Sdrive: Disclaimer.
A/N: And for those of you who have known me since the beginning of my fic career, the famous Blue Book makes a Cameo. Also, sorry for the late update. I couldn't upload the document into FFN for some reason.
Two days had passed since the fight in the hallway. Kokuro and Sonomi hadn't seen each other and they couldn't have even cared. Kokuro was lying in his bed sleeping, it was almost noon, when his PDA went off. He turned over to grab it and read the message.
Please meet me outside our dorm. Mia.
Kokuro let out an annoyed sigh and replied with, "If Sonomi is there then forget it."
A few minutes later he got his reply. She's not. It'll just be you and me.
Kokuro dragged himself out of bed to go meet her. She was sitting by the front steps of the dorm when he got to her. "What's up?" he asked.
"I just want to spend some time with you," she said getting up taking his hand. "Come on."
They went off to start walking and for a while, walked in silence. Kokuro enjoyed holding her hand, and it seemed to relax some of the tension he had built up the previous few days. As they walked they saw a bunch of girls walking around with skirts in plastic bags, each matching the color of the dorm they were in, some darker, while others were lighter.
"What's with the dresses?" he asked.
"They're getting ready for Parent's night," she said. "Us girls that have been measured have to pick up our dresses today or wait for them to be delivered the morning before. Come to think of it, have you picked out a date yet?"
"No," he replied.
"Have you even gotten measured?" she asked.
He nodded, "I felt I should at least look good for my parents."
"Well that's good," she said.
He looked down at her and he finally couldn't hold it in any longer, "I don't like the fact that you haven't smiled once since we met up," he said.
"I can't smile any longer," she said looking down.
"Why not?" he asked.
"My heart is broken," she said softly.
"Did your boyfriend break up with you?" he asked as his eyebrow rose.
"Worse," she said. "My best friends hate each other. I haven't been able to smile since you two started fighting; at least not real ones. Sonomi hasn't smiled either."
"As if she ever really did," he said scoffing.
"Cut it out!" she yelled at him tightening the grip on his hand.
"Great, she's turned you against me," he said annoyed.
"No one's turned me against you, or her, you both are turning yourselves against each other. You may not care to realize it but it's destroying all of us! What will it take to get you both to realize that?" she screamed in frustration before breaking down in tears.
"I didn't do anything wrong," he said releasing her hand and rubbing her shoulders. "She's the one with the problem…"
"Who cares!" Mia yelled. Kokuro began to talk but she cut him off, "I don't care who's at fault, who started it, or anything! I want things back the way they were! I'm not saying you have to go back to being a Ra, but I don't want you and her fighting all the time!"
"She has to stop blaming me for everything that's happened," he said.
"And you have to stop being so stubborn!" she said not yelling, but still frustrated. "You keep saying she has to stop, she keeps saying you have to stop. One of you has to realize it sooner or later or else you'll hate each other forever."
"I don't like fighting with her anymore than you do," he said. "And I don't hate her…" he said getting depressed. "I'm just so fed up with her thinking I'm a slacker. Deep down though…if it came down to it…I'm sure I'd protect her with my life…"
"Then talk to her!" Mia begged. "Say you're sorry, say you'll keep in contact with her, say you love her! I don't care what you say just say something!"
"I'm not sorry, I'll keep in contact with her if she wants to, and I certainly don't love her," he answered with annoyance in his last words.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
"Yo…you have a boyfriend," he said shocked.
"Details," she said looking into his eyes. "Do you love me? As a friend or more is irrelevant; Do. You. Love me?"
He stuttered before finally answering, "Yes," he looked down.
"Then do this for me," she said. "If you value my friendship, then please do this."
"I…I'm not sure I can…" he said upset.
"If you don't do this, I won't be able to look at either of you without being broken hearted. I love both of you, from the bottom of my heart. Combined I love you both more than my boyfriend. You need to realize this, I've tried to talk Sonomi out of it, she's won't budge. You're my…no, our last hope. If you don't do this, I can't say what will happen."
"If Sonomi's not willing to compromise with you then there's obviously nothing I can do about it," he said.
The words hung there for a minute before Mia quietly said, "So you're not even going to try."
"I'm afraid I don't see the point in fighting a losing battle," he said sadly. "This isn't like a game of Duel Monsters…this is life."
"Then I guess it's really over," she said a little stunned.
