Hitomi gave a deep sigh, sitting up in bed and glancing with squinted eyes at the bright red numbers glowing from her alarm clock. 1:54 a.m.. She huffed slightly and flopped back down in her bed.

She couldn't figure out what had awoken her. The room was perfectly dark and toasty warm. She glanced around, curling up tighter. It must have just been a dream or something of the sort.

Then she heard it: a slight squeak. It sounded like wood, like something heavy was stepping on a weak board. She turned over and grunted. "Hey, Akira, is that you?"

The only sound that came from her roommate was the steady, slow breathing of deep sleep. Hitomi furrowed her brow slightly. Maybe she had just shifted wrong in her bed. The thin carpet couldn't cover every sound.

Suddenly, the sound came again. Hitomi narrowed her eyes. She hadn't moved at all that time. It wasn't her. Slowly, she slid out from under her covers and dropped silently to the ground. She snuck across the room, her steps light and hardly making a noise. She pressed a thin hand against the door, feeling for pressure. None came to her touch. Whoever was out there must not have targeted their door.

It's probably Aiko, she thought wearily. She always seems to sleepwalk at the oddest times…

Hitomi sighed and opened the door, glancing out. She felt the air leave her lungs, her eyes widening in shock. Out of the darkness glowed hundreds of sapphire gems. They all turned to face her.

Robots…in the dorms…

Hikaru was rudely awoken by the panic alarm.

There had been quite a few screw ups with that certain piece of technology. Buttons were placed in every room in order to alert the entire city that somewhere was under attack. There had been many updates after false alarms had been placed, such as the time Kenshin accidentally hit in when she was having a pillow fight, or when Ai had accidentally backed into it to get away from a spider. Needless to say, it hadn't been pressed in a while.

The blue-haired pilot's eyes snapped open and he was up instantly. A small wall insert flashed with light as, it seemed, the entire room screamed angrily. Hikaru flipped on the lights and stepped over to read it, yawning. It had to only be two in the morning. Hikaru hated being awoken at early hours.

"Whazzgoinon?" Ha-Ya-To muttered sleepily as he pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Panic alarm," Hikaru managed to say through yawns.

The girl's dorm

Hikaru sighed. If this was another false alarm…"Computer, which dorm is under," he paused for another yawn, "attack?"

The lights flashed again.

Hitomi Matsui and Akira Hamoto

Instantly, Hikaru was wide awake. Hitomi never pressed the panic alarm unless it was absolutely necessary, and Akira probably didn't even know it was there. Besides, Hitomi knew how to hack into the panic system in case hers was accidentally pushed. Something was wrong…very wrong.

"We've got a code red in the girl's dorm!" Hikaru said hurriedly, "Akira's and Hitomi. We're taking instant action. Grab your katana, Ha-Ya-To!"

Ha-Ya-To was on his feet in an instant, rummaging through the closet and throwing Hikaru's katana to him. "Make sure Takeshi and Ryo are up," Hikaru ordered, "we need to get up there now!"

Akira had never been so frightened in her life. She had no armor on, and was fighting as hard as she could. It felt odd to be fighting in a tank top and yoga pants as well, but if it would keep her alive, she was fine with it.

She dark-haired girl slammed her foot into one of the drones, taking it out. She was actually surprised at how easy it really was. The robot's outer metal layer was thin and easily bendable. Hitomi did the same next to her, her fists flying in every direction as she took down drone after drone.

By this time, the entire dorm seemed to be fighting on the fifth floor. Females were attacking robots everywhere, dressed only in pajamas. A few had their katanas, which they used to slice through drones. The drones seemed to be in a state of mass confusion. They were unable to get through to the next level, as they were blocked by the ninja-like females of the Exo-Force, and seemed to have no knowledge of how to get back to where they had come from.

Thankfully, the Exo-Force training had done its job. Akira felt as fit as ever. Her flexibility was beyond compare to when she had first started. She weaved in and out of drones, taking them down easily. Her only real problem was that she had punched so much metal that her knuckles were starting to swell painfully. Despite the fact that the metal was thin, after a while, hitting anything had gown painful. She winced every time she made contact. So she tried to use her feet as well.

"Of all the days I forgot to bring my katana!" Hitomi snarled next to her, her hard punch taking out a drone's eye completely and forcing it to retreat right into the blade of another girl.

"There's way too many of them!" Olivia screeched next her. "Apparently, two other floors are in combat right now. How on earth are we going to take them all down?"

