HI IT'S UPDATE TIME. GET EXCITED! Or not. Fine, be that way u^u Here's the next chapter...

Megurine Luka hated her lunch break.

There didn't seem much to loathe in the comfortable lounge, but Luka would never vouch for its arid ambiance. As usual, she'd graze around the teacher's lounge with the rest of the staff while consuming her tuna sandwich and drinking her lukewarm green tea, as they talked about their weekend, their families, and other miscellaneous topics. She'd do just the same, talking to her superiors about the unimportant aspects of her life: About her weekend and her Saturday grocery trips, in which she'd gripe over the rising price of milk or tuna; about her unsuccessful love life (it wasn't her fault that no guy seemed to like her pets); and about, of course, her three cats. Luka's life would have never been complete without them. All three of their fluffy tails almost made Luka's heart warm again. Despite the dreariness of it all, Luka didn't dread the mundane conversations with the teachers, the lukewarm tea, nor the goddamn persistent mathematics teacher, who always wanted to know what she was doing the next weekend and the weekend after that. It was never those things (although, she was about ready to kick that math teacher in his nether regions). It was always the end of her break, which usually ended when Luka had enough of the gossip.

Sometimes, she would be lucky. If she left break early enough, she wouldn't have to see him. Although, most of the time, he was walking to the lounge while she was walking back to the library. At first, it annoyed Luka, especially so when she couldn't find a different route to the library without seeing him. A few months into it, she was about ready to scream in his face, shout in his eardrum, and ask what the hell he was doing here, and what did she want with her life? Why did he want to remind her of her failures? Of the bleary life she threw a blanket over and suffocated several years prior to procuring her job in Kahiru? Why was he there, threatening to pull the blanket from the corpse of her childhood?

Yet he wasn't there to threaten her. He was in this school to work, and had been working for this school for many years as a chemistry teacher. He didn't know that she would eventually work in the same school as he did, much like she didn't know that his previous profession was just a means to become a teacher. An odd route to go, Luka previously thought, but if teaching made him feel fulfilled, she couldn't pull him back, either. It was a smart route, too, especially after the murder. Luka was glad she hadn't been in Kahiru to witness the mess which had been the trial. It was an incredibly distorted, sticky mess, so horribly viscid that Luka swore she could feel it on the palms of her own hands, glued on and unwilling to peel away. It seemed that he took Kagamine Rin's murder as a means to flee from the mess that the orphanage was in, and she couldn't blame him. It wasn't his fault, after all, and he had to feel as guilty as she did. Did he actually feel guilty? Luka didn't know; he didn't press into her affairs, and she had no right to do the same. It didn't seem that he remembered much about Luka either, back when she was a teenager herself, a frizzy haired girl who would sit in the corner and read about petty romance novels while wailing about her lack of boyfriends. Everyone mostly remembered Rin, her blonde bob and all. Luka's face, though, was undoubtedly familiar to some, but overall vague to the town she once lived in. Yet, he never said a word to her, nor anything about her or her past ordeals to anyone.

It wasn't her frizzy haired self Luka liked to forget specifically. The hair could stay as long as it mended well into her story. Luka preferred to tell that she grew up with a loving family. There was no point in telling anyone that she grew up in a place where children were abandoned, where they were meant to rot unless they were picked up by a desperate couple. Luka preferred to live a childhood that had never existed, that she never had the pleasure of experiencing. It was almost like rewriting a book, except that Luka had torn out the old and unwanted pages, ripped up the chapters of her failed relationships and friendships, and mended the seams of the book with new pages glorifying her nonexistent family and friends, detailing fake birthday parties and fabricated days at the beach.

But he wasn't supposed to be walking down the hallways during his break. He wasn't a character in her new autobiography. He had been shredded and tossed away, just like the rest of them, but it wasn't just him that had come creeping back into her life. The people she had spent so long forgetting hadn't been forgotten by the school, and would never be forgotten, much to Luka's distress. Her past was creeping up around her, wrapping her inside the blanket in which she had suffocated everyone else in. Luka was almost beginning to regret her decisions; regretting her steady job and not waiting for other offers was a blow in itself, but perhaps, maybe this was what she deserved for her hastiness? Perhaps it was punishments for running away from the town that housed her? In Luka's honest opinion, the worst part of the day wasn't even offering Kiyoteru a half-hearted, lip-pressed smile as they walked by each other through the hallway. That wasn't the worse part of her day.

