It was clear to Van Fanel and the rest of the senior class that at the beginning of the term, Hitomi Kanzaki was not the same girl that she had been three years previously. Hitomi was not the same girl he had fallen in love with in their freshman year.

His friend spent a moment looking at the picture, playing with the edges before flipping it over and squinting at the muddled print. He finally seemed to decipher it, and a grin broke out across his face.

He said he had missed her, and Hitomi wondered where she had gone to make him say such a thing.

AU: Van is no Price Charming and Hitomi, a local merchant's daughter, is far from Cinderella. But when Hitomi's father strikes a deal to marry her off...