The truth will set you free.

There has never been a more apt phrase to describe this situation. All Kairi has to do is tell me the truth, and I'll gladly help her. But she's still dragging out this game of cat and mouse. It's only a matter of time until the mouse has no where left to run. Her footsteps start to approach, but I'm already prepared for her. Inside my bag, my hand is already grasping the English test we took yesterday. I'm really glad the teachers in this school are this punctual, or whatever word you'd use.

"Sora, gimme your test!" she orders. Pulling it out of my bag, I pass it to her over my shoulder.

"I don't even see why you bother anymore," I mutter under my breath, but a sharp bump from my chair's back leg tells me she heard. After a few seconds of deliberation, she tosses my paper back onto my desk with an audible groan.

"Ugh. Seriously? A ninety-nine? I'm pretty sure you're just cheating." I can't tell whether or not she's joking, not like I really care.

"Yeah, whatever." This is taking too long for my tastes. Time to raise the stakes. "So, you need to ask me anything else?" She immediately starts averting eye contact and takes a few steps back.

"N-No! Of course not." She tells the floor. She's clearly not going to confess on her own accord. It doesn't really matter though, because during the entirety of the last period, I was devising a plan. Kairi has been tutoring Roxas for about three to five days at least. Since his grades haven't improved, she must be doing something wrong. Most agreements like these only last for about a week before some alternate actions take place. Basically, she's almost out of time. Since it's Friday, she's only got today left, since failing students like Roxas have to take a special test, which takes place tomorrow, to see if they're even worth carrying around. It's a bit cruel, but effective. If Roxas fails that test, the councelor will have some questions for our dear redhead.

"Alright then. See you." With that farewell, I rose from my seat. Taking a look at Kairi herself, she was still avoiding eye contact. She's stubborn, I'll give her that. But it wouldn't last long. The instant I started walking away, she grabbed my wrist.

"U-Um… actually Sora… I… uh… there's… something really important… I have… to ask you…" She muttered out in between hesitant pauses. She's sounds embarrassed, angry, and depressed at the same time.

"What would that be?" As of this point, I'm just trying to make things hard for her. Never knew I was so mean.

She brushes a few hairs out of her frazzled face, "You see… there's a guy I have to tutor… and… I… um…"

"You're saying you're not smart enough?" I interrupt her nervous stuttering, which earned me another punch to the gut.

"No! Psh, you think you're better than me?" Yes. "No, I just think it'd be more helpful if I had… a guy's touch."

…

…

Yeah, I'm serious. That's her excuse.

"A guy's touch." I repeated, not buying her flimsy lie at all.

"Uh, yeah! I mean, he won't listen to me, since I'm a girl. So, I thought, maybe if there was a guy who's the same age, he'd learn better." Now that I think about it, that's probably the most nonsensical thing I'd ever heard of. Her logic can eat my ass. That makes no sense at all. In fact, it's the opposite. I assume any hormonal teenage guy would be happy to have an attractive girl go out of her way to tutor him every day.

Yeah, I called her attractive, because she is, I admit it.

"So, yeah. Now, you've gotta come with me." After that pathetic excuse, she started pulling me to her destination.

"What if I don't want to help you?" It's a rhetorical question. During my brainstorming session, I decided that I'd help Kairi with her Roxas problem. I don't really know why. I guess, maybe, if I help her out, she'd see me as… you know, a friend or something. I guess you could say that Pence inspired me.

"Well, I'm the class rep, so I'm assigning you as an assistant tutor as punishment for sleeping in class."

"I'm pretty sure you can't do that."

"Well, we're already here, so shut up." Well, that we were. In front of us was a door with 4D stenciled above the window. Clearly feeling good about how she finally recruited me, she pushes the door open to its fullest extent.

Now, I wasn't sure what I was expecting.

Despite knowing Roxas's name, age, and educational status, I didn't know what he looked like. As far as I knew, he could've looked like some kind of gang member, with tattoos and scars. Or maybe he could be some kind of junkie. All colors of the teenager spectrum could encompass Roxas's character.

