Chapter 5

Surprisingly, Haruka didn't ask many questions after I spilled my guts out to her.

Then again, she wasn't really interested in Shinji. Didn't mean she wasn't going to spill the beans at some point. I was going to have to keep tabs on her at all times when we got back to school.

I stared at her suspiciously as another plush doll caught her attention.

"Isn't it cute, Hikari?" She asked, turning to me for my opinion, "What?" She had finally noticed that I was staring at her.

"Well, remember that one incident with that one guy who was dating two girls?" I asked, pacing around innocently. "Yes." She said slowly. "How do you think everyone in the school knew when the only person that caught him was you?" "It was a slip?" She chuckled nervously. "How many more slips, do you think, will happen with this secret?" I asked her.

"Don't worry." She said, all the tension washing off her in an instant, "I won't give away your little secret." "That's what they all say." I muttered. "Now loosen up a bit and have fun! It's Summer Break!" She said, sitting on a nearby bench with a relaxed sigh.

I wasn't going to believe her when she said she wasn't going to say anything, but, she was right. It was Summer Break. So I took her advice.

It was considerably cooler than yesterday so I wasn't going to faint on Haruka anytime soon so we decided to head to Kasumi's house. Since I didn't get to check on her.

Though it wasn't as hot. It was still hot. Which meant that by the time we got to her house, we were sweaty and disgusting. Which earned us quite a few rude laughs from our dear friend Kasumi.

"You should wash your face, Haruka." Kasumi said, her face right in front of Haruka's, "It's all red." So she got up and headed toward her bathroom.

"It must be nice to live all by yourself, huh?" Kasumi asked. "Uh, yeah. I guess." I lied. My eyes darting around nervously. "I can't do anything with this stupid foot." She sighed, "My sisters just make me stay in bed all day."

"Yeah, well that's what happens when you sprain something you walk on." I said, rolling my eyes, "Especially your condition, it looks like a blue toad." "Wow, that makes me feel better." Kasumi said.

Then Haruka burst through the door, looking all excited.

"Kasumi! Guess what!? You know about Hikari's apartment? Well, she's li-…" I had clamped my hand over her mouth just in time. And after she had promised that she wouldn't tell anyone.

"She's what?" Kasumi asked, curiosity in her eyes.

"I like medical stuff, I'm going into medical profession." I lied, remembering this morning. "Are you sure?" Kasumi asked. "Why would I not be?" I asked, chuckling nervously. "Because your hand is over Haruka, obviously she was trying to say something and you just stopped her and made up a lie."

"Because I wanted to tell you the news. Haruka, didn't I tell you I wanted to tell Kasumi?" I fake- scolded. Surprisingly, my voice didn't waver, and for a moment, I almost convinced myself, as I found my reasoning so logical.

I pulled my hand away from Haruka when I made sure she got what I was saying.

"But don't you get extremely bad grades at school?" Kasumi asked. I froze with and turned to her with an innocent smile. "What do you possibly mean?" I asked.

"I've seen your report card." She scoffed, "It's all Cs and Ds. And half the time you don't listen to what the teacher says. That's why you're always borrowing Haruka's notes. I might be clueless about all the couples and trends around the school, but I'm not stupid. If you keep those grades up, you'll never become a doctor."

Suddenly, I felt a thousand pound weight hit my head.

Kasumi wasn't only implying that I wasn't going to get my "dream occupation" in the future, she was also talking about my intelligence. Who was she to call me stupid?!

"Oh yeah!?" I raged, standing up, "I bet that by the end of this year, I can make the top ten students in the whole school, get into the college I choose for, and get into the Medical department!"

"That'd take more than the end of the year." Haruka said quietly.

"I bet I can anyways!" I said, pointing at Kasumi, who was smirking.

"What are we betting?" Kasumi asked with a grin. "A pink diamond." I responded immediately, "Whoever loses buy the other person a pink diamond." What!? A voice somewhere in my head shouted at me, You're willing to take the rest of the year to study your butt off and get a job that both of us know you don't want over something as stupid as that?!

What could I say?

My intellect was a soft spot. I couldn't stand it if someone made a smart remark about my intelligence.

"A long- time bet?" She said thoughtfully with an evil glint in her eye, "You're on!" She stuck out her hand so we could shake on it, but retracted and asked in a suspicious voice, "We're not going back on this are we?"

Say no! The voice in my head shouted at me.

Instead, I looked at her like she was crazy and said, "Of course not!"

She grinned menacingly and stuck her hand back out. I took it looked at her fiercely as we shook. I could practically feel the sparks flying between us.

"C'mon Haruka!" I said, grabbing her hand as soon as Kasumi and I stopped shaking, "We've got a lot of studying to do."

I dragged her out the door and we ran into Kasumi's sisters.

"Wha-?" I heard one of them cry out in shock. "Sorry! Got to go!" I shouted back. I kept on running, fury making adrenaline pulse through my veins.

