A/N: Brain still bad. Hopefully chapter is quality though? Happy almost Easter to those who celebrate, and also happy almost April!

Enjoy!

[Chapter 19]: Piecing Together

"I'm ready to tell you my theory," Yuri said when Ayato joined her in the club room for lunch on Friday. No greeting, just right down to business.

"Good," he groaned, falling into his seat across from her at their shared desk and immediately massaging his temples. "Because I'm about to lose my mind."

School had been in session for two weeks now. A very, very long two weeks. Ami, the dear friend that she was, had explained to Kurimu at some point during one of their girl talks or sleepovers or whatever it was they did together outside of class… that Ayato had indeed been flirting with her. And while he didn't get strong vibes that she was flirting back, it was significantly more awkward to hit on a girl when she looked like a lost little lamb. A fiercely blushing lamb with Ami as her romance shepherd.

Meanwhile, almost every time he went out to the courtyard to meet Yuri after school, Hejjiguchi was already out there asking Yuri if she wanted to walk home with him this time. The third day this happened, after Hejjiguchi darted off to meet up with Ami and Kurimu, Ayato pulled at his scalp in exasperation.

"How does he always get here before me?!" he'd yelped.

Yuri merely shrugged. "Track and field."

He hadn't bothered to ask how she knew that, but he believed it. Hejjiguchi was skinny with a light build, and when he was on his feet he could never stand still. It was a surprise he wanted to walk home with anybody, since "walk" was nowhere near his resting pace.

With friends like Hejjiguchi and motor-mouth Ami, it was a wonder Kurimu didn't take deep naps during every class. God knew he almost wanted to.

But Yuri had suggested having lunch in the club room for a reason. After Hejjiguchi's run-by eavesdropping, it was safer for them to discuss things in here rather than out there. All the same, Ayato had checked the closed door before he sat down.

"Before I say anything – what'd they do this time?" Yuri asked. There was marked sympathy in her tone, but he could tell through his fingers that she was smirking.

"Oh, the usual stupidity that should have died out two months ago," Ayato said with a sigh. "Ami going on an impassioned rant to Hejjiguchi about high school sweethearts starting a love for the ages. Kurimu going bright red whenever I pass back a piece of paper. Hejjiguchi making some dumb joke about our hands touching."

He took a deep, exaggerated breath and started counting on his fingers.

"Ami nudging Kurimu into inviting me to have lunch with them. Hejjiguchi instantly challenging me to an eating contest. Ami laughing girlishly and telling Kurimu we're trying to be manly for them. Me sneaking out the door while Kurimu makes a heartfelt plea to Hejjiguchi not to choke this time."

Yuri smiled knowingly. "Did you go back in with a rebuttal?"

"Almost," he replied, only half-kidding. He snatched up her Key coffee and raised it to his lips. "Two months, Yuri. I can't take their lunacy anymore."

"Hey, I was drinking that!"

"Tell me what you know and I'll give it back," Ayato said calmly, taking a sip.

He wasn't a coffee person, not by any means. But the caffeine did him some good, and also he liked the flustered then fuming narrow-eyed look Yuri got whenever he one-upped her like that. The one where she sat back and contemplated her next move, like a chess game.

"It's simple, really." Closing her eyes, Yuri leaned back and waggled a finger. "Remember at lunch on our first day back? You mentioned something very important about the cogs of this romance rumor mill."

Ayato raised an eyebrow at her. He never said anything about cogs. "What's that?"

"Let me tell you something about Ami Kawata." Yuri steadily counted her fingers against her palm. "She's part of the drama club. From what I've gathered, she's in love with love. And she's Kurimu's best friend, but she's the aggressive to Kurimu's passive. The hot pink to her sunny orange." She flicked her gaze to him. "Would you say they're like sisters?"

"That's… a fairly accurate term for them, yes," he replied, as multiple instances of Ami adjusting Kurimu's hair bows, squeeze-hugging her, and squealing excitedly about something while locking hands flashed to mind.