Of course, I wasn't expecting to see not one, but two students sitting quietly in the middle of the room. The first one I see has silver hair at a respectable length. He looks pretty fit, but he's adopted a laidback position, chair tipped backwards with legs crossed on the desk. To the right of him sits another student who looks to be the same grade as Kairi and I. His spiked up blonde hair reminds me of my own, but the way it's neatly formed tells me he uses gel, while I just wake up and come to school with bed hair. Unlike his companion, the blonde one just looks bored, leaning his head against his arm. As Kairi and I walk in, the silver haired kid stands up.

"Kai, are you really trying to convince me that this is Hikari?" He motions to me, but before I can say anything, she just nods.

"Yeah. He's Sora Hikari, the one I mentioned. Although I don't really know why you wanted me to bring him." I can think of a few reasons.

"Riku, I don't get it either. Why would the Hikari go to a school like this?" The bored one quips. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed that I've been here for two or three months, yet the rumors still haven't dispersed.

"You guys keep saying 'the' Hikari, what's so special about his last name?" Wait, are you kidding me? She doesn't know about the famous Vanitas Hikari? The silver haired one, who I assume is named Riku, seems to share my curiousity.

"You don't know? He's the son of-mmph!" Before he can finish his sentence, I press my hand on his mouth, silencing him. The chance of finding someone who doesn't know about my family name is rare, and the chance that it's a girl is even rarer. I can't let this guy ruin it for me.

"They must know me from the entrance exam results." I quickly lie, casting an evil eye towards Riku. His eyes widen with realization and nods furiously. See, people have this misconception about the relatives of celebrities. If you get on our bad side, it's not like we're going to send armed men to your house. It's not like a famous actor has connections to the mafia. That's just dumb, but it a convenient intimidation tactic I can use, so I guess I have to thank whoever made up that stupid rumor in the first place.

"Y-Y-Yeah! That's right!" Riku stutters out while his companion simply rolls his eyes.

"Okay…" Kairi looks suspicious, but she drops it, "So, I guess I've got to introduce him to you guys. The idiot is Riku Takeba." Riku makes a small noise of annoyance at the insult, but Kairi ignores him and simply points to the other one, "This is Roxas Nomura." Ah, I finally get to see him face to face. Of course, once we make eye contact, I realize that he looks a lot like me. We both have spiky hair, we've both got blue eyes, and I can't shake the suspicion that he's thinking the same thing I am.

"Yeah, whatever." I can't get distracted. I need to know exactly why I'm here, "Why did you drag me here?" Kairi gives Riku a menacing glare before turning back to me.

"Well, you see…"

"Argh!"

"Wh-What the hell, Kai? You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Shut up Riku! I'm already in a bad mood and I don't need you making it worse with that dumb nickname!"

"What the heck's wrong with you, anyway? You shouldn't be tutoring when you're on your perio-"

SMACK

"Riku, I hate being friends with you. So, Kairi, why the red face?"

"Well, if you have to know, it's that stupid Hikari!"

"W-W-WAIT! DID YOU JUST SAY HIKARI?!"

"Yeah, I did! He freaking got a perfect on the history test! How is that even possible?!"

"I don't give a crap about your dumb test! Is he really one of the Hikari?"

"What do you mean? His name is Sora Hikari, I don't really know anything else."

"You know Riku, if this Sora guy beat the braniac over here, he's probably not legit. Why would someone like him care about grades?"

"What are you guys even talking about?! Is there something I'm missing?"

"God, Kai, you must be joking! Never mind, just… can you bring him in here?"

"Wha-? No way!"

"If you don't... then we're not gonna do this thing!"

"Riku, what the hell are you even saying?"

"Shut up man, I got this. If you don't bring him here by Friday, we'll fail the acceptance exam on purpose!"

The problem with three people telling you the same story is that you're going to get three different perspectives no matter what. I didn't know whether Riku or Kairi's perspectives were authentic, but I ended up mostly paying attention to Roxas, since he seemed the least biased of them all. I had to take the things Roxas told me and add little details from the other two to create the most likely dialogue scenario. It's a bit confusing to understand, but at least I know what I'm dealing with. This conversation has actually enlightened me about their relationship.

