Thanks for sticking with this story! And yes, I decided to take back on first person, hope you don't mind.

Chapter 4

The last time talking to Akashi was two weeks ago. After that, I only attended the mandatory basketball games. So far, I've been successfully dodging even the slightest interaction with him including his frequent silent glances and expressions plainly directed at me. I really, honestly, with all due intention, wanted this whole mess to go by smoothly. I only planned to get good grades and graduate Rakuzan, but I'm sure as everyone knows, feigned serenity doesn't always yield the proper results.

After fulfilling my after school responsibilities, I headed to my locker to retrieve something before returning home. Much to my surprise and horror, I was greeted by a fancy vanilla-tinted envelope.

It was definitely not a letter of confession. It was too formal to be one. Besides, I dare not let myself imagine that I'd be receiving any love letters in my high school career.

Deducting that the letter might well be a joke, I swiftly slipped the letter into my backpack before dashing out of the school and returning home to prepare dinner.

...

While waiting for the food in the over, I had some free time so I decided to browse through that mysterious letter from earlier.

As carefully as I could, I opened the sealed envelope. And much to no one's utter surprise, I destroyed the envelope with the very last rip. There was no point in dwelling on the torn envelope so I moved on to the meat of the letter.

I'm pretty sure my eyes widened when I spotted his name—Akashi Seijuurou. Immediately, I tossed the letter in the trash. There was no way I'm associating myself with him outside of the required fields of Rakuzan's silly mentor/mentee program.

But alas, one woman's trash is another woman's treasure—or should I say, gossip material.

Guess what? The expected wave of negativity struck the next day.

….

School…the battleground of gossip, lies, boys, girls, and what have you—Mika.

If I recall correctly, and yes, I do reacall quite clearly. It started something like this:

"Look what Mika has here~" Mika fanned herself with a fancy-looking invitation.

And of course, the Mika followers, wannabes, and fans all had their eyes glued tightly on Rakuzan's goddess. With a triumphant look on her face, Mika called for order and everyone took their places and formed a circle around the center of "importance."

"As you all know. One of Rakuzan's freshman was chosen to receive a national award for his academic achievement." Mika's voice filled the entire auditorium. The audience nodded in unison.

"Oh…Akashi Seijuurou! He's such a gift to our school!" a girl's voice called out. A bunch of other girls squealed along with her.

I, on the other hand, tried squeezing through the minimal gaps in between the students gathered around Mika. I needed to get to class. They were in the way. I always wondered how they had the ability to rush to class last minute and still be on time. Props to them—I'll probably raise my juice box of apple juice to them at lunch. Haha—no. I just want to get through. Please people, cooperate with your inner conscience!

Mika isn't all that interesting. Besides possessing the power to spread the newest fashion trends and gossip, she's not all that great.

"And does anyone who's the lucky person invited as the guest to the award ceremony?" Mika asked sarcastically. "Hint: The person isn't me."

Mika's last statement raised an uproar with the crowd.

"If not Mika, then who?" the crowd almost chanted.

As an innocent bystander, I had seriously no idea what they were talking about. Well, I almost didn't get the hint until Mika's slender finger pointed in my direction.

"Yuukari Tooru. He sent the invitation to her." A smirk lit up Mika's face when my eyes widened in shock and horror.

"What?! Akashi-sama invited that?"

Okay. Offensive. I'm apparently looked upon as an object called "that."

"No way. Yuukari is so out of his league. Must be a mess up."

"Yuukari. You're not actually thinking about going right? There's a super high chance that there was a mistake."

"Yuukari is his sempai. I absolutely don't believe Akashi-kun likes older women," said a beautiful girl who belonged to the freshman class.

I swallowed as the crowd circled around me. A feeling of dizziness engulfed me when I was bombarded with more questions and rude comments. When I couldn't take it anymore, I shoved away the two guys who were probably instructed my Mika to pressure me into the corner.

When I finally escaped, I ran. I ran passed the mob, passed useless staff members who didn't bother to lend a little assistance, passed my own classroom. I would have ran more if the sudden sight of a certain redhead hadn't stopped me. The sight of him ignited my anger and shame at that moment.

I stomped angrily into the room where he was sitting patiently and awaiting the start of his class.

"Why in the world did you send that letter to me?" I barked.

"I want you to come," he answered casually.

"Akashi Seijuurou. Do you know how many girls want that invitation from you?"

He nodded. Of course he knew the answer.

"Then why did you still send that to me?" I asked in anger.

"I want you to come," he repeated.

This got on my nerves. It really did.

"Okay. I know you might not like me much. But did you really have to turn all your loyal fan girls against me?"

"I just wanted you to come," Akashi stated with more exertion and a slight hint of frustration. "I didn't intend any of the uproar to be going on."

"Sure. This all started because you had to send me that stupid invitation. You probably had this all already calculated. Is it really this fun playing me?"

"It's not my fault that you let others find out," Akashi defended.

"Well you didn't have to send it," I retorted with much less justification.

"I'll keep that in mind next time." Akashi's eyes dropped down.

"Please do. But I don't think there'll be much progress with that especially seeing how successful you are at ruining my peaceful life in Rakuzan."

At that, Akashi stood up and slammed his hand on his desk.

"Watch what you say." He stood up and was ready to leave but I had to let my rebellious nature seep through.

"But everything I said was true. Why the heck are you at Rakuzan!?"

He turned back and clamped his hand tightly on my trembling shoulder.

"Yuukari Tooru. I chose this school because you weren't supposed to be here." Akashi struggled to control his voice.

Suddenly, his grasp tightened.

"And now that you bring this up. How did you end up attending Rakuzan? How are you able to fund your education?" Akashi began leaning in closer to me. His tight grip left no room for hope of escape. "Don't tell me. Let me guess. It shouldn't be so hard considering that it's you."

He nonchalantly lifted my face with his hand. "How would you like to earn a little more?" his condescending voice purred.

And I slapped him.

….

It wasn't until after the award ceremony that I found out that the stubborn redhead never invited anyone else to go in my stead. Rumors also had it that he didn't attend himself. I harbored slight guilt when I found out, but after more deep consideration, my choice was right. He didn't need me and I don't need him—no, more like I wasn't ready to face him yet. After all, what he was implying earlier wasn't entirely wrong.

I let the matter drop though. I don't want to return to the past, not yet. I'll let more time pass. Run from it if I can. Hopefully there would be a day when I—no, both of us—can forget.