Room 522

Growing up, Tamao had defined her weeks by schedules. Take off flights had set times, hotels had the same checkout hours no matter what country, luggage carousels always took exactly seven minutes and forty three seconds to get to from their gate. Her mother's itinerary for the day was always neatly gridded into uniform tables so that they could accomplish each task in the most efficient manner. Essentially, Tamao's life was one huge schedule. So when Horohoro had just simply smiled and said "Whenever" after she had asked the monthly due dates for her column, Tamao had to stand there and for a moment to process what he had said. Her first response was to laugh and regard it as a joke. But after her blue haired colleague had returned to his own routine, she realized that he was totally, completely, absolutely, dead on serious. Tamao walked back to her work station, aka a cheap wooden desk, and sat down, stunned. Whenever? How acceptable is 'whenever,' exactly? One week from now? Two weeks? Is this Anna's mandate? Does she think that due dates put unnecessary restrictions on our creative processes? What?! Should I turn my piece in on a more random date so that it doesn't look like I planned it all out in my head? Should I get a salad or a taco today?

"I'd go with the taco salad." How did he hear me? "You've been talking to yourself for the past couple of minutes." Tamao turned around, her embarrassment evident on her face, to see Horohoro's hunched over figure and opened her mouth to apologize. "No need to apologize, Hime."

Tamao sighed, picking up her pencil to do the necessary page measurement calculations for the spread on the new theater. "You know me too well." Horohoro spun around on his stool and tapped his pointer finger to his temple twice, grinning.

"Taco Salad Tuesdays are serious business," he said darkly, holding a flashlight under his face for good measure. Tamao blanched."Hey, are you okay, Hime? You look kinda pale," Horohoro inquired, adjusting the fruit hat on top of his head. "What's the matter? Apple?" He offered Tamao a fruit from his interesting choice of headwear.

"Umm, where did you get the flashlight and fruit hat from, Horohoro?" she asked while politely turning down the apple.

"Huh? Oh, I don't really know. Don't you love continuity?" Horohoro remarked, taking a bite out of the rejected fruit and ignoring Tamao's mumblings of "stupid author" and "what ever happened to suspension of disbelief..."

A burst of laughter and Joco's trademark guffaw erupted from the back of the classroom. "Joco must be doing another of his dramatic interpretations of an emoANGRY piece some angsty would-be writer sent in for the literary section of LASNC." Horohoro and Tamao looked at each other. "I saw it this morning. Anna counted the word 'whore' nineteen times and 'cut' twenty-three times." Mutual understanding through silent facial expression communication. "I heard Joco can cry on cue now." And with that, the only two working students rushed over to see if they could catch another one of the aspiring comedian's melodramatic readings.

As we know by now, Tamao has led her life according to concrete structure and guidelines. So she really didn't know what to do with herself when sitting down for her creative writing class, eagerly awaiting her beloved Ms. Tao's instructions, she was met with a "Just freely write down your thoughts for ten minutes to get your writing flowing." Especially after her latest surprise concerning her article deadlines. That after the ten minutes and Ms. Tao's announcement of "time's up," Tamao looked down at her notebook and saw that she had written a whole two words: taco salad. Well, it's a good thing that we're not sharing what we wrote with the rest of the class, Tamao thought to herself, slightly embarrassed. "Okay, so now to get comfortable with your own thoughts and the writing process in general, you'll share what you wrote with the rest of the class." I suppose I deserved that. And so Tamao got down to business to making up at the last second something that is supposed to make the writing process easier. Which definitely doesn't defeat the purpose at all.

"Himeeeeee, wait up!" Horohoro whined, breaking out into a light jog to catch up with her. "That was a pretty good class. I kinda like the whole no limts approach that Ms. Tao is taking with the course. I think--are you okay?" He gently took Tamao's arm and lightly pulled to get her to stop her insane shuffling fest she was having with herself.

"ThatwassoembarrassingwasitreallythatbadtellmeifthatwasbadIdon'tknowwhattodowithmyselfIhopethattherestoftheclassdoesn'thinkthatI'mweirdorevenworsestupid," the mortified girl said from behind her hands all in one breath at the floor.

"Um..." Horohoro paused for a moment for once in his life before he said anything. He was completely aware that Tamao needed some sort of comforting right now so he wracked his brain for some kind of words to console her.

"Huuuuunh?" Oh, God.

