XII

Tadase skidded around another corner. Somehow, now that he was being 'ignored' by Amu, the entire female school body wanted to know what happened and whether Tadase was looking for someone to 'replace' her. Of course, that involved chasing him, chanting and asking him to eat lunch with one of them. He spotted a set of doors ahead and ran towards them, closing them in the girls' faces and locking the door behind him, quietly apologizing to them out of sheer politeness.

He turned away from the door and sighed, figuring he was safe from the parade of girls. He briefly looked around to get his bearing before realizing where he had ended up. He was near the roof, which Tadase took as a good sign. If he just walked a bit further and turned the corner, the door to the roof would be just a few steps away. Perhaps Amu would be waiting there. Unfortunately, just as he took a step forward, Saaya abruptly appeared in front of him, almost causing him to jump and fall over.

"Hi, Tadase," she said in an innocent, 'cute' voice. "What happened to you and Hinamori-san? She's been ignoring you all day! How mean of her. Now you have no one to eat lunch with. I wonder…why is it you never eat lunch with your friends from the student council, though?"

Tadase tried for a smile. "They're busy people and their classes are quite far from mine, usually. I'd rather not bother them. But, ah, Saaya, w-what brings you here?"

Saaya smiled sweetly. "I just wanted to ask if you wanted to eat lunch with me instead."

Tadase exhaled sharply. He had to think of an excuse to get out of this. He did not want to deal with her right now. He knew that the fact that they'd already broken up didn't stop her from trying anything to win him back. She'd probably say something like 'well can't we just be friends?' if he even brought up the break-up. Tadase sighed. He might as attempt to bring it up anyways.

"Sorry Saaya," he said. "We broke up not too long ago, so I still feel a bit awkward. Plus, I have some work to do, and I like to work in a quiet space."

Saaya pouted. It almost made Tadase visibly cringe. "Aw, man. How about tomorrow then?"

Tadase hesitated. "Maybe. I-if something else doesn't come up. But being class president and being head of the student council calls for a lot of paperwork. I'm not sure if we'll be able to eat together any time soon." he looked around once more for an escape.

"Actually." A familiar voice said from behind Saaya. Tadase recognized the voice immediately and the pink hair gave it away. "I was about to ask Tadase-kun to eat lunch with me. I had a rough morning so I didn't want to deal with anyone, and that included Tadase-kun. Now I'm feeling much better, though! Isn't that great?"

Amu smirked smugly, wrapping an innocent arm around Saaya, who looked a mixture of confused and angry. Tadase looked surprised at first as well. Saaya was quick to shove Amu off of her quite forcefully, which just made Amu laugh.

"Oh, I know!" Amu said calmly. Her voice was laced with honey, but Tadase could also hear the venom seeping underneath as well. "Yamabuki-san, why don't you join us?"

"You…you…!" Saaya's teeth were clenched, and her fists furled. "You'll pay for this, Hinamori Amu! You don't even deserve to look at Tadase!"

With that, Saaya stomped off, grumbling to herself. Amu burst into laughter, clearly not fazed at all. Tadase, on the other hand, was a little apprehensive about Saaya's reaction. He turned to Amu, who was still doubled over laughing, walked closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Amu-chan," he said in his serious voice. Amu looked up slowly, settling down upon noticing Tadase's touch. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Amu shrugged. "I just wanted to make her think she'd won before giving her the shock of her life. Plus, what the hell was that about me not deserving to 'even look at' you? What kind of person doesn't deserve to look at someone? What kind of person doesn't deserve friends? Everyone deserves friends. She's just being an entitled little snob who thinks she's inferior to me."

Tadase stared at Amu for a bit, mildly concerned. After a minute, he reluctantly shrugged, figuring there was no point in arguing. Especially since Tadase agreed with Amu to an extent. Saaya did act inferior to everyone quite a bit. Especially when she started dating Tadase. He shook his head and sighed.

