Daisuke's POV:

"NO NO NO! You're doing it all wrong! This isn't the set of my dreams! Work harder! Who taught you to paint? A five year old?" Takeshi continued to scream at the set-makers, who glared at him with much anger, yet he didn't seem to care, and continued to bark orders at them. Every single year that we did a class play, Takeshi always had to be the director, and a rather bossy one at that, although he always did make sure that everybody was ready in time. This year, we were actually doing an American production and recreating Sleeping Beauty, which was why all of us were required to watch the kid's movie during one of our classes, even though majority of the class fell asleep.

"Daisuke! Did you learn your lines yet?" The rabid director asked, turning his focus on me, and I could tell that the kids working on the set were quietly chuckling amongst themselves, obviously happy that the attention was off of them.

"Huh? Oh yeah, but I only have about five lines in the entire show..." I told him, to which Takeshi simply waved his hand, as if shooing me away, and proceeded towards the costume makers, probably to evaluate their work. I was glad that this year, we had broken the yearly tradition of making me one of the girls in the play, since everybody thought Risa would be perfect as Sleeping Beauty. Although, everybody did think it would be funny to have Riku and I play the King and Queen, Risa's parents.

"Don't you have any emotion? You're the prince! You have to be charming and romantic, not a freaking robot!" I could hear the annoying voice call once again, only to see Takeshi beginning to yell at Satoshi, waving a script in front of his face. Behind Takeshi stood a very bored looking Risa, who was playing around with the princess costume that had already been finished.

"Watch and learn! Please fair maiden, won't you grace me with your name?" Takeshi said while reading the script, leaning down and one knee and taking Risa's hand, to which she looked a bit disgusted. I sighed, since this play looked like it was going to turn out like every single other one our class had managed to pull off in years past. Pretty much all of them had been utter failures, and usually mistaken to be comedies.

Satoshi, however no matter how many times he was chosen to play the lead male role, never seemed to care about the play with each passing year. Even as I looked at him now, he wasn't paying attention to a single word Takeshi said, and was gazing off into a different direction. At the end of his stare was none other than Shizuku and Miato, who were both looking over music at the piano. Now that I thought about it, the two of them seemed to have been avoiding each other ever since we got back from the trip. Did something awkward happen between them?

Too bad, Satoshi seemed like he was happy with Shizuku around.

Shizuku's POV:

"Maybe it would be better if you flexed your wrists a little more, and you should curve your fingers so that you don't damage your muscles." I nodded my head in acknowledgement, and attempted playing the composition one more time. Although, sight reading music had never been my strong point, and I could tell that I was making small, yet clearly noticeable mistakes here and there. It also wasn't very comforting having Miato's stare making me even more nervous than I already was.

After all, he was much more advanced in piano than I was, but he was playing violin for play, which left me to learn the piano parts. I was already sure that he was unimpressed by my limited skills, even though he kept on trying to give me pointers now and then. By the time that I had finished the ballad, I had counted 17 mistakes, and was tempted to slam my forehead down onto the black and white keys in frustration.

"Your form needs some improvement, here, place your hand on top of mine." He said, taking a seat right next to me on the bench, and slid his right hand into the correct position. Following instructions, I placed my own right hand on his gently, making sure not to place too much pressure on it. Miato started shaking his head back and forth, and with his left hand, pushed my hand harder into his. "Really lay your hand on, like if you're dead."

I was slightly surprised, but automatically made my hand almost completely limp, as he began to sight read the entire piece, but only played the right hand. It was strange feeling the way that he moved his fingers while gliding across the keys, and tried to concentrate on what he did differently from me. He pressed the keys lighter than I did, only pressed on the keys with the tips of his fingers, and curved his wrist more, instead of myself who kept her hand flat throughout playing.

By the time he had finished, I was slightly amazed by how flawlessly he had completed the piece, and how even his tempo was far superior to my own. I even felt slightly jealous of his level of expertise, wishing that I was that advanced, yet I barely even practiced anymore, while Miato probably rehearsed for hours on end.

