Chapter Four

There was sunshine. That was the most obvious thing to me. It was finally a nice day at the Sagamaki mansion. I hadn't seen this in… Well it's never been this nice out here.

"Oi."

Ayato? I turned and there he was. But his face… I froze in a panic. On one side, his eye was that beautiful yellow-green, looking at me with a half-smile. It was genuine. He was being his usual sarcastic and playful self, but his smile was for me. I would have smiled back if not for the other half of his face. A frightening grin spread up to his cheeks and his fang was visible, covered in blood and it dripped out of his mouth and down his chin, leaving a puddle on the ground between his feet. He was standing in a large puddle. And his other eye… It was staring at me with a hunger I didn't like. I felt as if he would attack me at any second. But not for my blood. He was going to attack me to kill me.

Suddenly his entire face twisted and he let out a horrible laugh, a cackling, gurgling laugh. And then he lunged at me. I screamed.

"Oi!"

I screamed, bolting upright in my bed. Ayato was beside me, and all I could see was that twisted face and that laugh.

"Stay away!" I screamed, scratching at his face with my one hand. I didn't feel myself hit anything. I rolled over to the edge of my bed and ran for the door in my panic. But just as I got there, he was standing in front of me. I screamed again but this time he grabbed both sides of my arms and held me in place. I couldn't help myself—I started to cry.

"… Oi…"

I knew I was shaking, and the realization that it had all been a terrible nightmare was starting to hit me. But before, when Ayato shoved me against the wall, and he drank from me. That… that was real. He was still terrifying.

"Stay away from me…" I whimpered.

"You never answered my question," he said with a frown, and I looked up and paused. Was he… embarrassed? There was a faint blush on his face and I wondered if he'd been drinking recently.

"I… I don't… What was it again?" I felt stupid, but something about his expression made me drop my guard.

"Is that… the kind of thing that you want? What that boy… did to you?" His blush suddenly became a bit darker and I finally realized what he was asking me. "Those… human things… you're a vampire now, but you still think like a human? You still…"

"Did you think I would act like someone I'm not because I have vampire blood in me now?" The high from waking up so suddenly was beginning to fade and I realized that I was still weak from losing a lot of blood.

"Just… answer me."

"I still don't really understand what you want me to say, Ayato-kun…" I was getting dizzy. I knew I should sit down, but he still had his hold on me.

"What he did to you," he pressed, and I could hear the aggravation forming in his voice. I felt like I could answer him and give him the answer he wanted, but a part of me wanted to hear him say it on his own. Maybe it was because my answer was yes. But I wanted those things… from him.

"What about it?" I whispered, looking away from his face.

"Is that what you want?" I didn't answer. I waited. "Is that… what you want… from me?"

I didn't hesitate. "Yes."

And then he was gone.

I had so many questions. I spend the majority of the day trying to sort out my own thoughts, like usual. I needed time to think about an array of different topics. Of course, the one that kept coming up was Ayato. And now that I basically told him I wanted him to kiss me… I didn't even know what to think. He ran away. That meant he didn't want to… Or, at least, that's what it would have meant if he was human. I didn't know what he was thinking now.

From what I learned from Reiji, Ayato had gone to him in the past about what would be needed for him to have a relationship with a human… with me? And Reiji told him that he would have to act like a human, and Ayato didn't like the sound of that, so he never brought it up again. I was still trying to find out what was so bad about having a normal relationship. I couldn't come up with why Ayato would be so disgusted by it.

I stood outside Reiji's office and knocked on the door. He said I could come to him with questions and he would answer them, so here I was. And I didn't have a lot of time before I had to get ready for school. I'd been in my room all day. I heard my stomach growl and remembered that I'd skipped all three meals today. I was glad I had cooking class as my first period.

"Yui." Reiji opened the door and looked down at me. His glasses were off and he looked groggy.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you up? You were sleeping?"

"What can I do for you?"

Suddenly, my brain registered something. The way he was looking at me… it was different from the way he usually looked at me. But I couldn't figure out the difference. It… wasn't as mean? My brain did a flip and my carefully planned questions left me for a moment. Instead, I thought of a new question to ask.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The question didn't faze him, as if he was doing something wrong. It remained in place, but I saw his eyes look past me for a second as he thought about how to answer.

"You could say… we're all hopeful… Would you like to come in?"

"Uhm… yes, thank you."

I stepped into his office. It always smelled the same—like old books, good-tasting medicine and chamomile tea.