Luka turned the corner and walked down the steps to the library, just after sharing a weak nod with Kiyoteru. The worse part of her day was sitting in her chestnut colored chair, filing her books, when she would hear the door open, and watch the same teenage boy come staggering in through the doorway during the late afternoon. It occurred on a near daily basis. She would watch him take a book from out of his ripped and mended backpack, read at the study desks, and scratch his head with his bandaged hands. Luka could only ask herself how she managed to fail someone, someone who used to be close to her, even during her frizzy haired teenaged days, so horrifically. Luka remembered the first day of work when she saw him walk him. She had to run to the bathroom and throw water onto her face, look at herself in the mirror as mascara and eyeliner leaked from her eyes, and ask herself if it was actually him? The boy that she had abandoned for her university scholarship? Luka still couldn't look him in the eyes, either, even when he checked out books from her. His presence nauseated her, but for different reasons that weren't related to hatred and disgust; he was only a reminder to the life she had spent years covering up. At least she had successfully managed to hide her years behind her modest education. But him, the innocent young boy she used to read to at night with his twin sister? He couldn't escape his past. He would never be able to. At least he had nothing to hide, while Luka was still stuck sitting on her blanket, scooping up the oozing remnants of her past back under the cloth, while smiling bitterly to her coworker, and while watching the young boy suffer in the corner of the library, as his miserable history wept from under his bandages.

Luka still couldn't understand what happened to him, even if she saw his face on the internet every day on her laptop while she attended university, his eyes still topped off to the brim with weariness constantly. Luka couldn't find it in herself to check if his eyes had changed at all during these years. She didn't doubt that they remained the same.

Luka sat down in her chestnut colored chair, fixed her blouse, picked up a book, and waited.

On Monday, Gumi decided that the bananas she bought weren't ripe enough to share with Len, and decided to wait (or, hesitated, which seems like a more suitable word). On Tuesday, she tutored Gacha again, which went, undoubtedly, smoother than the rest of her graceless evening.

"Hey, Gumi!"

Gumi lifted her head up to respond to the whisper, as Miku trotted down the carpeted steps to the study area, her teal pigtails jumping energetically with her.

"Does Gacha have his recent test on him?" She asked.

"Yeah," Gumi said. Gacha took out the test for her and passed it to Miku.

"An eighty-seven. Much better than the seventy-two percent you received on the last test."

Gumi watched Gacha deflate. "He's been trying really hard, Miku."

"I wasn't insulting him." Miku frowned. "This is a good thing. I have to show the score to Yukari and Gakupo to show how Gacha has been progressing. Nice work, kiddo." Miku walked over and casually ruffled Gacha's hair, much to his discontent. "I'll be right back."

"'Kay."

Miku skipped away with Gacha's test rippling in her hand. Gacha squinted at her back and slumped in his seat.

"All of my friends say that they'd love to date Miku." He muttered.

Gumi could barely hold back a snort of amusement. "Yeah, well, tell them that it's a pipe dream. Miku has her eyes on Kaito. I've known that since day one."

"I feel bad for Kaito, though."

"Why? Miku doesn't seem too clingy- erg, yeah, she can be annoying, but she's not that bad, she's just a bit too perky and extroverted for me. I-I'm glad that she decided to be friends with me, since I'm boring in the first place, but- erg, I'm getting off track. I don't see Kaito straying away from her, either, so I'd assume that they enjoy being together?" Gumi shrugged with uncertainty, wondering what Gacha knew that she didn't. "Miku told me that the only reason they're not dating is because they know it's not right to be dating at the moment. She says when she gets to high school, they're going to get together. I see them fooling around together during track all the time. They pass notes to each other during class, whisper in their ears, and all that kind of crap."

"Miku is nuts." Gacha admitted bluntly.

Gumi almost laughed with disbelief. "She has her quirks, but Miku isn't insane. I know what crazy looks like."

"I don't think you do."

"I'm pretty sure I do, dude. My best friend in high school secretly dated this dude who had posters of Naruto all around his room. She broke up with him when he wanted her to dye her hair pink like Sakura."

"That's not the type of crazy I'm talking about. There are a lot of different types of crazy."

"What kind of crazy is she, then?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it. I'll just tell you why I know she's crazy." Gacha paused thoughtfully. "Do you know Aoki Lapis? Short blue hair? Well, actually, she's just short in general."

