Hi readers. Sorry it's been a while (too long, I'm afraid), but I've been having trouble with this one. I should probably be unbiased and distant, as I wield my foot-long quill and stare wistfully into the creative distance... But let's be real, I want to do my personal favourite member of STARISH proud! Thanks again for sticking with it, and/or reading it for the first time. That means so much to me, and I hope you enjoyed every confession and song. Quartet Night are waiting in the wings, but first...

The dream came to her in the early hours of the morning.

She was running, screaming and laughing with all the other children in the cold air. They all had their mittens on, and her yellow rubber boots made a flup-flup-flup sound as she darted away from the boys. She felt so beautiful, like a grown-up princess, making them follow her and promising them kisses.

The wind combed icy fingers through her streaming hair, and she clutched at her hat, pretending that she didn't need to wear it. The grass she ran through never seemed to end; it stretched out for miles into the horizon, but she didn't mind. The chase was fun, it didn't have to end.

There were only a few of them behind her, but every time she turned back, their number seemed to grow, and so did they. They grew taller, and their faces more serious. Their manner slowly changed from playful competition to desperation; they sprinted towards her, crying out for her hands, her lips, her smile, anything.

In her head there were two girls all of a sudden: the young one, running through the frost, and the dreaming girl, watching from the outside, but unable to change what was going on. As the child grinned back carelessly at the tormented boys, proud of herself for being so fast and pretty, the dreamer stared at them in shock and pity. How could one girl be so naive to such obvious emotions? Did she know how cruel she was being? Surely not.

The pace of the game grew faster; the tiny girl was going at lightning speed, whilst her pursuers thinned out into a longer line with huge gaps. No one seemed to have a chance of catching her. They slowly gave up, one by one, dropping out of the race, tired of the heartbreaking games.

The yellow wellies slowed down, flup-flup-flup against her shins, and eventually sank down into the grass. Why had the others all stopped? She was still the beautiful princess, wasn't she? What was so wrong with her that they should all leave? She felt the cold stinging her cheeks. The wind wasn't so nice any more, it was blowing her coat open and now she was freezing.

Then, out of the misty park, came a boy. The last one. He was completely out of breath. His forehead was covered in that awful cold-hot sweat you can only get in winter under thick layers of clothing. He looked like he was about to cry.

And yet he was smiling down at her. The child stared back in amazement. He was even more beautiful than she had believed herself to be. He could be the handsome rescuer, the strong peasant boy who climbed the castle walls to the highest turret to save her.

'Come on.' His gloved hand was as warm as his voice.

As he pulled her to her feet, the girl grew up. She wasn't wearing wellies any more, she had snow-boots on. She was still short, but at least the chest height of the boy in front of her.

He looked at her, his eyes twinkling in the frosty light. No more kiss-chase. He'd kept on running even after the game had ended. The girl felt very special, in a different way somehow. She didn't need to be the beautiful princess any more, but she had turned into one after he'd taken her hand. He must be made of magic.

She knew who he was now.

He was her prince.

We always know the best dreams from the point at which we wake. Nightmares go on for far too long, and deep, black sleep is so comfortable that we must be dragged into the real world afterwards. But the dreams we enjoy the most, dreams of adventure or romance, in which everything is crystal clear, always end just before... Before what? That is what we'll never know.

Haruka blinked and stared across her room at the piano without seeing it, trying to hold onto the fragments of the dream before it faded from her mind. There had been grass, and a race of some sort? She remembered running, but she didn't know who from, or why. Someone had caught up with her... A boy, a tall boy.

But who? 'Tall' wasn't helpful, considering her small size. Everyone was 'tall' to her. And 'boy' could be so many people. Haruka had heard someone say once that in dreams, we sometimes see faces or people that we've only caught a glimpse of in a public place and never even met.

Somehow, it felt very important that she should know who the tall boy was. She didn't know why exactly, but struggled to recall any other details about the dream, fighting the urge to let it slip away. She grabbed a notepad and pen, and scribbled down everything she could remember.

Grass, race, running (from who?), tall boy, cold, mittens, dark eyes.

