Sorry about the slight delay folks but the next chapter is in. Luckily I'm putting this one on the same day that I finished typing the next two that follow so the next lil' wait should be worth it. I hope it doesn't take long but I don't like to rush a genius. Thx again to 'QS' and skip the disclaimers, just go read!

========================================================= Ninamori dashed out on me and I was left standing, trying my best to remove the foot that somehow got jammed in my mouth. Again, I was at a loss of words and much worse, my mind fell into a blank as well. I didn't even know what to think at the moment.

In a situation like this, it's human nature to desire to fix things. Your conscience will eat at you until you do, but my first instinct told me to leave it alone for now. I could have just followed her to school and confronted her there but I didn't. Maybe that was a mistake. Perhaps I should have gone in today to talk to her, or grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving in the first place instead of just standing there like an idiot. Around that time I decided, I would go into school tomorrow. Mamimi can wait.

/_\

The next morning I was up bright and early for school, washed, dressed and done with breakfast by seven-thirty. I even sprayed on a little cologne to impress her, not to mention the fact that I was wearing my school uniform. I felt good and confident for once. I had all my lines down, every line I would say. I would start off with something smooth like "Hi, how are you today?" Then compliment her a little, then a joke, and then I would get down to business. Everything was good except for the eyebrows. Unfortunately, I had to wear a cap and pull it down tight to cover them up. The teachers would make me take it off but I had no intentions of going into any classes so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd just find Ninamori and be gone.

I got to school around eight, a half hour before class started and I sat on the main stairway leading into the building while I waited for Ninamori to arrive. That half-hour turned into an hour, that hour turned into two, and that two turned into too long a time for anyone to just be sitting around on some steps. By the time I decided to leave, it was already lunch and I was hungry but still concerned about Ninamori. She hadn't come into school today. Maybe I should check her house?

Ninamori's house, destination two. A large, half block-wide mansion with a front and back lawn, a pool in the back, and both complete with separate gardens. The entire complex is enclosed by a vine-shrouded wall. At the entrance there's a gold colored gate that leads to a long walkway to the main building, but first you must check in at the gate over a radio system.

"Hello? H-Hello?" I put my ear up to the receiver and listened to the static for a moment, waiting for a response. "Hello!"

"Stop it!" someone screamed back. "Who the hell are you yelling in the mike like that?"

"Um, my name is Naota. I'm a friend of Ninamori's."

"What? She's in school. What are you doing here?"

She is? That's funny; I sat outside the school for hours waiting for her but didn't see her at all. The only way I could have missed her was if she went in through the back, but she never does that...unless she was intentionally avoiding me. I didn't bother asking about it. I just walked home while the lady continued to scream through the speaker.

"I'll just try back tomorrow," I said to myself.

Tomorrow came faster than I thought it would and I did just like I had done the day before: got up early, washed up fast, and put on the clothes I'd lain out from the night before, this time, no uniform. I ate quickly and I was out the house by seven. This time I went to Ninamori's house first instead of school, hoping I could catch her before she left but got the same thing as before. "She already left for school." So off I went to school.

I got to the school just a few minutes before eight, early enough to see the first few kids arrive. I sat outside for the next half hour waiting for Ninamori, who never showed up, or so I thought. I began to worry, so I went inside. I thought that maybe I could find one of her classmates and ask them if she'd come in, but I didn't need to. As soon as I walked through the front door, there she was, standing and chatting with some other girls. Unlike usual, she wasn't wearing her uniform. She had on this thin, white and pink spotted dress that went down to about her knees, her hair flowed down loose and neat, and her eyes were without glasses. I approached her but didn't even get the chance to speak; at first glance of me, she grunted and took off into the nearest classroom. I don't even think it was her class.

It was pretty much obvious that she was pissed with me but I was a determined little jerk. I waited outside the class, by her locker until she came out just a few minutes after the late bell rang. It was just the two of us in the hall and a long, long silence.