"So that would make Ami the big sis," Yuri said knowingly. "The role model."

Ayato nodded, starting to put it together. "I see. The big sister is usually the one who guides the little sister on relationships. Gives her expectations."

"Exactly." With a brief wistful glance at her stolen coffee, Yuri started in on her egg sandwich. "Hopeless romantic, dramatic best friend with big sister tendencies. That's a recipe for a dangerously convincing influence."

"What are you saying, that Ami's a powerful hypnotist?" Ayato scoffed, but he was grinning. "We already know Ami's the ringleader. Something like that won't win you back your little drink."

Yuri gave him a miffed look before disdainfully swallowing her food.

"I'm saying," she stressed, "that the part Kurimu plays in this game of theirs is artificial. She missed your signals on the first day, she's embarrassed by them now. Know what that means?"

"She's not into this," he said automatically. Still not a grand epiphany, but useful to contemplate.

"Not as much as Ami is," Yuri agreed. Her lips curved into a half-smile. "I think she wants a boyfriend in theory. But she wouldn't be doing this if Ami weren't so persuasive. You don't like her as much as Ami says you do, and she doesn't like you as much as she thinks she does. That's a fundamental bug in this matchmaking system. One of them, anyway."

Ayato tapped his fingers rhythmically against the can. "And the other?"

"Think back to what you said at lunch on the first day." Yuri leaned in conspiratorially, even though they were the only two in here. "About Hejjiguchi's role in all this."

He thought back. Right before the part Hejjiguchi overheard. "He wouldn't be helping Ami hound me if it weren't for Kurimu?"

"After that."

"He doesn't think I'm right for her."

"That's right." She chewed thoughtfully on some tempura. "Teasing you about liking her was all well and good when they were disguised warnings for you to maintain your distance. Now you're sweet-talking her and he hates it. You're encouraging Ami's ideas and presenting yourself as a suitor."

They both snorted at the word. It conjured up horrible mental pictures of him showing up at Kurimu's doorstep with combed hair and a bouquet of daisies.

"So," Ayato mused, feeling a distinct trickle of hope in his veins, "what's his next move? You think he'll rebel against Ami?"

"Dunno. On his own, that's not for certain." Closing her bento box, she got up from the table and wandered over to the window. "There are two bugs in this system. To get it to crash, we need them working together."

He regarded her curiously, taking another hearty sip while her back was turned. "And just how are we going to do that?"

"Simple, really. We hook them up."

Ayato spat out a mouthful of coffee all over the desk – then choked and went into a five-second coughing fit as whatever stayed went down the wrong tube. "Hook them up?!"

Yuri didn't turn around.

"Operation Matchmake," she told him. "Also, you owe me one new coffee."

By the time class was over that day, Ayato was in quite a state.

He'd been coherent enough to do as Yuri had suggested and watch the trio carefully, or listen when he had his back to them. When he did, it was as if he'd been handed the final, crucial piece of an important puzzle. As if Yuri had just put a magnifying glass over one of his dreams and given him a groundbreaking interpretation.

For starters, there was that time between periods where Hejjiguchi was listening to rock music through his earbuds while Kurimu was reading in front of him. Frankly, it was so loud that Ayato could hear it two seats ahead. He was just about to send back a dark glare, when Kurimu put down her book and turned around to face Hejjiguchi, who was staring out the window at the track field with his chin in his hand.

She tapped his free hand, and Ayato was very glad that he was still watching at this point, because Hejjiguchi startled so much at the touch that he jumped in his seat and accidentally yanked out his earbuds.

"Sorry!" Kurimu squeaked, drawing her hand back to the edge of his desk. "But could you turn down your music just a little bit, please?"

His face had reddened noticeably, but he laughed it off.

