People always regret the things they didn't do...

When Lia woke up that Thursday morning to the unrelenting beeping of her alarm, her nose was blocked and the side she was laying on was numb. She sat up, her short hair feeling oily and rough at the same time. A hand came up to rub at her crusty eyes, and abruptly, she crinkled her nose and sneezed.

Then, she fell back into the warmth of her bed, unwilling to walk to the Academy which was only a few blocks away.

She breathed in, and out.

The air was stuffy inside of her small apartment.

She released a small yawn, before shifting her legs over the bed's thin blanket, and stretching her legs out. A satisfied sigh escaped her slightly chapped lips, and she glanced at the bedside table with lazy eyes at her blindfold - her eyes softened.

It didn't take the girl long to get out of her bed, step into the kitchen, chuck a piece of toast in the toaster, and boil the water for a cup of green tea. And she thought - only one little fleeting thought - that she'd probably have to get Ivan to drink some later. Green tea originated from China, but the Japanese did drink it, and such. And the green tea she bought was made in Japan...

So... he'd probably like it, if he hadn't tried it already.

The slice of bread popped from the machine, and she took it in her hands, not minding the heat. A thin coat of sweetened, condensed milk, and absentmindedly, she chewed.

After doing her usual morning routine, she looped her fingers around her book-bag's strap, before eyeing a protruding item carefully. She pursed her lips.

To be or not to be?

Was that even the right quote?

Still, she tapped it back into her bag, and zipped it up properly so that it wouldn't fall out, and slipped it over her right shoulder. But before she went... she shot a look at the telephone on the kitchen bench. No messages. So they didn't call.

She turned her head away from the machine, disappointed but not expecting anything more or less.

The doorknob clicked as it turned.

And out she went.

As she walked, the shining colours of the sky, or the autumn-infected trees weren't things that Lia paid attention to.

The smell, however, was (she'd probably have to get used to wearing the blindfold for the rest of her life anyway). It was crisp, and refreshing. A nice change compared to her dusty apartment.

She entered the Academy grounds, when the walk she had suddenly seemed far too short. Maths was first class in the morning, and it wasn't something she wanted to go to... but still, she opened the door to her class. Or rather, she stared at it.

With slightly narrowed eyes, her hand reached out and she slid it open slowly.

Maybe, just maybe... she was kind of anxious.

And seeing the two empty spaces near her seat proved her worries and made her day darken. Of course, she had to expect one seat not sat on, but...

...the murmurs buzzing throughout the room didn't help.

And the looks her classmates were giving her didn't either.

She passed them without a second glance, and settled herself into her chair.

She took out a random object from within the confines of her bag, and fiddled with it, frowning. She had hoped it'd distract her, and she wondered why the teacher hadn't started the lesson yet. But wait, the teacher wasn't at class yet. Why was the teacher late? Teachers shouldn't be late.

Then, she sighed.

Unconsciously, she scratched at the item, away at its protective casing.

When she realized this, her eyes widened, and quickly, she slammed it back into her bag, frowning angrily at herself.

The day, so far, was kind of uneventful... but then again, it was only the start. What was she going to do though? There was no copper hair in sight, and nor was there pale.

That was when she caught bits and pieces of the conversations around her. It wasn't her fault though - they were being loud. Very loud.

Didn't they know that she could hear them?

"Edward did-"

The corners of her mouth tugged downwards, okay, so of course people would gossip a bit but they sounded so... shocked? Disgusted, even?

"No way, the top student-?!"

"Yeah, I know right?!"

Her eyebrows furrowed... know what? How surprising it was for Edward to have... killed somebody? But they didn't know the full story, did they?

"Kids these days-"

"-always so brash-!"

Her frown deepened. That wasn't true...

"But how could he-"

"To actually kill-"

And her lips tightened into a straight line. It was annoying her, the way they talked.

Wasn't Edward friends with a lot of them? Or wasn't he...? Because if he was, it wouldn't make much sense as to why their opinions of him changed so easily, in just a few days after he... but, even so, she guessed it was part of human nature? She wasn't perfect either...

"Why don't you all just shut the hell up?!"

But still, for some reason, she couldn't stand them talking like they were, so ignorantly and judge-fully She couldn't really control the outburst that left her lips, and her body didn't seem to listen to her mind either - as it shot up, knocking over her chair.

There was bone-crushing silence. But it only lasted for a few seconds.

"Edward did NOTHING wrong. It was an accident! So screw off!"

Besides, he wouldn't be in jail for too long right? It wasn't announced yet so...

...or maybe she just didn't know? But surely, someone would've told her, or at least she would've heard it.