A very flustered Tamao slowly uncovered her face and brought her hands down. "Well, I guess it wasn't that bad. And they'll all forget about it by next class, right?" Horohoro nodded dumbly, finally concluding that the both of them would be better off if he just kept his mouth closed for the remainder of the conversation. Tamao brightened a bit, held her head a little higher, and her reddened face began to revert back to its natural state. "Thank you for listening, Horohoro."

Jeez, I got off lucky this time. If that was Pirika...The blue haired student shook himself out of his disbelief. "Oh, I almost forgot." He rummaged through his pockets with some mumblings of Oh so that's where the rest of pizza went and Isn't that my biology homework from...last year? and Please let that be Pirika's lipstick, not any physical manifestations of regret and a bad night. His face finally lit up and he pulled out a perfectly intact flyer from the deep, unknown depths of his jacket. Which was a pretty incredible and nearly impossible feat judging from Horohoro's mumblings of discovery. "Party at Joco's house this Friday?" he excitedly announced. Tamao took the flyer that he extended towards her and scanned it over.

"Sure. Hopefully I don't do anything embarrassing there." She smiled.

"Hey, guys! Do you like my new shirt?" Joco said, shoving himself between the pair and showing off his shirt that said "LOL, FORESHADOWING!11" on it.

Harusame Field

"Okay, aaaaaand stretch."

"You're touching the line."

"Um, no I'm not."

"You're touchinggggggg it."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"YES."

"I HATE YOU." Pirika threw down her towel and stomped over to the imaginary boundary, her foot almost slipping on a haphazard small ball that had rolled onto their "half" (More like quarter, Pirika snarled in her head) of the field. "I am tired of this! Our practice area is so much smaller than yours and you're still complaining. You are unbelievable!"

Ren sauntered over. "We agreed on the outer boundaries of our respective practice areas already. It's not like you guys are in season yet." He turned around to go back to his team.

"NEITHER ARE YOU GUYS! Hey, don't you turn your back on me. Why do you even care, it's not like your team even makes it to the endlines anyways." A hush fell over both the lacrosse and gymnastics teams. Ren stopped dead in his tracks and became abnormally still that both sides wondered if he was even breathing.

"What did you say." Pirika's temper flared.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Ren's back showed no intentions of turning around. Whap! The impact of the rubber ball to the back of Ren's head rang hollowly over the fake grass that was in contest. Both teams looked like they were going to faint. Pirika blinked blankly as if she herself was just starting to grasp what she had done. But that really didn't stem the angry tide otherwise known as an enraged female. She dug her worn out Pumas into the ground and clenched her fists, preparing herself to defend her team and (more importantly) her dignity.

All frightened onlookers will tell you that they aren't entirely sure of what happened next (considering that they were too concerned with their own well being and of course, getting 911 on speed dial). But what they all will tell you is that faster than anyone had thought humanly possible, Ren had somehow whipped around and closed the distance until there was less than a half a foot between himself and Pirika. All within the span of 2.7 seconds. Yes, someone timed it. That person being Manta Oyamada since he doesn't really have anything else to do aside from getting water, timing the other players and serving as an aerodynamic target for shooting practice. But that isn't the point.

What is the point? Or rather, what was the point since Pirika couldn't really function at the moment, much less remember what the point ever was since Ren's face was so close that she could feel the warmth that was emanating from him. She gritted her teeth as she tried to spit out the words that had welled up inside of her in an angry wave just seconds before. But somehow she couldn't. If it had been any other person, Pirika could have. If they had been standing just a little farther apart, Pirika could have. If only his eyes weren't so goddamn gold, Pirika could have. But the problem was, it was Ren, they were standing mere inches apart, and his eyes were that goddamn gold. And since these were indeed the facts and not just hypothetical If only speculations that the Ainu girl was playing out in her head, Pirika couldn't say anything. And Pirika hated Ren even more because of it.

The Tao family does not accept anything lower than first place. Just ask their two children, Ren and Jun. From their childhoods, they have been training nonstop for the sole purpose that they will be the best. In anything that they do. Which, obviously means to their father, can be achieved through a lot of physical training. Ren has lived, breathed, and devoted himself to physically strenuous work, half of which was probably illegal in the overwhelming majority of the…world and would send human rights activists back at the United Nations into a tizzy. But the Tao children didn't mind since they were reared to think that it was normal and they became accustomed to it. So when it took all of Ren's concentration to complete a task, it meant something. Really meant something.

