A/N: I was tempted to have another look into the world of Hikari art, but I had to tell this story first.

Disclaimer: Just enjoying the chance to post this, not make anything from it.


For the first half hour of the drive, they said nothing to each other. Harada-san leaned towards the window, staring out at the passing scenery in pensive silence, and he tried to focus on the words of the history book he had brought with him for the school trip.

Although the other students made an endless tide of noise with their conversations and goofing around, he still heard when Harada-san finally murmured, "Sometimes I think you should just move away. Go somewhere nobody knows you. Get a little studio apartment and a new job and a new name. Start over, without any of the problems you have here."

He shifted his gaze to her without turning his face from the book, but she only stared out the window, her expression lax.

"But then..." She sighed and sat upright, then turned to look at him with a faint smile. "I'd miss you too much. So I don't really want that. It's selfish, isn't it?"

"You are a very selfish creature," he agreed, but the expected reproof did not come. She merely smiled a little more at him, then looked back out the window.