Chapter 9: Sakurabito

('Sakurabito', literally 'cherry blossom- person', is an archaic Japanese term meaning 'beautiful person'. That's it for the explanation, now enjoy! - Sylvaene)

-Tomiko-

Heey. I was thinking, maybe we should talk. I'm at your school's gate. Teru.

I clamped my phone shut, and opened it again.

It was still there, blinking in my inbox. The address had changed, but the username remained pretty much the same.

Teru.

The world seemed to dissolve around me in a wash of afternoon light, filtering through the glass windows of the classroom. Something seemed to give my ankles wings as I slid off the table I was sitting on and made my way to the shoe lockers.

It had been a year since I met Sei at opening ceremony, and once more, the petals of hundreds of cherry blossoms carpeted the school's grounds as its season drew to a close. The opening ceremonies had come and gone, and there were new faces milling about, each betraying anticipation and a sense of determination to make this start the best. And though I was going into my second year at Lillian U, that feeling was definitely contagious.

It was going to be the best start of the school year, and I was going to take my destiny into my own hands this time.

I walked into the girls' bathroom at the time Rizu did. She took in my unusually tidy hair, straightened clothes and lifted a single eyebrow.

"You're dolled up," she commented.

I brightened. "It's nothing, really. I just wanted to try out a different look is all."

The eyebrow remained raised. "So… this would have absolutely nothing to do with that mail you got at lunchtime, right?"

I looked Rizu in the eye and tried to keep from grinning. "You know what, Rizu? Maybe it is about the mail. I've been thinking… I might not be sure if it will work out, but I want to give it another chance this time."

She gave me a dubious look and went into one of the stalls, her now waist-length black hair swinging behind her. I was about to leave when Sei walked into the bathroom.

The fox looked at me carefully, and raised an eyebrow as well. What WAS it with these people?

"Ho, you're prettied up today," she remarked. She had on a dark brown newsboy's hat made of corduroy, and she tipped it jauntily in my direction as she walked in. "Could it be that I've got a rival so soon?" she said with a grin and a wink.

I looked at her incredulously. "Rival? What are you talking about?" I felt something catch in my throat as I tried to talk my way out of it. Some spot I was in now.

She made a face, her grey eyes twinkling. "Tsk tsk. Forgotten about all about my affections already? So cruel, Tonkoneko." She grinned, then snapped her fingers. "Ah, I get it, you want to take me out on a date! Well, I can't possibly let all that prettying-up go to waste now, can I?"

I somehow couldn't manage to meet her eyes. Memories of what transpired during the New Year's party flooded my mind, unbidden, and right now, unwanted. Keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the floor, I muttered something unintelligible even to myself and ran out the door.

-Sei-

I scratched my head as Tomiko practically bolted clear out of the bathroom. I wondered if I said anything to make her panic like that, or if it was just my taste in headgear. Tomiko's complained about my clothes before. Still, seeing her with her hair neat and well-kept, her clothes ninety-nine percent wrinkle free and her sneakers unscuffed made me wonder. It also kind of made me hope that, hey, maybe she wanted to go out with me looking like she did on the Cinderella date.

Her reaction, however, was puzzling and a little…well, a little worrying. It was as if she didn't want to or couldn't bear to be around me. But why? I had come clean that night we had a party at my house and told her—demonstrated, really—what I felt, and she hadn't found anything to complain about. In fact, hadn't she said something about wanting the same thing I wanted?

And yet there she was, looking as though she'd actually taken pains to look nice today but refusing to look me in the eye once more. I couldn't even catch her excuse as to why she had to leave in such a hurry.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Somehow I knew that my little joke—about me having a rival—may not have been accurate, but was probably the closest thing to it right now.

Someone in one of the cubicles delicately cleared her throat. "Aren't you going to run after her?"

"Rizu?"

"Well, who else could it be? Aren't you going to run after her?" she repeated the question.

I wasn't in the mood to pretend. "I want to. But something tells me I don't have the right to." I was having a hard time controlling my anger. I felt betrayed. "I thought I did, but…"

A cubicle door swung open and Rizu walked out. She looked at me once, then focused her attention on her reflection and started fixing her hair. "Hmm…"

I glanced at her. "What?"

"Hmm?"

"You know something, don't you?"