"We wait for backup," Hitomi growled, "which should be arriving—."

"RIGHT NOW!" A massive person barreled into the hallway, taking out about for drones in the process. He whirled around, his large fists making contact with a drone and putting its face completely inside out.

"Takeshi!" Hitomi sounded as though she had never been so happy to see the green-haired trainer.

"Top of the morning to you, Hitomi!" Ha-Ya-To flipped over a nearby robot and stabbed it dramatically before moving on.

Akira watched in amazement as the Dream Team arrived. Takeshi took out about five drones a second, while Ha-Ya-To and Hikaru were back to back, stabbing and whirling wildly in a double team. Ryo was all strategy. He must have known exactly how the robots all worked, because he drew back into boxing position and only hit the robots in certain areas, but as he did so, the robots dropped the ground, powerless. It was like pressure points on a person.

A robot suddenly came up behind Akira, which she kicked in the jaw and punched in the arm. She suddenly gasped, pulling back as a sharp pain entered her fingers. She held back a shriek, clutching her throbbing fingers closer to her.

The distraction was enough. A robot slammed a metal arm against her, the force enough to cause her to fly back. She slammed into the wall behind her, gasping in pain. The robot advanced, sapphire eyes gleaming.

Suddenly, it stopped, the point of a sword erupting from its middle. It fell to the ground, revealing Hikaru standing behind it. His blue eyes gleamed in the fluorescent light. "You okay?"

Akira pursed her lips together and nodded, trying not to scream out in pain.

"Good." He glanced around, his eyes resting on Hitomi and Takeshi, who were taking out the last two drones. The floor was covered with wires and parts. Akira was suddenly worried about walking through it. She and the other girls were barefoot.

There had to be at least forty females and ten males in the hallway at this point, all breathing heavily and looking down with disdain at the parts of robots on the floor. Akira took the time now to inspect the people who had come to the rescue. All of them were in their pajamas, not having had time to change. All of the males were shirtless and wore pajama pants and nothing more. Many of them held katanas and other various weapons.

Hitomi put her hands on her hips. "Well, you couldn't have come any sooner, huh?"

"Cut us some slack!" Ha-Ya-To said with a laugh. "Some of us have a hard time actually waking up in the morning, especially when it's only around two o'clock."

Hitomi glanced back in the room. "Only two-thirty now. That was a short battle."

Takeshi shrugged, cracking his knuckles. "Well, we are the most powerful of them all!"

"Arrogant much, Takeshi?" Akira managed a laugh through her pain.

The green-haired pilot shot a glance at her, immediately noticing something was wrong. "What's up with your hand?"

Akira finally took the time to look at her injured hand. The skin was red and raw, which wasn't surprising. But her index and middle fingers were both bent at an odd angle. Akira felt her stomach churn in anxiety. What had happened? Were they broken? She didn't have time to deal with broken fingers.

Ryo stepped over to her, gently taking her hand in his. With his headband off, his violet hair was shaggy in his eyes. He looked rather cute, really, Akira noticed. It wasn't a bad look, though she assumed that the hair in the face was a menace when working.

"You've dislocated them," he said rather bluntly. "Stay very still."

He hardly gave her enough time to try to be prepared before he took her fingers in one hand and snapped them back into place. Akira bit back a scream as pain laced up her arm, causing all of her muscles to clench.

Akira cradled her hand against her, holding back tears. Ryo seemed to find no problem with what he had just done, merely standing up and heading back to his team.

Hikaru was checking in with everyone, making sure no one was seriously injured. He stood in the middle of the room. "Ha-Ya-To," he said over the crowd of muttering people, "take a squadron of guys around the city. I want the entire place checked over, no exceptions. If you don't have enough people, wake them up. Ryo, split up all the male techies you can find and start a search around the walls. If there are any breaches, I want to know about it. Everyone else, we'll be staying here and cleaning up for the girls so they can sleep. Anyone got a problem with that?" His gaze was furious enough that it seemed no one dared to argue.

"Good," he nodded. "Ladies, back to your rooms. We'll handle this."

The women did so, trailing back to their separate dorms with mutters of thanks. Akira stayed in her seated position, watching for Hitomi. The black-haired trainer stood with the four male leaders, watching the other girls go. After all the doors had been closed, the men all let out sighs of exhaustion. Akira felt like joining them. Her head was ringing angrily at her.

