Again, it's been ages. This time, my excuse is school stuff, assessments etc. Again, my excuse is invalid. -_- Maybe you guys should give me deadlines... Hope you liked the first QN confession! Thanks for reading up to now, and on we go!

The silvery morning broke through Ai's window gently, which he noticed, and found several thousand different words in at least five languages that he could describe it with. There were far better words than just 'silvery', which any old amateur author could use.

A single beam swept over Syo's bed, right over his shut eyes. He slowly dragged himself awake, and even for Ai it was painful to watch. Natsuki, for his part, was up in a flash, badgering his friend as soon as he could get down the ladder of their bunks.

'Syooooo-chan! Time to wake up, it's such a nice day! Aw, Syo-chan's so cute when he's sleepy, ne?'

The senior just sighed, and continued getting dressed. He tied his turquoise hair back on one side expertly, and decided to wear a navy blue jacket, rather than an azure blue one.

'Personally, I don't see anything or anyone as cute. Syo is short, he is angered easily, he pretends to dislike your attention, but those are all facts. Cute is a matter of opinion.'

'Who're you calling short?!'

Ai walked towards the door sternly, ignoring the growls and snarls coming from the bottom bunk. He opened the door, and was just about to leave for breakfast when his foot brushed against something. Looking down, he saw three huge bin-liners, stuffed to the brim with letters, as well as three large bento boxes, and sighed again. He'd almost forgotten about that.

'What are those, sempai?' asked Natsuki, materializing behind Ai.

'Fan mail. February 14th: Valentine's Day. A day for the exchange of gifts for those one loves. I find it hard to believe that all these people are in love with us, but we have to read it anyway,' Ai intoned, dragging the bags back into their dorm. 'This will happen three days a year from now on: February 14th, August 1st and December 25th. Valentine's Day, the start of summer and Christmas. We have to read all the letters addressed to us.'

'Ho-Hold on a minute!' cried Syo, tearing open one of the liners. A river of envelopes fell in a huge pile onto the floor, burying his feet in envelopes. 'There's so much! And I thought some fans were really...you know...'

'What is it, Syo-chan?' asked Natsuki innocently.

'Weird! Like perverted or obsessive! You must have seen them by now!'

'You flatter yourself too much,' said Ai coolly. 'Don't just assume that all this is worthless. People put time into writing this stuff, and they're often very scared of what we'll think. Most of it doesn't reach us anyway, but the three days a year thing was Reiji's idea, to help Quartet Night keep up with our fans. It'll be good for STARISH too, as a fairly new group.'

'So you just decided for us?!'

'Respect your seniors' decisions, Kurusu,' said Ai sweetly, and began sorting the letters into three heaps, one for each idol. Syo's right eye was twitching; a sure sign of irritation, but Ai didn't let it bother him. Experience had taught him that getting the piles sorted as quickly as possible left more time for the much more interesting part: reading the letters.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Natsuki answered it quickly,

'Haru-chan!'

'Sorry for interrupting,' said the little composer, who bowed low. 'I was told to come and help you all sort your mail...out...' Her voice faltered when she noticed Ai, but then blustered on in a rush. 'If there's anything I can do, I'd be happy to oblige, but if not, then it doesn't matter and-'

'Nanami-san. Don't worry.' Ai stood up and walked over to her, smiling slightly. 'There are so many letters, I'm sure we'll need your help.' The girl only blushed redder and looked stubbornly at her feet.

After a while, they got into a rhythm. Natsuki and Syo would read the addresses, and hand the STARISH letters to Haruka, who in turn sorted them into piles of who they were addressed to. Ai did the same with Quartet Night. It was quiet work, and everyone had drifted comfortably off into their own thoughts.

Ai was amusing himself by trying to work out the ratio of letters for each person (he couldn't help but notice that so far three letters were addressed to someone he'd never heard of, Satsuki, and that these were quickly hidden by Syo every time one was found) and his gaze came to rest on Nanami Haruka, STARISH's darling songstress.

He didn't know very much about her, really. She was sixteen years of age, half a year older than he supposedly was, and had been playing the piano all her life as far as he could tell, which made her songs all the stronger. The way she moved her hands was musical in itself, similar to the movements of a conductor. Her eyes were large, and unusually bright.