Haruka nodded triumphantly after writing 'dark eyes' down. That was another thing she hadn't forgotten. So, the person in the dream was tall, a boy, and had dark eyes. Was it someone she knew from the Master Course? She couldn't be sure, but she guessed 'yes' after remembering how familiar the dream had felt.

It was a start, but it probably wouldn't get her anywhere. She sighed, put down the paper and pen, and got out of bed. What good would a dream do?

Ichinose Tokiya hummed a tune, deep in thought whilst trying to work out a sudoku puzzle. The train was almost empty, and he could hear the wind blowing the rain against the skylights, drumming them from above his head. He finished a box, and then realised what tune it was that was stuck in his head.

Piyo, Piyo, Piiii-yo, Piyo-Piyo-chan,

Piyo-chan no tamago, yoroshiku desu!

Tokiya rubbed his temples and groaned. Why couldn't his subconscious have chosen a better song? Natsuki's advert was all over the TV at the moment, fully equipped with a jingle designed to disrupt everyone's lives. Tokiya was happy for him, of course he was, but that song. He decided to find something else to hum, anything but Piyo-chan.

He eventually settled on the tune Haruka had written for him recently. She'd given it to him just a yesterday, but he'd already memorized it. Those few years working as HAYATO had made him quite proficient at learning songs very quickly. Sometimes his agent would tell him to record a new song one evening, where he could read the music, and perform it the next, choreography included.

Haruka's latest song was lilting and gentle, like a lullaby. The melody was written to sound simple, but the chord structure and phrasing was actually quite unusual, not sticking to the standard pop-song pattern. Tokiya loved it. He thought it sounded mysterious, almost addictive, and yet still had the beautiful heartfelt qualities that Haruka always obliviously put in. No wonder they were all in love with her.

These thoughts were too emotional for sudoku, but he did try to carry on, before inevitably giving in.

He'd noticed it quite a while ago, but he was almost certain that none of the others had spotted it. The little glances, overly eager conversations...it hadn't even been that difficult to see once he'd realised. Of course, the girl herself had no clue.

Tokiya knew his own feelings very well, he too was deeply in love with Haruka. Not full of constant passion, just ...bonded. He was devoted to her, and yet he also knew that he was just another one of many. The whole of STARISH had fallen for her, unusual but true, and Tokiya suspected that even some of their seniors had begun to notice that 'special something' that Haruka had.

He was even fairly sure of when each member had fallen for her. Otoya first, as soon as they'd met, shortly followed by Syo. He suspected that Masato and Natsuki were both close behind those two, but in Masato's case, he didn't realise it until later. Ren had begun by making Masato jealous, but ended up in exactly the same position, about the time his first song was played over the loudspeakers in Saotome Academy. Then Tokiya himself had been struck by his own emotions, and had almost confessed. (He looked back on that moment in disbelief now. How could he have been so bold about it all, even if it was only 'almost'?) Cecil had apparently been in love with Haruka since before he'd met him, so he wasn't certain of precisely where he fit in.

They were all in the same boat now though, each too overwhelmed to say a word, and all unaware of the rivalry between them. If the rest of STARISH ever found out what every other member thought of their composer, the consequences could be disastrous.

Outside, a train pulled into the station, right on time.

A dance song. The principal had wanted a dance song with a catchy beat. So why couldn't she just write one?

Haruka sighed. She couldn't focus on anything but her dream, and it was coming through in her writing. Every song she tried to create at her little upright piano just slipped into a sort of spinning...something . And Haruka just kept playing it; no matter how much she tried to add in some catchy rhythms or harmonies for STARISH to sing. Even thinking about how the boys might perform their unwritten new song wouldn't motivate her.

The truth was that she didn't want this new song to be sung by anyone but the boy who had inspired it. Those dark eyes... Haruka had already mentally ruled out a few STARISH members: Syo, Cecil, Shinomiya and Jinguji, all of whom had lighter-coloured eyes. Just as attractive of course, especially when they stared so deeply into her own, but not the right ones.