Hitomi glanced back at her roommate. "Hey, AK, you can head to bed if you want. I'm going to stay up and help the guys clean all of this."

Akira struggled to her feet, sighing. "I'll help to. I don't think I'll be able to sleep after this."

"You should go to bed, Akira," Hikaru said, stepping forward, arms crossed over his bare chest.

Akira swallowed. "But, shouldn't I be—."

"That's an order, Akira," Hikaru said sharply. "You need your rest. We can handle all of this."

The dark-haired girl wanted to argue back that she was just as tough as they were, but the throbbing in her hand made her stop. She bit her lip and winced, finally nodding and heading back to the room.

With the door closed behind her, the room was just as dark as it had been before. And the warmth was the same. Akira slid back into her covers, setting her head down on the pillow and sighing briefly.

I'm never getting back to bed, am I? That was way too exciting! I'm probably high on adrenaline or something…

In less than two minutes, she was out like a light.

The guys weren't at breakfast the next morning. Hitomi was sleeping in as well. This left the trainees to fend for themselves. It was odd now to Akira to eat breakfast at another table. She had grown so used to being at a senior table that sitting anywhere else felt awkward. Other females stared at her and whispered when she passed by. Akira flushed, and continued walking.

Olivia plopped down next to her, setting her food in front of her. "You as tired as you look?"

Akira yawned. "Maybe," she smiled. "Last night's…incident wasn't exactly good for my brain."

"Agreed!" Kiku came and sat across from Akira, sipping on a protein shake. "I was so hyped up on adrenaline that I couldn't sleep. I might even take a nap this afternoon, just to catch up."

Of all the trainees, Akira probably knew Kiku and Taiki the least. Kiku, now that she looked at her, was probably in her early twenties. Her hair was short and a reddish tone, and would have been rather pretty if it hadn't been cut in the messy way it was. Akira wondered if a buzz cut was next.

"You got a nasty screw up with your hand last night, right?" She asked.

Akira held up her right hand. It was annoying that it had been her dominant hand that had gotten injured, but it was healing alright. The muscles and joints were sore, but better off than the night before. At least they weren't out of place anymore. "Yeah. But it's not too bad. It'll be fine by tomorrow. So, where are you all going for holidays?"

"Back home," Olivia said immediately as she sipped on a shake. "I'm gonna visit my family and probably go on vacation to the States again."

Kiku shrugged her broad shoulders. "Some friends of mine are going on a backpacking trip and invited me. We'll celebrate on a mountain peak."

Akira laughed. "Sounds like fun!"

"It should be. So what about you?"

"Oh me?" Akira took a huge mouthful of bread. "I didn't set anything up, so I'm here."

Olivia blinked in sympathy. "You could always come with me to America!"

"That's okay," Akira said with a smile. "Anyways, holidays start in a few days; I could never impose. Anyways, I'll be training. I can always use more pract—."

"SO DON'T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE MIND!"

The lunch room practically jumped into the air in surprise at the burst of song. Many people covered their ears, others shouted in shock. Akira felt her heart begin to race for a moment as she tried to control her breathing. "What the—."

"Oh that's just Ha-Ya-To," Olivia interrupted with a grin, "he must be in the showers right now. He loves Taylor Swift in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if he just got up."

"Good guess, but not quite."

The three females all whirled around to gaze at the redhead walking towards them. His hair was wet, though still an absolute mess of form. He grinned wildly at them. "Five points to Hufflepuff, Ms. Harding, for effort, but I'll have to take some away for the incorrect answer."

"It wasn't you?" Akira asked, curiosity filling her mind. "Who else has a magical microphone that connects to every speaker in the city?"

Ha-Ya-To grinned and held a finger to his lips. "I'll tell you if the situation arises, but if not, it's my secret to keep." He sat down in between Olivia and Akira. "So, how are you fine ladies doing this morning?"

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Kiku asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ha-Ya-To shrugged. "I have way too much energy to sleep now. Anyways, after last night's excitement, I'm not getting any sleep until this afternoon at least. But I'll need the energy for the Gathering tomorrow night."

"There's a Gathering tomorrow night?" Olivia said with delight, "Oooh, right before everyone leaves for holidays?"

"You got that right," Ha-Ya-To said with a wink. "It's kind of like a dinner dance, but it'll be after dinner so we'll have appetizers or something like that, and a dance floor and stuff like that. Regular time, regular place. But this is a formal event, so you all had better wear something nice!"