"What brings you here?"

"I just have some questions that I've been thinking about…" I trailed off, remembering I already asked him a question. "What do you mean, "hopeful"?"

"You don't know?"

I paused. I assumed this was going to become slightly private, so I stopped and thought about how to reply. Then a lightbulb turned on in my head and I understood… slightly. But it seemed too barbaric for me to say aloud.

"You mean like… you thought I was coming here to…"

"Not once for a second did I think that. But like I said… there's a part of each of us that only wants what's natural."

A long moment of silence wafted around in the room until Reiji finally sighed.

"Your questions?"

"Oh, right! I'm sorry."

"Ask."

I fiddled with my hands in my lap as my questions once again disappeared from my mind. I should have written them down, I thought to myself.

"I wanted to ask about… vampire relationships. I don't understand—"

"I explained this to you already. Do I waste my breath when I speak to you?"

"No, I heard what you told me, but I was wondering if you could… give a more detailed answer?"

"We don't have time for me to explain everything to you, if that's what you came here for."

"Everything? No, I know. It's just that one…"

"Are you considering having relations with vampires?"

I gulped. I came here for answers. I nodded.

"Ayato?"

I looked up at him in shock. Was I an open book? Could all of the brothers tell? Would they be jealous? Would they fight as if they fought over my blood, because they've done it before? I suddenly got flooded with new ideas for questions I needed to ask but I stopped myself. I needed to focus and get one answer at a time.

"Or course it would begin with Ayato. He always rushes things…" Reiji shook his head.

"Will you answer my question?"

"I believe you'll be glad to hear that if you wanted to begin with Ayato, he's probably the one of us who would be more willing to… adapt to your needs."

I didn't want to bring up the fact that he said "begin with Ayato" as if I was going to move on to the others. I was still human, and the idea of being in a relationship with more than one of them at a time was… well, it was cheating.

"So…" I trailed off.

"You want to know more about vampire-human relationships?"

"Actually, I'd like to just start with vampire relationships. I was wondering how it would work if I was… born a vampire. If I didn't… think like a human about all this."

"Well, you would understand how vampires are and you would act based on our customs."

"Which are?"

"I already explained this to you…" He sighed in what seemed like defeat and just shook his head. "If you were vampire-born, you would take control of our coven and have children with whomever you chose."

"Can you… describe that?"

"Why? It's self-explanatory."

I gulped. I didn't feel comfortable asking about this, but I had a right to know. I just wished he didn't make me feel so awkward talking about it. I was curious, and it would help me think if I had it explained to me by someone who understood everything about what I wanted to know.

"Fine. In this case, with my brothers and I, I feel as if we would not be so easily taken over, so a female would have to make us submit. There are many cases where the coven would simply bow down and follow a female at first scent of her, but I'm telling you this based off of myself and the others. Submission comes in many different forms. It can be physical violence or even sexual submission. Simply stated, she would have to assert her dominance over a coven if the males did not accept her right away."

Automatically, that was very different from what I expected. I didn't actually expect anything, but it certainly wasn't that.

"Explain that to me," I quickly said, interested to hear more.

"In what sense? If you were to try something like that or if you were present?"

"Both." I didn't care. I wanted to hear it all.

"If you were to try that with us… I've already explained this, as well. We are yours. There would be no need for submission, not that you could accomplish that anyway with vampire-borns. You do not have our strength. It would be physically impossible. Your other question, if you were present… the female coming to our coven would have to kill you. There are no two females to a male. A female vampire would see you as a threat to her dominance and kill you."

"You would… try to stop her… wouldn't you?"

I didn't know why the thought made me scared, but I couldn't stop myself from asking. And this was only hypothetical. No one was coming to kill me.

"I can only say that we care for you, and it would pain me and my brothers if you were no longer with us. I cannot say how any of my brothers would react if another female approached them, especially one who would be eager to mate." I was staring at him wide-eyed, and he assumed that I wanted more on this subject. He didn't seem to mind talking about it. It didn't make him uncomfortable in the slightest. "I can say with a sort of confidence that it would be appealing, but if she were to harm you, we would not tolerate it… to an extent, of course."

"And you would…"

"Mate? Possibly. I've already told you, again. Female vampires are rare and many of us know a rare opportunity when we see it."

"But you said that two females to one male is…" I trailed off. What was I saying?

