Hisao awoke next to a still asleep Lilly, sighing happily in recollection of the previous night. She was in the same position as when she fell asleep, peacefully resting on Hisao's ribcage. She wore a smile on her face and inhaled and exhaled so quietly and tranquilly.

She still looks so beautiful… Hisao thought to himself, smiling to himself. Even with that bedhead, I still want to kiss her. Her face, her personality, even her hair… holy fuck I'm one lucky guy.

In light of Hisao's thought, he started to stroke Lilly's hair. She smelled so nice, even though she hadn't showered yet. Her hair was silky yet thick; a heavenly combination. The flowing gold sprawled over her shoulder and folded onto the bed. Her naked back rose and fell with each new breath, her shoulders broadening and relaxing each time. The white bedsheets contrasted with her faded pink covers, and the morning sun was struggling to shine through the closed drapes of her dorm room. Hisao's vision finally sharpened as he turned his head to face Lilly's bed table. The open book of braille poetry laid open to the page that Hisao translated the previous night. The rest of Lilly's room came into focus; she had even put posters in her room.

Hanako must have helped with the pins. Hisao figured. But still… I didn't know she liked Country music…

Hisao chuckled softly to himself, taking mental note of a possible birthday present for his princess. Rotating his head back to face his girlfriend, Hisao couldn't help but stare at her exposed back.

I've never realized… Hisao thought as he stroked Lilly's back, how beautiful a woman's back is…

He ran his fingers up and down Lilly's back, following the curvature of her spine. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers over her shoulders before wrapping his hand around her torso and pulling her in closer.

Lilly grunted at the motion, coming back from her dream world.

"Morning, beautiful." Hisao whispered, combing her bangs out of her face.

"Whuz who?" Lilly sat up groggily, exposing her full, beautiful form once more. Her stature and overall frame suited her, assisting in puffing out her not-so-modest chest.

"This is you in the morning? You're usually up before me…" Hisao chuckled as Lilly's face turned beet red.

"H-Hisao!" Lilly snapped into attention, adrenaline waking her up. "I- uh- I…"

Lilly stumbled over her usually perfectly composed words in an attempt to fix the embarrassing situation.

"It's ok. You look beautiful anyway, so I don't mind." Hisao reassured, chuckling as he laid his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

Lilly's red face deepened when she realized that she was standing in front of Hisao fully exposed.

"Y-y-you… noo~!" Lilly whipped around to cover herself. Hisao laughed softly, slightly puzzled.

"Why the embarrassment? I've already seen you… al natural. Besides, I said you look beautiful. I don't mind."

"No, Hisao, I bet you don't mind," Lilly retorted, standing up ashamed, "but… I do need help dressing."

"Exactly," Hisao started, "I'll go fetch your clothes."

Lilly's red face had let up slightly. She was getting more used to the situation, as if there was anything to be ashamed of in the first place.

"O-okay," Lilly sighed as she made her way over to her bed, "wait! I haven't showered yet."

"Oh yeah. Umm, so I can't really escort you to the dorm showers…" Hisao started, eliciting a slight laugh from Lilly.

"I should hope not, you pervert." She retorted playfully. "You're only allowed to see me naked. If you go in there, you'll see everyone. Hanako would die on the spot I think…"

"Oh, I'm the pervert?" Hisao responded chidingly, "I wasn't the one begging last night~"

Lilly's face returned to its previous state: red and hot as the fucking sun.

"Well, in any case, I'm still naked too. Y'know, in case that makes you feel any better." Hisao added quickly. He knew he made the right call when Lilly calmed down slightly, pouting in the process.

"Y-you are a pervert. Making a girl like me say such shameful things…" Lilly twiddled her fingers, giving Hisao puppy eyes.

"G'ahh! Ok! I concede!" Hisao responded. Lilly laughed victoriously, laughing away her blush.

"If we're both naked, then that's ok." Lilly said in a playful know-it-all-voice. Hisao chuckled slightly in relief.

"So… shower. Are you just gonna waltz through the hallway naked? Imagine running into Hanako during your expedition to the girls' showers: 'Say, Hanako, how's your morning? Oh this? I'm just buck naked because I fucked like a mad woman last night. Mhmm. How was your night? Sleep well?'"

Lilly started to laugh hysterically at Hisao's hypothetical situation.