Something nice? Akira thought for a moment. Do I have anything formal? I wasn't exactly expecting to be going to dances in the military…She would have to check her closet later. "So," she asked, "what was up with what happened last night?"

Ha-Ya-To shrugged. "Actually, I'm not sure. We checked the entire city, and there's no sign of a breach anywhere. In fact, none of the guards saw anything either. We had battle machines at all the entrances, but that didn't keep the drones from heading straight to the girls' dorm room. The only issue is the fact that the battle machines watching the front gate somehow managed to let over eighty drones into the city without knowing."

"Odd," Kiku said slowly, narrowing her eyes.

"That's what I said!" Ha-Ya-to nodded. "Well, I'll leave you ladies to your breakfast. Have a wonderful day as the rest of us snooze away!"

The redhead left the mess hall, yawning and stretching his arms out. Despite his perky nature, Akira had to admit he looked tired. She hadn't ever seen her trainer look more exhausted, in fact. Akira felt a little guilty, seeing as she hadn't done anything to help clean up, but Hikaru had told her to go to bed.

Still, that didn't keep her from feeling a little bad. Hitomi had helped out, so why hadn't she just staked her place and helped out? She wanted to help people out. That was why she had joined the military. It was a no-win situation. On the one hand, she would have been defying orders if she had stayed, but would have been totally exhausted. On the other, she went to bed but felt guilty. She had no answer for her problem, so she stabbed her fork into her plate of food and ate thoughtfully.

She listened in vaguely to Olivia and Kiku's conversation, but she wasn't paying all that much attention. She was thinking about the gathering…

Akira sat in her room, inspecting the area around her. She glanced down at her bed, looking at the beautiful silver dress laid out for her.

This was the night.

She was going to tell Ha-Ya-To just how much she liked him.

If only it was that simple, she thought with a sigh.

The thing was, she had spent over four months every single day with this person, and every day she found herself more and more attracted to him. He was handsome, funny, clever, and he really seemed to enjoy being around her. She could picture him in her mind, her cheeks flushing slightly as she did so. Ha-Ya-To…

Slowly, she began to dress herself. The dress on her bed wasn't actually hers, as it belonged to her roommate. But she already knew it was perfect. The silvery material was sheer and silky. It was sleeveless and had a neat, v-neck neckline and the bottom came down to her knees. It was tight in all the right places and flattered her immensely. She inspected herself in front of the mirror, sliding her feet into a pair of black, strappy heels and tying her crystal necklace around her neck. With her hair down, she thought she looked almost sexy…a good look when trying to attract a man, at least she hoped.

"Hey, you ready in there?" Hitomi's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Be right there!" Akira called back, sliding a pair of hoop earrings on and inspecting herself one last time before grabbing her coat and leaving the room.

Hitomi looked absolutely beautiful, Akira thought, with her long pine green dress coming down to her ankles and accenting her curves in an extremely flattering way. She wore nude pumps and her sleeves came down to her forearms, covering most of her muscular arms. She didn't wear any jewelry, but Akira wasn't surprised actually. Jewelry would have looked odd on the trainer who never wore anything more jewelry like than her intercom watch.

"You look great!" Hitomi said with a smile. "I told you that dress would work! I never wear it anymore. How about I give it to you for a Christmas present?"

"You mean it?" Akira said in delight, pulling on her coat. "Thank you so much! When you get back from holidays, I'll give you your gift. I don't have it yet."

Hitomi waved the comment away as they walked down the hallway. "Don't worry about it."

They walked across the clearing quietly, watching as other teens came slinking out of the dorms and following in suit. It seemed that everyone was coming. Akira couldn't help but stare at some of the dresses other girls had. Some of them were absolutely stunning. Had they brought them from home, or was there actually a place to buy things like that in the city? She would have to ask some of them later.

They entered the building without much difficulty. The password had been changed by that point, but thankfully Hitomi knew it ("melody in my head") and they were let in, though Akira suspected they would have been anyways.

Akira gasped as they entered the room. What had once been a room for pop music, karaoke, and dancing, and at another a place for building and repairing battle machines, had been changed once again. Tables were set neatly everywhere, everything colored in the crisp colors of black and white. Everything looked professional, almost serious. Couples mingled around, some of the men wearing suits and others in complete tuxedos. Akira found it all very neat and nice, almost calming. Even the stage made out of crates was there, but had been covered with a black cloth, making it look as though it actually belonged there. The lights that had been strung up before were gone, having been replaced with nets of white lights, lighting the room with a warm glow. Candles glowed on each of the tables.