Rizu was checking for non-existent dirt on her face. "Yes, I do. There's one thing I want you to verify though."

"What's that?"

Rizu opened the faucet and began washing her hands. "That little joke you made about you having a rival…is there actual basis for that joke? Sei?"

I thought about what she meant by that question. It wasn't hard. Rizu was Tomiko's closest friend in Lillian, and she probably knew about the kiss. She was asking me if had been serious about that kiss. Because if I wasn't, then of course I would have no right to ask about a 'rival', and my earlier joke would have been just that. A joke.

"Yes," I said, unable to keep some of the bitterness I was feeling out of my voice. "At least I thought so." I took off my hat and ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated. "Now I'm not sure what to think. Guess it was a bad move after all."

Rizu turned off the water and started flapping her hands to dry them. "Tomiko got a message on her cellphone from her ex," she stated bluntly. "They're meeting in front of school."

I looked right at her. "When?"

She snorted. "In a few minutes. Why Tomiko would actually want to after the kind of break-up they went through, I don't know."

I felt like someone had just punched me right in the stomach. Tomiko had never talked about her ex. She never mentioned it, not even once.

Ferris Wheel.

The memory of that moment from the Cinderella date suddenly surfaced. Judging by how sad Tomiko had looked then, I knew that she would do anything to try and set what she thought had gone wrong. Even if it meant disregarding what happened that New Year's night.

For a few horrible seconds, I was frozen. I had no idea what to do next. I was going to lose someone without even having had a real chance to show her how much I loved her.

I became aware of a pair of brown eyes on me, and turned to see Rizu giving me a direct, challenging look. "Aren't you going to run after her?" she asked, for the third time.

Something in her tone of voice slapped me back to my senses.

Of course I was going to run after Tomiko.

It was what I'd been doing all this time.

And there was no reason for me to stop.

Especially not now.

I smirked at Rizu and, with a sweeping flourish of my hat, gave her a low bow. "I'll see you later, little lady," I said, tossing the cap to her.

She caught it and smirked back. "This ratty thing is your way of saying 'thank you'? Get your butt out of here, Satou Sei."

I nodded to her, then turned and ran out the door and after Tomiko.

-Tomiko-

For some reason I couldn't explain, I felt the rhythm of the day reset on an uneven beat. I ran out of that bathroom as fast as my feet could carry me. It was the only thing I could do, though some part of me was screaming, screaming for me to run right back, back to Sei and her little dinky hat. I ignored my brain and left my feet to take me where they wanted.

I ran down the tree-lined path leading to the gates, perhaps jostling a few students on my way there; I couldn't really tell. I felt my heart practically flutter up my throat as I caught sight of a familiar figure beyond the school's low-hedged walls. The same medium-length black hair tied in that familiar loose ponytail, the same glasses, the same stance. Teru was everything I remembered she was: my sakurabito. It was as if the cherry blossoms were waving, winking at me, urging me to walk faster, towards the gate.

She met my gaze as I reached the wrought-iron gates of Lillian U, smiling gently, and opened her folded arms to hold my hands. She peered through her small wire frames at me, her hazel eyes twinkling.

"Hey, you," she chuckled, wrapping me up in a hug. She was a good head taller than I was, and my head fit snugly against her chest as she drew me in. I drank in the faint smell of fresh cologne that always surrounded her, familiar and tugging at my heartstrings. "So, how's my Tonko-chan? Has university life been treating you well?" She cradled my face in her hands and looked at me, a little half-smile playing on her lips. "It has, I can see."

It was a bit too much, and I found myself averting my gaze. She was here, and we were going to talk, so I should be happy… right?

Then why was that small screaming part of me growing by the second?

I quickly took her hands and put them down at her sides, stepping back as I did so.

"I'm doing okay," I said, smiling nervously. "How was your first year in college?"

Teru looked at me thoughtfully, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "Not too bad, I guess, though it's supposedly a rat race at med school." She adjusted her sling bag and gave me a wink. "What say we talk more about it somewhere else? Isn't your dorm room just a stone's throw away? You could make me some of your coffee."

"Oh, uh, about that…" For some odd reason, I was suddenly very jumpy. "I brought the siphon with me to university." Oh, Buddha, what was I saying? Was I stalling for time?