"I don't want to lose you as a friend," he said. "Please don't leave me like Sonomi did."
"I won't leave you," she said. "But I can only go so far before I break."
Kokuro looked down at the ground. He began shivering as he spoke, "Would…would you be my date to Parent's Night?" he asked.
She looked at him and sighed, "I have a date to decide my date," she replied quietly.
"Huh?" he asked.
"Don't worry about it," she said. "If things don't work out, I'll message you and let you know." She headed off in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I need to go lie in bed and cry," she said bluntly. "After all this time, I thought I wouldn't have to cry again, but you two have pushed me too far."
"I am sorry, if for nothing else, than that I hurt you."
"You didn't intentionally hurt me," she whispered. "I was just a victim." She walked off and left Kokuro to stand there by himself feeling like the worst person in the world.
After a while, he began to head back towards the Obelisk dorm. As he walked, Yaku found him and ran over to him, "Hey, I have a friend of mine that I would love for you to duel," he said. "Truth is, he used to beat me all the time and even though I'm better than him now, I want him to face off against you so you can pound him into the dirt. So, wanna help out your buddy."
Kokuro glanced over at him, and then looked forward again, "I could vent some anger right now," he said simply.
"Oook," Yaku said.
Kokuro was in the lead of the duel, he had 5200 Life Points and his opponent had 3400 Life Points. Kokuro had his Skilled Black Magician on the field while his opponent had nothing but a face down card. "Skilled Black attack!" he called out. The Skilled Black Magician shot a black magic beam at the opponent hitting him. O.B: (1500) "My turn is over," he said.
The Obelisk drew, "I activate Black Hole," he announced as a black vortex appeared in the center of the field and sucked Kokuro's Skilled Black Magician and his face down Apprentice Magician in. "Now I'll summon D.D. Warrior Lady," he announced as a woman in black clothes appeared on the field holding a light sword. (1500/1600) "Attack Kokuro!" he called out.
The woman vanished and suddenly struck Kokuro in the back with her light sword making his knees slightly fold underneath him. Ko: (3700) "Not bad," Kokuro said.
"I'll set one under the table and end," he said as the brown backed card appeared on the field.
"My move," Kokuro said drawing the card. When he looked at it he was astonished, 'It's…Kuriboh,' he thought looking at it. 'But I didn't hear anything, not even a faint cry like last time. I didn't sense it at all.' As he stood there in shock two thoughts began running through his head.
Kokuro was stunned, "Yes! How do you know about that?"
Yugi simply chuckled, "I could just tell. Listen, what you are hearing, it's because you and someone close to you share a Friendship Spirit."
"A Friendship Spirit? What's that?"
"A Friendship Spirit only appears when two or more people share a great friendship with each other. Usually a Friendship Spirit represents a Duel Monster that each person likes very much."
"The Kuriboh's," Kokuro gasped.
"Is that your Friendship Spirit?" Yugi asked chuckling.
And then just earlier in the day with Mia.
"No one's turned me against you, or her, you both are turning yourselves against each other. You may not care to realize it but it's destroying all of us! What will it take to get you both to realize that?" she screamed in frustration before breaking down in tears.
"Mia…Mia was right," Kokuro said looking down at the small Kuriboh.
"What do you mean?" Yaku asked.
"Sorry guys," Kokuro said getting off the field. "I have something I have to check."
"We're in the middle of a duel," the other Obelisk said.
"Then I forfeit," Kokuro said clearing his disk not caring anymore. "I've got something more important to check on." He ran off leaving the two to just stand there bewildered.
At the Female Obelisk Dorm, Kokuro was being stared down by many female students, and he wasn't too happy about it. "Just what are you doing here?" one of them asked. "You may be new to this whole Obelisk thing, but there's a reason the girl's dorm is separate."
"I'm sorry," Kokuro said getting nervous before his face turned serious, "but I have to get in there and speak with Akuma."
"Just because you beat her in that duel doesn't mean you get to go in there and have your way with her," the girl said.
"Why does everyone think stuff like that about me?" he practically shouted in frustration.
"Don't take it wrong," another girl said. "But all guys are like that, even if they are hotties."
Kokuro wasn't sure if she was calling him a hottie or not but he also didn't have time to care, "I just need to talk to her for thirty seconds," he said. "You can guide me to her room if you want, you can spy on me the entire way, you can even tie me up, handcuff me, whatever, to make sure I'm not doing anything, but it's really important that I see her."
