A/N: Nothing to say here, except that this is where some real admitted BL comes in :P


Mikuo speaks

I am in the counsellor's office now. The counsellor is a new teacher called Megurine Luka. She is Luki's older sister. She has long pink hair and kind blue eyes. I like her smile. It looks natural and pleasant.

"Hello, Mikuo," she says in a friendly voice.

I'm nervous so I stare at my hands."H-hi..."

"Luki told me about you, though he didn't say much," she says.

"Oh." I can't work up the mood to play the game now. I'm terrified.

"Relax, Mikuo. I won't hurt you," she says. She must have seen my trembling hands.

I don't know how to relax. I keep silent.

"Can you tell me why your hair is a different colour from that in the picture of your identity card?" she asks.

That's easy. "I am wearing a wig," I answer. I'm actually doing great, even though I'm scared. Like I did when I was still with Akaito. Megurine-sensei is going to be a friend, I think, a friend like Akaito.

"You are wearing a wig?" she asks, pressing on the 'are' - present tense.

"Yes," I say.

"Why?" she asks.

I freeze. That's hard to answer. I need to construct sentences. Um, because I have a sister who wants to be a singer and I don't want that to happen so I change my hair and eye colour so I won't be recognised a her brother but I can't change my name so I'll be recognised anyway but I still want to attract less attention- Oh! Right, I'll just say...

"I want to attract less attention," I answer.

"Is too much attention bad?" she asks.

"Yes," I say.

"Why?"

Why does she have to ask 'why'?! And what is she asking? Why is too much attention bad? If it's not bad, then what is it? "I don't understand the question," I tell her.

"Why do you think too much attention is bad?" she asks.

Why do I think...? Oh! "Because I don't like it," I say.

"I see." She nods. "Are you comfortable talking to me?"

"I don't know." I'm still partly nervous, but I'm beginning to trust her. Teachers are easier to trust because, well, they're teachers.

She smiles at me. "You are very handsome," she says.

I feel my face heat up. "... T-thank you," I say.

She laughs lightly. "You can go now. I'll see you around."

I nod, then leave the office.

Akaito speaks

"So? My sister is gorgeous, right?" Luki asks as soon as he sees Mikuo walking towards us. "She's the most beautiful woman in the world. That's my Luka!"

Mikuo doesn't answer. He looks at me instead. "I think Megurine-sensei will be my friend," he says, "Like you."

"That's great," I say, smiling. Even though I feel kind of... upset. He's starting to have friends other than me. I should feel happy for him, but I feel kind of disappointed. I know, I'm such a rotten friend.

He smiles. "Soon I'll be able to have many friends like you."

Is tha necessary?! "But too many friends can be troubling," I say.

"I guess." He laughs a little.

"You guys sure know how to ignore me," Luki says, "I'm not invisible, you know." He waves a hand in front of me.

"Well, yeah, cuz you're annoying." I glare at him.

"Fine. I'll go talk with Gakupo." Luki strides away.

Mikuo watches him go. "Actually I want to tell you something."

"Yes?" I prod.

He looks at me. "I've decided to conquer my fear of people."

"Oh. That's... wonderful," I say. In reality I'm starting to feel helpless. I'm losing hold of him. He's moving away. I selfishly don't want him to.

He smiles in relief.

"Why... the sudden change?" I ask.

He looks at me, then looks away. "I want to be of help to you. I want to be strong so that I can help my friend."

If it's all about being strong, it's easy to handle. "You don't have to change. I think you're strong enough as you are. Really," I say.

He turns his gaze back on me and blinks. "Uh...?"

His confused expression makes me feel a bit guilty so I say, "But if you want to get stronger, go ahead. Come to me if you face any trouble, 'kay?"

He smiles. "Okay." The smile confirms my decision.

Letting go isn't easy, but then again I always choose the hard way in the end.

Bring it on. Whatever new friends Mikuo will make, I'm still his first and hopefully closest. Friends should be supportive of each other, so, Mikuo, you have my support. Go show them what you're made of! I'm sure it's good stuff, because I've seen it myself.

"Akaito, can I have a word with you for a while?"

I look up to see Gakupo standing in front of me, next to Mikuo. When did he come over? I thought Luki was talking to him? "Oh, sure," I say.

"Please excuse us," Gakupo says to Mikuo.

Mikuo nods.

Gakupo motions for me to follow him. We stop walking a distance away from Mikuo. I'm really curious now. Did anything happen?

"Akaito, you can't go on like this," Gakupo says first thing.

"Like what?" I frown. What is he talking about?

"Mikuo doesn't know what friends do. Stop misleading him. If you really love him, go tell him," Gakupo says with a straight face. Huh. I guess Luki talked to him about it.

"I said it's not like that," I say, growing tired of this topic, "I'm not in love with him, alright? It's just that he's a special case and I have to take extra care when interacting with him."

"You're trying to run away from the problem, Akaito," he tells me.

"There is no such problem in the first place. I thought you'd understand," I say. Gakupo is the most understanding person in the gang.

"You can't deceive our eyes." Gakupo sighs. "My eyes, especially. I know that look on your face when Mikuo's around. You love him."

Heat rushes to my face, whether I like it or not. Damn it. "Shut up, Gakupo. That's not it."

Gakupo shakes his head slowly. "Do I have to give you evidence? Well, okay, I'll give you evidence. Remember when we asked if you liked Meito? You answered no. Simple as that. You didn't make any explanations. But for Mikuo, you keep saying that he's special and whatnot. Isn't this obvious enough?"

"T-that's...!" I don't know how to deny that. Agh... "But you can't say for sure that it's love!"

"I can't?" Gakupo has a knowing look in his eyes that say, 'I know you know perfectly well that I can. So there.'

"Y-yeah! You can't!" My voice is shaky now...

"You're blushing, and you're getting as red as your hair," he says.

"Okay! Let's say I really have feelings for him. So what?" I cry.

"Go tell him. And don't worry, we'll still support you." Gakupo smiles.

"I haven't actually admitted, you know," I remind him.

"It's just a matter of time." Gakupo shrugs. "I'll leave you two alone now. Go to him. We'll watch from a distance."

"'We'?" I ask.

"Yeah. The rest of the gang." He waves and walks away.

... Are you forgetting something? I'm not in love with Mikuo!

I sigh and walk back to Mikuo. "Hey," I say.

"Hi." Mikuo nods.

"You waited," I say. What am I saying.

"Yes," he says.

Do I love him? Yes? No? Yes? No? What is the answer? Must there be an answer? Can't I leave it blank? "You see, Gakupo was lecturing me about, um, how I... feel... towards you and stuff... Y'know."

"Oh." He doesn't seem to be affected by it.

I look at him and see a tiny bit of teal hair mixed in with the black. I reach out and touch it. "Your real hair is showing," I say.

"I was in a hurry this morning," he says.

I then realise that I had fallen in love a long, long time ago. They're right. Friends don't do this.

No way I'd admit it out loud.

So what if I loved him. I'm not going to tell him. He doesn't need to worry about love problems right now when he's all focused on changing himself. No. I won't tell him.

I take my hand away, heaving a sigh.

He looks at me curiously. "Why are you sighing?"

"Nothing much. I just remembered I had something to tell Luki. I'll be off now." I walk away without waiting for him to reply. I head in the direction of the gang who were in hiding.

"Did you tell him?" Gakupo and Luki ask in unison.

"No," I tell them. I walk past them, headed for home.


A/N: Bittersweet much? Ah I don't know... That'll be all for today! Thanks for reading once again!