Chapter 10: His Memories, Her Words

Athena sat up straight from her little bed, sitting on it with her legs hanging out of the closet. Gone are the tears as they have eventually ran out, leaving her cheeks both dry and red. She blew her nose with a napkin once more and began to think of other things in attempt to mend her broken heart.

'Was this really where I slept?' she asked herself, adjusting herself on this little bed. 'There's no way I'd sleep in there comfortably now...'

She processed her thoughts to what she could remember as 'Alice.' Very little could be remembered besides sleeping all day and other lazy activites. 'All I can remember is being tired...' she thought. 'And a dog. A really big white dog for some reason...'

'Katsura Hinagiku...' she thought. 'You're the one who's taken his heart now...'

She got out of her bed and walked around in the bedroom. 'This is her room...' she thought. Aside from talking to her at Hakuo Academy as board chairman, Athena has known very little about the student council president. She looked around the room to learn more about the girl whom the butler chose over her. Dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell, a jump rope, weight plates, and... a container of whey protein on her desk?

She sweatdropped at her surroundings. 'This isn't a girl's room...' she thought. 'This is a home gym!'

As she continued to walk around the room, her foot brushed against an object close by Hinagiku's futon. 'What's this?' she thought as she picked up this certain object. She slowly examined the low profiled look on it.

It was a dictionary, in case you perverts were thinking otherwise. But Athena noticed something off. The weight distribution of this dictionary felt off. She opened up the book halfway through the pages to see that the insides had been cut out to encase a smaller book. She took out the smaller book and read the label on it.

H Diary.

'Hoho... so she is a woman after all...'

She heard a knock on the door. Immediately, she hid the diary behind her as Maria walked inside.

"It's good to see you again, Athena-san," Maria said. She handed her spare clothes that fit for the night. Athena ignored the clothing handed to her and grabbed the maid's hands instead.

"Maria-san... it's been years!"

She hugged the maid, showing just how happy she is to see her.

"Our manga author really needs to explain our connection soon, right?" Maria asked.

"Oh, right," Athena agreed. "Because this is where the fan author is unable to explain what's going on between us, so he's moving on to the next scene."

Back to where the previous chapter ended.

It was dark. It was dark everywhere.

He couldn't breath. It was so hot that he felt his body burning alive.

He laid ever so unconsciously, not knowing where he was or what he felt, when the last voice he had heard echo'd him into the darkness.

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

'Go...? Go where?'

His mind flew everywhere, having wrapped around that familiar voice, looking for clues to where she would go, and replaying the memories embedded with that sentence, starting from where the memories truly began to shine...

It was another sunny day at Hakuo Academy. The blue-haired boy sat outside on a bench, looking at the graded paper just handed to him from class. It was a D+, which could have a lot of meanings, such as a you're-pretty-dumb-but-at-least-not-F-dumb' D+ or a 'you're-not-really-smart-but-you're-really-close-t o-being-barely-average' D+.

This wasn't the case for him. He didn't even care. He damned himself to be able to blame someone, too. Hayate sighed.

Maybe if she hadn't called him, he would have studied. If she hadn't called him, maybe he would have gave some effort into this quiz. Maybe he would just focus better.

'No... stop it,' he thought to himself. Thinking of and blaming her will do him no good. But Hayate cried in his mind. All he could think about for the past few days was her again.

He leaned his head back against the bench, staring at the bright blue sky, adoring the shapes that the clouds make surrounding the sun. He felt the wind calmly blow against his face. This was therapy for him. It was one of the ways to get his mind off of trouble. It was his personal drug.

And like a drug, it becomes addicting.

Hayate continued to stare at the clouds for the next couple of long minutes, his mind becoming completely blank until he suddenly sees black everywhere.

Hayate felt a pair of cold hands cover his eyes. They felt so soft and feminine as he felt the fingers also touch parts of his face.

"Guess whooo?" a voice asked in a disguised tone.

'Hmm..' he thought. 'Who's hands have I felt before that has felt this soft and feminine?'

