"Midori, are you ignoring me again?" Pulling his eyes from the clock ticking silently above his colleagues head, he let out a soft tut.

He placed the pen he was holding underneath her chin and tapped gently. She was pretty, just in a way that he didn't find appealing.

Being attractive was nothing if your personality was similar to that of a rock. Her nose was too long, her lips too thin, her eyes too dull. They held no fire. She was boring to say the least and if he couldn't get any enjoyment out of having them around, Midori simply wouldn't bother.

But her body shape did look similar to one that he found very pleasing.

"Would you be interested in accompanying me after work for a bite to eat?" The blush on the nurse's face said that he had her interested. Moving closer to her, his mouth closed in so it was directly above her ear.

"And maybe a bite of something else." Letting out a squeak of shock, the young woman almost fell over her own feet.

He might like her more if she spoke to him on all fours...

"I-I have to go back to work." She stuttered it out as an easy excuse and quickly made her escape from his office. Midori's head tilted to the side as he watched her hips swing from side to side and decided that her body wasn't quite the same as Tachibanas.

No good.

Leaning on his hand, he continued his vigilant watch of his clock, only two hours to go. Two hours until he could go see his little spitfire.

A soft tapping on his office door brought his attention, once again, away from the time keeping device.

"Doctor Midori? Your next patient is here."

His fake smile slid back into place, his ever reliable mask. Not having to wear it when he was around Tachibana was remarkable, that was enough to keep his attention.

"Send them in."

'This just feels too weird. Even with leggings on, I feel exposed.'

Looking sideways at her best friend, Tachibana's hand stayed at the back of her skirt, holding it down. Any wayward breeze directed her way would send it flying upwards.

Her fingers pinched the opaque material of her legging tightly and she smiled a secret smile to herself, she would have to thank Midori for getting her this added protection.

She examined Kanae as she walked alongside her, to see if she had any tips on how to keep the skirt in place but much to her horror, every step her friend took, her white frilly panties peeped out to say hello.

Full of desperation for her friends dignity, she reached across to pull Kanae's skirt down a fraction but she only managed to make the situation ten times worse and yanked the skirt with a little too much force.

Now, it wasn't just a little peep of her lacy panties that could be seen as Tachibana had pulled the skirt down to her ankles, fully exposing her.

Letting out a scream, Kanae fell down to her knees in the middle of the school hallway and desperately tried to cover herself up from the prying eyes of passers by.

One boy stopped dead in his tracks and pulled out his phone to take a photo. Tachibana's leg flew upwards on instinct and just as the flash went off, she kicked the phone out of his hand.

"You perv!" Her voice was shaky as the first year student picked up his phone and with a creepy smile, scuttered off in the direction of the photography club.

'I've got a bad feeling about this, maybe I should follow-'

"Tachibana, why did you do that." Kanae's voice was shrill as she flicked her friend's forehead. Scratching the back of her head, she tried to think of a way to tell her that she was only trying to help but words were simply failing her.

"There was a bug, on your skirt. My finger accidentally yanked it down." This weirdly seemed to calm Kanae down and she patted down the material of her skirt, as if trying to bat away the non existent bug.

"Thank you so much, I would have never of noticed."

"You should really wear leggings underneath your skirt, it might save you that embarrassment again."

Kanae shrugged off her advice and slid her hand up her leg. "Yeah but I have such great legs, it'd be such a shame to hide them."

Tachibana knew she'd respond with something like that and rolled her eyes in response. Her friend wasn't the smartest but she loved her all the same, as long as she was by her side, Tachibana would always ensure her safety.

"That kick you just did though, wow. I haven't seen you act like that since you came back. All kungfuey and stuff."

Kanae tucked her hair behind her ear and looked weirdly content as she stared at the floor, almost as if she were lost in her own thoughts. "You looked really happy."

She wasn't wrong, since Tachibana had returned from America, she had been a shadow of former self.

She could only hope that once she got back into playing survival games, her fighting spirit would return to her.

It was part of the reason why she was so nervous to play again, what if she never got her blood lust back? It was what made her such an exceptional player. What would she have without that?

After two hours of intense running in gym class, Tachibana was feeling like a truck had mowed her down and then proceeded to reverse and run her over again and again.

Without bothering to shower or change back into her uniform, she just grabbed her bag and made her way out of the school building.

A huge cluster of people were grouped at the entrance of the school, gathered around something. Peaking her interest, she joined the hoard to see what the hell was so fascinating.