She chuckled. "Then that's very good! Then you can use it to make me some coffee for a change, ne?" She took my hand and cradled it gently in both of hers. "Listen, I don't know if you've noticed, but my university is just a train station away." She lifted my hand to her lips and lightly kissed them. "This isn't my first time here, I'm afraid."

I blinked. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Teru smiled wanly. "I've been coming back here for quite a while, hoping to catch you coming home from class," she replied.

That sent shivers down my spine, but whether or not that was the good kind eluded me. "Oh?" I asked, wriggling out of her grasp. "Why didn't you just send me a message then?"

"But that would ruin the fun," a voice from behind us said. Turning around, I saw a girl with catlike eyes, rosebud lips and a fringe of jet bangs lining her little oval face. Her dark Lillian uniform hung on her lithe frame in a flattering, devil-may-care fashion. Her beauty was painstakingly contrived, yet it seemed like something that came naturally from her.

"Mayo-chan," Teru said, looking only half-surprised. "I thought you wouldn't be out until much later."

The way Teruko said the girl's name made my heart sink to the floor. I was absolutely certain she wasn't just a friend or an acquaintance. Mayo walked towards us then, and I found myself bereft of words. My mind was full of questions, and a good number of them had nothing to do with what was happening now. My thoughts flew back to Sei, and I found myself plunged into the pain of the truth. Teruko wanted me back in her life, but I had no idea that I was going to share that place in her heart with this girl.

Mayo's voice interrupted my thoughts. Her voice was young and clear, ringing like a small bell.

"That's okay, I suppose," she mused. "I could always share you, Teru-chan." She strung her arm around Teruko's and hung onto it like it was her lifeline. Teruko shrugged it off, looking a little annoyed.

I had finally found my voice, but it had seemed that I had found something else with it: a fresh sense of betrayal, not so much of my old relationship as the torch I still carried for the one I used to love. I realized then that how I kept my hair, why I crash-dieted within an inch of my life, everything about myself except a huge part of my painting was just in preparation for this moment. I had unconsciously resolved from the moment I walked away from her and that Ferris Wheel that I'd make myself a person worthy of Teruko, worthy of her attentions.

And right now, everything revealed itself as a sham that carried me as strongly to itself then as it was washing me away now.

Mayo looked a little miffed for a split second, but her recovery time was pretty quick. She planted a tiny kiss on Teruko's cheek (dangerously close to the corner of her lips) and walked off, her couture satchel swinging from her thin shoulders.

"I'll see you at home, Teru-chan," she said, casting a predatory eye at me. "I'll get dinner—and maybe some dessert—ready." Teruko waved her off, her eyes catching mine. I must have looked quite scary, because she had gone from being annoyed to being clumsily reassuring in a blink of an eye. I guess she has a tendency to panic when she senses she's done something wrong—a tendency a doctor shouldn't have.

"I hope you don't mean to be a surgeon," I cracked.

"I don't. I mean—,"

I turned on my heel. I didn't want her to think I was crying over her. "Goodbye, Teruko."

I was caught off-balance when she yanked me by the arm, her lips taking mine forcibly, prying them open and thrusting her tongue in.

"I still love you, Tomiko," she murmured. I felt my anger well up in me, and tasted my salty tears merge with the bile in my throat.

I shut my eyes and let my old high school softball swing get her in the cheek.

Sei

I didn't know how fast I was going until I felt a stitch in my side and wildfire spreading in my lungs. The front gates weren't that far-off, but I knew that every second counted. I kept bumping into people as I ran, and I was too caught up in an unreasonable state of panic to stop and apologize. The faster I tried to go, the slower things seemed to get. My brain felt like it was being swept away by a hurricane. Why was I freaking out like this? Tomiko wasn't even mine, technically or otherwise, and there was but a faint promise holding the possibility of 'us' together, a promise that could disappear the moment she met up with that old flame of hers. An inner me chuckled wryly; when had Tomiko come to mean this much anyway? I doubted I could pinpoint the exact moment in time, and I knew I couldn't even begin to explain the 'why'.

Finally, finally, I reached the gates.

That was when I saw this tall, thin girl with glasses reach out and—rather roughly—pulled Tomiko to her and kissed her smack on the lips.

