To Reach You

by TheFlowerWeSawThatDay

Okuda Manami now enters her high school life after the unforgettable events of last year. But how does an assassin go back to being a normal student in a normal school? After being shunned by her entire classroom, she decides it's better that way. No one needs an introverted chemical freak;but that's just when an overfamiliar Redhead decides to pry into her life. ("COMPLETE")

11. Miss Understanding II

OKAY! I'll make this really brief because right now I'm being yelled at to reach my relative's party but then I vowed to myself I'd post before leaving because progress is gold.

Sorry I took long again and in advanced for whatever rushed scenes there were in this chapter - also because I'll admit some parts were infected with a deadly virus called WRITER'S BLOCK 8"D

okay let's get with those responses before my fake eyelashes hurt too much LOL XD (Okay TMI)

TheRoseShadow21: AW YOUUU you make me feel all giddy with that thank you very much. I actually get afraid sometimes when things get cliche 8"D And I'm glad you liked that part too! Seriously when the thought came while I was eating lunch in Mcdo I got stared at by other customers for laughing alone so suddenly X'3 And I don't think anyone will find out what Omo-chan is 8( Well I'm pleased to say here it is! ^w^

kawaiichoconeko: NEKO-CHAN YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL TOO. And the latest chapter of ABC's was hilarious and absolutely adorable this time! Manami be like "Karma-kun likes dark tunnels? He must be a sad boy..." is what I kinda thought the thought and it was really funny lol XD

Sweetmoegirl: Thanks! I actually only started to ship them when I had this chapter thought up! And aww thanks for telling me that! I really like it when people tell me what they think is notable since it inspires me and makes me feel good about the scene formulation! AND AW SHUSH But thanks anyway ;w;

I12BFree: Only one way to find out~! O3)/

Akabane-san: No, thank YOU for reviewing in the first place! I love you too!Thanks for pointing out parts you like since they always make me feel good about how I wrote scenes and they inspire me to make other similar to it. Karmanami will rule this fanfiction site soon *n*

natsuki DDS: Thanks for reviewing! And omg I'm not that great I just write what I can and I just really hope I can get far enough in the story to have a respectable hiatus.(SINCE SCHOOL'S ABOUT TO START) But anyway thanks for saying the romance that I just shot through the walls with a messy paintball gun isn't a bad thing 8""D And THANKS THAT MADE ME GRIN LIKE "AW ROMCOMS ;w;"

Alright! LET US GO MY WEABOO NAKAMA!

Oh wait my lawyer's here Disclaimer: I DONT OWN THIS WONDERFUL FRANCHISE!

Okay! Let's go!

---

Chapter 11: Miss Understanding (Part 2: I want to get along with everyone) [END OF ARC]

'He skipped classes again…'

Nakamura Rio sat laxly on her desk; an elbow rested on the desk to have a palm upon her chin as she yawned – she had been bored to death for the past 55 minutes due to the study hall their English teacher, Sakagami Maria, had to hold before their lunch time. The assignment she had left them with was to read and understand a novel written by one of her favorite authors called 'And Then There Were None.' Rio had already tackled this book and considered it to be one of her favorites among all the English novels she'd read in her lifetime – mysteries always did spark up the interest of this adventure-loving trickster.

Though fortunate it may be to be more advanced than all else in the room, being ahead had its disadvantages for it had left her with nothing to do – she didn't even have that many people to consider a friend in her class since she didn't really find anyone worthy of her attention. Moreover, the one she would consider as 'close' (if that was the word to use when she would describe their relationship) in her classroom barely even showed up during class hours. And then there's the other two…

The lazy trickster rotated her head to where she knew the stoic duo's desks were – which were at around the last few rows. The girl who had walked out just a day ago was standing by her seat on the fourth row and had busied herself with some of the summer homework they had been given today by their other teachers; and for some reason she had been put in charge of giving the ever-famous class skipper his own share of the work so it added up to what she had to do (since she was about the only other girl there that took things seriously with him). The authorities couldn't really have a say in this behavior of his for it did nothing to affect his grades whatsoever – but that wasn't what was important right now. Rio shifted her stare to the other, whom only sat quietly on his desk in the back-most row – she couldn't really tell what he was thinking or what he was looking at because of the hair that always blocked people away. But it was clear to her that he wasn't in the best mood right now; the reason for such was perfectly clear. They had not interacted with each other for the entire day – which could be deemed normal under the circumstances they were in; however, just seeing the both of them that way didn't really sit right with the blond.

She turned her attention back to the girl who now had her papers and other materials properly arranged upon her desk – what was also pleasant to the eye was the eye-catching precision she had applied to her organization of things. Not one stood out as it was like it had become the epitome of fastidiousness. And though Rio now had mixed feelings about the girl, she still couldn't bring herself to have a proper conversation with her despite being classmates and practically on the same row; there was still a huge awkwardness in between them (and there was how both were just stubborn).

While Rio occupied herself with these thoughts, the lunch chime had already rung – it was hard to notice some change when you have your head in the clouds, especially when the class was already noisy even before the hour even started. And just as she had come to reality yet again, she was right on time to see how Rinka had passed by Chiba's chair without sparing him a glance or even acknowledging his presence there – as if she treated him as thin air or pretended he never existed as she exited the room in a bit of a hurry.

This wasn't anything to fret about since that had not been the first time she had done it today as Rio continued to stare blankly. Usually she would notice how they left the room to have lunch together since she would spend her break inside the classroom while she would probably harass someone if they were worthy enough (or if they irritated her) – but there was no surprise in that action of the sniper's for this blond.

But that was until the other stood up from his desk casually and headed to the door.

This was nothing very notable or any of the sort for it was just him simply leaving the classroom in no haste, but it had caught her attention and had led to her having a few suspicions pile up in her mind as she felt her brows furrow in the midst of her thought process.

'Don't tell me…did he go after her?'

She watched on for a few more seconds to ease her qualms – but they had been answered by the time she saw him leave in exactly the same direction she did.

Without hesitation, Rio lifted herself from her desk.

---

"One Omelet rice please."

The lower ground cafeteria bristled with students of all years. The smell of rice and other foods and condiments flew through the air and gave pleasure to the noses of those inside it. Unlike the simple hallways and other facilities of Kimii, this one had to be the most colorful and most creative – just to suit the accompaniment of good food and delighted taste buds. There were color schemes and artistically drawn calligraphy on the wall here and there that matched whichever store, courtesy of the painting club. The stalls were simple and organized, but it complemented well with the colorful surroundings and pale blue tiled floor. In one of those stalls, a short-haired otaku girl with a profession called manga-reading had politely taken her tray of omelet rice and soup.

Just as she was about to grab her chopsticks though, a loud slam that shook the same counter her tray had been on nearly gave her a heart attack. When she turned to inspect what on earth had caused such a commotion, she was shocked (to say the least) when she found that an orange-haired friend of hers had her fist above some money as she barked her orders monotonously but with command.

"Get me one yakisoba, red bean bread, sweet raisin toast, fresh bagel with cream, fried oreos, yakiniku with egg on top, strawberry yoghurt and pineapple juice, please." Rinka had on a terrifying stare that made it look like she'd been stressed out and cranky all day – the other customers behind her could only leave their mouths agape in disbelief of such a request; not to mention she wasted no time at all when saying this so it barely registered in the stall cook's ears as he too had astonishment written all over his face by this preposterous order and how the girl who issued it stared at him like she was ready to kill.

"A-A-A-A-A-Aahhh Su-S-S-Sure!" the clerk stuttered in the midst of his shock recovery and nervously worked on her order with fast (and frightened) hands. All the while, Yuzuki could only copy everyone else' dumbfounded expression while she watched the usually stoic sniper empty her wallet of food she doubted the girl would be able to finish – even if she were to have that much stomach capacity, the otaku predicts lunch won't be long enough to consume such an enormous amount of food for her size.

