A/N: Started school. Been focusing on RLbut luckily I'm still able to manage! Thanks to everyone for your support! Your support keeps me writing!

Chapter 9: Collision

Sitting on her council chair, Hinagiku finally hit 'send' on her messaging app.

'If you miss him that much... then you should just tell him so.'

'Chiharu's right,' she thought. 'I should be more straightforward with Hayate-kun.' She thanked Chiharu for the advice before she was earlier dismissed. Hinagiku grabbed her backpack after finishing her documents and exited the room.

As she walked into the elevator, she began hoping that someone would show up behind those elevator doors. Nobody showed. As she reached down to the main floor, she began hoping for the elevator doors would open to someone asking her out to the movies with tickets on hand. Nobody showed. As she exited out of the tower, she hoped that someone would still be standing by the trees to enjoy the scenery with her. Again, nobody showed.

Hinagiku sighed. He would always show up before he had to work.

'Life got... busier,' she thought. She wanted to see him again, at least once for the week would be enough. So she ran. She ran to Violet Mansion with excitement, hoping to see him and make her smile at least once to make her week.

But when she finally opened her door to her room, she did not smile. She couldn't even hope after what she was seeing. There stood the butler she missed so much in front of her, with another girl wrapping her arms around his neck, both with their eyes closed and their faces leaning closer to one another.

Hinagiku stood speechless. She carefully closed the door and turned around. She went outside and took a deep breath. It couldn't be right. Hinagiku turned around and went back inside. Standing stealthily behind the door, she heard otherwise. She heard his voice.

"You'll always be my first love and I'll never forget that!"

She heard subtle sobs coming through from behind her door. She assumed it must be Athena.

"Y-you'll..." she carefully heard her whisper. "You'll always be my first, too!"

Hinagiku heard even more sobbing, only to realize that it was her own.

She immediately turned around and quietly left the mansion, walking out of the front entrance and maintaining her content look, despite the tears uncontrollably rolling down.

'Who is she to you, Hayate-kun?'

She stood on a sidewalk on a similar night, waiting for his answer, watching him stare deep into the ground. Her mouth shook open, enforcing the belief that this must be her chance.

'She is the person... that I love.'

Unlike that night, she could not hold back her tears.

"Hayate! What took you so long?!"

The butler walked into the dining room, nervously laughing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, well..." he muttered. 'How can I convince Ojou-sama that there is a grown woman who's my ex-girlfriend in a tight revealing outfit in Hinagiku's room?!' he thought. He doesn't know where to start. Kayura noticed him sweat.

"So what color was her underwear?" she asked him.

Hayate blushed, remembering when Athena turned around in his eyes. "Ah well, it was um..."

Nagi twitched. After a big smack to the his head, Hayate gave a brief explanation to the girls.

"So Tennousu-san is back to her real form..." Chiharu said.

"And you peeked at her underwear?!" Nagi yelled at her butler. Hayate covered his head and kept apologizing before he could get hit again.

"We should welcome her," Maria added. "Athena-san hasn't met all of you girls."

"Ah, now's not a good time. A-Tan is not feeling so well..." said Hayate. "By the way Maria-san, you referred A-Tan by her first name. Are you two particularly close?"

"Ahh well..." Maria muttered. "We met ages ago, which is also another long story that our manga author will not explain to us yet."

Hayate and all the other girls responded in unison. "Eh?"

"N-nevermind!" Maria yelled at them, blushing from their constant stares.

"Ano, I'll make her tea and then go check on her then," Hayate said. Nagi yanked him by the belt.

"Oh no, you don't!" she yelled. "Not when she looks like a stripper!"

"Ah! Of course I wouldn't go in there's when she's dressed like that!"

"Speaking of her room," Maria said. "Why isn't Hinagiku-san here, yet?"

Chiharu pulled out her cell phone. "Ah, yeah," she said. "She left me a message a while ago. She'll be staying at her mother's place tonight."

"Really? Did something happen?" Ayumu asked.

"I'm not sure," Chiharu said. "She said that her job babysitting Alice here is done."

'Her job here is done...' Hayate thought. His eyes widened. 'Could it be that it was her who opened the door earlier?'

