Long time, no? I really hope people are still reading this. My mind has been very occupied lately with college stuff and other stories and ideas for stories. Rest assured, I've got a little more for this one.


Morning soon came. Tamao and Miyuki were now awake and taking a shower together.

"I never knew showering with someone else could be so fun, Miyuki," Tamao smiled.

"Well, the movies make it look cool, so why not try this with my lover?" Miyuki smirked as she kissed Tamao and felt her up.

"I've seen your strict side, your calm side, your romantic side, and your kinky side. I love them all."

"Oh yeah? I bet you'll love what I'm going to do even more."

The younger girl was confused but soon understood as Miyuki slid her hand down further.

"Oh my," Tamao gulped, "I see what you mean."


It wasn't long until the shower was over and the couple were drying themselves.

"I still have clothes here, right?" Miyuki asked Tamao.

"I'm pretty sure you do. It was a good call that we each decided to leave a few sets of clothes at each other's rooms. So you know…neither of us would have to go back without fresh clothes?" Tamao assured.

"Yeah, of course."

Tamao opened one of her drawers and took out a set of clothes and underwear that belonged to Miyuki, who put them on.

"To be honest, as much as I want to be with you here all day, we still have classes today. So, I'll see you later?"

Tamao happily nodded, "Yes."

"Okay," Miyuki replied as she was walking to the door. Tamao got up and caught up to her before she could open it.

"Hold on, don't I get a kiss before you go?"

"Oh right, how could I forget?" Miyuki scratched the back of her head.

Tamao wrapped her arms around Miyuki and kissed her on the lips.

"Have a great day, Miyuki."

"You too, Tamao. Love you."

"Love you, too."


Unknown to both of them, someone across the hall was watching. It was none other than Sena Ito, who had bullied Tamao some time ago.

"Ohoho, looks like our little genius got a secret lover," she snickered.

Sena's roommate, Rurika Sakuma, woke up and walked up to see what Sena was looking at.

"Sena, what's going on?"

"Take a look for yourself, Rurika." the fox-eyed girl said.

The squinted-eyed girl saw the student council president of Miator exit from Tamao's room, which happened across from theirs.

"Oh my, this topic could be such a discussion," Rurika commented.

Sena smirked, "Yes and it could also be the one thing that I could use to totally break Suzumi."

"Huh? Why would you want to do that? Sure, she made a mistake, but doesn't she deserve forgiveness?"

"Forgiveness is complete hokum, Rurika. And besides, it's more than that. Ever since first year, Suzumi has bested me in everything I do best. Tests, essays, student activities, you name it. And she thinks she's all Miss Popularity with her charm that was even enough to attract the president. It makes my blood boil to see her happy and I want to wipe that smile off her face. In short, I'm going to blackmail her."

Rurika gulped at her companion's intentions of malice.

"As your closest and most loyal friend, I'm supposed to support you. But I'm not sure if I want any part of this."

"I knew you would say something like that, so I'm not going to make you do anything. It's only me that has beef with her, so there's no reason for you to be involved."

The other girl was relieved, but still worried for her friend.

"Please know what you're getting into, Sena. I love you, but I don't want you to go too far," Rurika thought.


Later, Nagisa returned to her room from Shizuma's. She found her roommate happily reading Miyuki's gift to her.

"Mornin' Tamao-chan! Whatcha reading?"

"Oh, Nagisa. I'm reading the most wonderful book I've ever read," Tamao elatedly sighed.

Nagisa laughed a little bit, "That's nice to hear, but I meant the title."

"Oh, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Miyuki gave it to me last night. I've been reading it since this morning. Well, after Miyuki and I did some stuff…" the bluenette giggled.

The redhead figured it out pretty quickly, "You know, you're happier than I've ever seen you before."

"I know. It feels like dancing on air."

"It's because of Miyuki, isn't it? Nagisa smiled.

"It is," Tamao wholeheartedly nodded, "Miyuki is the best thing that has ever happened to me. My days just get better every time I'm with her."

"I feel the same way about Shizuma. I guess that's the kind of thing love does to you."

Tamao agreed, "Love is truly an unstoppable force, Nagisa-chan."


When classes were to begin shortly, Sena approached Tamao's desk to put her plan into action.

"Good morning, Suzumi."

"Good day, Ito-san. Is there anything I can help you with?" Tamao asked the magenta-haired girl, putting aside the hostility she had with her before.

"Actually, I 'd like to tell you something interesting I found out."

"And what is that?"

"I know your secret, Suzumi. About you and Rokujo-sama…"

Tamao immediately froze, "Oh no, how in the world did she find out?" she thought. Then after a few seconds, she continued.

"Ahaha…you must be mistaken, Ito-san. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me. I saw Rokujo-sama exit your room this morning and you two kissed. Now tell me that isn't true," Sena smugly revealed.

The bluehead stayed silent. There's no doubt that it is true, but she knew that whether she would confirm or deny it, Sena would use her own words against her.

In short, she had no freaking idea what to say.

"Your silence says it all, Suzumi. It's definitely true."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You always think you're so brilliant and smart, when in reality, you're just an overachiever. You manage to make almost everyone around you like you. And with Rokujo-san as your lover, she'll probably sail you through. It sickens me."

Tamao was starting to lose her cool, but restricted herself to deep breaths, "What does that have to do with outing me? And besides, I try my best, I don't need to be sailed through."

"I'm not obligated to answer that. But if you wish to save both yours and Rokujo-san's reputations and avoid a scandal, you'll tell of this to no one. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and not tell on me if you catch me violating anything. Failure to do so will get you outed. Got it?" Sena gave her ultimatum.

And with that, Tamao sighed in distress.

"You win."