"Sure thing," he said, obediently tapping away at the volume. He shook his head, snickering at himself as he retrieved his earbuds from dangling off the edge of his desk. "And I call you the jumpy one? Serves me right, I guess."

Ayato subtly turned back to the front just before Kurimu did, but he heard the smile in her voice all the same.

"I didn't do that on purpose, I swear!" she said, giggling.

"Uh-huh, sure…"

Hard to believe it was only five months ago that Hejjiguchi was "that guy" who kept putting his dirty athlete shoes on the back of her chair. At least he'd learned some manners since then. Before that, Kurimu never would've plucked up the nerve to chide him.

And then there were little things after that. He didn't get a lot of stealthy opportunities to observe the trio, but he did return to the room after a bathroom break. Kurimu had leaned back in her seat and stretched a little, so that some of her long hair fell against Hejjiguchi's desk. He looked amused rather than bothered, until she heard the classroom door open and turned to look. The wave of hair receded.

Ayato had received a particularly dull "oh look, it's you" glance from Hejjiguchi because of this. In response, he merely flashed a cheesy grin right back at him. Taste of his own medicine.

Other than that, most moments were little things overheard during class. Others were the little details he'd catch during his Ami-awarded seconds in the spotlight. Granted, these days he was kind of starting it, but she was the one drawing it out.

"It's such a shame," Ami said right before their last period, shaking her head. "I know you and Nakamura don't get a lot of time together, but since the school festival's only a couple of months away I'll be spending more time after school with the drama club. I just don't like thinking of Kurimu walking home by herself."

Kurimu wrinkled her nose, a little perplexed as she stared questioningly at Ami.

"But I do still have Hejjiguchi to—" she started to say.

"But Hejjiguchi's on track and field, and competitions are going to heat up for him soon," Ami interrupted. She turned to Hejjiguchi for confirmation, tossing her hair as she did so. "So he'll be training after school too. Right?"

Hejjiguchi actually hesitated. Ayato thought for a moment he could see his brain functioning back there.

"You think I can't walk Kurimu home and still be back in time for practice?" His eyes crinkled as he crossed his arms in mock offense. "C'mon, Ami. It's me. Just admit you want Naoi and Kurimu to have alone time."

His gaze shifted to Ayato.

"I mean, if your problem is leaving Yuri alone, you already know I'm happy to keep her company. She is in the neighborhood." He laughed, obnoxiously loudly in Ayato's opinion, and threw him a wink. "C'mon, you already hog her during lunch."

Ami's expression dissolved into an agitated frown.

"She's not a possession, Hejjiguchi!" she squawked, spinning around to face him again. "Is this about Naoi or is it really about Nakamura?!"

Hejjiguchi looked caught completely off-guard after that, and Ayato was able to blend back into the classroom while Ami interrogated someone else for a change. Until the teacher came in and busted the two of them for arguing. He enjoyed that too – but found it even more satisfying to glance back at Kurimu and flash her a sympathetic smirk. It felt particularly devilish on his end, and on top of that he was 100 percent certain Hejjiguchi had witnessed it.

In fact, he was meant to.

After class, once cleaning time fizzled out, Ayato didn't even try to beat Hejjiguchi out the door. Yuri could handle him. Today, she intended as such.

No, instead he chose to take advantage of the situation. He'd just heard Ami chirp to Kurimu that she'd meet her in five minutes, before vanishing down the hall to the left. Fate was being good to him today; this would be so much easier without Ami fluttering around.

His target was just about to step out when he called to her.

"Kurimu, can you wait for a second? There's something I need to ask you."

"We've got time left before class, so we need to start forming a game plan," Yuri told him, snatching the can from his grip.

She'd returned to the mopped up desk after dropping her "Hejjiguchi likes Kurimu" theory on him, and he'd taken a moment to run every interaction through his head wondering how the hell he could've been so naïve. But then again, he tried to pride himself, of course he wouldn't notice something so trivial when he didn't give a damn. The retrieval of her prized coffee was what finally brought him out of his stupor.