Remember your lines now. "Um, hi...Ninamori. How are you?"

"What do you want?"

"Um, that's a nice dress. It really compliments your...your face." Was that the joke part? I wondered.

"Stop being stupid and go away," she said in an aggravated voice and began to walk off. This time I didn't make the same mistake as before, I stopped her by grabbing her arm. "Let go."

"Where were you yesterday?" I asked. "I didn't see you in school."

"None of your business."

"I went to your house and they said you were here, but you weren't."

"I skipped," she said hesitantly.

That surprised me. "Miss perfect attendance skipped school?" I said sarcastically. "Welcome to the bad side. It's a pleasure having you here." I let go of her arm and did a little bow to go along with my comment which incidentally got a little giggle out of her and a smile. "So, will ya talk to me now?"

"No," she answered sternly. That almost blew my heart out of my ribs. I could have sworn that I had her and I was all ready to start yelling before she continued. "I can't right now. I've got to get to class."

"Later, then?" I asked. "After school?"

"No," she said again. "But I'll come over later. And do me a favor, lose the hat." With that said, Ninamori was off to her classes and I was off to go home and wait.

/_\

On the way back home I was confronted by a very familiar scene. As I crossed the bridge over the river, I spotted Mamimi sitting down by the water, her usual spot, holding my baseball bat. I wasn't concerned with the bat, however; I was more worried about the confrontation. It didn't take long for Mamimi to spot me as well. She didn't say anything, just stared nervously. I knew that I should go down there and do what I forgot to do but now that I thought of it again, I realized that I still didn't know what to say. Too late to turn back though. I was already down there. I'll just have to improvise.

"Um, hi...Mamimi."

"Heya Ta-Kun," she said confidently. "What's up?"

I moved over to where she was and sat down next to her. "Just wondering some stuff," I said.

She tilted her head and gave me this confused look. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Like, where've you been lately?"

"I've been around," she said. "Been hanging out here a while."

"Why?"

"I always used to hang out here, right?" she said hesitantly. "I wouldn't be me if I didn't still do the same stuff right?"

"Right, I guess. But you never kissed me before." I guess that's as good a way as any to bring up the subject.

"Oh," she said. "I see you still have on those eyebrow thingies."

I took off the cap and set it down, showing them. "So?"

"Why don't you take them off?"

"I already told you and besides, the stupid things won't come off."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"I bet I can get 'em off," she said. She reached over and grabbed it and then immediately pulled her hand away and shook it like she just got burned by something.

"What's wrong with your hand?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing. I just cracked my knuckles too hard earlier, that's all. It still hurts a bit." She stood up and began to walk off behind me. I stood up as well.

"Where you going?"

"I'm going back to the house to get some ice. I'll see you later."

"You gonna tell me why you kissed me later too?" She stopped walking and looked down at the ground. "Well?"

She paused for a moment and then glanced back at me with a little smirk on her face. "I owed you one."

"You...owed me one?" She didn't answer that either, she just continued off. "She owed me one?" I asked myself. That didn't make any sense at all but I couldn't worry about that now. I had other fish to fry.

/_\

A few more hours passed before I went home. I spent that time just sitting down under the bridge thinking about what Mamimi had said. It made no sense, and the way she had said it made it even more confusing. It wasn't in a low, depressed tone like when you're returning a favor that you really don't want to; it was calmer than that. Like she wanted to do it. And of course I had more questions about it, but Mamimi wasn't even around when I got back, which was probably good since Ninamori was coming over.

After getting in and fixing myself some curry to eat, I waited nervously for Ninamori to arrive. I waited and I waited and I waited some more until nine o'clock hit and I realized that she wasn't coming. Now, not only was I a jerk but I felt like a fool too. She was obviously still upset and just played it off like she wasn't. That's what I figured so I just went off to bed. As with most of the math I do on my D-rated homework, I was wrong.