Rinka had left the stand with her extra filled tray (which had a few people staring at her like she was insane) with her constant, serious face back on. She looked like her usual self (save for the fact that she nearly emptied one stand of all its goods) – but the mangaka wannabe had a hunch that this was just her way of ignoring her emotions again. Naturally, she wasn't surprised to see her use something as a distraction from her problem; it happens to most people, and Hayami was no exception.

Figuring that she probably had no one to eat lunch with, the least Fuwa could do was to take initiative and try to talk to her and give her support on this issue albeit knowing what she said to her last time. She knew that it would most likely be awkward between the two of them, but no one's going to do that so she might as well – her gut told her to do so anyway.

"Hayami-san!" Yuzuki called for her just as she was about to climb up the stairs; Rinka usually had her lunches in the school garden since the cafeteria wasn't a place you would consider quiet in any way.

The one who had been called stopped in her tracks upon the stairs but did not turn her back to the origin of the voice. Fuwa, thinking she tried to pull the same thing she had done yesterday proceeded to jog over to the bottom of the stairs to try and have a proper conversation with her. "Hayami-san, wanna have…lunch…" she didn't even get to finish her sentence when she felt her eyes widen and the grip she had on her tray loosening up and nearly letting it fall – so she wasn't being given the silent treatment. Rather, the stoic girl had her focus on someone else; and at the same time the tension in the air seemed to have become so thick those near it would have difficulty in breathing.

Just above the stairs, about four steps directly from where the pigtailed girl currently froze in place, the reason for her stress and mental fatigue had his hands inside his pockets as he stared down at her without a spec of emotion present. Rinka only stared back with mild surprise for a few seconds until she regained her composure and diverted her eyes from him– this had caused the otaku who had watched such a display to gulp unintentionally as she too had found herself immobile from the tense atmosphere. At the same time, a blond had arrived from one of the cafeteria doors conveniently near the flight of stairs where this scene was happening in a nick of time.

The emerald-orbed girl was the first to break the silence with a tone only a little above a whisper, but still loud enough for both the girl below the steps and the one above it "What? Are you going to apologize?" her eyes had been blocked from Chiba's view with her orange bangs at the downward movement of her head.

Chiba spoke a little louder than she did – the casual voice he put on all the time when talking to her "I don't plan on apologizing…" his head lowered as an indication that he turned his gaze to the amount of food on her tray then back to her.

"I told you."

Not even a blink was faster than the time it took for Rinka to throw the tray at him.

---

"Ah, Okuda-san!"

Manami, who had been walking to the cafeteria casually, had to halt and turn her head when the familiar voice called for her with the accompaniment of footsteps from the hallway behind her. To her pleasant surprise, it was her sporty clubmate and previous classmate jogging over to where she was with an energetic beam on.

"Oh, good afternoon Sugino-kun." She greeted back warmly with the slight bow of her head in respect.

"It's quite rare to see you around here. You didn't bring a bento?" he inquired from her politely as they now walked side by side to the double doors of their desired destination just along the school gardens and the club bulletin boards.

"I brought one, don't worry – it's just that I know this is where Hayami-san has lunch." She faced the doors and helped her companion with getting them both inside.

He looked at her quizzically with the small tilt of his head to face the shorter girl properly and continued once they started going down the stairs "You have business with Hayami-san?"

The eyeglasses-ed girl shook her head which let her braids bounce a bit behind her shoulders "I wouldn't call it business but…" she moved her gaze to the ceiling and let her hands tie themselves behind her "Today, I'm going to talk to her and help her make up with Chiba-kun." She worded this out quite calmly, but the determination she had in her eyes could not be denied – this brought a relieved smile to the boy's face as he stretched his arms to the back of his head.

"Okuda-san, you've really changed, huh?"

Manami kept her now half-lidded eyes on the white, concrete ceiling as her bright smile had shifted to one of reminiscence "I guess so…"

Sugino grinned with satisfaction and delighted eyes – it was nice to see the results of all that happened bloom without fail or leaving everything they've gone through all for naught. He was happy that she now stuttered less when speaking and that she wasn't so afraid to let people know about her feelings anymore; it showed that none of that had gone to waste and that she'd learned her lesson. Other than that, it was pleasant to know that she was quite an interesting one to have a conversation with when she's relaxed. Last year, he didn't find a lot of chances to be able to talk to her because of the introverted personality that tended to create awkward situations when starting a small chat. There was even a part of him that felt a bit guilty about not pushing a little effort in becoming her friend at the time – but he supposed it was useless to look back on those now for this is what they were today. They weren't exactly all that close compared to the others, but they found nothing bothersome in each other's company and got along well due to some similarities in their personalities; therefore it had been easy to have some conversation with her once in a while.

"Well, wish you luck with that." He gave her a thumbs up which she received with a pleased smile and the nod of her head.

"I'll try my best—"

Just before she could finish, a loud crash had interrupted their word exchange – the noise seemed to have come from the next flight of stairs they were just about to head for. After quickly recovering from shock, the two exchanged an anxious look before they rushed to the source of the unfriendly sound.

"What's going on?"

"A fight?"

Whispers of the sort broke out from the bottom of the stairs; at the same time, Manami's eyes were first greeted by an ugly disarray of food scattered on the floor pitifully with a now stained brown tray that didn't look like an easy dishwashing for the staff. But that wasn't what was important at the moment for as her lavender eyes traveled from the floor to the ones who had caused such a mess, she was met with the intense scene of another feud between the two who had been in conflict recently – only this time, she could really feel how intense it was for the moment she was able to fully take in what was happening, she and her spiky-haired friend were left dumbstruck and motionless.

Hayami Rinka had a shadow loomed over half of her face due to her bangs – her teeth were visibly clenched as her figure shook from the overflow of emotions which were mostly linked to frustration. Fists were balled so tight her nails hurt her palms and her knuckles had gone white from the rage that pulsated around her body.

The one who had been hit on the other hand had an expression of shock which left his mouth slightly agape at such a rash action. No food had gotten on him or his uniform for the tray had been the one to fly at him first and had served a shield from the stains her meal would've given him – but Chiba didn't consider it as something to be all that thankful for because right now the epitome of animosity stood before him with a fit of rage she was just about ready to unleash.

They were now the center of attention of half the population of the cafeteria who were within the vicinity of the staircase – but neither had even given such a petty thing a single thought as Rinka was the first one to speak in a shaky but threateningly bilious tone.

"So…I've always been that way in your eyes?" Chiba had been left with nothing to say as he let her go on – he couldn't bring himself to think of words at the time anyway. "Was I always someone…someone that only did things for the sake of doing it to you? Did you always think that I could never have enough courage to do things I wanted?"

The next sentence came with a higher volume compared to the other ones –and it had been made clear that her emotions were already beginning to fall out; and this had to be her best effort at hiding them yet.

"Did you never…really trust me with anything at all?!" at this, she raised her head and revealed to him a pair of frustrated emerald eyes on the brink of releasing drops of salt water.

The dark-haired boy had a straight face on by this time, but once he saw that face she made, it felt like a bulldozer started wrecking things in his chest and filled him up with heart-wrenching pain that almost had his legs turn into jelly – but he kept his stoic face on and remained calm so as to not let any more people witness this and tried to reason out this time "Ha—"

"If I could've helped it…" she cut him off and started with another quiet and shaky tone, but this didn't last long at all for she had immediately followed it up with a loud, painful shout "I wouldn't have bought that mess on the ground just so I can make amends with you!"

At this, the members of the club who watched everything from their spots felt a sudden surge course through their body – not only because of the surprising exclamation, but the fact that they had never seen her pour so much emotion into something before; that wasn't even half of what she had felt at the time, but it already led to the four who served as part of the audience to feel a tugging pain in their chests.

By then, her eyes appeared to have twitched from the amount of water she'd been holding in for too long of a time now as she kept them seared on the boy who now had evidently showed how taken aback he was by this. His jaw dropped and with it his foot had unconsciously stepped back in reflex to this rare sight.

