Sadly, this weird situation didn't turn out to be a bad nightmare but bitter reality. Well, in the end, Ventus hadn't been stupid enough to actually hope for the former.

Vanitas' encouraging words, telling Ven not to let anyone kill him, hadn't changed the latter's mood for the better.

Not that day, not the next and not even a week later had he been able to get rid of this jerk, whatever he tried.

Now, eight days after the first appearance of the raven, Ven sat in one of the lounges of the university, at the same table as two other young men who were easily able so entertain the whole room with their loud vocal organs.

But actually, Ventus didn't mind. Sometimes they even said something funny which made him laugh, although he wasn't really able to focus on it. He was still trying to find a way to divest himself of Vanitas without getting in trouble – if that was even possible.

Moreover, he felt like someone watched him the whole day, but whenever he took a look around, he saw nothing special or extraordinary.

He was knocked out of the skies by one of the brunette guys saying his name.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you weren't interested in this!"

The boy handed him a piece of paper, a flyer to be more concrete, which advertised some kind of student party.

"I'm not really into that stuff. Sorry", he replied with an apologizing smile that seemed to surprised his opposite, but he didn't care. He hadn't been pigeon-holed by anyone yet for being a little antisocial, but right know, he couldn't care less. Thinking about it, he wasn't even sure if they knew what he studied, because hadn't met them in one of his classes, but instead in one of the inner yards.

"Well, gotta go, see you around", he said and got up to attend his next class.

"Sure, see ya!"

He was thrown two wide grins. Funny, these guys really seemed happy all day.

Shortly before he arrived at the course room, he noticed that he missed some of the books, cursed and turned around to go find his locker first.

Opening it, he was greeted by chaos. Seriously, how had he devastated this thing in less then ten days, especially since the only things he had in it were books and papers?

What concerned him even more was one sheet on top of everything else that he definitely hadn't put inside. That was the bad thing about those letter slots the lockers had. Any idiot was able to put something in as long as it was small enough.

He elevated the sheet, although a little worried, and unfolded it, taking a look around. Who could have put it inside? Sadly, the message on it not only worsened his mood but also corroborated his suspicion of being stalked.

If I were you, I'd watch my every step.

Wasn't this just plain awesome? Had he ever really hoped that his life would turn back to normal again? Besides not being too happy about being threatened, he didn't even have an idea on who would write him something like this.

Maybe it was a stupid joke someone decided to pull on him out of all people? Who on earth could even know that this was exactly his locker? Who would even care about that? Maybe the person had been mistaken. Well, truth be told, he didn't really believe that himself, but he also had no other explanation.

For a second, he considered blaming Vanitas, but first, he didn't even seem to study, and second, why should he? If he really wanted to freak Ventus out, there would be lots of ways less troublesome for the raven.

So, what was he supposed to do? Taking a look around, he noticed that he was alone. No one there who could hurt him. But also no one who could help him.

Maybe it was best to just go to his course and forget about all this. Or probably report about it first, then ignore it. Because if it was addressed to someone else, this someone would be in danger as well.

But even trying to shrug it all of as a mistake didn't ease his morning at all. He went to all classes and reported about what happened, but not without a bad feeling in his stomach which kept him busy even when he decided to finally go home.
Thinking about home, he realized that even more trouble waited for him there. Fortunately enough, his home-problem didn't yet threaten his every move.

And he was to be surprised yet again, luckily in a less creepy way than before.

"What are you...how the hell did this TV get here?!"

It definitely wasn't his own which he hadn't had the time for. No, this was a fairly new and probably extremely expensive model. What the hell...?!

"Well, since you don't seem to have something like this, I thought I might as well take remedial action and buy one myself. Don't you dare complaining, it's one of the newest."

"How in hell are you able to pay for something like this? And how did you get it here?"

"You cannot be serious about the second question. That has been possible by telephone for about 20 years by now and at least half of that time, you can also buy stuff on the internet."

"And how did you pay for it?!"

"You'd love to know, hm?"

How he would have loved to smash that stupid, arrogant grin out of the raven's face. But he accepted that he wouldn't even have a chance to touch him before being beat up and thus didn't try. Luckily, he knew that he sure as hell didn't have enough money for something like this, so Vanitas couldn't have stolen any of that.

He didn't really care about what was on TV right know, but he saw a letter – fortunately unopened – addressed to him in his mom's handwriting.
Happy about good news, he opened it and found himself smiling about the unimportant things she wrote. Yeah, they were all happy and healthy which made him a little happier, too. It was something, wasn't it?
He took a look out of the window and sighed. All of this really exhausted him. It wasn't like he was sleepy, but extremely tired, so he just dropped onto the sofa and closed his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Wow, he thought, you almost sounded concerned instead of mischievous, but didn't say it loud. Yeah, great. Then he noticed something.

"Say, you didn't leave the apartment in all this time, did you?" Actually, he knew the answer, and he didn't like it at all.

"Why wouldn't I have?"

"Because", he emphasized the word sarcastically, "there is but one key to this apartment and I surely know that one to be in my pocket."

"Oh, seems like you missed this one."

With that, Vanitas pulled two keys identical to Ven's out of his own pocket, probably for both front door and apartment. This couldn't even be...

"You're kidding, aren't you? Not even you can be this...cheeky!"

"What's the matter? Don't you think it's just fair we're both able to walk in and out to our likings?"

"Oh, hell no! I don't think that's fair at all! This is my apartment, mine! I don't even know you!"

"Maybe not. But I know you. Trust me, that's sufficient for now."

Well, Ventus didn't think so. Maybe it had been Vanitas after all who pulled of that stupid letter-prank. For the last time, no! He wasn't going to fall for this idiocy!

He really wasn't one to believe that things just settled themselves if you let them, but he wasn't in the mood to find a way to end this. And to be honest, the possibility of Vanitas being the one to blame for his locker-incident made it all a little less scary.