"I don't know everyone yet." Gumi shook her head.

"We're friends. We're in the same classroom. Aoki is really chill. She doesn't even say anything bad about Gaijin. She's not one to spread crap about people."

"She sounds pretty cool."

"Yeah, she is. A few months ago- before you moved here- I was waiting to walk home with her before she came out of school sobbing. Tears were coming out of her eyes like sprinklers! She was crying and everything."

"You keep repeating yourself. You're getting excited over this, calm down."

"S-sorry, it just frustrates me." Gacha breathed out through his nose. He cast a sheepish glance at his desk. "Aoki came out looking like a mess. I tried comforting her, but she was in hysterics. I sat her down, and- yeah, at first, I was telling her to calm down, since I figured that she was crying over something dumb- until she told me about Miku. Earlier that day, Aoki had found Kaito's cellphone on the bleachers in gym and had given it back to him. After school, Miku just pulled her aside, asked her to chat for a little bit. Miku takes Aoki to the girl's bathroom and just starts railing her, calling her a slut just for talking to her 'future' boyfriend. Aoki ran away from her. What scared me was when Aoki hid behind me when she saw Miku stomping out of the school building. I'd never seen Miku like that either; her face was red and she was stomping down the stairs like some...princess who hadn't gotten her way. I walked Aoki away before Miku could see us.

"I walked her home and we talked to her parents about it. Her parents called the school, but nothing was done about it; they dismissed the fight because they didn't think Miku would do something like that. Aoki told her parents not to press because she didn't want Miku to start harassing her for ratting her out. It just ticks me off that everyone thinks that Miku is a good girl who lost her innocence because of Rin's death. It sucked for her, but she had balls to go and call Aoki a slut. Miku is seriously obsessed with Kaito."

Gumi gazed at the math textbook on the desk pensively, and then nodded at Gacha. "Thanks for telling me that." Gumi gazed at the book shelves before turning to Gacha again. "Miku is my friend, though. I do believe you, but I really haven't seen her do anything too weird since I moved here." Gumi sighed. "I haven't been here long enough to make a good judgement of people yet."

Gacha nodded. "I'm glad that you at least believe me. I told my friends and they said I was over-reacting, that Miku isn't a bitch at all. If you ask Aoki- and I mean that, uh, don't ask her, I just mean in general-"

"So, rhetorically speaking?"

"Pretty much. If you ask Aoki about Miku, I think she'll have a panic attack over remembering what she did to her."

"It's just weird because Miku is happy all the time, and she's really popular. I still don't know why she likes me."

Gacha shrugged. "Maybe you remind her of Rin? Rin was pretty smart, like you are."

Gumi sighed, annoyed. "I don't know why everyone thinks that. I almost failed a few classes back in Okinawa before I moved here."

"Really?" Gacha's eyes widened.

"There was shit going on, too, but if I was smart, I wouldn't have almost failed English and history. I managed to catch back up, but it's… just stupid. I'm not that different from everyone else."

"Why did you almost fail your classes? Did you get sick?"

"No." Gumi frowned.

"Why did you move here?"

Gumi pursed her lips tightly. She squirmed in her seat unconsciously as her stomach tightened uncomfortably. "Eh, reasons."

"But-"

"Gumi!"

Miku's voice rang throughout the library. Gumi caught a glimpse of the librarian putting her finger to her lips before resuming her work. Gumi did the same to Miku, and the teal haired girl giggled while rolling her eyes.

"You're good to go." She gave Gacha his test back. Miku looked back at Gumi. "Yukari and Gakupo are coming down. Gakupo wants to talk to you, too, about tutoring a few other kids."

Gumi's tongue when dry, yet she nodded multiple times. "Sure, no problem. Gacha, I think you can go now."

"Cool."

Gumi stared at her pale hands blankly, hiding the butterflies in her stomach, where they were supposed to be. She felt the flutter of wings inching into her throat. She swallowed them back inside.

"See ya, Gumi."

Gumi waved to Gacha, yet her attention diverted to the door as she watched Yukari and Gakupo walk into the library. Gacha frowned, and then departed, offering a small hello to Yukari and Gakupo before leaving. Gakupo nodded to Gacha in acknowledgment before he left.

Gumi kept her eyes on Yukari. "Hey."

"Hey." Yukari yawned before sitting next to Gumi. "Just came to check in."