"A-And then…what the hell was that?" Rinka's mouth now quivered from the sudden outburst – she was about to break apart, but she had to say a little more to ease the wreck of unnerving emotions that took over her mind at the moment as her gaze had fallen to the floor and shoulders shook in her attempt to hold everything in again "What the hell was that 'I told you' for?!"

Rinka glared back up at him only to see how he had his serious, unreadable expression on him again – he didn't even look sorry for what he did, nor did he seem like he was about to either. It was blank; he was just staring back at her blankly as if he didn't just listen to everything she said – even if he did, he acted like they did nothing to him; like saliva had been wasted on such petty cries. And if her already boiling anger were to be measured by a gauge, it would have exploded and left a mess too big for even an octopus moving at Mach 20 to clean up by himself.

"You…callous moron you…!"

But even when she peered at him with all her might and crushed her teeth together to the point that they hurt, he did not move or say anything to make her feel better in any way. Getting tired of this, the orange-haired girl who had been through enough emotional turmoil gave him one last sour look followed by the narrowing of her eyes – in the end, he didn't answer to any of her questions; not even an action had been done to keep her from feeling like it was all true. Another second passed, and she couldn't handle it anymore; quickly, she turned tail and stormed past the short-haired brunette recklessly with clenched teeth and the iron will to not let anyone see how her face looked at the moment with the shield of her orange locks. She refused to let any more of her inner feelings out to the public eye and had only one desire – to be alone. Careful enough to not make any more of a scene than she already did, she left without sound; not even slamming the door open or closing it with force.

Chiba was left there, his body completely still as he had not said a word and slowly had his ears fill up with the whispers of the crowd of witnesses that came just a few seconds after her departure. The only ones that kept their silence since it had ended were the former members of 3-E; for all they did then was find themselves stunned by what had just unfolded. Not even the one who had plotted this out from the beginning expected such a reaction from her – but amidst all of the emotions that piled up without organization within him right now, he forced himself to keep his face apathetic.

And it was just then when a girl with twin braids zipped past from behind him with resolve in her eyes – braids flew with the speed of her sudden advance forward as she stepped down the stairs and followed the girl out to where she had escaped to without reluctance

Before Chiba had the chance to call out her name, another came after her with blond hair he was all too familiar of – he had also been oblivious to that girl's presence in the area, but this time he didn't even try to stop her.

Yuzuki was about to succeed them but stopped abruptly when she noticed something odd about how things were – it seemed to be the same thing with Sugino for he had not tried going after the emotionally unstable ginger and kept his eyes on the shabby-haired boy that had his head lowered and arms rested lifelessly on the side. Something about this was fishy for the both of them as they just examined how the male sniper took all of this in.

The metal clang of the door sounded twice as a sign that they had gone off now – leaving only three combat club members there with a relatively quieter cafeteria, a mess on the floor, and a bafflement that needed some explaining to have this chaos cleared up.

---

"Hayami-san!"

The poison glasses caught up with the pigtailed girl who only continued briskly walking away even at the call of her name. By then, they had reached an empty hallway of the main building's ground floor – this area was considered rather remote since the main building was an old facility; only used for appointments or private rehearsals that needed soundproof places, so naturally, the result was that the girls were the only ones present at the time.

The difference in the speed of their steps had resonated about in the isolated corridor of hollow white walls and cemented, grey-blue floor that reflected the figure of those standing above it. The sun had been blocked by the clouds and the trees that needed cutting within the vicinity – but there was enough daylight for them to see each other perfectly.

Rinka hadn't relaxed her fists since the moment she laid her eyes on him – in all honesty, the nails that dug into her skin might've made marks on her palms already for she could feel them starting to grow numb. Her shoulders were tense and stiff-looking from what the shorter girl could see as she followed through without any plans on letting this opportunity to talk slip past her.

"Hayami-san! Please try to listen!" Manami panted but made an effort to keep her words clear and resolute; the pace she tried to follow was challenging to keep up with.

Hayami chose that time to halt in her steps – which the chemistry maniac was grateful for, but she had not turned her back and only spoke to her malevolently after she let the small girl's hitched breaths die out "…You saw what happened?"

"Uh—" Her tone was nothing short of ominous and just downright disheartening even with its low volume – the bespectacled girl was aware that such emotions were not directed at her entirely, but it still had done some bone-chilling business on her as she had begun to feel a few ounces of nervousness wrap around the determination chokingly. In the end, she could barely get a hum of agreement out with the nod of her head.

"Mm…"

And they were quiet again – Rinka was obviously in no mood to have a talk with her right now, but she kept her feet glued to the floor because for some reason she had lost the ability to walk on after stopping. Right now, her body was a slave to her bombarding emotions; the only thing that kept her from bursting right now was the large effort of her mind to keep her from doing anything too reckless or immature-looking.

"Uhm…" Manami took a moment to gather her words – true, she was determined enough to talk to the girl about it, but there was still the intimidating air that danced around them; she was supposed to be prepared for such, but now that it was doubled, the science geek could only feel how her heart pounded against her chest from the anxiety of the likely event that the one in front of her would explode, and if the words that she planned to relay to her were the right ones in times like these. Whilst she pondered on this, the sniper only waited for her to speak – that, or she did not want to speak at all and let silence she put around them demand the other to start spilling whatever she followed her here for.

The mini scientist was not the best person to consult during situations such as these – she'd never been caught in the middle of an emotional clash before; but even if she had, an introverted character such as herself was never the person you'd expect to know what to say. But even if that was so, Manami exhaled the rest of her fretfulness and kept her head up out of concern for her friend "Hayami-san, I'm sure Chiba-kun didn't mean for it to go so far. I-If you just take a little time to understand each other for a while…and look past what things look like or try to read each other's minds—"realizing what she said, she mentally slapped herself; her lips let out a small squeak after that as she bit her thumb with eyes shut tightly 'That came out wrong!'

"U-Uh! I-I didn't mean it tha—"

"Do you think you understand?" Lavender eyes blinked at the shaky tone that had come from the upset orangehead – it was no longer as threatening as it had been back in the cafeteria or compared to the first thing she said to her that day, but it was replaced with a feeling much harder to comprehend; but if one could guess, there was yearning in her voice underneath the bitterness of it which had this petite girl for another time taken aback, any of the words that were collected and arranged appropriately had just crumbled down and now spun around her head; leaving her lost in the confusion of her own thoughts. At the same time, the other who had followed them outside and had overheard most of the conversation had arrived just in time to hear the words come out.

"Uh—er…" the chemistry-lover's eyes moved from side to side in the uncertainty she had gotten herself mixed up into.

"If you do, then…tell me what I should do." She had to take a shaky breath to keep the pain from falling out and getting the perplexed girl behind her hurt – but by this time they were all ready to just break out of the dam and flood the area without remorse.

"But…Hayam—"

"Say I'm sorry when he's the one that started it out of nowhere? Wait for him to make the amends himself? To tell him he's right and I'm wrong just so we could get along? How am I supposed to face him?" despite how choleric it was worded out, no one could deny the fact that she too was lost in her own problem; that she too didn't know what to do and was in a desperate need for guidance.

Manami couldn't say anything after that. Her lips were pursed and her shoulders moved upward with guilt at her inability to find useful advice that would help this poor girl – but she couldn't bring herself to give her an honest answer of 'I don't know', for that would only make her feel like she had failed the one who finally looked to her for some counseling, and that she'd never be able to face herself again if she let her down now. Although this may be, she had not been able to come up with an answer as her crestfallen purple orbs nearly released streams of water in the middle of her frantic search for a good enough answer that may ease the emotionally fatigues girl's distraught – but this only added up to her agony for to cry in front of the one in pain just makes 'insensitive' an understatement.

