When Aoi awoke in the morning, she seriously wondered if her limbs had liquified overnight and melted onto the bedsheets. She rubbed her eyes and was appalled at how heavy her arms felt. Just lifting them was near-impossible task. Her bones felt as dense as lead, creaking as she twisted them here and there. Oh, and the soreness that struck her abdomen like a bolt of lightning when she sat up; that was nothing less than excruciatingly painful. She winced at the sensation.

She forced herself into a sitting position. Her hands fisted the sheets and wrapped them loosely around her body. Then, she searched the room for her lover. She didn't have to look long. The second she raised her head, she found him sitting right in front of her, already dressed in his school uniform, on the foot of the bed. He met her with a chilly gaze. Aoi shivered. His eyes were so cold, like stones on the beach after a particularly long, lonely night with no stars.

'Good morning.' she laughed uncomfortably, hoping to ease the tension. 'Did you sleep well?'

Yusaku didn't respond to her question. Instead, he raised a box to the front of his face, shaking it slightly to call her attention to it. Aoi squinted, but she couldn't read what it said. Before she could ask, he slid the package to her. Obediently, she took it in her hands and read the fine print.

EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVE - PLAN B

'You don't have to take it.' Yusaku spoke. 'Ultimately, it's your choice. However, I strongly recommend that you do if you don't want to risk pregnancy.'

Aoi averted her gaze. It was so awkward to talk about this.

But Yusaku wasn't going to allow her to ignore him, especially not when the topic was this grave. He slid a long finger under her chin and tilted her face so that they were looking right into each other's eyes. Uncertain, worried hazel met ice-emerald. 'Do you understand?' he pressed, trying to get her to truly comprehend the gravity of the situation through his chilly tone. 'Do you know what could happen if you don't take this?' he almost demanded, like he was an officer in an interrogation room drilling her for a crime she wasn't aware she committed.

Even though Aoi completely understood that it was unreasonable to have a child at their age, the callous manner by which Yusaku was addressing this issue was hurting her. There was no empathy in his voice. He was calculating and detached. In fact, the way he phrased it seemed to absolve him of any involvement. He told her that it was her choice, as if he had no say in the matter, as if he wasn't the one who went out of his way to purchase this contraception in the first place. His opinion on the matter was crystal - he just wanted Aoi to go along with it. Of course, she didn't want to be pregnant anyway. But she hated that even in this circumstance, it felt like Yusaku was rejecting her. Even though she knew better, that he was right - he still managed to make her feel a metaphorical kick to the curb.

'I'll take it.' Aoi forced a small smile. 'I promise.'

Yusaku nodded. Relief washed over him. He tried to hide it, but she saw the happy gleam in his eyes. Of course, she knew he would be relieved because she was on board with using some form of birth control. However, she also took his reaction as reassurance that he didn't have to be saddled with the crushing weight of a biological connection to her. The pain she felt from that was tenfold. 'Do you need some water?'

'Yes, please.'

Yusaku stood up and fetched her a full glass. He sat down in front of her yet again, watching intently as she opened the box, took the small pill out of it and into her mouth, until finally washing it down with the drink. Yusaku felt a great weight lifted off of his shoulders when she did that. He couldn't hide solace in his eyes, and Aoi was quick to notice it. That stung. But she pretended not to notice and cleared her throat, 'I'm going to head to school. You should go soon as well, if you don't want to be late.'

'Yeah.'

But he didn't move. He remained where he was, staring at her with no decipherable emotion, making her feel small and unworthy and unloved.

Aoi broke the silence. 'Is there something else?'

'I want to forget everything that happened between us yesterday.' Yusaku said sternly. 'Can you do me a favour and forget about it as well?'

His words cut Aoi deeply. Although she expected him to eventually reject her again, he didn't think that he would do so unprompted. That, out of nowhere, he himself would twist the knife in her chest without her having to ask him again if all the love he confessed to her held any truth. Leave it to Yusaku to know just how to hurt her in the most painful ways. In this absurdly hurtful situation, Aoi could do nothing but laugh hollowly, 'Sure.' she said in an overly chipper tone, though her voice was shaking. 'It's already forgotten.'

'Good.'

That was when he finally left her. He stood up and walked over to his desk so that he could quickly pack his bag for his classes. A burst of courage flashed through Aoi, and she rose to her feet and attempted to hold his hand. But when she reached out and her fingertips brushed his wrist, he sharply pulled away and tightened his hand into a fist so that she wouldn't be able to intertwine her fingers around his. Aoi's chest tightened. Her heart sank and she felt like she had taken a hard punch to the gut.

