Author's Note

So sorry for the slow updates! This'll probably be my pace from now on or something x.x School really is picking up and all. Hope you enjoy the latest chapter though! (Please take this as my apology -bows-)

Also, shoutout to my new beta: I Hate To See Your Heart Break!

Eri completed the Math assignment with ease. She was surprisingly as ahead of the syllabus as in Russia.

At least I don't have to worry about my studies too. Although, Japanese may be a problem...

"Whoa, you're already done, Ayase-san? That's amazing!" A classmate beside her exclaimed in surprise.

"It's not that difficult."

"Could you help me with this question, then? I don't understand how to do it at all!" She put her assignment on Eri's table and scooted over.

"Just use the Method of Difference, you'll get it soon. There are examples provided in the textbook."

"Ehhh, I still don't get it. Could you show me?" She leaned a little closer and gave a pout.

"No, you need to do it on your own to learn," Eri replied firmly, always the firm believer that spoon feeding would get one nowhere.

"O-okay," with that, her classmate returned to her seat.

Now, maybe I should study a bit of Japanese, Eri pondered, oblivious to the whisperings of her classmates after watching that scene unfold.

Wow, he's either really dense to not have noticed that blatant flirting, or simply not interested, Nozomi mused.

"Ayase-san, do you want to go to the cafeteria?" One of her classmates invited.

"It's fine, I brought food," Eri replied, taking out her bento box.

As she did so, her classmates gathered around her, curious as to what a foreigner's bento box may contain. They were not disappointed at all.

"This is so cute!"

"Is that pancake?"

"This bread looks really interesting!"

"Is this all Russian food?"

Questions were rained upon her and she just waited for them to stop, deciding to just answer the last question.

" Yes, they're all Russian dishes made with Japanese ingredients."

"Can we have some?" The Math question classmate asked with a hopeful look on her face that was soon matched by everyone around her.

"It's nothing special. If you want to try, you can have some," Eri decided on being nice. It was always good to be polite and she figured that most people have probably never tried Russian cuisine before.

As the words left her mouth, a bunch of hands appeared and took bits of her food. When the massacre of her food was over, she noted that she was only left with half of her food.

"Ah, sorry, Ayase-san. You can have some of our food?"

"It's okay. Please try to leave more for others in future though," Eri chided lightly.

Missing the slightly shocked expressions on their faces, Eri tucked into her food. The girls slowly filed away as they didn't know how to respond to that. None of them had expected such an awkward response from him (her).

Not even Nozomi, who was getting more interested in this new student after each incident.

It was Friday, the last day of her first week of school. Apart from the fact that she was posing as a guy, school was pretty normal. Student Council Elections were coming soon and Eri definitely going to take part in them. She hadn't thought of a proper method to save the school yet but she vowed to find one soon.

She had also had a few close shaves this week. It was hard to remember to use the gents instead of the ladies all the time and there was once where she almost walked into the wrong bathroom. Luckily, no one saw her.

She had also become quite the celebrity in school, thanks to her being the only male student, a transfer student and also quarter Russian. It seemed as though everyone in school knew who she was and they were increasingly finding out more about her. The other day, she overheard someone talking about what school she had gone to in Russia. She thanked the heavens that she was from a mixed school because it could have all been over otherwise. This also led her to keep away from others even more as she never knew what more they could find out about. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they found out about her being a girl. It was quite an arduous and difficult task though, as many of them would approach her all the time, especially her classmates. The only one that didn't seem to do anything was Toujou-san, whom she actually kind of wanted to know more about.

Toujou-san was always really friendly to others and no one seemed to dislike her at all. Everyone was on good terms with her and she seemed quite popular amongst them because of her unusual skill: tarot card reading. She told many of their fortunes and the most common one was their love fortune. (However, it didn't help that some of them had actually asked about their chances with her.) Despite all this, she was always alone during breaks and Eri was starting to think that maybe it was because she wanted it that way. Somehow, she seemed to be distancing herself from the others, much like Eri was trying to do. Only, in Toujou-san's case, she could see the loneliness in her eyes behind those guarded walls. A part of Eri wanted to be the one to build a door in those walls to get to the other side, but in order to do that, she had to get past her own walls first.