Seeing how things were beginning to crumble apart, Rio chose this time to interject and step forth just a few steps after the raven-haired girl whom now had her dismayed expression changed into one of surprise

"Of course we don't understand." she said this disdainfully – her tone was harsh and left no room for any sugarcoating or naiveté which had resulted to the pigtailed girl to finally turn to them with twitching narrowed eyes that brimmed with disgruntlement upon realizing who it was and after registering the blunt remark.

"Na-Naka—"the blue-orbed blond shot the stammering glasses girl a warning look to not to get in the way before she could get to speak and continued.

"It's because you're so damn full of it we don't get you at all." Rio placed a hand on her waist and looked away – a form similar to what a child would do when they're proving themselves right.

Rinka scowled at her – there were almost no more boundaries that kept her emotions at bay by the time she had heard the trickster's voice. Not only was it because of the attitude, but because of the fact that they were the ones with the issue before this all started; first she hadn't talked to her properly since the day of that incident, and now that she does it's in this manner – one could only get so fed up.

"Hah? Exactly how am I—"

"You speak as if you're better than the rest of us here when in truth you don't really want to be, don't you?" the golden-haired girl returned the hostile glare as the intensity between them increased – leaving Manami to stand by and merely hope for the best out of this knowing she had no power to stop them now. Both girls were stubborn; but that was about the only part of them that was identical, and if you got in the way of that, things could only get uglier. "And yet here you are convincing yourself that the one at fault wasn't you; you're contradicting yourself. Are you guilty? Or do you think you're still right?" This interrogation wasn't just directed at what happened, but also back to that one time – a dim hall where no reverberations could be heard but the intense exchange of two girls that fail to see eye to eye.

Emerald orbs shrunk in disbelief and at how straightforward the girl was being right now. But rather than getting herself fumed by this, she instead felt a deep cut raze through her heart which resulted to the glare she once had to break apart and turn to one of hurt absentmindedly – however, this did not stop her from trying to retort back with a forward step of her foot. "Hey! You don't—"

"What? You're gonna deny me?" Rio scoffed callously before also stomping her foot down and pointing at her accusatorily "You act like you're the one who knows what's best, but you're no different than the rest of us!" Rinka wasn't even given time to react to this before the blond's voice boomed across the empty hallway in a furious explosion.

"It's your stupid adult-like mindset that's getting in the way of what you truly feel! Stop being such a coward and face yourself you troublesome child!"

Time seemed to have stopped after that – as if it wanted the stoic girl to let those words sink in completely and let her drown into an abyss of which she knows not if return was plausible. By then, her arms had fallen lifelessly along with the relaxation of her knuckles from such an intense grip as she could only stare back at the girl absolutely dumbstruck. Heck, even Manami caught herself unable to breathe due to such a harsh statement to an already emotionally rattled girl.

Rio didn't even try to look like she felt any sympathy and glowered at her – but this time it was not merely out of irritation for there was now a clear vision of her reasons for such an upsurge. It was never in her plans to humiliate the girl or get her to feel bad; no, it was to get her to come to her senses for her own good.

But the result the braided girl and the English veteran got was not within their expectations…

Hiccup

"Mm?" the aforementioned duo hummed in confusion while they observed how her shoulders jerked up with the peculiar sound she just made.

Another one came – this time it was mixed in with a choked squeak and the quiver of her mouth.

Although both had a feeling they knew what was coming, that didn't stop them from exchanging a worried look and feeling a little anxious about what they had just done – especially the blond.

And after another second of ambiguousness, Rinka raised her head to the ceiling and bawled like a five year old.

Such a reaction gained her two simultaneous 'Ah!' 's of panic and just pure shock at what the pigtailed girl did right then – the consultant's shoulders both jolted upwards as their jaws dropped at the scene they had both deemed unlikely (though it was not so unlikely now since it was happening right before their eyes).

Rinka paid no mind to these reactions and carried on with her loud sobbing as she put an arm over her eyes in a failed attempt to keep more tears from flowing out. She couldn't bear it all in anymore – anything her that involved reason just got thrown out the window as she had been overtaken by the massive amount of feelings that she let out with every cry and every choke.

The other two found themselves unable to recover from their startled state and continued to watch her wail out all of her pain as the drops of water that stained the cemented floor did not cease to add up.

"Ha-Hayami! H-Hey—!" Rio was only able to yell this out of impulse and stepped forward with concern as she nearly reached for her to try and calm the… usually calm girl down – guilt slowly started to seep inside of her and start nibbling away her ego as if taunting her with 'Look what you did'.

"I'M SORRY!" the words were barely clear through the sobs and the brittle voice caused by her cries – but this had given her the full attention of the baffled pair of girls "I'm just so pissed! I'm so pissed at him!" albeit the loud bawls, Manami and Rio pushed enough effort to try and comprehend whatever the girl wanted to say to them – still far from gaining composure as the sniper poured out her emotions without organization and a runny nose

"I-I just wanted to get a summer job and even sacrificed the break because I was really looking forward to it! Because it was supposed to help me practice dealing with others! So that I can finally start trying to be friends with you! But then he just took that chance away from me because he knew I couldn't do it! He even said things like I'm just a disturbance to whoever was gonna go under me! What the hell?! He didn't have to rub my weaknesses at my face like an insensitive twat! I know not a lot of people think I'm the best person to be with and I was anxious about whoever may have been under me, but even still I went with it! I was set on becoming your friend! But then he just ruins everything! That stupidhead! He said I wasn't even trying to fix my problem and that's why he did it! When I said 'I'm doing what I can' he just straight up says 'I'm not convinced' and even rudely walked away after! What kind of jackass is he?! And then he even said that 'I'm just good at forcing myself to do things'! What's with him?! I have things I want to do too! Y-You know! Even after he did all that I still bought lots of food for us so that we can share it and make up! It was so hard to look at him or even talk to him, but I still did it! But then he even goes about saying 'I told you' when he didn't even know anything at all! I'm just so frustrated! What brought this on suddenly?! Why is he so honest and straightforward about it?!" Rinka paused for a bit to release a few more sobs as a bit of a respite from the long outburst. And even after she complained about a number of things, the two who listened to her remained dumbstruck – not only because of the still shocking response they got out of her, but now also of enlightenment from her side.

"Hayami-san…"

"Hayami…"

"Has he always thought of me that way?! Was I just a desperate girl in those stupid eyes of his I never even saw?! Even if it's all true he didn't have to say it like that! I'm so pissed! He pisses me off! That idiot! I hate him so much! I hate him!" she slapped her palms to her face and sobbed with her head facing the ground this time. Too overwhelmed by their own emotions, the three girls failed to keep aware of their surroundings for throughout the time, a particular boy whose hair had always kept anyone from seeing through him had listened in from behind a pillar. Arms were crossed over his chest as his lips were formed into a thin line – every single word she cried out did not fail to reach his ears, but even so, he kept his composure; and at the last three words, he raised himself from the pillar and walked away…

'Satisfied'

"But then…" the girl whose eyes were now blurred from the seemingly never-ending river of tears took her hands away from her face but kept her gaze fixed to the floor – her jaw hurt from frowning and yelling, but fortunately the sobs had calmed by now "I'm more pissed at myself because I knew that everything he said was true, and yet I just kept denying it and kept getting mad at him…! He's right…! I did just force myself to take that job even if I had reasons. But…couldn't he have just told me in a better way?! Then again…I should've been the better person at the time instead of acted like a cranky Jelavic (bitch). I should've really explained to him why I did things! He only ever looked out for me…listened to me… But all I did was throw food at his face in the end! Now I'm out of money and I'm about to pass out from hunger! I'm so sick of myself! Why am I so stupid?!" the loud sobbing had come to an end by this time and had only left her with sniffles that would interrupt her mid-sentence most of the time.