"Alright. Well, be careful, okay?" he said finally, dropping his arm from Amu's shoulder. "Let's eat before lunch ends. The roof is the closest place so let's go up there."

Amu nodded her head and followed Tadase to the roof, where they sat down and took their lunches out, getting them ready. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, perhaps both too focused on their own food. Or perhaps they were perfectly comfortable not talking and just being in each others presence. Finally, Tadase spoke up.

"Girls really are great at ignoring people, aren't they?" he said jokingly. "I was trying so hard not to talk to you until you talked to me, but you seemed to have it down pat."

Amu laughed, picking up a rice ball. "Okay, but come on. You have to admit that me appearing out of nowhere while Saaya was speaking to you was pretty cool. Her reaction was priceless."

Tadase shook his head in amusement. "Yeah, alright. I'll give you credit. You were very assertive. It was pretty badass. And that sugar-coated voice was so reminiscent of Saaya's voice all the time when she was trying to manipulate someone, it was scary."

"Except I'm much better than Saaya!" Amu added with a proud grin. "In every way!"

Tadase laughed. "Well, so far." he stole Amu's rice ball from her hands swiftly, grinning smugly. "I'm kidding. You're completely different than her. But thanks for this."

Amu whined slightly at Tadase's actions, ignoring his first comment and moving her lunch away from him so he didn't try to steal anything else. "Hey! You have your own lunch!"

She grabbed for the rice ball to get it back, but Tadase grabbed Amu's hand and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, giving a triumphant grin beforehand. Amu grumbled something along the lines of "you owe me something from your lunch now," while punching Tadase in the arm playfully. Before even finishing that mumbled sentence, she snatched his lunch from his lap, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I'm not giving this back until I find something I want," she announced, moving the box when Tadase tried to grab for it again.

She hummed slightly before stealing one of the tamagoyaki and taking a bite of it happily. She hummed in delight, wiggling happily. Tadase laughed, using Amu's euphoria as his chance to take his lunch back.

"You seem to like eggs," he noted once he had safely retrieved his bento.

Amu nodded happily, quickly finishing the tamagoyaki. Tadase shook his head at how fast Amu ate that before turning his attention back to his food. Amu was a peculiar person indeed. He picked up the other tamagoyaki inside his lunch and took a bite. He stayed silent for a second, chewing his food, before remembering something that happened the previous night.

"Ah, by the way. How is everything? I hurt your injured arm yesterday by accident didn't I?"

Amu looked over, now chewing on a venison sausage. "Hmm? My arm? Oh. It's fine. Don't worry." she rubbed her arm gently. "I checked it in the washroom when I was changing yesterday night, as well as earlier today and it looks fine."

Tadase smiled, relieved. "Good. Don't strain yourself too much, though, okay?"

Amu nodded. "I know. I got out of P.E for a month, so I should be fine."

"That's good." he paused momentarily before placing a hand on Amu's shoulder, suddenly serious. "Honestly, I kind of blame myself for your injuries. I just want to be sure you're okay."

Amu stared at Tadase incredulously, shaking her head quickly and waving her hands in front of her. "No, no, Tadase-kun! It's not your fault at all!"

Tadase sighed. "But it is my fault. She was my ex-girlfriend, I didn't think she would get that jealous, so I ended up leaving you thinking everything would be fine. If I hadn't have left you alone, maybe she wouldn't have had a chance to get near you. I'm sorry…"

"It's my fault, Tadase-kun!" Amu insisted, setting her lunch down in protest. "I should have seen her coming. If I was paying attention, I would've seen her coming and tried to fight back better. Those rumours weren't entirely false; I will fight someone if I have to. I know how to throw a few punches."

Things had gone quite awry. Tadase was disappointed that Amu thought it was her fault, and Amu was disappointed that Tadase thought it was his fault. Both were convinced they were at fault and neither could agree that it was possible it was neither of their faults. Amu was definitely the more stubborn of them.