It's bad to stop suddenly after a brisk run, but that's exactly what I did. I barely felt my feet jarring against the pavement, much less the vibrations thrumming up my calves. Everything seemed to fall away from me then; the students milling around me, the school buildings, the trees that dotted the grounds. Even sound became nonexistent—there was just this loud, annoying buzzing in my ears. My stomach fell to my sneakers. I've never really passed out before, but I supposed this was pretty close to the feeling. Whatever it was that I thought I might have had going with Tomiko was over before it even started.

And then, as I was trying desperately to summon the courage to walk away, Tomiko wrenched herself out of the girl's forceful kiss, pulled back, and slapped her resoundingly across the face. In another second, Tomiko was off and running, in the direction of her dorm, leaving the bespectacled girl standing utterly confounded right in front of the gates, just a few feet ahead of me.

I'd never really gone bungee jumping before, but I was pretty sure I already knew what it would feel like. I was feeling it at that moment. From nearly hitting rock-bottom to soaring swiftly back up through the air, and landing precisely on my feet with all the poise and dignity of a mountain cat.

And, as I regarded Tomiko's ex-girlfriend, with all of a wild cat's ferocity as well.

But Tomiko's well-being weighed more on my mind. I cast her ex a dirty look, then started off after Tomiko.

I hadn't gone very far, however, when I heard her call to me. "Her friend, am I right?"

I stopped. My temper, which had been dormant for such a long time, was starting to rise. And it was rising fast. I looked over my shoulder at her, noting that her glasses were askew. "What's it to you?" I asked.

The girl looked me up and down appraisingly. "Are you gonna chase after her?"

I'd been chasing after her from the moment I first saw her, but I wasn't about to let this arrogant, two-timing jerk know all about that. "You gonna stand there and ask me all these inane questions? Beat it." I turned around.

That hated voice floated over to me nonetheless. "She'll get over it. And she'll come running. Back to me."

I felt my hands clench into fists, even though I don't remember telling them to do so. My teeth were grating against each other. If this idiot didn't stop babbling…

"But from one friend to another…" the girl snickered a bit, "don't hold your breath."

I took in a deep breath. Then I turned back and walked up to her. "For one thing, whoever you are," I said slowly as I came close, "I—am—not—your—friend." I calmly reached up and removed her glasses, much to her surprise. "For another, I never hit anyone who wears glasses. So…" I carefully put her glasses in her front pocket, patted it for good measure, then drew back and sent my fist directly into her face.

She hadn't seen that one coming. I felt a profound sense of satisfaction seeing her head snap back and her butt coming into contact with the ground. She looked positively stunned. I glared at her and said, "Don't ever let me catch you lurking around here again. And if you do anything to Tomiko that she doesn't like, I won't stop at hitting just your nose."

I'd wasted enough time on this pathetic loser. I turned around and started running after Tomiko, who was well out of sight by now. Who knew what she was doing in her dorm? I hoped fervently she wasn't doing anything stupid.

I heard, faintly, someone shouting behind me, and barely made out the words. "I'm still the one she loves!"

In your dreams, I thought grimly. I knew Tomiko well enough by now, and I knew somehow that anything she had with this girl, any hope, any good regard, all of it was gone.

I reached the door to Tomiko's dorm. I hesitated a moment, wondering what to say, or if I should even be there at all. After all, this was, technically, none of my business. Tomiko hadn't even seen me punch her ex. Ooh, that was going to be some story to tell, and I didn't know how she'd react.

From behind the door came faint, but frantic, snipping sounds.

I frowned. What on earth was she doing?

Hesitation gave way to sudden alarm. I tried the doorknob and it turned; the door swung open but snagged on something on the floor. I looked down and saw one of Tomiko's manga—one of the few that she handled with extreme care—torn hopelessly to shreds. I picked it up, my worry for her increasing tenfold. Tomiko would never have done this to her prized comic book on any bad day.

"Tomiko?" I ventured, stepping inside. There was no answer, but I half-expected that.

What I didn't expect was the sight that greeted me once I spotted her.