Just like how it took all of his concentration to not notice how short Pirika's shorts; Ren probably said something along the lines of "I'll have you know that I have taken my team to the regional finals for the past two years" or "Don't mess with my hair, it takes me hours and a whole lot of gel to get it into this huge ass, totally unnecessary spike thing" but he doesn't really know. Probably because he was still too busy trying not to notice how tight Pirika's choice of clothing was. Or how they expertly showed off her physique—Oh, God, what am I doing. How can that idiot of an older brother let her go out of the house like that? Wait, does he even know? What the hell am I supposed to do? He wasn't trained for this at all. Ren resisted the urge to sling Pirika over his back and run off of the field and behind the locker rooms, give her a pair of sweatpants and demand that she keep them on for the rest of the day. No, scratch that. Forever. But that would probably earn him a well deserved slap. But he still didn't like the fact that there would be a gaggle of boys hopped up on hormones waiting for her after practice. And that they would get to see Pirika and those damn shorts of hers. He reddened. I mean, Horohoro wouldn't want that. No, Horohoro wouldn't be too pleased. Ren turned on his heel and barked to the rest of his team to get back to practice. So he did what Taos do best and lost himself in his workout.

And it was at this point that Ren declared himself the Protector of his Best Friend's Little Sister and the Enemy of All Lecherous Teenage Boys Everywhere. Ren was confident that Horohoro would be very supportive of the idea, Pirika's dignity would be kept intact, and Ren would feel more comfortable without a huge pack of hungry guys drooling over his best friend's younger, innocent sister. Too bad Pirika didn't have any say in the matter.

McDaniel Household

"And THIS." An overdramatic flourish of the hand revealed a cup of a clear, strong smelling liquid to the fascinated crowd. "THIS is enough alcohol to knock Mic into next week." Joco pointed to his abnormally large cat that Horohoro swore was actually a jaguar. The spectators gasped and clapped in admiration. "If I don't make it out alive, someone print at the top of the next LASNC publication: 'THIS IS A NEWSPAPER' without Anna seeing." Joco cried tearfully, placing the back of his hand to his forehead. The party goers nodded. "So long!" He pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes and dumped the contents of the cup into the blender while the crowd clasped their hands and held their breath in anticipation.

"There isn't anymore water," Tamao said quietly amidst Joco's cries of IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE! and the enthralled teenagers' applause. She let go of the cooler's plastic lid and it resounded with a hollow thump, melted ice sloshing around inside the container.

"Really? Well, I guess not everyone here drinks beer and cocktails. I'll go to the store and get some, okay?" Horohoro said cheerfully. "Just sit tight for a second. I'll be back soon." Tamao smiled and nodded. She was really thirsty after all and she had Anna to talk to anyways.

Half an hour passed and still no sign of her blue haired friend. Tamao was seriously considering going to the kitchen and drinking the tap water there but quickly gave up that notion when she saw a few sickened sophomores run to the kitchen sink and throw up. Anna had left in a hurry soon after and Tamao was stuck by herself. She sighed and propped her head up on the arms of the sofa she was sitting on. Suddenly, a box of bottles was shoved in front of her. "Thirsty?" Tamao blushed and started to shake her head.

"Sorry, I don't dri-" She stopped. Oh no. No, no. No. That can't be him. No. A guy around her age retracted the box of drinks back and smiled, tucking his long brown hair behind his ear. Wait, that's not him. That's-

"Long time, no see, Tamao," Hao said, smirking. If Hao's here, then that means his brother is here too. Tamao entered full-panic mode. "What's wrong? You look pale." Hao's voice oozed with affected sympathy.

Say anything, maybe he'll stop talking to you and you can escape through the bathroom window! You can use the passed out people in the tub upstairs to like make a rope or something and then climb down-- Her head was spinning and her thoughts turned into garbled jargon."I-I-I'm thirsty!" Tamao blurted out, her eyes clamped shut and her head bowed down. Hao looked surprised.

"I thought so. That's why I brought these." He swung the bottles up and tapped them. He continued talking before Tamao could say anything. "Don't worry, they don't have any alcohol. They're just juice." The pink haired girl studied his face. If there was one thing Tamao had learned when she was a kid, it was to never under any circumstance trust Hao. She slumped back into the sofa and threw her head back. What do I do? She groaned inwardly. She reluctantly opened her eyes and surveyed the rest of the room. Everyone was happily talking to each other. She didn't have anyone else to talk to or anything to do. Horohoro was still out getting water, Anna was God knows where, Joco was too busy mixing drinks, the rest of her friends were outside, too far away from her to help. And Hao was sitting next to her, shoving those stupid bottles in her face. She burned as she recalled the word oftentimes used to describe her at parties: wallflower. She clenched her fists in her lap and whipped her head around.

