What will be the response to Aidan's confession? Will he and Sango end up together, or will Sango make a hard decision? We'll have to find out!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

The Semi-Final Round of the second Pokemon Academy Best Girl contest has begun! Which three of these six girls will make it to the Finals? So far we've only got a few votes in, so show your support for your best girl and vote on the poll in my profile! We want this competition to be close, after all! Who's going to win?!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Sylvia, Marion, Sango, Elaina, Valerie

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: It's definitely going to be a tough decision, but I agree, Sango is too good of a person to date for the wrong reasons.

KedharS: Well, neither did Sango, clearly. Or Cynthia, for that matter.

Venoms Cross 2: I enjoy keeping things dynamic. Sango and Blake was a good beginning ship, but the real meat is in Ayame and Blake.

Thunder Fire: You're not wrong.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Well, just for that, here you go, the continuation of the confession chapter. Always keep them guessing.

Aquahaze675: Hopefully so, it's certainly a complicated issue, to say nothing about Sango's feelings for Blake.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 670

Sango was stunned. She'd heard what Aidan had said, but that didn't mean she could make any sense out of it.

Aidan… liked her? Like… like liked her? Liked her the way that a boy liked a girl, like he wanted to be her boyfriend…

No, no, that was ridiculous! It… it was Aidan! Aidan didn't think that way about her, no one did! It wasn't possible, because…

Because she was Sango.

Boys didn't give Sango a second glance. Not even a first glance. Blake certainly hadn't. So why… why did Aidan confess to her?

Like a curtain being drawn back, Sango could see the pieces falling into place. The way that Aidan always seemed to smile whenever she was around. The way he was always looking to spend time with her, have lunch with her in the Snorlax Commons, how he was always trying to help her when she needed it.

Like… today, in fact.

It all made sense. Aidan had agreed to help because he had feelings for her, it was all so obvious now that she could see things clearly.

She remembered something that Ayame had mentioned before, back when she was first getting to know the other girl, on their field trip to the Hoenn Region. She'd mentioned on the cruise that she thought that Aidan might have had feelings for Sango.

Had he? Had it been that obvious… even back then?

Sango couldn't believe it, but she couldn't easily deny it, either. Has Aidan had feelings for me… all this time?

She felt her face growing hotter. It… this was…

Sango had never had someone confess to her before. That had always been for the pretty girls with cute faces and big… personalities. Her attempts to get Blake to look at her had been pitiful at best, and she never had the confidence to actually tell him the truth about her feelings, no matter how many times she'd convinced herself that she would.

And now here she was, having a boy tell her that he liked her? That he wanted to date her? Just thinking about it seemed unreal to her.

Sango was so stunned by Aidan's confession that it had slipped her mind that he was probably expecting some form of response. He had just told her that he had feelings for her, after all, and was staring at her pretty hopefully…

Sango felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She'd been standing there in stunned silence for at least five minutes by this point. She flapped her mouth open and closed a few times trying to find the words to speak, but it was difficult.

"You… like me?" She finally managed to blurt out. She hadn't meant to make it sound so unbelievable, but, well… it was. And she had to make sure that she wasn't just going crazy. This was all so new to her, she had just come to terms with the fact that she was still in love with Blake, she had no idea how to handle the fact that Aidan had just confessed to her, when she had only ever thought of him as a friend until now.

Aidan nodded. "Yeah, I do," he said.

"Since… since when?" She asked inadvertently, curious about how he had come to like her. "I mean… I'm just… I'm just me, right? I can't think of anything that I would have done to make you come to like me, I mean, you're so…"

Sango wasn't exactly infatuated with Aidan or anything, she'd never thought of him even once in that way. But she wasn't blind, even someone with as little experience as she had could see that Aidan was, objectively speaking, pretty attractive. There were a lot of girls in their club who had not-so-subtle crushes on him, even if he'd never made any moves on them.

In hindsight, that was probably Sango's fault, too.

"It was… it wasn't anything that special," Aidan said, his tan face reddening. He reached up and scratched his ear sheepishly, averting his eyes from Sango, shuffling his feet in the snow. Sango wasn't sure what to make of that response.

"What? What was it?" She asked.

"It was, well… I just don't know how to explain it," Aidan admitted. "You're just… you're not like any other girl I know. You're tough and cool, you're really cute, you laugh at my jokes, you're always happy to help anybody who needs it, even me. I mean, I wasn't really that capable at the beginning of the year, and you were always happy to step in to give me advice, and I just… I really appreciated it. It just sort of… before I knew it, I was just looking your way a lot, finding myself thinking about you, and… what am I even saying?!"

Aidan realized how much of a fool he was probably making of himself, and hid his face in his hands, embarrassed.

Sango felt an awkward, shaky smile cross her face as she felt a throb in her chest. "You… you really think I'm cute?" She asked.

"I guess I just kind of like girls with short hair," Aidan laughed. "I mean, it really suits you, with how cool you are, you know? I imagine you with long hair, and, well…" He shook his head. "Nope, I just can't picture it."