Stood at the front of them all was the new school council president, he was vigorously trying to rip down a multitude of signs stuck on a huge noticeboard that was normally used to broadcast any club activities or messages from the teachers.

But by the look on Haru's face as he desperately scrambled to remove the fliers, she very much doubted that what was plastered all over it now was green lighted by the headmaster.

"Hey Haru, what's going on?" No sooner did the words leave her mouth did he near jump out of his skin and drop all the sheets of paper he had already gathered.

Bending down to help him pick them up, her mouth fell open at what lay before her.

"Don't look." Haru blurted out with reddened cheeks and snatched them all away from her but it was too late. She had seen, in HD, the picture the little brat had taken of her and Kanae earlier on that day.

Her friends underwear was there for all to see. And the leggings that she had boasted about shielding her had failed. Apparently, the kick she had done had caused a huge split in the stitching of the crotch and had exposed her own underwear.

"Nice frills Tachibana." A male student passing by made a snide remark but yelped in pain when she yanked off her shoe and aimed it directly at his stupid head.

"Delete the image of our underwear from your brain or I'll do it for you."

The male immediately cowered away from her and made his escape. No way was she going to let this slide, this was insulting. She was most definitely going to go back to wearing trousers to school, look at what happened when she didn't.

The school was full of perverted little boys that couldn't be trusted.

"Ah, the leggings failed." Looking over her shoulder, she was equally mortified and relieved to see Midori standing there, looking prim and proper as always in a pressed jumper and dark jeans that clung to his muscular legs, almost like a second skin.

His eyes looked dark, despite the light tone on his voice.

The were locked on the scandalous picture that he somehow had managed to get ahold of.

"Don't look at that." Tachibana reached his side in record time and yanked the risque picture away from him. His eyes shone as he stared down at her ruffled appearance and smiled.

"Don't worry, I wasn't looking at your little friend. I only have eyes for one girl."

'Lucky girl.'

"Excuse me sir, this is school property and you can't be here unless you're picking up a student." Haru was professional as always as he now had all of the pictures in his possession and had them secured in his bag, where he would hopefully throw them away.

Maybe she should take them off him and dispose of them herself…

"I am picking up a student." Midori's voice had taken on a slight bite now he was addressing Haru, his eyes were still shining but not in a friendly way. You could cut the tension with a knife between the two of them.

"Are you ready to leave Tachibana?" She shook her head vigorously from side to side.

"What are you doing here? Are we still participating in TCC tomorrow?"

Before Haru could voice his concern for Tachibana leaving with him, Midori wrapped his arm around her shoulders, much to her shock, and led her away from the school.

"That was quite a photo huh, I never would have imagined Tachibana to wear such provocative underwear."

Her face heated at his words. She wouldn't really call them provocative, pink and lacy. Her mother had thrown out all of her boxer shorts and replaced them with shreds of lace and silk. Again, another thing she had not got around to replacing.

"Shut up. I need to go home and shower, what do you want?" She knew she was coming off as a bit of a bitch but after the day she had just had, she couldn't play along with his games.

"Alright, I can sense my little Tachibana is in a bad mood. I just wanted to see you." Her eyes narrowed, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I'll come pick you up in the morning, around about 8am and drive us to the tournament." His eyes lingered on her face before he spoke again. "Make sure to wear the costume I gave you, it suits you well."

Her heart was pounding in her chest long after she had left Midori and returned home. The thought of actually competing with him tomorrow without any practice was nerve wracking to say the least.

She hadn't touched Goemon since she had left Japan a year ago. He was safely tucked away in his carry case, she almost felt bad. He was such a beautiful weapon, he deserved to be held.

After having a scorching hot shower, her mind had settled on a way to get a small amount of practice in without embarrassing herself in front of her team mates or Midori if she seriously sucked.

Dressed in breathable, loose clothing, she pulled the hood up over her face and made her escape from her apartment complex, heading towards the only place she knew of that would give her the privacy she needed while also practicing her aim.

"Hey kid, good to see you, out back's free if you're here to practice."

Tachibana bowed her head at the manager of the shop, Echizen, as she entered. The man had a lot of respect for Tachibana, he could sense great potential in her and always encouraged her growth in the field of survival games.

Proof of that was even after not seeing her for a year he still knew it was her without looking up from his computer and waved her to go to the back of his shop where he had his own shooting range for her to take full advantage of.

Unclipping Goemon's case, she felt a buzz of excitement in her stomach as her fingers came into contact with her old friend and wrapped around the handle.

