they get the others." Shino tugged on Sawako's sleeve and she looked over at Shino.

"What? Ah, yeah," She unconsciously kept her eyes on Shouta and Kurumi as Shino dragged her along back towards the room.

She stopped before the door and made Sawako look at her.

"Tell me." Sawako stared at her in shock and fumbled with her words.

"Er… What? Oh, right. Ah… That…" Shino gave her an intense look.

"Okay, fine. I-I like Ka-Kazehaya-kun." Suddenly, Shino smiled and slapped her on the back cheerfully.

"There we go! I knew it! Well done, girl." She smiled a toothy grin at the paralyzed Sawako and pulled on her bangs.

"Hey, don't give me a look like that! I just knew it by the way you acted. Most people would be able to tell, but don't worry, Kazehaya doesn't have a clue." She smirked and opened up the door.

"We're back!" She pushed Sawako into the room and yanked her to the couch.

"Sit." She pushed down on her shoulders, making her sit.

"What's wrong with Sawako?" Chizuru leaned over and whispered into Shino's ear while Ayane was pleasantly singing.

"Oh, nothing much, just a bit shocked is all." She smiled and elbowed her in the stomach.

"Hey!-" Shino cut her off.

"I think Sawako's got a rival." As if on cue, the door clicked open to present Shouta, Kurumi, Hanaki and Natsuki. Shino nodded off towards Kurumi and Chizuru understood immediately.

"I see, her," Chizuru rolled her eyes and laughed to herself. Shino looked at her questionably, but Chizuru just shook her head.

"I'll explain it to ya later." By then, the newcomers had found a place to sit on the couch in front of them.

"Okay…" Still confused, Shino let it go and continued on with the entertainment.

"Hey, let me sing next!" Shino raised her hand while Sawako looked at her. Everyone nodded their heads.

The evening dragged on and Kurumi acted like an innocent, little girl, but Sawako knew something was up.

"She's acting. I know that already, but why does she behave like that?" Sawako pondered about this, but soon forgot all about it.

The group gathered outside after the session, not including Kurumi and her friends who left earlier.

"Kazehaya, why don't you walk Sawako home?" Chizuru suggested. Everyone looked at her.

"Eh? Ah, okay." Shouta glanced over at Sawako whose body became rigid. Her heart began to pulse quickly making her snap out of it.

"I'm okay!" She frantically waved her hands in front of her.

Ayane gave her a look and sighed. Chizuru laughed and made the conversation much lighter than Sawako thought it was.

"C'mon, don't be stubborn! Plus, we wouldn't want poor, little Sawako going home alone, now would we? She might get into trouble." Sawako widened her eyes at Chizuru who burst out laughing, along with Ayane.

Sawako felt herself start to laugh. While the tautness in her stomach that has been there all night died out she decided she didn't mind the idea at all.

"O-Okay!" She continued to giggle.

Shouta stared at Sawako and his ears began to burn.

"Why is she so irresistibly cute?" He turned away and covered his face.

"I'm going to walk Chizuru home." Ryu said.

"Hey, what about me," Ayane pouted and crossed her arms.

"You have a boyfriend; put him to some good use!" Chizuru pointed out and laughed.

"Right," Ayane smiled weakly and turned away from the group and took out her cellphone. Sawako eyed her worryingly.

"Is she alright?" She wondered.

"Alrighty, Now that we know whose going with who, let's go!" Chizuru interrupted Sawako's thoughts and stepped over to Ryu's side to pull his arm along. She looked back and waved at the couple who were left standing in front of the building.

"Cya at school!" They watched as Chizuru and Ryu slowly disappeared from their view.

Sawako heard a sigh from behind her.

"Ah! We'd better go, I actually have a curfew." Sawako shyly wandered to Shouta's side.

They started walking with a tense awkwardness between them.

Crickets emerged from the wavering grass, sending their song off into the breeze. Sawako breathed in a cool line of fresh air and glanced over at Shouta who was stretching his arms out behind him. Sawako didn't have any idea of what to say; there were so many things she wanted to say, ask, but she knew some things were meant to be kept in her mind. What worried her was what he was thinking most of all.

Shouta felt the wall between them. It didn't feel good and he didn't have any idea what to do. The best he could do was to keep looking forward and not let his eyes stray over towards her. Even though he wanted to reach out and run his fingers through her hair, he knew he had to restrain himself.

"She doesn't feel the same way about me." He thought foolishly.

They continued to walk in silence. All Shouta did was embrace that silence and allowed it to swallow the both of them in a tight blanket. Sawako's heart began to pump furiously against her ribcage, yearning to be set free. She clenched her fist by her side and fought back. Biting her lip, she looked over at Shouta once more. This time their eyes locked.

"Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to stare!" Sawako jumped back and they stopped walking.

"Wrong timing," Shouta thought as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Nah, don't worry about it!" He averted his gaze and laughed it off.

When he noticed that there was a return of silence, he curiously met her eyes again and widened his eyes. He froze. She stared at him with consuming eyes that devoured him in shock. He had never seen her look this way and refrained from acting too rash.

"Something wrong?" He slowly lowered his hand and admitted to a softened look.

Sawako didn't know what came over her, but she suddenly felt she had to ask this one question. It was daring, she knew, but she couldn't hold it in.

"Kazehaya-kun, do you have a liking towards Sensei?!" She blurted out; Shouta was speechless.

"What? Where did that come from?" He wondered where he went wrong. How could he show an expression that implied he liked Sensei? Suddenly, Sawako's manner took a backwards turn.

Her face grew red, her eyes grew wide and all she could think of was running away.

And that's what she did.

She couldn't believe herself; how could she think like that? This thought has been haunting her for days, but now that she finally had spoken it out loud, it was impossible, horrid. Anybody would hate her after hearing what she just said. She didn't want to think about what Shouta's reaction would be and feared it. She ran away, letting fear take its toll. She didn't look back and never dreamed of doing so. She wanted to escape, needed to.

"Gah, why did I ask such a thing?" Tears began to push through her eyelids as she bit down hard on her hand.

She thought he would hate her; she dreaded it. She knew that's what he would think. All of a sudden, gravity conquered her and pulled her to the ground. Her knees hit hard like a drumstick on a cymbal. Tears trickled down her face in an overflowing mess. She curled her fingers and covered her face. She cried out in physical and emotional pain. It hurt so much.

Then, there were soft, running feet, padding along the ground.

A/N: Hey... So you know all the stuff about Sawako's innocence? Well take a look back on her attitude towards Kurumi... She suspects something and it's not really innocent. I've already plotted this thing in my story and I have to keep following it up, I can't suddenly make her act like she doesn't know anything now...

Sorry if that seems OOC . I really am sorry. I REALLY don't want to disappoint my readers...

Well, off that topic. CLIFFHANGER! You guys knew that that would happen though, right? If you didn't, then I take you as an idiot... I KID! I'm kidding... Joking... It's a joke... Don't take me seriously Q.Q

Ah, anyways! Thanks for reading up till this point!

Shout-out: Thank you kokisssss for favouriting my story, putting me on alert and favouriting me as an author!