Her dorm looked all right; more or less in one piece, save for a few things. There were several more manga lying around on the floor, ripped up and strewn carelessly, perhaps angrily, around. The sliding door that separated the kitchen from the living room was also thrown wide open, revealing Tomiko's beloved siphon, also on the floor and smashed into bits. But the worst part was sitting right in the middle of the dorm. Tomiko, tears streaming down her face, had taken a large pair of scissors to her hair and was hacking away at it like there was no tomorrow.

I was frozen in abject horror for one moment, and then I leaped towards her. Dropping down to my knees in front of her, I grabbed at the scissors and tried to wrench it out of her hand.

She fought me, keeping a steel grip on the damn thing and still reaching for more hair to cut. Fool girl would probably hack all of it off, given half a chance, so I redoubled my efforts to get the scissors out of her hands. It must've looked pretty scary; I had one hand on the blades and the other on Tomiko, she had one hand on the scissor handles and the other one had let go of her hair to push at my face. One wrong move and we could end up gouging an eye. I was yelling at her to stop, but she was as good as deaf.

Finally, I managed to yank the scissors away from her. She made a desperate grab for it, but I wasn't going to let her do this to herself anymore. I pulled her into a tight embrace, praying she'd calm down soon. "Enough, Tomiko, enough…"

After what seemed like eternity, she stopped trying to wriggle out of my arms and settled for crying into my chest. I found I didn't have anything wise or comforting to say. Normally I was good at this sort of thing. I guess I was feeling too much of her pain. Since I was practically mute, I simply pulled her into a closer embrace, rocking her back and forth as if she were a five-year old kid who had fallen down. In a way, maybe she was. She'd held on to something, believing that it would somehow be real, only to find out in the end that it was all make-believe, like Santa Claus.

Well, then, I'd have to give her something else to believe in.

"It'll be okay," I said softly, hoping she could hear me. "It's not okay now, and it probably won't be okay tomorrow, but it will be. I'm here. I don't know if that means anything to you, but I promised you I'd be your friend. You'll be okay, Tonkoneko, but you'll be okay for you, not for anyone else. I believe in you, and you're more than just someone's passing fancy, you hear me?"

We stayed that way for a while, sitting on our bums on the floor of her dorm, with me murmuring what I hoped were comforting words. And then I began to feel something—odd—about my right hand. It was hurting, a sharp kind of hurt. I glanced at it.

Holy crap, the bugger was bleeding.

I spared the scissors a withering look, and then I made a move to get up.

Suddenly, Tomiko grabbed me by the arms. "Don't go," she pleaded. She was still in tears.

I patted her on the head. "I just want to use the bathroom, is all. I'm not going anywhere else until you're all right again."

I never intended for her to see the gash on my palm, but she must've sensed that I wasn't going to the bathroom to relieve myself. She turned her head sooner than I expected, and her half-glazed eyes fell on my wound.

She let out a gasp and sat bolt upright. "What happened to you?"

You know those silly anime characters that get really big sweatdrops on their heads? Yeah. Felt like that. "Ah…well, I did wrench those scissors out of your hands, Tonkoneko…"

Tomiko looked at me, horrified. "Oh, Sei, I'm so sorry! Here," she scrambled to her feet and pulled me to mine, quickly but gently taking hold of my injured hand, "we have to clean that before we bandage it up. It'll get infected. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I opted not to answer that one. Instead, I allowed myself to be dragged along to the bathroom sink. With a brisk efficiency I wouldn't have expected under the circumstances, Tomiko opened the faucet and pushed my hand into the water. I winced, but the slight pain it caused was nothing compared to what came next; a good dousing of peroxide.

"Ow!" I yelped. "Itetetete…that hurts," I hissed at her, grimacing. It really did.

"It'll hurt more if it gets infected, and that's the only way I know to clean it," Tomiko answered as she lifted my hand and examined it thoroughly. "Do you think it needs stitches?"

I hastily jerked my hand away and cradled it protectively. "It was just a pair of scissors, not a switchblade!"

She swatted my shoulder, her eyes flashing back to life. "I keep my scissors sharp, you know! Give me that hand, Satou Sei!"

I did, reluctantly so. She looked at it, frowning thoughtfully. "It's not as deep as I thought. It just looks angry. I guess bandages will do the trick."

I sincerely hoped so. I didn't want to have to go and get it stitched up.