"It's so…professional," she said quietly.

Hitomi smiled. "Yeah. When the guys pull it together, they can really do some amazing stuff."

"Yeah," Akira breathed, gazing around. "This is beautiful."

Hitomi nodded. "Well, I'm going to go and wander around some, see if I can get a drink or something. I'm parched! Enjoy!" She walked slowly off. Akira watched her go.

"Would you like something to eat?"

Akira nearly jumped at the voice. She blinked slightly, gazing up at the person in front of her. "Hey, I know you!"

The young man let out a grin. "You do? Wow, that's impressive! I've only talked to you once before."

Akira smiled. She definitely knew him. He had short, reddish hair and sparkling green eyes. He was only in his mid-twenties or so. But it was true, the trainee had only seen him once. He was the man who had taken her bags on her first day of training. "It's good to see you again, even if I don't know your name. I'm Akira Hamoto."

"My name's Aedan Carmody," he said, shaking her hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Akira. Now, do you want something to eat?"

Akira glanced down, picking up a small piece of chocolate and munching on it, smiling. "Thanks! Hey, I was wondering, have you seen Ha-Ya-To?"

The young man thought for a moment. "Last I checked, he was messing around in the back with some wiring, though I'm not sure why. Why do you ask?"

Akira felt her cheeks flush slightly. "Oh, no reason really. I just wanted to thank him for inviting me."

"Oh, well, I hope you find him! Have a great night!" He said as he stepped back into the crowd.

The dark-haired girl weaved in and out of couples as she made her way across the room. She stopped a few times to look at them. She only vaguely recognized a few of them. She caught sight of Olivia with a young man, both drinking what appeared to be luminescent drinks.

I really hope those aren't alcoholic…she thought with a sudden worry in her chest. That would definitely make the night more interesting.

"Is everyone having a good night?"

Akira stopped in her tracks, staring up at the stage as a massive voice boomed out over the speakers. Everyone stopped what they were doing and applauded for the redhead on stage. Ha-Ya-To gave a bow, laughing slightly as the crowd cheered. He wore a tux, like the other male members of the Dream Team, and his vest and tie were just as red as his hair. Akira swallowed, not able to stop herself from staring. He looked so handsome…

"Well, first of all," he said, "I'd like to thank the amazing Ryo Hayashi for allowing us the use of his workshop once again. Please give him a huge round of applause." The crowd clapped as Ha-Ya-To lead Ryo onto stage for a bow, which he did rather hurriedly and awkwardly.

"And then, of course, we can't forget our wonderful heavy labor guy, Takeshi Kurokawa, for helping bring everything into here for us to use…like the bar and the tables and the lights and all that. So a huge round of applause for Takeshi, please!" The crowd happily obliged as Takeshi took a bow.

"And last but not least, for our coordinator who makes everything work out right, our illustrious leader, Hikaru Matsuoka!" The crowd whooped and cheered as Hikaru took the stage and took a quick bow before stepping back down.

Ha-Ya-To whirled his microphone in his hands a few times as he waited for the crowd to calm down. When they did so, he gave a grin and allowed his words to once again boom out over the warehouse. "Well, tonight we have something very special. For the first half an hour of tonight, we'll be having an open mike time. After this will be more instrumental music for all you lovebirds to dance to. But during this time, you can come up and sing or do poetry or anything of the sort. Just make it from your heart."

Akira swallowed. An open mike? This could be her chance to tell Ha-Ya-To just how much she liked him! Maybe if she could find a piece of paper, she could write a poem or something…

"So, who wants to go first?" Ha-Ya-To glanced around at the crowd.

A single hand raised, though Akira wasn't sure whose it was. "You should!"

Immediately, the crowd was agreeing. Ha-Ya-To flushed slightly and waved his hands over to shush them. "Are you sure?"

Screams of approval erupted in the room, Akira joining in. Seeing Ha-Ya-To do something would be fun! He always seemed to have something creative up his sleeve.

Finally, the young man gave a sigh, putting his microphone on a stand. "Okay, fine! How about a song for all of you?"

The approval was deafening.