It's not worth the risk, she constantly reminded herself.

Ayase-kun was interesting. He was awkward, pushed people away, but most of all, extremely dense. It was evident that almost the whole school was infatuated with him and many had tried to befriend him. However, he didn't seem to notice this and always distanced himself as best he could. He always seemed deep in thought, as though he was considering his next move for some mission. He was cautious and seemed to always have his guard up. At times, it would seem as though he wanted to befriend others, but there was always something stopping him.

I wonder what made him grow to keep away from everyone else too.

The only time she had seen him interact amicably with someone else with ease was during their first meeting at the shrine. From the way he watched over his sister and went according to her wishes, Nozomi could tell he deeply cared for her. It was surprising to see that him so stoic in school when he wore such a soft expression at the shrine.

If he showed that to everyone else, I'm sure they'd never forget him. It'd be so easy to make friends like that.

Maybe he just didn't know how to approach others. But others have approached him. Maybe he just couldn't interact with others properly. As Nozomi wondered more, she found herself having an urge to find out more about him. Not through all the hearsay that's spreading around the school about him, but from Ayase-kun himself.

She drew a tarot card from her deck.

Maybe it's okay to take my chances after all, she thought as she put The Fool card back.

"Come on, it's a Friday! Don't you want to go out, Ayase-kun?"

"No. My sister is waiting for me."

"Aww, come on, it'll only be for a while!"

"No, thank you."

Eri sighed as she refused request after request from her classmates. Why didn't they just go out together? Besides, her sister had already asked her out last night so she couldn't keep her waiting. She gathered her stuff and left the classroom, intending to head home.

Nozomi imagined herself running after Ayase-kun. She imagined herself catching up to him, introducing herself properly. She imagined having a friendly chat with him and hopefully finding out a little more about him.

At least she was right for the first one.

After abruptly shouting out for him to wait, Nozomi stood at the top of the staircase, awkwardly staring down at him at the bottom. He was evidently surprised and she could feel the waves of awkwardness flowing from him. She could also see a small sparkle in his eyes and tried to convince herself that it was because she had approached him. That gave her the confidence she needed and she righted herself.

"I'm Toujou Nozomi, your classmate. Nice to meet you."

"Ah, I'm Ayase Eri...ot. You probably know me," Eri inwardly cursed herself, hoping Toujou-san wouldn't notice her slight mistake.

Thankfully, she didn't.

"Wow, someone's cocky," Nozomi surprised herself by saying that.

She wasn't usually so comfortable with people and to tease someone right off the bat, even though teasing was part of her nature, was a whole new level. It just felt so natural somehow. However, seeing Ayase-kun's blush made her decide to continue with it.

They exchanged pleasant smiles (which both noted reached the others' eyes) and Eri broke their comfortable but slightly awkward silence.

"Well, I really have to go now. I'll see you on Monday, Toujou-san."

"See you, Ayase-kun."

Eri couldn't stop the slight skip in her steps the whole trip back.

Maybe it's okay to let my guard down a little. Just for her.

A/N

"The Fool" symbolises an important new beginning, according to Google yep.

Time to answer the reviews! Big thank you to all that have posted them, it really means a lot to me ^^

hikarigranger: Yay, I'm glad someone else agrees with me! I have a super load of headcanons and I'll probably be using quite a few in this story ^^ Also, I imagined it as her cutting her hair. Although I was kinda hesitant about it since I really love her long hair... ): Initially I was gonna make her keep it and have people question it, and she'll be all like "Oh I watched some Samurai movies and they all had long hair in a ponytail" etc, but I figured she may be revealed too easily with her long hair :P Plus, I don't know if schools would allow it?

NicoMaki & Yey NozoEri: Yup! She's dressing as a boy out most of the time just in case ^^

Everyone else: Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words! (This wasn't supposed to sound so formal lel)