Sango snorted in spite of herself, she couldn't really picture it, either. She'd been letting her hair grow out slightly (it was just past her ears now, instead of the almost-shaved head she used to have before) but any longer than that probably wouldn't seem suitable.

A smile spread across Aidan's face. He liked the look of her smile. This was going well, he hoped that Sango would respond positively to him. He liked her, and he liked the way that she made him feel, and he was sure that she had to feel the same. With the way she was looking at him, how she had invited him out today, and the way she seemed so happy just being around him, he knew that it was exactly how he felt about her.

"So, Sango, um… yeah, that… that's it," Aidan said, not sure how to continue the topic without seeming aggressive and invasive. "I like you, so… what now?"

That had been what Sango was dreading. "What now?" That was a question that she couldn't even begin to answer, because she was still having difficulty processing what had just happened, let alone what they would do from here on out.

Aidan liked her, he really did. And she appreciated that. She had never had a boy take a romantic interest before, she'd barely considered it to be a possibility. She had fantasized about Blake coming to like her, but had that ever really been a…

Blake.

That was the thing, now wasn't it?

Sango didn't like Aidan, not like that. She liked Blake.

What was she supposed to do? She didn't know. She'd never been in this position, forced to make a decision like this. She knew that Aidan was a really great guy, and she had no doubt that if she gave him a chance, to try and make it work, that he would treat her nicely and be a wonderful boyfriend, he took such good care of Arion after all.

Maybe she could even grow to fall in love with him herself.

But right now, that wasn't where she was. It wasn't even close to where she was. She had never thought that way about Aidan before, she didn't even have any thoughts about him right now. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.

Because she still liked Blake.

Her internal debate from earlier was rearing up again, which frightened her. She was afraid that if she was going to give up on her feelings so easily, try to make things work with Aidan instead, then that would mean that her feelings for Blake… they had all meant nothing.

She took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh.

Her heart hurt. She knew that she wasn't making a very good decision. She was making the choice that she knew her heart had to make, but that didn't make her feel any better. She cared about Aidan, she really did.

But she wasn't in love with him.

"I'm sorry," she admitted. They were two of the most painful words to ever leave her lips. Especially when she saw the look on Aidan's face as she said them.

Aidan stared at her, and his heart sank in his chest. There was only one reason she would be saying that she was sorry.

Sango didn't want to go out with him, she didn't feel the same way as he did.

"I-I see," Aidan stuttered, trying to keep from feeling upset about his rejection. His heart ached to know that the cute girl that he'd had a crush on all this time didn't feel the same way about him, and that stung. "So you don't… like me."

"No, Aidan, I do like you," Sango quickly assured him, resisting the urge to start crying. "You're a great person, a wonderful friend! Please, this isn't about you!"

Aidan couldn't believe this. He must have misread everything. Sango's smiles, her asking him out to eat, even inviting him out today, he thought that was all because she had special feelings for him, that she liked him, and wanted to go out with him, too. But that was just him being hopeful. The truth was, she didn't like him that way, not at all. All those things that he took as signals that she felt the same were just her being a good friend.

Aidan felt like he was the biggest fool in the world.

"A great person, a wonderful friend, but…" Aidan took a deep breath, and it hurt. "But… you don't like me like that. You don't want to go out with me."

Sango shook her head. It was painful to admit, but it was true.

"Listen, Aidan, it's not… it's not about you," she repeated. "Honestly, it isn't. I know how great you are, and I know that if we did go out together, it would be fun. But I just don't like you that way right now, there's…"

Her words caught in her throat, but she had to say them. Her heart was so confused, and she had to let him know that this was how she felt. Fully. It wasn't an excuse, it really was her being confused and unsure because of her feelings for another.

Unfortunately for Sango, she had no idea that Cynthia was listening intently on the entire conversation. She shouldn't have been, she really shouldn't, but she was nearly as shocked as Sango had been, not sure what to make of this.

A boy that Sango got along great with, who she clearly thought was a good person, and who looked like that? He confessed to Sango, and she turned him down? It was impossible for her to understand, but it was the truth.

Cynthia wanted to know why, and a few seconds later, she got her answer. It was an even bigger shock than Aidan's confession had been.

"There's… someone else that I like," Sango admitted. It felt so much easier, she felt so much lighter, now that she had told him how she felt.

"I-I see," Aidan said, letting out a disappointed sigh. He had really read far too deeply into things that had never been there in the first place. Sango never thought that way about him, there was someone else, and Aidan's confession had just gotten in the way.

"I'm sorry for being such a bother… confessing to you like that must not have been how you wanted today to go," Aidan apologized. Of course it wasn't. She was alone on Valentine's Day, even though she had someone that she liked. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that she wasn't exactly in the best mood about that.