Irritated, the Asian picked up her bag, and made her way out of the classroom in an attempt at a smooth exit. If only for the bunch of tables and legs that were involuntarily in her way. She bumped her foot into a table, effectively rattling it and making it fall over. A cry escaped the person occupying it, but she gracefully ignored it. Cursing beneath her breath and going just a fraction of red from the stares, she sprinted away from the class. It wasn't long before she stepped into the same room from a week or so ago, where she had cried, alone... and yet, not really alone.

And well, she wasn't that surprised that she saw the pale boy just standing there near the corner she previously occupied, in front of the poster he had turned into once.

The poster... containing the date the incident with Edward happened - October 19th.

Today was the 24th. A Thursday.

He didn't acknowledge her presence, but she didn't blame him - he could've been so immersed in thought he just didn't know she was there. Quietly, she walked past him, and into her corner. Sitting in it comfortably, she glanced up to see his reaction, but he was still eyeing at the wall. The change of positions allowed her to see his side rather than his back - and now, she noticed that he had raised a hand to touch the poster. His hand was stationary, and his eyes were unfocused.

There wasn't any doubt that he was thinking about Edward.

There wasn't any doubt... that he was probably blaming himself for what happened.

Lia could tell.

She did, after all, have a basic understanding of how his mind worked; eavesdropping that one day helped, even though - admittedly and guiltily - she had intruded in on one of his most vulnerable moments.

He looked like he was thinking much too hard, and frowning - "Ivan...?" She called albeit hesitantly.

The boy jumped slightly, his hand pulling back from the poster in a split second, as if it were licked by flames. They blinked at each other; his plum-coloured eyes wide, bewildered, and something else. He waited expectantly for her to say something, and when she realized this, she panicked. Why did she call his name? To stop him from over-thinking like she, herself, usually did? To say something inspirational or moving? She didn't have any skills in comforting people, and she usually couldn't word the things she wanted to say- like other people.

So she opened her mouth and closed it again.

Ivan's eyebrows furrowed, and Lia's own brow twitched.

Just what was she doing?

She bit her lip, before offering the boy a timorous grin.

But that wasn't in her character at all. She thought the elder teen had noticed that when a minute after tilting his head slightly, he nodded as if in understanding. This confused the Asian. Why did he nod? Why did he stare at her for a bit? Why... the questions twittered around in her head, and to her, the awkwardness remained. A sigh escaped her lips, and with it she tried to push her discomfort as well. It worked, a bit. Lia wasn't sure if he was trying to be subtle, but now he was looking at the poster yet again with his lips slouched downwards.

In a quick decision, she mumbled, "B-being a Hero isn't all that there is, right?"

Did she say that correctly?

"I-I mean, uh-" She cursed herself for stumbling over her words, "...uh. So what if Edward can't become a Hero? I mean-"

He had flinched when she said 'Edward'.

And when suddenly, he placed his eyes on her again... maybe if she had taken off her blindfold and looked closely enough she'd have seen the tears of shame and sadness.

"You don't know!" He cried. The words in Lia's throat died and she shut her mouth, congratulating herself for being such an idiot.

"You don't know..." The boy trailed off.

'Then why don't you tell me?'

-was the message she hoped to convey as she peeked at him, not taken aback... but cautious, more than anything else. The blond's eyes narrowed, and with a strangled voice, he disclosed, "Edward... is going to be there for a long time."

'There'... meaning jail?

But... did 'long time' mean a life sentence?

...surely not.

He stood there with his head bowed and the feeling of déjà vu spread throughout Lia. The same position from a few weeks ago, but nothing like when he had bowed to her before. She couldn't see his eyes, hidden behind yellow streaks of hair. He didn't want her to see them.

She didn't feel welcome, all of a sudden.

And it actually kind of hurt, to feel the feeling she felt at that moment.

Slowly, she unzipped her bag and dug out Rurouni Kenshin.

She stood up, walked over to the teenager, and placed it in front of him.

Then, she left.

She didn't come to her classes the next day.

No; she went to the same empty classroom, which she figured out was a room when assemblies were called (they were held very rarely though). Ivan was still there, oddly enough in the exact same spot, but this time, sitting down with his eyes shut. He almost looked asleep.

Carefully, she settled herself a safe distance from the person.

As she sat, pondering about random things, she noted that the DVD she placed in front of him the other day wasn't there.

Did he take it home? Or maybe put it in his bag? But there was no bag beside him? Where did he live?

There were so many things she didn't know.

And yet, she didn't say anything. She wasn't sure what she could say. It was painfully obvious that he was thinking about his power and his weaknesses and all the negative things about himself - but what about her? Her head lifted and she opened her mouth to speak.