"I don't think he's lying," the second girl said.
The first girl looked at him for a moment and it took Kokuro a moment to realize where he had seen her face before. She was the girl he had caught putting her shirt on, 'Oh please don't be a mind reader,' he thought as silently as he could.
She glared at him for a moment before sighing, "Fine, but you better make it quick." She said.
"Thank you," he said bowing.
"But I'm going to accompany you," she said.
"Alright," he said as she led him into the dorm. As they were walking he asked, "So, what's your name?"
"Rataiga," she answered giving him a look. "Why?" she asked.
"No reason," he said looking down praying that he wasn't going red.
"Are you hiding something from me?" she asked.
"Nope, nothing at all," he said nervously.
She would have pressed more but they were already at Akuma's room. She knocked on the door and waited for the answer. A few seconds later Akuma walked out and was startled to see the two of them there. "Kokuro?" she asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"You have thirty seconds," Rataiga said.
"Thirty seconds for what?" Akuma asked.
"I need to know," Kokuro said stepping up to her, "that book you told me about, did it mention anything about Friendship Spirits?"
"Friendship Spirits?" Akuma asked as she thought about it for a moment.
"Twenty seconds," Rataiga said.
"If it did, I need to borrow it, it's an emergency," he said with seriousness in his voice.
"Fifteen," Rataiga said.
"Oh will you shut up!" Kokuro yelled shocking her.
"Come to think of it," Akuma said acting as though nothing had happened. "I think it did. Let me go grab it," she said as she walked into her room. She went to her bookshelf and found it next to a blue book titled, "The Big Blue Book of Anger Management." Completely ignoring the blue book, she grabbed the Duel Spirit book and went back out to find Kokuro arguing with Rataiga.
"No, she went to get me something, I'm not leaving," he said to her.
"I believe this is what you're looking for," Akuma said handing him the book.
Kokuro gave a small smile as he looked at it, and then up at Akuma bowing, "Thank you, I'll return it later."
"No rush," she smiled. Rataiga began leading Kokuro out when Akuma called out, "Oh and by the way." Kokuro turned to look at her curiously, "The spirits say they don't hold anything against you, they were happy with the outcome."
Kokuro, for the first time in days, smiled and nodded. Rataiga pulled on his sleeve and lead him out of the dorm. "I don't want to see you around here unless you're returning that book," she said.
"Fine," he agreed. He walked off and she went back into her dorm.
It was a little later, and Kokuro was sitting inside of his room looking through the book. For some reason the book didn't have a table of contents, which he thought was extremely odd. He learned quite a bit about Duel Spirits as he skimmed the book looking for anything that had to do with Friendship Spirits. Finally he found a chapter a bit past the middle of the book.
Friendship Spirits.
Friendship Spirits are a lot more complicated to understand than regular Duel Spirits. So therefore not much is known about them; however it should be noted that since they are spirits none the less, they should be studied. There are some basic rules to these unique Spirits that are understood. First and foremost, Friendship Spirits don't appear to everyone, and aren't always in the form of Duel Monsters, though for some reason, they are most commonly being talked of as being Duel Monsters.
What is meant by 'being talked of,' is where things get complicated. Everything in this small section has been learned through interviews. As the first basic rule, it appears that Friendship Spirits can only be seen by two people, or occasionally, a group of people that all have a very strong interest. This means that a person with a Duel Spirit can not see the Friendship Spirit, and it would also seem that unless a person in the group is gifted, they can not see Duel Spirits. That is what makes this section complicated. We have gathered together as many interviews as we could, and we have first put together what seems to be the most common among our interviews as the basic rules for a Friendship Spirit. We then go into some other separate aspects of them that we got from interviews that could be interpreted in quite a few ways.
First off, As said earlier, only people with a great friendship with each other can see Friendship Spirits. That is the foremost rule. Over every interview, we were told that these people would do anything for those they had their Friendship Spirit with. However this isn't always the case.
In a few interviews, it was revealed that some of the people that heard the spirits, weren't great friends immediately, but as their time together went on, they're spirits became clearer, as did their friendship. So it is quite obvious that the bigger the friendship, the clearer the spirit is. Some people said that it looked like nothing more than a floating spirit, while others said they were as clear and real as a KaibaCorp. Hologram. And to one group, they said they could even touch their spirit, even though no one outside of the group could see it.