Gakupo stood next to Gumi. Gumi felt goose bumps rise on her arms. "I'm good."

"I mean, to check in on Gacha and how everything is going. From his test scores, he seems to be improving."

"Yeah, he's fine. He's a good kid."

"Gakupo has a list of kids that sighed up for tutoring." The corners of Yukari's lips twitched upward. "I think Gacha put in some good words about you."

Gumi felt her cheeks warm profusely. "I guess so."

"Grumpy-pants next to you will choose some kids to tutor. I'm heading out."

"You'd be grumpy too if you had wrestling practice all the time." Gakupo grumbled.

"Your season is almost over." Yukari rolled her eyes at Gakupo's discontent muttering. She walked over to grab Gakupo's cheeks and force his lips into a smile. Gakupo forced his head away and stuck his tongue out at Yukari playfully. Gumi raised an eyebrow at this display.

"See you later. Have fun, you two!"

Yukari departed, leaving Gumi to stare at the desk to evade Gakupo's glance. Gakupo took the seat next to her and pulled out a sheet.

"Alright, we have seven kids so far that signed up."

Gumi nodded tensely, the movement of her head seeming robotic as she gazed at the list. "Okay."

"They all requested you, too."

"Huh." Gumi's avoided Gakupo's gaze, wondering if the sudden headache she had was because of her anxiousness or Gakupo's glare, if he even was glaring at her. Maybe he was grinning, wondering how a stupid girl like her could be a popular tutor? Gumi wasn't sure, and she preferred being unsure at the moment. Gakupo tapped his pen against the first name. Macne Nana, it read, and Gumi concentrated on the name, staring at the girl's name intensely as her stomach twirled and twisted inside of her.

"Sorry if that angers you," Gumi said apologetically. "I know you're smarter than me."

"Who said I was jealous?"

Gumi felt her goose bumps trail all the way down her neck, as if Gakupo's low voice had slithered down the back of her shirt. "I just feel bad."

"No need," Gakupo simply said. "When we choose, it just means that some of them will be missing out on me."

Gumi scratched the back of her head, dragging her fingers down her scalp repeatedly. "That's some great confidence."

There was a pause. Gumi focused on Macne Nana's handwriting as she noticed Gakupo leaning in. He stared at the paper with her before turning his head slowly towards her, grinning all the while.

"GAAAH!"

Gumi shrieked and caught herself by the ledge of the table before she could fall over. Gumi snapped her head around as Gakupo howled with laughter.

"Shush!"

Gumi nodded nervously to the unhappy librarian before giving Gakupo an angry scowl.

"What the hell?" She hissed quietly.

"Are you afraid of me?" Gakupo's laughter settled into a chuckle. "You're scared? You're scared!" He began to clap vigorously.

"Did you think that screaming in my ear would prove that?" Gumi breathed in and out, trying to calm her hastily beating heart, fearing it would pause itself from over-exertion.

"I think we can agree that you're, at the very least, a nervous wreck around me."

"You didn't exactly present yourself kindly the first time we met." Gumi muttered. She fixed her hair and tugged her skirt further down her legs.

"When wrestling practice lasts three hours a day and your coach makes you run five miles in thirty minutes, let me know how you feel."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry-"

"I'm just kidding." The purple haired boy quieted his laughter and picked up Gumi's pencil, which had fell during her scare, and held it to her.

Gumi took it from him. "T-thank you." She forced herself to look at him, and she watched his eyes harden at her. She froze.

"I saw you watching me the other day."

Gumi's lips shut together firmly. Her eyes widened as fear crept back inside of her.

"Admit it."

Gumi's eyes were locked into Gakupo's purple irises, glaring at her gravely. Gumi's mind had shut down, knowing that she had no words to defend herself with. She waited for Gakupo to acknowledge her interaction with Len, and waited as the grandfather clock ticked slowly, confusing Gumi as to how long Gakupo had been staring at her.

"...you like watching me, don't you?"

"E-eh?!" All of Gumi's body heat rushed to her face while Gakupo nearly sent himself into a laughing fit for a second time, curling his arms around his head as he buried his face into the desk. Gumi watched Gakupo indignantly while she stuttered. "No! N-no! If I-I was scared of you, why would I bother to look at you in that kind of way?"

Gakupo sniffled and chuckled as he lifted his head up. "I'm fooling around. G-God, you're easy to mess with."

"I'm glad you like using me for your own amusement." Gumi snapped.