"Amu-chan, even if you could fight, she had a knife!" Tadase's voice started to get louder as it took on a scolding tone. "You could have gotten even more hurt if you had fought back!"

Amu looked at Tadase, starting to get a little annoyed that Tadase didn't trust her fighting abilities. "Who are you to tell me I can't fight someone with a knife? A swift kick could've knocked the knife out of her hands easily. Plus I didn't even ask for you to protect me. I asked for support. Not…not whatever this is!"

"I'm not trying to protect you! I just don't need innocent people getting hurt because of Saaya!" Tadase was also getting agitated now, which ended up causing him to partially lie. "And even if I am protecting you, protecting is a form of supporting you. Unless you don't even want my support, now, either?"

Amu bit her lip, opting to stay quiet. Technically, Tadase described exactly what it meant to protect someone. Still, Amu had no idea how to answer such a question. Of course, she wanted Tadase's support. All she wanted was for Tadase to trust her a bit more, even if they only had known each other for a short time. Or at least agree that part of it was her fault.

Tadase, however, took Amu's silence as her agreeing that she no longer wanted his support and sighed. He grabbed his lunch and stood up, startling Amu, who was sulking to herself. He regretted everything he'd said, but didn't want to take it back. Especially since he did think it was his fault. Amu's expression already seemed angry, so there was no backing out now. He sighed once more and stomped off, failing to notice Amu reaching forward to reach for his arm weakly before quickly retracting it and placing it back into her lap.

Amu sighed, looking at the hand she was considering stopped Tadase with. How had things turned bad so quickly? Now she had no choice but to finish her lunch alone. She regretted yelling at Tadase and regretted making him mad. At the same time, though, she didn't know how to fix it. She was positive that it was her fault. At least part of it. There was no doubt that a lot of the blame went to Saaya too. This wasn't supposed to happen. The fight was supposed to be later, and it wasn't supposed to be real.

Amu packed up her lunch, but, despite knowing the bell was going to ring soon, just curled herself into a ball. She knew she couldn't cry, but she still felt bad about making Tadase mad. A little bit later, the door creaked open again and Amu almost hoped it was Tadase, coming back to apologize. She poked her head up from her knees to see, instead of the attractive blond like she was expecting, she was met with Rima and Nagihiko.

They were two people she would've never expected to come to talk to her, considering she barely even knew them. Rima looked like she had been forced to come up though. Nagihiko seemed to be arguing with Rima about something as the two walked. Rima's arms were crossed across her petite chest and there was an unpleasant frown plastered on her lips.

Amu stood up and slowly, hesitantly approached them. "Rima, Nagihiko-kun…what are you two doing up here?"

Nagihiko gave Amu a somehow comforting smile. "We ran into Hotori-kun on our way back to class. He told us what happened, he seemed really distressed. We, well I, figured you were still up here and dragged Rima-chan up with me to check on you, figuring a girl's presence would make you feel at ease." he leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Also, I think she's a bit worried about you. She just doesn't want to admit it."

Amu managed to get a chuckle out of that. "Well…that's very thoughtful, thank you both."

Nagihiko messed up Amu's hair gently. "I'm here to give a pep-talk. Rima-chan's here…well, to either yell at you, or help comfort you. Depends on her mood. Am I right Rima-chan?" he turned to the much shorter blonde, but only earned a jab in the side by her elbow.

Amu laughed slightly, which seemed to be Nagihiko's intentions in the first place. Nagihiko removed his hand from Amu's head. She still couldn't help but stare because of how similar he looked to Nadeshiko. It almost made her want to just open up about all of her problems to him.

"Amu-chan, do you feel…hurt?" Nagihiko asked abruptly. "By anything, anyone has said to you?"

Amu hesitated. "Well, if you're referring to Tadase-kun, he hasn't said anything to directly hurt me... Things just…got out of control. You said Tadase-kun told you what happened, so I'm sure you already know."

"We know you got into a small argument. But that's it." Rima piped in flatly.