We have to come to the conclusion that as the friendship grows, so does the spirit. This leads us to believe that the positive energy released in friendship with one another fuels the existence of these spirits. It also leads us to believe that the opposite is also true. A lack of positive energy, can in turn weaken a spirit, and in a sense starve it. Though we could not understand how a break in friendship later on would warrant the ability to even obtain a spirit earlier in a friendship, it is the most likely course of action. If a friendship was to break completely, but then come back together overtime, it is unsure of what would happen to the spirit. Would the spirit be visible to only those who stayed friends, if it were a group, or would it be gone forever? These questions are, at best, unclear.
It went on but Kokuro had the information he needed, 'My fight with Sonomi truly is destroying us,' he thought weakened. 'But not just us, but our Kuriboh's as well.' His legs felt wobbly, and if he weren't sitting he was positive he would have collapsed. 'I don't want to do that to my Kuriboh…to Cinnamon,' he thought pulling out his deck and taking his Kuriboh and Hane Kuriboh out. 'Come on guys, give me a sign, show me it's not too late. I don't want to keep fighting with Sonomi if it means I don't get to see you guys any longer.'
Kokuro stared at the cards, and heard the faintest of noises as a thought of him, Sonomi, and Mia ran through his head. 'They're not gone!' he thought getting excited. 'But why not?' he asked himself. 'Not that I'm complaining, but it doesn't make any sense.' The very faint spirit of Kuriboh appeared in front of him and touched his head before vanishing. In that small moment, Kokuro had a memory of Mia run through his head. 'Of course,' he thought. 'Mia is still trying to hold on, she's still trying to be friends with both of us. She's the only reason we haven't lost them.'
Kokuro stood up with new determination, 'I have to do something.'
"Master Kaiba will see you now," the secretary told Kokuro. He nodded and walked in slowly and nervously.
"You'll have to make this short Samé," Kaiba said. "I'm busy with something important."
"Forgive me," he said walking over to the desk.
Kaiba raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kokuro. Kokuro was in his grey shirt and blue jeans, he had his Obelisk Blue uniform hung over his shoulder, "Why aren't you in uniform?" he asked. "Granted it is vacation so you're not required to wear it, but if you're going to come into my office, you should at least look professional."
"Well, quite frankly, I've come to return it," he said placing it on Kaiba's desk before sitting down.
"You're what?" Kaiba asked raising his eyebrow once more.
"Master Kaiba, I am truly honored that you think I am Obelisk Blue material. I don't want you to think for a second that I'm ungrateful, or that I'm not ready. When I accepted it, I truly believed that I was able to handle the consequences, and I still do…to an extent?"
"And what extent is that?" Kaiba asked.
"I didn't count on it destroying my two best friends," he said seriously.
"What do you mean by that?" Kaiba asked.
"Ever since I told Mia and Sonomi about my upgrade, Sonomi and I have fought constantly. We can't even look at each other without thinking ill of each other. That's not what I wanted when I became an Obelisk."
"So all because of Hinote, you're going to give up your rank?"
"It's slightly more complicated than that," Kokuro said, "But when you get right down to it…yes. Her and Mia."
"Mr. Samé, I can't make you choose to stay in Obelisk Blue, but let me make this perfectly clear for you," Kaiba said holding his head up with his hands and staring right at Kokuro. "If you choose to go back to Ra Yellow, you will not be allowed to move back into Obelisk Blue until next year. Even if you were to pass the third quarterly exam, you would be unable to advance. Are you seriously willing to give up your rank as an Obelisk Blue, just for your two friends in Ra? One of which doesn't even like you any longer?"
Kokuro took a deep breath, "I expected this to happen, and I told myself that no matter what, I wanted to go back into Ra Yellow," he said. "As long as I can be placed back into the same room, I want to go back to Ra Yellow."
"What if I can't allow you back into that room?" Kaiba asked. "Will you stay in Obelisk?"
"I'll find some way to work it out. If I can't be admitted into that room the legal way, then I'll be in that room the illegal way," Kokuro said determined. 'Oh man, I can't believe I just said that,' he thought nervously. 'And why the hell would I tell him this! Kokuro, that was dumb…even for you.'
