I do not own anything.

Sorry for the great delay. I used all my stress on you, please forgive me. I was irritated on a violin situation.

"I can't see!" Amu exclaimed, waving her hand in front of her face.

"That's strange. They only shut down the building when it is midnight. It is only a few hours before that," Ikuto checked his watch as he pressed a button to make it glow for a while. "Are you an idiot? It's 12:03."

"Don't blame me. The clock in the room said it was 9:23," She replied as she searched around for something useful.

"Didn't anyone tell you that those clocks are way off?" He raised a brow in the dark.

"No one told me that!" She found something and put her arms around it. "What's this?"

"You know if you wanted me that much, you could've just asked," He wrapped his arms around her because the thing she had found was him.

"L-Let go of me! I w-was just l-looking f-for something u-useful," She tried to explain herself but failed miserably.

"So if you find something to check if it's useful, you hug it? That's some weird examination," Ikuto still had his arms around her.

"N-N-No, that's n-not w-what I m-mean," She began hitting him, trying to get out of his arms.

"Then what do you mean, Strawberry-chan?" She could feel the smirk clearly in his voice.

"D-Don't make f-fun of me!" She yelled into his ears. It hurt his ears, but he didn't even budge.

"What are you talking about? I am just trying to learn what you're doing. What's wrong with that?" He acted as if he was an innocent victim.

"You know what I'm talking about, y-you… PERVERT!" She changed her tactics as she began trying to pry his arms off her.

"Then are you saying you don't like this position?" His grip tightened just bit.

"Of course, I don't. I'd prefer to be in a stranger's arms rather than yours," Her reply made him loosen his grip, and she took that chance as she escaped from his grip.

"If you're gonna be like that, I might as well stay silent," Ikuto let go of Amu, distancing himself from her. The tone in his voice was hard to tell if he was just teasing her like always or being serious. As soon as he let go of her, she panicked for a moment but thought that he would hug her, laugh at her, and have that stupid smirk like always.

"Fine then, Hmph!" She folded her arms. She still felt insecure by the fact that she couldn't see a thing in the darkness.

A few minutes later, she began to get scared that he might have left her.

"Hey, Ikuto?" She began searching around for him.

"…"

"Where are you? You're scaring me." She was becoming desperate. "Ikuto, please!"

"…"

"You're scaring me! Please just say something." A few tears were falling from her eyes. "Just be the big meanie you always are, and reassure me that you're here."

"…"

Her voice began to croak. "I-I was lying when I s-said that *hiccup* I'd r-rather be in some s-stranger's arms. *hiccup* T-Truth is I-I would feel *hiccup* safer in y-yours… I'm scared," Amu fell to her knees as tears began to pour out of her eyes. Her body was shaking terribly.

"Shhh, it is okay now. I am very sorry I made you cry. I didn't mean to. I will never scare you like that again," Those warming, caring arms that she grew accustomed to held her as if they were scared she might break. It gave her more comfort than anything else in the world. Her body stopped shaking, and her breath evened out as she fell unconscious.

"I said something like that, and we have only known each other since yesterday," Ikuto mused to himself.

That vow entwined their fates.

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