VI

The student council's 'building' was actually a large greenhouse, about the size of a baseball diamond. Just standing outside of it made Amu feel like she was in a different realm. Through the clear glass, Amu could see a bunch of greenery, which in retrospect, seemed obvious. It was a greenhouse, after all.

Tadase pulled the doors open casually like it was just any other building, which it technically was for him, and gestured for Amu to go in. The inside was even more astonishing than the outside. Various types of colourful flowers and plants lined the walkway. Following the walkway, Tadase and Amu came to a round table. All five chairs were occupied by someone except two. Only one face looked familiar. Actually... Amu's eyes met with a familiar looking pair of brown eyes, but quickly looked away, suddenly feeling...weird.

"Tadase, you're late." a calm, soft voice said. The voice belonged to a petite looking blonde with a deadpan expression, her brown eyes boring holes through both Tadase and Amu.

"Sorry, Mashiro-san," Tadase responded, bowing slightly as he made his way to one of the empty chairs. Amu followed behind awkwardly.

"I hope the person who followed you isn't some fangirl." the same girl, Mashiro, as Tadase called her, said sipping some tea. "I'd rather not get yelled at for being the only girl in this council."

Tadase laughed, shaking his head. "No, no. Everyone, this is Hinamori Amu-chan. She just transferred here a week ago."

He gestured to Amu, who, caught slightly off guard, just gave them a cold look and said, "Yo. Nice to meet you."

"Hey, it's Feisty!" the only familiar face, Kukai, exclaimed happily, almost bouncing out of his seat, ready to get friendly with Amu. "I knew you'd come!"

"I told you not to call me that!" Amu grumbled angrily, earning an amused laugh from Kukai, and a slightly less amused, but amused nevertheless, laugh from Tadase, too.

Everyone introduced themselves, upon Tadase's request. The blonde who had spoken first was Mashiro Rima. Next to her was Fujisaki Nagihiko, who Amu could not look in the eye properly because his sleek indigo hair and brown eyes looked too familiar and it was making her queasy. He claimed that Rima was hard to get along with, but would open up with time. This earned a glare from the short girl.

Then, of course, there was the energetic, sporty, Kukai, whom Amu had met this morning. He seemed friendly enough. Almost like the annoyingly endearing older brother type. He'd apparently known Tadase the longest, despite the age and grade difference.

Amu dipped her head slightly after hearing everyone's introductions. "Well, like I said. Nice to meet you."

She was almost tempted to leave after hearing everyone's introductions. However, Tadase told her to sit next to Rima, and Amu knew she had no excuse out now. She sighed slightly but sat down regardless. Tadase sat in the seat adjacent to her. On the other side of Amu, she felt Rima staring intensely at her, probably judging her critically.

However, she was more focused on judging both Amu and Tadase together. Amu was already trying to decide what to do with her limbs to keep them from brushing against Tadase. She felt extremely uncomfortable suddenly. As if the familiar lad wasn't troublesome enough for her, she remembered she was sitting between to a really pretty boy and now a seemingly very judgmental girl.

"Hmm…what is this I sense?" she asked, suddenly interested as she noticed Amu's face already lighting up. "Could it be…?"

Tadase jumped in before Rima could finish the sentence, clearly already understanding the situation. "Nope. Mashiro-san, there's nothing going on! We just met! We're only friends. Right, Amu-chan?"

Amu's face was burning. "R-right! No feelings what so ever. Just friends!"

Rima stared at Amu for a bit longer, but eventually shrugged and continued drinking her tea calmly. "Need I remind you that's exactly what you said when you brought Saaya in. I've got my eyes on you. Both of you."

Amu stared at her for a bit before mumbling. "I hope she isn't always this nosey when it comes to friendships between a girl and a guy..."

Tadase happened to hear and laughed quietly. "Unfortunately, she is. But, you learn to get used to it."

"Ah… I see…" Amu replied. Note to self: don't talk to or about any guys around her.

"Anyways!" Nagihiko said, trying to change the subject. Amu wasn't sure if he knew Rima was glaring at him or not. "Hotori-kun, shouldn't we start this meeting before it gets too late?"

"Ah, right. Has everyone collected their list of complaints, requests, or ideas from the students?"

The three other members looked at some papers in front of them. Amu played with her hands, not having anything to offer. Besides maybe some remarks about Yamabuki Saaya, which would not be pleasant. Rima and Nagihiko both spoke at the same time, causing Rima to shoot another glare at Nagihiko...which somehow ended in an argument.

"Uhm…I take it they don't like each other much?" Amu questioned.

Across the table, Kukai laughed. "It's the opposite actually. They both like each other. They just refuse to accept it, or express it."

Amu's head was spinning with all this confusing information. Tadase just nodded in agreement. Is that what people called a love-hate relationship? Amu laughed nervously, watching as both Rima and Nagihiko glared at Kukai.

"I do not like him/her!" they shouted at the same time.

They glared at each other again, and Amu could almost see the electric charge it caused. Then they both looked away with a loud, exaggerated huff. The tension was so thick you couldn't cut it with a butter knife. Tadase imitated Amu's nervous laugh and tried to continue the meeting.