Ha-Ya-To threw his hands up. "Okay, okay! Ryo, my guitar please." He waited as the instrument was handed up to him, and he settled himself on a chair, strumming a few chords before adjusting the microphone. "Alright. Well, for all of you out there that don't know, I'm a huge Taylor Swift nut," the crowd laughed as he continued. "So, I decided to write a parody of one of her popular songs for someone I really care about. I've been messing with it for some time, and trying to make it work. It's still a bit rough, but it is from the heart, so I guess that's what counts, right? So, without further ado, "Love Story", a Taylor Swift parody for the one girl I'll ever love…"

Akira sucked in her breath sharply.

"…Hitomi Matsui."

The crowd erupted into screams of excitement. Akira felt her knees suddenly go weak. Wait…Hitomi…?

Ha-Ya-To began playing a catchy tune on the guitar, brining the microphone close. "We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes and the flashback starts. I'm standing there, in the Training room in stuffy air. See the lights, see the robots, the armor. I see you make your way though the crowd, not say hello. Little did I know…that I was Romeo, I was fighting robots, and Sensei said to stay away from Hitomi! And I was smashing things to bits, just begging you for a battle. And I said, Hitomi, I'll take you somewhere we can be alone. I'll be waiting. All there's left to do is go! I'll be the prince and you'll be the princess. It's a love story, Hitomi just say yes!"

The crowd went wild with cheers and screams rom girls. Apparently, Hitomi and Ha-Ya-To must have been a popular pairing, because everyone seemed to love it.

Everyone except Akira.

The dark-haired girl felt her breath catch in her chest. But…this wasn't how it was supposed to be. She could hardly hear the next verse. It was as though her hearing had suddenly stopped working. Her world seemed to be going in slow motion. Slowly, she sucked in a breath, making her way through the crowd to the door. She noticed Hikaru standing at the edge of the crowd, catching sight of her and turning. She pushed by him. She couldn't let anyone see her like this.

The tears didn't start falling until she was in the hallway of the fifth floor of the girl's dorms. But once they started, they didn't stop. Her movements became almost frantic as she opened her door and rushed into her room. The door slammed behind her, and she leaned against it, trying her hardest to stifle the sobs beginning to bubble from her chest.

She ripped her shoes and her dress off and slid into her bed without bothering to change into anything else. She was hoping the warmth would calm her down, but the darkness only put her mind on hyperdrive. All her thoughts, everything she could possibly think of, had to do with Ha-Ya-To.

How could I not notice…he's in love with Hitomi…why am I such an idiot? He's in love with someone else…he doesn't love you…get over him…get over him…WHY?! Why didn't I notice? I'm so…so…

"Akira?"

The dark-haired girl sat straight up in her bed at the call of her name, turning to her door. It was opened slightly, and Hikaru stood halfway into the room. She could only tell from the outline from the hallway light. It was too dark to see his face. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly, his voice hardly above a whisper. She didn't even think about how Hikaru had gotten into her room without the proper keycard. He was the leader. He could do things like that.

Akira tried to tell him she was fine, that she had left the party for some reason like a headache or an aching stomach, but the words wouldn't come. She opened and closed her mouth, but her throat closed to such a point that if she managed any words at all, they would be drowned out by the sound of her sobbing. So she kept silent.

She watched as Hikaru entered the room and closed the door behind him. She hurriedly grabbed her robe from her bed stand and threw it over herself, already feeling rather awkward, but she couldn't tell Hikaru to leave, not without bursting into tears.

Akira felt her bed strain slightly as Hikaru sat on the end. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

His voice was so calm that Akira nearly burst into tears right there. But somehow she managed to get her voice back. "I'm fine," she choked out. "I'm just…I'm…I just left to go to bed, that's all."

"Akira…what's wrong?"

The dark-haired girl wanted to tell Hikaru, she really did. But she just couldn't bring herself to admit just how much she liked Ha-Ya-To, and how much it hurt her to see him sing to someone else. She couldn't explain why, but it was humiliating to try to explain.

"I'm fine," she managed. "I just need to sleep right now."

Hikaru was silent for a good minute before Akira felt the pressure on her bed lift. The door slowly opened and Akira saw Hikaru's shape once again outlined by the light. "If you need anything, I'm here." And with that, the door closed and Hikaru left.

Akira laid back slowly on her bed, feeling the hot tears drip down her cheeks. It felt like hours before she fell asleep, but she did so, the tune of Taylor Swift's "Love Song" still playing painfully in her mind.