Quite beautiful, in fact.

Ai's mind slammed back into focus. He had never thought of anything as beautiful in all of his short life. Was that even possible for him, to have his own opinion? Surely not. I am a machine, programmed to perform and observe, to function as a replacement. I feel nothing.

And yet there was a doubt, too. As he continuously sifted and sorted the letters, Ai's mind began to scan itself. He checked through all the data he had stored since his first day awake, and found no 'beautiful' anywhere. But that was not enough. Everything had a logical explanation, for him at least, and so he checked again. And again. And then again.

The fourth check yielded something he had not previously noticed. Two instances of lost data, almost undetectable, and both just after he had seen or talked to Nanami Haruka. That was strange in itself, but the fact that he had lost data at all scared him. How did it happen? Another check, but those were still the only two unusual places.

He probed the first error, looking for any possible way to an understanding. Ai's jaw clenched as he struggled to open it up. He battered it with code, any patterns he could think of, and at last the heavy door inside his head swung open to reveal a memory, only a second in length, but nonetheless still shocking.

He had been rehearsing with Quartet Night and STARISH, ready for their next joint concert, in a large practise room. Haruka had been sitting at the piano, accompanying them as they went through the steps and then through the song too. That he remembered. The next part was familiar too: he had gone over to talk to her in order to thank her for her playing once they'd stopped for a break.

'Thanks very much, Nanami-san,' he had said politely, bowing a little. She had blushed and said that it was nothing and that she just loved to watch them. Her gaze had met Ai's then, and they'd smiled at one another for a moment.

But here came the strange part, the lost part.

'You're beautiful,' he'd said.

And that was it. Just two words and he'd forgotten them. But why?

The second error was much easier to open up, but he'd still sorted at least another 10 letters before he could see it. It was another short conversation, which again he remembered perfectly, but then out of nowhere he'd said,

'You're beautiful.'

The exact same words, said in the exact same way both times. This was no coincidence: Ai's memory had been tampered with, very subtly in fact. He wasn't angry, he wasn't capable of real anger, but he was extremely confused and frustrated.

'Um, we're done. What now?' asked Syo. They were all looking at him, waiting for a response.

'Now, we put each person's letters into a small box, and then you two deliver them. Happy Valentine's Day,' Ai said quietly, still distracted by the strange problem at hand. He tried to keep himself from staring at Haruka, made all the more difficult by the realisation that he thought she was beautiful.

A new idea struck him. If his memory had been changed, and he hadn't noticed it until now, perhaps he was meant to find it. Perhaps these two new moments had been added, not removed. If that were the case, then all he could do was...

'See you later, sempai! Haru-chan!' chirped Natsuki, carrying boxes and following a grumbling Syo out the door.

'I should go too,' said Haruka, bowing again. 'Good work today.' She turned to leave, avoiding any eye contact.

'Wait, Nanami-san!'

He'd grabbed her wrist. How had that happened? He hadn't even thought it through before doing it, and he knew that he could have. Ai had measured his own mind speed before, and it was perfectly capable of deciding to whether take Nanami's hand or not.

But he hadn't decided. It had just happened. Why was that?

'Nanami-san,' Ai said again, planning out what he would say. 'Please don't leave yet. I have to ask you something extremely important.'

Haruka nodded briefly. Her eyes were now fixed on his hand, unmoving from her wrist. Her cheeks weren't flushing now: she was stunned.

'What...What did you want to a-ask me, Ai-sempai?'

He led her over to the sofa, and their hands were still joined as they sat down next to each other. Ai's mind was far too distracted to move his hand away from Haruka's arm, and she, for her part, didn't want him to.

She had expected to have to sort out someone else's mail and be left wondering once again what Ai was doing. And once she'd started sorting the letters with them all, she just kept imagining whispered conversations with him, how she'd finally reveal her feelings to him after so long. But they'd been working in silence. So for Haruka, that had been that. Until...

'Do you remember me ever saying that you were beautiful?' Ai demanded. His aqua-coloured eyes bore through her own. Haruka had never seen him look so intensely at someone before, and it was unbelievable that it was her he was looking at.

'Yes. Twice,' she answered shortly. Ai's grip visibly loosened, but his hand remained there on her arm.