Amu sighed slightly. She didn't want to, but she quickly explained how the argument came about. She started from the beginning, even hesitantly talking about getting attacked by Saaya. She went as far as showing her injuries from it. She also mentioned the notes, and then eventually got to the point of the discussion that caused the argument.

Nagihiko had a pitiful, remorseful look on his face throughout the story. Rima looked slightly concerned, which was different for Amu to see since she was used to seeing a stoic expression on the small girl's face. There was a bit of a silence, as they both took the story in. Amu put on her jacket again.

"So, basically, Yamabuki Saaya, Hotori-kun's ex-girlfriend, on the first day, decided she didn't want you hanging out with him?" Nagihiko summarized. "And figured attacking you was the best way to deal with things? I knew that girl was obsessive, but Jesus, she's clearly not right in the head."

Amu nodded slowly, covering her face, embarrassed that she had said so much. Maybe it was because Nagihiko looked so much like Nadeshiko and she used to confide in Nadeshiko when something happened. Somehow, it made things even more embarrassing.

Nagihiko and Rima discussed something in hushed tones that Amu couldn't quite make out. Rima snickered after glancing at Amu, and Nagihiko smiled in amusement. Both turned to Amu again, clearing their throats.

"So, Tadase has been a little too protective towards you?" Rima inquired, suddenly very interested. "Do you have any idea why? Besides the fact that he's nice and also the class president?"

Amu blinked, confused by the question. "Pardon? No, I don't know. That's why I'm confused."

"You mentioned he stayed over at his house yesterday?" Rima smirked coyly. "Because he didn't want to send you home and have you getting even more hurt?"

"Well, yeah, the first part…" Amu nodded slowly. "But I figured it was because I fainted and was out for a few hours…" she paused, noticing what Rima was getting at. "I don't know what you're thinking, but nothing happened yesterday!"

Nagihiko chuckled softly, an amused smile once again playing on his delicate lips. Both Rima and Nagihiko were acting strange about this suddenly. Amu narrowed her eyes at the two of them. What could they possibly be snickering about?

"You guys know something I don't, don't you?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips accusingly. "What is it? Tell me!"

Nagihiko shook his head. "It's better to ask Hotori-kun. Rima-chan and I are just making baseless accusations, don't pay any attention to us."

Amu stared at Nagihiko incredulously. The more she looked at him, the more she forgot what she wanted to know. Now she was suddenly distracted by how much Nagihiko looked like Nadeshiko. She realized she never had the chance to even ask Nagihiko whether he had any siblings, especially and specifically a twin. She regained her composure quickly and looked up at Nagihiko.

"Say….Nagi-kun. If I may call you that. Y-you don't happen to have a sibling, do you…?" Amu asked slowly, figuring then was a good chance to ask.

"There's no need to add an honorific. You seem more comfortable not using honorifics." Nagihiko smiled warmly, again reminding Amu of her best friend. "A sibling? Well, sure, I do. But she doesn't live around here."

Amu pursed her lips, humming. "I-is her name…"

"Fujisaki Nadeshiko?" Nagihiko cut Amu off to finish her sentence, causing Amu to blink quickly. "Yes. She was your best friend, am I right?"

Amu took a step back in astonishment. "H-how did-?"

"I know?" Nagihiko again finished Amu's sentence. "Nadeshiko has told me a lot about you. She warned me you'd be coming and told me to take care of you."

"Why…why don't you and Nade go to the same school? Or rather, live in the same city?" Amu asked curiously, leaning back toward Nagihiko.

Amu was suddenly genuinely curious about both Rima and Nagihiko since they took the time to listen to her story. Mostly about Nagihiko at the moment, for obvious reasons. There was still a little bit before the bell rang, so some small talk couldn't hurt.

"We look a lot alike, clearly. So we'd often switch places." Nagihiko responded. "I make a believable Nade impression if I do say so myself." he cleared his throat as if about to do said impression, but seemingly suddenly decided not to. "Anyways, we got caught once so our mother separated us to keep it from happening again."