"Ano... Nishizawa-san?" he guessed.

"Eh? No..." the disguised voice replied.

"Maria-san?"

"No..."

"Ruka-san? Ojou-sama?"

"Nah. Nah."

"Isumi-san?"

"No!"

"Hmm, well your hands are really soft and feminine..." he said. "All I have left to guess is Yukiji-sensei?"

The voice finally revealed its real tone.

"No, man! What the hell!"

"Oh, it's Hinagiku-san!" he said right after recognizing her voice. He turned around to see her standing behind him, only to see her look angry.

"Are you saying that my hands are not soft and feminine?!"

"I-I wasn't saying that! I just haven't gone through all of my guesses!"

"And you guessed that it would be my drunken sister before me...?" she slowly asked. Hayate froze sitting still as the pink-haired girl glared down at him.

"Ah-ah-ah," he couldn't speak, but he had to say something. "Ah, yes! Your hands are soft and feminine! I remember! Like that one time, um..." he trailed off to silent.

Hinagiku sighed. "You don't even know..." she said.

She sat down next to him on the bench, sitting upright and with proper posture, compared to Hayate leaning against the bench, afraid of what she will do to him. With surprise, Hayate felt her left hand on top of his right.

"At least try to remember next time."

He looked at her looking away from him, unsure whether she was hiding a blushed face like his or not. Either way, Hayate couldn't believe it. He forgot what was making him sad from the beginning. Wait, who was he thinking about again?

"Hinagiku-san..."

He then felt her hand go under his, grabbing the sheet of paper that his hand rested on.

"N-no!" Hayate panicked. "Don't look!"

She analyzed over his problems. She then looked at him with no signs of anger or surprise.

"It's okay, it was a hard test," she said. She pulled out her graded test as well and showed it to Hayate. Her's showed a B-.

Hayate gave her a blunt stare. "Are you here to insult me or something?" he asked.

"Eh?! No! I'm just saying that I've never received a grade this low!"

She watched Hayate suddenly kneel by the nearby trash can in agony.

"That was... very insulting," he said. Hinagiku panicked over his behavior and began apologizing

Both sitting on the bench again after Hinagiku apologized, Hayate let out a sigh.

"It's no use," he said. "There's no way I'll pass the class at this rate. I need to ace the next two tests, which will cover the hardest subjects, and then the take final exam as well."

'If only I could help you...' she thought. Then an idea struck her. 'Wait a minute! I can!'

'Hayate-kun!' she yelled, startling the butler.

"H-hai!" he instantly replied, instantly sitting upfront. Hinagiku sweatdropped.

"How about I tutor you tonight?" she asked. She then blushed as she continued to speak. "You know... since we live together now and all..."

Hayate hid his face and looked away as he blushed as well. "Are you sure?" he asked in surprise. Hinagiku turned even redder.

"W-well, you're gonna have to pay me back in return of course!" she nervously said. 'Yeah! Like a deal!' she thought. 'That way he wouldn't think that I'm actually trying to get closer to him!'

"O-oh! Right!" Hayate said, followed by a small and nervous laugh. 'Of course she wouldn't do it for no reason. She doesn't like me in that way...' he thought. He rubbed the back of his head over his silly thoughts. "How would you want me to repay you?" he asked. He watched her turn her head again.

"I don't know..." he heard her say. "What would seem fair to you?"

'Hmm... how can I repay her...' he thought. 'If she could tutor me at least twice a week, then...'

"How about I treat you somewhere every week?"

For a few seconds. he waited for her reply, until her head turned towards him, with her eyes sparkled gold along with her serious look. "Would you really do that?" she asked him softly.

Hayate felt a melting sensation. His gestures couldn't properly follow as he moved his arms uncontrollably.

"Y-yes! I would definitely do that! To repay you!" he said out loud. "Totally! Yeah, aha..." In his mind, he knew he sounded like a complete idiot. 'Why am I getting so... nervous?' he thought.