Yusaku's message was clear: Fuck off.

'I'm going.' he announced curtly and, without so much as looking at her, made his way out the door.

Aoi was shellshocked.

Sure, she had expected Yusaku to revert back to his off-putting demeanour in the morning... But she didn't think that he could dehumanize her to this extent. He didn't ask her how she was feeling nor did he address what happened last night properly. Aoi strongly believed that Yusaku should have, if only to gently let her in on the unfortunate truth that his supposed love confession was nothing more than his erection speaking. Aoi would have appreciated that much more than what he just gave her: a flippant flick of his wrist, like she was dust on his shoulder that he had to brush off.

She had never felt so humiliated in her life.

Suddenly very aware that she was alone in his room, she crossed her arms over her chest defensively and looked around her. Her gaze immediately fell to his bed, igniting a trigger point in her that caused all of last night's erotic memories to tumble into her mind. Had she and Yusaku negotiated a more healthy (and loving) relationship, those memories would have made her smile. But right now, they just made her feel like a snake was coiling around her neck, preventing her from breathing, embracing her in its taut hopelessness.

Aoi didn't want to look at that bed any longer.

So she walked over to it, tore the sheets away from the mattress, and shoved them in the washing machine. Her heart was pounding while she was doing this. It made her feel like she had some control over the situation. Maybe she could never gain the upper hand against her cruel lover in terms of emotional dominance, but she could at least erase the evidence of their intimacy. Perhaps she thought that it would alleviate just some of her anxiety about it, like she could almost pretend like it never happened because there was no proof.

But as she sauntered into the bathroom and caught her reflection in the mirror, she saw his invisible hands on her again, caressing her and grabbing at as much flesh as he could like he wanted to make sure she was really within his grasp. Quickly, she looked away and hopped into the shower. As the water bounced off of her body, Aoi allowed herself to be lost in thought and steam. Specifically, she gave herself the selfish luxury of feeling every pent-up emotion she had been holding in since she left home.

She misses her brother; her brother, who seemed to want to clip her wings.

She resents herself; she hates that she's not as strong or positive or beautiful as Blue Angel.

She admires Yusaku's heroism, in the way he so valiantly fights for everyone in LINK VRAINS - including herself.

She loves Yusaku for everything he's done for her.

She hates Yusaku for what he's doing to her.

She hates him so much. She hates that he's so horrible to her. She hates that he lures her in with hot kisses and seductive words. She hates that he isn't the man she thought he was, and she's never been so disappointed in another human being before.

This boiling loathing was heating up inside of her as she changed into her school uniform robotically. Ai watched her from the desk, perched on top of the Duel Disk. It noticed a significant change in her body language. Aoi was observably stiffer, and her facial features had settled into a stony mask that was reminiscent of how she appeared when school first started.

It was chilling.

Ai thought that maybe she had actually turned into marble.

Then, a whimper.

And suddenly, she was slumped over the mattress, her knees to the floor and her face buried on her arms that were folded on the bed.

'Oh no, Aoi-chan... Come on, don't cry...' Ai used to modified Duel Disk to fly over to her. Once within range, the Ignis tried to stroke her hand, but she moved away from it. Nevertheless, Ai tried desperately to soothe the weeping woman by offering words of encouragement, but its efforts were made in vain. Aoi couldn't control herself. The tears just kept coming, and loud sobs insisted on escaping her. She felt unbelievably cold, like her heart had turned into ice and everything else inside of her was following suit.

She was so sad.

'He's a jerk, I know.' Ai acknowledged, panicking. Shit. How was its going to clean up after its master's crap this time? 'He can be really mean, but it's just some nasty defence mechanism!'

Ai's case was unconvincing. Aoi continued sobbing, at this point randomly gasping for air to try and calm herself down. The sight of her breaking was mortifying. Ai was searching its database for any sort of option for an appropriate reaction to give, but there was no data concerning troubleshooting an emotional crisis like this.

'Don't cry.' Ai pleaded, waving its arms about. 'Yusaku loves you! He loves you, I swear! He loves you, so please don't cry anymore!'

'No, he doesn't.' she bit out shakily. 'He hates me.'

'Oh my gawd, what!?' Ai fell to its knees dramatically. 'No! He loves you! I swear that he loves you!'

'He hates me.' Aoi repeated, palming her chest. Her heart felt like it was about to explode. Was she supposed to feel like she was going to die? 'I know he hates me. I can't do anything about it. He hates me-'

'He loves you!' Ai howled, jumping up and down, frustrated. 'He loves you, he loves you! Trust me! He's just being a dick, but he loves you!'