"You know..."

He didn't budge from his position, so she really did wonder if he was asleep. Somehow, in this quietness, it was easier to speak.

"Your power really is something. S-so don't beat yourself up about it?"

She cringed when her voice heightened an octave at the end. It sounded like she was asking a question, rather than comforting her kind-of-only friend.

"I mean... you know, I can't even control my own."

But what was she saying?

"...be happy...?"

She hit her head aggressively with her palm, before sliding her hand down her face in an attempt to cover the raging blush and shoo away the burst of embarrassment at her stupidity. What was she saying?! Then, in the spur of the moment, she rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her hurriedly but softly as to not alert the classes around her. Realizing she left her bag in there, inwardly, she groaned and proceeded to sit on the floor.

Ivan's eyes slid open, and he stared at the doorway. Her shadow was visible through the tiny space beneath the door, and his mouth twitched.

But he didn't allow himself to smile at the girl's awkward attempts, because with all of his mind and soul even, he believed - he didn't deserve to.

When the lunch bell rang, the Asian escaped to the courtyard and hid in the bushes. She contemplated whether or not to go back - but in the end, she didn't.

Guilt swallowed her whole, and she promised herself that when she gained courage she'd go visit him again.

The following day was a Saturday however, and she didn't know where Ivan lived and she was pretty sure that the Academy was locked...

So it was a Monday when she returned to the Hero Academy, and to the assembly room.

Neither said anything, and all there was... was quiet.

...but maybe, the shared silence was better than just one person succumbing to dead air (or so Lia hoped that's what they both took it as).

Tuesday.

Today, Lia decided, was a day that silence wasn't really healthy.

And yet, it wasn't even her that broke it.

"...your shoulder," the blond had prompted, eyes narrowed gently with both worry and regret.

"...my shoulder?" She deadpanned, covering the relief she felt from finally hearing the sound of his voice. She didn't even understand why.

She felt something poking at her left shoulder, the one that was facing Ivan, and when she looked down, it was his finger. It came across an sensitive aching spot and she flinched, backing away from the probing hand. Ivan frowned deeply, and pulled his hand away. Hastily, she said, "A-ah, that shoulder. It was just a graze, the bullet didn't even-"

"You fainted," he stated abruptly.

She grimaced at the mention.

"It was shock."

There was a pause.

"Okay... well... it did kind of hurt?"

Another lengthy silence.

"Okay! I get it! It hurt. But it-"

"It was my fault... all my fault," he mumbled, eyes trailing and stopping at the spot the bullet had damaged.

"It wasn't your fault," she replied quickly, not allowing him to protest, "If anything, it was my own. I couldn't take care of myself."

Lia knew that he wasn't only talking about the bullet that had just scraped her, but also...

'What's done is done', she'd say. But she was afraid that even if she'd say that, he'd find a comeback; a reason to hate himself even more.

...so she didn't.

She wondered what she should do. The silence was heavy and Ivan had sunk so deep in his thoughts that she didn't think he even remembered she was still there, beside him. His pinky was resting against hers - he hadn't pulled it back. Should she hold his hand? No, that'd just be plain creepy and weird. Why did she even think of that? Instead, with an intake of breath at her brilliant idea, she grabbed a metal thermos from her bag, twisted the lid off and poured green tea into it. A tendril of steam rose from it, and with a determined look, she placed it on top of his hand. Startled, the boy blinked at the sudden warmth radiating from the makeshift cup and up at the sixteen-year-old.

"Drink it," she said gruffly, releasing the cup so it balanced on his hand, and turning away to cross her arms.

Once it again, her actions kind of reminded him of...

"-re..."

"What?"

Realizing he said the words out loud, he opened his mouth and instead said something that she only caught the end of - "-boh..."

"...what?"

Then realizing that he had accidentally swapped to Russian, he repeated, "Thank you."

She eyed him carefully, before huffing and turning to the wall, away from him. Curious, but not enough to ask the girl why she faced away from him, he took small cautious sips of his tea.

"It's green tea... from Japan..." She spat out, sounding reluctant to share the information.

Was she watching him? - Ivan asked himself. He blinked at the black-haired girl, but there were no signs that she was looking at him. So he shrugged to himself, and merely relished in the fact that he was experiencing something that was Japanese (but in the back of his mind, the doubt and everything that was negative nagged at him; threatening).

Inwardly, Lia was glad he was acting a little bit more like himself (but in the back of her mind, she just hoped the green tea was a good enough distraction for Ivan, from his own thoughts).