Now it was worth giving a damn, if it would possibly put an end to this pathetic high school drama.

"We'll just play their game." Ayato tented his fingers, leaning forward. Even if there were no deep feelings between the two, such things could be easily manifested. "We lure them out to a romantic spot somehow and leave them alone together." He rested his chin on his fingers, carefully weighing their options. "It's got to be someplace meaningful and intimate in a subtle way, somewhere inherently romantic where they'd want to go with someone on a date, but still kind of innocent."

Yuri's eyes lit up almost immediately. "I know the perfect place."

"Where?"

"The walking bridge, the one by your house?" She leaned back in her seat, bringing her drink to her lips but pausing to mull over a thought. "I see it every day when I walk home from your house."

He rubbed his chin, picturing it in his head. Yes, he knew it fairly well. It had a pleasant naturistic vibe to it. The whole forest was peaceful, but the steady flow of the stream gave that particular area a soothing ethereal quality. His brother used to like dirtying his hands in its silt and washing them off in the enticingly clear water.

"That is a perfect spot," he agreed. Easy enough, since it was close to their regular traveling route. "But that brings up another question… how are we going to lure the two of them out there in the first place?"

"Easy," Yuri said, beaming as she nudged aside her lunch for arm room. "You'll talk to Kurimu. Invite her out to discuss things."

"Invite her out?" Ayato repeated dubiously. She'd said he wouldn't have to go very far with this, but…

"That's right. You're still going to have to act like you like her for this. Ask her out." Yuri gave him her best heavy-lidded alluring look, along with her soppiest voice. "'I'd like to talk to you about what's going on between—'"

"—the two of us," he said, secretly impressed with this enigmatic smitten bad boy persona he'd slipped into so easily. "Will you please meet me by the walking bridge in Haruna Forest on Saturday so I can confess something to you?"

A much redder version of Kurimu stared back at him.

"Fine, we'll work on that." Ayato grimaced; no way was he going to say something that formal and embarrassing. "And what about Hejjiguchi?"

"I'll lure him out," said Yuri, with little to no hesitation. "We still kind of talk sometimes, so if he tries to find me after school and I meet him halfway, he probably won't think too much of it."

He eyed her suspiciously. "And how exactly will you do that?"

All he got in return was a cryptic grin. "Oh, I'll figure something out."

Something about her response tugged at his nerves. It was the mysteriousness, of course, but also what the hell would she have to talk about with an idiot like Hejjiguchi? That's what he was still wondering about. He hated to think the fool had anything in common with her.

Still, it was a good use of Hejjiguchi's idiotic new habit – and if either of them could lure Hejjiguchi out, he'd rather not have it be him.

Satisfied, Yuri crushed the coffee can in her hand and slammed it on the table as she stood up.

"Alright! We'll give status reports after school. We lead them to the bridge on Saturday at 12:30."

As if punctuating for extra effect, the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Grabbing her lunch, Yuri flashed him a devious grin. They both knew who was waiting for him. Suddenly her part of the plan seemed unfairly easier.

"Operation, start!"

"Eh? Um, sure!" Kurimu yelped, breaking eye contact and making a run for the door. "I'll see you then!"

Ayato watched her scamper down the hall in the direction Ami had gone. Towards the drama club, he figured. But with her rabbit-like speed, she could very well join Hejjiguchi in track. He just thanked God and every particle in the universe she hadn't thought to stick around and walk him home. Things were already starting to change around here.

"Operation Start" indeed.

A/N: Next chapter will have a special "Yuri POV," as I've done with sections in Heartbreak Cure.

Preview:

"I have feelings for Ayato Naoi."

"You're way off!"

"Sometimes boys need a little help."

"Me? What are you doing here?"

"Maybe he really does like you."

"I'd wait as long as it takes."

"That… is brilliant!"

[Chapter 20]: Operation Matchmake.