The two friends were now currently in their tenth silent walk together. It was Friday and ever since Saturday they hadn't spoken to one another. This walk home proved especially awkward, considering that their parents had informed them the previous night of dinner arrangements they had made for both families. In fact, they essentially had to get dressed and leave as soon as they got home. What made it worse was that Heizo and Shizuka had left clothes at the Toyama residence so Heiji could just change there. In full knowledge of the awkwardness to come, the two had kept even more distance between them than usual.

"I can't believe he won't just admit he was jealous already" Kazuha had been thinking this, or something close to it, all week "I mean really, does he think I'm that stupid? Like I can't tell when someone is jealous….like I can't tell if he is jealous? And why is it such a big deal anyway? Am I that unappealing that he feels like he has to lie to me about caring about me?" As she continued to think pessimistic and unsettling thought, she heard a rustling in a bush to the other side of the road. She paid it little mind, unwilling to even look in Heiji's direction, until a large thud broke her from her concentration. She turned to find him gone and no sound could be heard.

"Heiji? Where the heck did you go Aho?" as she screamed he angry query, she noticed a slight rustle in the bushes beside her "Heiji did you fall i-"

"Aho! I'm fine I just fell that's all. Jeez woman, do you have to scream whenever I fall down or something!" She could feel her blood boiling as her fist clenched

"Is it such a bad thing to care!" she roared angrily, frightening even herself with her immense volume. Then her voice fell to a hush "apparently I really am the Aho for caring about you" Silence fell between them, leaving only the sound of wind flowing the the grass and the trees.

Meanwhile, two very fearful high school students were crouched in a bush with the very unconscious Hattori Heiji.

"Oh thank God" one whispered

"Yeah" the other replied "I'm glad he smacked his head on the dirt and passed out for a minute or we would have been done for"

"I just hope he doesn't wake up too soon, or this whole escapade may become a catastrophic nightmare" As the two looked on warily at Kazuha, an equally worried Bakuyo laid on his belly, camouflaging himself within the long grass.

"What the heck do I say?" he thought frantically to himself "Kiyumi only told me to go that far, she didn't give any instruction after that. Oh no….." he had already been sweating, but now his perspiration had reached near grotesque levels. Just then he felt an arm line up next to his. It was Kiyumi, and she had army crawled over to him from a few yards away. She leaned over to his ear and whispered a few more lines. He nodded, having no time for argument, and looked back at his audience

"You're right, you really are the Aho" he said somberly, giving her a second to digest what he had said "because anyone with a brain could easily see that I care about you" Her eyes widened at the sound of his words. She was left in a state of disbelief, barely able to stay on her feet

"W…what is that supposed to mean?" she said, shaking in anticipation. It was now or never. She had waited for this moment for years and now, it was time to hear the truth.

"The truth is Kazuha…." Bakuyo stuttered. He didn't even really know this girl and yet the words were hard to say. For a brief moment he sympathized with Heiji before returning to the matter at hand "I….I love you". Once he had said the words, both Kazuha and Bakuyo were left astonished. Kazuha was breathless and dizzy, having dreamt of this day for so long. Bakuyo was more appalled at himself for having actually done what he just did. He felt horrible, and wrong, but it was too late to change things now. Silence fell on the two parties, as Kazuha awaited some kind of embrace from her now mutual love interest. After a few seconds, she became raving mad at his lack of enthusiasm

"You tell me something like that and then you can't even stand up and look at me!" she shrieked angrily. Her ranting was so loud, it amazingly jarred Heiji into consciousness.

Meanwhile, back behind the tall bush, two high school guys were now erratically looking in all different directions. Heiji was awake, and, in a few seconds he going to be seriously curious as to why he was dragged behind a bush by two fellow students. They two took one look at each other, and, in a moment of either sheer cowardess or complete genius they sprinted as fast as they could away from him. As he came to, Heiji rubbed his eyes and looked around, not fully able to process what was going on. That is, until he heard his voice

"Kazuha….I" Bakuyo had now officially run out of things to say, and his train of thought wasn't exactly helped when he noticed his two comrades sprinting full speed away from the scene. When he looked back at Kiyumi, she had a face of absolute horror. When Bakuyo turned to see what she was so petrified by, he too fell into shock. There he was, Hattori Heiji; on his feet and fuming with rage.

Meanwhile, Heiji had just awoken to find himself alone, behind a bush with a screaming headache. As he rubbed his head in confusion and physical agony, he scanned the area around, trying to put together where he was. As he slowly tried to regain his senses, he heard a quiet, tortured whisper to his right

"well…." He turned to face the speaker. It was Kazuha, red, puffy cheeks that were evident of future tears.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, unintentionally sounding harsh

"Heiji!" she yelled joyously as she flew over to him. She reached for his hand and, in an instant of pure, mindless bliss she interlocked their fingers and looked into his eyes.

"K-Kazuha." He said, stunned by her actions "what are you doing Aho! Why are you holding my hand like this? And what was I doing behind that bush?" She gazed deep into his eyes as hers eyes began to fill with remorseful tears

"Is this all just a joke to you Heiji?" she screamed forcefully as she turned and ran off.

Meanwhile, still lying in the safety of the long grass

"Kiyumi what are we going to do now?" Bakuyo asked sternly

"Look, let's just wait here until they leave. Oh, see, look there goes Toyama-chan now. As soon as Hattori-san runs after her, we'll just casually walk the opposite way" She smiled at him, fully confident in her plan

"You owe me for this" he whispered

"Really? Well what exactly do I owe you?"

Meanwhile, Heiji stood completely at a loss. He had no idea what had happened, where he was precisely or why she was so mad at him. All he knew was that he had to go chase her down figure out what was going on