"What? No, you're not a bother, not at all!" Sango gasped, shaking her head frantically. "I really appreciated your confession, I did! It's just… these feelings of mine… they're real. I really do like him, and… I'm not ready to give up on them just yet. I want to keep holding this love for as long as I can, because… it's real."

The smile Sango wore while she explained herself spoke volumes to Aidan. It was warm and affectionate, and a little sad. She was overflowing with love, it just wasn't for him. She had never smiled at him that way.

"The guy you like… he must be a lucky man," Aidan said, trying very, very hard not to cry. "After all, having someone like you feel so strongly about him, I know I…" Aidan shook his head, continuing that thought was too painful. "Well, he must be a great guy."

"He really is," Sango said without thinking. When she saw the way Aidan winced as she said that she wanted to smack herself upside the head. What was she doing?! That was only making things worse between the two of them!

Aidan could feel his eyes watering. He reached up to wipe them away, and he felt Arion rub up against his leg.

"Shinx…" Arion stared up at him with those big eyes of his, sensing how much pain his partner was in. He was such a wonderful friend. Aidan knelt down and picked him up, cradling the small pokemon in his arms and feeling his warmth.

It wasn't enough to soothe his broken heart, and it wasn't doing much to stop the flow of tears down his face, either. But Aidan didn't let his feelings get the better of him. He could see how much rejecting Sango had hurt her, and didn't want to compound that pain by getting even more hurt by her decision than he already was.

She had done the right thing, after all. She had been true to her heart, just as he had been. Wanting her to feel bad about it was the worst thing he could do, he liked her way too much to bear seeing her look so sad.

Sango was the one who spoke up first, to try and put an end to the awkward silence that now hung over the forest clearing.

"Look, um…" God, why was this so difficult?! It wasn't Sango's fault that she was rubbish at things like this, she'd never experienced a confession before, let alone had to turn someone down! It wasn't supposed to be this difficult, was it?

Aidan flinched, staring worriedly at her. He wasn't sure what was left to say, and was worried that Sango was just going to keep apologizing. That would have possibly been worse.

"Look, Sango, I know that this is kind of awkward, but…"

"Isn't that my line?" Sango asked. "Aidan, I've… well, I know I've kind of been taking advantage of you, asking you to do all that stuff for me, especially like helping me out today, and you're a great guy for helping me, really, but because you like me, I feel like I… well…"

It was one of the things that made Sango feel the worst. Like she'd just been manipulating him this entire time.

Luckily, Aidan was quick to confirm that wasn't the case at all.

"No, no, don't think about it that way," Aidan said, shaking his head. "I mean, yeah, I did all that stuff because, well... because I like you, and I wanted to spend time with you, but I mean, you've helped me a lot, too! And it isn't taking advantage of me when you didn't even know how I felt about you! Don't worry, I don't feel used at all, I promise!"

Sango smiled a little. That made her feel slightly better. But right now, she still felt really guilty, like a knife was resting in her heart.

She wondered how long she would feel that way.

She wanted to do something that would make it easier for him, and the best place to start was by letting him get on with his life.

"Look, Aidan, I know you only agreed to help me today because you like me," Sango sighed. "So it's okay, you can go, if you want."

Sango hadn't experienced direct rejection before, but she knew how she had felt when Blake and Ayame had started dating, and it had stung.

"What? No, come on, that's okay!" Aidan assured her. "Listen, Sango, you can't honestly think that you don't need my help. Just because I have feelings for you and you don't want to be around me anymore after confessing, I mean-"

"No, it's not that!" Sango exclaimed. Why was it so hard to express how she felt? "It's just that I don't want to make you keep helping me. I'm sure that must hurt you a lot, working with me when you like me, after I just rejected you like that. So come on, you're free to go, I can handle the rest by myself somehow."

Aidan stared at her, and shook his head. "No, trust me, it's okay. I just wanted to help you because I liked you, yeah, but come on, I'm not such a jerk that I'll just abandon you because you rejected me, that would make me an asshole."

Sango smiled a little. She felt like she was going to start crying herself. "You really are a great guy, you know that?" She laughed.

"Sadly, not great enough," Aidan sighed, giving her a dejected smile that almost made his face look happy. But no, there were still tears.

"Hey, let's… let's take a little bit of a break, okay?" Sango asked. "I'll go over this way, you go over that way, and we just… deal for a little while. Then, we can get back to work when we're ready, what do you think?"

Aidan nodded. That was probably what he needed, a little bit of time and space. There was more, of course, but right now, the important thing was to keep from making things get too awkward between the two of them.

The two separated, and left the clearing, heading off in different directions. Which only left one person there.

Cynthia was shocked. Her mouth and eyes were stretched as wide as possible as she felt Sango's words sinking in.

Sango had someone that she was in love with. More than Aidan confessing to her, this was… this was something real. Cynthia had never thought for an instant that Sango actually had a crush on someone, and if someone had told her that she did, she wouldn't believe it.

But the words had come from Sango's own lips, so there was no denying them.

Cynthia just couldn't believe it.