"Make yourselves at home!" Ichigo exclaims, a tray of drinks in her hands with Ikuno trailing behind her with some snacks. Putting both the trays down, Zero Two couldn't help but ogle at the funny looking snack on their table. It looked like a pale, powdery ball, and when she tried poking it, it felt really squidgy, kind of like a baby's bottom.

"What is this... thing?" she asks, a bit amazed at how squishy it felt under her finger tips. "That's daifuku mochi!" Miku answers her, amused at how innocent the pinkette was. "Mochi?" she repeats, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "Yeah. it's some kind of rice cake filled with a whole strawberry and red bean paste." grabbing one, Miku takes half a bite, showing the insides to Zero Two who examines it closely. "It's good, try some!" she says, offering the other half to her.

Reluctantly plucking the half eaten mochi from the red head's fingers, she plops the rest inside her mouth. Chewing it slowly, she notes how sticky it felt on her tongue and surprisingly, it was sweet! Zero Two could feel her mouth singing in happiness and she wonders why hasn't she ever tried this heavenly food? She grabs another piece and stuffs it wholly inside her mouth. Seeing how she was genuinely enjoying the mochi for the first time, everyone, except Mitsuru, laughed.

"If you liked it so much, Zero Two chan, I could make you some green tea mochi." Kokoro suggests with a smile. "R-really?!" the blonde nods, "Thank you! You're so kind, Kokoro!" Zero Two beams, giving a toothy smile of her own.

"Well, well..never knew she loved eating so much.." Goro comments. "I'm not surprised, I mean, with the way she ate before...this clearly isn't something new!" Futoshi responds, also enjoying the way Zero Two looked so happy gobbling up the mochi. "Just tell her to save some for us though…" he adds while sweat dropping.

"Ne, ne darling! This tastes good!" Zero Two plops herself on Hiro's lap, who immediately blushes under the intense gazes of the others, who clearly weren't use to seeing displays of affection like this. "U-um, Zero Two, we should…" he tries getting her off but she wouldn't budge, instead, she raises a mochi to his lips and beams, "Try it darling! You'll love it!"

"But I…"

Suddenly, they all hear someone clear their throat loudly. "Everyone, let's please not forget the reason why we're here." Ichigo says in a serious tone. Turning to Zero Two, she tells her, "Also, I would appreciate it if you two wouldn't be all lovey dovey in my room. It's a bit…." Ichigo grimaces, trying to ignore the fleeting pain in her chest. "Distracting." frowning, Zero Two slowly lifts herself off of Hiro and sits back on the floor with a huff. Acknowledging Zero Two's obedience with a small nod, Ichigo proceeds to put down all the books they were about to study.

"Since everybody's settled, let's get to studying, shall we?"

It's been almost an hour and a half since they've started studying. All of them agreed to start of with three subjects for this session, and three more on another day. They've just finished with History, and now, they were all reading about Physics, which proved to be a bit of a challenge, regarding how tricky some of the questions appeared to be.

Ichigo, who was busy understanding one problem, suddenly felt a hand tuck away a strand of her hair out of her face. Flinching slightly, she realizes the hand belonged to Ikuno, making her relax more. "Thanks Ikuno." she smiles, making Ikuno flush a bit. Looking away, she tells Ichigo softly, "You have that look on your face again..don't push yourself too much, okay?" Ichigo nods, grateful over how caring her friend was being. "Mm, you too." she says while patting the glasses wearing girl on the shoulder.

Strangely, the part where Ichigo touches her sends an electrifying shock all throughout her body. Ikuno blushes; why was she feeling this way?

Meanwhile, as always, Miku and Zorome were both bickering with each other, and unfortunately, Goro was sitting in between them.

"Quit pretending like you're some kind of genius, dumbass!" Miku yells as she headbutts Zorome.

"Who ya calling dumbass, dumbass? Besides, you're just jealous I got an answer while you don't" Zorome argues.

"Well sorry to break your bubble mister know it all, but once again, zero, isn't the final answer!" with that, their ahoges come to life once more and begin slapping at each other, sometimes hitting Goro in the face.

"Oi, oi…" he says, perplexed. Starting to get a little irritated, he grabs both of their ahoges and pull them away from each other. "Can't you two stop going at each other's throats, for a minute?"

"That's called sexual tension, Goro." Futoshi snickers, making the two blush. "It's something essential between married couples." the bread loving man teases further.

"Stop it!" they both yell in unison, while Futoshi looks back at Goro, who was trying to keep himself from losing it. Smugly grinning, Futoshi says,

"See, I told you."

Meanwhile, while reading his own book, Hiro couldn't help but notice how drowsy Zero Two looked, given how she had her head slumped on the table and a bored look on etched on her face. Slightly worried she might not be enjoying their company, he lightly shakes her shoulders. "Zero Two? Are you okay?" she slowly gets up and yawns. Stretching her arms, she looks at Hiro, "Me? I'm fine. It's just that, I hate studying." she bluntly says. "Then how will you pass?"