Amu nodded in understanding. "I'd be interested in hearing your Nadeshiko impression one day." she turned to Rima, thinking it was unfair that Nagihiko was getting all the attention. "What about you, Rima. Do you have any siblings?"

"Nope," Rima responded softly, her tone flat again.

"So you're an only child?"

"Yup."

"You're not much of the person to talk about yourself to a stranger, are you?"

"Not at all."

Amu sighed slightly. It bothered her that Rima wouldn't talk much about herself, but maybe she just didn't trust Amu enough yet. She shrugged slightly, trying not to get too bothered. She would've been the same way if not for Nagihiko anyways.

"Don't worry about Rima-chan," Nagihiko said. "It takes her a while to get used to people. She hated me for a solid two weeks when we first met. It's safe to say she doesn't hate you, though. Hence why she came up." Rima looked away with a slight blush on her cheeks, a pout playing on her lips. "I'm saying this knowing I'll get hurt, but she's actually quite the comic."

Amu stared at Rima for a second, trying to believe that statement. "Really? You couldn't tell."

"You just gotta find the way to get it out of her." Nagihiko winked, leaning in to talk specifically to Amu. "Watch this."

Nagihiko hopped up on one leg, curving his other leg against it like that one yoga move that was supposed to resemble a tree. His body arched slightly toward the right and his arms pointed right as well. The catchphrase for whatever this silly move was, was 'Bala-balance', though Nagihiko was far from balanced. Regardless, it still got a chuckle out of Amu. Rima, however, looked far from amused.

"Nagi! How many times have I told you that's not how you do it!" she exclaimed, becoming much more animated. "Keep balanced, and straighten your arms! Ugh, I'll have to show you. Watch carefully."

Naghiko grinned and subtly sent Amu another wink and a thumbs up. Rima did the exact same move as Nagihiko, but it looked a lot more balanced and straight. Amu recalled seeing it as a gag on a comedy show when she was flipping through the TV channels one night. Amu's smile grew and she giggled softly, the giggles growing slowly as Rima continued to do the 'dance.'

The lunch bell brought Rima back to reality. She realized what she was doing and blushed a bright red. She flailed slightly and turned to run away, the sounds of her feet against the metal stairs echoing behind her as she ran down the stairs. Amu managed to stop laughing, though somehow, how Rima ran off was funny to Amu as well, which made her laugh harder. She turned to Nagihiko after finally composing herself.

"T-thanks for that." she managed, still feeling a little giggly. The two started walking back into the school. "Is there a specific reason why Rima seems embarrassed about liking comedy?"

Nagihiko shrugged, opening the door for Amu. "I'm not sure if she'd appreciate me telling you. Long story short, she used to love comedy until her parents started fighting. They told her to start taking things more seriously after she got into a really dangerous situation. Now she thinks that if she can't make her parents laugh, she shouldn't be able to make anyone laugh."

Amu nodded slowly, quietly thanking Nagihiko as they entered back into the hallway. "That's sad…poor Rima. I hope she's able to go back to how she used to be… I know how hard it is to put up a front."

Nagihiko and Amu parted ways with a wave. Amu made her way back to her homeroom class to put her lunch away back and grab anything else she needed. She stopped short, though, when she spotted Tadase sitting at his desk, slowly cleaning stuff up as well.

She quietly stepped into the classroom, her body for some reason trying to send her to Tadase's desk. She slapped herself mentally and swerved back toward her locker instead. Now was not the time to be feeling bad for Tadase. She sighed and quickly made her way to her next class, chewing her lip to keep herself occupied.

Word Count: between 3000-4000 idk my document and the doc manager say 2 different things.

Bento: Lunch, obviously.

Tamagoyaki: A Japanese egg-roll (literally an omelet rolled into a tube) Can also be on top of rice wrapped with seaweed(?)