'He wants nothing to do with me.' she insisted, hunching over and clutching her stomach. She was dizzy all of a sudden and her gut felt like it had been punched. She had the sudden, dry urge to throw up, but forced herself to remain composed. With one arm still crossed over her abdomen, a hand came up so that she could bit her fingers. She shut her eyes and desperately willed herself to not throw up. Ai mistook this for her trying to silence her sobs.

'He doesn't hate you at all! He loves you! He thinks you're a babe-'

'He thinks I'm a slut.'

'No!'

'When he looks at me, I know that he sees a cheap whore. He treats me like he pays for the sex we have.'

'No, no! He cares about you! He bought you clothes, he let you stay here-'

'I don't care! The one thing he doesn't give me is respect!'

Ai jumped up and down frantically. It was blubbering like an idiot, trying to find words that would never form to completion. What could it say to Aoi in a time like this? There was no excusing Yusaku's actions, and to devalue Aoi's feelings would only add kerosene to the fire. There was nothing Ai could do or say to positively impact the situation. At the very least, it just wanted Aoi to stop crying - but it couldn't think of an effective method by which it could accomplish that, either.

'I've given up on his love a long time ago.' she admitted sadly, catching her breath. The tears were still flowing, but her lowering adrenaline allowed her to regain some semblance of control over her outburst. 'But I think that no matter what, even though I've thrown myself at him, that I deserve to be treated like a human being... And he doesn't even do that.'

'That's just how he is!'

'I don't care.' she said sternly, finally getting up on her feet. She went to the bathroom to wash her face and clear her expression of any depression (she was an expert at that). Once she was satisfied with her perfectly practiced stony visage, she headed back to the main room and took the bedsheets out of the wash. Ai tried talking to her, but she maintained her silence as she dried the sheets in a machine and made the bed afterwards. She was aware of Roboppi's cleaning duties, but she took it upon herself anyway to render the space spotless. It was therapeutic, almost like she was ridding the place of any evidence that she was there.

By the time she was finished with her chores, it was well past noon. She could go to school, but she'd only be able to attend the classes that were scheduled after the lunch break and she would get in big trouble for her tardiness. Plus, she didn't have her school bag anyway: she had left it at home, not thinking to bring it with her when she stormed out.

And she certainly didn't want to stay where she was.

The only option was to go back home.

Yusaku was on high-alert at school.

He was anticipating when Aoi would show up, and when he would inevitably bump into her. He knew that would be by far the most awkward experience of his life. After all, he had inadvertently confessed to her last night that he was in love with her - a secret that he had desperately tried to keep under lock and key since the first vine of affection he felt for Aoi constricted around his heart. And then he broke two of his own rules: to not speak of love and to always use protection. Why did he not think to use a condom? He was already living in a perpetual state of anxiety from not knowing whether or not she was pregnant, and yet his actions now exacerbated those same concerns.

If she was actually pregnant, what would he do? He had no idea how to answer that question. He hoped somehow that perhaps she was on some form of birth control, but he never had the balls to ask her nor did he think it was necessarily his business. In hindsight, it was absolutely his business; they were sleeping with each other, so they had to share the responsibility of these possibilities. That was why he decided to buy a contraceptive pill to proceed with his life with some caution. Additionally, he was almost certainly convinced that Aoi herself wouldn't want to be pregnant. They were so young and stupid. How could they handle a situation like that? They couldn't even properly handle each other.

With these thoughts circulating in a never-ending loop in his mind, Yusaku dreaded Aoi turning up at every corner. Strangely enough, she never did. He thought that perhaps she was avoiding him as well. Even so, it was still likely that he could have at least noticed her in passing.

Maybe she was still at his place?

Or perhaps she had left but returned home?

Yusaku's head was pounding. It was too stressful to think about all of this. He knew he shouldn't have gotten involved with her; it was too much work without anything to gain. He could never see himself as a suitable partner in a committed relationship, so all this emotional labor was being made in vain.

So he tried to push his inner dialogue aside as he headed into Shoichi Kusanagi's hot dog truck. Yusaku winced as he took a step up. He was unbelievably sore from last night. For his age, he was well built (maybe due to the constant physical strain of LINK VRAINS), yet he felt like he was moving with blocks of lead strapped to his limbs. His back was aching and he swore that he must've pulled a muscle last night.

'I want you.' Aoi whispered so softly, she may as well have been uttering a secret.

Yusaku stumbled a little when he closed the truck's doors behind him.

The heat rushed to his face.

