Chapter 9:

Not long after Sou-chan showed me his new jewelry, the professor told our class about an exhibition. I swear, almost the entire time he was glaring at Sou-chan. As he told us when to have our paintings done, he emphasized nearly every word. Damn him! Where does he get the nerve to pick on Sou-chan? I was too busy trying to restrain my anger that I didn't quite catch the part about one required piece of art. I didn't find out about this one required piece until later that night when Sou-chan was going to begin painting his exhibition entries!

I had an easy time selecting a piece. While Sou-chan was sick and mourning, I painted a lot. I did lots of sketches. I needed something to do to pass the time, so I might as well hone my skills. I settled on a pencil drawing I slaved over called, 'Seven Stars.' I prize this picture above all my other pieces because it's a picture of my Sou-chan when he fell asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette in his loose fingers. Of course, when he woke up, I nearly threw a fit because I had to pay for most of the fee to get the sofa repaired. (When is Sou-chan going to get a job!) I haven't showed it to Sou-chan, but he'll see it when we go to the exhibition.

By the time I had picked out six different drawings and paintings, Sou-chan had finished only one. The professor, he told me, required him to enter at least five.

"Here," I said, lugging a large basket into our makeshift studio. "I brought your midnight snack. At the rate you're going, it's going to be an all-nighter project." The basket I brought was full of candy and sweets. I knew which candies Sou-chan liked and didn't like, and it turned out he liked most of the ones I hated and vice versa. He smiled at the basket, but he didn't take anything. Oh well, more suckers for me.

"Do you have an onigiri box?" he asked. I was confused. Sou-chan told me he hated onigiri boxes. I nodded, and took one out of my stash of health food in the cupboard. After eating nothing but instant foods with Sou-chan during his time of mourning, I went nuts and bought tons of health food. I updated it often by taking out the old stuff and replacing it with new food. I didn't really think Sou-chan would find my stash and eat anything, but shortly after he started hanging out with Aoyagi Ritsuka, he started eating from it.

"I thought you didn't like onigiri," I said. Sou-chan inspected the box with his piercing blue eyes.

"I just wanted to know what it tasted like," he said, "I mean, really tastes like." I grinned and jabbed my finger at the onigiri.

"It's good!" I said excitedly. "You'll like it. It tastes really good!" As Sou-chan opened his box, I settled on the floor beside him with a steaming bowl of instant Maruchan Ramen. I glanced over at Sou-chan through the steam. He had opened the box, but he wasn't as eager as he thought to try the onigiri right away. I smiled as he took a timid bite of onigiri and, satisfied by the first bite, take another larger bite.

"You've changed, Sou-chan," I murmured. Sou-chan set aside his snack and looked at me, his infamous 'Confused Look' on his fine, pale face.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think it's because you've been hanging out with that Aoyagi kid." Then, I was interrupted by Sou-chan's phone. I knew that ring tone; it meant that Sou-chan had email. Sure enough, he did. He seemed to have forgotten that we were having a serious conversation! "Hey, I'm not finished!" I cried as Sou-chan got up and walked over to the window.

Suddenly, Sou-chan froze in his tracks, as if he read something terrible. The way his shoulders stiffened was proof enough. I got up to see what scared him, but he wasn't scared. He started to laugh. His attempts to muffle his laugh were pointless, I thought. Just to yank his chain, I started to tease him, calling him a pervert and saying he was creepy. Sou-chan turned his face to me, a seductive glitter in his eyes.

"Yup," he purred. "I'm getting hard as we speak." Wha! Sou-chan was getting dirty email from someone! That's disgusting!

"You're sick!" I shouted. "Who's sending you dirty email? Let me see! Show me, Sou-chan!"

"Nope," Sou-chan said defiantly. He shoved me backward as he slammed the window shut. I beat on the window and cursed at him as he locked the window. He definitely didn't want me to see this one; all the better reason to snoop later.

"Hey, Sou-chan!" I growled. "Let me see! Sou-chan!" Sou-chan leaned on the balcony rail and tilted his face toward the stars. What was he thinking about? More ways to torture his new virgin pet? Ways to lead me on? God, I can never tell what he's thinking about! "Sou-chan! Sou-chan, let me see!"