Tomiko dragged out her first-aid kit, then led me back out into the living room. She ignored all the hacked-off hair around us and sat me down on her couch, then set to work on patching up my wound, stammering out apologies at every turn. I kept assuring her that it was all right. Tomiko was an emotional girl; it wasn't her fault. The only person she intended to hurt was herself. I glanced at the hair she had left on her head and sighed inwardly. All that lovely hair, gone to waste, and all because of some stupid ex-koibito who didn't know a real treasure even when it was right in front of her nose.

It only took minutes for her to properly bandage up my hand. When she was done, she sat back and double-checked her work. "There. We just need to change it every so often to be sure it doesn't get infected or anything. Any time your bandages get dirty, you have to come to me, or get the school nurse to change it. Understand?"

I grinned. "I think I'd much rather come to you. You're prettier than the school nurse by a mile and a half."

She glared at me. "Sei, I'm serious!"

"So am I. For one thing, I think her eyes are crooked. Her teeth too. Pretty face, but she ought to go see an orthodontist, in my opinion."

For a moment, I thought she'd really get mad at me for trying to sound flippant at such a time, but then her eyes softened, and she finally managed a tiny smile. "You're impossible, you know that?"

I smiled back. "So I've been told."

We kept quiet after that. Our eyes never stopped talking. It wasn't so much in words than it was in feelings, but I guess I could say we understood each other nonetheless. That was enough.

At least it would've been, if Rizu didn't suddenly traipse in through the door. I'd left it open, ajar even, and she must've been curious. Her head poked in and looked around. "Hey, are you guys o—aah!"

Her loud yelp of shock startled both me and Tomiko. I stood up and looked at Rizu. "It's…it's not what you think."

Rizu took in the shredded manga and Tomiko's messy locks scattered on the floor. "I don't know what to think! What have you two been doing in here? Why is your hair like that, Tomiko?"

Tomiko quickly explained everything that had transpired so far. She hadn't been in complete control of herself at certain parts, though, so I had to fill in the blanks at some point.

Rizu took it well, mostly, but she definitely thought the scissor-wrestling competition was in poor taste. Still, she only said, "Well, it's a good thing that's over and done with. I'd hate to have to bring two dead bodies to the morgue, you know."

I scratched my head in the most boyishly cute fashion I knew. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you'd be with Kei, like you usually are."

Rizu sniffed. "For your information, Sei, I came here 'cause I was worried about Tomiko." She looked me up and down. I self-consciously moved my hand behind my thigh, but she still might have seen the bandage. Rizu sniffed again and turned her attention to Tomiko. "All right, you silly girl, to the bathroom with you."

Tomiko looked a little apprehensive. "Why?"

"Because your hair is horrendous, and I'm going to fix it."

Tomiko very sheepishly retreated to the bathroom. Rizu followed, but stopped midway there. She turned around and threw something at me, which I caught with my left hand.

"Ho" I said, holding up my messenger cap. "Why are you returning this to me?"

Rizu shrugged. "It's too big for me. Besides, I don't really go for those things." Then she gave me a smile, a real one, and said, "Good job, Sei."

I grinned back.

"Oh, and don't get that infected," Rizu said as she turned and walked toward the bathroom.

Damn, that girl was quick.

It was nearly an hour later that Tomiko and Rizu finally exited the bathroom. Tomiko now sported a really cute cut; a little short but still girlish enough for her, and her bangs stylishly covered one eye. She caught my approving smile and turned a bit pink. "Don't say anything," she warned me.

"Even if it happens to be a compliment?" I asked, chuckling.

Tomiko made a face and self-consciously ran a hand through her hair. "Thanks for saving my dignity, Rizu," she said.

Rizu gave her an impish half-smile. "I saved your hair, Tomiko. Someone else saved your dignity."

Tomiko looked at me rather guiltily, but also with a huge measure of gratitude. I shrugged and glanced away, not really wanting to be the center of attention at the moment. I was still worried about her emotional state. My eyes happened to fall on the broken bits of the siphon on the kitchen floor.

"Ah, now there's a disaster," I said with an overdramatic sigh. "How are we going to make coffee now?"

Tomiko gave a little snort and refused to look at the siphon. "We'll survive on instant coffee."

"We can't survive on instant coffee," I protested.

"You happen to survive on your microwave. I don't see why you can't survive on hot water and 3-in-1 mixes."