"You've haven't mated with any of us, Yui," Reiji said simply, and my face went red with embarrassment. How could I ask that as if I owned them? Was I scared that someone would take them away if I didn't… what, claim them? "I said we are yours… But none of us truly belong to you." I looked down, but he wasn't finished. "If you were to mate with Ayato, he would not be interested in another female vampire… if that is what you are asking. And at that point, if another female wanted Ayato, she would have to kill you first, and Ayato would keep you safe at the cost of his life. Since males don't live past their mates, it's very rare that a female vampire would try to take someone who already had a mate. It would lead in everyone's death… Unless, of course, the end goal wasn't the male, but revenge or jealousy."

Everything was getting jumbled into a bunch of swirling thoughts and I couldn't think straight. I pulled out a question I'd been thinking about all day and just asked. I was on a roll. I couldn't stop now.

"So what's involved in vampire relationships, then?" I asked. To deter him from bringing up something general, I added, "What makes it different from human relationships… from what I think about when I think of… being with someone."

"Do you not remember anything I've told you? We do not view relationships with love and lust. We see it as a means to an end—the survival of our species."

"Then… why protect your… mate?" It felt funny to call it that.

"Generally, it's because the female may be pregnant. We don't have devices that tell us whether or not that's true, and the human devices don't work on us… on you."

"What if you know she's not?"

"Instinct, I suppose. Someone you're familiar with and who you know will willingly have your children versus a female who wants to kill…" Reiji trailed off again and then sighed. "I told you this before as well, but we do feel… attachment. We don't use the word "love", but it would be the easiest way for you to understand."

"Is it love or isn't it?"

"Tell me what your definition of the word is and I'll answer you."

I paused. What was love? I didn't know how to describe it. You just felt it. Love was that one word that no one could put into words. How was I supposed to describe it to someone who supposedly never… I put my thoughts on hold. I remembered something he told me before. Reiji had said that all vampires have the same emotions as humans—sadness, joy, anger, bliss… even love. So why was he asking me this?

"You said you've felt it before, so why do I need to tell you what it is?"

"Oh, good. You've remembered something I said." He tone was slightly angry, but that was just Reiji. A part of me didn't doubt that he might try to drink my blood when this was finished, as punishment for asking questions he already gave the answers to. Truth was, I remembered what he told me. I just wanted different answers, or to at least hear them again, maybe with different words. I helped me to understand.

"Just… be honest with me. If I… wanted to try to… have a relationship…" I paused. This was more difficult to talk about than I thought it would be. I closed my eyes for a moment, knowing that Reiji was waiting impatiently for me to finish, and calmed my racing thoughts. When I opened my eyes, I asked with fake confidence. "What would I have to do to be in a relationship with Ayato?"

"Are you talking about changing for him? Or do you mean to ask, what would he have to do to be acceptable for you? Because both are very different things. And both would be equally as difficult for each of you."

"How about… meeting in the middle?"

"Yui…" Reiji closed his eyes. He reached for his glasses on the counter beside him and put them on before opening his eyes again. I didn't know how he knew exactly where to grab, but I didn't think too long on it. "Are you asking because you want that? Or are you asking to satisfy your curiosity."

"Does that matter? The answer should be the same either way, shouldn't it?"

"Yes… But the way that I put it would be different… Are you interested in this life?"

I thought for a moment. "Well, I am a vampire now, right?"

"You do know that you have another option, don't you? You could go live with a human and just tell him that you are unable to have children. You could live your life as a human just as easily as you could as a vampire."

My lips parted again as new thoughts came into my head. I looked at the ground. Why didn't I think of that before? I could leave, like Haru had said. Being a vampire changed nothing. I just couldn't have children. But I could adopt, right? I couldn't believe I was thinking about all this right now. I looked back up at Reiji.

"Then let's just say I'm asking because I'm curious."

"Very well. The emotional part for humans is, as you know, very strong. For vampires, it doesn't have to be. We don't need to feel… attached to a female to properly and willingly father their children, and females feel the same way. For this reason, we've never found it important to express our feelings of attachment to others of our kind, male or female. It doesn't take precedence in our race like it does yours. On the physical side, humans require touch. This is the same for vampires. We crave physical satisfaction from our mates. We also have something known as blood sharing, in which both participants drink from each other. We consider this as you would consider protected sexual contact—strictly for pleasure."

"You don't… have… fun?" I didn't know how else to put it.

"We do, but we can replace your form of pleasure with our own as well. We have both… but I can't see a vampire having sexual reproduction without wanting children. It doesn't seem… rational to us."