As soon as I had calmed down, realization washed over me. A lot of realizations. Like how stupid that bet was, how I was going to make the top ten students of the school by the end of the school, getting into the college of my choice was definitely out of my league, why I was going to learn about medicine, and why had I bet all that for a diamond?

An extremely expensive diamond.

I groaned. "What am I going to do?" I asked. "I was trying to tell you it was stupid idea." A voice behind me huffed, "But, no. I keep telling you when you get mad you should just keep your big mouth shut because you don't know what stupid things might happen." I turned around. I'd almost forgotten I had been dragging Haruka around.

"And now, in the end, you're going to have to buy Kasumi a pink diamond!" She raged, putting both hands on her hips.

Then an idea popped into my head.

"I might not lose." I said, "If I have you tutor me!" "Excuse me?!" She exclaimed. "Yeah!" I said grasping both her hands, "You're one of the top ten students in school! You can tutor me!" "Actually, I'm not." She muttered, "I'm eleventh. And I was so close too!"

"But that's close to tenth!" I said desperately, "Please!" I didn't know what I was doing with my eyes, but I hoped it gained her sympathy.

"Uh." Haruka stuttered, "Wow! Look at the time!" "You don't have a watch." I pointed out. "I totally forgot that I was supposed to, um… Help my mom make cheese." She said ignoring me. "You're mom doesn't make cheese." I said, trying to corner her, though I knew in the end she wouldn't help me. "She does now!" She escaped my grasp and ran towards the direction of her house.

"Bye Hikari!" She shouted waving at me, while still running, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

I sighed dejectedly and sat on a nearby bench.

"They say friends got your back." I muttered, "Mine stab me in the back." I slumped back into the bench and said, "I feel like the dumbest person in the world."

"Why?" I heard someone ask. My head snapped forward and I saw the same blonde- haired beauty that I had seen this morning.

"Shirona?" I exclaimed. "Oh, so you do know my name." She said with a calm smile, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember yours." I immediately stood up. "Sorry, I've never introduced myself." I said, "I'm Hikari Toyoguchi, you met me this morning."

"Yes, I know. Reiji also told me about you. How you're Shinji's new roommate." Shirona said, sitting down, "I'm sorry about that. I guess I was a bit angry about how Shinji treated me when we last met. I can't say it's totally his fault though."

I wanted to agree with her, but the look on her face told me she was truly guilty.

"Well, seeing how he acts, I'm not surprised you left." I said, trying to lighten up the mood. It worked, and she laughed lightly.

"Yes, Shinji has a tendency to act like that around people he's comfortable with." She said. "Only with people he's comfortable with?" I asked, disbelief showing.

"He must really like you." She said with another smile.

I blushed. He was such a jerk. 'Really like me.' Yeah right.

"We've only been living with each other for two days." I said, "I'm not even comfortable with the apartment yet." "A lot can happen in two days." She said, gazing at the sunset, does the day usually go by so quickly? "I managed to move in one."

There was a pause before, randomly, she said, "It's practically because of Shinji that I managed to meet Daigo." "Daigo?" I asked. "My fiancée." She answered, "I moved to America for two reasons, trying to get Shinji to forget me, and because a college had accepted me. I was aiming to be an animal trainer, you see."

I was shocked. Why would someone as pretty as her aim to be an animal trainer? She saw the look on my face and chuckled. "I certainly don't seem the type, don't I?" She said, "I was going to be a veterinarian first, but when I saw a puppy being kicked out because he was too much to handle one day. I changed my mind.

"I thought to myself, 'If only animals were trained properly, they wouldn't be such a handful.' So I headed to America where they gave me an offer I couldn't resist." I looked away from her and stared as the sun slowly dropped out of sight.

"Then I met Daigo." She continued, "He's also Japanese, but his hometown is Tokusane City. I came back so I could plan the wedding with a few friends of mine. I didn't know my leaving had hit Shinji that hard. I was actually going to let him keep his crush on me, but, if he was really willing to move out and balance two jobs, I might as well drag him home."

"You're very welcome to." I said instantly, "Because, I'm sure he misses you deep inside and wants to spend more time with you and stuff." "But after seeing that he's living with someone, I guess I'll let him get over it slowly." She said with a sad smile, "I'm sorry if I disappointed you."

I sighed.

"It's okay I guess." I said, "I'll just spend the rest of the school year with a complete stranger." "He won't be a stranger once you get to know him." Shirona said, "And when you live together, you can't help but get closer. So I'm sure you'll get used to him."

"Heh, I don't think I'll ever get used to him." I chuckled. "You'll be surprised." Shirona said standing up, "I hope you two will be happy. Now, I really must be going. I'm sorry for taking so much of your time."

"Oh, no." I said, standing up also, "Thank you for taking the time to talk to- Wait. What's that supposed to mean!?"

But she was already too far away to hear me. She walked extremely fast. Faster than I had expected.

And once again, I found myself blushing furiously to what she had said.