"Alright! That's a wrap for today!" I heard the obnoxious director yell through his bullhorn, which he had acquired from somewhere unknown. Standing up from the bench, I began to sort through the music sheets that were scatted across the piano stand, and Miato soon began to assist me, obviously picking out the pieces that belonged to himself, but also organizing my own for me.

In truth, I was a bit interested in how well he could play the violin, I had played for two years at most, and all I was able to remember were some simple chords. Perhaps I could play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', but anything more advanced than that was probably out of the question.

"Shizuku, if you don't mind staying behind a bit, I would like for us to practice together. You know, piano and violin?" Even though I was a bit surprised by this request, I automatically agreed, replacing the music sheets once more where they used to be on the stand. He removed his own instrument from its case, and got into a ready position, and my own hands hovered over a C-minor chord.

He was the one to play the first note, although I quickly followed behind, attempting to keep up with the faster tempo, knowing that I would only be a nuisance if I screwed up now. Twenty measures later, the two of us were still going at it, my focus on nothing else but perfection, although I knew that I had already slipped up once. Yet, by the end of the song, I had only missed two other keys, and I was slightly proud.

"Hmm, that was good, do you wanna hang out this weekend to tie up some loose strings?"

"She already has plans. Besides, the two of you will get more than enough rehearsal time for that." I almost flinched when I heard the very familiar voice of a certain blue haired boy, to whom I didn't realize had been watching the entire time. Just looking at him again brought up the awkward memories from the previous week, and although I desperately tried, I hadn't been able to get him out of my mind ever since.

"What? You her boyfriend or something?" Miato asked a bit harshly, and walked right past me to stare down Satoshi, since he was slightly taller. I didn't understand what was going on at all, and was a bit afraid to speak to either one of them. Satoshi then proceeded to push Miato out of his way, and came right up to me, although half of me wanted to step back, something else made me stay there.

"Are you ready to go home? I could walk you if you like." At this point, sirens seemed to be going off in my head, signaling that it would be the worst possible idea for me to walk home with him. Why had he claimed that he loved me? And why on earth did he keep saying that I loved him? It all just made me so confused, and I couldn't make sense of any of it.

"Why don't you go bother some of your fangirls and leave Shizuku alone, it's obvious that you're freaking her out."

"U-Uh... I'm sorry, but I prefer walking alone, my apologizes." I politely told him, and proceeded to gather my music sheets one again, except this time I felt a little more rushed than before, and even had to pick up a couple that had fallen on the floor. Following my actions, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Miato began to pack up the violin that he had previously placed on the piano.

Without haste I stuffed the paper into my manila folder, and sandwiched it into my bookbag. Strangely, I could feel something off, and only when I glanced in Satoshi's direction did I realize that he had been staring at me in an odd way, as if there was a hint of anger on his face. He obviously wasn't looking at my face, since he didn't even seem to notice that I myself had been looking back at him.

"Shizuku, where did you get that necklace?" Immediately, my eyes were diverted to my chest, where the piece of jewelry had make itself free from underneath my shirt. I carefully tucked it back under my school uniform, since I wasn't suppose to show it to anyone, according to Kokubyaku. He claimed that it would protect me from harm, when he couldn't be around to do it himself, but also said that it gave out an aura that would make anyone who lay eyes on it attempt to steal it for themselves.

I didn't actually know if the necklace truly had powers, but I trusted Kokubyaku, and whatever he said, I couldn't help myself from obeying. Apparently, he never wanted me to be without the necklace, although I had no idea why.

"Oh, my brother gave it to me." I said quickly, before haltingly excusing myself from the room, pacing myself a little faster than usual on my way home from school. I found that being in the same room as Satoshi was beginning to become unbearable, my hands would start to tremble, my throat would become dry, my mind would cloud up... A whole list of symptoms would form, and worst of all, I wasn't even able to comprehend why all of this would happen.

What's wrong with me?

Satoshi's POV

"Why does she have the Pillory Links?" I found myself mumbling under my breath as I watched Shizuku leave the room with much haste.