"So what is… blood sharing?"

"Are you asking how you would do something like that? Since you have no fangs and vampire skin is tough, you would just have to have your mate open a wound. I would recommend doing it yourself—using a knife or something like that."

"But I couldn't drink blood." The thought made me shiver involuntarily.

"You could try."

Reiji's eyes were almost lidded and I suddenly got the feeling that talking about this was different for both of us. Like I was uncomfortable before, now it seemed like this was making him uncomfortable. He did say that blood sharing was like sex-for-fun, and although it seemed silly to me and unconventional, it was actually like I was talking to Reiji about how he liked to have sex. Almost as if we were getting too personal with each other.

So I dropped it and decided to switch to another question. But when I opened my mouth, my thoughts were swirling again and I couldn't come up with anything. Thankfully, Reiji spoke faster than I could and headed for the door, pushing his glasses up his nose and taking his eyes off of me. Maybe that made him more uncomfortable that I thought.

"We have to leave soon. You should go get prepared for your night classes."

I nodded and headed for the exit, making sure to bow slightly in his direction when I said, "Thank you for your time." He nodded once in reply and shut the door behind me. No matter how often he spoke of rules and politeness, I always found his behavior quite rude. I made my way down a few halls and up some stairs until I was back in my room, getting ready for school. And I was surprised when my mind finally cleared up.

Everyone had been quite lively on the way to the school. Kanato talked to Teddy the whole way down, and Laito talked about how bright and beautiful the mood was. Ayato had his usual comments to tick off Subaru and Reiji scolded them for bickering. Shuu listened to his music and slouched lazily in his seat, listening to his music with a serene look on his face. It seemed as if everything was back to normal.

As we got out of the limo and everyone disappeared for their classes, I noticed that Kanato and Ayato were still with me. They usually disappeared like the others and then met up with me during first period, but they were talking. They weren't even paying attention to me. So I took a slow breath and headed off on my own anyway. Either way, they would meet up with me during our cooking class.

I entered the empty room and sat down at a desk near the back, next to the window so I could see the stars while I waited for everyone else to file into the room. We were always early, for the most part, so I was used to waiting for a bit when we first arrived. It was nice to have things back to normal, I thought. I was happy.

As a few people came in, no one sat next to me or behind or in front of me. In fact, I didn't have any friends here, so everyone stayed away from me. That would be back to normal, too. I suddenly remembered Haru, and hoped he wasn't here today. Because if he was, I would have to see him next period… And I would be with Ayato, too, and I didn't know what was going on with him right now. I wasn't even sure if he would want to get in the pool with me today. I might just have a boring day in the shallow end, splashing around by myself in my own little kiddie pool. That didn't sound like fun. I sighed, but I couldn't hear myself because the bell rang at the same moment and people came rushing into the room. I noticed Kanato had taken his seat to my left, and I turned around, expecting to see Ayato behind me, but it was a stranger. I blinked a few times and looked around. And then I saw him. He was on the other side of the room. I looked to Kanato for some comment or other, but he didn't look at me.

We were learning about converting measurements today, to my dismay. I thought we would be making something because I hadn't had dinner. I was starving and my stomach wasn't about to let me forget it. It continued to growl and grumble throughout the whole class, and my face turned pink when a couple people turned to stare at me when they could hear it.

The bell rang at the end of class and I picked up my things and headed for the door. I looked where Ayato had been sitting but he was already gone. Kanato didn't seem to care and he was gathering his things next to me. He quickly locked eyes with me, and then picked up Teddy and walked to his next class. I frowned and decided not to think about Kanato too much, either. He did some strange things that I would never even attempt to try to explain.

After making my way to the locker room, I found an open spot under one of the shower heads and placed my bag down. There were metal walls between each shower area, and I picked the one in the corner so no one could watch me as I changed into my bathing suit. I placed my school uniform on top of my school bag and walked out, making myself blend in with a crowd of girls who were laughing and gossiping with one another. I just wanted to get into the pool and avoid Haru. I didn't want to see him or lock eyes with him or even go near him. I was sorry, but I was also scared, and I didn't know why. Maybe because I knew that if he asked me to choose between him and the brothers, I would choose the latter… I would choose Ayato.

It wasn't that I had anything against him. Heck, it wasn't even that I didn't like him. It was just that now I understood my position a little better.

