Utau corners me right after class. Rima slinks away as soon as she does, mumbling something about having to watch TV before nine at night.

What a lucky freak. Why can she go but I can't? Honestly, this sucks.

Not that I'll tell Utau that. It's obvious that Utau would tear me limb from limb if she caught me saying anything about how very boring our whole endeavor is.

I keep my mouth shut.

"You're coming to my house this afternoon, so get your stuff so we can get going," Utau glares at me before turning with a huff and walking away.

I blink a few times at where she just was.

Well, that was lucky of me. I sigh before heading back to get my viola. The rest of my stuff I carry around with me because I, frankly, like to avoid all possible pranks that involve lockers which, according to the incredibly cliché (yet oh so true) rules of high school, would be nearly all of them.

So, of course, I don't use my assigned locker ever.

As I'm walking down the hallway, I run into Ikuto. And, by run into Ikuto, I mean he grabs me from behind and carries me to the orchestra room, my wailing following him everywhere.

"What was that for?" I screech at him as soon as he lets me down. I brush off some unseen and yet deadly 'Ikuto germs' before staring straight at him again. "Well? I can walk, you know."

He smirks. "Where's the fun in that?"

I only stick my tongue out at him, hoping that he'll leave me alone so that I can rush off to his house before him.

Apparently he doesn't like that idea. No matter how hard I try to be rid of him, at last, he doesn't seem to budge.

It hurts me to see him like this. He seems so much more like that Ikuto that I used to know now. So much so that I nearly want to kill him so that he wouldn't be so – how should I say it? – Ikuto-ish.

Yes, if only he wasn't so Ikuto-ish anymore, that would make forgetting how much I liked him so much easier.

Instead, he has the nerve to be himself.

What a jerk.

I brush him off as I try to reach for my viola which had somehow found it appropriate to disappear into the highest cubby.

"Need some help with that?" It's Ikuto again, only this time he's leaning over to whisper in my ear in the most annoyingly hot way possible.

Not that it was that hot, I just mean that his breath was way too hot, and the weather outside wasn't exactly cold, so his body heat wasn't exactly helping my case.

Needless to say, my whole body floods with even more heat than usual. I huff, although I still step aside for him to get my viola. "Yeah, sure."

Inside I'm quite happy that he offered to help me (really considerate of him), but on the outside the only proof is that I'm flushed red.

I seriously hope nobody sees that, although I am really sure that it's pretty dang obvious to anyone who dares to look at this unsuspecting, innocent, and conniving girl.

There have been few times that I have hoped that nobody cared about me, but this has certainly been one of them.

I look to my left to avoid looking at him, but still smile as the familiar tearing leather handle of my viola case meets my hand. After that, Ikuto goes to grab his own violin which, noticeably, is next to where my viola used to be.

"Stay after you're doing whatever with my sister, we're going to practice." He looks at me over his shoulder as he walks away, "The other two should already be there by the time that you are done doing whatever it is that you're trying to do." He pushes open the heavy door that connects the orchestra room directly to the outdoor freedom and quickly slinks out.

I sigh. I wonder how my day became so very packed without my knowledge. It's almost as though the only one that doesn't know my schedule is me, which kind of sucks.

You know, because it's my schedule, and I kind of have other things to do. Of course, this may come as a surprise to some. It seems that most people simply assume that I have no life.

I do have a life. It just doesn't seem to include too many parties and is too packed with other people's problems and things that I don't care about, random stalking that I didn't even know that I was doing and more random information on random people that I, honestly, don't want to know the deepest darkest secrets of.

That's right, I really couldn't care less about the personal information of all of these people.

I shrug my bag farther up my shoulder before finally following after Ikuto to the outside world. The heat hits me in a single wave, and I rush to find my car (wherever I ended up parking it before Kukai had ran over to me this morning) before I start melting.

For a moment I feel like I'm failing.

"Yo! Hinamori!" Kukai is running over to me excitedly, although I can tell that the heat is affecting him, too. He's panting slightly more than usual, and his whole body looks like it has been painted a light pink.

I sigh. "Hi Kukai," I quickly wipe some sweat off of the top of my brow, "Do you remember where I parked my car?"

And yes, I do realize that it's very inconsiderate to ask someone where I parked my car, but I'm kind of desperate right now.

He grins, though. "Yeah. Actually, I was wondering if you could give me a ride, too. I have to go to Ikuto's – you know where that is, right? – to get tutored by some people. Supposedly it's a group of people there, too, who are tutors, and a bunch of them are going to be there anyway because of a music group with Ikuto."

I sigh, but nod. "Yeah, sure Kukai. I have to head over there to tutor Utau, anyway."