"To be honest, when I saw you last week through the window, I thought you were some annoying first-year student, and then I realized it was you when I squinted, and I wondered if I had missed a tutoring meeting and Yukari made you come and get me. But, since there wasn't, why were you watching me?"

"It's definitely wasn't because of infatuation." Gumi pressed her cool hands against her cheeks, hoping to cool her face down.

"Your face says otherwise."

"There's a difference between blushing from mortifying embarrassment, and blushing over a crush. If you can't tell, my face is a nice glowing shade of I-wish-I-was-dead-right-now."

"Why were you watching me, then?"

Gumi used the paper in front of her as a fan to cool her face with. Gakupo gazed at her curiously. Gumi put the paper down and placed her attention on the desk again. "Miku told me that you beat him up every day. I didn't know if it was true or not. I guess it is, though."

Gakupo's face fell as soon as Gumi mentioned Len. "You're still pretty new here, correct?"

"Y-yes." Gumi nodded.

"Do you know why I beat him up every day?"

"I do."

"Are you aware of what that bastard did to his sister?"

"I do."

"Then it shouldn't bother you." Gakupo sourly turned the paper over to reveal the names of the students again.

"It doesn't. It sounds like Len deserves everything he gets. I just didn't know if Miku was lying or not."

"Miku can be full of shit sometimes- I think you know by now that I don't like Miku-"

"Miku doesn't have kind words for you either."

"I don't care. She's been talking shit about me for years. No, you'll see me giving Gaijin what he asks for every day."

"Got it." Gumi swallowed hoarsely. Gumi stared at the grandfather clock behind her. "The library is closing soon. We should choose a few students from the list now."

Gakupo breathed through his nose, nodded in agreement, and leaned over the desk. They discussed a few names and picked students, based off of their strengths and weaknesses. Gumi's heart began to soothe itself as the heartbeat returned to a normal pace.

"We're good?" Gakupo folded up the paper and put it in his pocket as soon as they picked names.

"We're good. I wrote the names down. I'll let Yukari know when to have a meeting for the students to come down so we can speak to them about scheduling a few sessions."

"I'm glad that you replaced Kaito. He was an idiot," Gakupo said suddenly.

Gumi raised her eyebrows at Gakupo. He simply shrugged.

"He is. Why do you think Miku likes him? So she can control him. It's not very hard to see. I'm glad we got you to replace him, otherwise this club might have tanked, and it would have made me and Yukari look bad. Even if everyone wants you to tutor them for math, some of them will just have to deal with me." Gakupo stretched out in his seat with a grin. "But, I don't think they'll have a problem with that. I like to call myself a chill guy."

"S-sure." Gumi smiled with agreement, yet her mind screamed the opposite.

"Just be wary about Miku. If you haven't heard, she's not quite right. She has a chicken nugget missing from her happy meal." Gakupo tapped his pen against his head.

"I-I can't make a judgment yet. Miku is still my friend, at least, she considers me her friend."

"Just don't flirt with Kaito and you'll be fine."

"Didn't plan on it." Gumi smiled uneasily at Gakupo. She glanced at his long purple hair. "So, you wrestle?"

'Way to state the obvious, dumbass.'

"Yeah. I got out of practice early so I could figure out this whole tutoring thing with you." Gakupo yawned and stretched out in his seat again. "I showered and got changed just for you." He suddenly winked at Gumi, and laughed when she turned red again.

Gumi's lips fell into a firm line as her cheeks became redder than her lips. "I've never met a guy who had hair longer than I do." Gumi snapped.

"Are you messing with my silky locks?" Gakupo brushed his hair over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "All the girls are jealous of me because of my hair. I'm pretty sure that's why Miku hates me: she will never hair as nice as mine. I can see it in your eyes, too." Gakupo mentioned smugly.

Gumi scoffed. "There's a reason why I have short hair." Gumi flicked her short strands upward. "I save a lot on shampoo and conditioner." Gumi frowned. "Seriously, how do you keep your hair up during wrestling practice?"

"Lots of braids and ponytails." Gakupo sighed. "But it's worth it every day to look like this." He smiled broadly and stroked his locks. "Everyone knows not to make fun of my hair because they know that I can kick their ass."

"...a lot of people made me think you were going to be this macho kind of guy."

"I am macho." Gakupo's eyes narrowed. "And I can tell that you're still afraid of me and my guns."