"That'd bode well with her 'oh so outgoing and forward' nature." Hisao added with a chuckle.

Lilly doubled over in laughter, sprawling on the floor and kicking wildly in an attempt to breathe in more air to accommodate her laughter. Hisao started to laugh equally has hard, his face turning red from lack of oxygen.

"Oh goodness, what a way to laugh~" Lilly chided, wiping away a tear.

"Tell me about it!" Hisao responded, attempting to regulate his breathing.

"No, Hisao, that's not how it works. I have a bathrobe in the last drawer of my cabinet. I simply wear that and then Hanako escorts me, mind you, to the showers." Lilly answered, piquing her own interest. "Why? Is it any different in the boys' dorms?"

"Well," Hisao began, "we just get up in pajamas or whatever and sleepily (or drunkenly) stumble over to the showers. I'm usually up before anyone else so I can take my time and enjoy the hot water."

Lilly pondered this for a moment before smiling and waving it off.

"You're lucky you don't need so much help…" Lilly said wistfully.

"Hey, you're still amazing. You can do so much more than I can and have a heart of gold. I love you for who you are, blind or not."

Lilly smiled at Hisao's comfort.

"You really do make me feel better. Thank you, Hisao. For everything."

Hisao embraced Lilly. He held her tightly, taking in her scent. Intoxicating, as usual, Hisao stepped back and admired her.

"S-say, what time is it?" Lilly asked. Hisao glanced over to the clock resting on her cabinet.

"Why are we up at this ungodly hour? It's literally 4:30 in the morning!"

"Ah, good. It's still early." Lilly responded surprised. "I'll go take my shower and we'll return here."

Hisao paused.

"We?" He asked, his curiosity and mischievous nature piqued.

"W-well… it's still early and n-no one else is up so I was wondering if we could take a shower together…" Lilly trailed off, nudging her fingers together like a child asking for an expensive Christmas present.

Hisao's breathing stopped and his heart started to pound.

"Lilly, we can't! What if I get caught?" Hisao inquired.

"I'll just tell them that …you're gay!" Lilly responded, as if she came up with a genius idea.

Hisao blankly stared at his girlfriend.

"You're joking, right? That's just a horrible fucking joke, right?" Hisao's question went unnoticed by a rambling Lilly.

"…and you've been helping me for a while, and that you've been doing my hair…"

"and that I've been drilling you harder than a manufacturing plant during busy hour?" Hisao cut her off.

"Fine. I'll ask Hanako at 5:30…" Lilly responded with a pout, which stabbed Hisao's heart. Her playful tone was that of a kitten that was refused belly rubs. Her blank eyes generated fake tears to well up inside, adding a melodramatic effect to the whole situation.

"Gaah! Don't do that! It literally and figuratively hurts me!" Hisao shouted in emotional defeat.

"Aah! What a nice shower that was!" Lilly breathed as she entered her room once more, tailed by a fidgety Hanako.

"Hey there, Lills. Hanako." Hisao addressed the two ladies with a playful salute to Hanako.

"H-Hisa-ao. G-good m-morning." Hanako replied, barely audible, before scampering off back to her room.

Guess she's still 'affected' by the recent activity… Hisao figured.

Lilly paced herself back into the room, drying off her godly hair with a pink towel.

"Did you already take a shower?" Lilly inquired as she sat next to Hisao. "You smell nice."

"Yeah, I went while you were with Hanako. Can't be smellin' like no pig with a lady of your stature beside me." Hisao responded playfully, making Lilly giggle into his shoulder.

"How thoughtful of you~" She chided, kissing his cheek. Hisao lightly grabbed her hand and returned the favor by planting a light kiss on top of it.

"So, whadd'ya wanna do for the next hour?" Hisao asked Lilly, glancing over to the clock that read 6:00.

"Hmm…" Lilly pondered, "Let's take a walk outside. The morning scent will wake us up."

"Sounds great." Hisao responded. "I always feel all nostalgic when I smell the morning air."

"Me too," Lilly responded, "or a soft, spring breeze too."

Hisao grunted in agreement as he helped his girlfriend up off the floor.

"First, we have to get you out of that bathrobe and into some clothes." Hisao reminded, perking Lilly's attention.

"I almost forgot!" She started to laugh. "Imagine if I walked out of the dorms like this!"