She shrugs, "Stock knowledge, I guess."

Just when Hiro tries to persuade Zero Two, he feels someone, poke his back. Turning towards the person, he sees Kokoro bashfully looking at him while holding her book closely to her chest. "Kokoro?"

"Um..Hiro kun..could I ask you for some help with this question?" she nervously asks. "Uh, yeah sure..what is it?" Kokoro gives the book to Hiro, who then reads the question out loud,

"An archer pulls back 0.75 m on a bow which has a stiffness of 200 N/m. The arrow weighs 50 g. What is the velocity of the arrow immediately after release? Hmmm.." for a moment, Hiro analyses the question, and after a few seconds, he grabs some pen and paper and starts writing the solution whilst explaining it to Kokoro, who listens intently.

"And..that's it. The answer is 47.4 m/s" turning to Kokoro, he raises an eyebrow, "Did you get all of it?"

"Yes! Thank you, Hiro kun!" just then, Miku, who was listening the whole time, approaches them, sitting beside Kokoro. "Woah, I almost forgot how good you were at science, Hiro." said boy shrugs in embarrassment, "I-it's nothing special…" he turns towards Zero Two to see her smirking proudly at him, "As expected of my darling." was all she said but it made Hiro blush. Strangely, as a person who hated praises, Zero Two's compliment had him feeling a surge of pride in his chest.

"Zero Two's right, you really are something!" Miku says before looking at Zorome with a tired expression, "Unlike, SOME people!" She says loud enough for Zorome to realize she was talking about him. "Well, excuuuuse me!" Zorome then turns to Hiro with a dangerous glint in his eyes, "Oi Hiro, let's see who could finish with the most number of correct answers!" he challenges loudly, making almost everyone sweat drop in the room. "I…" Hiro hesitates, starting to become uncomfortable with the sudden interest in him.

"What? Are you too chicken to fight against me? The mighty Zorome?"

"I bet you could finish quickly. The only question lies on whether you could get at least one question right." Ikuno intervenes with her dry humor, making everyone laugh at how hopeless Zorome's one sided rivalry was with Hiro, when all of a sudden, Mitsuru stands up, his face all pale.

"Mitsuru?" Ikuno asks, seemingly knowing the cause evident on her concerned stricken face. She was his cousin, after all.

"I..I have to go…" he murmurs before dashing out the door, failing to realize something dropped from his pocket.

It was a good thing Kokoro quickly noticed the object, which apparently, was a small bottle; immediately reaching for it, she puts it closer to her face and examines the bottle's contents with her big, blue, eyes.

"Pills?"

He hated it.

He hated seeing him.

Hell, he hated breathing the same air as him.

Him…

'Hiro…' Mitsuru thinks angrily

In fact, he should've listened to his gut feeling when Ichigo, Hiro's dear friend, suddenly proposed for them to have a study session, which was something Hiro started back when all of them were kids; back when they were friends.

Friends. Just thinking about it made Mitsuru sick to the core. If there was one thing he could change, it would be that.

And now, he gets to relive every moment the group shared back then, when there was Hiro leading them, inspiring them, being someone to each one of them.

He preferred when the raven haired teen was a no one. He revelled in twisted pleasure seeing the man he despises so much be reduced into nothing but an empty shell of his past. It made him happy seeing Hiro suffer so much in his own jail of solitude after what he's done to him before.

'That bastard..'

But now, Mitsuru wishes he never came to this damned study session. Seeing Hiro slowly incorporating himself back in the group, and seeing how the others were slowly warming up to him made his blood boil. He realizes Hiro was changing, and it was all thanks to that horned girl, Zero Two. He hated it; hated how Hiro was getting back the attention he never deserved. He wasn't perfect, he was FAR from perfect. He was a pathetic, despicable, low life person who's good at being a-

!

A painful sting envelops his whole chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. Gasping in short breaths, he rummages through his pockets, only to find them empty. 'My meds! Where were they?' another painful sting rakes right through him, making his vision blurry and his legs weak. If he doesn't go home immediately, he would probably collapse right there on the pavement.

"Mitsuru kun?"

Slowly, he turns to see Kokoro looking at him innocently until she notices his pained face. Quickly, she rushes to his side to support him and unwillingly, he leans on her, weakened due to the immense pain he was feeling. Kokoro leads Mitsuru to Ichigo's porch, sitting beside him while she shakily opens his bottle of pills.

"H-here, I think you need this!" without haste, Mitsuru gets the pills from her palm and drinks them without water, the dryness scratching through his throat as he coughs in pain.

After a few minutes, the medicine's effects finally manages to calm his heart down as they both sit silently beside each other. It was Kokoro who manages to break the silence, "Are you...feeling better now?" Mitsuru nods solemnly, not bothering to say a word.

'Kokoro san...she saw it…'

'...Will she pity me?'

A different kind of tightness invades his chest.

