Back, you guys! I think I have another chapter idea for the chapter after this, so I might update it at the end of the week. Thank you so much for the hits and reviews you guys! They make me smile :) I hope I continue to meet all of you expectations!

-Belle

My mind wandered throughout class.

"But in this case I must say, I rather like making people think things…" I blushed at the memory, feeling my forehead tingle, remembering the sensation of feeling Aido's lips on it. I touched the spot unconsciously, rubbing it lightly. Why did he do that…?

To mess with you, obviously. That ever-helpful voice inside my head stated.

Shut up. I thought. I know… My cheeks burned. I put my head down on the desk, hiding my face.

"Are you okay?" Akane said, patting my head. It was a good thing I had her sitting beside me. I turned my head so I could see her over top of my folded arms with one of my eyes.

"No." I said. "Aido messed with me today."

"I could see that." Akane said, her mouth forming a hard line. She wasn't impressed.

"No," I said, trying to elaborate. "He really screwed up my mind today."

"By hugging you?"

"By kissing me." My breath escaped in a whisper.

"What?" She hissed. "When was this?"

"After you went inside." I said. "Don't worry; it was only on the forehead. But still…" I said, thinking about Rei seeing it.

"Why did he do that?" Akane was having trouble keeping her voice down.

"To make a point, I think." I said quietly.

"What point would he have to—"

"Matari-san, Masa-san. Would you like to explain to the class how to solve the problem on the board?" Our teacher at the front of the room interrupted us. "Or would you like to share what you were just discussing?"

Akane was flawless in her redirection. "Yes um, we were just wondering how you went from the third step to the fourth step in that math problem you have as an example."

The teacher smiled. "Oh, of course! You simply…" She launched into an explanation on something I knew nothing about, and Akane listened attentively to show she was paying attention, but shot me a glance. I looked diagonally down a few rows of desks and saw that Rei had turned around in his seat. When I met his eyes, he shook his head and turned back to the front.

I felt terrible. I wish he hadn't seen that. I wish Aido hadn't done that. I made a mental note to talk to him after class, and then settled my head on my folded arms on my desktop and settled for staring blankly at the chalkboard.

It was late afternoon when we got out. When the teacher dismissed us, Rei got up and left immediately. I got up and followed him out.

"Hey!" I said, calling out to him.

He stopped and turned around. "What is it?"

"I thought we were going to go on a walk today."

"Well I suppose I did agree to that…" He said, shifting uneasily.

I took a step back. "If you didn't want to we could go another time, or we could cancel it altogether…" I was sad. I didn't want him to do that.

"No." He said. "I'll go today." He smiled. "I want to. But you have to learn to pay attention more in class."

I smiled, embarrassed. "Yes," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I know, right? I'll pay more attention tomorrow, I promise. My mind was just wandering today."

"Because of Aido?" Rei asked instantly.

I hesitated. "… Yeah."

He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Forget him. Like you said, that could've been anybody he decided to pick on. Today it just happened to be you."

My shoulders slumped down a little. "Yeah, you're right." I sighed. No he's not… my mind refuted.

I know…

"Well, where do you want to go?" He asked happily. "We have until dinner."

"Let's go to that fountain in the meadow." I said. "I haven't been there in a while."

We walked in companionable silence to the fountain. I sincerely hoped that today no one in the Night Class would decide to stop by. We sat on the fountain's edges.

"It's sunset." I said, stating the obvious.

"Yup." Rei said.

"Do you have a lot of homework today?"

"Yup."

"What subjects?"

"English and Science."

"Oh. That's not too bad."

"No, it's not."

I sat there beside him quietly, not knowing what else to say to him. He still seemed mad. I looked over at him. He actually looked deep in thought.

"Kisa... I need to ask you something that's been on my mind since we went to see the full moon."

My stomach dropped. I nearly was shaking with nervousness, waiting on him to get to his question.

He turned toward me, and looked me straight in the eye.

"What is Aido to you?"

My insides locked down, not knowing how to answer the question.

"Do you like him?"

I looked away for a second, and then back to Rei. "I wouldn't say I like him, but I don't hate him. Aido is… um… an acquaintance of mine, I suppose you'd say. I never really talked to him very much before this year. But nowadays it's almost like we talk on a daily basis." There, that was mostly truth. I thought. I could almost feel that presence inside me shake her head.

"He talks to you privately often."

"Yes well, most often times that is him giving me a message from the Headmaster, or something the like. He's just very polite and wants to respect my privacy." I almost laughed at my last sentence. There was absolutely no truth behind it. I felt awful for lying to Rei, but I was only doing it so Aido wouldn't bother him. It would kill me if anyone else suffered the same misfortune I did because of Aido.

"I see." Rei said, looking away for a moment as if to consider this. "He doesn't like me."

I couldn't cover that up. "No… he doesn't."

"He ever tell you why?"

"No." I said, being honest. "Maybe he's jealous of you." I teased, trying to make him feel better.

He chuckled lightly. "Yeah. Right."

"Listen." I said, putting my hand on his arm. "Don't let it get you down, okay? Aido isn't important to me, and not everybody is going to like you. It'll all be okay!" I smiled.

"You're right." He said. He stood up, offering me his hand. "I'm glad we went on this walk today. Shall we go home? I think the hysteria of the Night Class passing should be over, and if we leave now we should make it in time for dinner."

I took his hand and let him help me up. "Yes. Let's go."

We walked into the sunset toward the Day Class dorm, and we reached it before nightfall.