First of all, Kairi, Roxas, and Riku have been friends for a while now. They probably met in their freshman year, or possibly earlier than that. That's the only explanation for why Kairi feels comfortable with harming Riku physically. It also explains why Riku has a sort of pet name for Kairi, which she responds to with extreme annoyance. This reaction makes me believe that Kairi has known Riku more than she's known Roxas. Steering away from the red head, the interactions between the two delinquents are also very invaluable to discovering what their relationship is.

Riku Takeba is cheery, easily excitable, gullible, and isn't afraid to go through with what he wants, no matter the consequences. Roxas, on the other hand, is pretty apathetic for the most part. He doesn't seem to care about his friend's safety as Kairi batters fresh bruises into his skull. He just sits there, watching and laughing. During their narration, I noticed that Roxas didn't really protest to Riku volunteering him into failing the test if I didn't show my face. This increases the likelihood that Roxas really doesn't care about Riku's plan. But whether or not he would stick to his friend's plans if they get too out of hand is still under question.

Encapsulated in this trinity of friendship; there's Kairi, the smart and violent one, Roxas, the generally laid back stoic of the group, and Riku, the obnoxious goofball who really doesn't have any boundaries.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

XxCOMPLICATEDxX

"So, are we good for this test tomorrow?" Kairi asks them with a cheery I'm here, I guess they've been cooperating in her lessons once more. Roxas simply gives her a nonchalant "yeah", but Riku still seems skeptical.

"Kai… can you step out for a second?"

"Why?"

"I need to talk with… Sora…" She looks about as confused as I probably do, but she simply shrugs her shoulders and leaves. Once he hears the sound of the door shutting, he jumps out of his seat and runs up to me. "You. A-Are… you the real deal?"

"What are you talking about?" Number one strategy for dealing with people like the paparazzi: answer questions with questions.

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about! Are you really the son of the famous actor?" Damn, I was hoping I could dodge the question a bit longer.

"Am I the son of Vanitas Hikari? Well…" I pause for effect, looking at Riku, then at Roxas. Riku's eyes are glued to my face, expecting an answer, while Roxas looks like he's about to fall asleep any second. "I guess, ye-" Suddenly, the nonchalant "yeah" gets caught in my throat as a fat realization drops down.

Do I really have to tell them the truth?

If I say no, then I might be able to build a real friendship with these three.

Isn't that what I've been searching for my entire life?

Someone who will accept me for who I am?

Not who he is?

…

I'm at a crossroads here.

If I lie about my identity, I'm basically saying that I wasn't able to get away from his grasp.

I'd basically be admitting that I'll never be able to be myself.

That I have to lie to make friends.

But on the other hand, it was rigged from the start.

I never had a say in who my father was.

It's not like I had any control in the matter.

Is conceding the fact that I can't beat something I could never control really admitting defeat?

…

All my life, I've lived as Sora Hikari, the genius.

But nobody ever saw that.

They saw Vanitas Hikari's son.

The son of a world famous actor.

I've lived my life honestly up to this point.

All I've earned is a life of animosity through false popularity.

Would one lie be able to fix everything?

If I lied and said no, my life would be flipped on its head.

I'd be Anti-Sora, for lack of a better term.

Morality versus human desire.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

…

Riku's still expecting an answer.

I feel like I've been arguing with myself for an hour, but I know it's only been two or three seconds.

I have to make my decision now.

If can finish the word that was caught in my throat, but at what cost will I speak the truth?

If I say no, what will my life be?

Just a lie?

Will I be Sora Hikari, the isolated son of a prestigious celebrity?

Or will I be Anti-Sora, false friend of few?

What did I say earlier?

The truth will set you free?

Does that really apply in here?

…

I'm out of time.

My eyes lock with his, as I give him my answer.

"Yeah. I am."

And that is chapter three for Complicated. Technically the second official chapter, but I'd rather not get into semantics.

Honestly, I wanted to post this a lot earlier than I have. But at the same time, I wanted to make this the best it could be, since it's a major turning point for Sora. I also had to handle Riku and Roxas's characters. They will be important, especially Roxas. He might be one of the most important characters in this entire story.

Now that school has started once more, I'll probably be a bit slow on updating. Hope you enjoyed this.

~Breaking Barriers