He grins. "You're the best, Hinamori!" Then he gives me a hug that I, honestly, could've done without.

Actually, I much rather would've gone without that hug.

I sigh. 'Yeah, no problem Kukai."

Then he looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Right! Anyway, I know where your car is, so just follow me!"

And so I do because, honestly, I'm literally melting through my sweat. And yes, I do realize that that should be impossible because of the excretory system and all of that jazz, but really?

It isn't natural to sweat this much.

Kukai leads me over to a spot near the soccer field where, thankfully, my car is waiting for me under the cover of a tall tree.

I laugh. Of course, it's because the heat is getting to me and I was literally thinking about attempting to write my will in a few minutes before I died from heat exhaustion or something, no joke.

…

Okay, so maybe a little of a joke.

The two of us drive in silence for the first half of the short ride to the Tsukiyomi household. Then, he decides to break the silence.

"How did Utau know?" He's looking at me, although he knows that I cannot look back and, furthermore, that I doubtlessly am as clueless as she.

"Dunno," I say, focusing on the road. He doesn't talk to me any more after that, and we just allow silence to surround us (which must annoy him to no end) until I pull up at the Tsukiyomi house.

Utau answers the door. "Amu!" She screeches before dragging me inside and leaving Kukai outside. "Yaya is busy talking to Kairi so, while we wait for her, let's just go upstairs into my room and get started."

I know what she means as soon as she says that, and mentally prepare myself.

You know, cause this, like so many other things this day seem to, sucks.

"Alright," I say before dejectedly following her up the stairs. I don't really know if I'm happy that the heat didn't kill me right now.

Actually, I'm kind of hoping that it would've just to spare me and Utau the trouble of a murder.

We get into her room and she slams the door behind me.

"You know, I can't believe that I didn't know it was you as soon as I got those pictures from Ikuto," she looks at me warily."I mean, of course he would've told you. The two of you were probably even watching me when I was on television. You probably even saw me professing my love to my brother."

The blush on my cheeks tells her that she's right.

She sighs. "But I didn't. I mean, I thought that you wouldn't know that much about me. That's the whole point of being untouchable. Nobody's supposed to touch you with their hands, feet, feelings, or a ten-foot pole. So how did you know that I liked him?"

She stops and sighs, giving me the chance to interrupt her rant.

"I didn't," I say. "I mean, I thought that it could be true, but—" I look at her.

"But what?"

"How could I know for sure? I didn't exactly know you well enough to read you like a book. I just kind of guessed and, apparently, I was right." I smirk at her.

She gasps. "Oh! You are such a little freak!" She screams before lunging at me. Only, I dodge her easily.

"Now, you answer me. If you didn't find out because I was your brother's old girlfriend, how did you find out?"

She smiles sheepishly. "Just because I'm no good at math doesn't mean I'm stupid. That note you put out addressed to everyone who got a letter never made it out because I got it."

What note addressed to everyone? At first, I'm confused, but then I remember the note that I wrote just after sending off a note to my little sister.

"Alright?"

She laughs. "So, it was the only note you wrote by hand. For all of the other ones, or at least the one that I got, you had made some sort of effort that efficiently kept people from checking your handwriting against other samples. Only, this one you forgot to do. I was completely stumped at first. I mean, I could tell that it was your natural handwriting. Ikuto-" I cringe as she says his name "-has forged enough documents for me to tell the difference, but I couldn't match it to anything."

I tilt my head as a sign to continue.

Now she smirks. "Then Yaya brought me a note that you had written in Language Arts. She said that the handwriting was yours, but she thought it looked familiar from somewhere else, too, so she brought it over to me. By that time, we both knew that more just one person had gotten a letter."

As this sinks in, I narrow my eyes at Utau. "So did you tell Yaya?"

She grins, "No."

I sigh in relief.

"But," she continues, "if you don't give my brother a second chance at whatever it is he wants a second chance at, everybody will know. I'll post it out there, or something. Your dirty little secret won't be much of a secret anymore."

I sigh. "Alright. I'll give him a chance," I say. I would've given him a chance, anyway.

She doesn't need to know that, though.

"Alright! Now, let's go find Yaya before she starts wondering where we went off to!" Utau is grinning again, no sign that she'd just blackmailed me evident.

But I know she did, so I just narrow my eyes at her.

She swings the door open, only to find Nagihiko on the other side. I'm not nearly as surprised as Utau is, though—he has the light steps of a dancer.

"Yaya is ready," he nods at us before winking at me. "You should tell Utau to keep your secrets quieter. Someone may find it out someday by just walking by if she keeps saying it that loud."

I glare at Utau as she runs away downstairs.

I groan. That girl will be the death of me, yet (but only if the heat doesn't get to me first).