Chapter 4: Rumors

The school was buzzing that day. There was this latest rumor, which was spreading like wild fire since this morning that anyone who heard it would have any of the following reactions: (1) raise his/her eyebrows for a moment and shrug it off like it was nothing but an ordinary happening; (2) scream some expletives like "What the hell! How in the world did she do that?" (This was the case with the majority of the girls) and decide they would pay the unsuspecting target of their envy a visit just to see whether she was for real; and finally (which was also the most frightening of all), grit their teeth, curse under their breaths and send a murderous glare toward one of the two who were the center of all the commotion.

Although, one might think that such a thing was but a rather common occurrence in the lives of two high school teenagers, within the walls of the prestigious Seisou Academy this kind of rumor affected quite a number of other people, girls and boys alike.

The female population was primarily jealous, envious, bitter, sarcastic and even spiteful of the girl in question, wishing her nothing but ill will that she'd just die and leave the popular, one of the handsomest and utterly talented princes of the school alone. How could she dare to monopolize him and drag him around when none of them could even have a single glance from him? Surely, she'd been using dirty tactics and schemes.

On the other hand, their male counterparts were merely curious about the girl's characteristics, which she was able to use to obtain the attention and affection of the school's 'cold and surly prince.' Certainly, she was a beauty like no other with grace and elegance that rivaled famous personalities. He was after all, one of those people whose family was in the upper bracket of society. They expected nothing less from the girl he would choose.

So armed with their own biases and judgmental attitudes, they took a peek of the girl that Tsukimori Len was rumored to be going out with. As such, it was kind of expected that everyone got confused, which was considerably an understatement depending on which opinion one would hear when they finally saw the girl. She was kind of special in more ways than one - good and/or bad interpretations included.

Hino Kahoko was undeniably plain if not ugly according to the girls' point of view. They couldn't comprehend the freaking logic behind Tsukimori Len's preference for girls. Well, he had the reputation of being socially challenged to begin with, maybe he was looking for someone who would not inconvenience him whatsoever.

On the other hand, she was a moderately pretty and moderately interesting girl coming from the boys' assessment. It seemed to them that she was like a walking innocence and naivety with a blithe and carefree disposition. But she didn't stand out really. More of like, one wouldn't notice her unless she got on stage and did a performance.

Being the girlfriend of one of the seemingly unattainable, exceptionally talented and most popular boy in school certainly had its own brand of difficulties.

Too bad that Hino Kahoko still hadn't had the slightest idea of what she had gotten herself into…that her actions had resulted in major chaos, figuratively and literally.

Yunoki Azuma was pissed off.

Seriously pissed off.

That Tsukimori Len was unexpectedly fast. He didn't foresee that the guy would actually do such a thing. His image of him didn't quite capture the possibility that he'd be asking her out or any girl for that matter (the guy was practically married to his violin really). And so soon.

Hell.

He was walking down the corridor and all he could hear were people (useless and pathetic girls and boys who couldn't just mind their own business who pose a serious detriment to society) gossiping about the latest and tastiest rumor circulating around school.

Tsukimori Len and Hino Kahoko were going out.

Geez. They went on saying this and that as if anyone needed their approval for anything and as if their opinions mattered. Well, there were really people on this earth who were a giant pain on society who lived and breathed on other people's business.

He was definitely cranky, no doubt. Now, he needed to make some adjustments to his plans. This current development was incredibly unfortunate considering everything he had thought of. He surmised Murphy was a genius to come up with such a law. Whatever could go wrong would go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way. If anything could go even worse, it would go even worse. Definitely, one could never trust the perversity of the universe.

A self-proclaimed genius of his own manipulative methods, Yunoki Azuma never really believed his plans could go any wrong. Well, his intentions were never inherently evil, and so he could not really be blamed for the despicable outcomes of his choices. It was simply just that he didn't have any idea that the powers-that-be had something in store for him that he never knew could alter the turn of events for the worse...

"A d-date?"

Hino Kahoko's breath was caught in her throat (and for the nth time since that morning). She was in serious danger of forgetting how to breathe and having a massive brain dysfunction in the process. No, it wasn't an exaggeration. More like an outrageously-awful-yet-cringe-worthy predicament she found herself into.

Tried as she might, her average intelligence quotient was not of enough use for her brain to comprehend the reality that yesterday she became the girlfriend of Tsukimori Len. And today he was asking her for a date this Sunday. And tomorrow, they would be moving to Mars. Yeah, served her right.

The charming prince in front of her was crinkling his nose as if he was worried she might turn down his invitation. Whoever in their right mind would do that, really? Not her, obviously. It was just that she was still reeling from the shock of it all and the insanely good feeling she felt afterward that she feared she was not living the usually normal, usually boring life of Hino Kahoko and that she was actually a princess of some faraway land.

Simply put, she was scared.

Scared that she was just living a fairy tale. Scared that everything was nothing but a make-believe. Scared that any moment now, she would wake up and somebody would say, "time is up idiot, get back to reality."

Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes… just be an illusion.

But then Tsukimori Len smiled his crooked smile (that you'd have to be a corpse not to smile back) and looked at her with warmth in his deep golden brown eyes, silently assuring her she had nothing to be scared of.

"Of course. I would love to." She smiled back at him, wishing with all her might that if anything could last forever, it would be that moment.

A/n: I promise more action on the next installment. As always, it would make me doubly happy to hear what you thought of this chapter. Thanks for reading!