'Would you mind if I told you a third time?' he asked her softly. The words hung in the air until Haruka realised that she would have to answer them.

'Not at all,' she tried to say, but her voice caught on the last word. The space between them got shorter and shorter, until their faces were inches apart.

'You're beautiful, Nanami-san.' Ai intoned the phrase he had said and forgotten twice before, observing every detail he could in the tiny world surrounding them. He would not let this memory be taken away.

It must have been hours that they stood there, years. Haruka could feel her mind slow down as her heart raced ahead. Ai was standing in front of her, holding her hand. He'd told her she was beautiful, for the third time. Falling in love wasn't like this, surely. She was standing inside this love, it encased her. Neither one of them was falling.

When did I fall in love with Ai? she wondered. It was hard to tell when he was this close, with those piercing eyes of his. She almost thought he looked young, but then decided that that wasn't true. Underneath the youthfulness of his appearance, he was wiser than she could ever know.

Haruka's expression gradually shifted, and Ai couldn't work out what she was doing until she started to shake. ...She was crying. But why?

'Nanami,' he started to say, but Haruka knew what he was asking.

'It's Valentine's Day,' she answered, smiling past the tears. 'I'm spending Valentine's Day with ... with you. How much more perfect can it be?'

'Oh, I see,' said Ai, matter-of-factly, and kissed her lips. He was a little shocked to find that kissing Haruka was far better than he'd assumed it would be. Her lips tasted slightly salty from the tears, but that didn't matter.

Her face was flushed when they parted, and her golden eyes weren't crying now but shivering, if irises could shiver.

'I...I didn't mean for you to...I mean it was...You just...' she said helplessly. He looked baffled, blatantly understanding none of it.

What am I doing? If I don't say it now, I'll probably never say it.

'I love you, Ai. ...I love you.' Haruka looked him straight in the face, and then tried to smile again. 'This feels like it's straight out of a film, doesn't it? All that's left now is for you to reply, but whatever you say, I will still be in love with you.'

Ai knew what he should say. He should tell her that he loved her too, because that's what they always did in the films Haruka was talking about. But the truth was that

'I don't love you, Nanami-san. Not yet. I've never loved anyone before because I don't know how,' he admitted, adding, 'But I think I could learn to. I'd be happy to learn.' To prove his point, Ai kissed her again but softer, savouring it; and he laughed softly as she brushed a stray lock of hair back behind his ear. 'See? I'm already learning.'

Two weeks later, Ai looked down at the song lyrics in his hands. He'd tried to write down what he was thinking about the two of them, taking into account the rhythm and structure of the music Haruka had written for him. She said she'd understood, but this would make certain that she did.

I don't mind being your Valentine,

But it's sweeter to learn to like this.

All the flowers I'd buy make a garden, it's true,

But it's sweeter to love you like this.

I can be cold, I can be cold,

But here with you I feel bolder.

Red rose, red rose.

Please never lift you head away from

My shoulder.

I will love you soon,

This I know.

I could pretend to be ready for this,

But I'm letting you know that I'm not.

And all of the letters I'd send would be worthless

If I didn't mean every word.

I can be cold, I can be cold,

But here with you I feel bolder.

Red rose, red rose.

Please never lift your head away from

My shoulder.

I will love you soon,

This I know.

I could be a dream, I could be a dream,

But a dream doesn't last for long.

Red rose, red rose.

Please believe all the words that I know

Aren't wrong.

I will love you soon,

This I know.

I will love you soon,

I know.

And it could take a year, or only a minute,

Before I know, before I know.

But I will understand, truly, completely

Oh this I know, this I know.

But I can be cold, yes I can be cold,

But here with you I feel bolder.

Red rose, red rose.

Please never lift your head away from

My shoulder.

I will love you soon,

This I know.

This I know.

Sorry this one took so long. Happy Valentine's Day, whether you spent it single (comme moi) or with someone special! Ai's name means 'love' after all, so I couldn't exactly put anything else in his story now could I? It took a while to figure this one out, cuz I had about three pages of rubbish and then had to restart, but I think it was worth it. Thanks so much for reading this far and feel free to tell me what you think, especially the Ai fans! ;)