He then heard the tower's bell ring. The two of them both stood up as a reflex to the five-minute warning back to class. They both looked at one another as they nervously remained quiet.

Hinagiku spoke first. "So... tonight then?" she asked.

"Yeah... tonight."

Another awkward silence. She couldn't take it anymore.

"KAY BYE!"

He then watched her sprint back towards the student council tower, without even looking back at him. Hayate stood, feeling weird and somewhat excited about tonight. He turned around and walked the other way to his next class with his most recent event replaying in his mind.

After receiving clothes that fit for the night, Athena laid on a bigger spare bed in Hinagiku's room. She pulled out the book she hid and began reading the first page.

Dear Diary,

Athena felt guilt as she continued to read. 'Forgive me, Katsura-san, but your secrets are right here and I'm about to read them.' She read the first sentence.

I've had a lot of things on my mind with no one else to talk to, so I will write them here instead.

'Okay,' she thought. She flipped to another page.

Dear Diary, I'm totally getting the new *Phone coming this September!

'Meh.'

Dear Diary, I won my first power lifting competition! All the dedication I put, I-

Athena sweatdropped. 'This is not a girl's diary...'

She continued to quickly flip through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

I want him so much.

'Is it Hayate-kun...?'

I want him to forget about his ex. It's been too long since their breakup. I hate being by his side when he's depressed like this. The way he feels about her is the same way I feel about him...

Athena remained quiet as those words sunk in.

It just hurts.

'A bit ironic now, isn't it...?' she thought.

She flipped back a few pages, to see if she was missing anything. She found an event leading to what she just read.

I hope we could be closer through this. I continue to tutor you while you take me out in return. It's not a date, I know, but all this time I've spent in the bathroom preparing for our night...

Diary Event:

"Nagi-san, please take your bath... for the fifth time asking."

"In a minute, Maria! I'm almost done unlocking a new level on C*ndy Crush!"

Chiharu walked into the living room with a bath towel and sat on the couch next to Maria. "The bathroom's occupied, actually," she said.

"It's been occupied for more than half an hour," Kayura said, also playing the game on her smartphone on the floor next to Nagi.

"I need to peeeee..." Ayumu whimpered, crossing her legs tightly whilst struggling on the floor.

Maria put some thought out. "Who could be in the bathroom for this long...?" she asked.

"Well, it's definitely not Hina-san," Chiharu replied. "She takes showers even faster than men."

"Then it's probably Ayasaki-san," Kayura said. "I watched him eat that special D*ritos hardshell taco with extra hot sauce like it was nothing. Now he's paying the price."

All girls suddenly heard the bathroom door open. Steam creeped out of the bathroom and into the living room as the pink haired girl came out and walked to the living room's opening. The girls all dropped their jaws at the sight they were seeing. Her skin sparkled clean and shiny, her hair perfectly dried and smooth. She also wore an elegant black lounge dress cut up below her thighs.

"Sup, guys," she said as she casually sat herself down next to Maria.

"Hinagiku-san..." Ayumu muttered, staring at the girl with envy. "What happened to your onesies...?"

"And your sweats...?" Chiharu added, looking just as surprised.

"Just felt like I needed a change," she said.

Nagi stood up and suddenly left the room. "Maria-san, I'll go take my bath now..." she muttered, surprising her maid. Ayumu ran past her to the bathroom. "H-hey!" Nagi said, running after her.

"Hinagiku-san, is your father in jail?" Kayura asked.

"Eh?! No! My father just works very far away... Why?"

"Because if I were your father, I would be in jail."

The girls in the room all sweatdropped. Chiharu cringed. "Dude..." she said to her.

"What? I had to say it."

'This may have been too much of a change...' Hinagiku thought. 'Wonder what Hayate-kun would say...?'

"Ah, Hayate-kun. Welcome back."

Hinagiku immediately turned around to see the butler in the house. She hid her blush as usual, but this time for the reason of having almost her entire bare legs exposed and slightly covered by a dress as short as her school outfit.

