So... I guess we're technically in season 3 now, huh? What with Ephemer and Anora no longer together after a (rather flimsy) argument. Sorry season 2 didn't last as long as season 1. Heh...

However, kinda as a special, this chapter is going to be rather long. 2,413 words without the author's note! It moves just as quickly as the fight did though. Silly teenagers and not giving themselves time to think things over. smh.

Thank you for reading!

Outside of the Dandelion clubroom, the science lab was the most quiet place on campus. Not that Brain needed absolute silence to hear himself think. It helped- but it wasn't needed.

Brain had taken off his fedora so he could look into the microscope without it falling into his specimens. The only time Brain looked up was the write some notes in his composition book beside him. Even if he didn't have a particular plan for his specimens today, it was still a relaxing hobby to watch the samples react to other substances through the magnified lens. He had been so in tune with his own thoughts that he didn't even hear someone enter the science lab.

"Brain?"

"Huh?" the young man wondered, looking up to see who had spoken. To his legitimate surprise, it was Anora. She was looking down at the ground, lightly shuffling her feet, as she stood there. Brain frowned slightly at seeing her so conflicted.

"Is there something I can help you with, Anora?" he asked her. At this, Anora only seemed to get more bashful.

"Would you..." she quietly said, almost so low that he could barely hear her, "Would you like to go out with me?"

It took Brain a moment to register the request. "Go out..." he repeated. "With you?"

It was small, but there was definite bob of her head in agreement. At this point, Brain had to purposely set down his sample slide so he didn't drop it on the floor. Of all the people for this weird kid to ask out…

"Where are we going?" he decided to ask. Just this once, he figured he'd just humor her. It's been less than a week since she and Ephemer split up after all. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to.

But why him?

Anora seemed to understand the situation in some degree. Her body visibly shrank even more as she raised and lowered a shoulder.

"Just a walk." she told him. "Nothing special."

"Just a walk?" the older student hummed, thinking the idea over. "Sure, I guess I could agree to that. What time are we going on this walk, ma'am?"

There was another shy shuffle of her feet. "Now?" she offered.

"I'm a little busy right now." Brain snorted, gesturing to his science experiment.

"Oh..." came the small reply as Anora started to back away.

"Now wait a minute," Brain told her, holding out his hand to stop her, "That wasn't a 'no.' More of a 'let me put this junk away,' really. Would you like to help me?"

Brain almost found himself charmed at her quick little nod. This was going to be a very interesting walk, he could almost bet on it.

. . .

"So," Brain entertained as the duo walked down Route 7-13 into town, "Since you grew up in a place that was colder, do you even like the cold? I'm fine with it until it dips below freezing. Never gotten frostbite, but I hate the thought of it."

Anora offered a little raise and lower of her shoulder. She would have given him a real answer, but for some reason her heart was pounding in her chest with the threat of bursting out. Brain was only trying to make light conversation. He was even being courteous enough to not even breathe Ephemer's name yet. He wasn't going to call her out for anything. If he was, he surely would have done it by now. Right?

Brain, on the other hand, was just trying to get her to answer him. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea that she had asked him for a walk. Was she too afraid to go on a private walk with Strelitzia again because of what happened last time? Did this weird, meek child have no one else on campus to talk to? Sure, she would have ruled Ava out because of Ephemer, but still. No one on campus was that lonely.

"You gotta give me something to work with, Anora." Brain then teased. "I highly doubt you asked me on a walk just to ghost me the entire time."

Anora flinched, but still didn't offer him any new material.

"You could talk about the obvious elephant in the room." he offered. "Since it's only been, what, four days? The only thing he supplied to us was that you two were no longer together. Must have been something for him to not even say why. You two were sickeningly close for awhile, you know. There's no way it was overturned in a single night."

But she shook her head. Nope. Not ready to talk about it yet. Brain had to hold himself back from giving an exasperated sigh. So this was going to be a tough nut to crack. Not that he hadn't been anticipating that.

The duo continued to walk in silence as they entered town. They were not going anywhere in particular, so they started to look at the display windows. When they got to a clothing store, Anora paused. The main poster on the window had a male and female laying on a picnic blanket. Brain found their smiles a bit forced, but he could see why Anora was drawn to it.

"It'll get easier." he assured her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder before going on. "It might not feel like it now, but it will. Either you two will get back together, you'll move on, or simply just not care anymore. The first one you truly fall in love with always hurts the most."

"Always?" Anora quietly wondered, still staring at the poster. Brain's grip on Anora's shoulder tightened.

"Always." he affirmed- his voice low. The tone made Anora blink for a moment before she finally turned around to face him again. His face was a bit more somber than before. Her heart clenched realizing that she had never seen him look so vulnerable. Anora wondered for a brief moment if he was talking from experience. It certainly felt that way.

"You've been out with a lot of girls." Anora said out loud, more speaking a thought than actually talking to him.

Brain snickered. "Have I?" he mused. "Well, I guess if you don't count the girls I took to the formal, I'd say the grand total is… two."

"Two?!"

Brain almost felt awful knowing how pleased he was to see her reaction. Then again, he gave up trying to fight the rumors of his lady killing ages ago. So when he was actually able to tell someone who would believe him? Pure nirvana.

"Two." Brain agreed. "The first was back in Fourth Year. Lasted about four months until the end of the school year, then she got transferred. And the other? Well… Let's just keep it as she was my 'you-know-who' and end it there."

Anora looked at Brain with a truly bewildered expression. He only laughed at her and gestured for them to keep going. Anora didn't object, but now her mind was reeling. So Brain had been talking from experience. Oh.