Trying to simply get a feel of her weapon first, she needed to become one with him again before she could truly say she was prepared to go back out onto the field.

The weight felt familiar and the way she angled him towards the board that held the scoreboard. There was no way she was going to be able to hit perfect scores like Midori had the time they had shot against each other at that very special cafe.

He was on a whole other level, that was exactly why she didn't want to let him down. He had asked her to be his partner, that must mean he had faith in her abilities.

Now all she had to do was have a little faith in herself.

Slipping on a pair of goggles, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

"It's good to see that you still suck." Haruki's deep voice reverberated around the room as he took a step closer to her and let the door fall shut behind him.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be studying? Matsuoka told me that you had a really important exam coming up so we weren't doing any survival games until then."

"I had a feeling you'd be coming here and thought I'd lend a hand." His voice held a slight sneer as he spoke.

"I know you're practicing for TCC tomorrow with that asshole doctor." Her entire body froze as she heard her blood roar in her ears. It was completely ridiculous how guilty she felt for playing with Midori.

She knew that Haruki and the rest of her team had a strong dislike for him. Hell, she did too. But that was overshadowed by respect for his skills and some form or attraction that she was trying to ignore.

But from her experience, ignoring things never went well. It would be wise for her to nip it in the bud, if only she knew how.

"Yes, I am. I don't want to embarrass him and underplay how skilled he is." A noise that she could only guess was one of annoyance left Haruki's lips and his hands gripped Tachibana's shoulders, slowly sliding down to her arms.

A trail of goosebumps followed his fingers, which thoroughly embarrassed her.

Being touched so gently made her feel strange.

"I'm going to help you with aiming since nobody else has been able to." His voice was soft and directly next to her ear. He had somehow molded his body to hers in the process of teaching her, making her really nervous. That in turn made her aim even worse.

"Just take a deep breath and aim." He was extremely patient with her, waiting for when she was ready. One of his arms was outstretched with her own, his fingers gently wrapped around her wrist for support.

The other was tucked around her midriff, keeping her core straight. It all felt extremely intimate. And she couldn't help but wish that he were someone else, someone with a harsher grip and eyes that twinkled with mischief.

A certain doctor…

Her fingers pressed the trigger and the paper in the very centre of the target tore open from the force of a pellet hitting it.

Haruki released her body and stared down at her victorious face.

"There is no way you could embarrass him, just shoot straight and hope that you don't run into me there because I'll shoot you both down."

His parting words sent a shiver down her spine. TCC was definitely going to be a game to remember.

'If Haruki had time to compete, did that mean that Yukimura and Matsuoka were going to be there too?'

Suddenly, her nerves for the next day tripled.

"Thank you for letting me out back master, I'll be back in a few days." The shop owner waved off her thanks without looking up again, seriously engrossed in a game of cards he was playing on his computer.

Pulling up the hood of her jumper, she hid her long hair and walked out of the shop front into the cool air.

"Excuse me." A male voice called from behind her, one she vaguely recognized. "You forgot this on the front desk."

Her eyes looked up and her face paled. It was the student council president from school, he was running towards her and he was holding the case that held Goemon.

'How could I forget my precious Goemon, stupid Tachibana. If he recognizes me it will be a problem.'

She didn't like people from school knowing about her private life. Especially since Haru already knew enough.

Tucking her chin against her chest, she held out her hand and waiting for him to place the strap of her bag over it.

Once she felt the material on her skin, she grunted out a thank you and ran away like a scared little girl.

"Did you give her back her gun?" Usanagi was still entirely immersed in his game but just as Tachibana had left, he shouted to his nephew who was in the upper floor of the shop, putting away a fresh shipment of survival game equipment, to return his customers bag before they disappeared.

"She? Looked like a guy to me." Haru carefully removed his boots and walked behind the counter. "But yes uncle, they got their bag."

"Tachibana gets that a lot." Haru's sharp gaze landed on his uncle and then back at the door of the shop.

'It couldn't be that Tachibana, surely.'

"Did she have long hair and-"

"No." Usanagi said bluntly. "Short hair."

Feeling deflated, Haru got back to work clearing the back area of the shop. His feet carried him to the training area where he could only assume which was where this Tachibana had been before she had left.

The target that was hanging on the far end of the room had several bullet holes scattered across it but only one in the bullseye.

Reaching into the back of his trousers, he pulled out his own imitation gun and hammered the target with his own shots. All entered the center hole that had been made by the previous occupant.