"You're guns? What are your- for the love of God!" Gumi buried her face in her hands as Gakupo threw off his jacket and began to flex his arms.

"What, you don't like my guns? C'mon!"

Gumi began to feel the second-hand embarrassment creeping up behind her. 'God, what guns? His arms are as thin as noodles...' She covered her face with her hands.

"I'm giving you a free show, Gumi!"

"You're making a fool out of yourself!" Gumi let out a muffled exclamation through her hands.

Gakupo pouted and threw his arms down. "I don't quite understand why you're afraid of me. Do I really scare you?"

"Erg, honestly? You don't." Gumi sat up from her seat, gave a loud huff, and began to pack up her belongings.

"You won't even look at me for more than five seconds…unless my beautiful face makes you too flustered-"

"Not even that, pretty-boy. Your face wouldn't impress me even if it was the last one on Earth."

Gakupo smirked while Gumi shuffled around. "I figured you were the sassy type. What's been holding you back this whole time?"

"I just want to go home." Gumi groaned. "I'm tired and hungry. Mostly hungry. The library is going to close soon, anyway."

"Did Miku put some weird bullshit in your head about me? Usually she just tries to make people think that I'm a wimp."

Gumi felt her resolve dry up like a damp rag that had been left out in the burning sun. She turned to Gakupo, slouched over due to the weight of her backpack, and from the piling stress of the situation. "You're just slightly intimidating. Slightly." Gumi took her index finger and thumb and almost pressed the two together, leaving a small space in between the two fingers to demonstrate how slight Gakupo's intimidation was. "It doesn't help that you beat people up after school."

Gakupo cast Gumi a strange look, as if she was an alien. "What? Do you think I'm going to beat you up?" Gakupo tossed his hair back. "I don't hit girls- hmm, maybe if I ever had the chance, I'd hit Miku, but she doesn't count. My hands are only reserved for Gaijin." Gakupo suddenly glared at the window, as if he could see his scapegoat still bleeding on the blacktop. "Don't hold any sympathy for him. It'd be an insult to everyone."

Gumi shook her head. "I don't want to insult anyone."

"If Gaijin ever goes near you, let me know. He likes to pray on the new ones, the clueless ones. Don't let him get close, because he'll try to suck you in. He'll try to get sympathy out of you, but don't even try, because then you might just end up like Rin." Gakupo kept his eyes on Gumi.

Gumi found herself nodding the whole time. "O-okay. Thank you."

There was a pause of silence. Gakupo offered Gumi a small smile. Gumi blinked and managed to smile back, wondering if she had been too judgmental about him. Yes, he was over-confident and egotistical, but it didn't make him a terrible person- but his attitude towards Len still concerned Gumi, and she was still convinced that Gakupo would kill Len if he had the chance. She knew that Gakupo could not keep harming Len and keep misplacing his anger on him, but she felt that she could, maybe, get him to listen, convince him that beating Len wasn't going to solve anything. Gumi thought over the possibility optimistically while a sudden mischievous grin broke out over Gakupo's face.

"BOO!"

Gumi squawked and fell over as Gakupo roared with laughter again.

"...I hate you."

"Not as much as Miku hates me." Gakupo giggled (GIGGLED, Gumi mentally noted). "Do you need help getting up?"

Gumi, lying on her two-ton backpack, sighed. "No, I'm fine." She laid on the ground for a few moments while Gakupo stood over her.

Gakupo sighed. "You can't get up, can you?"

"...no."

"I'll see you around, right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Gumi waved hesitantly, but managed a smile as Gakupo suddenly grinned as he flicked his follicles behind his back.

"I know you're jealous!" Gakupo sang.

"Not really!" Gumi shouted.

She listened to him laugh as he walked in the opposite direction, listening to chuckled fade away as she became farther from the school. Gumi kept her eyes on the concrete, rummaging through her mind for an answer.

Gakupo was not a typical schoolyard bully. She had expected him to curse at her, accuse her of helping Len, and threaten to expose her unless he listened to her every word.

Instead, he flirted with her, teased her over her 'trivial' fear of him, and implored for her to stay safe from Len. Additionally, he was more flamboyant than she had expected. Gumi was beginning to wish that Gakupo had been a stereotypical, brutish bully. It seemed that he only played that role for Len, while he was charming for everyone else (at least, save for Miku).

'Charming.'