That just left Hijirikawa, Ichinose and Ittoki. (She didn't know whether red eyes were dark enough or light enough to be either in her dream or not.)

Haruka gave in and carefully notated the new song on some manuscript paper. She 'la-la'd it as each note formed on the pages, the same way some people say the words they write aloud, but she soon noticed that there wasn't just one melody line: she had unconsciously composed a duet. But why? And more importantly, who was it for?

The rain tapped on windows and pavements for the rest of the week, in a continuous spatter of water. The air was always wet, and the wind blew huge sheets of damp into the faces of anyone who dared to venture outdoors.

This indoor weather was affecting the Master Course participants in different ways. Syo was becoming more and more restless and obnoxious, being unable to train away his boundless energy, and he took his irritation out on anyone closest to him, which, as always, was usually Natsuki. Natsuki himself, however, felt nothing but sympathy for his friend, and tried to support him by being as close to him as possible; and so the cycle continued. Masato and Ren were arguing far more often, and much louder too, having to be in close proximity for longer than was comfortable for either of them. Otoya's frequent attempts to 'lift people's spirits' were ignored, and what Cecil thought was wisdom on his part only annoyed everyone further. Needless to say, Quartet Night spent as much time out of the war zone as possible.

Only Tokiya and Haruka were calm, not that anyone noticed. They stayed in their respective rooms, thinking things through and patiently waiting for something to happen, for they knew that something would. To them, the whole world seemed on edge, like a glass of water, hardly able to balance. Soon it would tip over, and the water would spill, but whether the glass would shatter or not, neither could tell.

'Sumimasen, Ichinose-san, but would you mind helping me with something?'

The large, round golden eyes stared up at him, and Tokiya knew that he was looking at the two envies of loli girls everywhere. She had appeared silently, but he had noticed her coming in regardless. How had she known he was in this room? The others were all attempting some board game; in the unlikely situation that it would end well, Tokiya would have to come up with an excuse as to why he hadn't joined in.

'What is it you'd like me to do, Nanami-san?' he answered quietly. He wondered whether she realised that if they stared at each other for too long, then anyone else would have gotten the wrong idea. Probably not.

'I've written a duet, and I'd be honoured to have you sing it with me, just to hear how it sounds.' Why did it feel like she was hiding something? Tokiya knew those eyes better than his own, he'd practised reading them over a hundred times. There was definitely something she was leaving out here, but knowing Haruka, it probably wasn't anything malicious.

He nodded and followed her out of the room. They walked together in silence through the long corridors, the only sound was the rain thudding against the glass panes. Tokiya was wondering whether he should say something about the song she'd already given him, but kept deciding against it, since it seemed arrogant that he hadn't written any lyrics for it yet. Haruka, on the other hand, was desperately trying to foresee how much the boy would guess after singing the duet.

The cramped little room could just about squeeze in the grand piano it held, but not much else. Haruka slipped through the door to sit down on the piano stool, but Tokiya had to carefully edge his way to the L-shaped gap by the instrument's side. He gasped when he saw that there was no opposite wall, and the room was completely exposed by a huge window to the Master Course grounds.

'I come here alot to write and practise,' said the girl shyly. 'It's quiet, and no one ever comes in. I don't think many other people know it's here, you can't see it from below. I thought it was such a sad place at first; this piano's such a good one but it's been overlooked. Here,' she handed Tokiya two pieces of paper, 'This is your part. I hope it makes sense.'

Haruka took a deep breath to calm herself. She had never written lyrics before, and had hardly ever sung in front of anyone in her life. She had been told that she had a nice singing voice, but she had never thought that 'nice' was anything special. And now it was him that she was singing to.

Tokiya had been the boy in her dream, she was certain of that now. She'd always deeply admired him, as HAYATO she'd idolized him. It was his praise that meant the most to her whenever she presented STARISH with a new song, but it didn't come often. He was so often silent and thoughtful.

Before she could stress herself out any further, Haruka started playing the eight beat introduction of the duet. No backing out now.

(Note: Italic lyrics are Haruka, bold are Tokiya, and both italic and bold mean unison.)

