Chapter 5: Repercussions

Amou Nami was heaving mad in excitement.

Well, no one could blame her when the most incredible, top-headline-worthy and mark her words, one that would surely go down in the history of Seisou Journalism Club as the scoop of the century was unravelling right before her eyes.

This was so wickedly good, she could almost see the front page of the Seisou Weekly Tribune with beaming lights and could almost picture every single soul in both Seisou Gen Ed and Music departments having their own copy of their newspaper.

She checked her ever-reliable camera, adjusted the setting and snapped her would be regarded as "best shot" of her Seisou Journalism Club career. She, Amou Nami was undeniably at the top of her game.

However, somewhere at the back of her mind, she could not help feeling the teeny weensy poke of guilt toward her unaware, thoroughly oblivious and zoned out subjects (they were in their own rosy world wherever that was).

She instinctively knew that what she was doing was invading their right to privacy especially when they were having their lovey-dovey moment they were most certainly entitled of. She had the nagging feeling that she was blatantly going against a responsible journalist's code of ethics. And was no different to a dastardly harmful nuisance – a paparazzi in the making nonetheless.

Trying desperately to ward off the disturbing thoughts, she was able to find some lame excuses to justify her actions. Was she not doing them a favour? Letting the whole Seisou Academy know of their relationship would surely do them good right? Like, for instance, getting rid of the illusions of many, if not the whole female population of Seisou that they could snag the affections of "the ice-cold prince" and be able to melt his frozen heart (yeah, dream on). Nami found herself rolling her eyes. They were a pain to look at actually and this was a good way to put to rest those nonsense fantasies with an eternal thud.

Smiling to herself, she readjusted her camera and snapped away. She was doing them a favour alright. Surely, they would thank her for her efforts in helping them establish their status in school as a couple, effectively blocking off all competitions.

... Amou Nami was too delighted with herself and the realization of her own crazed aspirations, she failed to notice the pair of eyes watching her every move and the evil glint in them enough to scare her senseless.

Hino Kahoko was having a headache.

And a major one at that, like her head was going to split open any second.

Your head is full and that's called thinking. Better go with it else you will end up a moron.

She heard her ego mock with annoying sarcasm.

Ever since this morning, she had the weirdest feeling that people were looking at her with varying degrees of any of the following expressions on their faces: (1) downright sarcasm, somehow telling her she was a low class, mediocre being who didn't know her own place; (2) obvious curiosity, herself becoming like a microscopic entity under some kind of scrutiny ; (3) unrelenting dismissal, that she was not even worthy of a single glance and was only a waste of space; and finally, murderous and evil glare, that it darn would nearly kill her if she wouldn't watch it.

It might well just be her wild imagination running overtime again. But all her natural instincts were warning her that she was, in some such way or another, in a middle of a room with a ticking time bomb. It was as if there was something outrageously awful going on around her that she had no idea what to make out of or how to extricate herself from.

Aside from that, well, Tsukimori Len was worsening her growing migraine by the second.

That, was a given.

She kept exercising her brain with thoughts of how to keep herself from drowning in him. Without a doubt, she was falling hook, line and sinker; it was like she was heading to self-destruction and worse thing was, she couldn't help it or rather wouldn't want to help it.

Tsukimori Len was a force of nature to reckon with.

Yeah, she knew that already.

He was like a charming devil, or more aptly an angel you couldn't get enough of. Not her in her case apparently.

She was in grave peril of losing herself whenever she was with him. And the way he made her feel every time took her breath away.

He took her breath away.

And it was terrifying, dreadful even.

'Cause good things weren't always what they seemed.

Too much of anything, even love, was not always a good thing.

"Hino, do you, by any chance, would like to come to our house?"

Tsukimori Len asked out of nowhere while walking beside her. School just ended and they were on their way home. He was walking her to her house which was only a few blocks away. The day was Friday and they agreed on a date this coming weekend but he suddenly felt that he didn't want to end their day together so soon. And he wouldn't see her tomorrow. That, in itself was more than enough reason to create a gaping hole of disappointment and emptiness in him he had a hard time dealing with. Thus, before he could have time to restrain his mouth, the words just rolled off without a second thought.

Glancing at his side, he saw her blink and look at him as if he had grown two heads at once. Was it fear he saw in her eyes? Of course not, right? Or was it? He wasn't sure. Why would she?

"No, it's alright. Nevermind." He breathed the last word out in one syllable, not giving her the chance to reply.

He was upset and it was evident from his voice. Damn.

The girl, oblivious to his inner struggle gave him a smile that caught him off guard. Did she have any slightest idea that she could turn his world upside down?

"Sure, I would love to," she agreed with a nod, gazing up at him with vibrant eyes.

He hesitated. "Really?"

"Yeah, why ever not?" She answered immediately as if he was asking her an obvious question.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he smiled back at her. "You're a joy." He whispered.

Thank heavens, she was a tad slow she wasn't able to hear him. "What's that?"

He just shook his head and stared at her hard, trying his hardest not to give in to the overwhelming desire to kiss her. He was becoming greedy and impatient, he knew it was going to cost him his downfall.

Throwing all caution to the wind and discarding all the rules he had set for himself, he heaved a deep breath and asked her the dreaded question that would either make or break him.

"I want to kiss you...May I?"

A few minutes into the future...

"I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse."

Amou Nami wasn't able to find her voice. Something about the whole situation was completely off but she was too muddled to even care. Don't let that doll-face fool you. Her tried-and-tested gut feel from years of training in the Journalism Club was telling her, but that too was conveniently ignored.

"Whatever that is, definitely!" Shamelessly, she replied heartily almost causing the other person a hearing impairment with her loud voice.

This is too easy. The guy thought to himself. He felt thoroughly disappointed at the lack of challenge. But he considered it another artful design of the universe to help him accomplish his goal. Leave it be and be done with it. He smirked.

... Amou Nami was so incredibly unfortunate she didn't know that her actions would result to death and destruction, and that she would have a long way off to redeem herself.

A/n: This had come way too long, I know. Really sorry for the wait. I'm back and I'll try not to be too busy again with life to have a regular update. Thanks for reading! 16.05.12