"You're obviously very determined," Kaiba said staring at him. "However, I can't allow you making threats like that to me. That is disobedience and can not be tolerated in this school."
Kokuro looked down and sighed, "I understand."
"I should ship you out right now," Kaiba said glaring. "Unfortunately, for me, your Parent's have already purchased their Parent's Night tickets. And my rules state that they can not be refunded unless they, for whatever reason, are unable to make it and can't find a donor for their tickets. So, it would appear that I'm left in quite a situation aren't I?" he asked. "In order to be fair to your parents, I would have to let them come to Parent's Night and then take you home that night."
"Where do you want me to stay until Parent's Night?" Kokuro asked grimly.
"Not so fast," Kaiba said. "It's not good to jump to conclusions." Kokuro looked up at him while Kaiba sat thinking intently. "Most parents come to Parent's Night because they think that they won't be seeing their kids for another semester, and the only reason you are being so rebellious is out of loyalty to your friends. Plus the fact that you never did turn in your key card, I can't honestly keep you out of that room."
"So, what are you planning?" he asked.
"I'm thinking that there is only one true way to settle this," Kaiba said. "You'll have an Exhibition Duel. Win, and you can stay in the Academy, back in your old room. Lose and your Parent's take you home come Parent's Night."
"So, all I have to do is win a duel?" he asked.
"It won't be that easy," Kaiba said. "Knowing your skills, I can't let it be a regular duel, so I'm going to make it a Double Duel with special modifications. You have one day, that's up until the duel Saturday to select your partner, if you can't find one before then, I'm going to assign you one. Whomever you choose will not be expelled should you lose, so you don't have to worry about that when making your decision. You should note that I'm not going to make it an easy team for you to defeat, so you should choose your partner wisely. Until then, I'm going to permit you access to your old room, seeing as how it's too short notice to find you a new room. Plus putting you up in the open room with Ritsuzen would probably lead to one of you killing the other, which is not such a great idea…unless you're killing Ritsuzen."
Kokuro had to smirk slightly at that, "I'm against killing…but he certainly deserves something along those lines."
"Seriously now, remember, you have until Saturday at twelve to find a partner."
"Yes sir," Kokuro said standing up slowly.
"You can access your Obelisk room once more to grab your things, and then your code will be deactivated."
"I won't need to, I already have my stuff in the office," he said.
"Very well." Kokuro began to exit the room, "Samé."
"Yes sir," he said looking over at Kaiba.
"I'm not supposed to say this, since it would be considered promoting your complete lack of respect to me…but for your sake I hope you win. Since you came around, I've obtained such a nice leash for Hikari," he said grinning.
Kokuro looked at Kaiba and chuckled a little, "thank you Master Kaiba."
As Kokuro exited Kaiba sat back in his chair sighing, 'I can't make exceptions to the rules, not even for you,' Kaiba thought to himself. 'I really hope you win this Samé, you're instrumental to my plans.'
Sonomi was laying on her bed, reading a book in peace. Mia went to the hot springs to relax and she was taking advantage of the quiet. Her peacefulness ended when there was a light tapping on the door. 'Mia must have forgotten her key card,' she thought as she went over and opened the door. As soon as she saw Kokuro's depressed face she glared, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I came back," he said slowly. His backpack was at his side, and his small suitcase was next to it.
"And what does that mean?" she asked angrily.
"I turned in my Obelisk uniform and told Master Kaiba that I wanted to come back to Ra Yellow."
"What!" she asked shocked. "Why in the world did you do that?"
He looked down at the ground, "I don't want to fight with you," he said almost in a whisper. "I don't want my being in Obelisk to break us up."
Sonomi gave off a small mock laugh and a roll escaped her eyes, "I don't know how to tell you this but I have no intention of being all buddy, buddy with you just because you turned in your blue jacket for a yellow one. You lost that chance a long time ago."
"You probably won't be seeing me for much longer anyway," he said.
"I'll admit that this move was certainly unexpected, and if I wasn't so pissed at you I'd say that it was almost admirable, but I really don't care about you any longer."
"I just need to borrow this room again until Saturday at twelve," he said.
"What happens then?" she asked annoyed.
"It's when I get kicked off the island," he replied.
Her eyebrow raised, "Kicked off the island?"
"When I was talking to Master Kaiba, I kind of went too far, and now I have a duel at twelve on Saturday to determine whether or not I get to stay at the Academy, or I get expelled."