I hear the night outside

And yet it's almost dawn

I feel the floods, the wind of the hurricanes

And I am feeling so

Small.

I don't matter at all.

Tokiya was spellbound by her voice. If they had been on a stage, he would have held her in his arms, the two of them staring out beyond the audience. But then... if they had been on a stage, nothing about the moment would have been for each other. He took a breath in, after one last glance at Haruka.

Am I alone out here?

I recall another soul

You were beside me; you were next to me,

And now I need you once

More.

Every day I need you more.

Like statues just too far apart

Every time we touch, it breaks my heart to say

That I am still

Waiting.

I've watched you, I've loved you, torn apart,

Every time I tried, every time you walked away.

I am still,

I am still,

Waiting.

Still as stone

Still as summer on a clouded day,

I'll know tonight what I could never know

How to change

Time.

Am I running out of time?

Like statues just too far apart

Every time we touch, it breaks my heart to say

That I am still

Waiting.

I've watched you, I've loved you, torn apart,

Every time I tried, every time you walked away.

I am still,

I am still,

Waiting.

Still never dare to move too close

What if the dream was wrong?

What if I'm right?

Still hours pass and still I see

The future darkens in

Your fading light.

I wait alone, I wait alone.

Still.

Like dreamers just too far apart

Every time we lose, it's not enough to say

That I am still

Waiting.

I remember your face that night, torn apart,

Every time I tried, every time you walked away.

I am still,

I am still,

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Still.

They looked at one another with exactly the same expression: a hopeful fear, happiness so loud, so great that it hurt.

Haruka stood up, still staring across at him, and shifted out from behind the piano stool. She made no move to collect her music or even speak. The two of them were as motionless as the song had just described, as though a fairy tale spell had fallen upon them.

'I didn't know you could sing like that.'

His own words surprised him, as they hung in the glass air. He couldn't remember saying them, or even wanting to speak at all. They had simply happened.

'I hope you liked the song.'

She broke away from his gaze, and looked at the floor instead, even though she was willing herself to go on looking at him, and to carry on feeling so shockingly at peace. Something has changed, she thought. Nothing would ever be quite the same.

The rainy spell passed, and their lives carried on without hesitation. STARISH toured Japan for the second time, even more successfully than the first since they had Quartet Night performing with them. Haruka was happier than ever to be doing what she loved with her closest friends, and so was Tokiya, and yet...

Something had changed. The comforting wall between them was no longer whole: there was a small hole in the brickwork, not obvious to the naked eye of an outsider. Sometimes, one of them would take a tiny peek through at the other, hoping against hope that their invisible signals would be recognised. But that was the furthest either of them ventured for another three months.

'Well boys, I think it's time you all took a break-uh!' shouted a man in sunglasses, balancing atop a huge tower of beach-ball-sized fruit. He had gotten very high up, considering that the office was usually a standard size, but strange theatrics from the one and only Shining Saotome were characterized by the fact that things were never what they seemed.

'Shachou? A break?' The small group of people gaped at him, completely taken aback.

'YYYYYYEEEEESSSS!' The principal leapt from the inflatable orange he had been bouncing on. 'A rest from concerts! You've been performing nonstop, and you need a holiday! You will all stay at the beach for four weeks to cool off before we begin on your first...ALBUM!'

There were gasps and murmurs from the band, their seniors and their composer. Four weeks was more than enough... but surely it would pass by in a flash... it was all going to be the best fun holiday ever...would they get to wear cute summer clothes?...what would the beaches be like?...

Haruka tried not to blush at the thought of Tokiya in swimming shorts. She had seen that sight before, a year or so ago when she'd had to 'choose her partner', but now it would be the most skin he'd shown since they'd sung together... She couldn't help wondering how she had turned into such a strange person. If anyone else could read her mind, what would they think of her? That she was stupid? Disgusting?

Lonely?

She sat down on her suitcase lid, trying to push all her weight and heavy thoughts onto it. He had been on her mind for far too long, and it didn't help that they saw each other every day.