The fox-eyed girl smiled of malice and returned to her desk. By the time Nagisa arrived to class, Tamao's eyes were now in a dull shade.

"Tamao-chan, is everything okay?" the concerned redhead wondered,

Tamao didn't immediately respond until Nagisa tapped her shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, hi Nagisa-chan. Yeah, everything's fine," she fibbed.

Nagisa, though doubtful, nodded with much concern, "If you say so," then sat on her seat.

Tamao contemplated," Good lord, what have I gotten myself into? I've been through years of bullying in elementary; I thought it would all be over when I came here. But this time, I'm not the only one in hot water. If I don't do what Ito-san says, not only will I get in trouble, but also Miyuki will be dragged down with me. She didn't do anything; I don't want to suffer, too."


Much later, the first half of the school day had finished and it was now lunchtime. Tamao nervously exited her classroom and found Miyuki waiting for her by the lockers.

"Hi Miyuki. What brings you here?" Tamao nervously asked.

"I came to ask if you would like to have lunch with me and Nagisa and Shizuma. But I'll be a little late since I have a few presidential duties to attend to. Is that okay?"

Tamao rapidly nodded, "Uh, sure! It's totally okay! No problem!"

With the way her girlfriend's manner of speech was today, Miyuki began to suspect that there was something wrong.

"Is there something wrong, Tamao?" Miyuki questioned Tamao.

Tamao quietly gulped and thoughts filled her head, "Oh no, how do I answer that? Breathe, Tamao. Just tell her everything's fine as calmly as you can."

She took a deep breath, "Nope, everything's fine, Miyuki."

Miyuki felt something suspicious, but just shrugged it off, "Okay, if you say so. I'll see you in a few minutes."

Tamao became even more apprehensive. As much as she wanted to tell anyone that she was being bullied, she was extremely worried about what this could do

to both her and Miyuki, especially Miyuki.


After Tamao had gone ahead to the cafeteria and got her food, she went to the table where Nagisa and Shizuma were seated. Nagisa almost immediately noticed Tamao's dull eyes as soon as they began eating.

"Tamao-chan, are you sure everything's okay? You seem tense," Nagisa voiced her concern.

"And you're shaking a little bit. What's wrong?" Shizuma followed up.

If Tamao couldn't tell Miyuki, then the least she could do is tell her friends what's going on. She'd most likely trust them enough to do so.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise that neither of you won't tell Miyuki," Tamao requested.

"Why?" Shizuma wondered.

"You'll both understand once I tell you both."

The blue-haired girl took a deep breath.

"I'm being blackmailed."

Nagisa's and Shizuma's eyes widened and in unison, came a big…

"What?"

Tamao shushed them both, "Shh! Do you two want everyone to hear us?"

"I can't believe someone would to do that to you, Tamao-chan," Nagisa addressed as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Who's doing this?" Shizuma grumbled.

"Sena Ito. She found out about my relationship with Miyuki," Tamao confessed.

"How did she find out?" the redhead raised.

"She saw me kissing her this morning. And just before class, she said that she would expose us unless I covered for her if I catch her doing anything bad."

"All the more reason to tell Miyuki," Shizuma pointed out, "If she found out what Ito is doing to you, she's probably going to give her the old what-for."

"…Which is exactly the reason why I can't tell Miyuki," Tamao countered.

Big question marks popped up over the couple's heads.

"I'm confused," Nagisa touched her chin, "why shouldn't Miyuki know?"

"During that party at Masaru's, after she found out I got intoxicated after drinking Zach's cocktail, she got real angry and possibly wanted to kick his butt. A lot of people expect Miyuki to deal with troublemakers calmly since she has a reputation to uphold as part of a high-society family and the president of the student council. Acting violent could get her in trouble. If she'll get very angry when I get drunk by someone else by accident, I don't know what'll happen if she found out I was being bullied."

After explaining, Shizuma and Nagisa began to understand a little more. Miyuki can't keep a cool head when she sees Tamao being threatened, even when it really isn't happening.

Shizuma responded to this, "You have a point, Tamao. I see that you care about the way people see Miyuki. You don't want people to see her in a bad light because of possible violent reactions."

Tamao nodded, "Exactly. I love Miyuki and the last thing I want people to think is that she doesn't know how to keep calm if something happens to me. I trust that you'll keep this from her."

"Should Shizuma and I do anything, Tamao-chan?" Nagisa followed up.

Tamao shook her head, "No, it's already terrible that the person I love most in the world is being dragged into this. You're my friends and I love you both, so please don't try to involve yourselves in this mess. I'll try to handle this on my own, okay?"

Though hesitant, Nagisa and Shizuma agreed.

"As much as we'd like to help you out," Shizuma began, "we'll respect your wishes."

"Just promise us no one's going to get hurt," said Nagisa.

"No one's going to get hurt…I hope," Tamao gulped.


Just then, Miyuki had arrived, fresh from the meeting.

"Hi, sorry I'm late. The meeting was a bit long," Miyuki apologized as she sat down next to Tamao, "did I miss anything?"

The couple across from them shook their heads. Tamao shook her head as well.

"Nope, everything's fine, Miyuki," Tamao assured her, "nothing wrong around here…" she said as she held Miyuki's hand under the table.

"That's good to know, but I wasn't wondering if anything was wrong," Miyuki's suspicions were raised.

"Oh. Well, nothing's wrong. At all."

Tamao didn't know how long she was going to keep this from Miyuki.


Author's note:

- Important question: what violations should the bully do? There are some obvious ones, but I'd probably like to know more so I can incorporate it into the next chapter.

- I think I have the whole ending figured out now. Just need to figure what goes in between and what leads up to it.