It wasn't until about ten o'clock did Ninamori actually come but I was dead asleep by then and as usual, I was in for a rude awakening. This time however, it wasn't done in fun.

The book, my largest book, the one-thousand plus page history book came crashing down full speed on my face. The impact was so hard that it actually cracked one of the eyebrows and completely shattered the other off my face. I opened my eyes just in time to see Ninamori disappear out of my bedroom door. When I tried to stand and run after her, I became conscious of the arm that was wrapped around my waist and holding me tight. It was Mamimi's, and there she was sleeping peacefully beside me with her thumb in her mouth. All the shaking and pushing in the world couldn't get her off of me or apparently, wake her up. When I finally got free I was just in time to hear the door downstairs slam.

Turning back to Mamimi, she hadn't moved a muscle. It's kind of hard to believe that anyone could possibly sleep that hard. Even when I shook her more, she didn't wake. What the hell was she doing in my bed anyway? And why wasn't she up in the top bunk? That was my first question and upon further investigation, I discovered a rather large wet spot on the top bunk mattress.

"She wets the bed?" I said disgustedly. She'd better not. She was in my bed now but I had to make sure.

I went back down to the bottom bunk and got into the bed, made myself comfortable and waited a few minutes while I felt around on the sheets with my feet. I waited a few more minutes before I checked again. This time I lifted the cover up and went under actually look. There was nothing there. With that out of mind, I could now spent the rest of the night staring up at the underside of the top bunk, thinking about Ninamori. I saw another restless night in my future but again, I didn't get what I expected I would.

When I returned to my pillow from under the covers, I was greeted by a blank stare and an expression of confusion from Mamimi. With no words at the moment, I stared back at her in the same manner. For the next few minutes, we stared at each other like this in silence. After a while, Mamimi smiled at me and put her arm around me again while I continued to stare, more confused than ever.

"You know, I really missed you, Ta-Kun."

"You missed me?"

"Yeah....." She used the grip she had from the arm she had around me to pull herself closer, so close that our noses touched and our lips met softly again when she kissed me.

I was completely thrown by this and with nothing real to say, I tried to use sarcasm to help me out. "Let me guess, you owe me?" I said.

"No," she said with a smile and rolled around to get on top of me

I got a little nervous. "Oh...what then?"

"Just think of it as a going away present."

"I think you've got it confused," I said. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, think of it as a kiss goodbye with a plus then." For what happened next, it was something I knew about but had no experience with. I had no idea where I should be, how to start, or what to do once I got started. Luckily, it wasn't that big a problem. Once all the kissing was done, I barely had to do anything. The first time anyway. This turned out to be the best night of my life, and to the person who said that the first time is always the best, I'll be the first to disagree. The second time was definitely better.

/_\

The rest of my night was smooth and I slept as soft as a baby in its mother's arms. The night was perfect; it was the day that was all wrong.

I was prompted to awake by a bunch of little pieces of plastic all being thrown into my face. My first thought was Ninamori, she's always throwing stuff, but I doubted she'd be over this morning. My next guess was Mamimi, who was no longer beside me, but why would she throw stuff? My final guess would be Kamon, but it wasn't him either. Before I even saw the face I knew who it was by the brown plastic that he called eyebrows.

"Amarao?"

"Have a nice night, Naota?" I nodded in response and smiled happily. "Glad to see you're in such a cheerful mood." He said curtly.

"What's your attitude about?" I asked. In response, I got more pieces of eyebrow thrown at me. It had completely slipped my mind that they were broken last night. One of them anyway. The other was just cracked.

"What the hell did you do?" he asked.

"It wasn't my fault!" I yelled back. "Stupid people keep throwing stuff at me and broke it. Just give me another one to put on."

"It's too late for that, Naota." He said as he stood and moved over to my window. He then pulled the shades up and stepped aside, letting me see what was outside. Ignoring all the screams and crashing sounds that were going on outside, I focused my attention on the giant figure in the distance.

"Is that...Canti?" ~