"He probably sees me at an even dimmer light now! He's gonna rub it in my face again! It's just as you said Nakamura!" at the mention of her name and after she comprehended the orangehead's next words, the small guilt that had formed in the beginning of her crying spree had only grown into a vicious monster that slowly, excruciatingly, ate her alive "I always try to run away from things I found too big to handle and act so mature about it when I'm absolutely not! I'm just a child and no better than the rest of you! But…I really tried hard!" she paused for a while to take in a few more sniffles after another upsurge. Once she had gained control of herself, the tone she started with was less intimidating now – as if depression and self-loathing took over her entire form now

"But even if that's so…I ended up causing a big mess for everyone…! And I ended up losing the one person I trusted the most over something as petty as this! I'm so sick of it…! I'm so sick of dealing with myself!" looking exhausted from all the emotional turmoil, Rinka couldn't handle it anymore and slumped to the nearest wall and slid down the floor to continue sobbing.

Meanwhile, the other girls had come to recover from their baffled states and gave the orange-haired girl expressions of sympathy – they weren't aware that she'd gone through that much, and now that she'd opened up, things couldn't have been clearer for the two of them. And that's when Manami had a thought.

'…when people like that come along…you'll be surprised to find out they're just like anyone else'

Hayami-san…is no different than the rest of us.

A small smile of compassion graced the short girl's face before she crouched down to the ginger's level. Hayami stared back at her with slightly confused eyes that still had tears welled up by the sides as sniffles came unintentionally – however, she listened.

"Hayami-san, please don't shoulder all of these hard emotions by yourself. We're all still kids trying to make our way to the real world…so it's okay for you to be this way. And…we can't deal with you unless you open up. Please try to count on us from time to time…I've learned that the hard way after all." She beamed brightly at her last set of words for encouragement "If you care about him that much, I'm sure there's no way Chiba-kun would think of you that way."

"Okuda-san…" was all she could muster to say after such a touching reassurance – the braided girl had come so far from where she'd begun.

"You can call me Manami." The bespectacled girl kept her beam on – and Rio had to admit she got a little jealous after hearing that.

"Man…ami…" she mumbled again, this time with a raise of her eyebrows at the permission she was given – quite overjoyed; for ever since she had overheard them back in the school excursion, she had also discovered this desire to call them by their first names.

The raven haired girl beamed at her again and nodded at the attempt for another guarantee that it was okay and that she didn't mind at all being called by her first name.

Rinka considered this as probably the best time to tell her how she'd been feeling the entire time – since she never had a proper conversation with her before, now could never be a better opportunity to finally get these things off her chest. "Y-You know…I've always felt bad about making you feel nervous all the time… So I'm sorry for that…And back then…" emerald eyes with tears by the sides had traveled down her cheek and onto the floor at her next statement "I really did do nothing but stand and watch…I was useless to both you and Nakamura…" Her runny nose and the constant wipe of her wet face got in the way of her proper speech, but it was understandable enough to let it sink in with the pair.

Rio still kept her arms crossed and her gaze averted with a frown on her face as sweat that dripped at the side of her face from the feeling of being the one solely at fault. Deciding that being stubborn was immature at such a time like this, she kicked in to try and support her spectacled friend by giving the orange-haired sniper a piece of her own mind. With a gulp and a little bit of a nervous tone, she stuttered out "Ri-Rinka…"

The owner of the name turned her head up to look at the blond with an obvious hint of nervousness or fear of what she was going to say to her this time – which the lighter haired girl wished she didn't take notice of for it had her crouch down and appropriately face the not-so-stoic-anymore girl out of guilt-stricken impulse.

"About what I said before…and about all the other things I did…I'm sorry. It was my bad. I'm pretty sure they hurt a lot…" it was a little awkward talking to her like this since all they've ever done was avoid each other the past weeks – and even before that they barely talked and were the last thing you would consider as 'close'. In all honesty, what made such a simple apology more difficult was the fact that she was angry at herself for being so harsh on her. She used to think of her as someone who saw herself high above everyone else; that because she was adult-like and had a knack for getting things done, she'd think of herself as wise and knew what was right – but when she overheard the conversation with Chiba just yesterday, things had somehow cleared up. She was just like the rest of them and was kindhearted – but after being used by people from the story she heard about her on how she got to class E, she assumed that the professional, business-like personality started from there; she locked her heart away and kept it from being handled by just anyone by hiding away how fragile it really was.

Rio sighed, exasperated "I've…been a real jerk to you haven't I…" even with a sincere apology like this one she couldn't bring herself to look at her in the eye – only keeping her eyeballs off to the side uncomfortably as she bit her lip.

"Nakamura…" Even if she couldn't see her face, she was sure from her tone that she'd been touched even if her apology wasn't exactly the best one out there for it just showed how stubborn she also was. But after giving it some thought, she was content with her admissions and looked forward to days of less discomforting situations – and to let the atmosphere light up, the blue-eyed girl raised herself from her crouched position and smirked with the added action of a hair flip as she rested another hand on her waist.

"Well then, to make up for it now since I don't wanna feel guilty, go on! Keep taking it out on us! Shout to the world how much of a douchebag he is!" Rio's eyes glinted with sadism as she even raised a fist to exaggerate.

Rinka's eyebrows scrunched together at her statement– by then the tears only stayed at the side of her eyes and waited for gravity to take its toll on them "B-But…I'm at fault here too…" she said this in a tone that felt like she was asking 'weren't you listening?'

"And so? He was the one that made you throw away such good food and have your money wasted because of saying something so discourteous! To me, that's plenty enough to get mad about! But he took away your job? Rude~!" the blond crossed her arms as each word came out in a loud as she badmouthed the boy.

"Nakamura-san…?" Manami had to question the girl's actions with a little difficulty in understanding where she wanted to go with this.

Rio winked at her and grinned "If she doesn't let all this out now, she'll never get the chance to! It's women against the world full of good-for-nothing men after all!"

It seemed the introvert wasn't able to fully grasp her intentions by the tilt of her head and the bewildered blinking of her eyes.

"Chi…" But before the small girl could ask again to a get a clear understanding of what her suddenly so eager friend wanted to attain by trash-talking their dark-haired schoolmate, the pigtailed girl whom had half of her face buried in her tucked knees started to mumble.

"Hm?" the other two hummed simultaneously (Manami's was quizzical while Rio's had anticipation laced on it) as they waited for her to carry on.

"Chiba's an idiot." Rinka's mature personality appeared to have completely been thrown out that time for her tone was quiet but pouty – like a spoiled child that held a grudge over something petty.

Happy with the results, the female trickster's smirk only grew wider as she nodded with full support with her on that matter "Yes he is!"

"He didn't have to say all those things about me even if they were true…I really wanted to punch him for that. They really hurt…"

"If I were you, I would've punched him already!"

"He's an insensitive twat, a stupidhead and he ruins everything…"

"Don't forget jackass!" Rio looked to be having too much fun with this already which had the shy girl with them begin to worry for she knew the reasons for Chiba's side and would hate for him to be ganged up upon even when his actions had deeper meaning to it – she was afraid that this may go too far they may overlook his side and he'll end up being the scapegoat; deciding she wouldn't want to let his actions not be rewarded with good results, she spoke up.

"But…even if that's so…" the two light-haired girls turned to her after being interrupted from the trash-talking only to find her with an expression of distress – similar to how a kind mother would stare at her children when they lose their way and was frightful of them getting caught into a bigger mess.

"Chiba-kun had good intentions." Her voice came out low and with concern, but it had the iron will and yearning for the two snipers to get along again – but whatever unease she had had dissipated when she took notice of the rare, tender smile that complemented the loving glimmer in her glossy eyes.

"I…

Already knew that."

---

In the middle of a poorly lit staircase that led to the freshmen area of the Kimii school campus was a pair of students that blocked a certain dark-haired boy's way.

Chiba was just about to get back to class (considering its already started about twenty minutes ago) after he left the three girls to reconcile with one another – however, his path had been stopped by a girl with a dull brown crown and a boy that was probably several inches taller than her with spiky hair that appeared dark blue under the small patch of light they were given by a high window.