Pictures and second-long visions of him cluttered her brain, popping out when she least expected it. Of course there were memories of times they'd spent together, like the duet, or that secret outing to a festival they'd had, but more often than not it was just tiny things.

The straight-backed way he walked, his navy-blue hair falling over his brow, his quiet, rare contributions to conversations, even meaningless things like the way he almost caressed the microphone when he sang softly, or how he would always start stairs at a quick run, then slow down on the third or fourth step. Haruka knew the word 'love', but she also knew the words 'attraction' and 'obsession', and wasn't quite sure where any of them fit into her situation.

Glancing up at the clock on the wall, she saw that she was a little earlier than she had expected. She swept a stray lock of hair behind her ears and checked her list of things to pack. Everything seemed to be there.

The notepad in her hands spread out its pages as Haruka loosened her grip on it, the way books do once they have been read or written in. She looked down at the pages of things she'd written at countless random moments; Haruka was one of those people who just always need a notebook, for whatever reason. There were lists of groceries she'd had to buy, reminders to collect this, recycle that and take back the other from whoever she'd lent it to.

But then the next page she turned was blank, except for eleven scribbled words that had obviously been written in a hurry.

Grass, race, running (from who?), tall boy, cold, mittens, dark eyes.

Her dream. It had been months ago. She had almost forgotten the reason she had written that duet, much preferring to treasure the memory of singing it with...

A tall boy, with dark eyes, who could sing like nobody else could. A tall boy, with dark eyes, who never seemed to say enough, but who could make Haruka blush at the very thought of him. A boy, not quite a man; his age made him difficult to interpret, and even harder to predict. A boy she loved.

Her suitcase finally clicked shut, and the girl left the room, pausing to switch off the lights at the door. The skirts of her dress brushed against her legs as she walked down the corridors, wheeling the case behind her. This surprise holiday was going to change something. Something would break, but what would it be?

The sun dazzled him as it set below the horizon. The warmth playing across his body would last for perhaps another hour, due to the long summer evenings on the island. It was calm here, and he liked it that way. Somehow, though, he wasn't particularly at ease.

Tokiya had come to love the colours of a sunset, because they reminded him of her. Soft orange and blushing pink. Blazing, passionate red. Unattainable gold.

He was worried. Sick to the back teeth of not being able to act on his own impulse. Nanami Haruka had allowed him the chance to seize his dreams, and yet he was still ungrateful, always wanting. Sunbathing and the beach were all very well, but they hadn't helped him forget her. Tokiya clenched his fists.

'Here you are! I wondered where you- Woah, this spot is awesome! What a view...' Otoya slumped down into the deck-chair beside his room-mate. Trust him to find the loneliest, prettiest place on the whole island and not tell anyone about it. Otoya had been searching for his friend all afternoon, and now Tokiya looked anything but pleased to see him.

'Huh? Are you alright?' The stern face was completely still, but Otoya could read every line in it. The tight jaw, the staring, narrowed eyes...Something was up. It was time to interrogate.

'What are you thinking about? I am here to help you, you know.' The friend-in-need tactic.

'Heellooo-ooohh? Anybody home?' The 'question-his-intelligence' tactic, which included a hand waving over the eyes of the victim.

'Hey, Icchi. Wassup.' The annoying nickname.

'Please, Tokiya! I'm getting really worried now!' The guilt-trip.

'WHAT IS WRONG JUST TELL ME ALREADY?! PLEASE, I CAN'T STAND YOUR PAINFUL SILENCE!'

As the red-haired boy rolled around on the sand, clutching at the air and wailing to the highest heavens, he noticed out of the corner of one eye that his roommate was beginning to crack. A tiny grin wriggled its way across his set lips, and a tiny snort escaped from the ever silent Ichinose Tokiya. Soon he was giggling, and once he had really burst out laughing, Otoya knew that he had won. He would get an answer.

'So what's the problem?' he asked again, casually, as their laughter died away. The chastened Tokiya replied with a wry smile.

'I... You see it's... There's this girl I like...'