"And there we… are!" Hisao declared as he finished buttoning Lilly's shirt.

"Thank you, kind sir~" Lilly chided as she leaned into him. "It's about time to go to class isn't it?"

"Yeah… let's leave before any girl spots me leaving your room at 7:00 in the morning…" Hisao snapped. "Shit, we didn't get to take our walk…"

"Oh, we can go after school, right? A nice date at the park?" Lilly asked, nudging her boyfriend.

"You got it." Hisao said with a sly wink, once again realizing the futility of his actions.

The two departed out of the girl's dorms and started towards the main building in the dawn of a new day. The cool morning breeze swept by, taken in gratefully by the two lovebirds.

"Ahh, I love that scent." Hisao claimed, reminiscing on his childhood with the familiar scent.

"Me too. Reminds me of my childhood with Akira." Lilly chided. Hisao glanced over to her.

The sun shined on her entire face, not a shadow to be seen. Her cheeks reflected a slight blush and her nose had the slightest specular of red on it. Her closed eyelids and eyelashes resonated with her flowing golden hair in the breeze. Her parted lips took as much of the scent in as possible before she was forced to breathe out of her nose. Her head slowly tilted skyward in an attempt to hold more, but only slightly.

Hisao saw Lilly's lips move in what seemed to be a silent prayer.

What's she saying? Hisao wondered. Time to see if I can read lips…

Hisao's face sunk when he accurately translated what she meant to keep private.

(Translation, for those so inclined: Dear Lord, please let me see this beautiful world, if only for a second.)

It's so unfair. Why did she have to be blind? Hisao thought to himself, kicking the ground in frustration. He was angry at himself, at everything. Such a sweet, caring, innocent girl having to deal with such bullshit since birth.

"Hisao?" Lilly asked, gripping his arm tightly as she snapped out of her hypnotic trance.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Just…" Make something up, damn you! "worried that I may have forgotten to do some homework for Mutou's class!" Atta-boy, Hisao. Way to pull that one out of your ass.

"Really?" Lilly asked. "Sorry. You should have gone back to your room and-"

"No." Hisao responded, trying to find the words to break the depressing mood. "It was science homework. And last I checked, I think I did quite a thorough investigation of the female anatomy last night."

Lilly started to adopt Misha's laughter as her head dropped into his shoulder.

"You okay?" Hisao asked sarcastically as his girlfriend laugh-cried into him.

"F-fine!" Lilly burst out, snapping back into her 'mode' upon realizing she was now in public. "L-let's just go to class and meet up later."

"Alright. We are in front of the main building after all." Hisao informed, much to Lilly's surprise.

"Already?"

"Yep. Time flies when you're having… fun." Hisao said with caution. He could see the pain in her horribly masked expression.

I have to help her.

"Class dismissed!" Mutou announced to the class as the bell rang. A collective sigh of relief was emitted from the students with those two sweet words.

Hisao, too, sighed and stretched. He collected his things and cram-fu'd them into his backpack. Upon arriving at the door, Mutou stopped him.

"You're not quite dismissed yet." He said in a monotone voice.

Shit. Hisao thought. I fucked up.

"Yes sir?" Hisao asked.

"The nurse requested to talk to you. Please go see him now."

Hisao wasn't too surprised.

"Don't scare me like that."

Mutou chuckled at Hisao's assumption.

"Just go talk to him."

"Yes, sir." Hisao grumbled as he walked out of the classroom towards the nurse's office.

"Lilly?" Hisao asked upon entering the ward. "You were called here too?"

"I was. My teacher told me that the nurse wanted to sp-" Lilly was cut off.

"Good. You're both here." The nurse said desperately as he rushed into the room, almost tripping over his attire. "There's something important I need to tell you."

Author's Note: I couldn't leave y'all hanging with a "I'm on a hiatus" message. So I wrote up chapter four really quickly to give you guys. Hopefully, the suspense won't kill you too badly ;)

Thanks for all of the kind words and encouragement. When these exams are done (roughly around May 30th – ish), I am gonna write like a madman. I will be giving off chapters in the middle. I'm not cruel enough to have you guys go a month without an update.

With that, the real story starts next chapter. Buckle in, cuz it'll be one hell of a ride!

~SamsungFan2~