They eyed him blankly, but clearly they didn't just skip class and block his way just to say 'hi' – what proved this more was how they both had their arms crossed in a fashion that made it appear that interrogation was coming his way.

"What's this now?" The stoic sniper was the first to speak up after seconds of tentative silence had passed them by. He would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised to find them there, but obviously they had come to him to discuss a matter he was well too aware of.

"Be honest."Sugino didn't demand, but his tone was firm as he now had a sense of quizzicality to his manner of eyeing him.

"Hm?" this was rather unexpected for Chiba; so it took him a few seconds to try and understand what his friend meant by such a question only to have it answered by the short-haired brunette.

"What was the real reason you did this?" her voice came out nonchalantly, but he couldn't deny that part of it had been mixed in with heedfulness – and from that, Chiba turned his head away from them; so he'd been found out.

Yuzuki's brows furrowed with a mix of question and deep concern "You didn't really do all that just to get her to stop acting that way, did you?"

He left them hanging for a few more seconds – not only because he hesitated and was unsure if telling them will do good for the work he had done, but even he had to recover from the scene he had just come from; and to have this question thrown at him directly after, one could only handle so much before they burn out.

But even if the silence dragged out, Yuzuki and Sugino did not move from their spots and were determined to get him to spill – no, it was not just because they were curious, but they were set on helping the guy out through the problem they seemed to have gotten figured out.

Finally, after much contemplation and arrangement of thoughts, Chiba sighed and displayed them an exhausted smile that held every other emotion he had – the rare sight had the two other students widening their eyes ever so slightly; but they couldn't deny how that smile he just showed them was just a bit heartbreaking to lay eyes upon.

"First, can I sit down and have some juice?"

---

They weren't allowed to gather at the clubroom during class hours – but they did so anyway.

Thankfully, their bespectacled friend had been courteous enough to provide her members with a stock of juice she'd taken the time to buy from the convenience store –now, three individual boxes of the different flavors of this fruity drink were atop a square table where the three students settled with their own lax positions.

They had kept a comfortable silence over them from the time they had arrived –well, mostly because a respite such as this was just so refreshing you would be tempted to pay no heed to much of your troubles; especially with the addition of the cozy atmosphere given to them by the sunrays that shined through the window. It felt like the most relaxing summer afternoon hang-out one would come across for the air around them didn't have too high of a temperature even without the ventilation given to them by the only sound in the room caused by a small electric fan that rested on the corner.

Shoes were carelessly taken off as bags were just left to lay by the owner's sides – but at least it didn't create such an unnerving mess for if you compared it to how their room looked most of the time, this had to be close to what you would call 'organized'. Chiba found such a time like this comforting; and he was seldom one who would appreciate such – but since he'd endured a long day, he at least rewarded himself with this mundane yet pleasant time with the tangerine-flavored beverage in his hand that left a sweet and citrus flavor upon his tongue.

"So…?" the girl with the pinkish orbs stepped in to action so they may get what they came her for ease their minds – she didn't want to break such a peaceful moment between the three of them; in fact she wanted to drag it out longer in consideration to shaggy haired boy, but there were things too important to leave on standby.

Chiba took a few more moments of preparation before he could speak – he had to be grateful that the two in front of him had given him time to calm his nerves, but he'd feel bad if he were to prolong it anymore; they deserve answers. "I wasn't exactly lying the first time I told you why; I just didn't tell you everything."

He took their quiet stares as a sign that they were willing to listen to every word he intended to say and will settle for nothing short of the whole truth – but he didn't feel threatened at all, he needed people to relay this to anyway. "…Back in the school excursion, Hayami said something to me." The image of the girl that isolated herself from the population upon a porch near the forest resurfaced in a fashion that felt like an old movie clip – her eyes that wallowed in distraught, the way she spoke the words, they all were still fresh in his memory " 'I want to get along with everyone.' Was what she said. And at the time, I had a thought. There's no way she'll ever be able to do that…if she always comes to me to talk about it." It wasn't obvious, but he brooded over his words – but the ones who studied him carefully were able to take notice of this and had just been appalled by the enlightenment that had just washed over them.

"So…you took away the one she could talk with anything about so she could turn to someone else?" Yuzuki loosened the grip on her juice box – eyebrows were raised as she said this in a volume just a little above a whisper. Sugino followed through with his own realization as he as well felt his eyes widen at how the other boy in front of him had thought this through so well.

"You…made yourself the subject of her anger so that she'll have no one else to pour her emotions out to except them…"

Chiba, quite relieved they had caught on quickly so he wouldn't have to explain himself for any longer, sighed and leaned back on his arms and lifted his head to the old ceiling that he had to admit needed some polishing. "Precisely." He let a few moments pass so that this may sink in with them, and so he may ease the bitter pain he felt tugging inside of him once he had put his silent plan to words – he realized it hurt more once you put your hard decisions to words. But to keep loyal to his agreement that he would tell them everything, he carried on "She wants to be friends with them, but she doesn't exactly know how to go about it…but the fact still stands that she cares about them, and wouldn't ask for anything more than to just be seen as a friend in their eyes too."

Fuwa found herself lingering over this statement of his – a bit of nostalgia had formed somewhere in her chest as she felt her expression soften and moved her distant gaze to the empty box of juice she put in front of her 'That sounds familiar…' the memory of a notebook, followed by an uneasy girl standing by the door of the very room she was inside of at the moment – the quivering of this girl's mouth each time she spoke as her braided hair was against the orange hue of the sun that one spring day.

"I'm amazed it went by that smoothly…" Sugino commented after he had taken his time to let the words sink in and understand his side of the story fully – Chiba wasted no time in answering back to this with the sharp movement of his head to face him, but he kept the same tone of voice as he spoke.

"Of course it went by smoothly." He paused for a bit to go back to a tranquil pace of thought after moving fast with that one sentence – after he had done so, he reverted to his previous position with a barely audible sigh "I know almost everything about her, so I was ready for the consequences too…"

He wanted to face the two of them when he says his next words –it gave them an impression that his decision was resolute and that he had prepared himself beforehand; that he was well aware of how things may have gone down as he spoke with a clear and solid voice that was nothing below genuine "Even if it ends up that we may never make up again, or if it so happens that she decides to forever exclude me from her life – at the very least, my mind can be at ease because I know she'll have them." he knew all too well how much she cared for them, so him being out of the picture wouldn't be a problem for her once they'd gotten friendly with each other – and the one who realized this wasn't only him, for the duo in the room had exchanged a look as they sympathized with him; and it was like they had the same thoughts as well after they had shared another glance at each other.

So this is the extent of his care for her…

To say this fact amazed them was an understatement. So with another silent exchange between the otaku and sporty boy, the latter filled the silence that had formed for a brief moment with a soldier-like voice "Chiba."

The sudden change of tone got the dark-haired sniper looking to their direction blankly, but it felt as if there hovered a question mark in the empty space beside him.

"You've worked hard and you've done well." Sugino kept the same tone as he and his classmate gave him a synchronized nod of reassurance – like how the armies would compliment those notable what with the serious faces they put on.

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Chiba didn't seem to take this as well as they'd hoped as he tilted his head at the supposed words of praise.

"Not exactly…" the spiky-haired boy's mock stoic face shifted into a sheepish smile after that "But I guess I can try my best to sympathize." While he spoke, Yuzuki had a feeling his mind had drifted back to the memories he'd shared with the raven-haired darling of Korosensei's class E "Well…when you care about someone…you'd naturally have the desire to put their feelings ahead of yours. Even if it probably means you'll have to be the one to suffer for it…and lose your chances of ever being with them for who knows how long…" he remembered how he felt a little heartbroken to hear that he won't be seeing the girl he'd had a long-time crush on for high school since she chose to attend a prestigious all-girls school – but even if that was so, he still supported her on that decision since she was so ecstatic about it; he ignored whatever disgusting feelings he had and wished her luck on that. The smile she had on that day he found out where she was going could never be erased from his mind, that's why.

