Akane sat on her bed, thinking of the recent tension with Miu. The stillness of her room reminded her of how she'd missed the company of her friends when she'd first pushed them away. After everything had happened, if he'd seen her with other people, he'd become very protective, frightening many of her friends away with his behaviour. When he got more possessive of her, she cut ties altogether, it was the only thing she could do to console him back then. But his more content state did little to ease her loneliness.
He'd changed so much. Walking her to and from school every day to make sure no one spoke to her when he wasn't with 'that woman'. He hated her! She was the cause of all of this! Another aspect of him that had changed. He never used to say he hated anyone, but she was his only exception. One night, after he'd taken what he needed, he'd told Akane he'd killed himself rather than hurt her if she'd just let him. 'That woman' was why he couldn't keep Akane safe.
"I'm supposed to protect you, but because of her, all I do is hurt you!" he'd wept with his head in his hands. He's drained Akane to almost unconsciousness, leaving her exhausted and groggy. Her mind, unable to understand what had happened, or shock had made her suppress it. But she'd heard those words, and only now did she understand their meaning. This was why she was on edge, she needed to know more about Vampires in the hope of freeing him from 'that woman's' clutches, to at least allow him the freedom to choose whether he lived or died. Aido was a means to an end, a necessary danger to gaining the knowledge she needed, but was she willing to divulge anything to him at all?
She had a limited amount of thinking time to decide. She confidently expecting Aido to appear in her room tomorrow evening. That is if his extra efforts to get the Day Class to hate her with his antics at the changeover was anything to go by. However, if she chose to keep him a secret, how would she ever get the answers she needed? The little research she'd managed to do herself outside her normal studies didn't come from reliable sources. Aido had first-hand knowledge which was invaluable in her endeavour to free him from 'that woman's' compulsion. But his conditions had confused Akane the more she dwelled on them. What did he hope to gain by asking about him? What could he want to learn?
The door opened slowly, braking Akane's trail of thought as Miu stepped cautiously into the room, closing the door and resting her back against. She twisted her hands uncomfortably at the quiet of the room. Akane felt the subtle stab of guilt at the sight of her friend. She'd been short with her and knew Miu hadn't deserved to be on the receiving end of her bad mood, even if she had added fuel to the embers of her foul attitude, she didn't deserve to face the brunt of it.
Akane and Miu were still getting used to each other, so small spats were expected, but this was unfair to Miu. She had nothing to do with Akane's problems and didn't deserve to be ignored because she was dwelling too much on her past. She valued their friendship, as Miu had always been so willing to involve and talk to her when she first arrived. If it hadn't been for her, Akane would have remained completely isolated without a single person to call a friend at school.
"I'm sorry." Miu looked up at Akane's words. She'd been about to apologise for her childish and insensitive behaviour concerning Akane's dislike of the Night Class, but instead, received an apology. Miu smiled and walked to her friend's bed to sit in the only space that wasn't taken up by books or papers.
"I'm sorry too. I promise never to ask you to come to the changeover again, and I'll tell Idol you don't want him to ask about you. Not that I can tell him what to do, but once I explain it makes things difficult for you, he'll understand." Akane wasn't convinced Miu could do much about Aido, but she smiled appreciatively.
The friends soon fell into comfortable conversation about what Miu would be doing at home over the weekend, and how her grandmother's recovery was coming along after her hip replacement some weeks before. They discussed homework, school, and their other classmates and friends before going down to lunch, glad that the air had been cleared between them.