"What did you say to him that got him as upset at you as I am?" she asked almost entertained.
"I told him that if I couldn't come back to this room through his way, I'd find a way to come back with you and Mia without him."
Her eye's widened a little, "You seriously said that."
"Something to that extent," he said. "He told me I'll be in a Double Duel with special modifications or something, and that I have one day to pick my partner, or else I get assigned one. Even though she wouldn't get expelled, I don't want to put Mia through it, and I don't necessarily want to ask Kazuki or Yaku, that would seem like cheating to me. And I know you wouldn't help me, you might have if we were still friends, but obviously you still hate me."
She stared coldly at Kokuro, 'He's so pitiful,' she thought. A moment passed before she said, "Get in."
He looked up but didn't say anything. He grabbed his things and walked into the room. He slid his stuff into his old bunk bed and sighed. "Thanks," he said.
"I can't say that I really want you to stay here," Sonomi said looking at him. "A huge part of me wants you kicked off this island, so I won't have to deal with you."
"I understand," Kokuro said softly.
"However…" He looked over at her and she sighed, "If I just let you get crushed without facing you once more, I would be taking the easy way out of dealing with our problem and would in turn be no better than you."
"What are you saying?" he asked her.
"Prepare your deck tonight," she said. "Make it the best you possibly can, because tomorrow at noon, I'm having my own Exhibition Duel with you."
"But why?" he asked. "It's a waste."
"I want to test your skills since we last faced off," she said. "I want to see just how strong you've truly become."
"It doesn't matter," Kokuro said looking down. "Come Saturday I'm probably going to be getting expelled anyway."
"Listen to me damnit!" she said slapping him hard in the face. He grabbed his cheek and looked at her with a mixture of shock and anger in his eyes. "Can you honestly say that either way you would be happy knowing you never tested your skills against me one last time?"
"It doesn't matter to me any longer," he said. "You and I both know it would be a duel full of anger. Neither of us would be playing for fun."
"Did we play for fun the last time we dueled?" she asked.
"Well…no," he said.
"Then look at it as me sizing you up, just like I did last time. I was being horrible to you then and it's the same now. Just don't expect me to go all soft like I did last time. You've hurt me Kokuro, more than I ever cared to admit."
Kokuro was stunned by what she said, "really?"
"Of course really," she yelled. "Other than Mia you were the only friend I had here."
"What about Katsu?" Kokuro asked.
"I didn't even know about her being here until the project. For the longest time I thought it was going to be us three here at the academy. And when you moved on, you made me remember everything I was taught; that friendship never lasts and if it does then it's obviously fake."
"Who in the world taught you that?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "The point is you made me believe it again, just as I was beginning to think it wasn't true."
"If you didn't have such crappy views on ranks…" Kokuro began.
"Excuse me for being myself Kokuro," she said. "Do you want me to go to repent? Don't expect me too because it's just who I am. You have your views just like I have mine. We don't agree on them and we probably never will; but what we can both agree on is that we dueled our hardest in what could be our final duel. We can prove ourselves to each other and through it, although we may not be friends in the end, we can still have a respect for each other as duelists."
Kokuro looked at her deeply for a moment before sighing, "I suppose having a respect for each other is better than nothing at all." He took a deep breath before looking at her again, "Fine then, we're on."
"Good," Sonomi said turning. "I've never told you this, but besides my responsibility to face you again to defeat you, I've always wanted to just because you were there."
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"Even though we were friends…I always felt that you were my rival. Someone whom I could truly push to their absolute best, someone who I knew would never duel anything less than they were capable of. I've always looked forward to the day we could match up in the arena again…and I'm going to get my wish."
"Maybe this duel won't be so bad after all," Kaiba said, his mood lightning ever so slightly.
"Maybe," she replied. She was about to go prepare her deck when she stopped and looked back. "Mia told me what you said to her; about how even though we're fighting you don't truly hate me, and that you'd even give your life for me."
"I did say that," Kokuro confirmed.
"…I don't hate you either," she finally admitted. "But you hurt me…and you hurt me badly. I can't just forget this kind of pain."
"I never thought my trying to be the best I could be would result in this," he sighed.
"And I never thought I would ever have a chance to find someone I could call my friend…I guess we're both wrong to an extent." She grabbed her deck, and walked out of the room.