No more words were said for yet another brief moment as they all came to relate with him on that.

After an exasperated sigh, Sugino ended it with "Love's really problematic, huh." He imitated Chiba's position facing the ceiling as they both seemed to have found an interest to it while they wallowed in their complex emotions – because of this, he failed to notice how the brunette watched him from the corner of her eye inscrutably as she rested her chin on her palm.

"…Yep."

---

"Okay, you have to apologize properly, alright?"

"Okay."

"No tsundere moments or any other excuses, got it?"

"G-Got it…"

The figures of three girls reflected upon the cemented floor of their respective building had their scuffling shoes squeak against the well-polished surface as they made their way to where they knew the others were going to find them. Since there were only two periods worth forty minutes after lunch, they weren't too surprised when they realized they had taken up almost the rest of the day just to fix their little dispute – so by now, they had to estimate that the last period was about to reach its end and saw no harm in heading to the clubroom first. For some reason, none of them minded skipping classes much at all (excluding Okuda); but the reason was most probably because of what they had gone through in middle school. Their academics weren't ever harmed even if they tended to not show up in some classes due to their intense junior days.

"Hayami-san, your nose is still all red." Manami offered a handkerchief for the taller girl to blow her nose on, to which she answered to with a muffled 'thank you' against the cloth before she released.

Rio kept her hands on the orangehead's shoulders for it had been quite the challenge to even get her to stand up from where they were – so they needed someone to give her a push so that she may do what she wanted to do (which had been an annoying issue). "Don't run away, okay?"

"Roger that." Rinka tried responding with her serious tone, but it had gone wrong due to the runny nose and brittle voice.

"Make sure when we get there you're not this much of a mess…"

As the two girls continued, Manami couldn't stop the feeling of overjoy from being too obvious on her face as her smile hadn't wavered since they made up with her. From this, she expects the succeeding days to be much more eventful and memorable now that the three of them had come to an understanding.

But just as she had that thought, something reflected on her glasses that didn't fail to get her attention albeit it only being there for a split second while they passed through the administration lane. Usually she'd overlook such things – but since it was color red…

She took a few steps backward to confirm her suspicions and check if she had seen what she thought she saw. To her slight surprise, her guess was correct. The boy she had not seen all day had his back against the wall under a window in a crouched position. Upon further inspection, it appeared that he had been eavesdropping on something due to the evasive glances he directed towards the window of what looked to be the headmaster's office.

'What's he doing there?' curiosity got the best of her as she quietly walked over to him. It wouldn't really surprise her if she caught him doing something else even with the fact that classes weren't over yet, but to see him with a serious expression as he would observe whatever happenings there were in the room, something told her it wasn't something to be so negligent about.

"Karma-ku—" she hadn't even finished whispering his name for he had pulled her down by the wrist to have her back to his chest and between his legs as he gently put a hand over her mouth with a quiet 'Sh.'

Manami's eyes grew wide at this straightforward gesture, but she kept her mouth shut for this seemed to be something taken seriously and it would be bad for both of them if they get caught out here; an off-limits area for students – that, and another reason was because she found herself to stunned to move from their proximity. On the other hand, Karma felt a slight discomfort with having her there and couldn't stop himself from expressing this by stifling a rather irked hum and moving his eyes to the side for a second. But once he chose to just suck it up for a while and ignore it, his focus returned to the not very pleasant scene inside the office that could be seen through the gap between the curtains.

Not too long after, he released the girl in his hold and let her have a glimpse of this too as they knelt next to each other to continue spying.

From what was visible with the tiny space provided with the curtain, she was able to catch a view of two women with a notable height difference bow their upper bodies to what looked to be two teachers and of course, the authority who attended to his work in that very room. Manami had seen those two teachers before – they were the homeroom advisors of class 1-B and 1-F.; and from the looks of it, they were not pleased at all for it appeared that the pair was issuing a complaint to the dark haired man that sat behind the table with an expression of displeasure. Her eyes moved back to the two bowing characters and she felt her brows scrunch together in concern once she had deciphered who they were. It wasn't too hard – pale brown hair with a green bow and long, bright orange, curly hair that extravagantly went well with the white lab coat – there were only two people who harbored such, and of course it had to be their council supporter Isura Mai and their supervising teacher Mikagura Midori-sensei.

She couldn't tell what kind of face they made for both had long hair that blocked her from reading them – but clearly, they weren't feeling anything short of unpleasant; she could tell that much. After a while of barely being able to comprehend what a disgruntled group of voices were trying to say to each other – purple eyes grew wide under a pair of glasses once the owner of which had caught on with the events.

And it had to be that same time for the headmaster to eye their location suspiciously and stood up.

In no time at all, footsteps were beginning to reach their ears as each grew louder and without a second wasted.

Thinking fast, Karma pulled the braided girl with him by the wrist as they kept their steps quiet but fast in the process of their escape. Manami followed through by keeping her head down and did not retort when he silently insisted her to go first.

Fortunately, by the time the door opened, they were safely hidden behind the nearest wall where the hallway was.

The school authority moved his head to the opposite side of where they were with narrow and apprehensive (not to mention intimidating) eyes. At that same time, curiosity took over the hidden duo for they had peeked their heads out of the wall steadily to have a see what he was doing.

When the frightening man felt their stares, no time was wasted before he snapped his head over to their side – to which they had barely been able to dodge from.

A few more anxious moments passed them by for not a sound had been made since they were almost doomed to join their older members in that same office.

But to their utmost relief, the shut of the door resonated through that ever-quiet lane. But the relief had only been short-lived for there were bigger things to worry about now. After they exchanged a nod, they departed from the area with haste.

---

"Oi…Chiba…are you really okay? You've been staring into the empty refrigerator for a while…" Sugino sweatdropped when he faced the boy whom had his head inside of the said appliance – surely it was not just because of the heat.

Yuzuki stared at him with raised eyebrows as she contemplated upon this with a palm to her cheek. Just earlier he was spouting out some really cool lines that were worthy enough to become anime with a strong-hearted will and a vow to himself that he would stay strong for his girlfriend but not's sake – but now that image she had of him had vanished into thin air as he only kept himself there and sulked; apparently Chiba is forlorn despite saying he was 'prepared for the consequences'. Seeing this as a familiar scene from some of her reading materials, she prodded her classmate whom sat next to her with a finger.

"Sugino-kun…go have an inspiring bro to bro talk with him."

"Excuse me?"

Then from outside, a shuffling was heard which stopped the three members of the room from whatever they were doing to look over to their door (yes, even the one who fretted inside a cold appliance).

Muffled voices that belonged to a familiar pair of girls sounded from directly outside of the door.

"…As I thought, I can't go in."

"Stop chickening around and do it!"

"But—"

"GET IN!"

Rio slid the door open forcefully and pushed the (now cleaned up) pigtailed girl into the room which caused her to stumble a bit as the blond followed after her with a vein popped on her forehead from the female sniper's incessant excuses even after they agreed on doing this thing properly.

Seeing both of them surprised Chiba for a bit since he had not exactly predicted what would happen next – but the same could not be said for the class F members that were left unfazed by their appearance. Almost immediately after Rinka was pushed in, the center of her emotional turmoil was the first to meet her eyes.

For a while, the room was brought to a mute between their stare-fest – well, at least for Chiba since Rinka was the only one that glowered down at him with crossed arms. Seeing as this was something they were best not part of, Rio proceeded to pull Yuzuki and Sugino out of the room as the former tilted her head with a smile of inquiry "What's up?"

The blond groaned inwardly and brought them outside "Don't even bother…" with that last remark, she shut the door to leave the stoic couple alone to deal with each other – but even after they had departed from the room, the only thing the both of them did was continue to stare at each other, unmoving. Neither was exactly in the best mood, and the awkward air between them was still present so it was hard to even start speaking; not even the sound of the small electric fan was heard for it felt as if the entire world had been blocked out to them as they only had their minds and all other senses set on the one in front of them.