'WHAT?!' Otoya jumped onto his feet, causing Tokiya to start laughing again, 'You mean it? You... You've got girl problems?! But you're... I mean you're ICHINOSE TOKIYA for goodness' sake, you would NEVER have girl problems! ...Unless,' he added slyly, as though he hadn't even thought of it up to now, 'You haven't told her yet, have you?'

Silence.

'Ah-hah, so! You're in love, but you haven't confessed yet, and you want to?'

A slight shake of the head, making the dark hair fall into the darker eyes.

'So you DON'T want to?'

Another slight shake.

Otoya was now thoroughly baffled, just when they had been getting somewhere. He did or he didn't, there was no other option. Was there?

'I... I thought I'd already confessed, sort of. Or she'd confessed to me, kind of both at once. But nothing's happened for months now and...' Tokiya was mortified to be admitting this all to someone, but he knew he couldn't solve this mess alone.

'And now I don't know whether I should try and tell her again.'

The problem spoken aloud seemed much simpler than it actually was. Of course, Tokiya couldn't even tell his closest friend who it was he was in love with, because he was almost certain that Otoya was in love with Haruka too. He felt unbelievably guilty, asking his friend to unwittingly break his own heart.

That is, if Haruka felt something for Tokiya then Otoya's heart would break if he ever found out. If, if, if.

'I think you should tell her.' Otoya interrupted.

'What?'

'Go ahead. Do it,' he repeated, shrugging. 'Then, if you think she's almost already confessed to you, there's a higher chance of her saying yes, right?'

'Um.'

'Exactly. And you won't know until you do, anyway. Best get it over with.' He shrugged again, and began walking back up the beach, pausing only once to wave at Tokiya and give him the thumbs-up sign. 'I'll see you at dinner!'

Out, as far as anyone could see, the sun sank below the ocean waves, its final golden sliver disappearing. It left the sand looking purple and grey, and the shadows stretching from each wavering line of it grew longer and wider. The temperature dropped suddenly, and the summer breeze was no longer as kind.

A small boy picked up a ball and threw it to his sister. A mother realised that her family's dinner was ready. A young man, looking out to sea, made a decision it had taken him two and a half years to realise was the only answer all along. He would have to tell her.

When Haruka finally got back to her part of the villa, it was practically night outside. She had been playing a never-ending tournament of chess with Natsuki, Syo and Masato. It had gone on so long because neither Syo nor Masato could stand to lose, so they kept on demanding rematches. (The score when she'd left had been N:1, S:9 and M:12.)

She walked down the paved pathways between the buildings, remembering to take a right here, a left there and so on. Her sandals and summer skirt made her feel almost fairy-like, and, since no one was looking, Haruka put a little more skip into her steps, and lifted her arms outwards as though she were a bird. New clothes, or clothes for certain situations, always felt like costumes to her.

One more corner and she'd be at her door, so she fished her key from her pocket in advance. It rattled satisfyingly in her hand, and reassured her that it was not lost yet. But once she stood in front of her door, Haruka realised that she didn't want to go into her room, not yet. The night was such a beautiful one, after all.

The darkened trees twisted in and out of each other, their leaves rustling in the warm breeze high above the rooftops of the villa. Yellow, electric lamps lining the rails by the path were far outshone by the moon and stars. Before moving to the city, Haruka could remember her grandmother pointing out all the constellations to her, and she could see some of them now. They made her feel nostalgic.

'Nanami-san.'

She started, and stumbled back.

Ichinose Tokiya walked carefully down the three steps to stand right in front of her. He looked beyond handsome, his features outlined in shadow. His hair was tousled, from being in saltwater presumably, and it suited him to look a little rushed. This was just so... unlike him.

Haruka was stunned. They had hardly spoken in months, barely a conversation since after that duet, and now the very person that she was so confused by was approaching her looking, of all things, worried?

'I-Ichinose-san!' she blurted, 'Um, did you want something?' What else could she have said? With Tokiya so close, Haruka's brain was going into overdrive: she was afraid of him, angry with him, almost in love with him, obsessed with him...and how is one teenage girl supposed to cope with all of that when the 'him' in question is only a metre or so away?