"Hey man, you better lay off, I don't wanna blow my chance with her, and it doesn't help when Mr. Fanclub drops in and shamelessly flirts with her." It was only now which I realized that there had been another, obviously obnoxious, life form in the room, whom was attempting to stare me down while I had been lost in thought. I knew I didn't have time for this sort of nonsense, yet, the words that left his mouth left quite an impression on me.

Blow his chance? What did he mean by that? True, I wasn't a big fan of school gossip or social order, but during lunch hours spent with other people, especially when the people included Risa, I have heard quite a bit about Miato. Not that I'm sure that I liked what I heard, including how he would have a new girlfriend practically every month, and it was stressed on how brutal the breakups would be.

Yes, Risa gossiped far too much, and her unnaturally high pitched voice seemed to stay with him, no matter how much he attempted to shake it off. Whenever Risa was talking, she always demanded the utmost attention, which forced himself to somewhat listen to her rants. And it seemed that Miato had been a returning factor in various stories. There had even been rumors that he sexually harassed a girl from a lower grade, but they were, after all, just rumors.

"You have no business with Shizuku. Stay away from her."

"What gives you the right to say that, pretty boy?" All too suddenly, a sharp tug was made at the collar of my shirt, and I bitterly glared at the hand which had yanked me all to close to an arrogant playboy. I never really payed attention to the social structure of my own high school, but as it would seem, Miato thought himself as superior compared to me. Was he perhaps, more 'popular'? And he thought that this alone would capture Shizuku's heart?

Obviously not. Even if her heart is clearly clouded by a fog of what I now suspect to be Hikari magic, I knew she would not stray from me. It's true, her judgement, memories, feelings, I might not have believed it at first, but they had vanished almost too suddenly. If it was any other given time, the classmate in front of me would not even be a question, but, would Shizuku truly be able to fall for someone like that? Especially if she did not know of what she used to feel for me?

"Let go of me. The school board would see this as an act of violence, and it certainly wouldn't act in your favor."

"Whatever." I heard him mutter quietly under his breath, before finally releasing my shirt, but was sure to make an effort to push me backwards in the process. "You're not even worth my time, a pathetic nerd who looks like he's stalking some girl he barely knows. She's scared of you, ya know? It's easy to tell that whenever you're around, she looks like she wants to run. I don't know what your game is, but I'm warning you to stay of my business, clear? Don't even bother us during rehearsal."

In the blink of an eye, he vanished through the door of the room, his haunting footsteps slowly fading in the distance. It was only when the sound vanished all together that I noticed that I had been left to utter loneliness. I picked up my things that I had left on the floor while I had waited for Shizuku to finish her practice with that scum. Just thinking about it, my eyes diverted to the closed piano, which for some unknown reason, I felt necessary to flip open, and as I stared at the black and white keys before me, I imaged her fingers dancing across them.

It had been, so delicate, even though she had seemed like she was nervous at the time, her playing sounded truly... beautiful. There wasn't even another word that I could possibly think as to describe it accurately. I rested my right index finger on one of the various white keys, and lightly pressed it down as the note rang out of the instrument. That one sound, felt like the pang in my heart when I had seen her talking to... him.

Why? Why is it that I had automatically felt an uneasiness when she was even near him? I hadn't even remembered his rumored behavior at the time, yet, I just knew that I hated the sight of the two of them even standing in a close proximity. I had to fight back the urge to rip her away from him, and I didn't even know why, normally, I would never even think to do something so extreme. It wasn't as if Shizuku had never been near another boy before, she used to spend many a times with Daisuke, yet, I've never had the feeling that I did now.

How adorable, Master. It appears you are jealous of that worthless human. The all too familiar voice rang in my head, to which I automatically tried to block out, since I was not in the sort of mood to deal with my curse right now. Yet, as quickly as he had been to judge me, he had also left my mind, only leaving his words behind.

Was it true? Is this what jealousy is like? It was the feeling that I wanted to rip Miato's insides onto the pavement. But one thing was certain in my mind, because jealousy or not, I was going to keep that vile being away from the thing I cared about most.

After all, I would never want such innocence to be tainted by such a disgusting 'rumored' pervert.

A/N: I know, I know. Short chapter, hope I can write more soon!