"I guess…white is my new favourite colour, huh?"

The girl sitting in front of Lan tilted her head to one side. "It could be…" she purred softly.

This kind of situation would be favourable to most guys, Lan noted.

A gorgeous young woman, sitting in front of you with practically nothing on? That would be any guy's ultimate fantasy, right? It would be like an impossible dream, wouldn't it?

"Lan, I want to…to show you how I really feel about you…"

She smiled as she moved ever closer to him.

"So I want to make you feel good…"

Maylu leaned close to him and whispered as she moved his hand into her chest.

"And maybe I'll feel good along with you. Wouldn't that be nice…?"

Now Lan was quite a bit worried. Maylu was practically on top of him – hell, she was on top of him, straddling his legs as she moved her body closer.

However, he simply hid his worry and smiled at her sadly. For a moment, he really wished that they were still together, but put that thought aside.

"Sorry…"

"Hm?"

He placed his arms around Maylu and hugged her tightly, trapping her arms against his chest.

"I said, 'sorry', because this might be troublesome to you for a while."

"What could you mean? We're like this, together…I wouldn't wish for anything other than for this moment to last forever."

"Well, then I'm going to keep us in this moment, and we'll have no others."

"Ah…you…"

"I'm not sure if you've become physically superior to me somehow, but…I can at least try to keep you like this, Maylu."

"Hey…don't do this, Lan. Let me go…"

"I should have figured it would come to this, with what happened to you back at the hospital. But I don't think…that she would have had it go this far on purpose, if what you said about her feelings for me were true."

Maylu tried to break Lan's hold on her, but wasn't having much luck.

"Lan…let go…let go…"

"I can't, not until you feel better. I made a promise a long time ago."

"Stop screwing around! Let me go, let me go, let me go!"

Lan gave her a defiant smirk. "Screwing around, eh? I thought that's what you were planning to do with me?"

"Ah! Let go! Lan, let go!" She started to beat on his chest.

"A little louder, hot stuff. Don't think they quite heard you outside…"

"Bastard! Stop teasing me, stop it!"

"Tch…you act like you weren't teasing me a minute ago," Lan said coldly.

"I-I wasn't teasing! I really wanted to-"

"To what? Make yourself miserable? Make me miserable?"

"No! I wanted us to be together again, like we used to be!"

"It can't be like that…"

"Don't say that! Lan, I love you! I've always loved you, and I won't stop loving you, no matter what! As long as I live, I'll feel this way, and you can't change that! You can't, you can't, you can't!"

"I already know that, Maylu, and I accept that."

"?" She looked straight into his eyes. "Then…you…?"

"But let me ask you, who are you in love with?"

She blinked before answering assuredly. "It's you, it's always been you!"

"Which one?"

Now she was confused. "W-What?"

"Which me are you in love with?"

"…"

"Or should I say…which idea of me are you in love with?"

"I…" Maylu tried to speak, but couldn't find any words to say.

"This is the problem…my problem, actually. I think I should make things right for once."

He released his grip on Maylu and gently placed her on the sofa as he got up.

"I'll make the tea, okay? You just relax there. And…I'm sorry for being so mean a while ago. I've just been frustrated at seeing you like this."

She was silent as he left for the kitchen, her head down and hands in her lap.

He came back a few minutes later to find her in the same position.

"Here, I hope I made it well enough," he said, offering her a cup of tea.

Maylu slowly took the cup from him, and sipped from it equally slowly. She was still silent as he sat down beside her.

"You want to know, right?"

She didn't respond.

"You want to know why when I saw you and Chaud that day, I was so happy. Well, this is the thing I wanted to make right. You see, all that happiness…you thought I was faking it, but that's far from the truth."

Maylu's interest picked up, but she made no indications of it.

Lan sipped his tea thoughtfully. "You and Chaud falling in love with each other wasn't some accident, or some mistake. It wasn't a tragic ending at all."

She looked over at him. He was as calm and content as she had ever seen him. What was he going on about…?

"That whole occurrence was something I had thought out a while in advance. It was difficult to do, but I think the results show that it was all worth it. It was…"

He smiled. "Exactly as planned."

Yai Ayano had just remembered that she had someone to pick up at the Airport. She made a phone call to Doctor Hikari and Chaud to tell them she would be coming in later than she had foretold.

"I'm picking up someone of use, that's all you need to know," she had said to Chaud.

"Of use to who?" he replied sarcastically.

"Don't dwell on it," she said dryly.

"Fine. I'll be on my way to Kotobuki with Froid. You think we should drag along Hikari, too?"

"…"

"Hey, are you listening?"

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. No, we won't bother. He's got enough to worry about at home. Do you plan on bringing Maylu with you?"

"No…she's been a little stressed out, I think. Leaving her with the Hikaris is the best thing for her."

"If it's like that…I agree wholeheartedly. Anyways, I don't want to keep my guest waiting, so I'll be off."

"Yeah, okay. See you when you get there."

The call ended. Yai sighed and looked out of one of her mansion's huge windows. The little rich girl from way back when had grown in recent years, standing at nearly Maylu's current height, just half a head shorter than her. She still had the same taste in dresses, wearing a longer version of her usual red dress with yellow lines near the skirt edges. Her hair had grown a bit, but she still kept it from obscuring her famous forehead.

"Oi, Lan…I didn't think you were that reckless…"

She smiled as she walked out of the front door, grabbing her favourite umbrella as she left.

"But that's the reason I can trust you, right?"

She walked down to the Metroline and bought a ticket to the Airport. As she sat on the train, she looked at the umbrella she carried. This one was very special, because it was one that Lan had given her a long time ago.