"Are you sure? You looked really uncomfortable earli-" he cuts her off, "I'm fine." Kokoro looks down while trying to think of what should she say to her classmate and co-student council officer; after all, it was no stranger to her how cold and aloof Mitsuru was, but seeing him filled with so much pain earlier, it shook something within her. "U-um...is there anything I could do for you?" she offers, thinking he was never really the type to lean on others, "I could fetch you some water and-

"Are you pitying me?"

"W-what? No! I...I didn't mean to…" she could feel her voice falter in shame over making Mitsuru think she was pitying him. Suddenly, Mitsuru stands up and walks away, but not before telling her,

"Please..just leave me alone..also, don't tell anyone what you saw earlier…"

Once he was gone, Kokoro had no choice but to enter Ichigo's home and join the others once more, but somehow, she couldn't shake this heavy feeling in her chest.

It was already six in the evening when they finished their study session. Hiro and Zero Two, along with Goro went home together, since they all lived in the same street. Meanwhile, as always, Zorome and Miku leave Ichigo's place still bickering, but it was clearly noticeable how Miku was clinging tightly to Zorome's arm, which did not seem to bother the boy. Everyone thought it was sweet, but Zero Two knew the true reason why. Futoshi offers to walk Kokoro home, but she politely declines since she didn't want to be a burden to him. Once he goes off the other direction, Kokoro notices Ikuno, who was also walking alone, and decides to ask her about Mitsuru and his condition.

"Ikuno chan!" She calls out to the taller girl who stops to wait for Kokoro to catch up. "Kokoro? You need something?"

Taking a deep breath, she asks, "Um, it's about Mitsuru kun…"

"Mitsuru? What about him?" Ikuno asks, confused over the blonde's sudden curiosity towards her cousin. 'D-don't tell me she likes him?!'

"I saw him earlier in pain, clutching his chest. Is there...something wrong with him?" feelings of worry start bubbling within her. "Oh..so you saw that." Ikuno sighs, looks like she had no choice but to tell Kokoro. It would be bad to keep her in the dark, especially since she was so nurturing. 'It would worry her to no end if she didn't know…'

"Um..well you see..Mitsuru was kind of born with a weak heart, so growing up, he was frail and sickly compared to the other children. He was even forbidden by his doctor to engage in any kind of activity where he could get physical because one time, he collapsed and fell into a coma for a few days…" Ikuno pauses and takes in the sympathetic expression showing on Kokoro's face. "But don't worry! He has already had a heart surgery and despite its' low survival rate, he managed to survive." Ikuno smiles reassuringly, "It's just that, he needs to take his maintenance pills whenever he's stressed or under the influence of negative emotions…"

"I never knew he underwent such a risky procedure…" Kokoro murmurs softly, making Ikuno place a hand on her shoulder as reassurance. "Don't worry for him too much. He dislikes being pitied on, even if you really don't." Ikuno manages to smile, "It's kinda like a blow to his ego you know, so don't sweat it."

'Still..' even after listening to Ikuno's story, she still feels like she should do something, at least, get him to lean on others more. Kokoro believes it should start with her getting to know him better.

But for now, she had to go back home.

A few days had already passed since her incident with Mitsuru. Thankfully, things didn't seem to change between them. Mitsuru was aloof as always but they still managed to work together at the student council room, yet, a part of her felt that he was trying to distance himself from her in subtle ways.

But now, seeing him being so preoccupied with the hundreds of papers he has to deal with as secretary, Kokoro's mind couldn't help but remember what Ikuno told her

It's just that, he needs to take his maintenance pills whenever he's stressed or under the influence of negative emotions…"

Because of those words, she has decided that she would help Mitsuru in any way she can, even he pushes her away, she won't, and will not, stop.

So here she was, holding a cup of coffee, since she has seen him always drinking it, and walking towards him with a smile. "Mitsuru kun.." she calls him gently. He looks up at her, his green eyes cold as ever, before eyeing the cup she was holding. "I've made you coffee…"

Frowning, he rejects her, "Didn't I tell you to just leave me alone?" his words stung but she her smile never falters. "If you think I'm pitying you, then you're wrong. You're a strong and capable man, Mitsuru kun, but accepting an ounce of kindness wouldn't hurt you, you know." surprised over her sudden burst of assertiveness, Mitsuru slowly takes the cup from her hands and takes a small sip, realizing no matter how much he'd push her away, Kokoro wouldn't budge.

Once the hot liquid hits his tongue, he is instantly assaulted with an unwelcome sweetness, making him slightly choke. "Are you okay?!" there's alarm in her voice. "You...put too much sugar in it…"

"I-is it bad?" she blushes.

"It tastes horrible" he bluntly scolds her but instead of feeling bad, she giggles. "I'm sorry Mitsuru kun, I'd make it up to you one day." she says. "If you want, I could make another one for you, just let me get that cup and…"

"No, it's fine. I'll finish it...Just, no sugar next time..." and finished it he did, no matter how badly he wanted to gag the sickly sweet abomination unworthy to be called coffee.

And why he did such a thing...he had no idea why.