Despite it being just a student council meeting, there were a few things that caused Amu to laugh, inadvertently showing her inner self who just wanted to have fun. Despite telling Tadase she had no plans of making friends, she quickly made friends with Nagihiko, despite the Deja Vu like feeling he gave, and Kukai seemed pretty fun too. Before she knew it, the meeting was adjourned, and everyone started to filter out of the green house, waving to each other as they went their different ways.

"See, Amu-chan!" Tadase said as they walked home. "I told you you'd make friends."

Amu pursed her lips and shrugged. "Well, whatever." She paused, slowing down slightly. Something had been bothering her all meeting. "Hey…Tadase-kun?"

Tadase looked back, noticing she'd fallen behind slightly. "What is it, Amu-chan? Is something wrong?"

"Does Naghiko-kun have any siblings…? Like…a twin sister?"

"A sibling…?" Tadase pondered the thought. "I don't think he's ever mentioned it. Why?"

Amu hesitated, digging around in her bag. "He looks a lot like my old best friend from my old school."

After a couple seconds and a small 'aha' sound, she pulled out her phone and opened it. The lock screen was already the picture she was looking for. A photo of her old friends. She handed the phone to Tadase, who examined the photo curiously.

The photo was that of Amu and three other teens and preteens. Amu was in the middle, while the others were around her, attempting various silly poses. There was a redheaded girl with her hair in pigtails was giving Amu bunny ears on the right of her. Next to the redhead was a serious looking boy with teal hair, who seemed to be trying too hard to make a silly face, as if it wasn't in his personality to do anything but look serious. Finally, on the other side of Amu, with their arms wrapped around each other, was a girl with long indigo hair pulled up in an elegant ponytail, who indeed looked very familiar to Tadase as well.

"You mean the one with the indigo hair, right?" he squinted slightly at the screen when Amu nodded. "They do look very similar."

Amu took her phone back, a sad expression on her face. "Her name is Nadeshiko. Usually, we'd call her Nade though." she sighed slightly. "I haven't talked to her in a while…"

"Well, I get where you're coming from," Tadase said as he continued walking. "She does look a lot like Fujisaki-kun."

After staring at the photo for a bit longer, Amu put her phone back in her bag. For a second, she just walked behind Tadase in silence before quickly realizing something else. "Ah! That's right! Nagihiko-kun's surname is Fujisaki!"

Tadase nodded, looking at Amu once more. "Yes, it is. Why? Was that this Nadeshiko-san's surname too?"

Amu nodded slowly, taking long strides to catch up with Tadase. "Yes,…it's weird. Do you think it's a coincidence?"

Tadase shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not the best person to ask, though. He's a very secretive person. You should talk to him about it instead."

Amu smiled slightly and bobbed her head in another nod. If she could bring up enough courage, maybe she'd try and ask him later. She looked around. "Oh. All this talking and we're already back at our meeting place. You don't have to walk me all the way. It's not too far."

Tadase gave Amu a worried look when he also realized where they were. "Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't mind walking you all the way…"

Amu shook her head, her stubborn side peeking through. "Don't worry about me, Mr Goody-Two-Shoes. It's only one more block."

Tadase looked like he wanted to complain, but didn't bother. Instead, he just nodded. "Alright. Be careful though, okay? I don't care how paranoid you act, as long as you get back safe."

Amu rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. See you later."

With a wave of her hand, she jogged in the direction of her house. Tadase gave her fleeting body a wary look, but nevertheless, turned around to head to his house, glancing over his shoulder every so often to check on her. He secretly prayed to whichever god would listen that Amu got home okay.

Amu thankfully arrived home without incident. She wasn't in the mood to get used to random attacks on her way back from school. Not today. She entered her house, and closed the door behind her, letting out a sigh of relief. After removing her shoes and replacing them with her pink slippers (to match her pink room), she called out her return to whoever was in the house to listen.

Ami, Amu's little sister, was the first person to greet her, running down the stairs with her usual hyper active demeanour. "Onee-chan! Welcome home~ You got a letter!"

"A letter…?"

Amu furrowed her brow curiously. A letter? From whom? Could it be from an old friend? No; she had all of their phone numbers, so they could've just texted or called her if they wanted to contact her... Ami was tugging on her sleeve impatiently, dragging her from her thoughts.

"...envelope with your name on it and everything!" she was saying. "Come on!"

Reluctantly, she let Ami attempt to drag her up the stairs and into her bedroom. Indeed, there was an envelope. It was placed neatly on her pillow, though Amu had no idea if it just magically appeared, or if someone had put it there. Ami was currently pointing to the envelope.

"See, see!" she exclaimed perhaps too happily, causing Amu to roll her eyes.

Ami really had no sense of danger or worry whatsoever. Amu shook her head in dismay and reached for the envelope, unsure what to expect. Unfortunately for her, it was not from any of her old friends. Rather, she wished it was. It definitely wasn't a very pleasing letter, either. She stared at the contents of the letter in both awe and horror, completely speechless.

A/N: Here's another chapter for you guys. I hope you're all enjoying this. I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. Reviews are appreciated as well as constructive criticism/ideas.