"Coffee's a different matter entirely."

"Yeah," Rizu began dryly, "food can go to pot, but coffee can't, according to the great Satou Sei, poet, writer, and probably the unhealthiest creature to ever walk God's good earth."

Tomiko giggled. I gave Rizu a stern look. "Coffee's got enough antioxidants to prevent me from at least looking like the unhealthiest creature to ever walk God's good earth, and that'll only work if the coffee isn't instant. Besides, can you two actually enjoy the taste of 3-in-1 coffee? Come on, let's go out and get Tomiko a new siphon."

Tomiko flatly refused. "No way. I don't have money for that. I'll have to save up."

I laughed. "Well, I have money for a new siphon, and since I account for…how much was that, Rizu?"

"Seventy percent," she said without batting an eyelash.

"Since I account for seventy percent of what you buy for food, I might as well make up for it by getting you a new siphon."

Tomiko looked at me, exasperated. "Sei, you're spoiling me. I broke the siphon; I should be the one buying myself a new siphon, not you!"

"But I account for seventy percent—"

"Of food, not kitchen appliances!"

"What model should we get?" I asked, looking at Rizu.

Rizu shrugged. "We should go out and look at the latest ones."

"You're right. Grab your things and let's go."

Tomiko was horrified. "Rizu!" she gasped.

Rizu grinned. "Sorry, but I can't survive on instant coffee either."

"Hypocrite," I said, laughing.

Rizu snorted. "Freeloader," she retaliated.

I smiled evilly. "Judas."

She slapped my shoulder, hard, which made me howl in pain. When I managed to recover, I looked at Tomiko inquiringly. "Well, are you coming? We do need you to pick out the siphon, you know."

Tomiko sighed. "I can't believe you guys are bullying me into this."

I put an arm comfortingly around her shoulders as we all headed out into the hallway. "Like I told you the first time we met, Tonkoneko, there's no bullying here." I winked. "Maybe just a little bit of dating."

Rizu made an indelicate sound, but surprisingly Tomiko laughed. I took that as a good sign, and with that we all went off to purchase a new siphon.

Couple of hours—and cups of coffee later—Tomiko's brand-new siphon was sitting in her kitchen, and she and I were sitting in her living room. Rizu had gone back to her own dorm after downing her second cup, claiming to have some things to do, one of which may be Kei. I started yakking about stuff off the top of my head in order to keep Tomiko from sliding back into possibly another manic fit, or into depression, which was something that might even be worse than what happened this afternoon.

"Well, it was your fault, really," she said after I recounted Yumi's fainting spell in the last days of my stay in Lillian High. "If you hadn't tricked her into believing that her Onee-sama had to perform for your grand soeurs, then she wouldn't have pushed too hard."

I laughed. "Yumi's tough. Besides, everything I did was to make sure her bond with Sachiko would really cement itself."

Tomiko gave me a skeptical look. "Sure you'd say that, but I think you just wanted to laugh."

I grinned.

"You're horrible."

"I know. Don't you just love me?"

She laughed then, and I wondered if it was just my imagination, but it seemed a bit self-conscious. After her amusement died down, she smiled at me. "Thanks for the siphon."

Was that thank-you statement loaded with something else than simple gratitude, or was I just hoping too much? This was not like me at all. "No problem." I smiled widely. "'Sides, I get to share the coffee."

Tomiko chuckled at that, but said nothing more. There was a moment's awkward silence, and then she averted her gaze. "Ano…"

I looked at her curiously. "Hmm?"

"Thanks…for everything."

I smiled. "Told you I'd be your friend, didn't I?"

She smiled back. I couldn't quite read the expression in her eyes. "Yeah. Thanks for that."

I was about to clear the table and make myself useful for once by washing the cups when she spoke again. "Um…Sei?"

I looked at her again. "Hai?"

This time the expression on her face was one of some uncertainty. "I…"

And of course my cellphone picked that exact moment to ring. I cursed. "Ah, dumb phone. Hold on a sec, Tonkoneko." I fished the phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. "Hai, Sei here."

"Ah, Sei?"

The voice was familiar. Too familiar. I thought I felt my heart stop. It couldn't be.

"Kubou desu."

It was.

Shiori.