I understand it's been at least four months since I uploaded and there's a reason for that. Yan Dev announced in October that he will not be doing anything major with the game until Osana is implimented. It took a while for me to figure out if I was going to post this or put the story on hiatus until the update, but I have thought of ways to keep the story going until then. And now, the replies!

Harvstar: Boom! Your wish is my command!

Heusburgh: I already said no spoilers so shush, all will be revealed!

Da-Tenishi Setsuna: This was written when that was still implemented and I'm aware that the game is still updating, but I thought it was appropriate for this story.

The rest of the school day went by without incident. Oka avoided eye contact with Taro the whole time, her mind spinning. He had his friend Osana, who she still had never met, but now she also had Kokona admiring him. She couldn't compete with them… Surely it was better for her to keep her distance. Either of them would be better for Taro than she could ever be. Though… she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"I think that boy has put a hex on me…" she mumbled under her breath as she left the classroom. She walked through the hall, keeping her head down. She knew that she needed to go to her club but part of her really wanted to talk to Taro, ask him how he felt about all of this. Surely he knew about Musume. It wasn't really a secret, everyone in the whole Plaza knew about it by now… Nothing stayed quiet for long in this school. It didn't matter what it was, it would get out somehow. It was better to try and keep as quiet as possible rather than try and get people to stop talking about it, but she knew, from experience, that this tactic never worked.

"Oka?" A blunt voice made her jump, Oka spun around and saw Kuu Dere standing there.

"Hi, Kuu…" the girl sighed, rubbing her arm. Looking around, she saw everyone walking past the pair. A few still looked at her, making Oka writhe her hands together worryingly.

"Are you alright?" Kuu asked, furrowing her brow slightly. Oka sighed and put her arms around herself.

"Um… Yeah… I'm fine." She mumbled softly before giving Kuu a weak smile, "Th-th-thanks for… s-s-standing with me." The girl watched Kuu as she darted her ruby eyes, seeing if anyone happened to be looking and sighed.

"No problem. Just… if you feel like that again, just tell me." Kuu nodded before simply walking away. Oka smiled slightly as she watched her walk away. Kuu didn't seem to want others to see her like this, given the pace she left at. Seeing that she had a reputation of never showing emotion, chances were that she wanted to keep it that way.

Avoiding eye contact, Oka made her way towards the Occult Club's room. But a part of her just wanted to leave and go home and hide in her room until everything calmed down. But she couldn't just leave the other members like that.

Although... She could always Shin to look after the club for her. She had trusted him with it before and that worked out fine. After thinking it over, Oka shook her disheveled head, dismissing the thought. It'd be selfish. Putting a burden on someone else to satisfy herself like that. She hated people that did that. Why would anyone hurt another person just to get what they wanted? There were other ways. Harder, more challenging ways but Oka liked to think she would willing take the hard route to reach her goal, whatever it may be, rather than gain it easily through hurting another person. Maybe that's what happened to Musume? Oka didn't want to think about it... But it could be true. Someone had done that to her to gain something. Had she been traumatised for someone else's' benefit? Who would do that? And why? The girl sighed heavily as she walked. Thinking about all of this was beginning to give her a terrible headache.

As she went down the hall, a nice smell wafted from one of the rooms to Oka's right and slinked into her nose. Stopping, Oka noticed that she was close to the door which led to the Cooking Club. Inside it she could hear the other members talking and laughing and the sound of cutlery. Stopping, Oka looked in the door to see the girls sitting at a table, all together. They seemed happy, talking, laughing and simply enjoying each other's company. She also saw Kokona standing in the kitchen, cooking. The scent of the food wafted into her nose again, causing her to feeling rather lightheaded. It had just reminded her that she hadn't eaten today, missing breakfast from sleeping in and the stress from worrying about everything to do with Musume caused her to forget about eating her lunch.

After watching the girls for another couple of moments, she let out a little sigh and looked away. Why did she have to be such a shrinking violet? She wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by a group of friends like that. She wished there were others in the school who would simply talk to her, actually spend time with her, rather than just ignore her or call her "weird" behind her back.

Oka decided to walk on, not wanting anyone inside the cooking club to notice she was there.

But she had only gotten a few paces away, when the sound of a voice caused Oka to freeze in place.

"Oka!" She jerked around to notice Kokona standing there… holding her voodoo doll!

Oka squeaked and cupped her hands to her chest, her heart tying itself in a painful knot. Where did she get that? Why did she have it? Actually, it didn't matter, she shouldn't have it!

"M-m-m-my, why-why do you have m-m-my-!?" Oka tripped over herself, wringing her hands so fast, it was almost a blur before letting out a small "Oh!" and covered her face, wishing the ground could just swallow her up. The last thing she wanted was for others to call her a "baby" for having the doll.

Looking through her fingers, she could see Kokona still standing there with the doll in her hand. She looked a little worried.

"Oka, are you alright?" Her voice sounded concerned but Oka hadn't noticed. She could hardly hear her at all.

"Yes!" She squeaked, through Kokona did not look all that convinced. But much to Oka's relief, she didn't go on. Instead she simply held the doll towards her.

"I just noticed that you dropped it." she said sweetly as Oka instantly took it from her. She hugged the doll close to her, gripping it tightly. She tried to slow her breathing down but it was extremely difficult. She shut her eyes, gripping onto it tighter. Why couldn't she just go home? She just wanted this day to be over so she could shut herself away in the safety of her room and away from all of this. Oka sighed and hunched her shoulders, trying to pull herself into a protective ball.

"Here." Kokona's voice made her jump as she suddenly noticed that Kokona was… holding a little plate towards her? Oka blinked, noticing that there were little two octopus shaped hot dogs. She blinked, feeling confused. What were they for?