'I hate him!'

"…Are you happy now?" Chiba was the first to break their stare and intense silence by lowering his head and speaking with a low yet dismayed tone which had Rinka taken aback. She had thought that he would go back to ridiculing her or do something to annoy her and disrespect her existence again – but now that she was presented with this, she felt guilty for even taking that possibility into account. This question meant so much more than what meets the eye – and she knew exactly what they desired to ask her, and it took another long while before she could reply with a nod of her head "….Mm." the glower had now faded away and was replaced with half-lidded emerald orbs which held her feelings that the boy in front of her refused to face.

Chiba felt his fist clench upon his pants after her blunt response. So his plan worked – that didn't really mean he was happy about it, but he knew it would come. So with a breath, he raised his head and was prepared to end it with them "Haya—"

"You're horrible." She had her head moved to the side with her arms crossed in a snobbish fashion after the insult – to which he reacted to with the slight drop of his jaw followed by a tiny hum.

'I expected this…'

"…at hiding your true intentions."

'I did not expect this' "Wait, so—" before he could address his questions to her, she raised a hand as if to tell him to just shut up for a while and leave the talking to her for this explanation. "I knew from the moment I threw that book at you. You knew I missed on purpose but you still made it look like I tried just so you could annoy me…" she turned her gaze to him with a sense of superiority "That was enough of a sign for me to know that you had something up your sleeve."

He had been left at a tongue-tie by her words – how can he not be? She just straight up told him that she knew about his little plan which ruined the impression he had that he knew everything about her. This did not bring him to distraught however, for somehow he was relieved to know that there were still things about her he was yet to familiarize himself with; and he looked forward to discovering them if she allowed it. But for now, despite his surprise of her being able to figure him out as well as he could, he answered back with "…it still worked though."

Rinka narrowed her eyes at him once this had reached her ears, but she did not say anything even with another prideful remark coming from him.

Chiba turned to the side "So, You came here for?"

"You're an insensitive twat."

'Okay…' well, that was straightforward as heck – but he just let her go on without moving a muscle. He was fine with her throwing insults at him since she had done so lots of times even before they came to this situation – so he'd be used to it by now.

"Stupidhead, lousy, jackass, and most of all downright terrible."

'Okay some of that hurt…' forget all that talk on being used to it – it felt like several arrows labeled with these words just shot through his heart as the insults left her mouth.

The orange-head heaved a sigh and relaxed her shoulders as she faced him with a demure expression "But the only one that knows exactly how to make me happy in his own way" she observed how he sharply turned back to her with his mouth agape and found it quite amusing to see that kind of confused and semi-bashful face of his before she proceeded with finishing this talk up now that she was able to release things from her heavily burdened chest.

"I'll never be able to find anyone to replace you. So get that stupid worry out of your head." She was monotonous and commanding in tone, but with the genuine glisten in her eyes when she looked at him, not only had Chiba remained dumbfounded because he was mesmerized, but it was also because she knew about his thoughts and fears of being replaced by someone else in her life. And to have them eased right then and there with the sight he gave her and the way she said it, he nearly felt himself tear up under his dark locks from this happiness he found just after a nerve-wracking and just plain painful day.

"…Then—"

"Jackasses can't talk unless I tell them it's okay." She quickly cut him off and turned her head away to hide the red tint on her face after saying something quite embarrassing; she apologized to Nakamura at the back of her mind for not keeping her no-tsundere-moment promise.

Chiba's mind had reached complete contentment when she presented him with that action – to say he was relieved to see her back to her normal self was an understatement in every way possible. After all the hardship, after all the endured emotions and after being thrown into pits of uncertainty that felt inescapable, it was absolutely delightful to see them this way again as he gave her a cheeky smile at that very tsundere move "Really?"

Rinka's shoulders jerked upward along with a surprised sound escaping her closed lips when he said this with that tone he always made whenever she was being obvious as the heat in her cheeks only added up "A-Anyway…" she paused for a bit and pushed her egotistical behavior down so she could gaze at him – emerald eyes brimmed with resolve and were nothing short of genuine and caring "Next time…I'll be the one to make you happy."

Chiba's smile faded away as he put those words into mind and analyzed them seriously before he replied reflectively "…I'll admit…that I asked Tori-sensei to take you off position so I could spend summer with you…" he treated the silence and blank expression she had on as a sign that she accepted that reason even if it were something selfish before he said the next batch of words nonchalantly, but with a depth of meaning to them

"…don't force yourself."

Rinka couldn't stop the warm and tender smile that crept up to her features as her gaze simply gave out the message of how thankful she is for this person to be in her life.

---

"Looks like it went well."

The three who stepped outside to leave them alone hadn't really left the area and just sat on the floor to eavesdrop on them like the nosy clubmates they were –though the only boy among the group was against it due to privacy matters, in the end he couldn't stop the girls from getting their scoop of this lover's (but not) feud and could only heave a sigh.

"That's a relief. I almost thought they'd never come to." He suddenly felt the exhaustion take over after the relief and slumped to the wall next to their door.

Yuzuki grinned brightly and hummed a tune – overjoyed that things had cleared up and were settled down "Isn't that great, Rio-chan?" when the directed her attention to the blond, a sly smile graced her expression when she saw how the blond had a pout on and crossed arms with her head turned to the side petulantly.

"Riiiiooooo~" the otaku teased and even poked on her arm tauntingly to get an amusing child-like reaction from her

"…I misunderstood her…" she kept the pout on but towards herself out of regret and a little bit of self-loathing for being so immature towards the stoic ginger before this day. After taking a glance at the club window to see how the both of them were now smiling at each other, the pout dissipated and turned into one the mangaka wannabe couldn't quite read, but it was clear enough when she said "My opinion's changed."

'So in the end it worked out…' Yuzuki had on a cheerful grin as she kicked her feet up and down happily while humming a blissful tune – but that was until she had a thought.

Wait…it was times like these when the end seemed too good to be true.

"Where were you two when we had this dating-but-not couple brouhaha?" Rio's mocking voice had brought her out of her thoughts as she turned to where the two newcomers had come from – but in contrast with the pleasing scene that just ended in the room whose door they had their backs leaned on, the two who had just arrived didn't exactly look to be in the mood for jokes right now and brought a serious vibe with them that eventually got the other three getting sucked into as they awaited with a growing anxiety of what appeared to be something problematic all over again.

Manami's purple orbs were troubled under her glossless spectacles and bit her lip while Karma had a sarcastic yet somehow annoyed smirk on his face as he kept his hands in his pockets.

"We've got a pain in the neck to deal with"

---

YUSH! How's about that? 8"3

I apologize for some of those writer's block moments and f things weren't portrayed well in the narrations 8"D

ALSO! IF ANYONE'S OOC TELL ME! And of course I'm guilty about the big lack of Karmanami in this chapter 8"D

Okay before I get straight to the preview: Do we have Yuzuki supporters? Owo I'm just curious because of this love triangle I put so hey like some generic showbiz shit do we have supporters on her end? I'm not saying I'm for her but hey curiosity~

NOW! NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW: If I Were To Tell You...

SUMMER BREAK IS FINALLY HERE! A great time to relax and enjoy the sun - but not for our small group of previous 3-E members because their club's in a tight situation! Because of their careless skipping of class and not-so-good conduct, they've been getting complaints from the teachers and might get disbanded! That's not the only problem! Trains and their complications, working with one-sided love, blackmail and punishment games, Inari getting found out more than twice, and a weird girl named Watanabe Meiko? And why does Manami seem to know her? So many things are getting boggled up within this group of former assassins as things heat up with the weather!

PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! They are a reassurance for me and keep me motivated to make the next chapter! JA NE~! AND I LOVE YOU AND THANKS FOR READING!

~TheFlowerWeSawThatDay