Weren't the most charming the most heinous? Gumi knew better than to put faith in Gakupo, but the thought of trying to get Gakupo to stop harming Len was now out of the question. Gakupo was, by no means, any more innocent than the supposedly insane Miku. If anything, it seemed that Len was the sanest out of everyone in the school, even if he enjoyed bananas.

The bananas. The bananas in her backpack. Gumi cried out with anger, realizing that they are most likely crushed between her textbooks due to her ridiculous fall. She could already smell the fruit. She drearily told herself that she'd have to wash her backpack over the weekend.

'Now, I have to buy more of that stupid fruit. God, I hate bananas.'

Gumi hissed at a thought.

'Len didn't come into the library. What if he saw me with Gakupo? Shit, now he's not going to trust me at all, fuck fuck FUCK.'

Gumi pulled at her hair as she raced back to her house, her body unable to keep up with her racing mind.

'I just have to talk to Len tomorrow and tell him I'm on his side. His side only, even if Gakupo told me not to fall for his tricks, but Rin told me that he wasn't a psychopath, and Rin knows everything, even if she isn't telling me everything, even though it would have helped if she told me that Miku was insane...'

The thoughts raced through her mind faster than the rapid pumping of her legs. She rushed into her house and sprinted into her room. Gumi threw her backpack off and slammed herself into her bed, forcing her face into her pillow. She clenched the pillow, her pale hands turned white, and her room remained silent for only a few moments before Gumi ripped her vocal chords into her pillow.

"Tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to believe in!"

He woke up with a startled gasp, throwing himself into a coughing fit as soon as he was awakened up from his unconsciousness. Darkness surrounded Len, and he briefly wondered if he was in his home. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion until the lingering smell of paint caught his attention. He gagged slightly and groaned, the low moan curdling upward from his dry throat unpleasantly.

'I'm still in the art closet.'

He had been completely deterred from going to the library due to his injuries. Gakupo had been short yet brutal with him, up to the last kick and punch. It was close to the end of Gakupo's wrestling season. Gakupo was stressed, and, of course, he needed something to take the stress out on without the risk of being reprimanded. Len bit his bottom lip, too hesitant to utter another groan, and put his head against the wall. It'd only become worse once Gakupo was released from his wrestling practices, and would have more time to rip him to shreds. Len winced as his headache began to return to him, his brain pulsing against his skull with discomfort. Len supposed he managed to lock himself into the art closet before he went unconscious. He couldn't remember a thing after Gakupo and his friends had knocked all sense out of him.

Len slowly slipped his phone from out of his pocket. He pulled out the cheap device and noticed it had turned itself off again. He frowned and held down the power button to revive it. The phone barely functioned, but he didn't have the money to buy a new phone. While on the outskirts of town during the summer, a pitying man gave it to him without charge, willing to pay for his monthly bill, not realizing who he was. If the man had known who he was, he would have told him to fuck off, but Len no longer resembled the appearance of his younger days, where his large eyes and fuller face were framed on every single source of media. Len was still thankful for the man, even though the phone usually provided more frustration than pleasure. Len wondered if it was depressing that these past months, including being beaten up by hormonal teenagers and being cooped up inside smelly art closets, had been the better days; better than the days where he was stuck in court and interrogated by angry men. Also, women; he could definitely not forget about the women.

Len scratched his head while he waited for his phone to turn on and almost scratched off a newly formed scab on his scalp. He scolded himself for nearly making himself bleed again. At least his uniform was black, a color that hid his bloodstains very well. The uniform was baggy enough to avoid rubbing against his wounds and scratches. It was like a body of armor, sans the metal. It hid the severity of his injuries, especially helpful whenever he had enough money to scrape together to get out of town. Len rolled his eyes over the impossible thought; it had been years since he had enough money to get out of Kahiru. Ever since Oliver disappeared, he didn't seem to have money for anything except cheap noodles.

His phone dimmed weakly. Len swore when he looked at the time.

'Ten after seven? Are you kidding me?'

Len rubbed his heavy eyes and breathed out of his nose with discontent.

'So much for studying for math.'

He began to cough again from the fumes. Len briefly wondered why he bothered to use the art closet as his safe haven when it smelt more appalling than most of Gakupo's friends did after a hot day at school. Though, the thought of getting his face smothered with their sweat again sent his body shivering. At least tomorrow, he could enjoy peace in the library, provided that she wasn't there.