The thought of reciprocating Haru's feelings for me almost made tears wells up in my eyes. It was sad to me, because I knew I felt something for him. But after learning everything and knowing the truth. It made me less interested, so to say. And poor Haru wouldn't understand. He could never understand. He lived in a different world, where vampires were only real in scary stories and things like my life just weren't part of his reality. I just wasn't part of the life that he lived. And in a way, that made him much less attracting to me. I also realized that it made vampires slightly more attractive…

I took a chance and lifted my eyes to look around. No Haru. I sighed with relief. But no Ayato, either. More tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't let them go over. I knew they were probably red now, but no one paid attention to me anyway. No one would notice and my red eyes would be gone in a minute or two. Back to normal, I thought.

I quietly made my way to the ladder at the shallow end of the pool and climbed into the water, just as the teacher gave his little speech and left the room. As usual, everyone jumped in and started having their usual fun. I avoided crashing into anyone as I made my way along the side of the pool, careful to stay in an area I could place my feet down in.

"Hey," a soft voice said, and I didn't want to turn around. A part of me just wanted to pretend I didn't hear anything and keep moving along the side of the pool. Another part of me knew that he would probably just follow until I responded. So I gulped and turned.

"Haru," I replied with a light smile.

"Are you okay? Yesterday… I don't even know what happened. I thought they hurt you. Did they hurt you? That Ayato guy…" His face suddenly turned into one of anger, but he calmed himself down. This wasn't going to do. I couldn't do this. I had to tell him to leave me alone, before he got hurt. Emotionally from me or physically from the Sagamaki brothers.

"Listen, Haru—"

"Oh my god!" I looked over when a blonde girl in a red, slutty two-piece jumped out of the water and pointed behind me. She wore a huge smile and a face of awe. So did many of the people behind her. Curious, I turned to see what she was pointing at… and a huge splash hit me in the face. It went in my nose and my mouth and flattened out my hair. When I wiped my eyes dry I opened them to find Ayato standing directly in front of me.

"Yo!" he said, hands on his hips and a big smile on his face. His hair was wet, so I assumed it was him that just dove into the pool, splashing me. I stared at him for a moment, very aware that all of his attention was on me, and I was staring at his naked chest, and quickly shook it off. The water came up to his mid-stomach where we were standing.

I looked up at his face and realized something that I already knew. He was gorgeous. He lifted a hand and ran his fingers through his hair to shake some of the water out, and his wet hair brought out the brightness of his already-bright eyes.

"Ayato…" I started, unsure of what to say. I was just very glad he was here. I thought he wasn't going to show up, and to be honest, he just made my day.

"Hey! You!"

I turned, expecting to find Haru behind me again, but when I looked behind me, he was nowhere in sight. Instead, the blonde girl in the skimpy red bathing suit sauntered past me in the water and stood very close to Ayato.

"That was a nice dive," she said, and I noticed her flirty tone. "The name's Ereka. I just moved to town last week. This is my third day here and I can finally say that this school isn't so bad." She looked him up and down and I rolled my eyes. If only she knew who she was talking to… or what she was talking to. Then she wouldn't be so eager for his attention.

But something else made me feel something weird. Ayato gave her what she wanted and for a moment, his attention was fully on her. I felt like an outsider, and I'd never felt like that with Ayato before. He was always there… always watching me. Even if sometimes he was eerie about it. And it suddenly felt like I could be dying and he wouldn't have noticed. And it hurt. A lot. I felt a stinging and I knew my eyes were starting to turn red again.

"Not like this is a surprise," a voice said from above me and I looked up. It was Haru, running a towel through his hair as he walked along the side of the pool. He didn't look at me. I watched him as he disappeared through the boys' locker room doors. I glanced back at Ayato and jumped. She was getting very close to him and laughing… and he was staring at the girl's neck. My eyes widened.

"Ayato!" I shouted, and as soon as his name left my lips, I got the feeling that everyone's eyes were on me.

The girl, Ereka, turned and glared at me. But she also wore a smirk. She took one step towards me and said, "I'm sorry, is he your boyfriend?"

I blinked a few times. No. Of course not. Ayato as a boyfriend? That was just silly. Even if we were involved, I don't think I could ever call him that. It sounded so… human. And it almost made me laugh. Maybe being a vampire changed me more than I thought.

"No," I said, and my almost-laugh came through in my voice. I noticed Ayato's eyes on me, but I couldn't read his expression. The girl tilted her head and looked at me as if I was a child.

"Well, then, I'm sure he doesn't need his mommy right now."