"Are you sure?" She asked with so much conviction that Hao looked slightly taken aback.

"Of course, don't you trust me? Look." He opened one of the bottles and held it under Tamao's nose. It doesn't smell like there's any alcohol in it…A look of hurt crossed Hao's face. "You still think I'm lying. Go ahead, just take a sip. I promise you." Tamao's breath hitched in her throat. Promise…Stop it, Tamao! Hao isn't him, so why are you getting so worked up? She uncertainly took the bottle from him by the neck and slowly wet her lips. After tasting it, she slammed the bottle on the table. People around Tamao started looking at her.

"It-it's just…juice," she said incredulously. She blinked at him. Hao threw back his head and laughed. "You were telling the truth."

"See, Tamao, I'm not that bad after all, am I?" Hao said, glancing at her. She grabbed the bottle and started drinking from it in an attempt to avoid answering him. "So how have you been all these years? We haven't seen you in so long," Hao accented the we part. Tamao started drinking faster. Please go away, please go away. Look, I'm drinking, I don't have anything to say to you.

Tamao choked on her drink as she finished the bottle's contents. "S-sorry, I'm thirsty." She looked down, trying to avoid his eyes. The same eyes that he shared with his brother.

Hao stared at her for what seemed like ages as she opened another bottle and spoke only after she had downed half of it. "I can see that." His hair fell forward as he placed one hand on each of his knees, effectively covering his face from Tamao's view. She scooted as much as she could away from him, lest he call her out on what she was trying to do. That, or try to devour her and harvest her organs. Knowing Hao, it'll probably be the latter option, Tamao thought as she pushed herself so far back she nearly fell off of the couch. He stood up quickly and his hair fell back, exposing a sunny expression and a smile that Tamao swore she had seen before. "Well, then I'll just leave you with your drinks then. Let's catch up later." And with that being said, he went into the hallway and disappeared.

Tamao sighed and collapsed into the soft the material of her choice of seating. She stole furtive glances around the room and, convinced that she didn't see the shade of hair she was looking for, breathed a little easier. She glanced at the clock and frowned a little. It was still a long time before she and Horohoro were going to leave. Speaking of which…Where is he? She shrugged and placed her second bottle next to her first and reached for a new one and resigned herself to people watching for the next half an hour.

When did it get so bright in here? Tamao sat up, and immediately fell back. "Ugh, my head…" She rested on the ample cushioning in hopes of clearing the sudden light headedness that had come over her. She got up slowly and slumped over. She placed her sixth bottle next to the others and clumsily tried to get another. "Huunh?" Much to her dismay there wasn't anything left. She stood up sloppily and then it dawned on her—Oh, God, I don't look busy anymore. What if he tries to come back and talk to me? Tamao paled as she whipped her head around in an attempt to find something to do.

Several things happened at once. Horohoro came through the front door and spluttered out something about traffic but triumphantly held up two packs of drinking water. Joco entered the living room, calling out that he was done mixing for the night. Hao reappeared. And Anna finally came back, her hand firmly wrapped around another person's wrist and, spotting Tamao, headed over in her direction. Tamao was overwhelmed by the sudden amount of activity that centered around her.

"Hey, Hime! Sorry about that—"

"Oh, Tamamura, you look like you enjoyed yourself tonight—"

"Finished all the drinks I got for you? Don't worry—"

"Guess who's here to see you—"

And a final voice rang out, clearer than the other hazy, blurry ones.

"Tamao."

And with that one word being said, Tamao turned around and took two wobbly steps into the wall and subsequently collapsed.

"What happened to her?"

"Oh that poor girl, she looks like a mess."

"Man, she's been drinking by herself the whole evening."

"What?!" Horohoro stomped over to Joco and pointed an accusing finger at him. "What the hell did you give her tonight?" Joco took a defensive step back.

"Excuse me? I didn't give her anything! She didn't come into the kitchen at all tonight! I swear." Joco took another step backwards and bumped into the coffee table that Tamao had spent the majority of the party sitting in front of. Her empty bottles clink-clanked together. "What the—" Joco picked up one of the bottles. "Wine coolers? Who got these out of the fridge?"

"Guilty as charged." Hao put up his hands in mock defeat. "I didn't know those were wine coolers—" His smirk reappeared on his face.