What the hell?

Why did he think of Aoi just now?

More specifically, why did he think of last night's Aoi?

He was so lost in his own mind that he didn't remember to greet Shoichi, who was seated in front of the computers but was observing Yusaku with amusement.

'So how was your romantic weekend?' Shoichi asked with a smug grin plastered on his face. That question caused Yusaku's head to snap up immediately, his expression shocked and bashful like a dog who had just been caught digging where he shouldn't have. 'Haha... Was it so fun that you forgot how to speak?'

'I can speak just fine.' Yusaku snapped. He then proceeded to take his seat by Shoichi's side.

'You look kind of spaced out is all I'm saying. Anyway...' the older man raised a brow upon noticing that Yusaku's Duel Disk was absent from his arm. 'Where's Ai?'

'I left him at home.'

'Why?'

'I left in a hurry this morning.' Yusaku shrugged. 'It was an honest mistake.'

Shoichi frowned. 'And Zaizen's sister didn't think to remind you? She seems like the type to be conscientious about those things.'

'No. I didn't go to school with her.'

'Huh? But isn't she staying at your place?'

Yusaku rubbed his face. This was such an awkward conversation. Sure, he was close to Shoichi, but the young student didn't want to have to reveal the details of his intimate life. Then again, what was the harm in talking about it? If it really didn't mean anything to him, if Aoi was really not a special girl? 'Yeah... But the atmosphere between her and I was kind of weird this morning, considering that I gave her an emergency contraceptive pill.'

Shoichi's jaw dropped.

Yusaku's posture straightened.

'Don't you use a condom?'

Yusaku sighed heavily. 'Not last night.'

'That's... Not the smartest idea. You should use protection, always. You don't want to have a-'

'I also said that I loved her.' Yusaku blurted. 'But I don't think she heard me.'

That silenced the small business owner. He leaned back and stared intently at his junior. Shoichi was trying to read his body language, but as usual, Yusaku had excellent control over his projection. He gave nothing away and his rigid stature was impossible to read. Nevertheless, Shoichi knew that for Yusaku to even bring something like that up was a sign that he needed help coming to grips with his confusing emotions.

Ah, youth; what a joy and a pain to be so young and passionate.

'Do you love her?'

Yusaku didn't respond, but his heart rate quickened.

'Well..' Shoichi cleared his throat. 'Regardless, you shouldn't have just handed her the pill and left. That's not how you treat women. You might have really hurt her feelings.'

'I know. That's all I seem to do.' he crossed his arms over his chest defensively. 'So... Whether I love her or not is irrelevant. I don't deserve her and I probably never will.'

Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this story. Thanks also for your kind reviews. I enjoy reading your encouraging words!

Yet again, I was taken aback by the response from last chapter. Thank you guys so much for your encouragement. I tried to get this chapter up as quickly as possible. I know not a lot happened in this chapter, but it was meant to be more of an exploratory segment before all the events that are about to unfold.

Thanks to everyone for being so accepting of the multiple routes idea for this story! Thanks again to Yujo0147 for suggesting it.

In a few chapters, the routes will start to diverge. I will start with the bad route, then move on to the good, before ending with the true route. I'll label each chapter with its corresponding route as to not cause any confusion. That won't happen for the next few chapters, though!

If you have an account, I've already messaged you privately. If you don't have an account, then I respond to you below!

Yujo0147, the bad ending definitely won't have a Clannad-esque feel! I already have an idea for it, and it isn't so much tragic as it is unsatisfactory, if that makes sense. I will be writing the bad route first, though! Thank you so much for wishing me luck on my exams and for your always encouraging words!

JustARandomGuy, Yusaku's machine-mask will definitely be peeling off more as the story progresses. And thank you so much for wishing me luck on my exams, and for your continued support in this story!

Aniki, I'm glad that you pointed out that they really should be able to feel each other's love properly, because that is exactly the direction where this story will go. Yusaku has to come to terms with his feelings, then work on bettering himself for Aoi if he wants their relationship to be successful. How exactly he does it while battling issues of self-worth from his traumatic past will be a central focus! Thank you so much for your support!

Guest, Yusaku may not lie, but he certainly won't be accommodating of Aoi's feelings just because he's realized he has them too. Because Aoi's had enough of his iciness, he will have to figure himself out soon! And yes, Ai heard it and will bring it up with Yusaku in later chapters, especially after having witnessed Aoi's breakdown. Thank you for your review!

Guest, Akira never got her checked. The suitor will return, but he won't be around long! He won't be a major character, but he may play a role in a major event. Thank you for your review!