As the two continued to walk around town, Anora could not stop wondering about Brain's 'you-know-who.' How long had the two been together? It must have been an awful breakup if he refused to talk about her. Was she pretty? Wait, why did Anora care if Brain's mystery someone was pretty? That was easy to answer- Brain was naturally handsome, so he would quite naturally attract a beautiful girl. In fact, she must have been quite something to find a partner in Brain. He seemed so nice, and charming, and even… Wait a minute…

"Anora, look out!" Brain suddenly shouted, snapping her from her thoughts before roughly taking her by the elbow. Just seconds after, a car went whizzing by on the road. Anora blinked. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she almost walked out onto the crosswalk and straight into traffic. Brain had caught her not a moment too soon, and now had her pulled rather close to him. He looked back at her with a particularly cunning, but slightly worried, grin.

"Look," he even tried to tease, "I know you're upset about he-who-shall-not-be-named, but you don't have to walk out into traffic over it. He's not worth that."

Anora quickly turned her head away from embarrassment. She was also becoming suddenly aware that she was taking a rather tight hold of Brain's sleeve. If Brain noticed, he certainly was not letting it show.

Or maybe he did, because the next thing he told her was, "If you're going to be this distressed, I think I'm just going to keep a hand on you at all times." He even gave her a rather smart grin before adding, "Think you can handle that?"

His answer came in the form of a very quick nod. Not for the first time that day, Brain found himself charmed by the odd little creature. Perhaps they had a bit more in common than he first assumed. As such, Brain took it upon himself to start a new conversation. One that had absolutely nothing to do with previous lovers. He filled it with plenty of notes and witty quips that earned a genuine chuckle or two out of Anora. It as a nice laugh. No wonder Ephemer as so hellbent on hearing it.

But then it brought about a whole lot of 'why' questions to Brain. And perhaps even a few 'what' questions as well. Even if their breakup was sudden, there was no way they would have ended it after one fight. Unless Ephemer really was that clueless about how relationships working. In which case, yikes, and Anora was far better off.

"Well, this was a nice detour from the usual. But this should be far enough for now." Brain decided. "Let's get a taxi and head back to campus. I'm pooped from all this walking."

But when he tried to lead them away, Anora stood firmly in place. Brain turned back to her with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Something the matter?" he asked. Anora looked down at the ground. Bashful for the first time since they started. Brain felt her squeeze his arm a bit tighter than before.

"Can I kiss you?" she requested in a near whisper.

Brain smirked. "I think I can do you one better." he offered before moving forward just a bit more to kiss her instead. Anora's eyes widened then dilated as a jolt of pure electricity shot through her body. She immediately placed one of her hands at the back of his neck, ushering him to deepen the kiss.

When they finally let go of each other, they were both gasping for air.

"Haven't had a kiss like that in awhile." Brain mused. His eyes were glossed over and a wide grin was etched on his face. He leaned a bit closer to her before asking, "Wanna do that again?"

Anora eagerly nodded before knitting her fingers behind his neck and pulling him back in. Brain let out a small sound of approval before carefully moving his hands to her waist. He took a firm hold of her as he pulled her closer. Anora pulled away for a moment to gasp. When she brought her lips back down, she aimed for a little below his ear- finding herself mesmerized by how smooth the skin was. Brain laughed at bit, but didn't bother to stop her. When Anora finally rested her head against Brain's shoulder, the young man gently pressed his lips against her forehead.

"I guess this makes me the rebound now, huh?"

Anora flinched. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. She didn't move away from him- if anything, she buried her face further into his shoulder. "I didn't mean to..."

Brain interrupted her with a snort. "Are you always this apologetic? Not the first time a girl's up and kissed me. Won't be the last either, if I had to guess. It's the hat, I think, that's what gets 'em."

That got a little laugh out of Anora. She picked her head up and finally moved from his body. But it was when she was looking him over again that her face suddenly went pale. Anora quickly hid her face in her hands as she became red enough to stop traffic. Brain couldn't help but chuckle at her as he readjusted his fedora. After a few moments of watching Anora be flustered, Brain's bemused grin became a bit more serous.

"But seriously, do you wanna get together?" he asked. "I'm not directly opposed or anything. May be bit weird, possibly even rude. But I like causing trouble- keeps things interesting, you know?"

You sound a lot like Ephemer, Anora thought to herself but shaking the idea away. But Brain took it as a sign of regret.

"You won't be forcing me, Anora," he sincerely offered. "Obviously you need someone to kiss when you're distressed. Rather it be someone you're familiar with than a complete stranger."

Anora only shook her head again. She only wanted to talk to Brain, not kiss him. The worst part was that she enjoyed kissing him too. Was she that touch starved? This felt wrong. And yet… if Brain was willing to go along with it…

Blushing so hard that even her ears were on fire, Anora said to Brain in a quiet voice, "Brain… I love you."

"Whoa there, young lady." he immediately said, holding his hands out in defense. "Buy me dinner before you make such bold claims. Kissing is one thing, but declaring your love for me takes a bit more trust than that. There's a sushi train place a bit down the road from here. How 'bout you buy us lunch and we'll work on the details from there."

Anora still couldn't look him in the eye as she bashfully nodded her head. Brain gave her a snort as he placed a hand on the back brim of his fedora. It was obvious that she hadn't planned this. Still, there were plenty of questions he had to ask this weird kid that he could finally get answers to. This would be an excellent opportunity to ask them. He didn't plan on getting attached- but most of his plans that involved her tended to get a bit side railed, to put it lightly. And this was one derailment that he was almost looking forward to.