"Like hell you didn't!" Horohoro jumped at him, ready to set Hao's long, precious hair on fire. Or rather, he tried to and probably would have if it wasn't for Joco holding him back. Anna walked over to Tamao who somehow had managed to stand up and fling herself over the nearest chair, and flipped her over.

"Oh. She's drunk." Anna waved a hand in front of Tamao's face. "Tamao? Are you okay?" She was met with a garbled Uhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuhh from her younger cousin.

"Hey, Anna?"

Anna had been rubbing Tamao's back. "Yes?"

"You smell like rainbows!" Tamao started laughing so hard that tears rolled down her cheeks. Anna frowned disapprovingly at the pink haired girl and whapped her upside the head.

"And you smell like a drunken mess. Now what kind of first impression is that going to leave on someone you haven't seen in, oh let's see now, almost twelve years?" Anna said over the shouts of Horohoro, Joco, and Hao. Tamao turned to look at them.

"But Hao's the one who gave me the bottles. They're made of glass." Tamao swayed back and forth for a few seconds, pointing at Hao. Anna looked blankly at Tamao, pushed her pointing hand down, and attempted to pull the younger girl up. The two staggered for a second and found their balance. "Anna, look! I can walk!" Tamao erupted into a fit of giggles.

"I'm not talking about Hao." Tamao was half-aware that Anna had motioned for someone to come over but she didn't really notice because apparently she just discovered how freakin' long Hao's hair was and was currently staring at it. But then someone had walked up and blocked Tamao's view. She tilted her head up. And stared. With her mouth open.

When Anna realized that Tamao wasn't going to speak, she elbowed her cousin in the ribs. "Tamao, say something."

Tamao's jaw was hanging open. Anna growled and grabbed her arm. "Say something," Anna said quietly.

"Swan Lake!" And Tamao started bawling her head off and collapsed. Anna stared at her.

"She's usually not like this…" Anna began apologizing. "Sorry, Yoh."

He smiled uncertainly and looked around at the huge crowd that had formed. "I hope she'll be alright."

"What'cha doin'?" The six year old boy bounced over and squatted in front of the seated girl. She looked up at him shyly.

"Writing." She quickly looked back down, blushing. But the boy was persistent.

"Writing what?" He quickly turned around and sat next to her. Normally, she would've covered her notebook up in embarrassment but since it was Yoh, it was different. He looked down at the page covered in her careful, shaky letters.

"A story!" Her face lit up. "It's really easy tah write now 'cause of the music. It's really pretty." She looked admiringly at the store's outdated speakers that were playing crackly, static ridden classical music.

"It is pretty, isn't it?" Yoh wiped his nose on the back of his hand. They both sat there, Tamao writing and Yoh staring at the clouds drifting around outside. "How long're our moms gonna shop in here? It's so boriiiiing," he whined, drawing out the last syllable. Tamao smiled at him and opened her mouth to say that they're probably leaving soon 'cause how long can their mommies do something this boring anyways? but right then, the music stopped and a commercial started playing. Tamao's face fell and her entire tiny body drooped like a wilting flower that hasn't been watered enough. Yoh looked at her in concern. "Tamao?" He shook her. He frowned and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I was almost done writing," she said softly. "I can't remember what was going to happen next." She looked so crestfallen that Yoh was scared she was going to start crying. He jumped to his feet and puffed his chest out. He looked down at Tamao.

"Don't worry! I'm gonna learn how tah play it on the piano and then, and then, I'll play it for you and then you can finish writing your story!" he announced triumphantly. Tamao brightened and clapped her hands together. He hopped over and pulled Tamao onto her feet. He looked her dead in the eye. "I promise." Tamao reddened, unused to be in such close proximity to the boy she has loved since she could remember. "Um," he looked hesitantly at Tamao. "Do ya know what the name of the song is?" Tamao's spirits fell again. An unhappy little blond girl walked up to the both of them, her arms crossed in front of her.

"Come on you guys, we're going now," she said coldly.

"Anna!" She turned around, looking cross. "Do ya know what the name of the song that was just playing is called?" Yoh asked excitedly.

"Swan Lake." She turned back around, this time yanking both Yoh and Tamao behind her. "Let's go, auntie's getting mad already."