'I wanted to talk about something, actually. Something important.' He looked even more worried now. Haruka wondered if she'd done anything to offend him.

'I wanted to know... I was hoping you could explain why you wrote that duet all that time ago,' said Tokiya. He looked nervous, but his voice was clear as ever. 'Because there's something I have to tell you, but before I do, I want to know where I stand.'

'The duet? Oh, well,' she began, happy to oblige, 'I wrote it after I woke up from a very strange dream, where I was little, and I was playing...' Haruka realised what she was about to say. She winced and looked at the ground.

'This dream is a bit embarrassing to tell someone else about... Not like that! Just, sort of personal.' She took a deep breath.

'I was dreaming about playing kiss-chase as a child, across a long park, I think. It was cold, frosty, and I was running faster than any of the boys behind me. But I ran too fast, and they all gave up. So I sat down in the cold and I think I cried... I don't remember. Then, a grown up boy ran up to me who hadn't given up, and when you're small, every kind person older than you is a prince or a princess, right? Well, to me it was. So the boy lifted me onto my feet, and when he did that, I grew up. And the strange thing was, even though I was grown up, he was still a prince.'

Tokiya's palms were sweating. He could hardly bear to stand so close to Haruka talking like this and not speak. He could almost have just shouted it out and run off. But he didn't. He had to hear the ending.

'Then, once I'd woken up, I tried to remember everything about the dream, it just felt so inspiring. That was when I realised that I knew the prince from somewhere, but I wasn't sure who it was.

'The song began after that, a prince and princess unable to meet even though they loved one another. I asked you to sing it because...' Because you were the prince and I love you, she finished in her head. She couldn't say that aloud, not yet.

But Tokiya had heard enough. It didn't matter why now.

'I already said I had something to tell you, and I do. This will be a little embarrassing for me, and potentially for you too, so I'd like to be able to say it all uninterrupted, if that's alright.'

She nodded, surprised. Of course she would listen; this conversation was far better than awkward silences and avoidance.

'Since I stopped being HAYATO, I've felt much more honest with myself, about my work, my ambitions, about my own emotional wellbeing in particular. I took a good look at myself, mentally I mean, and decided to face up to everything. I dream of singing for crowds of people who enjoy listening to me, and that dream has been made reality, which I am eternally grateful for. I wanted to be less of a lonely person, and now I am part of a group, not just for work but because we are friends. Good friends, too.' His expression suddenly became one of seriousness, and yet Haruka could see a sad shimmer somewhere behind his eyes.

'But there's something else I have to face up to, which is that you, Nanami, are the reason for all of this. You believed in me even when, as HAYATO, I was unable to be myself. You have given me the chance to become twice the man I was. You are the most selfless, caring person I have ever known.

'And that is why I am in love with you.'

A tear rolled down Haruka's cheek and dropped onto her shoulder. She smiled at the tall boy in front of her, and tried to show him everything she was thinking in that moment with her eyes. Her happiness was boundless. Her love was more so. It was inside her, rising to the surface like bubbles of laughter, and she couldn't have stopped it even if she had wanted to.

Tokiya drank in the girl's expression, wondering if she would let him hold her in his arms. First he thought she wouldn't, since she was crying. Then he thought she would, because of her smile. And then he realised that he didn't care anymore.

Their arms held tight to one another, and their two foreheads pressed together. Gold and midnight blue stared into one another, creating another starlight night sky. It was Haruka who spoke first.

'You were the prince. And I love you.'

Then he knew he had to kiss her.

That ending was so much fun to write! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (I'm so self-centred sometimes). Apologies if you aren't as much of a Tokiya fan as me, who is more biased than the last episode of Season 1 of UtaPri on Tokiya's birthday waving a purple flag. Just saying. Bring on Quartet Night! (I still don't know that much about them, so I'll have to do some research. Oh well, I don't mind! ;D) Anyway, once again, and as always, thank you for reading and feel free to tell me your thoughts on any of the confessions or what you want to see in future! Oh, and I hope you all had good holidays and happy 2014 when it arrives!