'Gakupo or Miku didn't curse me out yet for yelling at the new girl.'

That was the strange part. The girl had stayed away yesterday, and today, she wouldn't see him either way, but nothing was said to him about his rudeness to the new girl. Gakupo and Miku had only slandered him for the past two days for being a maggot on society. Nothing unusual for him. Len attempted to recall the girl's name as he stared at a bucket of green paint. Gumi. He kept forgetting her name. Not that it was important. No one ever bothered to call him by his real name, so what was the point of remembering hers? Then again, she was considered a person, unlike him.

His phone began dinging profusely. With startled eyes, Len picked his phone from off the floor and watched it rattled as text messages poured into it. Len held his breath until the vibrating in his palm stopped and the ringing silenced. Len slowly opened his eyes. His hand began to shake as he reread the prompt on the screen.

'Eighty-four new messages.'

He wondered why he bothered reading them.

HI GAIJIN, WHAT'S UP? CALL ME! Screamed the first text message sarcastically.

WE HAVE UR NUMBER NOW. DONT YOU WISH U WERE DEAD, LIKE YOUR SISTER? Said another text bitterly.

WOULD YOU LIKED TO BE CALLED 'FREAK', AN 'IT', OR DO YOU WANT TO BE REFERRED AS THE USUAL 'GAIJIN'? The other text asked gleefully.

The other texts were, more or less, the same:

WHERE'S RIN?

WHERE DID RIN GO, GAIJIN?

WHERE'S RIN, GAIJIN?

WHERE'S RIN?

WHERE'S RIN?

WHERE'S RIN?

Len hissed quietly. He clenched his phone, the tops of his fingers turning white as another text asked him where his deceased sister had gone.

'Their stupid mind games. I hate it. I hate it hate it HATE IT.' Len breathed roughly as he clenched his head, his skull pulsing harshly.

'You shouldn't have read them, you idiot. See? You made yourself mad. Now look like the psycho that you are.'

He peered at his phone again. His phone stalled as it suffered from a second text bombing, as new messages began to pour in. He continued receiving more texts, impeding him from trying to delete them all. He cringed when he received a picture message. He immediately deleted it before he could open it. The first time he made the mistake of opening one, it was an image of a man who had his face ripped off. Henceforth, every picture message he had received was deleted.

At least he could tell which texts were from Akaito's gang, all of which were sent before his usual afternoon abuse.

RE: YUUMA
GO KILL URSELF

He always adored how insightful he was.

RE: YOHIO
SEE U AFTER THE SCHOOL

Yohio was always known to be great with grammar.

RE: DELL
CANT WAIT TO RIP U A NEW ASSHOLE ;)

He cringed. He silently hoped that Dell's message wasn't meant to be taken literally. He had already done that several times before, and the thought of Dell touching him again always made him ill. Lucky for Dell, he was entitled to do whatever he wanted with him, and had been taking advantage of it ever since Len was found not guilty and was dumped back into the building with his vengeful peers. Everybody justified Gakupo and his group's actions without hesitation. Gakupo had everything he wanted. Len was lucky if he managed to go two months without everyone in the school rediscovering his cellphone number.

He was going to have to change the number again. Len slid against the wall and sighed miserably as the paint fumes began to circulate around his nostrils, increasing his nausea and his pounding headache altogether.

'I'm not even safe in this goddamn art closet.'

TL;DR Bullying sucks.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I just got back from Sweden. Derp derp derp. Thanks to everyone who left a review/liked/faved- I really appreciate it! C: I'm happy that people are (hopefully) enjoying this story QwQ The badass fight that's going to go down won't occur until chapter four in this part of the story sooooo you all have something to look forward to! I know this chapter was pretty extensive, and I wanted to give more insight on Gakupo, but that didn't happen. It'll happen soon, though.

So, recap: is Gakupo a douchebag or just still sorrowful over the death of his crush (which he really should be over by now)? The world isn't just black and white, I'll remind you all of that. Neither are people's actions; what looks good to some is deemed as terrible to others. Some people are incredibly horrendous and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but is Gakupo, despite his self-entered and overconfident personality, really that kind of person? And can anyone really be as pure as Rin is? Is it even possible to be that selfless? What about Gakupo's friends- what do they think of their actions? Do they even care? What part does Luka play in this story? Kiyoteru? Who knows? You won't find discover everything immediately uvu Writing takes time .w.; See you all later~