The three kids ambled behind the two women as they exited the store. Tamao was busy listening to Yoh's plans for the summer. "And then we'll both go and catch frogs in the creek and then go fishin' and then we'll go to this awesome field I found by our house and—" Yoh rambled on eagerly. He paused and looked at Anna. Their eyes met and they quickly looked away from each other. Both of them suddenly became silent and Yoh's wildly gesticulating hands dropped to his sides.

"G-guys? What's wrong?" Tamao asked. Silence. "Anna?"

"Nothing." She refused to look at the pink haired girl. A feeling of uneasiness welled up inside Tamao as she clenched her notebook tighter to her chest.

"Why are you guys so quiet?" she asked desperately. Yoh stared at the ground and Anna wouldn't meet her eyes. Yoh mumbled something. Her eyes threatened to spill over as she tried her best not to cry.

Later that night, her mom called Tamao into her room and sat her down to tell her that the two of them would be leaving Funbari Hill. "Did Yoh and Anna know we're leavin'?" Her mom looked surprised that that was the first question Tamao asked. She said that they did in fact know. The hurt stung Tamao as she finally understood why the two other kids had been so quiet before. Her voice caught in her throat as she realized that Yoh couldn't keep his promise if Tamao was moving. The sadness within her doubled as she came to the realization that he actually made a promise he full well knew he could keep or worse, had no intention of keeping. "Where are we moving?" Her mother told the questioning child that they wouldn't be moving; they'd be traveling. The little girl was confused. "Then where's our home gonna be?" she asked meekly. Her mom paused and said that their home would be wherever their hearts were. Tamao sniffed quietly as her mom went to go pack and looked at the house next to theirs—Yoh's house.

"Home is wherever our hearts are."

"Tamao."

I know, mom, you already told me that we're leaving.

"Tamao."

Don't worry, I already packed all my clothes.

"Tamao!"

"Gah!" Her eyes flew open. "How did I get back into my room?" she said slowly, as if testing out each word for the first time. She turned to get out of bed and immediately jumped up. "Horohoro!" She blushed. She never had a guy in her room before. Her eyes flicked down at the floor. Wait…these aren't the clothes I had on last—Her eyes widened and her blush increased tenfold.

Horohoro looked away uncomfortably. Oh, no. God. Don't tell me—"We snuck you into your room last night." He shifted his gaze down at his feet. "Anna changed your clothes." Tamao inwardly breathed the hugest sigh of relief.

"Oh." She swung forward. She had a gigantic headache. "My head…" she said quietly, sitting back down. Horohoro scrambled out of the chair he had been sitting on.

"Uh, h-here. You probably have a huge hangover from all of those drinks that bastard," he growled, "gave you last night." He passed Tamao a foul smelling concoction. She stared at it.

"I grew up with him," she whispered. Horohoro's face burned as she downed the drink.

"O-oh. Sorry."

She neatly wiped her mouth. "Don't be, he's always been like that." Horohoro leaned forward. "I never really liked him all that much." An invisible tension seemed to lift from Horohoro.

"Oh, good. Good. You don't like him. Er, well, I mean, it's never good if you're around people that you don't like. And uh, well, see, er, what?" Tamao laughed. They both looked at each other.

"Thanks, Horohoro." He scratched the side of his head and looked away with what Tamao at first thought was embarrassment but later she dismissed it. Why on earth would he be embarrassed? "So, you know Hao?"

"Who doesn't? Everyone knows the Asakura twins," the blue haired boy said. "Don't like Hao at all but Yoh is one of my closest friends." Tamao's heart jumped when she heard his name.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we've been going to school together for years! Been best friends for almost ten years now." Tamao timidly squawked. Ten years? They must have met soon after I left. I could have known Horohoro. I could have grown up with him. Tamao shook her head in disbelief. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing." She smiled. "I'll buy you breakfast for everything you did for me last night and today!"

Five Hours Later

Best friends for ten years? They must be really close…Maybe if I keep hanging out with Horohoro then maybe I can see Yoh more. And then maybe finally he'll notice me. I've missed him so much and unbelievably I'm still in love with him…And I'm sure Horohoro wouldn't mind me hanging around him more anyways. Yeah, I'll just use hanging out with him as an excuse to see Yoh more!

Tamao

She shut her notebook closed, tilted her head back, and smiled at the ceiling.

A/N: This is ShatteredLyre, formerly IThinkItsCalledLove. Changed my penname after a two year hiatus. Unwritten has been bouncing around in my mind for two years. Do put this (or me -hint-) on your alerts list or something since I'll be cranking out these chapters over the summer! I would love to hear what you think so far!