I was taken aback. This girl couldn't be serious… could she? Ayato would suck her dry if she did this. I was almost sure of it. And if not, he would certainly want her blood either way and I didn't want that to happen. I couldn't exactly pinpoint why I didn't want it to happen, but I settled on the nicest version—I didn't want Ayato hurting someone just because they were stupid and naïve.

I ignored the girl and looked past her to Ayato. I tried to give him the best disapproving look I could manage. "A-ya-to…" I said slowly, stressing each syllable. I knew that even when I tried to sound fierce, I still sounded like a little girl, but I hoped Ayato knew that I didn't want him biting this girl.

"What?" he replied. His face turned into a playful smirk again and he showed his white teeth. He really was gorgeous. And I got the feeling that he was playing with me. This was very different from last night…

I couldn't talk to him out here. All I could do was give him looks. And that wasn't going to do much to deter Ereka from provoking Ayato further. Because although she thought she was flirting, and maybe she would get something out of it, she was only provoking a thirsty vampire. And that wasn't good.

"Maybe she's just jealous," Ereka said, turning back to him. And Ayato lifted an eyebrow at her, and then looked to me. I could only stare back at him. What was he trying to do? But then he smirked again and walked past the blonde. It seemed like he was moving in slow motion in the water. He brushed away Ereka's hand that reached out for him and she frowned and narrowed her eyes at me. But I just watched Ayato. He came so close that our chests almost touched and he looked down at me. I could feel his breath in my hair. I slowly glanced up and saw that same smirk, and his yellow-green eyes were watching my like a cat and mouse.

"Don't worry, Pancake," he said, lifting a hand and placing it on the side of the pool next to me. His smirk was unfaltering. "You've got nothing to be jealous of."

I could only stand there in shock as he finally moved his hand and walked towards the deep end of the pool. When the water came up to his chest, he dove in, and came back up a couple feet out, smirking at me. I wanted him to stop doing that.

I knew he wanted me to follow. As was our usual routine during this class—he made sure I didn't drown as I tried to teach myself how to swim in the deep end. I waited for a few seconds without moving and Ayato quietly laughed and dove back under the water.

"Isn't he hot?" I heard someone say behind me and I turned. A group of girls were chattering amongst themselves.

"Yea, I never even noticed before now. I don't know how I could've missed him. He's so sexy. Look at him go." And then the girls squealed and I had to roll my eyes. What was this school coming to? One girl gets interested in Ayato and suddenly he's on every girl's date-list? He was the last person girls should be interested. Well… human girls. Which I wasn't anymore…

Taking in a deep breath, I looked for Ayato's shadow under the water and then made my way towards the deep end. I passed Ereka and she threw me a glare. People are so ungrateful, I thought. She would never know what I just did for her. She would never understand, and she would probably hate me. And there was nothing I could—

I was suddenly pushed forward and my front foot slipped. I fell under the water and scrambled to get up, but I was already almost to the point where I couldn't stand and I felt my body begin to panic, despite what my brain was trying to do. I tried to find a footing so that maybe I could walk back to the shallow end until my head came above the water level. I couldn't be too far away… But my footing lost its hold and I fell backwards underwater, slowly. I tried to get upright, but my head banged against the side of the pool. I tried to shout in pain, but when I opened my mouth, water rushed in and I involuntarily coughed, dragging more water into my lungs.

I knew it wouldn't kill me. I knew Ayato would be there as soon as he saw I went under. So I wasn't surprised in the least when I was vomiting up water as he cradled me in his arms. When I had a moment of peace, I opened my eyes. He looked down at me with a frown, disapproving. I frowned back at him. Disapproving? I almost drowned! Something hit me from behind and I lost my footing. He was the one who was supposed to be making sure this didn't happen anyway.

We stayed like that for a little while. Ayato, frowning at me and me, in his arms, frowning back. No "are you okay?" and no "thank you"s. I wanted to ask what took him so long and tell him that I banged my head, but I kept my mouth shut and continued our frowning battle. And I wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't for the second round of coughing that hit me and I doubled over in his arms. I felt him move and place me on my feet. We were back in the shallow end, and he was between me and the deep end. My throat hurt something fierce.

And then I heard laughing. It was coming from the group of girls that had been ogling Ayato before I went under. They were looking straight at me and Ereka was a part of them now, laughing the loudest. Had she pushed me? I wanted to be angry, but I knew she didn't know I couldn't swim. How could she? It must have been a joke. She wouldn't actually push me under if she knew I couldn't swim… right?