Chapter 3

"Hikio."

A familiar voice came from the front of me. I looked at the source of that voice to find the pretty blonde I expected, staring at me.

Our eyes stayed glued to each other and she quickly shifted her eyes away from me.

A sudden realization hit me hard causing the temperature of my cheeks to rise followed by an uncomfortable feeling in my belly. Huh, I really do have a problem with staring. I moved away my stares away from her and tried to strike a conversation but I couldn't come up with any. I'm sure I'm making a stupid face right now, but can you really blame me?

She was flustered as well from the stare. I wonder why she hasn't run away yet. She idly looked away, focusing on a particular part of the court to my right. Finally she looked at me again with new fire in her eyes, and with a look on her face that almost said 'determination'. I'm not gonna lie. It's rather terrifying.

"Y-yo.." I manage to mutter out, surprised at myself at the stutter. Miura is usually someone I turn off my filter with completely and bluntly say anything that came to mind, yet in this moment, this rather strange situation that we found ourselves in, I couldn't help but succumb to the look on her face as she blushed and idly played with her blonde twirls.

Damn you, hormones. I could have monologued on, but finally, she let out a sigh of exasperation, and proceeded to walk towards me.

"I'm surprised you even came…" she murmured as she walked up next to me and sat down on the bench next to me. I stared at her actions for a split second before catching myself and sat down next to her. She pulled up a small plastic bag on her lap and pulled out it's contents…. Wait… that couldn't possibly be…?

"Max Coffee?!" I said quickly, my eyes sparkling at the beautiful liquid in front of me. She passed it to me and I muttered a quick thanks before wasting no time and taking a sip of the cold beverage.

"Well yes, I've never seen you drink anything but that… It's the least I can do for calling you out here like this… Sorry, but I have a reputation to keep after all." She said with a slight smirk staring at me.

"You bitch…" I said, not really meaning the insult anyway. I get her point after all. She shot me a glare before she calmed down, and pulled out a can of peach flavored iced-tea and drank it herself.

Well it's time to interrogate her, or is it the other way around? Either way, I (regrettably) gulped down my max in a single go to indicate that I wanted to speed things along. I tossed the can into the bin next to me.

"Anyway", I started, wanting to get out this awkward situation as quick as I could, "What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

Silence.

More silence.

Damn it! I turned my head to see what's going on but She was looking away from me, finding her lap to be more interesting, something I had noticed right away but didn't comment on. She's acting a little bit weird. It's starting to worry me a bit.

"Miura." I called again. "Are you alright?" I asked for a second time. I lean towards her just a little bit ensuring that there was a space between us not to invade her personal space. She muttered something that I couldn't make out.

I didn't know what was going on inside her mind right now but her expression on her face signalled something serious or a personal matter. Eh? Am I really the right person for this? Anymore of the way she's going and she'll be on the verge of tears soon enough. Shit, this is why I hate socializing.

Well, not really, there are about six hundred other reasons I rather wouldn't. Just at this time, that one took the cake. I was about to question her silence again when she finally spoke.

"Hikio..." then she paused and thoughtful look marred her face. The she continued."Do you believe in fate or destiny?" Another pause.

"No, of course not." she answered the question for me."What a stupid and moronic notion that is. That's one thing I found out the hard way. Yet, against all odds, here you are." She said, Looking up at the light of the Rising Sun now.

"Miura…" I simply muttered in response. Where was this coming from?

"You really did forget didn't you Hikio?" She looked at me, a lone tear finally making it's way out. As I saw something in those green eyes of her, there was something different that hit me, as I saw the familiar eyes glisten with tears. Something that also was familiar. It scared me. I had seen that before.

It can't be. Not at all.

Flashback

A lone girl in her elementary school years was crying alone on a bench, away from everyone else on the side of the school building. She cried without any care for anything else, like any other kid in the world, when another figure, a boy this time, walked up to the bench and sat next to her. Neither one of them said anything.

"I heard what they did." He said after a while, a scowl on his face. His dead fish eyes at this moment could make the devil himself shiver.

"Why do they have to be so… cruel?" was all the response she could give out between pants.

"I… I don't know." Back then… I had no answer. But now I do.

"I need to get my sister from the preschool day care. I should leave." The boy said, picking up his bag and leaving from that spot like he had a hundred times.

"Hey..." She girl asked as he walked away. He stopped and looked back.

"Will you be my friend?" She asked hopefully, green eyes meeting his grey ones.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" He asked back. For a moment she lost that hope.

"What the hell did you think we were?" He asked with a smile on his face. With that one sentence, her face lit up. He turned around and walked away.

"Thank you… Hikio."

Flashback end

"..." For some reason, all I could do was laugh internally at the irony. To think that in my life I would have an encounter like this… Rom com god, what the hell do you want from me? The Yumiko flag is being raised!

In my monologue, Miura was staring at me, expecting an answer.

"Yumiko Miura. The shy girl that struggled to get along with anyone. Because of your looks, you were immediately cast as a challenge to any girl, but you never had the attitude to support it. You fell, and you fell hard. You started to hate society for what it was. You were like me."

"Go on."

"But then you lost me. You had also lost all hope. You decided there was no possible way to fight it. So you decided to do what's best for you. You gave into it and placed yourself smack on top of the social hierarchy." I finished, looking at what the girl in front of me had become since I had known her all those years ago.

"I embraced it like a fool. I gave it a chance. Over and over again. Until enough was enough. I was better off alone. And that's where our stories diverge." I said, regretting most of my middle school life.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" She asked, looking me in the eye finally.

"Because I didn't remember. There's a lot… I don't want to remember." I said. After pushing out everything else"What a stupid and moronic notion that is. That's one thing I found, there wasn't much left. My preschool struggle making friends. My Elementary and Middle School years being bullied and ostracized. My Chuuni years after. There's so much I wanted to throw away. And so I did.

"Good for you Miura." I said, looking straight ahead at the courts where the lights turned off.

"You don't hate me for doing this to myself?" she asked, thinking that I would disagree.

"I long gave up on morals. 'Do what you have to do, nothing more, nothing less.', That's all I'm left with. Working at a club where I gave up what little I had to reach an optimal solution. I can't judge. You chose to embrace it. All I'm doing is running away." I said getting up.

"Wait!" She said as I picked up my bag.

"We'll continue this after school. I have to think." I said. There was so much to wrap my head around now. Why did she act the way she did if she knew? How does she justify her current social circle?

Why did I forget? And most importantly...

"Alright." She said, looking up at me.

"You know, in all this revelation I have only have one question that's been biting my head."

"And what's that?" she asked, annoyed at my tone.

"Why do you like Hayama Hayato?" Her eyes widened, shocked, as I walked away into the school building.

A few minutes later

Whether it was the sleep deprivation, or what I had to remember just then, I felt tired, leaning against my shoe locker. There were still things I needed to ask her. Why did she choose now to bring it up? What does she hope to accomplish with this? There's no way we could be as much as friends. Her social circle would collapse, and even worse her reputation will be dragged through the mud because of me. Even she knows that, which is why she called me here at this hour. So where do we go from here?

I turned back at a shuffling noise, and it was Miura, coming to her locker. I look at her questioningly.

"What? I'm in your class, idiot." she said, in her usual tone.

Ah, that's the Miura fresh in my mind. I shrugged at her, plugged in my headphones to my ipod and walked to class.

A/N Hikio-kun: The plot thickens~ You didn't expect that do you? ;) Anyway sorry for the late update guys. As usual, thanks to DarkerMS for helping me. Really, i don't know what to do without him. Support him by reading all his works. He really deserve it.