"I guess she must have known already and decided to stay at her home since it's late, it being closer to Hakuou," Maria said.

'Crap...' Hayate thought. 'If she opened the door, then she must have seen...'

"Excuse me guys, I have go," he said, quickly walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey!" Nagi shouted. "I said don't go peeking at that lady!"

Nagi heard the front door shut.

"H-hey! She's in Hina's room! Not outside!"

Hayate ignored her and kept running outside. 'If I don't see her right now...' he thought. 'Then I'll suffer more consequences than just disobeying milady!'

To make this moment more dramatic, Hayate began to feel subtle raindrops dropping everywhere around him. He sweatdropped at how well it fits this desperate scene. He continued to run through the town's shopping valley, as stores each begun closing as the rain stormed harder.

He ran until he reached her doorway. He looked at her window to see it covered by blinds, yet leaking a little light from the room inside. He then noticed Hinagiku behind the window. She may have not noticed him, but closed her blinds fully. Hayate gulped and walked up to the front door.

Knock knock.

He waited patiently, hoping Hinagiku or even her mom would answer. The door finally opened, revealing someone he couldn't recognize. It was a man, presumably in his 40s, a little taller than the young butler, with grey hair and a cigarette in his mouth. He lifted off his cigarette and spoke.

"Hello," he said bluntly.

Hayate couldn't help but stare at his coolness, but he quickly shook his head and began talking.

"U-uh.. hi! Mister, uh..." he trailed off, unsure if this man was Hinagiku's father or not.

"Mister Katsura," the man said. "And the next time you want to greet someone you're not familiar, you should always introduce yourself before learning the other person's name..."

Hayate shrunk as he stared Mr. Katsura's subtle yet lethal glare.

"S-s-s-sorry, Mr. Katsura-san!" Hayate said, amazed from the familiar fear he got. 'He may be scarier than Hinagiku-san...' he thought. He took a deep breath and spoke again. "My name is Ayasaki Hayate, and I came here to see Hina-"

"She's sick," the adult interrupted. "Now's not a good time to-"

"But it's important!" Hayate said. "If I don't tell her now, she'll-"

"I said my daughter is sick," Mr. Katsura said with an intense glare. "Now beat it."

Hayate quieted himself and gulped. Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice.

"Honey! What's taking so long?" Mrs. Katsura said as she walks up and peeks over his shoulder. She gasped.

"Hayate-kun!" she called with a happy face. "Are you here to try on my outfits?!"

Hayate sweatdropped. "N-no, Mrs. Katsura-san!" he said. "I'm only here to see Hinagiku-san because-"

"Oh! Could this be why she's not feeling well?" she awkwardly interrupted. "Did you two have a fight?"

Mr. Katsura stared at her. "Fight?" he asked. "Maggie, is this guy her boyfriend?"

"Yes!" she replied. "You should see Hina-chan's face every time I mention him to her!" She placed both of her hands on her cheeks, twisting and turning as she replayed the scene in her head.

Mr. Katsura unconsciously dropped his cigarette. Hayate blushed and panicked at the same time. "W-w-we're not t-together!" he stuttered out. "No! I mean-! We done stuff but we-!"

Suddenly, Hayate felt his collar pull him up towards the air. Mr. Katsura held him up and gave him the deadliest look in the eyes.

"You're saying that you... touched my daughter... and hurt her feelings?" he slowly asked, staring deeply into Hayate's soul. Hayate felt a dark energy strangling him. This was no ordinary grasp that he could easily escape from.

"Honey, you're gonna hurt him!" Mrs. Katsura shouted. Her husband didn't listen and continued to stare at the butler he's holding with his one hand. Hayate saw the eyes of the man turn from brown to a glowing purple. Hayate's body became engulfed with a glowing purple energy. His vision started to blur, slowly losing his consciousness. He heard loud footsteps followed by another familiar voice.

"Otousan, stop it!"

'Hinagiku... san...'

His vision turned completely dark.

"Stop! Please!" she cried louder. "He's not worth it, Otousan, please..."

As he drifted off to darkness, he heard her voice one last time.

"Okay... I'll go. Please..."