"Eat them, they'll probably make you feel better. Besides… you look a little pale." She said sweetly. Oka blinked a few times, not quite sure how to respond to that.

"...But-" she mumbled.

"Really, it'll help. I promise."

Oka darted her eyes worryingly before taking the small plate with one hand. Why was Kokona being so nice? Surely she heard everything that had been going on. And she was always with her group of friends, so wouldn't they have all said things about it? But just before she could open her mouth, a loud growl interrupted her. Oka stiffened up and wrapped her free arm around her abdomen, her pale cheeks flushing from embarrassment. But, instead of laughing, Kokona just smiled again.

"I haven't poisoned them or anything. Go ahead." She said. Oka took one of the little octodogs in her hand and, after another pause, took a small bite out of it.

"So? You like it?" Kokona asked curiously, holding her hands together. Chewing slowly, Oka glanced up at the girl before giving her a nod in answer. She wasn't focusing on it, though. What she was thinking about was why Kokona was being like this. Though truthfully, she didn't have much of an opinion of the girl before since she had never actually talked to her before. She took the other octodog and sighed.

"Thanks…" she mumbled softly.

"It's alright." the girl smiled before letting out a soft sigh and tilting her head slightly, "Listen… I know about everything that happened today- but don't worry!" she quickly added as Oka let out a startled yelp and jumped back, "It's all a load of rubbish."

Oka's heart loosened and she let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh… thanks. I just thought that-"

"Seriously, you don't have to worry about it. It's not as bad as you think it is, trust me." Kokona said with another kind smile.

"Really?" Oka blinked, hoping that what the girl was telling her was true, "Oh… well… I feel kinda stupid now…" she rubbed her arm while glancing away. Much to her shock, she suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, making her jump slightly.

"No, no you're not being stupid! I'd feel the same way if that happened to me. Try not to worry about it, I'm sure it will all work out."

Oka could only listen as Kokona said this. She didn't know what to say.

"Oh… um…" she blinked and looked at the empty plate in her hand, "H-here…" she handed it back to her. Truthfully, she did really like those octodogs. And it was good to actually have anything to eat.

"...T-thanks, Kokona… f-f-for the octodogs and everything else." she stammered, rubbing her hands together. To that, she got another smile from the girl.

"It's no problem. I'm glad you liked them. And don't worry, everything will work out fine." she said before walking back into the Cooking Club. Oka, alone in the hallway, sighed and looked at her feet. She said "don't worry"... But how was she supposed to do that? Sighing, Oka turned around and began walking towards her club's room. She just wished she could take her mind off of today…

…

Those thoughts swam through Oka's mind throughout the rest of the evening. All through her time with her club right up to now in her bed and staring at the ceiling. She had not found anything new about vampires or anything other supernatural, though that could have something to do with the fact that she did not do much research. She simply could not focus. Lying on her back, she stared at her navy ceiling which was dotted with the white stars from her bedside lamp. Her stomach was empty but her mind was completely stuffed. And when she felt like this, it was impossible to get anything done. It was only ten at night and she was exhausted. Today had just been completely draining, mentally. She didn't know what to think or how to feel… what was she supposed to do?

Ping!

Oka jumped out of her skin at the sudden sound. Sitting upright, she suddenly noticed that her phone had vibrated and the screen lit up. Did someone text her? Curious, she picked up the phone and was surprised to find a Facebook message.. From Taro! The girl gulped as her heart jumped. What was Taro doing massaging her? Biting her lower lip, she opened the message up.

"Hey Oka, sorry to bother you but I just realised I left my maths notes in my desk. If you have yours, is it alright if you send me a pic of them?"

It didn't matter that he was only messaging her about school issues, he texted her! Oka couldnt stop her cheeks from turning a light tinge of pink. She took a moment to slow down her breathing, and she started thinking a bit clearer. But as she calmed down, a question started wandering into her mind. Why her? Surely there were others in the class he could have asked, people with neater handwriting or more detailed notes. She opened her phone again to message him back.

"Hey Taro, I can send you a pic of my notes. But can I ask, how come you didn't ask anyone else?"

"Not that I mind, I don't, I'm just curious that's all." she added rapidly, scared that he would take that the wrong way. She closed the phone and sighed as she stimmed. Surely that was the wrong thing to say. It sounded stupid. He'd think she was stupid! Great…

Ping!

Oka practically tackled the bedside table to grab her phone.

"Haha, don't worry I don't mind. I've seen your notes, they're good! If I asked anyone else, I wouldn't know if their handwriting would be scribbles or if they only wrote three things in their notes."

Oka read that message several times before she fully relaxed. Alright… that was okay. She let out a small sigh of relief before she got her maths notes out and began taking photos of her notes from that day and sending them. Once she was done, she went back to lying on her back, shutting her eyes. But as she was about to fall asleep, another chirp from her phone caught her attention. She opened it again.

"Thanks! You saved my skin, haha!"

Oka smiled slightly before messaging him back, "No probs, glad I could help."

She waited for a few moments, wondering if he was going to answer that or if he was going to go away and do that homework.

After a hour or so, she heard nothing from him. Sighing, Oka folded her hands across her stomach as she shut her eyes in order to try and sleep. In a sense, she wished Taro had messaged her again. It was the only way she could talk to him without becoming a stuttering mess, and this way, it meant she wouldn't have to encounter him face-to-face and potentially get both him and herself into trouble. But on the other hand… there was everything to do with Musume… what did he think about that? She wanted to know… but what would happen? As well as that, Kokona also seemed to be attracted to him… she couldn't compete. Sighing, Oka rolled onto her side, hugging her doll against her stomach. Maybe everything will die down. Or it might not. Who knows? Sighing, she wished there was someone to talk to about all of this. Like her parents. They'd know what to do… they knew everything… Oka sighed and hugged her doll tighter. If only…

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