She really didn't know how to help him.

It was a Wednesday, when she found that the room Ivan and herself usually occupied was full. An assembly?

She opened the door and sneaked inside during the Principal's speech, and when she couldn't spot a pair of purple eyes and yellow-white hair in the large crowd, she settled herself beside a group of people who, for some reason, looked exactly the same with hair that was curled in exactly the right places and rectangular glasses. Most of them were girls, with an exception of a few guys. It gave her shudders. There was something about them that freaked her out.

"-you all know, today we will be choosing the NEXTs to recommend to the Justice Committee in Sternbuild."

Naturally, this caught her attention.

"The teachers have thought very hard about this... especially because of the recent incident."

Of course, everyone knew what the principal hinted at.

"It is..." he spoke with a weary air, "A very difficult time for us."

"But it is that time of the year again, and we have chosen."

Many heads perked up. Lia let her eyes rest on the floor.

"Ivan Karelin."

It was funny, how instead of gasps of recognition, there were just confused murmurs. Who was this 'Ivan Karelin'? - was what they questioned, and jeered. Ignoring the droning of the students, one of the teachers she recognized stood, and gestured for the Hero-to-be to come forward. With narrowed eyes, Lia searched the assembly for the boy - and she found him, yet she could only see his back.

The atmosphere was tense, all eyes on the Russian boy.

He was hesitating.

Shakily, he stood.

The students waited with bated breath until finally he walked - lifting his feet one by one.

Lia wanted to see his face.

The boy, so small next the the tall female teacher, accepted the pieces of paper the adult handed to him. Then she leaned forward with an unreadable expression, and whispered in his ear. A chain reaction was caused - the crowd broke out into conversation once again, but instead of focusing on the mini conversations circulating around her, Lia squinted from behind the dark cloth obscuring her vision, and attempted to gain a better view of her friend's face as the teacher continued to speak to him.

She saw lilac irises.

Blinking, she pulled back slightly and unconsciously tilted her head. Ivan looked confused, shocked and... relieved? He was looking in her direction, but when she glanced behind her, she only caught a glimpse a picture of a person with blond curls and glasses. The person holding the photo looked like a clone of the man, except female, and much younger and pudgier. Friends, Lia assumed, uttered with hushed voiced over the picture, occasionally glancing to the front of the assembly. The sixteen-year-old shot them a weird look, but they didn't notice it (they probably wouldn't have seen it either, because of the blindfold covering half of her face).

"Give a round of applause for Ivan!" The principal suggested brightly, an attitude contrasting with his earlier demeanour. His voice snapped everyone back into reality... but there was no applause.

Lia cursed the people around her. She didn't even want to imagine what Ivan was feeling. She was sure it was nowhere near happiness.

And then, lifting her chin high, she raised her hands and slapped them together; again and again, making a consistent rhythm. Everyone stared at her oddly, but she didn't back down.

Eventually, other people joined in.

"You can do it kid!" Someone called out, and another - "Good luck!"

Ivan's face flared with redness and he shifted his gaze downwards. He was shy...

It was too bad for Lia that the students behind her also found the appeal, and too bad for the students that Lia heard them-

"He's so cute!"

"Ooh, I know! How could we have missed him?!"

"I'd bang that."

When the Asian girl turned around, the three female students (looking to be around 13-14 years old) promptly fainted, alerting everyone in the room.

Lia smirked at this, casually tightening her blindfold around her head.

There was a stunned silence, when - "U-uh, assembly dismissed!" And the students and teachers of Hero Academy filed out of the room, gossiping to one another.

Principal Massini shook his head tiredly, and with his lips a thin straight line, he called, "Lia!"

But she had already made her escape.

"That girl..." the principal sighed, rubbing his temples with his hands. He turned around and looked pointedly at the last remaining student.

"Ivan, would you please go find her?"

...than the things they did.

Sorry for the wait! I actually had more planned out for this chapter, but I really wanted to update for you guys, so don't be afraid to review? I also want to say that Lia will not be the main person helping Ivan get through the thing with Edward. That's what Kotetsu does in episode 8, haha. But she tries, and she fails kind of, but yeah. It's the thought that counts? Lia's an awkward duckling.

My reply to - Guest: Hahaha, I hope the anticipation didn't kill you? ;D I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint, the opposite really, so please enjoy it.

Oh, and an important factor to keep in mind: since Ivan's birthday is unofficial, I made it the birthday of his Japanese voice actor. Only two dates were mentioned in this chapter. Guess which one? Alternatively, you can look up his voice actor, haha.

Thank you for reading, everyone! If there are any mistakes, please tell me.