Exactly what was she implying when she said that she hoped we'd be happy. Surely she didn't mean we'd ending up living together. For the rest of our lives. The guy wasn't anything to me but a burden. Maybe I wouldn't mind living with him if he did at least one little favor for me.

That's about when it hit me.

I raced back to the apartment, totally forgetting about the supposed "punishment" waiting for me when I got there and hurriedly unlocked the door, opened it and called out, "Shinji?"

When no one answered, I assumed he was probably out. Most likely work. I didn't even know he was balancing out two jobs either.

Being the "kind" person I was, I decided I'd make things easier for him when he got back and started on dinner.

I pondered on what to make him. Might as well go with one of my favorite dishes. Nothing could go wrong with curry."

As I was making dinner. I couldn't help but ponder at what Shirona had told me. 'To be happy.' Exactly how were we supposed to be happy by living in the same room when we hate each other guts? I asked myself.

Which brought me to the other statement she had said. 'Shinji has a tendency to act like that around people he's comfortable with. He must really like you.' I scoffed at it again.

Though it really made you think didn't it? People do say that boys are mean to the girls they like. Though I couldn't really put my finger on Shinji. He was mean to everyone he met. So I just let the subject drop.

Since I was done with dinner and Shinji still wasn't back yet, I decided I'd just eat my half and go into my room and do my Summer work. Though I couldn't really do it without someone's help.

"I'm back." Shinji drawled while I was washing my dish. "Oh, dinner's on the table." I said as I dried my hands on a towel. "I know, I'm not blind." He said, sitting down and turning the television on. I puffed out my cheeks. Well, he didn't need to point it out so rudely.

I just stood there nervously as he ate. "What?" He asked, looking at me through the corner of his eye. "Oh, you know, just waiting for you to blow up at me." I said, "Kick me out of the room or something. Because I broke rule four."

"I wouldn't kick you out of the room, are you crazy?" He asked, returning his attention back to the television, "I might be cold and heartless but I'm not evil." Weren't they the same thing? But none the less, what he'd done had made me slightly change my mind about him. Maybe he wasn't that bad.

"Anyways, who else is going to cook for me?" He added. And suddenly, I had the urge to kick something. Instead, I picked up one of the plates and dropped them on the floor. On purpose of course. The shattering noise always comforted me.

He looked at the mess on the floor and said, "I'm not cleaning that up." Then he went back to eating.

Now I knew for sure, he had no purpose in my life what so ever.

Then I remembered the idea I had.

"Um. Shinji?" I asked. "What?" He asked rudely. "You're smart, right?" I asked, sounding like an utter moron. "I might be." He said. "Be quiet." I snapped, "I've seen your freakishly thick books. I know you're smart." "So?" He asked. "Do you think you can… tutor me?" I asked, my voice quiet again.

He stopped eating and looked at me with a weird look. "What?" He asked. I sighed, "You know, teach me." "What subject?" He asked. "Um. Everything?" I said, coming out as a question.

"Let me think about it." He said, "No." And he resumed eating.

I stomped my foot.

"And why not?" I huffed. "Because you broke rule four." He said. "But you said-" I started. "I didn't say you were off the hook." He said, standing up with his empty dish, "And I wouldn't tutor you even if you didn't break any rules."

He placed the dish into the sink and headed to his room.

"That's a shame." I said with an idea. Thank you so much Reiji, "Did you know that no one in school knows that when you were young, you used to think there were monsters under your bed?" I couldn't believe that it was coming down to this. And after all this time, I thought he'd be the one black- mailing me everyday.

"How do you know that?" He asked quietly. "So you admit that you believed in the monsters under the bed at some point." I said, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Reiji." He muttered menacingly.

"I guess…" He started, "A few lessons won't hurt." He sighed. "Now, stop bothering me. God, what an annoying girl." He muttered, and he went into his room and shut the door behind him.

"Well, at least I don't have purple hair!" I shouted at him randomly.

When he didn't answer. I let out a frustrated growl and started kicking the door non- stop, imagining it was him.

He opened the door and gave me a glare so frightening, I felt like I was the size of an ant as all anger fell of me and I squeaked, "Sorry." He closed the door again and I went into my own room and tried to do my Summer work. Though I knew I wouldn't be able to do it. I had to try.

"Okay." I said out loud, "It's okay, Hikari. You can do this. No matter what dumb ole Kasumi says. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything!"

Sad to say, I slept that night with nothing accomplished.

AN. I was surprised that my relatives left so early. So I started on this chapter at around ten in the morning. Right now is nine pm. I disappoint myself. Usually It takes about two hours, but like I said, I'm nocturnal. I forgot to say in my last chapter that Hikari's last name is the Japanese actor's last name. I didn't know who to pair up Shirona up with, I was just going to make up someone, then my brother goes, "Hey! I beat Steven!" And I thought it'd go great. They're both champions. So it's like that. I'm trying to hurry up and finish this story because I have this idea, and it's nagging me. Since it's going to be a long time before I finish if I write each day out, I'm going to skip sometimes, so if something doesn't make sense, sorry.

Kahmelion