"Hi Maria-san, thanks," Hayate replied. He turned his head to Hinagiku. "Hello, Hinagiku-san," he greeted.

"Hi," she greeted back shyly. Maria noticed.

"I'm going to take a shower soon," he said. "Then we could meet up in my room afterwards. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," she said. "I'll be waiting."

As Hayate left the living room, Hinagiku turned her head back to see Maria, Chiharu, and Kayura all stare at her with surprised eyes. Maria let out a little tear.

"What's wrong, Maria-san?!" she asked.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just... that you're gonna become a truly happy woman so soon..."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Seeing you dressed up like that and getting invited into Hayate-kun's room..." Chiharu said. "Please tell us this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh it's exactly what it looks like, right Hina-chan?' Kayura added.

Hinagiku finally understood, then immediately turned red again. "No! You got this completely wrong!" she said. "I'm just gonna tutor him since he really needs help to pass math class!"

"Ehh... is that so?" Maria asked, feeling relieved after hearing that.

"I guess that's believable," Chiharu said. "Hayate-kun didn't even say anything about how sexy you look right now!"

"This isn't really sexy..." Hinagiku said. She considered the fact Chiharu had stated. 'Hayate-kun really didn't say anything. Does he not see me in that way...?' she thought with a saddened look.

She continued to wonder whether she made a mistake or not, deciding whether or not she should change back to her old pajamas, but realize that changing again would cause suspicion. Before she knew it, she was already in Hayate's room, standing and looking over his shoulder as he worked on his math problems.

Hinagiku sighed, feeling like an idiot after having to go through such effort of actually trying to look nice. 'It's no use,' she thought. 'He's been really serious with his homework. He doesn't even see me as sexy... or anything attractive like Chiharu said.'

Hayate turned his head around after hearing her sigh. He noticed something about her.

"Gomen, Hinagiku-san," he apologized. "I didn't notice it until now, but..."

'H-he noticed?!' she thought, blushing as he continued to stare at her.

"Do you want a chair? You've been standing behind me for quite a while."

She fell and hit the floor in complete loss of hope. At this rate, tonight would be no different than the next.

"N-no... I'll just continue standing..." she muttered.

"Eh?! But you just fell! Won't you get stiff for standing too long?"

Another challenge proposed? No, but sadly Hinagiku thought otherwise.

"Me? Stiff? Ha! Not a chance..." she said to him proudly.

"Ah, okay then," he replied, returning to his homework.

'Psh, why do you care?' she thought. 'Would you even offer me a massage if I were stiff, anyway?!'

About an hour later, Hinagiku yawned. It was getting late, and trying to get his attention was completely useless at this point. Hayate completed all of his homework.

"I hope I helped you well..." she muttered.

"You did! Thank you so much!" he said. He looked at his clock and had a grin on his face. "Wow, I finished earlier than I thought. Hinagiku-san, you're amazing!"

'At least he praises me,' she thought with a little smile. 'I guess that's good enough...'

"Now I finally have some time to catch up on Br**king Bad!"

Hinagiku became fully awake upon hearing what he just said.

"I love Br**king Bad!" she said. "I finally made it to season four last weekend!"

Hayate looked surprised. "Me too!" he said. Hinagiku looked surprised as well. They both gave a high five to each other.

"I'm about start watching episode three of that season," he said. Hinagiku noticed him pause for a few seconds before asking her. "Would you like to stay here a bit longer and watch with me?"

She stood in disbelief at what she just witnessed. She couldn't help but form a little smile on her face.

It wasn't what I expected, but I was so happy that night. It was perhaps another one of those night where I've fallen even deeper for you...

"I'd like that."

She had a new goal in mind. Homework will never be finished late anymore.

Hayate brought out his laptop and set it on futon, where he pushed it by the wall so they both sat comfortably and had the wall to lean on.

"Oi, Hayate-kun, I haven't watched the second episode, yet..."

"That's fine. I'll watch it again with you..."